Ugh… I'm out of food again… Lin looked down at himself thoughtfully, running one thumb over his ribs. How long has it been since I've eaten? Hunting for my own food is more difficult than I thought… His stomach growled loudly and he winced, glancing around. I'll have to go and buy something from the city… surely they've got some cheap food I can afford with the money I brought from home. He carefully climbed down from the tree shelter he'd been living in and pulled on his shirt, sticking his hands in his pockets as he walked towards the city.
He had barely made it within the city walls when a boy about half a foot taller than himself barreled into him, knocking him backwards. "Nngh… what the hell…?" He groaned and rubbed his temple a bit. He looked up at the boy who had run into him, trying to figure out what all the rush and carelessness was for.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Adders said, reaching to help the smaller boy to his feet. He grabbed his bag off the ground where it had fallen and swung it over his shoulder. "I should probably watch forwards as well as backwards, huh?" He checked quickly behind him, he had a bit of time.
(sorry that was delayed, I had to do some things for my dad)
"Uh… yeah…" Lin replied, obviously still a bit dazed from getting knocked over. "What are you running from in such a hurry, hmm?" Must be pretty important for him to be careless enough to knock me over… He stood on his toes to look over Adders' shoulder, hoping to see whatever it was he had been running from.
"Uhh…" Adders grimaced. He didn't want to admit to the kid he just met that he was running from the police. That would probably not be a good first impression. "Can I trust you?" He asked, glancing behind him again.
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Lin put his hands in his pockets and shrugged a bit. "I'm just some kid who lives in the woods. Who am I gonna tell? Assuming you're about to tell me about something illegal, that is." He stood flat on his feet again and turned his gaze to Adders' face.
"Well, maybe." Adders confirmed. "I stole food and I got caught and the police are chasing me. Again." He was a little confused about why he was trusting this kid so much. It was comforting though, he hadn't just talked to anyone in months.
"Huh." Lin heard the police shouting and grabbed Adders' wrist, starting to pull him along. "C'mon. We can hide out in my tree fort. The thing's surrounded in traps, and I doubt the police will follow us in there anyway over a bit of stolen food."
"Oh! Thanks." Adders managed as he was pulled along. He continued glancing over his shoulder and listening out for shouts and sirens as Lin lead him out of the city. Why am I so trusting? I just met this kid.
Lin started running soon after he was out of the city walls, and he was pretty fast despite the malnourishment. "C'mon, it's not much further!" He kept pulling Adders along, helping him to dodge all the traps he'd set and then leading him over to the tree fort he'd built. "We should be safe here."
"You did all this yourself?" Adders asked, running a little faster so he was next to Lin. "Wow." He avoided another trap Lin pointed out and stared at it, trying to figure it out.
"Mhmm! It's not much, but it's better than nothing." Lin shrugged and led Adders up the ladder of the tree fort. "I didn't want anybody to follow me here, so that's why I set a bunch of traps. I know where all of them are though, so I don't get caught in them myself."
"This is more than I've had in-" Adders did a mental tally of the days, "6 months!" He put his hand on the forts wall and looked around. The last time he remembered being in a building when he wasn't stealing stuff was when he went to that homeless shelter a couple of weeks before so he could relax for a day.
"Well, I'm glad you like it. It took me a while to get out built, but I think it turned out alright." Lin hummed softly to himself as he glanced around the fort. "So, who are you anyway?" He asked curiously. "We don't exactly know each other."
Adders turned to face the smaller boy, "Oh yeah. I'm Adders, and I was reported officially missing and dead on the same day six months ago." He let his bag slip off his shoulder onto the floor and sat down next to it with his back to the wall. "Why are you out on your own?"
"I'm Lin, and I'm here because I ran away from home. I'm from England, if you can't tell from the accent." Lin laughed softly and coughed a bit. "I stole enough money from my parents to purchase a plane ticket here, and then I built this tree fort to live in."
"Your family must be pretty rich huh?" He looked over at Lin, we wished he'd ran away at Lin's age and not waited more time for it to get better. "I ran away from home too. It was a disaster. You seem a lot more organised than me."
"Eh, I guess so… I never really thought about it." Lin shrugged a bit. "I was taught a lot of… survival skills, so I figured I'd do okay anyway. How old are you?" He asked curiously. "I'm 13. I just ran away a couple months ago…"
"I wasn't really taught anything useful by my dad." Adders said, rubbing his wrist where he'd bruised it earlier. "I'm 15, I ran away 6 months ago."
Lin nodded and toyed with his sleeves. "Well, it wasn't exactly a fun process to learn those survival skills. More of a forced thing…" He sighed softly, looking away. "What did you run away for?" He asked.
"Oh. I see." Adders shuffled awkwardly and looked away. "My father was not the nicest man. We didn't get along, he wanted me to be something I wasn't. In the end I just couldn't take it anymore." He turned back and stared Lin in the eyes, "Why were your parents forcing you to learn that stuff? They didn't come looking for you either?"
"Kinda similar to you, I guess." Lin laughed weakly. "Except my parents were kinda trying to raise an army of their own children. We went through intense physical training so that we would become stronger. I pretended I didn't have any powers because I hoped that I wouldn't have to go through all that, but I was wrong… and I was kinda shunned by my parents for it. I doubt they miss me."
"Pretended to not have powers? Does that mean you do have powers?" Adders said, leaning towards Lin.
"Uh… yeah…" Lin looked away sheepishly. "A whole hell of a lot more than my family thinks, that's for sure. My family specializes in fire and electricity in particular. Each of us only does one or the other… except for me." He laughed weakly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "I use both. I'm a little bit more proficient with electricity, but both are almost equal in power."
