09-18-2018, 12:09 PM
<style>.kalilayout {width:564px; border:1px solid #000;box-shadow:0px 0px 10px #000;background-color:#1f0c1f;} .kaligradient {width:566px; border:1px solid #000;padding:10px;background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#1f0c1f, #0c050c, #1f0c1f); background: -o-linear-gradient(#1f0c1f, #0c050c, #1f0c1f); background: -moz-linear-gradient(#1f0c1f, #0c050c, #1f0c1f); background: linear-gradient(#1f0c1f, #0c050c, #1f0c1f); box-shadow:0px 0px 25px #000;} .kalipic {width:564px; height:376px; background-image:url('https://s15.postimg.cc/u237dwuwb/kali3.png');background-size:contain;margin-bottom:0px;} .kaliquote{width:564px; height:50px; background-image:url('https://s15.postimg.cc/o6ebnqgsr/kali3quote.png');background-size:contain;margin-top:0px;} .kalipost {padding:40px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-top:0px;text-align:justify;font:13px times;color:#9d9299;}</style><center><div class=kaligradient><div class=kalilayout><div class=kalipic></div><div class=kalipost>Kali had been trying to visit Uncle Ru. It was a trip she’d made a hundred times, sneaking from Ischia to Taiga for a visit and to play, but this time...this time things were different. A wall of thorns blocked her path, and before she could find her way through it or around it or over it...everything changed.
She’d been a pretty sheltered kid, had never so much as seen anyone bleeding beyond the bumps and bruises of childhood. So when a voice crashed through her and told her to run, when a volcano went off and all hell broke loose, she was utterly unprepared for what felt like her perfect little world suddenly ending. The water flooding in wasn’t so scary; she could walk above it, balance precariously on its rushing surface. But there were others who weren’t so lucky.
So she’d tried to help, to find Uncle Ru or his pretty fire friend, or her friend Jinju, or anybody she could help get out. But while she was struggling with the border, the devil came and twisted fire and water into monstrous creatures, the stuff of nightmares; Lily burned a hole through the wall and it was all she saw of her, as the fiery woman dove back into the danger to find Ru or help any Taigans she could find to escape.
And Kali tried to follow, tried to do the same. But as soon as she crossed through the charred, mangled hole in the wall, she became a target. One of the lava monsters had reached for her, spitting fire and just grazing her skin, leaving charred hair and a burned patch across her shoulder. Worse still was the water beast that turned friend into foe, claws and teeth reaching for her, snatching at her and spewing water down her throat, her nostrils, choking, drowning, stealing the breath from her lungs. Her body had bent and twisted wildly, desperate to slip free of its slick grasp, and she had run back through the hole in the wall and far, far away across the water until she couldn’t run anymore.
Her Khari had heard the screaming that echoed in her head when her voice wouldn’t work, when words turned to ash in her mouth and all she could do was stare with hollow eyes as the waves rolled beneath her, haunted by fire and death and destruction, by shrieks and cries of agony and the feel of water filling her lungs and trying to drag her under.
He’d found her and wrapped himself around her, tucking her up against his side and snuggling her with his wings and holding her so close she could almost feel herself sinking into his skin, and still all she could do was stare at the water, watch the way the light danced on its surface and wonder how anything could dance in a world like this. How anything could breathe through the choking, clinging smoke that rose and billowed in the air, through the ash that rained down and blanketed her coat, turning the lavender and white parts of her into soft grey to match the rest. Her lungs still ached from breathing that air, from having it stolen away, her throat was raw from screaming and choking and retching, and everything felt so heavy. So she rested her head on his shoulder, tucked up safe and sound. He’d always keep her safe.
But how could he protect her from <i>that?</i>
As time passed and her Khari still couldn’t get through to her, he reached out to their dad instead, called him with his beautiful mind, showed him where to find them out on the vast, rolling ocean. And so Daddy came, a shimmering impossibility racing across water that should have swallowed him down. He scooped them up, wrapped around them to hold them close, and carried them away somewhere solid and high above the destruction that still raged in the world below.
And they held her, her daddy and her Khari both, tending to the burn on her shoulder and trying so hard to tend to the ache in her soul. It was days before she spoke, her voice still cracking and gravelly though it was healing by now, repairing damage from the smoke and the drowning and the screaming. “Where’s Mom and Kylie?” she croaked out, looking around for them, brow furrowing in a frown as she realized they weren’t there. The frown quickly turned to panic, and she thrashed and struggled to get her feet beneath her to go find them, to make sure they were safe.
“It’s okay, baby. They’re still in Ischia, safe and sound. Easy, love, I’ve got you. We’ve got you,” Daddy crooned, and she gave in, and fell back against her Khari’s side and drifted quickly into an exhausted sleep.
A few days more, and the horror hadn’t really faded from her eyes. But she leaned into Daddy, looked up at him with big brown eyes quietly pleading. “I want Mommy and Kylie too,” she said softly, the grit and gravel starting to fade by now. “Can we go home, Daddy?”
And Daddy could never resist her. “Of course, baby girl. We can do that.” He’d pulled her closer, snuggling her up against his chest, tucking her beneath his chin, and just holding her for a long moment. “Yeah, angel eyes, we can go home.”
((We checked in and got the okay for time to have gone kinda wonky for these guys on the Mountain and it only be a short time on their end since they disappeared. M-tagged because Kirby is in it and realistically speaking it's just safer that way. XD))</div><div class=kaliquote></div></div></div>
She’d been a pretty sheltered kid, had never so much as seen anyone bleeding beyond the bumps and bruises of childhood. So when a voice crashed through her and told her to run, when a volcano went off and all hell broke loose, she was utterly unprepared for what felt like her perfect little world suddenly ending. The water flooding in wasn’t so scary; she could walk above it, balance precariously on its rushing surface. But there were others who weren’t so lucky.
So she’d tried to help, to find Uncle Ru or his pretty fire friend, or her friend Jinju, or anybody she could help get out. But while she was struggling with the border, the devil came and twisted fire and water into monstrous creatures, the stuff of nightmares; Lily burned a hole through the wall and it was all she saw of her, as the fiery woman dove back into the danger to find Ru or help any Taigans she could find to escape.
And Kali tried to follow, tried to do the same. But as soon as she crossed through the charred, mangled hole in the wall, she became a target. One of the lava monsters had reached for her, spitting fire and just grazing her skin, leaving charred hair and a burned patch across her shoulder. Worse still was the water beast that turned friend into foe, claws and teeth reaching for her, snatching at her and spewing water down her throat, her nostrils, choking, drowning, stealing the breath from her lungs. Her body had bent and twisted wildly, desperate to slip free of its slick grasp, and she had run back through the hole in the wall and far, far away across the water until she couldn’t run anymore.
Her Khari had heard the screaming that echoed in her head when her voice wouldn’t work, when words turned to ash in her mouth and all she could do was stare with hollow eyes as the waves rolled beneath her, haunted by fire and death and destruction, by shrieks and cries of agony and the feel of water filling her lungs and trying to drag her under.
He’d found her and wrapped himself around her, tucking her up against his side and snuggling her with his wings and holding her so close she could almost feel herself sinking into his skin, and still all she could do was stare at the water, watch the way the light danced on its surface and wonder how anything could dance in a world like this. How anything could breathe through the choking, clinging smoke that rose and billowed in the air, through the ash that rained down and blanketed her coat, turning the lavender and white parts of her into soft grey to match the rest. Her lungs still ached from breathing that air, from having it stolen away, her throat was raw from screaming and choking and retching, and everything felt so heavy. So she rested her head on his shoulder, tucked up safe and sound. He’d always keep her safe.
But how could he protect her from <i>that?</i>
As time passed and her Khari still couldn’t get through to her, he reached out to their dad instead, called him with his beautiful mind, showed him where to find them out on the vast, rolling ocean. And so Daddy came, a shimmering impossibility racing across water that should have swallowed him down. He scooped them up, wrapped around them to hold them close, and carried them away somewhere solid and high above the destruction that still raged in the world below.
And they held her, her daddy and her Khari both, tending to the burn on her shoulder and trying so hard to tend to the ache in her soul. It was days before she spoke, her voice still cracking and gravelly though it was healing by now, repairing damage from the smoke and the drowning and the screaming. “Where’s Mom and Kylie?” she croaked out, looking around for them, brow furrowing in a frown as she realized they weren’t there. The frown quickly turned to panic, and she thrashed and struggled to get her feet beneath her to go find them, to make sure they were safe.
“It’s okay, baby. They’re still in Ischia, safe and sound. Easy, love, I’ve got you. We’ve got you,” Daddy crooned, and she gave in, and fell back against her Khari’s side and drifted quickly into an exhausted sleep.
A few days more, and the horror hadn’t really faded from her eyes. But she leaned into Daddy, looked up at him with big brown eyes quietly pleading. “I want Mommy and Kylie too,” she said softly, the grit and gravel starting to fade by now. “Can we go home, Daddy?”
And Daddy could never resist her. “Of course, baby girl. We can do that.” He’d pulled her closer, snuggling her up against his chest, tucking her beneath his chin, and just holding her for a long moment. “Yeah, angel eyes, we can go home.”
((We checked in and got the okay for time to have gone kinda wonky for these guys on the Mountain and it only be a short time on their end since they disappeared. M-tagged because Kirby is in it and realistically speaking it's just safer that way. XD))</div><div class=kaliquote></div></div></div>