The snow is falling [saphira]

[cecilia alice gardner]

Cecilia walked along the grounds toward the forest, her cane tapping lightly in front of her. She was determined to have a little time in the snow today, no matter if her schoolwork got finished or not. Sissy could smell the forest coming up, the deep sweet scent that floated off the trees. The pure, crisp scent from the snow and ice that was carried up to her on the breeze. It was lovely, she smiled softly at the thought. People think that beauty is only in things they can see. How wrong can a person be? She marveled silently. There was so much more to the world. Layers and layers of the world that people paid no attention to.

Sissy grinned as her cane tapped in front of her, this time hitting the soil of the forest. One more step and she could be free, free of her human body. One more step and she could escape into her second form. Sissy stepped into the forest and began collapsing her cane. She put it into her coat pocket and stepped forward once more. However, this time she did not complete the step as a human. A large Snow Leopard stood majestically in the forest before starting to walk forward. Her large tail flicked lazily as it helped her keep balance on the icy floor of the forest, her large paws balanced enough to not sink through the snow.

For a while Sissy simply strode beneath the trees, her heightened senses alerting her to anything in her path. She allowed her mind to think of simpler things, not to worry about the mundane, just glory in the beauty of the forest. All good things must come to and end though and the next step she took, she took as a human. Sissy pulled out her cane and tapped until she found a nearby tree. Sissy leaned her back on the tree and huddled deeper into her coat.

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Outfit, yes I know she can't tell what it looks like but her cousin picked it out for her.

[saphira icess ballato]

This time before she went out into the snow, Saphira was planning on actually dressing properly, with a winter coat and pants actually. Throughout the winter so far she had only managed to dress…in ways that made her freezing and not wanting to stay out for very long. Which didn’t allow for very much fun in the snow. Though as a black spider monkey, she really preferred the warmer weather, and wasn’t much of a fan of all this cold, but that’s why she wasn’t really planning on switching forms out in this weather, plus she had yet to figure out how to switch forms with her clothes on.

Making her way out of the school building out onto the grounds, Saphira swept past all the people. She didn’t care too much for people, and she really just wanted to get to the forest. The forest was her favorite place in the school, well besides her room and the games rooms. She also loved the hideout, but that wasn’t exactly part of the school. The forest still felt like a little bit of home to her, even though it was far from what she would really love to have. But last time she checked their weren’t any rainforests in these mountains.

Nearing the forest, she noticed a girl in front of her walk into the forest using a cane, she must be that blind girl, Cecilia. Saphira knew just about everyone, even if she had never met them, but she didn’t know much about this girl except for that she was blind and a shape-shifter. She watched as the girl changed into a snow leopard, and her clothes didn’t fall off. Saphira had been about to go into the forest a different way, but now, now she wanted to follow her. Staying a bit behind the girl, she watched, and saw her changed back to human form. And her clothes were still on. Saphira knew that some people could do that, but she had still yet to figure out how they did. ”Your snow leopard form is magnificent.” she spoke, taking a few steps closer to the girl.

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[cecilia alice gardner]

Cecilia was in a state of contentment after her little walk. Her body had been feeling awkward for the past few days, after over a week of not shifting. In her old home Sissy had shifted almost every night, it was more difficult to find time to do so here. So she had been stuck for days in a form that felt far too small, far too week. Right now, leaning against the tree, Sissy let out a little pleased sigh and smiled. Her muscles ached in that pleasant way that comes after a workout. Cecilia unbuttoned her coat; it was getting a little warm for her. She had really only worn it for show anyway. Her human from retained far less heat than her Snow Leopard one but her body was still better at keeping warm than most people.

Sissy raised her eyebrows when she heard faint footsteps in front of her. Very stealthy, not quite accustomed to walking on snow and ice but stealthy all the same. She smiled an nodded her head graciously at the comment. “Thank you, I’m glad that someone can see the beauty of it.” She told the girl in front of her, her voice happy not bitter as most might think. She had often longed to see what her Snow Leopard form looked like now that she was older. Sissy had seen it a few times in the mirror the week before she went blind but Sissy was sure it had changed.

“I’m happy to know I’m not the only one willing to brave the cold.” She told the mysterious girl with a grin. She hadn’t heard many people when she was walking out her, and the scents she had gotten were mostly vampire or werewolf. In other words, people who either couldn’t feel the cold, or didn’t mind it. This girl though had the scent of human with a faint… otherness.

“I’m Cecilia by the way, but feel free to call me Sissy.” She told her happily, glad that she finally had the chance to talk to someone at this school.

[saphira icess ballato]

Saphira was never one to like the winter very much, it was always too cold for her, and she vowed to live someplace where it never snowed when she left this place. Snow was nice to look at occasionally, but she was still more accustomed to warm weather thanks to her other form. She wasn’t made for the bitter cold or frozen trees. She could appreciate it, and see the beauty that it held, but she couldn’t really get past that very much. Saphira saw the girl unbutton her coat, just as she was tightening hers around her. It didn’t surprise her much though, since she had seen the animal that this girl shifted into, and a snow leopard was much better at being in cold weather thank a monkey.

Hearing the girl speak, Saphira smiled. She was very glad that the girl hadn’t freaked out at all, or asked her to go away, since she kind of had just walked up on her and had been following her. ”You’re welcome.” she told her. ”Though I find it amazing that you can shift with your clothes on; I’ve never been able to figure that one out. “ she sighed. Really, she would love to be in her monkey form more often, but it was awkward shifting at school when you couldn’t shift with clothes on, and it was too cold half the time to shift outside of the school.

Saphira wasn’t quite sure why she had even braved the cold today, because cold and her did not get alone well together. In fact, they were bitter enemies. ”Well I’m glad that I was willing to brave the cold today, don’t know why though.” she told her. When the girl, Cecilia, said her name, Saphira couldn’t help but let her smile grow. She already knew the girl’s name, but she knew a lot about people, it was her job to know things about people. She didn’t know that her nickname was Sissy though. She made a mental note of that. “It’s nice to meet you Sissy, I’m Saphira.” she replied, a shockingly sweet tone in her voice.

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[cecilia alice gardner]

Sissy nodded her face understanding. “Mmm, yes it does take quite a bit of practice.” She said seriously before breaking out in a grin. “Apparently , though, my mother thought I was a complete invalid who could do nothing whatsoever. Which meant that I got a lot of time to practice at home.” She shrugged happily, glad that she had learned how to shift with her clothes on. It was quite useful, especially when you didn’t have time to pack a bag of clothes, or weren’t expecting to have to shift. Although she wasn’t too happy with her mom nowadays, Sissy couldn’t deny she had had a relatively good childhood.

“I could give you a few tips if you’d like.” Cecilia offered helpfully. She could only hope that this girl wouldn’t get all offended and stamp off. Or try to attack her or something. Sissy was almost compulsively helpful, which was why she offered. Other times that someone had gotten mad at her they had quickly learned she was not as helpless as she seemed. Even a blind girl is quite dangerous when she has the senses of a Snow Leopard. Sissy almost sighed in relief when it appeared as if she wasn’t angry. Sissy didn’t like to fight; making a friend though, that was a good idea.

“Oh, is your animal shape not cold friendly then?” Cecilia asked her. Most of the time having the senses of your animal shape was awesome but Sissy knew that some people had unfortunate aversions to things their animal forms didn’t like. For example, she had met a house cat once who could barely stand being in the shower, and had freaked out as a little kid when she was put in the tub. Sometimes being a shape-shifter had some drawbacks.

“Saphira,” Sissy repeated, the name rolling off her tongue. “that’s a lovely name.” She said in a complimentary way. It really was rather beautiful, and Sissy had a thing for names that were after stones or gems. They seemed so lovely; it was impossible not to like a name such as “Jade” or “Ruby” or, as this girl was called, “Saphira.” They were all such pretty names, unique in a way but also going back a fair amount of years.

[saphira icess ballato]

Yeah, Saphira knew it took a lot of practice to learn how to shift with clothes on, because she had been trying to for years and had never managed it. Though it did make sense to her that Cecilia had been able to learn, since she said that he mother thought she couldn’t really do anything, and normally that makes you work harder at things. ”Yeah. Well it was awesome that you learned, I don’t think I’ve met a shape-shifter before that could.” she told the girl.

Saphira quickly nodded, before remembering that the girl was blind and adding words to her motion. ”Yes please. That would be wonderful.” she liked that the girl was offering to help, shifting with clothes on was always something she had wanted to learn, but never could. Her mother had always hated her shifting and tried to keep her from shifting as much as possible, so it was hard to get in much practice.

She shook her head, ”No. Black spider monkey’s normally stick to places like rainforests. So cold is not very friendly to me.” she told her. Yeah, she had gotten sick plenty of times from just being outside, but not yet this year by some miracle. When she was at home, her mother always had done some kind of spell to make it so she wouldn’t get sick. Sometimes she didn’t like having monkey senses, but most of the time she loved it. It was just in winter when it really sucked.

”Thank you.” she replied. She had heard people complement her name a lot, and by now she had gotten used to it, but it was still nice to hear someone say they liked it. It was always nice when someone complemented you, at least that’s how Saphira saw it, though she had met people who hated being complemented before. She always found that odd though, when people didn’t like getting a complement, it always confused her.

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