image [https://files.catbox.moe/ne9fgg.png]

…

Day six.

“Hey, that’s mine! Give it back!”

“What? I found it first. That means it’s mine!” says the child holding a small spherical object, sticking his tongue out at his peer as an expression of scornful disrespect.

“Wait, wait! How about this, we let the rock choose!” the other replies, using his tiny little hand to impatiently scratch the side of his furry, goat-like foot.

As the self-proclaimed owner drops the aforementioned object on the cobblestone floor, it immediately rolls towards him. The plan was to sneakily pull the rock towards his side after placing it on the ground, a plan proven to be completely useless due to the fact that everyone nearby could see right through the devious act. The unambiguous dishonesty being displayed drives the opposing party into a blind rage, who goes onto grabbing his friend’s little nub of a horn.

“No! Let go!” he begs as the exchange quickly turns into a messy scuffle.

“Hey, hey! No horn grabbing!” is said by a voice in the distance, along with brisk footsteps. A tall, long haired woman with beady amber eyes (similar to ones we’ve seen before) walks into the scene, with a presence imposing enough to stop the fight by itself.

“That’s cheating, honey.”

“I know…” says the offending child, pouting and turning his face away in disgust. “But I found it first!”

“Hm…”

The woman gently snatches the strangely acclaimed rock. It’s an amethyst geode, surrounded by white quartz and a dark outer shell that’s been cut and smoothed into a mostly spherical exterior. Though not huge, it’s still not exactly an easy thing to hold with one’s bare hands, considering its jagged interior being exposed on a few corners.

Whatever its purpose may be, it was probably meant to be displayed, as opposed to used as a toy to entertain anima offspring.

“Yeah, I’ll take that. Now hush and go play with something else.”

Sitting on a stone bench just across the mundane interaction is Kaira, with her legs wide open in a posture that can only be described as “too comfortable”; both hands resting on each side’s respective thigh, watching as the woman approaches with the newfound gem.

“hey, uh, what the hell is that?”

“Oh do I look like I know, honey? These kids will find the most strange things to play with, I swear.”

She sits next to Kaira. “So… I haven’t seen you in a hot minute.”

“yeah.”

“How’s the headache?”

“pretty bad.”

“I figured. You’ll get used to it eventually, trust me.”

“that’s easy to say.”

“Oh lighten up, will you? Life ain’t easy, even less if you let yourself be dragged like this. I should know that.” she says, placing a hand on Kaira’s shoulder.

“sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s… been pretty rough on my end too. Went to the surgeon last moon, she said it’s probably the horn. It’s growing, just… not where it should. ‘You should be dead by now’, she said. I’m paraphrasing it, yes, but it did go something like that.” The woman chuckles.

“...guess we’ll see whoever dies first.”

“Dying by one’s own hand does not count, young lady.”

“yeah, yeah.” Kaira stares at her feet.

The following minute or two is dominated by a distinct lack of words from either side, leaving the spotlight to background noise. In the distance, the sounds of kids chatting and their occasional high-pitched screaming are only somewhat muffled by the windy climate.

There are but a few adults around, and although watching the children’s every step, they seem to care little about whatever potentially dangerous activities they might be engaging with; said activities are highly encouraged, even. Not like hurting oneself would be an issue, however, even at such a young age, considering anima’s pain tolerance and exceptional blood clotting capabilities, making it extremely difficult to bleed out or for pathogens to cause infections on open wounds.

One thing in anima society is valued above all else, nonetheless: never hurt one another for the sole purpose of inflicting pain, be it emotionally or physically. Everyone is taught this from the moment they gain the gift of self-awareness – such a strong community could not have been built without this one principle in mind.

“...what’s the point of stopping the fight if you’re just gonna let them keep going at it right after?”

“Oh, honey. Do you not know the difference between fighting for something and fighting for the sake of fighting?”

“that makes no sense. fighting is fighting.”

Kaira’s words leave the woman barely holding back a smile. “You’ll learn one day.”

“i don't wanna learn. i just want this all to stop.”

More silence takes over.

“...i met a human yesterday.” Kaira says, in a somewhat half-baked attempt at breaking the ice.

“Oh?”

Kaira’s gaze shifts to the nearby forest. Though mundane, the sight is strangely comforting. Been a while since she’s last seen it from inside.

“um… yeah. her name’s chloe.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to keep mixing yourself with the humans?”

“probably not. definitely not.”

“Oh, honey,” she cannot help but laugh at the exchange. “you really never change, do you?”

Although verbally no words are expressed for yet another few moments, the mere presence of one another speaks for itself, far more than even the most eloquent speech ever could.

“...hey, uh. eleanore?”

“Yes?”

“wait, should i call you by your full name? like, we haven’t met in a while. i don’t remember how this works.”

“Elea is fine, honey.”

“right…” the words said by Kaira come off as anything but self-assured “...elea. thank you.”

Describing Eleanore’s reaction as merely “shocked” would be an understatement. “That’s… the first time you’ve said that.”

“You know…”

“We miss you.”

These words echo inside Kaira’s mind endlessly, as if it had fired something deep inside her. Something… wrong. Something’s wrong. God, here we go.

“do you really..?”

Kaira’s slightly shaky voice resembles how hard she’s trying to hold herself from falling apart on the spot, like a frail tower of cards ready to collapse.

“fuck, okay, no, this is bad.”

“Is it happening already?”

“haha, yeah, shit,” she says while jolting up from her sitting position, with a speed that does nothing but worsen her chronic headache.

“...Well then, Kaira, why don’t you bring this to your nest in the middle of the woods? As a souvenir, since you probably won’t be back for… a while.”

With a deep sigh, Eleanore hands Kaira the geode. These aren’t exactly rare around here, especially considering how the royal family seems to love their purple gems way too much. They’ve been strangely inactive around here, however; just this cycle, yet another discarded royal house was found in the woods, left to rot with what’s left of it still inside, including some of the aforementioned gems. No wonder there’s so many slave-powered amethyst mines scattered all around anima society, since wherever the royal family have stepped into, these gems can be seen everywhere.

“what? why would i want that?” Kaira raises an eyebrow at the strange parting gift.

“Come on, honey, does it not remind you of here? Of us?”

“no.”

Just like her reaction to anything Kaira has said so far, Eleanore chuckles. This girl’s one tough egg to crack, huh?

“...fine. just tell the kids to stay away from those. these things are vile.”

“How can something so pretty be so repulsive to you?”

Where do you think they get all of these gems, Elea?