[[Eesh. Thanks, Ferret! Will do my best to catch up.]]

Arlori strode down the stairs, and saw a boy making pancakes. 'I think his name's Alyx?' She thought to herself, and entered the kitchen. "Goood morning!" She called cheerfully to the two people inside the kitchen.Just then, a hand fell on her shoulder. 

Daemon had woken up later than everyone else. "Eugh." He muttered to himself, scratching his head. Getting up, and not bothering to do anything, he went straight downstairs. He smelled food, and Daemon was ready to plunder the kitchen. Just as he was a meter away from the entrance to the kitchen, he saw Arlori blocking his way. Sighing, he placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered "Boo" to the poor girl.

Arlori jumped a little, and looked around to see the grin on Daemon's face. "I want some food." He replied, and she stepped aside. "At least say please." She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out like a child to Daemon. 

((hmm ok))

With a sigh, Raze abandonded his post and retreated back into the cabin. Despite his newfound resignation, he threw himself on the couch again with a grumble, deciding to waste time by staring, or rather glaring, at the cieling. His wings itched and he really wanted to go out for a flight to relieve some of the stress that had rapidly built up, but he was too concerned about this 'friendly' wingless stranger to leave. Should something happen, anything at all, he would be here.

-----

Ember noticed that she was still hungry and went inside, scanning the kitchen for any leftover bacon or maybe even those pancakes that were mentioned earlier. She found that she suddenly had a craving for apples and picked one up from the fruit bowl, biting into it with a satisfying crunch. The sound suddenly reawoke memories in her and she shivered involoutarily. No, she thought. Dont' think about that now, this is no time to break down. Despite the re*censored*urances she gave herself inside her head anpther shiver went up her spine, making her convulse slightly as the crunch of the apple was unconcously compared to the remembered sound of the bones in her wings being snapped over and over again. Sensing her defenses wavering, she stiffled a sob and went quickly to the bathroom, her eyes wide.

(yea she's in the bathroom ^^ )

Ember flinched when she heard someone knock at the door. Recognising Arlori's voice, she took a deep breath to steady herself, stiffling another invoulontary sob, and replied,

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just feel a little sick is all." after a moment of consideration, she added, "Must have been those berries I ate, good thing I didn't bring that kind back with me, eh?"

she had held her voice together just long enough to rush out those last few words before her throat clenched up again and she buckled over in phantom pain. Bracing herself on the sink, Ember breathed through clenched teeth as hot tears rolled down her cheeks.

((FoxCrazy's probably just offline,))

Zatch sighed, streching his wings and walking back into tthe main room. Once more he had given up on tring to be serious, this time about the stranger. His trust, dispite his loving personality, was quite out of reach for anybody who wan't in the flock. Ah, well, he figured that even if this stranger was on the Erasers' side, they could eisily fend her off. Sure she was one huge hybrid, but somehow the entire flock had escaped the School. They would be able to hold of one hybrid, right? He relaxed at the thought.

Two female members caught the corner of his eye- Ember and Arlori near the bathroom. He began to slowly walk over, curious as Ember walked in the bathroom, Arlori now talking to her through the door. He came over leisurely, silently and slowly. "Ember's not feeling well?" He asked ina soft tone, a little smile still dancing on his lips. Nope, still hard to stay serious.

~

Zilla was in the main room, liking what was left of the bacon greese off of her long, pale fingertips. Her brig, brown eyes sparkled at the first bit of real food they'd had since last night. She quickly hubbed her face with her sleeve before reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out the half- apple, what remained of the one Ember had thrown to her earlier. It was sour, but she let the juice flow into her mouth. It was so good to taste real food, compare textures and flavors.

She recalled her last experiance in the kitchen, in which the entire room had filled with smoke. She shrugged it off, deciding in that rash way of hers that she wouldn't be so stupid again. No, she wanted to learn how to cook; How to bring out flavors and textures like nobody ever has. But, where to start? She sighed, decided that she would have to ask for help from Alyxander. It wasn't her first choice, but her only option.

Zilla walked over across the room, to a large window. Outside was still Alyx, Liya and Nylat. She rolled her shoulder back, ruffling her wings. She decided that she would have to be polite and wait for them to come back inside before she asked anybody how to cook. It would be the only right thing to do, wouldn't it? She sighed, folding her arms on the window sill and leaning there. Life was hard, especially for the flock.

Erasers, Erasers, go away; let us live another day, She thought. It had been something her brother taught her about the rain, but she had changed it to fit them. After all, she liked the rain.

Ember froze as she heard Zatch's muffled voice at the door now as well. As her body gave another spasm, she thought, He can't see me like this... Though the remembered fear was gone, her body was still feeling the effects and refuse to cease it's shivering. This was not the first time she had to deal with this since escaping from the school though.

When they had been sitting in thier cages, darkness swallowing everything, everything Ember had been holding in, all of the suppressed emotons, those had all come out during those periods. As she rolled up the sleeve of her only long-sleeved shirt, Ember eyed the various scars marring her skin. With a final shiver, she lifted her arm up to her mouth and bit down... hard. Fresh pain sent her nerves rocketing, but the shaking stopped.

As the taste of blood filled her mouth, Ember reached for the medicine cabinet, pulling out one of the bandages kept there. she was careful to keep her bleeding arm above the sink and the white porceline was quickly stained with tiny crimson rubies. She quickly bandaged the wound, washed out the sink, and replaced her sleeve over it, hoping nobody wuld notice. Ember would never take a blade to her skin, not after what they had done with blades.

now recovered, she flushed the tiolet to perfect the lie of her illness, and unlocked the door. With a faked weak smile, she said,

"There, all better now. I think I'm going to go outside for a bit, get some fresh air..." She didn't wait for an answer from either Arlori or Zatchel and simply walked quickly towards the door.

(gotta go for now, be back later)

Edit: (nevermind, still here for awhile :D)

Zatchine moved gracefully out of the way, prey for the tips of his wings hitting each other as he again stood to his full height. His eyes were bright, his posture relaxed, but hit tone betrayed a hint of worry as he spoke. “You shouldn’t fly alone, Ember.”

He stumbled back half a step, then continued walking beside her. He had blinked, his colorless eye scrambling up pictures and colors, temporarily confusing him. He let out a small sigh, thankful he wasn’t in a battle or fling at high altitudes. He was lucky, he knew. When they were still in School, one of the White Coats had tried to enhance an original flock member’s night vision and made him go blind completely. Oops. He had died shortly after.

Zatch walked with Ember to the door and rolled his shoulders back. He wasn’t going to let her take off that easily without him, or rather, without anybody. She had already left earlier, and she could have very well gotten hurt. Though Zatchine was in a much better mood than he was this morning, he still thought that one should never be alone. It was dangerous to a flock member, and that was why they stuck together as a flock to begin with, even if theirs didn’t fly in a strict “V” formation, ate mice in the dead of night or turned their heads 360 degrees without hurting themselves. But they were family, and they would always have an impact on each others’ lives, weather they could appreciate it or not.

[Sorry for the late posts, guys. I'm like, grounded. It's a cruel, cruel world. >>]

      Naaya, fed up with just standing in the doorway, stood up straight. She layed her notepad on the kitchen table. "If anyone wants new clothes or whatever, just write them down. I'm gonna go get frsh air." she called, her voice echoing through the house. She straightened her shirt, before slipping past Nylat. She walked down the hill the house was posaitioned on. When she reached the bottom, she walked a bit farther, before coming to a lake.

     She loved the lake. Shimmering silver fish darted in between rocks, and underwater plants swayed back and forth, bubbles rising to the surface. She rolled up her sleeves, before hoisiung herself into the water.

-~-

     Tess giggled. "You have a cool smile." She pointed to Nylat's smile. "Look at mine! Look, look, look!" she smiled hugely, her teeth a bit crooked, though her smile still blindingly cute.

[Uh. Failpost. >(]

Arlori quickly followed Zatch and Ember, concerned. She could have sworn that she heard a sad note in Ember's voice . 'Maybe she needs some space...' Arlori thought. She lightly tugged Zatch on the sleeve. "Maybe we should give her a bit of space," Arlori said, still looking at Ember.

[[brainfart. Sorry for short post]]

Zatch paused and turned to face whoever had tugged him. He turned, half- expecting to see Tess or one of the younger members of the flock, but instead meet Arlori's cool eyes. Zatch coul see in them that they had a cautious, but caring tone, and it was easy to apresiate.

He opened his mouth to laugh, but fell short. He began to struggle with a little inner conflict: If Ember really was feeling sick, then she shoul probably get some spcae. He only wished that she wouldn't leave so far like she did last time. So, he wanted to go with her and be a comforting friend. He felt his stomach flop. He looked over to Ember, who seemed distressed about something she wasn't telling them. He looked back to Arlori, reluctant to move while she held his sleeve. She was being a friend, too, probably a better one than Zatchine could ever be.

He sighed, shrugging as if he could hide himself in his shoulders. "Okay, okay." He made a fake irritated tone like a stoborn child might as he added, "Maybe you're right." With this he pulled his arm away and crossed his arms over his chest. He forced himself to smile again, returning back to being opertunistic. This was Ember, one of the least likely to ever think about returning to the School. How much trouble could she really get herself into? No, probably better not to answer and let the trees do it for him.

He looked down, his eyes meeting Arlori's soft gaze. He took in the sight of her caring eyes. The School had been dark, and they wern't technecally allowed to talk to eachother. So, every chance Zatch got, he tried to take in the image of his flock in happiness, hoping that he'd remember them all this way forever.

Arlori sighed slightly with relief when Zatch agreed. She started making a small space between herself and Ember. She looked up at Zatch, the person who she felt was the leader of the flock. "Why is Ember sad?" She asked, feeling like a naive, small child. She knew that Ember was hiding something. Ember did not buckle down so easily, and Arlori was now almost positive that the girl was miserable inside.

She knew that the School had broken so many hearts, ingrained a pale and bleak outlook on the world, but Arlori had hoped that the flock would regain their former happy faces when they escaped the School. Ember, for one. She hated the School more than anyone else, her disgust for it rivaled Zatch's hate.  

Zatch shrugged, forcing a wan smile to keep on his face. "Hard to say," He said in a low tone. "She's probably just remembering what they did to her in there. To be totally honest, I'm a little surprised she didn't break a little sooner." He leaned against the wall, begining to feel the events' effects and it still wasn't even mid- day. "We'll all come to peace with what's happened at different times, but we must never forget. If we forget, there is no hope in ever defeating it,"

Zatch was carefull not to use the word "school" again today, and he probably wouldn't again tomarrow. It was like a poison, a snake. You knew it was there but if you talked about it directly it would spread fear and panic in the veins of victems without even a bite from the snake. As far as Zatch was conserned, there was nothing to fear and all the hope he could dish out. Luckily, Zatch was one of the people that survived on little besides hope. Without it, none of the flock would have been sane enough to dare and think of what layed beyond the cement wals, beyond the White Coat's mental restrains and physical, iron and steal bars. No, this was a better time and things, one route or another, would have to start goin the flock's way.

"Don't worry," Zatchine said before Arlori could answer. "When you reach the bottom, you can only go up. The sun's only just touched us," Zatch's smile was bright, but a sort of sadness leaked through. He felt for Ember and he knew that one day he would probably break, too. He almost chuckled; Yes, it always is the quiet ones, isn't it?

Arlori looked up at Zatchine. She could tell that he too was sharing Ember's feelings. Arlori wanted to protest, to screech and yell that it was unfair and stupid to feel anything towards the school. Instead, she told Zatch calmly, "You don't worry too. Some day, the Erasers will be no more. The flock will be happy." She smiled sincerely at Zatch.

Arlori had hoped for that long ago. That they would watch as the Erasers were killed, and watch the School crumble and fall. And then, the flock, her flock, Zatch's flock, would be released from the physical and mental chains the School bound to them. They could spread their wings safely, and live the life of an average person, a person that had no fears or worries.