Manipulated (Zakkol and Forlorn)

[vibrantsystem]

Theo nodded, before trying to push Sophie away. He fully understood the situation. It wasn't like it was hard to understand though. Not at all. They were being hunted. The werewolves were being hunted. Theo was surprised he hadn't anticipated this to happen. Especially since he was now, in essence, a creature of fantasy. Once he would have considered werewolves false. Not real. Fiction.


'Could you please get off me then?' Theo asked, his tone polite. 'I don't appreciate being sat on that much. And I need to move if we want to pack up everything,' he added, biting his lip slightly.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie cocked her head to the side. "of course" she said as she beamed a toothy smile at him. When Sophie was engulfed in nature, no matter the circumstances, she was happy. Inhaling a deep breath of fresh air, she sighed with happiness. Packing up her things, she tugged at his hand to lead the way.


They trekked through the forest for hours, finally coming to a clearing where a beautiful meadow bloomed. Sophie's eyes glistened. "this is it, just a bit further". They came to a lake with a rushing waterfall. Waterlillies grew off to the side of the lake, away from the glistening bustle of water. A few trees provided shade, but Sophie could easily make more if need be. "you can practice her until you hone your skills, then we can confront them" she said with hope gleaming in her eyes. Sophie truly was happy in the natural sanctuary.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo laughed upon hearing Sophie's comments about "honing his skills." The thing was-Theo didn't have any. He completely lacked them. He was rather embarrassed about it too. The wolf shapeshifting thing back at the house with the Gin hadn't been something that Theo had done voluntarily. He had been terrified, despite not showing it, and his anger had played a part too. He hadn't told Sophie about the fact he hadn't shifted on his own out of fear she'd not look at him in the same light. He had done just what she had-killed people without trying. He would have liked to have incapacitated the Gin. Not kill them, no matter what they had done.


Theo tossed his head back in a laugh. 'Yes, well, about that,' he breathed, casting a glace at the happy Sophie. 'I can't actually do anything. Those "skills"? Don't have them,' Theo snarled, frustrated at Sophie's lack of understanding. The thing was, how was she to know? She wasn't. He had never told her.

 

[Forlorn]

"I was talking about manipulation" Sophie said, a little hurt. Motioning to the lake and rushing waterfall, she said "you have all of this to work with. I saw you manipulate the water, cleaning off the fruit and such. You just need practice" Sophie walked over and say next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder to comfort him.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Ignoring Sophie's advice for practising, Theo began to feel rather frustrated yet again. The frustration had evaporated during Sophie's small chat with him, but now it was back. 'Like I said,' Theo yelled, growling again. 'I can't control the water! The only reason I did before was by accident! I don't even know how to trigger it! Oh yeah, I also don't know how to shift. Which is great. I can't control it. I murdered those Gin unintentionally yesterday!' Theo paused, inhaling deeply, for he had said all of that in one breath.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie retracted her head in seeing his frustration. She curled up into a ball, grabbing her knees and resting her head on her kneecaps. "Theo, those Gin are coming for us. I could put up all the trees in the world and it wouldn't stop them. They treat each other like brothers, and when brothers die, heads roll. She grabbed his shoulders and looked into his eyes. "You cannot just give up like this. You haven't even tried anything, and yet you've given up. Give me a chance to teach you," a sad expression plagued Sophie's face, did he have such little hope in her?

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo hadn't been expecting Sophie to curl into a ball on the ground. He hadn't been that rude, had he? Apparently so. He hadn't meant to offend Sophie. Not in the slightest. However, Sophie's news that they were indeed coming-and in hordes-concerned Theo, pushing his mind more towards believing that it was Sophie's fault for all of this. She was the one who bit him.


'Fine,' Theo breathed, returning the look into Sophie's somewhat startling green eyes. 'I'm sorry, it's just that I'm...tired,' Theo said weakly. 'But I'm will to let you teach me. Which do you think would be more important to learn first? Shifting or the manipulation?'

 

[Forlorn]

"Both are crucial, but lets think of shifting first, ok?" Sophie stands up and offers her hand. She then instructs him to put his hands at his side and his feet evenly spaced, facing forward. "Remember all that energy you had the first night? Try to imagine having it again. Take deep breathes, and imagine the energy coursing through you"

 

[vibrantsystem]

Following Sophie's fairly simplistic instructions, Theo stood there, his arms hanging limply by his sides, while his feet were planted firmly on the ground. Next up on Sophie's list of things to do was for Theo to imagine having the energy flowing through him again. That would be good, except the main part of that Theo could remember was feeling like he had it contained in his stomach and it exploded through every vein, artery and capillary in his body once he had shifted. Oh well. It would have to do.


Following five minutes of standing there, doing nothing but imagining the energy passing through him, Theo was growing impatient. He was good at things like this, but this seemed so stupid. The only thing he had felt was a faint tingly sensation down his back, although he seriously suspected that that was an insect of some kind flying down his shirt.


'Well...how long should it take?' Theo asked, not moving his arms.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie sighed. "you aren't connected with your body enough. Sounds silly, sure, but this is a key component to both manipulation and changing forms. You're focusing too much up her" Sophie said, tapping his forehead with her hand, "when you need to focus on your body. Feel each muscle, let go of yourself for a few seconds" An idea hatched in Sophie's mind. "Do you know how to make a fire?" She said with a dubious grin.


Thrusting her fingers into the ground, she began to grow a plant

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo scrunched his eyebrows in response to Sophie's rather curious question. No, he didn't, but why he needed to here didn't make sense. What was Sophie going to hope achieve? Sure, everything she had said to Theo up to this point had actually made sense, and then the strangest of questions about fires.


'No,' Theo said, casting an odd look at the plant that was growing from the earth, splitting apart the grass and soil as it grew. He was fairly certain Sophie was going to ask him to burn it. 'I can try though. Why did you ask?'

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie picked the leaf, rubbing it in between her fingertips before sniffing it. "Ok, don't freak out, but this plant will help you get in touch both physically and spiritually. Its uh….lets not get into names" She said with a nervous giggle. "Its edible so you can ingest it since we can't make a fire" She said, handing a bundle of leaves to him. They looked similar to a japanese maple leaf, but emerald in color.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo held up his hands, backing away. 'I don't really think so, thank-you,' he said, staring at the leaves. He knew what they were. 'I'll be fine without natural...enhancers, thanks,' he said, biting his lip.


Instead, Theo went limp again, standing tall and straight, yet all of his muscles were relaxed. It felt much better to have to focus on the thought rather than to have to use drugs to help-natural or artificial. And then there was a slight sensation, and Theo let out a cry as his whole body snapped forward, doubling over. His bones cracked and broke, only to reform, and within a matter of seconds he was a wolf again, for the third time in forty-eight hours.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie let out a happy yelp as she turned as well. She ran around the meadow, racing through bundles of flowers and splashing through the water. She sprinted up ahead and focused on the ground, sprouting an impressive oak tree. It stretched its green tendrils towards the sky, its trunk twisting and contorting as it aged rapidly. Sophie layer down under the tree and turned back into human form, looking up at the clouds.


Lesson one had been completed with avid success, it was on to lesson two.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo hadn't been expecting Sophie to go running off. Instead of following, he sat down and watched, as a few minutes later, a gargantuan, majestic oak tree grew, the branches extending high into the sky. As stunning as it was to watch it unfold, it was also a massive giveaway to where Sophie was, and Theo made a beeline for the tree in the distance.


As he arrived, Theo could see that Sophie was sitting down on the ground beneath the tree. She seemed to be fairly content, watching the clouds go by, and Theo repeated what he had done a few days ago to return to a human. Doing so earned him the same effect, for he was now a person again rather than a canine.


'Now what?' He asked Sophie, looking at her expectantly.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie motioned to the tree. "See this oak? You know what's fueling it" she gave a slight grin. "Water. This is your goal, to extract an amount of water without killing the tree. I want to teach you delicacy, you can always summon a huge wave but what good would it do if you can't control where it crashes?" Sophie pats the grass beside her, motioning him to sit down. "This is where the real spiritual connection comes in handy"


(this reminds me of pocahontas xD )

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo had to use of his will not to say something extremely cynical with Sophie asked him the rhetorical question. Water wasn't the only thing that fueled plants. But he bit his lip and continued to listen like a good student would. It felt odd having someone younger than himself teach him about something, regardless of what it was. Shapeshifting, biology, water manipulation, it all seemed strange.


Sitting down on the soft, springy grass, Theo stretched out, lying down. He wasn't sure if this was what Sophie wanted or not, but he could easily move if she wished for him to. 'Carry on,' Theo said, smiling as the sun beat down through the tree's leaves onto his face.

 

[Forlorn]

"Ok this is going to sound cheesy and lame, but bear with me" Sophie spoke as she motioned towards the massive tree. "Try and compare the tree to your body. I've always seen the things I grow as extensions of myself. Imagine the water flowing through it, feel it as though t was blood. Pinpoint what you want to do, and" Sophie's voice trailed off as a tiny sprout burst from her fingertip "magic" she said with a grin

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo returned Sophie's grin, propping himself up on his elbows. A light wind had picked up, and it was now toying with both Theo's and Sophie's hair playfully, like a small child.


'Whatever you say,' Theo said, his smile fading a little. Theo lay himself back down on the ground, his palms flat against the grassy earth, and started to imagine the water flowing through the tree. He wasn't entirely sure if this would help, but he was willing to give it a try. And there, on the edge of his mind. A faint tickle. A small dripping noise. Water. The ground around Theo was growing damp, as the leaves of the tree began to yellow, the water being pulled back down the xylem of the tree and down out of the root hairs. The water was rising to the surface of the earth, where a small pool was beginning to form around the base of the tree.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie beamed at his powers. "See, I knew you could do it!" She chirped. "Ok now you have to control it. The grass around him grew damp and soggy, the water pooling around Theo.


A bird flew by them, landing in a lengthy branch of the oak the tree. Sophie smiled at the small thing, holding out her hand in an attempt to coax it. It fluttered over and landed on her hand, hopping up and down the length of her finger. "What the..." Sophie was baffled, but returned her attention to Theo

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo started the bird. Birds didn't land on people. Or they didn't frequently. It wasn't normal. There was something strange about the bird. It looked fairly normal, if a little small. But Theo wasn't a bird expert.


'Sophie?' Theo asked, casting a dubious look at the bird once more before turning his attention to Sophie, much like she had done to him. 'What's next then?' He questioned, continuing to cast a suspicious look at the bird.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie looked at him, startled that the creature obeyed her. "Yay, you didn't kill my tree" she said, clapping her hands. The little robin flew off of her arm and landed on her head. "Uh, whats going on with this thing?" She asked, pointing to the bird. "I love animals but they never act like this unless I have food around" she explained, perplexed. "anyways, lets see how much water you can summon at one time" she said as she walked towards the waterfall.

 

[vibrantsystem]

In order to get back to the waterfall without wasting a good amount of time walking, Theo had to try and shift again. Which was to be interesting, he thought. For two minutes he stood there, struggling to change, before it happened without warning, and he was off, running back through the meadow to the waterfall, where Sophie's next "lesson" would undoubtedly take place.


Shifting back into a human with much more grace than he had to become a wolf, Theo looked at the waterfall, sitting in front of it cross-legged, waiting for Sophie to turn up. In all honesty, Theo was rather terrified, for he was under the impression manipulating considerable amounts of water would put him under immense strain and pain.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie followed in suit and circled around the lake a few times before shifting into a human. A few fish dabbled on the surface, their scales gleaming in the sunlight. Sophie held out her hand towards the scaly creatures, concentrating hard. One or two slipped towards her, cautiously approaching her hand. "What?" She thought to herself. "It couldn't be, right?" she muttered under her breath. Noticing Theo watching her, Sophie walked over and sat down. "Meditate with me, Theo. Its good for you" Crossing her legs and pulling her feet inwards, she rested her arms on her knees and closed her eyes. A serene look befell her face, and a few Morning Glories pushed their way out of the earth. Tufts of lemongrass surrounded Theo, swaying in the breeze.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Even though Theo was well aware of Sophie's abilities, it still caught him off guard when a miniature herb garden sprouted around him, the air becoming thick with the scent of lemongrass.


'Well this is relaxing,' Theo mumbled, closing his eyes and starting to breath in deeply. He wasn't sure if he was fully on board with Sophie's mediation approach to things to being calm and relaxed all the time, as Theo was rarely calm and relaxed. He was close to it, but never there. Nonetheless, he continued a rather poor attempt at meditation, awaiting the time when Sophie would tell him he could stop.