[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Humble and painful beginnings.

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A surreal cavern city inhabited by Symenestra where stones glow and streets are reams of silk. Cocoon like structures hang between stalactites and cascade over limestone flows in organic and eerie arabesques. Without a Symenestra willing to escort you, entrance is impossible.

[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Dhalvasha on November 13th, 2011, 1:13 pm

Spring 34, 492 AV

"Your hands! Where are your hands?" The slap came horizontally, ghosting across Dhalvasha's limited peripheral and crashing against his head. The boy's neck lashed away from the blow, his body following in awkward arcs. Hitting the ground he bounced twice before laying still. He tasted blood again, the familiar settling standard of disappointment. Not far from him, the adult Symenstra scuttled to where the boy lay, picked him up with one arm and forced him to his feet.

"Do you retain nothing? Can you learn nothing?"
The criticisms cut at his esteem, already floundering, and the young widow could not meet his father's eyes. The elder Hysal spit to the side in disdain, settling back on the balls of his feet before circling his son. The elder Symenestra was hardly a typical specimen of his race. Muscles bulged along his narrow frame and each movement was practiced and strong. The frailty of the spiderfolk did not extend to the Hysel patriarch...and why should it? As one of the most renowned hunting families in Kalinor, was it not his prerogative to hone his body for the craft?

Already his first son was working in his stead, a lithe hunter of silent steps and unerring aim. In comparison, Dhalvasha was a seething disappointment. Already purple bruises marred the white glow of his face, already tears tracked quiet lines from his eyes. The boy was injured, and the lesson was hardly half over.

"Again." the patriarch commanded and Dhalvasha looked up to him desperately, fear in his red eyes. "AGAIN!" the widow shouted, swiping at the boy and Dhalvasha hurled himself away, desperately evading the sickle claws of his father. Warily the two Symenestra's circled each other. One was breathing harshly, small, and with both hands extended...warding off the inevitable attack. In comparison, the elder Hysal strode with controlled breath, unbroken confidence. He was fury, banishing the assertions of weaker Symenestra bodies. His very nature was contradiction embodied, and he was stronger for it.

Dhalvasha rushed his father, bring up his claws in desperate slicing motions. He was light on his feet, as all Symenestra were, and he utilized his innate skills in acrobatics to attempt and bamboozle his superior with quick side jumps, strikes and retreats.

Each attack was met with the clash of claws against claws. His father's large form belied the speed laced in every movement. Each of the child's attacks was met with stalwart mocking defense, haphazard attempts at returns that kept the boy nimbly leaping from place to place, breathing harshly. He was a failure, always a failure...too cautious to land a blow and too desperate to learn from his mistakes.

Dhalvasha leaped forward, swinging arcing claws out toward his father's midsection. The elder caught the momentum of his son with a close-handed punch to his stomach. Dhalvasha swung out of the air and across the cave again, coughing weakly as he struggled for breath. He knew the lesson wasn't over, that he needed to get up, but his muscles burned and his frail arms could not support the weight of his equally frail body.

Struggling on the ground, his momentum was arrested when his father planted a foot on the small of his back, forcing the child to the ground. Dhalvasha gasped complaint, scrabbling at the rock like a panicked animal. His back groaned in the effort to hold up the larger male and every instinct in his mind begged him to escape.

"At your age," the elder Hysal began, disdain marinating his gruff voice, "Your brother could land at least a blow in his daily spars...but you show no improvement or talent." Dhalvasha cried out as his father pressed down against his body, grinding the boy's chest into the stone. "Words cannot express how disappointed I am in you. We are hunters, we are the strength of Kalinor! How can you lay there and cry? Strike me. STRIKE ME!" The pressure released from Dhalvasha's back and his father leered in the child's field of vision. Weakly the Symenestra clawed at his father, but could awaken no adrenaline to push his muscles forward.

He looked for all the world like some pale fish, trying to piteously swim on land.

Dhalvyro Hysal frowned, kicking his son over on his back and leaning over him. He was a ghost in the shadows of Kalinor, his red eyes bright with rage and disappointment. Dhalvasha averted his eyes, but his father grabbed a handful of his hair and forced the boy to look at him. "You will carry on our legacy, Dhalvasha, whether I have to beat it into you or not. Learn how to defend yourself or so help me, I will CAST you beneath the city and see what that will teach you."

"I don't want..." Dhalvasha's voice was barely a whisper, "I don't want to be a hunter."

His father filled his vision, leaning so low that Dhalvasha could smell the blood on his breath, the slight acrid hint of alcohol from the surface world. "You have no choice, my son," And for a moment, the youth thought he sensed pity in the gravely voice, "You are born of my blood. You will be a hunter."

And then he was gone, melting into the gloom as swiftly as he came. Dhalvasha took a few moments to breathe, feel the bruises welting his chin and cheek, the pain from his sprained bones, before rising to his feet. He was alone again. Tomorrow it would begin again, same time, same place. Holding his thin arms around himself, Dhalvasha allowed himself another self pitying tear. Much as he wanted to hide tomorrow, to avoid the event altogether, his father would make sure that his suffering was longer lasting than some simple bruises.

Quietly he escaped the slab of stone they had trained upon and scuttled across the wall toward the Blue Grotto. The colors there soothed him, the water always an open ear to pour his troubles. The boy winced as he crawled through the webbing strands and jagged walls toward his destination, each movement accented by the agony of exhaustion.

He wanted nothing of his father's legacy, the glory his brother soaked, the responsibility it entailed. His interest was not in the beasts that prowled beneath the city but in the Symenestra around them, the principle of life itself. Everything fascinated the child, the way muscles contracted and eyes blinked. How so much was capable with such a fragile frame. The outside world, other species, defenses of naturally occuring organisms...all of it overwhelmingly fascinating.

He did not have the strength to overcome his father, but somewhere in his anatomy there was a weakness not even his muscles could protect. Perfection wasn't what Dhalvyro was, none of them were. The flaw that murdered Dhalvasha's mother...that murdered all pureblood Symenestra mothers, was an imperfection in them all.

Tucking himself in a corner above the pools of water, Dhalvasha allowed himself to cry. Regardless of his disdain toward his father's methods, his expectations. Dhalvyro had known Dhalvasha from birth.

Was there nothing to be proud of in him?
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[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Shai on November 14th, 2011, 3:36 am

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A small child sat on a web patterned cushion in the common room of her nest. She was already living her twenty-fifth season but she was small for her age and the only way to tell was the small delicate claws just barely grown out. In her nearly translucently pale hands clutched a needle drawing brightly colored thread and a small frame with cloth tightened over it. There was a design inked into the cloth; clearly done by an elder hand due to its complexity. Little hand inexpertly stitched in red threads to specific parts of the pattern. She only seemed to know one stitch which didn’t help the design any.

Every so often the little girl’s attention would wander and she’d just stare off into the wall. The embroidery took her attention and Shai’s mind was always stuck on a new puzzle. This puzzle wasn’t terribly difficult by adult standards, her older brother had presented it to her earlier this morning and since then her mind had been focused on it. Not matter how much she tried to work.

“Ok Shai, are you ready?” The older Nerium child asked. “You’ll like this one it’s good. You approach two doors, one door always lies and one door can only tell the truth.”

“Doors don’t talk ‘Devi, even I know that.”


The boy gave an exasperated sigh, “These doors do Shai-“

“Why?”

“Because they’re magic, now just listen! Ok so there are two doors, a lying door and a truthful door. Only one leads home and the other would send you to be stuck in the Cavern beneath. You can only ask one question, what do you ask?”


Shai loved when her brother brought her riddles and he always brought them to her like they were a gift. But the siblings had to keep quiet about it; their parents were always horribly disappointed when they found their daughter staring off into nothing instead of working on learning to be a tailor. The little girl preferred her puzzles to her stitching and it showed in her efforts. She could ravenously eat through riddles and not manage to complete a single embroidery square. Her intelligence forced her parents to believe it was a lack of diligence that stopped her from completing her work. It was quite possible that was the case but the mind of a six year old little girl usually did whatever it pleased regardless of what it was told to do.

It was during one of these interludes where Shai speculated on which question she might ask the doors that her mother found her. Immediately Shai’s mind came back and her head snapped around to look guilty at her mother. She made the mistake of making eye contact with the woman; it was something her family never did. She was the black sheep in her family, unlike the rest of web Nerium Shai had vivid amethyst eyes. Even the lady who was effectively unrelated to them as any more than a caretaker and father’s wife had the striking crimson gaze of the rest of the web. It wasn’t that Shai was unloved, she was part of the family but she was an awkward part of the family. Web Nerium had crimson eyes for generations, Nerium began their line with a priest of Viratas and they believed that their eyes were a blessing on their line. There was no validity to the claim but that didn’t stop them from believing it. Consequently the little purple gems their daughter gazed from were entirely awkward for the family to acknowledge. So instead they usually just refused to make eye contact with the child and she tried to oblige. It would have been complicated for an average child. The little girl who was so focused on logic, although, could comprehend the effects of such a belief even if the emotions and reasoning behind her oddness mystified her. Shai averted her eyes quickly by staring at her mother’s chest.

The older Symenestra had caught her child distracted and she knew it. “Shai let me see your progress.” She took the embroidery frame and inspected it. The quality of the work was what could be expected of a six year old but it was only a couple dozen stitches and the child had been working on it for several bells. Frowning the woman looked down at the little child, “You need to learn focus Shai. You must master a skill to be a proper wife and be useful in supporting and running your husband’s house. If not embroidery tell me what you want to learn?”

The little girl’s answer slipped out before she had time to stop it, “I want to solve puzzles.” The little girl eyed the ground; she really didn’t want to see her mother’s face now.

The elder woman pursed her lips but kept her composure as an adult would be expected to. She gave a stern response to the child but not all together unkind. “You know that’s not an option.” She sighed and handed the girl a small package wrapped in linen and tied with a thin rope. “Since you probably won’t get any more stitching done today, how about you deliver these gloves to Web Hysal? I know you are friends with their young webling, you may stay out and play for a few bells. But you must return before dinner. Am I clear?”

The little girl hopped to her feet with a big grin on her face. “Yes Mama!” Shai clutched the package to She dashed off through the diaphanous curtains dividing the rooms and straight up the stairs out of the nest. The little girl raced down the street cords with the exuberance only children can manage. She knew the way to Hysal it wasn’t all that far from Nerium. Scampering up towards the entrance Shai called out her greeting and left her delivery at the entrance. It would be safe, Symenestra didn't steal from one another, there were too few to get away with theft; someone would notice it.

Shai knew that by now Dhalvasha was probably at the Blue Grotto. She knew to calm her excitement, Dhal had it harder than she did and whenever he ran off to the grotto it was because the day had gone bad. The little girl recognized the day was bad because if she had called that greeting and he was still in his nest he would have come to play with her. Shai slowed her steps and walked towards where her friend would be hiding.

As she entered the grotto Shai latched onto the wall and began to scale towards his hiding spot. The young man’s spot was his secret that she’d only found out by accident. It was a secret she kept along with her secret riddles. Her guess was rewarded when she saw her friend.

His day was worse than she could have expected, the young man was crying. Whenever Shai cried and didn’t want her parents to know ‘Devi would hold her tight and tell her about the wonderful things that there were to not cry about. He was a good big brother when she really needed him. “Dhalvasha?” She asked in hushed tones framed in a high pitched child’s voice. She slowly approached him and reached out a hand towards him, “please don’t cry Dhal. It’ll be ok somehow.“

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[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Dhalvasha on November 14th, 2011, 5:50 am

Surprise almost pried him from the wall, Shai's small voice invading his personal solitude with almost painful consistency. Dhalvasha stared down at her, red eyes piercing the gloom between them. He knew it was her, not by her diminutive shape, but by the violet eyes that peered at him so innocently, wide and full of interest.

"I was not crying," the Symenestra tried to assert, crossing the back of his hand across his eyes to dash the salty trail, "The stalactites are dripping and I haven't wiped my face yet." The angry bruise on the side of his face told other stories, dried blood clinging to his upper lip stubbornly. Still, he held out a hand and took hers, pulling the child up into the corner with him. Below, blue pools glittered serenely in the pale light of lichen. Other Symenestra passed here, gently swaying on spindly legs and eating relaxation. Above, in a cleft of stone, they were hidden from prying eyes. Dhalvasha scuttled to an outcropping and sat, dangling his feet over the drop. It would take so little effort to fall, to dash his bones on the stone below. How could his father push him if there was no son to push?

He swung his legs harshly, glancing over at Shai, before returning to his rhythmic swinging. "Have you ever wanted to be something else...like, different than what your Web expects you to be?"

A hundred little spiders clung in breathing lumps to the cave wall, just above Dhalvasha's head. He watched them as he swung his legs, extending his will into the simple minds bustling there, and instilling a calmness upon their instinctive existence. Reaching up a finger, several ran down along the length and settled on the back of his hand, resting quietly unaware of any real danger. The young Symenestra grinned at them, such tiny things. They wanted for nothing and lived vicariously... limited, but fully in their own special manner.

They scuttled across his hand, and he let them scurry back to their brothers and sisters by extending a finger toward the mass. One by one they filed along his black claw and vanished into the swarm before he retracted his talon.

He looked back at the little Shai, so bright and bubbly...full of energy.

She always had a good riddle for him.

"Any new riddles?" He asked at last, breaking the brief silence between them, "Or anything new at home since last we spoke?"
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[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Shai on November 15th, 2011, 12:05 am

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Shai took Dhal’s hand and sat down behind him. “Of course you weren’t. ‘Devi says boys don’t cry.” Shai didn’t believe either boy, she’d seen her brother cry a couple of times and now she had proof that Dhalvasha did too. So there was another mystery solved. She smiled anyways though, her mother had always taught her it was rude to point out other people’s lies, ‘if someone lies that means they don’t want you to know the truth Shai. So telling them you caught them will only embarrass them.’

“Of course Dhal, they want me to stitch all day. Stitch little flowers, or webs, or spiders. I hate stitching. But what else can I do? Mama says no one pays for someone to solve riddles.” Shai shrugged it made sense, how would anyone else have any fun with the puzzles if they just got the answers from someone else? Shai examined her claws in the silence, completely content to contemplate her newest mystery. The silence never made the little spider uncomfortable. Shai started to swing her legs with Dhalvasha, it was fun to see how far you could swing before her momentum pulled against the hooks in the palms of her hands which held her in place. Shai was completely oblivious to Dhal’s plight; matters of mortality were over the head of the diminutive six year old.

When Dhalvasha finally broke the silence it was a topic Shai was ecstatic to talk about. “Yes! ‘Devi gave me a new riddle just this morning! It’s sooo good too.” She deepened her voice into a child’s impression of mysterious, “In front of you are two talking doors, they’re magical doors that’s why they can talk, and one door can only lie and one door can only tell the truth. The door that tells the truth leads home but the door that lies leads you to a scary monster called a Cavern! You can only ask one question, what do you ask?” Shai giggled it was a really good riddle but she had been thinking about it all day and she almost had an answer. “So Dhal what do you think the answer is?”

Peering into Dhal’s eyes didn’t bother her even though they were red. He never looked away from her just because of her eyes and that made it much easier to be friends with him. She wasn’t sure she could be friends with someone outside of her web who didn’t like her eyes.
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[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Dhalvasha on November 16th, 2011, 5:10 pm

Her riddle seeped into his mind from the bottom up, filling in the spaces where his darker thoughts would be. She was a credit to his life recently and although the gap between them spanned four years, he found her precocious innocence was exactly what he needed to put his experiences behind him. Her problems always seemed so minimal by comparison. In this refraction of reflection, Dhalvasha could find kernels of peace to hold close.

She and he had been friends for some time now, short in comparison to the long lives ahead of them, but time passed eternally in a place with no natural light...it felt longer. Both their webs were on friendly terms, friendly enough that his father spoke highly of their work. Did they speak well of him? Did they praise his raw power and ability?

"Ask them the color of your eyes," he said at last, looking down at his hands. The claws their glittered in the splotched blood of his earlier misadventure. Some part of him suddenly wanted to tear them off.

"The lying door will tell you wrong while the truthful door will tell you right." He looked up at her, shrugging his shoulders, "You could ask them the color of your claws as well...I guess."

Personally Dhalvasha saw no problem with her eyes, enjoying the throwback to older Symenestra in Kalinor. Somehow they seemed less predatory than his eyes, softer, more curious. Would his father hit him so hard if he had her eyes? Would she gladly trade her own for his? The questions were filling up his brain, drowning his thoughts.

A quick shake of his head dislodged them, scattering the pieces like low flying bats.

Smiling at her, rare for the boy, Dhalvasha brought her closer to him, both looking down at the world continuing beneath. How many others bucked the influence of family, web, and responsibility? Were there some fathers who told their child to be what they wanted from the beginning? Did his brother ever try to be something else? The thoughts crowded his head, filling in the void where the others had been before. Desperately the Symenestra leaped for an idea, a concept, anything to keep the abysmal weight of query from crushing his will.

"Let's make a bloodpact," he said suddenly, eyes lighting up bright in the gloom, "Let's promise to do only what we want with our lives, not what our Web decides for us."

He pricked his finger, a spot of red oozing to the surface. Holding it out to her his smile widened. "You just prick your finger and we swap blood, it's a special promise."
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[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Shai on November 17th, 2011, 12:38 am

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Shai tilted her head as she thought. She hadn’t considered simply asking a question she knew the answer of. It was far more simply than her solution. She gave away her answer with a distracted voice, her little mind trying to discover other new solutions she hadn’t previously considered. “I would have asked if they knew the way home. The liar door would have to say no because it did know. And the truth door would have to say yes because it did too.”

The little Symenestra was still considering more options when Dhal pulled her in. Shai knew what this closeness meant, it was secret time. The only time you put your heads together like this was when you had something you couldn’t let other people overhear but couldn’t keep in either. Consequently Shai gave Dhalvasha her full attention; secrets were one of her favorite things along with riddles. But when he finally spoke she was confused. “But Dhal aren’t bloodpacts only for the temple?” On the other hand what could be bad about a special promise? No one had to be hurt by her keeping her word. So the little girl jabbed the pad of finger with one small claw. She had to hold in a squeal; both from the pain and form the excitement of a special secret promise.

Looking down at the little bead of blood on her finger and the matching splotch on Dhal’s hand she knew what to do. It was obvious that they would press their blood together, “I promise to do what I want with my life not what my web wants!” As soon as she said it Shai realized a problem with the promise, what if she wanted to do what her web wanted her to do? It was a strange paradox but she met her blood with his all the same, it was a fairly safe promise to the little girl’s mind.

“If you don’t want to be a hunter Dhal, then what do you want to do?” Shai knew what his family did and knew very well it was not something that interested her friend. Inwardly the girl hoped that maybe he had an answer to the question because she certainly didn’t know what she would do if not follow in her web’s profession. While she waited for him to think about and answer her question Shai watched the spiders in the small crevice. Their webs fascinated her, they always seemed different and unique but still expertly planned out. “I wish spiders could weave cloth for us, and then maybe I would want to stitch. Just so I could wear something so pretty as their webs.”

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[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Dhalvasha on November 25th, 2011, 7:37 pm

The pact completed, Dhalvasha leaned away from her and back against the shadows of the wall. He was content, deep down someone understood his plight and corroborated it, lending it power, lending it purpose. Of course Shai was just a little girl, the chances she would remember the pact past the week were small, but it still felt better that they had done it. Dhalvasha turned his attention back to the spiders, piercing their little auras with Djed and coaxing them onto his hand. He took Shai's and the little spiders ran up and down it, spreading lines of glistening silk across her pale skin...the teardrops of pearls.

It was a gift, at least a gift in his own way.

"I want to be a doctor," he said finally, watching the scuttling little creatures wriggle on her hand, "Fix things rather than break them, figure out how we all work, what makes us living." He paused, considering the morbidity of the thought. It seemed less sincere when he phrased it that way.

"I don't like killing...I don't lean anything when my prey is dead."

Hugging his knees close together, he watched the pools beneath them. Each one was a serene eye staring up at him and her, watching them with stark indifference as the two talked of futures in the shadows. What would his father think? Would he beat the boy? Probably. His elder brother was the son his father wanted, and it seemed destined he would not be given a son to carry on after his first.

As the middle child, it fell to Dhalvasha to oversee the religious rites...but he was lax to read of Viratas, finding it hard to believe there was some all powerful Symenestra god strutting around somewhere healing through blood letting. The child had no context for him, and certainly his father with beliefs in the strong and mighty lent no credibility to the legend. It was tradition, one that no one questioned.

"Do you ever wonder about the surface world?" the little Sym asked Shai. He didn't ask his father about it, the man seemed content in the shadows of Kalinor. Every now and then though, Dhalvasha dared to crawl toward the shafts of light from the surface, hang just beyond them and wonder what else the sunlight touched.

One day he would go there...he would.

Maybe take Shai with him.

He didn't like to be alone.
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[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Shai on November 29th, 2011, 6:34 pm

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The little girl marveled at the web the spiders wove over her hands. She knew no matter how careful she was the web would be destroyed by her carelessness so she tried to imprint it upon her memory. Each little line and jeweled intersection that the spiders and Dhal gave her. Looking up at her friend with a whimsical smile she cocked her head to the side. “A doctor?” That was strange, why would anyone want to be a healer sick people were scary. “Well . . . I guess I can teach you to sew Dhal. That way you can fix people like I fix ripped knees.” He mentioned of learning was what really piqued her interest; she loved to learn new things. Maybe he would teach her stuff in exchange for teaching him to sew he was older and surely knew more than she did.

Shai had no idea what she wanted to be. She liked to tumble but could never keep up with music, even though the aerial dancers were so pretty she would never be one. “Maybe I could be a jester like in the stories! A tell riddles and do flips and insult people who pretend to be nice but are actually bad.” It seemed like a great choice, Shai was proud to have put all of her skills together to come up with it.

“The surface? No. . .That’s ‘Devi’s job. Oh, but once I did over hear father explaining to ‘Devi what kind of things he would encounter there. It sounded awful!” Shai fell silent for a moment, “But I bet there are pretty flowers up there. The mushrooms and glowy mosses are really nice, but once father brought back a flower for mama. The petals were so soft and smelled really nice, but not like food. Just nice.” Shai shrugged and went back to looking at their reflections in the pool, her hand carefully across her lap to not disturb her gift.

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[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Dhalvasha on December 5th, 2011, 9:09 am

Dhalvasha watched her as she spoke, the way her lips moved and her eyes brightened and darkened by the words in her speech. People were so complex, he could pick apart reactions and ideas, motives and decisions, but there was always something more. Everyone was a biological machine, working parts all in tandem and used in so many ways...so what made them so different? Where was Shai? Was she in the heart? The brain? Some other organ defying name? What made her what she was, all her hopes and dreams, where did they come from?

Without stopping himself, he reached out and touched her forehead with a single finger, drawing down across her face to her lips and then withdrawing. He had the most curious expression on his face, as though trying to work out some difficult problem.

"Sewing, yes, that would be helpful...and I'm not sure people pay for jesters anymore, but perhaps if you told a particularly good story..." He faded out, no longer in the conversation. He was back to observing, being curious, watching how she moved and imagining where the spark came from. Smiling to himself, he imagined it came from a place beside her heart, some secret energy that pulsed the essence of Shai throughout her body. What would it look like? Would it have her eyes? Her pretty purple color...would it suffuse the shape? Part of him wanted it to be like spidersilk, webbing throughout her in such delicate lines and patterns. She deserved it.

And his father would be big ugly roots, criss crossing his muscles like ropes.

That made sense.

"I'll bring you one..." he murmured, surprised he heard himself speak at all, "I'll bring you back a surface flower someday." And then he smiled, a faint pink pushing along his pale Symenestra cheeks.
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[Flashback] Bruises (Shai)

Postby Shai on December 17th, 2011, 11:31 pm

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Shai’s eyes traced the path of Dhalvasha’s finger as bisected her face. She tried not to slump her shoulders when Dhalvasha confirmed her fears that she couldn’t live off being a jester. Stories weren’t nearly as interesting as riddles and acrobatics. The little spider had just opened her mouth to ask Dhal what he was thinking about when he promised her the flower.

“Really?” The little girl asked incredulously, it seemed so far fetched. The surface was a place with ferocious beasts, evil magicians, and blue giants that crushed bad spiders. At least that is what it meant in the mind of this six year old’s mind which had been fillpowerful swinged with mostly nonsense by her older sibling. “Be careful ok? The surface sounds really scary.” Giving her legs one last hard swing before she pulled herself up into a crouch. “ Dhal are you hungry? You should come and eat at my nest tonight, Father isn’t home and Mama won’t mind. Besides then I can teach you to sew.” Shai crawled down from their perch without much thought behind her, there didn’t seem a reason to her for him not to follow.

As she skittered down she called out another question, the one she had originally intended to ask and almost forgotten. “Dhal what were you thinking about? It looked like a really good puzzle. You know you should share those with me!” Finally reaching the bottom she looked back to her friend. Trying to think of the very best stitches to teach Dhalvasha first. Sewing wasn’t any fun but maybe it could be if she was teaching Dhal to do it too. Waiting with all the patience of a child, which meant she was already rocking from heel to toe, Shai watched the cavern wall for him.

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Shai
Alone in the dark.
 
Posts: 487
Words: 424135
Joined roleplay: October 9th, 2011, 5:43 pm
Location: Sunberth
Race: Symenestra
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