Schokolade ist das Essen und wir sind die Jäger

Xenia Asgonne

Xenia studied the branch that the basket sat on. She stretched her arm up as high as she could, but there were still several inches between her hand and the basket. If she jumped, she could surely reach it, but the branch she was standing on was already a bit too thin for her liking and she wouldn't want to risk it. She was too far away to make out what they were saying, but it seemed like the other two members of the search party were too busy amongst themselves to notice her.

She sighed. If she wanted to become friends with those two, she'd have to prove herself. She gathered herself and was just about ready to jump for the basket when she heard the pale boy shout, "Here, I can help." She looked down from the tree and saw him send his vines up toward her, while the girl was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, she saw his black tendrils wind up the tree to where she was standing. She tried to convince herself she wasn't afraid of them this time, and watched them carefully.

They were almost at the basket when Xeina heard a shriek. She whipped her head around and looked into a nearby tree. There was the other girl! She had climbed up a tree after all, and it looked like she had lost her footing. She was falling! Xenia gasped. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the boy desperately trying to send his tendrils up to catch her, but she knew it'd be too late.

Without second guessing herself, she jumped down the tree, slamming her feet against the uneven bark as she began to accelerate to an insanely high speed. She ran straight down the side of the tree, and across the ground to the neighboring tree. She ran a few feet up the side of the tree, and caught the girl solidly with both her arms before she hit the ground. She then pushed off the tree and dropped safely the rest of the distance to the ground, still holding her. She set her back down on her own two feet.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Of all the strange powers, Félix was thankful Xenia's happened to be super speed. Félix did his best to throw tentacles Konishi's way, but he was much to slow in both his agility and in the speed of his manifestation. Xenia was a completely different case, the way she bolted down the tree and right to Konishi. The eggs tumbled out of Félix's grasp, again, and splattered on the ground. Félix tried to recover the ones that still looked half-way decent.

He hurried to Konishi once she and Xenia were safe on the ground. “Are you okay?” he asked, but after Konishi's comment he sighed. “I'm sorry I'm not, dear.” He smiled, but only to keep up appearances for their stranger.

His cheeks reddened with heat when she mentioned Félix calling her by name. Félix almost wanted to be indignant, but he didn't really know what for. “Is it? Well... I'm happy to say it more often, Konishi.”

Félix turned his attention back to Xenia, after Konishi more properly introduced them. “Thank you for saving Konishi. It was all my fault, I should have provided some safety,” he looked apologetic to Konishi. He half-suspected she planned to beat him up in private anyway.

Xenia Asgonne

Xenia smiled at the couple, taking mental count of their weird behaviour. Their talking seemed rushed and secretive, but it didn't matter much to her. She was more nervous that she revealed her power. It was definitely the right call, because Konishi definitely would have gotten hurt otherwise, but it somehow made Xenia feel really nervous. There was definitely something up between them.

"Oh, hello, Konishi, Felix." She addressed each one in turn. She noticed how they stood close to each other and whispered lowly. "I'm ah, Xenia. And don't worry, Felix, things happen. I'm sure you would have caught her if I hadn't gotten there first."

His tendrils probably wouldn't have made it there in time, but Xenia felt it more proper to say something polite. She turned and scanned the area for more eggs, using the motion to disguise her train of thought. She continued to watch hem out of the corner of her eye as she scanned. She'd figure it out eventually, she was just a bit slow on the uptake sometimes. They seemed to know each other. They stood close to each other. They whispered to each other. What else?

As she studied them more, she noticed now Konishi seemed to do most of the talking and Felix seemed to spend most of his time apologizing. Suddenly, it clicked for her. Seemingly the simplest thing had taken her ages to figure out. She was so proud of herself when the realization popped into the front of her mind that she immediately blurted it aloud without thinking.

"Ah, you two must be dating!"

Maybe if Konishi collided into a few branches on the way down, Félix might have caught her. He appreciated the encouragement anyway, but Félix was tough to encourage when his analytical mind had a strong sense of judgement... and he'd probably rather Konishi was not rescued quite in time.

Yes, quite concerned for her safety. Félix smiled weakly, still playing as much the air of a happy couple as he could, with the psychopath right next to him.

The moment she said 'hunting', Félix was more ready to turn green than a shade of pink. There was nothing more in the world he wanted to do than curl up in a hole and die. But she'd forbid it, just to prolong his torture.

“Anyway,” Félix finally broke his silence, “We could use your speed. There's still lots of eggs around, I'll bet.” Lots of trees, and lots of hiding places. If Xenia covered most of the ground below, Félix and Konishi could focus on the trees and other areas more suited for his tendrils or Konishi's lance-like nails.

Félix muxed to himself for a moment. Thinking about where these eggs could be was a more pleasant discussion in his mind than over how much he suffered at the hands of his girlfriend/slaver. “You don't think they might hide some in the forest or lake, maybe?”

That was pretty far about, but there were hundreds of students to run this show for. It'd make sense to spread everything out for everyone.