i'm the star that's just a black hole now; any

[Aoi]

The Jungle can be a strange place. There are colors, and sounds, and a muggy heat that are like nowhere else on Beqanna. Perhaps, to someone coming from the outside world, the Jungle could be daunting, but Aoi was born here. This place has been her home since she was a child. She remembers the humidity, and the calls of the macaws, and she welcomes the memories that they bring. Aoi stands amongst the hanging vines, and the cacophony of jungle voices, and she wonders if she is alive. Despite the sounds, and the smothering air, she is feels as if she is in outer-space. Gone are the scents and sounds of the sisters that she once knew. They have been replaced by others: a new generation of warriors. This kingdom had drowned, and been rebirthed in the time since Aoi had last breathed this humid air. She thought that she had drowned as well, and perhaps she did. To her, the Jungle is not strange because of the creatures within, but because, despite its cruel rules (survival of the fittests, and all that) she was here again, and alive. She does not know how to feel, because she has gone so long without feeling. She has gone so long without anything, and she suddenly finds that she is thirsty, and hungry. But, she remembers… She remembers the poison that these leaves harbor, because her mother had taught her as a child. So, she looks for something else. Fallen fruit takes the edge off of a hunger that had been growing for what could only be eternities. A small pool of water gathered within a leaf satisfies her thirst. An arrow frog leaps from a nearby branch onto her mane, and Aoi smiles. “Hello there.” She says, in a voice that has not been used for so long that it feels foreign against her tongue. A O I aloysius x cybele