Questions in the Forest {OPEN}

[Liliana Sophie Archer]

//I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems blow//

//Welcome to the new age, woah, I'm radio active//

Liliana looked up at the ceiling in her new room and sighed, listening to the sweet sound of her mother's violin drifting its way into her room. The room was too plain. In face the whole house was plain. They would have to change that soon. Her old room was a bright orange back in Pennsylvania, maybe she could paint this one a neon green. She looked out of her large window and saw the dreary grey skies and green moss that covered nearly every surface. Maybe a green bedroom would cause her to overdose on green. It was her favorite color, but there was a such thing as too much of a good thing.

It was a Saturday morning, nearly noon, and Liliana had nothing to do other than lay in bed and worry about that upcoming September. The month she would once again start High School. She hadn't had the most pleasant of experiences in High School, or school in general. It wasn't that she was a bad kid. Not at all. It was the people she had encountered at school that made it not very nice for her. She shook her head as she began to remember the unpleasant social interactions she endured.

She sighed again, probably a bit too melodramatically, but she felt so bored that maybe she needed a bit of drama. She paused at that thought. Nope she didn't need any drama in her life, she was perfectly happy with her undramatic life. Though she wouldn't be able to stand to have a boring life. She sat up quickly and groaned as she felt the blood rushing to her head. After she made sure she would fall over if she stood up, she quickly changed from her pajamas into a pair of washed out jeans with paint splattered all over them, a large colorful t-shirt, and a pair of converse from her large collection. She quickly brushed her hair and put it up into a messy bun. When she deemed herself at least sort of presentable, she grabbed her old cellphone and iPod, and she made her way downstairs.

The first thing she saw was her mother sitting on the kitchen table playing the violin and her father painting the cupboards bright yellow. She could understand her father painting the kitchen abnormal colors, but she gave her mother a questioning look, but decided not to question it. She grabbed an apple from the basket that was sitting on the counter before turning to her parents, "I'm bored, can I take a walk?" Her mother grinned at her and stopped playing, "Of course you can take a walk. Go exploring. This is a new town, go see what you can find!" She said happily. Liliana looked to her father and he shrugged and gave her two thumbs up. She rolled her eyes at her parents, "You're weird" Her parents looked at each other and grinned, "That's what we aim for, honey. We thought you'd be used to it after nearly sixteen years" Her mother said. Liliana grinned at her and waved to her parents, "I won't be out for too long." She walked out the door and inhaled the fresh air of the small town.

She took her iPod out of her pocket and put the ear buds in her ear and grinned when the music began. She was like her mother in that respect. She loved music so much that she just got lost in it every time she listened to her music. she couldn't help but love it. She soon found herself at the entrance to the forest, she shrugged and continued walking. She looked around the green forest, the rain droplets from earlier still on the leaves of the foliage around. She nodded her head in time with the music in her ears and grinned slightly at how peaceful she felt at that moment. She didn't really feel very peaceful anymore, but now she felt as if nothing could ruin that feeling.

[Bella Cullen]

The house was far too quiet for it’s own good. Edward had taken their beautiful daughter to spend some time together, just like a father-daughter day. Carlisle, her father was at work. Esme, her mother was out shopping with her sisters, Rosalie and Alice. Jasper and Emmett had gone to go do something up north so she had the house to herself. It was quite dull really. She preferred to have her family around her. She could still hear the piano as though Edward was still playing it, as the notes played brilliantly over and over again in her mind. It had been almost like yesterday that she had come to this house for the first time, and now here she was fifty years later, married with a daughter of her own.

The woods outside the house were full of animals in which she could easily hunt. Naturally she had already fed early that morning which was a good thing. The house was fantastic and not a day went by that she wasn’t happy to be living there with her family. Nothing in the house was plain or ordinary. It was one of the things she had loved about the house when she first saw it. She had remembered the first time she moved here, she was seventeen, and completely alone. Her parents had divorced when she was little so she was spending the time with Charlie. He was something else altogether. Remembering him was a good thing, it made her smile. She could not believe it was already Saturday morning. Not that it really mattered as the days sort of molded together when one was an immortal as she was. She sighed as she left a note on the counter for her husband in case he and their daughter had come home early. She took a deep unneeded breath.

She and the family had to return to Forks sooner or later, which meant the entire family would be back at Forks High. And this year, her beautiful little girl would be joining them. It would be something new altogether. A smile appeared on her face as she walked outside the house. It was quiet...too quiet. Because she did not need to sleep she was constantly on the go. During the nights, she loved to watch her daughter sleep. Something that never grew old with time. She had learned to balance herself as a wife, a mother,and a vampire in a short amount of time and she could not be happier than in that very moment. Her golden eyes glanced around the woods. As she awaited for what was to come. She took in the sights, and smells. The fresh air was doing her every bit of good. As charming as the scenery could be, she knew the woods like the back of her hand, just like she knew the town of Forks. But being back to town, she had to pretend all over again what a new girl she was. And that wasn’t always the easiest thing in the world to do.

This was her home, no doubt about it. Walking through the woods she heard someone vastly approaching as she heard the crackle of the twigs beneath someone’s feet. Walking through the woods, it didn’t take long to realize just what was about to happen. Suddenly after a few minutes she found herself face to face with that of a young teenager. Someone who appeared to be about sixteen years old. She did not say anything as the girl couldn’t hear her anyway with the music in her ears. She could hear it before she ever got close to the girl.

[Liliana Sophie Archer]

Lily kept on walking, taking in the sights and smells of the forest. It was green, the sign of life every where and it smelled fresh. She had always loved the smell of the air after it rains. While walking she thought about the town. It sure was different. Lily liked different. Back in Pennsylvania, her town was good sized, it was pretty large, but no where as large as a city. But Forks, Forks was an ant compared to her old town. It was small, secluded, and everyone knew each other. She supposed that it was nice having a town where everyone was supportive of each other. Forks was her kind of town...at least so far it was.

It had only been two or so weeks since they had moved to the small Washington town, but in those short two weeks, Lily hadn't made any move to try and meet anyone. She knew her parents went out nearly every day to the town's center and introduced themselves to the neighbors and the town's inhabitants, but Lily hadn't taken the initiative to do anything of the like. She knew that the people of Forks probably knew of her from her parents, but they probably didn't know her. She had basically stayed holed up in her room, sketching or playing piano, or singing. Whatever she could do to keep herself secluded.

She kept on walking until she came upon something, or rather someone, peculiar. There she was, standing like a magnificent statue. A woman, maybe two or three years older than herself, stood before. Lily had never seen anyone so beautiful. She had always thought that her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world, what with her dark hair and bright blue eyes and delicate pale skin, but she was sorry to say that her mother didn't have anything on the girl who stood before her. The woman had pale skin, very pale skin. It was probably incredibly unhealthy for someone to have such pale skin. Her dark hair flowed in soft waved down her back and below her shoulders, and what was most incredible about her appearance was her eyes. They were an unnatural golden color. She vaguely thought that they were probably contacts, because it was impossible to have such abnormal eye colors. It might have been abnormal, but then again, Lily always like the abnormal.

As Lily stared at the beautiful woman, she found herself comparing their appearances. Lily's skin tone was probably the biggest difference. Lily had lightly tanned skin that was obvious she got from her father, while the woman had deathly pale skin. They both had brown hair, but the woman's had a sort of shine and bounce to it that Lily probably could only dream of having, and the eyes. Lily had hazel eyes while the woman had those golden ones. Lily was proud to say that she loved her eyes and wouldn't change them for the world. They were her favorite features and she would say possibly her best.

She took out her ear buds as she got closer to the woman. She smiled shakily, still feeling shocked that she was around such a beautiful person. She might as well say hello. No point in staring at the girl and then walk away. That was just rude. "Hello there!" She greeted. She hoped that her voice didn't betray any of the awe she was feeling. "I'm Liliana Archer, though you can just call me Lily. I just moved to Forks. It's nice to meet you." She smiled slightly. As she got closer to the woman she extended a hand out in a greeting. Hopefully she wouldn't do something stupid to embarrass herself.

[Bella Cullen]

The forest was beautiful, but it was always beautiful at this fine hour. Being back in Forks meant bringing back the memories of her first hunt. Of waking up to a world so much similar to the one she had left behind, but everything was crystal clear. Her senses were heightened and it was absolutely breathtaking to witness. Not that she had to breathe anymore. Forks was different from any other place in the world that she had ever visited. And she had been to a lot of places, like Italy for example. Although then she hadn’t gotten the oppertunity to truly see the scenery then, as it was a life or death situation to save her husband’s life.

And she would do anything to protect him, and to save his life. But that was then and this was now. Forks was small, secluded, and the only downside was that because it was so small that everyone knew everyone in town. It was different in the fact that most were friends with eachother, except in certain cases like her husband and their family and the shifters. That was the only difference. There, they had to at least tolerate eachother in order to work side by side to protect the humans around them.

She could remember vividly what it was like being a new girl when she was human. Now as a vampire it was even more different. People often shied away from her and her family because of how....different they were. She had her friends of course, but she was able to stick close by her family as well. She had loved her family and so it was easy to stand by their side. She didn’t have to use her ability while within the school, which was a good thing. But she had learned to control it thanks to her cousin, Kate Denali, so she could apply it if she had to. The sixty eight year old vampire couldn’t help but enjoy being out in the forest. The forest had it’s natural depth to it, so she could easily move in between the trees so that she would not be in the sunlight. The one thing and really the only thing she missed about being human was the fact that she could feel the sun’s warmth. As a vampire, she could see it but she could truly never feel it. She knew what other sthought of her, how strange she was, because of how pale they she was, even more pale than that of an average human. She knew her eye color stood out, more than anything else. Though she had not put in her contacts to make them the rich brown color she was used to.

It was one of the things she had forgotten to do that morning but she had not anticipated on running into anyone. Least of all a curius teenager. She could hear the woman’s breath before having been close to her. She wasn’t about to let the woman know what she was. After all she was not a typical vampire to say the least as she had only been one for about fifty years. Still her strength was that of a newborn. She missed her brown eyes from time to time, which was why she had gotten the contacts that made her eyes the rich natural color she had always liked. Still the golden color had made her stand out more. She could tell that the woman was in fact nervous. But she smiled warmly when the woman had said hello. “Hello.”

She responded to the young woman. “Hello, Liliana, very pretty name. I’m Bella. Bella Cullen. I just moved to Forks as well.” She kept herself from saying back to Forks as that would raise questions and she extended her own hand out when the woman had done so. “Nice to meet you.” Just because she was a vampire, did not mean she couldn’t be polite to a human.

[Liliana Sophie Archer]

Liliana nearly lost herself just gazing at the woman before her. There was something unearthly about her. Whether it was the ethereal glow she seemed to have or the aura of power that exuded from her person, Lily didn't know but she found herself becoming more and more jealous of the beautiful girl. Life was so unfair sometimes. Sure, she had been called "cute" and "pretty" in different times in her life, but she knew that she would never be nearly attractive as the pale beauty. It hurt, really it did. Just when she thought that things were going to get better, life had thrown her a curve ball in the form of the most angelic thing in existence.

Just when she thought that it couldn't get worse, it did. The pale woman opened her mouth and spoke. If Lily was in awe before she was in complete wonder now. Her voice sounded like tinkling bells that rang out in a light breeze. Now one of the things that Lily prided herself in was her musical and artistic talent that she had inherited from her eccentric parents. From a young age Vicky and Justin Archer had taught their daughter how to express herself in the form of the arts. She could play piano quite well from the age of 6 and guitar by age 10, and she found her talent in pencil sketches throughout her middle school years. She found that as she grew older her voice developed into something very pleasurable to the ears(her mother's words not hers). Her speaking voice was pretty gross(well at least she thought so). She thought that it was low and scratchy, but when she sang, it became a pleasant mezzo-soprano, and she took pride in the fact that she could sing. It was one of the things that she knew she was good at and it boosted her confidence greatly. But hearing the woman speak in that gentle soprano tone broke all the confidence that she had in her vocal abilities. Well, at least had her instrumental and artistic talents, unless the woman could do that as well.

She was slightly dazzled by the woman's bright smile, but Liliana pushed away her thoughts of jealousy and went to greet the woman with enthusiasm. She wouldn't let her petty feelings get in the way of what could be a new friendship. Although the woman gave off an aura of power and danger, something about her felt familiar and kind and warm. It wouldn't be fair to hurt the beauty's feelings just because Liliana was feeling jealous, some people just had all the luck. She blushed at the compliment the woman gave her, it wasn't often she was given compliments, and so whenever she got them she acted modest and brushed them off as nothing, but really it was like giving food to a starving man. She savored each and every compliment and held them close to her heart, even if it was her own parents saying "good job on those sixteenth notes" or "you look nice today". When the woman said she had a pretty name, she took it very personally, a compliment from a stranger was worth even more in her eyes. "Bella, that's an equally pretty name. It means 'beautiful' in Italian, doesn't it?" She smiled at the woman, or rather Bella.

She vaguely recalled the last name. Cullen. Her parents had been talking about a rather large family that had moved to Forks recently as well. The patriarch was a doctor who adopted many children. Lily had always admired people who did acts of kindness such as adoption. It was so amazing that they had taken in so many children in order to supply them with better lives. It warmed her heart.

She grasped Bella's hand in hers in a light handshake and Lily tilted her head as if questioning something. Bella's hand was cold. Ice cold in fact, and quite hard, like a rock's. She did not say anything out loud so as to not offend her new acquaintance, but she found it pretty peculiar. She let go of Bella's abnormal feeling hand and offered her a smile. "So, Bella, if you don't mind be asking, what are you doing out here?"

[Bella Cullen]

The fact of the matter was, she knew she was absolutely beautiful as humans had often pointed it out. But she was just herself, she just couldn’t help that her looks had gotten more enhanced than the average human after being turned. Life wasn’t fair, she knew that better than most. To her looks, were not important. It was about whether someone had a good heart and knew how to use it. Life could be complicated, even the sixty eight year old vampire had come to know that first hand. She could be considered an outcast, to a certain extent due to the way her life was. And how different she was from most others.

When she was a young girl she didn’t have any unnatural talents, like singing, dancing or even had a musical ability to play instruments. Even now she did not have that same quality to get it done. Her main talent had been her compassion and to not judge someone. That and her ability to shield her thoughts from others, especially her husband. She had been born to be a vampire and now she was one. She knew that her voice and the tone she had was that of a soprano, and it made her smile.

Instinct had proved to be the strong, and although she was sure there was an element of danger due to what she was, she hoped that those who got close to her would see her for how she was, a sweetheart. Yes she had the ability to rip someone’s throat out with her teeth but she did not do it. She could only say it was nice to see Liliana blush at the compliments she had given the younger girl. It was just how she was taught to be. Respectful and honest, as best one could possibly be. “Yes it does.”

She smiled as she looked at the young woman and grinned. She knew how difficult it was to honestly point out that her family members had ‘adopted’ so many children into the household. There was after all six of them plus her own daughter which was seven altogether. Of course she didn’t view it as adoption anymore as they were her parents as much as her biological parents had been. Granted they were not normal when it came to adopting children as each one of her siblings and even her husband had been at the brink of near death before they were in fact changed. Same as it was for her, but her husband had been the one to save her life and therefore she was happy to be with him forever. She had known her hand would be considered ice cold as she remembered how it felt as a human to touch Edward for the first time, but she hoped her new acquaintance would not say anything about it. A smile was soon to be found as she looked at the young woman. “Oh I often come out here to think. It’s a beautiful place to be when you need to be alone. Of course I’ve been out here for a while so it’s nice to have some company.” She said politely. She knew that she was different from most women.

“What about you? As I couldn’t help but notice you were out here by yourself and listening to music...what kind of music do you like?” She had felt better knowing that of course her hand had been let go. She only hoped that in the end she could make friends here, without there being some kind of suspicon on her part. She was still the friendly woman she had been when she had been when she was human. She still liked to do the same things as she had when she was human, like going to the movies for example. The one thing she had liked going to the movies was that with her newly improved vision when the lights went out she was able to see things in clarity as though there was no one else in the room at all. Of course it had been quite some time since she had gone to the movies as being what she was, sometimes it could be rather tempting to be in a room full of humans and not act upon instinct though for the most part she had the strength to avoid it as she had done so when she had first seen Charlie after her transformation had been complete. Instinct would tell her that this woman probably had a lot of qustions she would ask, if the two ever became friends. This of course could be a dangerous situation but she would handle it with dignity and grace, much like her mother would.

[Liliana Sophie Archer]

Lily nodded in agreement to Bella's statement about the forest. It was her first time out here, and yet she found it such a beautiful place that she would probably come back as many times as she could. But what struck her was that Bella said that she often came here. Didn't she just say that she had just moved here as well? Maybe Bella had been here longer than her, but still, Lily had been in Forks for about two and half weeks and they were still unpacking everything that they had. She shrugged the thought off. Everyone's circumstances were different. She smiled at Bella when the girl said that it was nice to have some company and nodded once again in agreement.

Lily perked up at the mention of her music. If she wasn't careful she could go on and on about it. "I like any kind of music really" She said enthusiastically. She then paused and grimaced, "Well, except for a lot of the pop that's out there. And rap. I hate rap. Country is tolerable, but I can't listen to it for a long time without getting really bored." She told Bella. "I'm more of an alternative, rock and roll, kind of girl" She grinned. She blushed and smiled sheepishly when she realized that she had been a bit too excited and loud when she had just been talking to Bella "Sorry about getting kind of spastic right there. I get like that when I talk about things I like" She said, significantly quieter than a few moments ago.

She stood gazing again at Bella and she shook her head slightly, as if to get the daze out of her head. "I'm sorry, I'm kind of out of it today" She grinned at her. "So Bella, you said that you came here often. How long have you and your family been in Forks?" She questioned. She couldn't help it. Lily was just too curious for her own good sometimes.


Notes: So sorry, it's so short!

[Bella Cullen]

She smiled at the younger woman, yes she had been here more times than she could count but she hadn’t meant to make herself seem suspicious by it. Of course she had been out here alot, given her family did not live very far from here but she kind of hoped the woman wouldn’t ask about it per say. It of course didn’t help that she had practically lived out in the woods these days, between hunting and taking in the scenery that it held. “That’s nice, I can listen to just about anything except for rap. That’s the one kind of music that I can’t even consider to be music really. I don’t really have much of a favorite except of course for the classics.” The kind of music that Edward played was her favorite but she couldn’t get into detail when it came to that. She could tell the other woman was excited about music. “There’s no need to appologize when it comes to talking about something you enjoy. Believe me, I tend to do the same thing.”

She smiled as she looked at the younger woman. “It’s okay, it happens to us all.” She said when it came to being out of it. Truth was she had never felt like that since her transformation into being what she was, but she did often get lost in thought. Although she had hoped that the woman wouldn’t have asked about it, she did. It was something she of course had understood since at one point she had been as curious as this woman was. She only hoped that it wouldn’t backfire on her. As she had to do the very best to keep her family from being exposed for what they were as she certainly did not want a visit from Aro or his guard. That was the worst possible scenario that could happen, not only for her family but for the shifters in the area as well. It would be dangerous for all of them.

Given she was supposed to be eighteen years old, she had to try and pretend she was that girl again. Which wasn’t ultimately that hard, despite all the years of experiance that she had. She was a wife, and a mother, and a vampire. All of those things had come into her life for a reason, and it was because of that, that she felt she could handle almost anything that was thrown her way, even if it was something that she did not completely understand. She had promised she would do right by her family. To protect them as best she could.

No matter the consequences. She would do anything so that they wouldn’t have to be hurt, or to be in pain, especially her beloved husband or their beautiful little angel...their baby girl. “My family and I have been here a couple of weeks, and I’ve always found the woods to be facinating. Ever since we arrived I’ve been coming out here. It’s such a peaceful place really. Mom said I was just one to enjoy the outdoors. To enjoy it's scenery and to just explore it. But I’m not the only one, all of us have a little bit of that, at least according to my mother. My siblings are the same way. The place we lived in before had a lot of woods and so it’s nice being in an area that has at least something familiar about it.” She replied knowing that it was a credible story, at least she hoped so. It was one of those circumstances where she hoped more questions wouldn’t be raised. But she had a feeling the questions might not stop there, given the girl seemed curious. Just like she had been, when she had been the fragile human many years before.

[Liliana Sophie Archer]

Liliana grinned at Bella as she agreed with her about rap. Honestly she didn't see the musical appeal to rap. She didn't even really consider rap as a genre of music. It was all just fast talking in her opinion, it really wasn't fair to call it music and to put it in the same category as some of the classics that actually had beautiful melodies and thoughtful composition put towards them. That's why she hated not only rap, but most of the music out there today. They never really had a deep meaning in them, most were about parties, drinking, sex... the whole works. It kind of disgusted her to see what music was in the past compared to what it was now. When Bella waved off her apology Lily blushed but smiled nonetheless. She had a feeling that she was going to like Bella.

She really didn't expect that of herself. Here she was casually talking with a person she had just met, and that person was a ridiculously beautiful person. In her experience she didn't really talk to people let alone someone who looked like Bella. When she was back home in Pennsylvania, all the "beautiful" or "pretty" girls were only just that physically and had done most of the tormenting towards Lily. To have someone as stunning as Bella to talk to her without any of the repulsion or snide that the other girls had was a nice change and gave Lily some hope that her second chance in Forks would go as well as she hoped.

She listened intently when the girl told her about her arrival in Forks. It made sense that she came out here a lot. The forest was truly a beautiful place to be, so peaceful and quiet. Lily could tell that she would probably be like Bella and spend most of her time out here. Lily loved the outdoors and nature in general. She used to spend all her time just lying on the grass in her backyard looking up at the sky. Her favorite place to be was whenever they went to South Carolina. It had sort of become a tradition for her family. Every summer they would go down to South Carolina, but she doubted that with the big move to Washington, that they would do the trip this year, but she didn't mind.

She thought that it was great that Bella had such a big family to share experiences with. Lily was very content with her small family of three, but sometimes she wished that she had at least one sibling to share things with. She never got to experience something like that and probably never will and she was always curious as to what life with a sibling would be like. "So how many siblings do you have Bella?" Being an only child had its ups and downs but, she expected that to be the same for someone who had brothers or sisters, or even both. And if Bella's family was as big as she was told it was, Bella must have quite the interesting life



Notes: Hope it's okay!!

[Bella Cullen]

Having travelled as often as she had, she did not mind the chaos that came along with it. She was just happy that her family was safe for the most part. Still Aro and the ball left her slightly unsettled though she did her best not to let it show. When it came to today’s music she had ignored the rap more than anything else. Any other kind she did not mind listening to. Classical was something she heard more than anything, like the kind of stuff that Edward would play on the piano. Anything that had a beautiful melody and thoughtful meaning behind it was worth listening to in her oppinion. Anything else well she ignored it completely.

She was used to being a polite woman, and nothing would change that even though she was a vampire with good reason. As her mother would say she had a good heart, and a strong personality to match it. In all honesty, beauty was something she did not consider herself. Yes she knew she was, but honestly beauty was only skin deep. The real beauty came from the personality of someone, of how they acted, when by themselves and around others. She had always had a sweetheart personality unless a member of her family was in danger and in that moment her personality would switch to a fierce fighter.

Of course she had to hide the fact that she came out to the woods not only for it’s sensational and startling beauty and for how quiet it could be but also to hunt. She loved the forest, always had, with it being so mysterious. Of all the creatures that dwelled inside, of course it could also be the most dangerous of places to be, given how many nomads could easily hide within. The outdoors was one of her more favorite places ever since she could remember. She remembered going to La Push and jumping off the cliffs. How she had once been this fragile little human and now she was a strong and powerful vampire. Here of course Forks was different than most of the places she had ever lived in, but it was the one place that was always home, nevertheless. A smile appeared on her face as she looked at Lily. “My family is a bit unique. There’s seven of us kids, myself included, but I’m sure you’ve probably heard of us. A big family like ours, seems to attract attention whereever we go, it seems like. Our parents are good hearted people, Dad’s a doctor and Mom stays at home. They adopted each of us, when we needed them the most.” She smiled as she looked at the young woman not going too far into detail of course. Her life was nothing normal. It couldn’t be when one didn’t have a beating heart. She couldn’t very well say that one of her siblings was in fact her daughter. As that would raise too much of a suspicion. She only could state with clarity that none of them were biological siblings so it wouldn’t seem too weird that they were holding hands if Lily would see them in school. Since all but her daughter had a significant other, but she hoped that would soon change. She just wanted to see her daughter happy, that was all she wanted. She wondered if they would once again claim the table that the family had used the last time they were in Forks when she was still the fragile human she once was?