Isa #4743- Origin 5

Continued from here.

Starring X, Isa (Masterlist)

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The light quickly dissipated, in its place leaving the newly formed spirit. It lifted its head to look around, in a mix of both visible confusion and enthrallment with the colors they hadn't been able to perceive before. They then rose to their feet, stumbling a bit as they acclimated to their new proportions.

True speech hadn't fully come to them yet, but as their head whipped towards X the burning questioning aimed in their direction was palatable enough. X remained wordless, instead walking through the nearby building's walls once again. They sat on their haunches just inside, waiting for the other esk to follow inside. Minutes passed, however, and X sat amongst the shelves and books alone. Back outside they returned, finding the other esk laying in defeat in front of the door.

X's towering form manifested in front of the esk. Aside from a twitch from one of the tufts of hair atop their head, the other esk did not react. As with many of their previous subjects, X's patience with their own creation stretched about as far as an aged, brittle rubberband. In almost a single motion, they reared and brought their front feet down upon the esk before them. While they phased harmlessly through the other spirit, the feeling and the booming word that followed caused the esk to jump several feet into the air while their fur stood on end.

Up.

Just as soon as the many-layered voice had uttered the single syllable, it and its owner vanished. When the startled esk landed back with their feet on the ground, the only things left to accompany them were the whistling wind and long empty buildings of their home.

For several minutes they stayed in that exact spot. To the right they looked, then the left. This instinctual action did little for them, the environment around them mere sandy mosaic.

And once more, they stood still.

They hadn't recognized any of the noises the other had made at them. They'd sounded like the noises the humans that came in and out of the building often used to make. Sometimes the noises used at them would coalesce into something meaningful. Their name, shoo, lunch.

Their name... what was it the humans had called them? They'd heard it so many times before, but as the creature attempted to sort through the sounds they knew, it forever escaped the reaches of their mind. They took a moment to puzzle this.

The esk lacked the words to dive deeper, but the feeling of unfamiliarity persisted all the same. Something was off.

They stepped back forward to the door, stretching out their front legs as high as they would go to continue sharpening their claws. But their paws met not with wood, but dusty linoleum as they fell forward.

Their torso now stood on the other side of the door. Around the place they slowly looked, taking in the area they'd lost access to for weeks. Everything looked the same as they remembered, aside from the distinct lack of humans that used to fill the area. Nonetheless, they stepped forth and hopped on the front desk. They stared down at their food and water bowls before landing next to them and giving them a sniff. Empty.

Meow...?

That didn't sound right.

Mrrrowwww... Rrow?

Neither did that.

The sound caught in their throat, and refused to leave it. Their tail flicked a couple times, before abruptly twisting their torso to lick at their belly. Except their tongue didn't work. A pause followed. Their back leg began furiously peddling at their muzzle to no avail. Their front paws next took a turn, awkwardly pushing and pressing at their mouth to release it. This carried on for several more seconds until the creature gave up and flopped onto their side. They'd come back to it later.

As the night fell, the frustrated esk dozed off in that same spot. For several days this nap continued, though they did not know it, Without their old body's regulatory processes, or patrons marching in and out, little around them now could wake them.

Until, that is, the other esk returned.

Up.

The word was repeated with a softer tone this time, albeit still with an air of annoyance. The former cat lifted up their head in response, before rolling to their feet and arching their back in a deep stretch.

To X, they weren't a complete lost cause. The esk had at least figured out their incorporeal nature to some degree, to get into the building at all. Perhaps they could still learn, and better yet, tell them something about the humans that once occupied the place. Sometimes esk took much time to gain the full extent of their new abilities. X prayed that they did not waste the effort on this non-human creature and was determined, at least for the time, to extract as much knowledge from them as their teachings and dogged persistence would allow.