you're not a hero------OPEN

[b3lla]

the early summer sun beat down on the quiet roads of romula, slightly baking jasmine's olive skin as she stepped out for a few moments of peace and solitude. it wasn't like she didn't like the comfort of her own home, but she needed space every now and then, and you could only get so much space in a house with three other siblings and two overbearing parents. not that she didn't appreciate the security evergreen and rose offered, of course. she pulled out the thin, silver music box from the pocket of her denim shorts and slid one headphone over one ear. the music box was a gift from rose on jasmine's fourteenth birthday, and was one of jasmine's few prized possessions--i.e., one of the things she'd instinctively pocket if the house caught fire. the music box was a treasure jasmine had only seen a few times throughout romula, and she felt proud that she had one of her own. she turned the box on, and the little window implanted on the front glowed brightly, a list of music artists known all around gim unfolding. she tapped on one of them, and a few loud guitar notes started flowing out from the headphone. she smiled to herself and put the box back inside her shorts pocket before continuing on her way.

jasmine didn't really know where she was going to, but she had been around and about so many times that she didn't have to worry about losing her way. she knew her limitations, the limitations evergreen had given her--such as do not go past the woods. the first time this rule was established, jasmine had thrown somewhat of a fit. she knew that he had done this with the best intentions--him being her father after all, always looking out for her, and god knew what kind of creatures lurked inside the woods, as did he know the lack of hunting skills jasmine possessed--but how was she supposed to see life outside of romula if he wouldn't let her start with the basics? many a time ad he and her older brother, oak, had gone off into the woods to hunt that night's dinner, and many a time was jasmine force to sit hope and stew in jealousy. she longed for the day that evergreen would invite her along and teach her to hunt, but so far, that day didn't seem too close.

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lyrics - SAVE YOUR BREATH, JARIKA ?! of caution; picture - pretty. odd of caution; words - 403; muse - fair; now playing - nothing; outfit - this.

[Juliastar]

'Romula's so nice today..' Cricket thought as he ran his fingers through the water at his feet. He was crouched over at the bed of a creek, watching as sliver-blue fish darted past him. It was mesmerizing, watching them in their own crowded little community in the water.

Cricket narrowed his eyes, trying hard to focus on one fish that seemed to linger around his hand. He held his breath, counted to ten, and in the next second he had it in his grasp. Struggling to keep hold of the fish, he reached in the water with his free hand. He grinned when the fish finally went still in his hands.

Looking at the shape he was holding, he vaguely remembered somebody telling him that their favorite food was fish. Did fish taste great or something? He had never tried eating them before. Without much thought, he raised the fish to his mouth to lick it.

And as if it knew what he was going to do, the fish answered by suddenly springing to life, jumping from his hands, and slapping him in the face. It fell back into the water before he knew what was happening, but by then it had swam away. So Cricket was left, stunned, wet, and very confused.

[b3lla]

jasmine wasn't paying attention to her whereabouts until she noticed the air getting slightly cooler and thicker, the smell of wet earth floating about her atmosphere. the river, she thought happily. the river was a place of complete solitude that she found herself wandering to every now and then. she quickened her pace just then with more purpose, her boots sticking to the ground more and more as she reached stray ends of mud from the river bank. the sound of the rushing water filled her ears, boring through the headphone, and she smiled. almost there.

finally, jasmine reached her destination--but not before she noticed a blond boy crouched by the river. she had arrived just in time to see him extract a fish from the river and give it a long lick. the fish had slapped him in reply before leaping out of his grasp and swimming downstream. she couldn't help but gigglesnort in reply. "are you really that stupid?" she asked before she could catch herself. as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she tried to put them back in--after all, the remark was quite rude, and she was never this rude at first impression. "sorry," she apologized quietly. "i...i'm jasmine. like the flower." no duh, jasmine. what else jasmine is there? jasmine the sock brand?

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lyrics - SAVE YOUR BREATH, JARIKA ?! of caution; picture - pretty. odd of caution; words - 220; muse - fair; now playing - nothing; outfit - this.

[Juliastar]

'Are you really that stupid?'

Cricket looked up at his side to see a small brown-haired girl staring back at him. "Oh.. no, I just wanted to see what it tasted like.." He replied. Her words didn't faze him, though; he was pretty much used to that kind of talk about him.

He started grinning when she introduced herself. Something about knowing a stranger's name was funny to him. "Jasmine- that's a nice name. Can I just call you Flower instead? I like that better. Have you ever tried a fish before? I didn't really get to taste anything before it got away.."

[b3lla]

"oh, no... i just wanted to see what it tasted like" was the boy's response. jasmine blinked a few times in confusion, waiting for him to pop out with a "just kidding" or something along the lines of it. when several seconds went by without explanation, she sucked in a breath and racked her brain for something to fill in the silence. "call me crazy, but i think you're supposed to cook fish to get the full satisfaction of it," she smirked, offering up a grin. "but hey, bro; whatever floats your boat.

as she introduced herself, the boy broke out into a smile. jasmine bit her lip. come on, she willed silently. my introduction was awkward, but not that awkward. cut me some slack. "can i call you flower instead? i like that better." his question brought her out of her thoughts, and she raised her eyebrows. "thanks, but that's not really my na-"

[/color] "have you ever tried fish before? i didn't really taste anything before it got away..." jasmine smiled at this. "i have. my dad brings it home every once in a while. it tastes much better cooked, trust me." she sighed at the thought of evergreen and oak crouched by this very creek, catching pounds of silver fish in their hands. "but i'd rather be out hunting fish than eating it, of course. if only i knew how to hunt.

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lyrics - SAVE YOUR BREATH, JARIKA ?! of caution; picture - pretty. odd of caution; words - 234; muse - fair; now playing - nothing; outfit - this.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Juliastar]

"If only I knew how to hunt" were the only words Cricket heard as Jasmine spoke. His smile spread across his face. "Hey, I know how to hunt!!" He yelled, barely thinking about scaring off prey with his voice.

He wasn't thinking about it at that moment, but nobody back home knew where he had gone. They weren't worried yet, but with them knowing what happened to his father it wouldn't be long before they started panicking.

"Come on; I can show you how right now!" Cricket said to the girl, eager to show off his skills. He knew he wasn't all that great, but maybe he would get lucky this time. "Oh, but we don't have knives or traps or anything.."

[b3lla]

"OH, I KNOW HOW TO HUNT!!" jasmine was almost sent tumbling into the river by his sudden outburst. obviously not, she thought, or you wouldn't scream and scare off prey like that. but she was much more careful about holding her tongue this time. "you know what's a novel idea?" she dared herself to say. "you...teaching me how to hunt." she smiled, only somewhat pleased with herself--after all, what kind of idea was that? in what world would this perfect stranger want to teach her how to hunt?--but she would never let her uncertainty shine through. her indecisiveness was known to everyone who knew her name, but he didn't know a thing about her--she could do anything to reinvent herself around him. not too brashly, though--she didn't want him to be around someone she herself didn't even know and yet was passing off as jasmine--but just smooth out the rough edges. maybe she'd screwed that chance up by calling him stupid, but she had time to fix things.

"come on; i can show you how right now!" jasmine blinked. she didn't think he'd actually agree to it, and certainly not at this moment. but already inside her she could feel the buildup of emotions--the excitement of finally learning how to provide for herself; anxiety of finally seeing the woods her father had so long banned her from; and just plain adrenaline from everything happening at once. she drew back warily, though, when a cold bucket of reality hit her in the face. "am i supposed to trust you?" she replied cautiously. "i don't even know your name, much less a thing about you." jasmine didn't trust easily, especially strangers. and being abducted would not look too good to her parents, after fourteen years of grinding into her mind that talking to strangers was a bad, bad thing. she didn't even know how her father would react to agreeing to this hunting thing. if it was real, that is.

---
lyrics - SAVE YOUR BREATH, JARIKA ?! of caution; picture - pretty. odd of caution; words - 327; muse - fair; now playing - forget about it, all time low; outfit - this.

[Juliastar]

'Am I supposed to trust you?'

Cricket stopped talking for a second. He almost looked hurt, but then he thought of something else to say. "My name's Cricket.." He replied. "I'm just.. human. You're half-Chroni, right? I could tell. You smell like one."

He didn't usually tell anybody when things like that happened- when he felt like all his senses were on overdrive and he could hear a thousand miles away and see the slightest movement of a single blade of grass on the ground. Cricket just figured every human was like that; like it was no big deal.

"I probably couldn't hurt you if I tried.. not that I would want to or anything."

His eyes fell to his feet. Things got awkward really fast. Maybe it was just him.

[b3lla]

"my name's cricket... i'm just... human. you're half-chroni, right? you smell like one." jasmine raised her eyebrows at this but didn't say anything. no human she had met before had ever told her that she smelled like anything but the jasmine perfume she wore on her at all times. still, she didn't comment on this--maybe this was part of the things she was missing out on due to the confinement evergreen had cast on her. "yes," she said slowly. "my father's a chroni... my mother's a human." like you, she almost added, but then again, she wasn't entirely sure that was his real species. on the other hand, why would he bother lying about something as broad as species? it just didn't make sense to jasmine. but a lot of things didn't make sense to jasmine, so she let this one go.

"i probably couldn't hurt you if i tried... not that i want to or anything." cricket looked down at his feet, and at this, jasmine laughed. "well, thank you for that," she said brightly. "that makes me feel a bit better, given the circumstances." she walked down to the edge of the creek and stared down into the clear water, watching fish dart back and forth, back and forth, chasing at one anothers' tails. the vision of him pulling one out and licking it came to her again, and she almost smirked before she remembered where she was. "so," jasmine cleared her throat, trying to rid the conversation of any awkward pauses, "how long have you been hunting?

[/color]

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lyrics - SAVE YOUR BREATH, JARIKA ?! of caution; picture - pretty. odd of caution; words - 259; muse - fair; now playing - nothing; outfit - this.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Juliastar]

Cricket followed Jasmine down to the water, since he really didn't know what else to do. "I think since I was thirteen," He replied. "My cousins taught me."

"So why do you wanna know how to hunt? You don't really seem like somebody who'd want to.." He trailed off. God, he never realized how hard it was talking to people until that moment. Everything he said was either stupid, rude, or just wrong.

He remembered his first time going hunting, and being only thirteen at the time it was a completely different experience from what he was used to. Hopefully if they ever got to hunting Jasmine wouldn't be like that. She did seem to be around his age when he was taught to hunt.

[b3lla]

jasmine smiled faintly when he told her he was around thirteen when he first started hunting. "oh, good. i'm fourteen."

[/color] she couldn't remember when evergreen had first taken primrose hunting, but for the past couple of years or so primrose had been tagging along on hunting outings. since then, jasmine had been begging to come along, but evergreen had brushed her off, gently saying she was just too young. she'd prove herself to him, though. after cricket taught her the basics, she'd show evergreen that she could be just as good a hunter as oak even at her young age. though that in itself was a long shot--oak was a great hunter and even brought home greater meat than evergreen did--but hey, jasmine could dream. and every so often, her dreams came true.

"so, why do you wanna know how to hunt? you don't really seem like someone who'd want to..." jasmine tore her gaze away from the other side of the river to study his face. she didn't blame him for his comment--she did look like someone who couldn't even bear the thought of being out in the wild--but she couldn't help but bristle a bit. still, she kept track of which words she said. "well, for starters, i want to see the woods," she began. she smirked. "ever since i was born, my dad has been so careful about keeping me safely inside romula. not even inside the woods, not until i'm 'old enough,' but i have no idea what 'old enough' is in his book. i need to see the world, you know?"[/color] she exhaled. "so, i guess... i got tired of waiting. i've been tired of waiting," she quickly corrected herself, "but it's not like there were any strangers offering to take me hunting. until today, of course." she paused, collecting her thoughts--there was so much she wanted to say, so much she had been dying to get off her chest for the past forever, but there was no one who would listen. her parents would brush her off with their "you're not old enough speeches," as usual; primrose and oak never knew what to say; and little trout, at four, didn't understand. her friends didn't understand either; they, unlike she, didn't have any desire to leave the safeness of romula. not until they were much older. jasmine wondered why so many people thought like this. she wanted to get out. "but at the same time," she continued, "they all have a point, you know? god knows the history of this planet... who knows what could be lying out there?" she stopped again to sit down on a dry patch of grass. "so i figure... might as well learn how to protect myself."

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lyrics - SAVE YOUR BREATH, JARIKA ?! of caution; picture - pretty. odd of caution; words - 456; muse - fair; now playing - a daydream away, all time low; outfit - this.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Juliastar]

"Yeah.." Cricket said, staring at the creek again. He kind of lost track of what Jasmine was saying after the first couple of words. "You know what? Let's teach you to hunt, and then when you go home you'll be really good and you can show everybody what I taught you. Then everybody will be really impressed and stuff."

Cricket bit his lip after he was done talking. He probably sounded stupid to her; and besides, she was pretty smart- she probably already thought about what he had said. Heck, she probably thought about half the things he said to her before he could even understand the conversation.

[b3lla]

cricket finally brought up the topic of her actually learning how to hunt, and at this, her brown almond eyes brightened. "you mean it?"

[/color] she asked excitedly. she laughed at his comment about everyone being impressed at her potential hunting skills. "you've read my mind. but, really..." she checked to see if the music box was still secure in its place in her denim shorts, just to give her hands something to do. "it's just my dad i wanna impress. then maybe he'll take me along on the hunting trips." she didn't even know where this desire to impress evergreen came from; it just sort of erupted as soon as primrose began relaying details of the hunting day in their shared room. it just sounded so exciting--the chase, the kill, everything about it. plus, jasmine needed something to do on weekdays. what better way to kill time than proving she was more than a little girl who needed protection twenty-four/seven? though really, that was her life. but she was trying to molt out of that shell.

jasmine gazed down at the fish swimming through the crystal-clear water, unable to contain her smile. "where should we start?' she asked lamely, but she couldn't help herself. she didn't really know where to start. oak and primrose never really said anything about it, so perhaps evergreen just took them out into the woods, told them what to do, and they followed suit. jasmine, however, sometimes took a bit longer to respond to instructions. some things just didn't click with her as well as they did primrose and oak. she wasn't one to just position a bow and shoot immediately. no, with jasmine, it took time, and she hoped this wouldn't be a problem with cricket. he seemed like a decent person, but still, jasmine couldn't help but take precautions. she couldn't help but take precautions with everybody. that was just how her world worked, and how she found out it worked a few years back. the world wasn't always a friendly place, so jasmine always had her guard up--even when it didn't seem like so.

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lyrics - SAVE YOUR BREATH, JARIKA ?! of caution; picture - pretty. odd of caution; words - 351; muse - fair; now playing - no idea, all time low; outfit - this.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Juliastar]

Cricket looked from the water to Jasmine and back again. He honestly didn't expect to meet her, so he hadn't come prepared for a hunting trip. No bows, no traps- no nothing. And then he remembered he had his uncle's knife in his back pocket.

He immediately reached for the weapon and pulled it from its wooden casing. "Hey," he said, holding the blade up to the sunlight. "We should use this. I forget I had it."

And then he figured it would be easier to teach from the spot they were at (or maybe he was just being lazy). "I guess since we're here we can fish. That's pretty easy to being with. At least for me it was."

[b3lla]

jasmine had stopped paying attention until the moment cricket withdrew the knife from his back pocket. "whoa! watch where you point that thing,"

[/color] she warned, but she was grinning good-naturedly up at him. he was clearly a foot taller than she was, but then again, she had always been shorter than a lot of people, considering the fact she was only five two and had been for a while now. she was fine with it, but it just got a bit tiring having to crane your neck up at someone every time you needed to talk to them. she bet that by the time trout turned ten that he'd be taller than her. oak and evergreen were tall people--she bet that by the time he turned ten that he'd be either her size or a few inches taller. she smiled at the thought, then turned back to cricket expectantly.

he suggested that they start hunting right where they were, and jasmine nodded. "sounds good."[/color] she hesitated before adding, "just in a warning, i may have different fishing habits from what you may be used to." she smiled sweetly and pantomimed taking a fish out of the water and licking it.

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lyrics - SAVE YOUR BREATH, JARIKA ?! of caution; picture - pretty. odd of caution; words - 199; muse - fair; now playing - get down on your knees and tell me you love me, all time low; outfit - this.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]