Post by Aiko on Jan 23, 2008 21:00:56 GMT -5
[OOC: I’m a bit rusty, so this might not be so hot…]
Light and sprite-like were the best words to describe the girl’s steps across the dewy grass. This had nothing to do with gracefulness; the girl stumbled quite a bit, especially when a sudden burst of energy urged her to skip, but every time she slipped to her knees, she laughed cheerily, in a voice that would make pixies quiver with envy. She got up easily, brushed her bare, bony knees off, and continued on her merry way, wandering alongside the road.
Passers-by might have asked themselves why the girl didn’t just walk on the road. Well, Aiko would have happily answered them, if she walked on the road, she’d probably cut up her feet on loose stones, or scuff her toes on the hard ground. It was certainly less painful to walk on the grass, though it had taken her a while to come to this conclusion. Blistered feet were proof of that; she was astounded that she could still feel pain through the rough calluses that encroached on her soles.
The aforementioned passers-by were growing in numbers, but Aiko hardly realized it. She wandered about in a reverie, listening to a half-forgotten melody that she used to know. Her own personal lullaby, she mused merrily. How lovely! Smiling broadly, she closed her eyes and hummed, small body naturally bouncing around to the beat of the off-key music. It certainly was no graceful dance she performed, but her walk had turned into an animated promenading, which had all the cheerfulness of a happy song in it. A few disgruntled travelers glanced her way when she hummed too loud, but Aiko was blind to their stares. Not even glaring, something that would ordinarily make her cringe and wonder what she had done this time, could dampen her blazingly jolly spirits today!
So why was Aiko so happy, anyway? Well… actually, she wasn’t entirely sure, herself. She supposed that, with the weather having recently been so cold and rainy, a warmish spell that dampened the grass was enough to be cheerful about.
In any case, her feet didn’t ache as badly as they did in the cold, which allowed her to be dancing along like she did. However, there was a glitch in her personal lullaby: she couldn’t remember how it was supposed to end. Aiko plodded to a stop, eyes popping open. Her brow furrowed in mock frustration as she scratched the raggedy mop that was supposed to pass for hair. As though the grass held the answers on its wet blades, the girl stared earthward, trying to remember how her song went. Her good mood faltered for a moment on that ridiculous lapse of memory, but then she shrugged. It was too pretty a day to be moping about forgotten music.
Raising her gaze, she observed a sky that had sparse gaps in its woolly gray, through which the sun peeked through. Yes, gorgeous day, that’s what this was… Hey, at least it wasn’t snowing!
Finally, her eyes swept her surroundings, and Aiko realized that she could see a cluster of houses about half a mile away, down a slight incline. A village? Villages meant people, the girl thought… then shrugged. People could be good or bad, and as Aiko had just decided that she was hungry, she might as well find out if these people were the good kind, the kind who would spare a kernel of rice for a wandering orphan who showed up at the door. Though she hated to be a bother, hey, she was hungry. What was she supposed to do, curl up on the roadside and wait to die?
The adolescent, unkind thoughts, the kind Aiko despised hearing in her own head, were loud and raucous to her inner ear. She shook her head, defying her inner rebelliousness. Instead, she turned towards the innocence of childhood, the innocence that allowed her to skip around on a day like this. She continued towards the village, humming as she went, with a growling stomach for musical accompaniment.
Light and sprite-like were the best words to describe the girl’s steps across the dewy grass. This had nothing to do with gracefulness; the girl stumbled quite a bit, especially when a sudden burst of energy urged her to skip, but every time she slipped to her knees, she laughed cheerily, in a voice that would make pixies quiver with envy. She got up easily, brushed her bare, bony knees off, and continued on her merry way, wandering alongside the road.
Passers-by might have asked themselves why the girl didn’t just walk on the road. Well, Aiko would have happily answered them, if she walked on the road, she’d probably cut up her feet on loose stones, or scuff her toes on the hard ground. It was certainly less painful to walk on the grass, though it had taken her a while to come to this conclusion. Blistered feet were proof of that; she was astounded that she could still feel pain through the rough calluses that encroached on her soles.
The aforementioned passers-by were growing in numbers, but Aiko hardly realized it. She wandered about in a reverie, listening to a half-forgotten melody that she used to know. Her own personal lullaby, she mused merrily. How lovely! Smiling broadly, she closed her eyes and hummed, small body naturally bouncing around to the beat of the off-key music. It certainly was no graceful dance she performed, but her walk had turned into an animated promenading, which had all the cheerfulness of a happy song in it. A few disgruntled travelers glanced her way when she hummed too loud, but Aiko was blind to their stares. Not even glaring, something that would ordinarily make her cringe and wonder what she had done this time, could dampen her blazingly jolly spirits today!
So why was Aiko so happy, anyway? Well… actually, she wasn’t entirely sure, herself. She supposed that, with the weather having recently been so cold and rainy, a warmish spell that dampened the grass was enough to be cheerful about.
In any case, her feet didn’t ache as badly as they did in the cold, which allowed her to be dancing along like she did. However, there was a glitch in her personal lullaby: she couldn’t remember how it was supposed to end. Aiko plodded to a stop, eyes popping open. Her brow furrowed in mock frustration as she scratched the raggedy mop that was supposed to pass for hair. As though the grass held the answers on its wet blades, the girl stared earthward, trying to remember how her song went. Her good mood faltered for a moment on that ridiculous lapse of memory, but then she shrugged. It was too pretty a day to be moping about forgotten music.
Raising her gaze, she observed a sky that had sparse gaps in its woolly gray, through which the sun peeked through. Yes, gorgeous day, that’s what this was… Hey, at least it wasn’t snowing!
Finally, her eyes swept her surroundings, and Aiko realized that she could see a cluster of houses about half a mile away, down a slight incline. A village? Villages meant people, the girl thought… then shrugged. People could be good or bad, and as Aiko had just decided that she was hungry, she might as well find out if these people were the good kind, the kind who would spare a kernel of rice for a wandering orphan who showed up at the door. Though she hated to be a bother, hey, she was hungry. What was she supposed to do, curl up on the roadside and wait to die?
The adolescent, unkind thoughts, the kind Aiko despised hearing in her own head, were loud and raucous to her inner ear. She shook her head, defying her inner rebelliousness. Instead, she turned towards the innocence of childhood, the innocence that allowed her to skip around on a day like this. She continued towards the village, humming as she went, with a growling stomach for musical accompaniment.
