"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
10-26-2015, 04:52 PM (This post was last modified: 10-27-2015, 12:12 PM by Felinae.)
felinae
I'm so excited, delighted. I won't deny it or fight it.
The autumn had already been cold, colder than what she was used to, but once the winter set in the temperatures had dropped even more. It made the bluish girl anxious, afraid of how much worse it would become. These weren’t the right temperatures to bring a child into the world, yet every single vessel over her body tells her that it is time. Panic starts to rise. Felinae is afraid of what Gryffen would do and say, afraid of complications that came with winter childbirth, afraid of becoming a mother. The only thing that keeps her grounded is the fact that she knows that Minette is near, only one single call away.
The contractions force her down on the rocks. She finds herself at the place Min had showed her, the place where she herself had delivered her son. For Felinae it is enough to know she has a sheltered place to deliver the child at, a safe place too and even though it wasn’t anything special, there was food here too. As she lies stretched on the ground she cannot help but to groan softly as she starts to push. It feels like the time stopped flowing and at the same time the time flies by. By the time it’s done she is panting loudly, but nonetheless she whinnies softly as she moves her body to sit up. The cobalt blue roan turns her head and neck, to look at the wet bundle behind her. The look upon her features is soft, happy even, but the anxiousness is still evident in her eyes.
Minette is never far from the cobalt blue mare. She is fiercely loyal to the girl, and though months have passed since Gryffen has appeared, she stands ready to defend the timid mare against the possible repercussions of Felinae's pregnancy. Through the anxious months they have both waited, forgotten creatures, taking solace in one another's company.
He did show up once, the white wolf. While Minette was alone he took her and placed his third child in her womb. It was a whisper, barely more than a shadow, and then he was gone again. The slight swelling of her stomach is all that shows she did not dream the encounter.
When Felinae moves with intent to the place where Leck was born, Minette follows at a short distance. From experience she knows that while it is comforting to know you are not alone, usually a birthing mare doesn't want anyone too close. The gray mare nickers comfortingly to her friend, doing her best to be the steady rock that she needs. All too well does Minette remember the pangs of childbirth and the terrifying love a mother feels afterwards. Knowing that you are wholly responsible for the life and well being of such a small and fragile creature. It was a ferocity that she feels til this day. Neither distance nor time has dimmed it.
Birthing is a quick process, and with a final push Felinae gives life to a steaming wet bundle. Minette moves forward cautiously, respectfully but does not touch either mother or child.
“A girl. Oh, Fel, she's beautiful. That blue is gorgeous. You must be so proud.” Min nickers softly to the child, and her eyes shine with congratulations. Very quickly, however, she is serious. The mountains are growing colder with each passing day and the depths of winter are upon them. “You must clean her off. It will warm her, and then both of you need to stand. Nursing will keep her strength up and help slow the bleeding in your womb.”
The gray mare takes a step forward and firmly but kindly nudges the new mother. The baby will follow if she sees her maman move. Life will be difficult for this winter child, but Minette has hope that the pair can help the baby thrive.
10-27-2015, 12:11 PM (This post was last modified: 10-27-2015, 12:12 PM by Leck.)
Leck watched the laboring mare and his mother from a distance. The colt, once a glowing palomino, was fading, becoming pale and wraithlike. The boy wasn’t sad to see the fur go, it felt right. His horns too, were changing. They didn’t itch anymore, and they had become tall and towering, wickedly sharp above his childlike head and stony eyes.
Leck’s lip pulled up into a sneer. There was to be another foal in the Mountain, and a filly. Already he knew it was no sister of his. It didn’t smell like Red Eye. The colt was old enough to know his father’s name, to know that they all simpered, “Gryffen.” He still thought Red Eye was more appropriate.
Leck briefly wondered if his father would have killed the filly, had it been a colt not his own. Leck would have. It was only practical, to rid yourself of another man’s bastard colt. Then Leck wondered if Gryffen would kill the filly anyways, for being a child born to another man in his home. That would be rather wasteful. Still, not unwarranted perhaps, if you had girls to spare.
The pale yearling shrugged. It made no difference to him either way. He needed no company, and he longed for no company less than that of his parents. He accepted Red Eye, for he was powerful, and his mentoring would certainly prove useful to Leck, and he accepted mother, for she had done much for him. She had given him birth, and suffered greatly on his part. It didn’t endear her to him, but he she would admit that she had her purpose, and a slight, grudging resect was owed her.
In honor of that debt owed, and because he was bored out of his skull, Leck got a little closer to the trio. He stopped near his mother, and snarled one of his rare, fleeting sentences.
“Who are they? The child is not Gryffen’s.” Leck wasn’t sure if his words were a threat. They sounded like a threat, but they passed through his lips with a great deal of apathy. There was, however, the slightest tinge of curiosity, mingling with the apathy.
I'm so excited, delighted. I won't deny it or fight it.
Instantly she sees what Minette sees, even though the child is still somewhat bloody and wet, and wrinkled. The girl is beautiful, supporting both her parents’ roaning coat where as she is a blue roan like her dad, but with Felinae’s own blue decorating the sky blue mane. ”She really is” she replies softly, without looking at the pale gray mare, as she gently reaches out to touch the newborn child. Every movement feels like one too much, her body aches and she feels tired, oh so tired. She knows Minette is right, that she should stand up to clean her daughter, before she would get sick.
It is only because of Min’s urging that Felinae manages to push herself of the ground, her legs feeling a little shaky and unsteady at first, but it doesn’t take her long before she stands next to the black and blue little bundle. A little unsure and uncertain she gently pushes her muzzle against the small frame, cleaning her daughter off. ”Come on, little one” she softly murmurs once she’s done. The cobalt blue roan mare tries to gently urge the child on her feet, but never moving away from her as she’s afraid that her baby would disappear. Even though Minette is now there with her, the anxiousness never really leaves her, but the smile on her lips grows steadily. How could she not smile, with this gorgeous child of her and Zeik in front of her? ”Besra” she names the child, before lifting her head slightly to meet Minette’s gaze.
It is the first time that she actually sees Leck up close, but the timing couldn’t have been more wrong. Tension rises as the young boy settle’s alongside his mother, only keeping a slight distance between himself and the new mother and child. Felinae feels uncomfortable with his closeness, not sure what she could expect of him, and moves herself in between the boy and her own girl as her ears turn back. His words hurt and make her even more uncomfortable. Yes her daughter wasn’t Gryffen’s, but how could that be her fault? It was Gryffen wo had torn her away from her home while she was pregnant with Zeik’s child. Her gaze moves towards Minette for a short second, hoping that her friend will jump in to help her.
In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different
The scene of her birth is not what someone would normally expect in a functioning family. It’s not really peaceful, and it’s certainly far from perfect. But, she comes into this world with heated words in her ears nonetheless, and she opens her pale, pale blue eyes to the horses that she’ll see as family. There is mother - dark blue, warm, laboring. The source of her life. There’s the pale, flecked mare, concerned and wary. And then, a voice above all others that causes her fine little head to tremble with the effort of turning it about to see him. The horned one. So much anger in his gaze.
But then there’s no time to think on it. Mother is urging her up, and so she stands, unsteadily, and uncurls her bright blue wisp of a tail while Felinae rubs her down. The cold is the first thing to really bother her and it stings against her wet coat. The filly shivers and takes a tumbling step forward. A whisper of a name floats against the wind and her dark ears lift upwards, catching the sound before it drifts away on the wind. Besra. Her name. She snorts, expelling water from her nose before shaking her comically large foal head.
The horned one is talking, but she can’t be bothered. It’s milk that she needs, and instinct guides her.
She’s almost black as ink now, but that will fade in a short time. Her baby fuzz will peel off quickly and reveal her true origins. A blue roan coat to match her father, and a baby blue mane and tail to complement her mother. It’s not hard to guess who she belongs to. She doesn’t guess that this is the cause of all the trouble, that she’s the source of immediate danger, so she looks around, whuffs her nose against her mother’s side, and wobbles to the source of milk. For now, that’s what she needs.
They argue, she finishes, and then she pops back out again, curiosity getting the better of her. Testing her own strength she lurches away from her mother, whinnying airily to hear her own voice. She can’t form words yet, that strange magical thing that all beqannians have in common, so she smiles and frowns and twists her silky ears to and fro. Her interest lands on The horned one, and since she doesn’t know any better, she takes a step towards him. He was herd, he was family, her brother.
11-02-2015, 07:50 PM (This post was last modified: 11-02-2015, 07:52 PM by Minette.)
Minette watches with a bemused, encouraging smile as the first time mother nudges her little daughter to her feet. She remembers fondly her own times nudging a wobbling child to take their first steps (although in Leck's case he had leapt to his feet as if spurred by wolves). As if in anticipation of its own impending entrance, a small kick makes itself known in Minette's growing belly. The gray mare smiles in spite of herself. She does love children and she loves her own no less ebcause of how they were sired. Still, she hopes that one day she can have what Felinae has. The birth of a little one with no reservations.
Not completely no reservations, Min thinks suddenly, correcting herself. After all, they are both in a precarious position in this half abandoned mountain herd headed by a capricious dictator.
Minette thinks of Magnus. She wonders where he might be and whether he thinks of her. The gray mare both dreads and longs for his appearance. It would be a confirmation that her day of freedom was not a hazy, happy dream.
The winter fog parts, however, to reveal an entirely different form; her yearling son, a handsome boy with wickedly sharp horns and an almost bored look gracing his features. Minette nickers a low greeting, swishing her tail to halt her agitation. Rarely does a new mother appreciate the presence of a stranger.
“Besra is a beautiful name, Fel.” Minette says in a gentle whisper, nudging her friend, trying to let her know that she would not be alone through these dark days.
With a steady look in her eyes, backed by iron, Minette turns to her son.
“I'm glad you have come to greet your new herdmate, Leck.” Minette says, her voice even. Her own belly is stretched full of Gryffen's child. The gray mare feels there are plenty of the white stallion's offspring in the world. Exhaustion washes over her as the weight of her third pregnancy hits her. Three children in as many years is a burden on her body, and it strikes her as too much. She wonders if Gryffen will want more, and if she can bear it.
Not that she regrets the children themselves. Innocent creatures cannot help the evil that spawn them.
“No. The child is not Gryffen's. But she is a part of our family. This is Felinae, and her daughter Besra.”
Minette watches as the girl moves closer to Leck, unknowing and naïve. A small wave of panic grips the gray mare's chest as a peculiar look flashes in Leck's eyes. Besra looks tiny, vulnerable, when compared to the dark colt and his towering horns. Instinctively she moves forward to intercept the little girl, putting her body between the children. Minette loves her son, but she also fears him in ways that make her ashamed. No mother should carry a weight of wariness towards their offspring, but Leck triggers as much of a prey instinct in her as Gryffen once did.
Leck began to feel something twist and writhe in his gut. He kicked his hind leg irritability and his teeth gnashed. It was always something with mares. They always talked, or prodded, or wheedled. He didn’t understand why, and he didn’t understand the purpose it served. The graying colt sent Felinae a spiteful grimace.
“You can wipe that nasty look from your face. I won’t hurt it.” It, was of course, the filly, Besra. He watched them silently for a while, watching the girl drink greedily, watched her take to the world easily, confident in her assumption that she was one of them. But, she wasn’t. She had no business here.
Mother spoke to him and Leck causally nodded. It was, of course, his place to be here. If Gryffen wasn’t here Leck felt it in his bones that he should be. He cared little and less for his father’s women, but he was still his father’s son, even if the colt couldn’t summon anything more than grudging respect for the beast that sired him. He needed to watch them, needed to keep the women in line. Leck refused to live in a world ruled by them. He would stake his claim now, before they got any ideas about the pecking order.
Besra, it would seem, was the only one who was not afraid of him. The little filly tottered over, and the horned boy smiled broadly, almost delightedly. Well I’ll be, the little girl had balls, he would give her that. Leck’s smile grew wolfish, and he dropped his head, low and snakelike. There was something about this girl, something about her bravery and stupidity that made Leck want to grab her by the neck and shake. He didn’t want to hurt her, not exactly, but he wanted to do something, and the colt’s eyes grew hot.
His gaze was feverish, lost in the hunt and the prowl, when Mother stepped in his path. In that moment the spell was broken. Leck screeched, his surprise whipping his anger to a bubbling froth. Before he had time to stop himself, before he really knew what he was doing, the colt lashed out.
His horn pierced her neck with near terrifying ease. Leck felt his horn sink in deep, and then hot blood sprayed in his face. The colt hissed and screamed, and this time it was in near panic. The blood was in his eyes, it was filling his nose. The colt reeled back, his horns pulling free of his mother as her blood coated his face.
((OOC: MWHAHAHA! -more evil laughter- let me know if you want anything changed, I did a fair bit of power playing there.))
11-05-2015, 01:58 PM (This post was last modified: 11-05-2015, 02:01 PM by Minette.)
la jeune fille marquée
Minette had long felt like she was losing her son. And with despair in her heart, she wonders what she had done to cause their rift. Was it Gryffen's influence, or Minette's cowardice, or a fateful combination of the two? Whichever it was, this boy in front of her is nearly a stranger. The gray mare feels closer to her firstborn whom she has not seen in two years. As such, she is not surprised when Leck lashes out. Minette believes she has been waiting for this moment since the day the boy was born and he snarled a challenge to the world.
There is a calmness to her response, an inevitability come to fruition that causes her to look her son in the eyes as a wickedly sharp horn splits apart muscle and fat. Blood spurts from the wound, but Minette barely feels it at first. Despair is grasping at her throat, stabbing her heart deeper than Leck's horns every could.
This is my son, she thinks as he hisses and screams, coated in her blood.
She collapses to her feet, feeling dizzy. Minette thinks of Felinae and her daughter, of the twisted and grotesque tableaux that mother and son must make. What words can ever explain this?
“Leck, my son. Hush.” Minette says quietly, evenly, her voice sounding faint and unlike her own. “You will scare the child.”
It happens then, without any control or input on her part (but oh how she hopes someday she can control it). Heat, what little there is of it in the mountains' cool spring day, is sucked from the air, almost tangibly. Her skin pulls it in greedily, and the gray mare winces. The healing often hurts more than the injury. The blood slows to a trickle and then clots, the veins knitting closed, with the muscle and fat and skin being smoothed out on top of it. In under a minute the only sign of Leck's misdeed is the fresh blood on his face, and left in rivulets down Minette's neck and shoulder..
There is a weary silence. And then with a tone she hates, a voice both terrified and forceful, Minette speaks as she staggers to her feet. “Leave us. You have done enough damage here today.”
ooc: you can power play with me anytime, Anna. ;-) *grins*
11-06-2015, 11:58 AM (This post was last modified: 11-06-2015, 11:59 AM by Felinae.)
felinae
I'm so excited, delighted. I won't deny it or fight it.
She was grateful for her friend’s presence, especially now Leck had joined them. The young mother is torn between unconditional love for her newborn daughter and the fear for the young boy. He is only a yearling, yet his horns are long and sharp, and neither does he look too friendly. It is clear that Minette’s son doesn’t welcome the bluish mare nor her daughter in the herd and she is honestly afraid of what he could do.
Felinae offers the gray mare a small smile, before turning her neck so she can gently move her muzzle on Besra’s rump. Even though the blue wasn’t as prominent as on her own coat, she felt incredibly proud when she had first spotted the blue in the girl’s mane and tail. And now Minette is busy with her son, she feels at ease enough to focus her attention on the young girl at her side.
Sadly enough, it did not seem like she was granted a peaceful moment. A moment that should be shared between mother and child, in the presence of those who meant no harm. It happens too fast and Felinae only realises what exactly is happening as the gray mare stumbles to her knees. ”Min!” her voice is barely a whisper. Anger rises, but her fear is still stronger and the well-being of her little girl gets first. She does not want to think of what would’ve happened if Minette hadn’t stepped forward to protect her child.
Within no-time she has the little girl tucked safely at her side, making sure that Besra wouldn’t be exposed to Leck’s gaze. His scream is horrible and the serene feeling is long gone now. Felinae is trembling, out of both anger and fear, but she doesn’t let Leck leave her sight. Ears are pressed back against her skull and lips parted to show her teeth as a warning noise comes from deep within her chest. If the situation had been any different she would’ve been shocked by her own actions, but right now her maternal instinct justifies it all.
”You.. Minette… the wounds.. they have healed.” She had seen it with her own eyes and if it wasn’t for the blood on both mother and son’s coats she would’ve believed that nothing had happened. She didn’t know that her friend had the ability to heal herself and all though it was something special, Felinae didn’t dare to call it a gift. She had seen the expression on her friend’s features and those had been clear enough.
Her eyes do not leave the palomino colt as she steps closer to Minette, eyes still somewhat wide and she has clearly not processed what has happened. ”Min..” she calls out softly, pressing her nose carefully against the pale mare’s shoulder, carefully to avoid the struck place. ”Are you okay..?”
She already knew the answer, how could a mother be okay after her own son had attacked her. Sure he had not aimed at her, instead the newborn girl had been the target, and that wouldn’t make a mother’s heart hurt less.
OOC: Okay.. This took soo much time, I kept deleting and rewriting and.. ugh.. hard post to write. Tooooo much happened here..
![[Image: felinae_zpsxzrcory8.gif]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/dsl_devin/felinae_zpsxzrcory8.gif)
