LIPSTICK, RED WINE LONG NIGHTS, IT'S A LIFESTYLE SO GOOD TO THE LAST DROP YOU COULD SEE ME LIGHT UP FROM THE ROOFTOPS

Maria was about as lost as her pelt was red.

Well..."lost" being a relative term. Lost insisted that she had a starting point and a destination in mind; when really, she had absolutely no idea where the fuck she was going to begin with. At this point, the young girl was aimlessly wandering, scaring off every small creature in the vicinity with the odd, sporadic bursts of fire that would flare from her paws.

"Listen, not everybody has control of their stupid fucking powers, okay? Cut me some slack." The Somali whined at a squirrel that had scurried out of the way of a particularly violent explosion of sparks just moments before. "I could have been trying to eat you, but noo." Maria had only been trying to watch it bury its dumb fucking acorn for the winter, but apparently even that set her rockets off. Luckily they were just sparks, not actual flames, which...had proved to be much more catastrophic in a certain field a few days ago.

She wouldn't deny the fact that dinner really did sound nice; her hunger was beginning to gnaw on her ribs. Being a live wire had proved difficult in the way of hunting in the past few weeks. While Maria had mostly grown accustomed to eating once or twice every two or three days, it hadn't done her body any good: scrawny and fragile, she tired easily and was frequently pausing in her aimless journey to nap. She'd even passed out one or twice while on a hunt, her physical exertion exceeding its limits. If only she could get her stupid fucking powers under wraps then maybe she'd have a successful kill every now and again.

Evening was quick to descend on the land, the creeping darkness already itching under Maria's pelt. Soon the sun would disappear, and if she couldn't find some place to stay before then, she was toast.

Of course, all impending stress vanished as soon as she reached the edge of the forest. Where the trees thinned and shrank to a wide field of grass, the sky overhead burned a startling orange and red - an unusual sight apart from the gentle pink and blue that welcomed the night. Clouds melted to molten lava; the horizon a flame, lit by the sun. The beauty of the scene was quick to snatch Maria's ever-shortening attention span, leaving the small feline to blindly ignore the acrid scent that marked the beginning of someone's land. Her romanticism often had the odds of getting the better of her: easily able to derail all thought with the drop of a stone and stroke of a brush. 

Unfortunately, the more she lost herself to the glory of the odd sunset, the more she lost herself to the overwhelming awe that flared in her chest. No sooner had the exclaimed "Wow!" left her lips did flames erupt from her paws, mirroring the sky. Maria yelped, twisting away from her own devilish creation, only to realize that she'd accidentally set a swath of dry grass on fire.

It was then that the entirety of her surroundings slammed into her senses: new territory, lots of creatures, lots of other scents she couldn't even begin to comprehend, the rapidly descending darkness from the east, the odd dome-like structure to the north, and the horror that she was dead if she didn't put out this fire and get the hell out of dodge before someone found her.

"Shit, shit - stop, fuck -" Curses spilled from her tongue as she panicked, overwhelmed and at odds with what to do. "Fuck, I'm so dead."

(didn't proofread and haven't written anything in like a month, yikes)

"Are you fucking kidding me.. A fire, really?" Onision's loud grumble sounded from a distance as he caught the smell of burnt embers, sauntering over with his usual grouchy expression on his face. His nose scrunched up against his muzzle as he scented to see if there was anyone dead he could feed off of, but nope. Only one terrified kid, trying to put out the fire that she seemingly caused.

"Get some damp moss and pat it all out. I need someone with water elementals!" Oni called out over his shoulders, as if this was something that happened every fucking day. Well, Feyre had lit a bunch of roses on fire, and one of Gabriel's friends had did a face first into the ground, so yeah.. He had every right to be a dick right now. He was surprised she wasn't dead, though.

"What's your name, spark-ass?" Onision asked in a bored tone, already getting to work on patting out some flames with soaked boss, steam rising up into the air.

//I'm assuming she set something on fire? If not, I'm dumb and I'll edit.

all you give me is a heartbeat —

LIPSTICK, RED WINE LONG NIGHTS, IT'S A LIFESTYLE SO GOOD TO THE LAST DROP YOU COULD SEE ME LIGHT UP FROM THE ROOFTOPS

Maria's expectation of the land's inhabitants was a far cry from the reality: a grumpy boy who, honestly? Couldn't be much older than her. Still, his spontaneous appearance amid every other crisis Maria was experiencing still startled her, and her surprise resulted in another burst of sparks and a squeak. Luckily nothing caught on fire this time, but her paw pads were still scorched...as per usual.

Through the flames and embers burning in front of her, Maria's saucer-wide green eyes zeroed in on Oni, mind narrowing to how utterly ridiculous his command sounded. "Yeah," She bit out, completely foregoing the fact that she was on foreign land and the culprit in a bad situation, "Let me just take the time to find some moss and go dunk it in the ocean, which is a couple miles that way. Fantastic suggestion!" So she was being a little dramatic, whatever - this event probably wouldn't have any outward affect on the grand scheme of her life, right?

The dumb commentary only added to the slight hysteria that was beginning to descend on her brain, cluttering and crowding into the corner among everything else going on and Maria would really appreciate some quiet - the build was already starting to climb, and its peak wasn't going to be pretty. So at Oni's question on her identity, Maria snapped her head towards him, irritation evident in her eyes. "What's yours? Or can I call you 'Stick Up The Ass'?"

LIPSTICK, RED WINE LONG NIGHTS, IT'S A LIFESTYLE SO GOOD TO THE LAST DROP YOU COULD SEE ME LIGHT UP FROM THE ROOFTOPS

Maria hardly has time to switch from her present state of irritation at herself and Oni to focus on the massive lion walking their way. It's a snippet of time between frustration and fear: the sudden slam of her heartbeat against her ribs parroted by the jump in flames. She can't tell if he lives here, too; the acrid sting of smoke burns the back of her throat. It should be a smell that she's used to by now, quite frankly, but it still manages to catch her off guard as she inhales a lungful of it, choking on her own tongue.

The fur is already standing up along her spine and there are sparks at her clawtips, but there's lethargy behind the lion's movements, and Maria thanks her lucky stars for it because she's still busy coughing. Nevertheless, it's not until after a second lion comes around and douses the fire does Maria suck in a breath to clear her mind, scrambling a couple feet away. The rest of the fire doesn't last long; it wasn't as big as she made it out to be. It sputters and dwindles to a small patch of charred ground and grass.

Maria blinks at it; there's a rush of cold air where heat once was. There's wit on the end of her tongue and sarcasm welling in her chest, but her throat stays shut tight, millions of instincts and nerve endings telling her to turn tail and fucking run.

Sparing a glance in the direction of said escape, Maria notices how much further the sun has sunk below the horizon line. The fire in the sky is fading, leaving gentle purple to mask the coming threat of night. Maria worries at her lip, nerves alight. She won't last the night in this neck of the woods - not when there's something akin to shelter just over the rise.

Green eyes sweeping the three boys up and down, she makes up her mind on the spot. "I'm learning." She supplies meagerly, defensive spite creeping into her voice. It's not her finest moment, nor a fantastic greeting, but it's all she's got. "I should probably start carrying water on me, but I'd probably spill it, since I'm such a klutz," The auburn-furred feline jokes, knowing that this isn't the time for jokes and yet doing nothing to stop them from spilling past her lips. No brain-to-mouth filter, one might say. "Uh...so...do you guys have bears and tigers here, too? Or do I just have to worry about lions?"

LIPSTICK, RED WINE LONG NIGHTS, IT'S A LIFESTYLE SO GOOD TO THE LAST DROP YOU COULD SEE ME LIGHT UP FROM THE ROOFTOPS

In the gap of silence that stretched between the young girl and her three male counterparts, she began to wonder if they would ever ask any information from her. Her past, her name...what she was doing wandering around the woods all on her own. Initially, she'd prefer if they didn't; she'd likely be up and out of their hair by midday tomorrow. She didn't need to leave any breadcrumbs behind.

Then again...Maria could always indulge herself on the concept of returning to friends. Potentially, at least. It had been far too long since she’d had a friend, anyway. The squirrels and birds that she couldn’t catch and eat for supper had been poor conversationalists these past few weeks. Were her social skills a little rusty because of it? Perhaps. Did she long for the attention of others? Definitely.

Attention snapping to the feline that approached next, Maria regarded him with dubious eye. His fur was as unkempt as her mind felt, and to that, she could hold a toast. “Wh - snacks are supposed to be small, that’s why they’re called snacks,” Maria exclaimed. Subconsciencly squinting at him, something in her mind edged towards creepy. Surely he wasn’t a creepy person, but his restless, curious eyes made her skin itch. (Not that she could say anything, honestly...she was all restless, clumsy limbs and prodding questions.) To his benefit, Maria could reward his good sense of humor and the simple fact that he was a domestic feline. She no longer felt dwarfed by the twin Mufasas. To his last jibe, she allowed the slip of a grin, mocking a serious nod. “Right, thanks. I must’ve lost my private invitation to the Donner party, so I’ll steer clear of you around dinner.”

She was ready to use that tease as a segway into the objectively blunt question ”Can I live with you guys for a while?” but Mufasa number one beat her to the punch.

No bears or tigers, huh? Well, Maria couldn’t say she was disappointed. Lions were plenty enough for her meager combat training level. “Damn, no wizards? That blows,” She complained, only half teasing. Part of her was sure that in this kind of world there was something at least similar to wizards and witches. She wanted to be Ginny Weasley for Halloween.

About to comment on the other odd specimen the lion brought up, Maria puckered her lip instead at the question. She was expecting questions, but was both affronted and honored by the manner in which they were asked. “I didn’t come from a lab, if that’s what you’re wondering,” She scoffed. “And I’ve got a name, but I guess “Magic Pyromaniac” sounds a lot cooler than Marianna.”