"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
10-08-2018, 11:33 PM (This post was last modified: 10-08-2018, 11:33 PM by litotes.)
litotes
Litotes had not been in Hyaline long before he began to feel as if it was home. His heart is not entirely open but he can feel himself beginning to breathe again - his constricted lungs were clearing of the suffocating tar he had allowed to build up. The land’s air was so crisp and untouched! How could his lungs not feel free? Each new breathe excited Lie in the most private, sunken parts of his mind. The days he had spent in Hyaline were beginning to rip away his armored facade.
The crystalline lake that Lie has become so fond of spreads before him. With an imperceptible huff, he walks into the always-brisk water. Even in midst of the summer, Hyaline’s mountains maintain a comfortable temperature - that was one of the qualities it possesses that Litotes loves. The cremello stallion is ankle deep when he stops, dropping his head to sip from the near-perfect water.
As much as Litotes has convinced himself that he is content alone, a sharp twinge of something he cannot quite place spreads through his chest. Warlight is the only other creature he has met since happening upon Hyaline, and he has not seen her since. Was that swift, acute inkling longing? Does he miss her? Does he miss the idea of another? Perhaps he has gotten a taste of being drawn out of his shell, and he needs more. Perhaps he will ignore everything he was considering and run recklessly into the lake. He does the latter.
Litotes forces his way through the water, pushing forth until his hooves no longer touch the rocky floor. When deep enough, he drops his head below and pumps his legs. He stays there until his lungs can take more, ripping through the surface and facing the sky with his maw. He heaves, chest driving up and down and up and down. The sound of his breathe calms him. Litotes thinks no more.
To another, he may look like he is playing: dipping and diving, not staying under long enough to appear suicidal (though that is what he is closer to). Engrossed in suppressing his thoughts, Lie swims about, unaware of his surroundings.
i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right
Hyaline’s resident thrillseeker loves the crystal blue alpine lake. Though her adventures lead her all over the mountainous kingdom she she knows the quickest way back to the lakeshore from every point in the territory. Today she has been eating wild plums in a knot of trees tucked a little further up the valley, she searches diligently in the grass or plucks from the branches the sweet summer fruits. She doesn’t have too many. Not wanting the sugary treats to leave her ill, these are one pleasure that she knows better than to overindulge in. No one else came up to eat the plums, or to visit with her. As much as she liked plums and hiking the mountain range the mustang girl did find herself easily bored by solitude.
Kensa had already made a few friends. Despite being rugged and a bit unpredictable she is feminine and charming. People notice Kensa, and not just because she forces them to with the sheer strength of her gregariousness. There will be love for her, never too little, probably too much. She has enough passion in her to meet the tide, to match it, even overtake it. If she stays out of her own way, that is.
Making her way away from the plum trees she follows a well worn path that cuts over the rolling fields of the high valley and in very little time deposits her on the north side of the lake. Leaping from the shore she lands sure footed in the silty shallows and then quickly roams in deeper, hooves sliding against long submerged stones, until the cold water laps against her ribs, cooling her dark hide that had grown warm beneath the summer sun. Lowering her head to drink, Kensa is almost immediately startled by something bursting through the surface in a roaring intake of breath. Ripples spread over that waters surface and a look of surprise is plain on her blazed face as she openly stares at the drenched stallion. Water streams from his face and cords his pale mane, and she watched for a few moments without alerting him to her presence.
She knows of other cremello horses in Hyaline but the stallion is unfamiliar to her. She had not realized she was sharing the lake with anyone, he must have submerged just before she crested the last hill before leaping into the water. She realizes how rude it is to stand and stare, and hoping she isn’t intruding lets the water carry her voice to the stallion who swims in the deeper lake. ”Hello.” She thinks about asking him if he’d gotten water in his ears, but she’d never seen anyone swim like this, diving down and bursting back up and it sits wrong with her though she doesn’t say so or give herself away. Or maybe she does, because she tucks her chin with a shy certainty that she doesn’t often display. Sunlight glimmers off the rippling surface all around Kensa, throwing prisms back into their eyes.
i'm burning like a fire gone wild on saturday
guess i won't be coming to church on sunday
i'll be waiting for love to come around
10-16-2018, 10:28 PM (This post was last modified: 10-16-2018, 10:30 PM by litotes.)
litotes
Memories flood his mind - each traumatic scene flickers for a moment and then disappears. This is who he is: a young man, barely a man, broken (but not yet lifeless) . . . entirely unable to escape the hellhounds of his past nipping at his heels. Even beneath the surface of the lake, where the deafening silence of the water in his ears usually calms him, he now sees the faces of the family he turned his back on. They are mutilated, burned, desperate and seething . . . he wishes to make peace . . . this is anguish . . .
Litotes’ surfaces just in time to hear a shy hello echo in his clogged ears. He turns his head sharply, blinking several times to clear the water from his eyes and see the voice’s owner better. How embarrassed he feels, diving like a suicidal maniac in a lake he is so obviously not evolved to be in. Lie hurriedly paddles to where he can stand, planting his hooves hesitantly on the shifting stones. A long stare, silence, and then he dips his head bashfully. His eyes, lids drooping low, peer at the girl as if he is imploring for forgiveness. Water drip drops from his lashes, each second of his mania disappearing as the trickles reunite with their source.
She likens his father, coat-wise. Lie gets an overwhelming feeling of deja-vu, even more intense than usual, as if this moment has happened a thousand times in a thousand different reincarnations.
“Hi,” he replies softly, so terribly softly. Lie lifts his head slowly and shakes out the residual water. “I’m Litotes,” he speaks again, now a tiny bit more confident. He hopes he did not scare her, the slight concerned tuck of her chin whispers a million tiny hesitations to him.
“What’s your name? I hope I didn’t ruin the lake for you . . .” he finishes, offering her a demure smile.
i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right
Kensa’s topaz eyes are bright and wide, and she doesn’t utter a word as she watches the pale stallion draw into the shallower water and then stop once he can stand. He stares at her but she slowly relaxes again into her usual expression of open and honest interest once he comes out of the deep water, chin still tucked because she at first cannot decide if he is mournful or disappointed that she has caught or interrupted him out here alone. Water traces strange mazes through the hair on his face and neck, and the few moments of holding his brooding and yet sorrowful stare tug at her heart. She tamps the feeling down a little bewildered by it, and when he greets her again she pushes out into the deeper water nearer to him. Cold water laps at her ribs.
“ It’s Kensa. You haven’t ruined the lake for me, I was only surprised.” Dropping her head down she traces a little circle in the surface of the water, watching the ripples spread before breaking through them by wading in deep. The liver chestnut takes just a few steps closer so that she can extend her neck and offer her muzzle to him, nostrils flaring to catch his scent. “I interrupted your swim.” She states gently, but not apologetically. He seems lonely, and today she is rather lonesome herself.
“I haven’t seen you before.” Kensa says, but her tone is purely interested, she does love a discovery. “Have you been in Hyaline long?” Absently she draws closer still until she is almost parallel to him, close enough to toy with the soaking cords of his mane. She has never been quite as soaked as Litotes is now. So she wants to see what it looks like more closely. Not one bit of him is dray, and for a moment she wants to confirm that, to sink her muzzle against his neck and watch the droplets roll down his skin. Her heart thuds at the notion and the thrill of that thud almost makes her do it. Manners prevail however...to a degree... and she settles for looking back at him with her bright eyes.
i'm burning like a fire gone wild on saturday
guess i won't be coming to church on sunday
i'll be waiting for love to come around
10-22-2018, 10:17 PM (This post was last modified: 10-22-2018, 10:18 PM by litotes.)
litotes
Litotes watches Kensa with an open and curious survey. The fear and shame he felt moments before melts underneath the warmth of her eyes. Kensa draws closer and he does not even notice, so lost in her gaze he is. Each of her eyes are like their own little glittering and golden suns - Lie is now merely a planet orbiting the endless amounts they have to give. A crippling sensation - goosebumps all over - he knows what is to come (a flash, not a premonition but an instinct, she awakens an instinct).
Kensa . . . Her name twists and spins and performs all kinds of majestic dances across Lie’s mind. A smile creeps lazily up his face - of course he did not ruin the lake for her (how silly of him to even think so).
Ripples form in the water as the dark girl dips her mouth in. The pale man’s heart beats just a bit faster with each approaching ripple. Kensa suddenly steps forward, breaking the ripples quick and smooth lines. Lie holds his breathe, praying that she cannot hear his chest pulsing like he can feel it in every single one of his nerves. Just a few steps further and -
She is there - all over - so close and all Lie can do is close his eyes and lean into her sugary scent. Her voice breaks his hypnosis, words so gentle that the stallion is not even startled. He opens his eyes and peers at Kensa for just a split moment, nearly convinced she had hung the sun and moon herself. He stops his racing thoughts abruptly by turning his head from her as she shuffles even closer. It takes everything in his power to not lurch away (he has not longed for the touch of another in . . . well, ever). Lie breathes in deep as he listens to Kensa, desperate to center himself, wishing he could drift under the water once again.
Head now turned slightly to the side, still not meeting Kensa’s gaze but nearly facing her, Lie smiles (nearly smirks), and says, “I haven’t seen you either.” Surprised at the flirtatious and supple lilt of his voice, the cremello stallion swallows quickly and runs with that confidence: “I’ve been here a few weeks, I suppose - time flows in and out when you’re alone for so long.”
Litotes’ heart is now beating so fast he thinks it may come flying from his chest. He shifts his body and swivels his neck so that he may fully face Kensa, searching for the gaze that sent his mind asunder. They are so close now - one misstep and they may tumble into each other. Lie cannot help but smile again, his ears perked forward and at full attention.
“What about you, Kensa? Have you been here long?” he rumbles, voice soft and masculine, almost sounding as if the questions are mere placeholders for something else - poorly designed masks for the desire that roiled within. He leans forward a miniscule amount, so that their muzzle may be centimeters apart, wondering if she will draw away like his mind was screaming for him to do.
i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right
@[Kensa] wow she brings out so much lie muse......feel free to have her ignore his dumbass
The ripples of her motion fade away and the two of them are as still as stones while they regard one another and speak in the tip-toeing way of new acquaintances. Granted Kensa does stare at the boy like he is the most interesting thing she has ever seen, but that is just her way, her attention somehow everywhere and just here at the same time.
Here in the blue lake with a soaked cremello stallion Kensa is impressed by the quiet and the way the water amplifies their voices so that they can speak in lower tones to one another. So his reply comes across soft, flirtatious, just low enough to thrill, and a smile splits her lips without hesitation. A bright glow blooming in her chest, a happy side-effect of his sudden warmth. This first flirtation of her adult life is a headlong fall and it only takes a few words to ensorcell her. A gentle thread of regret threads through Kensa when he mentions loneliness but he moves on from this before she has to find some kind of appropriate reply. She’s already addicted to the rolling tones of his flirtation. His face turns towards hers and she is suddenly and acutely aware of their proximity. His breath mingles with her own over the surface of the water and her silvery voice is low, the words slowed by the strange new gravity between them. “A season or two, since the winter.”
Kensa’s eyes search his face, her heart tilting into a flight that she hasn’t often experienced in her 3 short years. She doesn’t close the distance between them and an ill-timed thud in her chest makes her wonder how they’d come to be in this exact position, though she doesn’t draw away. “Do you like it here?” Those murmured words leaving her lips without thought. Litotes’ attention feels good, and his handsome face turned close to hers beckons further closeness. The tumble of her heart urges her on, alive with craving to touch this almost stranger. His name is Litotes, and he swims sadly in her favorite lake in the whole world, and she wants to know him and be his friend...but she also wants something else, something that is burning brightly in his eyes that she breathlessly realizes are the mirror in shade of her own. Coincidence, but it is enough to tilt her face toward his. She doesn’t stop to wonder if they are alone or watch by all of Hyaline, only lets her lips hover precariously near his own.
i'm burning like a fire gone wild on saturday
guess i won't be coming to church on sunday
i'll be waiting for love to come around
Strangers - that is what the two are. Strangers that find themselves dangerously close and maybe intoxicated by a proximity neither of them have ever experienced. Litotes feels himself rushing headlong into an abyss - something that is dark and scary and completely unknown. He does not know how handle this (attraction - the first twinge of intimacy racing clumsily through his veins).
Their breathes swirl together when Kensa answers his question, and Lie smiles in response. He is happy to have found someone that has been in Hyaline awhile - someone that might love and understand its little nooks. Their gazes are locked, Kensa now speaking again - Lie barely listening, so lost and frightened by her golden eyes. Her aura is so inviting, so pleasant. How could he not expect to want to be near her upon their first meeting? It is silly, sure (Lie is a stranger to affinity, perhaps he is overreacting to the way she makes his heart beat).
Kensa’s face moves almost imperceptibly, leaving their lips so close that the edge of Lie’s vision goes fuzzy. He wants to blink away the stars but can’t bring himself to break his gaze with the beautiful girl. Lie’s thoughts race through his mind an unbelievable rate: Is this an invitation? Do I move my mouth just centimeters closer? My god, I want to know what that feels like . . . He wants to kiss her, to know her in that way - but he knows nothing of her, other than her name and her home. His instincts battle in just a mere second, before Lie nearly loses his shit and just reacts.
“I like it here, yes,” he whispers, “but I like it a lot more, now.” And in one tiny, important motion, Lie closes his eyes and leans in to brush his lips ever so lightly against Kensa’s. He doesn’t know who he is - the kind of person to attempt to a kiss another minutes into meeting. Before even registering if their lips touched, he pulls back with almost apologetic eyes and murmurs, “Oh, wow -” cut off by the panic he feels.
i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right
Their lips brush and a fire burns through Kensa’s face and now her neck, scorching where before there had only been a soft blush bloomed from his flirtatious words. Her breath leaves her like it has simply been vacuumed from her chest. The moment is fleeting and they both jerk back as if shocked. Tossing her flaxen capped head, the snorts and backs away a few steps. Oh, wow- He says and her eyes search his face and though she helped create the distance between him her look isn’t overwhelmed or offended, maybe perplexed and pleased are the best descriptors.
She doesn’t let him have time to finish speaking, to try and apologize--she’s known him ten minutes and already feels the apology coming-- but pushes through the water, past him toward the shore, a subtle indication that she expected him to follow. She’d have gone the other way, away, had she meant to retreat. Dripping, she bounds through the pebbled shallows and shakes herself quickly on the beach, hooves squelching in the rough sand and mud. She glances back at the stallion, watching him a moment, drawing him with gemstone eyes
When she takes off it is with the smallest expectation that he will not follow. That would be alright, maybe this has all been premature and they will need to start again however people normally do, or maybe not at all. Kensa is both patience and wildfire, she needs nothing from the boy in the lake but senses that he might just need something from her, or that she might have something to give him. So let him chase her, or let him go one without.
Kensa is hardy and and quick, and climbs away from the lake with a gallop that eats up the land and carries her swiftly toward the wildflower and ancient oaks that grow on the grassy hills above Hyaline’s rocky coast northwestern coast. When at last she slows, trotting a breathless circle through the bobbing heads of stringy blooms and waving fronds of grass she looks at once for Litotes. The flight having unwound the nervous energy in her chest and left only a desire to draw close to the cremello stallion and ask him all the questions that drew into her mind. To hear his answers in the low rumble that had fallen so sweetly on her waiting ears within the lake.
i'm burning like a fire gone wild on saturday
guess i won't be coming to church on sunday
i'll be waiting for love to come around
@[litotes] look wildflowers how cheesy, lets smooch.
Two topaz eyes seem to stare all the way into Litotes’ soul. He lifts one back leg to step away, but instead lets it float precariously under water. Neither of them are upset; neither of them says a word. In the two seconds that tick by, the stallion passes through an endless array of emotions. Shock, confusion, sorrow, delight - each miniscule droplet of life forcing his heart one beat faster - one beat, then two, then on and on, each into the other until he can no longer tell them apart. Kensa’s gaze - perpetually curious and understanding - keeps him there, keeps him from sprinting away as fast as his heart races.
Ever vivacious and alluring, Kensa launches through the water, out and away from Litotes. He spurs after her without thinking, coming to a stop when the water laps at his hocks. Every point in the burning boy’s body stands at attention - ears, eyes, every single muscle, all quivering in anticipation. When she looks back, Lie’s entire body relaxes in one fluid motion, and he bounds forth. He chases her with ease, rearing his head back to feel the wind whip his heavy mane behind him.
Hyaline passes by in a blur. The moments all dim into the next: green then blue, brown then gray, all swirling and colliding. Kensa is swift, deft hooves carrying her further and further into the land the two seem to love so much. Lie catches up to her, matching his pace exactly to hers - no look is exchanged, just the two of them in sync. He trails just slightly behind, his head at length with her withers. He admires the muscles there for just a second, drinking in the way they roll back in forth, smooth and powerful and never ending. He wants to bury his muzzle between her shoulders - feel them pulse with the post-adrenaline of their workout - and decides to himself he will get as close to her as possible when the time comes.
The hypnotism breaks and the breatheless stallion slows as Kensa takes the lead. She trots into a meadow swaying with wave upon wave of wildflowers. Lie grins and stops, admires her as she circles. He approaches bashfully, but ultimately presses himself into her, nuzzling where her mane meets her neck. There are no words left for him to say (in truth, he has no idea what to say - he cannot even place what he is feeling)
i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right
