Nostalgia

[Alaska]

Alaska's gazed move from the ground, past the tress, and up to the vibrant sky. She bit the side of her lip as though in deep contemplation, and she began to fiddle with the light brown belt that was rapped tightly about her tiny waste. Her wings ruffled slightly as she eased them against her back. While they were open, they seemed to fit her size, but once closed, they were slightly overwhelming. The ends of them nearly touched the ground, and is seemed as though a slight gust of wind was all that it would take to knock her over. Obviously she had good reason to not keep them visible all the time.

His question somewhat caught her off guard, and she gave him a bit of a startled look. "Well, apart from your wings, you have also managed to cause distress to the entire forest by your mere presence," she informed him smartly. "I would be slightly suspicious you were a vampire, were it not day and did you not have wings."

Alaska was mildly displeased that she was forced to refer to his wings twice. It seemed like she was reiterating his point, and she did not wish to do that. However, it was the truth. Plus the forest itself was just not happy with his presence. He sent negative vibes out, which irritated everything. She herself was becoming agitated simply because of the flow of irritation coming through her magic. She had half a mind to tell the forest to shut up, but obviously she did not.

[Arumi]

His gaze returned to the fae as she began fidgetting. It was as though moving helped her think. A rather annoying habit - it was almost as bad as those who paced until they wore a hole in the earth. Her strange wings caught his attention as Alaska moved them, and he decided they looked peculiar on her - like a child wearing an adult's coat, they were much to large, and much too see-through, especially for the obviously colourful personality of such a small shen.

Ah, wings again. But Arumi had known a black-winged angel before. The colour of feather did not necessarily decide the race. He shifted uncomfortably at her next comment. "I wasn't aware. Perhaps I should leave if the forest is so unsettled by my return." Again, his voice was soft. It was almost as though he were murmuring gentle reprimands to himself.

The demon's nose wrinkled at her final suggestion, his own distaste now apparent. "I am no life-leech, nor will I ever be." He gave his wings a defiant flap and settled them against his back again. "Were I to ever become a vampire I would that you or anyone else immediately strip me of that unwholesome life." While Arumi had done enough travelling to know not all vampires were the same, the race still disgusted him. They were cursed, whether they believed it or not. "Plus, had I been a vampire, I would have known your race by your smell without asking."

((Brain died, guh.))

[Alaska]

Alaska watched Arumi from the the corner of her eye. His tone was so kind, but something about his manner made her start to feel as though she was grating on his nerves. Deciding to venture from her home where she wasted her days tricking travelers and eavesdropping on Dryads was suddenly proving to be much more difficult than she had anticipated. Why were people so unreceptive to her? She was trying to hard to be nice.

"Oh, no!" she said hastily at his mention of leaving the forest. "No need for you to leave. It's not as though they are used to it." She leaned in as though to tell him a secret and said quietly, "They just get fussy with age."

Alaska eased back out to a safe distance to hear the rest of his response. He was quite hostile toward vampires. She had never personally interacted with one. They rarely entered the forest, and when they did, she spent most of her time calming the beasts. The forests were just big babies to Alaska, whose birth was before most of the trees'.

Despite her many, many years, she had led quite a sheltered life. During war times, she hid away amongst the woods, for she was not a confrontational person and faes were known for their neutrality. She knew much of the secrets of the dryads, for she had nothing better to do most days than listen to their talks of ancient times and ancient secrets. Not that any of this information meant much to Alaska. She was such a curious person that, despite the warnings of many, she finally decided to breach the boundaries of her home and venture into the world.

"Well, I've never met one, but they can't be so bad that you would rather die than be one," she said, her voice taking on a questioning nature. Alaska knew of the curse, for the Dryads had rambled about it often. She also knew of the ruthless ways of the vampires. However, she had also heard about how heartless demons could be, but this one didn't seem too bad. No, obviously the dryads had spent too much time convincing themselves of everyone's evil nature. Alaska shook her head slightly, as though shamefully claiming some misbehaved child.

"What brings you here?" Alaska chirped, changing subjects hastily, as though she had completely forgotten that they were formerly discussing the nature of vampires.

[Arumi]

He hated being watched. He could see her, gazing at him sideways as though trying to hide the fact that she looked at him. Why must he be the center of her attention? And why must she be so unpredictable with her emotions? While he could not tell the difference between races by smell, emotions were another thing entirely. Her scent continued to change so rapidly, becoming more prominent every time she became agitated by something he did or said.

Fussy with age? Well then, many trees must be very irritable. "I wasn't really intending on leaving anyway," he murmured, not bothering to look directly at Alaska. "I merely stated that it might be better if I should. It's not as though I can sense the forest, so it's not going to be a bother on my mind." How could the forests not be used to presences that irritated them, though? Arumi knew of countless demons that entered the forests, ones with significantly worse reputations than he, who went to murder villages and uproot trees for fires or building. Oh, how the demons loved their fires. He unconciously clenched his hand, the scarring stretching against his palms.

He was glad when she moved back from him. Arumi liked his personal space more than most things. He recognized that she was taken back by his reaction to her suggestion he might be a vampire, and it made him glad to know he could surprise her, stranger or otherwise. He hated the idea that others might be able to read him as easily as the most basic runes.

Alaska's newest statement caused the demon to give her a very significant look, his mismatched eyes proving to delve a deeper gaze than any matching pair might be able to. He snorted softly in disgust. "If you had met one, I doubt you'd still be around." Again, his voice was soft, but this time with warning. "Fae spirit is a delicacy to them from what I've seen in their blood pubs." He had entered the establishments out of curiosity, intrigued as to how they maintained their fill if live specimen were not in large enough quantities in the city to maintain the populous of vampires. Dead creatures had be strung from the low ceilings, and various young shen had been caged, alive, but only enough to breathe and have raw sustenance shoved down their throats so they might provide another meal to whatever blood drinker might need or desire it next. The inhumanity had enraged him.

He dragged in a deep breath, pressing the memory away and slowly closing his eyes before returning them to the fae. He'd been staring at her until then, boring into her star-like eyes.

Her question caused his eyes to flicker in the direction of the ruins before glancing in the opposite direction and shrugging noncommitedly. "Visiting family."

[Alaska]

The shock of shock and disgust that overtook Alaska visage was almost comical. Why would anyone want to eat a poor, innocent fae? Sure, they could play so nasty tricks every now and then, but that was all in jest. This man had to wrong wrong. No one would actually feel the desire to devour someone like her. However, the killing of a fae was a difficult task, for they were the embodiment of pure, raw magic. In her moments of fear, her connection with the wild things grew, causing them to act in ways to protect her which they otherwise would not have done. Not that this thought actually crossed her mind, and Alaska was left in a thunderstorm of fear.

So consumed she was by this notion that the vampires would eat her, she had completely forgotten the question she had posed and had hardly realized he was staring at her with an overwhelming intensity. His answer seemed somewhat callous to her. Didn't he realize that she was the target of brutal, life-sucking beasts? Of course her whole view of them had changed upon realizing that she was their specialty. It was simply not okay with her that some hostile, cursed being would want to steal her life.

She shook her head, trying to force focus in her brain beyond the wants of vampires. "Visiting family," echoed in her head, creating another wave of emotion, this time confusion. Obviously there was no family here. There was only a pile of rubble. What kind of family lived in a pile of rubble?

Then it hit her. A dead family... A look of remorse creased her smooth brow as she struggled for words. There was not anything to said, she realized. He seemed so nonchalant about it now, but the intensity of his grief when she had entered the clearing was still prominent in her mind. She evaluated his mismatched eyes, seeking answers in their depths, as though within them she could find the right words to say. He was not even looking at her any more, which made this feat a bit more difficult, but still she gazed. Everything about her took on another drastic change. Her feisty, sassy attitude slipped away, replaced with an overwhelming since of empathy.

She could only imagine what it would be like to lose a family. She herself had never had one; at least, not that she could remember. But she had lost many close friends, the equivalent to family in her heart, to the waves of time and the brutality of other Shen. Her shoulders eased forward, her perfect posture failing her. Her arms hung limply by her side, and the shine of her wings seemed to falter a bit.

"I... I'm sorry."

[Yuri]

He considered her change with some interest, the scent of fear filling his nostrils. It was thick and pungent, and he had half a mind to point out to Alaska that for the moment she didn't need to be so concerned - there were no vampires nearby - so that her smell wouldn't run the risk of suffocating him. Well, it wasn't quite so bad, but still... she was very good at expressing herself.

Her gazed at her, wondering how uncomfortable he could make her feel with just his eyes and words echoing in her mind. Not that he was trying. He just seemed to be doing a good job of it anyway. She eventually relaxed though; whether it was by sheer will or otherwise he couldn't say. He turned his gaze away at that point.

"It was not much of a family. Lucky for them, they were kindly removed from this life." His purpose in remaining was to remember them, he supposed. Afterall, how could someone live the life after death in the netherworld if there was no one to recall that they had ever been part of corporeal land?

Glancing at Alaska, his features softened at her dispirited form. "I did not mean to upset you, truly."

[Alaska]

Alaska was so naive. She did not understand how it could be a blessing to be to removed from this world. In her eyes, everything was beautiful in some way. She was a big picture type of person. Despite all the horrors of the minute details of daily life, life was a beautiful gift, one to be treasured, not wasted. If one took the time to step back and look, everything came together in a beautiful circle that was Life. Pain and suffering was all worth, she thought. There was a reason for everything, even if it was not easily understood.

Alaska sighed distantly, her healing instincts making her long to alleviate pain wherever she felt it, and she could sense it in him. A part of her longed to reach out and touch him, to allow the the current of her life to flow into him. She could not take away grief, but she could ease it.

His kind words filtered into her consciousness, and she wondered why anyone would apologize for her caring. Her eyes flickered with a vague question, and she tilted her head slightly to the side. "No need to apologize," she responded, attempting to stuff the overwhelming sadness down. She had such a difficult time controlling her emotions, and she vaguely thought that she should probably attempt to fix that. However, now was neither the time nor place.

Suddenly, she remember his growling his stomach and exclaimed, "Let's go find food!" She posture became straight, her wings stretched a bit, and her eyes seemed a bit more alive. Completely revamped, she was ready to venture back through the woods, away from this place of grief and desolation.

[Arumi]

Misery was such a frustrating thing to deal with. It was not an easy thing to overcome, and even more difficult to comfort. Anger could be taken out physically, but sadness was always an internal battle. Arumi was well acquainted with misery, and it was the one emotion he hated to smell on anyone else.

Ruffling his feathers, the demon shook out his wings before folding them again. There was nothing to be said to alleviate Alaska's current feelings except to let her deal with it herself.

He started at her exclamation, having not been watching her for the last few moments. Apparently she had calmed down now. He peered at her, tilting his head, then began to walk away. "I don't know what you eat."


((Sorry its so bad. D= Distracted.))

[Alaska]

Alaska smiled happily, her eyes glittering in the rays of sunlight. She found great pleasure in startling the demon--or in startling anyone for that matter. It was simply her nature--her mischievous, young spirit at its greatest heights.

The wind pressed against her back, ruffling her feathers and blowing her hair forward around her face. She found herself leaning forward at the waist again, though whether it was due to the pressure of the gusts and her great wings unbalancing her or her slightly flirtatious position that tended to proceed some charming or insulted comment she was about to render one could not be sure.

"Oh, I eat anything," she said playfully and, to her mind, truthfully. She ate all kinds of fruits and vegetables, a wider variety, in fact, than most faes. She considered herself adventuresome in the way of food consumption, willing to try anything once. However, Alaska tended to forget that most other beings, not just hostile, dangerous ones, fed upon meat. This was something that she, in all her many many years, had never done, nor could she ever imagine herself doing. What had some poor little deer ever done to her that she would want to eat it?

Her hands slid up to hips, and the tips of her dress danced playfully around her thighs. She seemed eager to go venture forth in search of food, even though she was not really hungry. Alaska had just grown restless and was ready to move, to do something. Her weight shifted to her left foot, and her right one began to dance softly over the grass once more, a slight display over eagerness to move.

"What about you?" she inquired almost as a last minute thought, remembering that it was, in fact, him they were going to find food for.