telluric

Despite everything, one thing the entire freehold had to admit was that this one was quite stunning in appearance. Her skin flickered and glowed a peachy pink, but a deeper look revealed that the patterns were far more complex. Just under the surface it was like staring into an entirely different universe, galaxies that contained innumerable stars and multicolored nebulae, gently orbiting a core that faded into blackness, the ultimate nothing. The occasional comet streaked by, its icy tail leaving shocking white trails. Her face was nearly a blank, only faint outlines showing that she had any features at all except for her eyes, black that glittered and sparkled with tiny solar bodies.

All an illusion, of course. The Others couldn't create so much as offspring, let alone a living, breathing cosmos within one girl. The more artful members have said that she simply represented what /everyone/ was, in a lot of poetic flowery language about starstuff and how her appearance was some beautiful serendipity or commentary. The rest just rolled their eyes. Expecting any of this to make sense was simply asking too much. It was nothing more than a happy coincidence.

A little slice of space, but she never seemed to notice. The others within the freehold would ask her about her durance and she would smile and talk about how she danced across bridges of clouds. In her musical little voice she spoke of staring up into a sky just as vast as she looked inside, giggling and claiming that's what she'd become; a little piece of the sky that fell into Faerie. Her keeper was beautiful, she said as she wove tales about great telescopes that prodded into the sky where silvery ships flitted back and forth, gravity giving way from underneath her feet and letting her go flying among the stars, cool enough to hold and roll in her hands as they lit her body up in blue and yellow and red.

The question quickly became, then... why did she leave, if she was so happy there?

That made her go quiet. Her colors dimmed and her face turned downcast, even though she said she didn't remember.

Some more cynical among the freehold knew that what she remembered was merely a mockery of the real majesty of space. Some cheap imitation made on a whim based on half-formed dreams and curiosities. But no one ever had the heart to tell her that. Even the hardest hearts present knew that everyone had to do what they could to remain sane and happy, and even though they had to keep their grasps on reality, losing that wonder would be denying a part of who and what they were. They revealed just enough to keep her tied to the ground, so she wouldn't go floating off.

Still, despite those hints of sadness she kept going, always with a barely-recognizable smile on her face. It was always so strange to see her in the bright and gaudy clothes she would wear, faintly glowing from underneath the thinner fabrics. She was partial to cutesy hats with animal patterns, and occasionally a puff of celestial dust would blow them off and tumbling towards the ground, not that it ever bothered her.

Her personality, honestly, was sometimes more than the freehold could take. With a voice that always seemed one notch too loud, she would rush ahead, following whatever breeze her whims would take her. Oh, she certainly meant well. But there were only so many times that the freehold went awkwardly silent at the sight of Jennifer Connelly facing down Jareth the Goblin King on the TV screen before she was officially banned from picking films for movie night.

Nonetheless, she always was a ray of sunshine, and that alone made her presence worthwhile. Life at the freehold, with so many cracked psyches and tragic tales, could get overbearing. And when it did, she would always be there with some rainbow-plastered bauble or stupid pun to send a few smiles rippling through the halls.