Do Not Feed the Animals {OPEN}

The infamous forests of Foresta tended to be fairly quiet during the winter season, that being most creatures preferred to seek shelter from the cold instead of embracing it. The depth of the snow wasn’t too bad, it nearly rose to Lon’s knees but to most people above the height of five feet would have it up to their shins instead. Speaking of Lon, any stray passersby that would be wandering the woods in the middle of winter would probably find it strange to see a small boy with a large slab of raw meat bundled in his tiny arms on his own, especially if they knew who he was.

As the tiny boy approached the mouth of the cavern, his head fidgeted to turn back around more than a couple times. Finally as he reached the edge of where the snow ceased to cover the ground, he spun back around as an overwhelming amount of worry conquered his countenance. His head tilted upward to meet with the five other pairs of eyes similar to his own. Every other Lon had climbed their way up the many trees around the entrance to the unlit cave. They weren’t very hard to spot if anyone took their time to look up and given all their matching pairs of black coats and slush pants they weren’t well hidden in the leafless plants.

“You guys sure that another one of us shouldn’t do this?!” the Lon shouted to his cloned brethren. “You’re not the original Lon, right?” one of them echoed back. “No I’m over here!” a voice replied from another direction. “Yep, you’re good to go!” the other perched Lon shouted back. “But…” “Look, if one of us comes down and trades spots with you we’re going to be here all day!” another branch seated clone cut off the grounded one. “But what if it’s able to climb up trees?!” the meat wielding clone stressed. “Nah, the thing doesn’t even have eyes, we’ll be fine!”

The lone Lon slowly turned back around to the seemingly endless tunnel. He crept in a little bit closer into the cave murmuring to himself “alright then…” He lurked only a few more meters into the cavern and stopped once he found a good sized rock and tiptoed back gently placing the piece of meat near the mouth of the tunnel. He skipped his way through the snow only turning back around to hurl the rock back into the cave creating a series of echoes that bounced all around the deep tunnel. The lone Lon fled from the area and shimmied up the nearest tree frantically.

From the cavern, emerged a feral beast unique only to the island that hosted Foresta. Many called it by the name Spinebiter, how the creature got its name left a lot to the imagination. The body of the beast resembled that of a tan hairless bear, though its head was much larger. The face of the thing was the most intriguing part of it; it had no eyes, the nostrils were barely visible, but anyone that knows the beast knows that it uses its strong sense of smell. The mouth was its most defining feature, it had a circular mouth similar to that of a cookie cutter shark, though it had rows upon rows of teeth very visible in its wide mouth.

The beast paused once it was in front of the meat it had smelt and lowered its head to begin eating.

Iris had always been drawn to the forests, even back home and not being able to see their colors. On the rare occasion that she was permitted outside of the foster home, a tranquil stroll beneath the trees remained as an activity she thoroughly enjoyed carrying out. Even in Foresta, she yearned to continue the tradition, and thus found herself between enormous oaks and massive maples, her scarred fingers running along the varying textures of bark gently as she walked. The scent of fresh leaves and frigid ice entered and stung her nostrils, but the pain wasn't unbearable. Enduring it was even exhilarating and refreshing in a sense, however Iris had always been incredibly tolerant of any sort of discomfort.

Yet, she wasn't alone. The sounds of voices bubbling up from a nearby clearing hooked her attention, causing Iris to advance tentatively towards the origin of the boisterous activity. She wore simple, black leggings, her pale, green sweater and her brown combat boots, however her feet crunched against the layer of frost upon the earth with every deliberate step. The voices seemed to be occurring at various times, but collectively, they seemed to resemble the same person. How could this possibly be? Narrowing her eyes slightly in discomfiture, she crept onward, only to realize that her assumption had been correct. One boy, seemingly multiplied various times, had appeared, causing Iris to question the stability of her eyesight for a fleeting moment. No, she had to be right! The boys had scattered themselves amongst the foliage above her, however not all of them had taken to the trees. They spoke of some sort of creature approaching or something of the sort, and inferring off of their words, they were planning some sort of attack. The female bit her lip in tense apprehension for the upcoming events.

And, not to her surprise, one of the young clones had inched forward, winding back his arm and tossing a fair-sized stone into the cave. The clinking sound reverberated against the walls, causing Iris to flinch instinctively and release a muffled squeak out of habit. Her hand flew to her mouth then, both appalled and mortified that she'd uttered even the most minute sound. Energy glowed and illuminated itself at her fingertips as her anxiety levels elevated to an almost lethal level, her breathing beginning to quicken rapidly. Each of the clones about her glowed with a daring and reckless, neon, electric blue, for she hadn't been able to discern one from the other yet. Of course, against the dull monotone hues of the trees, she could spot the individual boys quite lucidly. She could only wonder what would occur next as she gazed upon the sightless beast, anxious about what was to come.

The lone Lon clone had some difficulties climbing the birch tree since his winter boots were so wet, but he eventually swung onto an overbearing branch that was much taller than the beast he summoned from the cave. He sat with his back to the tree and sighed in relief of his efforts. Hopefully everything went according to plan because this clone didn’t want to have to deal with the teeth on that thing.

Another Lon clone that was further up on a neighboring tree was quick to pull out a camera from his pocket to snap a picture of the feral monster, though after the click of his camera went off he heard an equally high pitched sound arise from the ground below. He watched as the beast finished off its meal and pointed its head in the direction of the sound. “Oh great, who squealed?!” the one clone asked loudly of his cloned companions. Every single one of them stared at each other and after each had concluded that their voices couldn’t crack like that they began to search high and low for the source. They easily spotted the older girl standing in the center of them. “Whoa! Whoa! What’s she doing down there! I thought you said nobody came around here!” one clone shouted to another. “Hey! I only know as much as you do! What are you blaming me for?!”

The beast’s pace was slow since it wasn’t accustomed to the amount of snow on the ground. Though the direction it chose was toward the squeak of the timid woman. The six Lons quickly panicked as they hadn’t expected someone to just waltz into the situation, which meant the unleashing of the Spinebiter on the unsuspecting girl was on their hands. “We have to stop that thing!” one of the Lons shouted. “We can’t get down there in time!” “Wait! Bats, bats they have poor eyesight, yeah?! They hate loud noises don’t they?!” They all went silent for a moment or two to contemplate and then they all screamed so loud that they could’ve sworn their vocal cords broke.

The sound reliant giant halted and began to shake its head uncomfortably. Ultimately, it ran back into its cave, hoping to escape before its ears began to bleed.

Of course, Iris had inevitably disturbed the beast with her muffled cry of surprise, and the other clones had noticed it as well. They all released exclamations of shock and anger towards one another, believing that one of them had emitted the disgraceful sound. But, it was soon apparent that none of them had done such a thing, and their eyes seemed to flicker towards the doe-like girl for a brief moment. At their remarks, she muttered, "I-I... I-I'm sorry.." Iris was usually to blame for such blatant mistakes, for she believed that nobody else could falter as terribly as she did.

In the chasms of her subconsciousness, Iris wondered if this forest really was close to deserted, with hardly anyone entering its depths. Why wouldn't you want to go and visit the woods? It provided a typically calm and peaceful atmosphere that was difficult to discover anywhere else on campus in the green-eyed girl's mind. But, she wouldn't dare protest against the clones, even if his age was lesser than hers. It wasn't until they all uttered a mortifying, ear-splitting scream that caused the sensitive female to crumple onto the ground, clutching her head as she trembled on the earth. Due to the fact that she often couldn't raise her voice to even the stereotypical volume it should be, she didn't encounter blaring noises that often, if ever. She'd lifted her gaze just enough to spot the great monster retreating back into the seclusion of its cave, wishing to avoid that hideous sound as she had. Nonetheless, she tucked her head inwards, her hands intertwined with her hair as Iris shivered on the ground and awaited the end to her suffering. If only one of them had shrieked, it would've been a different story, but alas, wishing was fruitless.

As each Lon noticed the heavy beast’s retreat, they clamped their mouths shut one by one. Their next involuntary action was to turn their heads toward one another and cheer “yeah, we did it!” in unison. That is until one of them laid their eyes upon the girl, whom of which was on the ground. “Wait, the Spinebiter didn’t touch the girl right?” “Uh, I didn’t see it get that close to her…” “Maybe she fainted?” All at once, the Lon brigade latched onto the main section of their respective trees and slid down with relative ease consider the materials on their snowsuits.

The first Lon to reach the ground was quick to stumble through the snow in order to meet up with the girl preforming the fetal position. The other Lon clones were further up their trees, so it would take some time before they met up with the other two, maybe a couple seconds. The Lon swung his head to the left and the right to see if there were any other creatures that the girl might’ve been hiding from, but that did not seem to be the case. “Hey, we saved you. The beast left” Lon spoke excitement flowing in both his face and his voice. It wasn’t every day that Lon was a hero, but the feeling couldn’t be matched by any other when he got the opportunity to be.

As the other Lon clones’ feet stamped into the thick snow, they too rushed over to their ‘brother’s’ position. “Is she alright?” two of them asked at once. “Uh, I don’t know yet she hasn’t responded.” “Give her more than two seconds, jeez” another remarked.

Once the ruckus had died down, Iris waited a few moments to control her involuntary shivering, clutching herself tightly. It was at this point that she was able to lift up her head, whispering, "Th-Thank you, I-I'm... I-I'm all right.." For some reason, she wasn't as intimidated by the boys, since they had been younger than her. They resembled the children back at the foster home, and she'd grown so accustomed to their childish taunts that they didn't sting nearly as horribly as they used to. It was kind of the boys to be concerned, even if it was just morally correct to defend any human being who was in a lethal situation.

Regaining her composure, the shivering female rose to her unsteady feet, offering the boys a brief and weak smile to try and reassure them. She didn't want them to argue due to her.. It was simply unfair. Examining the boys curiously, Iris almost mustered up enough courage to ask them what their names where, however, she hadn't grown that bold yet, even though it'd appear fairly simple in a typical person's eyes. Besides, she didn't have the right to ask for such information after they'd saved her life, potentially.

As the weak woman rose to her feet, two of the Lon clones high-fived each other chanting “Yeah, the Red Crusaders save the day again!” Another Lon shook his head in response and muttered “such a stupid name…” While the other three Lons were more so concerned with the girl they had both put in danger and in turn rescued. One of them decided to circle around the girl and put himself into the best position he could to catch the girl if she fell once again and given her weak posture it was bound to happen.

The first boy to have rushed to her aid still stood in his same position and despite what the girl had said he had his doubts. “Are you sure? You don’t look so good” the dark skinned boy questioned with concern. One of the Lon from the back of the group stepped in as soon as the other Lon finished. His countenance displayed much less concern from the other three. “Ah, she’s fine. Not a scratch on her, she’s probably just cold from lying in the snow for too long” he continued to approach the girl as he spoke. He tapped her on her shoulder and pointed back in the direction she came. “Come on, we’ll escort you back.” He then turned to the rest of his companions. “Let me introduce you to your saviours, I’m Lon, he’s Lon, that guy in the back he’s also Lon, him too he’s Lon, we’re all Lon, together we are the Red Crusaders.”

“I told you we aren’t going by that.”

“Stop being a grump, we won the vote fair and square.”

As the young woman stumbled backwards a bit, she found herself aided and supported by the few boys behind her, releasing a grateful sigh and muttering, "Th-Thank y-you, again.. M-My apologies f-for my... C-Clumsiness.." Iris truly was a disoriented girl at heart, especially after going through something as mortifying and shocking as that. As she nodded at their offer to escort her, she released a nearly inaudible chuckle at their arguments. It seemed bizarre that they were all one person on the inside, just different manifestations of himself. Nonetheless, she enjoyed their company more than the other students she'd encountered so far due to their shocking resemblance to the children at the foster home. It's not as if she'd like them, but she was familiar with them, and that was the deciding factor that permitted her to tolerate their company.

"L-Lon.. N-Nice to m-meet you, R-Red C-Crusaders" she answered politely, feeling that Iris wouldn't introduce herself yet unless they requested her to. And, although she wasn't certain if they enjoyed being called by that name, it seemed as though the majority of them preferred it.. However, she found it intriguing that although they were all the same Lon, they couldn't all agree and think alike. It wasn't her place to ask such personal questions, so for now, Iris simply focused on keeping her feet steady as she crunched her boots against the thin layer of frost coating the earth.

The Lon that was interacting the most with the girl smiled at her continuation of apologies. “Ah, don’t mention it. Just spread the word, we’re the new heroes around this school” he spoke with blaring confidence. The other Lon grunted at the mention of their ‘team’ name again and slowly paced over to the back of the group. The Lon clone turned back to the damsel “don’t mind him, he got the part of the brain that woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“So, how do we find our way back?” the Lon that held the frail girl up questioned. “Simple, we follow our tracks back, the snow’s still fresh” another answered. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll lead the way in case anything else is wandering the woods, grump over there can watch our backside” the Lon next to Iris command before he wandered ahead of the rest of the group. The other Lon clones nodded in agreement as they got into their assigned formations, three of them staying in close proximity of Iris, while another went to catch up with the leader of the pack.

“Wait, we didn’t get your name yet did we?” one of the remaining Lon clones asked. “Yeah, usually people give out their names after someone else introduced themselves.” “Maybe she’s from a different country?” “Might explain why she’s having a hard time speaking English.” “Shh, some people are sensitive about that, sorry some of us have a habit of thinking out loud.”

Iris nodded with an amused expression, wondering if the little ones would grow into powerful warriors one day. They were incredibly sociable and brave for such an age, yet perhaps she shouldn't be comparing them to herself. It was a bit queer that one side of him could be so ornery while the rest of him remained jubilant. In some ways, it displayed how diverse one person could be, and how varied everyone truly was on the inside. If Iris were a different person, she would've delved deeper into the subject of the brain in correlation to the different Lon's, but her tongue was quieted.

It was nice to feel so ensured of protection from the boys, but at the same time, Iris couldn't help but experience a slight infliction of guilt. Still, she didn't want to hurt their pride or anything by requesting not to have a barrier of them around her, so she chose not to speak, only listening to them almost "bicker" amongst themselves. She managed another short-lived, small grin at their words, "N-No, I-I... I-I'm just s-shy I g-guess.. I-I'm I-Iris F-Frost.. I-It's okay, s-sorry.. F-For the t-trouble." It had taken her a while to spit it all out, but at least she'd spoken more than a few words. This was a drastic improvement from when she'd first met someone, so she'd take anything at this point.

The pair of Lons that were scouting ahead paused for a moment when they heard the sound of boots meshing with the snow up ahead. The sound seemed to be echoing from the other side of a tall bush a tad bit far from where they were standing. Whatever it was, they couldn’t tell until it passed by the greenery. The two signaled for the group behind them to halt until they could assess the situation.

The three Lon’s followed in suit of their commands and quietly signalled Iris to stop and keep silent. Given the way she had been acting already they expected this command to be a simple one for her to follow. “I think they heard something, you should probably wait here until we know what it is” one of the clones whispered to Iris, though with their drastic height difference it might’ve sounded a bit clunky. The three boys kept their eyes peeled, but mostly monitored the movements of their scouting party to ensure that they were fine.

The two that were ahead of the group tiptoed their way closer to the set of shrubs, though minded their distance since whatever was skulking about the bush was still up in the air. The two hid behind a tree for the time being, so they had the element of surprise on their side.

From the edge of the greenery, a shimmering piece of steel was the first to emerge followed quickly by the towering, black-eyed man known as Miller. It was a rarity to see Miller in the daylight due to his eyes sensitivity, but the trees of the forest made a decent enough ceiling for him to pass through without much strain. His bulbous eyes scanned the area around not noticing much, but he continued his stroll regardless, his path seeming to be in the opposite direction of the academy.

“Oh, it’s just monster guy. False alarm!” he shouted the second sentence behind him. “That guy still gives me the creeps” the other commented. Miller’s head spun around after hearing the boy’s shout, his jaw clanked momentarily until he spotted the set of boys he recognised all too well. “The demon child, not again” he whispered to himself with the memory of how they attacked him still fresh in his memory. “They’re not catching me off guard this time” he continued under his breath as he ran off, though only to pause once he nearly collided with a second group of them surrounding a woman this time.

“Whoa, whoa, back up blade guy” one of the Lon clones commanded. With a slightly confused look on his face he did as he was told. The deep black eyes of the man studied the amount of Lons lingering in the area unsure as to why there was so many. There were only three when he last saw them now they seemed to have doubled.

For a moment, Iris considered protesting their wishes, for it didn't seem right for them to risk their safety so that she could remain behind. However, three other boys had kept their formation around her, and thus she had no choice but to obey. It wasn't until another man almost smashed into their little group that Iris revealed her social anxiety once again. Interacting with those above the adolescent ages of the Lon's was going to be difficult... She instinctively took a step away from the boy once he arrived, and he did the same as the young boy instructed him to.

She watched him curiously, recalling the Lon's referring to him as 'monster guy'. What in the world was that supposed to mean? As trepidation expanded within her stomach, she nodded to this stranger, trying not to shiver too violently with his presence. Appearing to almost fold inward, she pressed her legs together and brought her arms in and down, intertwining her fingers anxiously. Iris didn't reach for her necklace this time in fear of complete rejection and becoming alienated for self-harming actions by the others. Besides, she was just starting to border on tolerating and enjoying the clones' company, especially with their varying personalities.. But, of course, she had to remain wary of the boy, and the fact that he was armed was all the more reason to remain cautious. Her livid, green eyes often flickered to the metallic sword, before fixating themselves upon the earth.

Miller was precise with his movements and definitely minded the other two Lon copies not too far behind him. Given how unpredictable these opponents were provided by their age and how easy it was to provoke them, he wasn’t too comfortable being around them. The third party, however, might be able to tame them just like their last confrontation, but that was yet to be seen. He didn’t like his odds, especially since he was restricted from using his blade given that it would most likely kill one of the children regardless of where he swung. “I see that you’re not above kidnapping either, I suppose that makes sense” the naturally blade equipped man hissed.

Each Lon that was involved in the conversation shot a nasty glare back at the seemingly pupil-less creature. Each of them, regardless of their viewpoints of the day weren’t very fond of the bladed man, in fact it seemed to be a unanimous feeling among all of them. Regardless of who started their original feud, his reaction toward them after the fact never truly boded well with them, he seemed highly untrustworthy. “We just saved her from a monster that lives in that cave back there, we’re just bringing her back to school safely” one of them replied with a tangy flare.

“I’m sure that creature might’ve been completely innocent, you just like to play hero and try to save people who’re not in danger at all” he retorted, highlighting how their previous fight had been enacted. “I have other things to attend to, get out while you still can” he directed to the female in question before he walked off, continuing on his previous trail.

Discomfort entered Iris' countenance as she witnessed the bickering between the two, wondering just what the older boy had against the nice boys. Or at least, they'd seemed friendly enough to her. It was incredibly tense now, the atmosphere taut enough almost to break. She was about to defend the Lons with their actions, the stranger instructed her to leave them before stalking off, not giving her an opportunity to speak. Her head tilted to the side ever so slightly, her hair rippling with the sudden movement. "I-I... I-I'm sorry i-if I-I caused th-that," she apologized, unsure exactly of what had just transpired between them. Perhaps the older boy presumed that they were fooling around and trying to take her away or something of the sort and only wanted to offer his help.. But then again, Iris couldn't bring herself to trust him and believe that he'd had such good intentions.

She glanced at the Lons that had encircled her with curiosity, still wondering why they chose to be so close to her. Wasn't she a stranger, even if she was a student? It was incredible how some could be so kind-hearted and selfless without a moment of doubt.. Or, it was the fact that he had confidence that he was able to overpower her. She wouldn't be surprised if they could, for her faith in her own abilities was wavering already.

The forest seemed that much quieter after the blade wielding boy left. The echoes of the gargantuan student’s feet plowing through the snow carried on for quite a while before it was muffled. Miller didn’t feel any sort of remorse for what he said, they were the kind of people he thought gave the gifted a bad reputation and felt he told them exactly what they needed to be told. They were still young, so he could still try to make some kind of impression on them even if they hated him for it.

The two scouting Lons abandoned their positions to return to their fellow clones. They shot a glare in the direction Miller had left. The two didn’t really listen to the conversation that happened between them, but they had a feeling he had nothing pleasant to say. As for the other three, they knew the blade guy was more so insinuating how they had attacked him a long time ago in the village mistaking him for a monster of some kind that dwelled in the forest. Believing that he was actually talking about the creature they found earlier wouldn’t make sense since he had no reference for it and thus couldn’t make such an assumption.

They still felt bad about what had happened on that day, the reason they were sent to the school to begin with was because they often made such assumptions based on outer appearance than any real facts. Lon hated to be reminded of it, no matter which rendition it was.

The scouting Lons were more attentive to the girl, while the other three sort of fell silent with a look of contemplation across their faces. “Nah, that guy’s just a jerk. He’s just upset because we kicked his butt” one of the Lons spoke with a tint of pride in his voice. “Uh, you guys can scout ahead, we’ll stay with stay with Iris for now” he continued as he pointed to his old position. The three Lon clones nodded and scurried ahead while the two Lons took their old positions. One of them pulled out a camera and began to play with the display until he found what he was looking for. He placed the device in front of the shy girl which was showing the picture he took of the spinebiter earlier. “We’re going to show the teachers this to prove that they existed and were a threat to school safety, we had no idea you’d be around or anybody for that matter” he spoke as though he was trying to justify themselves.