[PRP] Replacement Part II: Don't Panic [Asku x Namid]

[Skyflu]

Part I

Namid stopped jumping in circles when she picked up the faint cries of death. She quickly turned to the logs and watched in dismay as the particles floated away and died. Oh! The atrosity! Now there wasn't a way for the river to flow, for the grass to grow, for the... anything...nothing...everything. Namid couldn't take the strain and flopped on the ground, defeated.

Her body laid perfectly still and practically lifeless. The efforts were useless and the world, dead. So sad.... it was perfect, now ruined. Namid knew Asku meant well. It was not on purpose and yet, everything was something. Her actions were probably seen as crazy, un-explained. Though, others didn't need to know. Or...didn't want to know. Which ever, Namid didn't care. Nothing seemed to care anymore. The logs and cattail weren't just items, they were being. Objects of life and flow. They radiated worship and connected it all to nothing. Well, more like nothing to all.

The sun blazed on her belly, spreading warmth that didn't seem to reach her.  

[SilverLutz]

Asku stared at the mess he had made for quite a while, too nervous to turn and see what Namid was doing. She rarely got upset with him when he made a mistake like this - in fact he couldn't think of once when she snapped at him at all - so he wasn't sure where the anxiousness came from. Probably the look of sadness on her face that she was learning to shoo away.

He finally glanced over his shoulder and spotted the female on the ground. She looked dead, but he knew better than to assume she was, in fact, no longer living. A quick glance back to the branch killed his brief hope that he might be able to fix it. It was splintered and the cattail was making fluff everywhere. Great.

"Ah...I'm sorry, Namid," he said weakly, his ears down and tail between his legs. "I...I'll go get you another stick."  

[Skyflu]

Namid felt very sleepy. Her adventures usually had her up and about at night, so the daylight hours sapped her strength almost immediately. The trauma she just went through didn't help either. Her eyelids sagged, half closed while her mind wondering in a sort of... meditative trance. Namid just went through a unique experience. One minute she was at the top of her happy energy and then the next, plummeting to the ground in depression. All in all, things unfolded quite interestingly. She's never experienced such great leaps in emotional territory. Fascinating~ one day she'll consult the stars on the matter, however, now she needed to fix a problem.

Asku's words drew her attention. She didn't move, but was listening.... a new stick? Preposterous. Nothing will work. She needed life force, a vessel of high standing purity. A silly stick with amount to little.
She slowly rotated her eyes towards his direction. I think I'll practice glaring. She thought to herself. Yes, glaring seemed the correct response to the situation, however, when her eyes rested on Asku, she couldn't do much but stare. He looked... right. Perfect!

She jumped up from the ground and raced over to him. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Namid circled around Asku a few times to take in his features. He had the ears, which were parallel, and he was rather tall. Symmetrical body proportion, plus the positive energy. He will do. "Come, Asku. Sit right here." She swooshed away the left over derby from the old item with her tail.  

[SilverLutz]

Asku felt like a snake. No, like the belly of a snake. Namid had gone and climbed a tree to get this stupid stick, and now he had gone and broken it after she basically risked her life. He still wasn't sure what she had been trying to do, but whatever it was she certainly couldn't do it now. He hung his head as she turned to glare at him and averted his eyes, not willing to meet hers. Normally he felt horrible when he disappointed someone or let them down. But with Namid...it felt like the earth needed to open up and swallow him whole to fix whatever it was he had done.

The happy voice that reached his ears next didn't quite fit the situation. Hesitantly, he looked up to see Namid bouncing around like...well. Like she normally did whenever she was happy. "What?" Stand where the stick was? She couldn't possibly think he could replace a stick...he wasn't nearly as tall as it! Nor as skinny. Nor as made out of wood.

But, as always, he humored her. What else could he do? He had just broken her magical tree-cattail configuration. He might as well take the place of the stick he had demolished. Placing his paws on the spot the limb had once stood, he glanced over at his companion. "Just...stand here?" he asked, not terribly sure what it was he should be doing.  

[Skyflu]

Humming! Humming! The world was humming! Oh yes, this will work quite well. Namid bounded over to Asku, happy as a fat fish on the bank. Well... maybe not a fish on a bank because it would be dead...none the less, happy! Happy! Happy! She began yipping, her enjoyment bubbling over. Oh, the heavens will be pleased--she can feel it. Though...she stopped abruptly from her happy dance...what if she was wrong? Could the balls of fire be displeased and cast her away? The thought sent Namid crashing to the ground, back to her dead trance. Her body lay right next to Asku as her inner turmoil spiraled out of control.

Hopelessness... poof, gone. Like a dead butterfly. Things will die. Always dead. Oh, the pity. Interesting how a couple logs could make her feel this way. Of course, it was more to it than that. Always more. Particles floating, energy buzzing, things of things to things. Though... she'd make it better. Fix the broken. Right! Namid jumped back up almost as quickly as she fell down. To work!

"Sit, sit ,sit! Here not there!" She directed Asku. "Now lift your front paws! High! Higher! Highest! Oh, and keep your ears straight too. Point up." Yes, things will work. This will do. Oh, the humming.  

[SilverLutz]

Asku watched as Namid jumped and yipped, and he tried to partake in her joy, but he was still very, very confused. How he could take the place of a stick was unknown to him. How a stick and a reed could help read the stars was also unknown to him. But, as he had slowly come to understand, Namid was on some different level of understanding. The best he could do was just smile and nod and do as she said. Things generally worked out in the end...provided she wasn't trying to do something life-threatening. That tree stunt she had pulled a few minutes ago still had his heart pumping a bit too quickly.

He stood as Namid suddenly flopped onto her side. "What? What's wrong?" he asked anxiously, tail swishing in mild anxiety. She got like this sometimes. Occasionally she'd lay like that for hours and then suddenly hop up, seemingly fine. He supposed she communicated with the stars like that, but whenever he asked she never told him.

Again, his question wasn't answered as she hopped back to her feet. Instead he was instructed on how to sit. He felt quite foolish with his paws raised high in the air and his ears up, his tail pressed against the ground to help keep him seated and to stop himself from tumbling over backwards. "How is this going to help? Wouldn't it be easier to just get another stick?" he asked weakly, shifting his weight to keep his balance.  

[Skyflu]

As Asku's paws began to rise a holy song filled the air. She couldn't hear it, she felt it. It lapped at her side and traveled down her spine. His pointed ears amplified the emotions and Namid couldn't take it anymore. She rolled over and squirmed in the dirt. Trying to scratch her back. It was lovely, but itchy. Asku's words brought her back to her feet. Oh! He was ruining it with words! She quickly clasped her paws over his muzzle. She brought her face closer to his. "Shhh..." She began petting him. "You mustn't talk, for it's their turn to speak. Now, hush."

She watched him struggle to find balance. The world needed balance, so she went behind Asku and allowed him to lean on her while he stretched. Just a bit longer and it would stop. She needed him to stay like that till it went away.

"Just a bit longer, Asku. Then we can return to sleep."  

[SilverLutz]

Asku gave a surprised yelp as Namid suddenly appeared before him, her purple eyes bright and staring into his own. Ah, that had been startling...hey! He made a muffled noise of protest as she clamped his jaws shut with her paws, but once he realized his speaking was disrupting whatever flow that needed to happen, he quieted down. Namid disappeared from view, but a few moments later he felt her press up against his back. His wobbling stopped and that funny tingly feeling was back. He had come to decide he rather liked the tingly feeling, and he always was a bit sad when she moved away because it would stop.

He focused on remaining silent after that, keeping his paws and ears up and his mouth closed. He hoped he wouldn't need to stay like this for too much longer. His toes were starting to go numb and his shoulders were aching a bit. Sleeping again would be lovely, since it was usually disrupted by Namid needing to run out to talk to the stars. They were slowly turning nocturnal, he had noticed. Not that that was a bad thing, it just took some time getting used to.  

[Skyflu]

Things were starting to become silent. What was once a roar, turned into faint whispers. Then...nothing. It was gone and done with. She can now be rewarded with sleep. She expended a lot of energy climbing a tree and fetching a few sticks. She hoped things would get better with age. Though, for now, her youth helped.

"You may rest now." She nudged Asku to signal how pleased she was with him. She wasn't good at showing emotion, but hopefully it showed now. "Lets rest now." Her tail brushed against Asku to ask him to follow her as she walked back to the cave. Sleep would be good now. She could only hope that it will last till the night.  

[SilverLutz]

Asku remained still for what seemed like ages before he was finally nudged. Namid's voice reached his ears a moment later and he flopped forward, landing heavily on his paws, a sigh of relief escaping him. He glanced over his shoulder as he felt Namid's tail brush against him to watch her walk off in the direction of the cave they had been in the past few nights. He wiggled his toes on his front paws for a few moments to get some feeling back in them before he got up to follow her.

He glanced up at the bright sky as he walked, wondering silently if the stars would let them get a decent night...er...day's sleep for once. Even though they had been in this new pack for a few days it still seemed like they were traveling. Their sleep cycle was horribly thrown off...but maybe whatever Namid had just 'fixed' would allow them to slip into a steady sleep-wake cycle.

Trotting to catch up, he bumped his side lightly against Namid's, knowing that at this point words were not needed. Just sleep.

FIN