"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
What was she doing? She was certainly in no condition to travel right now, but being stationary wasn’t exactly comfortable either. It just seemed as if everything was pushing against her internal organs and driving her mad. Silently, Astri curses the unusually large foal growing within her, and moves through the last winding mountain path to the Valley. Allied with the Chamber they were the closest thing Astri could think of when she considered her options for diplomacy. To be honest, she was also incredibly naive about how kingdom relations worked. What made the Valley so incredibly special that the Chamber would join them hand-in-hand? A sigh slips woefully past her beryl lips and she cringes as a kick rolls against her insides. “Impatient little pest.” She mumbles, slowing to a halt at the edge of the grandiose kingdom.
She’s not exactly sure what she’ll be greeted with. A miniscule flash of Gryffen’s pale, imposing form darts across her memory and her mouth quirks up into a smirk. Hopefully nothing as flashy as that. Though she still wondered what the red-eyed devil was up to these days … Her bi-colored eyes focus on the eerie silence stretching before her and she looses a tentative call, wondering how she would actually proceed with this once things were set into motion. But what the hell, live and learn, right?
Demian summoning me, Demian taking the throne, Demian promoting me to be his Second in Command; I do hope he knows what he’s doing because when it comes to politics, I’m like a sledgehammer. I aim to please no one but myself. That’s why I politely declined when he asked me to rule alongside him, because it wouldn’t take long before they came with their torches and their pitchforks. I would have been forced to gobble them all up—the wicked, cannibal King of the Valley, they’d call me. I would've been the new Elite, everyone would've been after my head. No one’s got time for that.
But I digress.
I’m bad at politics, I don’t care for them; I’m neither tactful nor polite unless I try hard enough and even then, there’s always a small threat of violence thrown somewhere in the mix. That’s what you get when you let a little boy run wild through a jungle and he’s raised by warrior women. So, as I am walking along, imagine my surprise when I glance up and notice there’s a very pregnant mare waddling up near the end of my trail that I’ve been ‘patrolling.’ She might be an ally, she might be a new recruit—I want nothing to do with her, at any rate, but I cannot ignore her now without her mentioning it to someone else.
Imagine how that might reflect back on the kingdom.
I sigh before turning to dust.
A breeze sweeps me along through the trees and I pull myself together some feet off the trail so I can approach her from behind—to the right, so I’m not in her blind spot and she can see me coming through the trees. I’m noisy enough, anyways; when I’m not shifting to fit between trees and flit over leaves, I’m quite loud. A Percheron cross isn’t very stealthy, you see. I stop at what I think is a respectable enough distance away, but I’ve never been the best at personal boundaries, and I cock my head to the side to get a better look at her. Seems harmless enough. Not that I would attack a pregnant mare either way, mind.
I’ll leave that up to the ‘real’ evils of the world.
“Ally, recruit… or other?” I ask solemnly, hoping she gets the hint that I’d rather get straight to the point.
tarnished
vanquish x nocturnal
Even on the way down, even on the way down.
Vanquish x Nocturnal equus mutatio, immortality, disease manipulation, trait immunity
" you say I'm crazy, but I think I'm freaking amazing. "
It was so very true. It made even me want to laugh. Due to rumor and the desire to change and spice things up a big, I had summoned the shifter to help me stir the pot within the Valley's walls. I never cared if he wasn't one for politics... I wanted him on my side and it was common knowledge that two spirits like ours always made things interesting when they chose to pair together. Tarnished and I were deifferent in many aspects but similar in so many others. You could say I considered the younger man my closest friend. And I probably wouldn't care what he did, so long as it didn't harm me. Oh look, I guess I can be selfish sometimes... Eat all the horses you want cannibal king, just don't eat me.
Because then I'd have to hate you and I surprisingly enjoy being fond of you. At least that's what I've come to find. Maybe this is why I had turned back around towards the valley's borders when I heard the tentative call and then nish's voice following soon after. Or maybe it was because I couldn't help but follow that diplomatic instinct my mother had instilled within me. Either way I found myself weaving through the closely pressed together trees with quick steps as I headed towards the sound of the pair. As I stepped out of the trees and moved towards them, I heard nish's quick question and chuckled in slight amusement as I came to a stop next to him.
"You'll have to excuse Tarnished here," he stated with a slight smirk, "He's not very good at this sort of thing." Glancing over at the man he had met first as creeping crawling fog, he gave nish an almost innocent look in response to his own teasing yet honest statement before looking back to the very obviously pregnant chamber mare. "Welcome to the Valley... I'm Demian, and this is Tarnished, obviously." Head jerked slightly towards the much more muscular man before he spoke once more. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite.. usually." Tone obviously teasing he chuckles once more. "Anyway, how can we help you?"
Astri really isn’t sure what she’s good at yet. Texas had beat her on the battlefield, but she attributes that to his experience and his surprisingly bold nature. She hasn’t given much thought to diplomacy and its rules, but she also doesn’t consider herself much of a game changer. She simply is, and for now that seems to be enough. A trifling wind disturbs her mane and she thinks nothing of it until a rather solid sound behind her causes her to glance back to her right in concern. Surprise surprise, it’s a rather large stallion. Her nostrils flare and she searches the air for foul play, but he seems more bored with her than anything.
So bored, in fact, that Astri narrows her eyes and wonders why he even bothered. “Curious.” She replies, making her own disinterest apparent. Her gaze rakes over him though, and she’s impressed with the overall package, but it doesn’t hide the fact that he seems like an incredibly dull creature. She wonders vaguely if this is how all Valley members are. With the slow blink of her eyes she’s about to spark conversation, but a chuckle halts her.
The second to arrive is almost the mirror opposite of this first. And, (if Astri was being honest with herself) much more appealing. “Oh that’s quite alright.” Astri retorts, glancing back at the shadowy man. “I take it he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t need to say much to get his point across.” A flicker of a smirk and then she’s back to Demian, who introduces himself and the brooding Tarnished. She joins the spotted stallion in his chuckle, wondering again just how hard the watchdog could bite if tempted. “I’m Astri, a new member of the Chamber.” She begins, turning to look between both of them before continuing. “I thought I could swing by and brush up on some diplomatic skills, since we’re so closely aligned and all.”
She smiles, a rare feature for her, and shifts her position to appease the squirming demon inside of her. “Anything new and exciting going on here?”
