tonight you're flying on a golden dream
Animals are not brainless. Beneath the instincts, the split-second cognition and the instantaneous reactions is a streak of pure intelligence. Aura is not stupid, and having one’s humanity and conscious thought processes stripped from one does not an imbecile make. She very quickly learns that screaming with fury and causing a ruckus by throwing various objects about the room is not having the desired effect; she clearly isn’t going to be released from her prison by destroying it, so she’s going to have to switch tactics and escape. The door is locked (not that, in her present state, she has any notion of what a lock is; all she knows is that that route is inaccessible) but it isn’t the only exit available. There are no other doors, but a very large and very beautiful stained glass window lights up the room with colour and flair.
Aura’s small, bone white fingers close around the nearest object – a thick, leather-bound book – and hurls it at the window. There’s a moment where time seems to freeze, with the book hovering in anticipation before the window, before it connects and shatters the beautiful glass painting into a million glittering shards. Sparkling like stardust, the minute fragments of glass seem to cast an illusion of a rainbow as they form a cascade down to the ground and scatter across the floor. Luckily, the room is large enough that Aura is far enough away not to get hurt, although a few smaller pieces fly at her. Acting quickly before someone hears the sound and investigates, she skirts most of the broken glass by darting round the edge of the room, hops over a few larger pieces (not missing completely, however; she feels her a few smaller pieces tug at the base of her bare feet and knows, without looking, that it’s drawn blood) and with a quick, neat bound, leaps onto the windowsill. Leaning out in a far more daring pose than she would normally, Aura swiftly judges her best chance to be the window below. Gripping the windowsill with both hands, she swings her body down, feeling for cracks in the stone wall with her bare feet, and lowers herself as far as she can before letting go. The castle wall, though old, is sturdy and wet and she slips down suddenly, crashing into the windowsill below. With a sharp intake of breath, Aura scrabbles fully onto the windowsill, curls her little hand into a balled fist and punches the window in front of her. This one doesn’t shatter quite so spectacularly, but it has the desired effect and after pushing away some of the broken glass she’s able to climb through the gap.
Perhaps it’s a good thing that her consciousness is repressed, and that when she awakes from the stupor she’ll have little to no recollection of these events. She’s not an adrenaline junkie like her daughter; knowing that she’d done this would fill her with fear.
Animals do not fear the irrational in the same way that people do; they only fear that which threatens their need to survive. Animals, also, live in the moment. Already, Aura has moved on to the next problem immediately confronting her – which is how to get out of the room she’s currently in. Fortunately, the door is ajar, indicating the obvious exit. Skipping past the shards of broken glass, she squeezes through the gap and finds herself in a corridor with another of her species and a tigress.
There’s an interesting development.
She reacts without thinking, crouching down on the ground to make herself seem smaller. The boy, she instantly assesses, is a meagre threat compared to the tigress, and both of them are standing between her and the food supply. As the highest in the food chain, by rights the great cat has the first claim, and a wary Aura knows better than to interfere with a potentially hungry predator. Instinctively she ducks lower and backs up as a sign of submission, but she doesn’t flee. If the tigress doesn’t want the food, she might be able to take the male down in a fight for it.
The tigress and the boy seem more concerned with each other, and when Lollipop seems to attack Patrick, Aura straightens up and takes a few, vigilant steps forward. Unfortunately, the tigress is not completely preoccupied and doesn’t endeavour to kill and consume the fairy (which would eliminate both of Aura’s competitors), although her actions at least suggest she isn’t hungry. Emboldened, her auburn hair blazing as it catches the light, Aura edges further forward. With the iris of her eyes newly painted black it’s impossible to see the dilation of her pupils, but other signs indicate a creature at the peak of alertness: rigidness, darting eyes, focused expression, quick breathing in short, sharp bursts. The animal’s instincts are honed and perfectly balanced between the need for flight or fight, and in this case Aura is aware that if the tigress turns on her, she will have no choice but to back up and flee. Such an action is not undignified (she has no concept of dignity); it is merely survival.
phoenix from the flame, we will rise together.
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