Second Chances: Starting Anew

It made her wary and a little uncomfortable. But the only reason it bothered her was... well!

Yvonne looked around at the trees to make sure no one was lurking around. Not that there would be, but this was unusual and she was going to do something that was probably best no one snuck up on them and saw! Jumping to her feet, she was pulling Alex up to his. Then dragged him off towards the treehouse and ushering him inside. With the bushes and makeshift walls, no one would see!

That's when she was pulling that dress over her head without giving Alex any warning! Underneath was a thin slip, so it wasn't like she was naked or anything.

"Don't freak out or anything, I mean it's really strange, so maybe we were abducted by gambling gnomes or something, but look!" Then she was pulling up her slip too so she could show him! Though a slightly different position, right on her lower stomach slightly to the left were a pair of dice. Double ones and just as noticeable as his own. Yvonne was scowling again.

"And you swear you've always had it and haven't been using your secret knight assassin skills to go peeking at naked bathing girls?"
 
Alex only had time to blink before he was hauled to his feet and dragged into the club house. A million thoughts were firing through his head and not one of them were happy ones. He was going to get it. Yvonne would kill him, thinking he had done something, something wrong, something horrible, something totally unforgivable. The priests would never find his body and he would wander this world for all eternity, seeking rest he could never obtain ...

So it was with something akin to surprise and shock, when Yvonne took him into the clubhouse to strip instead! He blinked and his cheeks grew red but she was quickly directing his attention elsewhere and he coughed politely. Focus. Time to focus. Look down ... not that far down ... back up ... Okay, hold your gaze there and don't let your eyes wander ...

Alex blinked and looked from her birthmark to his and back again. He nodded--yes, he had always had it--then shook his head--no, he had not been using his er, skills to spy on naked girls! But thanks to his dream, he doubted he'd ever be comfortable with a naked girl--or guy--again!

"Something strange ... happening?" he asked, meaning if she thought the birthmarks meant there was something going on. Perhaps something the two of them couldn't even begin to fathom.
 
"You read, don't you? All the best books start with weird stuff happening." Dropping the hem of her slip and smoothing it out, she grabbed her dress to pull back over her head. Flashing a boy her panties didn't seem to phase her any. Now she was already working on a new mystery.

Fussing to fluff out the skirt to fall just right past her knees, Yvonne finally stopped to peek out the holes of her Fortress to see if they were still safe from spies. After huge revelations, there were often spies.

"Mama says I must have been born lucky, but Dad likes to say snake eyes means I'm going to start the next Apocalypse. But since you have one too, it must be really special. What's the chance of two people having weird birthmarks in Haler's Mill? Well, weirder than Andriette's moose one."

"I wonder what the numbers mean. ...Do you think anyone else has one?" That was a good question! She had ones and he had fives! Maybe there was the other numbers. Wasn't there six on dice?
 
Alex was thoughtful for several more minutes. Yvonne was right, this was just the type of thing that happened in the stories he read. The thought both excited and unnerved him. If this was the "beginning" of the story, so to speak, what other odd things waited for them just around the corner?

He took a few deep breaths. He had to focus again. So he and Yvonne both had the birthmarks. Her mother said it meant good luck, her father said it meant quite the opposite. Then it hit him. He snapped his finger to get her attention and scribbled something on the board. Of course, the birthmarks weren't the only things they had in common!

Alex tapped the slate. "Birthdays." They both had the same birthday! Surely, that meant something, too! It could help them find others like them, who also had the dice on their bodies!
 
"Birthdays..? Oh! You're a genius!" In such a small village, people with the same birthday was rare. And there were so many in Haler's Mill! "Hmm... there's at least a dozen people, I guess we'll start with people our age!" With hunting in mind, Yvonne bustled around until she found herself a net. It looked like something she had made herself with some fish-netting and a big sturdy stick. She had clearly planned to capture something at one point.

"...just in case we need it." she explained at his expression. "If they refused to tell me or show me, I'll be forced to capture and have a look for myself. We'll have all day to examine people!"
 
Alex eyed the net but finally shrugged. There were times Yvonne actually made sense and this happened to be one of them. They had to find out if people had birthmarks one way or another and birthmarks were usually in places one didn't casually bare to the public.

Alex wrote something else on the slate. "Where do we start?" Yvonne had mentioned people their age but they lived scattered across town and in some cases, out of town.
 
"We'll just start with whomever lives closest and then go down the list."

Net ready, Yvonne led the way out of her Fortress and picked a direction. It was probably best to start with the houses behind her patch of woods, so they could loop back around. After trotting around in a observant silence, she spotted Jacob heading down one of the trails.

"Jacob!" she called to catch his attention, and ignored how startled he looked. He just couldn't forgive a girl, could he? "Isn't your birthday sometime this week?"

Jacob looked this way and that, backing up an inch or two when Yvonne approached. "Uh.. I.. maybe."

Yvonne blinked. "Maybe? Why so vague, Jacob? You know when your birthday is. ...or are you hiding something? Like a weird birthmark?" Narrowing her eyes with suspicion, she inched closer. It would figure that Jacob might be one of them! He was looking shifty.

Jacob, on the other hand, was having entirely different thoughts. Like being completely confused. "Huh? I don't have any birthmarks! ...I think I hear my Aunt calling." He was already turning away to take off.

"Liar! Everyone has birthmarks! Get him, Alex!" At the sound of attack, Jacob took off running down the trail. Yvonne lift her net up over her head and chased after him. That only made Jacob run faster, screaming for help!

"He's getting away! Come on, Alex!"
 
Alex followed alongside Yvonne. He was in no way surprised that she had already mapped out how they were going to do things. Her mind worked awfully quick that way. When Jacob bolted, he wasn't surprised about that either. If half the stories about the things Yvonne did to Jacob were true, the boy had several good reasons for running.

Alex watched Yvonne go dashing after Jacob and looked around. Those hedges that grew behind the houses, the ones that separated most of them from the woods. He sprinted around and behind the hedges.

Alex could feel his breath coming out in short, quick gasps as he ran and he had to stop. He rounded the corner to lean against the side of a house. Breathe. Breathe. His lungs were on fire, his legs ached. He was certainly not built for chasing after someone. That was when he felt the vibrations of someone approaching. He poked his head around the corner and found, to his amazement, that he'd somehow managed to beat Jacob.

Alex hid back behind the house and looked around. There had to be some way to stop Jacob without killing himself by way of asthma attack. If Jacob got away now, they'd never know for sure if he was one of the people they were searching for or not.

Alex picked up a discarded coil of thick rope about several feet long and tested it. There was no mold on it, it wasn't moist, it was still in good condition. He made a lasso and waited as the footsteps came in closer and the vibrations stronger. Jacob was running past him when he finally tossed the rope.

Jacob didn't even know what happened. One moment he was running, and the next, someone had caught him with a rope, trapping his arms to his sides! Alex didn't give him a chance to break away and drag him off, either. As the rope began to get taunt between him and Jacob, he wrapped his end of the rope around the trunk of a young sapling about seven feet in height and a foot thick a few times. The rope suddenly went tight and Jacob snapped back, landing on his behind HARD!

"Uh ... Lemme outta here! Lemme outta here!" Jacob was wailing!
 
Yvonne came bounding up, netting Jacob despite the fact her was already lassoed and on the ground. She leaned forward to catch her breath and blinked in surprise at Alex.

"That was a quick catch!" Alex had Jacob lassoed and hooked to a tree in like... seconds! He was DEFINITELY a secret knight!

"Okay, Jacob. We know you have a secret, and you're going to spill the beans." Yvonne said, standing straight again to strut around the boy like some sort of interrogator. Jacob was looking really confused and more than a little scared.

"I- I don't have a clue what you're talking about Yvonne! C'mon! Let me go!"

Yvonne scoffed. "Ha! Then why did you start running? People only run when they have secrets!"

"They also run when maniacs are chasing them!"

That was true. Yvonne paused to tap her chin. "...you still ran! Now do you have a weird birthmark or not?"

Jacob shook his head furiously, now trying to wiggled his way out from under the net and out of that rope.

"I was afraid you were gonna say that. Now I have to check for myself." Yvonne advanced, and by the time Jacob realized what she meant, he was howling for help while she pushed him around and tried to get his pants off!
 
Alex blinked back at Yvonne. This was not going to help her believe he wasn't a knight of some kind. In fact, this was going to make things worst! He opened his mouth to say something, closed it, opened it again. Then he gave up and let out a relieved breath when she turned her attention to Jacob.

Alex watched Jacob struggle but the lasso was nice and tight. It was so secure he was almost afraid to wonder how he knew to do things like that--Focus. Think of something else. The sky. The ground. Jacob screaming at the top of his lungs. He sure hoped Yvonne was done quickly but he couldn't see. His eyes were turned away.

 
"Stop squirming so much! I'm not going to hurt you!" Yvonne had managed to take Jacob's pants and was now working on getting off his shirt. That required taking the net off him and a lot of trying to maneuver him around to get it out from the ropes too.

That was a mistake!

Yvonne had loosened the knots so she could move his arms and steal his shirt... but as soon as she got the shirt off, Jacob rolled himself on the ground and wiggled out of the lasso. Before Yvonne could jump on him, he shoved her over and was taking off down the road in nothing but his unmentionables! Yvonne quickly scrambled to her feet, but after a few paces of chasing, she stopped to rest her hands on her hips.

"Dang. Oh well. I didn't see any weird birthmarks on him. So unless it's on his butt I don't think he has one." Later she could double check. He had to take a bath SOME time, but for now, she was frowning down at her dress. All that wrestling Jacob on the ground had gotten dust all over it! She fussed with trying to swat the dirt off.

"Well, that's one person down. Who do you think we should get next?"
 
Alex watched Yvonne take off after Jacob. Was he going to try sprinting after them? Not a chance. He was a teen with an asthma problem, not some invincible warrior. So while she went running away after their escaped prisoner, he took the rope off the tree and retrieved her net. And just in case they'd need it, he took the rope, too.

Alex stopped beside her and watched Jacob disappear. He offered her her net and considered their options. He moved the rope over his shoulder and pulled out the slate. A minute later, he turned the slate around so Yvonne could read it. "Beni?" it read. She lived nearby and she would probably be more likely to give Yvonne a honest answer compared to having to be tied down and stripped.
 
"I did want to go see Beni today." Yvonne rest the handle of her net on her shoulder as she eyed Alex again. For a second it seemed like she was going to ask him some more questions. Knife throwing, rope tossing. She had no idea Alex was so talented. He almost never left the temple! But she finally gave him a wide grin and led the way down the road.

A few minutes down the road and they arrived where Beni lived. Yvonne hoped over to the door and was knocking as loud as possible. Far too often, no one would hear her knocking and answer the doors. So she made sure she knocked loud!

"BENI! IT'S YVOOOOOONNE! IS ANYONE HOOOOOME!" Yvonne stepped back, considering if they should sneak inside.
 
Ina sat at her table and watched the people talking and laughing together. She sighed as she was kind of lonely but she didn't know how to make friends. Sure she could beat people up and earn respect with her fists but respect didn't give you company. Ina sipped at her water as she waited for her breakfast of biscuits and gravy, boy was she a sucker for them too, as her mind wondered. Ina was still completely on alert watching for anything suspicious in her town. Ina scratched the area under her left breast where her birthmark was, it felt slightly raised. Maybe she got bit by a bug in her sleep. Stupid bugs! Ina hugged her knees to her chest in the attempt to stop scratching her birthmark.

Ina's face lit up as her breakfast was finally brought to her. Ina picked up her fork and started shoveling it into her mouth. The cook had made her a double order, which could serve four. They always have heaping servings of everything but this was the one thing she could eat like a cow and still want more.
 
Alex blinked. For a moment, just a moment, he had begun bracing himself for another attack or a bunch of other questions. Yvonne had that look in her eyes and he knew that would spell trouble for him. A teenager could only take so much, especially when the one dishing out the punishment was ... well, Yvonne.

Alex let out a soft sigh of relief when she merely turned around and started walking for Beni's house. He slipped his slate and chalk back under his robe.
He'd always liked Beni but there were few people he didn't like. She was a bit strange sometimes, though. But he guessed having a wizard for a dad could do that to you.

He waited and waited for Beni to answer the door. Where was she?
 
"I don't think she's here." Yvonne mumbled, kind of disappointed. Normally, she might try to crawl in a window and see if there was someone hiding in there, but time was of the essence. There were dozens of people to hunt down and only so many hours in her free-day!

Of course, that's when her stomach growled loud enough that she was she it startled the birds out in the field. Giving a sheepish look at Alex, she shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I'm hungry. Let's go grab something to eat at the tavern and plan out our manhunt."

As usual, Yvonne didn't leave much room for argument. She was grabbing Alex's hand and pulling him along with her down the street towards the main street of the town. Most of the businesses were there and that included the tavern where all the fun fights happened.

When they walked in to the tavern and Yvonne scanned around for an empty seat, she spotted Ina! Her eyes lighting up at another possible person to be "hunted" she drug Alex with her and plopped in to a seat next to Ina.

"Hey Ina! We're just two innocent people here to have an early lunch. Nothing going on at all, nope. Anything interesting happen today...?" This time she supposed she'd try not to ask the hard questions too soon. She didn't want Ina running away like Jacob did. Yvonne was pretty sure Ina could beat her up.
 
Alex looked around but there was no sign of anyone outside or inside. He huffed and ran his fingers through his hair, blinking when Yvonne's stomach growled. He looked down at his own stomach. Had it really been that long since she gave him that pastry?

"OOff!" Alex exclaimed when Yvonne grabbed his hand and began pulling him down the street again. He let out another huff. At this rate, she was either going to pull his arm off like a doll's or stretch his arm so it would be longer than the other. He couldn't decide which sounded worst.

Once they were in the tavern, he was being pulled again. He stepped left and right, and even had to slip between two people sideways to get through. He smiled sheepishly at Ina and waved.
 
Ina looked up, wearing some of her breakfast like lip gloss, to ask for some more water when she spotted Yvonne hurling towards her dragging poor Alex. Thankfully they had enough grace to not trip over anyone, however some of the tavern customers were not as lucky. Ina slowly licked the gravy off of her lips as she watched the pair take their seats next to her.

"Hello!" Ina said as quickly as she could knowing that Yvonne was not one to wait for responses very well when she had something on her mind. Yvonne always seemed to be getting scolded by Ina's father for one reason or another as when Yvonne wanted to do or say something she knew no limits until her task was done. Ina managed a quick nod to Alex as she assumed he knew exactly how Yvonne was when she had something to say.

Not long after her mental deduction did Yvonne start talking in a round about way fishing for information. Ina bit her lip as Yvonne asked a few questions. "Nothing that I'm aware of but I have not been up for long. What exactly are you fishing for?" Ina looked questioningly at Alex maybe he knew what he was fishing for and shed be able to get a direct question that she could be able to answer.
 
Alex glanced at Yvonne. She was always straight to the point but she might end up beating around the bush several times in the hopes of not having history repeat itself. He pulled out his slate and chalk and wrote something down, then showed it to Ina.

"Happy birthday. Do you have a birthmark like this?"

Alex waited a few minutes to give her a chance to read and let the words sink in before he put the slate down. He glanced around out of habit before pulling back his left sleeve and showing Ina the birthmark with the pair of die. He pointed at the birthmark and then pointed at Yvonne, indicating she had one like it as well.
 
"Jeeze, Alex! I was trying to be subtle so she didn't take off running like Jacob did." Yvonne glared at him for a minute until she turned back to Ina.

"Yeah, do you have one like it too? I can't show off mine, or I'd get thrown out of the tavern, but I've got one too. We thought it was kind of weird, so we're hunting people down now."