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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


    [private]  you're ripped at every edge but you're a masterpiece, aldric
    #1
    you were a vision in the morning
    when the light came through,
    i know i've only felt religion
    when i've lied with you
    and i'm still waking every morning
    but it's not with you
    .


    She has never felt like she has belonged. Everywhere she has lived, no matter how beautiful, the ache in her chest never really seemed to fade away. She hadn’t thought much of it, having been raised by a mother that seemed to bleed wanderlust instead of blood, but even she had found someone that seemed to quiet the unrest in her soul. Chryseis thought she had done the same; Rhaegor had a way of not really taming her, but instead stoking the fire that lived inside of her. He was the only thing she had found that really felt like home.

    It had been tempting to leave Tephra, the way she had done with Hyaline and Nerine, but she realized that she couldn’t keep running every time something went wrong. 

    Still, standing alone beneath the silver beams of the moon, with the melody of water spilling over rocks, it was the first time she felt like her mind has truly settled. Her mind is empty of all thoughts, as she simply watches. The river reminded her of being a little girl and her father teaching her to swim, despite her overprotective mother’s protests; and the time that her and Rhaegor had tried to convince another colt to help them find a kelpie, and of course, the time she actually met one, and there was apart of her that was slightly disappointed that the bite from Ivar hadn’t led to a transformation. 

    She is shaken from her nostalgic thoughts at the feel of someone watching her, and when she lifts her dark brown eyes, they settle on the dun stallion on the other side of the river. It is almost instinctive, to smile at him, and she tilts her glittering face in curiosity. “Hi,” She calls to him, and with little caution she steps into the cool water. The current is not as strong in this section, and water rushes around her black legs, flashing silver beneath the light of the moon. “It’s lovely out tonight, isn’t it?” She casts her gaze upwards as she says this, the glimmering stars reflecting on the surface of her eyes, before she looks back to him. “I’m Chryseis,” she says from her place in the middle of river, hoping that her friendly nature might coax him into conversation.

    chryseis


    @[Aldric]
    Reply
    #2


    you look like yourself
    but you're somebody else.

    It seems like life is a series of prolonged introductions, meetings between one person and another that never end. There is no final moment of knowing someone, no finish line, goal, or reward for reaching the pinnacle of connection between one lifeform and another. It is simply a perpetual meeting of souls, each cloudy and indecipherable, mirroring one another as they can manage but internally twisted into such variety and perpetual change that they can never be the same and will never be able to fully predict one another’s behavior.

    Aldric might have expected the girl to step into the river between them had he known her, but as it stands he is surprised. Since he is already staring at her with the open intent of a wonderstruck fool the surprise doesn’t really express itself in his features, though his green eyes  follow her progression into the river. The red sabino returns her smile, crosses the watery boundary. “Hi.” His voice, possessing a smooth low timbre, carries across the rushing. “It is. A very fine night.” The river twists and whorls around his long strong limbs, and Aldric stops in the middle of the river as well, so that the two of them are on equal footing in the dark water. There is an broad oval of quiet water between them, buffered by their bodies.

    The stars are bright and close and they fall into her upturned eyes. Though he’d been silent at first it’s everything he can do not to say something incredibly stupid as he looks at her. “Chryseis.” He repeats, feeling his way along the name as though she has just handed him a foreign object he wishes to make familiar. “I’m Aldric.”

    A breeze over the water presses her scent toward him, sweat and the sharp fragrance of Tephra mingle over the true notes of her perfume. “Where are you headed tonight?” Aldric asks with a curiosity he hopes sounds casual. He himself is headed nowhere but right here, the question is merely an excuse to hear her clear bright voice again, to hope to understand a small part of who she is before this introduction ends.

    only it aint on the surface

    Aldric



    @[Chryseis]
    Reply
    #3
    you were a vision in the morning
    when the light came through,
    i know i've only felt religion
    when i've lied with you
    and i'm still waking every morning
    but it's not with you
    .

    She has secluded herself recently, which is not at all like her. Normally, she was social in every sense of the word; vibrant and energetic, and never turning away from a stranger. Certain events over the years have muted her in some ways, and dulled the spark that she used to find in most things. Tonight was the first time in weeks that she had let her gaze lock with someone else; the first time that some of the old Chryseis had begun to shine through the cracks of the self-made cage she seemed to be trapped in.

    There is a pleasant look of surprise that alights across her face when he steps into the current with her, and it is once he has met her half way that she can see the green of his eyes that the beams of the moon illuminate. “Aldric,” she echoes his name, and closes the gap that was between them in order to boldly brush her gold-dipped nose against his. She has never had a proper concept of personal space, or grasped that not everyone was fond of being touched by someone they had just met. But it has never led to a negative reaction from anyone, and there is no apprehension when she does it now.

    She steps back when he asks where she is headed, and even she is surprised by the laugh that rings from her chest – a vivacious sound that somehow harmonizes with the trickling water they stand in. “I think I might be running away again,” She says with remnants of her laugh still lacing her words, and with a toss of her head she suddenly spins, and it is the clatter of hooves over rock and a matter of strides before she is on dry ground again. The way that she whirls around to face him causes her raven-black mane to fly and toss her forelock askew over her shining eyes, but she still asks him exuberantly, “Want to come with me?” The mischievous smile that twists across her lips made it impossible to tell if she was kidding or not, but at this point, she would do anything to not feel the lackluster way she has been.

    chryseis
    Reply
    #4


    you look like yourself
    but you're somebody else.

    Aldric is surprised and pleased when she reaches across the dark water between the, to brush her muzzle against his. It is not that it’s a particularly novel gesture, but most hover or huff gently where Chryseis just connects, establishes a familiarity without flinching. The green eyed stallion is not inclined to feel out of place or uncomfortable interacting with another but he is certain that the roan mare could put anyone at ease.

    I think I might be running away again
    Her reply to his question, makes him tilt his head very slightly. What would someone like her run away from? Maybe nothing, he’s been a little nomadic himself and sometimes you didn’t run away from anything at all. You just didn’t know what you were running towards.

    He had only been a boy when he left home for the very first time, and he hadn’t just gone on to the next territory… he’d left Beqanna entirely. Aldric was not an adventurer, not on purpose, he just hasn’t been able to stop moving since he was a colt. Whatever experiences went along with that wanderlust were just perks.  

    Chryseis' laughter bounces along the hill and valley surface of the water, musical and genuine. If it is meant to be self deprecating it doesn’t sound it and his heart thuds stupidly in his chest, energizing him. He’d been coming back to the river to bed down and wait for a tomorrow he neither looked forward to or dreaded, a day that simply was. The girl whirls back toward the shore, coming out of the water and spinning back toward him nimbly. Her dark mane across her face cutting across her golden blaze lends her features an arresting wildness. He doesn’t stand there staring at her this time.

    “I’ve already run away once, it can’t hurt to go again.”

    Aldric continues toward the bank she’s chosen, climbing up onto grass that is blue-grey in the darkness. He cocks a brow, a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. If she laughs in his face so be it, if she takes off in any direction at all he’ll be after her without the slightest hesitation… or better yet… Aldric canters the distance between them so that he can fall into stride with her, reaching out to nip at the slope of her blue ticked back, their contrasting limbs mincing before she surges away with him almost keeping pace.

    only it aint on the surface

    Aldric



    @[Chryseis]
    Reply
    #5
    you were a vision in the morning
    when the light came through,
    i know i've only felt religion
    when i've lied with you
    and i'm still waking every morning
    but it's not with you
    .

    For one so young, she has already ran away more times than she should have. Sometimes she wondered what would have happened if she would have chosen to stay in Hyaline, instead of escaping to Nerine after the confusing and mildly humiliating beach party (which now seemed like a hundred years ago). She missed the land where she had been born, which was funny, since she had grown up begging her mother to let her leave. But the mountains of Hyaline had stamped themselves into her heart, and nothing had ever really compared. Tephra was growing on her, however; more than Nerine had, even though she had appreciated the stark coastline and the harsh, unforgiving winds and cliffs. She wasn’t sure, though, if it was just Rhaegor that made Tephra feel like home – just like he had made Hyaline.

    But, for the first time since he had left (not left her, she reminded herself, over and over), she doesn’t let herself worry over him. Aldric had landed a nip against her back, which in turn had caused her to launch into a rolling canter, her laughter trailing behind her, as do the wild and tangled strands of her mane and tail. They move beneath the blanket of stars and across the dew-laden grasses, following the bends and curves of the river.

    She lets him move abreast to her for most of the run, but in the distance stands a lone weeping willow, its long, billowing reeds spilling from every part of the trunk and draping into the river and onto the ground. With a tilt of her head, her eyes lock with his in a silent challenge, and her legs lengthen and quicken their stride in response, the tree firmly in her sights.
    chryseis
    Reply
    #6


    you look like yourself
    but you're somebody else.

    He’s tried a few times to make himself at home somewhere but failed with each attempt to feel a connection. Coming back to his birthplace had been like dropping anchor and hoping to stop among the eddies but the anchor never stopped, just dragged uselessly along the bottom as he floated aimlessly on. It is far too early an acquaintance for the red stallion to consciously register it, but at some point in the fleeting minutes between their meeting and the flash of weak light across her golden face something catches.

    Chryseis tilts her her head and their eyes catch, because he hasn’t stopped watching her (though he does his best to do so casually) as they kept pace along the riverbank. Green eyes narrow a fraction in turn and they fly forward. He is fleet, and longer legged and considers (very briefly) holding back but Chryseis accelerates with unexpected spirit that easily leaves Aldric fighting for ground. They are a thunder of flying hooves in the dark quiet forest that indistinctly flashes past, sometimes a rapid part of the river is loud enough to drown them out but mostly it is their locomotive breathing that fills his ears.

    The roan girl is ahead when they reach the first dangling tendrils of the slender leaved willow, still he doesn’t stop until she does, doesn’t draw up until she chooses to end the race beneath the broad old branches. Aldric tosses his head, and circles the gnarled trunk until he is lead back to Chryseis. Endorphins perhaps make him brazen but he brushes his muzzle along the line of her shoulder when he draws close. He side steps almost immediately, though not too far, just enough not to crowd. The river is quiet here, but still their breathing is loud in his ears.

    only it aint on the surface

    Aldric



    @[Chryseis]
    Reply




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