04-14-2021, 10:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-14-2021, 10:32 PM by Neverwhere.)
Hey all you cool cats and kittens
The silence between them might last a lifetime for all she can tell, heavy with all the sadness and the hurt the red mare has been crushing down and down and down into the darkest corners of her heart, and Neverwhere can see the dark forest, trees and shadows and snow, and the pale moonlight filtering through the branches. She sees it more clearly than she did in life, and the branches feel oppressive and greedy, snatching at the ghostly wisps of her mane. But the trees gave way to sunrise. And the world shifts subtly, black giving way to deep indigo blue, to pink, to that day at the river. Water rushes cold around her pasterns and the memory of that algae smell is sharp in her nose as the fog that clings to her takes the shape of a long ago day. It's thin, though. Neverwhere is less experienced with the magic of emotion, and so the illusion falls away from her long before it can become clear.
There is only fog again, and Neverwhere, stolid, if not entirely solid, and Lilliana's tears darkening her russet cheeks. Two shortened ears turn themselves towards the chestnut and the wind sighs for her.
"Lilli..."
Neverwhere closes the gap between them as she has done so many times before, finds her place again at her friend's side and imagines the warmth that used to be there until she's almost convinced of it.
"Lilli, don't be stupid."
Above the fog, the moon pulses softly, larger and brighter than she ever remembers it being. Perhaps it's guilt that makes it so broad, guilt to be a party to the Monsters' stained magic, guilt for turning the living world to pitch and ice. The beasts don't seem to linger here and she wastes little time wondering why that might be, it's enough to know that they aren't in this space in-between, and never mind the rest. Let it go. She isn't like Amarine, and she isn't like Lilliana. She doesn't answer calls for help by rushing in headfirst, bound by some sense of duty. Neverwhere would let dragons burn the world to ashes without remorse, yet, again and again, she finds herself here, desperate to staunch the flow of Lilliana's unhappiness. Somewhere distant, in the dark and the dust or the depths of some predator's belly, somewhere the shreds of her heart lurch and if Ama reawoke her, it is Lilli, her first and most steadfast friend, that reminds her what it is like to live. That broad, pale, forehead presses itself against a copper shoulder.
"There's no such thing as lost." Neverwhere blinks clear eyes once covered with cataracts and rimmed with scarred, burnt skin. She had traveled so far and seen so little, "you just didn't end up where you expected."
Her head swings up again, peering briefly into the place where the dappled stallion disappeared into the fog, to the place that is not Lilli's home, and the frown on her lips becomes something mischievous instead. Her shoulders roll, nonchalant.
"Besides, I'm here, and I've never been lost a day in my life, so how can you be lost if I'm not?"
There is only fog again, and Neverwhere, stolid, if not entirely solid, and Lilliana's tears darkening her russet cheeks. Two shortened ears turn themselves towards the chestnut and the wind sighs for her.
"Lilli..."
Neverwhere closes the gap between them as she has done so many times before, finds her place again at her friend's side and imagines the warmth that used to be there until she's almost convinced of it.
"Lilli, don't be stupid."
Above the fog, the moon pulses softly, larger and brighter than she ever remembers it being. Perhaps it's guilt that makes it so broad, guilt to be a party to the Monsters' stained magic, guilt for turning the living world to pitch and ice. The beasts don't seem to linger here and she wastes little time wondering why that might be, it's enough to know that they aren't in this space in-between, and never mind the rest. Let it go. She isn't like Amarine, and she isn't like Lilliana. She doesn't answer calls for help by rushing in headfirst, bound by some sense of duty. Neverwhere would let dragons burn the world to ashes without remorse, yet, again and again, she finds herself here, desperate to staunch the flow of Lilliana's unhappiness. Somewhere distant, in the dark and the dust or the depths of some predator's belly, somewhere the shreds of her heart lurch and if Ama reawoke her, it is Lilli, her first and most steadfast friend, that reminds her what it is like to live. That broad, pale, forehead presses itself against a copper shoulder.
"There's no such thing as lost." Neverwhere blinks clear eyes once covered with cataracts and rimmed with scarred, burnt skin. She had traveled so far and seen so little, "you just didn't end up where you expected."
Her head swings up again, peering briefly into the place where the dappled stallion disappeared into the fog, to the place that is not Lilli's home, and the frown on her lips becomes something mischievous instead. Her shoulders roll, nonchalant.
"Besides, I'm here, and I've never been lost a day in my life, so how can you be lost if I'm not?"
That bitch, Neverwhere
@[lilliana]
