Lucas woke to a shadowy figure standing in the corner of his eye, letting out a yawn as he propped himself on his elbows. Looking towards the figure, but despite his efforts, the figure always stayed just barely out of his line of sight.
"Who are you?" Asked Lucas as the figure simply shook its head, pointing towards something. Moving his eyes to see a small line of smoke heading upwards, leading his eyes back down towards the quiet glow of a fire.
"That's at least a day's worth of walking," mumbled Lucas as he attempted a final glance at the figure who still successfully evaded his full attention, always at the edge of his vision, honestly he was getting a bit curious. "How are you doing that?" Lucas asked as the figure remained quiet as ever.
Lucas rolled his eyes as he noted Coin knocked out, with a tiny drop of bright, radiant liquor dripping off his beak. Moving over to his friend and poking at the penguin till he woke up, but Coin remained stubbornly asleep.
"Lazy bird," mumbled Lucas as he started shaking Coin, only for the lazy thing to remain in his slumber. Resorting to a light kick, Luca swung his leg back as far as he could and released. A soft thud sound interrupted his kick as the figure gently stopped his leg.
"What? I'm just trying to wake him up," said Lucas, prompting the figure to simply stare at him from the corner of his eye before picking up the bird and passing him Coin. Luca looked down at him before returning his gaze to her, only to find nobody was there.
Nobody except the golden rays of light that heralded sunrise, turning around, greeted Lucas with the view of a yellow orb rising over the tall green trees of the forest, swallowed by the endlessly perfect sight.
Only the loud squawking of a mother penguin could ever break his focus.
…
…
…
Huh.
Thought Lucas as he waited and waited for the annoying roar of Ruby, yet nothing came. Worry sank into his mind as he waited for Ruby to make her presence known, but wait as he might. No one came.
Lucas raced back towards their makeshift camp, Coin in hand. Passing through the endless brown and greens of the forest as he ran faster and faster.
Yet despite all the time it took, he kept running, jumping through the hedges that stood in his way, and climbing over the boulders that lay across his way. Luca feared he wouldn't make it in time to save Ruby from whatever horror Lucas had thought of in his mind.
Though a tall, rocky lava monster or a monster with a black, empty pair of eyes, with a crooked smile, did come close. Weird that he thought of that through, but besides the point.
Unfortunately, Luca wouldn't need to make it back to camp as the limp body of Ruby lay surrounded by ice raised from the ground. Lucas rushed over to her, letting out a sigh of relief as she seemed only unconscious.
"For god's sake. Worry me for no reason," Lucas said as he hoisted Ruby over his shoulder, "best head off to the smoke. What's the worst that can happen?" Said Lucas as a nearby twig fell and snapped.
Walking at a slightly faster pace than usual, he was making quick work of the forest as he passed the familiar trees he had seen all day, though the day had just started, so he had no reason to judge.
Making his way back towards the cliff edge, he woke up. Lucas had a better view of what he was working with. The sun had slightly risen past the wall of green that it had started from.
The light had started to uncover the forest from the shadows, and he noticed the fire was still going strong. "Focus, just head towards the fire and hope you're not eaten along the way. Best get walking," mumbled Lucas as he scaled the cliff edge.
Landing at the bottom, he began his venture to the strange fire. Staring ahead into the green that stood in front of him, he began his tricycle through the forest.
About five minutes in, Lucas was bored; he would have to walk through the entire forest with nobody to talk to. Coin seemed to be in eternal slumber, and Ruby didn't look like she was waking up anytime soon, though she didn't look any worse, and at least she was light, which was nice.
Though it did feel as if Coin should have woken up when he was running all the way back, he couldn't judge his little buddy for anything he wouldn't do, and sleeping in didn't seem all that bad.
Walking alone in a not-so-empty forest with two birds who couldn't be anything but liabilities at the moment was bad, actually; it seemed very bad.
Lucas thought he was fast; heck, he even thought he was the fastest. But even he wasn't air-headed enough to believe he could maintain tip-top speed with two penguins, one much heavier than the other.
Maybe he could multitask and focus on two things at once… "nah, not gonna work," mumbled Lucas as he kept on walking, "maybe I could…no, nevermind" mumbled Lucas as his mumbling eventually turned into him talking to himself.
"Well…let's be scenarios to pass the time…great idea, umm. Would you rather be a crow or a seagull? Let's see, crows are smart and hoard stuff like knowledge? Something like that.
And seagulls they uhh.. Well, they like gold and trinkets? So I'd choose to be…" Lucas's eyes dipped down at Coin and Ruby while he made up his mind, coming up with a third, much better option.
"I'd be like Coin. I'd choose to be what Coin is because they…they, what do you two do? Hell, what are you two even? Birds that can't even fly. I mean, what's the point of being a bird if you can't fly? That's one of the perks of being a bird, isn't it?" said Lucas as Coin flinched a tiny bit, which Lucas brushed off as Coin moving in his sleep.
"Oh well, back to the scenarios" Said Lucas as hours passed.
In all honesty, he should've been found by some animal of some sort, but it was rather empty. The forest seemed to be abandoned by any animals, so they probably wouldn't get jumped by a wolf or bear, so that's a plus.
But on the other hand, if it was truly abandoned, then Lucas might be alone for a while longer than he'd hoped, though he is currently walking to a strange fire in the middle of the forest, so maybe he'd find a person, or a corpse, Lucas knew which he preferred.
Though maybe finding a person wasn't the best idea. "Hmm…that sounds like another hypothetical," said Lucas as he tripped over a twig.
"If I found a person and they were hostile, then I'd be at a disadvantage, which wouldn't be great. But if they aren't, then I'd hopefully have someone to show me to the nearest town. Though I would have to worry about these two, I think I can take another person if need be, but could I? If I get the jump,p then maybe" muttered Lucas as he hopped on boulders to cross a river.
"But then again, if I find a corpse, then they were either just murdered, which would mean I have to keep my guard up for killers wandering around the forest, which leads to a better question: if it's a killing or just unlucky to be at a forest with wild animals...that is a better question, right? Probably," said Lucas as he pushed through some tall hedges, cursing his feet as he plucked out spare twigs.
"It's hopefully not an animal…actually? It's probably not an animal; most of everything here looks untouched, but I've been wrong before. If it's a murderer, then well, I'll just wait for-" said Lucas as he slammed face-first into a tree.
Letting out a quiet curse at the tree, Lucas finally got out of his daydreams and looked up.
The sun was setting.
"Huh…didn't think I was talking to myself for that long," mumbled Lucas as the smell of smoke graced his nose. He immediately sharpened up, laying down Coin and Ruby as he slowly peeked around the tree, questioning the sight that sat in front of him.
A relatively lilith body with flowing blond hair ending at their back stood straight round an unnaturally pale face with two green eyes stared back at him.
Clothed in a beige shirt and white overcoat, black baggy pants and brown shoes.
"Doesn't look like a murderer or a corpse," mumbled Lucas as he stepped out from behind the tree.
Getting a better view showed a mini pot filled with herbs and flowers of varying colour hooked atop the fireplace,e as well as a leather carrier bag by their side.
"Hey, whatcha making?" Said Lucas as the blond stared for a while longer before straightening up.
"Oh. Well, it's a potion of sorts.
Alchemy," replied the blond in a hesitant tone.
"What kind?" Said Lucas as the figure looked at their pot. "The sleeping kind," replied the blond as Lucas slowly walked towards the figure and sat.
Now that he had a close-up, he noticed a mask around the blonde's mouth. The blond in question quickly realized something and started digging in their bag. Unfortunately, they were too slow as gravity got the best of Lucas, who ate a face full of dirt.
"For Father's sake, Oz. Always slow on the uptake," muttered the blond as they silently placed a blanket over the sleeping boy.