Annie had decided that Eridanus was a bit... boring. She wanted to explore!! To spread her wings and fly to new places!

She padded along, a tiny little thing barely larger than a kitten, with down-covered wings and feathers and fur mixing together. Her two tiny ears were perked up, looking around at absolutely everything, fascinated by the pools and the water, her bright green eyes (that glowed just like her mother's) peering at everything.

It was familiar, to say the least. Reminiscent of a black nose that nudged under rocks and pawed at them, immediately making a toy out of everything before racing to play with the others.

Though Annie didn't remember, for the memories weren't her own.

She darted at a loose ball of moss, giggling happily as she batted it around with her delicate bird legs, her teeny tiny wings flapping around as she entertained herself. She laughed so hard she sneezed, and only laughed harder, until she was on her back unable to stop.

After a while she managed to breathe and resumed playing, having a heck of a time by herself.

@Sora

Sora had been resting in the water for a while now. Longer than usual, certainly, with her feet barely touching the bottom as she felt the waves lap over her body. As still as she could be, trying to make as little impact on the water as she could, save for her gentle and shallow breathing. Then, her tranquility was interrupted by the little, shrieks, scuffly noises of a child, and one eye opened to try and locate the thing as she dragged herself out of the water.

No good to let kids wander around unattended. No good to let them wander into the domain of Masters, even if Tenzin seemed to be better than most of them. Certainly, no need to let them get hurt. She let the child's noise paint her a picture, and that of herself, before she was able to get the tiny baby in view. It was a ridiculously fluffy creature, with reflective green eyes just this side of familiar but not much else (aside from the chunk of morganite in her chest) to suggest relation. Certainly not enough for Sora to notice. "Hey," she called, still some distance away, white and scarred all over. "What are you playing, kiddo?"


@annie

Annie looked up from her ball of moss and perked her teeny ears up, tucking her small wings in. She stared at the white sow in awe, her eyes glittering.

She bounded forward, her teeny little tail wagging, "Oh wow!! You're so pretty!"

She looked back at herself and gasped, "We're both white! Oh my gosh!!"

The chick looked back at her ball of moss and rushed to pick it up, trotting over to Sora and setting it down so she didn't lose it. It'd be terrible if she misplaced it after just finding it.

"My name's Annie-Sora!", she said happily, "My daddy's back in Eridanus with my brother but I got bored so I came here! My brother's name is Hop because he hops around like this!"

She proceeded to demonstrate, hopping around in a circle and giggling happily, her teeny wings flapping wildly.

@Sora

She felt like her heart had been squeezed when the little one called her pretty and couldn't help but wince just a tad. Scarred and white, with ears and whiskers like a monster -- she had been infinitely more beautiful before the Trial, but she could understand how a child wouldn't know any better. "We are," she rasped, trying to keep her voice light for the chick's sake.

And then, the name. Her breath caught in her throat. Then... this had to be-- the eyes, the stone in the chest, the name. Sora's eye burned with unshed tears, and she smiled despite herself. "Well, isn't that just a neat coincidence," she said, crouching as much as she could so she was able to look Annie in the eye. "My name is Sora, too." After another beat, she did a quick sketch in her mind -- alright, this wasn't all that far from Eridanus. Good to know that someone she was related to was hanging around there. "Your daddy must be wondering where you are," she mused, thinking back to Kini. "My parent was always afraid of losing track of me." Sibling, really, but she guessed that would have been harder to explain.

@annie

Annie beamed, "Oh wow!! My daddy said I was named after my auntie!"

The gears started to turn and she peered at Sora carefully, "... He said she had white fur and a flat nose... and..."

Her eyes widened and a smile split her face, her beat wider than the small triangle poking out of her feathers suggested, "You're my auntie!!"

Not knowing any better, she bounced forward and wrapped her teeny wings around Sora, twittering happily. She pulled away after a moment and looked at Sora, her face falling a bit.

"... My mama named me after you,", she said, "I haven't met my mama, but I think my daddy misses you. He wonders where everyone is. Me, Hop, his family. I know my uncle Charles is in Canis, but I don't think I'm big enough to go yet. He worries about me, but I thought if I could come here on my own then he'd see that I could go see uncle Charles! But even better! I found you!"

Annie chirped and hopped around Sora in an excited circle, her teeny little grey tail wiggling behind her.

@Sora

She laughed despite herself. Despite the sadness at the reflection of Morganite in her. "You can tell your daddy that I miss him very much." Still, she didn't pull away from Annie when she rushed up to touch her. She closed her eye for a moment and drew in a deep breath. "I didn't mean to leave your daddy," she admitted, "but I got into a big fight with your mama. But, you, your brother, your daddy, and your Uncle Charles are allowed to see me whenever you want to. Want me to show you where I live, sweetheart? That way you can visit me again, as long as Pumpkin says its okay." She nosed the child gently. "It's not nice to leave without telling him where you're going -- your daddy might be really scared."

@annie

Annie shuffled her feet guiltily, "I know... I just wanted to show him I don't hafta be babied. I'll say sorry- maybe he won't be so mad if I tell him I found you. A-and maybe he'll let me go out if I just head here!"

She smiled and snuggled into Sora's side, pleased as punch to find another family member, but her smile quickly dropped as she remember the rest of what Sora said. "Was the fight bad? Did you yell at each other?"

"I hope you didn't, I don't like yelling,", she said, rubbing Sora's leg with her foot, "Is my mama mean then? Is that why she left me?"

Her green eyes grew sad, and she looked away, "... I wanna see where you live. Is it nice and cozy? My daddy has a nice nest that's super soft for me and Hop."

@Sora

"We did yell," she admitted, reflecting on the argument. She nudged gently at Annie again -- she was about the size of a baby peccary, so Sora wasn't at risk of knocking her over, not with the instinct towards how her blueprint cared for children. For once, she was kind of ashamed of herself, and thought for a moment about how to tell Annie about the argument. She sighed and started to guide the little one towards her hovel.

"I don't think she's mean," Sora admitted. "It's just... whenever people get really badly hurt, they tend to get angry. It gets easier to hurt the people who love you without meaning to. That's what happened with your mama and me. We were both hurt, and... well, we disagreed with each other. We were both mean," Sora admitted. "I tried to make up with her, but neither of us were really ready yet. But I'm sure that she loves you, Annie. And I'm sure she loves me, too, even if she doesn't want to say it."

Sora hummed. "But! Yes, my home is nice and cozy. Pisces is pretty chilly, but it's warmer in my den. C'mere, I'll show you."

@annie

Annie blinked and looked down, frowning, "... I couldn't treat my brother that way. But he's also super nice, so..."

She shrugged and trotted after Sora, not really understanding, "What hurt you guys to make you so upset?"

She suddenly galloped forward and bounced up, wings popping out and flapping, her limbs flailing. She fell to the ground and squeaked like a toy, huffing.

"I'm okay,", she said, "I'm trying to practice because my dad says if I keep practicing I'll learn to fly faster!"

Annie looked up at Sora and smiled, "Well I don't know what my mama thinks, but I love you! Like a lots."

She skipped forward, switching from one canter stride to the other, humming softly to herself as she followed Sora, keeping up rather well for a creature barely the size of her leg. She was a wee thing.

@Sora

Sora pondered for a moment how to explain the Trial to a child as she led Annie to her den. There was a little yard framed by smooth stones of more or less the same size, and a hole into the ground. It was a bit of a squeeze for Sora, but the little one would have no issue going through the tunnel down into the center portion. It was large enough for two of Sora to fit comfortably inside, though it was dark -- lit only now by the light of her eyes and her Baubled earring.

There was a diamond basket with shiny, silver powder in it against the wall opposite the small nest built for sleeping on. It was mostly just moss and dead ferns, but it was more than enough for Sora, who was used to sleeping on bare rock. Set atop a rock that was flat on top and in its own smaller bed of ferns was a stone that held a weak flicker of magic inside -- it had, of course, belonged to Orenstein, and there was some dirt on top of it. There was a space on top for a chunk of quartz, but Morganite had stolen it from her.

"We were all born in the same place," she finally said, looking around at her comfortable den. "Like this, but bigger, and all rock. There were no decorations inside, either, though it had more light than this. The only person we knew other than ourselves was someone who would bring us food now and then. Water and such. Then, he took us to a scary place called Hydra, and locked us in there with a big monster." That was the best way to describe those shadows, she reasoned.

"The monster took some of your uncles," she murmured, settling down and sighing. "It was... miserable. We almost were taken, too, a bunch of times, but then we got out alive. Hurt, but alive. The bad person put us to sleep, and when we woke back up, we looked different. Then, we were told to find our own way. It was... really sad." She glanced at Annie-Sora. "They were named Orenstein, Owlface, Simon, and Kini-yolotl. Kini wasn't a boy, though -- they were just Kini."

Sora sighed. "Orenstein was a monkey. Do you know what that is? It's got four legs and fur, but its face is flat and it has hands and a long tail. Owlface was... not any animal I could name, and Simon was a snake. Kini-yolotl was mostly goat, I think, but was mixed with other things, too."


@annie