He laughed, although lightly. "Yeah. I mean, with her teleportation
and all she's pretty safe..." Marshall said, even though he still
worried. He and Fallow were rarely separated. "You DOEn't
don't think it'd be to early to re-surface, do you?"
She glanced up at the roof and, despite her superior hearing, she
couldn't hear anyone crashing around. "I don't think so... but
better safe than dead. We should probably stay down here for awhile
longer." She bit her lip, knowing the opinion wouldn't sit well
with him. "We need to stay safe. We can't get back to Fallow if
we're dead."
Marshall nodded, respecting her decision to stay in hiding (even
though if it was up to him, they'd already be out of the hole).
I suppose some patience and hesitancy won't hurt for once,
he thought to himself, shifting over a bit to peer out of the hole.
Since it basically faced upwards, all he could see was the tree's
leaves, dancing gracefully with the wind. The sky was a healthy
blue and the sun, nonchalant, hung in the sky as a gleaming orb of
bright colors. "Sorry if I seem a bit impatient," he said
apologetically to Abeline. "I'm not a fan of cramped spaces, small
holes included." He grinned sheepishly.
Abeline nodded. "Yeah, I'm with you on that." She gave a half-felt
laugh. "Being a deer, well half deer, I guess, kinda makes me
predisposed to like open spaces. I'm trying to rationalize with the
side of me that wants to run out there and bolt." She waved a hand
at his apology. "And don't worry about seeming impatient. I know
your sister's out there with whoever the heck that guy was, so I
understand why you want to get back so badly."
He nodded, although a bit idly. The demon slumped back against the
uneven walls, resting his chin on his left palm. "Yeah. We've never
actually met an elf, but I can assume he knew how to fight. Or
something like that," Marshall said, pausing and glancing up
thoughtfully. Now that I think about it, Abeline might just be
the only non-demon we've ever seen, he thought. Humans
disincluded.
--------
So that was an elf, Abeline thought
thoughtfully. "Yeah, I haven't seen one either." She said,
laughing quietly. "You guys are the first... uh, magical, people
I've seen." She lay her head against the dirt wall, sighing
slightly. "I'm used to normal people... normal police, normal guns,
normal threats... not-" she waved her hand at the crumbly ceiling,
"-this. This is all new; well, at least to me."
(thinking very thinkfully)
"It's the same with me and Fallow. Although, instead of humans we
have demons..." Marshall said, a bit glumly towards the end. "You
grew up in one of those human societies, Abeline?" He asked,
sparking up with interest.
(speaking quite talkfully)
Abeline gave a nod. "Yup. I did grow up with people... er, humans."
She corrected herself, studying Marshall's face for any offense.
"It was always easier back then, and I didn't really acknowledge
it. I was always safe, always fed, never scared, or hiding in a
hole," she laughed, gesturing at the area around the duo. "It was
just... simple, I guess."
(hearing quite soundfully)
Marshall laughed lightly, looking at the ground a bit. "I can
imagine. The demon world is divvied into small kingdoms ruled by a
queen or king, and while I wouldn't really say it's complicated,
I'd definitely say it's different." He paused for a moment before
looking at the open hole, biting his lip. Sunshine shone through
it, splashing across the floor but leaving the rest of the hole in
the shadows. He noticed that the roots of a tree spread into the
hole, barely poking out and supporting the roof. "I'm going to
check real quick," Marshall mumbled, the dirt shifting as somewhat
of a staircase. He poked his head out of the hole, looking around
quickly before darting back down into cover. "They have a few
soldiers stationed kind of far away," he said, his voice softened.
"They might retreat though. If not, we need to."
(Writing quite writely)
"Alright." She said quietly, pulling on Marshall's pant leg. "Come
back down, we don't want them to see you." Even though she wasn't
quite fond of the demon, she could feel herself warming up to him,
and she certainly didn't want him dead.
(Ah, yeas, the 'warming-up-to-but-not-quite-fond-of-yet'
stage.)
"Right." He darted back down, sitting with his legs criss-crossed
on the pile of dirt. Being the reckless person that he was, he
looked innocently up at Abeline. "Y'know, they're far enough away
for us to be able to stealth our way back," he suggested hopefully.
(Exactly. :3)
Abeline gave him a look, tempted. "Do you have a death wish?" She
asked, shaking her head, even though a smile was spreading on her
face. "We should just wait till they're gone. I'd rather play it
safe than die here."
"Well, I kind of have a death wish," he said, a bit
cheekily. He returned a small, unsure smile before looking in the
general direction of the opening in the hole. I'd cover it up
but I don't think I have enough power, the demon thought,
realizing how fast his heartbeat was. He usually pushed himself to
the brink of his energy, anyways. "Besides. The demons don't need
to sleep or eat as much as humans, so even if we wait them out it
will take longer. We could travel back by climbing through the
trees, since they're far away enough not to hear," Marshall
murmured.
She shrugged. "I still think it's better if we stay hidden. Again,
we can't do much if we're dead. If we stay hidden, we'll be safe. I
mean, I can deal with hunger, since I'm not really running right
now. Does your... uh, digestion work differently than a human--
shapeshifter's?"
Marshall stopped, looking up thoughtfully before answering. "Well,
hybrid-demons like me and Fallow can go longer without eating, but
I think we need to eat a lot more than humans do. Either way, we
can go a pretty long time without eating," he replied, biting his
lip lightly (his teeth were dagger-sharp). "Besides, it'll be way
too long before the demons actually leave. And what are the chances
they find Fallow? I don't mean to push, Abeline, but we need to get
out of the forest eventually."
"Of course we do." She replied quietly. "I'm just worried about
what would happened if we escaped right now. I know the demons are
looking far away from where we are, but where would we go? You said
you couldn't teleport, so we would be stuck on the beach one way or
another." She looked away. "Marshall, so many people in my life
have died, most of them friends. Please don't join that group."
The demon hesitantly pursed his lips, a bit of sorrow in his eyes.
"Alright." He drifted into silence once more, having no more matter
on the subject. His eyes widened as he heard the soft, hasty
footprints that ran above the hole. Marshall jerked out from under
the open hole, sliding to the darker part of it and next to
Abeline. A single soldier dropped in, sword readied. Marshall
immediately slammed him into the wall with darkness, flinching as
he did so.
Abeline winced as the crack of the shoulder's head collided with
the wall of darkness, but didn't waste time in scooting around him
to check the entrance. She knew that Marshall could deal with a
single soldier, but if there were more, they would know soon enough
that their buddy was missing, and she fought best in the open.
When she shot out of the hole, someone shouted and pointed at her.
Already, skin was becoming coarse fur and hands were becoming
hooves as she leaped nimbly towards the voices. Her skin prickled
as she ran from Marshall, but she believed that she could handle
herself in a fight, and the same with Marshall.
She paused in her rush, choosing instead to quietly creep around
instead of crashing through brush. She let her breathing hush into
a barely a stream of air as she listened for the soldiers. His
heartbeat gave him away, pumped with adrenaline. She launched in to
the air towards him, smashing her hoof into her jaw, and changing
the lower half of her body human, so she could hold on to him. He
howled, and the fight was on.
(also, I'm leaving for an over-night camp tomorrow, so I won't be
able to respond for a really long time D: )
"Wait! Abeline!" Marshall hissed, attempting to follow her but
recoiling back. His vision blurred and his ears rang, forcing him
to sit back down. Although his head spun he looked towards the
entrance, his eyes narrowed a bit. I've used way too much of my
power. If I go back out, it's a death wish... he thought,
biting his lip.
The demon deemed himself too weak to go out of the hole, although
hesitantly. A soldier dropped suddenly into the hole, blasting a
large amount of fire at Marshall. He flinched, and out of pure
instinct, he send forward a blast of dark aura that curled around
the soldier's neck, twisting it and cracking his head. Blood
spilled out of Marshall's nose and, hazily, he stood up. His head
was feeling faint but he needed to relocate, knowing that the
soldiers would be able to sense the dead body of their peer by now.
The demon soldier fought back viciously, sharpened nails scrabbling
for her eyes. She ducked and weaved, trying to aim a throw, and
missing most of the time. However, the ones she did land were
devastating to the creature.
Mid-punch, the demon froze. Abeline took this opportunity to
attack, though it did nothing in return. As she was throwing her
fourth punch, it hurried away, seeming as if it were on the trail
of something. Abeline stood there for a moment, panting, before
limping through the underbrush, searching for a place to camp out
the night.