by SALSAlys » Mon Dec 01, 2003 1:29 pm
Tokugawa kept walking indeed. There was no change in his surroundings, although sometimes there seemed to be a distant roar on the winds... but there was nothing he could see.
A particularly harsh wind blew across his face, giving him a mouthful of snow and knocking him aside slightly. That misstep made him sink in a drift up to his legs, though now he felt something odd, just below his toes. A hint of— warmth?
* * *
The person on duty for the shop smiled at him as he entered. This was a new girl; pale skin, big blue eyes and a sprinkling of freckles, with her hair tied into pigtails.
"Heya! What's your—"
His surroundings shifted, everything becoming a mirrored realm of ice, and the girl was a fey spirit with long, pointed ears and pastel blue hair in pigtails, robes shifting about her in the wind...
"—order—"
Nate's view snapped back to normal.
"— sir?"
She was still smiling, pink bubble-gum colored braces showing.
* * *
The taste of the liquid in the cup wasn't anything in Peter's experience— cold, but refreshing, even though it felt as though it stung his throat. A cleansing taste.
As it slid down his throat, though, he could feel some of the dazedness slipping from him, even as the woman's pitying voice echoed in his head again.
Poor child... you never meant to come here, did you? Let us see if you can be sent back to your own world.
He could feel something— warm, soft, comforting— at the tips of his fingers, and then a cool hand clasping his.
Go home, little one.
That was when he truly lost consciousness, and when next he awoke, he was in a cave, a silvery blanket over him, keeping him far warmer than would have been expected from such a thin cloth. He could hear a faint roaring, and the ceiling of the cave appeared to be made of hard-packed snow— although he could see the tips of somebody's feet poking from it.
In chiselled, neatly-incised words on the rock next to him, a carving read
"The path you took is now closed. I hope you may find your own way home now."
By taking stock of his possessions, Peter could realize he still had his clothing, as well as his sidearm, but with the addition of a small glass flask containing a clear liquid, which had a crystal stopper.
* * *
Nothing untoward happened to Balliol, although after a while he heard a rustling that seemed to be following him; it walked when he walked, and whenever he stopped, it took a few moments for the noise to stop as well.