~ Chromatober 2024 ~

Day 11: Star/Opia

Opia

n. the ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable—their pupils glittering, bottomless and opaque—as if you were peering through a hole in the door of a house, able to tell that there's someone standing there, but unable to tell if you're looking in or looking out.

This one has a fun word :] So why not create a new au?

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Series: Legend of the Balancers

AU: Snowfire (Uh- idk. Aether is a snow fox now.)

Characters: Cinder

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Brilliant. 

The sky above me shone with the light of a thousand stars. They reflected my clothes. My dress shifted and shimmered, seeming to leap in the light cast down from above. The cold of the biome around me seemed to try and bother me, like a harsh wind of sand in the desert. However, the flames that flickered around my hands gently, drove away the chill of the air.

Yet as I gaze up at the star-filled sky, I could feel someone's eyes on me. Turning around, I quickly spotted the source of the feeling. His crystalline light blue eyes met mine, the shining fractals seeming to pick out every part of my soul and put it together in his mind. Yet I felt safe, gazing into his gem-like eyes, for they held a gentle and compassionate gaze to them.

After a moment of quiet, he steps out, his voice sounding in my mind as it had a thousand times before.

"There you are, Cinder. I was wondering why I felt you out here." His voice was gentle, yet knowledgeable. It sounded as though he had lived for thousands of years more than what he actually had. A gentle smile comes to my face as he pads over to me, his light bluish-grey fur shimmering in the starlight and moving in waves like long grass in the wind.

I speak out loud, my warm and soft voice filling the air between us. "Hello, Aether. How are you?" He shakes his body, his fur rippling even more from the movement, before he answers me. "Doing quite alright. What about you? You don't usually visit unless it's something about Dest and Void arguing again about the concept of cake."

A gentle laugh escapes me. Yes, the two had been arguing quite profusely of recent about the proper definition of a cake and typically went to me to be a tie breaker. However... That wasn't what was on my mind.

"It's more of a different matter this time, Aether. Moreso about... that one being I mentioned seeing before." I pause for a moment, rubbing my hands together and I gaze down at them and the shifting flickers of flames. "I feel as though he might be following us. Void and Dest have seen him too. I talked to Galactal, but he hasn't seen the figure yet so I'm unsure what he wants with the three of us."

Admittedly, I was nervous about this figure. Every time I had seen him, I always got the sense of his gaze always being on me. Almost like he was... able to see right into me. Right into my soul. Yet the few times I had seen him, he never approached. He only seemed to watch me from afar.  "Hm... Well that's odd. He's never made a move towards you, right?"

"Correct. He only seems to be... watching from afar. It's almost like he's..." I trail off, trying to think of the word that wouldn't come to mind.

"Staring? Observing?" Aether prompts, trying to help me think of the word.

"No... More like... Judging me. Like he has this judgemental feel to him. It always offsets me anytime I see him from the corner of my eye." I close my palms and hold my hands to my chest as the feeling descends on me. I knew he wasn't there, but just the thought of the dark face from under the dull and faded hood left me... unnerved.

A weight leans into my side and I glance down to see Aether staring up at me with his crystalline eyes. I just lower myself onto my knees, then hug him, hiding my face into his soft fur pelt. He gently shifts his weight onto me, then tucks his snout into my hair. I can't help but laugh at the tickling sensation. "Ahahahaha! Sorry- Sorry-! That tickled, Aether!" I hear him chortle in my mind, giving me the indication he had intended that. "Oh you butt!"

"It is indeed a fluffy butt I have."

"I didn't mean that- Hahahaha!"

A grin crosses my face and I shake my head. This silly fox. He always made me laugh.