[Chinaren]

Nice! Forgot to read this one earlier, sorry Skitty.

Well, I like where CF is going. Perhaps the land below reminds her of a pattern, and it hovers there for several chapters, half remembered. When she finally gets to tattoo/draw it, she remembers a place.

Maybe she's actually some kind of Creator, but she's forgotten everything, and the old memories are leaking through in the form of her drawings and tattoos. Or something. Lots of potential here.

Anyway, DP... She goes and talks to George, who is dismissive for some reason.

[scissorkitty]

HAA!!! Whitey.. that comic is awesome. AWESOME.

[The White Blacksmith]

The first five panels or so of this.

I'd say she writes a note for George, explaining what she's remembered and where she's gone, but leaves and goes off to wherever as soon as she can.

[scissorkitty]

oo...tensions. Yes, that IS a necessary ploy to keep things going along. Interesting, interesting. Any other suggestions?

hmm.. i hadn't thought about the giant cat. Could be, could be.. I imagine she was so blindsided by the moment she just wasn't looking.. but i should probably go back in there and add a little something, just for curiosity's sake..

just a sec...

there you are.

"the emerald flow for the moment eclipsing any view of her campsite, sleeping George, or the mysterious giant Cat."

[DeadManWalking]

lol. I agree with meanie there, but can't come up with any reasons besides character tensions, so you may have to substitute your own reasoning in there somewhere.

[The Meaning Of Fear]

I just can't help but ask, but can Leah see the big cat from up there?

I think Leah will have to hold back this little bit she remembers here. After all, we can't have them being lovey-dovey all the way through the story, can we? Noooo, of course not! We must have tension! Angst! Something to ruff up their feathers, metaphorically speaking for one and literally for the other.

In other words, it's about time for some awkwardness.

The ways authors create tension and character relationship problems never cease to amuse me... Of course, we all know they'll more than likely end up together at the end, but a book cannot lack character relationship problems!

[scissorkitty]

Good ideas, Crunchy! I actually have something planned for Leah's rememberance.. what I need is suggestions as to how she acts and/or what she does upon returning to George at the campsite...

does she even return? Do they split off here? Does she tell him what she's done/seen? That kind of thing.

[Crunchyfrog]

Hehe, so what should she be remembering? Hmmm. Swirls and dips... perhaps it is another tattoo design. If she's an experienced tattoo artist (and I think from memory George had done the wings on her back and she'd taken the tattoo gun to finish off the design on her sides) then she'll no doubt have other tattoos on her body. Or perhaps it is a tattoo that George sports - since it is he who has been brought along for the adventure.

So, I think she must remember a specific tattoo design, either on her own body or on George's, and the significance behind that design.

Top writing as ever, Skitty!

[scissorkitty]

ChapterSixteen

The sky was a dark beyond anything Leah had ever seen before. That deep, tranquil shade of purple that was more that black without the starkness. Stars swirled across the vault above in shapes and dance steps never seen by human eyes. Tucked into her sleeping sack, pressed tight against George's sleeping warmth, she felt again that stretched-wool feeling of earlier in the day.

The mysterious cat had, for the moment, paddy footed her way from the meadow- leaving the two humans alone in the strange woods. Owls, bats and other less recognizable animals hooted and rustles softly through the undergrowth. The forest shifted happily, content to grow and spread in the cool moonlight and save its harsher energies for battling the sun and insects. It wrapped its gentle arms tighter around the little pocket of peace, and stood guardian against all comers in the night.

Time... space... reality... dreams... Leah's mind shifted through thoughts like cards in a scattered playing deck. She felt a tickling thought somewhere in her brain- the idea that she should be able to grasp the faulty symbolism dancing all around her, yet her brains flowed slowly and the big picture kept escaping her.

Can't see the forest for the trees, can ye, dear?

A lilting voice shivered on a moonbeam, and rocketed into Leah's slumbering skull. She sat upright like a bolt, and shuddered.

Who? ... who are you? Unsure of whether the voice had actually spoken, or if she had just dreamed herself awake, Leah stood and stretched, her wings arching into the blackness with a groan of released muscles. The very air seemed still, yet laden with possibilities, and she felt her restlessness return- thick as a wool blanket on a summer day. Suddenly, it was all she could do not to scream.

Out. I have to get out. I have to get UP! Mumbling under her breath, she abandoned rational thought, ran a few steps towards the centre of the clearing, and jumped. Her wings snapped in the air, breaking the wind currents and scrabbling at the breezes. She climbed upwards, unthinking, moving on pure exaultation and instinct.

* * * * * *
Up. Up. UPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUP... higher and higher, higher than George's fire escape, higher than her parents' expectations. Higher than concert ticket fees, mortgage rates and the price of a good set of piercing needles. Higher than thought. Higher than love. Higher than... than...

She looked down.
Holy shit!

Below, the forest spread in a tidal wave of virdescent greens, billowing softly in the night breeze, the emerald flow for the moment eclipsing any view of her campsite, sleeping George, or the mysterious giant Cat. Far beneath her feet, little streams and rivers gathered together to gossip, carrying word of the day along with debris and life-giving nutrients.

Ah. So maybe you're not as blind as we thought, little blackwing. The voice sighed its satisfaction as Leah hung, pinned against the night like a butterfly on a specimen board. Her attention, her whole being, was focused on the forest below.

Not just on the forest.

On the shape of the forest.

On the swirls and whirls, the dips and hills, the peaks and curves and little curlicues below..

all combining to spell out something she already knew.

A word.

REMEMBER.


* * * * * *

In a different place, the fire chuckled merrily to itself, and threw up a blaze of sparks and colours in celebration. Two beings, not quite the Tinkers they seemed, leaned back in contentment and smiled to themselves.

Ah, so. It be startin' then.




DP: (thanks, Crunchy, for the reminder!!)) Okay.. so Leah remembers something mysterious that I have planned.. but what does she do next? Does she go back to George and act like nothing happened? Does she fill him in on her cosmic adventure here? Does she speak to the cat, but NOT to George, or vice versa?