i think i'm better on my own but i get so lost in you

She is out of place, as all outsiders that enter are, and from Desire’s position on a sharp ledge she watches the golden girl walk across the border. With its network of canyons and various outlookings Pangea had a host of suitable places for watching without being seen, and this was where Desire most often chose to be. The birth of the twins took up most of her attention now, but that didn’t mean the comings and goings went entirely unnoticed by her, and the older the girls became the easier the first time mother was able to steal pieces of solitude without having to worry they were going to get themselves killed.

So she is alone when she begins her lazy trek down the path cut into the walls of this particular canyon, cautious to not send a shower of rock and debris as she descends. Her intangibility aids her in this, allowing her to phase through most of the looser footing, until she is able to nimbly step down onto flat ground once more.

With a toss of her head she shakes off all signs of her suspicion, and in its wake there is nothing but a brilliant smile as she approaches the visitor. “It’s not often we get surprise company here,” she nearly chirps with delight once she is close enough, regarding her curiously with black eyes that remain half-hidden behind a stark white forelock. “My name is Desire. What brings you to Pangea?”

i think i'm better on my own but i'm so obsessed with you

desire

Lilliana has a history, of perhaps, skewed luck.

The last time Ruth roamed out of Taiga… well, Lilliana had tried to forget that whole ordeal as best she could. The chestnut mare barricaded herself with the same warm smile, with the same bright-eyes that the Taigan Ambassador could be known for. Whatever shadows lurked through her mind revealed themselves only in the dark and the copper mare hadn’t argued when @[Ruthless] stayed in Nerine. If anything, she had been relieved.

(It was easier to pretend the shadows didn't exist that way.)

The red mare spends this day as she does most others; she takes shelter in one of the many canyons that distinguishes Pangea from her other sister kingdoms. The slender mare spends the hours of her captivity irritably shifting her weight, cocking one hip and then the other when the joint starts to ache.

There isn’t much longer to go and the crimson mare has taken herself closer to the southern border (though her mind is turning towards the Meadow or perhaps the River). Lilliana meant what she told Celina - she has no intention of delivering her child in Pangea.

Lilli has tucked herself safely away, letting those same shadows cover her ochre-hued frame, in a crevasse not far from the river. It’s a voice that carries downwind, sweet and alluring, a siren-song in an otherwise barren desert. Her ears prick forward and then back. Does she dare leave?

The scent (or rather scents - there are two) that follows decides for her.

When Lilliana appears from behind one red canyon wall to be greeted by a few dead trees, birdsong and a golden piece of her heart that lodges in her throat. She is so happy to see Ruthless, but here? In Pangea? Another part of her - the one that has called her lioness - knows she shouldn’t be surprised to see her here at all.

"Hello,” the chestnut greets the galaxy-covered mare with a tentative smile. She is something crafted from the cosmos and Lilliana tilts her head curiously at a cluster of stars shimmering on her purple coat. Turning her attention back to her gold girl, the Taigan mare feels like she is drowning in a tsunami of emotions and questions - has Neverwhere sent her? Has Taiga? What of her boys? Elaina? Brazen? The Redwoods? Nerine? Her blue eyes are burning - much like Desire’s star-studded pelt - with questions.

"Lilliana,” she politely offers to the Pangean before fixing her full attention on Ruthless while she waits (what feels like eons) for the golden girl to answer @[Desire]’s question. The copper mare doesn’t offer more but her shining eyes say it all - I am so happy to see you.

i think i'm better on my own but i get so lost in you

She does not boast any kind of innate power that allows her to read minds or emotions. She does not have anything other than a well-honed skill that lets her observe this situation and pick apart the tensions and recognize that look that flashes briefly across the golden girl’s face when she catches sight of Lilliana, one of Pangea’s prisoners. It is something that causes a spark of delight down in the darkness of her chest, the kind of spark that she is careful to not let reach her eyes.

There is a part of her that is made for chaos; a part of her that will always crave it, the same others might crave love or company. She feels the hesitation and the uncertainty that Ruthless seems to brim with before she regains her composure, and though Desire is tempted to see how far she can stoke this, she opts to remain neutral, for now.

“Well,” she says in a way that is somewhat blithe, the smile never wavering from her white lips as her gaze takes its turn from Lilliana to Ruthless. “It almost seems like you two know each other?” She pauses to steal a glance around Pangea – the red dirt and the canyon walls, the grit in the air, and the very nature of the place and its creation that seems to seep from every crack. “Even as someone that lives here I’m not sure if Pangea would have been my choice for a reunion, but,” and here her black eyes steal a sideways glance to Lilliana, commenting casually, "I suppose you don't have many options right now, do you?"

i think i'm better on my own but i'm so obsessed with you

desire