W.i.p

A storm was stirring in the mountains. It was a subtle build up of wind, carrying the leaves from their rest; it was the kind of storm that was quiet, anonomous, and then before one had time to fortify themselves, it would hit. It would come like an avalanche, roaring down the precipice, reaping its destruction, and then it would disperse just as quickly. And for now, the bustling city sitting nestled within the valley was blissfully unaware of it.

Roping it's way around the mountainside was a train, an old one- one with coal driving it- chugging it's way in and out of the peaks. It had carts almost too many too pull, so it was slow, and it was lurching. But it wasn't an unrythmic sort of pull. It was something one could get used to, and something the inhabitants of the train were used to. To them, it was unnoticed, or when they did focus on it, it was a comfort. It was something that stayed as it was regardless of how far they were from home- not that any of them really had a home, that is.

It was in the confines of a central cart that the inhabitants sat, shrouded in shadow. A total of 6 people sat in paralleled groups along the ribbed walls of metal, comfortable in their silence. A few of them were sleeping, their heads lulled forward and their chins to their collars. The others were awake in the darkness, busying themselves with small tasks or simply fiddling their hands to pass the time.

It was a woman who spoke first, her soft voice breaking the hold of the white noise shrouding the train. "Do you suppose it's begun yet? Sunset was two hours ago."

"No... Not yet," came a gruff voice, "but soon. We should wake the twins."

A moment passed and in the darkness, the woman stood. Any normal person wouldn't have known she'd moved, but these people weren't normal. They could tell even with her soundless motions that she had crossed the cart.

She dropped to her knee in front of two others and shook them gently. "It's almost time. Wake up. You need to have your wits about."

The twins, who one would imagine to be two, were really, well, one. By means of people, there were two, and by means of heads there certainly were, but somewhere around the shoulders is where two stopped being two and became just one.

Four eyes blinked open and adjusted, and the whine of another women broke the white noise now. It was different from the first, though. Her voice was soothing, like a gentle flute played in C sharp, where as the twin's voice was clawing, like a gnarled iron hook. Perhaps it was because she shared the same vocal cords as her brother that she didn't sound female, but she didn't exactly sound human, either.

"Get off of us. You ain't got to jerk us around every damn time," she rebuffed.

"You say that, but ya shut your ears off when ya sleep," came another voice, like the female twin's but deeper.

Abruptly, a flash of light sparked in the corner and went out just as fast.

"Shut up, you clowns. Your ears really must be off if you can't hear that!" This voice came from the direction of the brief light. It was a young voice, like a teen in the midst of puberty, but it wasn't altogether hard to listen to.

"Why you- yer one ta talk about clowns, aren'tcha?"

It was clear these two didn't like each other.

"Would you prefer freak?" Asked the kid in the corner.

Again, the conversation was cut off, this time by the first woman with the musical voice, who in the flash of light could be seen back in her original place against the wall, only now standing.

"Alov, Belchor, cut it out. This isn't the time. Alov is right. The wind has picked up, now. It won't be long."