BURNED BUT NOT BURIED // FISCHER

[rochelle]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; text-align: justify; width: 50%; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px;"]Fischer had often questioned her purpose to live in the Typhoon, confusion and doubt had muddled her first few weeks on the island. She first felt guilty for coming to this place, for escaping her past, ridding herself of the burden on her shoulders. Even when she had felt liberated from the shackles of history, something weighed down on her, a pressure on her heart. Survivor's guilt, is what someone might call it. To her, it was the mistake of living. When she had been leader of her group, when that flood brought hell to the land, she should have been there to save everyone. If she could've, every fiber of her being would have been used to hold back the raging water, to quench the thirst of the angry water gods. But she was powerless, and the suffering occurred. She lost Fintan, that young sweet soul, she lost all of her people. Though some survived and built their walls back up with what they had, Fischer left them behind, looking to escape the stress, running from the responsibility.

The thought that had made her wary of her being here was the idea that history would repeat itself. The gods were cruel but she had to be fair with them, if they wanted destruction and pain they would bring it upon her. But the wedge in the concept was her faith to the Typhoon. She felt ... so differently from her birth group to the band of pirates. The feline felt more like a family here than she ever had, when she had actually been surrounded by them. It was a sad price to pay, but leaving behind all she had ever known had made her into a loyal soul, a refined one too. And as grounded as she could get, her sudden blindness helped bring her back up from the pits of despair to earth. Reliance, not only on her crewmates, but trust with herself, had spared her a lot of tribulations and trying times. Did it challenge her? Yes, but it strengthened her too, in mind and body. It was an exercise everyday, waking up and navigating about the island, getting to know every swooping tree, every plank of wood, every grain of sand.

The black smoke liked to focus on a certain part of the territory at a time. Last week, she had mastered the art of mapping out the entrance to the island and the camp. The latter part of the week was spent on the entirety of the jungle, the temple included. The sage tryouts helped her most with that, being able to intimately travel through the undergrowth by herself, sniffing out the spots where beds of herbs lay. Now, it was the many caves. She partially came through the channels to seek out the seaweed that she often remembered latching on to the bruise colored walls. The algae had healing properties, she noticed, and Fischer was curious to see how it would work to mend broken bones. She was figuring if she partially dried a strand so that it was elastic enough, durable enough, it would be ideal to hold together a splint. That's what she was up to when she happened upon Gabriel. Her body clung close to the wall, navigating down the cave with hesitant steps, always feeling where she was going, when her whiskers brushed against a feathered wing of Gabriel's. Instantly she recoiled back, pressing to the wall for stability, and looking blankly ahead at the avian faced creature. "Pardon ..." She murmured gently, voice not nearly loud enough to quiver down the length of the cave. "I, ah ... I didn't know I wasn't the only one in here, apologies." She pursed her lips, feeling a curve of embarrassment creep along her flank.

ooc | sorry abt the late response!!! :0