#kia appleton

So Lilac may have gotten a little lost. It’s not her fault that all the greenery around is super cool! Most of the trees appeared sickly, though. It didn’t seem likely that there was a drought, as the soil seemed slightly muddy. Perhaps overwatering? She couldn’t tell for sure. 

In the distance, Lilac saw a barren town. Most, if not all of the house were ravaged, seemingly busted down beyond repair. Some ashes seemed to be at the edges of the houses leftovers.

Lilac supposed she needed a safe spot to rest while investigating the gray forest, so she started trotting towards it.

When she finally got to the abandoned town, there were two others already there. One wore black and green formalwear, while the other wore a light brown dress. They quickly noticed the newcomer.

“I suppose that this place is a popular tourist spot.” The taller man spoke. He didn’t look intimidating, he just seemed annoyed. “I’m Edmond. Edmond Wayflair.” He looked down at Lilac. “And who might you be?”

“Oh! I’m Lilac! I’m just looking for a spot to rest before I head up to the gray forest.” She spoke, slightly surprised this ‘Edmond’ person was talking to her. She had kinda hoped to just rest and check out the gray forest in the morning, not have to talk to this random man. Might as well get introductions over with now, though. “And who are you?” Lilac turned her attention to the person with the dress.”

“I’m Silver Caddel. And I’m not sure this town is a great place for resting.” They spoke, but their eyes never left the ground. “An abandoned town isn’t really a place you should be resting.”

“Well, it’s the only place this close to where I’m headed!” She chuckled, and Silver chuckled as well.

“Well, maybe we should start setting up camp-“ As Edmond was finishing up his statement, there was a small crashing sound nearby. A quiet grunt could be heard.

Silver immediately went towards the noise, Edmond and Lilac following. When they got there, there was a man face down in the ground. He had black hair and a plain suit on.

“Are you okay?” Silver asked the man. He raised up an arm and gave a thumbs up.

“I’m fine!” His voice was muffled in the dirt, and he got up. He was smiling sheepishly, as if slightly embarrassed.

“Who are you?” Edmonds arms were crossed as he looked at the new person. He muttered under his breath, “Why is everyone showing up now?!”

“Um, I’m Ace.” He looked at Edmond. He looked quite awkward, then looked at the other two standing nearby. This guy seemed weird to Lilac. “And who are you two?”

Before Silver or Lilac could speak, Edmond answered for them. “Silver and Lilac.” He pointed to them as he said their names. She could speak for herself! She didn’t need this random man speaking for her!

Before Lilac could speak, the group hears some talking near the center of the town, followed by a a light vibration in the ground. Why couldn’t anyone let her speak!? When they go to the center tower, there was some people inside, huddled around what appeared to be a beacon. The orb inside it was a calm orange color, and it calmed Lilac down slightly. That was unusual…

One of the people who was huddled around the stood and stared at the new group. “What do you think you’re doing? Who are any of you?” She looked confused at the new people.

Silver spoke up. “We were just looking in because we heard you all talking and felt something in the ground. Does it have to do with the beacon?” As the other spoke, Lilac looked around at the group huddles. One of them had black hair with a black and red dress, and was firmly looking at the beacon. Another with dark brown hair and a brown shirt and green jacket was staring at the beacon. And the last one who was still sat had tan hair in a braid and glasses was looking curiously at Lilac herself.

The black haired person sat down spoke. “How do we know if we can trust you all? If anything, you four could kill us all right now.” She glared at the newcomers.

“Now, why would we do anything like that? We are all just looking for a place to rest, I’m sure.” Edmond spoke calmly. Lilac wasn’t really paying attention, though. She was busy staring at the strange woman.

“Well then, I suppose we get used to this town, and each other. I already tried to leave but couldn’t. So we may be stuck here.” Wait, did this person just say they can’t leave?

“What do you mean we can’t leave? I’d love to see the gray forest trees, but I also want to still be able to go out and find other things in this world!” Lilac suddenly shouted. There were still so many mushrooms Lilac wanted to see!

“Calm down. I’m sure we will find a way out eventually.” The person who had been staring at Lilac spoke up. She seemed worried, and Lilac calmed down a bit.

“Well, we’re here so we might as well introduce ourselves.” The woman standing spoke. “I’m Natasha, that’s Sable,” She pointed to the black haired person. They waved lightly. “That’s Sweet,” She pointed to the person who had been staring at Lilac. They smile softly. “And you know Kia.” Kia looked at the ground when Natasha mentioned them, averting all eye contact.

“Well,” Edmond spoke. “I’m Edmond, this is Ace, Silver and Lilac.” He smiled at Natasha. “How about we set up camp for the night?”

Natasha nodded, and the group left the cramped center tower. Lilac stepped to the side, and everyone split into their own little areas. Silver and Sable went to get some wood, Natasha and Ace looked for animals, Kia and Edmond explored the forest while Lilac and Sweet were waiting at the town just in case.

A few people came, one who calmed himself Lance, another named Polaris, a pair who went by Bianca and Evelyn, tons of people coming in and setting up camp until there was already 21 people accounted for. As Sweet and Lilac took a break, Lilac started up some conversation.

“What’s that book you have?” Lilac looked at the book Sweet had sat next to herself.

“Oh, it’s just a book about some of the medicinal uses for some herbs. Trying to find those herbs, and I heard that Oakhurst would be a good place to find some, because of its unique greenery.” She spoke it as if it was simple, and it was! Well, at least to someone like Lilac.

“You also like plants?” Lilac bounced up. At last! Someone who enjoyed plants as much as she did!

Sweet nodded. “What’s not to like? The medicinal uses, the decorative uses, the meanings, the list goes on!” Sweet was grinning, and Lilac was now too.

Before either could say much more, Edmond and Kia came back to the town. Edmond looked extremely tense, Kia the same.

“Did something happen-“ Sweet tried to ask, but was cut off by Kia.

“Don’t worry about it, Sweet. Don’t worry about it.” Kia looked away, and the two walked into the town center silently. That was strange, even for Lilac’s standards.

Oh well. At least she got a new buddy.

Everything hurt. They hated how much it hurt. They were starving at this point, having be unable to find much livestock. It seemed that all of the food was on the other side of the forest at all times, annoyingly enough. Why’d they have to eat when they were literally immortal?

Well, here they were, having to walk towards the entire other side of the damn forest. They were gonna have to stop by the town unfortunately on their way to the other side. On the walk, they hadn’t seen any animals, not even chicken for crying out loud!

And what made everything worse was the sight that was left for them at the town. A single woman stood in the town square, and before Kia could move away, they had been spotted. The woman walked over to where Kia was, Kia not having the energy to run.

“Who are you?” The other asked Kia. They hadn’t seen anyone here in years. They didn’t have to walk to this are of the forest in a long while. They really only stayed near their own area, haven’t had to go out much for food because animals always took home around their area.

“I’m Kia. And who are you?” They deserved to know who was asking questions after all. It was strange seeing a human after so long. They had killed the last one. Couldn’t risk turning them. Maybe if they did, they wouldn’t be alone. Whether that would be a good thing is up for interpretation.

“Natasha. I’m just looking for a place to stay and, seeing as this place is seemingly abandoned, I felt it may work well.” Natasha spoke calmly. That reasoning did make sense.

“I’m just trying to find some food. I live not too far away.” They gesture to where they came from. They had felt something strange in their chest when walking through the forest, as if going through a wall.

“Okay, well, it’s probably dangerous at this time of night. You could wait until morning, I have some bread.” She pulls some bread out of her bag and hands it to Kia. Kia takes it, even if they couldn’t eat it. They didn’t want to immediately get jumped for being a vampire.

“Thank-“ before Kia could finish their fake thank you, some rustling came from the side. A woman with a braid and glasses came out of the bushes.

“Hello? What is this place?” Before Natasha could respond, Kia walked away silently. They decided to check around their own home for food rather than have to talk with these humans right now.

They were aware someone was talking to them. They continued to walk anyways, towards the direction they had come from. They didn’t feel like dealing with this right now. So they walked far into the forest towards their home, only seeing a chicken and eating it on the way.

They suddenly fell down, hitting something. They looked up to see what they hit, guessing it was a tree branch, but saw nothing. They got up and felt around, feeling an invisible force. So they were unable to get home it seemed. That was just FANTASTIC…

They walked back to where they were before with the others. They didn’t want to be here. “So, there’s an invisible force that’s stopping us from leaving apparently. I was trying to go home but I hit it.” The others, a third with black hair having joined while Kia was gone, just looked a little shocked and confused. They were themself, honestly.

They stayed quiet for the rest of the talk, even when they went into the weird center area and stood around the beacon. When some of them stood near it long enpigh, it turned orange. It made them feel weird.

A few others joined, talking. They stayed silent. They were being glared at by a tall fellow with a braid, so they were glaring back. Next thing they knew they were going to pair with Mr glaring, who was apparently named Edmond, to scout out the forest. They already knew this forest but went along anyways.

“Why were you glaring at me the entire time we were all chatting?” They broke the silence 5 seconds into the forest. Best to get it out of the way now.

“Because you seemed to be the odd one out. The others looked… relatively normal, but for some reason you stuck out.” He spoke deliberately, staring at the other rather than looking ahead.

“And why may that be? Why did I stick out?” They ask, amused. They didn’t expect much from this encounter.

He stayed silent for a moment. “You’re not human, are you? Sharp teeth, pale skin, slightly pointed ears. So what are you is the question.” Kia froze at that. How had he realized in less than five minutes!?

“I don’t know-“ Kia started to speak, but Edmond interrupted them rudely.

“Your reaction contradicts what you were about to say, Kia.” The name was said in a condescending manner. They wanted to rip this man’s throat out.

“Well then. If you can’t beat ‘em, kill ‘em.” Kia simply spoke. They then pounced on Edmond, bringing him to the ground and snapping some branches. The other struggled slightly.

“Get off me!” He yelled angrily, attempting to kick the other off. They clawed at each other for a long while before Kia made a spur of the moment decision.

They bit hard at the others shoulder, taking some of the blood. If they stopped now, it would turn the other into a vampire. And yet the stopped then, before the other would die of blood loss.

“What did you just-“ He felt at his shoulder, feeling the wound slightly. Kia got up, staring down at the other.

“Listen here for a minute. If you tell anyone that you got turned into a vampire, they will stake you on sight. So I would recommend you shut your trap before you get killed.” Edmond looks at Kia, glaring angrily, before standing and walking back to town.

The two didn’t speak for the rest of the walk. When asked how it went, they said it went fine and that it was just a normal forest. That there was nothing to be afraid of in the darkness of the woods.