घुमफिरको तीव्र चाहना

"As long as there is breath, there is hope" Amita. Pixie. Wanderer.

[nyraxodeyer]

Nyra hardly ever played favourites, but chaat won every time. With the last one gulped down, she signalled for another round. "I thought it might," she admitted, smile deepening at Amita's expression, pleased in a quiet sort of way that the meal had already accomplished exactly what she'd hoped it would. "Some places do an admirable job of recreating familiar flavours, but this..." Her gaze wandered briefly to the open kitchen where the chef moved with practised ease. "I cultivated to remind me of home." That was what the Emerald was to her. Settling as something so familiar on the other side of the world, it had been a place she returned to whenever homesickness caught her unawares, though she seldom admitted to the feeling aloud. But there was comfort now, and this place, was undoubtedly home.

"I've been well. Busy, certainly." At Amita's observation, a soft laugh escaped her. "I'll gladly accept that as one." But she considered it for a moment, fingertips idly tracing the rim of her glass. "The title asks a little more of my time than I anticipated, but I don't believe it should ask me to become someone else entirely." Not that she had not changed over the years, she had, significantly so, but with lifetimes lived change was natural. And there was a certain was she acted in public than in the privacy of her own space, but, that was simply a political requirement. "And yourself? I was pleased to see you again. Have you settled in well?"

[infinitami]

"I must say I am jealous of it," Amita said, glancing around the kitchen, watching the others move about for a moment before returning her attention to Nyra. The familiar company felt nice, and even nicer so that Nyra was still Nyra and that she remembered Amita. "I will come here more often, yes?" She hoped this was what it meant to 'tease' now. Even the language of the world had changed since last time. Language evolved, sure, but it had changed much more and much quicker than last time, just as with everything else about this new modern world Amita found herself in.

Amita nodded. "Good. Change can be good, of course, but you must always still be you, by the end of it." It was just nice to know that someone remained familiar in this strange world. "Yes. I am 'well'. The world has not been unkind to me but I feel it has...left me behind more than most other times I have returned." She fiddled with her own glass, tipping it on its edge for a moment before letting it fall back flat right side up. "I have been given a house, by a paper left for me. Another new thing I am unsure of. A man in a tie gave it to me." She tapped the counter. "The paper, not the house. The house was Brigid's. I would have come seen you sooner but I spent the past year fixing it. It seems to have been empty for many years."

[cantfightmoonlight]

"It stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and the plus sign is for all of the other sexualities and genders not listed in the initial acronym," Kiraz explained with an eased shrug from where she was standing a few feet away from the other, decked from head to toe in colors with a red heart balloon in one hand and a bucket of popcorn she'd sweet talked some dude into giving her in the other. Taking another bite of popcorn, she tilted a brow over to the other and asked, "I take it this is your first Pride Parade?"

[infinitami]

"Mmm," Amita hummed, "my first parade." At least, the modern definition of the word. There had been parades before, parades of men marching into the valley, or parades of armies along beaches and rivers. A parade for pride was a new one. A parade as a celebration was strange and new. She liked these ones much more. "It is not yours, I would say then? Are they all like this?"

[cantfightmoonlight]

While the town seemed frantic over the lack of electricity, the vampire simply continued to hum the beat of the music the Hex Pistols had been playing on the long walk they had taken down the beach. Electricity they were more than comfortable with doing without, and while they thoroughly enjoyed the luxuries of the modern world, being a huge advocate with keeping up with the changing times, they were certain the power would come back in no time, and, if for some reason, if it didn't, then so be it.

They dipped their toes into the water, continuing to hum until they found themselves walking near a rock where a familiar face currently sat with their legs folded underneath each other.

"I've never stopped living here," They hummed, chalking the unexpected reunion before them up to fate. And legally, Zeina hadn't. They had owned the now Haunted House at the top of the Hill back during the conception of the town, and, after they died, they had Nyra sell the place to some siren and procure them a new property over in Celestial Hills. They might not have set foot in their new abode until now, but it had been under their name all this time. "And you? What brings you to the Cove?"

[infinitami]

"Truly?" Amita hummed, following Farah's gaze out across the waves then back. It was beyond Amita to know what it might feel like to stay in a permanent place aside from her mountains. When she came back down, it was only ever to wander more, wander wherever her feet might carry her. Still, a millennia more had passed since Amita had laid eyes on the banshee and even so, she could tell something was different. Not wrong, just different. Changed, like the rest of the world. Moved on from who she had been in their last meeting.

Amita unfolded her legs from under her and climbed down off the rock, making her way over to the other woman. "You are...still you, yes?" She reached out to graze her fingertips along her shoulder, ever so, gentle as the breeze around them. As if she could not believe it until she felt it. "Most everyone I meet again here does not remember. It is..." well, she wasn't quite sure she had the words in English. "Ekantatah. Like all have forgotten."

She dropped her hand. "I came here two centuries past, back when the founders and the first queen were about." Now, they were gone, too. "I find there is little place left for us now. Fae, others. I tried to wander but the danger caught up too fast. The world too strange."

[gazingatmestarry-eyed]

Brigid. In the blaze of the house fire that eventually led her to Lunar Cove, before the smoke caused Charlie to lose consciousness, she heard that name in a voice not unsimilar to the one she heard now. "N-no." She corrected softly. "I'm not her."

At the other's compliment she mustered a smile, though it seemed a little unsure. "You knew her?" It didn't really need to be stated as a question, but Charlie asked anyway. "I don't really know anything about her. I've had some dreams.." She explained before asking with concern, "What was she like?" There was a part of her that worried about what she'd done in her last life. Some of her dreams had been violent, and blood on her hands wasn't something Charlie thought she could live with. "Was she.. was I.. a good person?"

[infinitami]

Despite knowing fae regenerated, knowing they lived life after life, souls extending beyond death, the words still came as a blow. I'm not her. No, of course she was not her. Amita's eyes misted. She easily dusted it away with a blink, a nod. Kept her distance even as her heart raced in her chest. "My...apologies." She was not her. Amita would have to remind herself of that every time she looked at her, because whoever she was now, she had Brigid's eyes, and her nose, and the soft curve of her jaw. Her splendid golden hair. Her voice like the perfect music note.

Amita's head tilted. Dreams of her past life. Curious. She took another tentative step towards not-Brigid. "You were-- Brigid was-- something beyond words, I suppose. Curious, I think you might say. Eager. She was...what children look for in the clouds on a warm afternoon. A balm on the aching soul." For Amita, at least.

Then again, the last time she'd seen her, before she'd left her again, Brigid had been different. Changed. Cold and distant and broken. Whatever the world had become, it had taken her away not once, but twice. "Are good and bad not concepts given to prove right and wrong? I do not think it is as simple as that. Good. Evil." She brushed a stray lock of hair behind her own ear. "Is a storm that sinks a ship evil? Or the man who steals to feed his family? The one who hurts because they've been wronged?" She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty air. "Brigid was many things. Good and bad are not among them."

[itsronniebish]

Ronnie actually, really fucking loved Pride. Or, she liked a chance to roam around in revealing clothes, paint a fucking bi pride flag wherever she could, cover herself in glitter, and hopefully make out with strangers. At the very least, she could drink and dance and just enjoy life. Before the inevitable nightmare of this town came for them all.

She'd been taking a break from the heat, explaining to some guy which constellations were on the back of her arm (yes, she had put glitter on them to really make them stand out, what's it fucking to you?), when she heard someone pose a question. Ronnie looked at the woman next to her. Looked up, because, like most people in town, she was taller than Ronnie by about half a foot. "Uh, it's... it's like... gay people?" she started. "I mean, the letters all stand for shit. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trangender, queer. I think the plus is sort of a catch-all to make sure other people don't feel left out, but sometimes there are other letters added to the, like, soup of it all. Asexual and... intersex? It used to just be LGBT."

[infinitami]

Amita listened. Nodded. This girl was not the first to explain the words as a soup, though the metaphor went over Amita's head, despite her height. "Why were other letters added, then? To, ah, include others, as you say?" Sure, she'd been back in town for a little over a year, but she had no exactly spent that time researching into all the ways the town-- and the world-- had changed. She was too busy dusting off the old, empty house that had been left to her, and wandering the halls like she used to wander the earth, in search of something and someone that was no longer there.

She had tried not to let it get to her but the absence of her companion, the death of her, had left an empty welling in Amita's chest that she hadn't felt since she'd first left her home over a millennia ago. "I must admit I...find a lot of those words confusing. What do they all mean? Last I knew, gay meant happy and queer meant strange. Is that no longer true?"

[unlost]

Will was not one to overthink a question; he knew very well that what seemed obvious to one person could seem impossible to someone else. Even before he'd come to this town of supernatural creatures and magical mysteries, he tended to take everyone at their word, never inclined to suspect teasing or sarcasm. So when the question about the LGBTQ+ acronym was posed, he turned to the woman beside him and answered automatically, counting the letters out on his fingers: "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer--or Questioning, I think. Both maybe? Probably both," he decided. "And the plus symbol is for anyone else who doesn't fit into those letters. See that one?" He pointed to a different sign not far away from where they were standing: LGBTQIA2S+. "Intersex, Asexual, and Two-Spirit. At least--" He amended. "That's what I was told. I could find someone who knows better if you'd like."

As a proud part of the B in the acronym, this was not Will's first pride, but he could hardly consider himself an expert. He was just glad to be out in the town and doing something--and most importantly, that his sister who spent most of her time either ignoring him entirely or locked up in her room talking to no one at all, had agreed to come out and was enthusiastically waving beside him as the parade went by.

Will extended his hand to the woman. "I'm Will," he introduced himself. "It's good to meet you."

[infinitami]

"I see," Amita nodded. She knew most of those words, at least. Sappho's literature had been popular around the time she'd made it to Western Europe, after all. Though, back in that day, the term had meant something different. Queer and gay also had meant different things, but even in her seclusion, it was hard to miss the overarching change in their meanings once she'd come back down. "I am to assume these all refer to the Pride that this parade is for?" She shook her head at the offer. "Oh, that is okay. Thank you for your help all the same. I do not wish to sound so, erm, in the dark as you might say." Her accent was still thick with her homeland, Nepal, despite it being centuries or more since she'd been back. It was simply something she refused to lose, especially to the English language.

"Ah, it is good to meet you, Will," she took his hand gratefully, "I am Amita. I am also...overwhelmed with how different this town has become since I was last here. How long has it been this way?"

[firstxclassxtrippx]

Tripp flicked his eyes upward from his space in the shade, giving a low hum in response. While he had intended to spend the day at his desk in a decidedly air-conditioned room, he had somehow found himself manning his employer's sponsor table at the festivities when a colleague dropped out at the list minute for an "emergency." Figures. It was all good will, of course. And he himself was good-looking, disarming. There were much worse people for the task, Tripp reminded himself. Ghouls, all of them.

"Whatever best defines you. Some people can't be encompassed by just one little letter, don't you find? The human experience is so...varied." Dully as it came, that was a true enough answer, he supposed, and he did not often offer untrue answers. Up to now, really, he could not. But he also did not necessarily know what to call a man in his mid-thirties who kissed girls most of the time and boys sometimes when they were angular but who had no real impetus to settle down and raise a family with either, as much as everyone else seemed to want that.

"Are you familiar with the new developments coming to Lunar Cove? If you're looking for a new rental with all the luxury amenities and pristine oceanfront views, you can get in on the ground floor. Metaphorically, of course. High-rises. Would you like a brochure?"

[infinitami]

The man's non-answer didn't help all that much, but it didn't not help, either. Amita nodded, astute and knowing, as if it cleared it all up. It did not, but she would not mention that. "It's certainly more than just a few letters can encompass," she agreed, smiling at him. She was, at the very least, grateful for the help. Her fascination with human society and humans had always been one observed from the outside, and while fae and other fell into some of the same categories, she could not always relate with them, either. This, however, she seemed to be able to. Not often before had it been okay or open for two people of the same gender to kiss in public without vilification. It felt nice.

Amita blinked, then, her attention pulling away from the parade and back to the man at the booth. "Bro-chure?" she repeated, tilting her head. "What new developments would those be?"

[danielrileys]

There was no denying that Daniel lived up to his 100+ years. Though there were individuals who were older than him, Daniel acted as if his soul were older than his body. Perhaps in some ways it was. What wasn't old were his ideals. The Pride celebration was something he had been excited for. He had attended a few when he lived in New York for a few years. He was more than happy to see the celebrations now taking place in Lunar Cove.

There was so much he wanted to see and do. Which was odd coming from Daniel, who never liked to see or do anything outside of the comforts of his home. It was truly a testament to how much he had bloomed this time around in Lunar Cove.

Decked out in a shirt he was all too giddy about wearing. (They truly had niche shirts for just about anything). Daniel stood in the middle of the crowd as he watched the Pride parade go by. "Well, LGBTQ+ is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, or Questioning." He rattled off like the know-it-all he could be. "The plus encompasses other sexual and gender identities for people whose orientation or identity differs from the majority." He paused. "That was a lot I just spewed at you. I apologize if it didn't make sense and just felt like word soup."

[infinitami]

Amita's eyes dipped, first, to the strange shirt of the person next to her. It was such a strange array of colors and shapes and, well, she thought it might be a frog. She could not be sure. She blinked, unaware of her staring, before she brought her gaze back up to meet his. "I see." Truthfully, she only recognized a few of the words said. She was sure if they were explained to her she might understand them better, but she did not know how to ask for that without seeming inappropriate. Or worse perhaps, ignorant. It had been a long time since she'd felt this way, but even in the short time she'd been away (the shortest she'd ever secluded herself from society) the world had changed so drastically, she found herself floundering more so than ever before.

"And these are all...Pride things?" She turned back to the crowd. "What are we questioning?" She was not new to the idea of there being more than just the two genders of western society. She'd always found the idea archaic, even in the early 1200s on her first visit. "I do not mean to sound...ignorant. It has been some time since I've seen the world and it has all changed much faster than any time before, if you understand."

[infinitami]

with: @crownprincexofbees where: Le Nectar des Dieux

A bee farm, another familiar face, another soul who had died and been reborn with a new name. Amita was beginning to wonder if perhaps her and Zeina were outliers. Nyra remained the same, but it hadn't been more than two centuries since they met, a small drop of time in the near three millennia Amita had been wandering the earth. (She was a mere five centuries off, but in the grand scheme, that felt like nothing more than a blink of an eye. She'd spent nearly as much time alone in the mountains, after all).

Either way, it was nice to see Petrus again. Now Ignacio, he still seemed to carry himself the same way, smile the same, look with awe and longing at the bees he tended to the same. They had not met under these circumstances before, instead she had found him while visiting a cloister of Spanish monks, wishing to learn from them the way she'd learned from the monks of her own people. They found a kindred in both having studied monkhood, and both having a love for the unloved-- insects. Amita always thought it was, perhaps, a sign that her wings resembled those of her very favorite, the majestic damselfly, whose wings shimmered in the sunlight and, upon closer inspection, sported an intricate design, reminding her of the mandalas she and her own cloister used to make.

And while Petrus had not quite believed her about the fae, she did not mind. It was a hard thing to accept, especially when they were already on the fringes of what was acceptable anyway.

Still. Only her memory of the time remained. It was, again, bittersweet.

"And you tend them all yourself?" she asked, walking next to him as she examined the hives. "They should be so lucky. I am sure you care for them as if they were your own family."

[infinitami]

with: @nyraxodeyer where: Emerald Hotel Kitchens

Amita's eyes wandered the space like a curious child seeing behind the scenes of their favorite movie for the first time. She did not know what half the machines around her did, but it didn't need to matter, as her and her company, Nyra Odeyer, an old friend from close to home, were being catered to by a personal chef. They were brought their first round, a shot of pani puri, and Amita swallowed hers down eagerly, the taste of her home now simmering on her tongue and bringing back memories she hadn't thought of in decades-- perhaps longer.

The small, satisfied sound that she made was one of pure nostalgia, as if the food she'd just consumed had somehow managed to cook it directly into it. "I have not had this in, well--" she tried to remember and couldn't. The downside to living so long was having too many memories to hold onto every one of them. "It has been ages. Thank you, Nyra, I needed that." She set her empty glass down. "You have been good, then? Becoming queen of the court does not seem to have changed you much." She tilted her head and added, "I mean this as a compliment."

[infinitami]

with: Zeina @cantfightmoonlight where: Pride Fest

While the rest of the town seemed agitated and upset that the power had gone out, Amita found it to be nothing but a reprieve. The noise lessened and the static she was now constantly aware of, having not lived with it long enough to grow used to it yet, finally subsided. The heat she was used to as well, though she did take one of the plastic bottles of water others were handing out in order to keep herself hydrated, because she knew of the illnesses the sun and the heat could cause as well.

Still, the crowds were growing to be a bit too much for her. She was used to her seclusion, bigger gatherings like this often made her heart thrum faster than normal and the world grow narrow.

She made her way across the grassy courtyard in the center of town and down towards the ocean, the forest too far out of reach for how quickly she needed somewhere quiet and calm. And while there were others down here at the beach, too, it was much quieter, much nicer, and the familiar scent of salty air immediately soothed her.

She sat atop a rock and folded her legs under her, closing her eyes. Listened to the sound of the waves and the chatter of people, letting it calm the erratic beating in her chest.

After a moment, she could feel a pair of eyes on her. She opened her own and stared across the beach at an oddly familiar face. It had been over a millennia since she'd seen her face, though, and Amita squinted against the harsh sunlight. "Farah," she finally said, "you have come here, too?" And, really, she shouldn't be so suprised, that familiar faces from her past kept popping up in Lunar Cove-- it was, apparently, the only sanctuary left for their kind, and Amita had met so many people along the years, who would seek asylum in the last safe space.

[gazingatmestarry-eyed]

closed | @infinitami

Night blanketed Lunar Cove. A new moon and a sky full of clouds rendered the landscape darker than usual. The faerie did not mind. In fact, she preferred the veil of privacy as she took her siren form. She swam freely in the harbor, mostly in the deep, but occasionally her pink tail would gleam the water's surface. For Charlie, being fae felt foreign. Human was all she'd ever known until six months ago, and she was still grappling with all the changes. In private, she embraced this new self with aphrensive curiosity for magics that existed beyond her scientific mind's understanding.

An hour before daybreak the young siren returned to shore to rest on a rock that was nearly marooned in the water. Over her bare, damp body she pulled on a robe made of silk. It clung to her skin but would keep her decent even after her tail returned to legs. The garment, alongside her phone, had been left there before her swim. She checked her device, noting the time: 4:12 AM.

Her head fell heavy on her curled up tail, as she sighed in exhaustion. Charlie hadn't been sleeping well. Strange dreams plagued her slumber, which is what always led her to the water. Like her psyche was craving it in a way the woman didn't herself understand.

A sound from behind her made Charlie flinch before her head whipped around to a face she'd seen before. "Do I know you?" She sounded confused, almost upset. "Or.. maybe..." It wasn't possible. Charlie knew she didn't know the stranger. Her uncertainty causing a long drawl in her accent. "..you just have one of them faces?"

[infinitami]

Since returning to society, Amita had found it hard to sleep. The world thrummed with noise, and though her was neither supernatural or heightened, she could still hear the current of electricity that seemed to run through every bit of the world now. It was still such a new thing for her that she often forgot the house she now lived in breathed with it. Light switches were left off, fans sat unused, and the box outside the house that supplied cold air hadn't been turned on in over thirty years, who was Amita to stop that now?

All this to say, she would often wander away from the town at nights, now, to try and find some peace in the quiet music of nature instead. She often found herself lying under a tree and sleeping there, only to return to the old house the next morning, standing under the warm water that poured from the shower head, an invention that she was still getting used to (albeit one she actually enjoyed quite a bit. Normally hot water had only been accessible through boiling, or visiting a hot springs).

Tonight, she wandered a little further into the woods, down towards the river that fed into the bay. She followed its curving path through the trees until she reached where its freshwater mixed with the seawater. The smell of the ocean was a familiar thing for Amita. It brought back memories of the woman whose house she now lived in. Bittersweet and melancholic, much like empty dark sky above her head.

A splash caught her attention, pulling her away from old memoires-- only to throw them right back in her face. Because there, on the rocks, was the one that haunted her memories and life. The siren she'd searched for first when she'd returned once again from the mountains, only to find her dead and gone.

"Brigid," she breathed, moving towards the shoreline without a thought. The water was cold on her bare feet. "I-- I thought you dead."

And, well, she didn't have to wait for an answer. Brigid didn't remember her, which meant she wasn't Brigid. She had died, regenerated, and was now here before Amita's eyes again. Amita had spent so long in this one life, she'd nearly forgotten that was what fae did. They came back, again and again, same face, same soul, different life. Perhaps...perhaps Brigid was still in there somewhere. Amita gave an easy smile. "You are still as beautiful as the day I met you."

[infinitami]

with: Open @lunarcovestarters where: Lunar Cove Pride Parade

CLOSED

The last time Amita had seen this many people crowded into the same area, there'd been a man on a stand with a rope around his neck at the center of it all. It was a celebration in its own way, but certainly not in the way the people around her were celebrating now. She did not know what Pride this festival referred to, but there were people all around with bright colors and flags held high everywhere. Her old teachings, her old way of life, would have told her Pride was something to let go of, that it was only a fleeting feeling that might get in the way of true nirvana-- but now, well, perhaps people just needed something to be proud about. She could understand that, had come to understand that her old views were for a time that had long passed. She was trying to living in the present, something she'd struggled to do every time she'd come down out of her mountains.

Now, while she'd called Appalachia her home for a long two centuries, she was still unused to its people and properties. Lunar Cove was a cozy seaside town last she saw it, and when she'd returned no more than a year ago (though what was one year in a life of over two-thousand more?) it had grown to the sprawling community it was now, big enough for an entire parade of people to march through its streets-- which were now paved with something Amita had learned was called "asphalt".

Curiously, she watched this parade from afar, content to simply observe. Soon enough, though, she leaned to whoever was next to her and asked, "What exactly is this LGBTQ, then? And what is the addition symbol doing at the end of it? What are we adding?"

[dichenlachmandaily]

Dichen Lachman in an interview for The Morning Show on Australia’s Channel 7