STRANGELET

nocturnal and quark's imaginary girl

Beqanna was a strange place without Momma Sol’s active presence.  She could still feel Drodro and NishNish, and her other siblings were a little more distant but still there, the warm glow of distant auras sending the occasional pulse of love and concern her way.  But Momma Sol had left this land far behind, and though Strange could reach her if she needed to, it felt so…so empty here without the Sun.  Still.  Life carried on even in her absence, and Strange had found her way back to her body even if it had taken a while.  Adventures with NocNoc and Uncle Quan had been fun, but it felt like time to reconnect.  The cord between her soul and her body was starting to feel a little too wobbly, and even if she’d wanted to stay away Uncle Quan wouldn’t let her.  He’d put his big old silver foot down, all knight and guardian and stern solemn uncle eyes, and he wasn’t wrong.  Even if she’d wanted him to be.

So she was back in her body after ages away, and it was still this teeny tiny thing with parts that didn’t always listen and eyes that didn’t always see what they were supposed to and ears that heard things other people didn’t.  But at least now she knew somebody else like her!  Or sort of like her.  Like her enough that she was friends with the fireflies too, tiny soul lights that danced around, drawn to the ones who could hear them.  Someone who had the eyes to see her NocNoc, so he didn’t have to feel like…well, like a ghost.  He was so much more than just a ghost.  He’d tied his soul to hers instead of to his body, and he was her best and truest and longest and foreverest friend.  And he was also always with Momma Luna, the way the rest of their siblings couldn’t be.  Even Strange couldn’t be with Momma Luna always, and Momma Luna needed family with her.  Even if she didn’t always know that.

So it was that Strange found herself wandering through the Meadow, rediscovering how her long, spindly legs worked and reacquainting herself with a body she hadn’t seen in quite some time.  Tall, gangly, still the body of a not-quite-yearling though it should have been much older by now.  Black broken only by the white on her so far only lightly feathered lower legs, a few white face markings, and the bright, cheery yellow crescent moon on her right side.  Bright cobalt blue eyes that saw too many worlds at once and sometimes got them mixed up.  She had a lot of Momma Sol’s gypsy build, with some of Momma Luna’s refinement to the shape of her face, the curve of her neck, the set of her shoulders and her hips.  She would be tall, if her body ever grew into itself.  If she stayed long enough to let it.  Maybe not as tall as Drodro and NishNish, but still.

The trees lining the Meadow were solid, steady presences, anchors in time and space.  The same as they’d been the last time she’d wandered here, flowing green and lovely, cool like boulders but vibrant with growth and life and summertime.  The willows reminded her of Momma Sol, strong and resilient and flexible, bending instead of breaking.  Most of the time.  And because she was missing Momma Sol, she wandered into the willows, letting the weeping branches caress her skin the way Momma did when she was littler still, tracing gentle strokes along her sides.  Soothing her, and grounding her in her body in a way that only Momma could.  Her bright eyes drifted closed, and she sighed a content little sigh.

Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination
living there you'll be free if you truly wish to be.

STRANGELET

nocturnal and quark's imaginary girl

The willow branches stroke along her skin, whispering secrets in her ears as they caress her and ground her in her body.  This one whispered about a pair of lovers who had brushed through these branches the night before, meeting in relative secret hidden behind the curtain of weeping limbs and leaves.  That one murmured to her of a little girl who had been lost, a tiny thing even smaller than herself who had taken shelter against the willow’s trunk.  Had she found her way home, the poor dear?  No, but a sweet old mare had come wandering by, with kind eyes and a filly of her own at her side, and the little lost girl had found a new home.  A better home, or the tree would have sheltered her from the woman’s sight.

Sometimes lost happened for a reason.

Another branch stroked along her spine, its tale tickling at the edges of her mind when—“Strangelet?  Quark’s little girl?”  Strange knew that voice, though it had been quite some time since her ears had heard it.  Oh, she’d peeked in now and then, just to make sure she wasn’t needed.  But Auntie Valkyrie was a big girl, and quite capable of taking care of herself.  But now?

With a grin, Strange whirled around to face her friend, cobalt eyes lighting up with delight.  “Auntie Valkyrie!” she exclaimed, bounding toward the still much larger mare with a playful little half rear and an excited little kick of her back legs on the way over.  She reached out and bumped her nose against her auntie’s shoulder, snorting and beaming and wriggling with glee.  “I like your new horns!” she said, her bright eyes going wiiiiide at the sight.  

“Oooh, and wings too!  Flying is fun, huh?  I bet it’s fun in bodies too, I’ve only ever tried outside of mine.  It doesn’t have wings, see, and it doesn’t stretch and bend and flex and shift like Momma Luna’s or Momma Sol’s or even Fireball’s.  Do yours go away and come back when you want like theirs do?  That’s a pretty handy trick, Auntie Valkyrie!”  She jumped, stretching like she could spread wings of her own and fly high into the sky.  But alas, her body did not sprout wings, and she landed much sooner than she might have liked.  “Maybe someday.  Or there’s always flying with Momma Luna and NocNoc!”  That would work just as well.  Though maybe sometime she’d like to feel the wind in her face and on her skin and ooh, maybe Momma Sol would take her flying, the next time they were together.

Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination
living there you'll be free if you truly wish to be.