It had been months since she had strayed away from the heat of Solterra, trading desert dryness for the muggy air of the swamps in Tinea. Even in the autumn, it was hot, with heat rising from the boggy ground underhoof. Even the breezes of crisp autumn air did little to stifle the heat, and she found she was more suited for it. Jaxis had become an initiate in the Ilati, under the sightless gaze of one crazy old man named Turhan.
She would learn their ways, their poisons and their drugs, and use them on her own later. For now, she was more interested in learning about them and their ways entirely, to become one of them. So she had begun her life as one of them, wearing the shattered piece of skull she had found in the nest on her trial, a thin piece of bone leading up to her mane and weaving in to it with vertebrae bones that could not be seen, giving her the effect of the mask simply sitting in place on her face.
Sharp teeth rested on either side of her muzzle, long and aged, and her head bobbed as she paused her harvesting of specific flowers (she'd learned how since last time), and her head lifted.
On her back, Enyo shifted, large feet pressing claws in to her skin, though not breaking it. The creature was still young, though had grown since they had met in the short amount of time. She was already a few feet tall but still too small to keep up with Jaxis, so she had chosen to carry Enyo on her back. The dinosaur growled, jaw working open and shut as she rested clawed hands on her 'mother's' neck, gaining more leverage so she could turn.
Jaxis, for the most part, was unfazed. She blinked violet eyes as she heard steps, and gave herself a moment to breathe, leaning her head up and flicking ears forward. When the shadow came around the corner, a smirk pulled at mottled lips. "Eik." It had been a while since seeing the man, and now she towered over him at her grown height.
Long since accustomed to the dry air of first the tundra, then the desert, the hot damp of the swamp is terribly uncomfortable for Eik. Too hot, too wet... no wonder the swamp was not a great talking point of the Terrastellans he's met. Another discomfort is feeling lost. All his life, the grey has had a very precise sense of location, but here in the dark and cavernous swamp he only has a very general idea of which direction is home-- and no idea exactly how far the swamp extends in either direction. It all makes for a very frustrating, almost bewildering experience-- certainly not something he could recommend. To anyone.
Imagine his surprise when he turns an ash tree and Jaxis is standing there like some strange swamp nightmare, much taller and far more decorated than the last time they met. She towers over him now, and he wonders how many other things have changed over the seasons.
Eik meets her trademark violet eyes with his unwavering black, and he recognizes her instantly despite all the changes since the last time they spoke. "Jaxis." Eik pays no attention to her new accessory, except to note idly that it must have taken either much time or luck to find a skull that fit so perfectly over her face. Just as he had never asked Seraphina about her collar, he shrugs aside the mask as some vanity or statement he would not understand. Instead he turns his gaze to the strange creature on her back. The thing is unnerving, even to a man of great composure, and he shifts his weight as though ready for a fight. The movement makes a soft squelching sound in the wet swampland.
"What is that?" He asks with a calm voice, although his posture betrays both curiosity and trepidation. The sharp thing meets his gaze with the steely eyes of a predator, and with a certain sinking feeling he wonders what the hell Jaxis has been up to.
- - - - - I am keeping quiet
E I K But one day, the forest will talk about me
Pinkened lips drew upward as she heard her name, ears flicking as she slowly stepped away from the flowers she had been plucking. They need not be disturbed on accident, especially now that she knew what happened when one 'set them off' in a way, creating an explosion of pollen. It had not been a fun time, she knew that much.
Enyo shifted herself, jaw opening and closing, crocodilian teeth showing as her head tilted, a keen eye watching him, gleaming with intelligence. Jaxis merely laughed, her head shifting and her nose bumping to a pebbly hide, causing the young dinosaur to rumble and click, licking her cheek. "This is Enyo. I found her in the depths of the swamp, on my trial in to the Ilati."
She turned her head back toward Eik, and Enyo calmed herself, grumbling something mentally to her bonded before tucking up on her back. While she looked relaxed, she kept those bright eyes on Eik, as if observing him, watching and waiting. Listening."I didn't expect you to show up here, Eik," came Jaxis' words as she shifted on large hooves, horned head bobbing just a little.
"Did you get bored in Solterra?" She smiled at him, violet eyes glancing at him. Something seemed.. different about him, but she wasn't so sure. Perhaps it had something to do with the Summit and what had happened. "It is good to know that Tempus didn't actually lock you all away in that earthquake before." Though at the time she hadn't really cared.
Her laugh is an odd thing in the murk of the swamps, light and almost- almost girlish. She is perfectly at ease with herself, which is something that had taken Eik years of deliberate practice to master. Surely life would have been easier if it had come naturally, and yet- would he have learned as much? Would he be as strong as he is now without the memory of weakness?
His wondering thoughts fizzle away as she speaks.
"Ilati?" The word stirs a memory that he can't quite make out the details of. All that comes to mind is the name Indra and a sadness to swallow a small world. His stomach tightens in an uneasy knot as he remembers, in blurred bits and pieces, the secrets he shared with a stranger. She said she had been here before, and in his imagination he steps back in time to the start of this world, where a unicorn with red hair ran across the great plains and squelched her way though the muggy heat of the swamp. He imagines nothing has changed over all those long years, not really. The future must have loomed over them the exact same way it does now, like a storm perpetually on the edge of breaking.
Yet for all his dread of the future, a part of him envies Jaxis' youth. She has all the possibilities he never did, and to his simultaneous pleasure and concern she seems to be taking advantage of them. With this thought in mind he glances again at Enyo. He regards the dinosaur with wary respect that all wild things deserve and tries to ignore the way its sharp, reptilian eyes never leave him.
"Did you get bored in Solterra?"Although Eik is unexpectedly fond of the giantess, he does not know if he will ever really trust her. Her smile never quite reaches her eyes and he wonders what lies in the hidden space between the two.
(unconsciously he reaches out with his mind and feels calm, still dark purple. Not warm or cold but neutral. He withdraws before realizing he had ever reached out.)
"I'm just exploring."
lost might be a better word for it, but he'd argue that you can't be lost if you have no destination in mind. He knows he ought to return to Solterra, and he will in short order, but first he needed some time alone, time to let his thoughts settle after bouncing around in his head like so many ping pong balls. So that is how he arrived here- lost first in his mind, and then in space.
"And you?" He had not seen her in many weeks- he wonders how she stumbled here in the first place, and what then caused her to stay. "Will you come back with me?" He thinks he might already know, but it does not hurt to ask.
- - - - - I am keeping quiet
E I K But one day, the forest will talk about me
Exploring? An ear flicked forward at that, violet eyes regarding the Solterran Emissary curiously, as if observing him all the same. Many that wandered in to the swamps were not exactly exploring, but lost. It was easy to get turned around in the thick muck and humid air, to take a wrong turn at some gnarled tree and then find themselves in a place they hadn't quite expected. She had done it herself a few times, but she had Enyo to help with that, at least.
The weight of the Indominus shifted on her back, clawed hands resting in her thick mane, and her horned head shifted a little, bumping a skull covered nose to the young creature, who makes oddly content noises in turn. It was like a purr of some sort, low, gurgling in a throat that would one day swallow creatures whole as she ate.
Blinking, Jaxis turned her head from her adopted 'child', focusing on Eik once more, and a smile pulled on her lips. It was more genuine than usual, softer than what would normally be seen. "I am home." It was a simple answer, though she felt compelled -- oddly enough -- to explain herself a little more to him. "Here I find more things to suit me. I may have liked the fighting spirit of Solterra, and it will always be my first home, but here... suits my needs more than the desert ever will." Poisonous plants, hallucinogenic roots.
Anything and everything she could wield to further herself in the world, to pry at minds and toy with others as if they were dangling on a string.
He could almost laugh at the expression on her face, half curious and half dismissive. The truth catches up to him and it is an unfamiliar and, naturally, an uncomfortable one. "I am lost," he clarifies with an uncharacteristically annoyed flick of his tail. He tries not to dress up the truth, and he is annoyed with himself for unconsciously doing so.
"I am home." She says this as simply as as the sky being blue and the earth being round and he finds himself feeling an odd sort of admiration of her confidence.
(and yet- he is not ashamed for clinging to that word- home- for as long as he did. He would sometimes mull over it for days on end, pondering its source, especially in that long, fuzzy middle period where he didn't have much to do in Solterra. Eik clings to things, he stubbornly clings and does not let go for fire, or fate, or the gods themselves. Some day it will probably be the end of him.)
He knows he can't convince her to come back to Solterra, and anyway he doesn't think he would want to. The longer he stands here the more Jaxis' features take on a reptilian quality. Her eyes have a gleam that suggest there are thoughts he would not understand running across her mind beneath the violet curtain of her eyes. All he can do is wonder, tentatively, at their depth.
She's staying here, and he is not surprised even though he finds this one of the most unlikable places he's ever been. "Do your parents know." He had not expected to say that (why do you care?) but surprise does not show itself from behind a mask of calm, curious indifference.
- - - - - I am keeping quiet
E I K But one day, the forest will talk about me
