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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


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    tonight you're a stranger, some silhouette [chaol]
    #1
    The bright-eyed mare picks her way through the golden grass with no real distination in mind. If she were to continue heading south like she is, the tall blades will become less dense, thinning until the sea begins to wink through the space between them. Pteron wants to go to the beach (she can hear him chattering to himself about it from where he crashes along the trail through the thickest grass.

    The colt insists that his father had told him this would make him stronger, but Lepis hasn't the heart to tell him that crashing into thick bunches of grass was nothing like crashing into another body. He's just a colt, she thinks to herself, there is still time for him to learn.

    A gust of wind catches the pair of tobiano horses, gusting the navy and white mane of the winged mare. There is the scent of horse in it, but it is gone before the blue-eyed queen can identify who it might be. Not Wolfbane, she thinks, and not Noah.

    Who else is here?

    His mother's body language alerts Pteron to the danger, and the colt instantly becomes invisible. It wasn't a conscious choice, but the six-month-old colt is grateful for the instinct that spurred it. He tucks his winged body beneath the span of his mother's wing, and she drops the opposite as though it is totally natural for her to hold her feathered appendages at such an angle.

    "Hello?" She calls out into the late-autumn sunlight. "Is someone out there?" a raised voice is not so uncommon here in this land of tall grass, and it is not Lepis' intent to startle whomever she might have come across. A horse can all but disappear from sight within a few yards in this golden prairie, and Lepis would rather not bump into someone - literally.
    #2
    After catching up with Lily he had decided that he was going to wander around her home and see if the place was everything she thought it was. Or if was everything he might come to think it was. So, his legs carried him through the Pampas. His nose catching the different scents, the mix of pine with the aroma of the river and the salt from the sea. His eyes finding agreeable spots here and there, places to nap, to play, to find others. He noted where the lingering scents of other horses were and tucked those away for later.

    All in all as he curved himself around the last leg of the river, this place was turning out to be okay. He made his way up over the dunes here, heading north back into the tall grasses turned golden brown with autumn. He is still, bright purple and magenta amongst them as he closes his eyes and takes in the moment of silence.

    Until, her voice breaks it. He blinks his eyes open, tilts his head in her direction and starts to move again. He moves until he finds her, golden herself with the touches of navy. “Indeed, lady. I am.” A mischievous smile curling his lips. His eyes travel along her body, lingering there on the way that her wing seemed to be held. His nostrils flared automatically but being upwind of her he could not smell anything...yet.

    And then he decided, well, if she was hiding something then perhaps if he behaved himself he would find out the normal way. The scheming part of his brain was put on hold. He shakes out his own multi-hued wings, settles them back against his side and cocks one leg in a relaxed manner. “My name is Chaol. Who do you happen to be?”
    #3
    There is no response to her query, just the sound of rustling grass. Whoever it is is coming closer. His mother's breathing grows somewhat shallow. The colt doesn't realize what she's doing, but he recognizes that she has become almost impossibly still. Before he can speak she appears to snap out of it, and a breath later there is a stranger appearing through the golden curtain.

    Lepis smiles, because he has paused an acceptable distance away. He might have acknowledged her sooner, Lepis allows, but she cant fault someone for not following protocol in a little herd land. Whoever this stranger is, he surely wouldn't have expected to find someone as fond of manners as Lepis is here of all places.

    Her son cares less, and he draws back from beneath his mother's wing. The motion sends all his feathers and hair combed up backward in a ruffled mess. For a moment no one can tell, and then he answers just as he becomes visible again, about three feet from Lepis' side.

    "That's my mom." Says the cloud-colored colt, his curious olive eyes fixed on the myriad of colors possessed by the unfamiliar stallion. "I'm Pteron." He adds, seemingly introducing himself to the purple horse's wings.

    "My name is Lepis," she tells Chaol. She is sure now that the stallion is a stranger. His purple coloring is reminiscent of a childhood story she'd once been told, but she can no longer recall the end of it. "What brings you to the Brilliant Pampas?" The navy-haired mare asks. Her curiosity is reflected in the soft blue-grey of her eyes, and the same intrigued tilt of the head that Pteron mirrors.

    @[Chaol]
    #4
    There is movement under her wing, before the small colt pops back into existence and speaks. He lowers his head, before his body shifts size,down smaller until he wasn’t so big and imposing perhaps to either of them. He hadn’t missed the smile on her face, but there was something not quite...right? He wasn’t sure what it was yet, but he planned on seeing what it was.

    “You don’t say?” He says conversationally, his eyes completely on the young boy. His eyes trace over the ruffled hair and feathers with a smile curling his lips. “Well Pteron, it is my pleasure to meet you. That’s a nice trait you have, going invisible like that. I bet you are a great hide and seeker.” His voice doesn’t hold any of the malevolence of his bloodline. As he wasn’t anything like any of them. He actually cared for people.

    He was damn determined to do a good job at it too.

    His mom speaks and so his attention goes to her. “A pleasure Lepis.” He says in the following pause, his eyes wandering from mother to son and then back again. Just looking, comparing the similarities, noting the differences.

    “Ah, my friend Leliana and her family. I wanted to make sure they were all okay with the plague running rampant and all.” His body grows just a touch, so he could look at her more adult size instead of some age in between child and adult. “Now I am deciding if I want to stay or not, or continue to wander somewhere else.” A pleasant smile curling his lips again. He shifted his weight to the other side. “What about you? Are you long-time residents or just here to hide out until the plague is gone?”
    #5
    Watching the stallion shrink down is clearly fascinating to the young Pteron, and even Lepis cannot hide the curious light in her gaze. Knowing that there are magics in Beqanna is one thing, but experiencing them first hand is something else entirely.

    “Wow,” breathes the lanky colt. “How tiny can you go? I bet if you got really small we could play hide and seek forever!” It clearly hasn't occurred to him that this stranger might not want to play hide and seek with him. Pteron is unaccustomed to speaking to adults other than his own parents, and since it was Chaol who had brought up the game, surely the magenta stallion is willing to play. “I am really good,” he admits proudly, “But I'm still learning how to get visible when I want to.”

    Though the colt has clearly grown more skilled at harnessing his ability, six months is still  rather short time. He's successful at least half the time, which is an impressive improvement. A fond smile rests on Lepis as she listens to her son, and then her attention turns to Chaol as he answers her query.

    Leliana. The name is half-familiar, and Lepis is almost sure that is the name of the mare she has seen with Vulgaris from time to time. She's not met her though, so she can't be certain. The magenta stallion repeats her own question, and Lepis answers.

    “My husband and I came here when the Plague first struck Loess.” She says. “I hope to return home when it is safe again. I'd like my children to know their ancestral homeland.” She speaks of multiple children, a vote of confidence in the curve of her belly that might just be a bigger breakfast than usual.

    @[Chaol]
    #6
    Instead of using words, Chaol simply shows him. He shrinks and shrinks. The grasses rise up around him like tall forest trees. The grains of dirt more like boulders now. He had only done this a couple times, as he wasn’t too fond of almost getting eaten by a bug. But he does it now, for Pteron. He was nothing more than a tiny multicolored drop amongst the trampled down grass of the path. He opens his wings, taking to the air like a small bug and making his way towards Pteron who was enormous. Almost too big for him to completely process, but he finds his nose, landing on it lightly.

    Although anything at this size is going to be light. He tries not to tickle, but he walks his way up the slope of his face a few steps before leaping off and opening his wings. He flies back to where he had been, his body growing back to a normal size before his hooves even touch the ground. “Oh it would be a riveting game of hide and seek indeed, Pteron.” He smiles, noting the way pride draws the boy up. “Well, that is to be expected. It took me some time to work out the kinks growing in size and changing my wings.” He changes them to the color of the pink flamingoes he had see, switches to the dark brown wings of an eagle before they change back to the blue and green and black ones he had currently. “You’ll get it though.” He smiles encouraging.

    His ears twitch, turning back to her. His eyes follow the line of her barrel, just barely noticeable now that she points it out and he smiles a bit. “Congratulations.” He wondered about the want and need to reproduce. He never really had much thought about it, finding someone to love and wanting children with them. He wasn’t sure if he would ever find someone that he wanted to be with like that.

    Anyways, it wasn’t something he thinks about often, assuming one day it would just happen. “I expect the plague is only temporary. Nothing seems to keep this land of ours down for long. You will be able to show them your home.” A small smile, his eyes turning from her to the direction of the mainland almost as if he could see it. He couldn’t, but the thought of the silent danger out there was in the back of his mind always. “Do you hope for another boy or a girl? Although I know the right answer is whatever, so long as it’s healthy.” Another smile, an amused one this time.

    @[Lepis]




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