[P] all the pain in your eyes [Zèklè] - Printable Version +- HELOVIA || The Way to the Sun (http://helovia.com) +-- Forum: Out of Character (http://helovia.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=1) +--- Forum: Archives (http://helovia.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=11) +--- Thread: [P] all the pain in your eyes [Zèklè] (/showthread.php?tid=20284) |
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all the pain in your eyes [Zèklè] - Själ - 08-11-2015 Själ
The princess had picked her way down from the mountains slowly, carefully cradling the egg in her makeshift sling. It had been nearly a full season since she had rescued it from the pond, since it had chosen her. She had nearly given up hope that it would hatch, terrified that the one thing that had ever picked her over everything and everyone else would die and leave her alone again. But she stubbornly held on, wrapping it in the warm embrace of her body every cold night spent in the Basin - and now she descended from the mountainous northern slopes, hoping that the warmth of the southern lands would coax it to hatch.
The girl made it to the Heavenly Fields, pausing to remember the day that she had met Zèklè. He was her friend - the first she had ever made - and she wondered where he was now, what he had been doing since that meeting. Her amber gaze wandered over the trailhead leading into the clouds, her dual horns reflecting the clear blue sky above. She knew that she had not made it terribly far south, but she decided to stay a while. Perhaps, if Zèklè had come this way, others would too. Perhaps they would know how to make her egg hatch. If, of course, it was an egg. It had floated to her, after all, clearly electing her as its partner. It had been altogether un-egglike. Själ bent her front legs, kneeling to allow the sling to slip gently over her head, placing the egg and its sling in a small pile of brush. It wasn't much, in the midst of Frostfall, but it was more than nothing, and she wasted no time in folding herself around the egg possessively, watching the hills around her with a vague sort of interest. "You know, it would be lovely if you would hatch," she informed the orb absently, sighing heavily. Even after joining the Basin, she still found herself to be quite lonely, and keeping up the exterior of being Psyche's daughter was exhausting. She wondered if anyone would ever look at her as just Själ. "You will," she whispered to the egg, nuzzling it gently before settling her nose against it, hoping her breath would warm it. "Text." RE: all the pain in your eyes [Zèklè] - Zèklè - 08-11-2015
hnnnnnng rusty RE: all the pain in your eyes [Zèklè] - Själ - 08-13-2015 Själ
The day was decidedly warm for Frostfall, although that wasn't saying much, given her recent stay in the Aurora Basin. As far as the princess knew, the mountainous herdland was as far north as one could go in Helovia, and would therefore be the coldest area by far. The pathway to the Heavenly Fields was quite pleasant in comparison, particularly in the timid warmth of the noon sun, and as Själ snuggled her egg closer still, she began to grow more and more sleepy. Before long, the girl had begun to doze, her warm breath coaxing the orb to life in her grasp.
Had she been awake, the princess probably would have heard the lightning boy's approach far before he leaped from the bushes; as it were, she did not, and as he exploded from the limited foliage with triumph, she awoke with a start. Her head shot up, white rings around her amber eyes, narrowly avoiding shoving the egg away in her surprise. She could not help the high-pitched squeal that escaped from her throat, nor the way every muscle leaped to attention, causing her to jump with something like fear. She scrambled for a moment, flailing about as though about to leap to her feet; but then she stopped, frozen with recognition. Had it been anyone else looking any less absurd, she might had been angry. For a moment, it crossed her mind to yell at the lightning boy, not only for disturbing her peaceful slumber, but for almost harming her precious egg. But there was something endearing about the haphazard perch he had assumed before her, the way he shuddered electricity down his spine to shake off the snow, the look of excitement and camaraderie that he shared with her - she could not even pretend to be angry, not when her heart suddenly leaped with pleasure at his appearance. She began to laugh, whole-heartedly and deeply, perhaps the most true expression of joy that she had ever given. "I've been wondering where you made off to, Mr. Badass," she teased. At the reference to her egg, however, she wilted slightly, frowning with confusion. "Well, I thought it was an egg, but it isn't hatching," she told him sadly, gazing at the little round orb dejectedly. "Text." RE: all the pain in your eyes [Zèklè] - Zèklè - 08-20-2015
RE: all the pain in your eyes [Zèklè] - Själ - 09-07-2015 Själ
The princess could not help the grin that spread over her features at the lightning-boy's obvious excitement. His joy was infectious, even pulling her from the gloom that clouded her mind as a result of her failure to coax the egg-orb-whatever-it-was to hatch. If she were to think back over her past, she would realize that the only creature thus far to bring such an expression to her face and such ease to her mind was Zero. He had not asked anything of her, not expected greatness from her mother's alleged prodigy, not wanted her to follow this rule and that expectation. He had simply accepted her for herself, and as she grew older, she would no doubt treasure him all the more for it.
But the future was not today, and the princess was not one to reminisce on her short history and compare the different individuals she had come across - so she merely basked in the boy's light, enjoying the intrusion into her solitude. She had been lonely, even surrounded by her new family in the mountains. (Were they her family? She wasn't quite sure yet.) With the lightning-boy, she was entirely comfortable, entirely sure of herself, entirely relaxed. It was a wondrous relief from being Psyche's daughter and having to be careful to do all the things that Psyche's daughter should do. A blue feather wiggled in front of her amber gaze, and she was momentarily entranced by the beauty of it - the luxurious, yet honed appearance, as though if she were to touch it, it would be soft and sharp all at once. Perhaps, one day, Zero would let her find out what feathers felt like. The burst of childlike curiosity did not feel entirely familiar, as though it were someone else's errant thought making its home inside her mind. She shook it off. "What is a-" Squishy, she had been about to say, but then a silent, stony creature trotted its way through the snow, pausing as though to regard the pair. "Oh. Well, what's a whale, then?" The girl had never seen the ocean, never heard the crash of waves upon the shore and seen the glory of a seaside sunset. She knew no more of its inhabitants than she did the stars in the sky. Perhaps he would enlighten her; perhaps he would even show her what a whale was! The thought of an adventure with her best friend cheered her considerably, erasing any lingering embarrassment at having to ask what he'd found. Surely the lightning-boy wouldn't hold her ignorance against her, nor linger over the fact that, in this, he had more knowledge than she. You see, the princess had inherited her mother's tendency to hate being wrong, or unknowing, or anything of the sort - she hated to feel stupid, despised the way it made her seem inferior. But Zero wouldn't make her feel like that, would he? A quiver of something in the back of her mind made her frown for a moment, confused about this second invasion of her thoughts and yet, somehow, nonplussed by it. "I don't know about subjects," she admitted, "but I found the Aurora Basin. My mother lived there... before..." Before she left, before she disappeared, before she was murdered. But the girl could not put any of those into words. "But I'm not a queen. I don't rule anything yet," she added hurriedly, as though to skim over the unpleasant questions of her history. "What's a 'panion?" she continued, genuinely interested now rather than avoiding her and her mother's pasts. The niggling thought in the back of her mind continued and persisted, some kind of excitement-confusion-curiosity-type-feeling that would not go away. In fact, it was only growing stronger. The first crack of the egg startled the girl, and she yelped with surprise and panic. She stared at the little orb and the puncture in its surface, entranced by the tiny beak poking out into the world. It retracted, then reappeared nearby, a second crack accompanying its appearance. As more holes and more cracks followed, she watched as a small creature began to emerge from the shell. It blinked up at her, rolling over onto its back and stretching its tiny wings out in the dirt, exposing its belly and making a gentle prrrring sound. "It... it hatched," she whispered. Then, "It HATCHED!!" She was squealing for joy, her happiness mirrored by that something at the back of her mind. The little creature stretched further, rolling to its stomach again until it was against her side. It seemed to realize, for the first time, that they were not alone; noticing Zero, the creature squawked, contracting its body until it lay in a little ball against the girl's barrel. She laughed. She laughed so hard, it almost hurt. "I... I think you... I think you startled her," she gasped, wheezing for air. "You really are... a badass!" she whooped before collapsing into squealing giggles. "Text." |