Jackie lay down, his hands underneath his head and a frown tugging at his lips. There were so many voices in his head, less than at the city but yet o complicated. That must have been what it was like to be around a group of odd mutant kids. People like them just didn't really fit in with real humans. The humans wanted them erased from their world. He had a migraine. He groaned and rolled over, accidentally getting few bits of leaves in his mouth. Annoyed, he spat them out. He sat up. He could have been in his bed thinking about people and peoples minds while eating a burrito deluxe from taco bell and researching more facts about the human brain, but here he was with a group of people who looked all gloomy. He sighed and looked over at Leah who turned her head with a dissatisfied, "Humph". 

Leah lay down on her side, her back to Jackie. She wanted to apologize to him and she knew she would sooner or later give in and apologize but for now she would make his insides boil with sadness. She looked around at the other people. Altogether, the people surrounding the fire that a few of the others were trying to make including herself made an odd group. She shrugged her shoulders and closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep. Today had been a wild day and she was hungry.

Rune had walked a while longer before he heard another twig snap. He spun around to face whatever was behind him and his jaw dropped. Making it's way out of a bush was Splash, his pet cat. It must of followed them out here. He knelt down by Splash and smiled. "I don't suppose you know the way home do you?" he asked. Splash blinked and yawned. It wasn't known for it's sense of direction. "Oh well, just get up here, we have places to be." Splash crawled up Rune until it reached his collar and snuggled around his neck, completely hidden and supported by Rune's collar. Once he made sure Splash was situated he made his way back.

Once he arrived the first thing he shouted was "Alright who knows how to make these things edible?" He set his catches by the fire, then made his way over to sit by Dusty, who smiled a greeting at him.

Jackie looked around. No one volunteered. No one seemed to want to even touch the animals. To be honest, not even he wanted to touch them. He wasn't very good at being gentle and would most likely have ruined the whole catch. Then where would they be? Still his stomach growled and everyone kept quiet. Suddenly, a volunteer.

"Geez, you guys haven't ever skinned animals? I can't believe you can hunt them and you don't even know how to clean them." The voice laughed. Jackie turned his head. To his astonishment, Leah rose, a smirk on her face. She walked over and pulled out a small pocketknife in her back pocket. It wouldn't be very efficient in cutting the fur off, but she would make do.

"Oh, and, I'm tired of being mad at you brother, so i forgive you." She smiled at Jackie, turning her head back to the meat. It stunk and she wasn't sure there was anywhere to rinse it or anything, but she continued to skin the animals one by one. 

Both Dusty and Rune had a response to Leah but kept quiet. Rune's excuse was he'd gotten a hawk to hunt them and didn't have the first clue about trapping anyways; and Dusty's excuse was he usually ate meat raw with the fur on anyways so there was no need to clean them. However both excuses would expose their abilities so they didn't voice them.

Instead, Dusty responded by shouting, "Yay! We're all friends again!" and threw his arms around Rune, embracing him tightly.

"Oh, get off me you sap!" Rune snarled, pushing Dusty off, who simply stuck his tongue out at him. 

Jackie turned to them and laughed quietly, observing their close friendship. His face was suddenly grim though once again. Leah was the only person he knew he could really trust. He had no friends except her, well, and Ratchet of course. He pondered for a moment, wondering how the night would go and also if they would be stuck in the forest the whole night or maybe longer. At least Leah was filled with knowledge of how to skin animals. He was sure she knew how to cook as well. She sat there by the crackling fire, as lonesome as one could be. Jackie smiled contented and walked over, sitting beside her. She smiled, glad for the company.

"Agreed." Jackie looked over to his sister, who hesitated and nodded cautiously. They shook on it and Jackie turned back to his sister. He was happy that they were all together again, but he was still wanting time to himself. He had some... things on his mind that he wanted to ponder about alone without distraction.

She finished skinning and slipped her knife back into her pocket. It stunk of blood. She wiped her hands on her pants.

"It's done, so do your little cooking thing if you actually know how to do it." She stated. Jackie rose to his feet.

"I'm going to look for firewood. Call me if something happens." He said quietly before wandering into the darkness.

Rune glared at her. "Just for the record we don't. Do you?" he challenged. This girl seemed to get under his skin. When Jackie stood up, Rune looked at him. "Just shout if you need us," he called after him. He returned his gaze back to Dusty, but noticed he was watching Leah. "Hey your staring," Rune muttered, elbowing his friend in the rubs.

"Oh, sorry." Dusty responded, shifting his gaze to the fire.

Rune looked at his friend with a worried ex
pression. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just homesick," he answered softly.

Rune frowned, but didn't question Dusty anymore.  

Jacki took Ratchet back from his jacket pocket and placed the small chipmunk on his shoulder. He looked around, picking up random pieces and thinking to himself. Was it okay to leave Leah with the others? He shrugged and continued to collect wood until he had a pile that extended to his knees. He sat down beside the pile. No voices were in his head at the moment, a perfect time to think to himself.

Leah sighed, "well lucky for you fine group of Ladies and Gents, i actually know how to prepare meals. Man, home economics comes in handy when you really need it." She laughed pleasantly. She grabbed some nearby branches and set up an stand to put over the fire. She would need to be able to twist the meat. Smiling victoriously, she asked "Who's up for rotisserie style meat?"

"I don't know what that is, but if it's edible, I'm in." Rune answered. Dusty simply nodded. Rune shot him a look but he didn't notice. This completely ticked Rune off "Graah!" he shouted, tackling Dusty and pinning him to the ground. "If you don't cheer up right now, I'm gonna-- well I don't know what I'm gonna do so you better not make me think of something." Rune shouted. "We are stuck in this forest with a bunch of strange people and if I can make the best out of it then you certainly can too!" 

Dusty blinked in surprise then suddenly started laughing. He had been feeling homesick but Rune was right. He had to keep his spirits up. Besides, Rune was part of his home too, so as long as he was around he shouldn't mope.  

Jackie stood up and sighed, more comfortable. He had quickly rid of his headache and was wondering if the fire was out yet. He picked up half of the wood stack. He wasn't as strong as he thought. He laughed, thinking up something so ridiculous. He wasn't quite the body builder, but two trips wouldn't be so bad. He walked back to the fire, set one stack down without anyone noticing and went to get the other half. He soon returned to the delicious, mouthwatering scent of food drifting in the air. It only made him hungrier. Now that he looked, he sensed that no one had eaten in quite a while. He wandered over to the fire and sat down behind the others, a bit distant from the crowd.

Leah FINALLY finished all the food and began to hand it out to everyone. She gave everyone their food and retired by her brother with  sigh of relief as she bit down into the tender and oddly delicious rabbit. At first, she was a bit cautious when tasting it but it turned out to taste pretty good. She laughed happily and devoured her food. Jackie watched her quietly, also eating the rather delectable food he was given.  

Rune and Dusty accepted their share and ate slowly, savoring the taste. It hadn't been that long since they had fresh meat but this day had seemed like a year and they were both grateful for the food.

When they finished, Rune fell back onto the ground and put his hands behind his head, sighing contently. Dusty snuggled close to him and, with a full belly and warmth from both the fire and Rune's body, was ready to sleep. He closed his eyes and yawned.

Suddenly Rune sat up, startling Dusty. "Hey! How about we tell ghost stories!" Rune said mischievously, "I can start, if your not chicken!" 

"Oh boy..." Dusty muttered. He knew that look on Rune's face well. 

Jackie closed his eyes, worried, and Leah glared at Rune. She stood up and was about to walk over when Jackie grabbed her by the foot. She groaned and retook her spot beside him, not wanting to hear these so called "ghost stories". 

"Listen up Bucky, i don't care if you tell your ghost stories, but you better know about ghosts to actually be able to tell them. I probably know a whole lot more about ghosts than you do. And i refuse to tell these stories because i might offend my--them... don't you go insulting them either. Or you will not be happy." She cast a warning glance to him. Jackie groaned and laughed nervously, avoiding the looks that the crowd gave them. 

Rune blinked in surprise. He hadn't been expecting that reaction, nor did he know why Leah was so defensive about ghosts. "Oh, lighten up, it's not like you're a ghost." he said with a laugh. "But if it make's you feel any better I wont tell one about ghosts." He paused, trying to think of a specific non-ghost story to tell. "Ok, I got one, this one's about a true story about a camp I went to..." he went on telling about how a kid drowned in a lake near the camp, and how the body had terrorized the rest of the camper's. It was actually a true story that happened the summer after he learned Necromancy, before he cold control it...

Half-way through the story he pulled the mouse skeleton out of his pocket. Controlling it with slight motions of his fingers he commanded it to scuttle over behind Leah, and, right at the scariest part of his story, made it dash right up the back of Leah's shirt.

Both boys stared off in the direction Leah had ran, at a loss for words. Dusty turned around to glare at Rune. "I...uh..." Rune stuttered. Dusty slammed his fist into the top of Rune's head. "That stupid trick always causes something to go wrong!" Dusty scolded before rushing after Leah. He wasn't a good climber so he stood up at the base of the tree, yelling up to Leah. "Please don't be mad," he apologized for Rune, "it was just a stupid prank so please come back down." 

Jackie stood, not understanding what happened. He blinked and ran into the forest after the two. He couldn't seem to find them though and glared at the surrounding trees for no apparent reason. He couldn't sense Leah's emotions. That was also part of her power. She was blocking him out.

"Why should I come down? I have no reason to do it. Anyway, i'm a lot better off up here where no dirty rats can get to--" The branch snapped. Time seemed to go slower. Leah was falling and falling fast.

((Writerz block 0_0))