it harms like a lamb; leilan

[Kora]

As the warmth threatens to penetrate the ice that encases her, the cold that surrounds her deepens. Though the coming season could only be considered the mildest of summers while on the Isle, the Winter in her veins reacts. Retaliates. Through rays of sunlight, she brings a chilly gale that frosts the leaves and layers the hardy grasses with a skimming of snow. She is pacing – Leander’s stubbornness was wearing her thin. Just this morning, he’d said to her between fits of coughing, ‘If you’re staying, I’m staying.’ Though she had managed to evade the subject of leaving the Isle altogether thus far, there were times when she felt that her winged brother could see right through her – and this morning had been one of them. ‘What makes you think I’m staying?’ She had asked, her voice just as whisper-soft as it had been before. Yet he’d only had to look at her with her father’s brown eyes for her to feel his knowing. That feeling had angered her – an old feeling of transparency – and without another word, she abruptly left. As she stalks through a grove of young saplings, bringing Winter in her wake, she takes notice of a stranger up ahead. A stallion, still some distance away. Quickly Kora veers aside, meaning to avoid a potential interaction completely – and perhaps she might have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for the sudden burst of cold wind and the tendrils of frost that reach the place where he stood; if he were to look around, he might just see the last of her gold-and-white frame as it disappears behind an alcove of nearby spruce trees. kora vanished winterchild of riagan and rayelle

@[Leilan]

[Leilan]

Leilan

Glaciers melting in the dead of night
and the superstars sucked into the supermassive

It has continued to surprise him how many non-icy, non-wintery horses managed to think that coming here would be good for them. Jesper had come to meet him, and found an arctic fox in his veins, so that seems logical. Breckin was only here for the girls, but would favour Nerine again soon. Castile perhaps had been looking for some solitude. Himself, well, he was half made of ice, both outside (since his trek to the mountain, the heart-shaped lake, and back) and inside due to his own wintery magic. Any others... well, they would continue to be a surprise.

His own gold, whitish, and brown of course, was a mixture of warm and cold colours. A bit like the mare approaching somewhere in the corner of his extended draconic vision - gold and white. But she didn't seem to notice him, and in fact, as long as she didn't look threatening, he wouldn't have minded her simply passing by.

He wouldn't have, because this was a free land (unfortunately, there were still no conclusions on who'd defend it) - but she brings something that his core is desperate to investigate.

Cold, wintery wind passes where she goes. Even if on this Isle it wouldn't usually have gone noticed - but she brings about a change on the nearby trees as well, even in early summer. Not that it could be called summer out here, but there was a relative warmth to the air in comparison to the near-constant frostbite in winter.

He looks, then makes a decision. This might be an interesting meeting, so he simply wants to know. Where'd she come from? What's her purpose, or would she simply not survive extensive heat, like he himself preferred to stay where it was cold since getting the dragon magic?

One head-toss is enough to make sure he isn't being followed; then, it's with a quick trot that he follows. She seems to want to disappear, but she's not exactly doing a great job at it, leaving such a wintery trail. Cold ground crunches beneath his relatively heavy hooves, half-frozen spots or snow covering it sometimes. But he's not trying to be silent; he'd rather have her notice him being curious than surprising and scaring the mare.

you set my soul alight

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@[Kora]

[Kora]

Telltale footfalls inform her that she has not escaped his notice. Perhaps she could have quelled the Winter in her veins in order to do a better job of evading him, but the mere thought of suppressing the very essence of who she now was tastes bitterly of who she’d once been – a terrified girl who could hardly breathe past her fears. Useless. Ironically, it would have been this unrelenting piece of herself that would bridge the last gap between her and Rhy, if her sister were still alive – for she finally understands how it must have felt to curb the electric around her. There is a sigh at her lips even as she turns to face him, the glow of crystal-blue eyes settling upon the stallion. Though she may not realize it, she keeps running into people strangely interconnected to her life from before, prior to her submersion into the sea – in this case, the brother of her once-best friend. In some ways, Kora might even bear a slight resemblance to Noori considering the similarities bestowed by their respective seasonal powers, though it was subtle enough to remain unnoticed. Her delicate head tilts as she surveys him bluntly. “You’re following me.” The layers of translucent ice upon her gold-and-silver skin are shifting and moving ever so slowly, eerily alive beneath his gaze. “I suppose you’ve never seen Winter in the flesh before?” It was a redundant question, posed somewhat unsociably through thinly pressed lips. She already knows the answer – after all, this was their first meeting – but she would much rather have him carry the conversation with whatever response it solicited. kora vanished winterchild of riagan and rayelle

@[Leilan]

[Leilan]

Leilan

Glaciers melting in the dead of night
and the superstars sucked into the supermassive

It takes a while. Perhaps she doesn't want to admit it, or perhaps she's just lost in thought. Perhaps she wants to scare him off with the cold (hah. hah.). Whatever the point of her silence and not-acknowledging him is, however - she tires of it.

At some point she stops to eye him. Glare, really. You're following me. "Or we're just headed in the same direction?" he gives her a cheeky grin with a flash of green in his eyes, but she continues rather quickly so there's no time for much else. I suppose you've never seen Winter in the flesh before? Now that, is an interesting way of putting it. He tilts his head and looks her over. Comparisons are made, and then - nah. She may hold power over winter, that is probably true. But like his sister, she's not winter itself as much as Noori isn't spring herself. Those elements have existed longer than they, and it's true they may use it, for whatever reason, but they're not the same thing.

So, he shrugs. "Bold of you to call yourself that." he says, his eyes gleaming icy blue again when he looks back up at her. "A statement, however, I can't quite agree with or I'd be calling myself ice, too, you see. Or attach a whole lot of weird names to my family, too." His mother a creature of twilight, and his sister. Another sister a creature of spring. And yet another, his twin, might be called half a ghost herself. He doesn't even know what he should call Breckin, telekinetic empath? He shakes his head as he cleans his thoughts. "I hope for you that you're more than just the element you wield." His silvery tail moves a bit, nearly touching a scaled brown-and-white roaned leg, the movement pointless but for the fact that he doesn't usually stand still for long and that the gold in it is being as sparkly as his mane. "Evasive, for one." The question belonging to that statement, and I wonder why? doesn't leave his lips, but he's quite certain she knows it's there. Almost as if she's scared. Of everything, really. "The world is more fun with interactions in it, though." Like this one. He could have totally ignored her (not that it's in his personality, but let's say hypothetically, he could have). What would have been the point of either of them being in the same place then? It'd just have been very boring. One grazing, one walking, no-one even saying hi.

you set my soul alight

HTML by Vanilla Custard

@[Kora]

[Kora]

Save for the flicker of delicate ears, the stallion’s initial impish comment passes without acknowledgement – however, his brazen inspection of her personage does not. Her chin lifts, and a freezing wind sweeps rather suddenly through the spruces. The gale is cold enough to steal one’s breath away, though hers remains steady and even while it billows icily about them, coating the many-needled trees in a thick frost. And though the forceful wind does fade after some moments, the bone-chilling cold does not. She listens with impassive features, the glow of her gaze unusually still as it fastens upon him. Let him talk. She hadn’t desired a conversation in the first place, but as the stallion goes on she comes to desire it even less – especially after delivering a particular comment with a shake of his head. “You hope?” She interrupts ominously, her eyes narrowing as she steps toward him. A dark laugh slips out at the irony of it –  of being more than – for she was more now than she’d ever been before. “I don’t care what you hope I am,”, she says with unveiled ire, “And I care even less for the implication that you do so for my sake.” The ice that armors her thickens as the temperature drops even lower; for anyone of warm blood, the cold would now be unbearable. The blue of her gaze remains undaunted, fixed unerringly upon him as he goes on. It was true that she had been scared once; but that had been a lifetime ago. Back then, she had been a different Kora entirely. A nobody. Someone she’d never be again. “So that’s what this is, then?” She moves once more, angling her slender figure so as to begin drawing slow circles in the snow around his much larger frame. “This is fun for you?” Her lips curve, though she is far from being entertained. Then she tilts her head, looking him over in perfect mimicry of the inspection he’d done of her earlier. “You know what I hope?” A pause, the whisper-soft voice incongruous with the Kora she is now. “I hope you leave, before you find yourself having a little more fun than you bargained for – and that is for your sake, stallion.” kora vanished winterchild of riagan and rayelle

@[Leilan] omg she's being such a snoot isn't she :|

[Leilan]

Leilan

Glaciers melting in the dead of night
and the superstars sucked into the supermassive

If he’d just said ‘hi’ in passing, he’s quite certain she would not have said a word back. Even now, she assumes much of his reasons, and hardly wants to acknowledge him. That is until he apparently strikes a nerve.

Oops - well, he’s not exactly very sorry about it. He knows something now, right? That she is still evasive (oh, just hiding behind an angry mask, but people do that only when they’re upset - people like himself, for one). That he’s not supposed to talk about it because it probably hurts if she thinks too much on it. But he can do that. And not because of her death glares - just because in the end, he might like her.

She says she doesn’t care about his hopes for her, and he looks at her without a word. Silence usually brings out more words, but in her case she opts for a direct attack instead.

Too bad for her intentions, but he has ice in his veins. It doesn’t harm him as it would somebody else; that’s the reason he lives here, claimed this island months ago. He belongs.

As she walks around him, inspects him - no other word for it - he stands like a statue. He’s good at that, sometimes. Her words are harsh and yet, he thinks he knows why. So he doesn’t really have to answer. It’s only at her assumption that this is all for his personal fun and that he can’t handle what she is, that he turns his head to look at her, the icy blue shining decidedly cold as he does so. Once, he made assumptions like that which earned him enemies he didn’t need. His gaze brightens a little after that. “You’re not boring, at least.” After all, that’s what the world is. A boring place where everybody just feeds and sleeps and shits; it’s a purpose that draws him out, whatever it may be. To not be boring is the ultimate goal. That’s where she, and everybody else, fails to see what he is - not good. Not bad either. Just bored and looking for every distraction he can find. True, he loves his lady. So making her happy is one purpose - one reason not to go flip side every now or then. But honestly, without her... who knows?

So instead of leaving, he gives her a wide grin. ”If only I weren’t so stupid. But you know... I think we could be symbiotic.” Instead of attacking him she could have just continued walking and ignoring him. But she wasn’t as disinterested as she said she was.

If that was good or bad remained to be seen, still, sure - but perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to team up. If, at least, she was interested in working out something that would benefit herself, too.

you set my soul alight

HTML by Vanilla Custard

@[Kora]

[Kora]

Underneath her irritation, curiosity stirs – the stallion seems unphased by the now subzero temperatures and swirling snow. He even has the cheek to quip that she isn’t boring, which indeed she is not. Not anymore. Her circling footfalls slow amidst drifts of snow as he continues, though she still surveys him with a gaze as equally icy as his. Finally she comes to a halt. Her tail flicks, almost idly, yet his insinuation has piqued her interest. Beneath a faintly arced brow, she levels her blue stare with his. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that, stallion. I have brains enough for the both of us.” Perhaps it is the implication that she might make use of the true breadth of her powers that draws her in – whatever it was, the gold-and-silver mare has already begun to feel restless, the frost in her veins demanding more from her, aching to be let loose. To be freed. So as they stand facing one another, something within her makes a calculated choice. Whatever the stallion had to offer in the way of symbiosis would serve as an experiment. While the penetrating cold would deter any passerby from approaching, a sudden gust of flurried wind would also sufficiently drown out the rest of their conversation. “I suppose we should know each other’s names. Mine is Kora.” After which she cocks a hind leg, settling back to appear almost as one with all that had been frozen over. “Now then, Leilan, did you have something in mind?” kora vanished winterchild of riagan and rayelle

@[Leilan] hope it's okay to end this thread like this, just to catch up timelines? we can imagine they continue talking (erm, plotting) and that way we can come up with whatever it is they might plan... >:]