Walking on Air

[Sage River Lykoi]

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Sorry I took a while! :X WC: 576

What was she doing, out there so early, so alone? Maybe it had been the atmosphere that had drawn her; something so dilapidated as she had been feeling lately. It was such a strange feeling, but her Daddy's concrete absence and her own fractured arm had made melancholy easier to come by. Being amongst a landscape that felt so familiar now felt comforting, and may have even been helping her regain her spirits. After all, her free spirit could not be caged for long. She felt trapped in her own thoughts, in her own mood, and strongly desired to escape from it.

Maybe that was why she was here, hunting for stray bottles that might contain any of that bittersweet nectar she'd once discovered; the very same day as she'd met the personable Strelein. The girl strode into shops, her flawless companion Lennon always stationed right outside, as if keeping watch for her. And maybe he was. Of course she hadn't instructed him to do so, but the pastel painted stallion did what he pleased; it just so happened that his deeds overlapped with her gain.

Dashing elegantly from one of the defunct buildings, the girl held several bottles in her arms, clinging them to her chest as she ran, purposeless, catching up with Lennon and unloading her treasure into the bag on his back. With a pleasantly content grin, the girl thrust her hand into her own bag and retrieved a perfectly rolled joint, her own yellow eyes pausing for a moment to admire her handiwork. Sometimes, the hippie girl managed to impress herself. Was it narcissism that drove this, or something else?

After lighting the thing and taking several puffs of it, she was distracted from her temporary victory celebration by the nearby sound of hooves, and the sudden outburst of a man's voice cackling, as if amused at a joke told by a creature only he could here. Maybe that's what it really was; Sage would have believed it. Interested and alert over-sized ears perked forward, and the girl silently climbed onto her counterpart's bare back, giving him gentle guidance towards the source of the strange sound. The Lykoi girl directed him in a slow trot, hoping to at least alert the stranger to her presence, but with any luck, without alarming him in the process.

Just as she had set off to find him, though, the stranger had come around the corner slowly, still laughing to himself. Hazy, sun-colored eyes narrowed vaguely at the man, seeing a patch of dark red along his arm. Strangely, he seemed aware, for as he rode he cleaned it with his own saliva. The tawny girl tilted her head to one side, dark chocolate locks wavering, falling carelessly in front of her face, where she instantly pushed them away.

"Hey there, mister?" she called out to the grey-scale man, her voice slightly tentative, but melodically friendly nonetheless. "Are you quite all right, love?" There was a hint of concern in her voice, but the damage didn't seem extensive, and so she wasn't greatly worried.

Sage nudged Lennon to take several steps closer to the pair, looking over them curiously as she took a deep hit from the joint. Her eyes closed as she paused to appreciate the smoke in her lungs before she released it, golden eyes fixating once again on the fascinating stranger.