we’re reeling through the midnight streets (any)

[Let]

Let

She’s been here before but never as one of the strays. Usually she would be plodding behind her mother, a determined look on the black and white healer’s face while she searches for various things; little Let always at her hip and rather bored. Let’s mother was done about a year ago and sent her daughter on ‘her own path’. Let did not cry or plead, because she is Kota’s kin she reacts the same way to harshness or heartbreak; with silence and grit. She knew it was coming and some part of her was relieved when her mother finally said it – but neither were anticipating the land’s rebellion, or the sickness spreading across. Let had become stranded while she wandered, she had avoided the field in hopes she would stumble upon something interesting in her solitude…maybe even a home or something to belong to. No such luck, though. 

So almost in desperation, but she would never admit so, she has washed up here in the emerald groves of the Field. She is a stray today, and she is clearly uncomfortable with it. She does not graze or poke around, but stands beneath a next copse of aspens, alert. The mare’s ears are pressed upright, head up, and her tail slightly raised between anxious slashes. 

She’s never liked this place or what it stands for, but she indeed needs somewhere to go.

<3

[magnus]

desire consumes me like a fire consumes me

In a lot of ways, this has been a long time coming.

This shedding of guilt, of weight, of everything that has so long held him down. It is a freeing feeling but also an unsettling one should he think on it too long—this buoyancy he feels, the freedom in letting go. It makes him quicker, sharper, but it doesn't change him fundamentally. He still spends his time patrolling his home. He still makes the now significantly longer trek to the field. He still upholds the duties that he has been trained for so long to uphold. He just doesn’t also bring the anchor of his regrets with him.

Today, he shortens his trip to the field, tearing out of Tephra first thing in the morning, dirt flying as his powerful haunches send him flying forward. He drives forward at an ever increasing speed, sweat darkening the gold of his coat and something like joy sharpening his eyes. He only pauses when it is absolutely necessary, when his breath comes in deep wheezes, his lungs protesting and muscles burning.

And even then, the pauses are brief.

It doesn’t take him terribly long to arrive in the field and even less time to see her, her coloring popping. A roguish smile tilts his lips upward as he makes his way toward her, breathing becoming more even although the run remains clear in the darkened colors of his body. “Hello there,” his whiskey voice is smooth and he dips his head in greeting, eyes sharpening on the anxious lines of her body.

“My name is Magnus.” He pauses, contemplating. “What brings you to the field today?”

good shouldn’t need to tempt us above

[Ruan]

the taigan

It felt as though he had been here only days ago, and yet he could see the way time had changed the environment. Familiar paths were overgrown and new ones worn down, trees larger and new flora spread around in different patterns than before.

Even still. It was just the same, wasn't it?

Strangely, it had been the way she held herself that caught his attention before her colors registered. Her head was high with a purpose, here for only one reason and not interested in staying long. He could only suspect that was to find a place to stay, but he wasn't one to assume, and so he turned in her direction.

A familiar gold stallion approached her first, and beneath his wolf-toned face Ruan smirked wryly. The man was relentless in gathering people for his Tephra. He was further amused, and proud to know him, when Magnus asked her what brought her to the field. Not one to assume either.

Ruan continued the rest of the way, his coat long and shaded like the wolf caged in his soul. A proud line of royal purple lined his spine and lay across his shoulders, and his bright blue eyes trained on her after a brief nod in greeting to Magnus. Her coat was interesting as if she'd been born white and a galaxy had fallen on her, blanketed her in its nebula teal in only the places it wanted to, replicating the galaxy pattern it may have once held in the sky.

"I am Ruan," he offered quietly as he joined them, his path bringing him to a halt nearer to the woman than to Magnus. "From the Taiga," he added simply in state of his homeland regardless if she was searching for one or not. It was where he was from, had been from since its birth in the Reckoning. It was who he was.

From the whip of her tail and her head held high, she didn't seem to want to be here. That was understandable.

"You've survived well in the spread of the disease," he commented approvingly instead of asking how she was doing. He had already answered it by observing her and he wasn't one to waste words. Then he fell politely quiet, curiously waiting to hear her answer to Magnus' question and whether either of them could help her in some way.

@[Let]

[Let]

Let

She was on to him by the time his burnt golden silhouette emerged into the northwestern corner of her vision. A snort blows abruptly from her tight, flared nose and one solid foot strikes at the ground. His approach is practiced, she gathers, he is smooth and dauntless. The evidence of his run wafts over her sensitive olfactories and she bends an ear, ready to hear him speak because clearly he is going to, as her ear bends backward she leans and takes a step in tentative retreat to his approach.

“Self-preservation.” She answers, turning her head to examine him with only one of her golden-glass eyes and tipping her forelock off to the other side. She does not include her name but notes his, absorbing the shapes, curves and colors of his image – taking in what small details and landmarks that mar his buckskin coat. This will come in handy later, she ponders internally; Magnus.

Her eyes snap quickly to gather the sounds of more feet coming their way and soon to follow the sound is the stranger himself. Everyone is out hunting today. The blue of his sharp gaze found hers and she let it stay as he came to stand politely beside Magnus. Clearly they’re familiar with one another. Let does not relax her posture even as she examines the waves of gray and the vibrant crest of purple coloring new male’s fur. Ruan. His name is filed away and her eyes sip at his details just as she did with Magnus just moments before.

“My name is Let.” she exhales, switching her gaze between them. “And I need a home.” her ears fall nonchalantly back, but do not pin. “Tell me about your homes, then.” Her tone is rigid, but milky, the tenseness still sharpening the edges of her words.

@Ruan @[magnus]

[magnus]

desire consumes me like a fire consumes me

Magnus is not entirely surprised when he sees the wolfish stallion make his way toward them.

Something like a brotherly grin warms his features, gold-flecked eyes brightening. His interactions with the other had always been pleasant and had planted in his heart an unwavering affection. He knew Ruan to be honorable and steadfast and if someone else was going to come and offer this mare a home, he would have asked for no one else but the stallion next to him. He nods toward him, crooked smile deepening. “Always good to see you, Ruan. Glad to know you’ve not turned a complete hermit yet.”

The jest is clear as he turns his attention back to the mare before them, face sobering just a little at her answer. “That’s nothing to scoff at,” he says simply, whiskey-voice neutral and without artifice. “And it is something that has become increasingly difficult these days.” He knows, they all must know, the danger that threatens them in a place like this—somewhere exposed to the elements and the disease that has long since infected the wind and the soil and the water. It is difficult to escape it anywhere now.

She is blunt, to the point, and he finds that he doesn’t mind. He simply rolls his shoulders. “I’m from Tephra. You used to be able to see the volcano from here but it’s a little bit longer of walk with the shifting of the lands.” He missed how easy it had been to travel to and from the field when they were one of the closest neighbors to it. Now, his days are longer, his pace having to be necessarily quickened.

“We are currently safe from the plague, thanks to the sacrifice of a past leader, and we have open borders for those who are seeking somewhere to remain safe.” He pauses, roguish face considering her. “But we are also home to warriors and diplomats and those with a fire in their heart and a hunger in their belly for more. We keep our arms open but Tephrans are a proud people and we fight for the peace we want.”

Perhaps a contradictory statement but it’s always been the duality of Magnus that he now bleeds into his home, that he has always bled into his vision of a haven. To take the brunt of the work so that others may choose their way of life: to simply live in quiet, to become a soldier, to become a silver tongue.

More burns on the back of his tongue, but he keeps it at bay for now, instead turning his attention to Ruan, the passion barely banked but the golden stallion keen on hearing what the other had to say of Taiga.

good shouldn’t need to tempt us above

@[Ruan] @[Let]

[Ruan]

the taigan

"Glad to know you've not turned a complete hermit yet."

For once in probably years, an amused smirk pulled the corner of his mouth up. It sat new and almost foreign on his dark-lined face. There was a time when it could come so easily, brighten someone else's day for a while, but those days were long gone for him.

"Not for lack of trying," he jested back. Although honestly, he'd never intended to seclude himself away. He had just been kept busy and perhaps he was not as skilled at this as his friend. He'd tried to devote a majority of his time to the people already living within his borders, ensure their safety and happiness before venturing back out to find more.

Until their home had been brutally targeted by his ex-wife's enemy despite her prolonged absence from the land.

"Self-preservation," their new companion gave in short answer. "My name is Let. And I need a home. Tell me about your homes, then."

She was direct, much like him, and he found his muscles relaxing the tension he hadn't realized was there. He was not made for the language of silver tongues, empty pleasantries and ulterior motives and the like. Fortunately, it would seem he wouldn't find those here. He could usually see through them, he just wasn't the type to play along and that seemed to irritate them.

Magnus had approached her first, and so he spoke first. It warmed Ruan that his friend's kingdom was safe, a haven. As far as he'd seen, Magnus was a good king and his people likely deserved such a gift.

For whatever reason, and despite his faith and loyalty to them and the land he cared for in their name, the Taiga continued to appear an enjoyable target for the fairies to torture. They were perhaps the redheaded step-child that had done no wrong but to stubbornly exist no matter what was thrown their way.

"The Taiga answers to no king," he began evenly, firmly, his words solid and carefully deliberate. Even in the changes to the new lands it had been agreed on by the nearby kingdom's leader that the Taiga was it's own land free of rule and would continue to be. Ruan had ruled it once, for the majority of its existence, but not a once had he ever referred to himself as its king.

"We are a free people fiercely loyal to each other and our families, our land, and we will do whatever it takes to maintain their safety. Their are no ranks," he added with a sour taste in his mouth for the word. Though he respected the long-used familiar hierarchy of a kingdom, he wasn't well suited to fit into labels and boxes and the people in his care tended to feel the same.

"We are all equals." Even when he'd led the Taiga it had been more as a single voice for many rather than any kind of ruler. They had all run the place together, cared for it, protected it, and that's how it would continue on. Without rule.

"And we are not a haven from the plague. There is always a chance to fall ill."

He hadn't run across a single person among them that had been infected, but that didn't mean they wouldn't find their way in, so he did not share that knowledge in case it could be taken as a false promise of safety. Not even he could protect them from the plague that was spreading, though he would do whatever was in his power to ensure the Taiga's health for as long as he could.

"If you fear the illness, I would suggest you join my friend," he nodded in a gesture to Magnus. He was the only leader Ruan would vouch for currently. For whatever that may be worth. "He has always been a good king."

The Taiga had also been selective in who they allowed among them - he'd never feared a lack of numbers, but Magnus's Tephra was the optimal choice here, so he didn't add that either.

i thought it would be short but it ended up a novel and i'm sorry <3
@[Let]

[Random Event]

@[Let] has been infected by the plague (rolled a 1).
She is a carrier (rolled a 6).
She will not express a trait (rolled a 5).

@[magnus] has been infected by the plague (rolled a 5).
He is a carrier (rolled a 1).
He will not express a trait (rolled a 2).

@[Ruan] has been infected by the plague (rolled a 3).
He will show symptoms (rolled a 2).
He will not express a trait (rolled a 6).