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 Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 12:32 am
The page felt himself deflate at her answer.
“Well,” he said slowly, trying to find some kind of silver lining. He’d gotten so excited, but now knowing he’d have to wait thirty days before he could come back… It was a bit of a bummer. The silver lining soon came to him though, restoring a bit of his usual smile as he forced the glum away. “That gives us time to shop properly, then. Wait for sales, save some bucks.” While he had more of a tendency toward splurging on his hobbies, Kiringul would never say “no” to a sale if he happened to catch one.
He followed her still, the sudden change in her demeanor more surprising to him than anything else. For most of the time that he’d known her she was always so animated, a bright personality that contrasted rather starkly to his dullness. Opposites, yet complementary at the same time.
Seeing her so calm now was...different. Unfamiliar, though not in a bad way. He watched her thoughtfully as he followed along, the distance between them steady.
“Is that possible? To live on your wonder?”
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 12:33 am
“Honestly I have no idea,” Ein shrugged.
“The longest I’ve lived here was three days. It was a long weekend due to the holiday so I packed a sleeping bag, some food then came here.” Unfortunately, she didn’t really have the courage to explore the area and stuck to one general location. That was how she found the first cave entrance at the cove.
While it might have seemed like aimless wandering, she seemed quite sure of the direction they were heading even if she wasn’t quite aware of where their destination would be.
Lahela In her mind she recalled the sound of a child's laughter as leaves crunched beneath her bare feet. Lahela, where are you going? A flash of silvery white disappeared behind the tree ahead of them.
Come find me! the young girl's voice chimed melodiously.
Einhornhohle remained silent as the memory of this field of flowers played out before her. That was until a shrill scream caused her to jump back, nearly colliding with Kiringul beside her. Without thinking much on her actions she held fast onto his sleeve, wild eyes wide with the shock of what she heard. But then the memory faded.
Blinking several times, she looked away from him; completely embarrassed by her abnormal reaction to something that wasn’t even there. “We uh-” Ein cleared her throat. “We’ll need to go around. The ground is broken ahead of us, part of the tunnel beneath us collapsed over there.” They could look, if he wanted to, but would be wise if they both moved forward carefully in case more caved in.
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 12:33 am
“Three days hardly seems like anything,” the pink knight thought aloud as he followed her, half wondering if she knew at all where they were going or if she was just wandering around and leading him wherever her feet thought to take them. “Did three days also pass back on Earth or--”
His question was cut off when she suddenly jumped back. He reacted barely fast enough to step aside, but didn’t move too far when she took hold of his sleeve. There was shock on his face, and confusion, but the look on her face as she seemed to process something—presumably the reason why she’d suddenly jumped back, though he had no way of really knowing—told him to just bite his tongue. So he did.
He set his baby pink gaze toward where they had originally been heading. A collapsed tunnel sounded far from safe, and being new to all this...he wasn’t exactly raring to go and do something even remotely dangerous. Not to mention, it bothered him a little that something, whatever it was, caused her to start like that. If going around meant that they could avoid that, then he was happy to oblige.
“Let’s go around, then.”
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 12:33 am
Only silence lingered in the forest and she felt unashamed for holding onto his sleeve longer than necessary. After a long pause Einhornhohle finally nodded in agreement.
The memory faded only after a name had been shouted Lahela. By her own voice or someone else's, she was unsure. Regardless, there was no resolution to the scream she had heard but clearly he did not.
“De ja vu,” a simple explanation rather than an apology as the two skirted around the dangerous area. “Keep in mind that, in some capacity, our wonders used to be alive. They’ve been uninhabited for centuries now, some things may have changed.” In the same way that grand structures become moss covered ruins if left to the elements over long periods of time.
Einhornhohle led him through the dense foliage, noting another pair of stone statues, unicorns like others she had seen on the few occasions she found reason to wander her wonder. Couldn’t quite tell if they were meant to be portrayed as frolicing with one another or if they were running away from something. She’d much rather believe that they were simply having fun since her wonder had presumably been a sanctuary for these magnificent beasts.
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 12:34 am
Kiringul didn’t mind in the slightest that she held onto his sleeve longer than he thought she would. In the years he’d known her he couldn’t remember her ever getting scared for no apparent reason, and if that had changed...he wondered on that a moment. Worried for a moment. But then she managed to nod, so he nodded in turn but let her take the lead. She knew where they were going, after all. He was just a guest here, not to mention it was his first time ever...leaving...earth.
He kept that in mind as she explained a bit more about wonders. Admittedly, he did find it all fascinating. Weird, sure—almost unbelievably so, actually—but fascinating all the same. And his fascination only grew as they continued on, noting the statues that they passed.
“Fanciful,” he said, smirking as he recalled a particular line from Dexter’s Laboratory. Unlike her he seemed to default to the assumption that they were frolicking. They were statues of animals, and he was neither too keen with animals nor stressed to the point of overanalyzing what it was he was looking at. “So,” he went on, “you’re saying that once upon a time, it’s possible that these weren’t just statues of unicorns? That they could have been alive way back when?”
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 12:34 am
“It’s something I’m beginning to wonder, yes.” As of yet, she’d only had past memories of unicorns while they were running around or perhaps resting; some with a more humanoid form that each had a horn atop their head and whimsical clothing. Einhornhohle wasn’t sure if they would be considered people or just citizens of her wonder but she had yet to recall any artisan that crafted such statues.
The knight of this wonder continued on, giving the crack in the ground an excessively wide birth. The forestry thickened, more overgrown bushes reached out and snagged the hem of her dress but eventually an actual path opened up before them; wide enough for at least three people to walk comfortably side by side.
When they reached the top of the hill, Einhornhohle paused. Her expression became more pensive if not worried. “I’d hoped we’d see the entrance from here.” Instead the path seemed to abruptly end in a tangle of overgrown bushes “I think this is as far as we can go, unfortunately I didn’t bring any tools with me to clear the way.”
If she had it her way they would have arrived on the beach where they could travel upon the sand to where the yawning cliffs opened. Instead they were delivered to a part of her wonder she had not yet fully explored and therefore was wildly unprepared.
“Kind of a short field trip but It looks like this is as far as I’ll be able to take you today.” She offered Kiringul a rueful smile.
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 12:34 am
The distant sight of dense, overgrown shrubbery caused him to sigh, and he nodded when she came to the same conclusion. This was as far as they’d be able to go today, which, while disappointing, was in its own way perhaps a blessing in disguise. He was still struggling to accept certain new truths in his life, and although this trip was enlightening it was also a bit of information overload. Pausing now meant he could stop to process it all, and maybe even try to connect to his own in the (likely distant) future.
“Works for me,” he said, finally looking back at her. “Looks like you’ll have to bring some heavy machinery to get to the next level. A problem for another time, I guess. For now… how exactly do we get back?”
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 12:41 am
Einhornhohle held a hand out to him and with a soft smile answered his query, "I'll ferry us home." “Don’t worry it’s nothing like Dorthy who clicks her heels and repeats a mantra of ‘I wish I were home’,” she added in jest. “I just think of the place we were when we left and we’ll appear there again.” Kiringul had trusted her this far, no balking or humorless comments from him to suggest he found her wonder displeasing. “If you want, I’ll bring you back again some time.” Ein offered in kind and when he took hold of her hand she whisked them away back to Destiny City, to the interurban trail they had trod upon before she whisked him away to her wonder.
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