The lost kingdoms rp

[Roseora]

Rose let out an exhasperated sigh. She promtly sat down on the spot. She was getting no-where! All this walking, she was still in the dense rainforests of the south kingdom! She got out her waterbottle, and debated for a few minutes weather having a drink now would be wasting water or not. She eventually just glugged down half the bottle.

She looked down at her grubby green hands, and all the scratches from thorns and various sharp plants. She had heard about a vast land full of temples, dungeons and another three kingdoms, but shed been trapped in the south district because of the war. She was told it was not safemto leave, but now her family was... She choked back a sob. No, she couldnt show any weakness. She sat there for a few more minutes contemplating her next move. The air felt warm and humid, how she liked it. The ground felt dry beneath her, wnd there were many logs lying around. She stood up and started gathering the things shed need for a shelter and a fire. It gkt mighty cold out here at night. Her camo cap was hiding her face a little, how she liked it. She felt more confident when she was hidden sightly by the shadow. Her rapiers hung at her sides, ready as allways just in case. It was pretty lonely out here, but at least she was a little more free. Justa little, though. She still had work that needed doing, she wondered how ling it would be befkre she was driven insane by the beautiful repetitive sounds of the bjrds and the animals, the constant alertness required to fend off thewild animals that decided she was pret and the pure lonliness of being out here without her family.

Rose was a mess, and it had only been a short few days, her beautiful chesnut hair was tamgled and reasy and her whole body and clothes were grimy and dirty. Next stream she found, shed have to wash. But that could wait, because now she had to worry about surviving another night without hypothermia, and it was beginning to get darker and chillier.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Wow..." Susana gawked at the jungles around her, snapping another photo. "Who knew the Southern forests would be so beautiful? There are creatures here I've never even seen!" She was quite used to the outdoors, but this was a whole new experience for her, as she'd never seen such lush, untamed wilderness back at the farm. As amazing as it was, she couldn't help but notice the occasional bare, dead section of the woods, a black scar upon the war-raveged land. It saddened her to think about how such beauty was destroyed by the harsh battles that took place here. It started to remind her of her dear father. She rested a tender hand against the small dragon that hung from her necklace and let out a sigh. "Perhaps someday," she said,"Perhaps the woods will grow back and heal. Mabye someday we can heal the scars of war." That was what she was doing here in the first place. As much as she missed her family back in the West this was the best way to help them. No matter what happens, she had to get the money to support them. She slipped her camera back into her pack and trudged on. She had to keep moving forward if she hoped to make some good distance by nightfall."onward we go" she muttered to herself, pulling her jacket tighter around her shivering form. Even though it was almost spring there was still a nip in the air brought over by cold North winds. She just couldn't wait to be in the warm embrace of a cozy bed at last. She hummed a familiar tune as she hurried down the overgrown forest trails, trying to shake off the strange feeling of being watched.

[Roseora]

Rose peeked around from the tree at the girl running through the forest. She wondered who this girl was and what she was doing in this wilderness. It was lavish and full of life, yes, but every now and then youd come across something to terrible to put into words. Trees burned, dead bodies, the lot. If you were unlucky to come across a has-been battlefield. Rose grabbed onto a branch and pulled herself up to watch from a height. She wasnt sure why she was so interested, but that girl had a camera! Was she from The east district? Although, something about her gave off more of a western aire.

Rose swung down from the tree and, luckily, landed right in front of the girl, who skidded to a halt.
"Hey." She said. "What are you here for?" She asked inquisitivly, not trying to seem rude but not seeming too friendly either. You couldnt trust anyone these days. Her little camp was only about 400 meters behind, so it shouldnt be too far to get back. Rose felt pretty lonely out here, and she was somewhat hoping this girl was friendly and maybe they could team up, for whatever reason.

{ooc- the girl is Susan :)}

[Arcus]

Flora was flying through the rainforest of the southern country, she didn't have any message this time. She was doing it more for fun, she thought that there was more obsticals to dodge here then the the forests of her own nation. So tried to becareful as she sped from place to place, when all of a sudden someone droped out of a tree not far away.

She had just noticed this out of the corner of her eye and had to do a quick u-turn to find the person, only to see that girl wasn't alone. She landed behind the one that had dropped out of the tree, then said cheerfully forgetting that her staff tied between her wings; so it wouldn't get in the way. "Hello, you don't often see anyone outside of small villages around this country."

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Woa!" Susan exclaimed, stumbling back and tripping over an old tree root. She silently cursed the fact that she was so easily spooked and looked up to see a strange face, "Oh gosh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. Are you ok?" The stranger said, offering a hand to help her up. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little startled, that's all." she chuckled before accepting the help. It took her a second to remember the girl's question before she responded in turn, "Oh, um, I was just passing through here on my way to the Eastern kingdom. I'm from one of the farms in the West. Pardon my asking, but you're one of those sprites, aren't you?" Rose showed a slight grin and asked, "Did the ears or the gills give me away?" "Pretty much both, i guess. I've seen a few sprites in my time, but there's not many hanging around where I live, probably because it's a bit drier than it is here. My name's Susana, but you can just call me Susan." Susan reached out a hand in greeting.

[Roseora]

{Please dont controll my character that much.... :)}

Rose shook Susans hand cautiously. "Im Rose." She would have given Susan her pretty and exiotic name, but for some reason today Rose felt like using her normal, boring name. She spun round quikly, slightly startled when she heard someone speak. She hadnt known anyone was following her!

"Um, hello." She said quikly, taking in the faries appearance. She wore a nice sunset coloured top, Rose wished she had some pretty clothes that she coudl wear, without freezing to death. Although it wasnt pretty, her khaki green jacket, grey joggers and camo hat kept her warm and her black and white stripy fingerless gloves kept her hands protected.

The night air was cold and a layer of mist was starting to form over the girls feet, and Rose was getting tired.
"So whats your name?" She asked the fairy as she started yo head back to her camp. "If you guys wanna come, my camps right over there." She said pointing. She decided to walk, because now she wasnt stalking anyone, there was no point using the trees, however fun it might be. Rose was practical about everything, particulaly now.

"So what makes you want to go east? And what brings you to the middle of the rainforests?" She asked, more in a listening mood than a talking mood. While she was walking, she self-concioussly combed her fingers through her hair hoping and praying she didnt look too terrible.

[Arcus]

Flora smiled at the sprite and said, "my name is Flora. Flora Icetree, it is nice to meet you" she decided to followed the sprite. Though instead of walking, she flapped her wings hovering just above the ground. She didn't mind walking but simply liked flying more, then said "I am in the middle of the rainforest because, I find that here, It is more fun and challenging flying at top speed through the forests of the country then the forests of my home." It was as simple as that and she was tempted to go back to her fun, but didn't want to come off as rude.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan decided to follow the other two to the camp. It was getting pretty late and otherwise she'd soon be virtually lost in the darknes of the dense woods. She answered in turn, trailing behind the hovering fairy, "As for me, I'm on my way to the cities to look for a better job. Things haven't been doing so well back home, and I need the money for my family. I heard that there'd be some good opportunities over in that kingdom. Have either of you ever been there?" She added the last curious question in both a subconscious attempt to change the subject and to discover more about these two. She didn't want to worry anyone else with her problems, and she was always ready to meet new allies. She'd pass a few villages here and there, but this was the first time she was having an actual talk with anyone, and it was quite refreshing.

[Roseora]

"Well..." Rose said quietly, "Ive never been to the east... Ive never been past the south kingsoms border." She stated, examining her toes as she walked. She could tell by the way the girl was changing the subject somewhat that she didnt really want to talk about it much.

Rose brushed away a final tree branch to reveal her small hut she had built and the still blazing little campfire she had lit. Her bag was dumped inside her shelter. It was her pillow most nights now. If these guys were staying tonight theyd need to build another hu or two because Rose had only built hers big enough for one.

"Get comfy." She smiled. "Dinners on me." She said, finding three flat stones on the ground and a can of mac and cheese,

Five minutes later, she handed Flora and Susan each a 'plate' of 'yummy' maceroni and cheese with 'absolutely no burnt bits' and joined them where they were sitting.

[Arcus]

Flora flitted around the campsite taking it in the sight of the small camp, then quickly set to work on making her a small covering to sleep in and under. She was making in her place to sleep out of vines and branches, she didn't break anything though and when she was done the next morning. Then she would put everything back to the way that she had found it, once she was done she flew back down to the others.

Just in time for Rose to give her some mac and cheese, 'well I guess it is better then berries for dinner; she thought to herself. Before picking up a fork and starting to eat without looking to see if the others were ready to eat or not. Thinking, 'well these two seem interesting. But I porbably shouldn't tell them that I was a messenger,' she didn't know why but the fact that all during the war she flew and gave everyone different messages seemed to bother some people.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Oh thank goodness, I'm starving!" Susan beamed, thankful for something other than foreign jungle vegetation to eat. While Rose prepared the meal, Susan eyed over at Flora setting up her spot for the night, and thought it would be a good idea to follow the fairy's lead while dinner was still cooking. she unzipped her pack and pulled out a good-sized sleeping bag for herself, which she set close to the fire to warm up for later. she sure was grateful for the crackling flame's heat, as she couldn't stand the cold that the wilderness night would've offered. After a couple minutes of drying her damp shoes off by the fire, she was served her food. She gazed over at Flora being handed her own plate before chowing down on that delicious, cheesey pasta. Once she had finished she expressed her gratitude to her host,"Thank you so much for letting us stay and eat, Miss, Rose, I believe?"

[Roseora]

"Youre welcome." Rose said, finishing off the last few pieces of her maceroni. she got up to go and check the shelters were stable and all, more just to procrastinate.

however, when she got up, through the trees she could see the faint shadow of a tiger, and more than one of them. They were pretty much silent, but you could still see them.
'Guys...' she whispered 'I dont think were alone...' she added, pointing over to where shed seen the tigers.

[Arcus]

Flora lifted her head with the fork still in her mouth and looked over to where Rose was pointing, there she saw the tigers and nodded. Then took the fork out of her mouth and started eatting again, not sure if they had a plan or not. So for now she would wait to see what the others would do, because she had gotten used to trying to out run and dodging attacks from when she delivered messages. That was part of the reason that she seemed unconcerned with the tigers' persence, she also figured that someone would soon have a plan.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan tensed up as she too saw the striped figures watching from the underbrush. A strange mix of excitement and fear sent shivers down her spine. As thrilled as she was by the exotic creatures' sudden appearance, she reminded herself that these weren't just some harmless farm cats. She cautiously grabbed her dagger from her bag just in case an attack was preparing to happen, and tried to think of her next move. She knew she definitely couldn't outrun them, and hiding at this point seemed hopeless. She couldn't tell how many awaited them, but it would've been hard to fight off even one, let alone a whole pack. At first, Susan felt a little more at ease when she saw how calm Flora had reacted, but now the glowing eyes in the distance began to creep closer towards them. She didn't want to fight the beasts, but now a conflict seemed inevitable. She stood up from the ground, her knife raised as she offered the ony advice she could to the others, "Whatever you do, don't run away, and do not let them out of your sight. I hope no one's got any meat with them."

[Roseora]

"Thats not a problem. Im vegetarian." Rose said quietly, smirking. Personally, Rose thought Fora was crazy for reacting so calmy to the tigers.
Rose turned slightly to see Flor still shovelling the remains of maceroni and cheese into her mouth. Rose couldnt think of any witty or sarcastic or any other type of comment to make about that, so instead she drew out her rapiers, slowly stepping back slightly so she had space.

Within a matter of seconds one of the tigers turned to face them, its dark eyes glaring menacingly, and its orange coat showing up against the serene greens and browns of the rainforest and the misty white of the evening fog that lingered.

So of course it wasnt long till it pounced at Rose, who was standing nearest to it. She yelped as it landed on top of her, one of her swords skittering across the floor, out of her reach and out of the corner of her eyes she could see another two, coming dangerously close to Flora and Susan. She wanted to yell at them to warn them, but then she screamed slightly as the tiger dug its huge sharp claws i to her shoulder. Rose still had one of her rapiers, however, so she slashed, and luckily she cut a gash across the tigers paw. She scrambled out of its grip while it was distracted and looked up to check the others were okay and to grab her other sword. She ignored the painful scratches from the tigers claws, that was just trivial and pathetic right now. It could be worried about later.

Rose was mostly terrified it might end up in killing. She didnt want to kill the tigers, after all, they were probably just hungry. Poor things. However, dut came first and Rose's duty right now was protecting her guests. If you could call them guests, it was a few makeshift shelters and sharing a can of mac and cheese.

[Arcus]

Flora dropped her fork as she heard a yell, she looked over and saw Rose fightng a tiger. She wanted to help but she then saw the two tigers approaching them as well, she reacted on reflex not wanting to risk anyone more then nessecary.

So she shoot off toward the two tigers, the sudden movement made the two attack her. She easily dodged the attack and started to weave in and out by them, making sure to stay just out of reach of their claws. This continued on for a few more minutes, until one got so annoyed with her it simply gave up and started to moved toward the human. She quickly got out her staff and jabbed it hard in the shoulder, trying to keep its' attention on her. The tiger tried to lunge at her, but she dodged with a barrel roll. Causing the first tiger to land on the second one, then retreated back to where the human was with her staff in her hand.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"oh crap!" Susan muttered to herself as the strom of teeth and claws and roars and screams errupted around her. She stood with her dagger ready but was too panic-stricken to move. She wanted to help her new aquaintances, but she wasn't used to this kind of action. Her eyes darted around as she struggled to keep up with Flora's speed and Rose's struggle, not sure which to assist. Suddenly, she caught sight of the tiger charging for her out of the corner of her eye. Thankfully Flora had managed to distact the creature long enough for her to get a safe distance away when she snapped back to reality. As the fairy kept the second pair of big cats occupied, Susan decided to dash to help Rose fighting on her own. Seeing someone hurt and in need of help in her eyes ignited Susan's fighting instincts at last. Her mind going blank, she lunged for the injured animal's nose, letting out her own roar of aggression.

[Roseora]

Rose held back, unsire quite of what to do as Susan was.... Like a tiger herself, even with justa dagger! Eventually she regained her confidence slightly, picked up both her swords and went to Susans side.

Rose slashed once more at the tiger as it came uncomforably close, sending it clumsily and panicking off into the forest. She let out a small sigh before realising there was still two tigers. One that was sneaking up behind her and Susan and one that was dangerously close behind Flora.
"Flora look out!" Rose yelled slightly just as the tiger pounced at Flora. Rose just hoped that Flora had gotten out of the way in time.

[Arcus]

Flora heard the warning so without looking back or around, she jumped forward using her wings to make her go farther. She felt pain in her leg as the tiger managed to get its' claws through the lower part of it. 'Thankfully it missed my wings' was all she could think of as she turned to fact the tiger, just as it lunged at her again. This time she knew it was coming, so she was ready, she tried to act like her wounded leg didn't hurt as she planted her feet with her staff in front of her. She caught the tigers' front paws as it tried to get at her, but instead of trying to out muscle a tiger, a fight that she knew she would lose. She used its momentum in her favor, so she went down with the tigers front paws and claws just in front of her.

When she reached the ground, she didn't stop and instead her legs shot up using the momentum to flip the tiger off of her. Then turned and face it, only now it was her turn to go. So she shot forward and started flying all around the tiger, seeming to tease and annoy it while staying just out of its' reach.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan heard Rose's yell and turned to see if Flora was in trouble, not realizing the danger closing in on herself from behind. She had barely spun around to notice the crazed tiger ponce, pinning her to the ground. She held up her free hand in an attempt to keep the hungry beast's fangs away from her throat , then she felt the agony as her arm was crushed by the animal's powerful jaws. She furiously swiped her dagger in front of her trying to hit its eyes, but the pain was throwing her aim off. Instead, she only managed minor wounds that seemed to anger her attacker further. She kicked as hard as she could, desperate to escape, but the predator wouldn't budge with its immense weight. Her struggles were begining to weaken.

[Roseora]

Rose winced as the tiger bit into Susans shoulder.... It must have hurt....
Okay, this was no time to be considering how much it wold hurt, she though. She picked up her rapiers and charged the tiger, aiming for the front paws and underbelly, if she hit it there the tiger would be inclined to move off Susan.

Panicked seeing as Susan seemed to be getting weaker by the second and her rapiers wouldnt get the savage tiger away, she switched to brawling mode, bashing the tiger over the head with the hilts until it jumped up and retaliated. Luckily Rose skidded out of its way, and the tiger threw itself head first into the tree, sliding limp to the ground. Rose stood there, stunned before sliding her rapiers back i to her belt and hurriedly packing up her stuff, and doing a quik inventory on what supplies she had left. For her alone, it would last about a week. If Susan and Flora came too, probabky about two days. Maybethey could make it to one of the other kingdoms and stock up.

"A-are yo guys all okay?" Rose asked, ripubbing her tiger claw scratches. It looked sort of... Cool. She somewhat hoped it scarred, leaving a cool three streaks across her shoulder. Shed have a story to tell little children one day. The only downside was the pain, and the horrible rip in her trusty jacket. She noticed Floras leg was a bit hurt, but Susan had been bitten by the damn thing! That seemed worse, so Rose headed over to her first.

While she was at it, she found out a bottle of antiseptic and an old white shirt. She ripped a strip off of the shirt and sat down next to Susan.

"That will get infected... Here." She said, holding her arm tightly. It would sting. "This might sting just... Just a tiny bit." She added, folding the shoulder of her top otu the way and pouring some of the antiseptic over.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Well, she was right about the sting.
Susan bit her lip and tried to ignore the searing pain. It made her want to pull her arm away, but somehow she willed herself to keep still. As Rose treated the wound Susan looked down to see the damage herself. It certainly could have been a lot worse if Rose hadn't stepped in when she did. There was a large gash in the muscle from the bite, but thankfully, it didn't seem to go bone deep or anything too serious. It definitely hurt though. Susan glanced at her jacket. Sure enough, there was a large tear in the sleeve where she'd have to get it fixed. At least the blood didn't really show up, being that it was a red jacket aftrer all. As they sat Susan turned her head to look back at Rose and managed to talk through the pain, "Th-thank you, for saving me back there. Thank goodness we're alive. It would have been so cool to get a picture though, heh heh. The folks back home would never believe this."

[Arcus]

Flora looked over at Susan and Rose as the human was getting treated, saying simply "why the scare you are going to get. Not be proof enough?" Then put her staff back to where it was before and shoot off into the forest, covering allot of ground and dodging whatever attemped attacks came from what was near her or drawn by the smell by her blood. It wasn't long though before theses attacks stopped, as her arms started filling out with different types of plants. Sometimes just a leaf or two, sometimes a root, other time the stem. Or whole plant, by the time she got back to the camp her arms were completely full with them.

She put the pile down on the ground, before grabbing some and then went to the edge of the camp and started to place them down. She walked the whole outter parameter of the camp placing the herbs in a certain order, by the end though she had given up on walking and simply hovered close to the ground as she worked. Once she was done, Flora went back over to the other two and said. "That should keep any preditors at away... For now," then put some of the herbs into her bag. Afterwhich put a portion infront of Rose and Susan, leaving only a few left. Which Flor a quickly used to treat her leg.

[Roseora]

Rose was somewhat confused, she recognised the herbs in front of her and Susan, the ones Flora was using on her leg had healing properties. But she didnt seehow the ring of herbs aound them would keep the predators away. She shrugged it off and picked up a leaf of herb, crumbling it in her hands and dabbing a little of the sticky liquid onto her own cuts. Se guesssed Susan would do the same. The pain went away very quikly, and Rose felt her shoulder was numb before she cleaned it out too and wrapped a little of the white bandage around to keep it clean.

"Thanks." Rose smiled, shuffling sround on her bum to make herself more comfortable.
"Are we... Sleeping here or maybe seeing if theres somewhere a little safer?" Rose asked, still slightly shaken up by the fight with the tigers. No doubt there were more tigers, and she didnt want yo meet them. Besides, the unconcious tiger would probably gain conciousness soon enough, so sticking around didnt seem like a good idea.

"Hey Susan?" She smirked, grabbing Susans camera and running a few meters away. "Say cheese!" She said, snapping a photo of Susan next to the unconcious tiger. "Now you have something to show your folks back in the west district."

[Arcus]

Flora could see that Rose was abit confused, so she said "the herbs give off a smell that predetors hate. So they won't come close, if they can help it." Then turns and looks at the unsconious tiger, before adding "they we should probably get him out of the circle. Could be bad if he wakes up, also I think right now is probably the safest place to be. So you guys can go somewhere else if you want to but I will be staying here." Then made her way to the tent she made, ready to get some rest.

[Roseora]

"Theres no way we can pick that tiger up and carry it out f the circle." Rise said plainly. The way Flora had said it sounded as if thats what she was suggesting. Rose stood up and wandered round the tiger picking up the herbs and rearranging them so that the circle was no longer a circle, but had a small 'u' in it so that the tiger was outside the circe.
"Youre probably right though, im getting some sleep." Rose sighed, using her bag as a pillow she curled up on the ground bythe campfire. She didnt bother going to the hut she had built, it was warmer by the fire.
"See you guys in the morning..." And Before she knew it, she was asleep.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan awoke to the golden rays of sun that penetrated the dense trees the next morning. As she tried to prop herself up, she noticed that her arm was still a little sore from the coflict of the night before. With a slight groan she shifted her weight, carful not to further stress the injured shoulder. She turned to the tree where the one unconscious tiger slept, or rather had slept. Today there was no sign of the creature except for the trail of footprints leading off into the forest. "Hmm... seems Flora was right about the herbs." she muttered to herself. She rolled over, wanting to see if her new friends were also awake. "Hey guys... ya up yet?"

[Arcus]

Flora rolled over, before quickly getting up and ignored the twinge of pain that lingered in her leg. She knew it was healing fine and that was what mattered at the moment, she put all of the branches and vines back to where she had found it the day before. Then went over to where Susan was, saying "I am. Do yu want me to go gather berries and some petals or roots for, breakfast and tea? I know a herbal tea that should also take the edge of that bite you got yesterday." She didn't know how the human would react to her sudden and bluntness about it, but didn't care either. she was just trying to help and didn't care what others thought of her because of it.

[Roseora]

Rose ignored her friends talking and groaned, hugging the bag she was using as a pillow tightly. It was justnhernluck that both her new friends seememd to be morning people. Rose would much rather sleep till lunchtime, but she rolled over and stared at the dieing ashes of the fire from the night before, and forced herself to sit up. She combed her hair through with her fingers before stating that she still had canned food, but herbsl tea and fruit sounded good.

"So we should probably re-light that fire before it completely dies. Its much harder to light a new one completely." Rose explained, throwing a few more sticks on the fire, leaning down and blowing gently, making the embers spark jp. Within a few seconds they had a proper small campfire, big snough to cook breakfast on.
"Hiw are you guys this morning?" She asked, gently running a hand across her still-sore scratches.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Morning Rose" Susan replied stretching her limbs."I'm good, just a little sore, that's all." She stood up and dusted herself off a bit before continuing her conversation with Flora, "Sure, I'll come with you. I'm not picky with what's for breakfast, but that tea sounded good." Susana was always ready to try new things, and if what Flora said about the beverage was true it seemed like they all could use something for their injuries. She grabbed her pack and slumped it over her good shoulder to carry it. "Well," she said, "it is a jungle, shouldn't be too hard to find some plants, right?"

[Roseora]

"I will come too, since im awake." Rose smirked, sniffing out the ember at the end of the stick she was poking the fire with. "I know a little about plants too. Besides, if spend another minute on my own out here, im probably going to come to the conclusion that you guys are just figments of my imagination." She joked, rearranging the rocks around the campfire to make sure the flame couldnt spread.
"Lead the way, Flora." She added, flicking out her penknife to check the blade was still sharp before snapping it sHut and shoving it back into her pocket.

[Arcus]

Flora listened as the others' said they would join her, she mentally sighed thinking 'now it will take longer." But said, "I guess some company would be nice." Then giggled and said to the human, "some plants are harder to find then others. But I will keep an eye out for it while we look for the berries," she started off and added "I am pretty sure that I saw a berry bush yesterday. When I was gathering the herbs," she wasn't walking but flying just above the ground. 'I wonder how long it will take on foot? Normally I would just fly really fast and look for it, but now we are going to go at a walking pace.'

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan happily trotted along, happy to help her new pals. She noticed that Flora was flying above the ground once again, and she sent her friend a questioning gaze before asking,"Flora, just curious, but don't you ever get tired of hovering around like that? I know there's plenty of times when I just get tired of walking." Those times had certaintly been occurring a lot more often lately, what with how far she'd traveled from home.

[Arcus]

Flora turned and looked at Susan, she stayed hovering as she looked at her for a moment. Before saying, "I suppose. Sometimes I don't realize I am doing it though, as for right now. I would walk, but my leg is hurting a bit so that is why I am doing it at the moment. Also I don't know if I get tired of it, or simply bored of it." Once she was done, she didn't start moving like she wanted to. Instead she waited to see how they would react or had anymore questions for her.

[Roseora]

Rose hadnt really been paying any attention to Flora and Susans converswtion. Instead she had been eyeing up some juicy looking oranges high up in the trees.
"Those look good..." She said, pointing to to where the ripest, freshest ones seemed to be growing. She kicked the tree hard, wnd about one orange landed with a slight thud on the ground. She tried again and it started raining oranges.

"Alright... So getting them down is sorted..." She said, wiping some splattered fruit off of her. "So what else did you have in mind for breakfast, guys?" She asked, picking up as many oranges as she could carry.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan thought about Rose's question for a bit while she also grabbed up a coulple of fruit. She really was o.k . with anything at the moment, but she had to admit she was getting a little tired of the more common "safe" fruits she'd been living off of on her recent travels. She glanced over to good sized shrub a bit off of the trail. It's leaves had unusual barbs on them, and the bush was virturaly covered with plumb, ripe berries, each a different hue of indigo. She'd actually seen a lot of those lately, but had never tried the fruit herself. Mabye the other two would know more about the native plants she could try. She plucked a single berry off to present to her friends before asking, "What about these? They safe?"

[Roseora]

"I honeslty have no idea..." Rose said, picking up an identical berry and examining it. She looked around to see splatters of the berries and half-eaten ones, suggesting animals had been eating them. Birds, nost probably because of the beaks. "They should be safe, but just check if Flora knows before you eat any." Sometimes birds could stomach things people couldnt, the last thing they needed on their hands was berry poisining. Rose stuffed the oranges in her bag and picked up another own before picking the peel off of it and biting into the fresh, juicy flesh if the fruit. "Even if they arent edible we have oranges to last a lifetime., she added, looking at the heaps of fruit still on the ground under the tree. "Flora?" She asked, wandering ver to her with the purple berries to see if she knew what they were.

[Arcus]

Flora watch as fruit rained down from the skies, then Susan pointed out a berry bush. She stayed quiet until Rose asked for her option, she simply shrugged and said. "Well they aren't nightlock," then wondered a way from the group. Keeping her eyes on the ground, while looking around. She suddenly stopped and knelt down and grabbed something from the shadows, when she stood back up she had a couple of leaves in her hand and walked back to the group. "Here is what we need for that tea, it will be a bit bitter though. So you want to add anything to it?" Since they had already gotten everything that they needed for breakfast, she wasn't sure if they were ready to head back or not.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim had been traveling south towards the ocean. He had always heard stories of the large body of water, stretching out beyond as far as the eye could see. His eyes wanted that experience so it was his first destination of his long journey. Jim had been traveling for almost three weeks now, stopping now and then to explore whatever interests him. The only thing he wasn't used to was the warmer climate but he welcomed the challenge. Always lurking in the shadows when moving, Jim managed to avoid fierce battles or small skirmishes that were still going on between the kingdoms in the wilderness. Only participating when northern forces were involved.

Now, in the dense rainforest of the south, Jim could feel he was ever so close to his objective. But one morning he was awaken by sounds that came not from the animals. Remaining in his spot on a tree branch, he first tried to pin point the direction in which the sounds were coming from. Once he was satisfied that there was no immediate threat, he slowly emerged from his well camouflage nap spot in the tree, bring his bow to bear. It was not sounds of a battle or the usual shouting of orders, just voices and several female voices at that.

Jim began stalking the voices, trying to get eyes on the owners to determine whether they were friend or foe. Moving very stealthy among the top tree branches, jumping or swing from tree to tree. Then he saw a rather large butterfly stand up from the ground. It was a fairy, not northern. He drew his bow, taking aim in case she showed any signs of being a threat. Both his eyes and drawn arrow trailed the fairy as she walked towards another two figures. Jim's eyes changed focus and saw that the other two were a sprite and another human, they weren't northern as well. Then his curiosity got the better of him, wanting to observe more, Jim lowered his bow and remained hidden among the trees to watch the strangers.

[Roseora]

{'none were south' actually Rose is from the south, for future reerence. :)}

Rose heard something rustle in the trees. Probably a monkey.... Excpet she hadnt seen any monkeys this far away from the eastern side of the south district. She shrugged, but kept quietjust in case they were being stalked. She turned and could swearshe saw something move in the trees.
"Guys were being stalked." She said quietly, putting her hand on one of her swords.

[ShiftyTide]

(Oops...noted)

Jim noticed the sprite was more attentive than the rest. He quickly froze, deciding to let some distance get between him and the three of them before he continued to keep watch over them. "Guess I underestimated these strangers." Jim thought to himself. Slowly sliding back into the outline of the tree trunk, Jim once again became well hidden. It had been so long since he stalked intelligent beings other than animals that he was a little out of practice. His father would have made him go on another 'hunter and prey' exercise.

[Arcus]

Flora looked around and heard the branches moving, she flitted a few feet off the ground. Up toward the direction of the sound by after a few moments, just shrugged and landed. When she flinched from getting a reminder that her leg was still hurt from yesterday, so she turned to her new companions and said. "Why don't we go back and eat, while I put on some tea for all of us. I am sure we could all us the ease of pain, after yesterdays' fight." Then flapped her wings to hover right above the ground, to ease the pain from her leg. Still holding to leaves for the tea that should teake the edge off their injuries. 'I wonder what is watching us,' she thought not sure if it was a preditor or not.

[ShiftyTide]

When the fairy suddenly started to fly towards Jim's position, his instinct was to reach for his blade in case she got too close and discovered him. His heart raced as adrenaline rushed throughout his blood stream, preparing to pounce on the approaching fairy. Just at the boundaries of his strike zone, the fairy shrugged and descended away from him and his reach. Although when she landed, Jim noticed her flinched in pain. Eyes darting over to the rest, he suddenly noticed fresh wounds and scars on all of them. His observations were further confirmed when the fairy's voice mentioned something about pain easing tea and a previous fight. "Weaken from a recent engagement. Still outnumbered though. The sprite is armed and alert. The fairy fast and armed as well. Not so sure about the human girl yet." Jim quickly did a mental assessment after nearly being discovered.

[Roseora]

{Jims very analytical, interesting... :)}

"Yeah. Race ya!" Rose said, darting off. The faster they went, the less likely theyd be followed. Beakdes, it felt good to feel the cool breeze across her cheeks as she ran, slapping branches and vines out of the way as she ran, hoping the others would follow. She highly doubted if Flora flew at full speed she could still run faster, though. She put one hand up to stop her hat falling off as she hopped over another tree root in the ground.

[Arcus]

Flora smiled, thinking 'finnaly a chance to go fast' then without wasting a moment shot off toward Rose. Quickly catching up as she dodged one thing or another as she went, her smile still spread across her face. She was glad to have someone to race against, as well as an excuse to fly fast. Because back home most people were to busy and thought racing was a waste of time or were to slow to be much fun to her, she couldn't help but wondering how Susan would do in this race though.

[Roseora]

Rose saw Flora was catching up, she she ran even faster. She looked behind her for a second to see if Flora was close and... Splat. She faceplanted right into a tree. She landed on her bum with a slight thud. "Ow..." She winced, rubbing her nose. Flora flitted past quikly, and Rose groaned. She picked up her hat, and stood up and leaned against the tree waiting for Susan to catch up, breathing heavily from running and headbutting a tree. Flora had probably reached the camp now if shed kept flying. Rose still felt like they were being watched, it creeped her out. Big time.

[ShiftyTide]

As the fairy and sprite took off, the human girl was left behind. In just a short moment, the two companions of the girl had put enough distance between them and her for Jim to make a move on her. "Bad move...never leave anyone alone in the open." Jim narrowed his eyes on the black haired girl. He quickly swung from a branch, landed behind the girl and pulled her in tightly to him, effectively locking her with just his right arm. His left hand covering her mouth first in case she tried to alert the rest. The blade in his right hand pressed gently enough against her belly to let her know it was there. "What are you, the sprite and the fairy doing out here?" he asked simply. He gently pulled her behind a tree in case her friends decided to come back and look for her. He also loosen his grip on her mouth to let her speak but waited for the time to shut her up if she screamed for help.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan, too curious at the thought of being watched, was a little late to react to her friends' contest. by the time she saw what was going on Rose and Flora were speeding down the trail ahead of her. the camp wasn't too far, but she knew she'd be smoked with the other's head start. "eh, they'll just wait up at the fire" she thought to herself. she took a few lazy steps in their direction when suddenly She felt someone grab her from behind. before she could even scream her mouth was clamped shut and she was pulled to the shadows.She instinctively went for her dagger, but froze when she felt the stranger's own weapon upon her. "I...uh...I," she stuttered, starting to shake a little. this wasn't good. some guy had a knife to her stomach behind a tree and her friends probably had no idea at the moment. " please," she whimpered, "we were just traveling through, honest. I don't know what you want but please just let me go."

[Roseora]

Rose waited for a few more seconds, but got slightly worried and suspicous when Susan never came round the corner. She slid as silently as she could into the trees,climbing as high as she felt comfortable before inching her way through the trees until she could see Susan... And another man? With one arm she pulled out her rapier and used the other and her legs to slide down the tree, stumbling when she reached the ground but regaining her balance quikly. She probably wasnt very silent, but they didnt seem to notice her anyways.

"You really thought behind that tree was a good hiding spot?" She observed, hoping to get the mans attention and distract him for a second. She grabbed her other sword and lunged at him, pinning him against a tree with her swords crossed over, blocking him from moving or hed end up with a nasty cut. "What do you want with my friend and why do you dare try to hurt her?!" She asked quietly but harshly. Normally, Rose could NEVER have pulled off an awsome ninja moves like that, obviously she was lucky, and the man hadnt been paying enough attention. She smirked, thinking how awsome it was that she actually managed to pin him against the tree.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim realized the girl was terrified and shaking. But she could be trying to trick him and catch him off guard. "Where are you traveling to? Your group doesn't seem like the normal traveling kind, both your friends were well armed and I'm willing to bet you are too. You're definitely not from the North and last time I checked there's a war going on. For all I know, you three were fighting Northern forces recently. Tell me why I should spare your life." Jim really didn't mean to kill the girl but he just wanted to get more things out of her.

Unfortunately, before the girl could answer, the sprite had found them and managed to pin him to the tree. He let her finish her pitiful threat, he had been in worst conditions before. "Hmmph...amateur...." he replied with a grunt as he slide his blade up to meet hers and pushed hers away with relative ease. He sidestepped away from the two and wielded one of his arm guard shield. "And I wasn't even trying. If I wanted to I could have hurt your friend far worse before you even got here. Even your fairy friend's life was within my grasp twice earlier." Jim replied coldly as he scanned for the fairy, in case it was just a distraction to flank him.

[Arcus]

Flora saw Rose suddenly stop, but wasn't sure if she hit a tree or not. So Flora tried to come to a stop as she could, creating a small wind and saw that it moved the herbs out of place. So she moved them back into place, before moving away from them and flew to where she had seen Rose stop. Not seeing her there, she started darting between the trees looking for any sign of her new friend. She cornered the tree and saw that she was heading for everyone, but at to high of a speed. She flapped her wings hard in the other directions, creating a gust of wind that was sent over the others.

When she stopped, she found herself inches away from a guys face. "Oops, sorry about that" She said before jumping back a few feet. Then saw Rose with her swords out, Flora tilted her head and said "are we fighting?" She took out her staff but instead of getting into a fighting stance, she panted it in the ground and flew to sat on the top of it. Her wings flittering from time to time to keep her balanced and tilted her head saying, "why?"

[ShiftyTide]

"Depends, fairy. Do you? From what I can tell from watching you three, you're the most versatile one here. Even with what I suspect, an injured leg." Jim responded. He soon realized his opponents had the advantage over him even though they were wounded some what. He lowered his blade but kept his guard up. "I'll go peacefully. Like your friend here said, I'm also just passing through...." Jim tilted his head towards the human girl. "... until I saw a giant butterfly." he turned and smirked at the fairy.

[Arcus]

Flora knew he meant her, when he had said he saw a giant butterfly and couldn't help but look at her wings. She never did see how they looked like butterfly wings, but shrugged it off and looked back at the guy saying. "Not really, I don't really like fighting. I was a messenger between the countries during the war and did everything I could to avoid the fighting, I tend to do it only when I have to, also if you are just passing by. Where are you headed? Susan here" she nodded to the other human, "I believe said she was going to the east kingdom. As for me, I was here because it is more fun here then in my kingdom." She smiled and wondered if the guy would be another new friend, but was still ready to intervene if that proved not to be the case.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim took a quick glance over to the human girl when the fairy introduced the girl as Susan. He turned back and eyed the fairy, pondering on whether to answer truthfully. "South, I'm heading over to the ocean." he replied, a little more neutrally without the coldness he used with the sprite. He kept his arm guard to show that he no longer intended any hostility. These strangers really were just travelers. And the fairy, she must be Flora The messenger which the border guards always talked about from what she explained. They say she was faster than the wind. "You're Flora the messenger then. My apologizes for not recognizing you. No one had describe your beauty to me as accurately as I see it now." Jim gave a small bow as respect for her and her work.

[Arcus]

Flora blushed slightly, she hadn't realized that others knew who she was and never really thought of herself as pretty. But nodded and said, "yes I am Flora and I didn't know others know who I was. Also I am glad to see, that you don't want to fight. Have you had anything to eat yet? We have more oranges then we know what to do with, was also have some berries and I was going to make us all some tea back at camp if you would like to join us." She smiled again, the guy didn't seem so bad to her. Also they were safer back at camp, then where they were.

[Roseora]

Rose mimed puking when the man told Flora she was pretty. Romance, eww... "Whymare you so suspicous? We got attacked by tigers, if your wondering about the wounds. Anyway im from the south kingdom." She looked him up and down, from his appearance, he was strong, he was a fighter. Probably from the north judging by tha animal skin clothes. Rose disagreed with using animal skin, it was cruel. But she was vegetarian, she found any kiling animals discusting. However she bowed slightly. "You seem to have fought in the war. That is honorable, for your kingdom." She smiled. "As for me, well.... Im more of a village and country girl. However my village got wiped out or enslaved by other kingdoms forces, I escaped. I coulnt stay there, so I left." She shrugged, as if it was no big deal. It was, it hurt a lot knowing that she hadnt done anything to help the people of her village, and her family.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan took a couple of hasty steps away when the stranger released her from his grip. She figured she was safe now that her friends were here, but she got out of arms reach just to be certain. She calmed down and eyed the newcomer as he and the other two talked, giving her a glance here and there. She found it challenging to keep eye contact with him, instead kind of awkwardly looking down at the tree roots at their feet. When she could look at him she had guessed from his clothes and build that he was from the North. His many scars and demeanor suggested that he was one who'd seen many fierce battles in his time, most likely in the war. He seemed okay to her for now, but he did just threaten her life about a minute ago. Susan decided that he'd no longer be a danger to them, but it might be best to keep a close eye on him from now on.

While she listened in on the conversation she silently chuckled to herrself at Flora's blushing and Rose's little display. She thought it was quite interesting that Flora seemed to have some popularity. She wondered if Flora could've ever given her family a message and just not remember, or if perhaps mother had gotten the mail innstead of her one morning. Then she heard Rose talking about her own past. Susan furrowed her brow in curiosity at what she had said. She had acted as if she didn't care much sbout her old village's fate, but something about her expression implied something else. Susan considered questioning her about it, but she didn't want to upset her friend, especially at a time like this, so she figured it'd just pop up again sometime later.

[ShiftyTide]

"Apologizes for my suspicion. After having fought in so many battles, old habits died hard." Jim tried not to sound to cold as he replied the sprite while she looked him up and down. Who did she think she was to abruptly cut into his conversation with Flora the messenger. "Correct. My battles were part of the war. My condolences to what happen to your village and family. War tend to have that effect." Jim could recall when his family were also being threaten. Luckily he was able to reach them in time before they were brutally slaughtered by invading forces. He had forgotten which kingdom it was from but it didn't matter now that his family was safe.

Jim then turned to the human girl. "Susan was it? Forgive me for my actions earlier. It may seem like it but I wasn't planning on taking your life. I just wanted information." he nodded apologetically to her.

"And as for your offer..." Jim turned back to face Flora. "It would be an honor to have tea with you. That is if your friends will have me." he looked over to see what the reaction of the other two was.

[Arcus]

Flora smiled and nodded saying, "great. The more the merrier," she immediately got off of her staff and put it back on her back. Then turned to her new friends and said, "what do you guys say? Shall we go have breakfast?" She wasn't normally the paranoid person, but after what happened the night before. She would rather be back in the circle she had made of herbs, so she knew that nothing would get them.

She looked down at the leaves she had picked and did some calculations to see if she would have to get another leaf or not. She shook her head thinking, 'no. This should be enough, but it might be a bit bitter. I wonder if this place has any-' her thought stopped short, as she remembered a flower that she passed yesterday. so she said, "I will be right back.

Then flew of quickly into the forest, weaving in and out of the tree looking for that flower that she had seen the day before. After a while she stop when she saw a lavender flower, but didn't pick the whole flower. She simply took a couple of the petals, before flying back to the group. When she found them again, she circled once to make sure she wouldn't hit someone. Then landed saying with a smile, "ok now I am ready."

[Roseora]

Rose tilted her head slightly as Flora flitted off again into the woods. O...kay..... At least she was fast and didnt keep them waiting. "Back to camp it is." Rose smiled back, leading the way with a slight jog, picking up the oranges she dropped on the way.

"Its true we have more oranges than we can actully eat..." She laughed, counting at least 50 of them in a heap by the campfire, picking up one for herself and peeling it. Dam peel, she eventually just got out her sword and cut it in half, playing a little game of fruit ninja. It actually worked, to her surprise. One fell in the fire and she managed to catch the slightly bigger piece, nearly stumbling over into the fire herself. Yeah, shed better try and be less careless. She sat back down and took a bite of the orange. "So, have as many oranges as you want, because we dont want to carry all if those... Wherever we are going next...?" She hakf stated, hakf asked. She honestly had no idea what she was going to do next. Probabky tag along with wherever her friends were going, she didnt want to be out in the wilderness on her own again even if she had stayed on her own for quite a while, and had pretty much only just met these guys anyway.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan followed the rest of their increasingly odd group back to the fire. She had fun watching Rose slicing mid-air oranges and tried to dodge any chunks that flew her way, eating some of the ones she catched. While she waited on Flora's tea she took out the strange berry she'd kept from earlier. Its vibrant color and juicy appearance taunted her curiosity. Even if it was harmful, just one wouldn't hurt, right? She discreetly slipped the the fruit into her mouth while no one was watching. It was so sweet and delicious, much better than any farm crop. Totally worth the risk, 100-freaking percent. When she was done savoring the heavenly taste she glanced over at the Northern man, "So, uh, got a name or what?"

[Ms.Scarletwings]

...

[Arcus]

As soon as they got back, Flora start making the tea and put the pot over the fire when it was ready. Knowing that it would take a few minutes, decided to busy herself with getting everyones cups and putting it in front of them, Before grabbing an orange and looked at it for a second. Before simply shaking her head and notice, Rose chopping some oranges.

She smiled, decided to have some fun and flew up started catching peices of the oranges that got cut. Once she caught them, she would popped it into her and enjoyed the taste of the oranges. Before going to catch more, she continued doing this.

Until she knew the tea was ready, when she landed and picked the pot up. She then started flitted from person to person, pouring them some tea and moved onto the next. Saving her cup for last, she put the pot off to the side. Just incase anyone wanted to have another cup later.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim went along with the group back to their campsite, helping out with the orange gathering as well. He wasn't really comfortable being around such a odd group, an all female group at that. He felt a bit out of place but he couldn't back out now that he had accepted Flora's invitation.

By the fire, while the sprite was displaying her swordsmanship to rebellious oranges, Jim just took one orange and used his blade to slowly and skillfully peel it like a craftsman sculpting a smaller orb out of a bigger orb. It had been a long time since he had an orange and they didn't grow in the North. Besides, the tea Flora was brewing seemed like it would take a while.

He was focusing on his task in hand when Susan's voice intruded on his concentration. "So, uh, got a name or what?" her question stopped his hands from continuing. "Jim." he said simply without even looking up as he continued to peel of the final bottom hemisphere of the orange.

Once his orange was nicely skin free, Flora had started pouring out her tea for everyone. "Most appreciated." he looked up at Flora when she poured tea into his cup. Once Flora was seated, he took a sip. 'Hmm...slightly bitter but I guess they wanted it more for its medicine value.' he thought to himself. He continued drinking his tea, watching Flora and only glancing at the other two from time to time.

[Arcus]

Flora tried the tea, then tilted her head. She could already feel the pain from her leg disappearing but that wasn't what she was thinking of, 'maybe I should have added more of the flower? Or maybe have found another one, so that one would have lived?' Was what she was thinking, then put her tea down and looked at the orange next to her. She picked it up and continued to think, 'maybe I should just put a piece of the orange skin in there?' She continued to debate and think about it for a few minutes, she ended up closing her eyes as she thought. Her wings start flittering from time to time as well, but she didn't seem to notice as she thought about it.

Soon she was a few inches off of the ground still in her sitting position, eventually though she simply sighed. Deciding it was fine and to try to make it better next time, she opened her eyes and saw that she had lifted off the ground. So she stopped her wings and simply normally would have let herself simply fall back down, but with her injured leg. She didn't want to risk opening the wound, so instead she flipped back and landed on her hands. Before swing herself around back to the position she had been in earlier and picked her cup up. Taking another sip of it and looked at there little group, she noticed the guy who introduced himself as Jim looking at her. This caused her to blush again, then thought 'does he not like the tea? Or do I have something on my face?' She went back to looking at the fire and sipping her tea.

[Roseora]

After slicing one orange, Rose shrugged and grabbed another to play more fruit ninja with. Flora and Susan seemed to be enjoying the bits of orange that went there way, and the tea was probabky too hit to drink now... But it did look good. She paused for a minute to pick up the cup and groaned as a piece kf orange landed on her head, she wiped it off, letging the other piece land on the ground next to her.

She vaguely listened to the northern mans and Susans converstion, Jim. Cool name, she thought. "Wait..." She went to sit next to Susan. "Do you still have those berries? I think I might know what they are..." She said, Susan had better not have eaten any, if they were what Rose thought they might be. She looked at her expectantly, takin a sip if the slightly medicinal tasting tea. It was good, and the scratches and cuts felt numb, and the tired pain down her legs and back started to ease a little. It felt good, so she drained the cup very fast, despite the searing heat of it that burnt her tongue slightly. Rose was not much for hot drinks usually.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan lightly blew her beverage to cool it a little before sipping. It really did seem to help, and she didn't think it was all that bad. She heard Rose's question while drinking and blinked at her for a second, trying to think of what to say. It would sound really reckless and stupid
if she just told her she ate it, so istead she said, "Uhh...oh yea, I think I dropped it on the way here. The bush ist too far though, right?we can go back. Oh, and what did you think they were?"

[ShiftyTide]

Jim noted that Susan and the sprite were occupied with a berry conversation. He wasn't a berry person but he was thankful he had a chance to focus on the fairy in front of him. Her cheeks were slightly more red than usual. Maybe it is the tea or just a fairy thing, he thought. "The tea is nice." he said, getting up to pour himself another cup. He then went to sit next to Flora to better converse with her. "Could you tell me about your time as a messenger for all the kingdoms?" he asked politely with a small almost hidden smile, still gazing at her face and into her eyes whenever she looked at him.

[Arcus]

Flora kept blushing slightly, but said "I wouldn't have minded pouring that four you." Then heard Jims' question and forced herself to stop blushing, before saying "ummm.... Sure I don't mind, but what do you want to know? Also I do warn you right know, I didn't spend much time in anyone place. While I was a messenger, though I did really hate when people tried to take their anger out on me. Because I don't make the messages, I had just delivered them." Then realized she was probably babbling and so stopped talking, finished her cup of tea. She started blushing slightly again, before pouring herself another cup and waited for Jims' response.

[ShiftyTide]

"Then most of your time was spent within the wilderness." Jim said with a neutral tone as he looked into the fire and took a moment to think. "I'm sure you may have come across some strange places before. I've heard stories of an ancient temple deep within the wilderness during my travel from the North here. I was wondering if you've come across the location during your message runs. Perhaps I might venture there after my visit to the ocean." Jim turned back to Flora who was still red and pouring another cup of tea. Should he stop her? Perhaps not, she needs to recover from her wounds, he thought.

[Roseora]

"Yeah, lets go back have a look." Rose smiled. "Guys, wait here a min..." She said, turning to Jim and Flora. She stood up, picking up a piece of orange and heading in the general direction of the strange berry bushes.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan heard Rose's reply and gently set her half-consumed tea down to finish later. She got up and followed the sprite, leaving Flora and Jim to... whatever it was they were doing. After a bit of walking, she could easily make out the marble-sized violet orbs against the green foliage around. Almost instinctively she called out, "there it is!" and rushed on over to the bush. Before her friend would catch up, she plucked two of the shrub's berries and popped them into her mouth. If one had no effect, she concluded that an extra two couldn't do any harm. So good was the taste from such a small sample that she had to have more. She even ignored Rose's approaching footsteps as she reached for an entire handful.

[Roseora]

"What are you doing?" Rose snapped, smacking Susans hand away from the berries before she could put anymore of them into her mouth. She hadnt seen her eat any, but the redish purple smudge by the girls mouth was all the evidence Rose needed.
She leaned down and examined the leaves carefully, trying to make sure of what they were.

{What effects are you thinking the berries should have?}

[Arcus]

Floras' blush disappeared as she started thinking, 'I think I remember that legend. Though since I passed through everything so quickly, I often have to piece things together. Ancient temple, I do remember it but.... What did it say?' She closed her eyes as she tried to remember what it or if she had seen anything, she felt like she had seen something. But couldn't remember what it was and as she continued to think harder and harder, her wings started fluttering from time to time.

After a few minutes, she was in the air again. Though she didn't seem to notice, when all of a sudden. Her eye pop open and her wings stop, she instantly realized that she was falling and and quickly get her wings moving. Stopping just before she hits the ground and then gently lands on the ground, she turns and looks at Jim. "Actually I do really, I do remember a rock with strange writing on it. Maybe that is what you are looking for?"

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Uhh, well, I don't think they're that bad." Susan responded when Rose cuaght her red, or rather purple-handed. As her friend knelt beside the bush she grew quite impatient waiting for the identification. 'Something this wonderful just couldn't be dangerous, even the animals agree' she thought as she stared off at a distant lemur lazily snacking on the ground. Susan licked the left over juices on her lips, not wanting the sweet taste to fade away. Her hand shook slightly as her eyes darted back to the bush "come on, just a few more." she said as she yanked off a cluster and shoved them into her depserate mouth, the sugary flavor coming on much more potent this time. She hummed a little as she savored the delicious fruit. She began to feel somewhat lightheaded all of the sudden, taking a couple a wobbly steps back from the plant. Her vision wavered a bit as she strained to focus on Rose's seemingly distant figure."See, I, I told'ya, dem berries (hic) was good. O;"

[ShiftyTide]

When Flora started to slowly float up into the air again, Jim slowly stood up with her as well. His left arm held out behind her in case when she came back into reality, land on her injured leg and stumble, he would be able to catch her from falling. It seemed to be a habit of hers to just let her wings be themselves.

When she suddenly stopped fluttering her wings, Jim reached out to try and catch her mid air but her winds began to move again and she stopped just above the ground. Jim quickly pulled his arm back, not wanting to make her feel weak or let her think he was being over protective.

"Yes, that could be it. The legends said that those who build the temple spoke in a language long forgotten in time. Perhaps the stone is a mark pointing towards where the temple is." Jim replied in a matter of fact tone, while his left hand unconsciously came up to rub his chin.

He then noticed Susan and the sprite missing. He hadn't heard the sprite earlier. "Where are the rest?" Jim asked Flora as he put down his cup and did a quick look around to check for any signs of anything that could be a threat.

[Arcus]

Flora listened to Jim, her eyes growing in size as her excitment grew. But went back to normal as Jim asked about the others, the fairy tilted her head for a second. Before saying, "I think they went back to the bush. I think they tried to tell us they were going, but we were having a conversation. So didn't notice," then shrugged saying "guess the berries must have been good. I am sure they are fine, especially with Rose there. She seems like a pretty good fighter."

Then her wings started fluttering excitedly, as her eyes grew in size again. This time a excited smile moved its' way onto her face, as well. She added, "I think I remember where the rock is if you want to go and see it." She couldn't remember the last time she had an adventure or at least a fun one and this certainly seemed like it would be fun.

[ShiftyTide]

"Oh..." Jim acknowledged when Flora informed him that the two had only gone foraging for more berries. He relaxed as the fairy added an offer to take him to the rock they were talking about. "You mean it's nearby?" Jim's eyes were filled with excitement like hers. He had been looking for the temple itself or at least signs of it during his travels but had no luck. Now he had a guide to show him.

"Let's go before those two come back. With your speed and my agility, they wouldn't miss us at all." Jim lighten his load by only carrying his blade with him. His bow and gauntlets just right beside his tea cup on the ground. "Led the way my fast flying friend." he gestured a hand to encourage her to lead on.

[Arcus]

Flora nodded and knelt down, gulping down the rest of her tea before putting it down. As soon as she stood back up though, she shot off in a south westernly direction. Easily weaving in and out of trees, vines, and whatever got in her path. She was trying to force herself to not to go full speed, feeling relatively certain that Jim wouldn't be able to keep up. It was hard though, because she could feel the excitement starting to course through her body. From time to time her wings sped up quite a bit, from when she had lost control of her excitement. She would quickly force herself to slow down though, so Jim wouldn't lose her.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim felt the sudden burst of wind when Flore took off. "She is fast." he said under his breath as he quickly sprinted after her. It had been a long time since he had a chase. His stamina was still as good as he remember though, all those tracking in the wilderness had its advantages. Jim had also gotten used the forest area they were in, using the tree branches by swing from tree to tree to help him keep up with her. He could see that she was holding back to let him keep up. He barely could if he was only running on his feet. He followed her fluttering wings through the dense forest.

[Arcus]

At the speed that they were going, they would soon reach the rock and when they got close to it. Flora knew it was straight shot and also knew she wouldn't be able to hold back anymore. So she stopped holding back and her wings became a blur as she shot forward, even faster. Dodging the last few branches, before putting the brakes on and stopping at the rock.

She looked at it as she waited for Jim, it was larger then she thought it was. She had thought it had been small, about half the size that she was. But it was actually quite large, taller then she was. She started looking around the rock to see if there was anything around the rock that could help them because she already knew that she wouldn't be able to read the weird marking that were on the rock.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim was doing just fine following Flora. That was before she suddenly showed her true speed and disappeared, leaving a blurry line behind. He quickly doubled his efforts to catch up.

Soon enough, he spotted the rock they were looking for and Flora already examining it like a curious child. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath before walking up to her. The marking however caught his attention as he began trying to decipher them in his mind. "I've never seen anything like it." he exclaimed in a low astonished voice.

Jim walked around the rock to see if there was a supposed angle in which one was suppose to look from. Circling the weird artifact, Jim noticed something familiar. "Here. Take a look at this marking." he pointed to a wavy looking scribble. "The North kingdom have been using this mark to represent the ocean forever." Jim explained. "But the legend says the temple was in the wilderness, why would the ocean be mentioned?" he thought out loud, sharing his thoughts to his winged guide.

[Arcus]

Flora went over to him and saw what Jim had pointed out. She nodded, "I see what you mean. That is odd, maybe the temple was something in that pertains the to the ocean? Or maybe something from or across the ocean?" Then saw something over the in the middle, she pointed at it and said. "Doesn't that kinda look like an egg of some kind? Or am I just imagining things?" She really hoped that it wasn't the latter of the two choices.

[ShiftyTide]

"I didn't notice that before..." Jim commented as he looked closer. "I think it is." he nodded when he came to a conclusion. "A temple, the ocean and the markings of an egg. A temple holding an egg from the ocean?" he looked at Flora with a confused looked before turning back to the rock to examine it further. "I can't make out some of the markings here. The moss seem to have gotten to them." Jim noticed the lower part of the rock have been covered with green moss growth which had partially destroyed some markings. It looked like some sort of creature but maybe it was just the moss.

[Arcus]

Flora nodded and said, "that is a shame. So this is suppose to tell us how to get to the temple, right? So far all we know, is that it might possibly have some kind of egg that may or may not be from the ocean." She wanted to know what it said and the fact that she didn't frustrated her. Her wings started to flutter a little, some of the leaves around her moved slightly and she thought she saw something. So she knelt down and started to rub her hands in rows across the ground, soon she had exposed a small portion of blue that was hidden and dirty under the forest floor. Her winds started to flutter in excitement, a smile spread across her face. Then said, "hey Jim. What do you make of this?" Mentally adding, 'with any luck this may lead us to the temple.'

[ShiftyTide]

Jim bended down at what Flora had discovered. "Hmm...a blue chart. The ocean's blue am I correct? This looks like a map." He noticed the boundaries of the south kingdom. "See here? This should be the South Kingdom. So if I'm reading this correct...." Jim's hand pointed at the brown patch, which he hope wasn't dirt, and traced a dotted line over to another smaller brown patch. "...there is land out in the ocean. See the dotted lines? This must have been the way the ancients used to get there. Either the temple is actually located there or they moved the egg to that piece of land in the ocean." Jim theorized. His hand gently brushing across Flora's when he moved it back to his side. "Neither way, that place definitely should be explored." he turned to look at Flora.

[Arcus]

Flora smiled, glad she did well and she had for quite some time. Wanted to see if there was anything beyond the ocean, then turned a shade pinker as his hand brushed over hers. But ignored it and said, "I wonder what the egg is" her wings still fluttering with excitement. Then added remembering something, "I guess you may not only get to see the ocean. But also may get to cross it, the sun over a glass sea. Is absolutely gorgeous," now she was flying. She started doing excitedly circling around Jim, she had tried to stay still. But couldn't any more, so then she would now just try to not make him dizzy.

[ShiftyTide]

"Whoo....slow down there. You're making me dizzy." Jim let out a few small chuckles. "Thank you for showing me this rock. I would've missed it if I continued with my travels." he thanked her as he moved out of the circle she was flying in. He had hoped for more places to explore and now he had found one, beyond the ocean too. He could be the first Northern to sail the vast waters. "Flora, do you have something we can copy this map onto?" he asked her, realizing a copy would come in handy when he actually went in search of that land.

[Roseora]

"Uh... Susan?" Rose asked, concerned. She seemed to be shaking slightly and when she spoke she sounded a little... Drunk. "Yeah youre not eating anymore of those." She said, snatching another handful of the berries out of herhand. She sighed and leaned against the tree, contemplating what to do next.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan let out a bit of a whine as Rose grabbed the juicy morsels from her grasp."Rose, now why you go n' do that?"she slurred, showing a bit of a child-like pouty face. She attempted a few steps forward before stumbling against an old tree, which she used for support. While she used one arm to hold herself up on a low-hanging branch, she moved her other hand up to her face and inspected it very closely."Hey, Rose," she began, "I have three, no, wait...five fingers. Why do I have five fingers?(hic)You know why, don't you?"

[Roseora]

"Youve allways had five fingers, Susan..." Rose sighed, unsure of what to do. She walked up to s
susan and stuffed her hands inside of all her pockets, checking the girl had no more of the berries on her. "Lets go now." Rose said, putting her hands on Susans shoulder and forcefully but gently leading her back towards the camp. Hopefully this woukd wear off soon... What a stupid girl to have eaten the berries without knowing what they were... And then wanting more of them! Ugh...

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Huh, oh, we goin somewhere?" Susan asked as she felt herself being led away. Without the tree, she sort of half leaned on her friend to keep her balance. As they approached the small flame of their camp Susan couldn't help but feel that something was missing. After a bit of mental strain she could vaguely recall Flora and Jim through her clouded thoughts."Buddy, the other two was here right? But now its just you an me, and I don't know where they are, neither did the fire. it got all lonely and sad." She made a slow gesture to the dying flames.

[Arcus]

Flora sat on top of the rock trying to force herself to stop flying, though her wings kept fluttering. She shook her head saying, "sorry I don't." Then thought of something, "but maybe I can find something. Be right back," with that she started shooting from one place to another. After a few minutes she landed in front of Jim with a large leaf, a couple of rocks that look similar to cups each of which had a certain color of berry in them and a couple of sticks. She said, "Jim do you think that this will work? If not I can go and look for other stuff," even though he had landed. Her wings were still fluttering excitedly.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim took the things Flora had brought back and looked at them closely. "No harm trying." Jim replied as he bent down and started copying the details of the map onto the leaf. Jim recreated the markings of the map as best as he saw it, not having much knowledge in map charting. Finally, after some moments of eye straining, Jim was satisfied with his copy of the map. He carefully rolled the leaf up once the berry ink had set and used a long blade of grass to tie it up. "Do you want to make your own copy of the map? If not, we better head back, Susan and the sprite might be on their way back." he suggested looking up at the wing fluttering fairy.

[Arcus]

Flora shook her head and said, "if I want a copy. I can always make one later, but ya we should get back. Our friends are probably getting back from now, so we should go but first." She took advantage of her excitement and flew around in a few quick circles, covering up the map and when she was done. It looked like it did when they arrived, the fairy smiled and said. "Now we should go," she landed and got ready to ran with Jim. She wasn't used to running, but had made him play catch up before. So she thought that it was only far that she would have to do it as well.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim just nodded as he began to run back to camp. Flora seemed to have decided to use her legs instead of her wings. He kept at a pace where she could keep up at his side, always making sure she was right there next to him as they ran through the forest. When they got back to camp, Susan and the sprite was already back. However, Susan was leaning on the sprite was support. Did something happen while they were gone?

[Arcus]

Flora ran next to Jim, her wings were still all through out the run. She was putting her energy into running and by the time that they had arrived at camp, she felt alot calmer. When she saw Susan leaning on Rose, she ran over to them to see if everything was ok or if something happened. Saying anxiously, "what happened? Are you guys ok?"

[Alter Ego]

A pair of golden eyes bore through the trees, watching the group as they aided one another. Black, tousled hair was caught in the way, but quickly brushed back by a leather glove-bound hand. Kai stared in dead silence, always careful to watch a group before making his presence known. Kai had been watching the camp for several days now, living off of a meager supply of wildberries and spring water. This strange group full of different beings had all come together, but for what reason Kai had no idea. Kai wasn't sure how to bring himself upon the group, so he instead sat in that nearby tree, observing the group's every movement, conversation, and all else. Were these people friends or foes? Kai had no idea. But, if they had some business to take care of, then Kai wouldn't mind sharing this adventure with them since he rarely got out. In fact, he had just gone away from the East Kingdom, needing a break from all of the woes that blew throughout the small town he lived in.

After hesitating a few more minutes, Kai reached into his sheath of arrows and strung one up on his bow, aiming just past a fairy's head.

He pulled back on the bow's string, and released after pure concentration.

The arrow whizzed past Flora's head and into the tent right next to her.

[Roseora]

{tent? What tent? In case you havent read the thread, theyre hand built dens XD}

Rose was just about to reply when an arrow shot straight past Floras head.
"You still sure this is safer than movin?" She asked, suddenly reminded of all her cuts and scrapes and tiger scratches as she scanned the trees, worried. "Were being stalked. Again." She groaned, exhasperated as she reached for her swords.

[Arcus]

(not only that, but didn't we make camp. Just the day before?)

As soon as an arrow flew past her head, Flora jumped back. Before saying, "so you would have perfered to take your chances with the perdators? Because remember, I made that circle of herbs to keep us safe for the night from the wild animals." But she did agree that something had just attacked them and was more likely then not still watching them, she turned and looked toward the bushes. Where she was sure that the arrow had come from, so while her wings started fluttering. Ready to dodge any farther attacks, said "who are you? And why do you attack?"

[Ms.Scarletwings]

She hadn't seen the arrow fly past, but Susan slowly caught on to the threat that might be at hand when Rose had grabbed her swords and Flora prepared for a struggle. "Guys, what's happening?" she asked as she tried to make out what it was that the others were looking for. The world around seemed to be moving faster than she could take it in. She let go of Rose and reached for her knife, somehow managing to stay standing. She looked to her side to see Jim and said, "Jimmy, what's going on? Who we fighting?"

[ShiftyTide]

Jim's first reaction when he saw the arrow narrowly miss Flora's head was to draw his own and return the shot. Unfortunately, he had left his bow on the ground by the fire. Their attacker may not have noticed it yet so he slowly walked towards where it was while scanning the trees in the direction the arrow had come from. Half way to his bow though, Susan let go of Rose, stumbling while trying to get a hold of her knife. Jim had to hold her up with both hands before she totally lost her balance and fell. Her voice came after asking him what was going on and who they were fighting. "Another hunter." Jim replied in a whisper.
Jim understood how dangerous it was to be seen while not knowing where your opponent was. His father had made that fact known to him a million times during his training. Jim turned his head to glance at how far his bow and arrows were. A leap's distance away. He mentally set a marker there so that he was able to make the leap at a moments notice. His eyes went back to looking for their hunter, not point having the bow and arrows if you don't know where to shoot at.

[Roseora]

Rose stood there, uncomfortable. She didnt like being watched, not at all. She had experinced this feeling a little too much recently. She glanced at her friends, silently saying 'I will go have a look' before running iff in a seeminkg yopposite direction just to circle round until she was behind where the arrow had come from and most probably the archer whod shot it. She looked around for anysighn of anybody, and she saw him. If he even aimed another arrow... She rdied her penknife to use as a throwing knife if she needed, holding both swords by their hilts in one hand.

[Alter Ego]

(Ahh! So so so sorry! I skimmed through the forum so it's all my fault! Sorry about that! Let's just pretend I said "hut" and didn't say "camp")

Kai jumped down from his post on the tree, walking slowly over to the group. He slung his bow back over his back and placed a hand on his dagger, ready to attack if need be. He merely brushed past the green-skinned girl and continued walking.

"I'm Kai...Kai Genesis. And it's not like I hit you or anything, I purposely shot the arrow so it would hit that hut over there." To further prove his point, he nodded his head in the direction of the poorly-built hut.

He made sure to keep his true purpose of hunting these guys a secret. If he did, he wasn't sure what would happen to him. Actually, he was unsure of the real reason himself. All he knew was that he had left the East Kingdom in search of something to do, and he supposed that this group was something he could toy with for a while.

[Arcus]

Floras' wing didn't slow down, she didn't come off the ground. But easily could if she wanted to, as she spoke her tone to on a bit of irritation. "Even so, what give you the right to suddenly shoot off an arrow? Just because you weren't aiming at me, doesn't mean it is ok. If you wanted us to know you were their, then you could have simply gotten out of the bushes and said hi. Instead of trying to act like you were trying to hunt us," she wasn't sure how she felt about this guy. So far she wasn't sure that she liked him and wouldn't hide that fact either.

[Alter Ego]

Kai kept his face blank and emotionless. Around strangers, Kai had to pose as a predator or else he would become the prey. He replied to the fairy; his voice as cold as ice,

"It's my entrance. I'm not like you, a ditzy fairy that can just go up to anyone and be all happy-go-lucky with them," he mocked the way Flora talked at the last part. He then dropped his tone so that it was even more threatening.

"And who's to say I wasn't trying to hunt you? Fairy wings are in high demand nowadays," he eyed Flora's wings. Kai was having too much fun with this group, mangling their emotions. It took all his strength to repress a smile.

[Arcus]

The more the guy talked, the more she disliked him. To the point that when he finished, she was down right seething. She may not like fighting. But she hated when people, threatened her friends or her kind. So once the guy had finished talking, her eyes were cold and she shot foreward at her full speed. Easily closing the distance between then in a blink of an eye and kicked him in the gut, using the momentum from her speed to add to her strength. Sending him flying into the closed tree, then when she spoke her voice was cold and hard as ice. "If you ever hurt a fairy, I will personally make sure you pay for it. Especially if it was for our wings, just because I don't like fighting doesn't mean I can't."

[Alter Ego]

Kai was surprised by the fairy's sudden attack, ad was even more so when he was thrown back against a tree. He groaned and clutched the place where he had been kicked at. He glared and quickly jumped up on his feet, grabbing his bow and two arrows in the process. It was clear this fairy was not a friend, and he had to react. No one kicked him and got away with it.

He strung the arrows onto his bow and began to pull back, only to realize what he was about to do. He was going to hurt someone who had clearly been offended by a meager little joke. He loosened the string and began to put everything back; the arrows in their sheath, the bow around his back.

He brushed the dirt off of himself and walked towards the fairy to the point where he was barely an inch away from her face.

"Nice try, Fairy Flitter, but it's gonna take a lot more than a little kick to knock me out," he said with a devilish smile. He quickly withdrew from her and faced the others, completely ignoring the fairy.

[Arcus]

Flora glared at the guy and said, "who said I was trying to knock you out?" Then went to the fire and sat down, trying to cool off some and poured herself another cup of tea. Her wings still showed how anger she was though, she really didn't like that guy. She figured that her friends may make her apologize later, but she had no intention of doing so. As far as she was concerned, he was not someone to like. Even so she would try to play nice for her friends' sake. This incident had all but made her forget the excitement he had just minutes early, though it was possible to come back later. When the temple or place or whatever was brought up again.

[Alter Ego]

Kai looked at the other group members.

"So, anyone else wanna attack me or can we get some introductions in?" Kei grimaced a little bit at the sudden pain in his gut. He reached into the knapsack he carried and pulled out a small herb that he stuck in his mouth.

Its bitter taste quickly spread through his mouth but he continued to chew it, swallowing it after a few moments. He immediately started to feel better and crossed his arms, waiting for a reply.

[ShiftyTide]

As the green clad black haired figure appeared from the trees, eyes narrowed and muscles tensed. The newly arrived male was a hunter alright, bows, arrows, dagger and everything else. Just like him. Jim liked friendly challenges but not threatening competition. Even when the guy introduced himself, he was projecting an image with an attitude which Jim felt repulsed to.

Flora seemed to feel so too. Although technically implied, Kai did confirm he was hunting them just moments before by not denying it. Plus, mentioning about fairy wings being high in demand was just uncalled for.

Next thing Jim knew, Flora performed a kick on Kai from a remarkable distance. Everything was happening so fast, at one point Flora was lashing threats, the next point Kai has his bow drawn with two arrows aimed at her. This guy really knew how to make a first impression.

Jim's instinct fought to leap for his bow and try to hit Kai before he hit Flora but Susan was rather dependent on him at the moment and she needed protection in her state as well. Flora was fast, she could dodge arrows no doubt but Kai had two ready.

Luckily, Kai returned his arrows to his sheath instead of unleashing their deadly ends at Flora. The tension in the air was so thin a hair was enough to break it. Angered and offended, Flora stormed off to the dying fire, sipping on her tea to cool off. Kai still hadn't learnt his lesson as he asked whether anyone else was up to fight him.

Jim had to suppress his urge to just go up to him and knock some sense to him. Or leap for his bow and exchange arrows with each other. Many more unpleasant thoughts formed in his mind on how to put some hurt into this jerk. But if he did, that would mean risking the safety of the others and Jim didn't like his battles to effect others except his opponents.

Helping Susan over to the fire to sit down with Flora, Jim turned his head to Kai. "Well your entrance worked, we're all blown away." he said rather cold and sarcastically. Jim set Susan down before taking his own seat and refilling his cup with tea. His eyes never leaving Kai though, watching for anymore signs of threat.

[Alter Ego]

Kai was completely satisfied with his work. He had gotten the reaction he had wanted from some of the people. He frowned a little bit at the guy sitting next to the fairy, feeling his reproachful gaze watching his every move. While he awaited his response from the others, he looked around the camp, looking for any weapons they could use on him. They had reason to attack him, and he was surprised they hadn't all jumped on him yet. However, he could easily knock them all out with the years of training he took.

There was a bow next to the fire pit, and Kai assumed there was another archer here. Of course, they could just have it as a prop for show so that way no one messes with them. His eyes flickered around the camp on the prowl for more potentially harmful tools, but found nothing.

These guys are pretty defenseless. Wouldn't be hard to overpower them if I have to, Kai thought.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan put her dagger away as she was set down next to Flora, feeling that the immediate danger had passed for now at least. She picked up her unfinished tea from earlier and took a few gulps, trying to pay attention to the actions of the others. The dizzyness in her skull was slowly replaced with the pressance of a annoying ache as she tried to clear her mind. When she heard Jim finish his statement, she lifted up her head to look at the hunter herself. "So, Mr.Genyses, what a guy like you doing round here?"

[Roseora]

Rose snapped her knife shut and stuffed it back into her pocket, she had a cold hard expression on her face. "Im Rose, by the way." She added.
"Dont you dare-" she dtarted, but stopped when he put the arriw down. Yeah, keep friends close and enemies even closer. Something about this guy made her suspicous- the way he said 'who says im not trying to hunt you?' And all, well, Rose has glad no sprite parts sold for much. She was quite proud of her lovely pointed ears, that right now were pointing down slightly in annoyance. She keot her grip on her swords, reluctant to lessen her guard, this guy was definitly dodgy. She came to a conclusion, though.
"Give me that." She said, snatching the bow and arrows and darting off into the trees. She would give them back to him later, if he didnt try to kill them. She remembered a good hiding spot somewhere in the woods near here, and made a run for the opposite direction in case Kai tried to follow her. She. Ould allways run round in a circle or u-turn if needs be.

[Alter Ego]

"Hey!" Kai yelled as his bow and arrows were suddenly ripped from his back. His hands turned to fists and he held them at both sides, starting to get annoyed with these people's shananigans.

He watched where the sprite had gone to so he could grab his weapons later on. He saw her skirt around a corner into the woods and he gave an exasperated sigh. Kai would just have to rely on his tracking skills to find everything.

He turned towards another seemingly-human person who had asked him the question.

"Firstly, it's GENESIS, pronounced GEN-uh-sis. Secondly, I ain't gonna answer anything until I know just who I'm dealing with. What're your names, and what kingdoms are you from?" He paused a minute in thought, debating on whether or not he wanted to trade information for the location of his bow and arrows. He'd love to see their reaction when he found out he had no real purpose in high-tailing them for so long, but that meant he wouldn't get to test his tracking skills in finding his tools. He finally concluded that he wouldn't bring up a trade. He folded his arms across his chest and waited for their response.

[Roseora]

Rose wiped the dirt off of her hands in the river, there. The nasty guys most dangerous weapons were beyond reach shoukd there be any little skirmishes. She headed back to the camp.
"Nice to see everybodys made friends andis exhpchanging hugs and kisses!" She announced sarcastically and she could sense the tension in the air, the fuming seething emotions that Flora made perfectly clear ripped through the air like fire, making Roses cheeks burn with awkwardness and a slight fear. She hated to admit it... But this guy was also *cough*somewhathandsome*cough* she quikly turned er head away from him.
"Anyone want more tea?" She shrugged, pouring herself another cup.

[Alter Ego]

Kai turned his head towards the green sprite. He was still annoyed with her for taking his bow and arrow. He looked at her hands and saw that there was a few flecks of mud on them. That gave him a clue as to where his tools were, but he had to wait until nightfall to do anything.

Kai's patience started to wear thin as everyone looked around at each other, not answering his question. He cleared his throat. If they didn't answer soon, he was afraid he was going to have to knock them out and hunt for his bow and arrows, then quickly flee the...whatever they were living at.

"Let me repeat myself, who are you people and where are you from?!"

[Roseora]

Rose turned when Kai spoke. She glanced nervously at her firends befkre looking back to Kai, with his cold, handsome eyes with streaks of amber... No. She snapped herself out ofit, and spoke. "What if we dont want to tell the likes of you?" She snapped, venom dripping from her words. "Weve told you our names, is that not enough?" She asked, it was a rhetorical question, and she softened her tone a little as she saidit, not wanting to come across to harsh.

[Alter Ego]

Kai glared his eyes at the sprite. He recalled being told their names. This one's name was Rose. He locked his golden eyes into hers, staring into her soul. From there, he could easily read what she was feeling. She was trying to act tough, but didn't want to seem too harsh. There was something else there, hidden behind a murky cloud, but Kai couldn't tell what. With one small breath, he replied to Rose.

"No. It's not enough. You never told me what kingdoms you are from." He eyed everyone in the group. He was really annoyed now, he was not getting direct answers and he was uncomfortable without the leather straps of his sheath of arrows and the string of his bow wrapped around his body. He looked to the sky.

He could have easily used the watch a lover had given him back home, but he didn't like technology much and preferred the ways he grew up by; depend on nature for nearly everything, even for time. By the setting sun, Kai assumed it was around six thirty. Nightfall would be approaching soon, and he began to plan his method of escape and the hunt for his weapons.

[Roseora]

"Im from the south." She shrugged, it couldnt hurt, could it? If he was so demanding. She didnt say about the others, in case they didnt want to share what kingdoms they were from. "Alrigh, and wherabouts are you from?" She asked then. She stared at him, trying to discern what exactly he was feeling, or thinking. Rose couldnt read minds but she didnt like the way he was looking at her, as ifhe would quite happily make her into a spiret kebab and roast her over the fire. She tilted her head to one side curiously, her ears perking up a little as she took another sip of her tea, that was staring to get a little cold.

[Alter Ego]

After a short pause, Kai answered Rose's question.

"I'm from the east kingdom." was all he said. His stomach rumbled in hunger. He looked down at his stomach, quietly telling it to shut up. Even though Kai had food to eat everyday, berries weren't exactly the most filling thing in the world. He couldn't let these people know that he was weak from hunger, or else he'd be in trouble. He started to talk louder, trying to cover up his talking gut.

"So, what about the others?" he asked. They still weren't replying. Kai guessed they were either scared of him, didn't trust him, or both.

[Roseora]

"Not saying, if you want to know ask them not me. And dont even think of threatening or intimidating any of us. Youre outnumbered and outarmed right now." She said bluntly. She really, really didnt likethis guy. There was an exhasperating silence, Rose wished something, ANYTHING would happen to break the tension in the air. She didnt care right now if that ended up being a fight kr something, she just wanted the tension gone.
"How about you scuttle off to your little hiding place and stop firing arrows at our dens." She added dryly, after a few seconds pause again, using the tip if her sword to mark squirly random patterns in the dirt at her feet. She turned back to the fire and speared an orange with her sword, and holding it over the fire. Roasted orange, Roses new delicous gourmet recipe, even better than her burnt mac and cheese. Rose considered openin her own resteraunt one day. She tried not to let it show, but she kind of wanted to stab something right now, so she stabbed another orange, two roasted oranges for dinner it would be.

{six thirty? Your jking, right? We just got breakfast..... XD oh well, time leap it is!}

[Alter Ego]

(holy freaking- wow. I am so so so sorry...let's just say I meant 6:30 am and the sun was just rising. Also, can I switch out Kai's dragon-calling skill for the ability to play the flute?)

Rose had a point. He was outnumbered and hopelessly unarmed, with only a dagger and tranquilizer darts. He observed Rose start to cook an orange.

Wait...an orange?!

Wow. That's new. Kai smirked at her attempt to make food. An idea suddenly formed in his mind. They clearly weren't going to give him any kind of weapon, but he might be able to at least give them (and himself) a decent meal.

"You know, if I can get a hold on that bow and an arrow," he nodded at the bow lying by the fire, "I can cook up some bird and give you guys a meal worth having," he tempted. He knew that this was something he could bribe them with, and it might help him gain a little bit of their trust. Kai hadn't made himself anything filling because he didn't want to risk being caught by starting a fire and cooking something. This was his chance to eat and be full for once.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim remained silent, trying to assess Kai and his threat level while blocking out his demands from his ear. The sprite, Rose had unsuspectingly done a favor for him by keeping him 'entertained'. Disarming him and exchanging demands with introductions, the sprite was more fierce than he had earlier thought. Kai on the other hand was beginning to not look that tough.
The other hunter seemed to underestimate their group's capability in combat, amateurs' mistake. Even without his weapons, Kai was over confident that he could toy with this group he had so impulsively attacked. Clearly, the fact that Jim was another hunter was obvious to him.
Susan slowly recovered from whatever poison or spell she was under. Flora was still cooling off her steam. Safe to say, their weird band of misfits was working just fine. A smile crossed Jim's face, realizing he had gotten comfortable with the rest of them except for the new guy. Taking another sip from his cup, Jim just sat looking rather relaxed with a hand behind his back.
As if on cue, Kai mentioned about using his bow. "Touch my bow and you become the prey." Jim gave out a quick harsh threat before Kai could think further about it.

[Roseora]

{im sure you can,just go edit it in your character sheet :) only this once though, we cant have people changing their attribues to suit rp purpouses. Anyway, as I stated earlier ai think a fight between Kai and Rose would be interesting. ;)}

Rose was NOT giving Kai his bow and arrows back just yet.
"Youll get them back in the morning, nice try though." She smirked, holding up some cans she had left. "Im vegetarian, my friends here are happy with canned food..." She said... There was something more than just wanting his bow and arrows back though, Rose could tell. "If youre hungry theres more oranges than we know what to dow with." She laughed, pointing to the huge heap of oranges besides them. Many of the fruits bad fallen victim to Rose game of fruit ninja, but many still remained to suffer the fate of being eaten or thrown away.

[Alter Ego]

Kai couldn't help but give a small smile at Rose. He quickly threw it away, though, and returned his glare. He was *that* close to getting his hands on a bow and arrow, but it hadn't worked. Despite this problem, he walked over and grabbed an orange and started to peel it; the sweet smell infiltrating his nostrils. He took a piece off of the orange and put it in his mouth. Fruity wonderfulness burst through his mouth, and he chewed and continued to eat.

Kai turned his head to the guy sitting by the fire, the one who had told him not to touch his bow. This had tipped off the fact that the other man was a hunter as well.

Kai sighed. He was growing impatient without his bow, and needed to do something to take his mind off of things. He sat on the ground near one of the huts and ate in silence. He was itching to play his flute, something he hadn't done in a while. But, he wasn't going to show a soft side of himself to the others. He sensed that he was becoming less of a threat, and had to regain this power or else all wouldn't end up well. He felt like picking on Rose.

He started to eye her so that she would feel uncomfortable, and when she finally looked up at Kai, he smirked, tossing his orange peel into the fire.

"You know, sprite body parts aren't as high-priced as fairy ones are, but they do fetch a fair price. Especially those pretty ears of yours," he flicked his eyes to her ears, pretending to act as if he was setting a bid on them. He braced himself for impact, knowing he was going to be put in a fight. He casually placed a hand over his waistband, ready to take out his dagger at a moment's notice.

[Roseora]

Roses ears perked up in annoyance when Kai said that. Power crazy idiot, she thought, desperate to look tougher than them. Well, it wasnt working. She drew her swords, and sliced her orange in mid air, just to show off. "You sure you want to get in a fight with me?" She smirked, and when he drew his dagger, that answered her question. She lunged at him, aiming to slash him across the shoulder. More as a warning hit, she didnt really want to hurt him too much.

[Alter Ego]

Kai dodged the slash of metal with ease. He stepped to the side, and, using the very tip of his dagger, lightly skidded the blade across Rose's arms. He had applied enough force to make a small cut, but nothing that would be too serious.

Using his left hand to weald his dagger, he continued to circle Rose, waiting for her next move.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim has had enough about this Kai and his arrogance. Although he didn't really mind watching the sprite fight with the guy, Kai had gone to far to place cut on the Rose. Jim didn't care how small they were, a cut was a cut. "Hey!" Jim cried out after walking over to where his arm guards were and picked them up. "If you want a fight, don't pick on the little sprite." Jim fastened his arm guards securely and took out his blade in his left hand. "Let's settle this, hunter to hunter." Jim got prepared in a stance, giving Kai the first move.

[Alter Ego]

Kai turned from Rose, and smirked in her direction. He walked away from her and faced Jim.

Instead of attacking, he started to laugh.

"Heh...hahahahaha! Well, since it seems everyone hates me at the moment, I have no option but to fight back." He readied himself, dagger in his left hand. "It was an unwise decision to let your opponent strike first," he said with an evil grin.

He ran at full speed towards Jim, faster than anyone could have expected. He made himself look as if he was going to strike Jim in the arm, but instead leaped upwards, jumping over Jim.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim kept his eyes focused on Kai as Kai charged him. Kai faked a strike and leaped over Jim but Jim was fast enough to respond to it by swinging his right arm at Kai while he was in the air. Effectively disturbing Kai's balance, Jim thrust his left leg towards Kai, knocking him a distance. "Defense is the best offense." Jim turned to face Kai where he landed and renewed his stance with both arms raised and ready for another return strike.

[Alter Ego]

Kai made no delay in getting back onto his feet.

"Well, this is hardly fair," he yelled, "A dagger against your weapons?" Jim was about to land another strike on him, but Kai leapt up once again in the air and did a backflip so that he was behind a dazed Jim.

While Jim tried to turn around, Kai used his legs to maneuver around Jim, hitting him in several pressure points and disabling his arms so that he couldn't attack anymore.

Kai stood back, admiring his work. His opponent's arm were disabled, and would be for the next few hours. He smacked his hands together, beating the dust off of his gloves.

He turned to the others.

"Anyone else?"

[ShiftyTide]

(Jim's arm was raised and waiting not in the process of striking. Lol)

Jim was really pissed that Kai had gone to the point to hitting pressure points to disable his arms. It was completely uncalled for. Jim had been on the defense so far but since Kai seemed to be having no retrains why should Jim?
When Kai turned to the others to gloat. Jim leaped at him. His arms weren't his only weapons. Jim's legs wrapped around Kai's neck while his weight and momentum brought Kai to the ground, making sure he came down hard enough on Kai that Kai would lose his grip on his dagger and drop it. Kai's dagger fell a few feet away as Jim's legs tightening around Kai's neck, blocking his airway. "I'm really sick of you. You think its funny to play with pressure points?" Jim snarled at Kai as he sat on Kai's back. His leg showing no signs of loosening.

[Arcus]

Flora was getting angry again, but had enough restraint to simply stay sitting. Though she had turned around and was watching, her wings fluttering angrily. She was ready to move and help at a moments notice, but wanted it to be as fair as possible. So she was currently taking her anger out on an poor orange and caught a couple of pieces from Roses' last fruit ninja effort, then simply started eating.

[Alter Ego]

(Oh, lol xD sorry xD)

Kai's face was beginning to turn red, his air supply becoming constricted.

Damn, I knew I should have hit his legs! he silently cursed. He started to breathe heavier and heavier, his vision becoming clouded and starting to darken.

He desperately thought of any way to get out of this grip. He saw his dagger, but knew it was too far out of reach to make a grab for it. Before Kai could think of anything else, he felt his body go limp, his vision starting to fade.

His sight became black, and his body was like a dolls.

[Arcus]

Flora looked at Kai and saw that he had fainted, she stood up and walked over to Jim. Wondering if he realized it yet, so she asked. "Do you know the other guy has fainted?" She didn't care, she hated him but even so. The fairy doubted that Jim wanted to kill him, she didn't even know if he meant to knock the guy out or not. Then asked, "so Jim how are you arms?" Pressure points weren't fun, so she wanted to make sure that Jim was ok.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim loosened his grip when he realized Kai had passed out after Flora came over to tell him. Jim went a little berserk there and lost slight control over his actions. Jim did plan on making Kai pass out before things got out of hand but his anger had almost made him go further. "Right. Letting go now." Jim rolled off Kai's unconscious body. He was thankful that Flora had came up to him when she did. "Damn bastard don't know when to stop. Better tie him up before he wakes up. Who knows what he'll do." Jim voiced his concerns with a low groan of pain. Without his arms under his control, Jim managed to get on his feet after some struggles. "My arms are useless for the time being, slight aches but fine otherwise." Jim replied Flora.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

During the scuffle Susan had been sitting by waiting for the effects of those darn berries to wear off. She wanted to help her friends from the moment Kai had attacked Rose, but after watching the hunter in action she figured that with her injury and slight nausea she might have just made things worse. She didn't think the battle would escalate that far anyway, until Jim had interviened that was. When Kai had blacked out Susan gasped thinking that Jim had gone too far until she saw that the guy had only passed out.

Once the whole thing was over and Flora helped Jim she walked on over to Kai and looked around for some vines or something to use to restrain him. As she went about this she glanced over at Jim and chuckled, "Wow, remind me never to get you mad Jim." She also looked over at the sprite , "Hey Rose, are you okay? That looked a bit close from where I was." she asked with concern. While waiting for a response, she thought it a good idea to take the newcomer's things as well. She took whatever she could find on the body before stuffing it inside of her own bag out of sight.

[Roseora]

Rose stood back, glaring at Jim. Hed gone a little too far, calling her a little sprite and all... Was Kai... No, he was breathing now Jim had gotten off of him. Her expression softened a little.
"Im alright." She replied to Susan, covering the 6 inch dagger cut with her hand. It hurt like hell, she thought, and the oil and dirt on her hand just made it burn evenmore.
"Jim... You alright?" She asked, wincing she she moved her own arm. Pressure points hurt. She watched as Susan confiscated Kais weapons and stuff, before using her good arm to reach into her bag to find some rope.
"Rope is stronger than vines." She propped Kai up, keeping his head up to make sure he could breathe okay... Yes, hed be fine, She checked before lying him on his side and tieing his hands and feet together, if he woke up, he wouldnt be going anywhere fast. Rose was relieved, she still had her lovely ears, they werent being sold at auction.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim felt like a total dimwit with his arms hanging unresponsively by his sides. Plus the pain he was feeling wasn't really joy as well, biting his lower lips slightly to help himself resist the pain. He watched as Susan used vines to restrain Kai, feeling at ease that the mad hunter was bond. When Susan chuckled at him about not getting him mad, all Jim did was raise an eyebrow in confusion. Then Rose's voice asked how was he, he'd thought she'll still be holding it against him for calling her little. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Jim answered the sprite's question without the usual coldness he used with her. Rose then took out ropes to bind Kai more properly.
Satisfied with the level of safety for now, Jim limped over to the tree closest to the fire where he sat down and rested his back against it, allowing his body to recover over time.

[Roseora]

Six inches, Rose smirked. Shed have a good scarr to show off one day. It was deep too, and painful. She growned slightly wnd grabbed a cloth from her bag to stop the blood seeping onto her jacket anymore than it already had. "Jim, I dont suppose you could teach me to use a bow and arrows?" She asked, getting up, tieing the cloth round her arm and getting ready to head off to where whed buried Kais bow. She didnt feel like giving it back to him now, and it was a nice bow, too, with lovely, well carved wood and metal tipped ends.

She came back a second later with the bow and sheath of arrows, aiming one at a tree. Her aim was wobbly, and her arms most probably positioned wrong, it was wkrth a try though, now she had the chance. She adjusted her stance a few times, unhappy with her archery skills. Hopefully Jim might be abke to help her.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim gave Rose a look when she pop that question at him. There he was standing pain without complain and here was a sprite asking him whether he could teach her how to use a bow and arrow when he couldn't even life both his arms. However she did have a point there, Jim didn't know when he would regain control of his arms and the other person having experience with archery was out cold and tied up at the moment. Jim simply nodded his head in agreement.

When Rose came back and tried to shot an arrow, Jim mentally slapped his forehead since he couldn't physically. "Straighten your bow arm. The thumb of the hand pulling the string on your chin. Use one eye to aim. Aim slightly above where you want the arrow to hit. Release the string by loosening your fingers and not your hand or wrist." Jim tried to give a simple crash course briefing on how to shot straight, although he was groaning once or twice.

[Roseora]

Rose loosened the bow string and turned to listen to Jim. He had a point. Arm straight. She did exactly what he said, and she she aimed for the tree on front of her, and released the arrow. It embedded itself in a tree just behind it. Well, she was only about 30 centimeters off, she guessed. She pulled another arrow out of Kais sheath and aimed again, trying it faster this time, it was perfectly on target. She nearly fist-pumoed the air, but winced when she remembered the dagger cut on her arm. Yeah, she should probably clean it or it would get infected. On its own, kt was just painful and a cool scarr to show off, but if it got infected... Rose didnt want to think about it. She fired one more arrow at the tree before putting the bow down by the fire.
"Thanks." She smiled, looking at Jim before going to her bag and finding out her bottle of anesthetic.

"Guys...?" She asked, "can we head to the nearest kingdom? Im nearly out if supplies and Im not sure how many supplies you guys have..." She stated, pouting a little of the anesthetic onto her cut and wiping away the dirt and grime. She looked up at Susan and Flora, to see what they thought. She wasnt sure how far out in the rainforests they were, any if the four kingdoms could be 'the nearest kingdom' and Rose didnt have a map or anything.

[Alter Ego]

Kai had remained in a peaceful sleep for several minutes. In that time, he was dreaming about how life was before the war; he and the Hunter he lived with were out in the woods, practicing making traps and preparing birds for the evening's dinner. The Hunter was probably what Kai would consider his only friend, so when the old man had passed away he was grieved with pain that lasted throughout several years. Still, the Hunter taught Kai valuable lessons on surviving in the wild.

All this and other fond memories of home were brought back and made Kai smile as he slept. This was the most sleep he had gotten in days, and was probably the best he had ever had.

I oughtta try to get knocked unconscious more often, Kai thought.

He suddenly heard the sound of a bow string being release and strung back repeatedly. His eyes snapped open immediately and he awoke to see Rose shooting his bow and arrows as if it were some toy. Kai immediately felt angered; that bow had been specially made by the Hunter and given to him, along with carefully crafted arrows that could kill a target on sight.

He tried to bolt off of the ground, but found himself tied up with rope and vines. He silently swore, placing curses on everyone and everything. He looked around, his golden eyes searching for any signs of what else had happened. He looked down to his waist, where his knapsack usually was. He nearly had a heart attack when he realized it was gone. That bag had several powerful items that couldn't be handled by amateurs that had no clue what they were or what they did.

Kai turned his head to his other thigh, where his dagger almost always was. It wasn't there, either.

Kai was about to lose it. He had been robbed of all his valuable stuff, and being tied up made him just as helpless as baby.

"Give me back my stuff!" He yelled. He was seriously peeved right now, and was ready to murder someone. "That stuff is dangerous! Give it back!" He spat in frustration at it all.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan sat next to the fading embers that had been the campfire, enjoying the peaceful moment that came with Kai's K.O. She smiled at watching Rose getting herself aquainted with archery. She wasn't much of a fan for long range weapons herself, prefering her trusty blade for defense. "Nice shot" she said when one of the arrows hit their mark. Then she heard the sprite's question on moving on and thought to herself for a moment. She didn't have any maps with her because her original plan was just to head east, which could be found with the rising/setting of the sun. She didn't know exactly how close they were to what kingdom, but mabye-
her thoughts and that moment of peace were cut short by the angry shouts of their "prisoner". After a sigh she remarked, "Well, he's awake now." She moved over to the enraged hunter and tried to talk to him "Calm down, buster, your stuff's safe, but we're going to hold on to it until you learn how to play nice, okay?" She patted him on the head as if he were some child or dumb pet, trying not to laugh at the situation. She agreed that he did have it coming, but mabye there was still a chance for them to be friends.

[Roseora]

Rose growled in annoyance when she heard Kai yelling. She picked up her sword and pocked Kai with it, not enough to hurt him or even draw blood.
"Shut up. Therss no way your selling our ears and wings at auctions." She groaned, sitting back down by the fire, admiring the bow. She didnt really want to giveit back now, but sne figured shed probably be obliged, excelt for the fact Kai had given her a lovely 6 inch dagger cut and made Jims arms go all floppy, and annoyed the hell out of Flora. She softened her gaze a little. This guy might be handsome, but he was pretty arrogant. Rosehated arrogance, it was going to be the downfall of men one day, she just knew it. She removed her sword from Kais neck and sat down again, looking back to see how he was reacting. The way he was tied up did look somewhat uncomfortable, she decided. She walked on over to him and re-tied the ropes so he could sit up. There was no way she was letting him go though.

[Arcus]

Flora had watched everything silently for a while, before going and grabbed Roses' cup. The fairy filled it up and handed it to Rose, "here remember this will help with the pain." Then went, grabbed her cup and filled it up one last time. After that she walked over to Kai and knelt down, holding the cup close to his head. "Here, have some tea. It will help you calm down, I don't blame you for freaking out. But think about what you would have done in our shoes, you will get your stuff back in time; just not right now" she said to him. She may not like him, but she had calmed him down enough to think rationally. As she waited for Kais' response, she said to the rest of the group. "I think we are within a days' journey of a town on the edge of the southern kingdom, but I can do a quick fly over. If you want me to check," her wings started fluttering on and off as she waited for someone to say something.

[Alter Ego]

Kai was utterly shocked that these people were treating him so kindly. Other times when he had been kidnapped, they weren't nearly as nice to him. For that, Kai was a bit grateful.

He let Rose sit him up (a lot more comfortable) and took a few sips of the tea Flora had offered him. All Kai did was cast his eyes downward and sigh. He couldn't do anything right now. He sat in silence, listening to the fairy ask if they wanted her to fly down. Without thinking, Kai automatically said,

"The south kingdom is a two days travel from here, west is about one and a half weeks, north is roughly two and a half weeks, and the east kingdom is the same distance as west."

[Arcus]

Flora blinked and said, "really? It is two day? Cause I could be there easily with in half a day, so thought walking would be about a day or so by walking. Huh, o well guess I was wrong" her wings fluttered a little bit more. A smile spread across her face and said, "guess thats' why I love having wings." She put the tea down next to Kai, and flew a little above the others'. Then did a couple of back flips and barrel rolls, before coming down. Her smile still on her face, her excitement had disappeared was coming back. Which was shown by her wings which were now fluttering excitedly.

[Alter Ego]

Kai shrugged.

"Well, you are a fairy, and probably don't like to travel on foot much. Besides, you're a fast flier. That's probably why you can get there in so little time, but on foot it is about two days. But, it's been a while since I've gone to the south, so it could be more or less." He watched as the fairy flitted about, and had to admire how gracefully she flew in the air.

[Roseora]

Rose slightly wished she was in water right now, then shed reallyget to show off!
"Yep, so how about we go stock up in the village there, then... Then we do whatever." She said, she wasnt much if one to plantoo far ahead. She started to pack up some of her stuff, before going to sit back by the fire, she thanked Flora for the tea, and took a sip. She was draped in that familair and comforting blanket that the tea seemed to have that effect on her, any pain seemed to just float away. She needed to ask Flora for the recipe.

"Susan, you alright?" She asked, seeing Susan had been quite quiet and might still be feeling the effects of the berries.

[ShiftyTide]

The sprite had been doing very well after Jim how to use the bow. 'She has a talent with it, maybe I should continue her training...' Jim thought to himself as Rose turned to him and thanked him. Jim merely nodded in response and listen to her asking all three of them about supplies and journeying to replenish hers.

Then all so abruptly, as if there was some kind of unseen universe force, Kai's timing didn't fail to interrupt the peaceful moment with shouts of demands. Susan, probably still under the effects of whatever intoxicated her, walked over and pet Kai like some sort of pet. Rose still seemed to be undecided whether to treat Kai as a friend or foe. One moment she's poking her sword at him, next thing Jim knew, Rose was helping him sit up to a more comfortable position. She really had a soft spot for him.

Even Flora went up to Kai and offered him some tea. Kai, the guy that attacked them and disabled Jim's arms was being offered tea by Flora while Jim sat by a tree watching on. 'What? Did I camouflage into the tree or something that everyone forgot about me?' Jim shacked his head at the girls' tendency to welcome new and unknown strangers. Suddenly starting to feel the fatigue of the battle he had with Kai, Jim closed his eyes for a quick rest.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Huh, oh yea, just a bit woozy, that's all. I think the tea's helping though. Sorry about whatever happened back at the bush." Susan replied to Rose. She also noticed Jim fall asleep over by the tree, but she decided not to point it out. 'best to let sleeping dogs lie' she thought to herself. They'd probably move out when he woke up, as he definitely needed the rest. In the meantime she turned back to face Kai, who she'd still been petting and hadn't even noticed. She quickly withdrew her hand to avoid some awkward silent moment or anger him or both. "So, Looks like you're coming with us, then. At least until we make it to civilization. Come on, think of it as a fun little adventure." She beamed, trying to get him to lighten up for once. She knew that if he made such a fierce enemy, then he'd make a valuable ally as well, and their group could really use someon like him. She started again, this time speaking to everyone, "I say we head to the East kingdom. We're not going to get much from a southern village, and that's where I was headed anyway. I'm sure we'll be able to make it with what we have and can find in the wilderness."

[Arcus]

Flora noticed that Jim was sleeping and was debating about getting more herbs to widen there little safety area, but said. "Actually I was thinking about going with Jim to the southern kingdom," she had hoped their little misfit group would stay together for awhile. 'Are we already going to split up?' She thought miserable, but tried to not let her sadness fall onto her face. For just because she would be sad to be separated from her new friends, didn't mean that she wanted to make them sad as well.

[Roseora]

"No..." Rose said suddenly. shed been listening to the conversation but not saying anything, in her head shed been thinking 'Im nbot going to be on my own again!'
"I mean, Im tagging along with you guys..." she said, composing herself. she finished packing up her stuff and threw a few more sticks on the fire to keep it going before grabbing another orange and this time, peeling it not playing fruit ninja.

{Sorry for short post, im posting from school XD}

[Alter Ego]

Kai's mouth dropped open. He was seriously confused.

"What?! You invite a random huntsman that tried to kill you to go to one of the kingdoms with you?! You guys are crazy! Do you have no shame?! This is mad talk! How can you just be so forgiving?!" Kai shouted. He was irritated that these people had treated him like a pet, but when they invited him along; he thought he was going to lose it.

Kai sighed (he's done this a lot recently, hasn't he?). He wasn't complaining about them bringing him along; it gave him a chance to explore the other kingdoms and all, but still! They invited a guy that not only threatened to auction their body parts, but injured one of them.

He looked back up at the people expectantly, waiting to see what they planned on doing. If they split, he might as well go on his own, too.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Sheesh! Calm down." Susan responded to Kai's shouting, "Well, did you just expect us to leave you here or something? Not like we would've trusted letting you go yet either, especially since I still have this and all." At the end of her statement, Susan pulled out Kai's knapsack and began to swing it back and fourth a little, before continuing, "I think I'm gonna hold on to it for just a while longer. You sure get around, don't you? This thing has all sorts of neat stuff!"

[Alter Ego]

Kai gasped when he saw Susan swinging his bag around as if it were a toy.

"Give that back! That stuff is important! It isn't something to be messed with!" He struggled against the grips binding him. If he wasn't irritated before, he most certainly was now. He began to panic. His tranquilizer darts-10 in all- were in that bag. It took forever to craft them, and it took three times as long to find the anesthetic plant that had to be mixed with several other rare and expensive ingredients to make it perfect. The darts packed a mean kick, and it could easily knock out a fully grown man within seconds and prevent them from waking up for several hours.

"There's dangerous stuff in there!" he added. He really needed to emphasize the danger in those sedatives. As he continued to struggle, he realized something else was in there-something much more important than tranquilizer darts.

"Don't touch my pine needles!" He screamed.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan was starting to really enjoy this. She never messed with anything. She just took a peek inside of the bag earliar. Though she froze in her spot at Kai's last despperate yell. Her face started to twist into a very confused expression. Out of all the mysterious and valuable items she'd taken, he was most concerned about the pine needles? She set the bag back into her pack and turned back to him, "Wait a second, what's so important about the pine needles?"

[Roseora]

"Pine needles?!" Rose yelped as she burst out laughing. "Sorry." she added quietly, recomposing herself. "Yeah...Whats so important about them?" She aksed inquisitivly. She walked over to Susan and put her hand into Kais bag, pulling out what she guessed was one of his pine needles. Her and Susan looked up at him for a bit more explanation.

[Alter Ego]

Kai's eyes widened as he saw the girls take the bag full of the delicate, sweet-smelling needles, he nearly had a heart attack.

"J-just don't touch them! Put them by me, and I'll explain everything! Just please, be gentle with those!" He paused. "They...they mean a lot to me..." He looked down, fearing that something would happen to his precious pouch. He moved his head upward, waiting for the pine needles to be at his side.

[Roseora]

Rose tilted her head to one side.
She folded the top if the bag over gently and left them on the ground beside Kai.
"Alright then, explain everything." She said, holding him to his word.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

It felt so weird seeing someone like Kai beg like that. This was the first time she'd noticed what looked like the spark of true fear in those amber eyes. Susan watched as her friend did as Kai pleaded. Once the needles were safely beside him she said, "See, no harm done. Now tell us what the heck's got you so worked up over these things." She was particularly interested in hearing this. She wondered if maybe the needles had special properties or something else. She sat down and waited for Kai's response.

[Alter Ego]

Kai felt relieved and relaxed himself. He took a deep breath, and began telling about his pine needles.

"As a kid, my parents gave me up but died soon after. A huntsman took me in and raised me up until about three years ago, when he passed away. He taught me everything I know; from hunting, to picking the safe plants and cooking them up-basically everything needed for survival.

"He went out hunting one day, and he was gone for a while. I started to worry, but he came back after a week. He was in a terrible condition; he was all torn up-skin was bruised and scratched, had a few broken bones, I think. He was on the verge of death, but even still I tried tending to his wounds. All he did was laugh, but in a good way. he said his time was up, and that he had to give me one last thing before he was gone for good.

"He told me to go into his hunting sack, and I did as I was told. I reached in and grabbed that pouch of pine needles, and he told me to keep them with me at all times. He didn't explain why...all he said was that it would aid me in a time of need, whenever that was...he took a final breath and then...was gone..." Kai felt tears well up in his eyes.

"Ever since then, I've always had that pouch with me. I consider it my good luck charm, and it also doesn't smell too bad. The only thing I've ever seen them do to help, though, was whenever I fell out of this tree one time. I broke my arm, and had to sleep on the ground for the night. Of course, the pine needles were right in my bag, and the next thing I knew; I was all healed up, like nothing ever happened." He took a few deep breaths, trying to recollect himself.

"So, you see why those needles are so important? The huntsman gave me that bow, too. We crafted it together, but he gave it some kind of 'magical touch'. Those arrows were part of the package, too. Top-of-the-line, made from the tallest, oldest Oak in the Eastern Kingdom." He stopped there. He really hoped they understood the importance of those things.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan just sort of paused for a moment, her eyes wide in surprise. "I...I had no idea." she looked down at the ground, thinking about how they were practically teasing him with that stuff only a minute or two ago, and she felt like a total jerk. This was someone who'd lost a person very close to them, and here they'd been pushing him from the start. It started to remind her of her own father. "I'm sorry Kai. I am."

[Alter Ego]

Kai looked up to Susan.

"It's ok...you didn't know. And, I was...kind of...a jerk, so...yeah." he shrugged. He had certainly gotten what he deserved.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

It still didn't feel right. 'it's not ok' Susan thought to herself. She imagined how she would feel if someone messed with her serpent necklace. It was the only thing she had to remember her father by, her most beloved possession, and that's what those needles were to Kai. She felt like she just had to do something, anything to make up, and that's when it hit her. She drew her knife and began to cut a few of the ropes that held Kai. "please don't make me regret this." she muttered under her breath.

[Alter Ego]

Kai raised his eyebrows, startled by Susan's sudden move. She had cut the ropes off of Kai, freeing him from his bounded prison.

He felt his wrists, happy with the feeling of them being free again. His eyes met with Susan's. He stood up, grabbing his needles and slipping them into the pocket of his jacket.

"You won't. I promise." He smiled and walked over to the log, picking up a piece of wood.

"You guys know where my dagger is? I...wanna whittle something. It's not a weapon, I swear." He held his right hand over his heart, his other one up in the sky. He planned on making a small, wooden flute that he could play and entertain everyone, as thanks for treating him so kindly. It would be a surprise, of course. He started planning what he would do tonight. He'd get someone to go out and gather with him, maybe Jim so that way he could get a chance to apologize and everything. He'd hunt for some groose for everyone that wasn't a vegetarian, and he'd look for some of the best plants he knew and make the best meal Rose will have ever tasted.

He brightened at the idea, and was excited to get out and do everything as fast as possible.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan reluctantly reached into her backpack and pulled out Kai's dagger. "I have it here, but if you want the bow too you're asking Rose." she said. After seeing the darts in his bag and his skills in battle, she knew that if he really had any true bad intentions for them then he would have already carried them out. She hoped the others wouldn't be too upset about her desicion. Kai seemed a lot like Jim had when they'd met him. She could see them eventually getting along. They definitely had much in common, that was for sure. Susan got up and held out the knife to its owner.

[Arcus]

Flora wasn't sure how she felt about anything that had just occurred, but decided it was for the best to simply keep her mouth shut. She looked back over to Jim to see if he had woken yet, seeing that he still seemed to be asleep. She decided to walk over to the opposite side of the fire, so that her back wouldn't be to Kai and she could keep an eye on him. She understood about giving him a chance, but at the same time. He had given the fairy a reason to not trust him, so he would have to earn it. Even so she would at least try to be hospitable until, he gave her a reason not to be.

[Roseora]

{Lets get a little excitement in :)}

Rose listened as Kai was talking, and was slightly surprised that Susan gave him his dagger back so willingly. She didnt comment, though. Her attention was drawn upwards as she heard a screetch come from somewhere high up. A few feathers fluttered slowly down to the floor, as if some birds had been having a fight.
VERY big birds, the feathers was almost as tall as Rose. She grabbed one of them, admiring its pretty brown and white pattern and the dark polka dots at the tip. She gasped slightly as she felt a sudden breeze and heard another screetch.
"Guys, am I the only one who thinks were being hunted by giant birds?" She glanced around nervously.

[Alter Ego]

Kai's immediate reaction was to reach for his bow and aim it at the birds, but of course, it wasn't there. He instead jumped to his feet, readying the dagger he had gotten back from Susan. He looked to the others, knowing exactly what these creatures were.

"Everyone, stay very, very still. They can't see anything that doesn't move!" He whisper-shouted. He turned to face Jim, who was still sleeping away. He rolled his eyes, but let him continue his slumber.

So much for my dinner party, huh? Kai thought as his eyes followed the two gigantic birds circling the group.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"what?" was Susan's response to Rose's suggestion. "Giant birds?" She looked up in amazement at the huge shadows in the air above. they didn't look too big from the ground, but the feathers raining down proved their true size. Susan readied her own knife and took a defensive stance. "Why Does everything here want to kill us?" she whispered. Then she thought about Flora's herb circle. Wouldn't that protect them? "Flora?" she quietly asked, "Will these herbs work on those things or should we start to worry a little?"

[Roseora]

Rose heard Susans question and turned to Flora too, hoping for an answer. It didntmake sense, predators didnt like going theough the circle, not diving over the top of it. She mentally slapped herself for not.... Beingmore careful, or something. She tried her hardest not to move, but her fingers were itching to grab her swords. However just as she heard another screetch and was about to grab her swords from her waits, one if the burds swooped down, snatching her, Susan and Kai up in its claws, she screamed hoping Jim and Flora could help them, until she realised the other bird was making a dive for those two as well. It was... Pretty high... Rose started to panic slightly- what if it dropped them? She looked desperatly at her friends, seeing what their reaction was or if they had any more helpful ideas to save all 5 of them than she did.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan's initial reaction would've been to attack the large bird, but as they rose to the clouds that didn't seem like a bright plan anymore. She took a second to look down at the iincreasingly small trees down below. Bad, bad idea. Rather than even attemt to hurt the animal she instead clung to its leg for dear life. A very nauseous feeling began within her stomach. She was not a heights person. "No, no, no, nononono I want down. I want down!" She to shouted, starting to panic. Her breathing intensified and her thoughts raced, trying to think up a way to end the terror, 'Kai's darts! Oh wait, they were in his bag. The bow! Wait, at camp. Uhh...' She hoped that Jim or Flora would be able to do something, but what? She looked over at Rose and Kai who were also in the clutches of the bird. "Guys, what are we going to do?!"

[Roseora]

Rose shut her eyes, terrified. She took a few deep breaths before opening her eyes again. She too was gripping the creatures talon so hard that her hands hurt and she could feel the rough scaly skin of the bird, she guessed it was eagle like, her new name firthrse things was the giant eagle. So creative, she thought. She looked down, and gasped. It was so high! She could feel the wind rushing through her hair, and on her face. It felt good.

Her hat! She let go of the crwatures talon to grab it just as she dropped it. Good thing the eaglehad a tight grip... Or was it a good thing? Rose couldnt decide. She folded it and reached down for her pocket, however the eagles talong was wrapped around her waist so getting to her pocket was impossible and this given second. She just held onto it.
"I vote we see where it takes us and escape once we arent 3000 ft in the air..." She sighed, her nerves calming a little as she began tofeel more and more secure in the birds claws. She could worry about being eaten later. Her heart was still thumping really hard in her chest under the fear, though. She was pretty terrified.

[Alter Ego]

Kai was completely taken by surprise when the large birds had captured him, Rose, and Susan. He tried to fight against its grip, but as he rose higher and higher, he stopped struggling so much.

He tried to frantically think of a plan. The first thing that came to mind was using his darts to shoot the damned birds, and he looked to his side. He let out a frustrated "Arg!" as he remembered that all of his belongings were down below.

He racked his brain trying to think of something else, but nothing came to mind. He started to shout as loud as he can at Jim and Flora, trying to grab their attention.

"JIIIIMM! FLOORRAAA! HELP US!!!" he tried to think of what else he could do. Unfortunately, his mind went blank. He continued to shout, desperately trying to get them to notice that they were being carried away to their doom.

[Arcus]

Flora had shaken her head and said, "this circle doesn't affect bird. Never thought that there would be muc-" she was cut off by her friends being scooped up by one of the bird. She quickly whipped around and saw the other one diving toward her an Jim, faster then even she thought possible. She dove for Jim, using her wings to propel herself forward.

After she grabbed him, they tumbled into the safety of the tree covered forest. Though the bird did try to get after them, panic gripped her, shown by her franticly moving wings. She pulled back Jim back as the bird, kept coming to try to get them.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan shivered against the creature's colossal foot, not sure whether it was from the chilling breeze or the fear. She too shut her eyes and just held tighter, not even wanting to risk a look at the ground again. She had also agreed with Rose's suggestion of trying to keep calm and see what would happen. She didn't care what the birds had planned for them, she just wanted to feel her feet upon solid earth again. She hoped that Jim and Flora would be okay with the other beast after them. For all she knew they both could be in the same situation behind.

[Alter Ego]

From underneath the clouds, Kai could just barely make out Flora and Jim tumbling into the surrounding woods. He groaned. Great, there goes any hope of them being killed... he thought.

He looked up to the birds that were holding him, Susan, and Rose captive. It beat its great wings against the air, and it ascended higher and higher. Kai was trying as hard as he could to think of something, when an idea occurred to him. His arms were being held together tightly by the bird's talons, but he had still had his dagger in his hand. What he was about to do was so risky, it might cost him his life.

He called to the bird.

"Hey! Bird-brain! Looky heeere!!" He waved his dagger around, trying to get his bird's attention. It saw the gleaming blade and was curios as to what it was. Kai only had a few moments to spare, but he noticed that the bird had several loose feathers on it, one hanging precariously low enough to grab on to should he fall. He could climb up the bird's back, and try to gain control of it. It was a dangerous idea, but it was the only hope he had left.

"Take this!" Using his dagger, he dug the blade into the bird's foot, where it cried out in pain and let go of the arm that held Kai. Using his now-free arm, he grabbed onto a feather. He repeated the same slash of the dagger on the bird's other foot, and it released his other arm.

The feather his right arm held on to was sturdy enough for him to continue climbing up the bird. He grasped onto the feather with his other hand. He hung there for a few moments, trying to keep his balance and praying that all of the years he spent buffing himself would pay off. While his face grew red and sweaty, he noticed a leather strap hanging off of the bird.

In one, quick and frantic scoop, he had gotten ahold of the leather leash. He was about to fist-pump the air, but reminded himself that he was about to die, and by letting go he would die even faster. Putting the strap in his mouth, he started to climb up the bird.

As Kai reached the beast's back, it started to frolic and twist in the sky, trying to shake him off. Kai nearly fell off of the thing, but quickly wrapped his arms around the beasts neck -leather strap in hands- and began to loop it through the creature's mouth. He was praying with his whole heart that this would work, and fumbled with the newly-made reigns.

He straightened up and gripped the ends of the reigns. He began to pull back, trying to jerk the animal to move to his command. As he yanked hard to the left, he nearly hit Rose and sent her flying off of her bird, but he was able to maneuver it away just before collision. After several long minutes of almost-falling-off, he had finally gotten control of the beast.

He was about to cry in victory, having overpowered the bird, but he came back to his senses when he saw Susan with her eyes squeezed shut. He looked at the other birds, looking to see if they, too had leather straps wrapped around them.

He saw a fine piece of leather buried underneath some feathers on both of the others' captors, and he began to shout their names.

"Rose! Susan! You have to listen to me!" Kai's eyes shined with fear.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim really didn't know what was happening around him now. Before he closed his eyes, everyone else was playing welcome the new happy camper. Next thing he knew was someone grabbing him and pulling him desperately away on the ground. Instinct told him to reach back for the person and loosen their grip but his arms still weren't obeying his commands. He looked up and saw it was Flora, seeing her face filled with panic for the first time. "Flora?" he said with that waking up tone. 'Wait where are the others?' his mind finally started working after recovering from shutdown phase.

Jim turned to look around for the others but he only saw the giant feathers in the direction of the camp and a giant bird flying around above them in search of a clearing where it could swoop down and grabbed them. Jim immediately got on his feet, not wanting to put Flora in danger or make her an easy target by dragging him.

Looking around for his weapons, Jim realized they were all still laying around their campsite after his fight with Kai. Only the arm guards on his arms remained with him. Still it wouldn't have been any use to him without his arms to work with him. His only option now was to help Flora to avoid from being bird food as best as he could. "Flora, where are the others?" Jim asked, not knowing their whereabouts while running away from the bird chasing him and Flora.

[Arcus]

Flora was running right along side Jim, some how she managed to say. "Other... Bird," from time to time they were forced to stop when the bird found an opening. Then had to change directions, after a while he took a deep breathe. Before finnaly getting a chance to explain, "we don't know what happened. We were relaxing one moment, the next thing we know was a giant feather fell down and we heard the birds cry.

But before we could do anything about them, everyone was taken by the other bird. We almost didn't get out, I still don't know how you managed to sleep through all of that." Her voice still showed her fear, but now she could at least talk normally. That didn't mean that she wanted to stop and find out if the bird liked fairies or not.

[ShiftyTide]

"You girls were playing tea party with Kai. I didn't want to see or hear any of it and I was tired." Jim defended as he gestured for Flora to get under a tree he thought would be big enough to hide them both from the bird. "My arms are till out so I can't fight back. All we can do now is not get caught so that we can help the others girls." Jim whispered to Flora as he watched the giant shadow flying around, looking for them. Hopefully it would lose interest and go away.

[Arcus]

Flora got as close to Jim as she could, not sure if the tree was big enough to hide both of them. But whispered, "I still don't trust the guy. But he couldn't do anything, so I was simply trying to be nice. Doesn't mean I like the guy," she was glad she could tell all of this to Jim. Since she hadn't told any of the others and probably couldn't with out being rude.

[ShiftyTide]

The shadow was still circling around the area pretty often. "Of course, why didn't I see it? Offering a guy to drink from a cup in your hands only means you're being nice to him, not because you like or trust him." Jim answered back in a whisper. After another minute the giant bird left with a loud screech. Jim let out a sigh of relief. "I think it gave up." Jim said before suddenly noticing how close Flora was close to him. If his arms weren't disabled, maybe they would have wrapped around her without him even knowing. "Ermm...Flora..." Jim stammered, feeling nervous and awkward all of the sudden.

[Arcus]

"Well it wasn't like he could hold it, so yes I was trying to be nice." She whispered a response, she sighed in relief as it gave up. When Jim said it as well, her body visibly relaxed and she set her head on his shoulder without realizing it. But as soon as her forehead touched his shoulder, her eyes widened and took a step back. Blushing a little bit, Then stammered. "Ooooh... Uummm, s-sorry... I-I-I di-di-didn't me-mean t-o..." she couldn't get the rest out, because her mind simply went blank on her.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim didn't want things to get anymore out of hand. Their friends were in danger. "It's okay but our friends are still in danger." Jim looked up to the sky, trying to see which direction the other bird had gone. Jim's own cheeks had a slight shade of red, maybe from the running and excitement before. "Not sure where they flew off to. Don't think my arms will be helpful any time soon. We better go back to camp and grab all our stuff first before we try and find them." Jim turned back to Flora, suggesting that they equip themselves first. No point going after the others without proper weapons and supplies to help sustain all of them.

[Arcus]

Flora nodded in agreement, saying "that is probably a good idea." Her staff was on her bag as usual, but there were probably more usual things back at camp. So as they walked she looked at Jims' arms and wondered how long they wouldn't work for. As well as wondering if there was anyway to make the, work sooner. She also had noticed that Jim had blushed slightly, but didn't say anything about it. Though after a while, she had decided to ask. "Jim do you know of anyway to help restore your arms?" She wanted to help but didn't know how, so thought that asking was all she could do at the moment.

[ShiftyTide]

"The only way I know is to hit the exact same pressure point to reactivate them." Jim informed as they walked their way back. "But I don't know which ones Kai stuck exactly and striking the wrong ones only makes the effect last longer." they finally arrived back at the hastily abandoned camp. "Unless you know somethings on pressure points that I don't, I wouldn't suggest we mess with my arms anymore."

[Arcus]

Flora sighed and nodded, she had only wanted to help. But at the same time didn't want to do anything that might just make it worse, so when they arrived at the camp she started picking up everyones' stuff. Wearing most of what she picked up, she had never liked traveling with more then nessecary. Due to the fact that it litterally slowed her down, though she did put Jims' stuff on him. Then reached down and grabbed a couple of the feathers', "they may come in handy later" was all she offered in way of an explanation as to why she grabbed them.

[Roseora]

"What?!" Rose yelled, starring at Kai in disbelief. Okay... It didnt actually seem like a bad idea. She shuffled around slightly until her pocket was reachable and stuffed her cap in. So many memories with that thing, she couldnt lose it. She followed what Kai had done, only Rose had never been particulaly good at holding on to giant flying eagles. She let out a scream as she fekt hersekf falling but she managed to grab onot the birds feathers, and hung there for a few seconds, scared out of her mind. She closed her eyes again and took a few deep breaths- she had one chance. Only one. She jumped up and grabbed onto the feathers on the neck of the bird and pulled herself up, nearly slipping in the process but managing it.

The bird didnt like it, he thrashed and thrashed madly, Rose pulked back on the feathers, causing the bird to screetch to a halt... It was just like riding her horse... It was.... She let go of her breath shed been holding, and laughed. This felt great! She was flying! Actually flying! She pulled the right feather and the bird flapped round to the right a bit, flying alongside Kai.
"Wow..." Was all she could say. "You, are, amazing!" She said, her cheeks flushing a bright red from the fear excitement and adrenaline rushing through her. Then she noticed Susan.

"Susan! Trust me!" She yelled, leading her bird downwards so she was flying right under Susans bird. "Try it! If you fall we will catch you!" She added.

[Alter Ego]

When Rose had flown her bird right next to Kai's, he felt like he ruled the world. Rose looked amazing; her hair was pushed back by the wind and the sun glistened off of her skin. He smiled, enjoying everything, when he remembered Susan was still hanging on to the bird.

Kai saw Rose tell her to do the same as they had, and she swooped underneath Susan, ready to catch her if need be. He pulled his bird alongside Susan's, trying to call out to it and get it to fall under his control.

"Susan! You have to do the exact same thing we did! It will be ok! We'll catch you if you fall!" he yelled.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan had looked to the other birds when she heard Kai yelling nearby. The next thing she knew Kai and Rose were piloting their own giant eagles. For a moment she just stared on in bewilderment, not believing what she just witnessed. Then they called for her to repeat the same feat herself. Her skin paled a little as she ran the command over in her head trying to be sure of what they said. "Are you serious?!" She screamed, her voice filled with terror. She looked down and sure enough, Rose was flying just below her. 'looks like they are.' she told herself with a sigh. She still held her dagger, but the hand equipped with it was trapped in the beast's tight hold. Her left arm, however, was still free, so she grabbed on to the bird's ankle and began to pull and squirm her way out. Once the other arm was loose she wrapped it around the massive leg and hoisted herself up so that she was standing on the foot. 'Almost there' he thought, but as she looked up to the feathers above doubt began to take over. What if the feathers pluck out? What if the eagle goes nuts? What if Rose's bird missed? Then she saw Kai flying alongside the creature promising that it was alright. She could see in his face that he believed she could do this, and somehow, it made her believe as well. Mustering her strength, she made a leap and caught a couple of the brown feathers. She grabbed the next one and the one after that pulling herself up to the animal's back. 'You're climbing a tree,' she said, 'You're just climbing an innocent, little apple tree, that's all' When she'd reached the top and grabbed hold of the neck she continued very nervously, "Now you're r-riding a cute h-horsey. Heh-heh, nice birdy, niiiccee birdy." She started to grow excited when she'd realized what she now accomplished, her stuttering turning into victorious yells, "Guys! Guys! I, I did it! Me! Holy cow I'm riding a giant eagle! This is epic!!!"

[Alter Ego]

Kai laughed in reply, and let out a long whoop. He raised his hand in the air, now allowing himself to fistpump. He was not only proud of himself, but of the others for having faith in him and controlling their own birds. He started to fly around and do loop-de-loops, letting the strong wind blow through his black hair as he swirled through the clouds, totally enjoying the moment and forgetting about everything.

He couldn't help but laugh and keep on shouting from the sheer happiness that overflowed his entire body. He now knew what it felt like to fly, and he wanted to keep doing it forever. He decided to let the others enjoy the moment too and he continued to sweep through the sky.

[Roseora]

Rose closed her eyes, and felt thecold wind against her face. She knew Susan coukd do it. She yanked the feathers slighty in an upwards motion and the bud started to ascend, slowly, gaining speed. When she was really, really high up- she turned the bird round and pushed downwards. The bird started to spiral downwards in an impressive almost vertical corkscrew. 'Showoff....' She though to herself, and yanked ulwards, slightly paniced as the bird nearly crashed into the trees a 1000 feet below. She did a few more loops in mid air before going back up to where her friends were.
"Should we try find Flora and Jim?!" She yelled. She had no udea where to find them now, if they coukd even find the same spot in th forest. It was far, far behind them now. She glanced over her shoulder and fown at the thick blanket of trees.

[Alter Ego]

When Kai heard Rose calling out, he turned his head and had his bird fly over to hers.

"Yeah, guess we should, huh?" He said. He turned to look over at Susan, and gestured for her to meet with them.

He began to search the ground with his eyes, trying to find Jim and Flora, which was close to impossible. He didn't even know where Rose's huts were at, and he started to panic a little, unsure of what direction to head to.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"This. is. AMAZING!" Susan kept on, "I can't believe it! I CAN'T believe it! Me, riding a giant bird across the vast southern wilderness! Wow, just wow..." She took a second to reach back and open her pack, pulling out her beloved camera. "I just HAVE to get a shot of this." She snapped a few pics of the ground below as well as her and the others riding the majestic eagles. Then suddenly her friends reminded her of Jim and Flora still down below. She turned her mount to follow the others in their search. She wasn't quite sure where to look, as they could be just about anywhere in the forest. Then she thought she saw the smoke of their dying camp flame and the clearing where the birds were able to grab them in the first place. "Guys, how about we start at the camp and search from there? Look, it's the smoke from the fire." The clearing also seemed like a place to land their new birds if need be.

[Roseora]

Rose was reluctant to let her new friend go. She flew down a little ways, and Susan was right. There was the camp.
"Yeah, alright..." She said, distracted, she landed, her bird flapping madly, snuffing out the campfire, squishing some if the oranges andknocking down the huts. Oh well. She slid off of the bird, and petted it gently on the back of the head. It was taller than her! She whistled, loud and shrill. Shed trained horses to come at a signal, why couldnt she trai birds? It screetched back, at about the same pitch. She ran a few meteres away, holding out an orange, and whisteled again. The bird hopped on over to her, and plucked the orange out if her hand. She laughed, and did the same thing again. She didnt look up to see if Susan and Kai had landed their birds yet. Shed name her bird.... Jenny, after her sister. She smiled slightly at the memory... Maybe, just maybe Jenny was out there somewhere, also alive. Maybe not everyone had been killed that day. If she was out there somewhere, Rose would find her again one day.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan too landed her eagle at the camp. Once she'd jumped down she almost felt like kissing the ground, but that would have to wait. She looked around a bit and noticed something troubling. Jim and Flora were gone, along with the rest of their stuff. Did the bird get them? No, cause their bags were gone as well. She shouted out into the forest for them, "FLOORRAA!! JIIIIIMMM!" No response. "Great," she huffed, "Must have ran off somewhere looking for us or escaping that crazed bird." She turned around and saw her own ride pecking at the leftover fruits on the ground, which must've been like chicken feed in size comparison. She walked over and stroked the birds head, enjoying the feel of the soft feathers. "I think I'll call you... Thran." It meant flight in the language of dragons, so she thought it was fitting enough for a most-likely 14-hundred pound eagle.

[Alter Ego]

Kai nodded at Susan's plan and had his eagle float downwards after Rose's, which had snuffed out the fire and knocked down the huts. He got his bird to land and was, admittedly, sad to have to part with his feathered friend. He didn't climb off of his bird, but instead sat and watched as Rose trained hers to come to her when she made a certain pitch and would reward the beast with an orange.

He wanted to train his bird, too, so he hopped off and gave its feathers a few strokes before grabbing an orange from the pile, which seemed to be missing quite a few than from the last time Kai remembered. Kai asked Rose to stop for a second, so that way he could try and tame his creature.

He could whistle pretty loudly, so he stepped a few feet away from the creature and removed his gloves, careful not to squish the orange. He jammed the leather gloves into his jacket's pockets and put his two forefingers into his mouth. He pursed his lips and let out a shrill, loud whistle. The eagle screeched in return, and Kai gave it an orange. He did the same thing again, but this time several yards away, towards the end of the clearing.

He put his fingers in his mouth once more and blew. The bird cried out and scampered over to him. Kai smiled and gave it an orange, rewarding it with another few pats.

He turned to Rose and beamed, happy that his bird now came to his call. But, it seemed unsuitable to not name him. After a while of thinking, he decided he'd name it Pine, after the pine needles the Hunter had given him. Kai thought the name suited him well since it brought back happy memories, and being captured and nearly dying from Pine was certainly a happy memory. He continued to stroke Pine's feathers, and noticed that his "eagle" wasn't necessarily an eagle. It had the head, legs, and wings of an eagle, most definitely, but it had the body and forelegs of a lion.

Kai tried to remember what this creature was named, and he recalled the Hunter telling him about Hippogriffs. Yes, Kai had a hippogriff! Score! Kai was even more happy than before and started to tell Rose and Susan, who had just landed, about the creatures.

"Guys, these are Hippogriffs, I think. They're a little different than from what I remember, but I think it's because they are wild ones. One thing that you can't do is offend them, though. They'll have you in pieces before you know it."

(Looky this is Kai's Hippogriff [is it ok if we go from eagles to hippogriffs? they're really cool!]: http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs29/f/2008/090/4/2/Hippogriff_by_emma143.jpg )

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Really?" Susan asked, before examine her feathered friend more closely. Sure enough, It's feet were much more cat-like than she'd noticed before, and it even seemed to have the tail of a lion, but a hippogriff, it wasn't. Susan could remember reading a book of two about this type of creature. "Actually, Kai, these are griffins. Hippogriffs have goat legs and look more like winged horses. These look like winged lions. Still pretty rad though, we don't see these in the west anymore. Hunted them to near extinction after the war." She didn't want to end up loosing her new awesome "pet" so she picked up a couple of oranges and repeated Rose's training technique.

[Alter Ego]

Upon closer inspection, Kai realized that it was indeed a griffin. Not that it mattered what type of creature it was, it was still awesome no matter what way you looked at it.

"Huh, guess your right. It's been a while since I've seen any kind of creature like this in the East, so I guess I just mixed them up," he shrugged. He continued to stroke Pine and fed him another orange.

[Arcus]

After grabbing everyones' stuff, Flora had headed out knowing that Jim would be right behind here. She went in the direction that she had assumed that the giant birds had taken her friends, for a while there seemed to simply be silence between her and Jim. So she sank into her thoughts, 'Jim is a good guy. I hope he gets to use his arms again soon, wish that there was something that I could do to help. But guess not,' once she heard the shrill cry that she knew came from the birds. She froze an immediately started looking around for the shadow, the cry was faint. But that didn't make her feel any better, she didn't know why these creatures made her so nervous.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim felt bad for letting Flora carry all the stuff on her own. He would have helped but his arms were still being stubborn and his back was already loaded with his own things. So far, they hadn't said anything to each other on their search for their friends.

"Flora's one tough girl. She has everything. Kind, fun, friendly, fast, helpful..." Jim thought to himself, stealing a glare at Flora.

"Don't forget beautiful. But hey, she doesn't need you to protect her. She can take care of herself." Jim's other self taunted his thoughts.

"Oh shut..." Jim replied back mentally before he heard the shrill cry of the birds again.

"That came from the camp." he noticed the sound coming from behind them. Could have the others some how escaped and returned to search for him and Flora while the birds chased them?

Jim turned from looking back to Flora. "Think we should head back to check if the others got lucky and escaped?" he asked the fairy for her thoughts. He saw she was nervously looking around for the birds.

[Arcus]

Flora heard what Jim had said and nodded, "Ya. That sounds like a good idea, especially since if they are back. They would probably need to get their stuff back," hesitantly she turned around and started going toward the shrill cries. Making sure to stay close to Jim, even if he didn't have use of his arms at the moment. He was still her friend and it made her feel safer to be by him, she thought to herself 'why do these birds scare me so much?'

[ShiftyTide]

Jim approached the camp site with Flora behind him. Jim spotted the three feathered creatures. They had their backs turned and their wings blocked Jim's view on what they were doing. 'Maybe they're picking on the oranges the others had gathered earlier.' Jim thought, trying to see what they were so interested in.

Then one of the beast lowered its wing. A figure appeared, feeding the animal. "Kai..." Jim said in a low voice to let Flora know what he saw. Before Jim could let his mind speculate on how Kai was the one behind all this, Susan and Rose came into view as well beside the other two creatures.

"Wait..I see Susan and Rose..." Jim updated Flora, turning to her to see how she was doing. Flora seemed to be terrified about the creatures. "You alright, Flora?" Jim asked her concernedly.

[Roseora]

"Dont worry, these are griffins. Theyre actually pretty tame." Rose said, noticing Flora and Jim return, carrying all the stuff. They probably had gone to look for them. She picked up and other orange, and tried again. Yes, Jenny followed. She gave the bird the orange and reached up to pet her behind the ears. She was a beautiful, majestic and her feathers were creamy whiteish brown, with dark black streaks and an almost shimmering midnight blue at the tips, and green eyes. She looked around at the others magic griffins, every one of them was different.

{Guys, if Susan, Kai and Rose get their own griffins why dont Flora and Jim get their own pets from somewhere? :)}

[Alter Ego]

Kai was busy feeding Pine, when Pine lowered one of his wings. From afar, he saw Jim and Flora hiding towards the edge of the clearing.

"Hey Rose, Susan, look! I think that's Jim and Flora over there," he pointed in their direction. He mounted Pine and had him trot over to where Jim and Flora were.

"Hey, guys! Check out my new ride! Well, Susan and Rose have their own, too, but still pretty cool, huh?" He had Pine canter around in a circle around the two, when he noticed that they had all of their stuff hoisted over their bodies.

"You need any help with that stuff? Don't know what you were doing with it in the first place, but here, let me help you guys out." He reached out a hand to take some of Jim's stuff, but realized his arms were still disabled.

"Oh, your arms...wait, I know how to fix them! Be right back!" He had Pine run back to the camp and he walked around the border of the clearing, looking for an herb he knew that could let Jim use his arms again. He saw the herb on the ground; light green in color, smelled of skunk, and had a nasty taste. Kai jumped off and picked a few leaves off of the ground. He hopped back onto Pine and cantered back to where Jim and Flora were.

"Here, eat this. Doesn't taste good, but your arms will be working again within a few seconds." Kai held out the plant in his hand and waited for Jim to take it. He looked over and saw Flora, who looked petrified.

"Uh, you ok, Flora?" Pine cocked his head and so did Kai.

[Roseora]

Rose examined Jenny. She truly was a beautiful griffin, Rose pulled hereelf up onto her back and together they ran over to Flora and Kai and Jim. Rose felt like she was riding a horse again, she loved to ride. She loved to feel the soft steady heartbeat of the animal and the gentle breathing. It was quite calming and refreshing, and it felt like such a close bond with the animal she rode.
"Want a ride?" She asked cheekily. "You... You okay...?" She asked Flora who had gone all pale and stiff.

[Arcus]

(^^ o don't worry I kinda have a plan for Flora and Jim, though it may take a little more time)

Flora had tried to give Jim a weak smile, before having said. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. besides at least I can move my arms," only to regret what she said a few moments later. When Kai came on one of the griffins, then started circling her and Jim. She got even more scared as Rose did the same thing, she felt herself go stiff. When Rose asked if she was alright, she simply went and hid behind Jim. Then looked over to Kai and managed to get out, "how is he suppose to hold them if his arms don't work?" then found herself thinking to things, 'why did he try to hand something to someone who can't move his arms?' and 'WHY DO THESE THINGS SCARE ME?!' She really wanted to know, it really bothered her that these things petrified her.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan followed the other two griffins and their riders over to Jim and Flora. Rather than mount her animal, she had the creature trail behind. Thran's feathers shone a brilliant chestnut brown. His body the tan of a lion, and his claws were worn short, yet still sharp. He looked about the world with a glint almost feline curiosty in his golden eyes. As Suasan and Thran approached the others, they stopped when they saw Flora trying to hide behind Jim, seemingly terrified of the griffins. "Really, Flora, it's alright," she beamed, "They're actually kind of friendly once you get to know them." No sooner than she'd finished, Thran leaped over her and started to inquisitively sniff Jim and Flora. "Thran!" Susan ran over and tried to urge the griffin to back off.

[Alter Ego]

Kai blinked and slapped his forehead.

"Uh, sorry..." He then grinned mischievously at Jim. "Guess you're going to have to eat out of my hands, huh?" he paused for a second. "Or maybe I'll feed it to you, sweet thaang," he added with a wink. He started to laugh and jumped off of Pine. He treaded over to Jim, who was in front of Flora.

He started to dangle the leaves of the plant in front of him, an inch away from Jim's face.

"Well, here. Eat them. Like I said, they taste like crap but you'll be able to use your arms again, I swear."

[ShiftyTide]

Jim didn't care about the smell or skunk but he did mind that he had to eat the herb from Kai's hands. Even worse Kai was acting like...like...abnormal. However Jim didn't really have much of a choice if he wanted to get back his arms so he took the leaves from Kai's hand and ate them.

The nasty taste spread throughout his mouth as his teeth grind the leaves. Swallowing it as soon as he could, unable to bare the taste in his mouth anymore.

True enough, Jim felt his arms again. He flexed them in and out, testing to see if the recovery was full. Then Jim glared at Kai and gave him a quick controlled punch across his face. "Now we're even." he said coldly.

[Arcus]

Floras' eyes widened as the griffin Susan called Thran, came over and started circling her and Jim. She clutched at Jims' shirt, closing them shut and shaking slightly. She hated that she was like this and hated even more that she didn't even know why she was like this, but glad that she was close to Jim. Close to someone she already considered a good friend.

[Alter Ego]

Kai wasn't ready when him went and punched him on his left cheek. All he saw was Jim flex his muscles. That's when Kai blinked, and next thing he knew, he was holding his cheek, which started to swell.

The hit was a quick one, but it still hurt. Kai started to rub his cheek when he met Jim's eyes.

"Now we're even," Jim had said, glaring at him. Kai knew he was meant to be threatening, but he couldn't help but shift his weight and give a crooked, half-swollen smile.

"Well, technically we were even when you knocked me unconscious after-uh, the fight." Kai didn't want to say it was Jim's fault, fearing it would upset him and this time result in a black eye. "But," Kai added, "The cheek will bruise and will make me look tougher. People will think I got into a fight with someone, which I did, and I'll tell them that I beat the guy who gave me the injury." He mounted back onto Pine and started to walk away.

"Oh, and you're welcome," Kai called from over his shoulder, heading back to the firepit. He wasn't sure how he'd keep the swelling down, but he'd look for something.

However, he felt a small feeling of satisfaction at how much of a smart-ass he seemed to be. He hoped he did, at least.

[ShiftyTide]

"Maybe I should give you more bruises to make it really seem like you got into a fight, the wrong fight." Jim snapped back as Kai mounted his new pet.

"You're welcome? I was in this mess because of you in the first place!" Jim exclaimed with disbelieve at Kai's arrogance and denial. He was pissed by the other male's attitude and felt like his arms needed more physically forceful tests. But their fight earlier had already gotten them nowhere if not worse off.

Then he realized Flora clutching onto his clothes and shaking in fear. She really didn't like the others' new pets. Jim gestured to Rose and Susan to give Flora a little space between the creatures. He then put both hand on her shoulder, trying to tell her to calm down and that she was around friends.

[Roseora]

Rose smirked as Kai received the punch in the face. Ouch, but yes, it made it even. She trotted off after him on Jennys back, and overtook him.
"You alright?" She asked, stopping. "It looks like Jim can hit hard."

[Arcus]

Flora looked at Jim and simply nodded, she didn't say anything. Because she would try to stop being scared but she couldn't promise that it would happen, 'if only I knew why these things scared me. Then maybe I could do something about it,' she did know that her friends wouldn't hurt her on purpose. Well she didn't know about Kai, she still didn't trust him but the rest of them she knew she could trust.

[ShiftyTide]

"Come on, maybe some rest will make you feel better." Jim suggested. He let go of her and walked over to Susan, she being the only one close since Rose went after Kai. "How did you guys tame these....creatures?" he asked Susan curiously, recalling the life threatening encounter he and Flora had earlier. Jim felt like reaching out to feel the feathers but hesitated, wanting to observe more before he tried exploring.

[Arcus]

Flora swollowed, nodded and said "maybe so," then she hesitated. Before going over to the fire and putting her friends' stuff down, before going over to a tree. She sat on the branch and leaned against the truck, before closing her eyes. Hoping that Jim was right and that she was a short nap would help, she could feel her staff on her back. SO she opened her eyes and then put the staff on her lap, then closed her eyes again with a tight grip on the staff; trying to fall asleep.

[Alter Ego]

Kai turned around to see Rose and her griffin trotting up to Kai, asking if he was ok.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've been worse, so this isn't a big deal. And as for the punching, yeah, it was a pretty hard one. But I could tell by the way his fist was that he didn't go full out. He was definitely holding back, and I gotta respect that," Kai said.

"I respect the fact that he didn't just punch the lights out of me. But, he could have at least said thanks. He should be grateful, I could have just left him with limp arms for the next few hours, but I decided to pull kindness out of my heart and help Jim use his arms again. And what do I get? A fist in the face!" Kai ranted. He crossed his arms and continued looking for some kind of plant that he knew about that could help reduce his swollen cheek.

Kai knew he could be arrogant and act like a jerk sometimes, but he did it for defense. Couldn't someone as good of a hunter as Jim see that? Kai sighed, something he'd been doing ever since he introduced himself to this group.

[Roseora]

"Here, this one works." Rose said, reaching up to the tree next to her. "Ive allways used these for bruises and stuff. And nothing beats the classic ice pack either." She said, handing him the herb. It looked like hed been trying to find a herb himself, but hey, Rose liked to out-do the boys sometimes.

She lazily trotted around on Jenny, her wings flapping irritably as if she wanted to fly. "Im going flying!" She said, moving her legs to let Jenny move her wings. She took off in about a second, Rose stayed on her back. Rose loved flying, and this was the first time shed get to try it without the feeling she could be the big birds lunhc soon.

[Alter Ego]

"Thanks," Kai said when Rose had given him the herb. He put it in his mouth and started to chew. The plant didn't have any particular taste, so Kai swallowed it and smirked when he saw Rose take off into the sky.

"Hey Rose! Bet me and Pine can beat you and your griffin at flying!" Kai called out to her. He climbed on top of Pine, grasping onto the makeshift reigns and jumping off into the sky.

[Roseora]

Rose looked behind her to see Kai- no way was he actually going o beat her! Her strategy, had up a few meters hen dive down a few meters. It gave Jenny momentum and kept it up, letting her go fast. VERY fast. Rose was holding on very tightly, still slightly nervous of falling, it seemed. She kept looking back to see hw fast Kai was going.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Well... I guess,"Susana turned back to look at Thran, trying to think of a way to explain what they'd done to turn the beasts from foe to friend,"It's a bit like breaking one of those wild Broncos, you know? Just sorta hang on until they get used to being rode, or at least that's what we tried. I still think it was only because of luck we're here to tell about it, and Kai. We really were just following his lead. I know he may seem like a you-know-what here and there, but I got to admit he's not too bad considering how much he's been through." Her griffin came to her from behind and gently nudged her, to which she responded by giving him a good scratch on the head."good boy, Thran."

[ShiftyTide]

Jim kept silent, eying the griffin as Susan scratched it. His face having a poker face on as he processed what Susan had said about Kai. It seemed like wherever he turned or what ever he did, Kai was somehow brought up.

"I don't know what stories he told you but I still don't trust him." Jim turned to Susan, accidentally saying it harsher than he had meant. The harshness mostly aimed at his thoughts of Kai, not at Susan directly.

Jim realized his tone had been harsh. "Sorry. Please excuse me." Jim turned and quickly walked away. He needed to bring his anger under control.

[Alter Ego]

Kai was flying at a slow pace at first, waiting for Rose to catch up. But that's when he saw Rose and Jenny dash in front of him. Kai and Pine both looked at each other, both amazed at how fast they had been going. Kai kept his pace, and observed what Rose did to make her griffin go so fast. He saw that she made Jenny head straight and then drop down, which picked up a lot of momentum.

Kai smirked, having figured out her strategy. Kai decided that if he stayed slow, Pine would be able to stock up enough power to slice through the air much faster than Jenny's.

"Ok, Pine. Let's keep it at this. Rose's griffin will tire out soon enough," he whispered to Pine. He then called out to Rose, "Hey Rose! First one to that giant tree way over there wins!" Kai and Pine continued what they did, ready to take the lead.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Susan could tell by his tone that Jim might still be a little edgy, so she allowed him to walk away and only commented, "suit yourself then." He probably just needed to cool down a bit. She looked over at Flora trying to get some needed rest herself. So much had seemed to happen in the past days it really was kind of tiring. Tiring, but fun. Susan heard the swoop and felt the rush of wings above as they zipped by. Appaently Kai and Rose seemed to be racing their new companions against each other. "Guess its just you and me huh?" she noted to the feathered head she stroked. Suddenly, an idea began to form in her mind as Thran cooed at her touch. "If we can teach them to come and follow, then we could teach them anything, couldn't we?" She matter-of-factly gathered some of the few still intact orange bits from the forest floor and held them up to the griffon, who franticly snapped, trying to get at them. "No!" she ordered, pulling her hands away. When Thran had settled down she slowly backed away, once again holding up the fruit. "Stay," she ordered. When she was but several yards away Thran jumped over and hastily snatched the food from her grasp. This was going to take a while.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim strolled away to his own quiet spot. He sat down to begin doing his usual checks of his stuff, it was one thing that calmed him down. First he cleaned his bow and tested to see if he needed to restring it. It was still up to standards.

Next were his arm guards, more cleaning and checking the straps for any faulty or sighs of cracks. No, all was in order.

Finally, it was time for some more personal stuff. Jim reached for his necklace that hung down from his neck. His hand holding up the little trinkets to his view. Jim let it remind him of his folks and younger twin brother and sister back home. Each trinket on the necklace represented one family member, including the one in the middle that was him.

Jim did miss them but he hadn't finish his journey. He took out the leaf map that he and Flora had gotten from the rock, examining it again.

[Roseora]

Rose heard what Kai said- to the tree. First. She didnt turn round to acknowledge his comment, she just faced forward and urdged her griffin on faster.

She looked back... Kai was catching up. She was just about to reach the tree when suddenly her burd divebombed into the trees below, screetching. She Didnt see what happened to Kai and his bird, but she winced every time she collided with another tree before she finally reached the ground. She lay on her back and groaned- great, now she was imagining stuff, although it answered why the griffin had panicked so much. A huge, dark purple dragon was circling the trees, casting a huge shadow over the woods, blocking out the sun.

She groaned again, hoping Kais bird hadnt divebombed too and also hoping she hadnt broken anything. She was still slightly numb from shock. She wondered if everyone else had seen the dragon- she also wondered where shed landed, although she could see griffin footsteps in the dirt, they couldnt be too far fom their camp.

{I thought a dragon would be cool, it might have something to do with that thing Flora and Jim found, I dunno. You guys decide :)}

[Alter Ego]

(That's sounds good roseora!)

Kai saw Rose's bird divebomb, and he gave a silent yes! He thought that his strategy had worked; Rose tiring out her griffin. But, he saw her griffin totally freak out at something.

Kai's eyes grew wide as he watched Rose fall down several trees.

"ROSE!" Kai yelled. "Pine, let's go!" He hollered at pine. Pine dive towards where Rose had landed, flying at top speed. They started to float down to where Rose was, but Pine started to squirm, making it hard for Kai to control. They landed on the ground, and Kai ordered Pine to stay. He reluctantly obliged.

"Rose! Are you okay?!" He panicked. He started to hear heavy breathing behind him. He turned around slowly, and saw a purple dragon.

Kai's first impulse was to yank Rose up an run for it, but he was frozen in place.

He looked to Rose; for once not having any idea on what to do.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"No! Get off! Down you stupid bird!" Susan squirmed under Thran's massive paws. The griffin looked down at his master with playful mischief in his eyes, refusing to move. "Well so much for training" she sighed, giving up her struggles. "Stubborn as a feaking mule." Suddenly, a loud screech sounded through the forest and all went quiet. Thran let go of Susan and crouched down low, glaring in the direction of the noise. Then the crash was heard seconds after, not too far from the camp. "You heard that too boy?" Susan inquired, starting to stand. Thran's feathers stood on end as he listened for danger. His owner began to grow worried as she remembered Kai and Rose flying off in that direction. She mounted her pet and prepared to take off, pausing to call over to Jim, "Hey Jim, I think something's happened to the others. Climb on, we need to go and see if they're okay."

[Roseora]

Rose groaned again when she heard Kai. At least her and her griffin werent alone. She opened her eyes and sat up.
"I will be fine-" she said, her head spinning. She would not be divebombing fron that height ever again. She glared at Jenny for a second.
"Just... Lots of bruises..." She sulked, she really hadnt needed anymore rips in this jacket. "Am I the only one who saw the dragon?" She asked, looking back up at the sky. Through the trees... No sighn of any dragon anymore. It was probably long gone, back to its cave or to pilage some villages.

[Alter Ego]

Kai knew he saw the dragon, but it was gone in no time. He held a hand out towards Rose.

"Yeah, probably. And at least you're not seriously hurt or anything. Is your griffin ok? Jenny's her name, right?" Kai asked.

[Arcus]

The loud cry, made Flora shoot awake startled. Lost her balance on the tree branch she was on, after a few moment of trying to balance, she fell off and turmbled to the ground. Until she hit the ground with a THUD, she didn't have time to recover from that to have her staff. Hit her on the head, "ooooowwwwww" she said rubbing her head. Then took her staff and stood up, knowing that she probably had a lump forming on her head. Looking around to see if she could find anyone, not seeing anyone. She decided to yell out, "IS ANYONE NEAR?"

[ShiftyTide]

Jim's thoughts were interrupted by the loud screech. 'Those birds are beginning to get on my nerves.' Jim looked up in the direction where the sound came. Then Susan got on hers, concerned that something might have happened and asking him to hop on.
"I'm sure Kai isn't that bad at handling himself and Rose." his inner self grumbled to him. Realization struck him then that Kai didn't really have any reason yet to stick around and help Rose. "Better safe than sorry."
Kai mounted the griffin behind Susan. As they took off, Flora's voice could be heard yelling out, "IS ANYONE NEAR?" Jim shouted back a reply, "WE'LL COME BACK FOR YOU!"

[Roseora]

"I think Jennys fine." Rose replied, watching the bird hop up and down on the spot, squawking and screetching. She seemed both hapoy, excited and scared. Rose tried to stand, but dropped back down again when she felt a searing pain up her ankle.
"I might just wait a second..." She said, when suddenly Jim and Susan came through the trees on Susans griffin.
"Guys!" She said, happily. It was great to see they hadnt landed too far away.

She whisteled for Jenny to come over, and sure enough she did. The griffin hopped over to where Rose sat and playfully pecked her shoulder. Rose brushed her beak away, before gritting her teeth, and standing up. She used Jenny as support, she guessed shed probably just twisted the ankle, it was probably no big deal, just an inconvenience. She sat down on Jennys back sighing in relief as all the weigh was taken off of her ankle, and flipped her let over so she was riding the bird properly.
"Did you guys see the dragon too?" She asked excitedly.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

While flying to where she believed the crash to have occurred, Susan heard Rose calling to them down below. She turned had Thran hover over while waving to them. "Are you guys ok? I heard one of the griffins crash." Her mount gently touched down between the trees nearby. Susan noticed that Rose seemed to have injured an ankle, but the other griffins and Kai seemed to be fine. Before she decided to speak again Rose had asked about the sighting of a dragon. Susan appeared to stiffen at the very mention of such a creature. "Wait, did you say you saw a dragon?" she asked with her head turned to the skies above.

[ShiftyTide]

Jim got off Susan's griffin as soon as they landed. He kept his eyes on Kai, looking for anything suspicious. Rose had struggled to stand up and was using her griffin for support. Susan and Rose did the usual "Are you ok?" routine which seemed to be going on a lot within their group.Then, Jim heard something unusual among the usual exchange of words.

"Did you guys see the dragon too?" Rose asked excitedly.

Jim raised an eyebrow at her before looking up to determine the possibility that she was hallucinating. His quick scan of the skies seem to favor his assumption. "No dragons." Jim replied as he looked back down at Rose and Kai. "Sure you are okay?" Jim eyed Kai, wondering if Kai did anything to Rose to make her see dragons.

[Roseora]

Rose sighed, exhasperated. "Yes, there was definitly a dragon!" She insisted. You couldnt hallucinate something that huge, it seemed mpossible... Bsides, didnt Kai say something about a shadow... Irhad he not? She patted the back of her head gently where shed hit it to make sure there was no lump or bruise... I was bothing too big, shed hit her head harder andnot hallucinated anything.
"And yes im sure." She sulked, folding her arms.

[Alter Ego]

Kai nodded, happy to see everybody safe and sound. He noticed Jim eyeing him as if Rose falling was his fault.

"You know, Jim, I can't control what people think. And it's not my fault that Rose fell," he said. He knew Jim didn't trust him, but did he have to blame him for every single thing that happened? He sighed.

"Maybe we should head back to the clearing, start rebuilding the huts that were knocked down." Kai suggested. "But yeah, we did see a dragon. It was big and purple, but left as soon as it came." he told Susan. He didn't know why she was so excited about seeing a dragon, but he wouldn't rain on her parade.

[Arcus]

Flora heard what sounded like Jim, saying that they'd come back for her. 'Guess I got left behind,' she thought as her faze fell to the floor. After a few moment, figuring that no one would miss her. She started to walk in the direction that the weird walk, her and Jim investigated was in. She didn't feel like flying at the moment, thought her leg was starting to ache again. So she made a mental note, to see if she could find some herbs. Even though something told her she wouldn't see her friends for a while. She sighed, thinking 'guess I'm alone again. But I suppose that's fine, I'll just fly everywhere again. It will be faster by myself, then if they were with me.' Even though this is what she thought, her face still had some sadness to it. She knew that where ever her friends had got off to, by the sound of Jims' voice. That it was pretty far away, for once her wings were completely still.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Big and... purple?" Susan questioned, her gaze still combing the skies and clouds above. Without even thinking she quickly added, "Did you see where it went?" she turned back to Kai and Rose with a bit o growing excitement sparking in her eyes. "A, a real dragon? Did it breathe fire? How many legs? Do you think it'll be back?!" She suddenly stopped herself there when she noticed that she might have let a little too much enthusiasm show in her last question. "Uhh, I mean, well, it's just, I've always wanted to see one up close. I know it sounds a bit strange. forget I said anything. We need to get back to Flora anyway." She mentally slapped herself for saying that in front of them. She might as well as called out to the heavens for one of the world's most feared beasts to come back and make them dinner.

[ShiftyTide]

"Could have been." Jim let out a small unbelieving snort at Kai's remark. The guy brought trouble as soon as he arrived.

Susan suddenly got all excited at Kai's further description of the dragon that they saw. Jim just stared at her outburst, inching away slightly. She seemed keen on finding one and making them dinner, even if it meant they would prefer her as the mean course.

At the mention of Flora, Jim just felt...forgetful. "Flora! We left her alone." Jim jumped on Susan's griffin, beckoning her to get on quick and be on their way back to Flora.

[Arcus]

Flora found that this trip seemed longer then the previous trip to it, 'well I guess walking is slower then running and way slower then flying.' She thought, even so she didn't speed up or slow down. She simply kept walking at the same pace, from time to time she would stopp and look at/pick a herb. Before continuing on her way, toward the weird rock.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

Thran began to take off at Susan's comand and head back to the clearing. "We'll see you two back at camp!" she called to Rose and Kai as she and Jim sped away. They were back within minutes at Thran's flying speed. Susan dismounted the griffin and looked around the derbis and wrecked huts that had been their camp. "Flora?" there was no sign of her anywhere. Susan shouted agian, starting to grow a little concerned, "Flora, it's us. We're back. Flora!" when she was met with no response she sighed and spoke to Jim, "I think she's went off somewhere. You want to wait for Rose and Kai?"

[ShiftyTide]

When they got back to where they had left Flora, the place was abandoned. Susan went ahead shouting out and announcing their presence. Jim started walking around, trying to see if he could pick up any signs as to what happened to Flora.

The tree where Flora was resting was the best spot to start. There was a small imprint that suggested she had fallen off the tree and another smaller one which could be from her staff. Funny thing was, there were light marks of footprints as well, walking away in the direction which Jim was familiar.

"Now why would she go back there? More curiously, why is she walking?" Jim thought out loud to himself. Flora usually preferred flying. Jim stood up from examining the ground and turned to Susan. "You stay and wait for Rose and ...Kai. I think I know where Flora went off to." Jim informed. Before Susan could reply, Jim took off after Flora's trail.

[Arcus]

Floras' looked around, hoping that she was getting close to the rock. She noticed something that had barely got her attention while flying back, so she knew that she was probably about half way there. Even so the knowledge didn't make her feel any better, she continued on her way without speeding up. But found herself thinking, 'I wonder what everyone is doing?' The aching in her leg told her that the tea was wearing off, but didn't pay it any mind as she continued on her way.

[Ms.Scarletwings]

"Um, well, ok then." Susan muttered, watching Jim speed away. Once again she was left waiting with her griffon. She took a seat beside the animal, stroking his feathery hide to keep herself occupied. The sun hung low in the sky above, suggesting that quite a bit of time had passed since that morning. Susan guessed it to be around four, maybe five 'o clock. When Susan thought about it, she realized that she'd been with this group for a good amount of time. For the first time since she'd been stopped on a forest path she began to think of home again. She knew she'd have to continue eastward soon, hopefully with her new friends.

[Roseora]

{Im going away for the next week so probably wont be able to post... So, dont wait for me just move on my charrie will catch up when im ready. :)}

Rose didnt waste any time following Susan and Jim on her griffon. Kai would follow.

"Wait- wheres Flora and Jim?!" She said quikly and paniked when she saw only Susan waiting, stroking her griffons feathers.

After Susan had explained, Rose decided she woukd go look for them too. "Umm, let me go have a look too." She said, speeding off in the other direction.