Twilight

[Alaska]

The weather could not be more beautiful. Twilight was set the sky ablaze with brilliant hues of fiery reds and oranges. The ocean slid against the shore, creating an ambient, soothing melody which seemed called the night forth. The breeze was gentle, though cool against the exposed regions of her small body. It tugged at the short pieces of her soft brown hair, causing the tendrils to whip against her face. Her brilliant eyes danced with dreams of far away lands, though she hardly knew the one into which she had just wandered.

Alaska let her brown cloak slide from her small shoulders and cascade down into the sand. She stood there for a moment, gazing off into the distance where the sun had once been. She was hardly aware of the hair in her kaleidoscope eyes or the way her short dress danced around her thighs. Her breaths were deep as the salty air filled her lungs. Suddenly, her eager feet could not be held in place any longer. Passion overwhelmed her spirit, and she began to dance. Her motions were wild and care free as her body flew across the shore. Sand sprang from beneath her feet, creating a cloud around her lithe frame. She seemed lost in a world all her own as she moved to the tune created by the ocean and the breeze.

[Ken]

Up in the middle of large oak tree sat a dark figure. His deep blue eyes watching curiously at the scene below him. A woman... dancing? He hadn't seen this sort of thing before. Then again, he wasn't often in the forest. Something about the deep woods bothered him. It was unfamiliar to him and so much unlike home. The city was the place for him but he did have a spirit for adventure. That alone was the reason for him being her now.

As he sat and watched, his curiosity grew stronger. So strong that he finally gave into it and decided to move from his perch to get a better look. When he had first seen movement in the forest he had froze in his spot, looking much like bird or cat sitting in a tree. It had been as if he thought there was danger. In the city thats exactly what it ment. But now, after watching the figure, he felt safe.

Slowly he spread his large coal wings, and jumped down to near by branch. Then to another, and another. It wasn't until he was almost to the bottom of the tree that his bare foot stepped on something slimy on the branch and he slipped. Next thing he knew he was falling to the ground below, landing with a loud 'crack' as he fell into a large bush.

[Alaska]

A sharp snap filled the air, and Alaska stopped in mid-twirl. Within an instant, she went from seemingly floating across the sand in wild, reckless dance to standing as still as a tree. She made no movement, hardly seeming to breathe, except for the whipping of her hair around her face and shoulders. Her mind was racing, though not out of fear as much as curiosity. The night shadows covered the area from which the loud noise came, and Alaska could barely see anything, especially from such a distance. Despite her better sense, she slipped forward, cutting across the sand, her eyes afire with curiosity. As she closed in and her vision adjusted to the darkness, she was shocked at what she saw there on the ground. She jumped back a bit at the sight of the boy, but just as quickly a smile splashed across her face. He looked rather goofy, lying there in the bushes. “Are you ok?” she inquired, a muffled giggle slipping out with the words.

[Ken]

Ken had managed to sit up, a few dry leaves in his hair, before she had found him. At first he could only sit there with a half opened mouth. Even after she asked him if he was ok, he took a moment to reply.

"Y-yes..." he said in a rather low voice. Truth was, he wasn't sure if he was ok yet. He couldn't be badly hurt if had sat up. But he could have a leaf cut or something! They killed!

Suddenly he snapped back into life and quickly stood up. With a bit of clumsy effort Ken backed his way out of the bush. He gave the wings upon his back a small fluff in order to get the sand out of his feathers before stopping again to look up at the Fae.

"Why were you dancing? Are you calibrating something? I dance when I'm happy. Not as well but I do a jig sort of like this," He gave an example by wiggling his button, and moving his hands above his head a bit, "Usually it means I've got a bed to sleep in." He gave her a small nod, standing himself up rather tall.

((Hahaha the old Ken once more))

[Alaska]

Alaska watched the boy’s quirky movements, and her smile spread to a grin. She silently wondered how he had managed to fall from a tree when he had wings, though she already knew that it was not as easy as it seemed to catch yourself in midair. She fiddled with her dress as she pondered his question. The answer seemed so obvious to her. How could anyone resist the urge to dance when the evening was so beautiful and the ocean’s song so uplifting?

After a moment, she said, “Well, I don’t know. I felt like it.” That seemed like a good enough answer. After all, she did not have to explain herself to him. He must be blind not to see how beautiful the evening was, and he must be numb not to feel the urge to rejoice in it. With those thoughts, her arms crossed over her chest, and she gave him measuring look. She shifted her weight over to right leg, and lifted her left foot up to rest on the inside of her right knee. She had a bad habit of standing in this manner. The wind tossed and teased her hair and tugged at the tips of her dress, which had risen dangerously high on her thigh. However, this did not occur to her, for Alaska was already lost deep in her thoughts.

[Ken]

"You just felt like it?" Ken asked wrinkling his nose, "That's just foolishness." Not that his reasons for dancing weren't. But he didn't believe her.
To him she looked more like one of those crazy elves or other graceful like creature that liked to dance for the silliest of things. He had saw some water elementals dancing because they thought the sparkling reflection of the moon on the water's surface was pretty. But then... they had been in a group and did it often. He had also seen a group of fae's dancing because some flowers bloomed. According to them they danced every time those flowers bloomed. A calibration they held once a year for the rare flower or something like that. Ken just couldn't get past that they were dancing for a flower. He liked eating them but really, what else was a flower good for?

"Well I dunno why you feel like dancing in at a time like this. It looks like the sky is in pain." He pointed at the colours in the sky. He had never seen they sky do such a thing before. It was kind of spooky. Almost as if there were a bunch of shades up there flying around with the stars. Or maybe the sky was angry about something and was making odd colours to let them all know. Yah sure, it looked cool. But Ken had learned that things that looked cool weren't always good.

[Alaska]

Alaska glared at the boy when he suggested that he dancing was foolishness. He obviously knew nothing of the world to think that rejoicing in the melody of the universe was foolishness. This world was such an amazing place, and Alaska felt certain that this boy and all those like him simply had feet of concrete or were not intelligent enough to realize that these things should be celebrated.

However, before she could snap a harsh retort at him, her eyebrows shoot up, and her mouth fell open as shock overcame her senses. In pain? How could one possibly think such vivid, beautiful colors represented pain? "You dim-witted fool," she snapped before she could stop herself, "The sky is not in pain. The sky is simply parading all its beauty before the sun so that he will return in the morning." Alaska's view of the world seemed quite naive. However, it was not her lack of knowledge of the ways of the world. It was simply her belief that there was good in all things which led her to such conclusions.

[Ken]

"Dim-witted fool?" Ken repeated angrily after she had finished telling him what she believed the sky was doing. "The sun came up yesterday morning and the night sky didn't turn a bunch of odd colours. Why would it need to parade it's so call beauty now just to make the sun come back? And why would the night want the sky want the sun to come back anyway? The moon and night is much better then the sun. Maybe the sky is trying to show how pretty it can be so the sun wont come back!"

Ken crossed his arms after he finished speaking. He wasn't one to often care about these kinds of things. He liked to live life care free. Let the earth do what ever it had to do and just simply live your life.

"But I still think it's in pain." he grumbled after a moment, his dark blue eyes drifting away from Alaska, "A tree is pretty when it's on fire, but its still in pain..." Last time Ken had seen the sky make pretty colours was when he was little. And while he and his mother had watched the sky flicker different colours, part of it had fallen. He had his mother had watched it land in the forest. So Ken was sure that meant the sky was in pain. It was cut and bleeding like skin did.

[Alaska]

Alaska glared at the boy with more intensity than one would ever guess could come from such a small person. Who was he to compared the glorious colors of the skin to the scorching of a tree? Sure, they were similar, but they hardly meant the same thing. Why would anyone want to burn a tree anyway? she thought in absolute disgust. This boy has a sick and twisted mind, and she found herself wishing she had just let him fall out of that tree undisturbed.

"If it paraded such colors every night, they would lose their glory," she said after a moment. "It wouldn't be as special..."

Her gaze flickered away from the boy and up to the sky, and she found herself wishing that the twilight would never fade. She could stare at such beauty forever. Her hand rose to tug at a strand of hair toward the nape of her neck, and her foot traced small designs in the sand. The echo of the crashing waves drowned out the silence, or maybe added to it, which one she wasn't sure.

Her anger began to ebb, for she was unable to stay mad for long. She turned back to the boy and introduced herself in a somewhat aloof tone. "I'm Alaska. Who're you?"

[Ken]

Ken didn't reply to what she said next. To him there was no point. This woman was one of those types of shen who liked to see the beauty in the land they live in. A day dweller and most likely a tree huger. The complete kind of person Ken would rather avoid. Someday he would grow stronger and simply kill all creatures like her. But first he needed to learn how to properly use his magic and maybe wield bigger weapons.

"Ken" He replied, looking back at her for a moment before looking down at what she had been doing. It looked like she was drawing something in the sand. If they meant something or if they were just random designs Ken didn't know. He was about to open his mouth to ask but he changed his mind and instead began to walk towards the water. He didn't get very far as he wouldn't go too close to the water. It frightened him. He always saw himself being scooped up by a large wave and dragged deep under it's heavy wet mass. He didn't know what it would feel like to drown but he was sure it wasn't a pleasant feeling. After all, he knew being unable to breath for a while hurt and would make your head begin to spin. He had been in enough fights to know that much. And so he stood no closer then five feet from the water.

"I heard there is a city out there." Ken said, unsure if the woman was even still around to listen to him, "It's suppose to be under the water."

[Alaska]

Alaska, being the curious person that she was, simply could not just let him walk away; therefore, she followed him closer to the water, kicking up the white sand as she moved. At first, she had thought he was going for a swim, but he had certainly stopped quite a distance away for enjoying the sea. Just as she was about to inquire why he had stopped so far away, he spoke again.

"I have heard that as well, but who knows if it's true?" she said, her voice taking on a sense of longing as her mind was instantly consumed by dreams of this underwater city. What a glorious place it must be, filled with sea creatures and and assortment of beautiful shells. Alaska was always fascinated with the what-ifs of life. She could hardly imagine how amazing it would be to dwell beneath the sea, though she knew she could never leave her beloved forests and creatures.

"I would certainly love to see it if it did exist, though."

She paused, unsure of what to say next. She bit the side of her softly as she gazed off into the distance, occasionally glancing over at Ken. She scolded herself for lacking in things to say, but there were just those times when her awkward nature consumed her, and she could not seem to find away out. Finally, she resorted back to her original inquiry.

"Why did you stop so far from the water?" She took a few steps in the direction of the sea, looking back at him, awaiting his response.

[Ken]

"I've seen water folk in the city so I guess it could be true." His last encounter with a water folk hadn't been so pleasant. The woman had wanted to eat him. He had ended up running away from her and luckily hadn't seen her again. He couldn't remember exactly why she wanted to eat him. Originally she was going to let him stay in her room for free and eat all her food. It must have been something he said.

There was a long silence after he replied to her but he didn't mind it. In fact, at the moment he rather enjoined it. It was peaceful just standing there listening to sounds of the wind and waves. It wasn't very often that Ken was able to stand still and simply enjoy his surroundings but it did happen sometimes. However it never lasted long. Something always caused him to begin using his energy up again be it the voice of another or the odd sensation that something...

Ken turned to look at Alaska when she asked her question.

"Because it's wet and I don't like getting wet." Ken replied. It wasn't a lie. He didn't like getting wet and the water was indeed wet. But it wasn't the complete truth either. But why should he tell her the truth? He had only just met her after all, "Why else would I stop?" He asked back before looking at the water once more, almost looking as if he was afraid of it.

[Alaska]

Alaska realized she had hit a soft spot based on his snap of a response, but the mischievous side of her would not let it go. She was such a bundle of contradictions. She moved so quickly from one emotion to the next that it seemed her small body was just not large enough to contain all the multitude of her personality, which led her to fly from friendly to insulted to awkward to sarcastic in the span of about twenty minutes. However, she did not mind this at all. Alaska felt that staying in one frame of mind for too long was such a waste of raw emotion, which was not really meant to be contained. If it had been meant to be stuffed down, it would not fight so hard to get out, now would it?

So she said it. She said what she knew would really agitate this little Demon. She had known him for but a few minutes, and she already knew it would set him off. The grin which spread across her angelic face was a more than adequate harbinger of what was coming. She hands slipped up to her hips as she turned around to face him and give him a challenging look. A small voice in the back of her head warned her not to go there, but it was too irresistible, and she was far too in touch with her childish side to let this opportunity slide by.

"You're scared," she said. It was plain and simple, and Alaska braced herself for the repercussions.

[Ken]

For a very slight moment Ken's eyes widened. But his expression changed so fast to anger that one could have completely missed that look unless they were really watching him. He turned and looked at her, his eyes narrowing in anger and denial.

"I am not!" He growled back at her, "Demon's aren't afraid of anything. I just don't like the water." The way he heard it from other, Demons were evil, heartless creatures. Shen that laughed at others fears for they feared nothing. Now Ken was afraid of allot things. Like dragons, those who hunt demons, shen who eat other shen and other such things. And... deep water. But he was certain he would have to learn how to mask that fear. Mask it like his father had tried to teach him to do. His father was really good at it. The man hadn't feared anything. Well at lest not that Ken knew of.

"You know what? I don't even know why I'm still here." He continued, "This Dim-witted fool has other important, dry things to do. Why don't you- you- you go off and dance or something." with that said, and his frustration rising more, ken turned away from her and began to march angrily down the sandy beach.

[Alaska]

Alaska was mildly disappointed by his lack of ferocity. He was simply no fun. His attempt at an insult left her completely unscathed, for she loved dancing. Anything else would have completely diminished her confidence, but not that. She was feeling pretty big and bad until he turned to storm off. Someone can't take a joke! she thought bitterly, though by the way she hastened after him, one might suspect she was feeling a bit guilty for her actions.

"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed playfully, her jog slightly resembling the dance she had been doing earlier in the evening.

The beautiful horizon lights had faded, and now only the light of the moon lit the beach. Despite her efforts, a hint of fear bit at her ankles as she thought about being out here alone at all. Of course she had her animals and her magic, but this was just a bit too far from home for her. No, it would be much better for her mental and emotional well-being for him to stay. Not that she would openly admit it.

"I was just playing," she barked, as she trailed behind him. "No need to leave!" He was being so childish, she found herself thinking, not that she really had any room to talk about immaturity.

Her brilliant eyes danced as she slipped in front of him, stopping dead in his path. She gave him the sweetest, most compelling face she could conjure up and attempted to hide her grin. Her hand slid behind her back, and her feet were right next to each other. She leaned in closer to him from the waist.

"Don't go. Let's have some fun," she said, her eyes pleading for him to stay. She would be so bored and slightly frightened out here by herself.