... -- The Middle of Nowhere

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Date Posted: 22:49:14 07/25/03 Fri
Author: me
Subject: ...

"So... tired..." Andi sighed heavily, materializing a Sachi-style utility belt around her waist and digging one of her silver discs out of a pouch, tying a long string around it and holding the other end in her left hand. "Gotta get out of this place," she muttered, flinging the disc frisbee-style and letting it teleport her with it -- a risky maneuver but one she didn't really mind taking at this point. After immersion in blackness, a strange sort of senseless between, the young woman skidded on creamy waves of long grass and reeled her disc back in, tucking it into its pouch and stuffing the string in with it. "Kalen. My world. My home." With a sigh, a greyblue gaze watched the dawn's greyer section of the sky that matched her eyes so well, and a simple visualization changed her clothing from jeans and a T-shirt to baggy trousers, a loose tunic, and a heavy, hooded cloak. Enfolding herself in the cloak, she donned the hood and a plain-featured face became mere shadow.

Familiar music drifted into the realm of hearing and she smiled in the darkness, the first sign of a brilliantly golden disc peeking over the horizon. The few wisps of clouds in the east were tinted ruddy orange by the rising sun now, and a vanilla-scented wind eddied around the cloaked figure, its origin several small white roses with exotic golden leaves. "I wonder if I should've gone to Tharaoh's mountain ledge," she mused quietly, breathing deeply of the serenity that is Kalen's right by creation. Almost as though naming was summoning, a dark figure shimmered into existence nearby, quickly taking on familiar features as the teleportation haze dissipated.

"Hi Tharaoh," Andi murmured, grinning slightly. The Cat usually wasn't a willing muse, but she hoped to hear his words clearly for once. But he didn't speak, only watched her with vivid teal eyes much like those of a certain Korat. Fine-featured and considered beautiful by many, Tharaoh was shorter than the mostly-human girl, his curly black hair thick and unbound to his hips. His cloak was tossed over his shoulders, baring black trousers and a tunic of the same hue, and with his mocha skin, he looked like a shadow. Except for those eyes. Andi sighed lightly, seating herself cross-legged in the tall grass and slipping one hand out of her cloak to dig her fingers into the rich soil. It was dew-damp still and cool to the touch.

"What are you doing here?" At the low voice, she looked up again, a half-grin twisting her lips. "Waiting," was her reply. The slender Cat padded forward, silent except for the rustling of cream grass in his wake, and sat opposite the human. Andi repressed a flinch, having rarely seen Tharaoh close-up for more than a few seconds, and that usually when sparring with the moody Shifter. There was a dark beauty haunting his face, and she cast her gaze downwards. What to say to a Cat who would love nothing better than to kill one of her favorite alter-egos? "Did I call you?" she finally asked, glancing up again. Tharaoh shook his head, curls tumbling around his face.

Andi looked down, studying the grass and the dirt, studying her own fingers as they flexed and played with the rich soil. "You've never been to Kalen before, have you?" she asked suddenly, eyes traveling upwards once more. Tharaoh again shook his head, "None of us have. You never let us before. It was always yours and yours alone." A pause. "Why have you let us here now?" The girl smiled, though her face was still shadowed by the hood. "Because you're all a part of me. Kalen is for me... and thus for you. It's my place. My heart." Tharaoh snorted, finally acting his persona, but didn't say anything beyond that. Andi sighed lightly, "If I asked T'yin to come... you would leave, wouldn't you?" The Cat shrugged slender shoulders, uncaring. Andi's eyes narrowed, "Why are you so odd around him?" A bright teal gaze returned her own and she flinched slightly. Even when not scowling, Tharaoh had an intimidating, dangerous look to him. Not the most open of her kalahn, certainly.

With a gusty sigh, Andi fell backwards, cushioned by the long grass. "Gods, Tharaoh. I feel like talking, and saying important things, but I... don't have anything to say. I have no purpose right now other than to wait, and..." The low voice interrupted, "I know. But you know she has it worse than you, so you wait despite it all. You're a good person. Just never forget..." Andi laughed a little at that, staring up at the lightening sky, "How could I forget, Tharaoh? My mind plagues me, as odd as that sounds. Will I ever conquer it?" A rustle of fabric betrayed Tharaoh's shrug. "I don't know. I've not yet conquered my own mind... that's one of the qualities we share, as much as I hate to admit it. You... as an Earthling... I can stand." Andi took the opportunity to ask, "Why do you hate Sachi the Wolf?"

Tharaoh chuckled, a disconcerting sound. Grass rustled and Andi felt him lay down, still opposite her and probably staring at the sky as well. "Because she's you. You figure that one out on your own." Andi blinked, raising an eyebrow, but put the matter off until later. "It's odd, Tharaoh. I've trained myself to blunt honesty, able to state my feelings with no muffling or twisting, and when I have no feeling to state I feel like I'm... almost... I don't know. I want to say something and then start fixing it, but there's nothing to say and nothing to fix... so I try to find something, and by then I don't know if I'm lying or not. Honesty is hard to tell in the depths of my own mind."

"Honesty I cannot help you with." Another chuckle. "I'm no honest fool. Talk to your brother. Or T'yin. That one seems unable to lie." Silence fell, not even broken by songbirds, and Andi sighed again. "Remind me sometime to make some small animal life for this place. The water isn't close enough for me to hear, and just the wind and my breathing..." Tharaoh, unseen by the human, rolled his eyes. "Then shut up and listen." Slightly amused at getting a rise out of the hot-headed Panther, Andi did as asked and found her breathing slowing and deepening, the sound of the wind the only thing that existed. She closed her eyes, forsaking all of her senses to live on the wind and air, giving her soul wings to fly. Troubled thoughts brought her back down, and she sighed. "I don't think she'll be here tonight, Tharaoh."

"Then so be it. You may live around her, but you cannot live solely for her. Get yourself together. And burn the cards." Andi laughed aloud at that, knowing how much time she'd been wasting playing Solitaire, and she watched Tharaoh rise as she propped herself up onto her elbows. "This music isn't helping," she muttered with a slight grin, the hood falling back from her face. The Cat regarded her for a long moment, silhouetted by the rising sun at his back, and slowly nodded. "Good luck, Andrea Mancuso," he murmured... and vanished. Andi blinked, having never heard him call her anything but Sachi before, even as a human, and half-grinned again. She had nothing more to do but wait... and Solitaire was useful from time to time. If only to blank out all thought.

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