//------------------------------// // The Forest // Story: The Rebirth of Flight // by Lee //------------------------------// The first thing that came to Reggie's mind when he regained conciseness was. 'my face....it is in pain sooooo much pain.' Which ment that he wouldn't have any patrols or missions set for him today. Only a pilot with a death wish would get hammered the night before the day when he had a flight scheduled the next day, a fresh rising sun + hangover +flying a loud ass plane + possible dogfight = a VERY VERY bad day, and most likely your last. Wait a sec I never returned to base yesta day where the hell am I? Then the memories returned,' shot down a DFW and scored my ninth victory, got shoot down by Voss, landed in a forest openin- Ding we have a winner.'What the hell was that thing that shot me, and what did it shoot me with? After disregarding that portion as him having a dream or just going slightly crazy, or crazier by army or navy standereds sence only a mad man would fly a plane. Reg begins, or atleast attempts to open his eyes only to have the sun assault them. "aghhhh." After groaning and a few toss and turns his brain just so happens to think now is the time to reveal the fact he is covered in snow. "Freakin snow, got no place in the world we would be better off without it." One thing that the rest of the 103rd learned about reg is that he HATES snow with a burning passion that could match the eternal fires of hell. "Oh good your up I was starting to worry." Called out a feminine voice. Which is weird because it was usually Reggie told the girls that and not the other way around.......what? Bitches dig fighter pilots don't blame me. "Do you need help getting up?" Ask the girl in a worried tone. Which again should be the other wa- never mind. "Nah i've been through much wor-" His sentence getting cut off by him opening his eyes and looking up to see a bug-horse-vampire thing. Reggie's eyes grew about twice there size oh most popping out of there sockets. " WHAT THE FU-" The ace's words were cut of by a hoove that was filled with...holes? gross.... "Please please please don't freak out I don't mean you any harm. And don't make any sudden movements with your neck up it took me quite some time to fix all those cracks in your skull." She demanded in a mother like tone....wait SHE DEMANDED??!!! THAT DAMN THING JUST SPOKE!! After taking her hoove out of Reggie's mouth, which tasted more like snow then anything else but she still walks on that.....ew. " W-w-w-what are you?" Asked the biped nervously. Méditer could smell the huge amount of fear the biped was giving off, but to Méditer's surprise it didn't run off, if it were a pony they would be long gone if they were scared this bad. Fear was not Méditer's favorite emotion, that was happiness, but fear tasted good none the less in fact, fear was probably her third favorite, which is odd to Rash considering how she's always picking up spirits, helping and just making others happy. "Shouldn't I be asking you that i've never seen your species before and I love books about mythology." To which Reggie could only think. 'Did this bug-horse cross breed call ME mythology?' "Ummmmm not sure if you've noticed but me and other humans pretty much ar-...or where the only sentient species on earth. Now can you tell me what YOU are." The biped said pointing at Méditer for emphasis. "I'm a...a changeling." She said lowering her head a bit like it's a sin, until she noticed the 'human' looked at her quizzically. Méditer simply asked. "What?" Picking up her head and blinking a few times. "So your the off spring of a fairy, troll, elf or other mythical creature that replaces and takes the form of a human child?" He asked as his mind begains to explode with questions, mostly that changelings were suppose to have the appearance of a wisp or troll until they take the form of a human newborn, but here was that same creature with the appearance of a bug-horse cross breed. He eventually noticed her staring at him like he grew wings sung an opera and flew away. 'What?" He simply ask. "I don't know where you got your information from but thats VERY inaccurate." She stated matter-of-factly. Méditer also realized that the human was no longer scared, well until she flipped her vesion she could see VERY little fear, like one drop of water in a desert. Regardless she continued to dine on the fear that was still in the air, no need to let it go to waste right? But now she could only smell confusion and ALOT of curiosity. "Inaccurate, as in not a complete miss, as in some of what I just said in correct." He asked raising his right eyebrow awaiting her response. Oh goody he was a smart one. Méditer could always trick someone when she needed to, like Rash when he found her out to be a changeling, she didn't give him all common info a changeling would know. Like being able to not only eat emotions but also smell and even see them even through walls but eventually did when the subject was brought back up again and she knew she could trust him, not a good idea when a group of guardsmen know you can smell and see them coming before there even in sight. "Y-yeah we can take the forms of others depending on how skilled we are and what creature we take form of like ummm...I can take the form of a pony, zebra and all the way up to a timber wolf or lion. Where as one changeling who's not as skilled as I am at transformation could only take the form of a zebra or pony. Same way for small creatures the smallest I'm capable of would be a raccon but my mother could transform into a rat or frog." The curiosity grew even more to Méditer's pleasure, she loved the fact that not only was this creature not even scared of her but wanted to know even more about her species, as did Méditer about this strange new cre- no he wasn't a creature or animal he was a living, breathing sentient being with emotions, desires and fears just like a pony or changeling. Regardless Méditer also wanted to learn more about him, but not just his species but him, who he was. "Thats actually really bad ass what else can you do?" Ask the human. Méditer begain to get nervous she wasn't sure if she could COMPLETELY trust the human just yet. He might not want to be around her or even hate her if he knew she fed on other beings like they were her prey or if her species was known for being lying, backstabbing, deceiving, illusion using monsters. "Oh just this and that but I believe i've forgotten my manners my name is Méditer and im pleased to meet you." Méditer said with a heart warming smile while stretching out her left hoof. Which surprised the human that they knew what a hand..er...hoof shake was, but none the less he took it with a smile. Which was to Méditer's surprise when to grabbed her hoof and shook it instead of just bumping it, but then again griffons where known to do that when they where new to a country that was mainly filled with species that had hoofs. "Well your really respectful and well mannered. But I doubt you where raised like a silver spoon considering you ain't bitchin about this shitty wheather." He asked repositioning himself up against the tree to get more comfortable and also to get out of all the snow. After giving a giggle (what to Reg reminded him of his only girl friend) Méditer replied. "No, infact my parents HATED nobles and upperclass folks of all species, they perfered the hardworking type, which they raised me to be.....and I could never thank them enough for it." This is when she caught the major increase of curiosity and a fair amount of respect, but waited for him to ask. "Other species?" He asked raising his right eyebrow. "As in more then changelings and humans?" Méditer simply nodded before answering "Ponies, g-griffons, donkeys and z-zebras tho you never r-r-really find an upperclass zebra." She simply as Reggie noticed she was beginning to shake maraca. "Hey can we continue this later looks like you need to warm up." Reaching out to pat her left shoulder till his hand made contact. "OH YEAH, you need to get warmed up you fill like a tank thats been sittin in a glacier." He stated while standing up, rubbing his hands together for warmth. After wondering what he ment by that she decided to ask him later. "Y-y-yeah I t-think I would l-l-like that." Méditer started to wonder why she was getting cold all of a sudden, not that it wasn't cold before snow usually tends to be cold. "I-its get-t-ting dark." She stated when she look up at a hole the trees left oncovered revealing a red sky which confirmed a setting sun. Her hooves where beginning to hurt as she started to walk after the human. "HHHSSSSsssssss!" She sai-or hissed at the pain in her hooves. "WHAT the hell?" Said the ace as he flinched at the hiss. "scared the shit outa me for a moment." Only to have Méditer give a apologetic smile. "It's cool im still breathin ain't like ya killed me. Here let me carry you." He stated before walking back to her. "N-n-no i-it's ok r-really." She put on a sheepish grin but to no avail, only to have the pilot lower his gance and lift an eyebrow as in saying 'oh really?' "Ok i-if you d-don't mind." As she was lifted into the pilots grip she noticed how the pilot was still warm and snuggled into a ball trying to make herself easier to carry and also to regain warmth faster. Being a changeling has its disadvantages, which one of those is the carapace + snow = unhappy changeling, which is why even the children disliked snow. "DAMN GIRL!, you cold as hell how are you not sufferin from hypothermia?" To which the shivering changeling only shrugged before turnning into a tighter ball while trying to snuggle closer to the ace's chest for warmth, to which he had to hold down a giggle but the grin still made it to his lips as he followed the trail of hoof prints and what looks like a naga trail back to the SPAD. Méditer sensed and feasted on the joy do to the fact all the fear was gone only to realize how hungry she was. She still had to resist the urge to say 'if you want to laugh you can' sence she didn't want to reveal the fact she can smell, sence and see emotions. "By the way the name's Reginald but friends call my Reggie or just Reg, guess you can to." He said while stepping over a fallin tree to look up and see the remains of a plane stuck it the treetops, but couldn't identify the plane itself let only it's national symbol, mother nature has clearly been beating the poor bird down sense 1917. "Pleasure to finally now your name Reginald, your a real gentlecol-I mean gentlemen." After disregarding her slip up, he simply stated with a small chuckle. "Please your starting to sound like mah mother just call me Reg or Reggie. Oh and welcome to France home of romance, beauty and the western front." After hearing Méditer giggled yet again she looked up at him and said. "You sound alot like my friend Rash you know that?" Before turning back into her changeling-sized ball. "And thank you for the welcome it's nice to now where I ended up after all of this." She says while closing her eyes as she becomes tired. "Rash?" He said looking down at the black blob in his arms and chest. She didn't weigh to much probably around 132pds at the most, but he wasn't about to see if the changeling males knew about 'hell hath no furry like a women scorned' so he VERY wisely dropped that thought "Griffon friend." She stated while on the brink of sleep. She did deserve it after being hunted down having the shit knocked out of her being hit in the face with a paralyzation spell and sent to a whole new world (or she thinks a whole new world so she just decided to leave it there sence nothing else makes sense or added up). After a small chuckle. "Ok i'd love to hear about him, but now you get some sleep you seem tired." Méditer responded but Reg couldn't make it out sense it was just a tired moan. And thus she followed as said and drifted off into beloved sleep while Reg continued to walk back towards his plane so she could have some cover from the snow as it begin to fall at a very rapid pace.