it's like looking in a mirror

"I think she went this way! Come on!" The voices were gaining on her but she had a plan. Disappear into the Fae Forest, where hardly any a soul would follow. The stories around this place were enough to keep even the wiliest of wolves out and young Nilu used that too her advantage.

She dove into the underbrush, slithering down against the ground and becoming one with the dark dirt underfoot. She pressed the carcass she'd stolen beneath her in hopes of them not smelling it and discovering her hiding place. "Fuck, where did she go... maybe she went in there... no, there's no way." The voices began to argue and eventually drift away. Nilu waited in brambles and dirt until they were gone then slipped out with a small smile on her face and the hare in hand. "Fffuck." she tested, having never heard the word before.

No wait... yes she had, her band had said that a lot.

She shrugged her petite shoulders and carried on, deeper into the forest. Her stomach rumbled as she walked with the hare in her mouth and she had to pause a moment. "Oh, hush." she said, as if her stomach had the ears to listen.

She'd soon be home and then she'd be able to eat the meal she'd stolen.

Art by Pixel

Colburn

The delicious scent of hare lured a twitching dark nose from its burrow, followed by a snout and two gleaming shadowy eyes. Colburn stretched lazily then scratched at an ear, wondering where his breakfast had disappeared to. It smelled close by, but the angry shouts announced that someone had already pilfered their prey. Well that sucked. He was hungry and even though he could hunt for himself, he never did because others would always provide what the fae child needed whether they wanted to or not. He decided to hunt down his fellow thief to take the hare for himself as was his right as its self proclaimed rightful owner.

Sticking to the shadows and foliage he tracked his wandering breakfast and the one who was borrowing it for a while before he finally saw her. The dark fur and ruby flecked abyssal eyes made him jolt in alarm. Another of his kind was right there. Thoughts of the hare were discarded and instead he approached slowly, dirty and covered in leaves, dark ears pricked for her pursuers. ”Come,” he urged her, lifting some ferns to reveal one of his bolt holes. ”They won't find ya in ‘ere,” he told her confidently, not thinking much about how uncharacteristically kind he was being. His longing to meet another changeling besides the grumpy little Nighteyes made him eager to befriend her.

code & art by claerie

Nilu was surprised to hear the voice of another as she walked through the Fae Forest. The boy who approached her was dirty and covered in debris and frankly...stank... but his expression seemed friendly and he was offering her help. The girl regarded him quietly before nodding and following after him into dark behind the ferns. She was quite the naïve creature to expect help from a stranger but something about him told her she could trust him, at least for now. Maybe it was the fact that he looked just like her or maybe it was something else.

She dropped her hare and turned to face him, her stubbed tail wagging behind her. "Thanks!" she said, her tone still hushed in case those guards were still nearby. She thought she'd put enough distance between her and them but one could never be too careful! A few beats pause, then she looked to the unknown boy and smiled. "You... you look just like me!" she chirped before tilting her head to the side one way then the other as she examined him. "Why... did you help?" she added, feeling a little confused. Then she perked up again and smiled wider. "Oh! I'm Nilu."

Art by Pixel