Turn up the lights, I don't want to go home in the dark

[Anonymous]

Kalia headed through the foothills of the Terrin Mountains, crouched low as her sarong and matching top shifted over her emerald green scales. Eyes narrowed and hooked spear in hand as she sniffed the air. Her dinner was nearby, she could smell it. Unlike her quadruped cousins, she kept much cleaner and so hunting was a lot easier, she didn't scare all the game off. Her golden yellow eyes with a slitted black pupil parting it. Kalia held a breath in as she moved forward, the rabbit in front of her moving before her. She was hiding in the underbrush, deathly still and blending quite well. She lunged the spear forward and got the rabbit under the neck. She smiled as she bled her prey out. "Much thanks." she whispered to the dead rabbit as she pulled the tip out and cleaned it, putting her spear back and carrying the rabbit by the legs once she cleaned it.

Kalia found an open clearing and began building a fire and putting the rabbit on a spit after she skinned it made sure that there was nothing nearby that would catch fire. She started the fire not with flint and steel, but rather just by spitting a glob from her firebladder. The oily smell made her sigh and smile, it was comforting and made her think of the fire her parents would use to cook their meals and to keep their hut warm in the wintertime. It rarely ever got cold, but when it did, fires were key. She sighed and rotated the rabbit, cooking the meat while keeping her ears open for any movement in the surrounding underbrush.

[CastlesInTheSky]

((Thanks for making this post for me; I just was very uncreative for some reason. e_e))

One moment, peace.
The next moment, a spear crashing through her.

At that point, Moria had moved clear out of the way, into the brush. Although she truly wasn't a person any longer, instead a sort of spiritual entity, things still frightened her. Even if people couldn't see her most of the time, she could see them. And what she saw was frightening. She watched from behind a tree, still used to hiding. A very strange sort of woman had killed the little rabbit, said something, then gone off. Moria watched as she walked off. Scales? Was the woman covered in scales? She had never seen something like this happen before. It made her both curious and scared. Then again, she supposed there was little reason being frightened of somebody when one is dead. It wasn't like there was much worse that could happen to her at the moment; after all, being dead was the worst state one could end up in. She self-consciously traced a finger around the empty place where her left eye was once. People were more scared of her sometimes.

Moria followed the woman that she had found, having not much else to do. Her fingers brushed against the bark of a tree. Moria had found that she could still touch things, even though people couldn't necessarily touch her. Sometimes they could. It was all confusing, being in a state of death yet being able to be among the living like one of them. She could become visible like one of them, but that never went well. With her ragged clothing and missing eye, bloody, nobody would want to see her. She scared them.

As they reached the clearing and the woman sat down with her rabbit in hand, Moria gasped a little as the woman spat fire. She didn't know there was anyone, or anything, that could do that. In fact, she knew very little of the world, having lived with her parents in a small house on a farm most of her life, and as a young adult confined to a small village that nobody seemed to have heard of. She was so startled by the woman doing this that she became visible. Unfortunately, she didn't notice this, and now, instead of being a spectator and nothing more, was a young woman sitting in front of the fire, eye wide. Her clothes were ragged and her fingers had traces of blood on them. She mumbled something to herself quietly, her legs tucked close to her. A little lantern sat next to her, an unlit candle within it.

[Anonymous]

Kalia sniffed, and she sensed the ghostly girl on the other side of the fire. "Gods above...." she whispered, a calm expression. Very little frightened her. "You smell of the spirits." She whispered, staring towards the tattered-clothed woman. As she ate the rabbit, she couldn't help but look at the woman who had so suddenly appeared. It was quiet for some time before she finished her meal and she leaned back to watch the girl. "What is your name?" she asked curiously, smiling.

Her tail curled around herself and she watched the ghostly apparition. Most humans wouldn't be able to see through it, but she could. Her kind had always been in tune with the spiritual and reaching into the great beyond to commune with their ancestors. They believed that when a member of their species dies that they become dragons in their next life, so there was no defined line between life and death for them. Her ears twitched along with the tail, which acted as if it had a mind of its own. In addition, her species was highly in tune with magic useage, most of them being able to hide their wings unless they needed them. Kalia, at first, thought that it was a painful and horrible process to have to hide ones wings, but once she visited a library, she learned the reason why they had that magic. The look in her eyes was kind and curious about the new girl in front of her, not scared or confused as one would normally be.

[CastlesInTheSky]

Moria could tell the woman before her was looking at her, not looking through her. She stayed very still, not looking back at the woman who stared at her. As the woman said she smelled of spirits, she looked up slowly, cautiously. She hadn't been addressed in months; it had become strange to hold a conversation with anyone. She looked surprised at how calm the other woman seemed, as if this was normal thing for her. She looked down at her feet for a moment as she was asked her name, still being somewhat shy from when she was alive. She quietly answered, looking up to meet the eyes of her acquaintance. "I'm called Moria. What's your name?"

As they spoke, the sun had been hanging on the horizon. Everything had seemed to be bathed in a sepia tone by the sun, vibrant and beautiful, until it finally dipped below the earth, and the first star appeared. The fire crackled cozily, casting shadows around the two onto the leaves of the nearby plants. As the world became dark, the lantern suddenly became lit, its little flame flickering, and somehow different than the fire near to it.

[Anonymous]

Kalia smiled, finishing her meal before looking at the ghost. "My name is Kalia D'artuha. I have not conversed with many spirits before, so this is certainly a treat for me." She responded calmly. Her eyes were kind and gentle, a very motherly expression. "Where are you from, Moria?" she asked calmly, poking at the fire, sparks flying up as she stoked the fire. Her tail twitched slightly and came over into her lap as she yawned and pulled a small knife out as well as a piece of wood partially carved away.

The sun set and the fire illuminated the small clearing. That was the magic of dragon's fire. It was luminous and burned for a long time, then again, it was basically an oily concoction she was tempted to call "liquid fire". she licked the juices from her lips and began working at her carving, getting the basic shape before she decided to put the penknife away and using her claws to shave off small bits, waiting for the spirit's response to her inquiry.

[CastlesInTheSky]

((I'm sorry this reply took so long))

Moria nodded to her, acknowledging her introduction. Moria looked around herself, finding it rather curious that the fire was so bright. She wished she could feel its warmth. She turned her gaze up to meet the other woman's as she was addressed, becoming a bit calmer when she saw that she meant no harm at all. Moria said, in her quiet voice, "I...I'm from Jadenshine. I worked on a farm there..." She looked down at the tail of the other woman, then back up to her face, wondering. She had never seen anybody with a tail before. It was an incredibly curious thing to her. She didn't ask about it, however, because that seemed rude in her mind. She asked, "Where are you from?" She traced a little circle in the dirt next to her, being only able to touch things separate from her when it was dark.