[private] all that i'm after is a life full of laughter - Printable Version +- Beqanna (https://beqanna.com/forum) +-- Forum: Explore (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1) +--- Forum: The Common Lands (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=72) +---- Forum: Meadow (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=3) +---- Thread: [private] all that i'm after is a life full of laughter (/showthread.php?tid=26198) |
all that i'm after is a life full of laughter - lilliana - 02-15-2020 LILLIANA light me up, i will blaze @[Shezira] rambles as promised and anybody else who wants to jump in! RE: all that i'm after is a life full of laughter - Shezira - 02-16-2020 For as long as the sunfire woman could remember, she has always loved the sunrise. She has never really been able to explain, where this desire to watch the very first light of day illuminate the eastern horizon in a soft halo of gold came from, and frankly, she doesn't really try to understand it. Not anymore, anyway. Some would look at her skin, how the brilliant hues of citrine and dark amber were reminiscent of the setting summer sun, and simply assume that it was an affinity for the burning star that gave life to all things upon the earth. And, perhaps, this might be true to some degree. But, there were many things that she admired, like how dew could sparkle like small diamonds scattered across a field of wildflowers as the first light of dawn would embrace the world below or even how those same blossoms would open their petals in salutations to the sun and its warm touch after having endured a chilly spring night. There was wonderment to be found in many things, one needed only to look. So little compared to fleeting moments where she has watched a fledgling take flight for the very first time, unsure of those feathered appendages and yet knowing that the sky had been made just them to swim in much like the silver-scaled trout knew the streams and rivers were theirs to live in. She simply reveled in the everyday wonders so many took for granted. So, to simply assume that she loved the sun for the appearance she had been given by the gods was small-minded. Could she not love the rising and setting of the great star for more than a reason so vain and shallow? Was it too much to believe that the sunfire femme saw the beginning of a new day as another chance to discover something she hasn't in the realms she's wandered through, or find peace in the last rays of sunset and allow herself to wonder what awaited her tomorrow? In the end, the answer to any of these questions did not matter. Whether those who walked this mortal world with her believed she was in love with the sun for any single reason or another was neither here nor there, really. She'd learned quite some time ago that her speculators would judge her for how they saw her, drawing their own thoughts and opinions, but that was far from meaning any of these... observations and reservations were true to her nature. Even her own herd, who had cast her aside simply for being different in her appearance, hadn't been able to understand her. And, when she had been a young filly, it had hurt to see the way that others looked at her. She'd grown up with a mother determined to hide her from the rest of the herd, no father, and no friends. Life had been hard for her in the beginning, testing her spirit from the very beginning. But, she has only allowed for her trials and tribulations to make her into the strong-hearted mare that she was now. She'd since left behind those who only saw her for the strange colors of her skin and glimmering ruby gaze nowhere to be found within her homelands and set out to chase the sun. She wonders where it set each evening, if perhaps her desire to follow it might mean anything - or nothing - at all. And so, that is what she has done for the days, weeks, and months that have passed. As she stands there at the edge of this strange new world, watching the sun's light silhouette distant and jagged peaks to the east from her place upon a small ridge, Shezira can feel the thrumming within her chest quicken like it so often did at sunrise. She knew not the name of this realm she has found, and she knows none of the faces scattered across the vast grasslands that stretch out before her. Nares quiver, drinking in the scents tinging the crisp morning air, pupil-less ruby eyes glittering with excitement in the early morning light. She does not know what awaits her here nor how long she may linger. Days? Weeks? Would this be just another world she passes through as another nameless face? Or, was this feeling within her chest perhaps hope that she may have found a world that would see her for more than what she appeared? She cannot say for certain, but she is dying to find out. Suddenly, she is still upon her ridge no longer, slender amber limbs striking out against the soft soil beneath her, carrying the wandering femme down the small incline at a brisk trot, lean muscle rippling beneath her bright skin as she moves across open land and into a strand of trees, following the distant and soft trickling voice of a creek. She does not mind her graceful steps, if anything enjoying the soft crunching of fallen leaves beneath her obsidians as she moves through the trees, simply eager to explore this unfamiliar terrain. However, when she can finally see morning light gleaming against water ahead, the sound of another nearby catches her attention. Shezira pauses in her strides, twin harks swivel atop her head to find the direction of the sounds, the small chain of white attached to her ear and crest clinking lightly with this small movement. When she believes she knows where they are coming from, she abandons her previous venture and moves towards the soft thudding of hooves against earth, quick in their rhythm and her curiosity only grows. She draws nearer, her own steps soft though they still do not avoid the leaves and twigs under-foot, and as she does, the sound ceases. Has she startled the maker of these dancing steps? Or have they perhaps moved away? Maybe she had been imagining them altogether, she does not know - not yet. Reaching the edge of a small clearing, she can now see a chestnut figure at the heart of it, long and flowing mane windswept as the stranger lingers there. It almost seems as though she were waiting for something to happen... Although, the more likely possibility was that this unknown femme had heard the sunfire woman's approach. Shezira steps easily from the trees, a warm and friendly smile upon her lips."Please don't stop enjoying yourself on my account", she says to the stranger, her cropped amber tresses stirring in the playful breeze that blows."Apologies for startling you if I had. I was simply exploring this place", she adds in lilted and kind tones as she comes to stand a respectful distance from the chestnut maiden, dipping her head politely as was the common custom in most realms she has visited."I am Shezira, but you can call me Shezi if you'd like", the sunfire woman offers, the friendly smile still lingering upon her features. She wonders if this mare was a native here, or perhaps almost as new and unsure of this world as she was. Perhaps she knows the name of this realm, of those who do call this home. Patiently, the woman painted of the sun waits, curious to see if the other would be willing to help her understand where they were or not. here's to the rest of us, to all the ones who never felt they were good enough image by empluvie RE: all that i'm after is a life full of laughter - lilliana - 02-26-2020 Was she waiting? Only fleetingly did the sun-kissed femme wonder what it was that had caused the chestnut to stop her beautiful display of wild abandon. Shezira can remember countless times where she would feel the same music in her own heart that begged her to run. To where, she never really knew. She simply kept running until the her breaths were ragged and her arched nape was lathered with glistening sweat. Whether it was to the tallest of hills within her birthlands, or even through the trees of the grove her home was named after, it never really mattered for the sunfire maiden. For her, it wasn't always out of pure, unbridled joy. It had been an outlet for her as a filly, a way to escape the questioning glances of her mother's herd as they watched the odd girl whom did not bear the same pale champagne skin as a vast majority of them did. While there was perhaps one or two of the newborns given skin of brandished gold or perhaps brilliant and shining crimson much like the unfamiliar face Shezira has found today, many of the mares were either a pale gold champagne, palomino ranging from light to sooty, or even ivory champagne, they all shared the same long and flowing tresses of milky white save for the sparse few who sported locks of dark rich cocoa or inky black like a moonless night. Not one other within Chrysó Álsos shared the same radiant shades of amber and citrine, nor did they have the same ruby red gaze or unusually short and seemingly cropped mane. Shezira didn't even look in the slightest like her mother. While Merelli was one of the few whose skin gleamed almost like that of a saltwater pearl, a beautiful ivory with silken tresses to match and depths of winter frost, her one and only daughter was a startling opposite to the mare she called mother. In most worlds, something as unique as the sunfire filly may have been looked upon with admiration. Perhaps, if she had been born to any other herd in any other part of the world, the colts would have strutted about and done anything possible just to catch her eye in passing. She may have been fawned over, and maybe her gentle yet timid mother would have been showered in countless compliments about how beautiful her daughter was. It was a fantasy that she'd had many times as a young girl left wondering why it was that the other foals taunted and teased, why their own mothers refused to let them play with her when she only ever wanted a friend to run and play with more than anything else in the whole world. Instead, she was left to play alone, and that often meant chasing the sun each morning and evening. She pushes away those less than pleasant memories, though. Those days were far behind her now, just as the very grove she once called her home was countless miles from this new world she'd stumbled upon. She knows that she is not missed in the least, and though there would always be a part of the sunfire femme that wished things between her and her mother had been different, she also knows that there was nothing left for her there, and thus there was no reason for her to return. She would continue to follow the sun, an unknown spirit guiding her... well, somewhere. Maybe here! She didn't know quite yet where she was going, but something within her beating heart and burning soul was certain to tell her when she was where she belonged, right? That was the hope, anyway. However, for now, she puts aside those questions that often flicker across her mind. Instead, she tilts her refined head ever so slightly to one side, that white gold chain tinkering faintly in the afternoon as she watches the other mare curiously when she says that she cannot fly."Maybe not like a bird does in the sky, but you fly beautifully across the meadow I'm sure", she says then, a kind smile dancing upon her lips. No, Shezira hadn't missed the way that those sky blue eyes traced over her brightly colored skin, but she also hardly minds the curious gesture. There was once I time where she would have flinched beneath the mares gaze, but that had been before she embrace her own unique appearance with pride. Now, the whole world could watch her if they so pleased! Hell, let them gossip and whisper among themselves even! Shezira knew who she was, and that was all that would ever really matter. The mare carries on for only a small breath about how it was she liked to run, and it seems as though she changes her mind on what it was she was about to say. Was she truly that taken aback by the sunfire mare? She shakes her head and Shezira allows for the chestnut to gather herself. The conversation shifts to the sunfire mare, a question poised upon her afternoon companion, and she nods."No, I'm not. Would you happen to know where 'here' is, by chance?", she replies, though her own revelation is also followed by what many would consider a natural question. Considering this was the sun-kissed mare's first encounter with anyone for, it seemed like a good starting point. Again, the chestnut woman has taken to studying Shezira, and again, the brightly colored femme acts as though she is hardly aware of such a thing occurring. If it helped the stranger feel, perhaps, more comfortable with her, then she was content to allow it. After all, there was hardly a sneer or disapproving look flickering within those eyes of clear summer skies. Only a small note of silence befell the pair before, at last, Shezira has a name for her company on this beautiful new day."It's nice to meet you, Lilli", she says warmly, a kind smile dancing upon amber lips as she dips her head lightly to Lilliana. It was a lovely name, but it was Lilli's smile that has Shezira's own becoming slightly brighter. It seems that whatever it was that she'd been thinking or feeling since the sunfire woman's approach has now loosened its hold over her, allowing for the welsh cob to see that there is in fact a warmth there, whispering like the gentle breeze that blows through the trees."Are you a native here? Or are you also newer to this world?", she inquires curiously. Lilli carries the scent of mountains and forest more so than open grassland, and it had Shezira wondering just how vast this world she'd found was. Besides, there was something about Lilli that she liked, and she was hopeful to learn more about the woman before her. here's to the rest of us, to all the ones who never felt they were good enough image by empluvie RE: all that i'm after is a life full of laughter - lilliana - 03-09-2020 Oh, the things Lilliana remembers. (Those first lovely Lupines that adorned the riverbanks of Murmuring Rivers. Bri’s smile when Lilli had finally learned to angle her shoulder just so during one of their (very) few sparring lessons. Malachi’s laughter, something that could rival the warmth of the daylight and the bubbling of their brooks. Jay and his infinite wisdom, the way he could find a story for every situation and how his gift for telling made it seem like he was generations older than he was.) Her childhood hadn’t been an unhappy one; the opposite. She had grown up surrounded in love. Lilli had thrived and learned to dream on it. She might not have had the gift of flight but she had learned to soar with their love and she learned how to laugh without fear or hesitation. A gift and those memories are something she keeps tucked close to her always. The sunfire mare smiles at her - something wrapped in sunbeams and kindness - and Lilliana smiles back. What the other mare shares with her is an infectious feeling and the chestnut will always catch on to it. The Taigan is rarely seen without a smile but this one softens her face and for a moment, makes her girlish - makes her look very much like the youth who had wandered into Beqanna almost five years prior. (And she doesn’t look much older from those days - something she still hasn’t yet realized.) Her own blue eyes dance in response to her comment and then they light up with amusement. Lilli’s earlier uncertainty of the traveler has started to thaw like frost and the copper mare comes closer, tilting her own head in reply. "My parents used to compare me to the birds,” her smile curves with the edge of a secret. "Lillibird was what they used to call me.” Lilliana waits a moment, watching for her reaction and wondering if Shezira had any childhood nicknames. (What does one call a ray of sunshine?) Her ears prick forward and the crimson mare takes another step forward, finding herself growing more comfortable (and sure) in the company of the blonde wanderer. ”Beqanna,” Lilli offers with all the grace and accomplishment of narrating as her mother and brother are. She studies the other mare and then feels her head tilting inquisitively, ”Have you heard of it?” She had grown up with stories of it - of the Jungle that was no longer, of the Falls that no longer existed, of the Dale that her bloodline had once claimed as home. But there are many worlds besides this one and she wonders what one Shezira has flowed in from. What her story is. Warmly, she adds with her never-failing politeness, "And you, @[Shezira].” Her next question causes the red mare to shake her head and Lilli contemplates her next words. "No,” she says gently, "I was born a long way from here. But I’ve been here… for,” it takes her a moment to recount the years and the memories, "going on five years.” Had that much time passed? How had it passed so quickly? It felt as if it all trickled by like those creeks she used to run alongside in her youth. The chestnut mare thinks for a minute, trying to think of what she would have wanted a native Beqannian to have told her about this place when she first stumbled across her borders. "I’m not sure where you're from, Shezi,” Lilli adds lightly, "but this land is.. unique." Given the chance, Lilliana will elaborate but there is much (almost too much) to say about the wide array of characters who call the land of the Sunrise home. "What brings you here?” And she finally accepts that there are no words to prepare any outsider for Beqanna - it is an adventure individual to each horse. What Shezira makes of the wild characters, the rampant magic, the political stage is entirely for her to realize and decide. i didn't proofread this... your welcome XD RE: all that i'm after is a life full of laughter - Shezira - 03-11-2020 As a filly, she’d wanted nothing but friendship, to feel like she belonged within the very herd she’d been born. Most children were fortunate to know those things. She’d seen it from her hiding place where the grove’s vegetation was the thickest, ruby-red eyes watching with all the wishful yearning of any lonely child as the other foals chased one another. Their laughter and squeals of delight, how they’d beckoned like a siren’s song to the youth’s heart! She remembers asking her timid and quiet mother if she could go and play with the other foals. And, like with most other things, the pearlescent mare had told her no. What Shezira had been too young and naïve to understand at first was why she and her mother lingered on their furthest outskirts of the herd, why it was that they did not join the others to watch the sunset or enjoy a lazy afternoon by the river with them. At first, she’d believed that her mother was just wanting to keep her safe from the others. After all, her very earliest memories were shocked and weary gazes, the taunting giggles and whispers among the other fillies as they stared at her like she’d been born with some sort of deformity that they might catch if they weren’t careful. However, as she grew older, she began to understand. The other mares disowned herself and her mother. They’d been cast to the outskirts, all for Shezira’s birth and unusual heritage. All because her mother had fallen in love with an outsider from a world that was not like the one Merelli knew. The sunfinre mare remembers asking her quiet, distant mother about the father she didn’t know, why it was that he did not live with them or why they were not with him. While the pearlescent mare didn’t speak much of the mysterious man, she’d told Shezira a little about him. He had been passing through, a vagabond venturing for things unknown when he’d happened upon Chryso Alsos. He, too, had been unwelcome by the harem and the stallion who guarded them from danger. And, to this herd, anything that was not familiar was dangerous. The sunfire stallion was refused refuge by the lead stallion and lead mare with ears pinned and teeth bared to show that they meant their words of unwelcoming. But, Merelli had been captivated by the strange man, and so she’d followed him to the furthest reaches of the grove. That was where she found him. And, that was where a love affair was born. Because of the choices she’d made to follow the man borne of the sun, because they had talked a while and a spark had been ignited which would inevitably lead to Shezira’s creation, this was why the girl with so many questions in her heart had come to understand what her and her mother were to the herd – outcasts. Her mother had been punished for eloping with the vagabond, and her father had been chased off, threatened that his return would bring injury to himself should he dare to try and come for Merelli and his unborn child. There’d been hope that the girl would be born to look like her mother, or perhaps even her ancestors who all bore skin of pale or radiant gold. And yet, all hope had been shattered when she’d made her way into the world as the spitting image of her father. From that day forth, Merelli was shunned and cast aside, and Shezira’s fate as an outcast and misfit was sealed before she’d even been able to speak. This was why she could not play with the other foals, why the others were cruel to her and her mother. This, sadly, was why she’d never once felt as though she’d been truly loved by her own mother or like she could ever hope to find a place within a herd who would not accept her. Once upon a time, it broke her heart to realize this. That was the past, though. She was stronger for it, and that was all that mattered. She is given a smile from the chestnut mare in exchange for one of her own, and the sun-kissed woman knows that this world is already better than the one she’d grown up in. She watches as eyes of a clear spring afternoon dance with amusement, and she knows then that she likes Lilli. There was something that reminded Shezira of herself in a way, but she keeps this thought to herself for now. The chestnut femme speaks of the nickname her parents had given her as a child, and the sunfire mare’s smile grows.”It suits you. I only wish I’d had such a name as a child that was as kind as Lillibird”, she remarks warmly, admiration and perhaps even a note of wistfulness flickering over her words. Perhaps, if Shezira had been born with a jealous heart rather than the open, kind, and spirited one that beats there within her breast, she may have envied Lilli for the love that she’d grown up knowing. Once upon a time, there was so little that she wouldn’t have done or given for her mother to love her enough to bestow a fond nickname upon the girl. Again, this was some nothing more than water under the bridge for Shezira, and she is only happy to hear that her companion has been raised as any child should. Beqanna. The name echoes within perked twin harks, and she searches for any recognition she might have of this name. However, she finds none. So, she shakes her head gently.”I can’t say that I have”, she answers simply. It was a truthful statement, but Shezira is curious about this place, this kingdom called Beqanna. The warmth that is shared between the two women does not go unnoticed as Lilli reciprocates those mannerisms instilled upon them both likely as children. But, the sun-kissed mare’s thoughts are taken by the answer Lilli offers, and she finds it interesting that someone so loved by her family would have wandered so far. Although, perhaps they weren’t far away? Either way, she simply smiles with warmth.”Then you must be quite familiar with this world” she remarks, for surely five years in one placed made certain that one would have learned at least a majority of this realm. She hardly desires to make any assumptions of the woman with whom she shares this afternoon, though, hopeful that she was not stepping over any lines or boundaries that the chestnut femme might have. There have surely been stranger things the eyes of the gods have seen beyond staying in one place and only seeing a fraction of the world those immortal beings have created she supposed. There is a contemplative expression that finds her companion now, and for a moment, the mare with sun-kissed skin and gradient locks wonders what it was Lilli was thinking of. It does not last long, though, the chestnut with spring sky eyes speaks of how this world was unique. But, Shezira was unique in every sense of the word. Perhaps there were others out there that might be stranger than her, and that was entirely alright. But, if a place like Beqanna could be home to someone stranger than her, then why couldn't it be hers as well? Lilli's next words fall into the air between them, and they were truthfully expected at some point in this conversation. Shezira rolls her shoulders ever so slightly in an equine shrug then."I don't know. I'm just happy to be anywhere but home, honestly", she replies casually. The sunfire mare was hardly one to lie, and it seemed like a perfectly normal thing for someone to wonder about their company."I just follow the sun. Wherever it takes me is where I go", she adds warmly then, her ruby-red gaze lifting up to where the sunlight broke through the canopy above them, its rays dappling her amber and citrine back in a soft warmth that she often imagined it as a loving and nurturing mother hugging her child gently might feel like. Sure, she was without a home, but anywhere felt more like home than her birthlands. For her, that was enough. here's to the rest of us, to all the ones who never felt they were good enough image by empluvie RE: all that i'm after is a life full of laughter - lilliana - 03-20-2020 LILLIANA all that i'm after is a life full of laughter me: i will not write lix a novel also me: this post. |