CHEETOS OF THE DEAD [Daisy]

[AKANE]

Did she have to? She didn't want to ... she rolled over more comfortably. Akane needed to hunt today, Slan was off on a patrol and it had been over a week since she had gotten protein.

"Kaeritakunai," she whined aloud. Her inner 'mom' voice was telling her that if she didn't start hunting soon it would be the heat of the day which would be awful. Akane groaned, huffed as she sat up and clobbered a perfectly smug pair of boots with a blanket.

Still unsatisfied, she rose and yawned as she settled down on the small carpet she used as a 'mat' and began her morning meditation and yoga. Afterwards, she'd get some clothes on and go out.



It was hot. She had waited too long.
Biting a lip she sighed and shifted easily into her small form, taking the shape of a red fox with twin tails. Almost before she had completed the change, she was off through the old graves, musty dead foliage, sand, and random trees. Large triangular ears twitched with the slightest sound and her little black nose went to work.

Cheetos, Cheetos, Cheetos... she chanted to herself. I would kill to have Cheetos. Hell who needs a whole bag- ONE ... I will sell my soul for one little Cheeto ... no, even a stale Cheeto. ONE FROM BETWEEN THE SOFA CUSHIONS ... yes one stale, left over, crummy Sofa Cheeto.

There was a sound and she froze. Her hazel-blue eyes searched the forest, but she saw nothing and continued on. Cheetos, Cheetos, Cheetos, oddly thinking of food helped her hunt better. It made her hungrier and not thinking of anything but getting food into her stomach instead of obsessing about anything else kept her focused.

Akane also tended not to hate most of the things foxes could and WOULD eat, so to distract herself she allowed her vixen instincts to take the reins and her mind to pretend that last crunch was indeed ... a Cheeto.

Which it wasn't. It didn't taste anything like a Cheeto, it tasted a tad sour and she thought there might be a leg twitching in her teeth. Cheetos, Cheetos, Cheetos. ...

_____Translations
kaeritakunai - Don't want to leave (incomplete sentence she's being lazy lol)

[Daisy Solomon]

Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass
Hardly anything there for you to see.

The Menagerie was a foreign place to young Daisy. However, it seemed to present her with opportunities that sparked her curiosity further, rather than repel her from making life-threatening mistakes, like the one that had brought her here. When she was not under the watchful eyes of the Fallen, she would rise just before the sun would make its peak and sneak past their borders.

Having been confined to the desert for most of the years of her life… the prospect of feeling different climates, seeing the green lush meadows, towering cities—even if they were ruptured by the dystrophic world she had found herself in… seemed way more tempting for her to sneak into the territory of others. She had gotten good at moving around unseen- but not to say that she did not leave tracks for people to follow her… she wasn’t that smart… yet.
Still very new, she had not yet witnessed the war between the rings- nor the hate. Her naïve nature centered on herself purely for the moment, and without her parents and siblings to hold her back… she ventured out.
Being an adolescent, she had a sense of immortality. Stupidity older people would call it. But if she walked the borders of life and death- she felt closer to her brother. Closer to a realm between reality and the after-life, and for the moment she was not sure which she would prefer to be in. Life seemed empty.

Her boots crackled along the shattered pavement of the empty streets. The sun not yet towering over the tall city buildings, but enough to create cold shadows. Her arms folded across her chest- her eyes darting around to make sure she was alone. Her hands ran up and down her thin arms to keep the warmth. Her legs were warm from all the walking she had done, but now… her stomach was beginning to cry out for sustenance.

While she lived in her human form and was reluctant to shift- she did not ignore the diet of her other form. If anything, in this world… it was the one thing that was going to keep her alive. She had come to trust the hunting instincts that came with her shifting form.

Coming to a large iron gate- she paused for a moment. It was dead quiet here, and a good place to find a morning snack. Her lean figure allowed her to slip through the iron bars, and she slipped through into a spacious area that looked like it was a deserted graveyard. She knelt down and started turning over rocks- finding numerous little creatures. Forgetting that in the Menagerie- she might actually eat a bug, that was not actually a bug- but a fellow shapeshifter. In her defence- she was only new to this place. She didn’t have the clearest understanding of the different species people could shift into.

Daisy had no intention of changing forms, however in her actions- she portrayed the very nature of her shift form. She would stop and pause and look around. That was when she heard a noise. She immediately stood up tall and looked to where the noise came from. Her hands dirty from pulling up rocks- and that was when she saw the fox. This was the first time she had ever come across someone when she was out alone.

She had never seen a fox close up- and right now, as her heart raced… her other form was screaming run for it. But her human form froze. There was every chance this was just an animal, with no boundaries or territories to defend… or it was a shapeshifter- and she was in big trouble.

Typical. Just her luck.

Bring me home in a blinding dream
Through the secrets that I have seen

Lyrics—Castle of Glas- Linkin Park

[AKANE]

Akane snuffled beneath a rotting trunk and began to dig. Her gift was yet another beetle, but she chewed it down without complaint. Her foxy nose continued to catch scent after scent, and leaping atop the log froze when she spotted another creature only a few yards away.

It was clear the girl had seen Akane before Akane had seen her, and she cursed herself inwardly for being so careless. Hazel blue eyes searched the girl, her nose sampling the air to gather information. Her tails whipped, curling low as her large ears shifted to catch the quickened breath of the girl.

She smelled … fear.
Her head tilted to one side as she sat, watching the girl to see what she would do. Akane's contrast from weary to friendly clear - as clear as it was that the girl was more afraid of her small vulpine form than Akane was the blonde girl. Inexplicably, Akane sneezed with a great shake of her head – dispelling dirt form her nose. The heat was much less in the damp forest, but her coat was thin and almost too-ruddy red for even a red fox.

After a moment, her white tip tails began to wiggled back and forth. The girl was young, and nonthreatening. She seemed sweet – and if Akane was right, her shift couldn’t be very large or a smallish female Fallen fox would have little worried her.

[Daisy Solomon]

And if you don't mind
I would like to live the lie
That I will survive…

Daisy stood as still as a tree. Her golden hair gently catching the breeze and drifting like the leaves. Though still she stood, inside her heart was racing.

The way the fox watched her- it wasn’t natural. It wasn’t like the real world. A real fox would run away, they were timid and shy creatures- and her human form would be enough to make it run in the opposite direction. This one of the other hand probably had 26 weapons it was planning to use against her- and a mouth full of nasty bacteria that she did not intend on getting bitten from.

The last thing she wanted was to be back in the Keeper’s clutches again.

She took another hesitant step backwards, distancing herself- and moving herself out of, what she perceived as the fox’s bubble. Daisy was not hugely tall, or massively brawn. She was petite and short- hardly threatening or menacing at all. But her ‘new’ smell… and perhaps the fact she may have been sighted with Fallen members- was enough for her to get on the bad side of others.

Again, she had been warned about all of this. Again, she had wandered into territory she did not know- nor had been told about. Nor was she accustomed to it. She was defenseless, small, innocent and naïve and continued to make the same mistake over and over again.

Why would she never learn from her mistakes? Oh, that was right- because she was walking on the thin rope between life and death- trying to decide which was better.

The ruddy-red fox before her though, wagged its tail like a dog. Slightly concerning. Daisy had never had interaction with a fox, so it was hard to read the body language. Anybody could put the wagging tail down to being friendly and happy- but Daisy wasn’t just anybody. And, she would do everything in her power to stay away from the Keepers…

She raised her hands in peace, “Sorry… sorry,” she moistened her lips, letting her eyes quickly search for an escape route. Whether she could outrun this fox if she had too… she doubted it, “Didn’t mean to steal your bugs… The ones under the rocks are the best by the way- if you like the juicy sort…”

In a way her words were shaky and nervous.

And if you don't mind
I would love to slip away
And leave your world behind

Lyrics: “If You Don’t Mind” -- Evanescence