Day 13 Mia, 81379 A lone female slowly made her way through the damp area near the edge of the lake, picking her footing carefully. She was weighed down by the pack on her back and much to her annoyance, her tail had been dragged through some muddy water, leaving it damp and uncomfortable to the touch. Her eyes concentrated on the slight path before her as her ears moved in an agitated manner, listening for any unwanted companions. She had yet to meet anyone for the past several miles, but experience had taught her that just because you couldn't see it, didn't mean it wasn't there. I suppose I could always just look for another mind presence she said, speaking aloud to herself But knowing my luck, that'll be the moment I fall into some hole in the road. Of all the forsaken, misbegotten, out of the way places I could have gone. I could be in a city right now, with actual places to sleep, but no, I just had to travel. See the world. It'd be good for me. Ha! And so here I am, and it's damp She looked up as a large water droplet fell on her snout ...And raining. Go figure. This could get worse, but I really shouldn't ask how- ow! Her last words escaped as a yelp as the ground beneath her right paw, which was deceptively firm looking, gave way beneath her, forcing her to lose her balance and fall forward, painfully wrenching her trapped leg. The contents of her pack spilled out as it hit the ground, scattering throughout the tall grass. She simply stared at the mess for a moment before turning her head towards the sky. I said I wasn't going to ask!!!
<span style='font-family:Geneva'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>Lucas's walked around the lake and he stopped by the little inlet with a dock and no boats. Lucas looked around and smiled as it started to rain. I love when it rains. Then the wordl feels the way I do... He looked over and tried to hide his smile at the female who just stepped in a pothole. He went down on all his legs and ran over to her. Before he got to her he felt something give under his paws. Another trap to catch the 'mystical beasts'. He fell into the sand covered trap and yelped as he missed most of the spikes. One was poking out his right shoulder and he kicked the mud wall. Bad mistake. The mud fell in around him and he groaned thankful that the female probably didnt notice. He looked at his fur. The black of his fur turned brown with mud. He kicked the wall again and he was buried. All that was left was his red flame on the end of his tail showing the anger he felt.</span></span></span>
Tajamesa glanced up at the sound of a yell just in time to glance a large, dark body dissapear into the ground. Looks like I'm not the only clutz around here she thought to herself as she painfully dragged her body forward, freeing her leg. Reaching down, she prodded at it carefully, checking for any breaks. Satisfied that her injury was little more than a sprain, she stood slowly, picking up her pack and shoving her wayward belonging back into it, making a face at the mud that now covered everything. Limping fowards, now twice as wary, she paused at the end of the sinkhole, casting an amused glance at the tip of the tail that stuck out from the mud. Well that can't be comfortable. She said to no one in particular. Reaching into her pack, she pulled out several long pieces of cloth that she used for a makeshift tent and carefully clambered down into the hole with them, grimacing as she sank up to her ankles in the now loose mud. The rain was coming down harder than ever, making movement treachorous. Moving to where she thought the strangers head might be, she started to dig, hoping that the remaining walls didn't decide to fall as well. After a few minutes, her paw brushed against something that wasn't quite so slippery and as she looked carefully, she could spy the top of a dark head There you are. Bet you can' t wait to be out of this, huh?
<span style='font-family:Geneva'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>Lucas felt a paw hit his head and he groaned. She saw...damnit... He stuck his hand out of the mud quickly and raised his head. He slowly stood, feeling the wood piece pull out of his shoulder. He stood infront of her mud dripping from his fur. He glared and tried to crawl out of the mud pit he was stuck in. </span></span></span>
Tajamesa rolled her eyes at the pendragon before her Well, you're a friendly one, aren't you? she muttered aloud not particularily caring if he could hear her or not. He hardly looked in any shape to do anything about it. If you'd hold still for all of two minutes, we might get out of here a lot faster. Turning from him, she slid over to the other side of the hole, where the drop wasn't quite so steep and spread out her sheet over it, creating a cloth path up the side. Use this. The cloth will give you a little more traction. She illustrated her point by carefully scrambling up the cloth, only sliding once or twice, before reaching the top. Looking back down, she grinned at him. Now it's your turn.
<span style='font-family:Geneva'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>Lucas snarled and crouched and jumped from the hole and landed behind the female. He wavered and feel. His body was sore and he felt dizzy and fell to the earth below. He reached into his pants poke and pulled out some muddy cloths for bandages. He poked at his wound and it squirted blood and mud out and he shrugged and started putting the cloth around his wound.</span></span></span>
Tajmesa startled herself by growling at the stranger You idiot! You can't put dirty cloth on those! Are you trying to make yourself sick? Digging through her pack, she pulled out one of the few remaining clean things from her injury kit, and unraveled the gauze material. Marching over to him, she fixed him with one of her most stubborn looks before reaching out and quickly wrapping it around his injury. Look, you don't need to like me, but hold still. Afterwards, you can run off and pretend we never met, if that's what makes you happy. She continued to wrap the bandage around his wound ,murmuring an old healing song she'd picked up during her travels, one to hold off infection and aid in healing. I'm Tajmesa, by the way. she added, hoping to soothe over her rough approach.
<span style='font-family:Geneva'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>Lucas glowered and shook of his fur. Mud flew everywhere. He looked at his bandage and he sook his head. "How helpful was that? Oh look. Its still a dirty cloth." He stood and started to walk towards the water. He was about knee deep in the water and he sat. Letting the water swirl around him. He raised his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He felt the rain wash off the mud on his head and he smiled and rested his head on his arms.</span></span></span>
Tajmesa glared at his back If all the locals are like you, I might as well just go and jump back into that hole she muttered savagely. Turning sharply, she took a step, but failed to bite back a whimper as pain shot up through her leg. Damnit! I'd have forgotten about that. Setting her jaw she took another step, gingerly setting down the injured paw, closing her eyes against the pain. That'll be a trip to a healer...just lovely.
<span style='font-family:Geneva'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>Lucas heard the noise and shook his head. "And why didnt you use this bandage for you? You are obviously in pain...and yes I think you should jump back in that hole but take a book it might become boring. Lucas stood and removed his pants and torn shirt, threw them on the shoreline and dove into the water. It felt nice on his skin. The coolness untensing his muscles as well and if not better then warm water. Lucas rose out of the water and started to walk towards the beach. He could smell her blood and he wanted to tackle and drink her dry but he assumed she probably didnt want that. He walked to his pants and dipped them in water and started scrubbing them of the mud. His fur now looked like silt cascading down his broad shoulders. It felt it too. He loved bathing. His eyes were glazed over with the overwhelming hunger he was feeling and he was trying to consentrate on cleaning his leather pants. It wasnt working. "If you dont leave soon, I may kill you." He said very quietly as the wind started blowing. He heard her heartbeat for any signs of distress. </span></span></span>
She glanced back at him, his last words almost too quiet to hear. Her expression was puzzled. She was used to general ingratitude, but this was definitely something new. Excuse me? His words were slightly unnerving, but she did have the advantage of distance and she knew she could run, if she had to. That failing, she did carry a few nasty surprises on her person, for just such an occasion.
<span style='font-family:Geneva'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>Lucas rolled his eyes and he shook his head. I can't believe she isnt running. He lifted his pants and walked to his shirt. He threw both clothing pieces over his shoulder and walked toward her. He slowly walked passed her and smelt the air. "I am a vampire by the way..." </span></span></span>
She blinked a few times, processing just what he said. A vampire? That's...different. She shifted her body, falling into a slightly defensive stance. He didn't seem ready to leap at her, despite his statement and to be honest, she'd rather have him where she could keep her eyes on him, rather than at her back. So, is this the part where you sweep to my side, stare hypnotically into my eyes, and bite my neck? It probably wasn't a good idea to keep running her mouth, especially when she had no idea exactly how he would react to her taunts. Then again, she never had been particularily good at keeping her mouth shut when she should have. Maybe if she had, Syup wouldn't have lost his patience with her. Maybe they'd have settled and....she shook her head. No sense in following that particular line of thought. Better to pay attention to what was happening now. Tilting her head to the side, she gave him an inquring look, though her muscles remained tense, despite the pain in her leg.
<span style='font-family:Optima'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>Lucas shook his head and noticed her heart beat once faster then normal. He saw her move herself into a defensive state and shook his head. He kept walking until he heard what she said. He turned. "I prefer pigs over psycho sadist bitches like you." He growled at her and sniffed the air. "May the flea that climbed up your ass find happiness." He stalked off and sat by a tree and took out his leather journal and started writing. </span></span></span>
If looks could kill, he'd be well on his way to the next world in seconds. She bit her tongue. Literally. Turning away, she stalked off about 20 feet in the other direction, putting another tree between the two of them, muttering about arrogant stuck up know it all's. She pulled a salve from her pack, smoothing it over the slight cut she'd gained, hissing sharply at the sting. Still, it would do it's job. The pain simply meant it was working. Eyeing her fur in distaste, she stood, slowly making her way back to the water. She momentarily eyed her companion, before wading waist deep into the water, not bothering to remove her clothing. They needed washing anyhow. Dunking beneath the water, she kept her head beneath the surface for a moment before resurfacing. Making her way back to her tree, she reached into her pack once more and pulled out a comb to work out the knots from her tail. She called across the space without looking up from her work. Rude or not, you could at least tell me your name.
<span style='font-family:Geneva'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>"Why should I? You never once gave me reason to trust you to tell you anything about myself..." He said while still writing in his journal He stopped to think and looked up the tree he was sitting at. Its funny how no one cares in this world anymore. Even our trees are oblivious to the situation that may befall them. They are ignorant. The Graders are ruling and the world will go to hell in a hand basket. We are all screwed... He thought about it again and he found he actually liked the Graders, he just hasnt seen them rule or what they have done. He remembered his journal and huffed. He continued to write all that bothered him and he smiled when he wrote the last paragraph... "I left and cried without a sound; knowing there was no tomorrow for us. You see I created a world that I've always longed to be in and I wished never to have to wake up again. Wouldn't that be wonderful? To have a life like that? I've given up everything for this one chance to know what it is like..." He hadnt notice he has said it out loud. He closed the book and moaned quietly. He stood and put his pants back on and tucked his shirt in his back pocket. He put the pen in the crease in which he just wrote and folded the book into his hand. He stood there and looked into the darkening sky. </span></span></span>
Tajmesas' ears perked up at his barely audible comment. None of it really made any sense to her, but then again, neither did much of anything about this pendragon. The sadness in his voice however, left her with a deep aching sensation. Quietly standing, she walked towards him, stopping about twenty paces away. As much as she hated to admit it, what he had said struck a chord in her, though she didn't really understand what it was that was making him hurt so much. She stood, watching his back for a long moment before she spoke. I'm sorry if I was rude. She turned without waiting for a reply, and began to walk away. She had already noted that quite a bit of time had been lost and she wasn't likely to make it to any sort of village tonight. Looks like another night out here. she thought, groaning to herself when she realized that her tent was now completely muddy and therefore useless. It wasn't that she needed it, but it did tend to come in useful. Come now! What are you? Some pathetic newborn cub? You act like a night in the open is something horrible. She froze for a moment as the rain, which had paused, began to fall again, this time harder than ever. I was saying?
<span style='font-family:Geneva'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>Lucas moaned and took his pack and threw a tent at the female and curled up in the rain and fell asleep almost instantly. </span></span></span>
She yelped as it hit her in the back of her legs, nearly tripping her. Recovering her balance, she looked down, then looked back at him. That could almost be called....sweet. she mused to herself. Setting up the tent quickly, she glanced back over at him, a small frown playing across her face. Quietly making her way to under a tree, she picked up four large branches and then treaded lightly towards him, careful not to disturb his sleep. Jamming each stick into the ground, she created a square around him with them. Spreading out the cloth from her otherwise unusable tent, she spread it over the stakes, providing him with at least some protection from the rain. Then, just as quietly, she made her way back to her tent where she curled up and almost immediately fell asleep.
<span style='color:blue'><span style='font-family:Geneva'><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>If one were to listen quietly they would hear growling from inside the makeshift tent. Once the tent covered him he awoke and shook his head. ------- Day 14 Mia, 81379 Lucas awoke before the sun rose. His stomach grumbled. He shook his head, hating the way he was. Knowing today was not going to be his salvation. Today would be another spiteful day. He stood up and stretched his tired muscles and went out to hunt some blood. He eventually caught a large rat like creature and drank it dry. He took it back to the sands by the lake and buried the creature by the water. If it lived here it must have valued the lakes beauty... Lucas washed his scruff in the water and went back to the tent and began writing about the creature that just fed him. He made up a life and a story so he could remember that little being...as he did all his victims. "Why must I feed? Why must I hunt? They are my victims as I am a victim to the bloodlust." He wipped a tear from his cheek and closed the book. </span></span></span>
