12-30-2016, 01:51 PM
Right up the middle I run, and the only sounds I hear are the clattering clomping noise of my itty bitty hooves on hard stone, the pounding of my heart, and the whoosh of air in and out of my lungs. But as soon as I charge forward into the dark, somebody is next to me. No matter how hard I run, he’s there beside me, all reared up on his back legs and looking kinda like the monkeys Momma told me bedtime stories about, painting pictures in the air with the light. Except his fur’s all missing, ‘cept for a fuzzy tail with a poof of longer hair on the end. Weird.
I slow down to a walk, panting and looking up into eyes a pretty green, facing forward instead of to the sides. Must make it hard to see behind him, but he doesn’t seem to mind really. I think I’d be constantly craning around to look if I could only see to the front, but he just looks right at me. “I cannot go where I am sending you. And I cannot send you by a direct route,” he says, and I tilt my head, puzzled. Sending me? Sending me where? Oh, hopefully not far, or for very long! Momma’s gonna be so worried, and Daddy too, and Uncle Kade even though he hides it behind that funny stony face of his that he puts on sometimes.
“Save her.” Oh, I was right, somebody’s in trouble! My blue eyes go wide and I nod solemnly just before he disappears. I keep walking forward, not really sure how exactly I’m supposed to save her or who she even is, but hopefully I’ll understand when I get there. That’s what life has been so far, figuring things out as I go, though this time I don’t have anybody bigger than me helping me learn or answering questions or guiding me forward. Just the soft glow of light in the distance. Momma? I scamper toward the light, even though it doesn’t quite feel like Momma’s light. Hers can be that sweet, soft glow and is when she’s not thinking about it or doing it for me. But she knows how much I love the flickering dance of auroras shimmering in the air around us, so she makes those way more often. Since I got here, anyhow.
Oh, goodness. Yes, that is definitely not my mommy. The light gets so, so bright as I step out of the tunnel and into a whole new world, or at least it looks like a whole new world. The sun burns so much hotter in the sky, soaking into my fluffy, mousey grey baby coat and making it all damp and dark with sweat. Each step is a little harder than usual, my feet sinking into sand and working the muscles in my legs differently than walking on nice solid dirt and grass; it’s kinda like walking in snow, but it doesn’t crunch and give the same. It sinks and shifts and stirs, swallowing my hooves up instead of giving way beneath them. Oh boy. Oh goodness me. I pause to look around, carefully studying the two paths before me. Or what I can see of them, anyhow.
One leads away from the sinking, shifting, swallowing sand onto rocky ground that looks a lot more firm and maybe easier to walk across. The sand is kinda fun, and even though I’m in a hurry I drop to the ground, rolling in it to skritch the itchy spots under my baby fluff and frolicking and enjoying the way it sticks and clings and noms my feet. Just for a minute. Well, or a couple of minutes, okay. But I think walking across allllll that sand sounds like maybe too hard for my tiny legs that are already kinda tired after a whole lot of walking and some running and more walking. So I scramble to my feet, shaking off what I can of the lovely sand and galumphing down the rockier, sturdier path.
I only run for a little while though, quickly running low on steam despite the heat and slowing back down to a walk. A walk that lasts what feels like forever, as the sun crawls across the sky and beats down on me and wears away my energy bit by bit by bit. I want to stop and curl up in a ball and sleep. In a stream. And fill my hungry belly, so Mommy should definitely be there too. Yes, that would be lovely. But if I stop, it’s gonna be hard to get back up, and I’m s’posed to save her, whoever she is. So I keep trudging on, picking my way across the dry, rocky earth.
Oh goodness, and the longer I walk, the thirstier I get, too. Sweat evaporates as quick as my body can make it, leaving my coat dry and my throat dry and my eyeballs starting to feel scratchy and dry, and my nose, and my all of me feels like it’s been wrung out, squeezed ‘til all the wet is gone and I’m a crispy crunchy husk. The sun’s so bright it hurts my eyes, and it’s all I can do to keep moving forward. As the hot, hot sun finally starts to set, which really just makes it look brighter and right in front of me and makes me kinda want to turn around and walk backward so at least I’m not staring into it, oh wait, that does sound nice. Okay. Good, yeah, I do that. As long as the path is falling away behind me, I at least can duck my head a little and not see quite so much of the blinding-bright sun.
That plan’s all well and good really, right up ‘til I bump butt-first into something. I yelp, and scramble forward and whirl around to face the something that is too warm and squishy to be a rock or a tree or something. Right, definitely not a rock or a tree. It looks, actually, kinda like the naked monkey man with the kitty tail. Except this one only has that very same naked monkey face, and the rest of him is all kitty. Big, big kitty. With that tuft at the end of his tail, too, just like the one who sent me here.
“Oh! Hello,” I say, sneaking a tentative step forward and smiling. “I’m Rora, and I’m here to save somebody, I guess?” I peek around him, but he’s blocking the path, and I can’t see past his great furry shoulders. “Um, ‘scuse me, can I get through, please? It’s very important.”
This new maybe-friend blinks those same pretty green eyes at me and tilts his head, looking me over. He doesn’t move, which is a little rude, but maybe he is very tired? “Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?” he asks, his tone bland as he pretty much ignores everything I said and changes the subject..
What? I tilt my head right back, my brow furrowing as I try to understand. Maybe he’s thirsty? I know I am. “Um, I don’t know, but if you tell me, and tell me where to find it and also maybe how to carry it, I’d be happy to bring you some water. It sure is hot out here, huh?”
“Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?” he asks again, and I frown up at him, glaring.
“What’s an alphabet?” I ask back, my tone grumpy in a whole brand new way I’ve never heard before, not from me at least. Kinda reminds me of Mommy, actually, which is almost cool enough to distract me from my very rude new friend. Who, by the way, just looks at me again, blinking his stupid, pretty eyes. “And what’s a letter?” I demand, stomping my hoof and trying to sneak past even as I ask it. His eyes get this annoyed expression, and he growls a bit.
“Letters are symbols for the sounds that make words.” Ooooh! That sounds fun! But also I still don't know any of them, and at my continued sorta blank, sorta eager-demanding stare he sighs and begins to recite. “Eh, bee, sea, dee--”
“Oooh, seas have lots of water, right? Is it that one?” Oops. He glares a little, but snorts and rolls those pretty eyes and stands. “Oh, thanks, new friend!” I shout, dashing between his legs and onward into the sunset. And that sneaky imp, it turns out he was hiding trees and water behind him the whole time!
I slow down to a walk, panting and looking up into eyes a pretty green, facing forward instead of to the sides. Must make it hard to see behind him, but he doesn’t seem to mind really. I think I’d be constantly craning around to look if I could only see to the front, but he just looks right at me. “I cannot go where I am sending you. And I cannot send you by a direct route,” he says, and I tilt my head, puzzled. Sending me? Sending me where? Oh, hopefully not far, or for very long! Momma’s gonna be so worried, and Daddy too, and Uncle Kade even though he hides it behind that funny stony face of his that he puts on sometimes.
“Save her.” Oh, I was right, somebody’s in trouble! My blue eyes go wide and I nod solemnly just before he disappears. I keep walking forward, not really sure how exactly I’m supposed to save her or who she even is, but hopefully I’ll understand when I get there. That’s what life has been so far, figuring things out as I go, though this time I don’t have anybody bigger than me helping me learn or answering questions or guiding me forward. Just the soft glow of light in the distance. Momma? I scamper toward the light, even though it doesn’t quite feel like Momma’s light. Hers can be that sweet, soft glow and is when she’s not thinking about it or doing it for me. But she knows how much I love the flickering dance of auroras shimmering in the air around us, so she makes those way more often. Since I got here, anyhow.
Oh, goodness. Yes, that is definitely not my mommy. The light gets so, so bright as I step out of the tunnel and into a whole new world, or at least it looks like a whole new world. The sun burns so much hotter in the sky, soaking into my fluffy, mousey grey baby coat and making it all damp and dark with sweat. Each step is a little harder than usual, my feet sinking into sand and working the muscles in my legs differently than walking on nice solid dirt and grass; it’s kinda like walking in snow, but it doesn’t crunch and give the same. It sinks and shifts and stirs, swallowing my hooves up instead of giving way beneath them. Oh boy. Oh goodness me. I pause to look around, carefully studying the two paths before me. Or what I can see of them, anyhow.
One leads away from the sinking, shifting, swallowing sand onto rocky ground that looks a lot more firm and maybe easier to walk across. The sand is kinda fun, and even though I’m in a hurry I drop to the ground, rolling in it to skritch the itchy spots under my baby fluff and frolicking and enjoying the way it sticks and clings and noms my feet. Just for a minute. Well, or a couple of minutes, okay. But I think walking across allllll that sand sounds like maybe too hard for my tiny legs that are already kinda tired after a whole lot of walking and some running and more walking. So I scramble to my feet, shaking off what I can of the lovely sand and galumphing down the rockier, sturdier path.
I only run for a little while though, quickly running low on steam despite the heat and slowing back down to a walk. A walk that lasts what feels like forever, as the sun crawls across the sky and beats down on me and wears away my energy bit by bit by bit. I want to stop and curl up in a ball and sleep. In a stream. And fill my hungry belly, so Mommy should definitely be there too. Yes, that would be lovely. But if I stop, it’s gonna be hard to get back up, and I’m s’posed to save her, whoever she is. So I keep trudging on, picking my way across the dry, rocky earth.
Oh goodness, and the longer I walk, the thirstier I get, too. Sweat evaporates as quick as my body can make it, leaving my coat dry and my throat dry and my eyeballs starting to feel scratchy and dry, and my nose, and my all of me feels like it’s been wrung out, squeezed ‘til all the wet is gone and I’m a crispy crunchy husk. The sun’s so bright it hurts my eyes, and it’s all I can do to keep moving forward. As the hot, hot sun finally starts to set, which really just makes it look brighter and right in front of me and makes me kinda want to turn around and walk backward so at least I’m not staring into it, oh wait, that does sound nice. Okay. Good, yeah, I do that. As long as the path is falling away behind me, I at least can duck my head a little and not see quite so much of the blinding-bright sun.
That plan’s all well and good really, right up ‘til I bump butt-first into something. I yelp, and scramble forward and whirl around to face the something that is too warm and squishy to be a rock or a tree or something. Right, definitely not a rock or a tree. It looks, actually, kinda like the naked monkey man with the kitty tail. Except this one only has that very same naked monkey face, and the rest of him is all kitty. Big, big kitty. With that tuft at the end of his tail, too, just like the one who sent me here.
“Oh! Hello,” I say, sneaking a tentative step forward and smiling. “I’m Rora, and I’m here to save somebody, I guess?” I peek around him, but he’s blocking the path, and I can’t see past his great furry shoulders. “Um, ‘scuse me, can I get through, please? It’s very important.”
This new maybe-friend blinks those same pretty green eyes at me and tilts his head, looking me over. He doesn’t move, which is a little rude, but maybe he is very tired? “Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?” he asks, his tone bland as he pretty much ignores everything I said and changes the subject..
What? I tilt my head right back, my brow furrowing as I try to understand. Maybe he’s thirsty? I know I am. “Um, I don’t know, but if you tell me, and tell me where to find it and also maybe how to carry it, I’d be happy to bring you some water. It sure is hot out here, huh?”
“Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?” he asks again, and I frown up at him, glaring.
“What’s an alphabet?” I ask back, my tone grumpy in a whole brand new way I’ve never heard before, not from me at least. Kinda reminds me of Mommy, actually, which is almost cool enough to distract me from my very rude new friend. Who, by the way, just looks at me again, blinking his stupid, pretty eyes. “And what’s a letter?” I demand, stomping my hoof and trying to sneak past even as I ask it. His eyes get this annoyed expression, and he growls a bit.
“Letters are symbols for the sounds that make words.” Ooooh! That sounds fun! But also I still don't know any of them, and at my continued sorta blank, sorta eager-demanding stare he sighs and begins to recite. “Eh, bee, sea, dee--”
“Oooh, seas have lots of water, right? Is it that one?” Oops. He glares a little, but snorts and rolls those pretty eyes and stands. “Oh, thanks, new friend!” I shout, dashing between his legs and onward into the sunset. And that sneaky imp, it turns out he was hiding trees and water behind him the whole time!
pic by Qinni