anyone;

no one really knows what the ocean hides
but you and I, bird, we’re gonna find out

A sweet girl, but dangerous.
Precarious, but tender.

She is both thunder and tranquility, brewed together in a beautiful face and bright eyes. She peered up at her parents with the same awe they stared down. A predator, she thought they said, but when she glanced down at herself she saw nothing more than fragility. Her legs had struggled to hold her weight, and she wanted only to nurse and rest.

The weeks have since passed – or has it already been months? -  and in that time, Reia has grown and strengthened. She is no longer confined to her mother’s side, desperate for milk. A sense of independence has washed across her since the incoming of her jagged teeth. Small points have broken through her gums and after a solitary moment of scavenging, Reia acquired the taste for blood.

Is that what mother and father meant by predator? That she won’t eat like the other children? That blood will instead be the foundation of her diet?

The squirrel had been in her passing to the Playground, a small nibble to satisfy her curiosity before stepping into a place entirely unknown. It unravels in front of her, this strange place, but she is drawn into its embrace by the voices that blossom and chatter. Despite being away from her parents for the very first time, Reia adopts an air of confidence that she lets leak through her entire core. She straightens herself and takes in a lungful of air before proceeding deeper, darting her silver eyes across the knots of other young children.

and I'll be next to you when the lights go out

Reia

so, this is my first post with her and it's a beginning post, SOOOO forgive the suckiness lol

Eurwen

in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows

Sweet and humble, precarious and tender - and yet, and yet. A dragon's daughter, careful and unchanged by magic; unless one takes a look at the gold. Both sisters had been affected, the only thing that marked them twins. Nothing else seemed to join them together as nearly-one; the dark chocolate body of her slightly larger twin sister was different from Eurwen's white base and pinkish-red spots. Outgoing where she was shy.

But perhaps she wasn't totally shy. One night she'd ventured out to meet the fairies' call; perhaps she'd see them she thought. And see, she did. Not just the fae though. Haunting horses, devastated by the plage; a terrible monster; she'd seen what she would become growing up a warrior, or more or less, felt it. Experienced it.

Now the little girl was in the playground; unsure if and how she would get home as of yet, unless she was to walk the whole distance. But it was facing her parents and sister again that was the terrifying part. Not to tell them why she left; but why she had been changed. What she had been through, wasn't something children of her and her cousins' age should go through.

At the borders of the playground, she stared at the other foals. Innocent, lively, and playful, they reminded her of her careless sister, and she could not quite bring herself to breaking the trances just yet.

lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose

Reia I sort of have to re-invent her, I hope it'll get better soon

no one really knows what the ocean hides
but you and I, bird, we’re gonna find out

Reia doesn’t yet know how to play, how to interact with other children. She only knows mother and father – knows of their family’s predatory behavior. They flashed their teeth when they thoughts her asleep, but she watched through her eyelashes as they enticingly snarled and spoke of their hunts. That will be her one day, she thought to herself as her tongue ran across the small pins peeking through her gums.

Enough time has elapsed since then, but Reia has only been fortunate enough to scavenge and find remnants of squirrels and mice. Untaught but eager. It’s only a matter of time until mother and father will take her on a hunt with them. In the meantime, here in this odd Playground, she sates her hunger with a small morsel found underneath a tree before lifting her silver eyes to see a solitary girl approximately her age.

But what is customary?

The girl isn’t her mother, or even a sister, so does that make her as much of prey as the deer and squirrels?

Quietly, Reia runs her side along the bark of the tree with her eyes always remaining intently on the girl. One step, then another. Each one brings her closer but the silence of her footsteps ends when a twig cracks and a few leaves rustle underfoot. With a low growl of disappointment in herself, Reia decides to lurch forward the last few strides. ”Boo!” It’s the first thing that comes to mind since her cover had already been blown and the element of surprise gone.

But then she is at a loss.

She lunges forward, clamping her pin-like teeth on the girl’s mohawk of a mane. It isn’t a murderous attempt. Actually, Reia isn’t quite sure what it is or what she’s doing. The situation’s unfamiliarity unsettles her, but she isn’t afraid (I’m a predator). She snorts as she slides the hair through her mouth while retracting, staring confusedly at the girl now.

and I'll be next to you when the lights go out

Reia

Eurwen

in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows

Eurwen isn’t actually as quiet on the inside as she looks on the outside - somewhere deep down her core is stubborn and refuses to give up and cower away, somewhere from there she had found the willlpower and strength to challenge the monster. That’s probably the part the fairy had been looking for in those that had travelled to the Cove, a part to enhance while simultaneously making her grow physically.

She kind of missed being a foal when she was a grown-up, and now she kind of missed being a grown-up in her foal state. But she’d naturally grow to that height again, she knew. The height with which she could overlook her surroundings, would be faster, and overall more... like she should be.

Her mesmerizing got disturbed by the sound of another approaching, and her constantly-spiked adrenalin level makes her turn an ear and eye that way. Boo! a girl yells, and Eurwen, who might prior to her travelling have frozen, sidesteps now. Still the girl seems to catch some of her rosy-golden mane, but then somehow seems wholly confused of what’s going on.

They’re about the same age, yet the pink-spotted filly feels so much older. She looks the other girl over, while inside she is wholly shook and trembling, she doesn’t show - ignoring her prey instinct as much as she had when she was being confronted by a huge monster, becuase honestly, in comparison to that, the girl was harmless.

Wings, scales, and teeth. Not unlike her dad, she thinks, but even though she knew him no different, she also knew he hadn’t always been like that. She blinks at the girl, then assaults her with her questions. ”Who are you? Why are you attacking me? That’s really impolite of you!” Her ears have a tendency to fall back, but she forces them back up. No, yelling at other girls wasn’t going to help her get home and explain what happened to her parents and sister. It really wasn’t helping anyone to get angry about it, even though she feels a little upset.

lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose

Reia

no one really knows what the ocean hides
but you and I, bird, we’re gonna find out

Eurwen exhibits a minimal reaction by pulling away with furrowed brows and a steady roll of questions. The girls lock eyes for a long moment. Tension thickens the space between them as Reia formulates an answer despite wanting to instead bite again. Her lip curls distastefully before retaliating with an icy voice. ”Why do you talk so much?” It unsettles her, the unnecessary conversation that disrupts the peace and quiet of the playground and the hastiness of questions. It takes a few heartbeats to calm her agitation enough to finally respond. ”Reia, and I did it because I wanted to.” Nothing can stop her, no one can get in her way.

And mother said she never needed to apologize.

Sodden with arrogance, Reia lifts her head and looks at the girl from the edge of her nose. Her eyes are alight as they hungrily rove across the interrogator. ”Silence is better for hunting,” she gradually hushes herself until she speaks just barely above a whisper with her silver eyes darting sideways to glimpse a sprinting rabbit. Naturally, her instincts want her to follow in pursuit; her muscles even quiver in anticipation, but she remains steadily in place near her pushy companion. ”I’ve been scavenging,” the hares are too fast, she doesn’t say. Admitting her faults aloud would be a dire mistake. Prey should never know too much. With a slow breath, Reia turns to wholly look at the girl again, her small needle-like teeth briefly catching the sunlight. ”I’m still hungry.”

and I'll be next to you when the lights go out

Reia

Eurwen

Eurwen

in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows

Taken aback, Eurwen watches the other girl silently after her questions got not-answered by another - why talk so much? Truly, she doesn’t know. She usually doesn’t talk much; she was always the silent child hiding behind her mother. ”My sister would have talked way more.”

The arrogance the toothed girl displays however, makes the pink-spotted appaloosa feel a bit more angry and stubborn than had previously been average for her. Perhaps the fairy had it right; she came from rock-hard parents after all, why would she have any less of a stony core? It had been hidden away before but, this girl managed to actually get that out of her - sooner than expected.

So, she huffs. Silence for hunting, right. She had to admit that indeed, a hunter needed to be silent, but the rose-gold girl didn’t care for being attacked at all. ”It’s a playground, not a free-food-ground.” she points out rather haughtily. The other girl was being rude and wasn’t going to make any frieds, the spotted filly believed. But she was hungry, she said. Grass apparently wasn’t good? Eurwen tilts her head at the statement, thinking it over. She might be rude too when she was hungry - or a bit tired like today.

Fine. She sighs dramatically. ”Fiiine, I’ll help.” An eye roll follows, then she searches the playground. ”What do you eat? Rabbit?”

lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose

Reia

no one really knows what the ocean hides
but you and I, bird, we’re gonna find out

”Even more than YOU?!” Her family is brooding, silent. They hunt shrouded in darkness with footsteps that whisper across the forest floor (well, mother does). It’s an implied fact they love each other so there’s no need to frequently say it. Their communication is commonly with gestures and glances so there’s less need to speak. Reia inches closer, her vibrant silver eyes shining as they trace the edges of the girl’s face in fascination. ”You’re not hunters,” she notes as her voice hushes as though to confirm that she, herself, is. Not everyone can be like her or like her parents. There needs to be prey in this world, a food chain. A hierarchy.

Every flinch, every huffed breath, is duly noted. Even as Eurwen moves, Reia observes the muscles coil and extend. What would be the primary target – with the exception of the throat – to take down someone of similar size? Instinctually, she circles with an intense stare still firmly held on the spotted girl. It isn’t in hunger, though some would disagree, but in fact mere scrutiny. They are similar, yet different on so many levels. Reia breathes her in, drawing a deep lungful of air prior to snorting after having sifted through the multitude of scents coating her snippy companion. ”It’s about perspective,” she remarks with a lopsided, childish smile. ”Just as a possum sees a cluster of bugs as a free-food-ground, or a dragon sees horses.” She knows what father is, what genetics course through her veins.

Alas, she doesn’t have the entire capability – only small pieces of the puzzle. It’s enough to associate her and solidify her place in the family.

”Rabbit sounds good! If we can catch one. They’re fast,” as though expecting one to dart on command, Reia swings her gaze away to search the hills for a sign of prey movement. Everything is still. The animals are in their dens as the children play. ”You should try a bite if we find one,” she murmurs as her pretty head turns to look again at the girl, ”if I can bring myself to share.”

and I'll be next to you when the lights go out

Reia

Eurwen

Eurwen

diamonds are found only in the darkness of earth
as truth lies in the darkness of mind

She chuckles, then bites her lip for doing so - it's probably impolite to laugh at someone's lack of knowledge. Still, when the other girl determines that she is not a hunter, much less her whole family can't be, she frowns. Puh. "My dad's way scarier than you." In fact, Reia didn't look so different from him, if she compared scales and teeth, so she wasn't any more dangerous - and she was a young filly and he an adult stallion. But above all, the monster in the Cove had been the scariest she ever met and nothing was really dangerous in comparison. It had actually eaten people, not just taken a nibble. She shakes her gleaming mane, not caring what the girl might think of her comment - it's not important, for their families aren't around to be shown off. She can't help it that she didn't inherit any of their magic, but she's not afraid to use what she earned from the fairies to defend herself, instead.

The scaled girl mentions being a dragon, and Eurwen huffs at that too. "You're still a horse. What if the horse you bite is sick, huh? I bet you'd get sick too, dragon or not." Narrowing her eyes at the girl in front of her, what she implies is clear. I am not food. Though she's not sure if the girl can be persuaded with words. Which is why, when she dryly complaints about still being hungry, she had rolled her eyes and decided to show her.

She twists her ear for a second, when the girl mentions rabbits hiding. Without further commenting, she trots away from the children, not caring that she makes noise when she does. She's planning on manipulating the rocks so the rabbits get trapped and then they'll be easy to catch. "You don't have to be a dragon to catch a rabbit." She's a dragon's daughter too, after all. And if the other girl doesn't think so, that means she'll have to prove it by playing this childish game - if only to proof that she shouldn't be seen as prey.

Reia