So aside from someplace called Rak'tika, where are we, exactly?
[She sounds almost...distracted. Her head canting as if listening to something distant, the cries of the forest around her fading to mere background noise as she finds herself almost at a loss. True she didn't usually go out of her way to listen in on people, but something had felt strange, something she could almost sense, but now?
She felt as if she'd be sucked under. It was so much more than she'd ever felt in any one place besides the Lifestream, her gaze distant and unseeing of the forest around her as she moved as if in a trance. Even the little serpent in her arms got little more than an absent-minded pat when it shrieked in concern.]
Hmm?
[She blinks, and for a moment her aether retreats as she comes back to herself, straightening as she hugs the creature tighter.]
Dragged out of the Lifestream? How did you...
[Her eyes go wide as she turns to him, her stare intense as she stumbles forward, no longer concerned about her stiff limbs but rather latching onto the shreds she can glean from him. They're bits and pieces and it's all mismatched parts but he's her entire focus as she peers up at him.]
What do you mean? Do you know what happened?
[She's got more questions ready to burst free, cracks forming in a proverbial dam that's moments away from unleashing a torrent of curiosity that won't easily be slaked but his last words draw her up short, hugging the serpent tight enough that it squeaks when the stunned look returns.]
Aether? What's that? I didn't...
[She pauses, then lets out a startled sound, belatedly clapping a hand to her mouth as she stares wide-eyed.]
Oh! I didn't even think about it! I've never met anyone who could tell, I've always been able to hear and feel others around me but I only ever knew one other person who could, and she died when I was little. I didn't know...I was always using it to keep away from...mmm.
[She closes her eyes, shaking off something that sends a slithering, ugly sensation through her, her aether flinching back to coil more densely around her, almost in a self-soothing gesture. Stroking the serpent apologetically, her gaze falls, and her energy slowly begins to seep into the earth again, brushing against the grass and flowers at her feet and sinking deep to touch roots far below, grounding her as the pulse of life around them seems to flush the dark thoughts from her for the moment.]
no subject
[She sounds almost...distracted. Her head canting as if listening to something distant, the cries of the forest around her fading to mere background noise as she finds herself almost at a loss. True she didn't usually go out of her way to listen in on people, but something had felt strange, something she could almost sense, but now?
She felt as if she'd be sucked under. It was so much more than she'd ever felt in any one place besides the Lifestream, her gaze distant and unseeing of the forest around her as she moved as if in a trance. Even the little serpent in her arms got little more than an absent-minded pat when it shrieked in concern.]
Hmm?
[She blinks, and for a moment her aether retreats as she comes back to herself, straightening as she hugs the creature tighter.]
Dragged out of the Lifestream? How did you...
[Her eyes go wide as she turns to him, her stare intense as she stumbles forward, no longer concerned about her stiff limbs but rather latching onto the shreds she can glean from him. They're bits and pieces and it's all mismatched parts but he's her entire focus as she peers up at him.]
What do you mean? Do you know what happened?
[She's got more questions ready to burst free, cracks forming in a proverbial dam that's moments away from unleashing a torrent of curiosity that won't easily be slaked but his last words draw her up short, hugging the serpent tight enough that it squeaks when the stunned look returns.]
Aether? What's that? I didn't...
[She pauses, then lets out a startled sound, belatedly clapping a hand to her mouth as she stares wide-eyed.]
Oh! I didn't even think about it! I've never met anyone who could tell, I've always been able to hear and feel others around me but I only ever knew one other person who could, and she died when I was little. I didn't know...I was always using it to keep away from...mmm.
[She closes her eyes, shaking off something that sends a slithering, ugly sensation through her, her aether flinching back to coil more densely around her, almost in a self-soothing gesture. Stroking the serpent apologetically, her gaze falls, and her energy slowly begins to seep into the earth again, brushing against the grass and flowers at her feet and sinking deep to touch roots far below, grounding her as the pulse of life around them seems to flush the dark thoughts from her for the moment.]