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    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


    [open]  man is such a fool, why are we saving him? lie/castile
    #1

    everything we are, it just went away
    with a slide of the tongue and a sour taste

    If there is one thing Dawn could have changed about Kagerus and Solace’s rule, it’s the fact that they rid themselves of Litotes so easily. He had, naturally, been swayed to what the Sanctuary seems to think is the enemy side, though Dawn doesn’t see why their relationship with Loess is so rocky. Vulgaris had taken over the kingdom without bloodshed and handed it off to Castile almost carelessly, and they have so far made no move to be hostile towards any of the other regions. Perhaps Dawn is naïve to the way politics work, but none of this adds up to the young woman. 

    Since today is merely a business trip and not one for pleasure, she leaves the girls behind when she steps out of the Cove and heads southwest. They want to see their father, she knows, but she also knows that he has unfinished business with Kensa and the East, and she knows that he will return often to spend time with his girls. She doesn’t worry too much about that – he had been smitten with them when she gave birth, and they are already good friends. Good friends that happen to have children together now. She would never call them lovers – she's not sure now what love even is – but he’s one of her best friends. 

    She finds the river that separates Hyaline from Loess easily, and fords it with ease. Once on the opposite shore she stops, not wanting to cross into a potentially hostile kingdom without an invitation. She may be new to politics, but she knows this at least. Her mind drifts to her girls while she waits, and she wonders what they are doing at home. Wreaking havoc? Bothering Uncle Clay? Oh, she hopes they’re bothering him. She adores Clayton – he is growing into one of her closest friends.  

    Uneasy after standing so long on a foreign kingdom’s borders, she calls out, voice slightly anxious. “Lie? Litotes?”

    Dawn

    oh, it's gonna be a long night

     

    @[litotes] and maybe @[Castile] ?
    clean.
    #2
    Rune has returned.

    The skip of Litotes’ heart when he feels his companion’s mind once again, and the shake of his breathe when he sees her bounding toward him - finally a welcome reaction to reuniting with family. Her eyes are steely but that does not stop the excitement or his loud proclamation:

    “I MISSED YOU.”

    The sand cat stops short, eying him in the way she used to so often. The impossible length of the stallion’s equine legs shift into the lithe agility of his lion ones. He shakes out his mane once it is fully formed, a rare boyish twinkle in his eye as he gazes upon Rune. Her mouth is hard-set but the relief and reluctant forgiveness is floods both of their minds.

    I did not miss you, she smiles back, turning tail and trotting toward the border. We can catch up later - I can smell your visitor from the East. The pale lion cocks an eyebrow, then steps quietly after his beloved friend. His gaze now lifted, her scans the horizon, maw open to the still air. Yes, of course, someone familiar from the Cove has made their way into Loess. It would appear as if the East’s visitors have never ending business here.


    Lie? Litotes?


    Immediately the lion recognizes Dawn’s hesitant voice. Rune casts him a dark look and sprints in the direction of the call. When they arrive, Lie shifts back into horse form. He smiles at the woman and reaches to brush noses enthusiastically.


    “Dawn - so good to see you. What brings you to Loess?” Lie cranes his neck to see around her, curious about their twins. He notes they are absent and turns back with a concerned gaze. “Is everything okay? How are Isilme and Austra?” He had just been planning to come visit them tomorrow. Worry wells in the back of his throat.



    @[Dawn] whyyyyyy is my html being weird, plain text it is
    #3

    everything we are, it just went away
    with a slide of the tongue and a sour taste

    Things have shifted so much in a few weeks, and it troubles Dawn. This is part of the reason why she seeks out Litotes and Castile today – and maybe even her mother, once her business today. If she is to rule the East, she wants the relationship between the Cove and Loess to calm, and maybe, just maybe, Lie will listen to her. Rumors have reached her ears, and if they are true, Litotes has indeed slipped right into Castile’s pocket, exactly where the dragon wants him. He seems to be amassing a group of powerful horses and naturally, that worries her. If there is to be war between the neighboring kingdoms, it will end badly for her family.

    The East is supposed to be a sanctuary; why would someone set their sights on it? It doesn’t make sense to her, but she does not have a military-trained mind. She’s a pacifist at best; she wants to know their quarrel with her homeland and mend it, if at all possible.

    Of course, she isn’t too sure that Lie’s personal quarrel with the Cove can ever be mended. But he was loyal to Hyaline and the East once... surely he’s not so easily swayed?

    The lion and his sand cat emerge from the trees relatively quickly, and though their noses touch briefly, there is tension in her neck and shoulders as he greets her. “I have business here today,” she tells him softly, her voice a bit unsure. “The twins are fine – incredibly rambunctious. I know that if I had brought them today, I would have gotten nothing done. They are constantly exploring, and I don’t want to have to wrangle two lion cubs in a foreign kingdom today.” She smiles as she thinks of the girls, innocently playing back home. They have no idea of what looms on the horizon for the East, and she plans on keeping it that way.

    “I have to be blunt, Lie,” she continues, shifting her weight back and forth nervously. “What is your business with Pangea?” His challenge had been a blatant threat, and she knows that it is making everyone back home uncomfortable. What if Eight didn’t show to the challenge? Would she have to fight for the East? Clayton? Amet?

    She absolutely would, in a heartbeat.

    “The leadership of the East holds no quarrel with Loess any longer,” she explains, voice sharpening. “I know you had a falling out with Kagerus and Solace, but the responsibility of that does not fall on the shoulders of Ilma, Clayton, or myself. All we want to do is build ourselves back up as the sanctuary we have always meant to be, yet Loess wants to stir the pot with us as if we have done anything to harm any of you.”

    Her gaze softens then, and she swallows hard before continuing. “You are one of my dearest friends, Lie, and I will never forget that you blessed me with the greatest gift of all: our girls. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are threatening the very lands you once swore to protect. I just don’t understand.”

    Dawn

    oh, it's gonna be a long night



    @[litotes] this is rambly and -stern- and awful and i am sorry
    clean.
    #4

    and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.

    “What’s there to understand? Why would he continue to protect a home that cut him loose while he was a prisoner?” Her silvery voice chimes clearly into the warm summer air, and the saccharine smile that sat perched on her steel-gray lips betrayed the irritation that boiled beneath her skin. No one entered these lands without being watched by her dark blue eyes, and their minds combed thoroughly, and while she often did not bore herself with their trivial conversations, anyone that sought out Castile, Litotes, or Vulgaris were always of special interest to her. She had heard enough, both verbally and mentally, to decide that this warranted her interruption.

    “The east threw him to the wolves, and now he’s one of us,” Her voice has rolled to that familiar purr as her star-studded form slides easily alongside that of the pale stallion, her glittering eyes flickering to his, before shrugging her shoulders with a careless laugh and leveling again with the visitor’s gaze, “Or dragons. Whatever.” She slides her muzzle slowly, lightly, along his cream-colored shoulder, as she says sweetly, “At least Loess appreciates him.” She casts him an almost sultry smirk before adding, "Especially me."

    Her eyes sweep across the other woman’s face, regarding her with a veiled civility. Outwardly, her face remained neutral, but inwardly, she was simmering. The East confused her; they came to Loess to negotiate the return of Litotes, then relieved him of his position in Hyaline. They have shown no interest in him, until, conveniently, they are threatened by him. The Loessian advisor had no quarrels with those that chose to do their business with less than pure intentions – everyone was always looking after their own skin, after all – but hiding behind the facade of a sanctuary was annoying, at the least.

    She had picked up some of Dawn’s thoughts, but fortunately, she had said enough things out loud that Starsin didn’t need to fully engage with her gift. She was learning to not flaunt it so freely, as difficult as that could be. “Honest question – what is the east’s plans for Pangea?” There is a slight tilt of her head, the sun glinting off the suddenly hardening surface of her blue-black eyes as she adds in an almost hushed tone, “It’s such a shame that Carnage went through all that effort to raise it, for it to just sit and rot.”  

    starsin

    it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted.
    ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )

    #5
    Litotes is boiling beneath the surface of his cool fur, frustrated and infuriated by the constant accusations of the East. He offers Dawn no aggression, not a single sign of his absolute anger - no sign that their continuous arms-length distance treatment of him only furthers his hatred. The Cove has proved time and time again how weak and fickle they are, constantly hiding behind a face of peace whilst pushing out any who make even a single mistake. Not that the cremello believes he made one, though he assumes Kagerus spun it that way.

    Idealistic to the fucking marrow, he thinks. Capricious in their personal lives and their political lives. Pathetic.

    At least the cremello is honest with himself.

    The sparkle of his topaz eyes reflects the swaying grass as Lie turns to stare with one eye at Starsin. She approaches with that same sensual saunter, an impressive confidence he takes comfort in. The galaxy girl certainly knows how to make anything interesting, and he can tell by the antagonistic twist of her mouth that this meeting is about to take a heated turn. The grin that wants to pass over his lip is resisted, not even a twitch of his mouth gives away his true emotions.

    Dawn stands before them, golden and seemingly naive and so opposite of the woman that wishes to throw salt on imagined wounds. There are little responses to the star-studded mare in his head, though he offers her no outward support. Starsin knows what he is thinking; Litotes does not worry that she will take offense. He notes that she does not offer any clear indication of her gift, so he does not either - probably best to keep that detail secret.

    Even Rune, who stands between the lion-man’s front legs, bristles in his mind, sending wave after wave of irritation through his mind. It takes everything in his power to not react, to hold back his own vitriol especially paired with the sand cat’s.

    “Starsin,” her name is a low growl, a warning he does not mean. His eyes flicker to hers, using the agitation he feels to project it onto her. What affection he once felt for Dawn has entirely dissipated. Once again, he is betrayed by a people and a nation that claims to care for him.

    “I don’t know where you got the idea that I am a threat,” first to Dawn, then a hard glance to his partner in crime. “My business with Pangea is to rule it. Eight has done nothing with it, and neither has the East as a whole. Someone has to be there to care for it, and I am sure the Cove does not want the wrath of Carnage for letting it die.” He pauses, then fixes Dawn with a betrayed stare. “Now I have questions for you: why? Why is that the Cove wants nothing to do with me politically until I am suddenly a faux threat? There has been zero attempt to mend the bridge Kagerus burned for no reason. I challenge for a land, as is within my right, and suddenly I am an enemy? What exactly have I done or said to you or any diplomat that indicates I want to hurt the East? You call me a blatant threat, but what do you know of me outside of the father that wants to be there for our children? I think it is truly I that does not understand: the Cove’s dropping of me, the continued accusations, the silence up until this point. So tell me, Dawn, why did you make this visit?”

    @[Starsin] @[Dawn]
    #6

    everything we are, it just went away
    with a slide of the tongue and a sour taste

    A voice interrupts their conversation before Lie is able to respond to her accusations, and Dawn turns her head as the grey woman slides into their midst, dripping with barely suppressed venom. She is silent as the mare berates her, though her bear rumbles under her skin. She suppresses the urge to shift – doing so in enemy territory would end disastrously for her, she knows, and do nothing to help her cause – out of sheer frustration, but she longs to dig her claws into the Loessian soil beneath their hooves. She is irritated, it is obvious, but there is a sadness welling within her as well.

    She knows it wasn’t tactful, barging in here and demanding he spill his secrets, but worry for her home and her family takes precedence over everything. Lie, of all people, should understand that – he has Kensa back in Hyaline, and his daughter wherever she has decided to land. He has Isilme and Austra back in the Cove, who he seemed absolutely infatuated with when she had introduced them. Family is everything to the young woman, and half of her family is here in Loess.

    It is obvious that Starsin wants her to lash out, to take things to a dirty level that will only sully the kingdom’s relationship, and so instead of responding she remains silent. Her dark eyes study the celestial woman but she refuses to rise to the bait, instead turning her gaze to Litotes as he speaks once more. Her anger fades as he speaks, and the hurt in his gaze nearly makes her want to cry. This is Lie, the father of her children and one of her greatest friends, and she feels their relationship burning to shreds between their pained gazes.

    “Lie,” she starts, then swallows hard. The words are broken and clipped, but she needs to let them out. She needs him to understand how she feels, why she feels threatened. She wants him to understand.

    “I’m sorry,” she whispers. She spares a glance at Starsin, but she still cannot find the words to speak to the grey mare, so she remains silent on that front. Waves of sadness and confusion well within her, and her lips tremble as she speaks again. “I know the East was not there for you like we should have been. You have been a dear friend to me since day one, comforting me and teaching me, and I have tried to keep our relationship a good one. When you decided to remain in Loess instead of returning to the East, who was I to convince you to come back? I have visited you as often as I could, and I know that one person alone cannot mend the wrongs that Kagerus has done to you.

    “And I don’t see you as an enemy. Neither does Ilma. As a matter of fact, one of our first priorities when Kagerus and Solace stepped down was restoring life to Pangea. Ilma made a trip down there with no response. We had already spoken at great lengths about possibly instating you as Lord of Pangea, if you would have had it, but you challenged for it before we could come to you.” None of this is a lie – they had indeed spoken about it, and any privy to her private thoughts would be able to see that, as clear as day.

    She takes a step towards Litotes, blinking back her emotions long enough to smile sadly. “I came here to attempt to mend the relationship between Loess and the Cove. I know that I have done a poor job of doing so; as a matter of fact, I guarantee that I have made things worse than they were before. Most of my family lives here, and I do not want strife between our kingdoms.”

    A sigh escapes her lips as she begins to back up, placing her solidly behind the Loessian border. “I do not want you as an enemy, Lie,” she tells him. “I know you will make a fine ruler for Pangea. I am sorry again, that I mucked things up so badly.” She nods politely at the other mare before glancing behind her, back towards her home and her girls. “I will leave, if that is what you wish. I have no personal quarrel with you, or her, or Loess. I just want to make that clear... I am only protective of my home and our daughters.”

    Dawn

    oh, it's gonna be a long night



    @[Starsin] @[litotes] SHE WANTED TO SASS STARSIN SO BAD but i resisted
    clean.
    #7

    and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.

    Her name is a growl on LITOTES' tongue, and she casts him a faintly irritated glance. Whether it was genuine or not, that was only for her to know – but she was certain he would catch on. His thoughts continued to coarse through her mind, and the heat of his anger and betrayal was nearly palpable. She did not need her gift to know that, and she was sure their visitor from the Cove sensed it as well. It would be impossible not to. Aided by the current of thoughts that continue to ripple from him, accompanied by the electricity that hums beneath his skin and the bristled sand cat at his feet, it was glaringly obvious.

    Then again, the east hadn’t exactly proven themselves at being especially perceptive, and it showed in how every interaction involved them being taken aback at how their actions were usually poorly received. But, she is quiet, even if only because Litotes requested her to be. Not necessarily out of actual obedience – but, if there was one thing Starsin was good at it, it was pretending to be something she wasn’t.

    It has been so long since she has played the part of meek and mild, but she pulls it back on like a well-worn jacket. She drops her shapely head at Litotes’ reprimand, casting her dark blue eyes fleetingly to the ground before lifting them back to his. She would let him have control of the situation, this time. This was, after all, his fight to be fought. It was he that they insisted on trampling down every chance they got, only to return with false promises. It takes nearly everything in her to keep the amused laughter from building in her throat when Dawn says they had been discussing offering Pangea to Litotes – of course they had been. Kick him off one land, and hand him another one; it was very logical...if you were stupid.

    But, she is quiet. And even though her blue eyes glimmer, even though she can find holes in everything Dawn says, she remains Litotes’ seemingly docile companion. She trusted him, and although she is tight-lipped and keeps her tongue still, she does not leave.

    starsin

    it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted.
    ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )

    #8
    There is a certain kind of palpable tension between the three of them. Litotes finds that the cool Loessian breeze does not soothe him as it once did. There is too much lava burbling beneath his skin, too volcanic of an anger rising in his mind. If he were a mountain, he would be ancient and insurmountable, cold topaz eyes glimmering with the smooth edge of the very dagger the East stabbed him with. He only reflects what they seem to see in him.

    Still, as Dawn continues, he finds a tempered gaze and a level heart. He is not kind, but he is not fuming; instead, there are little puzzle pieces fitting together in his mind. Perhaps they were going to ask him to come back to the East, though why on earth would that make sense? Lie chews on the thought for a moment. No, it does not make sense, he decides. There are plenty of ready and willing volunteers to take the helm of Pangea, happier leaders that will try to steer the land in “a better direction.”

    The cremello peers hard at Dawn. Her claims have no substance behind them, he thinks.

    Starsin remains silent, a fact he finds hard to believe. When Lie realizes how quiet she is, he turns to her with a raised eyebrow. Interesting position for her to take, he thinks - though there is an absolute certainty that she has some manipulation hidden up her sleeve.

    “I think it is best you go, Dawn,” he replies after a pause, mouth tight and words terse. “I will see you in the Cove later. We can talk then.” The cremello steps away, turning his body to walk further into Loess. A wild grin is plastered across his face, and he gives Starsin an annoying slap with his tail as he leaves.

    @[Starsin] @[Dawn]




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