InsaneJournal

Who: Henn and later Soren & Cass
Where: Henn's most favoritest Black Sand Desert & Shadow Hatchery
When: Friday thru Saturday
Warnings: Probably not

Henn knew what she was in for, more or less, Petit had given her the whole story, made sure she knew how it had happened when she’d done it however long ago. Which was why she knew how to prepare, at least as best as she could prepare for something like this. She had just finished making breakfast for her still-sleeping husbands, when Kitten went into high alert. She sighed, shaking her head and leaving the pancakes in the oven to keep them warm, scribbling a quick note on the kitchen whiteboard: “If I’m not back this time tomorrow, come find me, you know where.” And she’d drawn a squiggly heart around it, just because she could, before slipping into the Backstage.

Everything was different, the air was more charged, the usual low-key music of the place was just a little higher strung, it was enough to put her on edge, pulse skidding erratically, heart in her throat, chest tight, trying to calm herself down before she emerged into the black sand desert, knowing instinctively that was where she was supposed to be. Kitten wound himself around her ankles, back and forth like an anxious cat, enough that she finally had to pick him up and drape him over the back of her neck. She could feel the power vibrating through the ground, singing along her nerves, making her smile even though she was feeling keyed up and hyper-aware.

It didn’t take her long to pinpoint the right spot, but it wasn’t time yet, she knew that much, and so she slipped Backstage again, easing herself back and forth from one to the other so that she knew she could hold the middle ground when the time came, keep it open for the littles who wouldn’t be able to find a way without a guide. Once she knew she could do it, she just had to wait. Kitten utterly refused to leave her side the whole time. She watched the sun rise, causing the sand to sparkle, she slipped Backstage again when it started getting too warm, she knew better than to risk dehydrating herself while she waited, and the always-temperate not-temperature Backstage was far more comfortable. She emerged again when the sun went down, basking in the warmth of the sand, stretching out on it like it was a particularly fluffy blanket, not minding where it stuck to her skin in places, making it look like she had scales.

It was time, she could tell even before Kitten perked suddenly, she just smiled, unfolding to her feet and stroking his back gently, taking a moment to gather herself, let herself be the focus point of the surge of energy she could already feel rising. She used the depth of her own shadow to hold open the edges of the world between the solid sand and the Backstage, letting her eyes slide closed, the erratic pulse, heart-in-her-throat, oh-my-god-I’m-too-excited-to-breathe feeling came back, crashing over her in a wave, followed by the tickle of millions of tiny feet, rushing out across her in a surge, skittering across the sand, part of the sand. There were just so many and she couldn’t keep track, each of them fluttering against her for a moment to leech off a little energy or a little joy or a little of both so that by the time it was over and the rift between the desert and the Backstage finally drifted closed again, the last of the new Shadows flickering off on its merry way, Henn just sagged, smiling faintly and sighing in contentment as she curled up on a drift of sand, head resting on folded arms, exhausted enough that she didn’t even notice when Kitten slipped away to go get her a rescue party.