09-10-2021, 02:58 PM
Moths are prone to the shadowy night, flickering to the lights they can't have. It was a self destructive tendency that Nelle wanted to think she'd avoided; that she was insectile only physically. Still she found herself drawn to the darker places, where the soft green light that bloomed in her wake shone.
This forest was a harsher thing than the one she'd been born in. The trees were rough barked and shorter than the redwoods of the Taiga, muted and dense. There were no glittering flowers or luminous fungus tucked in the corners, no hungry monsters buried beneath her feet.
It was similar enough to home that she felt brave enough to venture deep inside it. Different enough that she didn't find herself looking for lost family behind every tree. That was the biggest relief she could offer herself, when her heart struggled with it.
Her papery thin wings weren't much good for keeping her warm. The thin veins that ran through them were barely enough to keep the dusty things from freezing, after all. As she'd grown though, the hair on her chest and legs had thickened into shaggy wool. More than warm enough to make up for the lack of feathers. Good thing too, when the darkness of the woods cancelled out any warmth the weak winter sun might have offered.
Like a misplaced fairy, the nimble moth girl stepped between mounds of snow that had made it through the canopy, pausing occasionally to scrape her teeth on young trees to snatch a mouthful of sappy bark. Not her favorite food, but it was enough to keep her going.
Grinding one such mouthful, her antenna began to quiver, half a second before the pulse of Loneliness swept through. It wasn't very well defined, like an unfinished thought pushed aside before it could be spoken. Still, it was warning enough that Nelle had passed into the range of a stranger. The mouthful of forage was swallowed thoughtfully, as she considered turning back.
Back where, though? It was cold and it was late, and she was a sucker for Loneliness. It smelled like damp caves and stagnant water and whoever had felt it, even just in that moment, might be interested in talking to her.
Or maybe not, she realized, as the shape of the one she had felt came into focus. Had she been standing there this whole time? Tail swishing with uncertainty, she let off a few notes of bell-like sound. An announcement of her own presence, as it were. The being she'd come upon seemed mostly equine. About as much as she herself was, really. But where a tail might be expected a long and jagged looking appendage stretched instead, and... It was odd, but Nelle couldn't quite focus on her enough to tell much else beyond that. Details were obscured in darkness that seemed to cling like a second skin to the little thing.
"Hello," she said, hoping it wasn't a mistake. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" A few steps brought her within not-yelling distance, a pleasant, if cautious, expression on her gilded face.
@Maylene
This forest was a harsher thing than the one she'd been born in. The trees were rough barked and shorter than the redwoods of the Taiga, muted and dense. There were no glittering flowers or luminous fungus tucked in the corners, no hungry monsters buried beneath her feet.
It was similar enough to home that she felt brave enough to venture deep inside it. Different enough that she didn't find herself looking for lost family behind every tree. That was the biggest relief she could offer herself, when her heart struggled with it.
Her papery thin wings weren't much good for keeping her warm. The thin veins that ran through them were barely enough to keep the dusty things from freezing, after all. As she'd grown though, the hair on her chest and legs had thickened into shaggy wool. More than warm enough to make up for the lack of feathers. Good thing too, when the darkness of the woods cancelled out any warmth the weak winter sun might have offered.
Like a misplaced fairy, the nimble moth girl stepped between mounds of snow that had made it through the canopy, pausing occasionally to scrape her teeth on young trees to snatch a mouthful of sappy bark. Not her favorite food, but it was enough to keep her going.
Grinding one such mouthful, her antenna began to quiver, half a second before the pulse of Loneliness swept through. It wasn't very well defined, like an unfinished thought pushed aside before it could be spoken. Still, it was warning enough that Nelle had passed into the range of a stranger. The mouthful of forage was swallowed thoughtfully, as she considered turning back.
Back where, though? It was cold and it was late, and she was a sucker for Loneliness. It smelled like damp caves and stagnant water and whoever had felt it, even just in that moment, might be interested in talking to her.
Or maybe not, she realized, as the shape of the one she had felt came into focus. Had she been standing there this whole time? Tail swishing with uncertainty, she let off a few notes of bell-like sound. An announcement of her own presence, as it were. The being she'd come upon seemed mostly equine. About as much as she herself was, really. But where a tail might be expected a long and jagged looking appendage stretched instead, and... It was odd, but Nelle couldn't quite focus on her enough to tell much else beyond that. Details were obscured in darkness that seemed to cling like a second skin to the little thing.
"Hello," she said, hoping it wasn't a mistake. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" A few steps brought her within not-yelling distance, a pleasant, if cautious, expression on her gilded face.
@Maylene