here I go again on my own; Pteron - Printable Version +- Beqanna (https://beqanna.com/forum) +-- Forum: Explore (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1) +--- Forum: The Common Lands (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=72) +---- Forum: Meadow (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=3) +---- Thread: here I go again on my own; Pteron (/showthread.php?tid=25593) |
here I go again on my own; Pteron - wander - 11-17-2019 Time is but a construct of hours and months that pass by in a collection of years. Enough of which that she has lost count of them. She is grown, for all that that matters - slight and small, besides the horns atop her head that look dangerous and impressive. Dandelion puffballs decorate her mane and tail, trailing seeds that have managed to come loose like wishes from shut lips and locked hearts.
She barely remembers here. Has tried to forget because her failures have amounted to much more than her successes. So she did as her moniker suggested - she wandered, high and low, and so very, very far away. But something made her come back; something always makes them come back. Like a beacon in the bloodline that shines as bright as the sunrise here, and so, the pale apricot mare answered it.
Of course the snow melt preceded her, so that she is ushered forth on paths of slush and mud. It adds to the road-dust matting her pale apricot fur and dulls the tangles of her dark hair. Wander doesn’t care, she has never bothered much with how she looks and presents herself. In that regard, she takes after her father more than her father and she presumed the lovers are lost in each other’s gazes and a forest or field somewhere.
Funny, she hasn’t thought of them much until crossing that threshold that declares here as home. It seemed all of Beqanna could be home to her and not just the Pampas she grew up in. Wander frowns, it is mildly becoming on her grownup face, because she has not spared this place a single thought during her wandering. Why now, upon her return, does she think so much of it?
Her stride shortens, slows, and finally stops altogether. It hits her in that moment - home, yes but something else too. Something that she has not acknowledged in so long - him, and his name flies into her brain on swift wings and refuses to depart. Wander is caught off guard by her reaction, near visceral like a punch to the gut. Timid, something that she has never been before, her mouth parts and the tiniest softest murmur falls out, “Pteron?”
One might think she’d summon family to her side first. Not her. She calls for her oldest and dearest and only friend (and childhood crush). The pale apricot mare did not look too closely at why she said his name and not anyone else’s. She didn’t want to examine herself that closely. Instead, she fidgeted and tries to graze but the grass disinterested her and so, she settled her gaze on the horizon as if expecting to hear the call of some other adventure in case he didn’t show.
@[Pteron] ❤️
RE: here I go again on my own; Pteron - Pteron - 11-17-2019 RE: here I go again on my own; Pteron - wander - 11-19-2019 Time passes, though she doesn’t count it in heartbeats or the slow measured breaths that she takes. Bits and pieces of dandelion fluff drift by her face, freed by little spring breezes that play with her darkened hair. Her eyes follow the fluff and seed pods; tracking their paths through the air. She almost smiles, knowing that she’ll be able to account for the dandelion-scourge that’ll pop up next year.
It never occurs to her to look to the skies for him. Of course he had started to master flying just before she left but Wander doesn’t think of these things; she’s too earthbound too care. Besides, there are just as many winged shadows racing over the ground as there are regular shadows that roll through the grass. And she’s too entranced by the dandelion bits that go floating by, like her thoughts and time and so, so much.
She doesn’t notice his landing, not until her name grabs at her ears and she focuses back on the meadow instead of on distant adventures. Her eyes brighten as his cream-and-blue self canters towards her and she charges to meet him, laughing and shouting his name, “Pteron!” Wander has only ever felt such rushes of happiness like this when she discovers something new, like a place or a token of such - twig, shell, or the like.
They come together in a gentle collision of color; necks wrapping around one another in an embrace. “You thought what?” She asks him, chuckling and grinning and thinking that she’s never been happier unless it’s scaling the tallest peak of shimmying down the slipperiest dune. He pulls back and she gets a good look at him - grown, handsome, clean and she laughs, knowing she must look a mess but she wouldn’t be Wander if she didn’t look like that.
She is curious about his unfinished thought but it’s easily forgotten in the midst of the kiss to her cheek. It sends a rush of heat through her, awakening that old childhood crush she’s always had on him and only him. Except she’s never mentioned it, their friendship is far more valuable to her than anything else. She just smiles, bumps him with her nose because she was never very affectionate unless it was with him, but she’s a little shy now and that’s new to her.
“I am so glad to see you too and I’ve missed you so much! There’s so much to catch up on, and I’ve got all the time in the world to do so. How about you?” She can’t imagine all the things he’s seen or done, or how they didn’t do them together but that’s neither here nor there. Wander is back for now and she’s in the company of her best friend, what more could she ask for?
@[Pteron] ❤️
RE: here I go again on my own; Pteron - Pteron - 11-19-2019 RE: here I go again on my own; Pteron - wander - 12-18-2019 His teasing had been something that she missed, as his teeth move across her jawline, tickling just a little and making her grin all the more. She’d never had this kind of camaraderie with the brood of siblings that came after, usually in pairs of two that made her question her parents’ sanity. But with him, it was always something special - that kind of bond that survives growing up and is so easy to come back to.
No, she’d never made an admission to them being more than the very best of friends. She never wanted to lose his friendship because she cherished it above all else, even though his charms and flirtations are quick and delightful. Wander chalks them up to his character - he wouldn’t be who he is without them! But they stir things in her that only adults feel, turning childhood crushes into more.
He is ever so quick to just press himself into her and she laughs at his nosy intrusion into her mane. It is the easiest way to discern what she has been up to, given that she probably needs a good long soak in a hot spring or river to rid herself of all the road dust. Then again, why wash away the marks of her travels? Worn like badges of pride and circumstance. Oh the tales she could tell him!
Oh! His rueful admission makes her heart stutter and the breath stop in her lungs. She’d never meant to cause him any aggravation like that! Wander looks at him, unable to recover her smile in just that moment; “I’d never be able to stay away forever.” She almost wanted to tell him that he should know that but how could he?
Wander knew that she hadn’t even had the heart to tell him goodbye or ask him to come with her. How could she blame him for thinking that? His assurance of time for her is enough to pull her up out of the doldrums of her own making and she smiles at him once more. “Good, I would hate to think you could have gotten too busy for little ol’ me.”
Teasing, light and airy on Wander’s own way as she gives him a quick nip to his neck, marveling at how he’s always been the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. Then he kisses her and it’s like the world sets itself to rights, even if it was just a friendly kiss. “Heir, huh? Do you really want to rule? Seemed to me like you always wanted to fight and fly and explore,” she chuckles, unable to imagine him as a king and chained down by so much responsibility.
She knew he would do it though, and excel at it because that was just who he was. He never seemed to back down from a challenge and he’d view his kingship as that, at least until he tired of it and hungered for a different kind of fight.
“Oh all over and yes, way outside Beqanna. I’m sorry, I should have told you I was going and at least said goodbye so you didn’t worry.” for once, Wander couldn’t meet his eyes. Here stood her bestest friend in the entire universe and she couldn’t even tell him how that quest to heal the whole of Beqanna from the plague had broken something inside her. Something that she had left in search of and still hadn’t found, so the hole was healing up all jagged and wrong.
It still felt raw, bruised, and left her looking wilder than before, even as she turned her face back to him and flashed him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
@[Pteron] ❤️
RE: here I go again on my own; Pteron - Pteron - 12-28-2019 |