[PRP] Firestarter (Burning Bush x Ember)

[Minsuil]

She had seen the smoke a ways off and moved towards it. Any other kin would have run away, but Burning Bush took in the wetness of the soil, the dampness of the air, and knew that the summer humidity would keep the fire under control. She walked straight towards it.

All that was not covered by water was on fire. The wetness of the tinder meant that smoke filled the air. But it was not acrid, it was sweet with the smell of summer grasses and the essence of the swamp. Burning Bush stared, intent on seeing this fire to it's end. She had nothing else to do, and if she was honest with herself, it reminded her of the faint flickering memory of a fire and a bush from eons ago before she first touched the swamp with her own feet.

Amorpheous

 

[Amorpheous]

It had been the smell that had attracted her attention first. She did not get lost in it quite the same way she used to, not, at least, right now why her eyes were open and her body remained in the land of the waking. In the night, it was still smoke and flames that touched the edges of her dreams, pulling her in and keeping her there as she watched images of lives long passed playing before her mind's eye.

As she came closer, she became aware of the heat. Her ember heart stirred in response, burning hotter in her chest, threatening to burn through her bones, pushing her onward.

When she reached the fire, she did not even notice the other doe, so enraptured by the fire was she. She edged closer and closer, watching as the fire burned down all that it had managed to engulf. She stared into the flames, searching for the same glimpses of insight that her dreams had always offered her, the insights that she had relied on to teach her the ways of the living.

Minsuil

 

[Minsuil]

Burning Bush noticed the doe, and at first, thought nothing of her. So another kin had come to the fires to watch the swamp burn. No big deal. But then, she noticed how the doe walked closer and closer towards the fire. Burning Bush thought she might walk straight in and meet her end there.

"Hey you! What are you doing?"

Amorpheous

Sorry for the wait! OTL

 

[Amorpheous]

She froze at the voice before taking in a large shuddering breath that filled her lungs with smoke, burning pleasantly on the way down in a familiar, comforting way. She turned to meet the other doe's gaze and wasn't quite sure what she found there. The other doe looked for fire though and perhaps she should stop judging other kin based on their appearance in relation to her naming dream, but that was her way, something that she had done since she knew how to see. They were familiar colors and in familiarity she sought comfort even as she was beginning to understand that there was more to living than dreaming.

Words caught in her throat, but when she finally spoke, she sounded lucid and calm, her voice carrying despite the low, crackling din of the fire, "Looking deeper."

And she knew that her answer was vague and unclear, so where she might have left it before, she tried to clarify now, "I know fires hold my ultimate truth and I think I've found something, but I'm not sure. I just want to try to see something, here, in this world, where kin are made of flesh and bone rather than fire and smoke."

Minsuil

/cries
I'm so slow! I'm sorry! But I'm also terribly excited because Ember is basically ready for ascension!

 

[Minsuil]

Ah, Burning Bush thought as she listened to the doe talk, I've found another one not quite right in the head. Between delusion kimeti thinking they were dragons and anti-social bucks who were more feral than coherent, she almost missed the belligerent attitude of Nightfall. Almost.

"Well, don't let me stop you then. Maybe you'll manage to catch a glimpse before all the smoke makes your eyes water."

Her tone was sardonic and wry, as if she thought the statement (and the doe in question) was funny.

amorpheous

 

[Amorpheous]

The thought to let the flames burn her, to feel it's bite in this world, suddenly bloomed in her mind. It hung like a low cloud of smoke, whispering to her quietly. She stared curiously at the flames, feeling their heat, relishing it.

She blinked against the smoke, her eyes watered, and then the feeling passed though the core of it lingered. Ember smiled softly, unconcerned by the other doe's words or tone of voice. She turned from the flames, still hovering dangerously close, and her vision danced with colors burnt into her eyes by the light.

She shrugged then, untroubled--always she had seen of others, perhaps here was time to look at herself. Her voice was quiet but she was present, as much as or more than she ever was, "I don't think you could. We see what we see."

The obvious, she knew, but already a part of her was longing for sleep, to dream, for a place where fires burned with a feeling of completion.

Minsuil

 

[Minsuil]

The swamp burned smokey, and the smoke hung low, caged in as it was by the humidity of the summer. It stung Burning Bush's eye and she blinked away tears. Whatever was going on in the doe's mind was certainly convincing enough to her. Burning Bush had no obligation towards this odd doe. In fact, as far as she was concerned she'd already fulfilled her responsibility by trying to dissuade her in the first place.

It would be easy to walk away. But Burning Bush, it seemed, was never very good at doing things the easy way.

"Go on then, but first, tell me your name." She said simply, watching.

This doe wasn't some hopped up child, so at the very least she felt a responsibility to witness whatever choice she made.

amorpheous

this just in: local doe convinces youngster to commit suicide by incinerating self

 

[Amorpheous]

Ember blinked ,her eyes had gone far away, dreams asking her to join them, asking her to live other lives. She refocused on the other doe, her eyes finding the other doe's eyes for the first time, ash white to flame gold. The fragments of dreams, cobwebs and smoke clinging to her mind, fell away and she laughed. The sound was low and soft, smoke-rough around the edges and sad.

She shook her head; she smiled softly, but she was thinking of a doe who had walking into the sea, into the darkness, and into a place that Ember's dreams could not reach. Her heart made itself known at the memory, burning in her chest, her skin felt cold and tight against the heat of the flame.

Her end would be different, something inevitable but not sought.

"You misunderstand me, but my name is Smoldering Reverie." This time her words were simple, not the language of her dreams and the things she saw there. "And what of you?"

Minsuil

lmao, I think I tend to play Ember fairly young, but I think they're probably not that much different in age especially, chronologically, I got her before you got BB. Though since they're both adult only, it's not like we know that one is older.... So let's just say BB is older.... Ahaha....

 

[Minsuil]

The soft tinkering of Smoldering Reverie's laugh made Burning Bush wrinkle her nose. The whites of the doe's eyes were gazing at her, but they were unfocused, as if her mind was not really here. As if she was somewhere else, in a dream or a memory. Burning Bush knew the feeling well enough not to form any judgments...Nevertheless there was something to be said about kin who lived more in the dreamworld than in the real one.

"My name is Burning Bush." She said simply and offered no more information.

amorpheous

man, you're right lmao - I've always viewed the certing dates as kinda nebulous because it makes the generations a bit wonky when you think about them @_@ and ye, sorry I just automatically assumed BB is older than everyone becuase she just acts that way....lies down....o(-<

 

[Amorpheous]

"Well met," Ember replied softly; the name was a comfort because it was of flame. It was silly to assume kindred from just a name, but it was habit--habit to search for the patterns that made themselves so clear in dreams. She stood in silence then, not sure what to say, trying to find comfort in silence as had once been so easy. For all the dreams she had had and seen and turned into lessons, she had never quite learned to translate these lessons into conversation, to explain herself.

Her eyes flickered back to the flames. They would come back to her in the night, licking at old memories that didn't belong to her. Shifting, she shook her head, bringing her attention back to the other doe.

Then, a dark caiman rose out of the water. Ember froze, her bones going cold and her eyes turning clear. She stared at it without a word and their eyes met. She tried to feel the calm, the almost painful trust that lived in a another doe's memory. She grasped for it but it did not leave the dream to become hers.

Unsettled, she broke her gaze away and smiled mildly at Burning Bush. She apologized, suddenly present like she hadn't been up until this point, "Sorry, it has been following around."

Minsuil

i'm sorry..........................