Soleil
She doesn’t have words for the sensation of dying. The world around her is still defined mostly by emotions, action and reaction. All she knows is one moment everything - and everyone, which is so much worse - is dying, and she hurts, and then -
Hot. It’s so hot. The earth below her is not tundra and ice but rough granules that sear into her skin. How is it getting past her fur? Soleil gropes blindly at the strange ground, little chest heaving as she struggles to open her eyes only to slam them shut again against the bright light that pierces into them. A whining grunt escapes her, pup-noise, searching and extending in hopes of an answering call. She can’t smell anything. Luka, where is Luka? Her other half, her brother. She didn’t see him - she saw - Alpha, and their mothers - she knows she saw them die but she didn’t see Luka and she has to find him.
Her vocal chords feel all sorts of wrong, and so do her paws, but she is young and adaptable and so she forces pup-noise from her strange flat face and forces open amber eyes in search of her brother. Everything looks normal, there’s no adjustment to her vision at least, plopped into this body as she has been. And there - her twin, beside her where he had been moments before (or at least what felt like moments, between the snowy mountains and this new hot environment). He is strange looking, entirely new to her, and yet she knows him as she has always known him; instinctively, souls and hearts intertwined from the moment they were brought into being.
Soleil stumbles as she tries to coordinate too-long limbs, letting them move how they instinctively want to instead of fighting them when that proves useless. She reaches and clings with her new fingers to her brother, whining and tugging him closer to try and snuffle at his nape, frowning when his scent is dull and changed to her new nose. “Luka. Luka. Where are we?” Terror shaking her tone, seeking her older brother’s surety even when he is only minutes wiser than she.
And from the outside, well.
Suddenly there are two young children on the sands of the port where there had been only empty space before. Distinctly alone, and completely unused to the limbs they possess.
Hot. It’s so hot. The earth below her is not tundra and ice but rough granules that sear into her skin. How is it getting past her fur? Soleil gropes blindly at the strange ground, little chest heaving as she struggles to open her eyes only to slam them shut again against the bright light that pierces into them. A whining grunt escapes her, pup-noise, searching and extending in hopes of an answering call. She can’t smell anything. Luka, where is Luka? Her other half, her brother. She didn’t see him - she saw - Alpha, and their mothers - she knows she saw them die but she didn’t see Luka and she has to find him.
Her vocal chords feel all sorts of wrong, and so do her paws, but she is young and adaptable and so she forces pup-noise from her strange flat face and forces open amber eyes in search of her brother. Everything looks normal, there’s no adjustment to her vision at least, plopped into this body as she has been. And there - her twin, beside her where he had been moments before (or at least what felt like moments, between the snowy mountains and this new hot environment). He is strange looking, entirely new to her, and yet she knows him as she has always known him; instinctively, souls and hearts intertwined from the moment they were brought into being.
Soleil stumbles as she tries to coordinate too-long limbs, letting them move how they instinctively want to instead of fighting them when that proves useless. She reaches and clings with her new fingers to her brother, whining and tugging him closer to try and snuffle at his nape, frowning when his scent is dull and changed to her new nose. “Luka. Luka. Where are we?” Terror shaking her tone, seeking her older brother’s surety even when he is only minutes wiser than she.
And from the outside, well.
Suddenly there are two young children on the sands of the port where there had been only empty space before. Distinctly alone, and completely unused to the limbs they possess.
everyone around her seemed brighter and better
for having known her
for having known her
