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6. You awaken in a thicket of things that are not quite trees but seem as though they might be related to trees. Flowers in strange, unsettling shapes blossom, and although the clamor of insects and bird is immense, you do not see any of them. You are beset with a strange sense of urgency and wanderlust. You may stumble across a strange, smooth-sided tower that glows from within with a light like the sun. It is surrounded by strange symbols half-overgrown with the alien vines, but touching it hurts--unless you are a Legendary, in which case it triggers an aching moment of insight that is gone as soon as it arrives. You feel as though you have learned a great and vital secret--but it is gone.
Her first thought was that she had been here before."But I haven't, really," Red-stained Blossom chirped to herself, "it was a lot more...wet. There was a rabbit. It's not the same...it feels the same."
They'd put on a good old show, they had, the Royal Rainbow Troupe. Her puppies had been on their very best behaviour, and she dared say that routine was one of the most impressive they had executed yet. It had been a good old show, and she had to celebrate that – so it had become a grand old party. The drinks had been courtesy of Rise & Shine anyway – Tipsy – that Tipsy really did know how to brew a drink...
"So maybe it isn't the same, maybe it's just the wine," she laughed. But as soon as she'd opened her eyes to the insistent sound of insects and birds bearing down upon her, she'd known it wasn't, really, "but it isn't important, anyway."
Or maybe it was, but she wouldn't know. It didn't bother her.
"Here, birdy birdy," she called into the trees. The chirrups droned on, but she already knew she wouldn't get a reply – a real reply, nor the swoop of an actual bird. The trees didn't move. In her professional hunterly opinion, there wasn't a point getting ready for a chase, let's just say.
"Are you even trees?" she questioned the strange sentinels aloud. They were...weird to say the least – the twisting limbs and sturdy bodies gave the suggestion of trees, but the wood – was that wood? Were those leaves? "I'm going to say you're not," she informed them, "and I don't believe you're flowers either. Though you are very pretty. And creepy."
She wondered how they'd taste. More importantly, she wondered what kind of colours would they made, broken open and smeared against the ground.
"But it wouldn't show up well, would it? You're too green," she told the grass. If it was grass.
"Well, I'd love to stay around and find out, but luckily for you, I've got places to be," she sang over her shoulder as she danced out of the glade. Where these places were, she didn't yet know, but her heart was hammering in her chest, her stomach was fluttering like she'd swallowed a passel of butterflies, and her hooves were screaming go, go, GO – she mightn't know much about these alien plants, but she did know when the Swamp told you to go, you went, and she didn't worry too much about where she'd end up.
She remembers the feel of the Doe, from the last time she was here (or wasn't). Like a gentle breeze in the desert – or a warm shroud of moss on a cold, damp night. These days, Rouge didn't do too much worrying anymore.
When she comes upon the tower, it all feels natural. It glows like the sun, and she spends a moment basking in its warmth. She studies the symbols thoughtfully, and trots a circle around it to map the pattern of vines-that-don't-look-like-the-vines-she-knows. She wonders if she should touch that radiance, the wonders why she wonders, and kicks up on her hind legs, putting her small, sharp hooves against the glowing surface –
- "OH!"
...When she can think again, she finds her cheeks are wet. She can't remember why.
"Too soon?" she asks the tower, "or just not meant for me?"
Of course, it doesn't reply.
The story continues in...WP06 - Return
