I started keeping a clean head
intellectual eloquence / but you wouldn't believe that
If it weren’t for hearing him speak and seeing the gentle lifting and falling of his chest, the polar bear could have been a stuffed animal. His stillness made it all the more tempting to snuggle up against him and feel the softness of his fur; if she’d arms, she’d have thrown them around his neck in a great bear hug. The thought made her giggle out loud; it made her look a fool, snickering for no reason.
ignore her, Oculos said, even though no one could understand him, she has issues.
The stranger was a beautiful specimen, to be sure; she seemed to be some glorious amalgam of bird and equine and cervid, what with her glorious rack of teal antlers. Compared to her own visage, dark blue splattered with white, with tangled silver hair and fetlocks oft stained by mud, Kas felt quite plain. She wondered what it felt like to have feathers; what it felt like when the fingers of the wind rustled through them, tousled them like children’s hair.
The teal princess smiled and it made Kassandra as warm as the golden stripes upon her new friend’s withers. She found herself beaming goofily at Ciaran, head tilted on an angle. “You look quite lovely when you run,” she said before she could stop herself. Hot embarrassment flooded her face and she shook herself from her stunned stupor. “I mean-- with the-- with the feathers. It’s all quite impressive.” There. Covered that slip-up nicely. No one would ever tell.
The fact remained that Kassandra was nearing 9 and she still spoke as though she was fresh-out-the-egg. Some things would (probably) never change.
The way the woman spoke of where she was born made Kas long even more for the chill touch of the colder seasons. Furae, for all its negatives (like the fact it’s king kept her locked in a tower), had four seasons, and three of them remained comfortably tepid, if not down-right chilly. She used to steal wicks from the candles she’d been allowed to have and draw fun shapes in the frost on her window-panes.
“Your homeland sounds incredible,” Kassandra said, unable to stop the dreamy notes from slipping back into her tone. “Especially the bit about the lights in the sky. I didn’t get to see the sky much as a child. I had two windows and the city blocked out most everything.”
Kassandra gave her best bow-- still in good form, even after all these years. Her etiquette teachers had done well. “The pleasure is mine. My name is Kassandra, and this skinny wretch is Oculos, the one who makes snide comments and thinks I can’t hear.”
no, I know you hear me, Oculos said, curtly tucking his hindquarters underneath him as he sat beside her. that’s the whole point. The hound sat stoic and still for a moment, as though inviting an oppositional argument; but then, something rustled the grass nearby, and another hare shot out from the undergrowth and took out across the prairie. Kassandra watched in slow motion as Oculos' predatory brain kicked into high gear, eyes flying wide, and he was off like an arrow from a bow, zipping through the shoulder-high yarrow and sending indigo Prairie Smoke pollen clouds into the air.
"Sorry!" Kas said over her shoulder as she took off after her best-- most embarrassing-- friend. "Hope we meet again soon!"
By the time she caught up to him-- panting and empty-pawed, but satisfied-- the white bear was not even a dot on the horizon behind her.
ignore her, Oculos said, even though no one could understand him, she has issues.
The stranger was a beautiful specimen, to be sure; she seemed to be some glorious amalgam of bird and equine and cervid, what with her glorious rack of teal antlers. Compared to her own visage, dark blue splattered with white, with tangled silver hair and fetlocks oft stained by mud, Kas felt quite plain. She wondered what it felt like to have feathers; what it felt like when the fingers of the wind rustled through them, tousled them like children’s hair.
The teal princess smiled and it made Kassandra as warm as the golden stripes upon her new friend’s withers. She found herself beaming goofily at Ciaran, head tilted on an angle. “You look quite lovely when you run,” she said before she could stop herself. Hot embarrassment flooded her face and she shook herself from her stunned stupor. “I mean-- with the-- with the feathers. It’s all quite impressive.” There. Covered that slip-up nicely. No one would ever tell.
The fact remained that Kassandra was nearing 9 and she still spoke as though she was fresh-out-the-egg. Some things would (probably) never change.
The way the woman spoke of where she was born made Kas long even more for the chill touch of the colder seasons. Furae, for all its negatives (like the fact it’s king kept her locked in a tower), had four seasons, and three of them remained comfortably tepid, if not down-right chilly. She used to steal wicks from the candles she’d been allowed to have and draw fun shapes in the frost on her window-panes.
“Your homeland sounds incredible,” Kassandra said, unable to stop the dreamy notes from slipping back into her tone. “Especially the bit about the lights in the sky. I didn’t get to see the sky much as a child. I had two windows and the city blocked out most everything.”
Kassandra gave her best bow-- still in good form, even after all these years. Her etiquette teachers had done well. “The pleasure is mine. My name is Kassandra, and this skinny wretch is Oculos, the one who makes snide comments and thinks I can’t hear.”
no, I know you hear me, Oculos said, curtly tucking his hindquarters underneath him as he sat beside her. that’s the whole point. The hound sat stoic and still for a moment, as though inviting an oppositional argument; but then, something rustled the grass nearby, and another hare shot out from the undergrowth and took out across the prairie. Kassandra watched in slow motion as Oculos' predatory brain kicked into high gear, eyes flying wide, and he was off like an arrow from a bow, zipping through the shoulder-high yarrow and sending indigo Prairie Smoke pollen clouds into the air.
"Sorry!" Kas said over her shoulder as she took off after her best-- most embarrassing-- friend. "Hope we meet again soon!"
By the time she caught up to him-- panting and empty-pawed, but satisfied-- the white bear was not even a dot on the horizon behind her.
"SPEECH." ! Oculos speech ! @Ciaran
sorry i decided to have her exit this cause it's been sitting a while <3
sorry i decided to have her exit this cause it's been sitting a while <3
