Private Finished Lost and Loaded

"It's a little more complicated than that," Ven said. His voice came across a little shorter than it usually would, something like irritation starting to creep into it.

Normally, Ven was like the wolf that lurked beneath his skin: happy go lucky, in love with the sights and sounds of the forest, pleased by the simplest of things like attention.

But Ven was cold and wet from lying in the snow. His jaw hurt and Ven had noticed the smarting of a bruise across his face before he'd slipped his soul back into his body. He must have smacked his face hard against the ground.

"Woah--" Ven started when the woman tried to lift him up and then fall backwards into the snow himself.

"Are you okay?" Ven asked, wondering now if his potential rescuer might be in need of some rescuing himself. Ven picked himself up and cradled his injured wrist against his chest. His movements were slow and uncomfortable and wracked by shivers.

He held his good hand down to her and said, "Here. Let me help you up. I uh. I need someone to help me make sure I get back without the wolf coming back out of me. Could you help me? And maybe I can help you in some way?"

There was something about this woman that did remind Ven of his grandmother the longer they spent time together.

Although, in his entire seventeen years, Ven could not get his grandmother to hi-five him, so she already had something on his Babushka. She was alright, he realized after a moment, when she mentioned the snow being soft. She got herself up to her feet and Ven stood shivering.

'Oh, sorry," he said. He shook his head as if it would clear some of the fog that was tangled up in his brain, but he was cold, he was tired, and he felt dangerously near the edge of having an episode again.

"my name is Thievenne, or Ven, but my friends call my Moon Moon," he said, giving her a pick of what she wanted to call him. "What are you called?"

As for not falling through the earth..."I guess I just got lucky."

He wondered if that was a serious probability.

Ven shook his head.

"The school is this way," he said, pointing towards the opposite direction. "I just...I need someone to make sure I don't stay outside in the cold. I'm...uh..more human than most people o the island."

and he was freezing.

Ugh.

This lady was definitely his grandmother. Was she....was she calling him fat? In much the same way that his grandmother would...never outright saying it, but muttering things like 'malen'kiy volk you'll break the chair if you sit on here!'

He was going to correct her on his name, thought it was a bad idea...and then went with it anyway.

"No, Thievenne is like a French version of Steven," he explained. "It's a common name for human males on some countries. I'm not a thief at all, thank you."

A Vox Somni. Ven had no idea what that was. He wasn't really well-versed on his magic creatures. Maybe he should get on that.

"What's a...a vox somni?" he asked, and then, after a moment, he asked, "And do you have a nick-name? Or a shorter name people call you?"

He could probably pronounce Aimouryllice a'Phoche correctly if she said it multiple times in a row, but somehow, he figured that would give her the opportunity to have more verbal ammo against him.

Heavy! Bah!

At least she agreed to help him. Ven took a few frozen steps forward, his movements slow and painful. His feet were killing him. He bunched his jacket even tighter around him.

"So you're not cold then?" he asked.

"Oh, gosh, no! Not French fries! Please dont' eat me!" Ven's voice rose through the cool winter air and into the trees above, but no birds flew out. If Ven had been in a better mood he might have found it funny.

Ven wished he had some paper to see the drawings she could produce. They sounded beautiful, these vox somni, but Ven thought they would sound much more beautiful inside. Out of the cold. With four blankets and a cup of coffee.

Ven stumbled a little bit and when he turned around, his eyes widened because she was, "OH! No! Please, uh, don't worry about it, please keep them on."

He trusted her that she wasn't cold--he was absolutely freezing--but having her walk him back naked would have been something that Ven would never be able to live down. He didn't even know if her anatomy was the same, but Ven's face flushed scarlet, especially because he was thinking about it.

"Did you come from the lake?" he asked, stumbling again. he put his hand up that he needed to stop for a breather for a minute. It was so cold.

Okay, phew, Aimouryllice was not going to be naked in the snow. That solved one problem that Ven did not anticipate on having, but the other one was that he was absolutely freezing.

Okay, the being cold wasn't really the big problem. Ven was starting to feel drowsy and Ven did not trust that. Though Aimouryllice might be pleased if Ven's wolf shape came back, but he wouldn't be. She was urging him forward and he was grumpy because he wanted to listen, but he was so cold, and so tired, and if he could just rest....

Ugh.

"I'm not dumb I'm tired," Ven said, his voice coming out something between a snap and a whine. "It's cold and I'm lost and you came from the ocean but you're in the middle of the woods. What are you doing out here anyway?"