|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:57 am
HatchingName: Sage Minor Stage: Preteen Dream Type: Conceptual Specific 'Nature' The Age of Edanna, Myst 4 X X X Physical Features: In Myst, this age is characterized by being a jungle within the dead shell of a giant tree. The upper canopy (color scheme, light greens, pinks, and sky blue) has many large, broad-leafed plants, as well as a sort of spiral-staircase palm thing. The understory of the jungle are characterized by low light (dark green color scheme), ferns that curl up but, when exposed to light unfurl and allow for movement (so cool)! There are orchid-like reflective flowers on this area that allow light to be reflected into this area (as if with mirrors) The forest floor is a swamp (color scheme purple, dark green, blue-grey) with strange black lotus plants . It's main source of light is from the reflective flowers and from bioluminescence. Other flowers include a brilliant orange sunflower-like plant. The area is also known to be an aerie for many types of strange birds. Point being, this age symbolizes nature, so: She will have Leafy/Flowery theme and appendages. Hair is leafy and flowery and generally jungly and thick. Her scalp is covered with glowing lichens and dark, hardy plants, but these are usually covered with more lush jungle-y foliage. Appears to be wearing gauntlets of driftwood, with some stylized woody patterning on her skin. She also comes with a Large bird familiar that resembles Xthis except less creepy. It will change and manifest along with her, as it is a part of her in a sense. If/when she is colored, her color scheme will follow the sort of scheme mentioned in the summary of the age, going from head to feet (head and shoulders= canopy, torso=understory, lower leg and feet=swamp) Personality: You can't keep Sage inside. It has nothing to do with enclosed spaces- she is just the sort of girl that loves the outdoors and the natural world around her. She is atheletic and enjoys sports and hiking. She doesn't like to be alone, so she tries to drag other kids into her sporting activities and interests, and likes to try to work in a group on projects. As an equal. She is very willful and will speak her mind, no matter how snippy or mean she will sound. Ordering her around, taking jobs that are 'hers', she doesn't like that sort of thing. This can cause tensions in a group situation, but for people who know how to handle her, she can be an excellent team player, and for her even a team that doesn't deal with her right is better than being alone. She hates solitude and confinement. If she has no friends (or even enemies) around, she calls her bird familiar. If they aren't around, she talks to any animal or speaking plant she can. If that isn't an option, she would rather not be there at all. She would do well finding a gang or club to join. She is constantly questioning the world and turning over new rocks and leaves. While not very booksmart and having little patience to be so, she has serious practical smarts and is quite cunning. While she needs people, she can be somewhat aloof. She is very prejudicially appraising of people and remembers slights and flaws for a very long time. She also remembers good deeds and positive traits for about as long. She doesn't forget or forgive and though she does move on, what you do permanently colors you in her mind. In short, Sage is an energetic, outdoorsy girl who likes sports and atheletics and an interesting view of people. Outfit: Something sporty... Special Features: ? Other: Sage is very light powers-wise. She has high stamina, strength, durability, and dexterity (within human ranges). She can talk to her bird familiar, though he cannot exactly talk back. Her hair is made up of tropical plants and is affected by seasons and weather, and will also affect her overall mood. It requires light, nutrients, and water, and does not do well with pollution. Otherwise, she is- power wise- fairly normal on human terms. Guardian: My FFCC Selkie who will be coming into existence soon!
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:00 am
Bath Blues - Water Nano - 1163 words
Sage did not want to have a bath, she did not! Baths were boring and splishy. She didn't care how dirty she was, she wanted to keep playing and absolutely refused to take a bath. Despite her protests, though, her guardian had shoved her into the steamy bathroom, closed the door, and left her to her fate. She glared at the bathtub, crossing her arms over her bathrobe. It was an evil, evil thing. She poked the gently moving surface with her hand. It was warm and inviting. Her guardian had put special plant nutrients and salts in it, and it smelled wonderful. It was EVIL.
She opened the bathroom window, and called her bird to her. It fluttered in and perched on the sil, cocking its head at the bath.
"I don't wanna take it" said Sage, "You do it for me. My guardian won't notice."
Her bird was fine how they were.
"Fine." she said, giving her bird a pout. She poked at the water again, watching it ripple. Her guardian wasn't letting her out of there until she was clean, that was what they had said. She wasn't sure how they would know, she wasn't that dirty. She frowned at her hands and at the dirt that lay in the folds of her fingers.
Well, maybe she was.
Her bird chirped, and she had to grudgingly admit that he was right: she liked to swim. He couldn't see why this was different. Why was it different, actually? She crouched by the bathtub and thought about it, watching the lazy ripples of the water.
Well, the bathtub was inside, for one thing, and full of strange substances like bath salts and nutrients and icky icky soap. A lake or slow-moving pool was the closest thing she could think of to a bathtub outside and they weren't full of strange things...
Well, actually... they kind of were, weren't they. There wasn't just water, there was dirt and bugs and seaweed and fish and deer piss and dead leaves and all sorts of other things in a lake. But she liked swimming in lakes, and would do it all day if she didn't get tired and need to go home. But that was swimming, and swimming was fun and exciting and it was something that was done. Bathing was just sitting there in water. Well, you did cleaning, but that wasn't the same. Cleaning was sitting there and trying to be clean, and Sage couldn't understand what consituted clean and not clean because, to her, why bother? Dirt never hurt anybody and her flowers liked it. Swimming was fun, bathing was boring.
But there were toys she could play with in the bathtub, like the ducky and the floating ships and the little sponges that stuck to the walls of the bathtub. Those were fun, and she couldn't bring those into rivers or lakes with her- they'd get lost and pollute the water with plastic, which would kill animals. She didn't want to do that. She knew that other kids had swimming toys, like pool noodles and rings that sank, but she wasn't talking about pools. Pools were different from both baths and natural swimming. They had chlorine in them, and chlorine hurt. It hurt everybody's eyes and skin, but it hurt her plants and made her sick. She had tried to swim in a pool once, but never again. Other kids could have their pools- she would take natural places.
She supposed that, compared to pools, baths weren't so bad. They didn't hurt and, come to think of it, when they had the nutrients in them and the special gentle soap on the side, they actually felt pretty nice. But Pools smelled as evil as they were, and baths smelled lovely and tricked you. That was why they were evil.
But tricked you into what? Getting clean of course! But was that so bad, when she could be clean in a lake too? There was no reason why she couldn't bring environmentally safe and gentle soap with her to a lake or stream and wash up there, or bring larger toys that she wouldn't lose? Was being clean really bad, or just a waste of time? She supposed it was just a waste of time, which made it a bit better.
She peered over the rim of the bathtub. The steam had stopped rising from the water and now was condensed on the mirror and the window, some of the droplets dripping languidly to the floor below. It still rippled invitingly, it's waters slightly green and yellow from the bath nutrient salts.
So it wasn't pool water, with its burning chlorine. Did that make it the same as river water? Was river water the same as bath water? No, but were they truly different? Were bathing and swimming truly different?
Perhaps not. Gingerly, she took off her bathrobe and stood over the bathtub. She grimaced. Well, fine. She would take her bath. She jumped in with both feet. She landed on the soft, child-safe non-slip bath mat, water splashing over the edge. She yelped and wriggled. The water was cold! She had waited too long and the water was cold! She glared at it as it sloshed around her feet, then turned her glare to her bird as it chortled.
"Not funny!" she said to it, kicking at the water. Bath water was supposed to be warm!
But lake and river water was cold, very cold. It didn't get heated by anything but the sun and, sometimes, hot springs.
If bathing was like swimming, then she should just dive in (figuratively) and deal with it. She hesitated, though, already feeling like shivering, even though the flowers in her hair were already greedily drawing nutrients into themselves, swelling and blossoming into wild glory.
She gave her bird another look. "Fine" she said, "You win."
She lowered herself into the lukewarm tub and started to scrub.
Her bird didn't know what it had won, but it was fine either way it flew off to it's roost in the outside tree and began to preen.
~~~
Sage dried herself off with a towel. her bathwater- filthy and muddied- drained away into the pipes below. It had been sort of fun to watch the dirt wash away and leave behind her brighter colors underneath. Sort of.
But, now that she had 'discovered' that there really was no clear difference between swimming and bathing, she had an idea. An outdoor bath- like a lake, maybe with rocks and things, but without the worry of losing toys or polluting the environment with chemicals. Basically a pool without chlorine. If her bath was like that, she would be happy to be clean- as clean as her guardian wanted.
She was already plotting specific features as she put on her home-clothes and got ready for dinner. She was sure her guardian would love the idea. Absolutely, positively, sure of it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 8:20 am
Golden Break ~ Sunshine NaNo - 1227 words
Sage didn't usually mind the rain, but today, as the sun gilded the ripening fall leaves, she danced outside with a whoop of delight as the sun fell on her sensitive skin. Three days of monsoon-like rains made it feel as though some sort of gate had opened in the sky after a long hiatus. She felt rejuvenated as she twirled in the pale autumn light, and she twirled and twirled until she fell down on the leaf-cushioned ground, laughing.
Did the sun take vacations? It had certainly felt like it! Three days of grey-lit clouds and flooding rains- she could have taken an outdoor shower every day with how it poured down. The air had been like water- heavy and dripping. She did like the rain- her hair did well in it. But after going halfway through the second day, she had felt droopy and lethargic. By the end of the third day, she hadn't wanted to go outside at all- She had just wanted to lie all day in bed, watching the rain fall. She had barely moved all day, even when her guardian had made her delicious soup, or when her bird had shouted that it was feeding time, or even when one of her friends had called to ask if she could play. Three days of rain, and she had just wanted it to end.
Now, though she was still lying down, she was very different. She could feel the sunlight absorbing into her skin and hair, she could feel the color returning to her, and the flowers in her hair opening to greet it. The sunlight was like a beautiful, light, and golden elixir that brought life and warmth back to her. The rain had made her feel so cold, as if it cooled down her soul. The sun, though, the sun felt right- warm and earthy and airy, like a deep breath of fresh air.
Suddenly, Sage was hungry, properly hungry- she hadn't had an appetite for the past day and a half and hadn't eaten much and, rejuvenated, she was going to make up for lost time.
She stood up, shaking the dead leaves from her clothes, and went back inside to get something to eat. She made herself a sandwich, looking out the window at the clear, crisp, sunlit day. It was so beautiful how the sunlight made everything sparkle. It was like the whole world was a gem, polished by rain and made to shimmer by the sun. A living, pulsing, energetic gem. She took her sandwich outside and sat on her guardian's porch swing to watch the thin wisps of clouds go by in the perfectly blue sky. Her energy increased exponentially with every bite and she grew more and more restless. The walls of her house had been all that she had seen for days. Now, she wanted to explore the newly washed world. She wondered if it would be like newly dried laundry, new and clean and warm and dry, or if it would be more like fresh lettuce: crisp and wet and green and alive. She put on her outside clothes and called her bird.
Time to find out!
~~~
Her favorite bathing river was swollen to bursting, its usual gurgle now a bloated roar. It had flooded its banks and there were trees whose roots sat in the clear water. Sage's hiking boots sullied it with upturned mud and insects as she walked. The forest dripped around her as if it wished to continue the rain. Her favorite rock, usually a column standing strong from the water around it, was now a mere stepping stone- still dry, but barely. Sage tested the water with a hand. It was fast and deep- she couldn't get to it safely, not with what she had on her. Her bird landed in one of the trees and watched the large birds of prey circle the sky, looking for prey or, better yet, drowned animals to eat. Her bird had nothing to fear from them, nor did he need to find prey- he was full and a herbivore besides. But he liked to watch them, just in case.
Sage scaled the wet bark to join him on the perch. She watched the great birds- many colors and shapes and sizes- whirl around and around in the brilliant day and wondered how many of the myriad and varied cultures that mingled in the complex associated birds with sunlight. They wheeled so high above the ground, so close to the sun. She envied them. She was bound to the ground and trees.
"Do you like the sun, birdie?" she asked, gently strokingher bird's head. Yes. It did. The sunlight warmed his feathers and made his muscles looser so that he could fly for a long time. The sunlight helped him see, though his reflective eyes gave him some night-sight. Yes. He liked the sun.
Sage laughed as her bird proceeded to stretch out his wings to the warm rays.
"I think I like it too. For the same reasons." she said, leaning against the tree trunk. It was warming and loosening and illuminating for her, too.
"But when theres too much sun, its not so good." she remembered a slight drought that had happened a while ago. At first, she had felt energized, but then the golden elixer of sunlight had become as molten rock to her skin. It had hurt and she had felt lightheaded and dry. The very air had seemed to drink away her strength. Then, she had longed for rain, as she had longed for sun this time.
"A bit of sunlight and a bit of rain... these are good." she mused to her bird, "A lot of sunlight or a lot of rain, without anything of the other, is not so good."
Her bird didn't know about that. Rain was no fun to fly in, but sunlight felt good... He would prefer sunlight all the time.
She laughed. "You forgot, dohdoh head. You hated the dry spell!" And he had: he'd been hot and miserable and had started drinking out of the sink like he wasn't supposed to. But he was a bird, and he had forgotten. He chose to ignore her and soak up the sun, his eyes half-lid in the pleasure of warmth. Sage relaxed and closed her eyes too. She could understand why he would forget. He was just a bird, and he only thought in the moment.
But she didn't, and she knew now how to take care of her guardian's garden even better. She'd have to let it dry out now, but she couldn't just soak it- she had to be careful about watering it. Not too much, not too little. She watched a hawk dive down and pick up it's free prey. Plants could drown as well as creatures could, and she didn't want the garden to drown, even if it was going dormant in autumn. Absently, she wondered what snow would be like. It would be her first snow. But the concept of something so cold and wet and heavy seemed alien in the lightened and purified sunlit world around her. She stretched out against the branch, languid as a cat. Yes, leave the cold for later. She had sunlight to catch before she had to go home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:25 pm
Thats Life - Nano Green 557 words
If you asked Sage what her favorite color was, she would correct you.
"Colors." she would say, "Favorite Colors"
For Sage, it was difficult to choose a color as her favorite. All colors were beautiful, especially when nature had made them. Nature was her favorite artist, painting all the worlds such amazing colors. One day, she would like to visit the jungle she had been told she represented, and other worlds as well, just to see them and explore them. Life came in so many vibrant and dull colors, not to mention shapes and sizes. She loved all colors, wherever they might appear. Even the colors associated with decay and sickness were beautiful in their own way.
If pushed enough, though, she would reluctantly say "Green". It had taken her a lot of thought and effort to define that as her 'favorite' color, but there it was. Green.
Some might say that red was the color of life. After all, blood was often that color. But Green was more alive than that. Blood was seen when things were dying or hurt. Green- the brilliant and clear green of the new sprouts of spring- was seen when things were just starting. Green- the dark green of old tree leaves- was seen when things were thriving. Green was alive. It absorbed sunlight and water and made something beautiful out of it. Something miraculous.
Life.
Sage couldn't tell you what life was. Life was something not meant to be described. But green, that simple and versatile color, was the closest she could get.
It was a bit strange to pick green as a favorite color, out of all her favorites. When she colored, she rarely reached for the green colors. Because green, for all its life, was boring on its own, even with the variety of colors. She reached for red and orange and purple and black. She colored in blues and greys and whites. Green... just filled in the gaps. Green was inadequate to describe life, like blood was inadequate to describe a person or feathers inadequate to describe her bird. Life, real life, was complex, with layers of colors and concepts.
Life needed all of those other colors, even plants. They had green, but only as fillers in the spaces between the intricate bark and flowers. Sage was no artist, and she never claimed to be. The extent of her art was scribbled doodles and sloppy coloring. She was an outdoorsy girl, not an artist. Although her room had a wall dedicated to her attempts, she didn't know the first thing about color balance or shading or anything of the sort. She knew life.
Life was what she was. The place she represented embodied nature and balance, the reliance on life on further life, a cycle that once started never ended. It- and she- came in many colors. In her mind though, if she had to describe the sense she got from it, it was still... mostly... green. Everything, no matter what colors it showed on the outside, had behind it, in the backdrop, connecting it together, a certain vitality. There was an energy that cycled through the environment, flowing through the environment from living thing to living thing. And in her mind, that energy was green.
Or... maybe yellow.
Or... maybe white.
It was hard to tell.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:32 pm
Woodchannel ~ NANO Falling ~ 972 words
Sage was never afraid of heights. She climbed anything and everything and then proceeded to try to balance and stand on it too. Railings, Rocks, walls, roofs, stairs, anything.
But especially trees.
She liked to climb up to the highest point of a tree and look down. It scared the crap out of her guardian, but it was totally worth the view. She could see everything from her living post, and it smelled of cool fresh air and leaves and growing things. A perfect place to sit and think, for her.
Today, she sat on a high bough of a massive pine tree and age her lunch- a hummus and mushroom sandwich. Her bird perched nearby, rocking back and forth as it napped. It was a beautiful day to watch the forest. The air was clear and silvered with a touch of mist, and she could see hikers and fellow explorers walking about in it's crispness.
Down there, it smelled of earth and water and life. Up here, in the tree, it smelled of water and cold and sharp pine.
Too much water actually, definitely more than usual, with a crackle in the air that made her nervous. Her bird woke up and looked at her with an unreadable stare. She scanned her surroundings worriedly, a sense of unease growing in her. She touched her hair nervously- the flowers were closed. That meant a storm was approaching. That meant she should probably get out of the tree. She scanned the horizon again as she packed her stuff away for easy climbing. If a storm was approaching, where were the clouds? Agile as a monkey, she began to climb down, the last bit of crust from her sandwich in her mouth. As she shimmied down the shivering spire of the tree, she looked up.
Thats when she realized where the clouds were. They were right above her.
As she climbed down, hands gripping rough bark and delicate wooden limb, it was as if her realization of where the clouds were was a cue for the storm itself. Rain suddenly poured upon her as if it was coming from a bucket far above and poured by unseen hands. Winds lashed at her- like a punch at first, then, as her clothes became soaked and heavy, like icy claws. The air was like water around her, dripping and wet, and the firm and rough surface of the tree trunk became suddenly perilous and slick. The tree danced in the wind, waving in creaking yet firm defiance of the forces that sought to shake it free from its roots. Sage held on for dear life as sky and earth tilted and twisted. Slowly, carefully, she kept climbing down. The ground was obscured now by a thickly silver mist of rain fallen and rain still falling, but she could see it enough to know that, if she fell, she would be badly hurt. She could not see her bird, but was not worried for him- he had wings. He was fine.
Careful grip by careful step she lowered her form down the swaying trunk, her heart racing as she attempted to rest on a lower bough. Just as she was beginning to curl herself upon it, a great gust came and she slipped, her feet falling out into the void suddenly. Her hands scrabbled at the trunk, one slipping beyond it, the other managing to cling to the limb. She hung there, terrorstruck, in the rain for a few moments until she could register that she was still alive. With an effort, she scrambled to place her other hand around the branch and, straining, brought her upper body over. Her lower body followed and she clung to it like an inverted sloth, inching her way back to the tree trunk and her way down.
Slowly, carefully, her body tingling with adrenaline, she resumed her descent. Her clothing weighted her down, as did her hair- which was enjoying the rain immensely. Her neck and back hurt and she felt chilled, but she could not stop- she dared not stop again. Suddenly, she had to stop, her feet and hands scrabbling for the next hold that just wasn't there. The trunk was smooth and wide now, difficult to climb. She hung there percariously, afraid.
A great gust came again and her hands slipped and she fell.
The fall felt like forever. She was suspended in the water-soaked void, the reassuring sturdyness of the tree separating uncaringly from her. She wondered how long it would take for her to hit the ground. She wondered if there was anything she could do to stop her fall. She wondered if she would live to see her hatching day, or if the fall would kill her. She wondered if, among the wet autumn leaves and dirt and sand, anybody would find her body. She wondered how her guardian would feel, how her friends would feel?
It felt like an eternity, but it was shorter, perhaps, than she had thought. In an eyeblink she landed, far softer than she was expecting, into the squish and musky smell of wet, piled leaves. Stunned, she breathed, focusing on breathing in and out and just being alive. Her bird landed nearby and hopped over, looking down at her curiously. As the rain began to lessen and the sun returned to the sky, she looked around at the ground beneath her and laughed. She had fallen, but she hadn't been far from the ground. She was so very lucky, so very lucky indeed. She laughed again, a laugh of relief and joy, feeling the flowers on her head blossom and reach for the filtered sunlight. Alive and unharmed, Sage giddily began making leaf angels in the pile that saved her life, her bird watching neutrally.
She was alive.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:57 pm
Hailstone Trouble - NANO Umbrellas - 1074 words
Sage didn't need any stupid umbrella. She danced in the rain! She laughed at the rain! Only the weak caught colds from something as marvelous as the rain, and she was far from weak! She was as strong and tough as her guardian, and a plant-y sort of manifest to boot! Rain didn't hurt her! Rain helped her grow! She didn't need to protect herself from the rain, and she didn't need to protect her clothes either because they were the sort that dried quickly if given the chance to (except not completely in the armpits and crotch because, well, nothing was perfect). Her bird didn't need it either- he had feathers that wicked away water.
She didn't need an umbrella, she didn't see any reason for an umbrella, so it was absolutely baffling why her guardian kept trying to hand one off to her.
[B}"I don't want one!" she had said before heading out the door too quickly for even her agile guardian to keep up. She headed for her favorite place- the forest. The park bordered their lot, and Sage was grateful for that. It meant she could explore in the woods without having to go very far away from home, certainly not so far that she would miss dinner.
Honestly, what was so special about an umbrella? It was just a piece of water-repellant fabric stretched over a metal webbing. It was just a barrier between people and the sky. Cowards! What could the rain do to you? Some people carried paper umbrellas that were useless in the rain. To protect them from sunlight. SUNLIGHT. What possible reason could they have for needing flimsy paper? Sage didn't get umbrellas. Umbrellas were a silly thing and she would never use them. She had no need to fear the sky- the sky gave her gifts. It gave her water and sunlight which made her hair bouncy and alive and wonderful. It made her feel wonderful. She stomped deeper into the forest until her home was obscured by the trees and she could pretend she was alone in a vast wilderness, at least until a hiker came by. Stupid umbrellas. Who needed them.
Like the energy bars she had seen the hikers sometimes eat- why did they need a bunch of processed crap when they could find what they needed if they only looked around a little? Nature provided, you just had to know where.
People, she had decided, were silly. She was not silly. She supposed she was a person though. Maybe she was silly about other things. Less relevant things than nature, though, for sure.
Her bird looked up intently at the sky and made a long, low sound, a cross between a 'daw' and a crow. Sage had never heard him make that sound before. She looked up to see a storm beginning to paint the sky a dark silver grey. "Its just a storm." she said, patting her bird's head. He flinched and puffed himself up. "C'mon, scaredy. Its just a storm. You like storms." he flipped his tail at her and she laughed.
"Fine. Find yourself a little shelter and cower in it. I'll just enjoy the rain and you'll be jealous later." she teased, making as if to move on.
Her bird shook out it's fluffed feathers and, hopping, nestled himself under a tree root.
"Seriously?" she laughed, "Fine! I'll leave you behind.... Scaredy-bird" Her bird just shook his head. She'd find out.
She laughed again. "Find out what, silly?"
And then, something crashed into the leaf litter nearby. It was bigger than a droplet of rain, and harder too as it made a shattering sound like glass. Sage went to inspect it.
In a cradle of cusioning leaves was a large fragment of ice. It looked like it had been a ball before, a perfect sphere of cold ice. She wondered where it had come from, and why it was here when it shouldn't be nearly cold enough for ice. Cold, yes, but not yet that cold.
Another impact nearby, and she investigated. It was another ice sphere, this time, again, intact. She rolled it's melting form in her hands, inspecting it. What was it? Was it rain? It was like no rain she had ever seen before.
Suddenly, there were impacts all around her. Ice balls bounced and thunked against the trees and rocks and leaf litter all around her. One hit her on the head, another on the shoulder, and she covered her head with her hands. What was this strange ice rain? Why was it possible for such large things to fall from the sky? Large things like this weren't supposed to fall from the sky. The sky only had small things like water molecules and air, and maybe an airship, but these weren't airships. Obviously.
She cringed as one struck her bare skin and left its cold stinging mark, and as another tore through her hair and grazed her ear, trailing torn leaves in its wake.
Either way, she decided, she didn't like them. She didn't like them at all. She ran as the thunks of the ice balls grew more frequent and- she thought- harder. One crashed through the brush ahead of her, half as big as her hand. She ran back towards the house, emerging in a storm of ice balls into the back part of their yard and sprinting to the house. She noticed that ice balls had struck here too, and the roof was dented and broken. She saw shingles shatter and their fragments slide off of the roof. She struggled to keep her balance on the ice balls that littered their yard as she scrambled for the door. Suddenly, it opened, and there was her guardian. Sage dashed in and closed the door, as if the ice balls were a monster from the horror stories. Quietly, smirking, her guardian held out the umbrella to her. Sage glared back.
The hailstorm was over in a few more minutes, her bird returning to check on her when he thought the coast was clear. The view outside was of shimmering ice crystals melting away in the sun. Sage lay on the flat part of their roof on a blanket in a cleared space, trying to get sunlight to the ice-ball damaged parts of her hair.
"All right." she admitted grudgingly to her bird, "Maybe there's some use to umbrellas after all."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:15 am
Hair Care - NANO Frost - 962 words
Sage didn't realize how cold it was until she stepped outside the first day of winter. Her guardian kept the house warm and cozy like her homeland, and Sage thrived in that temperature. Except, she needed to be outside.
Sage didn't like the cold, and was faced with a quandry: play in the icky cold, or go back inside. She compromised. She went back inside, patting her bird on the head where it had been roosting lately, near the heater in the downstairs, decked herself in winter clothes, and went out to play. She knew where her priorities lay.
The world was only slightly different in the cold. It was crisp out; The air was muted and held a wet and cold promise of snow to come. It nipped and bit at her skin like a playful dragon, and she could feel her scalp begin to itch. She pulled her hat down to her ears, ignoring the rustle of crushed plants, and went out to investigate the most interesting thing she could see.
The ground.
It was as if someone had painted the ground with crystalline white, thicker in some places than in others. The grass of their lawn, usually so soft and fur-like, now crunched under her feet as she walked the perimeter, curious. She bent down to poke it, and drew her hand back quickly.
Maker, that was cold! She broke off a rigid stalk of the vaguely kept grass and turned it over and over in her hand until it melted into a soggy, limply green strand from her hand's heat. It was such a strange idea to think of grass as hard. Even straw was soft, almost spongy.
But this was grass, and it was as if it had been turned to ice. She found her hand drifting to her own hair, what appeared of it under her cap. It was still soft, supple, warm, and alive. Relieved, she returned to her own inspections.
The white ice coating was elsewhere, as well, even where no grass grew. It glazed even the ground, and it crunched as her boots trod upon it. She didn't think it was snow- that, she knew- was supposed to be thicker on the ground. This looked more like ice crystals that had formed on the ground itself, winters claim on the world, like a shimmering flag. An ominous flag... Sage thought as she looked out at the deciduous falling leaves of the trees around her, at the lone evergreen needles among the bare trunks of trees. Definitely ominous.
The rest of the day went well, but her scalp kept itching. It only got worse as the day progressed, and it got harder and harder to keep from scratching it- scratching would only damage the plants, it would dent and smush their leaves and delicate flowers. When she returned home from her adventures, Sage took a bath and washed her hair with some of the special nitrogen and phosphorous rinse- that usually helped. Without another thought to her hair, she went to sleep, ready for another day of exploration.
She awoke to find herself feeling mushy and blegh. She got up to wash her face, noticing how cold it was in the house.
"Hey Sage?"
"Huh?" she called back to her guardian, her hand on the bathroom door.
"The heat up yet?"
"Its cold!" she called back down. And it was. It made her head all stuffy and she wanted to let the shower run and loosen up the sap-like gunk in her head enough for her to think.
"Sorry kid, the heater broke. I think I've fixed it though! It should get warmed up soon!"
Which meant no hot water either. Sage scrubbed at her face with a wet washcloth, rubbing at her grainy eyes and tired face before looking up into the mirror. Her breath caught in a little gasp as her brilliant eyes met her hair. Her drooping, tired, white-tinged hair. She touched it, shocked at how wet it was, how cold it was. She had explored enough yesterday to know that it was frost crystals that glazed her hair into a mass of silver-white and dying plants, like some sort of macabre piece of fired pottery. She wrapped her head in a towel and rubbed furiously and panickedly, trying to fix the mess that the night and cold had made. Opening the towel to see what she had done, sh began to cry. Her hair was a mess of dead, twisted, and rotting plants, now dripping with cold wetness. She ran, wailing, downstairs to her confused guardian, and only wailed louder when she saw that her bird hadn't moved from his perch, and didn't move at all.
Her guardian took the panicked manifest, bird and all, to the dreamery to get the whole situation resolved. Her bird, it turned out, was only hibernating, and would likely be lethargic at best during the winter. Her hair was reacting to the temperature but with some work and medicines, the tropical plants would only be dormant, and would come back hardier than before. In the meantime, she would soon grow a temporarily short, dark hair of lichen and small plants, which would survive the winter better than their sister plants. Thus pacified, the pair (trio, counting the bird) returned home. As they went back into their newly re-warmed house, Sage looked at a patch of criss crossing front crystals along their lawn, fading as it approached the house. She stuck her tongue out at it. It would not beat her, not Sage the Edannan explorer. She fixed the hat that contained the small growths of glowing lichen and tough plants, and went inside to lie down and read. Today, though, today had been exhausting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 6:36 pm
A Good day for Sage - NANO Exhaustion – 534 words
Sage sighed in relief as the grime of the day was loosed from her skin into the heated rooftop tub. Now that she bathed outside, she loved it- she was exactly where she wanted to be- Outside, swimming, and clean. She had to admit, without the frustration of a bath in the way, she did like being clean. Todays adventures, though chilly, had been wonderful and exciting, but she felt drained. Not drained in the sick and miserable way, or even in the overwhelmed-by-life way. It was that warm, fuzzy, satisfied sort of exhaustion when you have been doing what you enjoy up til the very end. She had.
She had explored beyond where she had previously explored, climbed new trees and new rocks, met new people. She had not been completely or boringly safe, but nor had she been in any real danger. No hazard had stepped beyond the level of thrill, and no terror had haunted her steps. Her bird had even awoken from it's hibernation to join her briefly, flying around languidly and keeping an eye on her.
It had been a blast.
She splashed in the tub, not minding that she felt tired and spacey. She felt tired in a good way, and she often felt this kind of tired. She hated the other kinds. They were the least fun kind to fall asleep with.
But this... she would fall asleep happily and easily, without any trouble at all.
Sage stretched, feeling her muscles crackle as they began to adjust to the hard exploring she had put them through. Tomorrow, or perhaps the next day, she would be sore, but that too would feel good. Sore meant you had been working hard, and that you were stronger, faster, and better. Sore, ultimately, meant you were alive. But now, her muscles were numb with strain and warm with her own warm, living blood.They had been damaged, but they were healing with the warm water's help.
Clean, Sage stepped out, drying off in the shoddy greenhouse-thing that acted as a gateway between outside and inside, a way to stay a bit warmer while drying off. She put on her robe and went inside, feeling warmer and more comfortable with every step. She had a smile on her face as she ate a light dinner, drowsily telling her guardian a story about her adventures. But her brain was too fatigued to do much more than cobble something together. She'd have a better story in the morning.
She eventually put on her sleepwear and curled up on her bed, snuggling into the pillow gratefully. The bed seemed to pull her in, and she sank, rather than fell, to sleep within seconds.
She awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and re-energized. At breakfast she babbled a mile a minute to her guardian about her adventures of the day. Her enthusiasm felt boundless and she felt that she could do anything- anything at all.
She picked up her things and went out again, to a new adventure of the day. It would be an exciting day of exploration and, with luck another easy, relaxing, night. Sage skipped out into the chilly sun, and away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
