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When it was invited to travel once more, from its bed of seeded flesh the child had birthed something more palatable. A body of pale flesh and vivid spider lilies, with amber eyes tinged scarlet. A thing with a <span class="mu-i">face</span>, so that those who saw it would not scream. It bore passing resemblance to its sibling, a bright and warm thing that loved without pause or exception... Or perhaps it was more accurate to say the child's sibling bore resemblance to it. It was, afterall, the older of the two.
Its earliest memories were the errant rays of sunlight filtering down through the forest canopy. They were bright then; Wondrous and fascinating little streams of light upon a world it had never known. Everything the light touched... Rejected the child, without fail. Fear, confusion, revulsion, these were all reactions the child had come to simply expect. The world under the light had no place for it, no patience or affection for it, and certainly no room for its own fascinations, no matter how it tried.
It was only when it had retreated to the darkness did it find a place to belong. In the dark it was acknowledged. Under the cover of night it was spoken to and praised. <span class="mu-i">Appreciated.</span> Given a ward, and from that ward, a friend to speak with and learn from - And oh how the child had learned. About the world, and the way it worked. That it wasn't its <span class="mu-i">fault</span> that everything the light had touched rejected it. That it was only the nature of things, and that some people are simply born to that loveless pit, no matter what they do or how they may struggle. It soaked up the nectar of its friends words, finding reflections of its own life clarified in the furtive wisdom Dryad's fondest saw fit to share.
But even if it understood... Even if it knew it wasn't accepted in those places...
Its first glimpse of Resuri after dusk fell was of warmth that lit the dark. Bright, wondrous and fascinating little motes of light, warmly revealing a world it had never known. Buildings larger than it had ever seen, and more people in a single direction than it had encountered in its life combined. The air there thrummed with the pulse of life, thick with the density of the seemingly endless crowds that walked the streets.
...So when its sibling's attentions lapsed, the child slipped away. Drawn like a moth to the shadowed alleys of the lamplit city. There, its amber eyes wandered restlessly, desperate to drink in the sights and sounds just out of reach.
It was a world it had never known. It didn't belong to. It knew that, knew the rejection that awaited it... But it was so warm, all the same. So... Enrapturing. It would have been so easy to reach out its hand and-
