ExplodingTargets

I am an official NaNo winner... my first time ever and very proud of myself for getting it done XD  even if i did write over 30,000 of the words in the last week with motivation that appeared from nowhere lol
but i did it!!!  and certainly couldnt have done it without deviantart in the end because the artists here gave me inspirations for my characters and plot!! woo!!

pieces...

When Fred started to fall, Kali was ready.  She'd been watching him closely, not only, as he had thought, to decide if it was worth helping him, but also because she could tell something was wrong.  She had watched him at first only to determine the worth of keeping him alive, and after Kit had pleaded his case, helping him to the fork where they're travels would split.  But as they rode, she had noticed that he was losing some of his control, he concentrated more and more on simple tasks and had started to slip in his saddle a couple of times.

Now, when he did fall, she was off her horse and next to his in a moment, just in time to take the brunt of his weight before his head cracked into the ground.  What she wasn't ready for was the weight, he was built a bit more solidly than she had realized and when she caught him, she went down hard, on her knees, letting out a grunt of pain as she barely managed to keep his head from crashing into the packed earth beside her.  Kit watched the whole scene, from Fred's faint, to Kali's leap, and to their joint fall, in a mix of shock and horror.  He winced as he heard Kali and quickly stopped his mount, hopped off and grabbing the other two horses quickly, before they could wander off.  Looking around, he spotted a lone tree not too far off the path and led the horses there, tying their reins so they could nibble at the stubbles of grass around them and taking a few packs of supplies off his, before going back to Kali and Fred.

When he got back, he found Fred laid out on the path, Kali had sacrificed her cloak to put under his head, and was now pacing back and forth a few feet from him, mumbling to herself.  Kit paused next to Fred, looking back and forth from the unconscious traveler he didn't know and his friend who, despite her trying to hide it, was limping slightly as she paced and wincing when she stepped with her right foot.  He hesitated just long enough for Kali to spot him debating and bark the order to "attend him," insisting she was fine.  He sighed and nodded, setting his packs down and kneeling next to Fred.



"The wound?" she questioned.  Kit shot her a scathing look before answering.

"I used a clean blade, and patched it up long before anything dangerous could have gotten in."  He shook his head.  "No.  He had this fever before we met him.  He was already sick, whether he knew it or not."  He looked up at Kali, a determined glint in his eyes.

"No." she responded, turning away from Kit.  "No way.  You know Roscoe's [feelings/opinions] on bringing back strangers."  She looked back at Kit and swore yet again.

"How do we get him back?" Kit asked, knowing he'd won.  Kali could see there was no way around it, either they took him back with them or left him for the werewolves to find.  Even if Fred were her worst enemy, she wouldn't leave him.

-Not only were werewolves vicious and willing to draw out the death of their prey, there wasn't anything Kali hated more than giving the werewolves another meal.

-No matter how tough she acted, she would never leave someone to the werewolves like that.



[Feelings/opinions] – different word?



Fred groaned and rolled over onto his side.

"Roscoe!" a female voice called.  It was familiar, but not very.  He cracked an eye just as heavy footsteps reached the door.  When he turned to face the door, he was not prepared for what he saw.  In fact, he was so unprepared he immediately tried to scramble away backwards and reach for the sword that was no longer attached to his hip at the same time.  The end results weren't pretty.  They ended up with him half off the bed he'd been it, his head and shoulders on the floor, while his legs were deeply tangled in the bedding of the bed, and Kali in the opposite corner laughing so hard she had tears coming out of the corners of her eyes.  Grumbling, he struggled to untangle himself and ended up completely on the floor on the opposite side of the bed as "Roscoe".  Who, it seemed, was a bear.  Kali finally got a hold of herself and stood up shaking her head.  Moving around the table she'd been at, Kali headed for the door, patting Roscoe's shoulder as he looked at her disapprovingly and not even attempting to be quiet as she said, "Totally worth it," and walked out of the room.

"Kali…" Kit admonished as he scampered into the room, skirting Roscoe and circling the bed to help untangle Fred from his bed sheets, his wagging tail giving away his amusement.  Once he was free, Fred stood, dusting himself off to realize he was only wearing his [boxers].  He flushed a bit, realizing Kali had been in the room and wondering if she had known, then shook his head quickly, it didn't matter and there was this… bear to deal with.

"W-what…" he started, then stopped to cough, his voice was gravelly and his throat bone-dry, what had happened?  Before he had a chance to look around for something to drink, Kit was there, holding out a cup to him, his tail wagging just a bit, his ears perked as if waiting to see how he would react.  He reached out and took the glass, downing it in one go before nodding his thanks.  Kit's tail sped up just a bit as he refilled the cup.

"You were very sick.  Not too long before we got to the fork, you passed out and fell off your horse." Kit handed the cup back, looking concerned and peering this way and that at Fred as if to make sure he was okay.  A note of pride in his voice, Kit added, "Kali caught you.  Otherwise you'd have cracked your skull rather hard.  [It's been three days since then]."  Fred grunted in assertion that he understood, feeling a twinge of embarrassment at having needed the were-cat's help, she was already too cocky for his liking.

"Kit."  A low, rumbling voice interrupted Fred's thoughts and he looked up to see the bear had fit its hulking body into the room, throwing most of it into shadow as its body blocked the lamp's light which was near the door on the table at which Kali had been sitting.  Fred immediately reached for his non-existent sword once more and moved into a defensive stance, attempting to shield Kit without his noticing.  Kit flinched slightly, surprised, as if he'd forgotten there was a massive bear nearby, then made a face at Fred's rather lame attempts to 'protect' him and walked over to the bear, much to Fred's dismay.

"Sorry Roscoe," Kit sounded a bit sheepish as he looked back at Fred, his tail twitching in amusement.  "I forget my manners sometimes.  Fred, this is my foster father, Roscoe.  Roscoe, this is Fred."

"It's nice to meet you, Fred."  The low voice was sincere, and yet, Fred was perplexed.

"Y-you're a bear…" he stated, a snort from Kit making him scowl slightly but he continued to search Roscoe's face.  "But you talk.  How is that?"

"Easy.  I'm a were-bear." Roscoe responded [smoothly].  When Fred continued to look utterly confused, Roscoe continued, a bit perplexed himself, "I thought Kali and Kit explained it all to you… the four weres? The ways of our world?"

"We didn't get to were-bears," Kit piped up, "Fred passed out before we did.  We got through the other three though… well, most of the other three.  I don't think we finished with the were-wolves…" Kit trailed off, screwing up his face slightly as he tried to remember.  Fred nodded, remembering vaguely the discussion they had had over the weres and that they, in fact, hadn't gotten to the fourth one before his memories cut out.  He was about to look for some clothes, when he got a sudden wave of dizziness and sat hard on the bed before he fell.  His sudden movement woke Kit from his reverie, who quickly went to get him a bowl of stew from a tray that had been set on the table next to the lamp.  After shifting himself so he was all the way in the bed, Fred ate as much as he could before he fell asleep, Kit retrieving the bowl just in time to keep it from spilling as Fred passed out once more.

Again, not complete by any means, very rough (aka haven't bothered to edit anything)

"Before we go our separate ways," Kali started, ignoring the pointed looks she was receiving from Kit, "you need to know the four weres."

"The four wheres?" He questioned, seeing Kit next to him nodding enthusiastically and sitting up a bit straighter.   Kit looked over his shoulder at Kali with a look of expectation, and just a bit of pleading.  She nodded, a tiny smile playing on her lips, in response, and Kit grinned, nearly bouncing out of his saddle with excitement.  He turned back to *Fred as Kali spoke again.

"We'll start with were-foxes," and realization dawned on Fred as he saw his mistake.  

"Were-foxes?" he called out over his shoulder as he turned to focus on steering his horse over a rocky section of the path.  When he looked back at the other two, there was a gleam of interest and knowing in his eyes as he focused his gaze on the fox-like creature riding next to him.  When Kit looked back up from having also focusing on his horse, he saw the looked and grinned at Fred, his ears twitching lightly.

"Exactly," said Kali, seeing the exchange.  "Kit is a were-fox.  The only one that we know of in existence."  

Fred looked surprised, "the only one?  but what about..." he started, looking at Kali over his shoulder, but she was already shaking her head.

"No one we know or have met have ever heard of a were-fox before seeing Kit.  Presumably, there are others, otherwise Kit shouldn't rightly exist, but no one knows of them or where they might be found."  [She was looking at Kit, who had turned back forward when his horse stumbled but was obviously still listening if his silence and tensed shoulders were anything to go by, with a look of knowing sadness.]  Fred looked at Kit too, considering.  Kit was so young still, sixteen according to them, though he looked more like twelve.  How must it feel to be the only one of your kind in existence?  To not have grown up knowing your parents, being raised by.... he stopped.

"Then who raised him, you, Kit?" he changed the focus of his question back to Kit, feeling that Kit would rather be the one talked to rather than talked around.  Kit flashed him a small smile for his efforts, then looked back at Kali, as if asking permission to speak.  She had a small look of disapproval on her face as Kit questioned with his eyes, but Fred couldn't read any more into it.  She was good at hiding her thoughts.  Kit sighed before turning back to Fred, and answered in a way that made Fred grind his teeth a bit in frustration.

"Roscoe did." Kit's eyes lit up talking about the ever-mysterious Roscoe, why couldn't they tell him any more about this "Roscoe" creature? "He raised me, with his wife.  They were the ones who found me, in a little basket, mewing more than crying like a normal baby."  Kit paused, considering, "at least that's what they tell me I did," then gave a small shrug and grinned at Fred, "they're good parents, I never needed my real ones, nor wanted them."  Fred found himself falling into that age-old habit of nodding to inform people you understood and were content with their answer, even when you never really were.  Looking over his shoulder, he saw Kali watching him closely, studying him, and when she noticed him looking she gave him a quick look that said not to ask any further before smoothing all the emotion off her face again.  Remembering her, and Kit's ability to keep him in his place, he swallowed and decided to move the conversation forward and off the topic before Kali decided helping him out was too much effort to her.

"You said there were four weres.  Kit is the first, as a were-fox.  And I assume you're the second, Kali?" He looked back at her for confirmation, and she nodded, looking a tiny bit more relaxed than a few moments before.

"A were-cat." She stated.  "There are others, obviously, but we don't often get along and tend to travel our separate ways.  Cats, as you should know, are rather solitary creatures."  Fred nodded.  "We go and do as we please.  Don't disturb us in our activities and we will likely act as if you are not there and let you go on your way.  If you bother us," she gave him a warning look, "we will take it upon ourselves to teach you a ... painful lesson."  She paused before 'painful' to emphasize what would happen.  He swallowed again, harder this time, and nodded once more.  He looked to see what Kit thought of this, and found him rolling his eyes at her words, his ears twitching playfully.  

"She says that because she doesn't like to be bothered," Kit said, a teasing lilt in his voice.



*I have yet to name this character

[She~sadness.] this seems like a bit too long of an inter-section in the sentence for the two parts on the ends to connect...

~~~~ Part of same chapter, but I havent taken the time to connect the parts~~~~

"Third," Kali brought them back to the topic at hand, her voice hard, as she struggled to maintain her composure, "Are the were-wolves.  They are the most vicious, the most dangerous, and the most [common] of the were-creatures.  They travel in packs, and spend almost all of their time in wolf form, leaving them with little to no human sense."  She looked at Fred, to make sure he was paying attention and understanding.  She didn't want to be putting so much effort in educating him on this stuff if he was just going to be a fool and waste it by being eaten.  But Fred was nodding, looking serious as he took in her information.

"They eat humans," Kit added, his nose wrinkled in disgust.  "They see humans as prey every bit as much as they see a rabbit or a deer.  That's what she means by no human sense left."  Kit was nodding as he saw the shocked look on Fred's face.

"They eat their own kind?" he queried, looking rather queasy, which made Kali stifle a snort.  He needed to see that the world was like this, and if this little lecture was how he did, so much the better.

"They don't see humans as 'their own kind'.  Not anymore." Kali shrugged.  "There may be a few around still that have more sense than those that travel in packs, but you aren't likely to see them."

"Climb trees!" Kit interrupted.  "That's how you escape.  They can't climb trees in wolf form and either refuse to change into humans, or don't even remember they can.  [They stay in wolf form cause they see humans as inferior, weaker and slower and less capable of survival.]"

"What happens when they don't leave the tree?" Fred looked reasonably concerned thinking about these creatures chasing him.

"That's when you hope something else wanders by that attracts your attention," Kali responded somberly, making Fred look at her to verify she was serious and then remember that joking didn't seem to be part of her personality.  He shook his head and without warning, his eyes rolled up and he started to slide off his horse.



[common] not the word I'm looking for

[They ~ survival] change placement to somewhere else?

So, I have a new story... very rough in the works and very very not done but ^.^

Part of chapter 1: (and I do mean only a small, very small, part that does not start at the very beginning >.>)

"I wouldn't suggest messing with Kit, he's small, but he's very swift." The female warned, as Fred swung his gaze back at the small boy.  His eyes widened as he saw a small red fox darting at him, the sun glinting off something silver and bright in his hand.  But before Fred was able to register the blade, he felt a searing pain in his right calf and he fell to his knee with a grunt.  Looking down, he saw a deep slice in his calf, the blood already pooling in the wound and oozing down his leg.  When he looked up, the fox was sitting on the pile of cloth that was his clothing, the bloody knife set to the side on a separate piece of cloth and calming licking the sprayed blood off his paw.

"I did warn you." The female voice said, sounding not in the least perturbed by the events.  He turned to look at her and shocked by what he saw.  Where the young, lithe woman had stood was now a medium-sized black cat sitting on a pile of cloth, with the woman's cloak spread out behind it.  If not for the bright golden eyes staring at him from the small black face, he would have insisted that the woman was hiding somewhere nearby, even though there was nowhere to hide in this desolate landscape; but no, those were the eyes he had seen under that dark hood, staring at him from the shadows.

"You-you're…" he started as he struggled to stand, and winced hard as his knee gave out once more, his calf throbbing painfully.

"Don't stand!" The boy, fox, he wasn't sure what to call it, called out.  "I didn't hit anything vital, but the cut is deep."  The boy, for that was what he was once again as Fred looked back to him, looked rather sheepish as he continued.  "I wanted to make sure you went down…"

so, I found this freaking awesome journal skin and was excited to use it, only to have it tell me it was only available for premium members   
as I examined further, I figured out that that's the situation for all journal skins... this is so sad