Welcome to Gaia! ::

It started in the soles of her feet, bare in the cool, damp, freshly cut grass. A tingling sensation crawling into her like a fleet of tiny sugar ants quickly crawling into her consciousness followed by a loud and intense CRACK! and a vision of the azure Earth decorated with puffy white clouds floating in the emptiness of dark space followed by a pile of plate-sized buttermilk pancakes with the yolk of two over easy eggs slowly oozing from the stack smothered with melting butter and maple syrup cascading over the edges while a row of men with three-day beards and long-sleeved plaid shirts, peered at the pancakes from under their faded, sweat stained ball caps with agrichemical company logos that became a thick veil of silver dollar sized snowflakes floating, feather-like out of a dark, starless sky followed by a line of eight brown pelicans gliding just above the water, rising and falling with the motion of easy-going waves... then ease and ring of her ears. Lightning had struck her... again.

Silk folded as the woman knelt down into the moss of the cliffs, under a beautiful tree. Why did this always happen? When a storm was near, lightning struck her nine times out of ten. Kumiko shook her fingers, checking to see if they still moved ok. One would think that being struck so often would eventually kill a person, if the first time didn't. She knew that one time she would not live after feeling the crawling of ants on her skin, that is why she lived every day without regret. She said what she meant, never took anything back and didn't care what others thought. Yellow eyes looked up into the night sky, the lightning had subsided for now.

((Just a bit))

The woman heard the man talking to himself and heard him walking towards the cliff, not seeming to notice it. "I would suggest stopping before you walk to your doom. There is a cliff just a few feet from where you stand."

Silk rustled against itself as she pushed her body into a standing position. Still shaky from the lightning strike, she took a weak step towards him. Naturally pale skin and strange markings made her an odd site. She was tall, thin, and had a very powerful presence. Her eyes glew a soft yellow as she looked the man over.

Kaze's hand touched her cheek as Kumiko stood there in confusion. Being touched like that wasn't something strangers did in greeting, it surprised her. His hand wouldn't feel make-up on her white cheeks, just smooth skin. With a slight blush, she backed up. "Yes, I am real. Why would you hallucinate something like me?"

The woman bent down and picked up her staff. Gold rings on it jingled from the top of the decorative gold that was placed at one end. Her other hand tucked her fan into her obi. "If you are looking for the town, I can lead you there.... without an unfortunate fall over the cliffs." Wooden sandals carefully stepped over the exposed roots of the tree they stood under.

"This way and watch your step, if the ground looks charred it is because lightning has a tendency to strike in that spot often." The priestess moved around the tree and started down a path that didn't look well traveled. It slowly led down the cliff towards another. Lights dotted this other cliff, lights of homes. It was a simple little town and Kumiko loved it... but not the people in it. She was an oddity and normally people don't like oddities. "What brings you this way?" She asked, stepping over another tree root.

"Hai, I am. This is my home town." The clouds shifted towards the two without the woman noticing. "This place is quite boring and thank you for thinking I am... interesting. It is better than what most have said about me." She laughed softly and stepped over another root. As she did so, a line of brilliant light jumped from the clouds and struck the woman. The build of the electricity came so quickly she didn't even feel the tell tell sign of prickles over her body. Lightning crackled, staying connected to her for a while before retreating with a thunderous boom. Kumiko's knees buckled once her muscles were no longer clenched from the overload of electrical signal. Her slender form began to fall to the ground.