A strange trip indeed [Finished]

[The Jenn]

Alphonse watched intently and couldn't help but chitter in excited satisfaction when she went out like a light, crumpling to the forest floor and onto the leaves. His! His prey! He had done it, and all by himself, had actually felled an Outsider! He spread his wings triumphantly and flapped them a few times, then had to catch himself when he nearly fell off the branch with the exaggerated motions.

After he was sure he wouldn't fall off, he glanced around before jumping and flapping to a safe, if ungraceful, landing next to the feline. He sniffed her briefly - she smelled clean and very much like Girl - before walking closer and tilting her head with the tip of one wing. Ah, yes, her throat was furry and bare besides the pretty pearls. If he were greedier with regards to jewels, he would have taken them. As it was, he didn't see any use for pearls, and his mommy would only put them on one of her dolls or on Sage. Bleh. No.

He leaned in and let his fangs sink into her neck, slowly drinking his fill. She was lucky that he was young and had a relatively small stomach.

After he was nearly full and quite happy, he would pull back with a small, satisfied sigh.

[Kari Muffin]

Rosemary skipped through the Wood. Her brother was around somewhere, but that wasn't here or there. She had sneaked out of the house to follow him. She enjoyed wandering around with him. She didn't even care what he did. As long as Daddy didn't know she was gone everything would be dandy...

Then she stopped dead in her tracks. She found herself staring at something that was directly in front of her. The wolf-squirrel tilted her head at the unusual sight of her brother and an Outsider. He was apparently... biting it? Oh right. The hunting thing he did.

It was a bright shade of green and yellow, blue too. What on earth was someone from.... that A place doing in the Wood? Most Outsiders knew better. She shook her head. Right.

"Alphonse.... don't you think that thing is going to make you sick?" Rosemary said as she trotted forward rather nonchalantly. "I mean you don't know where it's been!"

[The Jenn]

Alphonse nearly spit out a mouthful of blood in surprise at the sudden voice, ears flicking up and red eyes turning to glare menacingly at the approaching...

...sister. Sigh.

"Echeh," he muttered nonchalantly, wiping at his mouth with one wing-claw and carefully licking the drops of red until it was clean again. "It will not make me sick. It seems very clean and well-groomed, for all that I don't know where it's been. This Outsider was a tasty one. Besides, you know Mommy and Grandpa would like to see me drive strangers away. What better way than to leave them anemic in the middle of the Wood and let them stumble out or be eaten? I think I did good."

He sniffed at her briefly, admired her pearls, and then fluffed his tail. "Did you need something? Why are you out? Are you following me?" Red eyes stared at the wolf-squirrel in mock-threat. She'd followed him out before, so he wouldn't be surprised if she had done it again.

[Kiki]

Jenn, Kari, and Kiki receive 1 token each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe. This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe. Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!

[Kari Muffin]

Pretty well groomed was the right assessment. Rosemary glanced over the figure that was bright green, yellow, and blue. A cat with... antlers? Well it could be a lot weirder, she was sure. She looked to her brother with her ears pinned back with mock fear.

"Heaven forbid I get bored and seek out adventure in your wake!" Rosemary said as she brought a paw to her mouth with a dramatic gaze. Enough of that. "Yeah. I bet Mommy and Grandpa would be proud. You did a good job. I can't imagine waking up to something like that in the middle of nowhere. I doubt she'll make it out alive."

Oh well. Another one bites the dust. "And you know. I just like getting out without anyone knowing. Everyone is doing their thing and I decided outside was the best answer. It was from the results in front of me." Rosemary had half a mind to poke the pearl necklace or the cat. She shrugged and decided against it.

[The Jenn]

The mock-fear had Alphonse fighting not to laugh at her. Honestly, she amused him often. He tended to hide it just as often, but sometimes his sister was too funny for her own good. Some of her gestures and expressions were just fun and he enjoyed poking her into them. Not around the others so much, of course, since he couldn't react as openly there but... at night, alone, at times like this... he let himself laugh.

"Funny, Rose. Very funny. But I am pleased that she is unconscious and will not wake for a few hours. If she's lucky, something will kill her before she has to wake up and get more lost. I'd be surprised if she makes it out. Not very many do. Still, there's always the chance, since I'm not hungry enough to drain her dry and we are leaving her here. Echeh... as time wills it."

He shook his head and took a few steps closer to his sister, away from the Outsider. "I am full now and cannot fly well. We should walk back if we can, or climb a tree if you want to wait. Which you might have trouble with. I feel... less comfortable when I can't fly away from things."

[Kari Muffin]

"Ehhhhh," Rosemary said as she tilted the head and batted at the cat's antlers before hopping back a few steps. "Well you know. I think we should walk back or something. I may be a bit of a squirrel but I couldn't climb up a tree if I wanted to. Unless I used my teeth. That would hurt though."

She nodded firmly. Yes. She would walk back. "Though I imagine she doesn't pose a threat regardless. Even if something decided to eat her while we were around, it would probably pick the easy target." Her tail swished as she spoke and turned around to face the direction in which she came. "A nice slow walk might be fun. I mean, it's not like Dad'll notice that we're gone for a while. Good thing the others keep him busy."

Busy was sometimes an understatement. Maybe he was just making his dolls tonight and Mommy was taking care of things? That worked sometimes. She waited for Al's answer before she thought of anything else.

[The Jenn]

Alphonse snickered. "Who would pass up the easy, unmoving meal for something that ran? She would be excellent bait. Too bad I'm the only predator around, echeh?" With another amused noise, he flicked his tail and took a few hop-steps towards his sister and the direction of home. Really, he hated walking through the Wood. He wasn't built for 'walks' and it would not be 'fun'. He couldn't comfortably fly when full, however, and his sister wouldn't be able to stay with him even if he could.

"So long as you're ready to take as much blame as I am if Dad does notice, we can walk back together." Fully expecting a 'yes' from her, he turned and began to awkwardly walk in the direction of home. Unlike Thyme or Sage, or even Parsley when he was distracted by something, Rose would be willing to accommodate his uncomfortable walking and not make fun of him for it or tell him to hurry up. Not being a quadruped like the rest of them could be a real pain sometimes.

[Kari Muffin]

"Pfff!" Rosemary said happily as she hop skipped a few steps. "Don't worry about Dad! Even if he does catch us, he'll probably be too tired from Sage's and Thyme's bickering! They've been going at it like rabid dogs, and poor Dad has to break it up. I'm just surprised that he hasn't blown up at either of them yet."

The wolf squirrel could honestly careless about the way her brother walked. He didn't have normal front feet, and wasn't built for walking. She could understand Sage walking fast, but not Alphonse. If he could that would boggle her mind. "Take your time. We've got all night, and I'm looking forward to it."

She hummed happily as she thought to herself. She glanced back at the crumpled form of an outsider. How stupid did you have to be to walk into the Wood without someone from the Wood with you? Unless... unless you were a wooden doll like Dad had been. That was a bit different.

[The Jenn]

"Another good reason to leave for the night," Alphonse agreed with a roll of his eyes. Honestly, however annoying Rosemary sometimes was, she could never match up to Sage or Thyme and their constant dogfights. Those two just did not like each other, and he didn't like either of them, so he didn't have to pick a side or care unless he was dragged into it. On those unfortunate occasions, he usually sided with Thyme, just because Sage could be even more obnoxious than the Highlander at her best when she thought you'd done something to wrong her. Which the squirrel-bat certainly had once or twice when she got especially uppity and annoying.

He took a few awkward steps before finding the pseudo-rhythm that he preferred to work with and moved alongside her, slower and quietly glad that she was going to accommodate his 'handicap' but not willing to say it. Parsley probably had the best of both world, flying and walking, but he was dull and if there was anything Alphonse didn't want to be it was dull like his brother.

The outsider didn't get another glance from him, just a small, satisfied burp as he moved.

((Kiki, the show is yours. <3 Probably one post with you on Dilis waking up and getting out of there and we can conclude this.))