Paradise Within the Wastes {2nd attempt} ((OPEN))

[Anonymous]

"So, I shouldn't be here" Louhi commented lightly before suggesting. "You could come with me. I don't know what I'm looking for yet, but I know I'm looking for something. I think I'll know it when I find it, though that hardly makes sense" Not being welcome was nothing new to her. When people welcomed her, it was far more suprising. "I'm sorry, I've never met a person of your tribe and I'm curious...." She didn't know how to phrase it without risking revealing too much. In short, she wanted to know if the tribe had powers, but people were protective of their powers, particularly with the hunt for mages, and those who knew of powers had obviously either been educated, which Louhi always said she wasn't, or they had seen powers, or they possessed powers.

[Anonymous]

Kyra noted all of this for later, and then she thought that Louhi was at a loss for words, so she decided to finish the sentence with what she thought Louhi would say. "That we have abnormalities that make us completely different from humans? Hardly...well, besides the fact that we have cat ears and tails, as well as a thin layer of fur atop our skin." True, their fur was the same color as their skin, but was only a very thin layer, so it is near invisible. "Here. Feel it," she said as she held out her tanned arm towards Louhi.

[Anonymous]

That was close enough to answering the underlaying question for Louhi. She gingerly reached forward to feel the fur. "It's very soft" She said, giving it an extra stroke before catching what she was doing and putting a stop to it. Just because they were fuzzy didn't mean they liked to be petted. They were people too. "So, you're like humans aside from physical appearance?" She asked, wanting to get it straight. It was easier to avoid offending people when you at least knew a few of the basics about them.

[Anonymous]

"Well," Kyra replied, "you could say we're half-human. We also have the agility and senses a cat does. But, to tell you the truth, I'm very different from the rest of my tribe, and that's the second reason why I don't like them."

[Anonymous]

Louhi smiled for a brief moment, shifting so her good leg was tucked under the bad one and her staff lay across her lap. "Those senses would come in handy, I'm sure" She commented, glad she was not obvious in what she was, of course, she didn't really know what she was anyway. Human, if her mother had indeed been her real mother, but aside from that, she hadn't a clue aside from what other people had told her. "Does the tribe make all tribe members stay, even if it's against their will?"

[Anonymous]

Kyra only nodded at the polite comment. Then, to Louhi's question, she responded, "Unfortunately, my tribe forces all members to stay, even though it is against their will. And it's unfortunate for me, because I've been treated as an outsider all my life." She then debated whether she should show Louhi why that was. "You want to know why?"

[Anonymous]

Louhi nodded "If you are comfortable telling me, I would like to know" She leaned forward just a little. She was interested and she had missed interacting with people. Having a connection, even if it was just conversation, was wonderful to her. She'd been isolated for so long.

[Anonymous]

Kyra nodded, then she shifted herself so that her back was facing to Louhi. Since she was wearing a bare-back top, it revealed two long, thick, blood-red scars that ran the length of her shoulder blades. "See these scars? They're proof that one of my parents--my mother--was an outsider."

[Anonymous]

Louhi unknowingly curled her bad leg closer to herself. "What did they do?" She asked softly as she studied them, trying to figure out what had caused them. Her scar was on her leg, hidden under her skirts and while not the same thing, was inflicted on her out of fear and because she was seen as different.

[Anonymous]

"Oh no. My tribe didn't inflict these," Kyra said. "They've been there since I was born." She paused and, thinking Louhi might have been lost on the meaning, said, "Here, let me show you what I mean."

She then closed her eyes and shut out all other thoughts and images except her wings sprouting from those two scars. Her scars began to glimmer with a soft light, making them seem a brighter shade of pink. Then, as if by magic, two giant, feathered wings emerged from her back, one from each scar. They were white dominantly, but the very tips started at a bluish hue, and as it goes up, it faded to a purple hue, then pink, then ultimately into white.

Kyra then turned around to face Louhi, afraid of the reaction she might give.

[Anonymous]

"Oh they're beautiful" Louhi breathed. She had no such spectacular abilities that she knew of, but she didn't really know what she did, it just happened against her will. "And they are from your mother? What was she?" Now Louhi was really curious. "Do you still have them?" She wouldn't ask her to show them or anything, she simply wondered if she'd been allowed to keep them. She'd met creatures who had had their wings cut off to prevent escape.

[Anonymous]

Kyra chuckled. "I'm showing them to you now, aren't I? Anyway, I've been told my mother was a nephilim...an angel with a human soul. But beyond that, I don't know her, because she left me and my father when I was still an infant."

[Anonymous]

"Oh" Louhi said "Well, I never knew my father, just my mother" Louhi admitted, leaning back against the tree to try to make herself a little more comfortable. Getting up wasn't going to be the easiest thing in the world when the time came. "So...do you know anyone outside the tribe, or have an opinion about the different creatures who occupy the space stations and planets?" She was curious. There were still prejudices she'd noticed, she just had to ferret them out. She needed a friend who was accepting of all-- because she had no idea what she was.

[Anonymous]

Kyra cocked her head to one side in a cute, clueless sort of way. She then replied, "No, all I know is the village and the lands around it. But I do know that beyond this place, the land is foul and very treacherous. But you're not the first outsider I've encountered, and I liked them so far."

[Anonymous]

"Oh" Louhi said as she thought about it. "I just wondered. Outsiders are kind of odd sometimes. They'll not like something just because it's not like them. I think it would get boring if everyone were the same, don't you?" She was going to have to tread carefully. She had not found a circle where she was welcome yet, and really, in all honesty, she couldn't blame them. It was like being happy to befriend a mosquito swarm.

[Anonymous]

Kyra nodded, sharing that same opinion. "Yes...it does get dull when everyone's exactly the same...especially when my tribe shares the same view on the humans that live in the outside world." True, she had heard stories about a human empire ceaselessly expanding to fulfill its own material needs and wants, even if it hurt the world to do so.

[Anonymous]

"Well...I wonder if there are more people out there who think like we do" She mused, adjusting her leg to try to find a more comfortable position. "Think we could find them? I mean, I found you...or you found me, either way, and if you're the only one of your tribe who accepts outsiders, I can't very well stay here." Louhi could feel a spark of excitement rising and the sun seemed to shine more brightly around them.

[Anonymous]

Kyra smiled. "I'd like that," she said, looking at the sun, which, even though it was almost obscured by the trees, seemed to be at its highest point. She would like to get away from the tribe for an even longer time than usual...perhaps a couple of weeks at most. She really wanted to see if there were any others out there like them. But would the have to travel...out there to find it?

"Do you want to start our adventure now? Or would you like to rest a little more first?"

[Anonymous]

Louhi took staff in hand and used it to help lift herself to her feet "We can go now. It'd probably be best anyway" She commented, feeling she was pressing her luck being in a land where all outsiders were shunned-- she was shunned by their outsiders. "Do you have transportation at all? Or is that part of our adventure?" She mostly traveled by stowing away. She got dropped in the most random places that way. "Though, perhaps we should gather a few supplies. Food, water." Fresh blood. mmm. No. No blood. "It's hard to guess what we might find once we begin our adventure. I've found entire planets with no water source, and some of the ones that do have water, are so polluted one might as well drink poison straight from the bottle." She had a knack for knowing when water was unfit to drink, which did come in handy.