Lost and Found

Cold and stormy was the late autumn night. Each gust of wind causing those few remaining leafs on the trees to rattle and hiss by the force against them. The dark leafs on the ground, stuck there due to being so wet from the rainfall as if late. The sky a kind of dark that looked far from inviting with thick dark clouds covering up any glimpse of the moon or stars in favor of leaving it that near solid colorless black.

Despite the looming off the clouds, it wasn't raining or even so much as a wet and heavy atmosphere. No, it was fine and dry.

Though with those factors combined it still didn't make the forest a nice place to be in this scenario. Those partially bare tree branches reaching up towards the sky as they were clustered together. No this wasn't an edge of woods, this was deep in them, quite a while from civilization. No sane person would be out this far out in the woods with this weather without a good reason.

And as you might have guessed, there was somebody out there. Bare feet thumping against the ground as they ran, ran as best as they could while dodging trees. How long had he been running? A long while if one was to judge by their heavy breathing. The run coming to a rather sudden halt as traction wasn't there to be found and the man slipped and fell face first into the damp leafs.

And thus lay the man with his golden brown fur that seemed to be stretched thin around a skeletal frame below it. A pair of golden brown with golden wings on his back seemed far from usable with big feathers missing and some even straight out clipped. The only things the man seemed to be wearing despite the weather were tattered black pants dirty from the mud and nature, and a metal collar which peeked out from the snow white unkempt long strands of hair.

Huddled underneath one of the larger tree's, a mossy shape shifts at the thudding of feet, followed by the rustling of disturbed leafs as they fell. The figure blinked a pair of blue eyes, before quietly working their way closer to the scene. They were a fairly tall figure, with a mix of a human torso and face, and goat-like legs. The former was a light, pea-green shade, marbled with hints of darker shades. Their legs were mossy, quite literally infact. Where there should be hair, a flat mushroom-like cap extended, riddled with spots as blue as their eyes, but was predominantly the mossy green of their legs.

'O-oh dear, oh dear oh dear... t-this...t-this is, um...' they stammer quietly, as they stare down at the figure. 'A-are you o-ok there, sir? I-it's, um... j-just that that's probably not the b-best place to by l-laying down...'

They blinked nervously, fidgiting with their hands. They felt like they should be moving the man to a safer place, but.. they were running from something, and they needed to make sure whatever it was wasn't just about to jump them. Plus, they were a fair distance from their home, and carrying them all that way would be difficult...

A rainy forest. The perfect place to train your strength, tactics and resistance. The fox was making agile and wild movement with his sword to attack some of the trees. It was calm. You could only hear the rustling of leaves. The fox liked this sound. But then another sound appeared in the distance. The fox stood still, looking around for any clues about what this noise was. Footsteps. They stopped. They came from that direction. "hm...." Who would be in the forest at this point of time? It was very late and the weather was also very dissapointing.

He walked passed some trees and saw some creatures and a skeleton. "What the..." He looked at the one that was standing up. The fox still held his swords in his hand, ready to attack if any unexpected movements would be made. "Could you explain to me what happened here?" His voice was a bit brisk and cold. He sounded pretty serious.

And then, a child appeared at the scene.
And by appeared, I mean it seemed to have fallen down from a nearby tree, landing on his feet. Didn't seem like he was hurt, so it probably was a planned fall. He did seem a bit exhausted though, his breathing slightly quickened, as if he was running not so long ago too. Might be that he spotted the golden individual earlier and decided to follow him.
The child was of a.. questionable age. His appearance, dirtied blue fur, purple eyes that narrowed and eyed every other person on the scene quickly, long claws on hands and feet covered with small scratches and his height looked like something about 14 years or 13 though. And to that, a shell on his head and back. So an armadillo, a particularly fluffy one.
And it ignored the forest creature and the fox completely, approaching the laying winged man, it kneeled next to him and put its ear against his back.
"...He's breathing." And then it looked at his white hair, then winced slightly. "...And old."
And then it looked back at the faun and the fox, "I don't know if you people leave elders to die when they grow too old to do anything. Do you? 'Cause he's not dead yet."  Wwwwell then!

Sheltered underneath another one of the trees was a figure who looked on with worry, wondering when the rain would stop. His chocolate-covered eyes seemed to be filled with the same worry that someone might see when confronted by something. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, and his appearance consisted of a reddish-orange colored coating; there wasn't a horn on the middle on his head, so he was a scorpion, for sure. He knew that eventually he would have to go out there and examine the matter despite his dislike for rainy weather. With a sigh, he stood and began to walk towards the situation at hand.

He bypassed some tress and skeletons, which, to be honest, disturbed him a little. Who would do such a thing in order to achieve thorough peace? Once he reached his destination, he came across a winged creature, which surprisingly, was still breathing. His expression at the moment was concerned, since it momentarily drowned out his disgust for the rainy weather. Now he was beginning to wonder if something had gotten to him...

Racky never liked leaving after dark, but he regretted it even more when it began to storm. "Knew I shouldn't have trusted that old geiser, now I'm lost!" He yelled furiously. His blue hair with black tips dripping with water, his checkered shirt covered only body, yet holding on like a wet towel. His fingerless gloves were now soaked, and his blue headphones were completely beyond repair. He hated that his blue and white sneakers were just soaked with water; in the end, he was infuriated.

Going through the forest to the next side of town was his plan. He had only begun his journey;

Sadly, this was one he wished he had not been put upon.

As he stumbled, he came across four strangers. The raccoon looked upon the body that laid upon there. "...Did you guys just murder him?!" He asked fearfully.

It was funny that at least one was hiding from rain that wasn't even there. But regardless the skeleton thin person jerked up somewhat violently at the sudden amount of people surrounding them. "HEY" A cracking voice ran out after the fluffy child rested their ear on their back.

They rolled to the side sharply, as they forced themselves into a crouching position. At least now it was clear, this was a man. A man with sunken golden eyes set above dark circles. The scruff on his face clear though not of the white kind, it was a same golden as his eyes and some of those damaged feathers in his wings.

Their torso sporting a quite large deep wound that was held shut by surgical staples, a nice Y-shape covering that entire bone thing torso.

The man swallowed thickly as he looked at each of the five that seemed to have been attracted by the sounds he had made. A thick swallow before they spoke.

"What...What is the date of today and what city is the closest?" While the voice before had cracked, this time it didn't and the voice this man had was very smooth and pleasant to listen to even with the heavy breaths in between the words.

The faun like being squeaked loudly at the sudden appearance of so many people. Why oh why had the forest suddenly become such a popular place. This wasn't good, not at all. They take a small, skittish step back, glancing around at everyone with nervous, darting eyes.

'I, um... I-I don't know e-either of those.' they stammer weakly, glancing up at the sky. '...L-late Autumn, d-definetly, if not e-early winter... s-so late... um.. u-um.. N-november? I-I think that's what humans call it, e-eheh... A-as for a city... u-uh..'

They rub their hands nervously, a pale tounge flicking out to wet their dry lips. All they had wanted to do was hunker down and stay out of the wind, why oh why had so many people shown up at once. They didn't trust it. They didn't like it. But, the faun-like creature wasn't one to just... turn people away.

'...I k-know there are a f-few cities nearby, but I-I couldn't tell you wh-which one was closer.... S-sorry, heh..'

The fox looked around. Why were so many people here? Why is this kid here? And how was the kid not even scared the slightest way? Was the kid living in the forest? That wasn't the case right? He never saw the kid before. The fox decided to step up to the man. He thought that he would be one of the more suitable persons here to take care of the man.

Then the man turned around. Ah. He seems to have gathered his counciousness back. He slowly walked up to him and saw that he had a massive wound on his torso. But it seemed like he didn't need any of his bandages. these were already stapled, but it was still not really nice to look at. He kneeled down before the man. "Today is Friday, the 27th of november. It's very late. Probably already night time. We're quite far from any city, but I know the way to Station Square from here. Can I help you with something?" His voice sounded very calm.

The child shuffled back on his knees, giving the shouty man some space. And also the purple fox as he soon approached them. He listened in and tried to remember the date himself - he had no idea about time measuring. November? 27? O..kay then.
"..I know where Station Square is. I used to visit it." He stood up and despite his height compared to all these adult people, he held out his hands to the thin golden-furred guy, probably to help him get up or something. He glanced over his stomach, wincing slightly at the staples and at how thin the guy was. When was the last time he ATE anything?
The boy was going to ask, but soon got distracted as he noticed the raccoon. "..Well, he's not dead YET, s-"
And then another distraction in the form of the faun. Boy squinted his eyes, slightly confused. "...What's a HUMAN?"

(Sorry for short but I'm a bit sick and distracted today, whooops!)

It was distracting how they all mentioned three different places at once. The blue raccoon couldn't help but smile.  Although, the child and the mature strangers said 'Station Square', so that's good enough.

He clapped his hands together, hopefully to get their attention. "Why are we just standing here talking about it? C'mon! Let's go to Station Square!" He said proudly.

Honestly the golden eyes man was...overwhelmed. But not in a negative way at all. He was overwhelmed at the fact that these strangers were to willing to just give the information and seemed to even be concerned about him. A deep feeling in his gut, a meek smile before shaking his head.

A tad shaken did the man stand up, as he glanced over every single one. "How far is far though?" He asked calmly, trying to adjust his stance to be as firmly planted and balanced as possible, even if he looked thin enough to be blow over by the wind.

His focus first on the two tailed blue one to directly address him and his question. "If you wish to help with something, could you please guide me to the Station Square? At this point I don't feel save to trespass these woods along." Though a side ways glance to the racoon. "But it does seem like at the fact it wont be a trip alone. Thank you."

And with that he seemed to...wait till at least one would start moving, completely unsure what direction to take himself. At this point he was just happy that he was in a more save setting.

The faun-like being wrung his hands weakly, their eyes nervously flicking from person to person. Where had they all come from oh my god, and how did they all know the directions so well? The forest was a big place, and they were in pretty deep.. in fact, he suspected they were all a little way off some well trodden paths, so why they were all walking around here..

'U-um.. I-I w-would imagine station s-square is the closer of the t-three. O-on a good d-day? Y-you're probably looking at a d-day long walk from h-here.. l-less if you d-don't stop for a break... a-although yo-you're all pretty far from the p-path here.. i-if you give me a second, I c-can check just where e-exactly it is?'

He gives an awkward smile, revealing rows of blunt, dark brown teeth. 'I-it's always a little e-easier to spot f-from above...'

The child, keeping an eye on the white-haired man (because he really seemed like he was about to flop face first on the ground), still listened to the faun, his ear twitching lightly. Eventually he turned to him, narrowing his eyes slightly. "..What, can you fly? Or climb trees? 'Cause I can do that too! And I BET I can do it faster!" Pause. "...Also, a brown-furred guy from the city wanted me to tell you hello!" Thumbs up for the faun!
AND back to the white-hair man! "It's just as far as the mushroom person says. But!" He raised a finger for the emphasis, "We can pass by a brooklet. It's.. not too big, but, it's water! Water is good, right? And it might be bigger now that it's been raining so much." The child began to follow the raccoon slowly, though still keeping his sight on the winger stranger. A slight pause from him as the finger slowly lowered, to point at the man's neck. "..Is that.. city people's device?" His brow furrowed a bit, "Is it.. power inducing?" He was probably speaking of that, you know, metal collar of his. A bit of a glance over the raccoon and the faun. Maybe.. they knew what that was? Cause Alpha sure as hell did not.

The white haired man's gaze settled on the odd forest being. Hesitating a little before a small nod at them. "Please, if from above it is easier to spot then it is the best course of action in this case." The man said calmly as he absent minded plucked at the metal collar. Scratching his broken nails along the material.

His focus now to the fluffy teen. "Water is good I suppose...can break scent tracks if I recall...Or am I incorrect in remember that?" He asked with that pleasant voice as he huffed when the child pointed to that collar. "Not sure if they were city people, but they were complete a-." A small pause, cursing in front of a child might not be the best idea at all. "They were bad people. And it is blocking my powers yes. Can't seem to get it off myself though." He explained.

The faun-being blinked at the small child as they addressed them. They were a brave little thing, and based off their attitude it began to dawn on him he wasn't one of those from the cities. Not at the moment anyway. 'I-If you give me a moment, I-I c-can show you..' he blinks again, at the mention of a person saying hello to him. 'w-who...o-oh! P-professor A-Andile! I-I didn't think h-he'd remember..'

Upon hearing the mans request for him to check out the paths, the faun nodded ever so slightly. They bent their knee's slightly, before propelling themselves skyward. With apparent ease, they've launched themselves thrice the height of their own height. Their hand flicks out and catches ahold of a branch, and use their dwindling momentum to swing themselves. They land nimbly upon another branch, from where they launch themselves upwards once again. It takes less than a minute form them to reach the top of the tallest tree, and begin to scout out a path.

Water to break scent? Collar blocking his powers? Just what happened? He's obviously injured, yet he seems to be walking just fine.

Racky doesn't even remember if we asked his name. "Hey, uh..." He started with a crap sentence. "...just, what is your name? I don't remember introducing your name."

He gave a full turned to see the tall skinny man, a bright an innocent smile on his face. "Names 'Racky' the Raccoon! It's a strange name, but it's a fun word." He said.

He gave one more spin to face the trees before adding on his sentence. "And no, water doesn't cover scent; mud does. Water just makes you smell weird, but feel clean." He said.

Quietly the white haired man watched at the odd faun thing as it made it's way upwards more and more. What an odd creature and yet so nimble in this all. Ha go figure. A meek smile as his attention was pulled away from the forest creature to the racoon.

"I am Aceath Din." The man spoke calmly though his eyes darting to keep track of the entire environment. Just to be sure they weren't getting followed or such. "Ace is fine though. Sounds less formal and easier to say." Another scratch at the metal collar. "Thank you for helping and such Racky." He said with the smooth voice of his as he looked back towards the faun creature.

A minute passes. Then perhaps a second one follows it. Then, just as the third goes to tick over, the faun-like being smashes into the ground feet first, shattering dry branches and a few rocks beneath it's hooves. It sways for a moment as it attempts to catch it's balance, A nervous grinning spreading across it's face as it realises how overdramatic that was.

'T-there's, uh. t-theres a path just north of here, the comes c-close to a source of water. I-I imagine that's.. 'Brooklet'? I'm n-not sure, s-since I don't really name these things.. h-heh. A-anyway, we're looking at.. maybe a solid h-hours walk to the path, and then a g-good while longer to get to the, um... c-city. ' They rub their hands together, before stooping to pick up a tiny fragment of broken branch. 'L-like I said earlier, you c-could probably get there by sun-down, i-if you don't stop for a break.'

The child nodded, "Yeah, it does break sce-" aand he glanced at the raccoon as they interrupted them. Mud? ..Well, mud worked too. But water was much less.. dirty and sticking to your fur in awful clumps that you couldn't later get out because it dried up, you know.
"...Well. I suppose we can go by some swamps and uh. Mud up there. If you want." The child shrugged slightly. After all HE didn't need to cover his scent.
Now, as poor and miserable the scarred man looked like, the child still laughed as he admitted he could not take the collar off - "You people are funny, unable to do anything without powers. But we'll get it off. I'm sure other powered people will help you." A  glance over the raccoon and the forest creature. Maybe they could do something. ..Other than super jumps.
"So! Are we going or not? The forest is much colder at night, I don't think you wanna stay here much longer."

(sorry for not replying for so long and shorter reply, motivation was arlkjg ;-; )