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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


    Always been within; any
    #1

    Tähti
    we are stars wrapped in skin

    The now-greying girl had always been the adventurous type, but her setback last year had at least made her a little bit more careful, she supposed.

    A warrior at heart, she had no intentions or desire to mingle with any kind of politics; unless her mother had been physically threatened, she would not have interfered. Let the kings and diplomats decide who is the enemy and who isn't - she'd go in the appointed direction to defend her home.

    So, usually, she would wing herself around to border. Battle the winds, attack a hawk just to have a thinking competitor, test her strength against a swaying tree. She had considered asking Kagerus to fight the panther that seemed to have clung to her side nowadays - but what if someone needed her just the day after she was healing from battle wounds? What if she died and came back as a newborn again? It would be so frustrating. Especially with only Baltas and Kagerus to support her. No. She needed more guards to have time for things like that.

    She would consider mocking with a Nerinian, of course. On the condition no real harm was done and that she would be battle-ready within a day or two. She'd eyed the border for a time, but then had reminded herself that she had been told Nerine was under contract with Loess and even though there had been a vague idea about the details, she couldn't be sure if no further information was exchanged between them.

    Perhaps just wait until that year was over.

    She landed in a familiar place, and grinned at herself. How young she had been, the last time she was here. In fact, it had been just before she had been exchanged to Nerine. There had been a fanged, invisible colt out here, probably a yearling by then, not much older than she was now. Back then it had meant the world. She wondered what he'd say if he recognized her and saw her body barely grown up. But he was a king now. Surely he had no time to toy around with young fillies any more.

    Shaking her head at the memory, she trotted further along the riverbank. There was a good chance she might find some Nerinians or Loessians here, or even kingdom-less dwellers that perhaps she could befriend. Or fight.

    Anything was fine, really.

    the light you are searching
    has always been within
    ©Vanilla Custard
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    #2

    Adria

    Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky

    Neither warrior nor diplomat and not exactly a kingdom member persay, but Adria is Adria and for this interaction, perhaps it will do. A lazy youth spent out in the Ischian sea becomes her: unlike her dam before her the nereid girl was born a water nymph and so the archaic, mythic beauty of her type is evident in her features when she pops a curious forehead and two ears out from the crystalline, freezing river. Eyeing the black filly that roams these banks, she blinks two periwinkle eyes and decides that of all the horses she could come across in her many swims, this one is seemingly the less-dangerous type.

    Adria knows well that other water dwellers rule the inland passageways, and not all of them are approachable or appropriate for a girl her age.

    “I like your wings!” The tri-colored buckskin inevitably calls out, rising a tad further from the surface so that all her shoulders, neck, and head become visible. She sports no fish tail and she doesn’t paddle to keep afloat; her powers within do well enough to keep her stationary and bobbing in place, though the shimmering glint of scales can be seen here and there about her skin. “I bet it’s amazing … flying that is.” She finishes, losing some of her initial gusto for fear that the ebony girl will react harshly to such a lame greeting.

    Aside from her own insanely reclusive family, and the one trip to the playground, she’s not had much in the way of interaction.

    “I’m Adria - like the Adriatic Sea, Adria - what do they call you?”



    @[Tähti]
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    #3

    Tähti
    we are stars wrapped in skin

    She had not seen the ears or eyes poking out of the river - of course she hadn’t been paying attention to it. She shock-stopped at the sudden voice, a girl in the water, not exactly moving, but shimmering with scales magically floating in place. Tähti blinked, then ruffled her feathers. ”Yeah, I guess so.” Her mind was still processing the girl floating in the water, but when she spoke to tell her about her name, the dark grey filly nods.

    ”Uh, nice to meet you. I’m Tähti. Mother says it means star,” she explains and looks up as if attenpting to see the one star marking she has on her forehead, she knows it’s there but quickly returns her gaze to the watery filly. ”I didn’t know there were horses in the water? Do you breathe underwater like a fish?” her curiosity quickly overcomes her, and she wonders if she girl is maybe made like a fish much like she herself is partly a bird. Her tail swished at the analogy, knowing that a lot of birds prey on fish, but she dismisses the thought. She’s a guard, not a predator.

    the light you are searching
    has always been within
    ©Vanilla Custard


    @[Adria] sorry to keep you waiting, I had a busy week (:
    Reply
    #4

    Adria

    Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky

    “Tähti, like a star.” Adria considered quietly, and though the black filly can’t see it herself her companion understands exactly why. A shy sort of smile rises to the water-girl’s lips, watching the young pegasus on shore strain her eye towards the center of her head. Tähti, to Adria at least, is decidedly good then. Certainly hesitant as anyone would be at first, but intrigued enough by their obvious differences to alleviate the little Ischian’s growing boredom at home. “I can.” The buckskin replies, “I think I could live down there if I wanted, really. Mother does more n’half the time.” She shrugs, not seeing the grandeur of it all like Nyxa did.

    Most likely because she herself couldn’t commune with the animals who inhabited those deep places. Her dam would be off for days at a time, helping out a pod of whales or mending a coral somewhere, all thanks to her chatty ability with the fish and such. Without being able to understand the sea creatures, Adira could only feel the vast emptiness of a world cut off from the air-breathers and their kind.

    “Um apparently there are others like me, but not so … gentle.” The filly in the water shivers. Without so much as blinking an eye, the brisk rapids around her lift her spindly, lovely legs clear of the surface (like an animal half-encased in glass) and then they slide down again, wrapping around her pale hooves to push her effortlessly to shore. Adria herself never lifts a foot, only rides the impossibly small wave as a statuesque seahorse would until her suspended feet dock on the pebbled shore.

    “Are there lots of other flying horses, where you’re from?” She asks, edging closer to the dark female. The possible sensation of the feathers fascinates her; they look like ebony silk with the bare winter sun gleaming down on them. “I’ve only ever seen a colt with leathery-type wings.” She blushes, ignorant at first that perhaps the other girl might not enjoy her nearness, “Yours look so soft!”



    @[Tähti]
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    #5

    Tähti
    we are stars wrapped in skin

    The greying filly looks curiously as the water-girl tells her she could live underwater. "I've only seen the bottom of the lake from afar, and that's because the water's clear back home." she offers, fascinated by the ease with which the other girl moves - or, not-moves really. Named for a sea, she understands perfectly why, just as the sea-girl knows why Tähti earned her name.

    Adria tells her that -apparently (she probably hasn't met them yet and must be lucky)- there's not-so-gentle others; Tähti nods. "Your shape has nothing to do with being gentle or aggressive. That's entirely you." she tells - a small signal that her bodily age is surpassed by her mind, but otherwise she does not seem to show much.

    She cocks her head at the small water display, but when Adria lands super-close her fur bristles a hearbeat; but she knows the girl is as harmless as they come, although with abilities. At the question, she nods. "My mother had them. They've changed but, that's where I got mine. My little brother also, and auntie Lace." She thinks about it. "And several of her children, too. I guess mountains attract bird-horses." she jokes. She ruffles the feathers, then stretches her one wing towards Adria. "Softer than leather for sure." she tells her with a laugh.

    the light you are searching
    has always been within
    ©Vanilla Custard


    @[Adria] awh she's starting to look/act like her mother haha
    Reply
    #6

    Adria

    Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky

    Tähti is remiss to Adria’s lack of social interaction, a fact that makes it all so much simpler to be around the winged girl. She mentions a lake, which in turn sparks the Ischian traveler’s curiosity. “A lake, like Hyaline?’ The spotted filly considers, her mind conjuring images of the landmark her own mother had described many times before. Nyxa had been born in the neutral kingdom long ago and had visited in her youth to ensure the fish population there was healthy and happy. The name Ilma arose in that story - a white pegasus, who’d been so kind and understanding of her mother’s needs when it came to the water creatures. Having never been there herself, Adria still longed to someday visit those peaceful shores.

    Perhaps Tähti knew a thing or two.

    “Wisely put!” The water-mare says instead, when her flying companion mentions it’s the mettle of a person that makes them, not the shape. Adria’s own dam would love to hear such sensibilities coming from a horse her age: it meant that Adria should be sensible too. Still, there’s a hint of laughter that bubbles up between them when Tähti mentions how mountains attracted the pegasus, much like the oceans attracted the kelpie. It just seemed natural and expected of them to gather where their elements could help them flourish. “Do you think it has something to do with where we settle, too?” She ponders aloud, nonsensically filling the air while she brushes an appreciative nose over the ebony primary feathers.

    “When my dam was a child she could change into a wolf, but in her horse shape she had wings! Wings made of water.” Adria recounts. “She grew up to be a Nereid, losing her wolf forever.” She says, this time a bit sad. It would’ve been glorious to see her sweet, private mother in the form of such a ferocious predator, with red fur and bright points.

    “Makes me wonder how much we’ll change when we get older.” Adria sighs, pulling away from the extended wing. “I’m from Ischia, by the way.”



    @[Tähti]
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    #7

    Tähti
    we are stars wrapped in skin

    Curiously, the young woman in a filly's body watches as the younger (but older-looking) water creature reacts to her words. She seems to be thinking of something, but doesn't talk about it. Instead, she continues to talk about their different shapes, and asks if that influences where they settle. Hmm, she's much like Lullaby once, sparking all kind of philosophical questions in the raven-winged girl. "I suppose..." she thinks aloud, and moves her wing when Adria brushes against it. She giggles. "That tickles."

    Adria however, hasn't stopped talking, and the greying filly lets her. About her mother, who once was a wolf, but not any more, and used to have wings but now is a Nereid. That must be what Adria's shape is called too, then. The black-greying filly cocks her head at the assumption that she'll change, too, and then shrugs a little. Tähti had never had the opportunity to grow up and change. Suddenly wonders if she ever will. And so she hardly reacts to the filly's words about being from Ischia, although they register somewhere; she's an ally then, so not problem that they're talking out here.

    But should she tell Adria about her dying and coming back as a baby? Probably best if she didn't.

    the light you are searching
    has always been within
    ©Vanilla Custard


    @[Adria]
    Reply
    #8

    Adria

    Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky

    All this chattering on her end and Tähti stays contently quiet, which soon leads to Adria shutting her mouth and glancing away in embarrassment. A fatal flaw in her design was that the seahorse had abundant interest in all matters possible or impossible, and of secret places or hidden things, but not enough courage to strike out on her own and discover them. Only when she feels comfortable in the company of others can she relax and try to be herself, and that’s not always everyone’s cup of tea either. Lose-lose, but hopefully the darkish pegasus will forgive her lapse in decorum.

    After being alone with her family for so long, it would seem that Adria had stored up plenty of things to say.

    “You can tell me to shut up, it’s alright.” She tries, glancing sideways back towards Tähti. “I’ve just never really left the island and I’m … pretty desperate to explore Beqanna.”

    Perhaps her companion had a sense of wanderlust too? “Is there anywhere you haven’t been with those wings?” She asks, fashioning a demure smile that seemed to lighten every curve of her innocent face. If all the talk was boring, she’d be more than willing to exchange it for a bit of action with another explorer like herself. Easy enough since there wasn’t much else to do.



    @[Tähti]
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    #9

    Tähti
    we are stars wrapped in skin

    The black-maned girl shakes her head at her buckskin companion. ”Don’t worry about that. I don’t mind listening.” she grins, and looks at her new friend thoughtfully. Exploring, huh, that’s what she was doing now? Or was it more of a getting-away-from-my-family kind of thing? Not that the greying yearling minded.

    ”So why didn’t you go all the way up the river to the lake yet?” she wonders. ”It’s only a sanctuary kingdom, nobody would bite your head off. Or maybe... well, you can just whinny at the border and ask nicely.” she grins. She wouldn't be actually holding off because of it being a kingdom, right? Right?

    The younger girl then seems to think Tähti must be very world-wise. But when she thinks of it, she hardly ever leaves. She guesses she never really had the time. ”I haven’t been far, really. I lived in Nerine for a time, and I haven’t explores much further than the river on my own. I like to get home before dark, usually.” she shrugs, then wonders about her conversation partner. ”How fast do you travel in the water?”

    the light you are searching
    has always been within
    ©Vanilla Custard


    @[Adria] I made it a bit more of a post than just dialogue (:
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    #10

    Adria

    Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky

    Oh, she held off very much because of the fact that the eastbound land was a kingdom. Lake or not, a horse was subject to the mercy of territories considered private if they entered like a snake in the shadows. Personally she’d hate to be branded a trespasser, but Tähti’s assurance that Hyaline was in fact a sanctuary kingdom lightened the sense of fear Adria harbored over swimming there.

    The dark filly talks of Nerine, a place the Ischia girl knew only by name, and then she comments on the encroaching afternoon, seemingly desiring to be home before nightfall (something Adria could fully sympathize with) though the notion of this budding friendship ending so suddenly pushed a gentle frown onto the sabino’s normally upturned lips.

    Until Tähti poses a question that suspiciously sounded like an invitation to travel along with her. “I think you’d be surprised at just how fast I travel.” The nereid grins, a turnaround from her earlier disappointment. Encouraged by the friendly pegasus, she chirps, “In fact I’m up for a race … if you think you can keep up.”

    Without another word, the seemingly perfect water-horse backpedals over stones in a hurry. She seems like a rather normal thing on land, but as soon as her hooves meld into the river water grace and unnatural command of her power transform her. The Ischian slips below a bubbling surface and rockets upstream in a mad dash, directly headed for the heart of Hyaline.



    @[Tähti] I figure Tähti can reply in a new thread in Hyaline if she wants, or I’ll just throw an open post up in Hyaline to get them into present-day Smile ADRIA MADE HER FIRST REAL FRIEND
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