Dusk's black hair felt damp against Dusk's skin, but she didn't notice. Her whole body was wet, billowy cloak included. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. Dropplets of water fell to the ground and she felt as though she couldn't breathe. She felt better in the water, but she had just gotten out and was starting to dry off, there was no point of going back in.

Her ears picked up something amnd she heard someone running and then stopped. She started to walk and she felt a heart beating fast and hard. She sighed, someone was in her forest. Okay, so it wasn't Dusk's forest, but she ahd lived here for so long that it might as well be. She hid her gills, a hard feat, her hair was short and wandered tword the noises. The person was breathing hard, probably because of the running.

"Hello?" she called softly, sitting down a little ways away from the girl, just in case. The wind blew her hair off of her gills, but she took no notice...

((I'm back~))

Anila took a shallow gasp.  Her wings throbbed with exhaustion from flying for so long and so hard.  IIn fact, everything hurt.  For nearly a full day now she had been on the run, fleeing the crowds that had seen her and her wings.  How could she have been so foolish?  Had it been only two days ago that she was living luxuriously?

Her wings began to falter as the memories swam over her brain. 

yes, it had only been two days ago.  After months of traveling, Anila had finally sotted a city.  She had felt her heart lighten at the prospect of a place to stay, filled with warmth and food and other human beings.  She had gotten careless in her eagerness to get there, and then it had all happened so fast.  A nearby car had startled her, shifting her cloak just enough to reveal the feathered wings underneath.  The car has stopped in its tracks, and before Anila could even think to rehide her wings, two men came barrelling out. She has grasped a dagger hidden at her waist and disposed of the two men.  As she looked up from her handiwork, she saw the car driver running away.

Anila was on the ground now, her feet stumbling on the rouch dirt.

She had raided the shiny limousine and found several handsome items.  She had stashed then under her cloak, and then dashed towards the city.  She was there by dusk, and with the finely crafted silver jewelry she had won herself a week's stay at a fine inn.  She had run to her oom, stripping off her dirty clothes and taking a warm, luxurious bath.  For the next half of the day, she dined on fine foods, bought herself a new, much finer wardrobe, and lived in relative carelessness.  She had to wear her cloak even in the sweltering heat, though, to hide her mutations.  She didn't mind, though.  It was worth it.

Anila was turning towards a dense forest ahead of her now, trying to work reason into her brain.  But the memories would not release their hold on her mind.

It was that night when everything went wrong.  A knock on her door while she was in the bath gave way to a crash.  Three highly-armed police officers filed into her room, rifles at the ready.  Anila gave a small gasp and tried to hide her wings.  But it was too late.  They began to try to cease her, only stopping as she senbt a whirling torrent of air at them that was enough to knock them off their feet.  She sent several more blows, hitting their heads against the wall enough to make them unconscious.  She had then rumbled through her wardrobe, changing into the most sesible clothes that she could find, stuffed her pack with all of her belongings, and made her way out of the window.  Discretion was lost then.  Already she could hear the reinforcements pounding up the stairs behind her.  She flew out over the city, hearing the whirribng of helicopters behind her.  She flew then on, until she found herself far away from the city--from anything, really.

Anila was entering the forest.  Finally, the blessed reliefe of the shadows cooled her sweaty skin.  Thirst coiled through her, but she would have to wait for water.  Right now, she needed sleep.  She gave one last flurry of wing-pumping to land herself in a comfortable maple tree.  And sleep she did.

Max's ears pricked up, faintly picking up what she as.sumed to be someone's voice. For a moment, she was startled, thinking that she was the only person here. She figured she wasn't. Afraid that it was another person wanting to attack her, possibly armed, she pulled her hoodie up, covering her ears. Grabbing her guitar, she ran behind some brush, attempting to keep her entire self hid from whoever was approaching her. Her tail continued to sway out from the brush, giving away her position. With a slight glare at the swerving animal-like part of her, she stood, beginning to run deeper into the forest, where she hoped she wouldn't be caught. The thickets were heavy, ad it was difficult to make it through the poky bushes and trees without stumbling or making noise. Sure, her strength made it easier for her to get along quickly, but somehow, she felt knocking down trees wouldn't help much. 

Max panted, her chest beginning to hurt even more than it'd hurt before. She feared her insides would explode if she took another step. Falling to the ground beside a tree she'd accidentally knocked down, she leaned against it, her legs shaking. She couldn't go on anymore, and feared only the worst. A thought came to her mind, that maybe the person in the forest wasn't out to get her. In her curiosity, she stood slowly, walking quietly back to where she had come from. Something about Curiosity and cats; she wasn't a cat, but her curiosity levels were way higher than anyone she'd ever known in her life. Not that she'd known many people. Somewhat afraid, she searched the area around her, seeing she'd done just a little more damage than she'd hoped.

"Hello?" She called out more a whisper than a cry to whoever was listening. She was lonely, but maybe that would change soon. And maybe it would be for the better. 

Anila slumped tighter against the maple's thick, cold trunk.  She shivered from a mixture of cold, fear, and alarm.  Crashing noises resonated from the forest around her, undergrowth fraying in the distance.  As adrenaline coursed through her, she forced her still-achinhg limbs to still as the cacaphony rushed past her.  Her wings rustled as she craned her neck to see.  As soon as they did, she froze, relying on her sharpened sense of hearing from years of being on the run.

They betrayed a soft panting.  Anila strained to hear more, unconsciously leaning towards the sound.  She gave a small shriek as she tumbled out of the tree, but before she hit the ground, a small "Hello?" hit her ears.

Anila landed with a thump on the ground.  her limbs screamed in pain, especially her wings.  But pain was a small price to pay for survival.  Angry at herself for her foolish actions and not being careful enough, she stood and brushed off the debris littering her already-torn garments.  She scanned the forest, now silent, and decided what to do next.  The obviously smarter choice was to flee from the sound, get farther into the forest or completely away from it.  But Anila wasn't always the smartest of people.  Curiousity tugging at her mind more that sense, she crept closer to the sound.

"Crept" being a relative term, of course.  Anila was sure that she could be heard form mlies around with her constant tripping, crashing, and small moans of pain.  But she was sure that she was getting closer.  her eyes tried to depict shapes in the near darkness, but nothing but faint blobs and silhouettes met her refined night vision.  Finally, something caught her eye.  A splash of pale peach against what appeared to be a fallen tree.  The figure looked either exhausted or dead--the frame of whoever lay there was slumped against the trunk.

Anila took a small breath before she called out softly, "Hello?"

Max turned quickly, her sensitive hearing catching yet another faint, hello. The human approaching her seemed harmless, if not a bit lost herself. She observed the girls tattered clothing, noticing that her own clothing looked just as bad. max also noticed as she looked down at her hands, that she needed a bath. She stood up, brushing the dirt from the hard ground off of her backside. Slowly approaching the figure, she attempted to hide her tail behind her back, which was a hard task because of it's fluffiness. Her ears wouldn't stay flat underneath her hood and she was annoyed because of it. Still she walked closer, debating in her mind whether meeting up with this stranger was a good or bad thing to do, wise or completely not smart.

Max hung her head, shy and slightly afraid. "Are you going to hurt me?" She asked, frightened, though she doubted with her strength, many people would be able to lay a finger on her without flying back a couple yards. She supposed the girl had no intention of harming her, but looks weren't everything. Something about her made her seem abnormal, but she wasn't sure as to what it was. She was cautious around the strange human, and was ready to step back against any move, if it was needed.

Anila couldn't help but let a small smile cease her lips.  The girl, for she was sure that her approacher was human, was in just as bad of shape as she was.  Anila couldn't help but wrap her cloak around her wings, tighter, though.  At this distance, they would only look like strange bumps on her back, but the cloak was revealing more than it was concealing right now.  Anila forced her quivering hands to stop their nervous dance and let the cloak float off of her wings into its normal, more hiding position.

At the girl's question, she took a moment to consider.  She didn't want to answer dishonestly, as Anila found it very important to keep one's word, but she wasn't entirely sure that she wouldn't hurt the stranger.

After another several moments of consideration, she answered sincerely, "If you do no harm to me, I will do no harm to you."

She stopped a few yards away from the girl, detailing her appearance in her mind.  The girl had ruined clothing, like her, and could stand a bath.  Anila couldn't deny that her own body was in need of water to rinse off the dirt, and she was more than a little bit natural-smelling, but this girl looked like she had been on the run longer.  Her hoodie has two peculiar protrusions underneath it, causing Anila to wonder what they were.  After a few moments of careful thought, Anila closed the last few steps between them.

She stuck out her hand as she said, "Hi, I'm Anila.  Who are you?"

Dusk peeked blindly out from her tree neer the two girls. Hi, I'm Anila... one of them had said. Dusk chewed her lip thoutfully, feeling in her heart that something was off about these two. Something was different, but similiar. She gasped and her blind eyes widened. She lept out from behind the tree and started at them as if she could see. "I*m Dusk." she said quietly, still flicking her sightless eyes between the two of them.

She brushed the hair away from her neck for jus tthe slightest instant, showing gills on the side and then her hair shifted back into place as if nothnig had ever been there. She did this on purpose, but to the onlooker, it would seems as if she just natural was brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. Of course, from that distance, they wouldn't be able to tell of her disability. Ah well...

Anila started.  Fear pounded through her heart as adrenaline coursed through her veins.  Her wings unfurled from behind her, ready to take flight.  Their cramped muscles called for rest, but she ignored them.  Oh, no...  Someone had followed her, and now the girl behind her would have to pay.

The words registered a moment too late. "I'm Dusk" the girl had said.  Not something threatening, nothing harmful.  And then another thought hit her.  This person, whoever she was, was a girl.  Perhaps around Anila's age, even.  And she had shown her wings to both of them.  Even if they hadn't meant her harm, now they were in danger because she had showed what she was to them.

Anila tensed, trying to decode Dusk's reaction.  There was something strange about her violent purple eyes...and then it hit her.  She was blind.  Anila watched her for a moment, seeing her toss away some of her black hair.  Was that underneath...?  No, Anila needed to focus.  She took a deep breath and looked at Dusk straight on.

"I'm Anila."  That was all that she said.

Anila smiled softly.  This girl had an easy charm around her.  Anila had met her less than a minute ago, and yet she already liked her.  She felt her wings lower slightly, the tension easing out of them in relieving coils.  She looked back at the girl just in time to see her disappear.  Great.  So much for the trust.  The charm.

Anila was just getting ready to take off, gathering what little of her will was preserved, when the girl returned.  She whirled with a gasp, but didn't question her answer.  If she showed any signs of distrust, of intentions of harming her, Anila wouldn't blame her if she did go get someone to capture her.  If she hadn't already.

Anila was just getting ready to speak, when the girl--Dusk was her name, she suddenly remembered--interupted her question.

"What brings you to this forest?  And why do you have wings?"

The questions were simple--almost innocent sounding, coming from Dusk.  But Anila's fears had been concerned.

"I...I..." Anila stumbled for an answer, when a question of her own popped up in her mind.  "Wait--how do you know I have wings?"  She almost instantly regretted the confession.  For all she knew, Dusk was playing a joke on her.  But it was out now, and Anila could only wait and hope that her reply was a positive one.

"I can't see, but the vibrations that you make are lighter than most with an add on so I could only guess that you had something, plus your cloak seems to bulge." Dusk said, putting her hand on Anilla's back. Dusk breathed a sigh of relief. "I used to think that I was the only one." The 14-year-old stated.

The statement was mysterious sounding. What did she think she was the only one of and why was she just throwingthat out there. Gears were whirling in Dusk mind as she tried to figure out how to explainall of this...

Max stared at the two, wide-eyed. She was afraid, to be honest, seeing random people popping out of bushes from nowhere. Anila, Dusk, those were their names. When Anila had asked her name, she remained silent, and when a hand was cast out towards her for what she as.sumed to be a handshake, she slightly stepped back, not wanting to be anywhere near her, though she said she brought no harm. Max was also afraid, that she would unintentionally harm her, being she couldn't quite control her enormous strength. She was slightly startled when the girl called Dusk, had randomly appeared. Of course she'd heard her coming, but she was too caught up in the conversation with Anila to pay attention to anything else.

She feared they would find out about her oddness, when she suddenly caught a glimpse of two bumps on one of the girl's back, underneath her cloak. She stepped forward, just slightly. When she'd heard what Dusk said while patting Anila's back, she tilted her head.

"I-I... my name is Maxine." She paused. "What do you mean when you say you thought you were the only one?" She couldn't help asking. 

Max hung her head slightly, nodding silently. "Me too. I thought I was a monster." She felt sad stating this, however, praising the fact that she wasn't the only one. She lifted her hood down, exposing her two furry ears. The gentle breeze tickled her ears, which pricked up lightly. Her tail swung out of place, wagging as a dog would wag it's tail out of happiness. 

"I was afraid for so long, that with my strength, I would hurt others. I ran away, shortly after being chased by men in black and white suits." She whispered, but loud enough for them to hear. She shivered, remembering them pulling and pushing her. They frightened her, and she could have seriously injured them.

"A mutant. That's what they call us?" she paused. "Well, it's a whole lot better than being annoying normal humans." She pouted, feeling anger rushing within her veins. In a slight motion of fury, she punched a tree, causing it to fall down, and two more beside it, almost like dominoes. She shuddered at the thud, an innocent smile appearing on her face. Her ears slanted downwards, pressing against her silky hair, her tail moving in between her legs. "Oops?" She lightly laughed, then ended with a sigh of annoyance and sadness, somewhat regretting what she was.