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  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    my heart never stops beating for you -- ivar
    #1
    the night is my companion, and solitude my guide.
    She follows him with timidity and delicateness all her own, picking her way carefully through the forest as they begin to take their leave. She may have been frightened leaving the forest, but with the strong and beautiful stallion beside her, she does not have room for fear. She has traveled to different places before, but she realizes that with Ivar, the traveling was much more exhilarating. The warmth of summer’s sun brought to life the world around them, the grasses they walk through a brilliant green with dots of wildflowers. She watches curiously as the landscape slowly changes from forest to mountain, the rocky crags of Loess just on their horizon.

    Augusta hopes that Ivar did not mind the moments she often would press the silvery-grey of her body against him, the dark charcoal of her lips listlessly brushing against the smooth scales that glitter on his shoulders and neck. She cannot help but be drawn to him; a ghost-like figure of her past and yet the one who will bring her into a new future - one that is not filled with loneliness and shadows, but of warm touches and gentle words, the feeling of being wanted and needed

    They arrive to Loess just as the sun begins to set behind the jagged outcroppings of rocks, and her stormy eyes wistfully glance up to take in the new sights - and oh, the smell. Flourishing flora has taken up residence here, varying in color and size. It is so much different than the forest and the excitement that alights in her eyes also permeates through her body as her dark and slender legs bring her forwards to walk shoulder to shoulder with her Ivar, her dark forelock falling across her bright eyes. “Are we here?” she whispers delicately into the warm flesh of his cheek, her voice soft as the depths of twilight begin to cover all of Loess.

    Gentle and soft orbs of light begin to blink lazily around them, and at first glance, they were perhaps fireflies floating above the earth. But Augusta knew better; in her excitement and sheer adrenaline, she had unknowingly created the tiny lights that now hover throughout where they walk, their legs bumping against their soft light. She laughs curiously; she cannot remember the last time her ability showed itself on its own, and with a shy smile she pushes her nose against one of the twinkling lights; watching as it drifts away from her and alights itself into the depths of Ivar’s smoky mane. 


    @[Ivar]
    #2

    I V A R
    i'll use you as a makeshift gauge of how much to give and how much to take
    The humid air is thick with information, and Ivar is quiet as they walk. He takes it all in as they move deeper into Loess: the direction of the wind, the movement of the birds overhead, the way that Augusta brushes up against him.

    Far from minding, the pied stallion mimics her moments of contact. A brush here, a nudge to direct her at a crossroad, a lingering press to guide her attention to the jewel bright hummingbird before it flits away. Ivar does not press further, doesn’t test her boundaries further (at least for now). A part of him is tracking the nearest water, always read to crowd her down into blissful darkness, but he does not comply. That is not his strongest drive, after all, not anymore.

    Instead, the kelpie is occupied by other things as they press further into his kingdom, and it is not until she whispers to him that he refocuses on the mare beside him.

    His pale legs slow to a halt as a firefly flickers past him, but as the tiny light remains steady, he turns his head to find it again. He’s not seen that before, and as his brown eyes focus, he realizes that it is not a firefly at all, but simply a bit of light hanging in the air.

    She is laughing beside him, her face bright but her smile shy.

    “Are they stars?” he asks, for what else could they be, little bits of night magic brought down to the earth? Ivar had not even fathomed the possibility of such a thing until now, but Augusta nudges a glowing orb as though it is the most common of occurrences. The stallion is very still, cautious of the thing as it comes closer. It remains, harmless and weightless, in his tangled hair, and he looks back to meet her with delighted curiosity on his face.


    king of loess
    minimal smoky grullo tobiano | equus kelpus

    #3
    the night is my companion, and solitude my guide.
    His touch is gentle upon her silvered skin; he is almost delicate with her as he guides her deeper into Loess, hushed and quiet as they enter together. Augusta finds comfort within every glimmer of his sparkling muzzle against her flesh, warm and as smooth as the stones at the bottom of the river, and as strong as the current there. He is resilient and stoic in the way he comes to a halt beside her, his eyes reflecting the gentle light of the orbs that float gently before them. 

    He is unsure, which breaks her smile for a moment as it fades into concern, quick to step closer to him and brush her charcoal lips against the one alighted in his mane, proving to him the harmlessness in her ability. “I like to think so,” she murmurs into his neck, the thickness of his mane tickling against her own breath, concern still flowering within the irises of her storm-grey irises. The orb within his mane bounces at her touch, and she removes her muzzle from him with the tiny light perched on the bridge of her nose. She lifts her slender head, nose to the sky, and the star floats away from her, continuing onwards instead of hovering lazily at their ankles like the others.

    “I forgot I could do that,” she whispers aloud, her eyes hold a mixture of thoughtfulness and sadness as the orb disappears into the night-strewn sky. When had she last created her light - chasing away shadows and replacing them with her own creation? Her shadows - bringing the darkness out on her own accord, with its own shape and power? Her shadow prince had told her she hadn’t needed them - her light and her shadow, because she had him. She wonders what else she could remember, if she only flexed the muscles in her mind into memory, but suddenly feels extremely timid. With a gentle smile, she lowers her head to look at the handsome stallion before her, noticing that the soft slope of her shoulder is still tucked in perfectly behind the muscularity of his own. Her eyes fall downward to focus on tending to the dark and tangled parts of his mane with her lips. 

    “Ivar?” She pauses to whisper his name, hesitant as her voice leaves her lips. “will I be alone if I stay here?” Are there others? Will you be here?


    @[Ivar]
    #4

    I V A R
    i'll use you as a makeshift gauge of how much to give and how much to take
    Augusta is quick to reassure him, and he follows the progress of the little star as she sends it up into the sky. Ivar has never seen anything quite like it before, and he watches it with open wonder. The natural world is full of more spectacles than he can imagine, and Beqanna is even more fantastic. There seems no end to the spectacular things in his world, but he finds these little hovering stars to be one of his favorites.

    “They remind me of the lantern fish,” he says aloud, more to himself than to the roan mare beside him. And they do, little floating bits of light in the darkness. Her lips at his mane bring the kelpie’s attention back to Augusta herself, and he smiles as he tugs her a bit closer to him with a draping of his neck across her own. “Though I must say, you’re far less fearsome looking than they are.”

    Her concerns surprise him, but it does not show in his face (even if it had, she can see his face no more than he can see hers with their positioning).

    “Only if you want to be,” Ivar answers without hesitation. He often does, but there is something in the way that she had asked that makes him wonder if she wants the opposite. “There are others here though, if you want company. Heda, Ichor, Jhene.” The kelpie lists them easily, the names of his women. Each has their own unique allure, a reason that Ivar keeps them close. Augusta, with her stars and the reminder of his childhood, she is special too – unlike anyone else. Ivar intends to keep her as well, though he hopes she will not be unhappy.


    king of loess
    minimal smoky grullo tobiano | equus kelpus

    #5
    the night is my companion, and solitude my guide.
    He is enthralled with her magic, his eyes tracing the movement of the one she had sent into the sky, to join the stars that had begun to peek out from behind the cloak of daylight. The sun’s descent is almost finished, the horizon before them painted with oranges and pinks of dusk, allowing the allure of the evening sky to expand above them. She likes that he enjoys her stars, and a shy smile alights on the softness of her muzzle. An autumn chill of wind greets them, causing her lights to waver in the breeze, and a shiver to spiral along her spine. It is just at this moment that he draws her in, draping his strong neck around her in an embrace that is both protective and warm, and she curls herself into it, sighing contentedly.

    “Lantern fish?” she repeats quietly, her dark eyes flickering to the unique scales that decorate every inch of his muscled hide. “I don’t think I’ve seen any of those in the river. They look like my stars?” He’s made her curious, his talk of an underwater creature that she isn’t sure she’s ever heard of before, and she quietly wonders how he has come to find what they are himself. “Can you show me them?” she asks him thoughtfully, murmuring into his skin, enjoying the way her voice is muffled against his shining black and ivory scales. She has no idea her request is outrageous, or that the fish resides in the deepest and blackest parts of the ocean, or that Ivar could grant her this request if she truly wished it.

    His stoicism is attractive, she decides. He is sturdy and unwavering, a pillar of strength for an otherwise frail and mild woman. She feels safe and cared for (a notion that she did not realize she truly craved), and sees no reason as to why she wouldn’t stay here in Loess with him. He is beautiful, and so is his country. “I love company,” she assures him, and she speaks truthfully (she feels as if she couldn’t lie around Ivar even if she wanted to). If Ivar found herself suitable for his home, then she rests assured that he would only choose others like her, and a trill of a flutter in her chest lets her know that she is more than happy to meet the others.

    Perhaps there is a sense of family here, she thinks. Perhaps she would never have to return to the forest.

    “I think - I think I’d like it here, Ivar. If you’d want me to stay.”


    @[Ivar]
    #6

    I V A R
    i'll use you as a makeshift gauge of how much to give and how much to take
    She mentions latern fish in the river and Ivar smiles.

    “You wouldn’t see any in the river” he says with a chuckle, “They live in the very darkest part of the ocean. ” Augusta might like to wade in the river, perhaps even swim, but she could never see the lantern fish. At least, she would never see them shining like her stars. By the time he could bring her one, the glow would have disappeared like stars into the dawn.

    Company, she says, she loves company. Ivar does as well – though the desire is seasonal – and Augusta is likely to find companions here in the rolling hills. Most are quite like her. Gentle, quiet, calm. Unique, as well, Ichor with her eyes and gills, spotted Kindred, sweet Heda. There are exceptions, of course (Trissy is not someone he imagines will ever be especially close to someone like Augusta), but they are few.

    “I think you would do very well in Loess.” Ivar tells her honestly. She would, the land is a good one.



    king of loess
    minimal smoky grullo tobiano | equus kelpus



    i’m wrapping up most of Ivar’s threads for plot and timeline reasons; I am so sorry it takes me forever to reply to threads D:




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