Aspidochelone

To the Stars, From Death.

The first woman, the one Wen vaguely heard call everyone together back when she was still laying on the grass, took a more direct route then Wen had. Instead of waiting everyone out, the woman, who named herself Zephyr, took control of the situation. It was better her to take that role than Wen. Zephyr looked and sounded capable of getting the whole group to calm down and actually do something. While the others calmed down, Wen let the feelings of the different world envelop her.

Everything felt calm and vibrant like a fantastic day that was fantastic for no discernible reason. Wen felt like that when she stood on the hill and overlooked miles of unexplored land. It felt like rainy days spent indoors, curling up under blankets, being outside when snow started falling, getting fast song lyrics right the first time; it felt like relaxation and fun. Remembering what the others said before, Wen didn't really want to leave. She would be left with nothing if she ever went to Earth. Everything she held dear, even if it was a materialistic standpoint, would be burnt to ashes or melted into a twisted wreckage that tainted the memories they held for her. Why would she ever want to go back?

Wen heard the woman with dreadlocks give herself a name and listened intently after that. Interesting names always led to interesting people; she'd never heard of the name Zephyr before. Well, not out of fantasy novels. Her eyes widened when Zephyr announced her death. It seemed like it wasn't just her that died and ended up on a new planet. From that fact, it would only be a logical jump that everyone else there died as well. In a far away corner of her mind, Wen wondered how they all died. It was a decidedly morbid thought and she ignored it. If she had to talk about how she died (burned to death slowly, too much smoke in her lungs, her flesh melting-), she would be quick about it.

When Zephyr suggested introducing themselves, everyone in the circle grew quiet. Well, Wen would have to bite the bullet (maybe one of them bit a bullet) and it was better to just get it over with. "Je m'app-" she paused and switched to English, "I'm Wen and there was a fire in my apartment building." Wen spoke without pauses or any evidence of mental scarring in her voice. It was calm and polite, if a little distant but that could be summed up with the fact she was talking to strangers. The rest of the group still had to introduce themselves and Wen scooted over by Zephyr's side. The only person, as of yet, that didn't seem too worried about leaving. Wen wondered if they ever would find a way to visit Earth (and how it felt to be trampled to death by people like dust and noth-).

To the Stars, From Death.

I have nothing against Christians or the country. The air here is crisp, you know what I mean? Like it smells sharp and cold. It's weird. Kind of like metal? It's just different from city air.

The Christian part of the new beginning is a bit... eh. I'm an Atheist myself though I grew up in a mixed Buddhist/Christian household, but it wasn't devout. I didn't pray before meals or go to church every Sunday (I've never even been inside of one), but it was just kind of acknowledged. Here, in this place, Christian paraphernalia is shoved in my face constantly and I'm honestly a little uncomfortable about being asked to go to attend the place's church youth group every other week or so. It's also very odd adapting because everyone here is a white heterosexual. Back at my old place, there were a lot of white heterosexuals but I knew so many that weren't. I don't know, but it just seems more close-minded here than I'd like.

Thankfully, I have found people to converse with. They have also read Harry Potter unlike the rest of the population, so that's a plus.

To the Stars, From Death.

Ohh. Poor you. Is it a new town and a new place?

The new place is nice even if the town itself isn't something I'm used to. Putting me, a girl who's always lived in the city, into a country town where mostly everyone lives on farms/a devout Christian/very non-fandom is... odd.

To the Stars, From Death.

This is your last Xmas at your house? This year will be the first at mine.
(I'll post something up soon.)

To the Stars, From Death.

Just saw you post. I'll get something up by tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

How was your Thanksgiving/holidays?

To the Stars, From Death.

Just posted. Also, I link things a lot just to make sure everyone can see what I mean. Just a heads up. Wen seems to be traumatized and I don't know how long I should keep her voice like this for. Oh well.

To the Stars, From Death.

Her lungs were being consumed by flames and turning into ashes. All she could breathe in was smoke and all she could breathe out was soot and the remnants of her charred insides. Eventually Wen was going to have nothing left and wind up as a corpse in the crumbled remains of her home. Coughing, (except she knew that was a bad sign because she was wasting oxygen, she was wasting precious air, wasting her life), Wen huddled in the corner of her apartment.

It was the only part of her house left that hadn't been swallowed by flames or broken to pieces from the destruction. Internally, she laughed at the fact that the only reason she was still alive was because her computer desk was placed diagonally in the corner instead of occupying it. One day's rearranging whim turned out to prolong her life what measly hours (or maybe minutes, all the smoke was making her dizzy) in the end. Wen's computer, saving her life yet again.

Sitting there, slowly being burnt to death, Wen wondered how she hadn't noticed the fire before it was too late. Putting the computer desk and all her software facing the corner away from the door and windows was probably why. The irony of the situation made her sneer, not that anybody could see it. Inevitably killed by her computers and living longer because of them, hilarious.

Actually, sneering was a bad idea and she grimaced. Wen's lips (and her skin and her hair and everything else) were cracked, stiff, and burned. The pain made her lean back against the cracking wall. Hissing, she leaned away from it. The paint was melting from the temperatures and dripping down, sticking painfully to her shirt and plastering it to her back like wax. Heh, plaster. She wheezed a bit, maybe from the pun or the smoke.

Everything was slowly burning and melting around her (like her home, her life, and herself). Wen, gripping her knees and curled into a ball, wished her inevitable death would hurry itself up. She hadn't even opened her eyes from when she first crawled into the corner. All she could rely on were her senses of sound, smell, and touch, but it was more than enough. They gave her a clear enough picture in her head.

Drip, drip, plop: paint oozing down from the walls, settling into blobs on the floor. Creaking and groaning all around her: the snapping of support beams in the walls. She could smell the flames, like spice and smoke (and glass and plastic and granite and wood and electronics, everything she had). Crackle, pop: Wen's wooden desk, turning to kindling in front of her, radiating heat. A fire in a fire. She wanted the last time she saw her apartment to be when it was still intact and beautiful, but the picture in her head was worse than the reality. It had to be.

Her ears pricked up and the hairs on her arms and legs singed. The ceiling made a creaking sound; it seemed like it was about to collapse on top of her. Finally, Wen sighed in relief. A stop to all the torture. It surprised her that she hadn't died from lack of oxygen yet. Steeling herself for her last moments alive, she snapped open her eyes and the ceiling collapsed down on top of her just as her last breath left her body.

---

Wen felt nothing. It wasn't the nothing she felt only moments before. It was the nothing of peace and health she felt currently, not the nothing of there being nothing left and her life being drained from her at an agonizing pace. No, it was the nothing of grass against her back and the warm (not heat, not burning) sunshine on her skin.

This couldn't be her next life. Anyway, for all she had thought, Wen was supposed to end up reincarnated as a baby or a tree or something. Not as herself. It was a nice surprise though. Eyes still closed, Wen realized how much she didn't want to open them. The darkness behind her lids were comforting in a way that what she last glimpsed moments ago would never be. There wasn't actually a difference between the inky blackness and the flaming brightness; they both blinded her from what she didn't want to see. It was just that the dark was cooling and wasn't going to be imprinted in her mind for a long time.

Her hands gripped the grass beneath her; if wherever she was had grass, surely it couldn't be too hostile. The place was nice though, even if Wen hadn't seen it yet. The cool grass against her bare skin; the fresh breeze ruffling her hair; actually being able to feel and smell something other than her burning home. It was time to get up though. Couldn't just stay on the grass forever.

Brown eyes slowly opened and Wen could see the sky. It was purple and blue and a little orange. Nice sky to wake up to, even if it was strange. Colors like that in the sky that weren't at sunset said a lot about wherever she was because it certainly wasn't Earth. Maybe Wen should be worried about that, but hey. New lives brought people places they've never seen; who wasn't to say she got lucky and landed in a different world?

Sitting upright, Wen gazed at her new surroundings. She noticed the other people on the same hill as her, asking about what was happening and where all of them were. Her movements were back to normal now as well. No more jerky movements and third degree burns on her skin like Wen had expected. She wasn't even wearing the same clothes as she was when she was dying which was a relief. Didn't want to scare people off with the smell of burnt cotton and polyester like she survived a fire. Instead, Wen wore her black drape front faux leather jacket, tight black jeans, black calf length buckled boots, and her much-loved galaxy top. If she had to say so, she was glad to be wearing her favorite clothes.

Getting off the ground, she patted the dirt off of herself and made her way to the cluster of people. Wen admired the surroundings along the way from the new vantage point. If she looked, she could see a river and the floating islands with castles on top of them, suspended in the air. Distantly wondering how the laws of science applied to the new plant, she stepped into the little circle of worried people and said nothing. Wen was content with letting them get the worries out before devising a plan and calmly thought back to everything that happened (this new world, her apartment burning down, her new life and her death).

To the Stars, From Death.

Thanks for the tip and the website. I'll try it out sometime. I'll post tomorrow maybe in the afternoon. See you until then.

To the Stars, From Death.

What? I need this. I used to have a store that used to sell great green tea bags and I got a discount because my mom knew the owner (I'm pretty sure we're like distant cousins or something?). Then she went and moved her store. Then I went and moved my house. It's a tragic story.

To the Stars, From Death.

Very true.

What's your favorite tea? Mine's green and black tea, but it's hard getting my hands on good tea here.