Walking on Glass » Places

         Kore let her eyes linger on Conor's for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the smile, before returning to her food. It really was tasty, and there was an almost...new taste about it all, though by the heat coming from the pasta, that wasn't surprising. It had probably, along with Conor's food, just been prepared. Still though, even knowing that, Kore's feeling of 'newness' didn't fade. In fact, it remained as strong as ever, almost like... Her eating slowed down as the thought bubbled to the surface.

It was almost like she had never eaten before.

But that wasn't possible. Judging by how casual Conor and the rest of the people in the little diner were about it, they probably ate all the time - she probably ate all the time.

So why does it feel like the first time? Kore wondered.

Before she could delve deeper into the absence of the memory and the pain in her head that accompanied it, the sound of Conor's voice drew her out of her mind. He'd asked her a question. Her brain scrambled as it tried to remember what he had said. She took a bite of her pasta absently as she thought hard.

“So what was it you were doing, sitting there alone on that park bench?”

The park bench... Kore had almost forgotten about it in the time it had taken to make it to the diner and order their food. Her eyebrows wrinkled as she thought back.

She had moved to the bench because it wasn't often frequented by humans, and she didn't want to deal with their noise and trouble. But something about the question, about the way that Conor had framed it, and about the way that he looked at her - something about that made Kore shake her head slightly. That wasn't what he was asking about. Not 'why was she sitting there' on the park bench, but more 'what was she doing there' in the park.

A question that Kore wasn't quite sure about.

"A few days ago," Kore began hesitantly. "A few days ago... I woke up. On the black road." She glanced out a window at the people milling about and the cards stuck in the seemingly eternal traffic. "I was covered in open skin wounds and bruises. And my leg hurt." Without really thinking about it, she touched her left leg. "Whenever I moved... it -" She paused, wondering if there was a better word for what she was saying. Nothing came to mind. "Hurt," She finished unceremoniously.

An image flashed in her mind: the first sight at waking up, black stone - was it stone? - pressed closely together, but not so closely that there weren't still sharp fragments to tear her skin more as she tried to move.

With a shudder, she went on, "I got up. I moved to the white road on the side. Everyone walked around me. No one ever looked at me." Kore touched her stomach, her voice still even despite the pain creeping onto her face. "I was hungry, so I... I went into a little building - and there was colorful cakes behind glass. I took one, and -" The pause lasted only a moment. "- And then, the man behind the counter came after me. I ran, and he - I think it was him - he called someone, and I got chased."

A dark blue shirt with a white logo on one side.

Kore's eyes closed momentarily, in an almost pained expression, but she continued, her voice still calm, but now with a bit of an edge, "It hurt to run. My leg - it hurt. But I ran until I hit a circling of trees - lots of trees, more than I could count." And now her eyes really closed. "I stopped there. The man had disappeared." She breathed out, her voice calming again. "I think I feel asleep. And when I woke up, my wounds were gone, and I could move without pain. For a while, I just walked around, and then, when the sun was almost setting, people came - swarms of people. They were noisy. They were..." She shook her head, her eyelids flickering to half-mast. "I moved away from them. I found a place where they didn't go. That first day, I ordered the plants around me to close so that I couldn't be found. But after that..." Kore lifted her eyes to Conor, catching his. "After that, it grew to be too much trouble, so I just sat there."

She held the gaze for a moment, and then took another bite of her food.