AWAKENING OF THE PAST [MOLFACE]

[AURORA]

It had been a near thing.
Although Aurora’s luck had never really been with her, it seemed that not only was it running out but that her close calls were becoming more hazardous. There was much reflection on her part on whether said close calls were a result of fate or her inexperience. It had been a very long time since she’d been with her usual protector and friend Lyric, and the more she learned, the more she realized he had acted out of character on her behalf. Experiencing close calls on her own had made her more aware of her vulnerability, and this realization made her leery and doubtful of her capabilities. What was more, she’d been taken by the Keepers again – and had awakened in Nakoma territory. How long it had been she did not know, but she felt … different.

The early morning was kind, a much cooler temperature than it would become later in the afternoon and she lay there in the parched grass a long time watching the trees. It was a familiar moment, and for an endless age she stared up in a daze - bereft of thought.

Her open eyes beheld an unremarkable scene – perhaps one she’d seen before. It was a moment she had already experienced … maybe this is what Lyric had tried to explain to her once. What had he called it? Déjà vu. It reminded the ebon winged girl of when she had first awakened in the Menagerie almost a year ago. However, there was an irrevocable difference.

Infinitesimal pulses, like lights she could not see were everywhere. Through her fingers, up her arms and even in the air she could feel the little flashes. Some were strong, far off … others only whispered across her attention. It was mesmerizing.

Crack.
Before she had realized she’d moved Aurora was on her small feet in a balanced crouch - her wings extended and ready for flight. Her wide black eyes scanned her surroundings wearily. There was movement, she could feel it but not see it – hear it but not smell it ...

Her focus was elusive, distracted the paradox of what she could see verses what she felt. There was a flash of heat throughout her body, erratic and spreading like a wild fire without control. Like the coiling of a spring, suddenly an explosion escaped her unbidden and the air was lit with static, electrifying the beast that barreled toward her.



A quarter hour later, Aurora remained standing –frozen where she stood less than a few meters from an unconscious Carna. Her breath came in gasps, shock flooded through her body as the erratic wildfire had seeming only moments before. Her hand lowered to the unconscious panther. He was beautiful, his coat glossy and black. There was a smell she was unfamiliar with, and her fingers glided over his fur almost affectionately. Had she done this?

There was another gathering of currents, and Aurora prepared herself. It was a new world for her now, and she wasn’t quite sure what she’d done to this poor man … however Aurora remembered the feeling she had last time and kept it at bay. She didn’t want to hurt anyone else! Her worry made her anxious and she could feel the building inside her …

Soft footfalls, and a familiar face and she immediately relaxed. ”Molly!” she called happily to the cautious miniature centaur and waved with a smile. It had not occurred to Aurora how this might look, a black panther at her feet with smoke rising from his pelt – she simply was happy to see a familiar face.

It was strange this dual sight. For Molly was the same as she'd seen her before, but the lights, the energy ... it was confusing. However, Aurora did her best to focus on the familiar. Especially now that she seemed very tired, and in fact felt that the ground was a lot harder to stand on.

[Molly Wozencraft]

It had long become routine. Molly knew her route to Bellator and back, she knew patrol lines, she knew how to get to stuff that wasn’t even that important. At almost any point, she knew exactly which way to go if someone was lurking on the usual path. Purely by this information, she could usually run full speed if she needed. She knew the ring scents by now, which ones she should run from right away, and which ones she probably should run from anyway. She knew places to hide, places to stay if the weather went ballistic. By now, it felt comfortable to travel without someone to take care of her if something went awry.

And Molly hated it.

She’d look up and find herself in a decaying, silent, eerie city, and barely notice. But it was always followed by the strongest disquiet she could force herself to feel. This wasn’t supposed to be normal. Normal was having to avoid awkward eye contact with strangers because they were all over the place. Normal was noise and cars flashing by and smoke and silence being extinct. Shoot, normal was barely ever seeing stars. Stuff that had never been particularly desirable, but now she wanted it back. If that stuff was gone, so was….everything.

She always tried not to get too caught up in this kind of thinking. Not to ward off negative feelings; if anything, Mol made a conscious effort not to let her feelings fade. But the only time she felt comfortable musing on it was when she was alone, and that was when you really wanted to focus more on current events than junk from the past. She knew that, and it still happened every time. Ot was bad enough when she rounded a corner and realized she’d forgotten to make sure she wasn’t walking right into someone’s view. But what really kicked her composure in the face was the fact that said person was one of several she thought she had lost forever, and they were quite the opposite of dead. “Aurora! Oh my god…oh my god I thought the cats got you!” it didn’t matter that he voice was hitching, or that she was running to hug her friend. “I was so scared…I th….good lord, Aurora…!” There was something between them, and Molly had intended to merely step over it, until she actually looked.

Nothing went together. There was a black panther. It was just lying there, asleep or unconscious or who knows why it was in that particular spot. It was smoking – why the crap was it smoking? The only person on the scene was Aurora, and that was just impossible. The thing wasn’t bleeding or anything, and as far as Molly knew, the bird anthro was unarmed. She had not knocked that thing out with her bare hands. Absolutely not. And then she caught its scent, and the shock was back before it could fade. That was something else that had become familiar to the young centaur. One of the infamous Carna was lying right there, and it could wake up any moment.

There was entirely too much going on all at once, which was maybe why Molly’s reaction was not as urgent as it should have been. “Did…you do that?”

[AURORA]

There was a moment of sheer joy as Molly drew closer and Aurora smiled, happily forgetting what had happened only seconds before … until the Anthro took notice of the barely breathing Carna between them, and the delight slid from her face as she rose slowly to her feet. Molly took a spell to process, looking at the black feline in confusion before lifting her sweet face back to Aurora.

Did, you do that? she asked. The pulses persisted - tangible in such a way that Aurora knew without a doubt she alone felt them. When the centaur drew closer, the winged girl stepped back in unison. Wide ebon hues locked on Molly’s face full of fear, shock, and …. something else.

”I did not mean to?” her voice came out in barely a whisper as she looked back to the great cat. She began to shake. The infinitesimal triggers changed as she moved, and even Molly was made up of the strange animated pulsations. Had she done this? She had to have. That feeling, that burst of energy that she had again felt rising in her before she calmed in realization that it was Molly. What if it had not been?

”I … did not mean to,” she said again almost to herself; Her tone that of a child who had tripped and broken a dish. What was this? What was happening?

Her hands rose as she started at them both in awe and horror of what she had done. Her slim fingers and palms turning this way and that as she felt the little pulses, moving, vibrating, whispering, and she looked up. ”Molly?” she said in almost a plea. She was scared, but when the Anthro drew closer she stepped away again shaking her head. She did not want to hurt her friend!

The image of Molly lying on the ground in same shape as the Carna horrified her, and the pulses began to vibrate. A noise of panic and fear slipped from her then, and she looked up in terror. What do I do? her expression implored desperately.

[Molly Wozencraft]

So Aurora wasn’t secretly a ninja. Or maybe she was, and this was a cover. Why the crap would she want to hide that? She said she hadn’t meant to, but what exactly did that mean? Had she just got overzealous? Or was it that she’d just gotten incredibly lucky with instinctive self-defense? Why was she looking at her hands like that? It was like there was something was on her mind, other than the obvious. God, what was going on?

Thoughts were piling fast, and then they were gone, because Molly heard her name. The panic dripping from that one word was like a punch in the gut. Just…nobody so sweet and innocent should have to feel like that. It had to be gotten rid of, and right now. Maybe she’d misread, though, because the bird anthro shrank away from her advance. “Nonono, Aurora, it’s okay! You’re not in trouble, I’m not gonna hurt ya.” She pulled a wry look, a weak laugh. “I couldn’t if I wanted to.”

She should have been relieved that Aurora wasn’t injured. And she was, but in some ways, she would had some idea of what to do. She wanted to make it all go away, and there was no earthly way of doing so. Molly had a brain full of terror at the moment as well, and she still didn’t know how to help. Heck, half her life she’d been on the edge of panic, and never had figured out what you were supposed to do. Maybe there wasn’t anything that could be done, which made Aurora’s face and voice cut even worse.
If only the winged girl would stop looking so guilty. There was no need for that. Really, she should feel proud for taking down some guy who’d tried to snap her neck or kidnap her or.....god, no. She could hardly stand to have the thought in her head. “Are you okay? He…he didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Again she tried sidling closer to her friend.

[AURORA]

Aurora swallowed hard and gazed down at her shaking hands; with a deep breath she closed her eyes in attempt to grasp resolve then slowly looked back up as Molly edged closer. This time, she managed to remain in place and even offered a small brave smile.

He didn’t do anything to you, did he?
He would have, a dark part of her swore; a new part. The sensation raised the hairs on the back of her neck and arms and she trembled anew. The invisible pulses flashed through her body, down her legs into the ground - touching Molly, then reaching … the doors slammed down and Aurora gasped with the effort, locking away the sensation and the voice in her head with it.

Black eyes looked up to Molly. ”He scared me,” she whispered tonelessly. With another deep breath a shiver went down her spine, and her wings prickled – the silky ebon feathers puffing and she they shook before smoothing again. ”I am quite well now, thank you.”

Side stepping closer to the small centaur, an eye dropping to her foe. She treaded carefully as she and Molly gave some distance between them and the feline. She didn’t want to talk about what happened, not yet. She realized her fingers were cold when she placed them to Molly’s warm arm and she almost jumped from the temperature difference.

”How,” those wide dark eyes shifted once again warily to the cat on the ground. She couldn’t help it. A part of her wanted to touch him again … ”How have you been?”

[Molly Wozencraft]

The bird girl wasn’t shrinking away now, which was reassuring. She also wasn’t answering, which was less so. And then she was gasping at nothing, at which point Molly gave up and froze. Even when she was finally answered, she didn’t do anything more than chew her lower lip and nod a little. As useless as it made her feel, she was more worried about losing progress.

Eventually, Aurora did close the gap herself, which only made Mol all the more cautious. Even when the hand touched her arm, she didn’t jump. Quite the testament to her fear, given that the aforementioned hand was about as warm as freezer-burnt baloney. What was that from, some kind of blood flow weirdness from panic? She didn’t remember if that was a thing or not.

She claimed to be fine, and was casually shifting attention onto Molly. It was safest to assume that the antelope anthro shouldn’t pry just yet. Still, she paused. The suddenly banal conversation was jolting and the question wasn’t as simple as it should have been. She was…well, the same as always. On edge, feeling out of place, constantly frustrated with herself, missing an entire other world. More recently, plagued with guilt and lack of closure. “I’m fine,” she chirped.

Aurora kept staring at the cat. Was that normal? Was that a bad sign? What does one say to make a person feel better when they’re all shook up? Maybe you don’t do that until you’re somewhere legitimately safe. Right. “Listen, we shouldn’t stick around here,” she said with a calm smile and tense eyes. She didn’t know how long the cat had been out, or how much longer it would be that way. With everything pressing on her mind, at least they could get that out of the way. Carefully, she started moving, hoping to pull her bird friend along. Or at least, not scare her away again.

Distraction sounded like a good idea right now. She should just get them on some happier subject, try to calm them both down. One of those topics that refused to come to mind in times like this. “Uh…oh, here, you thirsty?” It wasn’t much, but it broke the silence without bringing up various crises. She twisted round and dug in one of her packs. “I got food too, if…oh, wait, I just got grass. Doubt you want that.” Her ears slumped a little, and she turned to Aurora with flushed cheeks. “It's just cause the springbok stomach’s weird. It won’t take anything but plants or I’ll puke….oh, sorry, that’s a little too much info.” By now, it was best to just shut up and try again in a moment.

[AURORA]

Aurora couldn’t help but giggle a little when the springbok Anthro said she’d puke. She’d never heard anyone actually use the turn of phrase and it was funny. She liked Molly very much, and at her apology Aurora offered an encouraging smile as her hand was placed on her arm again in modest protest.

”Not at all, I am glad to know. Now I will know what to serve for tea,” she said lightly – her attempt at a joke. The idea of tea was heavenly, and she sucked in a shuttered breath and released it in a gust. The humor was refreshing, like a fresh powder of snow. She was feeling much better. The strange flickers were receding, and with it Aurora’s angst and fear.

A now more calm black gaze shifted back to the unconscious black feline but for a moment before returning her attention fully to Molly, and she smiled. ”Let us go,” she said and hooked her arm around Molly’s as if to escort her. It was commonplace in Aurora’s mind. Something friends did and she’d not had many of those.

After her explorations of the Menagerie she had gained decent idea of her surrounds and turned their promenade north toward the Nakoma territory. ”Refreshments do sound nice, but just now I suggest we give some distance between us and the brute,” she said as her wings flexed then folded to her back.

She hoped she had not scared her friend too badly. Her teeth captured her bottom lip nervously, she had begun to understand in recent months that she was not always correct in her manner, and often made mistakes. This incident scared her greatly, but she couldn’t do anything about it now but hope Molly didn’t think she was … a freak.

You sure you want to be touching her? I heard a rumor that freak is contagious… the memory from when Lyric had first taken her to Nakoma slashed like a knife on the inside. Though she knew now that he had said it to keep other Carna at a distance and her safe, but the word had been seared into her mind. On the outside she remained unmoved. It was something she had to learn and hoped she’d become good at it. Since then, she’d learned another use for the word.

”I am sorry, I hope I did not freak you out.”

[Molly Wozencraft]

Piled on top of her abrupt calm, Aurora’s poise and jesting were bewildering. They were all positive developments, probably, but they seemed to come out of nowhere. Mol found herself wondering more and more about the girl’s background. She would have guessed some sort of tragic, unusual situation involving distance from civilization. Maybe she was just reading into it too much, but this moment of graciousness and even the mention of tea seemed to throw that theory off. Come to think of it, at times she did speak in an unusually fancy way.

Aurora’s agreement was a welcome distraction from the confused theorizing. Her actions afterward, not so much. Suddenly their arms were linked and Mol’s cheeks were aflame. Holding hands or whatever was fine, but now they were very specifically configured in a gesture often read as…romantic. It couldn’t mean that though, right? Surely it was just the bird girl being offbeat again. It fit her behavior, it was too early for the alternative explanation, and none of this made Molly feel less uncomfortable. She might have pulled away if she hadn’t reminded herself, at least no one was around to see. She could embarrass herself enough solo.

Maybe her tension was palpable; her companion was worried she was causing anxiety. True, both the dangerous and the mysterious elements of this whole ordeal were disconcerting, and therefore Aurora was part of it. She’d been reacting to things Molly couldn’t see, after all. “Noooo, nonono, you’re fine! I mean I…yeah, I was a little freaked out, but it wasn’t your fault!”

That was a terrible note to leave the conversation hanging. Mol scrabbled again for a topic; this time her mind jumped back to its previous musings, and she went for it. “What was it like where you were from, Aurora? Did you really have tea time and stuff like that?” A moment later, she remembered that no question was guaranteed to be innocuous. It was very possible she was prodding traumatic, unwanted thoughts completely separate from anything to do with a certain cat shifter. Too late now.

[AURORA]

There was a surprised and pleased noise that escaped the thin anthro that was somewhere between a snort and a chuckle, and her free hand flew up to cover her mouth. Tea time? Of course, but stuff like what? Where once she had no qualms speaking of her past, through Lyric and others she had learned that she indeed had a different upbringing than others. Then again, she did not wish to leave her new friend in the dark.

In an unconscious demonstration of sincerity, her humor sobered immediately and she took a deep breath. She nodded, and rose a finger to suggest that she needed a moment. Mostly, she wished to put some distance between them and the Carna cat before they spoke freely, but it was not long before she began in the only way she could.

"I was raised to sing for My Master. My education, whilst at that time I was told was the best available, I now know was trimmed to include nothing but what was brought up and discussed by either my Master or his guests. When I was bad I was put the Quiet Room," she paused but for a moment before moving on quickly. "When I was good I was given time to do as I wished, such as review books with pictures or maps that were not on my required reading list. Tea was at four o'clock daily, though dairy products were always withheld, lest it ruin my vocal talents. I had many instructors for English, Latin, and French as well as Mathematics, Manners, Social Etiquette, but most of all my Vocal Tutors," it was perhaps the one of the longest bouts of words she had spoken at one time ever. However, no one save Lyric had ever asked her these questions.

"It was as if I were a doll in a music box. I wore the most beautiful jewels and gowns when I performed, but most of my life was spent in darkness," almost without notice, she'd hushed to a whisper. With the light shake of her head she smiled and looked to Molly. "Things can be scary now, but I do my best not to be afraid."

In the distance she could see the Nakoma's borders. They were not as far as she had thought they were and at the break in the trees she stopped and released Molly. Turning toward her friend she smiled. "I was little more than a caged bird," she said in effort to simplify things though it was not her own analogy. It was borrowed. Few would understand completely. She'd never played with children, never waved to a friend across a room, never enjoyed an ice cream, never watched the sun rise or set without a window between her and the air. She'd never risen with a day unscheduled, nor a maid not in attendance. She had been raised within a beautiful cell with no freedoms, and without the knowledge to contradict otherwise ... her only experience to the contrary had been in the Compound as a tortured experiment (which she was quite willingly to forget) and here, now, in the Menagerie.

It was scary and amazing, savage and brilliant, overwhelming and complex, beautiful and terrifying all at once ... but she'd never trade a single moment of her past year in the Menagerie for anything. Her mind drifted to Lyric again and she closed her eyes to suck in another breath. She missed him, but would push it away to concentrate on Molly.

Again she offered a soft smile, "It seems the Keepers have decided to cast another curse upon me that I am not yet fully in control of." Her English accent was soft and clear, and as devoid of emotion as she could manage. Hopefully, her fellow anthro would not ditch her immediately.

[Molly Wozencraft]

Aurora’s response was a deep inhale and a signal to wait. She was steeling herself up to talk about past hurts and it was Molly’s fault she had to relive them. The longer the silence went on, the more she wanted to just give a casual never mind, and maybe renounce conversation for the rest of her life. Eventually she was just waiting for the cue that it was okay to talk again.

She wasn’t fast enough. Aurora started talking and it was anything but the question dodging she’d been expecting. There was little for Molly to wonder about. It was the plot for a tragic and fascinating novel except it was real. Perhaps not all was negative; Aurora must be some kind of genius, with all that personal education. And at least she’d been well looked-after. Still, it sounded just short of torture, all that isolation and propriety and control and objectification and loss of freedom. In Mol’s mind, this Master guy was instantly a nefarious villain.

Her concentration wavered. It had occurred to Molly that she was going to have to say something in response to all this. That was how conversations traditionally went, after all. A less common feature was taking an hour to formulate a response. In fact, it was so unorthodox, even Aurora would probably notice.

Okay, this was manageable. Molly had several great models of empathy. There was Mom, of course, and there was Uncle Jeremy, and Neighbor Nana. People that had always been there for her. They just were less and less there as time went by. Not that they’d stopped caring; it was because her problems had seemed more and more trivial, so she didn’t share. She wasn’t sure how they’d handle a situation like this because she hadn’t given them much chance to show her. Maybe it would be better to consult her own experiences…if she had those. No, sometimes she’d been there for Elinor, after a breakup or something. But she’d know Elinor for forever and a day. Any other time, she was the person who kept her head down cause somebody else would rush in with comforting wisdom.

Some part of her whined that Aurora didn’t have to spill her guts. She could have just dodged the question or gone into less detail or changed the subject or done any number of things that probably just weren’t part of her faulty social skills. There was no way around it; it was Molly’s own fault she was in this situation.

The winged girl stopped talking, and Molly still had nothing but more fuel for her guilt. She nodded slowly, brows knit. “Wow…th…Aurora, I’m…” Her eyes left the spot right below her friend’s. She chewed her lip, her mind scrabbled and flailed. Her eyes returned to the spot right below her friend’s. “Yeah, looks like they did.” She wasn't even sure what that was supposed to mean.

The centaur forced all her contrition into her face, plus a little she made up. “I shouldn’t have asked. I’m really sorry.”

[AURORA]

It was not lost on Aurora that there was a change in the nature of the conversation, and when she had finished the testament of her life before the Menagerie, the black winged Anthro was left with a feeling that she had done something wrong. When Molly seemed remiss Aurora’s brows knit in concern, watching her friend carefully as she seemed to be lost for many moments.

I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry, Molly confessed suddenly. She shouldn’t have asked? Why? She was sorry? Why? Perhaps Aurora had spoken of things she ought not to have. Aurora bit her lip and turned away in consideration, for in that moment it seemed Molly was more affected by the life Aurora had been subjected to than Aurora herself. For Aurora, unless one asked her of her past, it was a rare occurrence that she reflected upon it at all.

What could she do? That Molly regretted hearing about Aurora’s past made her feel that she would never again speak of it, and that she would do all she could not to make her friend feel uncomfortable ever again - as she seemed to be now. Head tilted to one side, she smiled before looking into the distance.

“Home,” she said with muted excitement, instinctively changing the subject. The buildings of the Nakoma territory were barely visible by the naked eye, however Aurora had exceptional sight. “Nice. What have you been doing of late?” she asked with a small sweet smile. Perhaps speaking of Molly herself was a safer subject, easier.

[Molly Wozencraft]

It was pretty much meaningless when people brushed off apologies. Plenty of people would claim it’s okay! after all manner of crimes simply because the perpetrator said they were sorry. It was stupid and Mol took comfort in pretending there was some truth to them. She waited. The silence turned to lead. Even being reprimanded would have been better than this unreadable quiet. Or…okay that was questionable. Still.

On instinct, she looked over to find the winged girl smiling at her. Molly reciprocated without knowing what it was for. She was even more at a loss when Aurora looked ahead and said only two words. Home. Nice. There were several variations on what exactly that could mean and all of them were an abrupt change in subject, making it all the more likely for Molly to assume her friend was put out.

Apparently it was a fleeting thought, however, and Aurora moved on to other things. “Uh…not a lot. Mostly just running around, doing training and stuff.” The antelope anthro paused. It wasn’t much of a conversation carrier and she felt she knew how to keep it rolling. She just didn’t want to do it. People bonded through complaining and discussing problems, right? If only they didn’t have to talk about her problems. Her lack of confidence and poise was obvious enough already. “Man, I still dunno where to go…all of them are kinda intimidating, y’know? I mean I don’t wanna be a healer cause there’s blood and guts and people die but if I go with warrior or outrider then people are still gonna die and there will be blood and guts and on top of that I might die…”Her hands dropped from their gesticulating as she looked back at Aurora. Come to think of it, she really didn't know much about her life in the family they now shared. “Like...did you already pick which position you want to be in? Got any advice?” Despite her friend’s very recent autobiographical monologue, Molly worried she’d blabbered too much just now.

[AURORA]

The anthro’s words tumbled after themselves like an avalanche set loose, and it amused and encouraged Aurora that someone else seemed so lost within their ring. As Molly spoke, she released her friend to look at a butterfly. She bent, hands on her knees to see better, but when she drew too close it leapt from the leaf and hurried away into the sky. She turned the smile that had alit on her face to Molly, her mouth closed but the edges lifted pleasantly – her eye warm.

“I must admit I have not. Blood and guts bother you? You have them, but do not like to see them?” she straightened and ran the few steps to catch back up with the tiny centaur. “Hmmm,” she said – adopting the behavioral noise for ‘I am thinking’ she’d learned from Lyric. “You are fast, and you are careful,” she stated thoughtfully as she walked with Molly. Suddenly she gasped – a quiet noise from her throat that was barely a whisper and she put a hand to her friend's arm.

“Perhaps they would allow you to be a Scout of some sort?” The light grew as they had reached the edge of the forest, and Aurora blinked her large black eyes to adjust. The grass that took over the countryside allowed them a better view of their little campsite, and she lifted a hand to shade her eyes as she looked again into the distance. “Not far now!”

Her inattention was not born from boredom nor a lack of sincerity for her fried – but rather she was a curious thing and it took a great amount of focus for her to think of one thing at a time. Her educated mind had no problem keeping up with many things at once. Part of it was mentally going back over what had happened with the Carna, the smoke, the fear that had crept inside of her, whilst other parts were thinking of her place in the Ring, Molly’s, and the fact that their home was not far in the distance. Yet another part was remembering the first time Lyric had led her here and how much she missed him, along with still another part that was keeping a picture of the butterfly in her mind so that she could ask someone what kind it was and sketch it in her book.

All of this flitted through her head while in addition watching their surroundings, thinking of how it reminded her of a book she read once, and listening to Molly’s response. When Molly spoke, Aurora turned to look at her attentively – the propriety of looking at someone when they began speaking a consideration she always did without thinking. So much of her behavior and life was cultivated like a hot house flower, and most of the time she had little enough experience to the contrary to compare in order to recognize a difference. In essence she was a polite, well educated, singing porcelain child – and in many ways she always would be.

[Molly Wozencraft]

It was weird, watching someone smile over a butterfly, only to turn and express a lack of distaste for gore. “Well…yeah. I mean, cause if you can see them, it means something’s wrong. Like, really, really wrong.” Thankfully she’d never passed out during any training, though she’d slipped away to puke once. The biggest problem was involuntary verbal reactions to wounds; that earned plenty of teasing, often wildly creative comments enlightening her to the fact that she was female. Meanwhile she’d always managed to take some hurt pride in it, and thought of it as a sign that she actually cared about people. But if delicate Aurora wasn’t bothered either, maybe she really was lacking grit that she ought to have.

She already knew that to be true in other areas. “Probably. That’s the closest fit, I guess…just…” she grinned sheepishly. “The only problem is you have to be all quiet and sneaky, and sometimes when stuff startles me I just…scream. I can’t help it.” She giggled to keep the embarrassment and frustration out of her voice. And that was still a small concern next to the aforementioned looming danger.

She followed her companion’s gaze, glad to be distracted by lighter topics. “Yep…man, everybody will be so happy you’re back! I didn’t really know what to tell them….I mean some of them weren’t worried at all cause they figured the Keepers had you, and then some people thought you were dead for sure.” A couple hadn’t cared either way, more concerned with why Molly hadn’t at least tried to aid her fellow apprentice, and those were just the two that had said such. Personally escorting Aurora back might help with what Mol worried was a general consensus.

There would be questions, and possibly ones that would need prior consultation. The springbok girl looked sidelong at her friend and quit chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Do you…I won’t say anything about, um, whatever you did, if you don’t want me to. To the Carna guy, I mean.” It was an earnest promise to a friend, sure, but it was also her oh-so-daring prod at the issue, hoping she might leech some answers to things that didn’t add up.

[AURORA]

Oh right. It was sometimes hard to for Aurora to remember what she was supposed to be displeased with or find unsightly. She bit her lip and half smiled in apology but was quickly distracted by the anthro’s change of subject. She couldn’t help but smile fully when Molly admitted to screaming when afraid, quickly replaced by a sympathetic look.

“You can hardly be blamed! Things like that are scary. I personally think you are very brave when you want to be,” she said and touched her friend’s arm.

Her long black wings dragged behind them as she walked, and unintentially her ebon eyes would become distracted by the pulses that rippled on her peripherals. Her eyes closed, and she shook her head once as if to clear it before turning her attention to Molly. She expressed that people had been concerned for Aurora and her soft smile returned. People at home were so nice.

When the subject shifted slightly, and the anthro commented on a Carna – Aurora missed a step. Joy invaded her face. Lyric! She was talking about Lyric. Despite her happiness from simply his mention the nature of the remark was not entirely lost on her. Her head tilted to one side in consideration.

It had taken a long time for Aurora to catch on to conversational cues and in fact, she was still learning. Not tell anyone? Lyric had made it clear that she should not share with anyone in Nakoma that Aurora and Lyric spent time together. He had explained that just because she didn’t say anything, didn’t mean she was lying. Still – it seemed her friend already knew about Lyric didn’t she? And she promised not to say anything. With that fact in mind her trust overtook her suspicion and she beamed past her hesitation delightedly.

“Oh Lyric! Yes, he is my friend,” she said happily (if not a touch pridefully.) “He takes care of me sometimes, and I like spending time with him. We always have fun!” What this meant did not quiet occur to her. The Nakoma did not like the Carna, and the Carna despised the Nakoma, but the political details of things like that slid over Aurora’s concern without consequence. Lyric was Lyric – no matter where he was.

[Molly Wozencraft]

“Oh, uh…thanks.” Her cheeks flushed, even as she thought to herself that the only time Aurora had seen her in imminent danger, she’d fled and abandoned a friend. Still, the bird girl seemed too straightforward to try to cushion Mol’s feelings with lies. Perhaps she was just overly kind. Or maybe Molly was allowed to just believe a compliment, for once.

The Carna issue had to be addressed, but Molly was braced for any number of ways for it to put a strain on the conversation. And sure enough, Aurora’s stride faltered, and her face contorted into a look of absolute glee. Wait, glee?

Mol stared with increasingly wide eyes as her friend gushed about the man in question, using words like friend and fun. The best she’d ever heard out of a Nakoma regarding the seaside ring was that they were just very enthusiastic about protecting their home and family. The worst she’d heard made them sound like B-movie psychopaths, except for real, so not nearly as funny. She’d never cared to try and narrow the range. A mere whiff of that ring, and suddenly Mol wasn’t so afraid to risk super speed.

Friendships between enemy rings wasn’t on her mind long, once she remembered the state they’d left that guy in. Just because he lived with scary people, that didn’t mean she didn’t care what happened to him. She wasn’t sure how much she trusted Aurora’s judgment on the matter, but if she hung out with him often, he at least wasn’t murderous. Besides, he’d have to be pretty lousy to beat the current holder of Most Unpleasant Person Molly Wozencraft Helped in The Menagerie. “Wait…he was your friend? Oh god, Aurora, was he okay? I’m so sorry, I thought he was some jerk who attacked you…do we need to get help for this uh…Lyric guy?” If such were the case, she was honestly going to get a bit frustrated with the bird girl. The guy would have less of a chance of surviving, all because Aurora didn’t understand priorit

[AURORA]

Her lashes fluttered as she blinked rapidly. Attacked her? Go for help? For an endless second, Aurora was utterly confused. She disliked these moments, though she fought through them often enough. It was usually because she had misunderstood, or did not understand. Where had she gone wrong?

She went through the last few moments of conversation. Didn’t know what to tell them. Thought she was dead. Whatever you did, to the Carna guy. Molly had been speaking of Lyric hadn’t she?

The gears turned. She had never told anyone that she was friends with Lyric, and Lyric her never attacked her. Her fingers itched, and slowly she shifted to gaze back down the way they had come. The breeze picked up, as she thought and quite suddenly … it clicked. The black cat had been Carna! Molly was talking about whatever it was that had happened earlier! She smiled as she turned back to Molly, a noise between ‘ah-hah’ and a chirped laugh escaping her.

“Oh I am sorry, Molly! I misunderstood. No, that was not Lyric – though he also shifts into a large cat; a beautiful golden Cougar, not a Panther. When you said Carna, I immediately thought of Lyric as he is the only Carna I know!” Her head tilted as she paused, considering Molly’s earlier question now that she understood whom she was referring to, but found she was not entirely sure she understood the question.

In her eagerness to share Lyric and claim him as friend she had utterly passed over Molly’s question in the first place. Well that would not do. Molly had said She wouldn’t say anything about what Aurora had done to the Carna guy. Blinking again in consideration, her long wings fluttered. The tone in Molly’s voice was that of someone … unsure or afraid. Had Aurora done something wrong? Did it feel wrong? This was a whole other matter to consider, and in worry her slim fingers touched her forehead.

“Molly? I did something bad, did I not? Even … even if he was going to hurt me, I should not have done that to him right? I wish now that I had not … “ the disquiet and fear that had reflected her in dark eyes when Molly had come across her only an hour or so before had returned, and she bit her lip. She wanted to reassure her friend that she would not hurt anyone like that ever again, but how could she be certain? She had not hurt the panther with purpose in the first place, how could she claim she would not accidentally do it again?

With the rise of panic, her heart quickened and the pulses – the lights that were not lights - began to return. She closed her eyes and took a breath. Aurora more often than not did not understand the secrets people held in their words, and more often than not she did not know about things that it seemed, everyone else did. However, it did not take a genius to realize that the pulses became stronger when Aurora became upset, and as self-aware as she was that she had a lot to learn about people and the world, so too she was cognizant of the fact that if she started to get upset now… she might put her friend in danger.

[Molly Wozencraft]

Perhaps it was wrong to so suddenly not care about the Carna cat they’d left behind. If he had indeed attacked Aurora, though, Mol couldn’t say she felt sorry for him. “Oh, okay! Nothing to worry about then,” she said. She would have been happy to leave it at that, but sure enough, she seemed to have sparked off something in the winged girl’s conscience.

“Oh, no, no! You d…er, well…” Aurora was asking for answers that Molly didn’t have. Combat was an inescapable concept under the Glass. So far, any training that had been attempted on Molly had been a huge embarrassment. She wasn’t strong and she didn’t make decisions quickly, so her efforts were typically met with derision. It wasn’t just a matter of saving face, though. As squeamish as she could be, Molly didn’t feel reluctant. The tiny anthro wanted to fight, maim, or even kill if it would help the tribe. It was the only way to stay safe. If you didn’t fight, opposing rings could strip you of every resource you had.

Unit shot Momma and ripped away anyone else who qualified as family. Despite having few bonds in the Nakoma, Molly already considered it a second chance at family. If nothing else, they meant security, and something to care about.

Maybe that was the real reason she didn’t want to be a healer. It reminded her of what had to be done. Back at home, any time she’d watched movies or read books with fighting in them, she’d liked to believe she would chose a different route in those situations. She’d avoided any fights at school, which was easy since she was too quiet to be noticed by most people. And then she’d got here and seen the need for defense, but it went against what was ingrained in her brain. Maybe she’d never be able to shake the guilt completely.

It didn’t help that she suspected herself of less-than-noble reasons. In the outside world, or at least in her world, violence was a bad thing. Violence earned the reprimand of teachers, neighbors, her mother. Here, the people wanted, needed individuals who could smash down enemies. If Mol could learn to do that, she would almost certainly be accepted. Being useful would expel any doubt, and this was the surest way.

Her ears pricked. A glance at the winged girl found her with closed eyes and tense posture. Completely the opposite of what Mol had meant to achieve. Best to get off this topic and just suffer the mystery for however long.

The hardest part was whether or not she wanted to influence Aurora with these ideas. Molly wasn’t proud of her stance, and her friend was just so pure and innocent. “I don’t think you did anything wrong…I guess you kinda have to decide that yourself, though.” Stepping closer, Molly smiled and held her hand out. “But it’s okay. You were scared and you just…reacted. Maybe you didn’t something you didn’t want to, but stuff like that happens. It’s okay.” She was fully aware that was based on assumptions, ones even she wasn’t sure were true. That was how comforting seemed to work.

“Come one, we’ll get you home real soon.”







o.o.c. - well that took long enough, Fu |D END THREADDDDD