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quartz shoreline :]. 365 words
Sofia had no real direction to her wandering, now. After a brief stint in Dahlia de Mai and a more extended exploration of the southern lands, she had turned and went back east. Which was weird, because for the past couple of months her entire life had been devoted to traveling west - to find the unexpectedly abandoned home of her father. And while she hadn't traveled at great speed, she had taken the most direct route. It didn't matter, though. She had already overshot her goal, the burnt lands to the east that were too-slowly being reborn. She'd never really get the chance to see them healthy again. All she was left with were the fond memories of the short time she had spent in Jaded Shadows as a tiny, tiny child.
But these lands were well-populated, and interesting to explore in-depth. And without a goal to drag her along, to take footstep after footstep after footstep until she no longer had any left to give, there was no reason not to stay. The sand was very smooth, and her sore paws sure appreciated it. To think, that their pads had still possessed some vestiges of puppy-pink before she set out! Okay, that was particularly her forelimbs and that was directly a result of living life predominantly shifted, but the point still remained: she had traveled enough since then to gray them a dozen times over.
She wandered east along the coast, intending to travel all the way back to the mountain ridge to spend the night. The early afternoon was cloudy but at least it was dry. Or, it would be if she wasn't wading through the waves. What mattered was that it wasn't raining, which is why Sofi had felt safe enough to explore what she had been neglecting before; the coast of this area. It was odd, how the land had both a northern and a southern coast. She hadn't ever imagined that a place could be so sandwiched by water.
A lighthouse on an island caught her eye, and she paused, eying it from a distance and trying to estimate just how difficult the swim might be. It didn't look that bad...
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That lighthouse would always be a beacon to her, a deathly flame to her moth-like mind. So much had happened to her there. There was something about the whisper of the waves against the shore that gave her mind rest, although at times it stirred her thoughts up into such a flurry that she could not think straight. Still, she found herself here, time and again, to ponder the meaning of life and the things that had happened to her recently.
Today her mind was filled with a familiar vortex of thoughts, faint memories emerging to put a blight upon her happiness. She could not help but recall what had arisen in her the first time she had stepped foot into the lighthouse. Even standing apart from it, separated by the water and the shoreline, she could not be unaffected. The times had changed and turned against her, but she still felt echoes of a particular heartbeat inside her chest. It was the part of her that always awaken for one woman, the woman who had awoken her from a commitment to despair and mediocrity and given her the keys to verve and life again.
Geneva had a lot to be grateful for, and that counterbalanced all that she could regret. It had been hard for her to admit it, but she had finally told Jefferson how she felt about him a month ago. She had expected him to laugh and turn her away, but he had surprised her, like always, when he had told her he felt the same. Recently, she had felt lighter than air.
The gray woman did not mind walking alone, but when she saw a lone figure on the sand she was glad to approach her. She was glad of the break in the rain, and she wanted to share her time with someone else. "Admiring the view?" Geneva asked.
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I am jealous of your posting from work ability! XD I don't get as much free time this summer as I had last summer, haha. 275 words
Sofia was focusing so intensely on determining how long the swim from here to there would take that the other wolf quite snuck up on her. She was visibly startled, slightly, but the pattering of her heart slowed back to a normal pace on quick inspection of the one who spoke. The other wolf was a female, and well, a wolf. As interesting as it had been to meet a couple coyotes, to investigate that side of her ancestry... Well, her latter encounter had not been as pleasant as the former and there was just something comforting about being back on familiar ground, with a familiar sort of canine. "Yeah.." Sofia said vaguely, glancing back at the water again. "I'm trying to figure out if that island is reachable, even with this high tide."
She paused, considering a bit further; she was never one to make rash decisions. She was a pretty strong swimmer, and it wasn't that far away... "Do you want to try and swim to it, with me? It could be an adventure!" Her voice simultaneously revealed a juvenile eagerness and a strange sense of wonder and amazement not often found in adults. It was the awe of a puppy, seeing a bright butterfly for the first time, or experiencing it's first snowfall. An appreciation that generally wore off over time, with age, that had managed to creep it's way back into Sofia's eyes and voice. It was probably dragged up from wherever those things go to retire by her sense of impending death, and it juxtaposed strangely with the very adult, careful and rational determination if the swim was something realistic.
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Geneva was delighted as the stranger spoke further. She gazed out at the lighthouse. She had been there many times since her arrival here. It used to be the place she ran to whenever she was afraid. Now it represented so many things to her. But it didn't matter if she was going to make another memory there. She had to make peace with the place sometime. Why not now?
"I'm willing to try," she said brightly. Without hesitance, Geneva moved herself into the water. She felt the chilled water swirling around her calves, but it did not matter much to her. This new stranger reminded her very much of Ehno Marino, her old pack mate. Turning to look at the nameless stranger once more she grinned, winked, and then dove into the water.
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[html] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v463/ ... _table.jpg); background-position: top center; background-repeat: no-repeat;"> some powerplay in getting them both to the island, let me know if you want me to change anything~ 325 words
Oh good, the stranger was interested in the idea! That was great. Because as much as exploring was fun, the more dangerous adventures (or at least the ones that contained some element of real risk) were much less scary when you weren't alone. And it would be cool to be able to talk with someone about whatever they found on that island, out there. The other wolf moved immediately to the water, and Sofia hurried in after her, sort of amused by the fact that she was choosing to spend this brief dry spell in the weather, well, swimming. It was a pleasant enough activity in and of itself, it just seemed like she wasn't truly getting as much out of the sunshine as she could. Oh, well, it was too late now and she didn't really regret it anyway.
The water was very cold, but the sun being out meant they'd dry off pretty fast on the island, once they got there. It was a shorter swim than it looked from the mainland, and before long Sofia was dragging herself up onto the rocky shore, shaking of whatever water was willing to easily be dislodged from her short fur. It hadn't been very easy to keep track of her adventure companion while swimming, what with the waves and all. It had been tough enough to keep her eyes locked on the destination, to muscle through the strong current. Even if it wasn't something she partook in very frequently, Sofia would miss swimming when she no longer could do so.
Glancing around, she spotted the stranger down a little way, it looked like the other wolf had beat her here. Shaking herself off once more, she bounded over excitedly. "We did it!" Trimuphantly exclaimed. "Have you ever been here before?" Curious. It was very possible; the other girl smelled like a pack and probably had spent a lot more time on these lands than Sofia had.
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What form are they in? ^^;
Crossing the water had not been as difficult as the woman had anticipated. She had admittedly never swam out to the lighthouse, although she had walked there before. There had been the slightest bit of hesitance and trepidation in the back of her mind before she had given the stranger an affirmative, but she had pushed on regardless. Now that she had reached the shore, she was glad that she had tried. There were too many times that she had let fear hold her back. She had missed out on so much life had to offer, but it seemed that she would no longer have to contend with that anymore.
She shook herself slightly, water droplets catching the light before they speckled the ground. The water had been cold, but had also served to sharpen her awareness. Although Geneva was none too keen to exposing herself to the wilder elements and temperatures, she did not mind the cold dip in the sea. It had actually been quite refreshing, and it had felt strange and wonderful to forget gravity as she let the water take hold of her body.
"Many times," Geneva answered the stranger. She had only been her a few weeks prior, and had met a Dahlian make named Lubomir. She had spared him a few thoughts since their meeting, and she hoped that the man was doing well now. Neither of them had been having a very good streak of luck the night they had met. She found it hard to recall his features, her memories were tinged by the soft edges of alcohol. She made a note to seek him out at some time sober, and to see how he was doing. "My name is Geneva Stockholm. What is yours?"
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i'm so sorry this took so long :< i actually have no idea which form, lawl. shifted works for me, though.
So Sofia had been right, this other female - Geneva, so her name apparently was, had been here before. It was a shame that this would probably be Sofi's first and last time here. Well, unless she was especially fond of this place and made a point of visiting. But it seemed like a much better use of her time to see new things, to fill her last days with new experiences and bright, fresh memories of never before seen locations. But she couldn't think like that. Last time here, first time here, whatever. She couldn't dwell on it, because that would keep this memory from reaching its potential. Instead, it would just be another day lost to depression, to self-pity, another day relinquished to the cancer that already was taking so much.
"I'm Sofia, it's nice to meet you Geneva!" A grin kept the words from being overly polite. The younger girl shook once more, then reached one hand up to pull together her bedraggled dark mane, squeezing out the moisture it still contained. A few seagulls hopped close in their investigation of the rocks, and with a sudden exuberance, Sofi ran a few steps in their direction, amused by their sudden panic and flight. Laughing a little, Sofi turned back 'round, green eyes picking out the form of her companion. One hand resting languidly on her unadorned, scruffy hip, she questioned cheerfully: "To the lighthouse, then? Have you been in there, too? Is there anything cool inside?" [/html]
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If my silence made you leave,
then that would be my worst mistake.
There was a brightness about her, an exuberance that lent the normally reserved wolfess an expansive burst of energy. Her smile was genuine as she watched her traveling companion take off with a burst across the shore toward a group of screeching, panicked water fowl. She could not recall the name of that sort of bird, but she did not feel the need to ask. The usually ordered, analytical woman was content to simply exist within the here and now and dwell on the pursuit of information and knowledge at another time. It was the first time she had made this girl's acquaintance, and she observed her companion with quiet fascination. Geneva did not have a sense of smell at her disposal, and so she relied very heavily upon her other sense and observational skills in order to learn new things. Her first thoughts about this girl was that she was full of energy and determined to enjoy life for what it had to offer at a moment's notice. That might not be an accurate description, but for now, Geneva liked what she saw. She turned her lime colored gaze to the structure of the light house. It was a weathered building that had seen better days, but it was still a strong fortress against the salt tinged winds off the sea. "I've been there before," Geneva told her, her voice gentle and quiet as it always was, though there was a spark of curiosity and playfulness in her tone. "But I am not going to tell you what is inside. I think you'd have a better time finding out yourself." Her words were an invitation. She looked over her shoulder at the light house before she began the trek forward. She made it to the heavy door and set her shoulder against it, throwing her weight into it in order to open the door. The door way revealed a darkened interior, but she smiled and beckoned Sofia inside.
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Sofia only knew that the birds she chased were seagulls because of her fascination with birds as a child. Calypso and his daughter had spent many a long night studying a giant picture book with tons of various birds. She wouldn't have had much luck with the book on her own; reading was a frustrating activity for the dyslexic child, but Sofi remembered her father reading out the various names, his warm voice filled with love. God, but she missed him. That was something safe to dwell on, at least, because as much as it hurt to think of never seeing her father again, there was sort of a grim satisfaction in the pain. Better she hurt like this, than to tear his heart out by forcing him to witness her death. That was the right thing to do, right? It had to be, she had no time left to second guess her actions.
Geneva's playful refusal to answer her question caught her off guard, a little, but Sofi recovered swiftly. As much as she hated to be denied knowledge, she probably would have more fun this way, being able to discover this stuff herself. The other female then proceeded to open the door, and with her beckon Sofi followed her inside. It was much darker inside, and it took her bright green eyes a few moments to adjust enough to see anything. Actually, it was a little creepy, and she was very glad that she had someone else there with her. Otherwise, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to actually work up the nerve to climb up the stairs she picked out working their way around and upwards. Sofia sneezed at the dust they had unsettled in the process of entering; easy as it had been to get here, it looked like not too may wolves actually ever bothered to do so.
"You.. you wanna go first?" Sofia suggested, staring pointedly at the uncertain looking stairs. It was the first time hesitation had entered her voice at all, but she was still going to push forward. She wasn't about to look like a scaredy-cat in front of this other pretty female.
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If my silence made you leave,
then that would be my worst mistake.
Geneva smiled ruefully as Sofia took her first steps into the light house. She followed after the lone female without a second of hesitation. She had been to this light house several times before. It was a strange, foreign structure. She tried to imagine what it must be like for Sofia to be seeing the inside of this circular structure for the first time. She could see how it might be a little unsettling, creepy even. It was dark and dusty. And it was also quiet, except for the sound of the wind and the water outside. It was almost like a deserted tomb.
The woman followed Sofia in, and her eyes scanned the circular staircase. Her eyes were drawn upward, into the darkness that comprised the ceiling. Sofia rounded the room and came to stand at the staircase. She seemed unsure of herself at this point. Geneva did not blame her. Although she had been raised inside of human structures, she to had found the light house to be strange the first time she had seen it. She rested her fingers lightly on the banister, leaving a trail of dust as she moved upward.
She walked up slowly, looking over her shoulder as if to say "this is okay and safe" to the female. She had been so adventurous outside. It would be a shame now for the adventure to come to an end. Geneva then spoke to calm the woman's fears. "I've been up here several times before. There are some strange human artifacts to see at the top." Her words promised mystery and fun. There definitely were human objects, almost in perfect condition except the dust.
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ic -
Sofia boldly followed Geneva up the stairs. She was still sort of scared, but it definitely helped seeing that someone was successfully climbing up in front of her. The stairs would hold the weight of the other female, surely they would be fine holding someone as underfed as the hybrid girl. Still, though, she clutched the railing pretty tightly, her palms picking up a fair amount of dust. She wondered if she would recognize the "strange human objects" up at the top. The pack in which she had spent most of her life in very much relied on human technology, buildings, and objects. She had lived most of her life sleeping in a bed inside a house, and most of the work that she put into that pack involved keeping various human objects in working condition.
They reached the top, where sunlight through the windows blinded her dark-adjusted eyes momentarily. Instead of examining the objects, though, she marveled at the view. They could see not only the whole island from here, but the shore from whence they came. In her explorations of these lands, she had found many great views, but something about the way the sunlight dappled the waters gave this one a particular edge above the others. "Wow.." She breathed, before turning to see the reaction of the other, sparing a glance to see what the human objects were.
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