(Untitled)

[countersparking]

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[southern_red]

Right before sunset. When the sky turns red.

[southern_red]

[ He looks at her with only the faintest trace of curiosity, but allows the conversation to pass from one thing to the next. ]

Yes. I was a missionary for the Franciscan order. We traveled past a great jungle and I lost my way.

[withsoftestwing]

[ she adapts to oddities very well, mostly because she has a thirst for stories and histories and listening, learning about people and their worlds. ]

So how did a jungle make you stay eighteen forever?

[southern_red]

[ Abraham's expression goes a little solemn, though his eyes are not sad. Instead, they remain warm, like the heat that rises off a summer's day. ]

It was in need of me. So it made me the Red.

[withsoftestwing]

[ ettie's mouth has fallen open a little in a show of enthrallment, sinking deeper into her inquisitive and almost nosy side. her sentences get shorter and dreamier, her questions endless. ]

What's the Red?

[southern_red]

[ He stares at her again, watching this slow shift. At length he asks her gently: ]

Would you care to see?

[withsoftestwing]

Yes! [ she nods, a little too actively before catching herself. ] I mean - if it's not too much trouble, then I really would.

[southern_red]

[ The young man smiles at her and nods, stepping away a respectable distance. There is not real transformation, no molding of flesh or growing of fur. Where once there was a young man there is now a tiger. ]

My name is Abraham. I am the Red.

[withsoftestwing]

[ -- fhjsdfl;sdf ettie starts slightly, uttering a squeak of surprise, staring with eyes as wide as dinner plates. ]

Christ - that's- you just- wow. You're a tiger.

[southern_red]

[ The large beast lowers its head modestly. ]

I'm neither the Tiger, nor the boy. I am both. My brothers and I maintain order; we help the world retain its balance.

We are five.

[withsoftestwing]

That's amazing. There are five of you? Are you all tiger and person - both, I mean - how do you keep balance? [ the questions spill from her with genuine, unashamed excitement. ]