She gazed down the little hill at the fox that they had followed, cupping a hand to her brow to cut down the glare of sunlight that filtered through the canopy of trees. The fox, she assumed it was a female, had been feeding a litter of three cubs, dropping a rabbit to the mouth of the little hole carved into a hill, the babies had wasted no time in devouring it.

Aegir had been light sensitive and while the light had not been strong here it still hindered him, causing him to be farsighted. He pretended to watch the illusion he generated of the foxes but could not see them. He had been masked in an illusion as well, Ruby, the red headed student. It was a guise that he donned a few times now, though even it did not mask his slow movements as he caught up to Erica and looked towards the foxes.

He admired intelligence above all else and selected her because of her smarts. He assumed that he could turn matters into a simple snatch and grab given that there was no one else around. He could sense the minds of the other students about a mile from them and figured that they were probably just aware that two of their members had been missing.

It was no small feat but he altered the minds of the entire class with false memories that Ruby had always been a part of it and the professor too of course. He even faked the memory of the hiking trip that they had been on today. The little nature hike and though Shokoshu had no animals he had conjured them up with illusions.

But now they had been alone and Ruby glanced towards Erica after a few minutes. "Fuck!" She brought a hand to her mouth as if to silence her, as if she didn't mean to swear. "Pardon my French but the others. They're probably looking for us. What has it been, ten minutes, fifteen?"

Ruby's gaze flickered to her watch as if calculating the time. He felt confident that he could snatch her if he had wanted too but really there had been no fun in that. He was curious to see how she could handle the situation, of course he did not make it overly challenging yet, as far as he was concerned there was plenty of time to change things up. They were just getting started after all ...

It had been an interesting day thus far though to be honest i'm not sure what had been real and what wasn't. I remembered several things that I could swear happened but, now I think they made no sense. But, I suppose I'll never really know which were inventions and which were true.

I had spotted a fox in the woods, I'd been through the woods a dozen times at least and this had been the first animal I had seen I was a bit surprised that it was one of my favorites as well. It seemed just a little suspiscious honestly though i decided to sweep that thought aside, it seemed far to real to be animatronic or some sort of play of light. I decided to follow it, walking away from the group with my simple note pad. I took down notes of several landmarks and for a time took notes of the ravanous behavior of the pups. it seemed food wasn't common, probably why i hadn't seen many animals I decided.

Then I heard a voice that i didn't quite remember, at least not at first. I turned to ruby and shrugged slightly at her remark.
"Oh I doubt they'd even notice me missing for long on such a simple hike through such a contained area. especially for only a few minutes like that. I suppose we should get to finding them however... I'll have to ask if they could happen to deliver more native fauna for the woods, or at least have some sort of nature preservation here for the applicable majors."

Ruby visible calmed down some, glanced back in the direction that they had last thought the rest of the class to have been in then walked in that vicinity with Erica when she had been through taking notes. Aegir managed to get a peek at what had been written their seeing something about a severed head ... a land mark he figured, their had been a large oval boulder jutting out of the ground not far from here and while most of what he had seen had been notes on foxes and their behavior he had figured that the other page or pages that he had failed to get a good look at contained directions.

Now he knew that that wouldn't help her much seeing that he could add or conceal things with his illusionary abilities but he did secretly nod approval of the effort. As they continued on Aegir had changed the appearances of landmarks to be rather mundane or down right erroneous.

"Why do you say that they wouldn't notice you?" Ruby asked as they pressed on. He generated the trickle of a stream nearby, one that they obviously had not passed.

as I walked with Ruby I could swear i began to hear things, voices that weren't mine or hers or in fact any of the students i had heard since arriving at this school.
'turn back, your eyes lie girl'
and
'get away from that being beside you'
I chocked it up to paranoia and the events of the passed week of school getting to me, being raped I was certain was driving me a bit mad and probably would for awhile, it was a trauma and despite being the brainiac i was I certainly wasn't immune to the effects of such events.

"why they wouldn't notice? well, I suppose that's probably the wrong way to put it... they'd be happy I'm gone is more appropriate. I'm certain I tend to annoy both my peers and my professors... i have a nasty habit of correcting people and taking over lectures my professors give by accident."
I sighed a little bit.
"Most of my professors would love to give me detention for a year and they probably would if it was against the rules to give a long answer to a question... except my history professor anyway."

He had felt the nagging questions that cropped up in her mind though there was not a thing he had to do as Erica convinced herself that she was just being paranoid. He did crack into her mind when her thoughts turned to her dreadful island experiences.

Accessing those memories in her mind he took a look at them and silently contemplated on them. He was far from cruel though he realized that his advances were often unwanted. He mulled over his findings and of course her answer to the question.

"A pity. Most people don't like being corrected though, makes them feel like a child. I don't recall a stream being here, do you?"

They had passed by some trees, one with initials carved into the bark but dated back to '85, something they had passed on the way up but the stream was new. If it could even be called that seeing that you could step over it.

A rabbit had been drinking from it though upon hearing them it perked up it's head and ears as they approached then hopped off into the safety of nearby brush.

When we came upon stream I looked at it curiously shaking my head but I also shrugged to the girl near me. I offered a simple smile to her.
"No certainly don't remember a stream but, it is an island either we'll make it to the school again or to one of the beaches."

I offered one more sigh to her through my soft smile which i knew i was wearing.
"And I really know it makes people feel like a child but... I just can't help myself it just sort of slips out even when i don't want it to. despite my reasoning and realizing that they don't wish for it."

I looked at the stream and continued to ignore the voices, i assumed it was just my imagination running wild, now I know better, i know it was the trees offering a warning others couldn't hear.

You should mind those words ...

Aegir thought as they moved on. He observed her and listened to her as Ruby nodded to her response. "Your right, we'll probably find our way by hitting one of the beaches and finding our way from there. That's east ... sun rises there opposite is west so that way is north and this is south.

"There were a few beaches to the west that I went to, not too far from the school either though we'd have the fortune of going though trackless woods, no trails lucky us." Ruby glance westward then looked back at Erica.

"Probably easier to find the others, huh?"

Ruby debated in her head as they moved along. "Surround yourself with eggheads ..." she said at last. "Those that know a lot usually don't make as many errors so you won't have to correct them as often. It's a start at least ..."

I listened quietly to her nodding where I felt it was appropriate. It did make sense I had to admit, despite it being an island it was a rather large wooded area and getting lost could mean being lost for quite a stretch of time, not enough to die of course but, still uncomfortably long.
"Agreed... so which way would you recommend we begin our search?"

I smiled slightly showing i meant no arrogance despite my matter of fact tone. I really was trying to be nice to her, friendly at least.
"As for surrounding myself with eggheads... I suppose I could but, intellect among humans usually breeds rivalry and I perfer not having people trying to one up me, it's just a pointless endeavor to try and be better than someone else."

She gave matters a degree of thought, her brow creasing while she considered things then walked over to a nearby tree, examened it then nodded. She spun on her heels facing away from Erica then pointed in that direction.

"West. That way. That is if the old addage is true about moss only growing on the north side of trees. We came in from that direction so we'll cross paths with school grounds by going that way. I think the beach is along the way if I remember my geography right."

She smile as if proud of her simple observation. In truth the direction was opposite that of the nearest sentient mind. There was another alien presence in that direction but he sensed a human mind nearby so it was safe to assume that it was another entity enjoying a successful hunt.

That little thought gave him in idea, something that he had never tried before. What if he didn't drop his illusion? What if he simply generated another being with his illusions? It was an idea that he place at the back of his compound mind to think over. He could be patient when he wanted and figured that he had plenty of time to consider it as they walked.

"Yeah, I've never thought of it that way. You could do the opposite, surround yourself with dummies that wouldn't know, we'll they'll know your smart and probably be a bit envious of your gifting. But I guess it grows stale always being the best at most things, especially those that deal with intellect."

I watched her observation and simply nodded, i decided it would be best to let her lead, i knew the science but, I didn't want to seem like a know it all to this girl. I was trying to make at least one new friend in my time here, one that could remember me more easily than ishtar and one that... I hadn't had an unfortunate experience with like all the others I'd made thus far.

"Being named the most intellegent person alive has... well it's been a living abyss... I just don't know how to handle it all most of the time, people that have seen me in the paper or on an interview or something... they all look at me like i'm not even human. It's just horrible and the intellectual community is no better trying to disect my thought process and to be honest... they're a bunch of pretentious snobby good for nothing whining bitches who think they're better than everyone else."

I sounded angry even to myself, angry enough for my face to be rather red i was certain. i shook my head placing a hand to my forehead.
"sorry about that..."

I decided not to talk again for awhile... the next thing i said was roughly half an hour into the walk, I slumpped against a tree.
"would you mind a moment's breather?"

He had been reminded of Ishtar as Erica thought of her. He had encountered her twice, once near here in the forests and the other at the school after a play. Both encounters were rather pleasant and he got into thinking about them. Perhaps he would revisit her at some point.

But he fell silent while Erica ranted. It was a difficult place to be in he'd imagine. He never had that sort of problem himself being a loner but to be ostersized by one group and have the other only admire one aspect of your personality.

Ruby assured her all had been alright but even then they went on in silence for a good while. Far enough where he did not sense any other sentient minds around. His gaze flickered about then glanced to Erica. "Sure."

This would do rather nicely actually meeting the criteria that he demanded for such a place. He had been able to fool her thus far. He had gleaned that she had wanted to acquire another friend which caused him to reasse matters.

Ruby slump down, back to a tree as she slide down the bark of a tree. When she reached the ground she picked at a bug bite at her arm then glanced away from it. "No luck thus far, I figured that we would have hit the beach by now."

I was leaning against the tree at first before I saw ruby take a seat. I decided it best to join her. I offered a bit of a relaxed sigh brushing a hand over my forehead rubbing it softly.

"Hmm, you're right. Is a bit odd I have to admit..."
you are making a mistake.

I paused abruptly glancing the the tree behind me for a moment shaking my head for just a moment before again I'd look to Ruby scratching my shoulder slightly looking down to the ground for several seconds before I decided to finally ask her.

"Did you hear something? like a voice, sort of raspy and very bassy?"

It found it odd really, maybe i was losing my mind from the isolation, it had been my first time in my life not having my formerly good friend krystal. Isolation could lead to insanity, the 19th century postpartum depression cure proved that well enough.

Yeah. What is that?" Aegir feigned that he heard something, his posture straightening up as if he were listening to something. All the while he was scanning Erica's mind as if in searching it to cues therein.

Ruby glanced around as if she were looking for the source of a sound. She gazed back towards Erica. "I can't pinpoint it though ..."

It was his hopes of distracting her enough. They had been isolated here, so that was going in his favor and while he had a few things in mind he settled in on a particular avenue figuring that he would try it before falling into a simple snatch and grab mentality.

Ruby said she heard it too, I didn't know what i was though, it sounded to be coming from behind me, specifically from the tree. It wasn't exactly a precise judgement of where the noise was from though.

I stood glancing from ruby around the area curiouslytrying to see if there was anything there to no avail. I offered little more than a sigh to ruby now rubbing my eyes.
"Any idea where it's coming from? I'm quite bothered by this really."

((sorry about delay... and length))

"Maybe those rocks, near the tree," she answered as she gazed in that direction as if studying the spot. She looked at Erica after a moment though. "Flush it out? I'll go one way and drive it towards you. I doubt it's anything to worry about. I haven't seen anything larger than a fox here and they generally run from humans unless cornered."

Of course Aegir had been pressing his thoughts into her mind, reading it, studying it. He planned to act soon though he wondered precisely when. Now? Around now? Or generate an illusion of something harmless being flushed out only to let her drop her guard then strike?

There was a plethora of decisions to make though he was patient and in no rush. He rather take a decade doing something and doing it right rather than rushing through it in half the time getting it wrong along the way.

He knew that he was best to get close though giving his slow mode of travel he knew that the chances for evading him had been higher if he had not restrained an individual first.

(Don't worry, I can be patient and post size doesn't matter much)