Sometimes I write; this is the place where I post things. Follow ClefdeSoll on twitter for updates!

“Shh! Be quiet!” Yokoka warned her friend before making her way out, tiptoeing to make sure to make as little sound as possible, even though they had already left the village. They could still see it though, mostly because she was using such a slow pace, concentrated as she was on every step she took. Yfa simply hovered next to her, matching her pace, doing next to no sound and being patient. If anything, he thought, they’d be spotted simply because she was in the middle of the way and, uh, her pelt was awfully pale. So she kind of stood out. But he said nothing of that. Just as he had said nothing about his trip to seek permission. He tried to push his uneasy feelings away.

After a moment she looked behind them with a suspicious glance, sniffed the air and, convinced that no one was following them, dropped everything about her concentrated stealth and started walking normally, nearly speeding off with a yowl of victory, but seemed to remember that this whole thing was a secret.

On and on they walked and the scenery didn’t change. Trees, trees and more trees; was there anything at all on the outside after all? It felt like they had been walking for so long! For a moment she wondered if they hadn’t gotten lost, or turned into circles, but looking back she couldn’t see, hear or smell the village at all. And she couldn’t smell her own stale scent, which meant she hadn’t gone somewhere twice. The place was just eerie silent and looked all the same. It didn’t feel like there even was any prey here. Had it been like that since they left?…

With every new step she took, she felt her self confidence sapped away by the ground. It was cold. Dark, too; she couldn’t see much of anything any more despite her excellent night vision. She tried to glance at her friend to get some comfort, but he looked even more on edge than she did. They walked slower and slower until before she knew it they had both stopped.

Should they give up and go back? The air felt heavy. She didn’t like it here. Her paws were shaking against her will. Would they even be able to find their way back? They hadn’t marked anything to show they had come here, since it was supposed to be such a huge secret. Now she sort of regretted not thinking ahead. She felt silly. She wished she had. The air smelled funny. But she couldn’t exactly say what it reminded her of.

They stayed there for a moment, in the cold damp forest, silently, unmoving. She heard shifting and thought the sound came from Yfa, but realized it hadn’t; instantly she jumped and made herself look as big and menacing as she could. “Who’s there?” she winced, realizing how shaky her voice sounded. The shuffling stopped as she talked and suddenly became louder, obviously coming their way. She pictured a big, mean monster coming their way, about to swallow them whole and she wondered if they shouldn’t be running away instead of waiting, paralysed on the spot.

“There you are! Finally, I found you.”

She stopped her train of thought. Wait, she knew that voice. The small figure made its way towards them and she could barely figure out who it was. Then she recognized him; that was the golden two tailed boy she had seen that day when she had had the strange dream, the one guy usually giving out the mail to the people in the village. She had often seen him walk around, but he was way too boring for her so they hadn’t talked that much before. But Yfa seemed to relax, as if maybe they talked more often than she knew. She felt a little jealousy over that thought. He did have a pretty cool scarf, though.

He stopped once he reached their spot; he was just a little smaller than Yokoka, barely, but enough so that their eyes aren’t on an even level. He nodded to her and then looked over at the blue fox, who landed softly on his feet and looked down at him.

“I heard your conversation with Ma’ earlier, I’m sorry.” He had a look of worry on his face, and Yfa looked embarrassed. What conversation? What were they talking about? She felt frustrated to be left out of this little conversation and her paws itched, but something kept her from making a fuss. “Are you really leaving?”

The golden cat made a little nervous laugh and took back his comment; “of course you are, or else why would you be all the way out here.”

“Did you need something…?” Yfa looked about ready to get right to business if their guest didn’t have anything else to comment about. Yes, this pleased her. Could they be out of here already? She was growing impatient and possessive by the minute.

“Oh, right! I, um, like I said I heard your conversation. You sounded quite serious, so I was a little worried. Um… here.” He ran to his previous spot and back, two pieces of fabric in his maw; one looked kind of orange and the other green, but she couldn’t make out the colours properly in the dark. Yfa looked just as puzzled as she was.

“You saw Ma’, right?” he pointed his neck with his paw. He went on; “surely you’ve seen that blue scarf she’s wearing?”

“Oh, hm.. not really. It was pretty dark.” Yfa looked uneasy. What! had he been doing over there. Gosh, it was killing her! She’d have to ask every detail later, she thought she had been super clear about this being a top secret thing! Ugh!!

“Okay, well. See, Ma’ has this.. uh.” he looked around to make sure no one else could here, but they were alone in the world; still, that didn’t stop him from whispering; “weakness to her neck.” He took back a normal posture and went on; “so she covers it up with a scarf made from this fabric! I don’t know what it is, but it’s super resistant.” He looked really excited, but she had yet to see where he wanted to go with all that.

“So…?”

“Well, I don’t know, I thought it could be useful to you, outside.” He suddenly seemed embarrassed and licked his rear paw a little. “I hear they have weird special powers too. But um, don’t tell Ma’ okay? I’m not supposed to give those out. Nobody’s supposed to know about that stuff!”

“Weird powers like what?” now Yokoka’s curiosity was prompted.

“I vaguely remember her saying it could be turned into a weapon but that she lost the ability to do it or something! She didn’t really go into detail.” he blinked at her, as if remembering that she was still there. That irked her even more but she wasn’t going to get angry, nope, because he had actually said something interesting. She grabbed the green one.

“Dibs on that one.”

Their guest nodded at them and, seeing as the reason for him to be here was now over, decided he should now make his leave (about time, too!!) and so he bowed to them. “I wish you the best of luck on your travels. May the blessings of Kitsune keep you safe in your journey.” And then he did some weird sign with his paw and a weird feeling took over her and she didn’t like that and then finally he left, phew!

She grumbled and tried to tie the stupid kerchief on her paw around her left shoulder area, but seeing as she was a cat and one paw and a maw aren’t nearly enough to do that kind of thing, her blue friend giggled after a moment and helped her out. He then picked his and tied it around his neck so that only the bow could be seen on the front side, on his left. He seemed satisfied.

“Shall we go?” They both nodded and, grabbing all their courage, walked on towards the unknown once again, hoping that this time their heart wouldn’t falter and they’d make it all the way there; to them, there was no going back.

Sitting on the edge of the tree house, she looked far and far in the distance. Trees, nothing but trees, but somehow she felt like there was something out there. She didn’t know why. She just did. Maybe she was becoming more like Yfa. That endless calm still hadn’t left her.

Her paws were itching to explore new things. She knew everything in this little village, down to every tree and rock. If they were lucky, a new critter would come in. But after only instants, Yokoka would know everything she wanted to know about them and then would go back to being bored. Maybe she should try to go see Yoru again. Maybe he’d be here today. She looked down to the forest floor and sniffed the air; his scent was back, and there was a sign of activity in his hut. She swiftly made her way there.

“Yoru…?” She blinked a little to adjust her eyes to the sudden darkness. She nearly couldn’t see him with his black pelt, but her nose told him he was there. She then slowly made him out; a massive feline, about three times her height with five sleek tails. He shifted a little and turned his head so his deep crimson eyes could rest on her.

“Oh, it’s only you.” He slowly turned around to face her properly, making sure not to knock anything out with his massive form. He looked like he needed a new house, like this one was becoming way too small for him. His deep voice spoke again: “what do you need?”

She looked sideways, a little uneasy and he must have noticed her strange behaviour because he relaxed and laid down on the floor, paws neatly folded on one another, patient. She took that as an invitation and made her way closer to him to place herself between his chest fur and his legs. His claws looked so big, she noticed. She felt frail, yet protected to be hidden in his dark form like this.

“Tell me how it is outside of here. Not far away, just… right outside of the forest.” her voice was soft and hesitant. She hoped she didn’t sound too suspicious. She didn’t even know why she’d asked that. She nearly expected him to not answer at all. He was taking awfully long to respond, and she could feel his gaze in the back of her neck. She almost wanted to get up, tell him to forget that and run off to her house. But for some reason, she didn’t. The strange dream from a few nights ago came back to her mind and she felt confused for a moment.

“…It is most beautiful at night. The flowers out there are a very pale shade, and during the night they reflect the light of the moon, making it look like they are shining. The pond reflects the sky and it looks all very, very peaceful.” He closed his eyes as he spoke, and she wondered if he wasn’t going to add more. He seemed hesitant. “I am leaving back at next sunset.”

She turned to look at him with wide eyes. “What? But you just got here!”

“Now, now. I have things to attend to. I simply came back to check on Mother.”

How unfair! Yokoka fell back between his paws, pouting, when she suddenly had a new brilliant idea. She turned back to him, eyes full of hope. “Take me with you!”

“No.”

“Awwww why not?!” She glared at him, upset at his refusal and he seemed unsure how to handle her. He sighed and pushed her away, getting up.

“Go back to your own home now, I have to get ready.”

“Killjoy.” But she didn’t need to be told twice. With the biggest sigh she could come up with, she made her way out, trying to look as pitiful as she could, but he wasn’t even paying attention to her any longer. Hmph, well, then! She jumped from branch to branch, feeling like taking the long road to her home when her eye caught the black tail of her twin entering his home. She stood there for a moment and wondered what he was up to.

She stared intently at his house for the longest time, but he didn’t make a single noise nor movement. How boring! How could he stand to wait so patiently doing nothing, ugh! More frustration built up in her and she rushed home, breaking a branch or two on her way, angering those under her path. She wouldn’t make a very good squirrel, she decided, and it was their own fault for standing there to begin with!

She stepped inside their home, oblivious to her friend who was looking at her with very strange eyes from the roof. She let herself fall on her nest, frustrations piling up from her day and growled, turned and turned, restless again. She sat up and sighed. The sky was slowly turning warms colours outside. Yfa cautiously made his way inside. That was it.

“Let’s run away!” she decided, nodding to herself. So what if Yoru didn’t want to bring her. She’d just go with Yfa!

“Are you sure?” he sounded hesitant. This annoyed her.

“Yes! Let’s go! We know everything here and we’re so bored everyday I don’t know how long I can take it any more, ugh!” She fluffed up her tail and shook it off. She looked around to their bare house and decided they didn’t have anything to bring with them anyway. And if Yfa was too much of a coward to come then… so be it! She’d go alone!

He sighed. “If you’re certain, then all right.”

She looked at him confused for a moment, certain he’d say no. He played with the little coral bow in his neck, making sure it looked the way it should and then looked back at her. “I have to bid my farewells to the forest. I’ll be ready when the darkness falls.”

“Don’t say a word!” Panic flooded over her and he looked confused and taken aback. She had to say this before he left, just in case! “Don’t tell anyone. That we’re, you know.” She whispered in his ear. “leaving.” She went back to her previous spot, eyes serious. “It’s a secret.”

He had a funny look on her face and smiled. “I won’t tell a soul.”

“You have to be secretive too! It’s like a… a mission!! Hey, maybe if we leave, we’ll see that thing we smelled the other day! You know… that.. salty thing right what was the name.”

“Oh, you mean the sea?”

“No, no, it was more like… the sight! Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was it!”

He simply looked at her for a moment and started laughing. She didn’t understand why, but she felt a lot better now. He nodded to her and left, drying some tears that had formed moments prior and said he’d make sure to make this a very secret mission indeed.

Meanwhile Yokoka stood in silence in her room, fixing the walls very, very seriously, trying to mentally prepare herself to all the things she expected to find outside. She wondered what the sight looked like. It must be very pretty to have a name like that. But why did it smell salty? Oh, maybe it was a salt sculpture! Wow, that sounded really amazing. She grinned to herself, feeling smart for figuring it out. She wondered who would want to sculpt into salt considering how it didn’t sound like it would stick very well, but decided it wasn’t her place to judge.

Oh, and maybe they’d fight tons of evil dragons and save people in danger! She grinned at the thought, and on and on, the adventures in her mind continued…

The smallest hole between the wooden boards of her little habitation let in a ray of sunshine that disturbed her sleep. She groaned and turned, hearing the faint voices of her dream calling her back. She was running, as she did in all of her dreams, but this time it was a lot more vivid. She could feel the grass under her paws, the rain, the thunder…

“Yokoka! Wake up!”

Instantly awake, as the words were accompanied by a harsh poke, she jumped on all four and looked around, heart beating fast. Next to her was a light blue fox hovering a foot or two over the ground, flapping its little wings. His red eyes looked annoyed.

“You always make such a racket when you sleep!”

“Oh… sorry.” She sat down and sighed, licking a few bangs of hair into place and stopped suddenly. She looked at her friend, who wasn’t really paying attention to her any more, seemingly just about ready to go back to sleep in his own nest.

She wondered for a moment about nudging him back awake, or if she should just let him sleep. Her mind was running around like crazy in this habit of hers, and as she was about to speak up, she heard him cut her short with a grumble. She grimaced at him for a moment and, satisfied with her immature revenge, got out of the tree house, in a good mood already.

The breeze smelled warm and fresh, with a hint of salt to it. She grew restless and looked on to the forest. Surely this odour came from somewhere else! Nobody’s ever heard of salty trees. Her explorer’s soul vividly lit up. She turned back towards her home. “Hey Yfa!”

“What is it…?” he sighed, probably catching on the fact that he would get no new sleep now that she was awake. It was his fault for waking her up, she thought. Serves him right!

“You smell that?”

He sniffed the air for a moment and blinked at her. “Uhm.”

“You have to come outside, silly.”

“Oh!” he stretched a little and made his way towards her, sniffing once again. “Oh! We can smell the sea!”

“The… see? What’s that?”

She must have made a funny face because he started giggling. “It’s like this big pool of water! Only you can’t drink it.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because it dries you up!”

Water that dries you up instead of quenching your thirst? Yokoka didn’t think she’d ever heard anything more cruel in her life. What a bummer!

She felt a pang of jealousy towards her friend for knowing that. She had never left the forest, and neither had he, but he always had this weird knowledge coming out of nowhere. They never really talked about it, partly because Yokoka’s mind was unable to keep a conversation going for too long before growing bored, partly because she enjoyed running around much more than talking. She just sort of assumed someone else told him these things and he acted all important because he knew stuff she didn’t.

Already this conversation was dragging on too long for her and her paws started to itch. “Hey, hey, let’s go walk around! Let’s bother Yoru and see what he’s up to!”

Without waiting for an answer, she swiftly jumped from branch to branch and landed softly on her paws, like all cats were known to do. She twitched her whiskers and waved her tail at her friend, urging him to follow before she sped through the trees.

Bothering Yoru was one of her favourite things to do. He was tall and big and his fur was always so glossy and dark! And he knew a lot of junk, too! Not that she listened to him. She just liked falling asleep to the sound of his voice. He was a lot older than she was, and she sometimes liked imagining that he might be her father.

His stories were always so full of wonder, full of his travels, of things outside the forest. Things like dry earth that burned you up and… hey, maybe he knew about… that thing Yfa had said! The… look or something.

She grinned to herself as she reached her destination, hopping from branch to branch to reach it. “Yoru! Are you there?”

She waited for a few seconds and, receiving no answer, decided she had been generous enough and made her way in, her tail held high. Something was wrong though; his scent was stale. Probably from the night before. Bummer. Had he left again? She sat down, sighed and started pouting. She’d stay here until he came back, she decided.

But, as was to be expected, only a handful of minutes had passed before she grew bored of it and made her way outside. Yfa was there, perched on a nearby branch. “Maybe he went to visit Mother.” He looked off into the distance as he said that and, not wanting to think more about it, she simply jumped off the tree to once again be on land.

She felt exhausted all of a sudden; an odd thing considering how restless she usually was. She felt like there was something missing in her life. Sure, she’d never gone out. Neither had anyone here. They were her family; they might look all different, but they all had the same mother. Yokoka’s guess was that they all had very different fathers. But that was never spoken of.

She knew she wasn’t born alone. She had a twin brother, but he was always so grumpy and annoying. He always acted like he was so much better than everyone else! The only thing he’d enjoy doing was lock himself up and think. Then sometimes he’d go out and wander far, far into the forest. She had always wanted to follow him, but he had objected aggressively every time and so she had grown bored of him.

She did talk with Yfa a lot, since they shared a house and all. He was weird and funny! Just as simple minded as she was and always willing to follow her and her crazy outbursts. Sure, he was grumpy in the mornings, but apart from that he never got angry whenever she cut him off.

She stopped in her tracks and sighed, ears and tail dropping down. “I want to take a nap.”

“…What?” he looked at her a little astonished, no doubt because she had just said the weirdest thing ever. Worry seemed to replace that. “Are you sick?”

Without responding she simply ran off to their tree house and, laying down in her nest, felt like a very interesting dream was about to drag her away. Somehow it felt important. Somehow she didn’t feel like fighting off the sleepiness. As her eyes closed on the day outside, they opened on a thousand stars shining in a familiar dream’s night sky.

An endless pool of shining water, reflecting the stars and Moon like a mirror, could be seen as far as her eye could tell. This was the type of scenery she was used to, but something was different. She felt a strong, almost eerie, cold calm within herself. She didn’t feel like running to the ends of this world this time. She… what was that longing? She wanted to… think? She wiggled her nose in disgust as if her pride solely depended on actions before reason. Nobody would know, right?

For once that she stood calmly, she realized she could hear her own voice as echo. As soon as she noticed it, it seemed, it started saying a million things all at once, making her feel dizzy. She tried to sit down, but realized the floor was a lot lower than she was used to. What, where were her paws? The voices were buzzing around her mind… She was standing not on all four, but two, the other two holding her head with…

With… with… what? She opened her eyes, drowsily. She was laying down in the forest, in a pile of leaves. She still felt dizzy, but the voices were gone. She looked around, confused.

“She’s awake!” Yfa let out a sigh of relief nearby. He said some other words to a small golden fellow nearby, but already she wasn’t paying any more attention.

November first means a new challenge; it’s time to start a new story for the National Novel Writing Month!

I know I haven’t finished 4fe yet; I really wish I did! But so many things happened. But don’t you worry; I think a new story to work on, let 4fe rest a bit and get back to it might just be exactly what I need.

This year I’ll be working on something completely different; a story I did originally write completely. Now you might think this is against NaNoWriMo’s rules, but don’t you worry; this story has been written in 2003, in French, had horrible grammar, awful typoes and was cheesy as heck. As I wrote it I made things along, and eventually created a whole universe out of it, so it doesn’t even… make sense any more.

In any case, I hope this time you will follow me and enjoy ETCZ’s prequel, as we follow the adventures of Yokoka, shall we not?

Have fun reading, and wish me luck to hit, once again, 50, 000 words by November 30th!

The day went on and on, as if time had completely stopped. She was sitting next to Greg and Benjamin, in the scrap yard, waiting for the sun to finally set down. The guys had started a fire; to warm up rather than burn things. The two of them were talking about things only they understood; she, on the other hand, was lost deep in thought.

She was wearing the clothes Greg had brought her; turned out they belonged to one of his sisters. They were a pair of dark pants and a white shirt. The air was cold, so she was wearing her coat, and she was still wondering whether to burn it or not, because of a black stain on it; a stain that could have well been dirt for all she knew. She’d probably burn it, just in case. She pulled her scarf over her nose.

She was thinking of things, such as what had happened at the old man’s shop and what had been going on since Rosa had left. She still wasn’t sure if she’d break down in tears at her sight, be happy to see her, or be utterly mad at her for leaving. The thought of it made her heart ache. She had been gone since so long, now, it felt unreal. When they’d finally be back together, would she feel alive once again? Her heart quivered with the flame in front of her eyes, tormented. And she’d have to wait until winter was over, too. They were barely in autumn now. And winters were long here. She sighed.

She felt eyes turn on her and a small awkward silence, as if they remembered they weren’t alone. She found herself curious, wondering what Greg was like when she wasn’t around. It was a strange thought, one that made her feel uneasy and funny, so she pushed it away with a twitch of her ears. She tried hard not to look at Benjamin. He was strange to her, polite and yet sharp. She wasn’t sure she’d be rid of the feeling even after he was gone.

A sharp yowl made her jump on place and she looked around wildly trying to figure out where it was from. The two young men looked at each other with hidden messages and she raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Benjamin sighed as he got up.

-I’ll take care of Thomas.

She glanced in the direction he was going, a chubby short man glaring at them, one she had seen accompanying Greg before. They were close enough to make up their conversation, but she didn’t really understand the meaning. Something about being lied to. Next to her, Greg seemed to be doing the best he could to ignore everything, poking at the fire with a branch. Grumbling, she put her head on her crossed arms and frowned. This seemed to catch his attention.

-What’s up with you?

-What’s up with you?

He frowned in annoyance and he, too, grumbled and kept on his poking. She wasn’t certain why, but it bothered her.

-Stop that.

He stopped for a moment, glaring at the sky and threw the piece of wood away. The other two came back, the short one apparently feeling smug.

-Woah, what a gloomy atmosphere. Told you, you should…

A sharp glare shut him up and he, too, went to sit in his own place without a word. Benjamin simply looked at the sky, too, the sun setting.

-Now would be as good a time as any other.

-What for?

Thomas was obviously oblivious to the whole situation. Somehow that reassured Charlotte; she wasn’t certain she could trust him. The two others exchanged an annoyed glance, and she wondered if they were trying to figure out a way to get rid of him.

More wood was placed to feed the fire and she watched as it grew. Then, she grabbed her things, neatly folded in her cape, and gave them her last goodbyes, before letting go of them. Benjamin motioned for the others to step back, and once they were all a safe distance from the fire, except for him, he dropped the package in it. Instantly the flames grew taller and blue, and he had to cover his face with his arm to not get burned, all of them stepping back.

She watched, wide-eyed, as she thought she could see sharp teeth and eyes, the fire a wavering shape of changing blues, purples and greens. For a moment she worried, afraid she might have awakened whatever kind of beast had been devouring her things, but before she knew it the fire gained back its original shape and, slowly, its colour. Her heart was beating fast.

-So… What were we burning anyway? That was major creepy.

She glanced at Thomas, a look on his face that betrayed how little of the situation he had understood. She wondered if the others had seen the face in the flames as well. Seeing as they weren’t as shaken as she was, especially him, she wasn’t sure. She could still see it, even though she wasn’t looking at it.

More… The voice resonated in her mind and she slowly turned her eyes back to the fire. A small, snickering face was staring right back. When it noticed somebody could see it, it smiled wider, distorting his little eyes with its huge grin. I smell more. Give me more.

She got up and tried to step back, but tripped, eyes still wide at the vision. She vaguely had a feeling that the three men were staring at her in confusion, but she ignored them. The fire seemed to grow sad, and started mumbling a song of loneliness. She calmed down, took off her coat and got up.

-Here. That’s the last thing you get to eat.

And with these words, she threw it to the fire. It grinned once again. Heh heh. Why thank you. But I smell more. It turned its little eyes on the boys, who were now all bundled up together, looking at her with big eyes.

-She’s talking to the fire. She’s talking to the fire! I told you she’s crazy!

-Shut up, will you? Don’t be such a baby, idiot!

The smell comes from them. Did you give me everything? I smell the darkness. She frowned.

-Okay, who has one of my things?

-W-what…?

-I know one of you has something that’s mine. Give me.

They all looked at each other, uncertain, and now even Benjamin looked kind of spooked. He grabbed something from his pocket and showed her. She snatched it and threw it to the fire. Munch! Thank you, that was a sweet meal. It’s ever-so-wide smile came back on, chuckling, and she surprised herself thinking it was sort of cute.

You, too, smell delicious. Maybe I’ll stick around. Then, in a big yawn, it closed its eyes and mouth and the face vanished from the flame. She couldn’t help but be worried by these last words. After a few moments of complete silence, Greg finally decided to speak, his voice unsteady as if he wasn’t sure anymore whether he was really certain about Charlotte at all.

-What just happened? I knew your shit was evil! I knew it and I told you!!

-It’s fine, it’s all gone now.

She sighed and, suddenly realizing she had just buried the last of her former life, suddenly felt light, so very light… The things in front of her seemed to waver and she got dizzy. She clumsily let herself fall on her knees and waited for it to pass. She heard footsteps towards her.

-Are you sure it’s safe?… Hey, you don’t seem so well. You’re all pale.

-It should be safe now, if we kill the fire soon.

-Hey, guys! Since we have a fire, shouldn’t we grill some meat, too?

Thomas, who obviously hadn’t understood anything of the situation, most likely for having never been informed about it, was welcomed by three glares. By now, Greg was holding her shoulders and Benjamin was standing next to her, she noticed.

-What? Geez, why is everyone so secretive today?

-Just shut it and throw sand on the fire, will you?

-Aw, man, even you Benjamin! What’s with this girl, so that you all do whatever she wants?

He grumbled and did as he was told, pushing some dirt on the ground with his foot, mumbling his disapproval. She didn’t think neither he nor Benjamin really trusted her, and she had to admit to herself how unsafe she’d feel if Greg wasn’t with them.