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Description
the first time Ahkŭ leaves her familiar mountain home, it is by accident. even though the day is sunny, crisp, and dotted with lamb-like clouds, she feels restless. the days, like the clouds above her, seem to crawl lifelessly by, slowly trekking across the landscape to destinations unknown, only to dissipate and fade away. Ahkŭ, maybe for the first time since Becoming, is totally, utterly, and unequivocally bored. she's traversed every hillside, explored every rock pile, ran across the entire mountain range, and hasn't seen a human in weeks. Ahkŭ can't seem to recall how long it had been since the herd of elk had passed through to lap at the lake formed from melted snowdrifts. surely more than a few sun-rotations, and probably more than a few moon-rotations. in this new life of hers, she measures by the seasons like her ancestors, who hunted the same elk she wonders about. cycles are all that she's privy to. the endless toil of growth to life to death depresses her and mocks her. Ahkŭ knows this new life is a wonderful gift to be cherished, but today was simply one of the days she allowed herself to crave the cool embrace of the earth. at the mention of the ground in her thoughts, she instinctively curls her toes and looks down at the field where she paces. on that all-too familiar patch of dewy grass, Ahkŭ wishes desperately to at least not be so trapped, so rooted in her home. once she travelled down, down, down, and away from the peaks that pierce the sky, she started to feel like a time when she was gravely ill. Ahkŭ struggles to remember, but the only visions that return to her are her being swaddled in a cacophony of concerned whispers, the oozing, dizzy feeling in her head, and the feeling of sweat beading at the base of her hair. she did not get very far before resigning herself to the tree-bare seas of grass and rocks. the winds seemed to carry her upwards and simultaneously elated her. now, she just feels frustrated and so, so isolated. Ahkŭ tries to imagine somewhere new, refreshing, with rushing water and rustling leaves, or even somewhere where the sun pounds down and the wind snaps across her back. as she does so, the world seems to swirl and blur, sharpening to a small dot of dark light. squinting and stumbling towards the strange manifestation in front of her, Ahkŭ feels herself moving beyond or simply through the air into...another place. and suddenly, in this transition-space-tunnel-river, hurdling her towards somewhere new, Ahkŭ is afraid but the most alive she's been since the Transformation. Maybe she's not ready to throw this gift away quite yet.

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for the origin prompt "first time outside the boundary". i imagine Ahkŭ feeling restless and then channelling that frustration to accidentally discovering her (within-biome) hopping powers. her first time successfully travelling is into the spirit world and for Ahkŭ, that's a pretty big deal! you go girl! one of the ways she staves off the boredom of immortality is vacationing to different mountain ranges across the globe. being an esk is pretty sweet; the dying part objectively sucks, but you basically have time shares in every part of the world!

75 AP, 26.5 GP
10 shaded, 50 origin, 5 personal = 65AP +10 creative writing = 75AP
4 shaded, 4.5 writing, 2 fullbody, 4 partial bg, 10 origin = 24.5 GP

Description
the first time Ahkŭ leaves her familiar mountain home, it is by accident. even though the day is sunny, crisp, and dotted with lamb-like clouds, she feels restless. the days, like the clouds above her, seem to crawl lifelessly by, slowly trekking across the landscape to destinations unknown, only to dissipate and fade away. Ahkŭ, maybe for the first time since Becoming, is totally, utterly, and unequivocally bored. she's traversed every hillside, explored every rock pile, ran across the entire mountain range, and hasn't seen a human in weeks. Ahkŭ can't seem to recall how long it had been since the herd of elk had passed through to lap at the lake formed from melted snowdrifts. surely more than a few sun-rotations, and probably more than a few moon-rotations. in this new life of hers, she measures by the seasons like her ancestors, who hunted the same elk she wonders about. cycles are all that she's privy to. the endless toil of growth to life to death depresses her and mocks her. Ahkŭ knows this new life is a wonderful gift to be cherished, but today was simply one of the days she allowed herself to crave the cool embrace of the earth. at the mention of the ground in her thoughts, she instinctively curls her toes and looks down at the field where she paces. on that all-too familiar patch of dewy grass, Ahkŭ wishes desperately to at least not be so trapped, so rooted in her home. once she travelled down, down, down, and away from the peaks that pierce the sky, she started to feel like a time when she was gravely ill. Ahkŭ struggles to remember, but the only visions that return to her are her being swaddled in a cacophony of concerned whispers, the oozing, dizzy feeling in her head, and the feeling of sweat beading at the base of her hair. she did not get very far before resigning herself to the tree-bare seas of grass and rocks. the winds seemed to carry her upwards and simultaneously elated her. now, she just feels frustrated and so, so isolated. Ahkŭ tries to imagine somewhere new, refreshing, with rushing water and rustling leaves, or even somewhere where the sun pounds down and the wind snaps across her back. as she does so, the world seems to swirl and blur, sharpening to a small dot of dark light. squinting and stumbling towards the strange manifestation in front of her, Ahkŭ feels herself moving beyond or simply through the air into...another place. and suddenly, in this transition-space-tunnel-river, hurdling her towards somewhere new, Ahkŭ is afraid but the most alive she's been since the Transformation. Maybe she's not ready to throw this gift away quite yet.

---
for the origin prompt "first time outside the boundary". i imagine Ahkŭ feeling restless and then channelling that frustration to accidentally discovering her (within-biome) hopping powers. her first time successfully travelling is into the spirit world and for Ahkŭ, that's a pretty big deal! you go girl! one of the ways she staves off the boredom of immortality is vacationing to different mountain ranges across the globe. being an esk is pretty sweet; the dying part objectively sucks, but you basically have time shares in every part of the world!

75 AP, 26.5 GP
10 shaded, 50 origin, 5 personal = 65AP +10 creative writing = 75AP
4 shaded, 4.5 writing, 2 fullbody, 4 partial bg, 10 origin = 24.5 GP