"Ah, sorry…" Flick slowed their pace so that Bea could keep up easier. He looked over at Bea's comment and tilted his head from side to side a bit. "Well, I dunno… I was looking for community first and foremost. I'm not against crime, I'm just… ah… a bit more selective on the category, and theft is one I generally avoid." They laughed nervously, still a bit flushed. "I… um… really don't like the government. That's more my area."
"Well, theft's our favorite, hehe. My favorite too. What about stealing from the government? Ever done that?" Bea chuckles, bringing their hand up to their mouth when they do so. "And the community's…it's hostile. I've actually been looking to get outa there." They continue through the forest with Flick, still taken aback by the scenery and such.
"Stealing from the government? Mm, I've never tried that, but I guess I wouldn't be opposed to it." Flick shrugged, focusing on the dull thud of his hooves on the soil. They looked up again at Bea's comments, looking confused. "Hm? Hostile how? Why do you want to leave?" He asked.
Bea points to a large, semi-fresh scar on their neck. "This is why. It's feral in there, I swear. This was an electric shock from Scruffy." Bea sighed. The shack was pretty similar to the government. If they didn't like you, you were "out" as they called it; but it meant more of a threat. Once Scruffy got involved, you were screwed.
"Scruffy doesn't seem very nice…" Flick mumbled, scratching behind his ears a bit. "He's the one that gave me the bad drink, right? Why is he allowed to stay if he's hurting people?" They asked. "Aren't we supposed to stick together? We've got enough to deal with without being attacked or poisoned by fellow magic people."
Bea darted their eyes back away from Flick. "Well, he kinda owns the shack…besides, the place can't run without him. His anonymous supporters pay for everythin'. I think that they run the place more than he does, between you n' me." They chuckle nervously. "Sometimes, a masked bunch comes into the shack and has 'private meetings" with him"
Flick sighed softly and ran his fingers through his hair. "That doesn't sound very good… you'd think he still wouldn't want to be hurting people regardless of his rank within the shack." They kept talking, looking around as they did so. "I don't think private meetings are usually very good, but I'm not familiar with that sort of thing."
"And that's why I'm leaving! The private meetings have been picking up, Scruffy's started hurtin' people, and the magic is getting stronger as we speak. I don't know what's goin' on, but I ain't gonna be a part of it." Bea continues, going deeper into the forest. "I kinda wish I could just start my own version of the shack, without all this shit."
"Well… why can't you?" Flick asked, shrugging a bit. "I mean, you can probably find some sort of abandoned building, or build something here in the forest. There might be some abandoned buildings in the forest, actually." He looked around as though expecting to see a building nearby.
Bea stutters. "I doubt there's anythin' around here, I mean, come on…" Almost in response, Bea steps on a plank of wood. They stare at it for a moment, a fizzle of both excitement and dread filling them. They look up at Flick. "If I did open up somethin' like this, would you help me?"
"I've seen abandoned barns around here before. Overgrown type stuff." Flick watched Bea curiously and started at the request. "Ah? Um… yeah, sure. I could help. We'd have to clean up the building and stuff. I'm not sure about the legality of it all but magic is illegal anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter."
"Do you know of any abandoned buildings nearby? I doubt there's any this deep in the woods." Bea looked up at the forest. The greenery was so thick that you could hardly see the sun through the canopy at this point. "I didn't even know the woods was this big."
"Nearby? Mm… I think there's one that's not super far. Maybe a mile." Flick hummed thoughtfully and looked around to get a sense of where exactly he was in the forest. "Should be… that way." They pointed to their right and then started to lead the way.
Bea follows behind Flick, nervously darting their eyes back as if someone were following them. "I hope the people in the shack don't come after us, y'know? They don't like when people leave." A few flash memories popped into Bea's head, but they quickly redirected their mind to the surrounding nature. "Sorry if I was a bit of a bitch earlier, by the way."
"Yeah, that makes sense…" Flick sighed softly. "They probably wouldn't do much to me since I never really joined, so…" He kept walking, stepping over holes and roots so they wouldn't trip. They looked over when Bea spoke again. "Ah? Oh, don't worry about it! It's fine. I probably deserved it."
"Or maybe they'd do more to you…" Bea did in fact trip over one of the roots, but caught themselves before falling. "You didn't deserve that. Actually, I've only known you for a few hours, but you seem like a best friend, sorta." At this point, the sky wasn't even visible, so Bea couldn't tell if it was day or night. They guessed it had to be close to sunset. "Damn, it's dark."
"A best friend?" Flick repeated, flushing lightly. "I've never had a best friend before." He smiled brightly and picked up the pace a little, their hooves thudding on the ground. "We should be almost to the building. And if we get enough people to come, we can protect ourselves, right?"
Bea smiled, nervously chuckling a bit. "Yup, uh, me neither." When Flick picks up pace, Bea does also, not exactly looking where they're going. "Hopefully we're not gonna need to. With how secluded this place is, I doubt even Scruffy could find us…"
"Yeah, hopefully you're right. He doesn't seem like he likes going out into the forest very much anyway." Flick looked around, paused for a moment, and then continued on in a slightly different direction. Eventually, he pushed through some very overgrown foliage, catching their antlers a couple times, and a barn was visible. It was clearly abandoned, and there was nothing else nearby, but it didn't look too derelict.
Bea looked at the barn for a moment. The gray paint was peeled in places, but other than that, it seemed intact. They stepped over a few thick ferns and grasses, and was now standing directly in front of the barn. They looked back at Flick, a hint of uncertainty in their eyes. "We going in?"
"Yeah, we should go in and check it out. Make sure it's safe and all." Flick led the way inside, gently touching the barn doors as they entered. The floor of the barn was overgrown, but that could be dealt with. There were a couple of old crates in the corner that appeared to be empty, and mice were skittering in the shadows.
Bea looked down at the mice, gently kicking any away that dared get to close to their feet. "It seems fine, if we clean it up a bit. I think I can do something…." They walked through the thick overgrowth, sat on a crate, and held their hands out. They began to glow a bright blue color, and let a monsoon of water pour from them. They flooded the whole barn, and eventually, it was up to ankle-length.
Flick watched Bea curiously, pretty much just ignoring the mice for the time being. He wasn't really bothered by them, after all. They yelped when Bea suddenly flooded the barn, lifting up one hoof as though he expected it to help. They soon jumped up onto a crate as well and shook the water off of their feet. "So, what's that going to do?"
"Drown out rats and uproot plants. Easy cleaning." Slowly, as Bea's magic tired out, the water drained out of the barn, almost seeming to latch on to whatever it had removed. Bea sighed, holding their hands, and looked over at Flick, giving a tired, but genuine smile. "I forgot how tiring this shit was. I've not done it in a while."
"Ah. Interesting." Flick watched the process, flicking his hoof again. The hair on their legs was still pretty soaked with water. He smiled softly in return and jumped back off the crate when the water had drained out. "It looks good, though! It's definitely a good start. I guess we'll need to figure out how to make it a place that people could actually spend time in."
Bea stepped off the crate as well, and looked around, putting their hand up to their mouth. "We've not got a whole lot of space, so we needa go compact. I think there should be a meeting table in the middle, for, y'know, meeting…tables are expensive, though, and I'm broke." Bea sighed, pulling a wallet from their pocket and looking through it, counting out a twenty and two fives. "thirty bucks."
"I don't have any money either." Flick chuckled awkwardly. "We could always build a table. I've got some naturey magic that I don't utilize much… it's possible that that's something I could do. We really just need to make it more or less liveable." He looked around, trying to figure out what needed to go in the space.
Bea scanned the empty barn, then darted their eyes back at the door they came in. "I can gather up materials tomorrow. Whether from the forest, the city, or even some smaller shops that are, er, easier to break in. Just gimme a list." Bea laughed. "It's crazy how much someone's life can change in one day, hehe."
"Well, I don't know exactly what we'll need… do you have any ideas?" Flick asked, looking over to Bea. "I think I can make the table. We might need flooring since this is open, but I may be able to do that too. Insulation possibly? But I don't know how to install insulation. Maybe another table to put stuff on…"
"We could make hammocks out of straw…less we wanna sleep on the floor." They pulled a few tall, yellowed, rye-looking plants up from the ground, holding them out towards Flick. "Won't this work? Or can you make that too?" They yawned, pulling their head back. "After this, I'm gonna go to bed. Ain't it the middle of the night or something?"