I look up to the sky and I wonder what's beyond

In truth, Hadiya hadn't really meant to wander away from the Cove like this. It was just that the day seemed so peaceful, the sound of the rolling waves calmer than it had been in a while, and the young princess had thought that it seemed like a perfect day for another little adventure around the territory. She didn't often wander off entirely on her own, but she'd gotten distracted sniffing out a seashell in the sand, and then another one, and oh! a starfish, and was this what palm fronds were shaped like - !

She'd long since wandered outside the borders before she'd realized it, walking along a beach that she doesn't know is black, but it's alright. As long as she was near the water, she'd always be able to find her way home, she was certain of it. And if she didn't, then surely one of her siblings would find her. Or Mother, or Father, or Auntie Kismet. For as long as she'd lived, there was always someone around to guide her the right way when she got confused.

But she's alone for now, and so naturally Hadiya allows her paws to carry her towards the sound of the water, to feel the cool lap of it against her paws. She's rarely allowed to be so close to it most days, though she'd always felt drawn to it, intrigued by the ocean's siren call.

It seemed today would be the day she got to learn for herself exactly why she was often cautioned against it.

The waves had used to be unerringly predictable, setting a distinct rhythm that never faltered. But something had shifted lately. The world had become unstable. The blind cub cannot predict it when the wave suddenly rushes in to knock her off her feet, gasping in surprise only to choke on the taste of salt.

She starts coughing as soon as her head bobs back up to the surface, her heart pounding in her ears, her limbs flailing as she struggles to orient herself in the darkness she's usually so comfortable in.

She hasn't been drawn out that far really, just enough that her paws can no longer reach the sand hidden beneath the water, but she has no way to discern that. No way to know which way will take her back to solid ground, no way to know that she need not panic. "تعليمات!" She cries for rescue in her father's tongue, hoping that he would be nearby. Someone always was.

@Tomas

+1 - Make a BWP-related post
+2 - Study one of the natural phenomena occurring
+5 - Complete a BWP-related thread (with 10+ posts)
+5 - Complete a thread with a character you've never threaded with before

The speckles of light and dust that shine 'til dawn

code by corvus | Image Credit

Now that Tomas was a little older than a year, he felt much more confident in being able to travel freely to and from Obsidian. He lacked the confidence his brother seemed to display and did not have the stamina of his sister, but he was persistent and careful about his decisions. This stood him in good stead, and today - despite the recent changes in weather - Tomas found himself within the confines of Stygian Shore. This was a place he had never really been before and so the calming sound of the sea, along with the bitter chill of the wind and the harshness of salt in his lungs, pulled him in closer.

Walking quietly along the sand (which was particularly wet, today, due to the rains they had seen overnight), Tomas admired the way in which the sticky sand clung to his fur and his paw pads. It was slightly irritating as he walked, but the feeling was also strange and new. Naturally, Tomas slows down to a halt as he looks out over the shore. The sand was black, which was weird in itself, but what was even weirder was the fact that there was a girl out near the shore. She seemed younger than him, and much more vulnerable. But Tomas was never one to ignite a conversation, so for now he remained in his isolation.

But this soon changed when an unpredictable swipe of the ocean caught @Hadiya off guard and seemed to swipe her into the ocean at a moment's notice. Tomas is quick to stand, lavender eyes watching frantically for her head to emerge from the water's unpredictable grasp. But what he finds is that she is struggling, and calls out in a language he does not understand.

Tomas was normally a bystander, but today he found his paws carrying him down toward the shore quicker than he could realize. The water and his strawberry paws clash immediately, and whilst Tomas had never really had any proper practise at swimming, he dived into the salty sea and pushed and kicked his way to the girl. When he arrives it is evident she is struggling, and so without a word he snatches her nape and begins to pull her closer to the shore, away from the water. As they beach, Tomas takes a good few steps away from the water and eventually placed her down gently. Are you okay? He asks, concerned for her welfare. He instinctively begins to check her over, trying to spot any wounds or anything that might trouble her, but he only finds water. His sides are heaving, and he too is coughing a little, but his main concern right now was the girl who lay in front of him.

Tickets
+1 - Make a BWP-related post
+2 - Study one of the natural phenomena occurring
+2 - Save someone from danger
+2 - Diffuse someone else's panic or worry
+5 - Complete a BWP-related thread (with 10+ posts)
+5 - Complete a thread with a character you've never threaded with before

I look up to the sky and I wonder what's beyond

She's never experienced anything like this before, the feeling of being set adrift with no compass to guide her. Hadiya lives in darkness, yes, but that has never been scary on its own, certainly not when its all she's ever known. But she's always had an anchor. The feeling of warm sand tingling against her pawpads, the feeling of a warm body pressed against hers, the pinpointable sound of rustling palm fronds in certain parts of the Cove. She's always felt that she had an understanding of where she was, even if she tended to get distracted and lose track of some things. She'd always felt grounded.

She doesn't feel that anymore, not here, with her limbs suspended in cold liquid and the sound of the waves all around her, surrounding her, no matter which she turns her head, no matter how much she flails.

Like a bolt of lightning cutting across her mind, she is reminded of that nightmare she'd had, in which she'd felt just as powerless as felt now. Just as terrified. Flashes of bright light, and cold grey ripples, and the terrifying, suffocating sensation of salt water filling her lungs. Something had happened to Auntie Kismet that day, after she'd woken up, something that Hadiya hadn't fully understood, more focused on the rush of relief she'd felt when that soaked body finally drew breath again. Would that same something happen to her here? Now?

The sound of splashing increases, rising above the sound of her own panicked flailing and ragged gasps, as if something larger than her had suddenly broken through the surface of the water. "الاب" She calls brokenly, between wet, gasping coughs, because who else would show up here to save her other than her Father?

The princess is grabbed by the nape, and slowly, her frenzied movements calm, surrendering to the guiding touch as she so often does. Finally, she feels anchored to the world again. She stumbles when her paws touch sand again, soon slumping down onto her side against the obsidian sand once she is released, her little chest rising up and down rapidly, in time with the rabbit-fast beat of her heart.

It is when @Tomas speaks that she is finally clued to in the fact that it is a stranger that has rescued her, though she can hardly be bothered about that right at this moment. "نعم" She starts, but no. It is the other one she should be using. The one Mother has worked with her on. "Yeah." She squeaks, once the coughing has died down. "I thought...I thought...Thank you." She does not know exactly what she thought was going to happen to her. Just that it wouldn't have been good.

The speckles of light and dust that shine 'til dawn

code by corvus | Image Credit

Tomas continues to frantically check the girl over to ensure that there are no injuries on her smaller body. He is relieved when he hears her speak, despite the coughing and heaving of sides. The water is dripping from both of their pelts, and the cold wind that blows harshly against the shore only makes Tomas feel much colder, much more vulnerable. But it is @Hadiya who he is focused on, and the feeling of the cold soon ebbs away as she speaks.

It's okay, you're safe now. Away from the sea. Why did you walk in so far? He asks, unaware that the girl before him did not have the same vision that he did, and that he should be thankful for what he could and could not see. My name is Tomas, of Obsidian. You really should be more careful, you know. He remarks, eventually taking a seat.

Tickets
+1 - Make a BWP-related post
+2 - Study one of the natural phenomena occurring
+2 - Save someone from danger
+2 - Diffuse someone else's panic or worry
+5 - Complete a BWP-related thread (with 10+ posts)
+5 - Complete a thread with a character you've never threaded with before

I look up to the sky and I wonder what's beyond

Slowly, ever so slowly, the pounding pulse in her ears begins to recede, the rapid tattoo beating against the inside of her ribcage fading into a rhythm more normal, more familiar. The cool air rakes harshly against her salt-heavy throat as she drags it into her lungs, one long deep breath to help her regain her bearings. Hadiya shifts, awkwardly shuffling her gangly legs beneath her so that she can sit up partially, turning her head towards the sound of her rescuer's breathing, looking at him without truly seeing.

"I...how far in was I?" She asks, tilting her head slightly as a shudder runs through her, the bite of that ocean breeze felt all the more sharply now that her dark pelt was soaked through. Hadi hadn't thought that she'd wandered all that far into the water. But then, she had no true way to gauge it, her pale golden eyes unseeing. And she often tended to lose track, when her attention drifted, of when two steps became four and four became eight and so on and so on. "I didn't mean to." It's the simplest answer she can give.

He introduces himself then. @Tomas is a nice-sounding name she thinks, the syllables rolling off his tongue lightly. He speaks differently then her family does, the accent she's familiar with conspicuously absent. Oh! But, she's supposed to introduce herself now, right? That's the proper thing to do? "I'm Hadiya. Of...of" Oh, come now, it was right there on the tip of her tongue. "Caladan!" Aha, Father would surely be proud. "And I do just fine, usually." She adds with a slight sniff, some of her usual stubbornness beginning to resurface. She isn't as clumsy as she used to be. Really!

But the sniff turns into a sneeze, and she shivers again, the wind not yet letting up. Without thinking, she shuffles over to try to press her smaller frame against his larger one, hoping to soak up some of his warmth. Her siblings typically don't mind when she gets so close, so it doesn't occur to the girl that Tomas might not be so welcoming of the touch.

The speckles of light and dust that shine 'til dawn

code by corvus | Image Credit

He watches as she scrambles to her feet, enough for her to sit up and regain her bearings. Whilst she only sat up partially, Tomas was thankful - it was better than her being laid dead, after drowning herself. @Hadiya asks how far in she was, and Tomas frowned. Quite far, enough so I had to swim to get you. Maybe... the length of an antelope? He remarks, trying to draw out the length with his claw, but not having much luck.

She remarks that she didn't mean to, and Tomas nodded his head. What other reassurance could he give? He wasn't normally one for such bold interactions, but the strawberry Casales could not just stand by and not do anything whilst the other struggled. Eventually she introduced herself, and he smiled. It is nice to meet you, Hadiya of Caladan. I don't think I have ever been there. He comments as she begins to move closer.

Tomas was observant, and had begun to notice how the girl was shivering. She came closer for warmth, obviously, but Tomas wasn't entirely sure how to deal with this new touch from a girl he'd romantically rescued all of five minutes ago. But he was not a monster, and so Tomas pulled his arm around the girl and brought her closer to aid her shivers.

Tickets
+1 - Make a BWP-related post
+2 - Study one of the natural phenomena occurring
+2 - Diffuse someone else's panic or worry
+5 - Complete a BWP-related thread (with 10+ posts)
+5 - Complete a thread with a character you've never threaded with before

I look up to the sky and I wonder what's beyond

"An antelope?" She repeats and tilts her head, freckled features furrowing in thought. Hadiya knows what antelope tastes like, has learned to recognize the smell of it whenever the meat is dragged into the den, is able to pick it out on the rare occasions she visits the cache herself. But to know its length? "I suppose that's pretty far then." They'd certainly always seemed like huge beasts the few times she'd nosed along the carcasses. Not so different in size from her Father, really. Massive, really. Had she truly walked so far? Probably.

Hadi can't seem him nod his head, but she takes the momentary silence as an acceptance regardless. What else could it be? She smiles when @Tomas's voice sounds again, rippling in the air between them. "It's the best place!" She chirps happily, the fear and panic and adrenaline from moments before beginning to drain away in full. How could she continue feeling sad, when she had a nice new friend to speak to? "What's Obsidian? I've never heard of it." She asks curiously. In contrast to him, she has never been anywhere but the Cove.

Throughout the course of the princess's short life, every time she thinks she's found the border of world, she ends up discovering that there is far more to it than she could ever imagine. She doesn't really know what she might picture her dashing rescuer's home to look like exactly...but the word 'obsidian' is fun to say, so it must not be that bad of a place.

Water still drips from both their pelts, but Hadi finds that there is still warmth to be found when she presses against his side, wonderful, luxurious heat radiating out from deep within his skin. It's even better when he folds an arm around her, enveloping her in a warmth that begins to chase the incessant shivers away, and she purrs softly, decidedly very pleased with the current arrangement.

She turns his head to try to press it into the fur of his chest, nostrils flaring to take in his scent, for that is one of the main ways that she can learn the world around her. "You smell..." She muses, her words trailing off as she contemplates. "Salty." She decides with a sharp nod, her nose stinging with the smell of salt water soaked into his fur. "And wet." Not the best time to try to discern his normal scent, perhaps.

The speckles of light and dust that shine 'til dawn

code by corvus | Image Credit

Tomas nods. Yes, an antelope. Do you know what one looks like? He asks, noting the uncertainty in the other girl's voice as she repeated his words. Yeah, it's pretty far. You were lucky I was around to help, Tomas remarks with a twitch of his ear. I guess you could say I'm your saviour, And why couldn't he be? If he hadn't had been there, she would have drowned. His chest begins to swell with pride at the thought.

@Hadiya remarks that Caladan is the best place, and Tomas would agree... if he knew what it looked like. Obsidian is my home. It's a pride that lives underground in tunnels and secret passages. He comments, watching for her reaction. It's pretty cool. He adds, before he notices just how close the girl was trying to get to him. It feels strange, he thinks, as the girl pushes her nose into his chest. Was she trying to warm up her nose? Ah, no - she was smelling him. He chuckled at her response. Thanks... I guess. You, too, smell salty and wet. He muses with a grin.

Tickets
+1 - Make a BWP-related post
+2 - Study one of the natural phenomena occurring
+2 - Diffuse someone else's panic or worry
+5 - Complete a BWP-related thread (with 10+ posts)
+5 - Complete a thread with a character you've never threaded with before

I look up to the sky and I wonder what's beyond

Ah, and that was the question wasn't it? What did an antelope look like? What did anything look like? The damp, clumpy sand underfoot, the gray waves that lapped the shore, the vast, open sky overhead...Even the freckles on her coat. All things she was aware of on some level, either because she could sense it or because she was told about it. Yet she knew what none of it looked like. "No." She huffs out, an irritated puff of breath. "Of course I don't." This is spoken more softly, half-under her breath, though she does not necessarily mean to hide it.

At some point, Hadiya had begun to feel that the affliction of her pale eyes was obvious to all who looked at her. A consequence of living with those who simply already knew.

She huffs again when @Tomas speaks more, but there is laughter in it this time. "Yeah, yeah, alright savior. Relax." He nearly reminded her of her brother there, always so annoyingly sure of himself when it came to the matter of watching out for her. Perhaps it was a boy thing.

Tomas says that his home is cool, and Hadiya supposes that it does sound pretty cool. "Oooh!" Secret passages, underground tunnels...How could living in such a mysterious place not be cool? She does wonder, though. "Can you still hear the sound of the waves from down there?" It's a foreign concept, the idea that anyone might live away from that ever present rhythm. That it did not exist everywhere, not like it did in the Cove.

When the boy mentions that she too, smells salty and wet, the princess hums contemplatively, turning her nose into her own shoulder to test it out. Hmm. Seemed he was right. Of course. The smell of salt clinging to her fur...She'd been choking on it, not that long ago. The reminder sends a new shudder through her body, though this one has little do with the outside cold. And even though she'd kind of been making fun of him about it a moment before..."Thank you. Again. For saving me."

She is grateful for what he'd done. Thanks to Tomas, she didn't end up limp and cold and still the way Auntie had been before they'd fixed her. "I...I was afraid." She doesn't often feel fear, she realizes as she says the words out loud, more for herself than for him. She'd felt something like it during Auntie's incident, perhaps, but she typically does not feel it for herself. Oh! But did that mean that the others would feel that way too, if they realized what had nearly happened to her just now? The thought makes her jolt slightly, jostling against Tomas's wet yet warm side. "Oh! I-I should get back soon. They'll be worried."

The speckles of light and dust that shine 'til dawn

code by corvus | Image Credit

Tomas is a little taken a back by the fact that @Hadiya didn't know what an antelope looked like. He pulled away from her slightly to look at her face, only to realize that her eyes were glassed over. Can... can you not see? Tomas asks both quietly and daringly, a concept that had never particularly occurred to him.

His smile is quick to blossom at her laughter, though, and he finds it contagious - so much so, he begins to join in. It was the first time really that Tomas had been so sure of himself, showing just the smallest bit of confidence that he so obviously lacked around his siblings.

Mentions of his home seems to draw the girl in closer, and he grins at her. I'd love to show you it all, it's pretty cool! But... no, you can't hear the sound of the waves. You can hear the odd water drop coming from the ceiling, though. Not exactly the same but... it was something, right?

You're welcome. He replies as the topic of conversation turned a little more serious. He was, he supposed, grateful that he was in the right place at the right time. He felt as though he had found a friend in Hadiya, and he found himself wanting to spend more time with her. It's okay to be afraid, sometimes. It means you're alive. Where had these words of wisdom come from? Tomas wasn't quite sure, but he liked them. Hadiya then mentioned that she should be getting back, and Tomas pulled away and stood. Let me walk you home, at least. You can show me your fancy home, then, He comments and waits for Hadiya to join his side before departing.

Exit with Hadiya to CC?

Tickets
+1 - Make a BWP-related post
+2 - Study one of the natural phenomena occurring
+2 - Diffuse someone else's panic or worry
+5 - Complete a BWP-related thread (with 10+ posts)
+5 - Complete a thread with a character you've never threaded with before