Born to Run - Mini Scene

"Ooooh, Bailee's got a crush!"

Bailee scrunched her face as her brothers and friends poked fun at her, a weight dropping in her chest like the fist at her thigh. Squeezing tighter until her knuckles went white as the foam of the sea.

"Shadd'ap! Oi do not." She retorted, irish accent gnarling through her small voice. If she must stand her ground, so be it.

Just because she spent some of her recent hours with this new girl, didn't mean it was anything special to mush about. And though lighthearted, generally, it embarrassed her that they saw things any other way. "Can't'cha quit bein' an arse?"

Bennett slid beside her, his hands firm on the shoulders she'd pulled herself close to, wishing she could sink away into the ground and avoid their mockery.

"Come onnn, you talk about her all the time! You have to admit it," he sneers, ruffling her curls so hard they bounce.

"Ehm," she smacks his arm, shifting away with a huff and fixing her bangs which coiled together in the mess. "So what? 'Course she's on my mind fu'q nuts, getting to know more about 'er is in my higher interest. But that ain't mean nothin' else! Swear!"

Her twin smirks and holds up an perfect 'L' to the side of his head, deserving of her following growl and leap for his arms. To his luck, he dodges with ease and she eats straight dirt, face ticked by the green blades of nature.

That's it. She's had enough. -- Bailee closes her eyes as she teleports to her place of comfort and tranquility, bottles of glass hit by a gorgeous sun being the first thing to reflect in her teary blue skies through a feather wall.

The thunder of emotions inside are like a time bomb, unsure if they will click and hurt something- someone, or defuse as she breathes hard. Her feet scuffing in the dirt until she can reach the stump of the tree, palm pressed against the strip of.. oddly textured bark.

Pulled away from her thoughts, she glances at it, wiping her face to see more clearly. The figure she had touched was a small carving. It's resonating features comparable to that of a wolf, and beside it, a corvid with it's wings spread for flight. Both items sat daintily on a 'shelf' in which a branch once had grown out, now the world's sweet display for the little family of wooden memories.

The hybrid finds herself grinning slightly, despite the pain within. She only knows of one special person with the skills to have made this fine craft.

"What do you think?"

Bailee jumped in her red converse, whipping to glance behind her.

Of course, the face matched the familiar, buttery voice. Atlas cocking his blonde head with a dopey smile. Whist spotting the tree, in his hand, he swats a sealed swiss army knife against the flat of his other palm. "I remember.. you were upset our bait didn't work to attract that bobcat yesterday, so I thought I'd bring in some safer animals to the sanctum zone instead."

She smiles wider, her fangs poking out her upper lip as she picks up the wolf in her fingertips, further admiring it's detail. "You mean your bait? I told 'ya we should'a gone for pa's bologna sandwich. If 'e can go feral after meat like that, as should a wilde cat."

Atlas laughs aloud, raising his brows. "Yeah? Your dad is the full course, that meat is only enough to weigh the average side dish. Bobcats are massive carnivores. Diet consisting of mostly mammals, from mice to small fawns or unlucky strays. I doubt that would be enough to last the hour." He adds, as he sits himself on the log seating below the canopy of leaves. It's not unusual for him to say random facts. Most don't listen.

Good thing she's not most creatures, then.

Bailee puts the item back and walks over to plop beside him, wrapping her arms around her legs and tucking them into her chest. "Hey AJ?"

"Yeah?" He blinks at her curiously, surrounded by light breezes and chattering birds.

She hesitates.

"I'm not.. a bad person, am I?"