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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


    [mature]  if you want love, you gonna have to go through the pain; dawn
    #1

    Spring is days away and the world is a mire made up of rapidly melting dirty snow and rivers overflowing their banks. Pangea may see some flooding as Hyaline’s deep snow begins to melt in earnest. It is the first time he has come here but he sees that flooding will do little to harm the aesthetic. How strange that she was willing to move here, but his stepfather gave her little choice so go the rumors. His mother has not visited this land since the crown moved and is not likely to, she enjoys her little rages even though most know her only for her sweetness. He comes instead, a newly minted diplomat hoping to gain a place in Hyaline’s council in time.

    Yet that is not the whole reason he comes.

    Dark mud is splattered up his golden legs when he stops on the Pangean coast to scan the ribboniing band of grey and red sand for the Queen. For Dawn. He has not seen her in a very long time, or spoken to her in longer and wonders if she will know him. 
    Valek had always been a strapping boy, strong limbed and heavy bodied even when very small. Now he is tall but not as tall as he will be by the time he reaches his prime, well muscled from tearing all over Hyaline all his life. And he shines. Sunlight glares off of his face and makes rivers of light in the full gold of his sabino markings.

    His nostrils flare and he listens through the keening songs of the canyon for some sign of her. Its her scent he finds more easily, and wonders how he can remember something so clearly without even realizing it. The wind pushes is black mane around his face, streaks of darkness against the lighter colors of his features, his brown and gold eyes quickly picking her out of the drab landscape. His deep voice, clear and bold, reaches across the distance between them. “Good afternoon Pangean Queen.” His confidence is inborn and the rakish smile that pulls across his golden lips is as warm as it is wicked. 

    VALEK



    @[Dawn] HELLO HERE IS MY SON COME TO DROOL ON YOU
    Reply
    #2

    DAWN

    i just killed off what was left of the optimist in me

    Dawn won’t mind if Pangea floods with the icy waters from Hyaline’s mountains. Her thoughts are on the mountains as she paces through Pangea, and on the icy lake she used to swim in as a child. She can’t help but think it funny that she has lived now within all three eastern lands, each as the ruling kingdom of the time. She has ruled in two kingdoms now, though she hardly counts ruling the Cove since her queenship there had been so brief – hopefully she remains on the throne in Pangea for quite some time longer than that.

    She is emerging from the cold water of the river when the canyons begin playing their mysterious song, the wind whipping through her mane as she shifts back to horse form. A polar bear in Pangea may look strange – certainly her bear would be better suited to Icicle Isle, for example – but she wants to grow more confident in her shifting, instead of it being something she turns to when upset. Her loss of control in Tephra had shown her a lot about herself, and she wonders often if Kensa will ever speak with her again.

    The woman is not alone in her thoughts for long, however. A muscular youth crosses into her sight as she moves away from the banks, bay and gold and... familiar somehow. It has been some time since she has seen young Valek, but Kensa’s boy is unmistakable. He has grown taller and thicker since their first meeting, but the look in his eye as he approaches is the same, and Dawn grins at the boy. “It is good to see you again, Valek,” she says, eyes alight with playfulness. “And please, just call me Dawn. How have you been?”



    @[Valek]
    clean.
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    #3

    “I’ll call you whatever you like.” The bay replies playfully as he canters across the dry earth that separates them and stops within reach of her, shaking his dark mane back from his face. Its strange to be taller than her, to be able to hold his head up and pass his gaze over her supple top line though he manages this discreetly.“I have been very well, now that the snow is melting it seemed a good  time to get to know the places outside Hyaline.” Pausing, though his eyes do not roam from her pale, beautiful face. This is his very first stop and he smells of home, mountains, the crispness of early spring and of clean clear water. “I wanted to see you.” This handful of words has a husky quality, but only slightly and he continues without stumbling over it, his demeanor retaining its easiness in spite of himself. “Are you settling in, Dawn?”

    He’s said her name a hundred thousand times since first learning it as little more than an infant, but it is different to say it to her directly, this woman he admires. Of course even his considerable pride does not blind him to the fact that she may only see his mother’s son standing before her but he pushes the thought into the back of his mind.
    Surely he is grown enough for her to notice more than his lineage.

    Heavy feet shift but he doesn’t reach out to her, instead pivots to stand beside her so that they can have the same perspective on the land. “It is certainly different from home or the cove, but I hope you will be happy here. If not, I’d be glad to host you in Hyaline anytime you need a break.” Gold-shot eyes leave the landscape, dragged back to her helplessly and a flirtatious and genuine grin turns up one corner of his golden mouth.



    Valek
    if you want love


    @[Dawn]
    Reply
    #4

    DAWN

    i just killed off what was left of the optimist in me

    When had he grown to surpass her in height? He can’t yet be much older than three, and yet he stands several inches taller than her at the withers, though they are well matched in terms of stockiness. He mentions that he is exploring the places outside of Hyaline and she nods approvingly, her smile tightening with humor as he says that he’d wanted to see her. She doesn’t say anything to that, merely flicking her pale tail over her haunches as he continues as if that comment implied nothing.

    “I’m glad to hear that you’re exploring,” she tells him, her brown eyes warm. “It is important to learn about the world around you if you plan to take a bigger part in it one day... and as for me, I’m settling well. Pangea is a strange place, completely foreign to Hyaline or the Cove, but it has its own beauty.” And I’m at peace, she doesn’t add, knowing that the young stallion won’t understand the turmoil that has rocked Dawn’s life these past few years. When they had met, she was a completely different woman – wars and children and building and destroying relationships will certainly change a person, just the same as regular growth does.

    He expects her to see nothing but Kensa in him, but he is so different from her dear friend that it is easy to separate the two entities – he, for one, will at least speak to her, though she does not blame Kensa if the other mare does not want to communicate. Valek pivots to stand beside her and speaks again, offering Hyaline to her anytime she should wish, and her smile grows so large that it could nearly break off of her face. “I hold a love for Hyaline that not even the Cove could rival, and I would love to go and visit one day soon,” she tells him, glancing out to Pangea around them before returning her gaze to him. “Have you ever swam in the lake? It’s as cold as the devil but I’ve never felt a bigger thrill.”



    @[Valek]
    clean.
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    #5

    He does expect to take a bigger part in their world some day. The fact that he comes out here to seek her is just an early manifestation of his ambition, not for power but his will to seek out what he wants. His interests have not branched beyond rising into his mother’s council and this. Coming to see Dawn, to see is she is still as beautiful in these eyes, if she can see him.

    She tells him Pangea has its own beauty and he can understand that, to a degree. He is born of Hyaline though and measures all other places against it. He cannot say he would prefer to live somewhere like Pangea or even the Cove though he is young and cannot imagine that he will ever have to worry about that.

    His mother’s strange stubborn silence, first after the end of the war and now into the new new reign from Pangea is something he cannot speak for. He does not understand why she has not mended things with her friend, though he might say something after this, after seeing Dawn too beautiful for this harsh landscape but living here for the benefit of all of them. For now though he puts that out of his mind because her smile is real and full, and the beauty of it knocks him back. When her blue eyes fall on him again, and he knows for certain that his words are what have called that look onto her face Valek grins handsomely in return. “I have.” He’s been swimming in that lake all his life, cold be damned, Valek would almost rather be in the water than anywhere else. His idea that this is somehow related to his mother’s ability to teleport herself through the water is not entirely correct.

    There is so much he does not know, but today he is well informed on the fact that Kensa is nowhere near Hyaline and will not be for at least two full days and so there will be no potential awkwardness and he can keep a guest to himself. “You could come today, right now. I know a place.” Valek pivots, side steps in the direction of home, his black tail snapping against his haunches. Pangean dust billowing up in small clouds around his hooves. “Please. Come with me.” This is said just a little softer, gentle though his eyes glitter with mischief.



    Valek
    if you want love


    @[Dawn]
    Reply
    #6

    DAWN

    i just killed off what was left of the optimist in me

    She has to put the horrors of the past behind her if she’s ever to move on, but it’s difficult for Dawn to just simply... return to the carefree golden girl she was in her youth. The day where she ruled the playground with Sunny are long gone – now she rules Pangea with the dark lion, and has responsibilities beyond bossing around the other foals who would frolic with her. As much as she wishes to, she cannot make everyone her friend, and if the bridge has been burnt, she has to learn to accept things the way they're meant to be. She cannot keep dwelling on the mistakes she’s made; she can only look forward to the progress she is making.

    One day, when all of this is through, she likes to think that she will return to Hyaline, to retire in the land that she loves the most. The Cove is lovely, and surrounded by the ocean and black-sand beaches, but it was Hyaline she fell in love with as a child, getting drunk on the stories Rhaegor would tell her of the mountains and the forests and the lake. When she had arrived there, she had believed that nothing could disrupt her future there, until the plague struck and drove them out. Out of fear she had fled to the Cove, and look at her now. What other lands will she reside in, before this is all done?

    As much as her mind is wandering, she never breaks gaze from Valek and his handsome, confident grin, finding herself unable to stop smiling in return. He invites her to Hyaline and she suddenly feels like a child again, sneaking off to romp around and have fun. The playfulness in her eyes matches the mischief in his and she laughs, a carefree sound echoing around them. “Let’s go, then,” she tells him, knowing that she’s in dangerous water now, but not caring all the same. “Wanna race?”

    And with that she is off, giggling like a child as she races across the open ground towards the one place she’s ever felt truly at home.



    @[Valek]
    clean.
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    #7

    Dawn throws herself into a gallop, her beautiful, powerful body charging forward with grace and suspension. Valek waits a moment to watch her move and then he leaps after her, to fly toward the snow-capped peaks on the horizon. His head snakes to nip at the air above her shapely rump and then a few more strides put him practically in step with her. Their heavy feet make a thunderous sound over the flat emptiness of Pangea where it abuts Hyaline. Stride after stride he remains with her, never pushing past, timing his footfalls, finding her rhythm so that they are a team. Not because he cannot out pace her, he is strong and swift over distance like his mother but there is a thrill in hearing her breath in time with his, to the sound and motion of their flight.

    Instead of continuing through the main thoroughfare into his home Valek turns guiding Dawn instead into a narrow canyon that splits off between  two of the mountains. They can still run abreast of one another but once or twice he falls back to let her continue ahead of him back rock tumbledowns or fallen trees their path weaving through the shaded twisting places where the mountains come together until the way opens to the lake itself. From the main valley this bank is invisible, sheltered by the way the mountains come together around it a wall of gray stone hiding a beach of tiny pebbles. From here one could take a path up into the trees around the lake and back down again into the valley but only those very familiar with Hyaline would know the way. From the shore the view is only of a great distance of water and trees, the snow and granite peaks reflected in the lake’s mirror surface.

    Valek does not stop to gauge her reaction to the place or try to take advantage of the setting to woo her in some way but splashes out into the water (very cold from snowmelt) only turning back when the water laps midway up his sides. Dropping his head he tosses it to splash water in the Queen’s direction with another rakish grin. “How’s this? A private swimming hole just for you.” Tossing his head again to put his black forelock out of his eyes. “Except for me, of course.”




    Valek
    if you want love


    @[Dawn]
    Reply
    #8

    DAWN

    i just killed off what was left of the optimist in me

    Valek lets her charge ahead of him as they launch themselves towards Hyaline, and Dawn stretches into a full gallop, whinnying joyfully as the young stallion leaps into step beside her, matching her stride for stride. Their hoofbeats echo like thunder through Pangea as they rush headlong towards the mountains, and Dawn finds herself relaxing as her breaths echo in time with his and their legs move as one cohesive whole – if one didn’t see them, they would think there was a monstrous beast racing through the kingdom, or a raging storm with a destructive intent.

    The bay-and-gold stallion gently guides her onto a path that leads away from the center of Hyaline, into a narrow canyon. Their pace slows, but only a little, as they navigate a path that any unfamiliar with the mountains would call treacherous. Dawn effortless leaps the fallen trees and speeds around switchbacks and her hooves strike like flint against the rock beneath them until the lake comes into view before them and she slows. She pulls to a stop on the pebbly beach, breathing in the familiar scents of her childhood home and closing her eyes briefly to take in the serenity of Hyaline; she’s missed this place.

    Valek charges past her and into the icy water, and she giggles as the water is sprayed against her legs. Following him in, she continues until she is chest deep in the freezing water, laughing again as he splashes water in her direction and it washes over her back. “I’m honored,” she tells him as she takes a few steps closer to shore, until the water barely touches her barrel. “I may even be inclined to share with you,” she adds with a teasing grin, flicking her wet tail against her hip, where it sticks. Suddenly embarrassed she moves deeper into the water again to hide her faux pas, not meeting his eye again until she is very nearly fully submerged.



    @[Valek]
    clean.
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    #9

    He does not miss her moment of awkwardness, nor does he pretend to but hides his smile by lowering his muzzle to the surface of the clear water and focuses his eyes on her reflection rather than the Queen herself. The mare moves back out into the water, further and deeper and all the while his gaze is trained on the slowly shrinking mirage of her person until at last she stops and his eyes flick up to meet hers.

    There is something electric for Valek in the way their gazes connect at precisely the same moment. It may be a meaningless coincidence but for the first time in his young life that he notices the poignancy of catching someone’s attention at exactly the same time you draw theirs. He wants to say so many things to her but despite his inexperience he is wise enough to know they would not be welcome, and they might destroy the time he has stolen with her.

    Instead he turns and drifts to the depth she has chosen so that they are just two lake-creatures holding their heads out of the depths. Valek is comfortable in the deep water. Many times he has dreamed of swimming swiftly near the stony bottom, overturning sunken dead falls or dragging her… Dawn (sometimes others) into his embrace beneath the water a pearled bridle of bubbles clinging to her features. And she is so beautiful in those dreams that he cannot see the dark strangeness of them. He is not thinking about the dream now.

    Valek steps up to the palomino woman so that they are nearly nose to nose. His smile has faded into warmth, his proud features brightened handsomely. “I’d appreciate any such generosity.” He rumbles, before reaching up to draw a line of water down the center of her face and then pressing his gilded nose to hers. It is a playful gesture but one that makes his heard race in his deep chest.



    Valek
    if you want love


    @[Dawn]
    Reply
    #10

    DAWN

    i just killed off what was left of the optimist in me

    Of course he doesn’t miss her fuck up, but at least he is polite enough to hide his amusement, lowering his lips to the water and averting his eyes – staring at her reflection, not that she realizes. When their eyes meet again there is something there, an emotion she can’t quite put the words to. She feels as though there is a light current running all over her body, leaving her tingling and nervous and feeling as though her bones are about to catch flame. As he drifts closer to her in the waters, the tension in her mind builds, and all she wants to do is run her mouth along the curve of his neck...

    Surprised with herself, she breaks eye contact ones more, afraid that he will see the desire there. He draws even closer still, until they are close enough to touch and she has to physically hold herself back. His smile is as warm as ever as he speaks, lifting his nose to make water trickle down her face. She giggles like a child at that and leans into his warm touch as he presses his nose playfully into hers.

    It will probably come off as bold, but she doesn’t hesitate as she drifts closer to him in the water, pressing her nose into the warm folds of skin where his neck begins. “Thank you,” she murmurs with a sigh before pulling a few inches away to gauge his reaction to her touch. “For so long... I’ve felt like I’ve been drowning,” she admits quietly, wanting him to pull her into a comforting embrace. “But here, in actual water... I feel peace. I feel happiness and joy. I feel...” Her voice trails off as she realizes what she is saying and the gravity of their situation. There is no hiding the wanting in her voice, or the flushed heat of her skin when she touched him.

    This may be a mistake, but she wants him; she wants him to pull her in and embrace her and fulfill her every want and need – none of the other things matter anymore, just the two of them.



    @[Valek]
    clean.
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