there were plenty of things to fear in the mistwood. things with gnarled claws clogged with matted fur, flesh and blood. things with gaping, dripping maws. things with a thousand eyes and things which feasted on the anxiety in your veins. there were plenty of monsters, to say the least, their trails to be found all through the forest. the lonely walking paths, if you could even call them paths, were the only safe way to navigate through. but if one, like the nearby resident who spent quite a bit of his time within the woods, was unafraid then through the trees and thicket, the woodland expanded further.
sephiroth often found solitude in that dense bout of nature. having been raised amongst the smog and buzzing static of midgar, in glass rooms and on cold, hospital beds, the feeling of wind through his hair and the crunch of dying leaves underfoot was relaxing. it had always felt that way, when missions had taken him into the wild lands beyond the raised city, and out into the world. and oh, how the world felt. beneath his fingers, beneath his toes... and here, he lived it every day.
but venturing through the darkness, of that colder winter night than normal, it was almost instantly as he crossed the second stream that he sensed a new monster flitting through the woodland. blood far too complex to run either hot nor cold, he was clad in less than armour and more casual dress; those draping black trails to his coat and the silver in them soaked from being dragged through puddle after stream. he paused. he never feared the unknown, never had. he was cautious and inspired by it, willing to indulge if only to save himself from total boredom. and so, he ventured onward.
the moonlit clearing, a ring of fungi and scattered wildflowers, came into view as did the drifting sight of fabric blocking out the light from the night sky above. drawing closer, it became clear that the windswept gown, belonging to this new monster, were lifting from her arms and dancing beside her as she stood, poised and curious herself, in the very centre of the space. how unusual. neither monster shrunk their size, nor raised a claw. not yet. she and him, frozen in place for a moment as their figures bathed in that unusually bright moonlight.
but then, oh... they spoke. the howling wind dying down only to allow for his words to penetrate that silence shared between them. this was his domain, after all. it was only natural for his curiosity to whirl and sway as it did, impossibly green eyes unblinking as he stared down the sight of that monster, that woman; eyes the colour of bloody murder & pale hair catching on the breeze.
“ you are not a presence which i have felt here before. only monsters dwell here. “ \\ @grimmfate
