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Atticus stopped what he was doing for a moment and looked back at Blade. Wow, he... Really hadn't thought the man had such a crippling past. He sighed and sat down where he stood.

"Look Blade." He started, thinking of how to word himself carefully. "I'm not gonna pretend to know and understand how you feel about all that. In truth, you're the only one who will ever completely understand. But instead of mourning, you're blaming the rest of the world for your all the terrible things that've happened to you..."

His eyes met with Blade's for this very important lesson he was about to convey to the boy. "But you've gotta know the world doesn't give a s**t about how you're feeling. So the only person you're hurting right now is yourself. Moreover, you say you hate humans, but isn't hating a species or group before you know every single one of them what they did to you? Some food for thought."

Riyo calmed down slightly when Neko complimented her name, though the stare Mitsu was now giving her almost made her cringe.

When she was tugged, Riyo promptly turned her eyes back to the forest and followed the boy wherever he planned to go. They could walk into a dark bear-filled cave for all she cared. Being with one nice person in a dangerous situation is better than being with 100 nasty people in a quiet village.

Neko led the two of them away from this strange group and into the forest, being sure to go the direction away from the snake. Not in a million years would he stay with a group like that. In an instant they were gone from the clearing making headway down a trail that looked like a path for deer. "This way should be safe to travel," Neko stated looking to the hoof marks laid out in the ground. There seemed to be two types of hoof prints but primarily they were deer. Neko wasn't to sure what the others were...they were hard to make out.

Mitsu hardly waited for an answer from the other girl before the two cats were walking away. So they were ignoring her and leaving! That wouldn't do. "Hey, where are you going!?" Just as before she headed for the forest, this time following the two cats down a much easier path to get into.

"But he is a scardy cat," Mitsu replied since it seemed the girl was following her. All of a sudden the path she was following no longer appeared to be as easy to maneuver through as she had originally thought. There were suddenly a lot of bushes, and though they looked to have berries they also had thorns. Trying to spot an alternate route to go, Mitsu stepped forward and plucked a berry from the bush in the mean time. They looked like the berries some of her tribe members would bring back. They were always yummy!

Popping the fruit into her mouth she continued to munch away trying to think of where to go. There really was no point in following the kitty people, it was just something to do until her brother found her. Which she was beginning to wonder where he was, Ginji was always so quick to find her no matter where she went.

The raven had a point there. Blade still had some trouble really grasping all of it at this point but it was certainly a start. It was enough to at least put the idea there. He continued to think over what was being said before glancing up as the adult held out a hand for him. There was a bit of hesitation, but he eventually took his hand and pulled himself up.

Despite his earlier attitude towards him, and the fact that the peptalk was definitely on the pessimistic side, Atticus was really the only one to try and help since they died. Everyone else basically just saw him as either a freak or some street rat to avoid.

"Thanks.." he said with some discomfort. The boy looked over to where the other children... were? Well that explained why the area was quieter now than earlier...

At first it seemed easy to keep up with her, but then it was starting to get really hard. The bushes were getting in her way, sometimes smacking her in the face (it really hurt!), and other times she had to crawl. She noticed the doggy girl had munched on some berries, and stopped at the tree, picking a few of them off. Maybe she could get some for the kitty people as well! She put a few more in her pocket, and hoped they wouldn't get squished.

"ugh!" she said as she fell over after tripping over a bush. "Do you know if we're getting close?" She hadn't a close of where they were. "We're not lost are we?"

Atticus simply shrugged. "Don't mention it." He wasn't about to make a big deal out of it.

Then he noticed Blade looking in the direction of where the other children had been.

emphasis on had. "Oh s**t." Was an exclamation that wasn't really exclaimed. They'd gone into the forest, hadn't they? Great. Lets find a few little needles in a ******** forest.

"Blade. If you wouldn't mind, I need you to help me with something. We've gotta find the other kids before they end up dinner for something else."

Riyo stared up at the huge log with big eyes. Her gaze shifted from the top to the crawl space at the bottom and back a few times.

Temporarily, she let go of the boy's hand and stepped back. Her little legs ran up and pushed as hard as they could, while her fingers latched onto the rotting bark. Trees she knew. She could hide in trees. Though she was rather slow with it. Baby steps... Or grasps, rather.

Wiggling through the bush, Mitsu soon found herself on the other side. As she stood to her feet, not too concerned about being covered in dirt, she looked around. There was no one here! But she could have sworn she had seen someone. "I don't see them!" She huffed. Aggravated she started to search. Maybe they were hiding?

In the shrubbery not far from Poke, a pair of eyes was watching her and the little dog she carried closely. Gleaming gold eyes shown in the darkness like new coins in the light, following the girl's every move.

Well, over it was then. Climbing trees wasn't always the easiest of tasks, but Neko had become quiet familiar with it. It was always a way to have a good vantage point and it was often a safe place to sleep for the night. In one leap he was half way up the fallen tree. Getting his footing in place he began to pull himself the rest of the way until he was at the top. Once there he laid down on his belly and reached down toward the girl. "Here, I'll help you."

A monster may not have been far from the truth, though it was much smaller than imagined. Trailing right behind Poke, snarling, hissing, and throwing a general fit was a badger. The creature emerged from the bush swiping at Poke's legs as she ran off.

Tobi, unsure what was going on, just started to bark. There were noises, screaming, and hissing so the best plan of action was to drown out all the noise with noise of his own.

"A monster?" Mitsu turned back in time to see Poke burst from the bush like she was on fire. Seriously she had seen people light themselves on fire...they ran pretty fast. Looking to see what all the commotion was about she watched as a strange creature emerged not long after Poke all but pissed at the world. It had started after the girl but stopped merely three feet away from the bush like it was protecting something. "What is that thing?"

Catching sight of the other girl the badger turned to the new threat. With a growl it puffed up, fur bristled all over the place, as it lunged forward a little and stopped. Hopefully its threat would get the girl to leave as well.