hands around my throat

As always, Ikigai was awake before the sun. She hadn't slept terribly well as this place was foreign to her so she was up long before anyone else in her group. Since everyone was still asleep, the pale girl was left to her own devices. No one had said that she was confined to her rooms, so dark gloved paws took the slender young woman out of her room and down to the beach where she and her family had first entered Elysium lands. From there, she proceeded down the shoreline, enjoying the sensations of the slowly waking world.

A sweet and salty breeze ruffled the girl's alabaster pelt and, as she moved across the sandy and rocky shore, her long, ink brush of a tail snaked along behind her. The birds had been awake first, but as the morning progressed, they became more and more vocal. Their songs stretched across the land as they spoke to one another and Iki stopped, listening to their calls for a time before she continued on. The birds that lived here sounded different from the birds of home and it was rather interesting to note that difference. Many things here contrasted to the warm, island territory that her mother claimed. Still an island, Elysium was a much colder place. The land felt less hospitable to the tropically born fae.

Ikigai's timing was perfect. The sky had begun to lighten as she loped quietly along and, by the time that she reached the southern tip of the island, the first warm rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon. Orange, reds, purples, peaches and pinks... the sun painted the land like some great canvas. The snow and obsidian girl was cast in a golden light as she closed her marbled eyes against the brightness. Ikigai welcomed the warmth of the sunlight as it seeped into her chilled frame. Chilled or no, she made no move to return to the stronghold. A little hardship might do her well. So distracted was she by the beauty of the morning that she hadn't even realized that she was sharing that beauty with someone else.

"Ikigai"