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Post by Greenie on Dec 16, 2007 22:15:12 GMT -5
 Having spent the majority of the night on a park bench, Vessatha was not exactly awake. She'd been woken three (three!) times over the course of the evening, and none of them had been pleasant. A creepy-looking squirrel had poked at her until she opened her eyes just to ask her if she knew how to find the blue moon.. whatever that meant. (She hadn't known the answer.) The second time had just been a really loud screech that had her hiding under the park bench for a while.. and the third time she'd just fallen off the bench, and the grass was not dry this close to dawn. Now she was beginning to see the edges of dawn along the horizon, but sleep was still settling in her eyes. She was used to trees and grass and sleeping outside, but she was used to quiet trees and grass and quietly sleeping outside. (It was usually less wet, too, when you were higher up than a park bench.) At least she was fed and not completely lost, thanks to Zane. She still had nothing to do, but it was better than yesterday.. to some extent. [[Kari, if you read this, I'm just going to make up things where her day with Zane is a necessary mention <3]] |
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Post by Shinigami on Dec 16, 2007 22:30:36 GMT -5
 Well, if she was going to be bothered by creepy-looking people, here came yet another, who wasn't just walking down the path, but...dancing? The otter moved with sinuous grace, each step and move accompanied by the ringing of the bells that adorned her collar and handcuffs, though it seemed as if each ring left space for other noise, other music to fill the silence. Music that wasn't actually in existence, at least outside of the mixed-Realm's mind. She twisted and twined her way along the path, the rising sun illuminating the odd black-and-white coloring, the wing markings on her back reflecting both Torquehelm and the Tulgey Woods. The vague chill of morning didn't seem to bother her in the least, nor did the moisture that coated the ground all around her. Occasionally, the rare times that she mis-judged a leap or stumbled a step, she seemed to blur into insubstantiability, as if trying to disappear from anyone who may have seen her mistake. Otherwise, though, she danced. |
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Post by Greenie on Dec 16, 2007 22:36:54 GMT -5
Vessie had barely gotten her vision to clear of the morning fuzzies when she began to think she was hallucinating. There was a very strange creature coming towards her, and if she was seeing accurately, it was dancing.
Dancing, of all things. It was black and white with distinctly odd markings, ones she didn't recognize--not that she knew all of the markings. All the places people came from just astounded her (things actually come from the tulgey woods..?) and remembering the places was enough without having to remember what they looked like, too. Still, this thing was so unfamiliar that she blatantly stared, and hey--! What was it doing dancing at dawn?
Slowly Vessie sat up on the bench, but in her haste to stare even more intently she missed her grip and fell off the bench again.. this time face first. She landed on the squishy grass with a loud thump and an 'oomph!' and then became very still.. because it was coming right towards her.
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Post by Shinigami on Dec 16, 2007 23:03:49 GMT -5
The thump and "oomph" sound apparently caught the attention of the rather odd mixed-Realm, for she looked over at the ferret with blank, black eyes that still seemed to express vague curiosity. Then she did in fact continue her approach, though the dance had been reduced to measured pacing that caused her bells to ring out in time with each step, though as she got closer, it appeared that she was humming...something. A song that wasn't popular enough to be part of the main-stream music, at least.
On her chest, where any other Card would have had a suit and a number, or even a letter, was...nothing. The fur there was as immaculate as the rest of her body, clean and pristine as the webbing between her toes. However, it wasn't like she was a rabbit, and thus could be part of the Jack's Court. Instead, she just...didn't have a Suit marking. The sign of a Joker, the rare and, above all, odd creatures that even the Queens of the Courts didn't dare offend.
Harlequinn tilted her head to one side, and then to the other as she regarded the rather ungainly-grounded resident of the Forest - though, since they weren't actually in the Forest right now, would she still be considered a resident?
"What does the world look like, like that?"
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Post by Greenie on Dec 16, 2007 23:09:23 GMT -5
Her head spinning a bit from the contact and her body still tightly frozen, Vessie began hearing bells along with the dancing figure. Was this a dream? Could she possibly still be asleep?
No, she'd never dream up a headache this bad for herself.. she'd only dream it happening to someone else.
When it (he? she?) spoke, Vessatha only squeaked loudly... then flipped herself over rather abruptly and backed up a few paces, her back arched and body poised to run, if she had to. Creepy she could deal with in strangers, but if it got any worse.. Needless to say, the squirrel from earlier had gotten to her a bit.
After a few seconds, it registered that she'd actually been asked a question. "Uh.. dark..?" Was the only silly reply she could muster. Finally, she could stand it no longer and blurted out, "What are you?" in a hopeless repeat of yesterday with Zane.
Perhaps this one would be less surprised, as they seemed to be quite a bit odder than Zane had been.
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Post by Shinigami on Dec 22, 2007 23:13:25 GMT -5
Quinn paused, and then nodded contemplatively in response to the answer that was given to her. Yes, dark indeed. That would explain a lot, especially since her head had been in the dirt, and that undoubtedly cut off some good amount of light. However, she couldn't hold back the spurt of laughter in response to the ferret's frantic flip onto her feet, a quick, sinuous action that made her look as if she had no spine. It was an interesting motion, interesting indeed.
Bells chiming, she crept closer and closer to the Kahmden dweller, black eyes intent on blue, before she gave a curious and inquiring sniff, filling her lungs with the scent of the park where the ferret had been sleeping.
"What am I...? A dream within a dream, an impossibility that exists, a fragmented child of binaries that nevertheless is a whole being. Oh, and an otter. Aquatic mammal that does almost as well on land as we do in the water." She moved forward suddenly, swiftly, until there was less than an inch seperating her nose from Vessatha's. "My name is Harlequinn. What are you?"
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Post by Greenie on Dec 22, 2007 23:27:09 GMT -5
Vessatha continued to watch her quite warily, her mind still half alseep and her body just completely confused in general. The mix made her simply stare with wide eyes at the.. jingling thing before her.. that kept coming closer and closer. (Because that wasn't creepy at all..)
When the otter suddenly inhaled (rather loudly) Vessie jumped, startled, then flushed and backed up a bit more. The otter, however, just continued moving forward, seemingly oblivious to the ferret's jitters.
Then, of all things, she started talking. That wouldn't have bothered her so much if she'd actually been able to understand any of it, but the creature kept using big words that she didn't know in the first place, and had a feeling didn't go together even if she had understood them. Well, she vaguely knew what an otter was, at least.. especially since one was getting closer and closer and hey! Sticking your nose in a complete stranger's nose is perfectly acceptable!
Completely startled (again), Vessatha jumped once more--but this one was accompanied by a high pitched squeek, and then a rapid dash to hide behind the park bench that was still next to her. Completely embarrased afterwords she poked her head out and said in a small voice, "Vessatha." She paused. "I think.."
Otters confused her.
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Post by Shinigami on Dec 23, 2007 0:21:54 GMT -5
Oh, look at her dance! Look at her squirm and curve, all pretty red fur and stippled blue markings, and the one paw marked so heavily while the others remained red. Quinn was absolutely fascinated, and that probably didn't bode particularly well for Vessatha's continued sanity in her presence. Because when something intruiged this particular Joker, she followed after it with a deep hunger, a near-obsession, a burst of intensity that subsumed her life until everything faded away, and she lost interest in whatever it was. If Vessa were lucky, then this particular obsession would blow over quickly. If not...well, she'd fallen in love with bells when she was just a baby, and she still wore them everywhere that she went.
"You think? How can you not know who you are, lovely little one?" Quinn halted in her tracks, struck by this phrase in a surprisingly intrinsic way. "Vessatha, though. Lovely name. It fits you. What does it mean?"
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Post by Greenie on Dec 23, 2007 0:34:09 GMT -5
Still too frightened (agitated? befuddled?) to move out from behind the bench, Vessatha sat down and merely continued to peer out from around it at the black-and-white otter. The bench represented her safety--at the very least she could hide under it if Harlequinn (what an interesting name..) decided to move any closer. The ferret eventually noticed that the card was watching her in a fashion that was almost examining--was she really that interesting to look at? Vessie attempted to brush the odd feeling off, and forced herself to at least respond to what she was saying.
Though, being called 'lovely' was just plain weird. "I know who I am, but not why." If Quinn wanted philisophical, Quinn would darned well get philisophical. "Uh, thanks. My mom said it meant bright, but she might have been lying."
Her mother had also told her she'd eventually learned how to fly.. and laughed when she jumped out of a tree, so generally Vessie didn't believe what came out of her mom's mouth.
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Post by Shinigami on Dec 23, 2007 15:16:56 GMT -5
Silly little ferret - didn't she know that hiding behind a bench just made her look all the more adorable to the obviously obsessed otter? Despite that, Quinn settled down and let Vessatha keep the distance between the two of them, the faintest of smiles curling at her maw. Instead she just watched the other woman, her gaze absolutely fascinated. In fact, to even help her calm down, Quinn sat down as well, tucking her front paws neatly together, the handcuffs that bound them chiming brightly. Any hint of fuzziness about her appearance that may have been lingering was gone, and she sat there, bright and clear, in full view.
"You have to live to find out why, and you'll soon find that living is the reason why. Why else should we live?" the Joker said, batting the metaphorical philosophical ball back to the ferret. "Bright? Yes, you are. So very bright and shining, and all mine, because I say so," she answered confidently and serenely.
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