[center][h1][color=#43bc09]A [/color][color=#55c51f]E [/color][color=#66cf34]L [/color][color=#78d84a]I [/color][color=#89e15f]N [/color][color=#72d542]O [/color][color=#5ac826]R [/color]   [color=#54a52e]K [/color][color=#5cb034]I [/color][color=#63bb3a]A [/color][color=#6bc53f]N [/color][color=#72d045]D [/color][color=#62c931]A [/color][color=#53c31d]L [/color][color=#43bc09]L [/color][/h1][/center]
[right][color=#ae9c9c][i][b]Unknown Town[/b]
Midnight
Interacting with: [@That1Guy], [@ShwiggityShwah], also briefly [@Fetzen] [/i][/color][/right]

[color=silver]
The longer Eli listened to silence, the more she feared she'd gone deaf. The only things that kept her sane were the occasional crackle of the torch and the rapid breathing of one of the younger girls behind her. Without those tiny fragments of sound, the darkness of the house was soundless and[i] dead[/i]. And yet, every long shadow looked very much [i]alive,[/i] long claws extended towards her.

Ever so carefully, Eli dared another step in - and as she did, the world [i]exploded[/i] with sound. It was metallic and [i]loud[/i], stealing away her breath and scaring some of the other kids into scrambling backwards in terror. Eli would've likely been among them, had everything she'd ever been taught of animals told her otherwise.  

Instead, eyes darting, heart aflame and arms trembling, she drew her bow and pointed the top of her arrow into darkness. In her panic she squinted, struggling to see. Movement, an outline, light, anything, anything,[i] anything [/i]she could shoot at, before it--

[i]"Surprise I guess, look what I found."[/i] 
 
Eli spun around wildly, only to find herself blinded by the sudden light source next to her. One of the younger girls stood in the doorway, tiny flames hugging her form, and her form hugging a--- chicken?

[color=72d542]"Spark,"[/color] she believed that was her name - it wasn't difficult to remember, in truth. How [i]could[/i] Eli forget a girl who burned, when the sight of her still made her stomach churn? [color=72d542]"This isn't the time t--"[/color]

Another new face entered just then, filling the entirety of the doorway with his frame. The floor creaked, and Eli took an instinctive step further away. Who was--- where had he---?

The chicken clucked again, louder - this time in warning. 

The second Aelinor was reminded of the loud sound she'd heard, there was another. Louder, but more unnervingly,[i] human. [/i]It was a scream, and Eli reacted to it by instinct. She spun around, drew her bow and released an arrow. 

It was only [i]after[/i] that she realized she knew the voice who'd screamed. 

Luckily for the other, the arrow had whizzed by the moment the naga had dipped low to the ground. Not that Eli was aware of that. She held her breath in terror, staring after her arrow and begging to hear Angel talk again to signal she wasn't dead. 

She did, thank the Goddess. She was talking to someone - and judging by her words, Eli hadn't been the only one startled out of her wits just now.

She sighed. At this rate, she would start growing grey hair at the tender age of twenty four. 

[color=72d542]"I'll... leave this house to you."[/color] she said to no one and everyone, lowering her weapon and stepping out of the house before her heart could stop the [i]third[/i] time. She tried very hard not to hold her chest. It[i] felt[/i] like her heart was gonna bust through it, but she knew it would not.[color=72d542] "I can take the chicken. Go see what's inside."[/color]

She might've not had many an opportunity to talk to chickens as of late, but her understanding of birds was better than that of other animals. Perhaps she could turn the chicken into a guide. 

And a [i]distraction[/i], if things came down to it. 
[/color]