11-17-2020, 03:27 PM
I have never had a close relationship with sleep. I have wandered instead, let the starlight fall on me as I cover ground, the insatiable need to move always in the back of my mind. It got worse, after Castile trapped me in that mountain cavern. Dead, or asleep, and then pacing. Always pacing, when the world was falling apart below.
It hasn't improved, since then. True, I can fly again. And my world is no longer a stone terrace and cavern, to be circled over and over again. They drive me on though. I'm still being punished, and I sleep only when my body gives me no choice. When the world starts spinning, that's when I can rest. That's when They shut up.
I might be getting close to that now. I've walked until my joints ache, begging me to stop. The trees stutter in my vision, green, then gold, then green again. No, that can't be right... I hesitate, digging deep to force myself to focus on trees, on the stars peeking between them. Vacantlu stare until I remember what I'm looking for. Realize I'm not finding it. "Damn," I murmur, jaw set tight. I'm no longer in Sylva, I think. Wandered too far from where I meant to go. With a groan, I shif my weight to turn, surprised by how much effort it takes.
Ah. I feel my belly shift, insistent kicking at my ribs. I'm pregnant. Again. Heavily, it would seem. My throat tightens as I follow this thread of thought, trying to recall the specifics of my condition. The who and the when. Nothing. I've got nothing but the swell of my sides to tell me anything has happened at all.
Groggy and bemused, I stumble forward again, only to stop with a suddenness that makes my knees threaten to give out. A gleeful snicker echoes in my ear, quiet but still there. And then I see him. My ears flatten against my skull as the figure resolves itself in the dark. "Well, well," I snip, wings stiff on my shoulders. "Another wandering soul in the dark. How drear." My tone is clipped, impatient, and I lift my head in ragged elegance as I take the stranger in. Strangers. I blink, suddenly unsure.
There are two of them now. Identical, one grim faced, one leering. The forest turns on its axis again, leaving me with an unsettled stomach and a bitter mood. I want to sleep, desperately. Yet here are a pair of Janus gatekeepers, sent to keep me awake. "What do you want?" I growl, lips peeled away from my yellowing teeth. My body sways where it stands, while I look from one stoic face to the other. I am reminded of someone... But I can't think who. Can't think straight of anything right now.
@[Keel]
It hasn't improved, since then. True, I can fly again. And my world is no longer a stone terrace and cavern, to be circled over and over again. They drive me on though. I'm still being punished, and I sleep only when my body gives me no choice. When the world starts spinning, that's when I can rest. That's when They shut up.
I might be getting close to that now. I've walked until my joints ache, begging me to stop. The trees stutter in my vision, green, then gold, then green again. No, that can't be right... I hesitate, digging deep to force myself to focus on trees, on the stars peeking between them. Vacantlu stare until I remember what I'm looking for. Realize I'm not finding it. "Damn," I murmur, jaw set tight. I'm no longer in Sylva, I think. Wandered too far from where I meant to go. With a groan, I shif my weight to turn, surprised by how much effort it takes.
Ah. I feel my belly shift, insistent kicking at my ribs. I'm pregnant. Again. Heavily, it would seem. My throat tightens as I follow this thread of thought, trying to recall the specifics of my condition. The who and the when. Nothing. I've got nothing but the swell of my sides to tell me anything has happened at all.
Groggy and bemused, I stumble forward again, only to stop with a suddenness that makes my knees threaten to give out. A gleeful snicker echoes in my ear, quiet but still there. And then I see him. My ears flatten against my skull as the figure resolves itself in the dark. "Well, well," I snip, wings stiff on my shoulders. "Another wandering soul in the dark. How drear." My tone is clipped, impatient, and I lift my head in ragged elegance as I take the stranger in. Strangers. I blink, suddenly unsure.
There are two of them now. Identical, one grim faced, one leering. The forest turns on its axis again, leaving me with an unsettled stomach and a bitter mood. I want to sleep, desperately. Yet here are a pair of Janus gatekeepers, sent to keep me awake. "What do you want?" I growl, lips peeled away from my yellowing teeth. My body sways where it stands, while I look from one stoic face to the other. I am reminded of someone... But I can't think who. Can't think straight of anything right now.
@[Keel]