Her dreams lately have been... strange.

She didn't ask permission to leave. She simply told Fiora and decided she had to follow the urge. She doesn't tell everyone where she's going these days. They wouldn't understand, not the way Fiora does. There has to be something found, an ancient artifact... Well, she'll believe that when she finds the runes. And yet, the water... There's something wrong about Elysium these days.

And she's going to save them all. All by herself if she has to.

Into the south she goes, her long legs carrying her quickly. But she doesn't even know where to really start looking. As the midday sun rises overhead and the soft spring breeze blows in her face, she looks down at the expanse of strange land below. How much of Mythris is there? What could she discover?

It's a world entirely hers for the taking. Suddenly, a lot of her dreams feel... too small. She should strive to do better, climb higher, be better...

Rune Discovery : 「 Pending Success 」 

---

As you progress in your journey, guided only by hope and instinct up to this point, you feel a sudden pull toward the bridge connecting the Woodlands to the Wakes. It's difficult to describe the sensation, almost as if you're being led by some invisible string tied to the very depths of your soul.

You're helpless against its thrall, and you feel your heartbeat quicken in anticipation of what might lay ahead.

You reach the bridge.

The noonday sun has risen to its apex, and in that very moment, something shiny in the river below catches your eye.

You feel compelled to investigate.

Do you?

Evil yuri time... Mir

---

She should be anywhere else but here.

What had inspired her thought? The stone bridges. More specifically, the fact that, as she was walking across one, a tiny misstep had led to her scraping the delicate pink skin of her paw. She had made it across, well enough, and a glance at her paw had confirmed the obvious- it wasn’t bleeding, and it hadn’t really broken skin.

It hurt, though. A lot.

Her paw was held just above ground, delicately, as she limped along, refusing to put her weight on it. There was another stone bridge nearby, but- hold on. Something glinted, far below, and just like that Hikari’s entire attention shifted toward it. Whatever it was, it was bright, and, in her curiosity, she hadn’t even noticed that she had put her paw back down. The sting of the scrape had subsided, and with it her flare for the dramatic, too.

The movement out of the corner of her eye is what draws her attention away from it. The stranger is tall, and she’s pretty. Very pretty. For a moment, Hikari finds her mind racing between scenarios- maybe she could pretend her paw was hurt worse than it was? Or maybe-

What was that? Hikari doesn’t even know if the stranger saw it, but she’s hoping she had. So she can try to talk to her more. Or so she knows she wasn’t alone in it and just imagining things. Either one worked.

Over the bridge. Each step is the farthest she's been away from home. It's almost exciting, really. A real adventure, and a taste of a world beyond. She can simply reach out and take the world for herself, clench it between her teeth. And yet...

Standing on the bridge is a woman in white, about her age if she had to guess. Delicate. Petite. The sort of girl Mir looks at and assumes it's envy. Why else would her gaze linger? Why would her heart race at the thought? It's aspirational. She speaks in ambition, and she understands only the desire to Be.

That it could be the desire to Have does not occur to her; lust is a base emotion, after all, and is she not better than that? She has never been kissed, and frankly, she's decided she doesn't need to. She wants people to want to kiss her, but delivering on that... That would make her vulnerable.

Mir follows the other girl's gaze for a moment, telling herself that it's because of the pull. And there, in the water, is the glimmer. But in a moment, it's gone.

She glances back up. Pure ivory, the other's fur. It catches the light. Mir had been told once her fur looked as if it were stained with mud. "I think it would take swimming to find out." And that's one thing she's sure she has an advantage on. She wants to impress this girl. Because she wants to impress everyone, surely. "Let me know if you get another glimpse." She needs to know where to dive.