03-30-2020, 06:44 PM
Like a drowning soul she was utterly mired in the thoughts that swamped after. Memory zipped passed akin to bubbles from gasping lips, and the horror of it rushed into her expression. Puddled on the ground she did not at first notice Noctua kneel alongside. “He said he would find me, which means he must know how.” The words were whispered to herself. Her fists clenched. She had been leaving a breadcrumb trail in the canvas of her skin, knowing that injury sustained here translated in the world beyond, while also knowing her Other would be unlikely to understand the message. For what could she say in scrapes and wounds? But it was the only thing she could do.
Noctua commanded her attention once more then. For a moment she blinked at him like she’d forgotten who he was, and some moments after her eyes remained glassy and brimmed with tears. “Calvin found me once, when the dreaming stopped. But the wolves keep him away now. They do not trust me.”
He urged her to knowledge she could not give, not because she did not wish to, but because she did not possess it. How often had Jon tried to shyly coax it from her? She did not know what name was used in the world beyond her own experience, for she had never cared. Even here her moniker was for the benefit of others, to give purpose and meaning to her wildness. It was a gift she treasured; one she delighted in, actually. But it was also one that she would one day lose, when the current ripped it from her mind, and the age turned anew.
Deflated, and knowing any such answer would ultimately displease, she instead puzzled over the stone, rubbing her thumb across the mark emblazoned there, and found some small comfort in the gift. She ran her nail along the scored lines, thinking. “The flesh remembers,” she said, a little uneasily. For it might scare her Other too, to wake not just with unexplained grazes, but something more. She sighed and ran her scarred hand over her face. Emotion bubbled from her like a fountain, but he was still as glacier ice.
Then, like the swipe of a great paintbrush, the world around them blurred. It lacked the normal courtesy of warning and permission, but such was the manner in which she flung her need wide around them and hoped to find… something. It had worked for her before, when the ocean answered her call in the form of the Grey Lady. Though hopefully the ancient one would not snare them amidst this process. She did not think Noctua would enjoy the loss of control if she did.
When everything settled her eyes peeked open slowly. Despite the dry land of polished wood, Nim remained a bedraggled form, as if still freshly emerged from the water. It pooled around her and tickled between the boards unnoticed as her chin lifted to study this new arena. The sweep of her eyes caught Noctua in an apology for the haste, but it had really been the only way.
Noctua commanded her attention once more then. For a moment she blinked at him like she’d forgotten who he was, and some moments after her eyes remained glassy and brimmed with tears. “Calvin found me once, when the dreaming stopped. But the wolves keep him away now. They do not trust me.”
He urged her to knowledge she could not give, not because she did not wish to, but because she did not possess it. How often had Jon tried to shyly coax it from her? She did not know what name was used in the world beyond her own experience, for she had never cared. Even here her moniker was for the benefit of others, to give purpose and meaning to her wildness. It was a gift she treasured; one she delighted in, actually. But it was also one that she would one day lose, when the current ripped it from her mind, and the age turned anew.
Deflated, and knowing any such answer would ultimately displease, she instead puzzled over the stone, rubbing her thumb across the mark emblazoned there, and found some small comfort in the gift. She ran her nail along the scored lines, thinking. “The flesh remembers,” she said, a little uneasily. For it might scare her Other too, to wake not just with unexplained grazes, but something more. She sighed and ran her scarred hand over her face. Emotion bubbled from her like a fountain, but he was still as glacier ice.
Then, like the swipe of a great paintbrush, the world around them blurred. It lacked the normal courtesy of warning and permission, but such was the manner in which she flung her need wide around them and hoped to find… something. It had worked for her before, when the ocean answered her call in the form of the Grey Lady. Though hopefully the ancient one would not snare them amidst this process. She did not think Noctua would enjoy the loss of control if she did.
When everything settled her eyes peeked open slowly. Despite the dry land of polished wood, Nim remained a bedraggled form, as if still freshly emerged from the water. It pooled around her and tickled between the boards unnoticed as her chin lifted to study this new arena. The sweep of her eyes caught Noctua in an apology for the haste, but it had really been the only way.