lead you through [east]

Startled, Ace watched the cheetah come to an abrupt halt. He frowned at the words spoken but obliged, putting the knife back where it belonged. “Don’t call me kid,” he mumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes and taking a few steps towards the shifter. As the cheetah took on its human form Ace noted height and probable weight and age of the man before him. Around five foot eleven, mostly muscle, and mid-to-late twenties. It was a game he had often played with his siblings back when the world was normal. Even in the Menagerie he found that it was always safest to try and gain whatever advantage you could over any opponent. Luckily for him, the man before him was an ally rather than an enemy. If he was the latter, Ace wouldn’t stand a chance.

Taking East’s hand, Ace offered a small smile. “I’m Ace. And don’t worry about it. It’ll probably be easier to find the stuff with some light hanging around.” Awkwardly shifting his weight from each foot, Ace watched as the scout bit at the blade of grass. The boy, however, decided not to question it and instead simply focused on what the shifter was saying to him. He hoped and prayed that this was the scout he had been waiting for, and not simply another cunning trick by the Carna. But Ace thought he had seen this man around before, so there was a ninety per cent chance that he was the one who had been sent to him. If it turned out that the other ten per cent was where the scout belonged, Ace still had his knife.

“We’re after quite a few things today. Almost all our supplies have been used up recently.” Ace tried not to become distracted by the mental list he held, however he needed a moment to think. He had devised it quite a few days ago and for some reason his memory was not serving him well. Ace determined it to be the lack of sleep; sleep was essential to proper brain function and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had more than a few hours in one night. As was usual habit, Ace turned his head slightly upward, his eyes looking up at the sky as he began to recall his list.

“We’ll probably need to find Tansy. Yellow coloured flower, no real petals, hard to explain. But there’ve been mosquitoes around and malaria is not a good thing to have on our hands. We only need the leaves though, the flowers are said to be poisonous.” Pausing, Ace tried to remember the next item on his list. “Korean mint, also known as Indian mint or hyssop. I reckon it kinda looks like lavender. It’s an effective antiviral. Also catnip. You should be pretty good at finding that one.” Ace grinned, trying not to laugh at the obvious idiocy of his joke. For a split second though, he wondered if catnip was also addictive to the large felines. Maybe I should not let him go near that one, the boy thought, before clearing his throat and trying to recall the others.

“Um, some sage would be good. Marjoram if we can find it but that one’s hard to get your hands on. Sweet violet would be helpful but we shouldn’t go out of our way to find it. We can probably do without that one.” Ace sighed, silently proud of himself for remembering each of the supplies. With their supplies low back at Fulsi territory, he knew that before long there would be more and more of them dying. Whilst some of these were mere basic herbs that could really only treat small things, every little one would count. Even if they could keep someone alive for one or two more days, it would make all the difference in the world.

Ace knew without the scout he would never be able to find half the things he needed. Of course, with East around he just felt a little more wary and nervous. Ace was a mere teenager, on the verge of adulthood, and he knew that’s the way people saw him. How did an eighteen year old get the gig of chief medic anyway? Surely he was too young for the job. That’s what he kept thinking every day. Ace wondered if those same thoughts were going through East’s mind. Regardless, they were on the job together and finding those herbs was all Ace really cared about. The blood stains on his shirt served as a constant reminder that he was not ready to lose more lives.

“I hope the list’s not too extensive. You reckon you find any of those things East?” Ace was ready to get going, they were already late and the job needed to get done.

w o r d s , eight hundred and six
t a g , east
m u s e , the howling by within temptation
n o t e s , the word count is exactly the same... so weird DX

Following along behind the older man, Ace wondered if East really knew where half the items on his list were. It was most likely that he did, but there was also a slight possibility that the other man was showing off. Ace was used to show offs, he was rather proud and vain himself, but he was not in the mood to deal with one that day. He was on a mission and he was determined to get the job done in time for dinner. If only there was dinner to go back to. Sighing, Ace continued his trail behind East, pushing the thought of food from his mind. Their supplies were low and he was used to small amounts of food. Ace just couldn’t help but think of cakes and cookies and proper meals prepared in ovens. And hot water. He missed his morning cup of coffee dearly.

The shifter counted around ten minutes to have passed by the time the long silence was broken. East was half way over a large tree, in the middle of the wilderness that spread out around them. This was no park; this was a forest now. His speech was slightly difficult to understand, due to the length of grass that protruded from his lips. Ace, however, managed to catch what he had said. “Haha, no, not really. But it had to be done. Gotta save lives you know?” The boy flushed a little, a dorky sort of grin spreading across his face. A small laugh escaped his lips but he was quick to silence it, as though he thought that it was not suitable to be finding humour in a situation such as this. Ace often thought that it was simply awkward to be laughing in a place like the Menagerie. All around them was death; he felt guilty about even the smallest moments of happiness.

Ace too managed to climb his way over the tree, albeit a little less gracefully than the man before him. It had been quite a long time since he had done any sort of field work; he was certainly out of practice. Some of his scouting skills remained with him, and he remembered all of his combat training. The climbing trees and monkey behaviour did not come naturally to the horse shifter, however, and he preferred to avoid that sort of thing.

The little patch of tansy before him caused a small smile to flicker across Ace’s expression. And then it was gone. Instantly he saw the problem that they were faced with. He heard East talk, pointing out the slight trouble, and absentmindedly nodded in agreement. The scout’s next few words, however, elicited a different response from the younger man. Ace turned rather quickly to East, raising one eyebrow. He’s testing me. He doesn’t think I can do it. Pride, of course, got the better of Ace, and in an instant his knife was back in his hands.

“What? Afraid of a little paper cut?” Ace retorted, before walking towards the thicket. The thicket was rather tall, but did not cover much area overall. It reached perhaps just over his knees; tall enough to be an inconvenience. The shifter bent down slightly, beginning to cut sections of the thicket away. The thorns fell away, gradually giving him more room. After a few minutes of hacking away at the thicket, Ace sighed in frustration. Shaking his head, the shifter simply placed his arm in front of him and used that to push the thorns away. He flinched only slightly as the thorns cut through his skin, leaving behind splatters of blood, staining his already bloodstained shirt.

Once the thorns were separated enough, Ace reached forward and began yanking the leaves off. He made sure to avoid the flowers, not wanting to have to cure any other kind of illnesses on top the ones he had to deal with back at Fulsi. When all the leaves had been plucked, and they were safe in his large hands, Ace pulled his body back through the thicket. Sticking the leaves into one of his pockets, which were surprisingly large, Ace shook himself out, loose thorns dropping to the ground around him.

“Great, now my t-shirt’s even more stained than usual.” Rolling his eyes once more, the boy fingered his t-shirt, silently knowing the stains would always remain there. Looking down at his arm then, a frown creased his brow. “Whoops,” Ace laughed, before focusing his energy on the tiny cuts along his arm. Slowly, they began to close up, the little scars disappearing before his very eyes. The thorns were only small and that kind of healing required only a small amount of energy. It was lucky for Ace that he hadn’t had to get through anything worse than that. Once each puncture mark had vanished, Ace smiled back up at East. “So, where to next?”

w o r d s , eight hundred and seventeen
t a g , east
m u s e , beach by boy and bear
n o t e s , ace can be such an annoying teen sometimes...

Ace smiled a little, nodding absentmindedly at the comment. He knew there were some spare clothes stashed around Fulsi but he seemed to have become rather attached to his own white t-shirt. It had been with him throughout his whole time there, and it held his many battle scars – or non-existent ones rather. As the other man moved slightly closer, Ace remained exactly where he was. The teenager was particularly good at being stubborn and he was not about to let the other Fulsi bully him or exert any kind of power or authority over him either. Instead, Ace simply looked the other man dead in the eyes, trying not to let any of his strange social awkwardness shine through. At one stage Ace had been perfectly capable of holding a pleasant conversation and felt completely at ease around others. The M had changed certain things about him. Some of his flirtatiousness had slightly disappeared, instead masked with worry and a lack of trust. Trust was something that no longer existed; there was no room for it in the dome.

“A little bit of both I suppose,” Ace grinned, cocking his head to the side a little, his eyes widening with his expression. It wasn’t completely true. Most of his patients were perfectly kind and let him do his job without any fuss. Others, however, were difficult. Sometimes the more painful cases caused the patients to lash out at the medics. As chief medic, Ace preferred to work on those patients himself, keeping his other medics out of harm’s way. They’re my responsibility and they come first. That’s what Ace told himself on a daily basis. It was better for him to be injured than the others. At least he could heal himself with a relative amount of ease. Some of the other medics were probably not as capable.

The teen’s grin only widened as East commented on his ‘trick’ and Ace had to stop himself from instinctively winking at the older man. It was a move he was guilty of making many times, simply second nature. Evidently not all of his flirtatious nature had been left behind when he was transported into the Menagerie. Not that one could blame him. Ace was definitely not going to deny the fact that he found East rather handsome. However, he was certainly not going to be admitting that any time soon. So instead he refrained from carrying the flirting any further, at least for the time being.

As East spun around the teenager paused for a moment in surprise, before following down the path behind him. Every now and then a thorn would catch on his shirt or jeans and Ace would hastily tug it away, not caring if he pricked himself in the process. I never even knew this path was here, he thought to himself as he moved along it. Of course, he’d been in Fulsi almost all the time he’d been in the Menagerie and he hadn’t gone too far out of the territory before. He’d never really found the time to go exploring. Instead he worked on other things inside what he thought of as the ‘safe zone’ but of course, nowhere was really safe.

“I don’t mind walking,” Ace commented, throwing a smile back at the other shifter. The younger man’s bare feet were more than used to the harshness of the terrain. Ace rather preferred walking without shoes. It allowed him to feel the earth and be connected with it, like an animal connected with its habitat. The natural instincts were there and they only had to be let out in order to strengthen the beast within. He loved his converse, but he also loved the feeling of soft grass and of sand and dirt. The track would be no problem for him, even with the rocks and pebbles coating its surface.

“Alright, if you insist,” Ace murmured, trying to work out if he really wanted to tell the scout anything. Ace preferred to keep certain aspects of his life and past to himself, but perhaps sharing a few things couldn’t hurt. “First off, you can call me Ace. It’s just a little easier I think than ‘medic’ or ‘kid’. Second, I’m eighteen, but I still know exactly which parts of you to cut or punch in order to kill you. And I’m a Friesian shifter but no, I don’t do pony rides.” A small laugh escaped Ace’s lips, and he paused slightly before continuing. “I’ve also been here for probably about three years, which is far too many. Oh and I used to be a scout actually, before they discovered I was quite good with plants and blood."

w o r d s , seven eight three
t a g , east
m u s e , skyfall by adele
n o t e s , sorry for the wait. school has been evil

Ace couldn’t quite decide if he’d said anything wrong. He often had the habit of saying too much, or not enough, and rubbing people the wrong way. A number of people saw him as a cocky, arrogant little kid who ought to be put in his right place. Whilst that was not completely incorrect, it was certainly a jump too far. In Ace’s mind, most of his arrogant comments were perfectly justified. He did know exactly which parts of East’s body would cause him to convulse in pain or drop him the floor dead. It was a hefty amount of power, but Ace knew even then that he’d never be able to take on a guy like East. He’d had training and he used to be a scout, but he was out of practice and he’d never really been particularly good at the physical stuff. He was just good at the healing stuff and remembering random things about plants and remedies. He held thousands of recipes in his head for various healing tonics, most of which he probably would never have to make. It was amazing, but not altogether useful.

As East spoke, Ace continued following him, his eyes turned towards the taller man. A smile spread across his face, but instead of outright responding, he decided he’d let East figure it out himself. Instead he just nodded, the corner of his lips turning further upwards in amusement. The wink however, threw the younger boy. Ace felt his legs stop for just a second before he silently chastised himself and continued walking. Don’t let him get a reaction from you, he reminded himself, as his gaze drifted away from East. He wasn’t completely sure what to make of the comment, or the wink, and instead let it roll around in his mind, the words repeating over and over again. Flirtation? No. Why would East being paying that sort of attention to him? Ace was unsure how to proceed, unsure what East was looking for in him. Some fun maybe, or just small amusement for the time being. They were stuck with each other for the day, after all. Might as well try and make it more entertaining.

The moaning of the swing tugged Ace’s smile the other way. There would have been a time when it didn’t squeak and when it wasn’t rusty. Children would have played on it, enjoying their lives without a care in the world. It would have been so nice if that place had not changed. There were still children in that place, but they were no longer happy. The Menagerie was a poison, spreading fear and hatred throughout its residents. They could never leave. Ace hated thinking of such things but somehow it only made his determination to survive stronger. There was a world outside the dome, a world that still called to all of them. The chances of them getting out were nil, but Ace knew that hope was what kept them fighting. He never doubted that he would die in that dome, but the slight hope, the fantasy of it, kept him going each day.

Realising the depression of his thoughts, Ace shook his head, clearing them away before listening to his companion speak. The final comment did, in the end, manage to coax a laugh from Ace’s lips. The medic grinned up at the other shifter, genuine laughter floating through the air between them. “A butterfly shift would make for an excellent getaway though. A little less conspicuous than a cheetah speeding off or a big black horse.” Ace continued smiling, taking a few quick steps so that he was next to East, their shoulders almost touching, but still maintaining the slightest distance between them. “For what it’s worth, I was a pretty crappy scout myself. I think that’s why my mentor decided to switch me to medic. He figured I’d do better at something that required a little physical ability. I don’t blame him though. I don’t mind the sight of blood, but I hate being the cause of the spillage, or seeing my own.” Turning to glance over at East, Ace offered his usual crooked smile, trying to see if he could lighten the mood and distract his thoughts from the past.

w o r d s , seven hundred and twelve
t a g , east
m u s e , various disney songs
n o t e s , that's fine kriss