Long Shadows

[Christina Ann Robins]

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“No matter how dark the night, somehow the sun rises once again and all shadows are chased away.”

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I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid, God, why did you make me so stupid?

If you guessed that Robin got lost, again, then you'd be correct. You'd think that after the first time of being lost in the woods-- the person would learn from their mistakes, and not do it again. No such luck with Robin here, as she miserably trekked through the forest-- exasperatedly eying the quickly dimming sky and the unfamiliar terrain around her.

Robin shuffled the leaves up with her black and white sneakers, hands shoved into her over-sized brown jacket pockets-- head down. Great, great, great. And it's not unlike Robin to sleep someplace random, and not in the dorm, so River wouldn't think twice about it. (Most likely) So, that's one option of escape gone. Peering through the green and brown neon lines that Robin used to see, the girl gave another 360 degree look around the clearing, trying to find any signs of life.

Hey-hey-hey! Red figure! Robin's empathic abilities instantly addressed that there was a figure up ahead, or animal, and they were one of the following. Angst, angry, or seriously evil. Probably a mix of both. Turning on her heel right there and then, Robin darted up the nearest stable tree, classifying the figure as some ticked off bear or wolf or some other predatory animal who noticed someone (Robin) in their territory.

And they were not happy about it.

Jump, jump. Skitter, almost a miss-- Robin reached the near top of the pine quite quickly, teeth chattering from the droppig temperature, weaving her way in between the various pine nettles and branched. Settling down on a particularly wide branch, the girl leaned back against the trunk of the pine and huffed, wondering what the heck to do now.

[Ivan Alexander Kamenkovich]

Ivan wandered these ever so lonely woods and lusted for entertainment. He sighed as the cold winter air chilled him. He was used to it considering he lived in Russia. He crunched the molding leaves below him. He started to feel lonely, He was still new here so he new literally no one. He then heard foot steps behind him. His keen eyes seeing a rather small girl, He sighed, another small girl he could play around with... He chuckled, But he wanted to make some friends now, After all he wanted to fit in. He followed her as he went into his zone, Turning transparent as usual and continuing to follow her out of ear shot.

The figure then turned back, as if discovered, and shot herself up a tree, fairly high up. He chuckled, he loved a challenge. He approached carefully, She looked like an eagle eyed power, or maybe heat detector, his only weakness. He started to climb a tree opposite to her but made it so the tree blocked his body, he used his proven method, hugging and pushing. He slowly made it up the tree, but with expert silence.

[Christina Ann Robins]

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“Character is what you are in the dark.”

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Robin sighed, climbing a few feet higher in the tree, chin high as she scanned the forest from her perch. Nope. Not a person, or mansion, in sight. The girl plopped back down onto the branch, huffing in exasperation. This was going to be a long and/or very tiring night—whoa, wait—hold on—person.

Twisting her neck to try and get a better look, Robin’s eyes narrowed as she peered between the branched of the tree, for the first time noticing the general shape of the ‘animal’ she had noticed before. Turns out, Robin noted, looking at its quickly moving shape as it, probably a he, expertly slid across the ground—not making a sound. Ducking behind a tree, Robin lost sight of him for a moment, irritably making her change positions—she could see through walls, though it took a lot of effort, and it came with the package of empathic extension.

Whatever. Robin sighed and leaned back against the base of the tree—eyes flickering close so she could get a better look at the person if he came back, assuming he had moved on to out of her sight line. Come on? What were the chances of them climbing up her same tree? Let him come.

[Ivan Alexander Kamenkovich]

Ivan watched her behind his tree, he was good at hiding but she was good at observing, what to do? He was quite high up on his tree, he grabbed a branch that was facing flat towards the girl. He then used his amateur skills in parkour to swing gracefully to another tree, smacking into the truck, making a loud noise but still not in her field of view. He then slowly made his way around her to sneak up onto her.

Ivan had to give props, she was a good observer, but she focussed on areas, which limits your field of focus, he needed to teach her some lessons. He learned to observe in a ninety degree field of view instead of the six degrees of focusing. He used the pockets of blind view she left and slowly made his way behind her. He got behind the tree she leaned against. He materialized to her left and whispered

"You need to work on your observing..."

[Christina Ann Robins]

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“Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light?”

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Was that a snap? Robin redirected her cloaked vision over to where the sound came from. A flash of red, causing Robin to again scowl—wondering what the heck this person was doing, walking in circles like that. Sighing, Robin sunk back into the branch tensing slightly, fingers crackling with preparing life-force. I don’t like this… I don’t like this at all. Why does it feel like he’s following me?

And then the whisper.

Robin jumped slightly, teetering on the branch—but catching herself before she fell. Not again, she had fallen off the rafters of the old academy barn not to long ago, and it was utterly humiliating. Careful not to make the same mistake, Robin whirled around to come face to face with another kid, probably two or three years older than her. Wanting to make some snarky comment-- that she normally would if this had been River or Antonie who had snuck up on her about not sneaking up on someone in a tree, or about her observation skills being perfectly fine—Robin bit her tongue and tore her gaze away, leaning back against the tree-trunk again and blowing a stray curl out of her face.

“What do you want?” The girl asked, pretending to be unphased by the sudden appearance. Slightly unnerved, and feeling a little too close to this new figure for comfort, Robin leapt down to a stray tree-branch below, giving a glance upwards to hear his reply-- giving him a slight glare. Trees and scaring people-- they just don't fit together.

[Ivan Alexander Kamenkovich]

Ivan smiled as this small girl had a sliver of fear in him, but he had to clear his past and stop making fear factors with everyone. He wanted to at-least relax and not play chess games with peoples minds... Ivan sighed as he leaned against her previous tree, letting one foot hang for stability and the other for comfort. He then looked at her rather boringly "I don't need anything, just some relaxation."

He smiled as he sighed again, enjoying the view from this height and the enjoyment of the air in front of him fogging slightly, The sun was starting to say good by to the academy and the grounds around him, he didn't want to go back, but if he did he had excellent sense of direction.

He then realized he forgot to apologize. "Sorry for scaring you like that..."

[Christina Ann Robins]

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“Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, "I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that's tough. I am going to snow anyway.”

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Robin was significantly more cautious around the people she met, ever since her encounter with Kat a few days earlier. That had not ended well, and Robin couldn't help but cringe at the memory. After meeting one friendly person after another, (Well, excluding River-- but she didn't really count) Robin had actually -shudder- warmed up to the idea of meeting new people. Time to start over, I guess.

"I don't need anything, just relaxation," The older kid said, leaning back into the tree. Giving him another look over from down below, Robin nodded, somewhat getting it.

"We all need relaxation," The girl agreed. "But it's not going to do you much good in the beginning of the winter in the middle of the woods." Note the cold, and the surprisingly rare forecast for snow later in the night-- which would explain why Robin was so nervous about getting out the woods. Mind you, it would most likely only be an inch that would melt by morning-- but there was always that insane chance for it to be fueled by a crazy weather-manipulator not thinking of the consequences. The sophomore wouldn't mind it either, as long as she got back to her dorm first and put on more than jeans and a sweatshirt.

And as for his apology? Robin smiled slightly at his words, how many times had she been over this? "Sorry? Don't be sorry," She replied, quietly. "My fault for not getting a better grip on reality. Not a good idea to drift off in a tree."

[Ivan Alexander Kamenkovich]

Ivan chuckled a bit at her comment towards the weather. "Cold for me is relaxing..." His accent piercing the quiet forest. Ivan shrugged a bit at the cloudy skys and the somewhat increasing winds. Cold, rainclouds, and wind, thats what creates snow. He nodded slightly as he swallowed, alittle bit thirsty because of all the energy his ability spent him pumping his heart. This girl seemed a bit nervous as she looked around trying to find something. He cocked his head to the side, like a confused dog and just stared. He felt a bit weird staring so he broke it and looked to the ground and realized how high he was. "Im going to slide down this tree, its getting windy.." He rotated himself to face the leaning tree. He was going to somewhat have a controlled slide down to the ground, hopefully landing with a roll to absorb the fall, and the leaves would help him. He wrapped his hands around the tree, with his legs below him to break any invisible branches.

Ivan then looked at the girl that he still didnt know the name of, and forced a laugh "See ya" He pushed away from his support branch, feeling gravit

y lusting for its pleasure.

[Christina Ann Robins]

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“Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold.”

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It took a second to process his words, about going down the tree-- slightly distracted as she listened. Giving him an uncertain glance, not quite sure what he meant by that, adrenaline instantly roared through her veins as she gave him the second glance. "Whoa--wait, don't try to get down that way-- you'll fa--" He was gone, and Robin abruptly cut herself off, making a wild lunge for his wrist as he flew past. Miss of course, and even if she had managed to grab his arm, his momentum would've sent them both over the side.

Gaping, totally frozen in her position from the branch-- one arm still extended in front of her in the air where he had been sitting moments before. She couldn't think, couldn't move, only frantically peer down between the branches to see his rapidly speeding up shadow plunge to the earth.

Well, there was only one thing to do now. Robin slid off her own branch and onto a thicker one below, scarcely staying on that one for more than two seconds before jumping to another one below. Jump, jump, jump-- all the while dreading to hear the sickening thump or crack of a lifeless body hitting the earth.

[Ivan Alexander Kamenkovich]

Ivan knew it was a mistake as soon as he started to gain speed. He flew down the trunk desperately holding on. He grunted loudly as he came contact into some branches. He peeked up to see the girl in his pursuit, He managed a weak smile as his chin scratched up a bit from the contact of bark and skin. He then his arms beginning to open up from cuts and bruises from the friction of the tree. Then, a few feet from the ground, his left foot caught a solid branch, the impact of his foot impacting the support sent a shot of pain into his body. Ivans foot unattached itself to the tree, as he was slowed down alot but not enough he hit the ground with his left knee this time, Sending an absolute world of pain to his brain. "Fuck!" He yelled out shortly as he lay there, face up at the sky watching the remainders of the wake he left, fall on him like a small blanket. He turned his head to the side to find his arms and hands completely covered in blood. He then saw a figure and he forced out

"Well that was stupid..." just then his vision began to blur..

[Christina Ann Robins]

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“Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything.”

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Oh, god-Oh, god-Oh, god-- oh, god-- Panicking, Robin leapt down another branch, eyes widening as the thump came-- finally. She was still so high up, another branch, and another--God, this wasn't fast enough!--Robin jumped out of the tree, creating a small force-field in front of her, and half-jumped half-ran her way down to the ground-- the process being much quicker than jumping the entire thing. There, there, there-- blood, a vibrant pool of red blinding her.

Robin cringed and looked away, wanting to vomit. Blood wasn't one of her specialties, definitely not, and she had to force herself to crawl forward across the ground, settling on her knees before his broken shape. "No doubt that was stupid," She said, unable to raise her voice to more than a breath of air, eyes wide with horror. Already there seemed to be a vacant look in his eyes, and his whole upper-body was covered in blood.

And she didn't even know his name.

Not even thinking, Robin's hands burst into the transparent blue flame that she seemed to be using so often now, preparing her life-force to attempt healing him. But a second before the girl's hands touched him lightly on the shoulder-- they stopped, wavering. Last time Robin had done this, last time she had given up some of her life-force... she didn't want to give up any more than necessary. After all-- this was part of what kept her own self alive. "How bad?" The girl asked quietly, nervousness lining her voice. "Can you move?"

[Ivan Alexander Kamenkovich]

Ivan coughed slightly, and looked at the figure, his cloudy eyes making out that it was the girl, Jeez Ivan, how can you be so stupid! He told himself as he looked at his now mangled hand were she was kneeling by. He barely heard her through the immense heart beating in his ears. He half smiled at his joke, which brought forth more pain. He then stared wide-eyed at the flame she brought forth, hopefully she wasn't going to burn him alive. But he couldn't do much but lay there.

He stared at his mangled arms and chest and cringed at his own stupidity and his own blood. Although they weren't very bad cuts, they were everywhere, causing massive blood lost, and he couldn't keep his composure for long. His life now rested on a scared little girl with some flames. He began to slip, but he fought back his natural body's instinct to shut down. He heard the girl whisper something and he nodded to the pain, and frowned to the general overlook of his condition. He then couldn't fight it, he slipped into what he thought was sleep.

[Christina Ann Robins]

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“Every extension of knowledge arises from making the conscious the unconscious.”

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"Wait-- don't fall asleep--no-- hey!"

Too late. Robin scowled, but with eyes that didn't quite match-- worry, worry, worry. She had read somewhere, a long time ago-- that falling asleep when injured badly could induce a coma. Which explained why the girl was so intent on keeping him awake, which unfortunately didn't work. This was great, just great. Let's tally up the points here, shall we?

Pros
-...

Cons
-Lost
-Possible chance of snow
-There's a dude on the forest floor who just jumped out of a tree and in covered in blood.

So, yeah-- that pretty much sums it up.

Inhaling slowly, Robin closed her eyes-- hands still arched over the older boy's uncouncious form. Great-great-great, concentrate, Robin. Concentrate. You can do this, it's not too hard-- it won't hurt too much. He's going to die unless you do something-- And Robin lowered her hands onto his shoulder, watching with nervous flickering eyes as blue sparks of life-force trailed down her arms and into his shoulder.

Robin didn't know how this whole thing worked, something about the aura she gave being energy. The energy would convert itself into whatever was needed, eg. blood, brain waves, something to speed up the healing process. Er, or something like that. I really need to start going to that empathic class. Robin thought blearily, getting slightly light-headed as she continued to heal. Hopefully, she prayed, it would work.

[Ivan Alexander Kamenkovich]

Ivan awoke from a sort of bad nights sleep as he felt his body warm and tinkling with a sort of electric energy. He started to feel his body being healed as he heart started to pump steadily and Ivan opened his blood caked eyes. Oxygen entered him and his chest raised high for the large intake needed to restart his body. After he regained his oxygen he started to cough steadily and loudly as he cleared his airways from the built up blood, and the blood reheated and was coughed weakly out of his mouth. He weakly muttered "What the hell?" As his eyes regained focus and started to adjust. Ivan moved his crippled hand to his view to watch it be engulfed by a blue flame. Ivan groaned slightly as he leaned up to a sitting position and still half clueless on what just happened. He stared at the concentrated girl and tried not to disturb her in her work. He rotated himself to lean against the very tree than nearly killed him.

Ivan then stared wide-eyed as the snow began to fall, a light snow, the fluffy kind, the kind he missed from home. He managed a small smile as a flake landed on one of his cuts and melted into his body.

[Christina Ann Robins]

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“They say that every snowflake is different. If that were true, how could the world go on? How could we ever get up off our knees? How could we ever recover from the wonder of it?”

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Concentrate. Concentrate.

This was getting to be harder by the second, and Robin found herself grinding her teeth together and the blue-flame on the tips of her fingers beginning to waver slightly. Caught up in her concentration, Robin didn't even notice as a set of eyes in front of her flickered open, and sat up. She didn't feel the cold begin to set in on her bones as the snow began to fall faster, her blond curly hair beginning to cake in the white flecks of snow.

The girl didn't know how long she sat there, arms suspended out in front of her. All she knew is that eventually she stopped, swaying slightly as her eyes peered open-- widening in a tired wonder at the snow that fluttered around her in the freezing breeze. Shoulders heaving and blood running cold, Robin gave a tired glance over to where the other kid sat supported by the tree, smiling slightly after noticing the color returning to his face.

However, the smile soon vanished, for it became obvious that this was no two inch snow.