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+----- Thread: [private] hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch (/showthread.php?tid=18653)
hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Brennen - 03-13-2018
hold me in this wild, wild world
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
Even after Breckin has visited Ischia, and moved on to her visit with Scorch in Nerine, Brennen is restless. As if there is something burrowed under his skin, he itches with the restlessness and sense on unfulfilled purpose. Nerine is as lovely as ever, balmy weather belting that winter rages over most of Beqanna, and he has plenty to do preparing for his battles in the Alliance and patrolling the borders - there have even been visitors, more than in the past few years combined. But something drives him from inside, and slowly he thinks more and more of Scorch’s invitation.
And perhaps running from his past completely is the wrong answer. Maybe forging a new life in Ischia does not require him to give up everything that he was before - and amongst the things Brennen was before, was a friend of Scorch’s. And her brother, her father, her grandfather, and her great-grandparents up her sire’s line. Of course there it ends because he hated Infection with all of the fury a young man could bolster, since Infection had engineered his father’s death. Or not death as it turned out, but he hadn’t known that at the time. But Infection’s son had been his King and while not a brother Brennen would have chosen, a brother he had fought for and served well. And Landen had taken part of Lucitania’s love from Brennen but he had also given the bay stallion a line of Kings he had loved dearly. Diresong, Arcteryx, and Errant were the brothers (or nephews - the way he thought of them changed as they grew up before his eyes) of Brennen’s heart. The playmates and in some cases half-siblings of his own children. Men he had been proud to serve, even if sometimes they butted heads.
It only makes sense that he and Scorch would eventually come to be friends, even though she would have been great friend material on her own merits as well. She is a strong fighter, a good mother, someone who stands up for what she believes in, an Amazon (and damn his fascination with them anyway).
Yes - a visit to Scorch seems just the thing. He has the time, and it’s not like he has to walk. So he takes flight and passes the journey easily, touching down just before midday, a few days after they had met in the field. A survey from the air had given him an approximate location so he knows that while he had not landed beside her, she would most likely have seen him in the sky, so he chooses not to call out for her, meandering instead to stand where the waves roll in just enough to wash over his hooves, and contemplate the difference between the shores of Ischia and the shores of Nerine.
And perhaps running from his past completely is the wrong answer. Maybe forging a new life in Ischia does not require him to give up everything that he was before - and amongst the things Brennen was before, was a friend of Scorch’s. And her brother, her father, her grandfather, and her great-grandparents up her sire’s line. Of course there it ends because he hated Infection with all of the fury a young man could bolster, since Infection had engineered his father’s death. Or not death as it turned out, but he hadn’t known that at the time. But Infection’s son had been his King and while not a brother Brennen would have chosen, a brother he had fought for and served well. And Landen had taken part of Lucitania’s love from Brennen but he had also given the bay stallion a line of Kings he had loved dearly. Diresong, Arcteryx, and Errant were the brothers (or nephews - the way he thought of them changed as they grew up before his eyes) of Brennen’s heart. The playmates and in some cases half-siblings of his own children. Men he had been proud to serve, even if sometimes they butted heads.
It only makes sense that he and Scorch would eventually come to be friends, even though she would have been great friend material on her own merits as well. She is a strong fighter, a good mother, someone who stands up for what she believes in, an Amazon (and damn his fascination with them anyway).
Yes - a visit to Scorch seems just the thing. He has the time, and it’s not like he has to walk. So he takes flight and passes the journey easily, touching down just before midday, a few days after they had met in the field. A survey from the air had given him an approximate location so he knows that while he had not landed beside her, she would most likely have seen him in the sky, so he chooses not to call out for her, meandering instead to stand where the waves roll in just enough to wash over his hooves, and contemplate the difference between the shores of Ischia and the shores of Nerine.
hold me in this wild, wild world
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
BRENNEN
I wrote this on my phone while holding stuff for my dad so apologies for blatant typos or errors! @[Scorch]
RE: hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Scorch - 03-13-2018
WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT
Scorch
Once Khaleesi of the Amazon JungleAdvisor to Nerine's Hestia
@[Brennen]
RE: hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Brennen - 03-15-2018
hold me in this wild, wild world
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
An ear flicks back, focused on the sound hoofbeats approaching, but he does not turn his gaze from the waves until his name reaches him as well, and then the bay stallion turns his body away from the waves, seemingly just in time as the grinning woman collides with him, and to his own surprise a laugh – a real laugh – rises from within the bay stallion, even as he returns the physical touch with one of his own, a gentle bump of his nose to her neck just above her shoulder. And then he tries to remember when the last time he did either of those things was.
The second was perhaps more recent – Brennen does still have chicks in the nest, or close enough by to count, and he has always been liberal with physical affection amongst his brood. But outside of his family, casual physical affection has been sparse. His difficulty immersing himself in a new Kingdom, a new family, has taken its toll on his social life. He is reluctant to exchange any but the shallowest of exchanges without any underlying base of trust, and he has taken few friends and even fewer serious lovers in the new world. The casual contact between the two of them now, careless warmth between friends, is more than welcome.
The laugh, well, that is a similar problem. Brennen has a public mask, with it’s little half-smile and it’s carefully-within-socially-accepted-bounds chuckle designed for use in conversations with strangers and casual acquaintances. His deeper feelings are kept carefully under wraps unless he unleashes one intentionally, and most of the time even those around him all the time see the controlled side of the bay almost exclusively – the level of comfort he must obtain to let an unscripted, genuine laugh escape is deep waters few ever tread. He had not realized that he missed that, either.
“You died?” he deadpans with a frown, tilting his head in consideration of the actual question that Scorch had asked while leaving the hanging silence for best teasing effect. “No, you know I missed you. The world is just not the same without you in it,” The truth makes his tone soft for a moment before he forces it away and turns his voice to his own deathless time. “What ever happens?” He wonders out loud, knowing that even if Scorch inserts sassy or scathing comments into his occasional silences, she will continue to listen. “The Tundra fell apart after Errant’s second rule. I was Regent for his successors, but they were less than stellar. I was busy juggling many threads of my own life and let the brothers do as they pleased, and they didn’t always make stellar choices. We had to kill one particular pretender to the throne because he just wouldn’t leave.” He remembers them converging on Mountain, his unfortunate demise, the way he had realized the Tundra perhaps needed more of his personal attention at that point.
“And then the world fell apart,” he looks at Scorch then, and he knows she will see the deep-seated loss in Brennen’s honey-brown eyes without him having to speak a word, and they can share that moment of silence for all they had lost to the whims of the fae. He doesn’t even think of the time without magic – that had been nothing compared to the loss he still feels for his Tundra. “Everything that ever meant anything, gone as if it never was. And what is the General of the Tundra, without a Tundra? The silent protector of the Falls, without a Falls? It has taken me most of these years just to get my feet underneath me again. By the time I had sorted out my own family, there were no Kingdoms left to claim for the Brotherhood. I tried to serve Nayl here in Nerine, but it was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. I was never meant to be an Amazon, just to admire the lot of you from afar,” a gentle chuckle here, forcing lightness into what might otherwise just be the most depressing conversation ever. “I went back to being homeless, but that suited me even less. I’ve settled in Ischia, finally, and it’s growing on me, but it’s not right either.”
Nothing is right, in a world without the Brotherhood.
The second was perhaps more recent – Brennen does still have chicks in the nest, or close enough by to count, and he has always been liberal with physical affection amongst his brood. But outside of his family, casual physical affection has been sparse. His difficulty immersing himself in a new Kingdom, a new family, has taken its toll on his social life. He is reluctant to exchange any but the shallowest of exchanges without any underlying base of trust, and he has taken few friends and even fewer serious lovers in the new world. The casual contact between the two of them now, careless warmth between friends, is more than welcome.
The laugh, well, that is a similar problem. Brennen has a public mask, with it’s little half-smile and it’s carefully-within-socially-accepted-bounds chuckle designed for use in conversations with strangers and casual acquaintances. His deeper feelings are kept carefully under wraps unless he unleashes one intentionally, and most of the time even those around him all the time see the controlled side of the bay almost exclusively – the level of comfort he must obtain to let an unscripted, genuine laugh escape is deep waters few ever tread. He had not realized that he missed that, either.
“You died?” he deadpans with a frown, tilting his head in consideration of the actual question that Scorch had asked while leaving the hanging silence for best teasing effect. “No, you know I missed you. The world is just not the same without you in it,” The truth makes his tone soft for a moment before he forces it away and turns his voice to his own deathless time. “What ever happens?” He wonders out loud, knowing that even if Scorch inserts sassy or scathing comments into his occasional silences, she will continue to listen. “The Tundra fell apart after Errant’s second rule. I was Regent for his successors, but they were less than stellar. I was busy juggling many threads of my own life and let the brothers do as they pleased, and they didn’t always make stellar choices. We had to kill one particular pretender to the throne because he just wouldn’t leave.” He remembers them converging on Mountain, his unfortunate demise, the way he had realized the Tundra perhaps needed more of his personal attention at that point.
“And then the world fell apart,” he looks at Scorch then, and he knows she will see the deep-seated loss in Brennen’s honey-brown eyes without him having to speak a word, and they can share that moment of silence for all they had lost to the whims of the fae. He doesn’t even think of the time without magic – that had been nothing compared to the loss he still feels for his Tundra. “Everything that ever meant anything, gone as if it never was. And what is the General of the Tundra, without a Tundra? The silent protector of the Falls, without a Falls? It has taken me most of these years just to get my feet underneath me again. By the time I had sorted out my own family, there were no Kingdoms left to claim for the Brotherhood. I tried to serve Nayl here in Nerine, but it was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. I was never meant to be an Amazon, just to admire the lot of you from afar,” a gentle chuckle here, forcing lightness into what might otherwise just be the most depressing conversation ever. “I went back to being homeless, but that suited me even less. I’ve settled in Ischia, finally, and it’s growing on me, but it’s not right either.”
Nothing is right, in a world without the Brotherhood.
hold me in this wild, wild world
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
BRENNEN
ooc; here's 700-something words of brennen angst for you. #sorrynotsorry
RE: hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Scorch - 03-19-2018
WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT
Scorch
Once Khaleesi of the Amazon JungleAdvisor to Nerine's Hestia
@[Brennen]
RE: hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Brennen - 03-22-2018
hold me in this wild, wild world
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
He is rarely a hell-raiser for the fun of it, but he has been known to get involved for any number of reasons. His friends, his lovers, his children, his Kingdom; all have been reasons for Brennen to get into trouble. He’s never tried it without a reason, but perhaps that’s because Beqanna is inhabited with people, and with people there are always reasons eventually: you just have to wait for them. Scorch speaks of greater things, and despite themselves they’ve turned away from reminiscing and towards this potential that shimmers in the air between them.
They can’t help themselves: they can’t just be those people who leave well enough alone. Not when things could be better. Perhaps they will someday grow as old of mind as of body and be content to only trade stories of the lives they’ve led, but that’s not how it works for them now. Now, they’ll exchange war stories in equal measure with funny tales about their kids and grandkids, but they’ll do it between business meetings and high-powered takeovers.
Together, they can show the tired and boring residents of today’s Beqanna how it was in the glory days. How it should be. He shifts at her words, his wings rustle as he resettles them, and he tilts his head in quiet silence for several long heartbeats. But, he’s already committed. It’s too late to turn back. “Your help, that comes with me personally owing my friend a lifetime worth’s of favors,” he says, every inch of his customary drawl coming out as he thinks and speaks slowly. Usually it’s a hint of a drawl, but sometimes it’s full-out like his father’s. “Or the help of the Amazons, that ends with the Bachelors being some kind of subkingdom to Nerine? Because you know I can’t do that, Scorch.”
Brennen would give almost anything to reform his band of brothers, he would give of his own soul for them; and he would tie them to the new incarnation of the Amazons in a heartbeat, if they were on equal footing. But the pride of the Brotherhood would never allow them to be a subkingdom. If that is the only way, he will wait and plot more carefully and bide his time.
But he hopes that’s not the only way. Perhaps they can work together.
They can’t help themselves: they can’t just be those people who leave well enough alone. Not when things could be better. Perhaps they will someday grow as old of mind as of body and be content to only trade stories of the lives they’ve led, but that’s not how it works for them now. Now, they’ll exchange war stories in equal measure with funny tales about their kids and grandkids, but they’ll do it between business meetings and high-powered takeovers.
Together, they can show the tired and boring residents of today’s Beqanna how it was in the glory days. How it should be. He shifts at her words, his wings rustle as he resettles them, and he tilts his head in quiet silence for several long heartbeats. But, he’s already committed. It’s too late to turn back. “Your help, that comes with me personally owing my friend a lifetime worth’s of favors,” he says, every inch of his customary drawl coming out as he thinks and speaks slowly. Usually it’s a hint of a drawl, but sometimes it’s full-out like his father’s. “Or the help of the Amazons, that ends with the Bachelors being some kind of subkingdom to Nerine? Because you know I can’t do that, Scorch.”
Brennen would give almost anything to reform his band of brothers, he would give of his own soul for them; and he would tie them to the new incarnation of the Amazons in a heartbeat, if they were on equal footing. But the pride of the Brotherhood would never allow them to be a subkingdom. If that is the only way, he will wait and plot more carefully and bide his time.
But he hopes that’s not the only way. Perhaps they can work together.
hold me in this wild, wild world
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
BRENNEN
@[Tiny]/@[Hestia] we're probably almost ready for Hestia now? I think? They're done reminiscing lol
RE: hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Hestia - 03-22-2018
HESTIA
The devil whispered in my ear, you’ll never survive the storm
I whispered back, I am the storm
@[Scorch] @[Brennen]
RE: hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Scorch - 03-24-2018
WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT
Scorch
Once Khaleesi of the Amazon JungleAdvisor to Nerine's Hestia
@[Brennen] Sorry for the shitty post guys, Im in the middle of a dance competition but I wanted to get something up.
RE: hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Brennen - 03-27-2018
hold me in this wild, wild world
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
As if the very idea of stirring things up is enough to bring the restless together, Nerine's black Queen joins them just as the conversation turns serious, though of course between Brennen and Scorch no conversation is ever without some brief highlights of humor, and his smile quirks a little wider at one such quip she throws in just before Hestia draws up to their little party. Or, perhaps Scorch and Hestia had planned to bring him here since before her invitation when they happened to meet in the Field. Even as Brennen gives the new arrival a nod of respectful greeting, he is turning both ideas over in his head and concluding he doesn't find either idea distasteful; a part of him even hopes it might be the latter - because that would tell him that they aren't jumping into this adventure without careful deliberation, just like Brennen. There is just the faintest hint of amused consternation in his amber eyes at her impassioned, if short, rant, and he finds himself regarding the woman with just the slightest curious tilt of his head through his old friend's pithy response. He doesn't know Hestia well at all, but he trusts Scorch, and the relationship between the two mares is clear enough for him to apply the trust to the queen.
"Does a legacy ever really die?" is his first thoughtful response, "The Brotherhood never had as fierce and catchy a title as 'The Amazons' but there are worse legacies to claim that the ones we hold dear. But I agree that catchy titles might help us usher in a new era of greatness together. If we have no ideas amongst ourselves, perhaps we should open to question to the thinkers within our orders once the dust has settled." What they all choose to call themselves in the end is irrelevant to the warrior-stallion; just as he has come to terms with the island chain instead of the Tundra he will never get back, he is willing to change in other ways to get what he wants. "I cannot think of better allies to have," he says at last, and there is no slowness or hesitation to his words now, but a brutal honesty. He takes a breath, and for a second he feels terribly exposed, as if his vey innermost self is laid bare before them, because he is sure that his heart-deep need for this New Tundra shows in his eyes and his face as his emotions so rarely do. "I am in. Completely and wholly, whatever it takes."
It tastes different now, out in the open instead of buried in the depths of his mind and heart; to have his dream proclaimed into Nerine's salty air before two who will not only hold him to his words but can help him achieve it. "Out of respect for Ischia and its people, I would like to try to do it with no bloodshed. Perhaps it will be the last thing expected out of me, the lifetime warrior, but I would prefer not to bring violence to any of those I currently call comrades, no matter how poorly I think they have been doing in actually serving our Kingdom." He's not a berserker or a blood-lust warrior, though he is certain he has that reputation amongst some who know him only from tales and stories; he is not a pacifist, either, but he prefers to fight for a cause. "Gathering those who are interested into Ischia to simply vote Krone off of the throne, with the threat of further action from those I can assemble with the backing of Nerine should be plenty, I should think, to overcome what little resistance Krone can muster." He doesn't know how much they have looked into his Kingdom's situation before proposing this to him, and he stands ready to make a full report about the inhabitants of his home if the need arises.
"I am also prepared to challenge Krone, though she is not much of a warrior herself; she has made Klaudius her champion and I would most likely end up facing him down instead." Speaking that revelation out loud throws him for a loop and he frowns, wondering what would possess his Queen to make the purple man her champion over himself, given their respective histories, but then he remembers that they are lovers and that tempers his suspicion - she has appointed Brennen a Watcher, after all, and surely she would not do that if she suspected anything. It is only, most likely, pure luck on her part that she has appointed a champion who is not the man who intends to dethrone her. "In my mind, a raid is a last resort. Though of course, I am open to suggestions and strategic planning."
There is a fire igniting beneath his skin now, a fervor and a flame that will drive this to completion. It is not the first time he has been discontent beneath a ruler, but this is the first time he has committed himself wholly to the endeavor of doing something about it; the first time his passion has overthrown his tendency to 'wait and it will get better'. It feels good, and he shifts in his feed and rustles his wings into a more comfortable place against his sides. It feels right to have a purpose and a plan.
"Does a legacy ever really die?" is his first thoughtful response, "The Brotherhood never had as fierce and catchy a title as 'The Amazons' but there are worse legacies to claim that the ones we hold dear. But I agree that catchy titles might help us usher in a new era of greatness together. If we have no ideas amongst ourselves, perhaps we should open to question to the thinkers within our orders once the dust has settled." What they all choose to call themselves in the end is irrelevant to the warrior-stallion; just as he has come to terms with the island chain instead of the Tundra he will never get back, he is willing to change in other ways to get what he wants. "I cannot think of better allies to have," he says at last, and there is no slowness or hesitation to his words now, but a brutal honesty. He takes a breath, and for a second he feels terribly exposed, as if his vey innermost self is laid bare before them, because he is sure that his heart-deep need for this New Tundra shows in his eyes and his face as his emotions so rarely do. "I am in. Completely and wholly, whatever it takes."
It tastes different now, out in the open instead of buried in the depths of his mind and heart; to have his dream proclaimed into Nerine's salty air before two who will not only hold him to his words but can help him achieve it. "Out of respect for Ischia and its people, I would like to try to do it with no bloodshed. Perhaps it will be the last thing expected out of me, the lifetime warrior, but I would prefer not to bring violence to any of those I currently call comrades, no matter how poorly I think they have been doing in actually serving our Kingdom." He's not a berserker or a blood-lust warrior, though he is certain he has that reputation amongst some who know him only from tales and stories; he is not a pacifist, either, but he prefers to fight for a cause. "Gathering those who are interested into Ischia to simply vote Krone off of the throne, with the threat of further action from those I can assemble with the backing of Nerine should be plenty, I should think, to overcome what little resistance Krone can muster." He doesn't know how much they have looked into his Kingdom's situation before proposing this to him, and he stands ready to make a full report about the inhabitants of his home if the need arises.
"I am also prepared to challenge Krone, though she is not much of a warrior herself; she has made Klaudius her champion and I would most likely end up facing him down instead." Speaking that revelation out loud throws him for a loop and he frowns, wondering what would possess his Queen to make the purple man her champion over himself, given their respective histories, but then he remembers that they are lovers and that tempers his suspicion - she has appointed Brennen a Watcher, after all, and surely she would not do that if she suspected anything. It is only, most likely, pure luck on her part that she has appointed a champion who is not the man who intends to dethrone her. "In my mind, a raid is a last resort. Though of course, I am open to suggestions and strategic planning."
There is a fire igniting beneath his skin now, a fervor and a flame that will drive this to completion. It is not the first time he has been discontent beneath a ruler, but this is the first time he has committed himself wholly to the endeavor of doing something about it; the first time his passion has overthrown his tendency to 'wait and it will get better'. It feels good, and he shifts in his feed and rustles his wings into a more comfortable place against his sides. It feels right to have a purpose and a plan.
hold me in this wild, wild world
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
BRENNEN
ooc; this does't have the passion I was hoping for but Brennen wasn't cooperating and I didn't want to keep you busy waiting anymore. :| And I LOVE the idea of the brothers have a title and even maybe matching nicknames for the two kingdoms but I for the life of me can't think of any!! so. open to ideas XD
RE: hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Hestia - 03-28-2018
HESTIA
The devil whispered in my ear, you’ll never survive the storm
I whispered back, I am the storm
Love the idea of matching titles! I’ll post it in the kingdom meeting. Maybe someone will have an idea. I’ve not had time to think of any. Lol.
RE: hold me in this wild, wild world; Scorch - Scorch - 03-29-2018
WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT
Scorch
Once Khaleesi of the Amazon JungleAdvisor to Nerine's Hestia
@[Brennen] If you want to reply go ahead, but I think this pretty much sums it up <3