whatever comes, let it come
what stays, let it stay
When he'd stumbled out of bed that morning, Loren had wandered around the streets of the Citadel for a while. Eventually, his feet took him out of the city entirely into the Tundra. Clearly not dressed, barefoot and in just a shirt and underwear, he staggered out into the white expanse. The guards gave him a funny look before one took off at a run.He glared at them, and at Astra who followed in his footsteps and kept bleating. Pushing sweat-slicked hair from his forehead, he finally collapsed into a snowdrift. Tongue darting out, he started licking the ice. It was nice, but his body shuddered with revulsion after a moment and he scrambled away from it. Afterwards, he tried not to touch the ice, but it was everywhere and he let out a wordless scream.
Sprinting (in his mind: in reality, it was more like a controlled fall), he leapt (fell) on the relatively safe stretch of the road. Panting there, he sat up and stared at the horizon. Astra tried to nudge him to his feet before finally settling to the ground and curling against his side.
"Psst." Looking around for the source of the voice, after a long while he pulled the bag he'd grabbed on the way out of his room off his back and slung it to the floor. Rummaging through it, he pulled out the rock. That...the rock. There was only one rock.
And there was someone inside it! "Took you long enough." The little figure put its hands on its hips.
Licking dry lips, he croaked out, "Sorry. I forgot." Shaking his head, he leaned forward so he could hear the figure better. He made a strange picture, skin flushed, body bent forwards with his legs splayed out before him, a rock that shifted and was gloriously warm in his lap.
what goes, let go
LOREN
