The Strength {/p\} of Two Arrows

*There is an old adage; to snap one arrow is no hard task. To snap two is more difficult.*

The lesson? When people stand together, they are able to withstand much harsher trials.

Plot:

Without overwhelming you with too much detail, two regular strangers from the real world(our characters) will awaken in a fantasy world with no knowledge of how they got there and only the clothes on their backs. Before they can even try to figure out how to get home(if they want to) they'll have to learn to survive in a medieval-magical world fraught with castles and keeps, ogres and Minotaur, fairies and elves, dragons, griffons and anything else we can come up with!

Your character:

*If you want this to be mature, you need to make them of appropriate age. Otherwise, if you want to be younger or don't want to do mature(or can't) I'm fine playing platonic.

*No mary sue/ gary stews please. Flaws mean character growth and story advancement.

*Regular person- not cybernetic or bionic, no government science experiment or anything like that. Things like filthy rich(previously) or actor/model, or skipped-three-grades smart are OK.

*This is NOT a purely romantic thread, though that can play a major role if you want. Keep that in mind.

*Your character can(but is not required to) have ONE BASIC power. This will not have existed before entry into this world and so will not be known/understood easily. You don't have to reveal it at the get go and can leave it for a surprise or to get the characters out of a sticky situation!

~Basic powers are anything that does not effect all matter of things, i.e. not limitless mind control, matter manipulation, life force manipulation, etc. Things like fire that can be honed into lightning or water that can be made into ice are acceptable though.

You:

*Please use proper grammar.

*Post length is flexible, but if you're only posting one sentence, make it count! Not just "They sat there wondering what to do next"

*Post time is also flexible, but if you're going to be away for more than a week, a heads-up would be both courteous and much appreciated. I personally can be counted on for 3-5 daily.

*Don't grab and ghost. If you don't want to do the thread anymore, I won't fault you for it- just tell me you're done.

*Make other characters when you need them and ditch them when you're done. Or don't. They're yours- but your side characters are controlled SOLELY by you and mine by me.

*Add to the story, it's fairly open just for this requirement! You have a creative flame in you and this story shall be your kindling!

*If more than one person wants this thread, PM me*

My Character(for this thread's version):

faceclaim: lily collins

Kyle Portsmith

19

Female

Bisexual

History: Mystery, TBR in thread

Personality: Get-things-done, do it right, honest, forthright planner. She's not a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of gal. She likes order and she likes control. Without these, depending on her day thus far, how much is lost, and what caused her to lose these things she can become cold or flustered. It's kind of a coin toss which. Either way, she is generally very mature, though if she tries to be immature or 'fun' it's usually dorky and unintentionally amusing.

Outfit on Arrival:

Post:

Though she was vaguely aware she'd fallen asleep, Kyle was sure the L-train seats weren't this uncomfortable. At the very least they were smooth, but it felt like she was sitting on something and her back felt uneven and lacking in the attempt at an ergonomic curve and angle she was so accustomed to. She wanted to shift, but as she opened up just enough brain power for that, she recognized that her music had stopped. Maybe Pandora was asking if she was still listening- she enjoyed the white noise of electric chill music on these long routes and moved her hand to her pocket to pull it out. It wasn't there. She reached for her bag, but that was gone too. Her eyes shot awake and immediately crinkled- the sun was right above her. She was surrounded by trees, and sitting on the ground. There were the sounds of birds and various insects sounding out and there was not one single other person in sight. Panting heavily, and eyes wide in surprise, but obviously trying to remain calm and controlled, she jumped to her feet finding all the clothes she'd put on still in tact, and her body seemingly unharmed. She needed to orient herself. This was just some horrible prank- she must have been hauled off the L by somebody and left out here for some kind of gag someone wanted to go viral. If she could just find the Sears Tower spikes or find a road... she reached for her phone in her pocket to only be reminded of disappointment. So it was also a mugging. Already she was pissed enough to forget how scared she was, and was formulating a plan to return to civilization.

The first thing that came to mind was, of course, climbing a tree tall enough to gauge her proximity to the city, but as soon as she began walking, Ky's senses started throwing up flags left and right. Where trees indiginous to the American mid-west ought to be growing she found ones from the east coast and the north- there was also the little discrepancy of them being full of green instead of the bright colors of fall. Okay, okay- this could be someone's doing, and it wasn't like foreign trees didn't show up where they didn't belong in this day and age- maybe she was just in a grove of peculiarity. It became obvious why the trees were so green- the longer she moved, the more she noted the balmy temperature. Loosening her infinity scarf she listened now. There was not a single bird call she could recognize. Swallowing, her brain kicked into gear- keeping her calm and her mind clear, staving off panic in the midst of confusion. The smell of this place was weird, the sounds were foreign and she had been walking for nearly 20 minutes and had not heard a single engine, voice, powerline hum, or any other indication of intelligent life anywhere. Everything about this felt wrong down to her very core.

She began to run.

Taking care to orient herself using the sun, or more or less it's shadows angle, to be sure she didn't end up going in a circle as could often happen in this kind of environment, Ky controlled her breathing and worked her cardio, straining her ears for familiar sounds and her eyes for helpful sights. How long would it take? How far had she gone already? With the sun she should be heading north and yet why did she feel like she was going the wrong direction? When would she be safe? What would happen to her if she couldn't make it in time?

Just as her mind was at once spinning and stopping itself from doing so, her stony face scrunching in frustration, there was an anomalous color splash just off her path that her keen eyes desperately latched onto and she slowed to a stop when she saw that the splash was a brown haired man in a reddish knit beanie standing along.

Oh, finally...

"Hey!" She called out, raising an arm and making mental notes of the direction she'd been going before turning to go after the stranger, "Hey, excuse me, but I need directions."

Trotting to a stop, Ky growled a groan quietly in the deep of her throat,

"No, I don't- they must have been snatched while they were lugging me off the L." She admitted, noting falling asleep in a public place, no matter how often you were there and how comfortable you felt might no longer be a good way to while away the time. "They took my whole bag- wallet, phone, everything." he looked feasably stronger than her though and wondered,

"How'd they get you? I wasn't hurt, but I figure it's because I was asleep. We're pretty far away probably- judging from the landscape and all, but I tend to be a heavy sleeper."

Only shaking her head while she thought, Kyle looked away her thoughts mixing with his words and worrying her even more. There was a sound not too far off while she thought, the sound of hooves. Deer maybe? Horses? Wait? What if this was a park- maybe just one she'd never visited- and that was the rangers or patrol or something? At least if they found the game trails, they'd probably encounter some hunters or evidence of them thereafter,

"Yeah, I don't get it either," She finally responded, hearing the hooves getting closer, "But it's true that these trees aren't indigenous to this area at all, let alone Chicago, and it's stupid hot which I can't explain at all, but I mean, we can't have gone too far- It doesn't feel like it's been more than a few hours. How far could we have really gone in a few hours?"

Turning to her side where she'd crossed her arms a bit, just holding one with the other in front of her chest, twisting at the hips so she didn't need to actually move, Kyle looked toward the approaching thunder as the man before her asked about it,

"I have no idea. Could be deer? Though something must have set them off if their running in a herd like that." She shrugged, "I'm kind of hoping it's a few rangers who were alerted to suspicous activity in one way or another and came to get us." She turned, deciding finally to pull her scarf off and try to flag them down with it if she could,

"Hey!" She shouted, trying to be heard- whoever they were, they were on track to come straight at herself and the man, "HEY!" She called. Suddenly though, she could see forms through the shadows of the forest, and while she thought she was crazy at first, her eyes widened in shock. It madee no sense to her head, yet her eyes were quite sure of what they were passing along. Approaching at gallop speeds were shirtless men where horse heads should be, some swinging bolos or old fashioned sling shots, and others carrying spears. Though it would have fit the image better, she saw no bows an arrows in the hands of those who appraoched, who's eyes were glued to their prey- the two legged, clothed people standing in the open.

"Acha!" One shouted, one in the front, and the others gave a cry, beginning to throw their weapons.

"Crap-" Kyle grunted, she turned around- she'd been dumbfounded too long and they were quite close for horse legged people. How fast could a centaur go? She grabbed the arm of the man with her as she went, it would take too long to say 'come on, run' she felt.

"If I knoew what they were, I'd be glad to!" Kyle retorted over her own heavy breaths. Thank God she'd worn boots- as she vaulted over logs, trying to find terrain or corners that large horse-like bodies would find difficult to navigate through, she scrapped past rough bark, through pointed brush and branches and nearly tumbled down two abrupt but short drop hills. Because of her boots and jacket, as well as short cropped hair, she was able to forget about that while her mind filled with useless logic.

Couldn't be centaur, right? That was just some weird part of the horrible prank? Some kind of prop or trick or something...? This made no sense- where we're they? What was this place?

Alright, now her chest was burning. Adrenaline gave her speed and training gave her endurance, but she couldn't keep this up forever and she really couldn'the outrun a horse. Their thunderous approach was always getting louder and louder.

"AUGH-" she blurted. The red hot sting of severed skin zinged up her leg and a steady stream of blood came down the middle of the side of her calf, a spear lodged strongly in the ground behind. She stumbled and caught a tree, looking up as she hissed. Smoke? More than one?

"That way!" She shouted ahead.

The pain only steeled her resolve, giving her a extra shot of adrenaline. She watched one of the rather primitive trap devices swing it's way around the man's head while he shouted out himself, but she just chuffed, coming up past him and curving to the side. As soon as they started heading that direction, the thunder began to pull back and die out. Didn't stop her from sprinting though. They had to have run almost half a mile in a dead sprint by now, and in another almost half the tree line began to abate and the early predecessor of a road was becoming visible on the ground in a tanish yellowis ribbon.

Bursting from the tree line in front of silence, Ky went down to a crouch, a hand on her knee while she looked at her leg. She jumped back out at a shout,

"Outta the way!" and fell back on her bottom just before a horse drawn cart passed by. The man atop it looked dirty and sweaty, his shoes were clearly made only of cloth, he wore long stockings and none of his clothes looked fitted in the least, just drapes of clothes with holes cut out and ties to keep them wherever they needed to be. With a change in wind a new smell caught her as well. Covering her nose with her sleeve she squinted, there were a few places around where horse dung had fallen. Luckily for her, where she sat wasn't one of them. Standing and looking where his rickety cart was headed, she turned and saw what looked to be a super old town with smoke erupting from chimneys, and people walked the streets.

Though she hardly noticed that she had gotten up, walking toward the town and turned around when the other guy came across her. She looked down having forgotten about it after the initial zing, and saw that there was a vivid red streak down the side of her jeans. Up until she had looked at it, it hadn't given her any trouble, but as soon as she looked down, realized, remembered, and processed, she bit her lip to keep the pain inside and fell to her knee, holding onto it.

"Freaking horse people." She growled quietly in response to him.

"Hail, friends-" a man with a large pack slug over his hunched back paused on his trek while he walked, looking at the two of them, "Oh, a nasty gash there- wouldn't 'ave been daft enough to run in with the centaur-kin, eh? Best to get that seen by the mages- They say a wound caused by one of their spears will fester with a moss that will feast off the blood of your limb until it shrivels up and you have to tear it off." He smiled.

There was a lot of logic saying to doubt that, and yet after all that happened Kyle couldn't keep the concern out of her face as she turned back to the man she'd come with,

"Mages?"

"What ya talkin' about- there's one in every town and city. And I thought I was a bumpkin. Don't you know to keep a lookout for a house with the green lantern fire hangin' at the door?" The man shook his head with a chuckle. His teeth, while releivably straight were quite dirty. Just looking at them made Kyle drag her tongue against her own teeth. It was like he chewed tobacco ever waking minute of the day, and a heaping portion of it. For now though, she hoisted herself up. At first she couldn't do it and the zing of pain forced her to crumple her leg, but with the anger and confusion of the day used as fuel, she stood, clearly unhappy, but on her feet.

"Come on..." Apparently, she had forgotten to get his name, but Kyle shook her head anyway and continued, "We should go- people are starting to stare. Let's just get in, see if we can find it and get out. Are you hurt?" There was a little of Kyle's pride being bruised by becoming the injured one if he wasn't. She didn't like feeling weaker than anyone else, or more helpless. It seemed to suggest, at least to her, that she was not independent, that she could not care for herself, and that she was behind in either development or skill than her peers when she liked to be at a comfortable distance ahead. For now though she took off her jacket- after running she was veritably steaming in her clothes, and tied it around her waist so that at least a bit of the extra long article could cover the wound. People really were staring as they went.