ORIGIN - only for you

backdated to when anne was 2-3 cycles old

Shiloh was Anne's best friend.

Everything that Anne did she wanted to do it with Shiloh, and anything that she didn't do with Shiloh was likely for her and her only-- with the exception of the occasional chore given to her by her father, and even then, she only did them just a little less than half the time, leaving it up to someone else to fill the gap she'd left.

It wasn't out of malice or spite for her own family; it was childhood innocence taking the reins, not quite realising her role in her family. Anne, currently, cared only for her own interests, and her own interests involved only Shiloh. The games they played together, the secrets they shared, the trinkets and little things they made and hid away just for themselves. Everything involving Shiloh was very important, and above all else, Shiloh's company just made Anne happy.

She wanted Shiloh to be happy, too.

The day had been spent with this particular mission in mind; slipping out of the Elenya camp like she always did, and weaving through tree-trunks and ferns to someplace quiet. This quest was pure and simple; she had to find flowers, and only the best for Shiloh, of course. The bundle was kept in the crook of her arm; vibrant, but softly-coloured pastel blues and yellows, with some gentle pinks and purples mixed in for good measure. They were good, healthy flowers too-- with wide, lively petals that hadn't been chewed on by any bugs.

And for extra good measure, she carefully rinsed them in the creek, gently rubbing down the stems and the petals. Everything had to be safe and clean or else Shiloh wouldn't take it-- and Anne certainly didn't want her to get sick from the dirt or anything. It did unnerve her, a little, to think of what's been on the flowers.

With fresh, creek-damp flowers, Anastasia slipped out of Eridanus altogether. She didn't need any guidance and she certainly didn't need her dad or her stupid siblings ruining her day with Shiloh-- but she knew the path well, and Anne could navigate it quickly enough that she very rarely encountered another creature on her way there.

'There' being, of course, Shiloh's den.

It was a pretty, well-lit building that usually smelled a little ripe from whatever her mother was doing; burning metal and hammering it down into the shapes of swords and things. The latter Anne could appreciate, but the noise hurt her ears and the smell burned at her nose.

She could see the figure of Shiloh's mother, outlined in red-and-orange light from the glow of hot metal; and more importantly, she could hear the clang-clang-clanging of her at work.

Slipping close to the hole in the wall, known as A Window, Anastasia gently looked in for her friend. "Hey," she hissed, trying to catch the hybrid's attention without the giant humanoid noticing. "Shy, hey!"

She beckoned her out with one hand, hiding the gift from view until Shiloh came outside.

@Shiloh

Anne was Shiloh's best friend, too.

Nary a day went by without her thinking about the other elf-person-whatever-their-parents-called-them; it was a common habit for her to take notice of some miscellaneous object discarded by an age long-past and think to herself, Anne would like this! Glimmering stones, scraps of fabric, wildflowers---you name it, and it'd wound up passed from palm to palm with a snaggle-toothed grin pushing at darkening cheeks. Shiloh made things, too, taking all of her lessons from her mother (and Aunt Azure and Uncle 'Atty') and applying them directly to her apparent ulterior motive of making Anne into just as much of a hoarder as she was.

(Presently, she was scribbling on a folded square of fabric. The pads of her hands were smudged in dye and charcoal pilfered from the bottom of the kiln---where old fires had burnt low. She gripped whatever medium she had with all the intensity of a child, moving her arm more than her wrist. Tongue pressed into her cheek, she gnawed on her lip as she worked. The clang!-clang!-clang! of Dip's working was a nice beat to set her swinging legs' rhythm to.)

It wasn't that Shiloh did not like other kids---she was a rather big fan of and quite friendly with Vivilene, even if she was... quiet and persistently worried. Attikias's other children were good too her, too; she liked Thalia's songs, and Erebos was... somewhat amenable to socializing. They just... weren't Anne or the center of the world like her. She got tired of the others' company after a time, but never hers. How could she? They liked the same games, the same colors, the same---well, and they liked each other.

If it weren't for the grown-ups in their lives, Shiloh would up and run away on an adventure with her.

Of course, that did not exclude sneaking out.

Dusty gold eyes flickered up from her coloring project to the Window and then to the wall, where she watched Dip's silhouette without being too obvious about checking for her paying attention. Shiloh wound up just twisting her upper half and leaning backwards to see through the doorway. Ears perked up, and set back just slightly as metal quenched and hissed in scalding water.

Wisps of holographic hair stuck to her face as she peeled herself out of her sitting arrangement---halfway hunched over a fairly slipshape table. Stained hands palmed the bit of fabric in a hurry, and with no amount of foresight pressed it behind her back and against her pastel-yellow dress. Let all of the hand- and fingerprints on the table be a signifier of how much all that color was really staying.

Shiloh padded toward the window for a moment, nodding vigorously and waving "hi Anne!" with a cheek-to-cheek smile. She then shuffled halfway out the door, stopped short, and turned back for the table. Picking up a charcoal stick, she scrawled onto the surface some terrible portrait of herself and Anne holding hands by way of a "be back soon! love you mom!" note. There was a little heart drawn at the bottom of it.

Soon as her socks---foot wrappings, really---met the faintly dewy stone of outside, Shiloh nearly scampered to meet Anne at the window. "Hi---! What's th-um, the occasion?" Eyes wide as saucers glanced up and down. Her face crumpled into a squint, wondering---"did Boss bite you again?" She laughed harshly, but still quietly, like Anne needed to be here for any reason at all, and immediately extended her free hand to hold.

@Anastasia

She saw the holographic glow of Shiloh's hair first and a smile split across Anastasia's face, caving her cheeks into dimples. She skittered to meet the other hybrid before she even reached the window; half-bumping into her in a rush to hold her hand.

"He tried it," she said with a lingering, lopsided grin, gently tugging on Shiloh's arm to lead her away from the window. She didn't go very far-- only out of earshot of the clanging coming from inside. "There's not an occasion, though!"

Quiet Place accessed, the still-damp pastel flowers were shoved lightly into Shiloh's chest for her to take. "They're for you!" Anne said very cheerfully, and a little reassurance followed. "I washed them up so they're nice and clean, and I made sure there's been no bugs on them and stuff."

Anne's eyes were practically sparkling; with pride and with adoration for her friend. She squeezed Shiloh's hand, jittery with excitement to find out if she'd like them or not, and soon, with tail lashing, she was taking a glance around Orion.

"What do you wanna do today?"

@Shiloh