for Izumi , backdated to aug 17th!

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Sunlight’s gilded rays peek through the openings of its cloud consorts, drifting through the gaps of crimson leaves to dapple spotty red, brown and green dirt with its golden light. Delicate red palmate leaves fall to the ground unceremoniously. One might imagine the towering gates of shrines to jut themself up from the roots of the grandiose red trees; to stand tall upon the slowly moving currents of a river and frame the cracked rocks of stairs to ceremoniously lead weary travellers to the comforting grace of woven tatami mats. But here–there were no such thing, not that Karina had found. The woods were not marked by the presence of man, there were no shide to wrap around the fronts of these gates, no gravelly paths to speak of near civilisation; here, nature had dominated all.

And she supposed now, she had been a part of it. Lounging lazily atop a naturally crafted throne of maple leaves, redness nestled between snow-white fur to resemble the very clouds that danced atop the land. Oh, the trees, so gargantuan, roots sprawling over the damp soil that would lift their heavy lumber bodies like wood-carved gods to lift the very sky with the strong branches of their arms. Home had been quiet–always quiet, perched on the mountaintops and shrouded in fog, nestled between the split-woods of ginkgo and maple. The silence of these new lands were not quite the same; it’d not been the artificial and expected silence of strict families, wasting away within shoji-lined doors and thin wooden walls to sit upon ritualistic altars in the shrines of old, to waste their days praying to gods who would never hear them–who would never care to.

Silence of the woods was natural. Gentle, flowing with time like the leaves that drifted from the skies–like the gifts bestowed from the heavens above. Silence, here, could be disrupted without consequence. In her adolescence, she’d remembered how partial she’d been to curling herself in cold corners in the fear of leaving herself vulnerable to the snapping of beasts in the night–but here, she’d sprawled herself out atop the bed of red, she was not afraid. The body of a beast had much to offer–in some ways, she felt she had not suffered the loss of human elegance, but rather had it replaced with something much more naturally graceful. She noticed, now, she did not need to move legs beneath the scrutinising eyes of others in particular manners–her brain did not struggle with the task of keeping up fluidity in movements, in observing meticulously how the curl of fabric may offer another image of her figure to others; how her hair must sprawl in delicate white locks in only so very specific ways.

No, living as a beast–a wolf–had been easy. Slender legs moved on their own, her tail had twirled along with the swaying of plush, voluminous and silky fur. She needn’t think about the machinations of elegance when bending her hind legs to prop herself atop jagged rocks, or how she must curl her body, lay her tail atop the rest of herself like a kitsune in the winter. Though it had taken some time for her mind to grow accustomed, she’d quickly learned herself capable. Though not much as capable as her time as human; her limbs were still feeble and weak, and she did not sport herself a gargantuan nor a figure of prominent musculature. But her lack of physical prowess was nothing she’d held her hand in her paws and weeped of; no, greater strength would always lie in honey-tipped tongues. But there was no need for any show of strength - today was pleasant, here was pleasant, as pleasant as she remembered life could be.

And despite it all–head perked up to squint and look between the patterned and delicately shaped gaps of leaves, she had wished for company to endure the silence, if only for a brief moment.

common | 日本語 (japanese) | russian
karina is a 3-3-3 character

How is it that a blood-red forest could invoke such a sense of calmness?

She remembered a scene like this once -- back when she'd accompanied the side of a woman named Reiko.

Before the home of the white deer had come to play, and her journey in life before Mythiris had only just begun. A man by the name of Crux had laid claim over similarly red forest while the woman in ivory sought out her missing children. She couldn't say the fate that came next, since the next time she'd arrived in those crimson-lined forest, he was gone. Along with him and his group, would left nary a trace of themselves there.

There are times when, even though they'd grown apart, she still missed who she once called her best friend.

Things had not ended very well between her and who she once called her empress, as a once-duchess. If she could go back and time and mend what was once broken, the cranebird wouldn't hesitate to. Even in some of her never ending dreams, she imagined what life would've been like if that wasn't the last time she'd seen the white dove. Where she'd left Shiroshika on good terms, and how she'd be able to show Rei the dynasty she once thought lost. Her beautiful family, the love she'd found, the old and new faces she'd made along the way....yet as fate would have it, that tearful goodbye in the snowy mountains was truly the last time her and Izumi would ever see each other again.

A regret the empress still carried to this day -- yet a fate she did not wish to change. For without it, how could she have found herself again? Revived and empire that was once lost? Met the love of her life? Perhaps it was necessary to lose something she once loved to find something she needed, afterall.

Lost in the reminiscences of bittersweet memories, the Empress had stopped along a trail within Icorwood to find a figure who's back turned to her. Ink-dipped paws had halted along the track after taking notice of their presence.

Curiosity wandered in her icy lilac gaze, and a silence followed the soft chuff she sent out to announce her own arrival to them....