the compass shifted [OPEN]

[allsongs]

Date & Time: 1/24-1/30
Location: wilderness
Characters: Simmaeri the big honkin' dino-thing and you!!
Summary: WELCOME TO MAHOU JURASSIC PARK
Warnings: No clue, just a giant creature atm



Simmaeri took slow and careful turns then. Lumbering, methodical steps from massive, heavy legs made the closest scenery quiver. The feeling of stony, withered ground was slow in processing, much slower in understanding; it was such an unusual addition to the mix of already unusual things bombarding her senses. She could see no open expanses of white or gray, smell no fresh ice or snow, and hear only whispers of wind, gusting more like little gasps, choking on the chemicals mixed into the air itself. It stung her nostrils, made her eyes itch unpleasantly.

This was what her brothers and sisters had sought and embraced? It made no sense. It was as empty as it was unkind to her in that moment, and startled creatures quickly fled before she had chance to turn her head and regard them. Those, at least, would have been exciting; she did not know any creatures other than herself; seeing something new would, perhaps, make up for this startling change.

Either way, she lifted her head back up (not too high; the stinging seemed worse higher up) and let out another long, low sound, rumbling up from her neck and out through a snapping of her jaws. It filled the air and soon passed, and she waited well after the echo for a reply.

Was she really so far away that none could hear her back in the north? The terrain had changed so suddenly...what odd, foreign magic had done this?

Am I lost now? How strange this is.

Comments

[scour]

"I don't know," ctsv said, airily. He wedged himself right above her eye, finding a fold in her skin that would allow him to recline, propped up on an elbow. He waved his hand in the air. "Most everyone else who's like me is dead. Died in their world. But not me."

How did he know that? He just did. He didn't have any solid memories of his arrival into his own world, no idea how he got there, whether it was by dying or otherwise. But he was certain that he was... very much alive, in some way. Alive, past even this own tiny existence.

He frowned.

"Look. It doesn't make any sense to me, either. I don't know."

[allsongs]

It was rather uncomfortable to keep straining her eye that way to keep him so faintly in focus. Simmaeri could hear him when she listened hard enough, and that was the route she took, letting herself look about. She kept her head still as something so large could for fear of too fast or to long a motion causing him to fly off, fall to his doom. There would be no means to catch him, and she'd probably never find him to see if he was gravely harmed if it came to that. How terrible. How terrible to be small!

Terrible and alone, it seemed. Dead? All dead? No, "most everyone," he said. But it seemed there was no luck for little things. How could there be? Simmaeri simply couldn't imagine.

She gave a mild, empathetic note – a rise and fall that was almost some kind of melody in its own right.

You are alone? she pondered aloud. Alone and away from your few left? Where are they? She had a fleeting, fearful thought that perhaps she had stepped on them at some point. If you show me the way, perhaps I can return you to them. And see the rest. Perhaps they would make more sense in a group – something more visible, at any rate.

[scour]

"They're in a different world, from what I understand," ctsv said, waving a hand in the air. He's decided, now, that he likes it up here. This is very tall. Much nicer than sitting on someone's shoulder, even. "I don't think I can show you the way. I don't know the way, myself."

He sat up slightly to look down at Simmaeri, again.

"What about you? You're not a person, are you?"

[allsongs]

I am indeed a person, Simmaeri replied with an air of confusion. What kind of question was that to ask? I speak and sing and listen as all people do. But I have never seen a person such as you...nor a land such as this.

A different world... Yes. Yes, that had to be it. How, though? Did it simply take a single step to stray so far? She hadn't quite expected her journey to be so sudden.

I came from the white lands, she said, thoughtful, distant. Her head turned slowly, seeking out what she thought of. A faint whine escaped her, a puff of mist through her nostrils. But I sought the lands far away, as many of my kind have...Perhaps this is it, after all.

But, then...

There are no others like myself in this land?

[scour]

"No," ctsv said, with absolute certainty. "That's why I came up here. I've never seen anything like you, and I've been out here a while." He paused. "Like, five days."

He patted her, though he didn't think that she'd be able to feel it.

"You probably got brought here like me, and the rest of us," he said. "Except... I guess they put you out here instead, because you're too big for the city."

[allsongs]

They? Simmaeri echoed, puzzled. Who is they? Other creatures?

There were more? ctsv had said he was alone...so Simmaeri was left to wonder what others could possibly be. Bigger? Smaller? Were there really so many different things in the world?

[scour]

"Yes. People. Actual people. Bigger than me. Smaller than you." He looked down at her again. "Much smaller."

He tapped her briefly. "If you put me down on the ground again, can you still hear me?"

[allsongs]

Simmaeri almost missed the question, marveling about that notion of more – different. How different? Her eye strained again, searching for the little speck far from view.

Your voice is so very small, she said with a rumble of uncertainty. Will you not make your sounds bigger when you are on the ground?

[scour]

"I can shout," ctsv said, a little uncertainly. Well, he could shout. He just wasn't certain that Simmaeri would be able to hear him. "But I want to move forwards. I want to go see what's over there."

He swung himself forwards a little to bring himself closer to Simmaeri's eye, and pointed out towards the east. "I heard there was a sea out there. I want to see it."

And yes, secretly, he was hoping that Simmaeri might walk him over instead. It would be much faster that way.

[allsongs]

Simmaeri's head slowly turned in the direction the speck's little limb gestured, focusing on the massive distance – a much easier thing to see, kinder on her eyes.

She sniffed loudly, snorted loudly.

I will see this sea as well, she declared, now curious. Let me carry you there, unless you possess greater speed than I.

[scour]

"All right," ctsv said, sitting back again, content and smug. He'd totally planned this all along. "Move along, then."

He took a pause just to check that he had all his belongings on him, and then shuffled around a bit over Simmaeri's head until he found a comfortable spot.

He looked up at the sky.

"I came from over the sea," he said. "Sort of. It might've been a different sea."

[allsongs]

Born of the sea? Simmaeri wondered, trying to imagine it. Rarely had she looked upon open water, traveling so often inland, where everything was a constant sheet of white and blue reflected from the sky. She found it not too difficult to imagine, actually; a small bit of foam bearing up something so small itself. How would she have ever noticed before had it not made a sound to hear?

Her steps, to her, were careful and slow, but any forward motion from something so large was a speedy force for little things along for the ride. She was faintly aware of it – just faintly, in that she acknowledged the way her head cut the air. Would he fall? She wouldn't know what to do if he did.

Take care not to fall, little one.

[scour]

"No, not born," ctsv corrected, hastily. He grabbed on tight to make sure he wouldn't fall. "I don't know how I was born. I don't think I was born into this form, I think I was made-- there's a difference. I guess."

He shifted position slightly to gain a little more security.

"You don't have to worry about me," he said. "I'm holding on."

[allsongs]

Who is it that made you? she asked, having wondered about his words for a set of heavy steps. Do you remember? Do you remember what magic it was?

She knew well the rumors among her own people: the choice to make, to change shape for good. A dangerous, intriguing thing. Many made much of dire consequences, of vanishing to never return, speculating on what life held for those exiles.

That's what she was now, wasn't it? Would she change, too? Perhaps to the scale of the little creature riding atop her right now. Dangerous, intriguing...

[scour]

ctsv shook his head, before realizing that she wouldn't be able to see that.

"No. I remember a lot, but I don't remember that. I just remember running away from them before they could take all my memories." He huffed. "They do that to everyone else they make. But I ran away, early, so I didn't forget everything."

But he had forgotten enough. Enough to make him angry.

Oh, well. Moving on.

"Were you made, too? Or were you born?"

[allsongs]

Simmaeri mulled over ctsv's words with care, still quietly marveling at simple sound in air being the source of his speech. Perhaps not so simple, perhaps a muted magic she could not feel...The notion struck her that maybe it was more than his shape and voice that was small.

More peculiarities still: born? There came a rumble, causing a bit of a shudder of heavy skin at her mouth. She couldn't imitate the sound, let alone conceive a way to speak it her own way.

What is the difference? she asked. What can there be but being made?