Cerulean Cape a world within a world

Did other living beings have the same questions about life as Esma did?

She wondered this, having settled down atop the only rock on the long sand dune, and observing curiously the bustling life beneath the water. It had happened a short while after - small fish were the first to appear, swimming first cautiously then curiously around her submerged forepaws. Some were so brave to nibble at her nails and fur, but scurried away the moment Esma moved her limb. Then she caught sight of a little crab, crawling on the seabed and she leaned closer to inspect a rock that was covered in green sea-weed and mussels. Small air bubbles were rising up to the surface. 

She had always been aware that there were lives lived paralell to hers, but never had she been so aware of, how universes could take different shapes and sizes. The fish certainly did not worship the bear gods - for them a creature of that size was nearly unimaginable. But, what did they have instead, then? Esma closed her eyes and hummed, trying to imagine this. But the only thing that came to mind... or ather person was John. He had told her that his God was looking over him. Could it be akin to this? His god being the giant Esma was now and his faithful servants as tiny as fish and other life appeared to her in the pools?

She made a not to ask him this the next time she met him. But for now - she opened her eyes again and continued to observe. 

a yearling. she appeared as sobeille’s contemporary in terms of age, a lithe limb dangling in the water.

for a time sobeille just studied, listening to the soft sound that spilled from the girl’s humming throat. when that ended, the air seemed a little colder — and a wind drew up against her topline.

sobeille inched closer. she could make out silvery threads of fur, peppered with brown and tans — but from this distance was hardly more than a curious observer.

mini cameo!

The curious observer was curiously observed by a flickering pair of inharmonious eyes belonging to a boy whose provisional bed had been made of the bracken woods while he awaited the reappearance of John. He stares tentatively, gaze studying each mainland yearling in a sort of controlled absorption.

It was just that, he’d scarcely seen others his age interact. Now Judah felt he was learning the words of language he’d never heard spoken.

Esma would often get lost in her own thoughts and detach herself from the world around her. Sometimes a very vivid or particular image would consume her so much that it would feel just as real to her as the dimension she actually lived. This also meant that she would sometimes get into a near-dangerous situations and only the survival instinct kicking in the very last moment would save her.

Therefore no wonder that she did not catch sight of the cinammon coloured potential threat sneaking up on her. She noticed her only, when the sound of movement momentarily snapped her out of the daydream world and made her look around. Briefly her gaze met with that of the stranger's and then she yelped and jumped. Hackles raised and in a defensive position she eyed the other girl distrustfully, completely unaware that another pair of eyes was observing them from the distance. 

as sobeille looked after this girl, she wondered what it was that had her so preoccupied. it was a strange game to her to see how long before she was noticed; every passing second was another mounting tic of excitement.

engrossed as she was with this mini game, she did not know a second pair of eyes watched them both.

at last the solemn girl seemed to wander back from her secretive world of thoughts into the world of the present. she did so abruptly, her eyes snapping to sobeille with a jump and a yelp.

sobeille did not react to this stimuli the way most would. she blinked, tail tip flicking up like a cat's. what you be t'inkin' of?

It was a very simple question, but Esma did not have enough vocabulary to express everything that was on her mind. For her thoughts were more about a sensation and visuals than actual words. Yet she sensed a genuine curiousity in the other person, so - instead of shying away and mumbling something incoherent - she pondered on the matter for a bit. 

"The world. Within... a world," Esma replied. "That it is different for each and every living being. My whole world is... this," she beckoned to the surroundings. "But for a bug the whole world might be this single rock," she placed one of her paws atop the rock she had been lying on moments earlier.

for a time the stranger was silent. sobeille did not mind; it gave her time to unabashedly study every aspect of her face.

finally she spoke; a world within a world. to sobeille, this was rather profound — and a refreshing change of pace from the ingenuine pleasantries sobeille often felt forced to acknowledge during conversations.

one of her earlier memories was studying a spider. she remembered quite clearly noticing this thing had eight eyes, not two — eight legs, with bristly pedipalps and a way of moving across a twig that mesmerized sobeille. to her, it had been a twig — but to the spider it may have well been a colossal tree. she wondered if there were beasts in this world that had the perspective that she was the spider; so small and inconsequential she hardly existed.

mebbe we are bugs too, we just ‘avent met big t’ings yet. sobeille mused aloud, coming to sit close. ’ave you seen de t’ings in the ocean? val once told me he found a crab dis big — she spread her arms wide, but even then it did not measurably indicate just how gigantic the decapod had been. bigger even.

"My mom worships bear-gods. I think that they are the bigger things," Esma suggested, though only know did it occur to her that she had never asked her mother, whether she had actually seen Atka and Sos. Like in flesh and blood. Not just as an idea. 

"Maybe it was the crab god... or a king. In stories kings sound kind of big," she added. "What is a val?" she asked, feeling genuinely curious.