Not So Indelible [Closed]

[Dark]

She had grown up to tales told around dim, waning fires about a land not so far away, just over the mountains--dark, jagged things that blocked the sun with high-reaching slopes--where the land was lush and fertile and warm. But the people described to live there were from a child's night terrors, arrogant and tyrannical in their greed.

When she was little, she hadn't understood the animosity expressed in those fireside stories--they were just stories, then, and the Josiggy Marsh was nothing more than the creation of terrible fancy, a tool to frighten and encourage children not to stray and to obey their elders.

It wasn't until she was older that she learned the truth of those warnings--because warnings they were, and the price for disregarding them was dire. As her foolish brother had learned the hard way.

He hadn't only managed to screw up his own life, however, in his demonstration of blatant stupidity. He'd dragged her down with him, too. Which was why she was now standing in the middle of a road in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of miles away from home, reevaluating her life.

She was coming up blank, as far as deep revelations were concerned. But being out in the sun was rather nice.

[crescentbubble]

The path felt warm beneath her paws. Sunlight from above filtered down through the trees off to either side of the path, creating a leaf like pattern to the dirt trail. A slight breeze rustled through the area, causing the pattern before her to dance and swirl, almost as if the leaves had a life of their own.

Lifting her head, Shiori pointed her nose into the wind and took a deep breath. She had been traveling for awhile now, without stopping to take a break. The weariness in her paws begging for a moment of rest, but the rest of her screamed to keep going. She had no real destination in mind, which didn't help the situation at all. She knew she wanted to go to the forest of Kahmden, but that was about it. What did she expect to find there? Recognition? Lost family members? A purpose?

Shiori let out a sign. This whole journey seemed almost pointless. What had she been thinking, traveling so far from home?

Shaking her head, she took her gaze off of the path before her and looked off into the distance. Whatever the outcome, this had been her choice, and no depressing thoughts were going to deter her.

She only made it a few steps further before she stopped. There was someone in the road ahead of her. It had been a long time since she had run into anyone. What were they doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? Tilting her head to the side, Shiori debated on whether or not she should call out a greeting or not.

[Dark]

She had, of course, known she would eventually run across someone along her current trajectory, but the actual realization was jarring. During her short lifetime she hadn't been exposed to much of anything outside the dreary, desolate camps of the Lowlands--and while she'd occasionally catch the passing glimpse of some strange traveler, and she'd often heard tales, nothing had really prepared her for the vibrant, vivacious creature she'd stumbled across.

Iskra's tongue darted out nervously, testing the air.

She wasn't sure how she would be received if she approached the lean canine. She very much wanted to extend some manner of greeting, but there was the matter of being a Lowlander--something the majority of realms found absolutely abhorrent--to consider. On the other hand, she had nothing left to loose.

Making up her mind, she slunk forward and came to a halt some five feet away.

"'ello."

[crescentbubble]

Shiori stared at the creature before her. She had only ever met a few people outside of her own realm, and no one such as this creature. Staring down upon her Shiori felt almost sad. The creature didn't look particularly happy, or well sure of herself.

Tilting her head to the side, Shiori debated what to do. She wasn't sure what this person's travel plans were, or if this person was even semi trust worthy...

A sudden gust of wind flew across the area, ruffling the hair on the back of her neck and spine. Turning her mussel into the wind, Shiori closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. Sunlight danced across her fur, making it almost seem to glow in the light. She was going to get no where if she continued to stay to herself.

Taking a step forward, Shiori nodded her head in greeting to the creature. "Hello."

[Dark]

When she was nervous, surprised, bored, or in any other state in the plethora of emotions she ran through on a daily basis, Iskra always licked her eye--regardless of whether or not there was actually something stuck to the thin, transparent membrane that protected her eye from injury. She never blinked because she couldn't--as a gecko, she didn't have eyelids.

She briefly wondered, as her tongue retracted back into her mouth, how it might look to the slim canine in front of her. Disgusting? Disconcerting? Alien?

Iskra mentally shook herself and drew upon previously untapped reservoirs of courtesy, "Luvly day, ain't it? If ya don' mind m'askin', where're ya headed? I don' have a destination m'self, and I'm lookin' for direction; any direction," she paused briefly to draw in another breath, "My name's Iskra, by the by."

Hopefully, it wouldn't be taken as presumptuous.

[crescentbubble]

Shiori blinked. Tilted her head to the side, and blinked again. Her eyes followed Iskra's long, thin tongue as it darted out of her mouth and to her eye, twirled quickly around it, and then retracted back into her mouth. Shiori had never seen anything like it before. On any other day she would have thought the act disgusting, and slightly frightening. But today- she through back her head and let out a howl of a laugh. She still found it slightly disturbing, but more in a unique, amusing way.

Shaking her head, she grinned a toothy grin at the creature before her. "My name is Shiori. And we're more alike than you know, Iskra. I also don't have much of a destination. I was heading toward the Forest of Kahmden, but now that I'm here, I'm not sure where to go..."

Shiori looked off into the distance, as if she could see some sign of where she was supposed to go from here, and what she was supposed to do. She never thought this far into her plan.

"And might I ask the same of you?" Shiori asked politely as she turned her head back toward Iskra. "What are you doing in these parts, with no destination in mind?"

[Dark]

Iskra gave a nonchalant shrug, seeing no real point in lying or speaking in half-truths--Shiori seemed a nice enough sort of person, and besides that there wasn't anything the canine could do to her that hadn't already been done--and muttered, "Exile seems ta have that effect on a person, it'd seems. Dinna have much time ta think it over, ya see; not with'n angry mob breathin' down m'neck."

And wasn't that the truth of the matter. No matter that what had happened was nothing on her hands. Lowlanders were an un-trusting sort of folk, sticking close to their own and suspicious of anything at all that threatened their shuttered little minds.

Iskra's only crime was that she was related to the idiot that had brought down so much trouble on the village, and that fact alone had been enough to cement her guilt. Mob mentality really was a wonder.

"But, 'nough said. Ya said sumthin' about the Kahmden? Never heard'a it."