Shipka
It's that feeling of wanting to be somewhere else that resonates so strongly with Shipka, that desire to go, except where she wants to go is not out into the world, but beyond it. Beyond the blue and green and gold of day and into the shining darkness of evening, the silver and the nearly-black blues and purples that swath the midnight sky. In the colorful autumn meadow, she is the sole memory of the night. Even Aloy shines with the day, drops of sunlight erupting from her skin as the great star climbs ever higher into a clear sky. Aloy used to be from here.
"I'm still from here. From this place," her hoof thuds gently into the rich earth underfoot, "this meadow." She wasn't born out of the sky, or out of time, or out of some other nebulous magic, and left adrift, yearning to return to what she was. For those rare few, the option to return seems to be even rarer. No, Shipka yearns for what she has never known, instead.
"I don't really know where I'd go if I left here. The only place I want to see is the sky, but..." Her grey gaze falls briefly on the mare's wings, "Pegasi so often think they own the sky, they never seem to realize how much more of it is above them, they only feel what's under their wings. It goes so much higher up than you'd think."
And she had certainly tried. But the sky goes on forever, much further than Aloy's wandering could have taken her, so much more, even if she never stopped.
"I built a staircase out of starlight once, but I still couldn't get there." It feels silly to talk about the stars when the birds have sung the day into existence and the sun dries the well of her magic. It makes her too aware of herself and all the things she has ignored in favor of chasing the night. Shipka smiles and dips her head to the copper mare, "It does get away from you," even if you never leave home, "even if you try to hold it with magic, but it doesn't stop me from wishing. I wish I could walk through the stars, and I wish that stars torn from the sky could be put back among them."
"I'm still from here. From this place," her hoof thuds gently into the rich earth underfoot, "this meadow." She wasn't born out of the sky, or out of time, or out of some other nebulous magic, and left adrift, yearning to return to what she was. For those rare few, the option to return seems to be even rarer. No, Shipka yearns for what she has never known, instead.
"I don't really know where I'd go if I left here. The only place I want to see is the sky, but..." Her grey gaze falls briefly on the mare's wings, "Pegasi so often think they own the sky, they never seem to realize how much more of it is above them, they only feel what's under their wings. It goes so much higher up than you'd think."
And she had certainly tried. But the sky goes on forever, much further than Aloy's wandering could have taken her, so much more, even if she never stopped.
"I built a staircase out of starlight once, but I still couldn't get there." It feels silly to talk about the stars when the birds have sung the day into existence and the sun dries the well of her magic. It makes her too aware of herself and all the things she has ignored in favor of chasing the night. Shipka smiles and dips her head to the copper mare, "It does get away from you," even if you never leave home, "even if you try to hold it with magic, but it doesn't stop me from wishing. I wish I could walk through the stars, and I wish that stars torn from the sky could be put back among them."
@[Aloy] Please excuse my writer's block!