A Snowed-In Cave

Jullien

My eyes widened as I listened to her speak.

"Another world," I repeated slowly, trying to wrap my mind around that one idea. It was far harder to grasp than the idea of her being chased by enemies or being able to control things like rocks but still being human. "That's..."

I trailed off, not wanting to say crazy. I mean, I guess being a were-lion was a bit crazy in its own.

But... another world?

"That's kinda... hard to take in," I settled on finally. "There are other worlds? What's the one you're from like?"

Nike

"It's kind of..." I started, then thought for a moment. "It's full of aliens, and everyone has powers. But other than that, it shouldn't be too much different from your world... You have a New York City, right?"

Jullien

I nodded with a grin.

"Sure do, I've been there once with the music department in my school. It was pretty awesome."

After I spoke, I took in what she said, allowing the words to sink in.

"That's gotta be cool, I mean, the everyone having powers part."

Nike

I gave a small smile. "Yeah, it's pretty great. You see people flying to get places all the time. I can't fly, but my friends can. You do that through wind control." I didn't feel like mentioning that I actually really didn't enjoy flying at all. Heights freaked me out...

Jullien

At the idea of flying, I felt myself grin even more than I had been doing. I had a few friends who were birds at one point, they told me the feeling of flying was like nothing else. I'd been pretty envious of them at the time.

"That sounds amazing," I told her, picturing it in my head. Normal people being able to fly. "It really does."

Nike

"It is," I said with a smile. "So what about you? What else does your world have besides weres?"

Jullien

I thought the question over, my grin turning into a wry smile.

"Well, if I went on about everything it could take a long time. It's more of a case of, you heard of it we have it. Witches, their familiars, vampires, demons, people who are part one of those, part another, or even part human. Those who hunt the non-humans, although they tend to focus on the witches, all sorts of things."

Nike

"Wow, that's incredible." Then I frowned. "Why do people hunt nonhumans?"

Jullien

I thought about my answer for a moment before giving it. It was a pretty hard topic, that actually tended to get heated rather quickly whenever brought up. Most people had different views on it.

"Well, from what I understand, it started around the time when people started to become aware of the non-humans and tempers on both sides were getting pretty bad, cause a lot of the non-humans has similar views to what a lot of the humans had. That the other side wasn't worth as much as they were, and a lot of fighting and such happened. The hunters were basically the side that 'protected' the humans from the non-humans. The reason they focused on witches is because while the witches allied themselves with the vampires pretty often, they were easier to take care of than the vampires, who are basically out of a human's league without some sort of help from non-humans."

I hesitated, pausing for a moment.

"That's if I'm right about all this. I'm not too well versed on the subject. They tend to leave us almost human creatures alone."

Nike

"That sounds awful, though... The closest thing we have to that is discrimination against different aliens and part-aliens, but most people aren't like that. There are only certain sections of the world where it's like that now."

Jullien

"Here, it's a bit different. Most of us, to be honest, tend to keep it to ourselves what we are, be it human or not. You never really know what kind of person you're gonna come across. Like, I met a person once and the hat I used to cover my ears fell off and the person just outright screamed," I paused, remembering the scene in my mind. "But I met another person not too long after who wanted to pet my ears."

Nike

I giggled a little. "They are pretty cute, if you don't mind my saying so."

Jullien

I could feel my face turn red as my ears laid down against the top of my head.

"I... um... I... uh... um... thanks," I managed to get out, turning my face towards the fire in hopes that I wouldn't get found out.

I mean, it was bad enough that I couldn't put together an actual sentence, let alone the fact that I had to be bright red at that moment.

Nike

"Ah, uh, I won't say it again if it embarrasses you... Sorry."

Jullien

I turned even more red, but gave a small shake of my head.

"You... you're fine," I managed to get out. "I ... just... yeah."

Dammit, I was making things awkward.

"You're cute, too."

SHIT WRONG THING.

"I... I mean... not weird... um... yeah."

Nike

My eyes widened a little and I felt heat rise to my cheeks.

"Uh, I, um, you, uh, think so...?"

Jullien

Wait not wrong thing?

Okay.

Okay.

I can do English.

"I... yeah... um... yeah."

Wait, was that even a response? Shit.

"Uh... yeah. I do."

There!

Nike

"I, uh, um, thanks..." I gave a small smile, my face still red.

Jullien

I studied the fire, knowing that my face had to still be as bright a shade of red as when I first blushed.

"You... You're welcome," I managed, offering the fire a smile in place of her. I had a bad feeling if I looked at her I'd find myself unable to speak normal sentences.

After a moment, however, I stood and turned my attention to the entrance of the cave.

"It looks like it's falling pretty hard out there," I mused. "How long do you think we'll be stuck in here?"

Nike

"No idea," I answered. "I'm just here until I can get some energy back, but that may be a few hours. I need to have a good amount of life energy to seriously use my abilities."

Jullien

I considered what she said before turning my attention away from the snow and back to her.

"What exactly happened to make you end up in such a bad state?" I asked, then paused. "If you don't mind me asking."

Nike

"Well...my team was forced to engage the enemy, but there were too many of them, so we scattered and each jumped to different universes. Between the energy used to fight and then to travel across worlds, I'm beat."

I wondered how they were doing right now... I hoped they were alright.

Jullien

I opened my mouth to ask her about the enemy she was mentioning, when I spotted something that made me double-take. My eyes were stuck on what I had first taken as a strange light a little distance into the back of the cave. It had only taken me a moment to realize, however, that it wasn't a light, but a small, glowing person.

"Nike..." I began, staring at the small girl. "That... um... look."

I poked at the creature, who took a few steps back as she realized she'd been spotted. Her yellow eyes, however, seemed to be darting between the fire and the two of us. The girl herself had bright red hair that fell all the way to her hips and was wearing a bright yellow sundress.

Nike

I looked over and blinked in surprise. Well...I'd sure seen a lot of odd sights today. Suddenly, I felt worried that I'd actually been dreaming this whole time.

"Um...hello?" I asked the tiny girl.

Jullien

The little glowing girl stepped forward, giving us each hesitant glances once again before lifting up a hand in greeting.

"He-" she began, cutting off and clearing her throat as it cracked. "Hello."

"... hi."

It was around this time that I realized what I was looking at. A fire elemental... why was I meeting a fire elemental in the middle of a snowstorm?

"I...I... I felt your fire," the little girl said, drawing even closer, her eyes focusing on the flames once again.