Take To The Sky [PRIVATE RP]

[It did?! Here, let's try again with a different link.

Better?
Also, I'm tired, hurt all over, and am all around 'bluh'. So excuse the upcoming REALLY short posts. I'm basically just writing the really important part and leaving out details that I usually add to make things longer.]

"But you did say that she was on your mom's side," I said, switching the facts now from 'dad' to 'mom'.
Jay cut in with, "So if your aunt doesn't cook, how do you eat? Are you the one cooking for your siblings?"
I added, "Your aunt still sounds nice though. I wonder if she'll ever get married."
"Maybe she'll marry and exterminator."
"What? What's the point in that? She should marry a nice guy with a stable job."
"Who doesn't mind that she doesn't cook."
Adding pointless information.
We rock at that.

I finished washing off, a cold, wet chill settling over my skin. Rubbing my arms to warm up and dry them off a bit, I settled against a tree.
"Ruin, you should sleep while you can," I said. "We've got a little over two hours. Hey BEN."
BEN appeared dutifully. "Yeah, Crys?"
"Wake us if there's danger - keep an eye out, ok? Also, wake us up in 2 hours..." I pause. "When the sun-" I pointed up at it. "-gets to be about right there in the sky." I shifted my finger slightly to where the sun would be in about 2 hours. BEN didn't really have any other way to tell time.

The smell of smoke drifted from the boy as he stooped again and held out a hand - very similar to the first and previous time we'd met.
Why on earth did he suddenly smell like he'd been hanging around a campfire? I knew I wasn't mistaking it - my sensitive nose didn't lie.
Wow, that sounded stupid. I don't think I'm going to say that ever again.
But you get the point.
Anyway, talk about awkward - as I stared hesitantly at his hand, face turning scarlet once more, I was sure we could both feel that tension mixed with the uncomfortable remains of what had happened a little while ago.
Who could blame me though? In a situation like that, fight or flight kicks in, and honestly, there was no point in fighting this guy.
Not yet anyway. (You can't just go around trusting people.)
So I did the obvious choice and vamoosed right out of there.
Finally, I grabbed his hand without a word, stifling a grimace at the pain shooting through my ankle, keeping my face calm and emotionless. (Excluding the blush still spread across my cheeks. I couldn't really do anything about that.)
Dang it, I'd probably sprained it or something. I'd always had pathetically weak ankles.

We blathered on with questions and statements, smugly noting the girl's growing confusion that was plastered all over her face.
She was very entertaining.
"And then our great-grandma swore she'd never go camping again," Wren said.
"Speaking of camping-" yes, we'd been leading towards this questions slowly, for the last 5 minutes. "-what's with all the camping supplies?"
I snatched the bag from her head and held it tauntingly above her head.
"Maybe her aunt likes camping?" I suggested.
"What aunt??" Wren questioned. "She doesn't have an aunt, obviously."
"Touche."

[ERROR. *beeep* Crystal is currently asleep. Come back in 2 hours, RP time zone. *beeep*]

I tried jerking my hand out of his grasp, because he'd been holding my hand for much longer than necessary, then realized that he was doing that purposefully - keeping hold of me with a gentle, yet firm grip. He wasn't going to let me go.
At this realization, a small ball of fear knotted in my stomach. I had to play this cool, figure out how to escape. Especially now that there was a second guy - wasn't he the one with the wings? They were covered up now. Anyway, it was hard enough getting away from one guy safely, but two?
The blonde guy did seem nice enough though, all worried.
However, I didn't like people to worry about me. It wasn't their business, or their place to have concern over me.
I jerked on my arm slightly, again, just to be sure he hadn't loosened his grip.
Nope.
"I'm fine," I said softly but firmly, balancing myself on both feet just to prove it. That sent a small pain up my ankle, but I ignored it, keeping myself steady like it was fine.
Like I was really going to act weak around these to people who's motives were still unknown.
"So, a question for a question," I said with a challenging look at the lead-like dude, the one who seemed like the chief operator of their duo. (I had to feel proud at this point, because I sounded all tough and 'don't mess with me', and I rarely manage to sound like that. Apparently it just took a possibly dangerous situation to bring it out of me.)
"Why does Mr. Blonde over there have wings?"

[Baha, I win. >) I love getting people into stuff. It's a beautiful hobby.
Time for Jay to be a perv.]

I tossed the backpack to Wren, who caught it and also held it above her reach. Matching smirks slid into place on our faces.
She hadn't denied that she had no aunt.
Our suspicion could really only be proved or disproved one way. (Ok, false, there were plenty of ways, we were just opting for the FUN way.)
Before she could react, I snaked my arms around her and pulled her close, mouth hovering by her ear. I slid my hand up the back of her shirt, fingers coming in contact with feathers.
"Hello, bird girl," I whispered into her ear.

Everything that 'Robin' said (for a brief moment as Chief guy said Robin's name, I almost mistook it for 'Ramen') smacked me in the stomach like an iron... hammer? See, surprise didn't even allow me to come up with a good simile. I kept my expression the same though.
Government experiments. Hunted down.
I don't know about you, but that sounded eerily similar to my own situation.
My gaze shifted down to Chief's hand clutching mine as I replied, "Just as often as I see unicorns." I kind of waffled the question, not directly answering what he was asking between the lines with that question.

[They're so cute though. :3 Like... Switch's stupid with... Rayk's aloofness? Hm.
Biting his leg. XD This made me laugh.]

Jay and I shared a look. "[shadow=red,left]Turn you in?[/shadow]" I threw a small, almost unnoticable glance to the lady who'd helped us earlier. Jay caught it, like he always did, and knew what I meant.
"Actually," he began. "Get whatever stuff you were needing here and add it to ours. That woman gave us a discount, might as well use it for your stuff too."
"We just wanna help~" I added.
She was expecting us to be bad guys and just bug the heck out of her, but as bird kids like her, we knew how hard it was to get money. We had teased her enough - the fear on her face was apparent - so now it was time to help her out a little.
"[shadow=red,left]Go ahead, grab whatever you need.[/shadow]"

I stared at his hand on mine, considering his words. He was right; I was alone. But unlike him, I wasn't looking for friends, nor did I have any around. I didn't want friends - I knew how that usually ended.
It sounded like he was implying that he was worried I would tell someone about him, which I would never do. It wasn't my business, and I had no one to tell anyway. My free hand tightened around my backpack strap. I could live perfectly fine all on my own, like I had this whole time, after all, that was what I'd wanted originally, right? That was what had made me like this, which is why I wondered if maybe I should stay alone. As some sort of... punishment for making the stupid choice of climbing out my window back then.
But an ally might be nice.
Not for the sake of companionship, but for the sake of staying alive, you know? I'll admit - though I was definitely alive, it was still difficult getting and keeping jobs, even though I didn't use that much money, since I didn't eat much anyway.
I wondered if they would even want me around. There was no way I could ask, it wasn't my nature to be bold enough to do that - that brief bit of bold attitude from earlier was long gone.
Finally, without raising my eyes, I settled for a simple, "Yeah, I'm alone."

[Gah. I knew I was forgetting to reply to something. -.- I'll do this later probably. XD
I think a trip to the Magical Idea Making Machine might do me some good right now.
Bluh, my head hurts. :P]

Simultaneously, we grabbed the things from her hands and brought it over to the counter, adding it to our pile of things. The lady smiled at us and we smiled sweetly back. The total, after she rung everything up and loaded it into 4 bags, was much cheaper than it could have been, which was thanks to the discount.
We said goodbye and wished her a good day, and as we walked away, out the door (steering the girl with us, obviously) the lady murmured something about 'such good kids'.
Once outside, I kept hold of the bag containing the girl's bought items - like a hostage. It would have been boring if she decided to up and take off the second I gave them back, so if I hung onto them, she'd have to stick around for a while if she wanted them back.
"So what's your name?" I heard Wren ask. "I'm Wren."
"I'm Jay," I added cheerfully.

He pointed out the exact same line of thought I'd had - the fact that living in a group is easier. Maybe I should say yes. I could use them (yeesh, that sounds a bit more cruel than I thought it would) and raise the survival chances of a mutant my age who's being attacked all the time.
Speaking of being attacked all the time... if they weren't from the School, or didn't have Erasers after them, I'd definitely turn them down. No point in putting them in danger as well.
His grip loosened, and I wanted to pull away - not leave, just... distance myself a bit, because being this close, having his hand wrapped around my wrist kind of freaking me out. A bit more personal contact than I was really used to.
But I didn't, because I didn't want to seem rude. (<-- Why did I even care about seeming rude at this point?) I guess that was the compliant, docile part of me. All apologetic and much too concerned and focused on others rather than myself. Oh well, that was just the way I was.
"Ok," I finally said, hesitantly. "But... um.... I need to know something before I agree. Do-do you guys like... did you come from the School? Are you tracked by, uh, Erasers?"
If they weren't, everything I said just then was probably going to sound really stupid.
If they were, points to me for magically happening upon more people like me. Woo.

[OH! Yesss! I saw that GIF before and it made me so happy! ouo]

[Me too! Once.. I finish them... -.- Low muse, but I feel bad for being slow so I'm posting anyway.]

"[shadow=red,left]Nice to meet ya, Riven,[/shadow]" we chorused. Are we...? Hm.
"Yes," Wren said.
"We are indeed," I added.

[I.. Ok. No. I'm sorry. I seriously just can't even write. XD I don't know why, but I'm failing so hard. I've had what you see above just... sitting there... for like, a half an hour.
Forgive me. TT^TT
I'll finish this another time.]

[This post made me grin from ear to ear.
Excuse my whilst I find my muse. I lost it a bit over a week ago, it seems, and haven't found it since.]

[*flops around* I've been neglecting this terribly.
I shall reply! *thrusts fist in the air*]

"[shadow=red,left]Nice to meet ya, Riven,[/shadow]" we chorused. Are we...? Hm. I couldn't decide whether I felt like playing dumb, or just answering straight-forward.
Who am I kidding? Straight-forward is never fun.
"Yes," Wren said, ruining my idea.
"We are indeed," I added.
Apparently, though, he wasn't destroying the fun, because he went on to say, "The life of twin male strippers is a tough one, but we deal."
"We think we do pretty cool at our shows, but we always get fired."
"At the end, we take our shoes off. Exciting right?"
"It's not like we can take much else off unless we want to show feathers," I finished.
Thereby actually answering her question in one of the most roundabout ways possible. We liked doing things the complex way.
"So Riven," I said, looping an arm around hers, while Wren did the same on her left and we started walking, generally beginning to steer her in the direction of our motel - not that she knew that. We made really good money, actually, working a job as waiters, and needless to say, we were favourites with the lady customers.
Tips aplenty.
So we stayed in a motel. It's wasn't the Ritz or anything, but it wasn't too shabby either. Bringing Riven to the motel didn't really have a point, I guess, it was just sort of fun to have a new avian. Because, obviously, coming across one is about as rare as seeing a shooting star. (Unless your job is to keep a telescope trained to the heavens 24/7, that is. I'm talking for the average Joe to see one.)
It was more or less to have fun with our new mutant.... 'friend'. She was more entertaining then the other weak women we usually came across anyway. Those idiots practically threw themselves at us, but this girl seemed rough around the edges, like she could really care less.
It was a nice change.
"Where do you live?" I continued, curious about her.
Wren added, "Do you have a job to get by on?"

I considered what they said for a moment. I suppose I win then, since I'd been out of the School and on my own for a little over a year now.
I also won with the Eraser sighting - I hadn't had any attacks for about 2 and a half months. I suppose it's harder to track down an invisible girl, yeah?
The last sentence caught my attention, and my head snapped up to look at him in surprise. "You guys are going to school?" I hadn't gone to school since, well, you know. I'd tried logging on to my account at the online school I'd gone to, but, like everything else, my existence was nilch there too. I'd tried figuring out how to get a fake ID, the stuff needed to go to a school (it seemed wrong to just... stop) but it was tougher than I'd expected, and the guy I'd paid to help ended up being a con who didn't care about anything but the money and getting his hand up my shirt.
Talk about ick. And a waste of money too, which sucked worse because I'd used my meal money for a week just to pay him, and ended up eating out of a dumpster. That was a new experience for me. (Although I'll admit, once you get past where it came from, and pretend that you just bought it or whatever, it's not so bad, especially since a lot of it isn't even partially eaten or whatever, it's just stuff they didn't manage to sell.)
Anyway, if these guys planned on school, maybe it wouldn't be so bad an idea going with them. Maybe it was pointless and dangerous, going to school I mean, since it's not going to get me a better job in the future or something just from graduating, since I will never be able to go on to bigger and better things or whatever.
Like be an author.
Or even being a dental assistant, which was what I'd mostly planned on being because it didn't take much schooling and it paid enough to support my future, which was good enough for me.
But now? I don't think they'd appreciate animal fur on their equipment. (In case you were wondering, I do shed, as a matter of fact. I have a tendency to look like I own a dog with white fur. A really fluffy dog.)
"So..." I said softly, my shy tendencies coming out to full. "It's ok if I were to..." Join their group? Tag along? Uh... how the heck does one word this?
"J-join..?"
Yup, that sounded pretty stupid, but none of the other options were much better.

Challenge accepted! I thought back with a grin. I could see flashes of his tail and hind legs through the bushes ahead of me, so I swerved a sudden right, doing a flip and sort of catapulting myself up to grab a tree limb. From there, I proceeded to flip and swing from branch to branch, tree to tree like some sort of Tarzan. It was faster, and quieter.
Soon enough, I could see Shift through the trees, and before long, I was ahead of him.
Life was never a bore with your best friend, you know?
I swung forward, then kicked out with my legs, using the trunk of the tree in front of me as a springboard to push off from, sending me flying through the air in the left direction - where Whiskers was. I twisted my body to land upright, then hit the ground, tucking into a roll so I didn't kill my legs.
Then I used the momentum of the roll to leap forward and tackle Shift, wrapping my arms around his furry middle.
"Gotcha Whiskers! You should know by know that I'll always catch you," I said brightly, tail lashing from the excitement of the 'hunt'.