Once Upon A Time... discussion

((hehe))

The forest, a rarely explored place, contained many secrets. Emily never had any desire to explore it until today...
As she sat upon a rock near the waters edge, thinking about her under water kingdom, she spotted someone peculiar from behind a tree. She noticed this person staring at her.

Ali didn't know what to think of the mysterious girl. She had been watching her sitting by the water, her eyes traveling over it's glassy surface with a thoughtful look on her face. Then the girl looked up, and Ali ran back to the safety of the trees.

Evan walked through the forest, he looked around curiously.

Emily saw the girl quickly disappear.
She got up and went into the forest searching for the girl.
Instead Emily clumsily runs into Evan, and falls down.

Ali hears someone yell in surprise, then a dim thud of someone hitting the ground. Normally Ali would keep running until she knew she was so far into the woods no one would find her. But there was someone thing about the girl, curiosity won over rationality and she started racing back the way she had came.

As Emily lay there, she puts her hand over her head to feel the overwhelming throbbing pain. She wishes she couldv'e watched where she was going, but instead she was too worried about losing the mysterious girl in the maze of tree's. She looks around and see's the man passed out in front of her, and the girl comes running through the tree's, her face a worried expression.

When Ali finally comes out of the Tree's into the clearing. She's shocked at what she see's, the girl that was sitting by the river was now lying on the ground with another unfamiliar boy unconscious by her feet.
Ali quickly regretted coming back, the girl was now looking at her in recognition. She had noticed Ali watching her by the water. She was worried about the girl, no matter who she was it was obvious she was in pain.
Ali Tentatively walked forward so she was in better view and spoke to the strange girl "are you hurt?"

Emily opens her eyes to see the girl had come back.
She answers, "yes, I have an awful throbbing pain in my head." She looks up and the trees around her are spinning. She quickly puts her head back down. The dizzy feeling still there.

Ali examines the girl with her eyes. Her blonde hair now soiled with dirt and leaves. Her shining eyes squinting in pain. This didn't seem like the same girl from the water, she had completely transformed into something graceful to something clumsy in a matter of seconds. Ali wonders why that is but doesn't ask.

Instead surprising herself she says
"well. Maybe I can help, what's your name?" and steps forward again, now only arms length away from the girl. Giving her the chance to come to Ali so not to make her uncomfortable if she doesn't want Ali to touch her.

Emily squints, the light shining directly in her face. She turns her head towards the girl and says, "My name is Emily. I am princess of the mer-people." Then she starts to giggle realizing how ridiculous that sounds coming from a girl who is covered in leaves and dirt.
"I may not look very royal right now though..." Her voice trailing off.

Ali almost laughs with Emily, but then realized exactly what she said and decides Emily's hysterical.
"I can try to heal you if you'll let me" says Ali, unsure if Emily will accept her help.

Emily says, "I'll let you heal me on one condition, you tell me your name and why you were staring at me."
Her eyes fixed upon her, waiting for an answer.

Ali's only half surprised by her answer. She seems like the kind of girl who has her demands followed. For a second Ali entertains the idea that Emily really might be a princess of mer-people. But then banishes it, Emily has feet, not scales.
Ali purses her lips debating what to tell Emily. "My name is Alice. Ali for short." she sighs in exasperation as she finishes her sentence, " and I don't owe you an explanation. I'm not the one with blood running down my head. I don't need to heal you, I was offering."

Ali leaned against the nearest tree, excited to hear Emily's response since she so rarely talks to any strangers.

"I know what your thinking, I am in fact a mermaid," explains Emily. "I have the power to shapeshift from mermaid to human as I wish. My powers are unique cause it runs through our royal blood. I can show you if you can help me." She stares at her, noticing her angry expression. "I'm sorry if I angered you." Emily pauses and meets her gaze. "Ali, please?"

When Emily's bright blue eyes met Ali's, Ali knew she wasn't lying. Ali knelt down to Emily, her hands stretching out automatically.
Ali took one of Emily's hands in both of hers and felt Emily flinch back, Ali knew why. Her hands were much colder when she was healing. She could feel the coldness leaving her fingertips and flooding into Emily's. Ali knew that this must be extremely uncomfortable for Emily, but appreciated that she seemed determined to hide it.
The blood that was seeping down Emily's head starting trailing back into her. It was a sight to see if you weren't used to it. When Ali's hands felt warm again she stepped away from Emily, she slowly backed up into the tree she was leaning on before, and waited. Watching Emily to see how she would exactly show Ali what she claimed to be.

Once Ali's hands touched hers, a cold chill rushed up and down her body. The sensation was nothing she has ever felt before. Startled, she flinched a little in pain. A minute passed, and she slowly backed away. Emily felt her head, and the cut was gone. The pain she had once felt disappeared as if by magic. She sat up and looked over in Ali's direction. Emily got to her feet and said "Thank you Ali, without your help I would be stuck in this awful forest for who knows how long." Emily beckoned Ali to come closer, and she led her out of the forest's entrance and to the waters edge.

Ali nodded at Emily's thank you. She was to preoccupied watching Emily as she stood up, and held up her hand in motion for Ali to follow her and started walking back to the water. Ali hesitated when there were no more tree's for cover and glanced longingly back to the forest. She was momentarily surprised at the sight of the boy still laying on the ground unconscious.
"Wait Emily. The Boy. Do you know him? Are we just going to leave him there? What if he gets bitten by a pixie or killed by a monster?" Said Ali, wanting a distraction before completely leaving the safety of the trees to the open water.

Emily realized she had forgotten about the boy, and walked back over to where Ali was standing. "I don't know this man, or where he lives, but I wouldn't want him to be harmed. Do you think you can heal him too?" Emily looked at him, then at Ali.

Ali didn't like the Idea of being so close to him when he didn't ask her too. But she did anyway. Stepping around the trees and kneeling next to him like she did for Emily taking one of his hands in hers.
She felt the Coldness in her hands once again, and let it flood into the boys. The second her hands started to heat up she ran back to where Emily had stood, and watched the boy as he opened his Eyes and sat up.

Emily didn't know what to expect. She didn't know whether to avoid him or help him. She was tempted to leave the forest and go back to the safety of the water.
Before the boy gained enough conciousness, Emily hurriedly took Ali's hand and brought her back to the water.

Ali was shocked when Emily took her hand and started dragging her back towards the water. She looked at Emily's face and didn't resist, Emily's blue eyes were darker. She looked scared.
Ali knew she didn't feel safe by the water, but right now she didn't feel any safer going to the woods towards the now awake stranger.

Emily noticed Ali's shocked expression and knew she must have seen the fear in her eyes. Emily knew the water was her home, it was a place where she was always safe, and she knew she didn't want to risk being in a forest with a complete stranger. So once thy both reached the waters edge Emily let go of Ali's hand and walked down the shore full of pebbles and sand. She stood there her head facing up towards the sky, her arms out. A gust of wind came, and swirled around Emily. Her legs transformed into a silvery tail with glistening scales. It shimmered in the light and matched her light blonde hair. She dove in the water and came back up to the surface. Ali looked scared, but Emily wanted to help her.

If Ali was afraid when she was with Emily, she was terrified when Emily let go of her hand and started backing away.
Ali wanted to scream for her to come back but there was no air in her lungs. Then Emily transformed. It seemed ironic now that Ali had doubted Emily was a princess when the signs were so obvious.
Emily had dropped into the water now that she wasn't able to walk. Ali could tell she wanted her to come into the water with her. Ali only hesitated a second before transforming her legs into a makeshift tale like Emily's.
Ali was lucky to be a shape-shifter, it's one of the only things she wouldn't change about her life.
Ali didn't want to look at Emily, afraid that she would be scared of Ali now that Emily knew what she could do.
So instead she looked down at her lower body, for the first time noticing exactly how beautiful the fin was. A silver blue, just like the sword she had foolishly left behind in her home tree. Ali then looked over at Emily's fin, still to scared to see her face. Through the water she could tell how beautiful the fin was. All the Scales in perfect alignment and ever changing swirl of colors.

Emily saw Ali transform into a mermaid. she was a shapeshifter too! Amazed, she looked at her silvery blue tail. Emily almost forgot about the stranger and for a second only thought of Ali's amazing powers. Then once Ali met her gaze, she quickly remembered the stranger, and said, "Ali let's go, we aren't safe here. If we swim to my kingdom, he won't ever find us." Both frightened, they dove deep down into the watery depths and made their way toward Emily's kingdom.

Ali was relieved when Emily spoke. Realizing she wasn't scared. Ali didn't have time to respond because a second later they were both underwater swimming faster then Ali thought was possible.
Ali didn't want to go to the kindom right away though. So she stopped following Emily and waited for Emily to turn around. When Emily did turn, Ali pointed up towards the top of the water, a question. Waiting for Emily to respond.

Once Ali stopped, Emily turned around and asked her, "where are you going?" Unaware mer-people had the ability to talk underwater, Ali hesitantly opened her mouth to speak. But instead she pointed to the surface so Emily took that as a sign to follow.

Ali and Emily broke the surface. Ali immediately looked around for the boy they had ran away from. He was no where in sight. Ali was sort of disappointed but also flushed with relief.
Then Ali Glanced back at Emily, curiosity stamped clearly on her face. So Ali spoke up "I'm not sure where your taking me. And I don't know if I want to go. I barely know anything about you, so maybe we should go another time when we trust each other fully"

Ali wanted to trust Emily, and part of her already knew she did trust her. But that didn't stop Ali from worrying about the unknown water.

***************************************************

Ali and Landon continued walking through the forest...

Landon yawned, it had been a long day. "How much further is it?" he asked.

Ali smirked "only a little bit farther". She moved her hair to cover her smile, not wanting him to notice.

((brb gotta go eat dinner))

((ok))

Landon noticed her moving her hair, but didn't think anything of it. He continued walking, anticipating what would happen when he got to her house.

"It's right around the corner" just after she said this, her home came into view. She tried to imagine what it would look like to Landon, seeing it for the first time. It almost looked like a cabin, but much bigger. Plus it had the extension that had been made for Tyler. She never noticed before but the house was kind of charming.
Well she looked over at him "Well...Um. This is it"

Landon smiled. "Its really nice. It looks, I don't know, homely."

"Homely?" Ali couldn't help but laugh at his word usage. She noticed something different about the house though...None of the lights were on. She opened the door curiously. Hm, she thought to herself, no one was home.

Landon followed her. "Is something wrong?" he asked, frowning.

"No..Well. Um, mayb-" her voice trailed off. Ali looked around, trying to remember if Megan and Tyler had ever been late. "No. Nothing, it's just I expected Tyler and Megan to be here...But their not. But i'm sure their fine." her voice was unsure.

Landon could tell she was worried. He listened carefully, but there were no sounds coming from the house. It was empty. He turned to her, "There's definitely nobody here. I can help you look for them, if you want."

Ali smiled at his offer, but shook her head. "They'll come back eventually, they always do. They probably went to the garden or something.." She accepted this answer herself. They had been later then this some days. So there was no reason for her to be worried.
She looked back at Landon her eyes widening "oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! You must be so tired". Landon looked like he could sleep standing up. She tried not to smile, her lips twitching.

Landon smiled at Ali's expression. "Yeah, a little," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. He was actually exhausted, but didn't want Ali to worry too much. He stifled a yawn.

She thought for a second then smiled. "You can sleep in my room, I'll sleep in Megan's." She pointed through the hallway. "My rooms the one on the end that says Alice."

"Thanks," said Landon. He walked down the hall and into Ali's room. It was a medium sized room and was neat and clean. He laid down on the bed on top of the blankets and stared up at the ceiling. It had been a while since he had stayed in someone's house. He closed his eyes and fell asleep within seconds.

Ali didn't know what to do. She was more anxious then she had let on when Landon was in the room. She didn't know why, but she just had the feeling that there was something wrong. She sat down on Megan's bed, smoothing down the comforter. Eventually she laid down, closing her eyes. Not long after she laid down did she realize sleep wouldn't come. Ali got up tentatively, making sure not to make noise in case Landon was already sleeping.
She walked down the hallway, to the last door with Alice carved into the wood. She turned the knob as quietly she could manage and stuck her head in. She grinned at the sight of Landon. Still with his shoes on, sprawled over the top of the bed. She stepped out and left the door cracked open.
She tip-toed into the living room, sitting down on the ugly patterned couch. In the back of her mind she was nervous about Landon being in her room. She wasn't sure why she cared about his opinion, but she still did.
Ali ended up falling asleep right there on the couch...

It seemed like she had just fallen asleep when light flooded into the room, hurting her eyes. She got up anxiously walking into Megan's room. Ali tried not to cry. They still weren't back.

((Kay))

Landon woke up, rolled over and stretched. He got up and walked down the hall. Ali was standing in front of Megan's room. He walked over to her and realized something was wrong. Landon looked at Ali and saw the tears in her eyes. "I'm sure they'll be back soon," he said, reassuringly.

*********************
Tyler was so tired from carrying Megan, he didn't think he could handle it anymore. His knees buckled and he dropped. Adira catching Megan as he hit the ground. He nodded thanks, "I don't think I can go any farther tonight."

Megan heard noises around her, but still was unwilling to wake up. Nightmares were haunting her visions around every corner of her mind, she was scared, and there was nothing she could do about it...

((Landon and Ali should find them, when Xandy is back on))

((ok, wanna call it quits for tonight? Cause, i got to go))

((Kay, g'night))