[IC] Animal Cruelty

[RomanAria]

The day dawned clear and cool as the morning sun filtered into the moss-covered cave entrance. The light shone on the sleeping forms of about a dozen children, teens, and young adults. It also shone on the pitiful attempts at decoration, clusters of berries and shiny river rocks piled up with the ever-present moss in corners and strewn across rocky shelves.

Tucked into one of these niches was a tiny hummingbird. It fluttered its wings as it woke up and hopped off of its’ perch to land on the ground. The bird hopped into a secluded corner, re-emerging a minute later in a very different form. The sunlight fell on a little girl of about nine years, her pale skin offset by the rich red-brown of her hair and the dark gray-black of what used to be her uniform. Fluttering out from slits cut in the back of the tee-shirt were a set of wings, russet on the bottom and iridescent blue-green on the top. The girl smiled a little tentatively, the way she started every day, for if she could find a reason to smile, she wouldn’t be afraid.

Being one of the first ones awake like she always was, she went to rouse the other “littles.” Stopping first by Squeaky’s nest of moss, she nudged the younger girl. “Squeaky, it’s time to wake up.” When the girl didn’t respond, Flutter knelt beside her and gently shook her. “Squeaky, wake up.”

The little girl’s eyes flashed open and, true to her name, she squeaked in fear, sitting bolt upright. But then she relaxed as she saw that it was just Flutter.
“It’s okay, Squeaky. Come on, it’s morning. Let’s get Ferris and go find breakfast for everyone."
Squeaky sighed. “Okay.” She whispered. That was as loud as she ever talked, in faint whispering. She stood up, brushing the bits of leaf and moss off of herself, and the two girls went to wake Ferris.

“Ferris, it’s time to wake up.” Flutter said, carefully kneeling down next to the boy. “We’re going to go find breakfast.” She said, carefully reaching out to shake his shoulder. She still didn’t fully trust the boy to know her well enough to not claw her for waking him. And he was half ferret. Those things had sharp teeth and claws.

[ScienMalefica]

"Please relax, steady your breathing 992, this is just a quick test," the doctor said, from which Ferris knew that meant it would be going on for hours. In this facility, The Facility, he could always figure out more from what the doctors didn't say than what they did. They weren't likely to tell the truth, so Ferris had grew a dependence on the lies, comforted by the consistency of them. In his world, this prison, consistency was the only thing that he could rely on.

"O-okay," Ferris murmured, slowing his breathing down. Whatever they decided to say the best option was just to go along with it, as he painfully remembered when he learned that lesson and got the scar on his cheek. He winced as the needle went into his arm and made sure to keep breathing slowly as the blood got taken out, a feeling he could never quite get used to no matter how times he got blood taken. The doctor smiled at how well Ferris responded to the blood extraction when red alarms started flashing and a siren sounded, so bright and in Ferris' eyes, so loud and overwhelming his hearing.

"We have a perimeter breach, it appears to be a group of the rioters, please proceed to the emergency exits for a full evacuations. Repeat, we have a perimeter breach, please proceed to-" the message cut out. The doctors seemed incredibly fearful and Ferris was in a state of confusion. What are these rioters and why are they breaking this consistency?

Regardless Ferris was very curious and would've considered moving, but the doctors were in a state of panic. Leaving the room and running, they left Ferris alone. Hearing yelling and screaming soon after Ferris hid, because after all he didn't want whatever rioters are to make him yell and scream like that. He didn't want anything to make him yell and scream again.

Ferris' eyes opened quickly at the physical contact of the hand on his shoulder and he jumped back away from the contact, his vision clearing from the blur of first waking up. The two girls who were the only ones close to his age, Squeaky and... something starting with F..... He let out a sigh of relief at seeing that it was only those two and not whatever those rioters were that the older ones say caused the mess that was dead doctors and other experiments.

The concept of death confused Ferris. How can someone be just gone? Surely they must be somewhere he wondered, but shook the thought off. As curious as he was he knew that the only way he could really find out is by dying, and he definitely didn't want to do that.

To go off that thought train Ferris looked at the girls again, then looking at the older one with the strange hair, sort of like the color of the blood that was taken out of him in his dream - no, memory, but mixed with.... something else he wasn't sure. Whatever the color it was he knew it was the color of the snake in the cave who was at the moment in the cave still sleeping away in what appeared to be a very uncomfortable position as a person.

Ferris physically shook his head at continuing to think about so many things, a habit he got at his wide curiosity. "Hi Squeaky and... little bird girl," he said, biting his lip out of embarrassment he forgot the little bird girl's name.

[Asuna Yuuki]

Tigressa the tiger moved silently through the trees, heading back to the cave she and the other survivors had found refuge in. She knew that they may not last much longer, food was scarce, and even those that could hunt and eat in their animal forms had human stomachs. Tigressa knew from experience, she had thrown up more than a few times after turning back into a human.

She pondered the future of the small group as she drew closer to the cave entrance. They would need to head into the normal human cities and towns to find supplies, and even that would prove difficult, because only a couple of them didn't have obvious animal characteristics. She was one of them, and she had already prepared to tell the others her plan to get a job in one of the human towns to earn some money. Tigressa was fond of the others, especially the little ones, and she didn't want to stand by and watch them starve to death.

As she was about to hit the small clearing around their hideaway, she shifted into her human form. Stopping momentarily to make sure she didn't vomit up the few animals she had managed to catch, she walked into the cave to see the three younger kids just starting to wake up.

"Good morning you guys," Tigressa smiled, walking closer to tousle Flutters hair. "You guys sleep well? I hope you weren't up to late last night. I did go to sleep pretty early, so I'm hoping you weren't too far behind me."

[SaintJackal]

Near the front of their makeshift camp, Luc lay sprawled out, in a catatonic slumber. Despite being early for his own biological clock the presence of a deep feminine growl roused him to sit up. It was another of the escaped prisoners; a exotic looking girl he had known to call Tigressa. She was conversing with the three smaller prisoners, and they seemed to be the only ones awake so far, hardly surprising with the sun still young in the sky.

Luc stood up and shook the detritus from his shaggy 'mane' letting his loose dreads flap around lifelessly and watched as caked mud and dry leaves cascaded onto the floor. Content with his level of cleanliness he dragged himself forward among the others and gave a low grunt to greet them. After crouching down with a wide dumb grin for the three children of the group he glanced upwards to Tigressa inquisitively; "We got breakfast?" With both his hands he gestured whether they should stay or go to forage.

[Asuna Yuuki]

@SaintJackal

Tigressa smiled, but a frown was evident on her face. She turned to the small stockpile of human food, to see how much they could spare for today. There wasn't much, clearly those who could forage would have to go out. She turned back to Luc.

" You're going to have to forage today, we don't have enough for everyone. Is that alright with you?" Tigressa said, looking apologetic. "I'd give you my share, but... well, I don't have one."

[RomanAria]

Flutter raised her eyes to the sky. "Flutter. You always forget my name is Flutter." she said. "And I'm not little; I'm a whole hundred numbers ahead of you, and I'm like half an inch taller!" Then she realized her assessment was probably unfair and shook her head. "Sorry. But I feel like we should go foraging so that the grown-ups don't have to bring stuff back for us like they usually do." Her stomach rumbled and she blushed. "Also because I'm really hungry and I don't want to wait for the grown-ups."

She turned to face Tigressa. "I was out like a bulb as soon as Squeaky went to bed." They often had to have arguments about Squeaky not going to sleep, because she was part-hamster, and so she wanted to be awake at night. "I was tempted to hit her to make her pass out."

Squeaky frowned. "I can't help who I am!" she said softly.

Flutter ruffled her hair. "You're good, Squeaky." she grinned at the girl and she grinned back. The two had become like sisters over the last year or so.

Flutter's stomach grumbled again and she blushed. "Okay, can we go find something to eat now?"

[SaintJackal]

Luc listened passively, despite being the joint biggest of the group he was not built for leadership and was much happier to follow, even letting the younger members of the group have a sway; only putting his two-cents forward if he thought a idea life threatening.
"We don't have enough for everybody,"
"Can we go find something to eat now?"
Luc nodded in approval upon hearing Flutter's request.
"Ready when you are."

[Asuna Yuuki]

@SaintJackal@RomanAria

"We can go out to forage now, if you want. The others won't be awake for a while, and maybe they can have the ordinary food if we find enough to eat." Tigressa smiled at the others. She was pretty sure that the small group would be able to get enough food for themselves, and the others should be fine. It was mainly the older people still asleep, so they were more than capable of looking after themselves.

[ScienMalefica]

Ferris gave a small sigh at everyone talking all together, it was nice how they could do that. A chance to explore! Maybe I'll climb some trees if there's any fruit... then again Flutter can fly... how do wings work? Is it like climbing on air? If so that would be fun because climbing is fun and you could go anywhere....

"I'll come help forage," Ferris said aloud, still wondering how wings work. He knew flapping his arms couldn't make him fly so what's so special about wings that make them fly? Are feathers made out of something special that makes them fly? Ferris gave up for the moment, deciding to go to his backup option whenever he couldn't figure something out he was curious about - ask.

"How do wings work Flutter?" Ferris said, deliberately making no mention of forgetting her name. Ferris remembered from the scientists that it was always a bad idea to remind people of a time that they got frustrated, if you just keep talking they would forget if he was lucky. Ferris shuddered at that thought, remembering when the scientists got angry and sometimes took so much blood he would be rendered unconscious for a while.

[RomanAria]

Flutter tilted her head at the slightly smaller boy. "I have no idea. They kind of catch the wind and hold a pocket of it? I think. I don't know." She shrugged, her wings fluttering.
"Something to do with air pressure." Squeaky whispered. "It's higher underneath and lower on top and lifts the person, or the bird."
"How'd ya hear that, Squeaks?"
Squeaky glared at the taller girl. "How do you think?" She started shaking slightly, her response to fear.
"Oh, right, you lived in Doctor Thomas's pocket for a month. Literally." Flutter went to ruffle Squeaky's hair.
Squeaky, true to her name, squeaked, and shook her head, trying to banish memories of what she'd seen and heard. "I don't want to think about it!" she squeaked.
Flutter, realizing she was triggering a breakdown, hugged Squeaky tightly. "God, I'm sorry, Squeaky."
"It's okay. Can we just go get something to eat now?"
"Sure, I'll go flying to look for berries; you can stay on the ground and try to find some nuts and seeds?"
"Okay!"

[Asuna Yuuki]

@RomanAria@ScienMalefica

"That's a good idea, Flutter. I'll catch some animals, if you want? I know you guys don't really eat meat as much, but... some of the others do." Tigressa says. "We shouldn't take too long though, the others will be waking up soon."

[ScienMalefica]

@Asuna Yuuki@RomanAria@SaintJackal@Shadowcatcher

Ferris rose an eyebrow at the explanations for flying. Air pressure, what's that? I guess it's like if the air is... harder? Then because it's softer air on top you go through it, so it's sorta like climbing. His head hurt from the whole ordeal of trying to figure out how birds could fly. Well, and Flutter, but she's close enough to a bird as well.

"I'll catch some animals, if you want? I know you guys don't really eat meat as much, but... some of the others do."

Ferris' ears perked up at that. He himself was a meat-eater as well and besides, hunting was more fun than getting fruit from trees for the other. "I'll come too," he murmured. "I might not be as good a hunter as a big cat but I'm a good climber and burrower, I can get rabbits easy when they burrow away and the only thing bigger than rabbits that I've seen much are deer, and rabbit meat is more yummy," he added with a small smile.

"Or maybe you could wait for Leo and Lilia to wake up. Safety in numbers, you know?"

Ferris jumped at the voice and turned to the owner of it. Tibble, the snake. Death.... Bladder? No that sounds silly. Ferris couldn't remember, his memory when it came to names was about as effective as a rock's ability to philosophize. Horrific. Anyway, Tibble... or was it Ribble? He seemed to reject whatever the popular opinion was for some reason, which to Ferris didn't make sense. If lots of minds together made a plan wouldn't it make sense than what one mind can do?

Nibble licked his lips, a gleam in his ever-amused eyes that unnerved Ferris to no end. "If I was to put my money on any of us surviving it'd be Leo, he's stronger than any of us besides Luc, and he's actually got something in his head before fancy ideas of worrying everyone by disappearing into the forest at the crack of dawn," he scowled, careful not to bite his lip and accidentally waste any poison on himself that doesn't work. "So wait for him to wake up and have his decision.

[SaintJackal]

Luc agreed with the two younger boys, and despite his own strength he knew he wouldn't be able to protect everyone by himself from the possible dangers out in the world.
"Some should wait with the sleepers."
With less bodies to watch he could make sure to protect every child effectively.