ORIGIN - Throw Me A Bone Here

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On a dark rock face not far from the roaring falls, just out of range of the spray of icy water, art was taking shape.

The gargoyle-like hybrid of alligator and bat--tan in color, and thus easy to spot in the mist--was clinging with his wing-limbs to a rock face perhaps ten feet off the ground. Beneath him hung one foot, and in that he clung to a small box in which a faint, multi-colored glow could be seen.

And scrawled across the rock face--for almost thirty feet, off to Imp's left; he seemed to be working his way around to the right--were a dozen glowing, multi-hued drawings.

Many of them featured the fairy-like Master, Nemean, often in inelegant and even embarrassing situations--pinned beneath a fallen tree or a rock, or drowning, cowering in a heavy rainfall, and so on. In some, she was dead; in many, she bore grotesquely-disproportionate limbs or head, cartoonish and insulting caricatures. In others, extra bits of male-specific body parts 'graced' impossible areas of her body. The artwork itself, though--despite its childish nature--seemed surprisingly practiced, with elegant shading and believable lighting, and a number of small details that could draw the eye for hours.

The strange creature clinging to the wall took pride, it seemed, in his craft.

@Aaliyah

Li wandered.

And wandered. And wandered.

It seemed she had no place she wanted to be. She had nothing to do, nothing except exist. She never even seemed to know where she was going. She entered and exited caves as she came across them. And all the while, her mind was running. Thoughts came and went, so fleeting she was never sure if she had really thought them.

She now found herself in Pisces, if the distant rushing of the waterfall and wet stones beneath her paws were any indication. She walked toward the waterfall, though she wasn't aware of it. Her paws were just leading her somewhere and she was powerless to stop them.

Movement caught her eye. Movement and color. She looked up and saw...drawings. Dozens of them, covering the rock wall. And a large creature with wings was clinging to it and continuing to make more drawings. She frowned, unsure of what to make of all of this. Her eyes strayed to the drawings.

They were very well done, though she didn't recognize whoever was depicted in all of them. And some of them were a little...well...She moved on. She didn't know who the gembound was - for surely they were a gembound - in all these pictures, though it seemed the creature drawing them harbored an ill will to whoever it was.

She turned her eyes back to the creature, suddenly unsure of what to do. They likely hadn't noticed her presence, so she wondered briefly if she should just continue on. But she had to admit she was curious about these drawings. How were they making them? Where did they get the glowing dye?

And...she was lonely. Cycles of not talking to anyone made her desperate for social contact, even if she never knew how to act or what to say.

"H-hello?" Her voice was rough and scratchy. She coughed a few times, though it didn't seem to get any better. She wondered if not talking for cycles was having a permanent effect on her voice

Speech. Thought.

@Imp

Imp turned, still clinging to the wall for a moment--and then (with mischief taking him, as always) he launched from it and swept down with a couple clumsy wingbeats. He came to land, with a thump, a few yards before Aaliyah; and then he waddled rapidly toward her, almost grotesque in his squat, grinning form.

His voice, though, seemed friendly enough--even if his leering (permanent) grin and cunning eyes locked a little too intently on the feline. "Hey!" he offered up, at once. "You okay? Your voice sounds all wacky and stuff!"

This was said with blank cheer, oblivious to any insult it might cause. And Imp was looking the cat over, now; looking at her scars, her burns, her battered body. "Cool," he said, thinking aloud, and then elaborated--"Your scars, they're cool. You look wicked!"

It sounded as if it were meant to be a compliment, rather than an insult, again--as if 'wicked' meant really 'impressive,' in this case, rather than outright evil.

He was still debating how to act with her. He supposed he should learn what she was all about, first--if she was confident or scared, kind or cruel. Stupid, or... not. Then he could decide whether she would be fun to play tricks on! -And if so, what kind!

@Aaliyah

Li frowned slightly, jumping a little as the creature leaped off the rock wall and landed in front of her. She flicked an ear at his comment on her voice. Was she okay? Well, no, not really, but she wasn't exactly going to tell this creature that. "Yeah, I'm—I'm fine." Her voice cracked a little. Yeah, there was no way her voice would ever lose the scratchiness to it now.

And then there was the comment on her scars. She wasn't sure if she'd call them cool - they held too many bad memories for that. But she supposed to an outsider, to someone who didn't know her or what had happened to her or everything she had done, then maybe they could be considered cool. She often tried to forget about them, but it seemed she could always feel them as she walked, reminding her of everything. "Thanks?" she murmured, a little unsure. Another cough, though it still did nothing.

And now she didn't know what to do. Should she...compliment them back? Was that something others did? Why did Imperia never teach her any social skills?

"I..," she paused, a little unsure, before continuing on, "I like your...wings." It was a start, at least.

Speech. Thought.

@Imp

Imp listened. Mostly. In fairness, there wasn't much to listen to; the cat seemed hesitant, at best, and sick at worst. But before he could ask if she were sick, she spoke again--and hit exactly the right note in complimenting him.

Apparently, Imp was vain.

"Oh! Thanks!" he answered, surprised and pleased--nobody'd ever really just come up and complimented him before. And he had no reason to think (mostly because he wasn't the brightest piece of glowing chalk in the box) that Aaliyah was just returning an empty compliment; so he turned this way and then that, rocking back and splaying his wings to, himself, admire them. "Yeah, I guess they are pretty great!"

He then dropped back to his squat position on the rock, blinking at her, and still (permanently) grinning. Gone were the ideas of harassing her, at least for now; she'd complimented him, after all, and that was something that he now found he liked. "I'm Imp! I'm an artist," he informed Aaliyah. "Who are you? What are you doing here? -Are you sick? I could draw you if you want?" This sudden barrage of speech came as he turned and scuttled back toward the wall--and toward his box, already picking out chalks that would best represent Aaliyah's tones and shades.

@Aaliyah

Li watched as the creature spun around, showing off his wings. They were pretty cool, she had to admit. She wondered, briefly, what it would be like to have wings. Would she be able to fly away from everything? From everyone, from her problems, from the memories? What would it be like to be high up and look down at everyone else?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden barrage of questions from the creature. Imp? Was that his name? It sent a little chill down her spine that she was desperate to ignore. Imp...Too close to Imperia for her liking. She'd just do her best to avoid actually saying his name.

And then there were the other questions. She hesitated a little, as she usually did when asked about herself. "I'm...Li." The other questions made her a little uneasy, but surely it would be rude not to answer them? "I'm just...wandering around. Happened to come to Pisces and stumbled upon these drawings of yours. And...no, not sick. Just...haven't spoken in a while." Or done anything, really. But Imp didn't need to know that.

The last question, though...that one made her pause. Did she want to be drawn? Was she even getting a choice? It seemed like Imp was already starting to pick out colors. "Uh...sure? I like your drawings, too." And they were impressive. Even if she didn't understand most of it or know who was being depicted. And maybe having a drawing of herself in this place would make the bad memories that lingered here lessen a little.

Speech. Thought.

@Imp

Imp went straight to work, glancing back and forth between Aaliyah and the rock wall. The chalks he used were mainly the same ones that had been used to sketch Nemean about a thousand times--light browns, golds and so on--and so they were worn down, and he struggled, at times, to keep a grip on them.

As the image began to take shape, he spoke.

"You haven't spoken in awhile? Gets empty sometimes, doesn't it? Like you just don't run into anyone for ages! -You can draw too, if you want?"

He wriggled, a little, settling himself against the rock, beginning to add details to the art. The orange crown was there, Imp glancing back--tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth, again--and then forward. He added sparks of yellow to the orange, perhaps representing light dancing through the gemstone. The eyes were rendered carefully, and the paws, and when at last he was done he stepped back again.

"Pretty good, huh?" he asked--or, well, half-bragged; clearly, he was proud of his work.

If only he'd stopped there. But he glanced at Aaliyah, then, a look of surprise crossing his face. "Oh! I forgot the scars!" He propped himself back up against the stone, and began adding them in detail; the mural itself was actually fairly true-to-life, even Aaliyah's shrouded expression coming across. "How'd you get those, anyway?"

@Aaliyah

Li watched as Imp drew her. She frowned a little as he started talking. She'd seen many others in her wanderings - though there were times she didn't see anyone for a while - she just tended to stay away from them. She didn't want to see their reaction when they saw her scars or realized how socially inept she is, despite living for many cycles. And then he said something that made her pause. He said it so casually, just a passing remark. She could draw, too? She glanced at the chalk. It might be a little hard, but maybe...

She leaned down and, carefully, took a piece of chalk in her mouth. It didn't taste that great, but she could deal with it. Now she just had to figure out what to draw...

Without thinking too much about it, she began to start. It was hard, but she managed to make some marks here and there...lines, curves, some ears atop a head, a tail...She didn't change colors much, using just the same color she had started with - a sort of reddish-brown color. She wasn't even fully aware of what she was drawing. She had a vague image in mind and was doing her best to draw it out.

Imp's voice cut through her mind and she paused in her drawing. She was just about done anyway. She turned to look at his and found herself face to face with a drawing that looked so much like her, at first she thought she was looking into water. It was something she always tried to avoid, though. She didn't like looking at herself. And now she was looking at this drawing, and it struck her just how much she looked like...

And then she looked at her own drawing. It was sloppy, and not that great, but recognizable to her. How could it not be? It may have been cycles since she last saw them, but she never stopped thinking about them. A cat's body, with tufted ears. A short tail. Face markings similar to her own. And then, Imp asking about how she got her scars...memories came rushing back, memories she had tried to forget for cycles. She opened them again and, with chalk still clenched firmly in her jaws, dragged it over the drawing, then turned away. She set the chalk down.

"It doesn't matter how I got them," she growled, voice darker than it had been previously. Her tail flicked and she looked back to the drawing before looking away soon after.

Speech. Thought.

@Imp

Edit: hadn't meant to click the box to roll but. ok i guess sdfghjkl

Imp squatted back, peering with a squint at Aaliyah.

"Why doesn't it matter?" he asked, head tilting. Twin motivations roared through him--impish mischievousness, to push and prod and pry at whatever had made the strange cat-creature clam up--and genuine curiousity. "You seem mad! Does it make you mad? -Why?" he asked, totally unfazed by her growling tone.

He glanced to her unfinished drawing, but he didn't comment; he didn't know who it was meant to be, but it was decent--but it wasn't done! And anyway, he was more curious about her, at the moment.

Imp looked back to Aaliyah, intent and wide-eyed, that permanent grin still twisting his features upward. But he wasn't grinning, mentally--he was eager for knowledge, and if he could have, he would have looked only attentive.

@Aaliyah

Li looked at Imp as he spoke. It was better than looking at her drawing. But his questions...Her eyes narrowed. It didn't matter. So why was he so insistent? It's not like she could tell him. Would he even understand? Would anyone? Her tail flicked, and she knew she couldn't keep the words away. They were itching at her, begging to be let out. When was the last time she told anyone what happened?

"When I was...younger. I had someone who raised me. My parent. I-Imperia, was their name." Her voice grew a little shaky and she took a deep breath before continuing. "They...they would...They'd force me to fight others. To..." Her voice fell away. "I never wanted to. But they never gave me a choice. If I didn't do what they'd wanted me to, they'd kill me." Cycles after all this happened, the guilt still plagued her. She'd always valued her own life over everyone else's, going as far as killing someone to make sure she didn't die.

"But one day, they wanted me to do something I couldn't. I refused. It made them angry, of course, and we fought." She closed her eyes, reliving memories she never wanted to think about again. But it was almost...cathartic, talking about it with someone else. "They won, but I'd decided I'd had enough. And I left them. Told them I was done and turned my back on them and walked away. I've only seen them once since then, and it...wasn't that great. But I never want to see them again. They're gone from my life, and I want to keep it that way."

Speech. Thought.

@Imp

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