Your name isn't important at the moment, because currently, all of the blood in your body is rushing to your head.
All you had done was go exploring. You had waited until your custodian had fallen asleep- she worried far too much for you to stray too far from her while she was awake- and had snuck from the makeshift camp the two of you had set up to rest in. The camp was surrounded by woodlands, and you had been eager to check it out.
Who would've guessed you would end up suspended a good 30 feet above the ground, upside down, the tree vines that trap you the only thing keeping you from falling?
You squirm in your binding; it has you stuck in a rather uncomfortable position, one arm bound close to your chest, the other pulled awkwardly behind your back. Your legs aren't much better, crossed at the knee and bound together. You're fairly certain your fingers and toes have fallen asleep from the restricted blood flow.
Alright, options: You could always thrash your way out. However, you're a bit worried about the green tendril snaked precariously around your neck. Thrash too hard and your lower body would fall, effectively hanging yourself in your struggle to get free, and you would really rather not die at the tender age of five sweeps. You could cut your way out. You have your sickles in your sylladex, and right now, they'd come in very handy. Alas, the ground was a long way down, and you don't feel like finding out the hard way if a 30-foot fall is fatal. You could climb your way out. Climb up the vines until the tension in them lessens, and then simply shrug them off. But seeing as your hands remain bound by those very vines, climbing is an impossibility. You could call for your custodian, but you know that she's nowhere within your screaming radius, impressive as it is.
Effectively, you're stuck.
You let out a heavy sigh. This is all your fault. All of it. You should never have left the camp. The Dolorosa had warned you. She had told you not to go off on your own. But you didn't listen. You didn't listen, and now curiosity was going to kill the crab. Gog, what if she wakes up? She was going to be so worried! And what if you're dead by the time she finds you? You're absolutely horrible, how could you do that to her? You had just wanted to see the woods! She never lets you see the woods! She never lets you go anywhere without her! And you disrespected her by going out alone anyway. Maybe you deserve to die-
"Hey."
The word snaps you out of your internal monologue. You look around for the source of it, and your eyes rest on an- albeit upside down- image of a boy below you.
"What're you doing?" he asks.
From where you're standing- well, hanging- you can't make out much about him. All you can tell is his gender and a rough estimate of his age- and those things were more conclusions you came to from his voice than they were observations you made from his appearance.
"Oh, y'know...hanging out." you answer. He's looking at you quizzically and you give him a sheepish look in return. You're reluctant to admit to the stranger that you'd gotten yourself into a spot of trouble.
"Tho I thee," he begins, and you tilt your head a bit. He speaks with a lisp, though you can still understand him. He looks as if he's mulling your words over, before giving you a two-fingered salute and a grin. "Well, don't let me interrupt you." With that, he turns and keeps walking.
"Wait!" you yell to him without thinking, and he stops in his tracks, one leg still outstretched as if to take another step. He turns on his heel and looks up at you again.
"Yeth~?" You can hear the smirk in his voice and you sigh dejectedly.
"I'm...kind of stuck. Could you give me a hand?" You half expect him to turn away and leave you there, but to your surprise he just pauses. His expression has flattened from a smirk to one of confusion and hesitation.
"Hey, wriggler, jutht who exactly are you?"
"Huh?" The question catches you off guard, but you quickly recover, "Oh, I'm-"
"Thignleth."
...Fuck. You swallow thickly and nod slowly.
"Yeah...I'm signless."
You're the only wriggler in the history of Alternia to be born without a sign. You aren't normal. You suppose him noticing your lack of a sign is the lesser of the two secrets he could discover, but now he's sure to leave you there.
He surprises you.
"Tho, what'th your thtory, thignleth?"
Instead of leaving, he stays put, and the look on his face is no longer hesitant, but almost...curious.
Gog, you've never been more relieved in your life.
"I'll tell you, but...could you get me down first? I feel like I'm going to pass out..." You certainly can't pass out now; you've met someone interesting!
He nods in response. "Alright, thtay put."
"Because I really have a choice, don't I?" You say sarcastically, but there's no malice behind the statement at all. He just snickers.
You watch as he climbs the tree, eventually disappearing from your line of sight. You feel a slight shift vibrate down the vines, and you take that as meaning he's reached them. You smile a bit; finally, you can get down safely! Or so you think, until...
Snap
You feel the tension in the vines lessen around you, and your breath hitches in your throat. You strain your neck to look up at him. He's standing, situated on a branch above you, a knife in his hands.
"W-what're you doing?" You ask in a tone that was borderline panicked.
Snap snap
The tension lessens further.
He doesn't look at you.
"I'm cutting the vineth. When you can move your handth, grab the vineth I haven't cut and climb onto a branch, then climb down the tree. It'th thimple."
It was simple, in theory, but nothing was ever that simple. You wiggle and writhe in your binds, and even though they've considerably loosened, you're still tangled in them. You groan loudly; you were getting nowhere with this!
Not seconds after that thought crosses your mind, you are getting somewhere; you're plummeting.
A/N: This chapter was initally longer, but I ran out of time. ^^; Just wanted to get this up. Call it a teaser. Reviews on it are welcome, because I have a long plotline already planned out, but I suck with writing and if no one likes it I might just delete it.