03-20-2021, 11:34 PM
They are seperated into their groups, and the night coated mare offered Courage to all who were willing to take it. It was a fragile emotion. One that hung precariously in her own heart as she watched the sisters walk away from her, hoped with everything she had that her choice had been the right one.
It wasn't. She wouldn't know that for some time, though. Not until this task was at an end, and they faced whatever came after it. Together again, that was the only possibility she could bear to consider, the only reason she could seperate herself from her family. The chance that by doing so they could all together again feel the sun on their backs and go about their lives free from the fear that dogged every uncertain step.
Mouth set in a stubborn line, she plodded after the group of distractors. Witnessed the patch of air that warped and rippled as they stood before it, and one by one passed through. Until it was her turn, and the butterfly blinked and held her breath as she passed into the Dark.
It was a moment of pure, unadulterated emptiness. An absolute lack of sensory input that made her lurch and ribbons of panic squeeze at her heart a moment longer past the point the lifted, and the world resolved itself around her again.
The world, but not as she remembered it. Trees, grasses, stones, all the makings of home, but placed so very carefully. There was an uncanny symmetry to the patterns of branches. The stones were too round, perfect in the way that nature seldom allowed for. Ama froze for a breath, doubting every choice that had lead to this moment. It was too late, though. Whatever thinness in the walls of reality she'd been lead through, it was gone now. All that remained was the empty path beneath her hooves, and whatever lay ahead.
She could do this, she promised herself. There was no point getting cold feet now, not when she'd passed the point of no return. Not when this was her chance to do her part in keeping her family alive. All it would take was one step after another, and then she would be on her way. On to the next step of the reckless plan that had been lain out for them to do or die in part of.
Each step was a small victory and soon the repeating landscape lost its hold on her. She could see, and that in itself was a blessing. She was also seemingly alone, though she knew they had all gone through the gate close enough that she ought to have found her fellows by now. Another layer of the lock they were trying to dissolve, she suspected. Easy enough to believe, until the empty landscape blinked, and she was no longer alone.
A small herd, five or so horses that grazed quietly on the too green grass, their manes and tails drifting on a breeze she couldn't feel. Black and bay and chestnut, colors that blended peaceably into the landscape. Familiar and foreign to her, her throat ached as realization fell like pebbles in a still pond.
"Neverwhere?" She whickered, closing the distance between them hesitantly. This hadn't been mentioned by the instructing Fey. Not even hinted at. Yet here stood the mare who had taken her in as a barely born infant, who had vanished again seemingly as soon as Ama had been old enough to fend for herself. "What are you doing here?" She asked after a moment, worried that the answer would be the obvious one.
This was the Afterlife she'd been sent into, after all. What was the Afterlife without the dead to occupy it?
Neverwhere turns her pale face slowly, eyes settling a moment too long on the gem-crusted mare as though trying to dredge up memories lost. This is not the gangly teenager that she remembers, this is not the child that she plucked from the Den long ago. How long ago was it? It feels like years and years, like eons. When did she get those wings? But those eyes still make her head swim when she looks into them. Amarine – or a credible imposter.
“I’m having lunch,” she answers coolly, suspicion weighing heavily at the corners of her lips as she dips her head to crops the tips of the silver ghostgrass, “What are you doing here?”
So that was it then. Ama looked to the faces of the other's who went about the business of eating without pause. If Nev was dead, so were these souls. More questions than answers swam in her head as a greying stallion paused his grass cropping long enough to smile encouragingly at her.
She returned the stranger's smile, wondering if these were horses Neverwhere had known over her own lifespan, or if it was death that had brought them together. "The fairies asked for help," she answered softly, breaking eye contact with the grey as she did. "You know me," she added ruefully. "I had to do something." There was more, so much more that she wanted to say.
She wanted to tell Nev about her own children, about the family she'd been busy carving out for herself in the redwoods of Taiga. All while Neverwhere's body had been decaying... somewhere. She could spend ages trying to catch them up, but that wasn't why she was here. Somewhere up ahead, her girls were doing their best to fight the dark, and she needed to uphold her end of things.
"When all is done, I'll find your bones and see them rested right," she promised firmly, knowing Nev had never once expected any fuss made over her remains. Which was why funerals were for the living, as she hoped the gruff mare would understand.
She leaned forward to kiss her adoptive mother's paper-dry cheek. The scent of her was missing on this plane, she realized sadly. "I love you, Nev. We've all missed you back home. I'm glad I got to see you again, even like this." The jewel-eyed girl stepped away again, knowing in her heart that time was out. If she didn't leave now, she never would, and every sacrifice she'd made so far would be wasted.
She looked over her shoulder once. The strangeness of the place had replaced Neverwhere and her herd as soon as she'd walked away, leaving Ama alone again with her thoughts. She was nearing the end now. The road split, a high road and a low one, as she'd been told it would.
With a deep sigh, she turned to face the rising path, the trail turning gravelly as it rose to a familiar sort of cliff. One that she knew from experience that sound would throw itself from over and over until the space below finally swallowed it. The clear choice, in her mind.
Onward and upward to where the wind caught her own mane and the air was cold and empty where the land suddenly stopped existing.
"Hey!" Her voice broke away like a gunshot, harsh after so much quiet. "Come and get me, you horrible things! What are you waiting for? Just push me off the cliff already, I dare you!" It was what they'd brought her here for, she believed. A sacrifice, so others might live on.
OOC Note: Nevewhere dialog provided courtesy of Ratty
It wasn't. She wouldn't know that for some time, though. Not until this task was at an end, and they faced whatever came after it. Together again, that was the only possibility she could bear to consider, the only reason she could seperate herself from her family. The chance that by doing so they could all together again feel the sun on their backs and go about their lives free from the fear that dogged every uncertain step.
Mouth set in a stubborn line, she plodded after the group of distractors. Witnessed the patch of air that warped and rippled as they stood before it, and one by one passed through. Until it was her turn, and the butterfly blinked and held her breath as she passed into the Dark.
It was a moment of pure, unadulterated emptiness. An absolute lack of sensory input that made her lurch and ribbons of panic squeeze at her heart a moment longer past the point the lifted, and the world resolved itself around her again.
The world, but not as she remembered it. Trees, grasses, stones, all the makings of home, but placed so very carefully. There was an uncanny symmetry to the patterns of branches. The stones were too round, perfect in the way that nature seldom allowed for. Ama froze for a breath, doubting every choice that had lead to this moment. It was too late, though. Whatever thinness in the walls of reality she'd been lead through, it was gone now. All that remained was the empty path beneath her hooves, and whatever lay ahead.
She could do this, she promised herself. There was no point getting cold feet now, not when she'd passed the point of no return. Not when this was her chance to do her part in keeping her family alive. All it would take was one step after another, and then she would be on her way. On to the next step of the reckless plan that had been lain out for them to do or die in part of.
Each step was a small victory and soon the repeating landscape lost its hold on her. She could see, and that in itself was a blessing. She was also seemingly alone, though she knew they had all gone through the gate close enough that she ought to have found her fellows by now. Another layer of the lock they were trying to dissolve, she suspected. Easy enough to believe, until the empty landscape blinked, and she was no longer alone.
A small herd, five or so horses that grazed quietly on the too green grass, their manes and tails drifting on a breeze she couldn't feel. Black and bay and chestnut, colors that blended peaceably into the landscape. Familiar and foreign to her, her throat ached as realization fell like pebbles in a still pond.
"Neverwhere?" She whickered, closing the distance between them hesitantly. This hadn't been mentioned by the instructing Fey. Not even hinted at. Yet here stood the mare who had taken her in as a barely born infant, who had vanished again seemingly as soon as Ama had been old enough to fend for herself. "What are you doing here?" She asked after a moment, worried that the answer would be the obvious one.
This was the Afterlife she'd been sent into, after all. What was the Afterlife without the dead to occupy it?
Neverwhere turns her pale face slowly, eyes settling a moment too long on the gem-crusted mare as though trying to dredge up memories lost. This is not the gangly teenager that she remembers, this is not the child that she plucked from the Den long ago. How long ago was it? It feels like years and years, like eons. When did she get those wings? But those eyes still make her head swim when she looks into them. Amarine – or a credible imposter.
“I’m having lunch,” she answers coolly, suspicion weighing heavily at the corners of her lips as she dips her head to crops the tips of the silver ghostgrass, “What are you doing here?”
So that was it then. Ama looked to the faces of the other's who went about the business of eating without pause. If Nev was dead, so were these souls. More questions than answers swam in her head as a greying stallion paused his grass cropping long enough to smile encouragingly at her.
She returned the stranger's smile, wondering if these were horses Neverwhere had known over her own lifespan, or if it was death that had brought them together. "The fairies asked for help," she answered softly, breaking eye contact with the grey as she did. "You know me," she added ruefully. "I had to do something." There was more, so much more that she wanted to say.
She wanted to tell Nev about her own children, about the family she'd been busy carving out for herself in the redwoods of Taiga. All while Neverwhere's body had been decaying... somewhere. She could spend ages trying to catch them up, but that wasn't why she was here. Somewhere up ahead, her girls were doing their best to fight the dark, and she needed to uphold her end of things.
"When all is done, I'll find your bones and see them rested right," she promised firmly, knowing Nev had never once expected any fuss made over her remains. Which was why funerals were for the living, as she hoped the gruff mare would understand.
She leaned forward to kiss her adoptive mother's paper-dry cheek. The scent of her was missing on this plane, she realized sadly. "I love you, Nev. We've all missed you back home. I'm glad I got to see you again, even like this." The jewel-eyed girl stepped away again, knowing in her heart that time was out. If she didn't leave now, she never would, and every sacrifice she'd made so far would be wasted.
She looked over her shoulder once. The strangeness of the place had replaced Neverwhere and her herd as soon as she'd walked away, leaving Ama alone again with her thoughts. She was nearing the end now. The road split, a high road and a low one, as she'd been told it would.
With a deep sigh, she turned to face the rising path, the trail turning gravelly as it rose to a familiar sort of cliff. One that she knew from experience that sound would throw itself from over and over until the space below finally swallowed it. The clear choice, in her mind.
Onward and upward to where the wind caught her own mane and the air was cold and empty where the land suddenly stopped existing.
"Hey!" Her voice broke away like a gunshot, harsh after so much quiet. "Come and get me, you horrible things! What are you waiting for? Just push me off the cliff already, I dare you!" It was what they'd brought her here for, she believed. A sacrifice, so others might live on.
OOC Note: Nevewhere dialog provided courtesy of Ratty