The Stars Guide, Their Everlasting Light | Private | Emma

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    I'LL STAY WITH YOU - FOR THE REST OF TIME.


    Her project had been making tides ever slowly. These dreams the wolf dog had been holding lately, dreams she couldn't quite explain, kept telling her to build this project through. She couldn't explain why, but ever since she had went on that hunting trip with her teacher, ever since she tore from the life veins of the deer. Ever since she had kept to the tradition of Lochinvyrr, she had been having these dreams. Who could she tell however, that these dreams were why she worked on her project in her hut. Even as slowed as she had been lately due to her injury from her trial, now that it was finally beginning to recover she felt she could get it done soon. There was just one ingredient missing, something she couldn't quite piece together just yet.



    A light cough escaped her breath as she continued to walk. There was issue two, this cough had begun appearing shortly after her trial. She had hoped she wasn't catching something, but she felt as if she were too late. Secretly she had noticed her own strength hadn't been back to one hundred percent yet. She had been feigning it as her leg injury, but now that it was almost healed fully, how much longer could she keep the charade of trying to feign health.



    She sat near the ancient willow as she watched the twilight begin to hit. Her eyes were peeled tonight for the stars. The stars that helped guide her, always watching the star ladder that formed for the lochinmorrin. Her hopes always being to see her vater and mutter smile down upon her again, hopes that her kills of recent would successfully make it up the ladder and rest in the peacefulness of the eternal starlight, and weren't stuck falling off into the dim world. Yes, she was a traditionalist when it came to tradition, but the religion she followed, she could never quite explain. It was something that just lingered inside her marrow. Such a beautiful night, what wonders were to break this night?


    ~EMMA~


    "Speech."

    ( LAIKA E. // TAGS  // 12 Moons // Child of Ventus and Kate)

    I just want to forget

    but it's all stuck in my head —

    "Oh, somebody's awake?"


    Surprisingly, since her arrival here, Emma had been trouble sleeping. All her life, she'd slept in a bed in the House, something that she was familiar with. Even after learning the secret and escaping, she still missed her bed. The warmth of the old building. Knowing where she was. Even the fact that Mama wouldn't be there at breakfast unnerved her. The Thunderlands still felt a bit unsafe, though some of the people seemed trustworthy, and she was beginning to open up to them a bit.


    Thus, the young feline had decided on walks some nights, when she was just too restless in the shared hut. The tangle of warm bodies in a slightly chilly-hut was actually perfect, being able to sleep next to her younger siblings like that was comforting.


    This was one of those nights, and she had gotten up quietly, so as not to disturb the others, and had stumbled upon the wolfdog in doing so, coming to a stop quickly. "Sorry, am I bothering you?" She mewed, a bit worried.

    I'LL STAY WITH YOU - FOR THE REST OF TIME.


    Her ears would pick up at the noise of the newcomer. Truth be told she had been so distracted by the stars in their beauty, that she had failed to even notice the approaching feline. "Oh, I'm sorry, no, no you aren't bothering me. I was just sitting near the ancient willow here watching the stars above.", Laika would begin to address as she watched upward. Her eyes peeled onto the ladder of stars in the sky. So much mystery to these worlds they were all apart of, that her curious nature couldn't help but wonder what all was out there.



    "I'm more of a nocturnal favoring canine. I love the night sky with its harrowing beauty. The bright light of the moon as it passes through the forest tops. The stars and the lochin of the departed as they climb the star ladder above. I like to tell them of my day, of my woes, of my thoughts.", She would begin to say to the feline. Were they perhaps one of the newer joiners? They seemed to have their own fair share of trouble in their own past. The bandages on their head being the dead giveaway of such. She felt her own back leg twitch a bit of that thought. "You know, during my growth ceremony trial, these very stars tonight were the same ones to guide me home when I lost my path. I'd fallen into a riverbed, chasing after a thing few would believe."


    ~EMMA~


    "Speech."

    ( LAIKA E. // TAGS  // 12 Moons // Child of Ventus and Kate)

    I just want to forget

    but it's all stuck in my head —

    "The stars guide you?" There was no mockery in her tone, just simple curiosity of a child who was learning something new. There were a diverse amount of people here, in so many different ways, including beliefs, somewhat rattled Emma, who was doing her best to adapt to such a new environment. Thus, she was determined to take in as much knowledge as possible.


    "The stars and the lochin of the departed as they climb the star ladder above. I like to tell them of my day, of my woes, of my thoughts." Laika's words struck a bit of a chord within her, thinking of all her older siblings, and younger ones, that were shipped out. The thought of afterlife was something that Emma had never really thought about, and as she directed her green gaze to the sky, she wondered, whether Conny and Olivia and the others were up there. "I don't know. The thought of the dead being up in the sky like that... it seems like a blessing and a curse for them, depending on who it is." Did her siblings watch, in agony, as the others grew older and were shipped out like the rest, knowing they could do nothing to stop them? It seemed more like a punishment than anything. For some reason, the thought of no higher entity toying with their lives left more comfort in Emma's heart.


    Turning to the canine as the wolfdog spoke again, she mewed, "Growth ceremony? What's that? Like a birthday?"


    //a bit rushed, I apologize.

    I'LL STAY WITH YOU - FOR THE REST OF TIME.


    “Yes, the stars guided me in a literal sense. I find them so interesting, that I’ve spent so much time just watching them, howling to them in memory. That green star, the one that shines brighter than most, I’ve noticed never changes position as the seasons change. It always leads to the north, shared by its sibling that roams beside it. Constantly moving, but always pointing to the west during these moon cycles.”, Laika would begin to explain her method of navigation as she looked down from the stars to look to Emma. She didn’t detect a mockery, but merely their curiosity of the night. It was their goals to pass on knowledge, even as young as she was herself, who was she to be if she were to say die tomorrow. There was never a time soon enough to pass along knowledge.


    In her own thought she was interrupted by their own words, their description of what they thought of the star ladder. “Maybe, a blessing, maybe a curse. However, I don’t want to be the one to let them down to me. I feel like even up there they guide us still, helping us make the choices of our destiny. In a way to me, that feels like even if we can’t hear their voices any more, that they still want to speak with us. Maybe just in a way we don’t understand.”, Laika would begin to explain her own thoughts in relation to her beliefs as she thought of her family that sat up in the stars. “My Vater, and Mutter sit up there, along with all my siblings...Yet knowing that a piece of them is up there, it makes me never feel alone when I’m in trouble. It feels like even though they aren’t there with me. That a piece of them is still behind me, telling me not to give up yet.”, she would finish her explanation as her tail wagged in the excitement of the thought. Her eyes closed for a moment as she pictured her ancestors in the stars above. She wouldn’t give up on them, they would never give up on her.


    Her eyes would reopen to the sounds mewed from the feline, it was at this moment, she realized she hadn’t even gathered a name yet. “You could say a growth ceremony is like a birthday in a way. It’s a once in a lifetime ceremony that occurs only upon your twelfth moon cycle. It’s a rite of passage into warriorhood. Three days out in unclaimed territory, depending on how one is to return is how they learn the profession they belong to. Apparently, I was the first one to be sent onto it, and I can only hope I did well. I wish whoever is next the best of luck.”, she would begin to admit as her eyes glanced back to the stars. “I don’t believe I properly introduced myself, my name is Laika.”



    "Speech."

    ( LAIKA E. // TAGS  // 12 Moons // Child of Ventus and Kate)

    I just want to forget

    but it's all stuck in my head —

    "I... don't really know about the stars much. I've never noticed that green star you mentioned." Her eyes roamed the skies above her, searching for the star in question, and after a few long moments, gave up. "Which one is it?"


    If anything, Laika's words only made the molly's chest hurt more, as she spoke of her father and mother, up there, watching over her. "That's a nice thought, I think. That they're still there. I've actually got a lot of siblings, more than the ones that came to the Thunderlands with me. So many I couldn't keep track. I don't know about my parents, though." Emma could feel a smile beginning to form on her features, as well as tears threaten to fall as she thought of all the ones that she had lost, and the ones she had left behind. "If what you said is true, some of them might be up there now. I just don't understand why they wouldn't warn us if they knew." Perhaps it was the fact that Laika herself was being so open about herself, that Emma felt herself spilling just a little bit of the emotions she had kept pent up, keeping a cheerful smile on so that everybody else wouldn't worry. She still had the pictures of her siblings, tucked away in the adventure book she had brought with her, that had served as a bit of a guide through the world outside the walls of Grace Field. Of Norman and her being caught by surprise by Rei with the camera, of Phil and the other little ones playing, even one of Mama, the idyllic life they lived there. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to look at those again, to show them off to somebody, to say, 'Hey, these people were alive.' She still was haunted by their deaths, the fact that her own ignorance and naivety had gotten them killed. "I've got pictures of them, still, actually."


    Laika's next words, about the growth ceremony, had been enough to catch Emma's interest, mostly because her own birthday was coming up, and fast. "Are newcomers expected to do it, as well?" She asked. It was a fair question, Emma had been completely unaware of such a thing, and to be honest, the thought of going out to unclaimed territory was a bit frightening.


    "I'm Emma. It's nice to meet you! What about you? How old are you?" It was a bit hard to judge ages, with the sheer diversity of people here.

    I'LL STAY WITH YOU - FOR THE REST OF TIME.


    "Follow the branches of the ancient willow, look up from there and you can see it.", Laika would begin to say as she pointed her muzzle towards the Ancient Willow they sat next to. The memory of these stars were burned into her mind, near the camp, it was the easiest to spot them for her. After so many nights of sitting and watching them, how could she ever forget them truly? She felt, that if she forgot them, she would forget the very little things she had left of...them. Even if she tried to push away from the past, they souls of the past still held ties to her. Ties she could never cut loose fully.


    "In the stars of old

    With us you still remain

    Run, Run, with the bold

    Forming the Great Chain

    Never are we truly alone

    Spirits of old never go

    Past, Present, Future we will have grown

    Together facing our growing woe

    Run, Run, free to see

    awaiting with your ears

    Our words come with plea

    Forever here to quell our tears."


    The howl would escape her lips as she looked to the moon and stars above, coming from deep within her marrow. She just couldn't hold it back anymore. She had to show her Opa she was still strong, she had to hold the happy smiling look in front of all. Something about the stars tonight just made even that a struggle. "Its...It's good to have pictures of them still, all I have of my mutter and sibling are slowly fuzzy memories, All I can remember of my vater is an old, old scent, long since aged.", she would admit as she lowered her head back down. It pained her that she had so few things to keep her memories of the now departed. All that she was left with were the past memories that she had to carry and gnaw into bones. No pictures or anything to base them off of.


    As the feline began to bring up their own questions, she still brought herself to try and answer at the least. "I am unsure being completely honest, it's entirely possible maybe, it's a sign of becoming a warrior after all. Whoever is next though, I will make sure they pull through it like I did, that they won't fall to fail the trial.", Laika would begin to admit as she was then to be asked a personal question. In some strange reason, this couldn't help but lift her spirits a bit as they delve into knowing each other more. "It's nice to meet you as well Emma, I recently reached the twelfth moon cycle, however it's been a couple weeks or so since my own trial. I would say I'm closer to my thirteenth moon cycle soon.

    "Speech."

    ( LAIKA E. // TAGS  // 12 Moons // Child of Ventus and Kate)


    Stars in the Night

    I just want to forget

    but it's all stuck in my head —

    "Huh. I thought you were a bit older, but it might've been because of the way you spoke and how big you are compared to me. I'm not far behind you, actually. I'll turn twelve months in a few days." The feline sounded a bit sheepish, whiskers twitching. With how Laika spoke, she wouldn't have been surprised if she was at least twice her age. It was even stranger, now, knowing that somebody so full of wisdom, compared to her, was so close in age.


    Suddenly she found she was quickly running out of things to speak about, and Emma wasn't quite ready to head back into the hut yet, the cool night enough to keep her awake, but not cause her to shiver. It was a lovely night, one that somehow gave her energy rather than exhausting the feline, strangely enough.


    "How long have you been here? Your whole life?" Emma asked.


    //ahhh muse where did you go

    I'LL STAY WITH YOU - FOR THE REST OF TIME.


    "You know what, I actually get that comment quite frequently. Though not because of my size, my own teacher is still far larger than me. His blood runs with that of a true direwolf, I only bare half the blood of a wolf myself. One has to learn a lot when they live alone for even a period of time.", she would begin to say as she listened to the feline's words, her muzzle shifting as a smirk grew as the realization hit her. She was starting to make another friend here at the least. "Once you reach that twelfth moon, I promise you it will be truly special. The ceremony I think is where I finally found what it was I aspired to in this lifetime. I think it was as well the first piece I found for my destiny."


    It was as these words were said that she felt her very blood chill, a deep discomfort dipping into her very marrow. A cough escaped her as the symptoms of her sickness grew. The sickness she had been hiding since her return from her trial. She pushed it back down as her mind was hit with the thoughts of what she saw in that lake. The one that had caused her former teacher to grow paler than she had ever seen.


    As she tried her best to listen in to what Emma had to say next, even though Laika would answer back, it would almost seem like her thoughts were elsewhere. "I've been here for maybe seven moon cycles now. I was born in a place once called Blizzardclan, it was where my Mutter lived before...events. I had to make the trip fully here alone, my Aunt and Uncle took care of me till my Aunt disappeared. Now that I've found my Opa, I've been learning from him."


    It was as if even though she spoke these words, something else was still trimming off about her, something else present on her mind. Until she blurted out what some might consider an insane idea. "Emma...have you ever seen...a wisp?", Laika would ask softly as she thought back to the spirit from the doe she had killed, the white lion she had seen in the glowing lake. The voices she heard some nights watching the stars.



    "Speech."

    ( LAIKA E. // TAGS  // 12 Moons // Child of Ventus and Kate)

    I just want to forget

    but it's all stuck in my head —

    "Well, you look big enough to sit on me, so, it's a bit hard to tell. I've only grown up around other cats all my life." The young feline spoke up again, about to lightly tease Laika some more, like how'd she do with her siblings. It was strange, though. Since her siblings had come and go throughout her life, she wasn't used to just being the oldest, or the youngest, or the middle child. It was constantly changing. And for months, she had been deemed the oldest. To talk to somebody who was only a few months older than her... it was almost nostalgic.


    She said nothing on the matter of the growth ceremony. If anything, being separated from her siblings so soon caused her a bit of unease.


    Instead, she focused on the other female's words, picking out words she was unfamiliar with here and there. "BlizzardClan? Is that a different place?" Emma was a bit tempted to press for more, but the way the wolfdog worded 'events' gave her second thoughts, and she didn't press the issue for now. "And your Opa? Who's that?" A family member? Friend?


    A few long moments had passed after Emma finished her barrage of questions, and for a moment, was a bit worried Laika was done speaking with her, when the question came from the wolfdog's lips. "A wisp? I don't think I've ever seen that."

    //a bit all over the place and messy I'm sorry

    I'LL STAY WITH YOU - FOR THE REST OF TIME.


    Laika couldn't help but feel the escape of a laugh come from her as the feline teased her. This laugh succeeding in freeing the cough that had been stored in her lungs to this point. As she began to let the cough escape her, this one sounding awfully nasty of a one at that. She would attempt to clear her throat as she would try to speak again. "Sorry about that.", Laika would begin to say in reference to the cough before popping back up to say her own words. "You may have grown up with only other cats, but now that you're here with all of us, I can keep a promise to you that you will be safer here in numbers. With all the varying animals that coexist here together, new experiences can only brighten for you, new tricks you wouldn't be able to learn simply by being with those only of your kind.", Laika would begin to admit as she thought to the many things she had learned here herself, whether it be from feline, canine, or otherwise. All of them had helped in her lessons in some way or another.


    As their conversation continued, the saddened look having remained on her muzzle as she thought of the events to occur before. "Like the Thunderlands, you could say it is a clan. I doubt any there would remember me unfortunately. It's too hard to say since so many of them have gone. Their home exist far, far north of here, I guess you could say that's why my pelt isn't as hidden as others are down in these areas.", Laika would begin to explain, attempting her best to describe it as similar to the clan they resided in now. "Opa, is a german word taught to me by my Mutter, She learned it from my Vater who learned it from well...his Vater. Opa means grandfather in basic language. In reference to whom, you might have met them. They are the clan doctor, Deustchland.", she would finally explain as she waited a few moments, after her own next question.


    She couldn't help but think it a shame on how they hadn't seen the beauty that was a wisp, but perhaps not all possessed the ability to see these spirit like she had thought? It at least began to answer some of her own quesitons in these curiosities on this...ability to see the departed. She just wished she knew how to control it, how to make it so she didn't see or hear them all the time. It was part of why she liked visiting the fresh kill pit last, everytime she seen them nearby. Everytime she acted like all was normal. "You could say they are spirits of the past, those who have passed and yet use it as a means to guide us. Clan Legend is, if you ever see one, follow it at a peirl, for they could lead to great fortune, or a great danger to approach."


    "Speech."

    ( LAIKA E. // TAGS  // 12 Moons // Child of Ventus and Kate)