there is something lost in this world, soma had come to recognize. hope sizzles out like wind against a barely fanning flame, families thin like threads too frayed to stay together. even her feathers, once beautifully hued, had now rotted into bones and torn feathers. she had finally brought herself to bury them just days before. this world, this place—it was not for her. it did not grow like rikkaruohot in her heart, but had darkened it. wilted it.

the wings upon her back were missed, like it was a piece of her that had been torn—her own wings, now just stumps. she could not fly, and neither could she dream. this world was a cruel thing, that. taking, suffocating, breaking. the days bled together—the sun, the night, the sun, the night. she had not seen many birds of her kind, had not deigned to replace the wings anew. her own lifequest had not been completed, and such treasury had not been afforded.

so with a weeping soul, soma had waited. survived. found herself living upon overripe berries and scraps left behind. never birds, she knew, never them. she slept amidst the carrion, helplessly finding whatever warmth the dead could offer. only one soul had seen her, only one soul had spoken.

she wondered of him then.

---

skill: ghost 1/5

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There had yet to be a true destination in mind, one that would make up for all the miles they had walked. But Takashi knew the importance of exploration, and he expected both Himari and Kiku to understand that, as well. Without knowing what type of world they were up against, whether it truly was Tōkatsu Jigoku or something else, he needed certainty before he could create a plan.

And so Takashi wandered through the woods, through the sloping hills and through the weaving streams—he traversed the foreign terrain with the true determination of the Kagetsu running through his blood.

That was until a scent of thyme and pine…and something sickly sweet slowed his forward-reaching steps and narrowed his eyes along the tall grass before him. There was no scent of prey or regular wildlife (something he had come to learn through the many miles he had walked); rather, it was instinct alone that alerted him to a nearby wolf.

Kagetsu Takashi blinked in the direction of the stranger’s scent.

Despite the shadows he preferred to utilize on any given day, the brightness of the sun removed what cover he would’ve preferred. Instead, he used the tall grass as his shroud, slinking through the long stalks in a carefully lowered walk as he followed that sickly-sweet, herbal-infused trail.