coimiceoir (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
coimiceoir) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thoughtformed2014-03-14 12:52 pm
coimiceoir) wrote in thoughtformed2014-03-14 12:52 pm
Entry tags:
[Video - Accidental]
[The feed comes on in the middle of a sentence, and for a moment it might be confused for gibberish, but no, she's speaking in Gaelic, shouting over the terrible rumble of the mountain and the crash of falling debris. The camera lies on its side in the grass, with a half-obscured view of a veritable stampede of creatures fleeing. Not a one of them seems to care if predator and prey are beside one another: they're all wild-eyed and panicky, but for the moment they're under control.
Aisling stands on a fallen tree, clearly visible. From this angle, at least, she seems as calm as a person may be under these circumstances, with a dray of baby squirrels under one arm. She throws out her free hand as the ground shakes, and the phone settles enough to see more flaming projectiles raining down into the forest further away. As they disappear below the treeline, Aisling cries out and falters, going to one knee as though she's been struck. The ground stops trembling for the moment, but she still shudders, breath hissing between her teeth.
Her control over the animals has slipped, and they're beginning to branch out, backtracking, pausing, snapping at one another, utterly terrified. Slowly, she pushes herself back to her feet, flinging back her hair and reasserting her control. The eyes of the animals glow red for a second, as though a flashbulb has gone off, and they calm enough to keep heading the direction she wants them to go.
Glancing down, Aisling catches sight of her phone and stoops to lift it.]
Get to the sea! A river of fire is coming, and there is no way to stop it that I know. Fly, and keep yourselves out of harm's way!
[She's too busy to linger, and the feed shuts off with a click.]
Aisling stands on a fallen tree, clearly visible. From this angle, at least, she seems as calm as a person may be under these circumstances, with a dray of baby squirrels under one arm. She throws out her free hand as the ground shakes, and the phone settles enough to see more flaming projectiles raining down into the forest further away. As they disappear below the treeline, Aisling cries out and falters, going to one knee as though she's been struck. The ground stops trembling for the moment, but she still shudders, breath hissing between her teeth.
Her control over the animals has slipped, and they're beginning to branch out, backtracking, pausing, snapping at one another, utterly terrified. Slowly, she pushes herself back to her feet, flinging back her hair and reasserting her control. The eyes of the animals glow red for a second, as though a flashbulb has gone off, and they calm enough to keep heading the direction she wants them to go.
Glancing down, Aisling catches sight of her phone and stoops to lift it.]
Get to the sea! A river of fire is coming, and there is no way to stop it that I know. Fly, and keep yourselves out of harm's way!
[She's too busy to linger, and the feed shuts off with a click.]
[Video]
You should go with them.
Re: [Video]
[Her hair is streaked and dusted with ash, her face smudged with it, but she's determined and grim.]
I won't abandon them. I have to get as many to safety as I can.
Re: [Video]
[Video]
[She shoots quite an alarmed look at him.]
The trees! If you lay down ice in this heat, you'll kill them!
[Video]
What about some frost?
Re: [Video]
[She, too, is thinking hard, frowning distractedly.]
Small bursts, only on the bark, in a wide lane, from the flow to the northern-most point of land, on the highest ridge. Mark off twelve acres, that people will know not to enter... It should help keep my people together.
[Why yes, that does also get him headed in exactly the opposite direction of the volcano while she directs them his way. Why do you ask?]
Re: [Video]
[Video]
When I can.
[Video]
[Video]
When I can. Would you leave children in danger?
[Video]
No, but that's why I can't--
[He doesn't finish his sentence. He figures he doesn't have to.]
[Video]
I will be careful. But I cannot leave them. What would they do without us to guide them? The humans have some control over their panic. Leaders who can direct them. But these? They are simpler. The air burns, fire rains from the sky, they don't know where to go. If not for us, they will perish. I am their princess; I must help them.
[Video]
[Video]
You are helping. It is much easier to have them follow your signs than direct them the entire way.
[Video]
I'll meet up with you after they've been led to higher ground.
[Video]
Go! And be careful! I will see you when I can!
[Video]
All right. See you in a few.
[Hours? Days? Who knows.]
[Video]
action
Sirius knows the forest well enough to apparate to her, just a few feet away. There is no time for any greeting before the next rain of fire tries to pour over them. A yell and a motion and like an invisible wall it is stopped, never reaching Aisling.
Sirius' dark hair looks as if a curtain of white has settled all over it. His face already shows smears of soot and obviously he's sweating - it's hot - but there is nothing but determination on his face.]
Focus on your task, Aisling. I'll keep you safe.
Re: action
[For her part, Aisling looks prematurely older, her fair hair streaked and spotted with grey ash, the smudges across her face only emphasizing her pallor. There were also new lines, drawn with an underlying pain, beside her mouth and around her eyes. Still, she flashes him a fierce and appreciative grin.]
It isn't me I'm worried about!
[She gestures to the black and red river of rock slowly oozing down the mountain slope. The edge of it has already met the forest, and trees crackle, flames licking through the more resinous branches of the pines. Every now and then a far off retort tells of a tree exploding as the heat becomes too much for the sap within it.]
The deeper it gets, the more everyone - everyone - is in danger.
action
What should we do?
Re: action
[She bites her lip as several panting, grimy wolves lope through the trees to stand beside her.]
Can you redirect it, or set something to ward the trees?
[voice]
Re: [voice]
I don't know what that means!
[voice]
[voice]
no subject
After he'd become aware of his surrounding again, he'd begun to feel suffocated - both by his apartment and by all the people. So it was that early Friday morning - before the sun had risen - found him deep in the forest. The heat was stifling, but that didn't matter much. At least he could breathe out here.
He closed his eyes and lay back against a tree, not sleeping but unmoving, emotions quiet. Hours passed without change. As time went on, however, the volcano began to become active. He opened his eyes with a spark of interest - not really able to summon enough energy for surprise or real curiosity.
He watched its development as the day went on. He was relatively close to it - when it started raining fireballs around him, it crossed his mind that he should probably head to somewhere safer. The thought held no fear or urgency, however. As a matter of fact, he couldn't seem to bring himself to care at all - at least not enough to act on the thought.
Intellectually, he knew that if he stayed he might very well die. It wasn't hard to figure out. But... what worth did his life have now, really? What was the point? What purpose did he have anymore?
He didn't have answers to any of those questions. Though he'd stopped actively considering suicide after a few days, he still didn't consider the loss of his life to be something to be overly concerned about - after all, there was nothing of value at stake. At the moment, it just didn't seem worth the effort. There was no reason to leave.
So he remained sitting there, staring up at the mountain as it erupted. When the lava started flowing down the slope, he saw the path it would take - saw it would likely reach him within the next ten or fifteen minutes. Suddenly the prospect of his death became much more real, a certainty if he stayed... and all he felt was relief, and a twisted sort of longing.
He smiled, a genuine thing, as a sense of peace settled over him - before leaning back, closing his eyes and waiting for his death.]
no subject
[Aisling had been mustering her people since she first realized what the earth's unease meant, gathering them and sending them on to safer, higher ground. At first, this had been fairly easy - impress a sense of urgency on them and point them in the right direction. But when the mountain broke open and began hurling stone, ash, and fire indiscriminately across the island, panic set in. It became exponentially difficult to keep everyone moving in the right direction - especially as flames and projectiles tore through swaths of her immobile subjects, sowing death and injury out of time. Luckily, she has friends who are able to help, and as they helped direct her people to safety, she was able to turn back and try to find any who were too slow, or injured who had been left behind.
Despite the peril of it, with fire eating at her and crackling explosions in her blood, the agony of her trees tearing at her, Aisling opened herself wide, stretching her senses for the more lively voices of the birds and beasts who needed her help. Luck and luck alone had helped delay the mating season of the winter breeders, so most had not yet whelped or laid eggs yet, but there were still enough that several families had to be passed to her helpers before she got closer to the line of destruction.
When she sensed the serenity and, there was no other word for it, happiness, she fell out of her tree in shock, but her reflexes allowed her to catch herself and roll without losing much momentum. A swift change of direction, ever mindful of the creeping lava and intense heat. There! ....What?
In a moment, she was at his side, touching his wrist, shaking his shoulder, her voice high-pitched and breathy with anxiety.]
Eairrdsidh! You must go! Get up, you must leave this place!
no subject
He was quiet for a moment, then responded in a voice that was still distant and impersonal.] Aisling... What are you doing here? You should go, you shouldn't be here.
[He closed his eyes again, still holding on to that feeling of peace and relief.] Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.
no subject
That is my choice, not yours! You need to go! If you stay, you'll die!
[She cast a glance over her shoulder at the slowly approaching line of lava through the roiling heat haze setting the grass smouldering well in advance of the front. Taking his hands, she hopped backward, tugging at him without exerting a lot of strength, holding back.]
Come on!
no subject
Aisling! [His shoulders slump, and he turns his face away from her, now sounding exhausted.] I know that.
...Just go, please. I don't want you to be hurt.
no subject
[Another of his friends might have flinched in surprise at his sharp tone. Aisling froze for a split second.
Ice cold shock and fear stiffened her limbs and the roaring laughter of Crom Cruach hissed in her ears. Time slowed. For the briefest moment, the world darkened, and she could see the great serpent coiled around the boy, its fangs seated deep in his heart. He no longer had the protection of his Lady to guard him. Here it had reared its eye-less head again, sapping her friend's very will to live, whispering doubts to her. He is but one, and quiet, powerless... mortal. He will die anyway. All around you your forest dies - do you not have a greater charge? Go, little princess. Take your destiny and leave this one to me.
She could feel it drawing on her bone-deep weariness, her pain, her grief, her fear, sapping her strength and making her vulnerable. She understood - there was the crux of it. She understood the desire to simply lie down, and never wake again. To give up the burdens of living. Let another, with more energy, more drive, less heart break, take it up and carry forward. If there were even another to follow. At times it didn't even matter.
The air shivered, and around Koizumi stood the spirits of her clan, her father with his death wounds and broken spear, her mother and her undimmed sword. She had already lost so much to the serpent. Had run from it, had accepted its hold on her and vowed to fight against it to the end of her days. The misty forms raised their weapons in a silent shout, driving back the darkness and the cold. She would not bow before the serpent! Not ever again!
She blinked and rose against it, more stern and bold than ever. No more than a second or two had passed.]
I will not! What good would your death do? Just bring more sorrow, more pain, more confusion and hate! You have friends - not just your Lady, or her servants, and not only me. I've seen you with the Iron Warrior, and you talk about others, too. Will you pass your pain to them?
[She quivered like a plucked bow string, fierce despite the imprint of the forest's agony on her face. She was frightened - so frightened - but she wouldn't give in to it. She wouldn't break and flee.]
Come on! Get up!