NEW SOUL [C]

[Molly Wozencraft]

It was hard to place the critter. Despite being one herself, Mol had never been as interested in hoofed mammals as much as, say, fish or birds; she’d tended to brush over them the many times she’d perused zoological books. On occasion she did like to try doodling animals other than her usual, though. She searched her memory, trying to remember if she’d ever decorated something with a big reddish striped antelope thing. Maybe that one ti…no, that was an ol…okapi.

Of course, by the time the name dawned on her, Molly was already skirting the Nilda’s bog. The word ‘bongo’ wasn’t nearly so important as the fact that said bongo had horns and a bunch of friends close by and she was on its land. This was exactly why it had taken her so long to go venturing to retro territory by herself. If she hadn’t taken a bite of the grass on that one hunting trip, she might never have done it at all. But she had, and the difference between it and the fodder that grew through the concrete back home was quite noticeable. Finally she’d worked up the nerve after realizing she needed to give the grazing around the Hollow a break.

She always stuck to Bellator, because maybe at least they would go easy on something that was similar to them. And if not, at least they were herbivores…unless there were polar bears or something. They didn’t fit any of the other groups but that would be so weird, having a meat-eater live with a bunch of critters that qualified as snacks…she’d have to ask somebody about that.

Maybe it had seen her, maybe it hadn’t. Maybe it had smelled her, or maybe the rain had thrown it off. Either way, getting far away really fast had advantages.

She could have run all the way back home; by now she had built up her stamina and could go decent distances at top speed. It was useful, considering how long it could take to get from the Nakoma side of the city all the way out to the ends of the wilderness. The only problem with doing so was that she was about to hit the Analoya’s woods. Mol worried enough about running at Keeper-granted speed just while out on open ground; trees were out of the question. It wasn’t just her typical anxiety, either; to get over the fear of running into things that suddenly showed up in front of you, you had to actually be able to not run into things that suddenly showed up in front of you.

The weather wasn’t ideal today anyway, since top speed made rain feel like a storm of wasps. The little centaur slowed to a trot as she hit the tree line, and stopped further in to shake the water from her fur. This was part of her usual route; the strip of forest was thin here, and soon she’d be out on the Fallen’s desert. Maybe then she could calm down; it wasn’t just from the run that she was still on edge. It was easier to worry about getting mauled by retros here, what with all the shadows and hiding places and whatever was causing that rustling noise…wait.

The springbok girl froze. No, she wasn’t imagining that. As much as instinct screamed at her, Mol prevented herself from running; doing so would just turn into a George of the Jungle sort of incident. Instead she crept to the side, trying to melt into the shadows before the stranger caught up and she needed to hurry but hurrying would just cause more noise and catch attention and this was just not her day…



o.o.c. – WHO COULD IT BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[AURORA]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 473px; height: 565px; background-image:url(http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt49/eristhoughts/Image1zxczxczx2_zpsdf1e50ba.png)] Weeks had passed, and then months. She had to work at it, but slowly she had begun to recover. The ache that she felt from missing Ly was maddening, but slowly it solidified into something that didn't consume her. When the weather had warmed up, she had taken to exploring. It had taken time, but slowly Aurora had been learning the layout of the Rings (except carna), and today was the farthest she had gone. A bad pick too, for the wind had picked up and it was too strong for her to fly much. She hand landed to take shelter amongst the trees, folding her wings tight against her back to keep the gusts from catching them. It was calmer in the woods, and Aurora wound between the trees and across a meadow. Looking around, she saw nothing familiar and her brow knit with worry. Where was she? Lost was not something that made Aurora happy, and she turned this way and that non too quietly, and stepped on a branch. With the report of the crack, movement caught the corner of her eye as something vanished into the trees. Her first instinct was to call out, but Ly would have told her to wait and make sure they were actually friend. So she stepped closer, and after a few moments ... nothing attacked her. "Hello?" she called out quietly.

[Molly Wozencraft]

The unseen menace came closer, and closer, and as Mol shrank down with thunder in her ears, she heard…a hello.

There was absolutely no reason why the person in the woods couldn’t be friendly, but it was completely unexpected. In fact, Mol briefly entertained the idea that the speaker was trying to trick her. She had a tendency to judge things as too good to be true.

A slight turn of her head didn’t get Molly spotted, so she turned all the way to peer in the direction of the voice. Immediately her ears perked up. Was that…yes, the fragile little woman had wings sprouting from her back. That in itself made her seem so much safer, plus she didn’t seem very dangerous.

“Oh! Hey there!” The tiny centaur forgot that popping out of the foliage of a sudden might startle the other anthro. “Sorry, thought the cats were coming to get me.” Though she tried to keep her voice down, she laughing from relief. Or maybe to brush off the awkwardness.

“Come on, we’ll be safer once we get to the desert.” A quick scan of the surrounding forest, and she was off. There was no knowing actual time in the dome, but that tree with the huge knot over there meant that it wouldn’t be long before the forest would start fading. In her eagerness she nearly forgot that the stranger was possibly not as familiar with the place, and therefore might not move as fast. Molly turned back to look, hoping they wouldn’t have to slow down.

“Are you from Nakoma too? Sorry if I don’t recognize you and should, it’s just I’m kinda new and there’s a lot of people and it’s hard to get to know everybody, you know?”

Just then it occurred to Molly that viruses also ran around as humans with animal features. Whoops.

[AURORA]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 473px; height: 565px; background-image:url(http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt49/eristhoughts/Image1zxczxczx2_zpsdf1e50ba.png)] The forest had remained quiet, and just when Aurora thought she might brave the gusty skies a tiny girl-deer leaped out of nowhere with a smile and friendly words. Rory blinked dark eyes at the strange creature her head tilting to one side as she smiled, then shook her head in response that she would neither attack her, nor was she a cat. The blue eyed girl laughed a bit shakily, and passed Aurora with an invitation to safety and … she was off. Aurora’s eyes widened and she gasped, fearful the pretty deer-girl would vanish and Rory would never get to talk with her. She was so quick! Immediately Aurora ran after the girl, her wings pressed tightly against her back in order to keep the breeze from catching them. When the deer-girl peppered questions, Aurora nodded once that she was indeed from Nakoma then nodded her head again in understanding about being new. Though she had been in the Menagerie a long time now, she still found it hard sometimes to know how things worked. Her breath came in pants as she followed the lovely anthro as long as she could but eventually, she tired. In alarm, her hand went out, “Wait!" she called, and it echoed quietly through the trees. Her hand pressed against a tree as she fought to catch her breath, it was hard to run so far!

[Molly Wozencraft]

Okay. Either the girl wasn’t a virus, or she was a lying virus. Either way, she appeared harmless, if you didn’t count the fact that she wouldn’t talk to Molly. That kind of stung anyway you put it. If she was cranky or unfriendly, Mol felt bad for talking so much and earning her distaste. If the winged stranger was just shy, Molly felt obligated to help move the conversation along but also didn’t want to make the girl uncomfortable. Plus she hadn’t any idea how to go in that direction; what was she supposed to do, spout questions until she got something more than a nod? Maybe she’d try again once they weren’t running; such actions weren’t exactly conducive to chatting.

The stranger used her voice soon enough, and without any effort from Molly. Not that the gazelle anthro was in a state to appreciate that; at first she didn’t even make the connection. All she knew was that a panicked, unfamiliar voice was shouting all of a sudden, and never mind that the Analoya would have easily heard it, danger had probably already arrived. Before she could halt properly Mol whipped round, resulting in her typical struggle not to fall on her face when startled. Wide eyes pinned the stranger for a clue as to which way the horrible danger was. Except, no, she wasn’t in any sort of on-guard position. Quite the opposite; the girl was propped against a tree, breathing hard but not out of terror, as far as Molly could tell…

“Oh gosh! I’m sorry, I was in such a hurry to get out of here, I didn’t…sorry!” She trotted back over, head tilted to study the other’s face. Lord, why didn’t she ever just stop and think? “You all right? You don’t have asthma or anything, do you?...Sorry! I shouldn’t have asked that, you…do have to answer that.” As much as Mol wanted to just bounce back from that little gaffe, she found her gaze avoiding the bird girl’s, and she caught herself with her lip between her teeth. “Just um…just tell me when you feel okay, we’ll go slower.”

Mol pretended to watch the forest more intently than she was, glancing around at anything that wasn’t her companion. At one point she managed a side look, and her mouth opened… and then snapped shut again, and the girl made a show of perking up her ears and scanning the foliage for something she hadn’t actually heard.

[AURORA]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 473px; height: 565px; background-image:url(http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt49/eristhoughts/Image1zxczxczx2_zpsdf1e50ba.png)] The winged girl’s features were delicate, her irises overly large and as black has her pupils - taking up an abnormal amount of her eye. Ivory and rose skin was striking against such dark hair, ebon wings, and eyes and she was quite small and delicate looking. Her head tilted again as she took in the features of the small centaur before her who was competitively as small as Aurora herself. She didn’t know why but it made her happy – most in the Menagerie were well … huge. Aurora’s lungs were large, and it took but a moment for her to catch her breath. When she did she was relieved that the deer-girl had stopped. Once she was composed, she smiled and put a hand to her chest. ”Aurora,” she said, indicating herself. ”I’m well, thank you.” her voice was lightly accented and soft like bells. ”Slower,” she nodded with an appreciative expression. It was still very gusty, sending her long black hair whipping around her face and shoulders. A slim hand went out in offer to hand shake. The novelty of small social gestures such as this one was still exciting to Aurora - and when she meet those that were nice enough she enjoyed the movement.

[Molly Wozencraft]

Meeting weird people could be so helpful. Molly was doomed to social fumbling in basically any situation; but her nerves were soothed somewhat when the other person was likewise inept. This woman qualified, and not just on account of her silence; that would hardly be fair. It was more the way she acted as if she hardly knew what was going on, or even what she herself was doing. Like she was just going with the most obvious instructions, whether from some jittery centaur who’d popped out of nowhere, or from her body declaring imminent collapse. She wasn’t quite robotic, just…instinctual, and working on slow-acting instincts at that. Or something.

Unfortunately, the black-eyed girl also had a good amount of poise to go with her oddness. She was like some mysterious waif who was too innocent to fully know the ways of the world, while Molly was just some weirdo who couldn't talk straight when meeting strangers. Shoot, the difference went right down to the way the wind tossed the bird girl’s tresses delicately like some sort of shampoo commercial, while Molly was left fishing strands of her own hair out of her mouth.

Between that and the possibility of lurking cats, Mol was itching for her comrade to just give the okay already. When relief finally came, however, her brow knit. There didn’t seem to be much call for mentioning auroras, unless the keepers were just getting really screwy with the atmosphere now. Thank God the other anthro proffered a handshake, and therefore distracted her before she could look at the sky. “Oh! Yes I forgot to introduce myself! Silly of me.” The gesture was returned vigorously. Very vigorously. “Nice to meet you, M…Aurora. I’m Molly.”

So the girl almost probably was willing to make small talk. Or maybe she was just trying to be polite. That was ever the unknowable question. But the fact was that the ball was back in Mol’s side of the court, at least by the way her brain thought conversations worked. As much as she still smarted from her previous failure, Mol couldn’t plod along in silence. Either way was just as uncomfortable. “Uh…I like your wings. Can you actually fly with them?”

[AURORA]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 473px; height: 565px; background-image:url(http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt49/eristhoughts/Image1zxczxczx2_zpsdf1e50ba.png)] Aurora’s hand was shaken heartily and the dark girl couldn’t help but smile as her whole body vibrated. Molly. She liked Molly instantly, she was sweet and adorable and there was a strange desire for Aurora to hug her new friend. Instead she nodded avidly with the same smile when she asked after her ability to fly. In return her hands lifted, palms out with her wrists touching and splayed them. The wind caught her hands and she dropped the gesture. ”The wind makes it hard,” she said just loud enough to be heard. Movement. Her smile left her face and she looked up into the trees where a few birds had taken to the sky. Her black eyes blinked slowly before looking back to Molly. ”Home,” she said quietly. The uneasiness was coming off the tiny centaur in waves, and combined that Aurora had a bad feeling … which she did not often get. Maybe it was that she was so cold? Aurora moved considerably slower than Molly, whom seemed built for speed. Had the wind died down it would have been fun to play a game from the skies. As they moved on, Aurora could see the anthro reining in her energy and her lips pulled into a small smile apologetically. ”You may go ahead if you wish. I will meet you later?” she offered.

[Molly Wozencraft]

The answer was as good as yes. Doing something with difficulty was a lot more than not being able to do it at all. Maybe it was terrible to envy someone’s mutations, but Molly couldn’t help but feel Aurora was so lucky. It had certainly occurred to her, during her several years of aircraft nerding, how amazing it would be to be able to fly without the help of a machine. And now suddenly the world would allow that. It didn’t make P-51s or Sopwith Camels any less awesome, but perhaps the same couldn’t be said for her anthro body.

“….Oh! Oh no no, it’s fine, really! I wouldn’t want to leave you out here, it’s not really safe…and I don’t want you to get lost, either…I mean just you seemed kind of lost earlier…” She wasn’t done trying to backpedal out of possibly insulting territory, but first there was the matter of that stick that had just snapped. Most likely related to the slight movement of that one bush over there.

Trees turned to streaks of color, and the wind roared almost as loud as the blood in her ears. Every few seconds there was a close call with some obstacle or another, but the fear of being eaten was greater than the fear of crashing. Within ten seconds, it was rain instead of stray foliage that made her face sting.

Then Molly really ran, though not for long. Outside the oppressive shadow of the trees, it was easier to think things besides runrunrunrunrunrunevenifitkillsyoudonotstop. Other thoughts could creep in, like the fact that she had escaped, and it wouldn’t be too long before she was home and completely safe, and remember to watch out for Fallen, and hey did that girl run too do you think she is okay…

Gritting her teeth, Molly leaned back, then angled herself sideways. It felt as if she ran a whole mile just fighting the ground more and more. One day she was going to figure out the trick to all this, but for now, it was going to take a bit to stop in a way that didn’t involve bouncing across the desert on everything but her feet.

The situation was all the more frustrating given that she was slowing just so she could run in the opposite direction, and then have to go through that awkwardness all over again. But this was a girl nagged by memories of the smallest failures; she was afraid to find out what would happen if she bailed right now.

Soon enough she was trotting back into the woods, pleading with no one in particular to keep any Analoya from seeing her. The little Nakoma was so intent in her searching, it hardly registered how much she was stumbling as she went. The longer she looked, the more she was willing to try calling out to Aurora. She immediately decided that had been a stupid thing to do, only to repeat it a few moments later. Nothing attacked, but nothing responded either.

She’d made her conclusion long before she stopped looking. The thought got louder and louder, until she stilled, shoulders sagging. “Oh my god I got someone kiiiiiiiiilled...”

The fight with her own lacrimal glands didn’t last long after that.





o.o.c. – I don’t even know if I’m trying to write sad or funny xD END OF THREAAAAAAAD