[center][b]Carter[/b][/center]


It feels like we've been walking through this goddamned forest forever. I hate forests, they're always full of monsters and other demons and lost Dark-Eyed people trying to sell me shit. No, seriously, they try to sell us shit sometimes. What the fuck are we even supposed to use as currency? Gold? Rocks? Fucking bottle-caps? Come on, who has the time for that?

Edgar keeps trailing behind me mumbling to himself about ingredients he needs for the Cure. It's hopeful thinking that a nutcase like him could create such a thing as a cure for everything, but I've seen what he can do. The kid's got some seriously bizarre traits, but he sure has a way with science. Must be all that time he spend alone in his lab. I guess I shouldn't be calling him a nutcase, since that title should probably go to me for being crazy enough to think this will work. But I do think it'll work, and that's the first slice of anything resembling 'hope' I've had in months. Years, even.

It's getting late, though, we really should be stopping sometime soon. I just don't like the idea of doing so in the middle of this forest. I'm not stupid, I know how these stories go. Two teens lost in the woods, need to rest for the night, suddenly a monster approaches and slaughters them both.

Of course for that cliche to work, me and Edgar would probably have to be a couple, and be intimate at that point or something, because we all know monsters hate two things more than anything else in the world: teens and sex. Was it always like that? I wonder how old that cliche is. The trash Victor used to read was full of it. The guy had terrible taste. Not that I care for books much anyway. Or for remembering him. Stupid brain...

Anyway, if it isn't teenage couples, it's two lost kids or someone looking for their kids or just anyone who shouldn't be out in the forest to begin with, defying all common sense and going out anyway.

Kinda like us.

"Carter! Tired," Edgar calls. I roll my eyes.

"Yeah no kidding, you've been trailing ten paces behind me for the past mile! But I'm not stopping here so you just suck it up."

I can hear his footsteps stop short and I sigh. Great. Just what I need. 

I turn around and glare at him. "Don't be stubborn, Shorty, we can't just stop in the middle of a dark forest after passing by a 'beware of monsters sign'. That would be stupid, and we don't need stupid now. We had enough of it yesterday. At least now we know not to trust the locals on food..."

"I need to stop," Edgar says bluntly. Nothing's gonna stop that guy once he's made up his mind. This is just perfect.

"Arrgh, fine! You wanna get eaten by monsters? Be my fucking guest."

"You have to stop with me," he says calmly.

I start pacing a little. "I know, I'm just a little [i]reluctant[/i] because this is [i]stupid[/i]! Can't you just walk, like, one more mile or two?"

"Carter--"

"The sun's barely down, can't you just--"

Edgar stomps his foot on the ground. "Carter! I told you. Need to stop. Got it?"

I grit my teeth, then throw my bag on the ground dramatically. "Whatever." I pull out my knife and flick the blade out.

"Campfire?"

"What do you think the knife's for, moron?"

He pulls his bright orange atrocity of a scarf down so I can hear him better, "Drama."

"Shut up," I mutter, turning my back on him to cut an X in a nearby tree. I give it a good kick in the center and the thing snaps easily. I cut it up into some more manageable pieces and lay them out near where Edgar decided to stop. He's still clinging to a vial of something purple and I keep imagining it as poison. Maybe I'm just paranoid. It wouldn't matter anyway, I suppose. As a demon I'm immortal. Not that I can't get hurt, I just can't die. It's the dumbest exchange ever.

He pulls out a lighter and holds it out to me. I grab it from him and rip a few pieces of long grass out of the ground as fodder and light the fire. There aren't any rocks to lay, but the area's bare enough that I don't think it'll matter too much.

"You got any food left, Shorty?"

"Seeds."

I push my glasses up a little and rub my eyes. "Seeds. Wonderful. Hardly a meal."

"Hunting?"

"I suppose I [i]have[/i] to, don't I? Since I do everything."

Edgar sits down and sighs. "Not everything."

"May as well," I growl, pulling the knife out again and heading into the woods.

Edgar is quiet for a second before calling, "Don't die!"

I laugh. "Yeah right. That's one thing I [i]can't[/i] do." I head off into the woods. One good thing about being a demon, at least my night vision's good. If nothing else, that's a slight... perk I guess.


___________________________________________________________________


[center][b]Edgar[/b][/center]


Carter's off in the woods. Gone for food. I guess it doesn't matter if he finds it. I'm not that hungry anyway, I just wanted a little alone time. It's stressful around him. I don't think he means it, but it is.

I fiddle with one of my vials, pouring it to create some new grass around me. A more comfortable bed. It's weird being outside still. It's been a while but... I'm not used to it. Inside was...smaller but easier.

Winston, my stubby-legged cat, waddles up to me and meows. For what most consider to be a primitive species, he's pretty intuitive. Knows when I need him.

I pat his head and allow him to curl up in my lap. Animals are better than people. They don't talk and they don't need you to either. They just understand anyway. Sometimes I wish I could just explain things properly externally, but then I remember that people don't care anyway. And everyone will leave eventually. Carter's just new still. He'll give up some time from now and I'll be on my own again. But then I'll just make the Cure and they'll all come running back. Everything will be fixed.

I'm just a little useless up until that point.

Still, I wish he'd stop calling me Shorty. I can't think of anything insulting to call him back, but I don't think my brain would let me say it if I did. My brain is picky with what I say, nothing comes out as it should.

I lay back on the grass and Winston crawls up to my stomach and curls into a little, purring ball of fluff. I smile a little and rub behind his ears where he likes. We watch the sun go down. The moon's full tonight.

Well, I can't see it yet but I know it's full. I like to keep track of its cycle. Well, I don't like to, I just kind of do it without thinking.

The fire cracks and pops and it reminds me of popcorn kernels. I used to have a whole supply back in the lab. I lived off of it mostly. Popcorn and cereal and canned food. Ran out two weeks before the lab burned. Didn't eat then. Found stumbling through the woods. Dizzy. The outside was different. I'd never felt the wind before.

I still hate thunder. Something Winston and I have in common.

Carter says sometimes I'm more like a cat than a human. Maybe that's true. Cats are nicer anyway. At least they are to me.

I wonder what's taking him so long. Normally he manages to find food right away. He can be an asshole, but he sure is a good hunter. Even if I hate to admit it. I think he's just good at killing, and I think I'm not the only one bothered by it. Not that it matters anyway. Some things can't be changed... at least not right away. But when your job is to play god everything starts to seem a bit more... malleable than you initially thought.