Around the Island, Monday Morning

[arboreal_priestess]

It had been a week and Verity was only now getting the last of the weapons she'd hidden around when she was a little kid. She'd been really creative as a small child and good at getting into tight spots that were a lot harder to fit into as a full-grown adult. Even as a short full-grown adult, yes.

She was going one last circuit of all the places she'd visited just to make sure she didn't miss a cache by accident, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder. Because wandering around with a bag full of guns didn't feel weird at all thanks.

[open!]

Comments

[tigerundercover]

A large hawk holding a hand gun in its claws circled a couple times, then swooped gently down, shifting just before hitting the ground into a blue woman holding the gun at arms length.

"Is this one of yours?"

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity started, but showed less surprise at seeing a shapeshifting blue girl standing in front of her than one might expect. "It is, thanks," she said, reaching for it. "Uhh, sorry about this. I don't normally leave guns about where anybody could find them. I was raised better than that."

In fact, she was trying as hard as she could to keep the mice from finding out about this because if her parents caught wind of it, she would be flayed alive as a warning for the next careless cryptozoologist.

[tigerundercover]

"It was wedged pretty hard into a tree hollow," Raven said. "Something like twenty feet up. I wouldn't say anybody could have found it. . . . But this island does tend to have drunken squirrels running around so still, not the best place to leave it." She handed over the gun, making sure the barrel never aimed at either of them, though Verity would find the safety firmly on, and no bullet in the chamber.

You got shot at enough, you started to be real concerned with safe gun handling.

"I'm Raven, by the way."

[arboreal_priestess]

And the first thing that Verity did was check the safety and then the chamber. She popped the clip out and immediately tucked it into a separate pocket of her duffel, then dropped the gun into the main compartment. "Verity," she said, this time extending her hand for a shake. "Yeah, when I hid it, it was a nerf blaster and I was like seven or eight. This island is rough on weapon safety sometimes."

[tigerundercover]

"It's rough on a lot more than that," Raven said. "But on the other hand, it's one of about two places I've been where people don't panic and attack when I'm blue, so."

[arboreal_priestess]

"True enough," Verity said, letting her hand fall back to her side. "I will say, you're the first person I've spoken to in this particular shade of blue, but not actually my first blue person I've chatted with. Still nice to meet you, though."

[tigerundercover]

"Oh yeah? Are there a lot of blue people where you're from?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"Depends on your definition of 'a lot,'" Verity answered. "There are several species of people with blue skin or scales, but I've only ever spoken to a few."

And, honestly, it didn't matter how many species were known to be blue when the Covenant had done their best to eradicate them all.

"Is the other place you mentioned your home?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven snorted. "I wish." She shook her head and shrugged. "It was my friend's world. They had a bunch of superheroes running around already who didn't really fit into the whole 'average human' box, so while I still didn't exactly fit in, people didn't assume I was a demon, either."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity winced. She couldn't empathize, exactly, but there were plenty of cryptids who'd gone through that kind of thing. ""Is that where you go when you're not on the island, then?

[tigerundercover]

Raven shook her head and shrugged. "I don't leave the island anymore."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity winced. She could guess reasons why Raven stayed in one of the two places she didn't get mistaken for a demon.

People were many things, but 'kind' and 'understanding' rarely topped the list.

"How long have you been here?" she asked. "It's been something like six months for me, but I still feel like the new kid a lot."

[tigerundercover]

"A little less than a year, this time," Raven said. "But I went to school here, so it was a good bunch of years before that."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Is it rude to ask why you left when you were safe here?" Verity asked.

Look, she knew Raven was a shapeshifter, but the shifters in her experience generally had three forms: humanoid, completely animal, and some kind of animal/human hybrid.