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[ Nightmares ] :: Another Life ?

The call of the stars did not stop. No matter what she did, it never really stopped, once the night fell, the urge to go and stare upward at the sky would come though her, however with time, it became easier to simply let it go and ignore it. Especially keeping in mind the fact that nothing ever seemed to come out of it. And Sitara did not especially like wasting her time. Her time, after all, was much better spend chasing and petting Jiro, running errands for papa, who was still as protective and silly as ever, yet giving her more and more freedom each day, and beating up the mean bullies around town. That never got old.

It became easier to sleep at night, too, once she'd started ignoring the siren call of the star-speckled sky. It is not unusual for children to have nightmares, due to their usually vivid imaginations, but the stardust's where often... different. There where monsters under the bed, of course, but she would find it that these where nothing next to what would unfold that night...



She awoke with a scream - yellow eyes darting wide open and her small hands graping the side of her bed as if it had been a lifeline. Jiro, who had been sleeping next to her head on the pillow, hissed up a storm and darted off just as a flash of bright light narrowly missed his feline head.

There where steps, on the hallway, and her door slammed open, revealing a familar, dark-skinned figure who darted toward her. "Sitara ???" He had feared the worst, when her scream awoke him. He'd feared she'd slid outside, as she still sometimes did, and something had gotten to her, but she was there, in her bed, looking like she's seen a ghost.

"PAAAAAPPPPPAAAAAA !!!!" The dust went right for her father, burying her face in his chest and taking in his familiar scent, trembling like a leaf and stubbornly trying to keep to keep her tears inside. She wasn't a baby after all, and only babies cried ---- !

"Shhhh, dear... It's okay now. Everything's fine." She was glowing, faintly, he noticed - she hadn't ever done that, before, didn't she ? How curious. As she calmed, however, the glow seemed to dim, until... it faded completely. "What was it ?"

"I-I was fall-ing and and and..." It was hard to describe into words what she had felt - the anguish and the despair of someone who knew, all too well, that they where going to die. While there had been no doubt that the little girl had definitively matured in the year since her birth, she did not yet possess knowledge of words to explain all of this. She wanted to try nonetheless, but the words seemed to end up stuck in her throat and dying there.

Silver seemed to understand, and he did not pry. It took hours for Sitara to calm enough to fall asleep once more and, even there, her father stubbornly did not leave her side until she woke again - and by that time, it seemed, the nightmare had been completely forgotten, as they often were.

[ Roleplay ] :: Eccentric Style -- Sitara/Sable/Hymn

.. here

[ Homesick ] :: Knowing

The next night, Sitara went on the roof again. It was always after she'd given in to the urge once that it became the hardest to resist once more. That the feeling became the strongest - feeling like she was missing something. That she'd left something she loved behind.

Like an hand grapping at her heart and squeezing it until it physically hurt.

The child stared, as if it could somehow help her understand, but of course it did not help her know just why these stars twinkled and the others did not. Yet, the urge was too strong - she rose her hand to reach out, as if she possibly could have.

"Sitara ?"

The voice stopped her right in her tracks, froze her into place. She... was most likely in trouble. "Dad."

Again, there was no excuses. Sitara eagerly was able to provide excuses for almost anything she did, beside this one thing. He would most likely have to cave in and just install a ladder. Silver said nothing, but rather walked to meet up with his daughter, sliding an arm around her shoulders. "I told you not to climb by the vines again."

"I know." I was always a shock to see the child being so quiet, so subdued... standing still in one spot rather than running everywhere causing harvok. "Im sorry..."

There was silence, then, that stretched out for a long while, where the two did nothing but watch upward. It was Silver that broke it. "What do you see when you look at them, Sita ?" If only he could get her to talk...

And apparently, that night was his lucky night. "These, here." She pointed. "When I look at them... they twinkle. Blink. Always."

As she pointed, he looked. He recognized it instantly. "Corona Borealis..." He watched, yet... "...I don't see it, Sita. They don't blink for me."

Her father did not see it ? How could he not, it was so visible and clear ! But she knew he was not lying. Silver had always been an horrible liar.

And yet they twinkled. They called. Made her want to go back there.

Maybe...

"Daddy." She said, softly, finally tearing her eyes from the sky to look at the man. "When did you... find me ? Did something odd happen that night ?" She had this definite feeling that it was a night.

Silver had figured this matter would come up some day. He had never led her to think of herself as anything but his daughter, from blood or not, but he had never told her exactly where she had came from, either. "I was traveling out of town... It was summer, so there had been alot of shooting stars in the sky. I was gathering firewood and I found you... Well... your bottle. You came from a bottle, do you remember ?"

"No..." She shook her head. Silly dad, she was quite sure she had not come from a bottle ! But... Silver still did not look like he was laying. But yet, something bothered her. "Shooting stars ?"

"Yes. That's when some space debris come in and falls though the sky down to earth. You've seen at least one of those, I am sure..."

She had, of course. But she did not answer. Suddenly, with those words... everything seemed to make some loose sense. Some kind of sense.

The longing. Her nightmares, where she was always falling and burning. It all started to horribly make sense.

She had been a star. She had fallen. Up in the night sky was home. She liked this place, loved her father dearly, and then there were Hymn and Sable too, and as much as the thought of leaving them hurted... so was the realization that this world could never be home.

For the first time in her life, the girl threw herself at her father and cried, ignoring his inquiries of what was wrong. Even now, deep in her heart, she knew it already.

I can never go home.

[675]

[ Supernova :: Things Change ]



There had been many a warm night in Amies, but this one was different. It was downright unbearable for the young girl, as she tossed in her bed, the sheets all astray, a sharp contrast to her usually still sleep. Unless nightmares were involved...

Had there been anyone here to see, they would have noticed she was glowing unusually brightly... and the look of pain on her face. But it just happened that her father was asleep, in another room. There was no one awake to see the tossing, turning, and the pain of the little girl. It was not that the temperature was unbearable, on the contrary this was a nice, chilly night.

It was all her.

The child gave one other toss, sending a cushion on the ground with a soft thud, literally clawing at her mattress as if trying to cling to some sort of lifeline, sweat beading on her forehead. There was no images to this nightmare, oddly enough - only feelings and sensations, like the sudden aches in her joints, the painful feeling of her skin burning and stretching...

She screamed, and only stopped when she could not anymore, one hand grasping at the collar of the t-shirt she wore to sleep. Suddenly everything was too tight, too tight...

can't...

breathe...

riiiippp...

That was better. With breath returning to her, the girl started to still once more, as the sensation of burning and painful stretching started to slow as well.

Unknown to her and her lack of awareness, however... this was not a nightmare. Not even a dream. No, it was all very real. The only thing left of her shirt was shredded pieces, unable to keep up with her very sudden growth, her body losing the childish figure to be replaced with a slightly more womanly one, hair growing longer and longer like a spectrum, or a shattered prism.



It was the very last pang of pain that woke her up, yellow eyes snapping wide in sudden panic, before she realized just where she was and that it had all been a dream - however, she was all but coated in sweat, with bedsheet and hair clinging to her like a second skin. Yuck. Silver would most likely be very mad if she took a shower at this hour and woke him up, but...

Wait.

There was way too much hair. It was the first thing she noticed, one slender hand going to pick up a long strand. ...Wait, this wasn't right either...

...What the...

The star dust slowly worked herself upward, and immediately felt unstable and wobbly on her own two feet. There was also the distinct sensation of being higher that she could not shake. With one sheet still clinging to her form, she padded her way down the hallway to reach for the bathroom. In retrospect, she would be glad she did. She reached to flick the light switch, and turned to look at the mirror...

And saw something staring back at her with a look of shock and disbelief that definitively was definitively not what she had gone to bed as.

She screamed again, but this time it was conscious shock, and not unconscious pain. That couldn't be possible, that couldn't be possible, that couldn't be... Some rather irrational thought insisted that this couldn't possibly be her, right now, that it was much too, too...

The dust wriggled the soaked bed sheet off her form, letting it slide to the ground, meeting the sight of her tattered shirt and of

Oh.

God.

Hell.

No.

Perhaps it was odd to be so shocked - after all, girls had breasts when they were older. Sable had them. Every girl Sitara had ever met had them. It should not be a surprise that she had them as well.

But...

OH GOD NO !!!!

Already, she rather disliked them. Her chest hurted something fierce and, as she bent down to pick up the bed sheet, they were right there in her way. There had to be some way to keep these things out of her-

"Sita... ?" Came the sleepy voice from down the hall. Apparently, that last scream had done it. She didn't have time to react - Silver was in the doorway before she could pull the sheet on again.

And thus, Silver got an eyefull of the last thing he probably ever wanted to see - his very naked, very teenaged daughter.
"What... The..."

The dust grumped, fastned the bed sheet around her much like a toga, and looked overall rather irrate. "When you're done staring, are you going to help ?" At least her voice hadn't changed.... much.

"Ah, well, uh.... Yes." Silver offrered, rather unhelpfully, rather shocked. He knew something like this would come some day, but... just like that ? Sitara has been exactly the same as she had always been when he had tucked her in bed that night...

...He hadn't even asked any of his female friends about bras yet. This was complicated.

Not waiting for an answer, the teen shut the door, took a shower, and then made her way back to her room, giving her father some time to digest his shock. "I hate these things." She muttered, flopping on her bed. This only added to Silver's problem, until...

"Just a second..." The dark-skinned man left for a moment, and quickly returned with... bandages ? What the heck were those for, she wasn't hurt !

...Well, maybe in her pride, but other than that...

"I don't really know about... girl things." Silver admitted with a well-placed cough, which made his daughter roll her eyes. "But this might help for now. Here, just sit down..."

The rainbow haired girl did as she asked, letting her wings droop out of the way and scooping her long hair out of the way with a frown. "We have sissors, right ?" She asked with a thoughtful frown. Yes, this definitively had to go.

"Why ?" Her father asked as he started binding down her chest, careful to avoid any sensitive areas and... feeling oh so very awkward. That would make one hell of a tale for the grandkids... if he was ever to get any. "You look rather pretty like that..." Long hair suited her well, he found, reaching to her lower back and looking much like a shifting sea of color.

"Ill't get in the way." In the way of what exactly, was uncertain. But far was it from Silver to force something on her.

"I see..." He simply said, working the ends into a knot and standing again. "I'll go get the sissors... It might be a good idea to go back to the bathroom so I can see easier."

And with that, her father was gone again. With a sigh, she worked herself upward once more. Her legs felt a little less wobbly, at least... It was not that bad, really, being taller had it's advantages... She caught sight of her reflection and watched it once more. The shock was starting to dull and... bound like that, her breasts were only barely visible, and definitively out of the way. This... was much better, and it seemed like her father had unknowingly given her answer to most of her woes about this new form.

It was not long before Silver returned, with both sissors as well as a shirt and pants for her to wear. The whole was a bit too big, but it would do until the shops opened in the morning. "Same length as before ?" He asked, and the girl pondered a moment.

"Hmmm..." As her hair were before, it still kind of got in the way of her eyes sometimes. And after all... if she had changed, what was another change ? Sitara did not do things half way. "No." She decided. "Shorter."

With a nod, the dark skinned man started to snip off strands of hair, going shorter and shorter until Sitara finally told him to stop. It was rather short and rather... boyish, she would be the first to admit. But it wasn't bad at all. "Like that. I like it." Finally, she managed to smile at her reflection. "...Thanks, dad."

"Try to go and get some sleep. We will see about new clothes once the shops opens." He watched her leave the room once more, and, looking at her like that, he actually found himself wondering, for a second, if it was a daughter that he had, or a son. With the chest bound, she could probably fool anybody... The thought made him chuckle. It did not matter. He loved her no matter what she decided to look like.

[ Roleplay ] :: Greenhouse Obituary -- Sitara/Hymn

..Here