» Innocence is always unsuspicious «

I had never really ventured to the river, I hadn't needed to, Nerine was surrounded by water and the meadow had streams nearby.but for whatever reason I ventured, maybe it was the new leaf to do more, to suck the marrow out of life, but I wandered into the low cool ground,water babbling like a cooing child. My mahogany coat sun bleached to a fiery hue in the peak of summer stood out against the tones of green, and grey. Scanning the area I didn't really see anything of interest, so I waited choosing to cool off in the rushing waters of the river. Slowly I sank into the cool waters savoring the feeling of water slowly riding up my legs. I water the water lap at the rocks and jagged river bed, continuously carving its path deeper and fervently etching away any edge until everything was smooth. I watched as the water haphazardly pushed a loose piece of rock down stream, and a memory of almost being swept down a flooded creek as a child came to the surface of my mind. I squished it's, mentally stomped it away-- that night was too much.

A certain motion broke my thoughts, and at first I wasn't sure what, but after I scanned the spandex of land and water before me I realized what it was. It was the certain swashbuckling swagger of a silvery stallion. He had an air about him, I watched him from a distance not worried if I was caught staring. The look wasn't menacing, but as if he walked to his own beat and he didn't it didn't matter to him if someone didn't like it or not. As I continued to try to pin him down mentally, gauge his purpose or what have you, I knew I should have diverted my curiosity. I knew this curiosity was nothing good, I knew that type, “damn you and what you want” boys with their lopsided grins and silver tongues… nothing good ever came from a swashbuckler. But I didn't move, and I didn't stave my curiosity; I stared and wondered, presumed and hypothesized,

Apparently, I hadn't learned my lesson--bad boys are always bad news.

Vessel

Kimber x Nymphetamine

» Innocence is always unsuspicious «

He turned toward her after a moment, a look that I couldn’t quite read from the distance settled on his rough-around-the-edges features. And maybe someone else would have looked away, maybe I should have. But I didn’t. Something in his grey eyes made my heart quicken, but I calm my heart, control my breathing. I hadn’t said a word to him and yet I react like a love sick filly. I wasn’t sure why I was so bold with this roughian before me, as I help his gaze. I guess I would have to actually talk to him to find out.

I stepped towards him as he let a quirky remark fall in rustic tones from his whiskered lips. I smile, ”I might. Hard to tell from there. Why not let me get a closer look to be sure.”  Somewhere in my mind I’m screaming at myself, really… really, you slut. Stop. Stop this facade right now, remember that innocent thing you used to be… you can’t pull this off, so stop. You are not a slut, you are Kimber's daughter--you don’t do things without thinking it through. As much as that part of myself was correct, I didn’t just do things without thought, and I wasn’t a slut. But I also sensed something in the salty air around this stallion, and, who said I couldn’t. Have a little fun, try on this boldness. This confidence. I could easily change my mind, but I couldn’t just dwell on the sporadically available Chem. I knew what I deserved even if I knew that part of me would never be fully free of Chem.  The flecked man covered the distance, and I also closed it as well, eyeing him.

The river was obviously not his home, he smelled too much of salt to be from the fresh water. No earth was not his scent, and she didn’t mind it, it was different-- the sea spray in his hair, unruly from being whipped by the ocean winds. His muscles tight from his efforts out doing...whatever on the sea. I preferred land, but maybe opposites still attract. He was young, younger than he looked when afar, but he was not so yo young that I should balk at the idea of being attracted to such a youngin’. But I thought it best to maybe tone it down just a touch, I could be bold but have some couth. He spoke of an entry fee and I laughed genuinely at that. He was intriguing this man. ”Well let me not forsake you your dues. Will the maiden’s name suffice your fee?” I pause just long enough to step forward and raise my lips to his ear. ”Its Vessel.” I said it simply, so simply it was probably a disappointment. But it made me smile, this little game. I stepped away from him turning my shoulder towards the shore and peeling off in a small circle to face him once again, the cool river water splashing up and darkening spots on my boat to a dark crimson-brown. When I faced him again I felt it was his turn to share, since you know I was so intrigued (my heart still wanted to beat quickly in my chest, though I wouldn’t allow it)

”You, my unnamed corsair, are a sea-man, yes? I smell it on you; that is of interest. How does a four-legger such as you survive on the seas?  

I blinked at him as my voice fell sweetly, occasionally he may have picked up a slightly breathy syllable... if he knew to listen for it.

Vessel

Kimber x Nymphetamine

» Innocence is always unsuspicious «

What. have. I. done. I must have misread the signs, took his words for more than they were. The silvery stallion stood dripping but the look in his wide eyes said he was not doing the same dance I was. We were about to collide, and not in the romantic sense of the word. A late summer breeze whipped around us, tossing his hair, and making my own flick on the wind like a kite tail. Maybe it would carry the awkwardness away with it. I thought back to what he said, jokes about admissions tickets… were they not flirtatious? A line of sorts that stallions used to make us girls laugh or swoon or whatever. It had to be. If I replaced this dripping bay with that of Chem’s black and white form it would have been. Ugh. the mess this is. Way to go Vessel. Way. to. Go. I guess I had no clue what I was doing. 10 years on this earth and I hadn’t learned I can’t be something I’m not--a saucy minx.

But the shock seems to subside, if at least for a moment and I hear him speak my name, his dark tones make it take a bold feel, not the typically sweet yet stubborn feel when I speak my own name. I smile as he says it, genuinely liking the difference in the way he weights different sounds. His own name follows and the smile stays for a while as I felt his name out mentally before replying. ”Well it is a pleasure to meet you, Grimdark.” I looked up at him, as he stood over me without lurching in a way that as menacing. His frame comforting in some deeply instinctual way that I didn’t fully understand or care to-- somethings were just better left alone. I didn’t know that he felt awkward and too big in his skin. But I didn’t go throwing that out, I wasn’t meant for overly bold statements, so I just relaxed into my curiosity towards him. Currently, it was towards his seaward appearance, and how he managed to just be out in the water. In Nerine, the water crashes against the land, and there was no easy way to break through them. She would die if she tried, the water would push her against the rocky cliffs and crush her petite frame with their might. But he said he swam, and so I had to believe him, I guess.”I could never, in Nerine, the waves are too strong, and there isn’t an easy entry point. I’d surely drown.” It wasn’t that I could swim.. But in the open ocean, no I would never… I would stick to the quiet coves where the water was still or the rivers that gently flowed downstream.

Trying to sweep the totally mixed signals and horribly awkward start under the rug I went to where most small talk conversations end up, ”So where are you from Grimdark, If you saw somewhere land locks I might just keel over from shock, considering your swimming ways.” I laugh the last bit off my lips, such a swashbuckler surely grew up in the water as well. As I waited for his reply, I dipped my dished face to the water, taking in the cool liquid before raising my head as the crisp water dripped from my lips. I hated small talk, but it was almost always a part of getting to know others...and that was the goal these days, so I had to get over it. But until then I would enjoy the dance of stranger meeting a stranger and the feeling of unknown that lingered in the air between them.

Vessel

Kimber x Nymphetamine

» Innocence is always unsuspicious «

He doesn’t draw attention to my embarrassment, or even the change in my behavior, instead, there is a subtle change in him, he holds his eyes on me a little longer, smiles a little more genuinely. It wasn’t creepy, the way his eyes occasionally looked over at me, it was as if there was secret that I didn’t know but he did. And when he finally smiled in a more natural way-- not that nervous stiff grin, man talk about a sight. I averted my eyes as if it wasn’t for me to see. But we started talking about swimming and he seemed to relax into our conversation even more. He seemed confused by my apprehension of the water, yet he nodded along with some of the facts I presented. It was a different side of him one that led to more than monosyllabic replies and tense unsure commentary. His voice fell knowledgeable and sure, while he explained the bays, and how the water is different on this side of Beqanna. It was news to me I had seen Nerine, and I had seen the common lands, and then the lands before the Reckoning. That makes sense Grimdark, you really seem to love the water. I can’t say I love the water-- I was almost swept away by a strong river current after some rain when I was younger. Just a little--untrusting of deep water.” I smiled weakly at him-- what a memory that was. What I didn’t say was that I didn’t drown because of Chem… and how that lead to the twisted history I shared with the teal eyes stallion. How even as I found him attractive, and interesting I wondered if I would ever be able to forget about the black and white stallion who had been a huge part of my younger life.

I get lost in my head for a time, thinking of everything that led me to this moment. The fight in the meadow, how rough Chem had been...how he always seemed to find me… how I was determined to actually move on, to have a full life. I couldn’t just live in this suspension of time when he isn’t around; only living life when he was around. But now I had gotten out of from under him, and the mind game he had trapped me in and was determined to stay out. The sound of Grimdark tossing his head brought me back, and the disheveled look of him made me smile widely as a giggle escaped my lips. ”Here….” I bubbled ad closed the small distance between us before reaching up and lipping the rowdy forelock away from his eye and into a neater arrangement.I lowered my head, admiring my efforts, ”there. better? I smiled hesitating at our proximity before backing away to a conversational distance.

That nervous smile was back but it didn’t dwell long before he was talking about being from Ischia in response to my earlier question. There was a something behind his statement, but I didn’t pry, I allowed the cool breeze to pull that statement away, and just let it be. ”I get that, my childhood home got swallowed up with the Reckoning, but I’m at Nerine now. I’ve grown more fond of it through the years.” I focus on him, and he seems focused on me. A flutter in my stomach made me aware of his eyes on my more than normal, and my cheeks flushed, you would know due to my mahogany coat, but if he was attentive he might have seen my breath catch and my nostrils flare slightly. But his voice gives me something else to focus on other than butterflies in my stomach. ”Here? Oh, nothing really, Just trying to get out more, meet others, you know changing the routine and seeing what comes of it. I’d say this has been a successful outing, would you agree?”

Butterflies. They made it hard to focus, but I tried to be attentive. And while Chem had been a thought earlier, he didn’t seem so important, so dynamic, in that moment. In fact, in that moment the coppery stallion with the unruly forelock and lopsided grin made me want to swim in the open water, just to have an excuse to linger a little longer. It wasn’t anything significant-obviously they had just met… but I couldn’t help but want to keep exploring whatever this was. ”So that bay you were talking about, it isn’t too far, is it? I think I’d like to see it. I smile at him, my eyes dancing in the lowering sunlight as it moved further down towards the horizon.

Vessel

Kimber x Nymphetamine

» Innocence is always unsuspicious «

I saw it the disengagement in his eyes, the way he didn’t seem to want to be there, didn’t want me to be there. Confused by the sudden change I moved away, settling into a more amicable distance, one that strangers should have, one where there was no way he could take as some sort of pressure. Even though we played this dance of flirtation and apparent discomfort (from him so it would seem) I continued to try and continue the conversation as effortlessly as before. Don’t get me wrong- I didn’t expect anything of consequence, we just met and had been talking for only a short time. It would be a silly immature thing to expect that there would be anything more than flirtations and a few prolonged touches in this their first meeting. It didn’t mean that I couldn’t take interest and express it--as I had. Whatever had happened in the moment I moved tamed his forelock, I tried not to let it divert our pleasant conversation.

While I spoke of some of my basic history, he seemed intrigued once more. I seriously had no clue what to make of him and his hot-cold body language. But his question broke my self-questioning and made me focus more solely on him. Of course the Reckoning, many who were too young to know it wondered of its impact and magnitude. It was hard for them to imagine Beqanna being anything other than what it was. They would never know how different it was. As I thought of all the ways it had changed, my eyes are the ones to shade over. The Reckoning had taken everything, it was a lot to process and respond to, my own disengagement was not because of Grimdark, but because of a past, I often allowed myself to forget. ”The Reckoning….I lost my home, my mother, my twin-Vaughan, most everyone I knew-- I have not heard a whisper of them. My father- I believe he made it I think I have heard of him around… and my..lov--I lost a lot. But powers? No, my powers weren’t bestowed until recently. Though, I think lost powers are nothing compared that of loved ones….”

I drift into silence, my words falling off into a quiet whisper as if they were sections of land falling off a cliff into the seas. But he was soon laughing at other quips we shared as I worked on shoving the memories back into their place in the back of my mind. He seemed lighter after he let himself laugh. A sound deep and raspy but intoxicating after such a broody moment. I allow myself to laugh lightly with him, and it pulls me from myself as well. It didn’t help that he had closed the distance between them...again the confusing messages. This one sure knew how to screw with a girl’s mind. He talks of Nerine, my home, and the intonation speaks of more than a simple welcome, but I let it go simply making basic conversational replies to show I was listening and interested in his topic….but I didn’t care to pry-- not my place, I had no claim to him.

In his closeness, his eyes grow somber, a weight to them in response to what I’m not quite sure, but in it there comes a quiet confidence, on that, I hadn’t expected. He suddenly seems too close, as if his breath itself is consuming me, it's exciting and nerve-wracking all in one. His proximity makes me tower above me, and I seem too still, too unsure. But he lipped at my mane and I softened into his touch as if it were instinct. I almost forgot his hot-cold mannerisms in that moment. They were still there, just out shown by the unexpected moment, as his mouth caressed my cheek and I gently pressed against it. But he stepped away and his final words shattered the moment. “I can’t give you what you seek.” I made no attempt to hide my confusion. What I seek, I didn’t seek anything, I had no intent to walk to the river and have anything other than a conversation-- if that. I didn’t expect to find a handsome stallion and have him flirt back. What did he think I wanted? But again his actions didn’t match the words and before I had fully comprehended his words he had moved forward. He lips caressing my flesh in a delicious trail of kisses. Down my neck and shoulder, and without a word he was to my hip, making my breath catch in my throat, my words lost in a swirl of physical sensations that clashed head-on with what his words left me thinking. I returned a few heated kisses along his neck, and gently pressed my cheek against his withers, but was mostly still-- locked in a moment of disbelief. As he left me with more than I had thought would happen let alone, what I wanted. I simply was out letting myself experience the new Beqanna-- one I had neglected to explore in its early years.

He then left, back to the sea in which he had come. As the warmth of his body left my own, I felt slack-jawed like I didn’t know what had just transpired. Seems his body was more sure of what he could or couldn’t offer a simple mare such as me. I smile crossed my lips as the thought came and went. While he might have been the most mind-bending fellow, seems some things were still true-- attraction was attraction. Grim had given me exactly what I wanted, even if it was unknowingly. He had given me an interesting conversation and, unintentionally, the comfort that there was possibly a life after Chem. My black tipped head tipped to the side, as his form grew smaller...for I still wondered what he thought I wanted… and even more so-- If he knew what he himself wanted. My own body turned to leave the river waters and begin the trek back to Nerine. The question of seeing him again flickered in the back of my mind --he had said he had visited before, who knew if he would visit again. As I looked back, his form was gone-- and so had the last lingering tickled nerve of his kiss upon my hip.

Until next time, Grimdark.

Vessel

Kimber x Nymphetamine