Second Chances

[AutumnrainChaos]

Birds chirped as they surronded the old ruins of the Wetlands. It had just finished its daily downpour and the worms were plentyful. Flowers were wide open, begging for the sun's love as the bees buzzed about, pollinating the flowers and collecting sweet nectar to populate their hive.

Pebbles crumbled off the old ruins as a pair of dark boots came sliding off a fallen wall and into the center of the ruins. A second pair followed after and were suddenly covered by an extremely large thick blue coat with large olive buttons. The owner of the boots turned to the owner of the coat and smiled.

She had a pretty face, young and energetic with an elegance about it. The face she smiled to smiled back with such kindness that one could immediately become friends with him.

Oddly enough, however, horns pertruded from his head, though the horn on his left was cut off at the base. Furry cow-like ears extended from where normal ears lay on the side of his head. Bright and vibrant green eyes shone from behind multi-layered bonde hair, only one green eye, however was visible. A purpleish scarf hugged his neck, which seemed to have been getting caught on the ruins.

The pretty face giggled again, turning to the ruins. Her long black hair shimmered in the sunlight, revealing drops of dew clinging to several large strands of hair. Charcoal black eyes watched the birds bounce from tree to tree as she walked further into the clearing. She sighed and placed a hand on the ruined walls.

"Well," she said, picking a blue flower, "I guess there is nothing here..."

"You've barely looked," said the blonde-haired cow eared boy.

[The_Unknown_Usual]

Alaric turned over on his bedroll. It wasn't the most comfortable resting place, a thick cloth on solid stone, but it worked. The sun shined through his eyelids, as if to pry them open to wake him. He sat up and blinked a few times. He was never too good at waking up. He tied his hair back, then froze halfway through.

Voices. And voices meant people. Who would come to an area like this? An old ruin in the middle of nowhere... What could their motives possibly be? Though, the voices sounded friendly, as if the two were joking with each other. Alaric didn't know what to think. He finished tying his hair back, then picked up his bow and quiver. It was best to be prepared in this sort of situation.

He strung an arrow on his bow, then picked a good position to see who the strangers were, should they near his position. He waited patiently to see...

[AutumnrainChaos]

The cowboy's ears twitched but he pretended to not notice. "Hikari, you could just look a little harder."

"He's not here, Mouka," said the black-haired girl. She walked further into the ruins anyway and turned her face toward Alaric. She hadn't noticed him, but she did know someone was there. "Mouka..."

The cowboy came closer and stood in front of her as if to protect her. He turned his vibrant green eye toward Alaric and narrowed it dangerously. "So, did you want to continue to look for him?"

The girl sat down with a sigh and played with the intricate dragon shaped blade that hung at her hip. "I don't know..."

[The_Unknown_Usual]

How did he see me...? Wait... he thought, ... This one isn't even human... So I had no chance of hiding. Though, they look to be of no threat... They aren't here to try and harm me...

So he would do the same for them. He let some slack on the bowstring, soon putting the arrow back into the quiver. These people were no enemies of his. He did this silently, as not to scare the girl. He remembered the last situation he had like this, he was mistaken for an assassin.

So he sat, and waited to see their next actions, or if he could find out their goal. He knew the cow-boy saw him. Alaric wondered if he knew that he knew...

[AutumnrainChaos]

Mouka turned to Alaric's position and sighed. "Hey you there! Would you mind coming out into the open? If you try to attack, you might just regret it."

Hikari blinked. "Wait, someone was there? Boy, I must really be losing my touch if I didn't even notice someone else here..."

[The_Unknown_Usual]

Of course it couldn't be easy... Hm. Ah well, I suppose I'm in a good mood today... he thought.

He put the bow on his back, then stepped out. He was a bit curious about this duo, he decided. He raised his hands up away from his weapons to show he had no ill intentions. He slightly grinned. He supposed it was kind of hard to find a good hiding place in an area like this anyways.

"... I don't want a fight. I don't plan on attacking you," he said, sighing, "so you don't need to be hostile. Why are you two here?"

[AutumnrainChaos]

Mouka narrowed his eyes to the man but Hikari smacked him.

"Be nice, Mouka," she said. "Hi, sorry... Did we intrude on your home?"

"And why we're here is really none of your business..." spat the giant man. He well towered over Hikari, standing at least a foot taller than Alaric. His fuzzy brown and black spotted cow ears lay pressed against his head as Hikari spoke with him, hitting Mouka once more.

"I said be nice," she said, sighing. "Sheesh. He's not going to hurt us. Forgive my friend. He's a little less trusting than most people. Oh, we're here because I'm searching for someone..."

[The_Unknown_Usual]

... Interesting.

"A rather ineffective search party, don't you think...? Two people might not be enough... And no, this was a temporary campsite, nothing more. If it was my house, your friend would have already had an arrow through his neck," Alaric said as a jest. He was fairly sure the cow-boy would take it the wrong way, which was what he was hoping for. He was fun to tease.

"Regardless, who are you looking for? Perhaps I've seen him... her... whichever."

[AutumnrainChaos]

Mouka growled, but Hikari gave him a dangerous look.

"Don't you dare, Mouka," she said. "It's a he actually... And I get really tell you what he looks like, because I don't really know. You see, it's a rather complicated story, and I'm not really up to telling it."

"Porc stupide et insignifiant," Mouka muttered in french.

[The_Unknown_Usual]

Alaric shifted glances between the two. He found them to be quite an interesting pair. One, a kind girl, who seemed innocent to everything, although Alaric assumd that to not be true, and the other a thick-headed guardian who only wanted what was best, no matter how stubborn or stupid he seemed. Alaric smirked at this thought.

"Well, not many have passed through here. The only two I can remember were these two soldiers, though I'm positive they weren't who you were looking for. But they were all, unless someone got by me without me noticing..." he looked up at the thought of that, "... No, unlikely. Still, I can help you search while you're here, but I can't promise anything."

Alaric looked at them, waiting patiently for an answer and ignoring the cow-boy, though he had more of a bull's or ox's personality in his mind. He found it funny that he was talking as much as he was. Today must have been a good day indeed. Or maybe he wanted to help these people, though he didn't know why. The sooner they left, the better. He kept waiting for a response, leaning against a ruin wall...