09-22-2019, 02:22 PM
She's never been one to panic and, even now, with the morning sun struggling to spear its light through the trees and fog of Taiga, she does not panic. But it is a strange sensation that settles over her as the realization that she is lost in some way drapes heavy and woolen like a cloak. She has never been lost before, or, perhaps more rightly, she has never felt lost before. There was never a plan or a place or a home, and it shocks her to find that, suddenly, all of these things exist for her. Her first reaction is one of anger, anger directed at nobody in particular. Angry teeth rend the green stalks of a sapling that grows too near and the tastes of mint and tar and pine flood her mouth. With a snort, she drops the ravaged limb to her feet, preparing to crush it with slate-dark hooves when a familiar voice calls from somewhere between the clouded trees - Lilli?
The chestnut had said she was going to Taiga, hadn't she? It had seemed an odd choice and, even now, Neverwhere takes a moment to pause and wonder. Quieted, the white-faced mare turns to look in the direction of the call, one second of clarity almost enough to recall her to her familiar dependence on scent and sound and feel. Not quite enough, she doesn't move from where she stands to meet her friend, but she calms and returns the greeting.
"Lilliana," the familiar auburn shadow of her friend comes into view from between two trunks where, to Neverwhere's hazy eye, she was essentially invisible, "sleeping under trees, still?"
Lilli's question about Nerine picks at a sore scab in Neverwhere's mind and she blinks again hard as though to flush away the fog that has flooded into her vision, more, even, than the fog that wraps through Taiga on its own.
"Not bored of Nerine, no, only... I thought I'd be able to see more." This will not likely make a great deal of sense, the last time they had spoken, the dappled mare was half-blind, but now she feels as though it is worse than ever and she cannot tell if it is the Taigan fog, or if she grew used todepending on her vision that quickly.
Or if she is actually worse off than before.
The familiar itch of distaste for magic rises again in her bones. There's a price, and it's rarely what you think. Even before she had let Heartfire play her game, Neverwhere had known this truth, and still she had stumbled blindly into the lesson of it. Anger threatens to bloom again, though with herself this time, and her scars flush scarlet. It is obvious and she knows it, shakes her head to distract from the redness across her face, from the dirt on her knees, and the scent of evergreen on her lips.
"You're very close to the Nerinian border, Lilli, were you coming to visit me?"
@[lilliana]
The chestnut had said she was going to Taiga, hadn't she? It had seemed an odd choice and, even now, Neverwhere takes a moment to pause and wonder. Quieted, the white-faced mare turns to look in the direction of the call, one second of clarity almost enough to recall her to her familiar dependence on scent and sound and feel. Not quite enough, she doesn't move from where she stands to meet her friend, but she calms and returns the greeting.
"Lilliana," the familiar auburn shadow of her friend comes into view from between two trunks where, to Neverwhere's hazy eye, she was essentially invisible, "sleeping under trees, still?"
Lilli's question about Nerine picks at a sore scab in Neverwhere's mind and she blinks again hard as though to flush away the fog that has flooded into her vision, more, even, than the fog that wraps through Taiga on its own.
"Not bored of Nerine, no, only... I thought I'd be able to see more." This will not likely make a great deal of sense, the last time they had spoken, the dappled mare was half-blind, but now she feels as though it is worse than ever and she cannot tell if it is the Taigan fog, or if she grew used todepending on her vision that quickly.
Or if she is actually worse off than before.
The familiar itch of distaste for magic rises again in her bones. There's a price, and it's rarely what you think. Even before she had let Heartfire play her game, Neverwhere had known this truth, and still she had stumbled blindly into the lesson of it. Anger threatens to bloom again, though with herself this time, and her scars flush scarlet. It is obvious and she knows it, shakes her head to distract from the redness across her face, from the dirt on her knees, and the scent of evergreen on her lips.
"You're very close to the Nerinian border, Lilli, were you coming to visit me?"
@[lilliana]
