[private] I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed - Printable Version +- Beqanna (https://beqanna.com/forum) +-- Forum: OOC (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=24) +--- Forum: Archive (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=81) +---- Forum: Lands (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=98) +----- Forum: Tephra (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=85) +------ Forum: Islandres (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=42) +------ Thread: [private] I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed (/showthread.php?tid=28929) |
I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed - Waverly - 02-23-2021 your heart, it's like a drum The sea is boundless, providing all that she has ever needed (ever wanted) and more. It is easy to lose oneself in its fathomless depths, to feast on its endless bounty as the world beyond moves on with it’s mortal foibles. But the darkness had descended, and even she could not remain oblivious. Night had fallen, and for a time it had simply been dark. In her timeless existence, it had hardly mattered. She had barely noticed the days had stopped coming until, even in her feral and lawless existence, she had been forced to pause and try to recall how long it had been since last she’d seen the sun. Waverly @[Calcifer] @[Locheed] RE: I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed - Ehko - 02-25-2021 Ehko asked her mother once who she could trust, and her mother had said ‘yourself’. At the time, Ehko had kept quiet instead of disagreeing or questioning why, but she thought about it as she drug her hooves through the sand. The sky was dark, but for Ehko this was normal. She’d been born in the absence of light and so thought nothing of missing it, like a foal born without a limb or sight. The little dragonet-horse hardly felt the absence of something she’d never had to begin with. To her the darkness was as typical as anything, and so it should come as no surprise that she felt comfortable walking among it by herself, in search of the twin brother who seemed to avoid her more and more. Brash was getting bigger every night. Bulkier, like their father, and he was starting to outpace and outweigh his sister in the natural way. Ehko thought little of the changes; her mother and father were the practical type - they had their unique ways of parenting - but they weren’t the kind of parents who glossed things over. Her brother was probably maturing and in his eyes, Ehko might look strange too. She smiled to herself. The leathery wings that usually stayed tucked by her sides stretched open the tiniest bit, overbalancing the filly’s steps and making her stumble a few strides. She folded them close again and thought about the day when she’d be able to extend them to their fullest, picturing herself holding them proudly above her head in a brilliant display, and then lift off into flight whenever she liked. Someday, she told herself. The shoreline rolled dully on, leading her farther north to the topmost tip of the Island. Ehko trekked until she needed a break, huffing to a stop near the mouth of the bay. She looked behind her at the way the land curved back out into the sea, and thought about the rocky dunes obscured by the jungle - the ones she’d passed earlier, where the wooden statues leaned in the sand and cast odd shadows over the already dark sea grasses. For some reason, Ehko had wanted to touch them, but the mystery surrounding their origin (bedtime stories, legends passed down through the generations of Island inhabitants) scared her. Someday, she told herself. The waves she’d forgotten about crashed erratically, and Ehko remembered her purpose in coming this far north as she turned back to see the black ocean suddenly burst into spray, and the fine shape of a creature’s head rising up from the shallow depths. What was that? It couldn’t be a dolphin, could it? Sharks didn’t surface like that - Ehko knew that much. It was too small to be an Orca, and seemed to be headed toward the beach anyway. The thing cut through the waves like a knife, curling this way and that over the surf like an eel, and though Ehko was afraid (a slender, red-hot needle of fear that crept out from inside of her, like magic) she was also fascinated. Walking slowly up the beach and morbidly curious, the little dragonet flicked her baby ears towards The Thing as it stumbled up onto the sand, and when it came to a rest she paused, waiting. “Are you okay?” Ehko asked, pulling her forelegs together shyly. @[Locheed] @[Waverly] RE: I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed - Locheed - 03-07-2021 Locheed @[Waverly] RE: I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed - Waverly - 03-09-2021 your heart, it's like a drum The ocean is soothing against her fetlocks, the wet tendrils of water and gentle spatter a comfort as it rises and falls behind her in a familiar dance. She is aware of it even as she watches the young girl approach, the bloom of curiosity a rosy cloud around her, tinged by the pale luster of uncertainty and shyness. Had the kelpie a heart, she might have seen only the sweetness of the moment rather than a tender young thing too naive to be wary of the things that crawl from the sea. Waverly @[Ehko] RE: I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed - Ehko - 03-10-2021 Seeing a horse rise up out of the sea and stumble onto land had been the last thing Ehko expected on her walk, and normally you’d expect a young filly to be wary of the unexpected—yet today, unexpectedly, she wasn’t. Ehko was just an infant. She hadn’t even grown into her wings, or seen the farthest stretches of her own home island. Most of her time was spent in study or at play with her twin, though she had the freedom to explore. The monsters that came from the sea or unwound themselves from the slimy shadows in the bog were merely a pastime for getting the redblooded urge to kill out of her father dragon’s mind, so most stayed away. And Ehko—little thing that she was—had her own means of simple protection. Where white patterns splashed haphazardly over the tender skin of her throat and mottled the rest of her body there was also the sheen and texture of scales, beastly thick things that interlocked like chainmail over her most vulnerable parts. They glimmered with an opalescent blue sheen whenever light was present. If another horse truly wanted to kill her they would have to be damn well determined or damn strong, no doubt about it, but as the gentle voice of the seamare washed like warm surf over Ehko’s upturned ears, the small pegasus could hardly believe that that was the intention here. She knew safety and power when she was watched over by such devoted, destructive parents as her own, and her mother’s constant promise that she was always watching herself and her twin Brash pushed any residual hesitance from her mind. She stepped forward to help the mare, nodding, when the thump, thump, thumping sound of approaching hooves turned her head. Another stranger appeared, slowly taking shape out of the surrounding darkness. Ehko paused, uncertain if she was interrupting a meeting or reunion, but the newcomer talked and not once did Ehko hear any mention of a name or sense any familiarity between the two elder mares. The only thing they all seemed to share in common was their design; Ehko appraised the way Locheed’s skin seemed shadowy and multilayered with her own scales, liking it. Maybe these strangers could become her friends? “Don’t be rude!” She whickered to the silver bay, catching onto the suspicion in Locheed’s tone. It was obvious that her sudden appearance and her attitude had upset the horse from the sea, and Ehko didn’t want the traveler to feel unwelcome. Her dam had taught her courtesy and she was sticking to it. “You’re probably just exhausted, right?” She tipped her head toward the other paint, smiling as she closed the gap between them with a few leggy steps. “You must’ve swam the whole way here! In the dark, too! So cool.” Ehko beamed. Another step and she’d be able to offer her support. Another step and Ehko could touch the seamare, if Waverly wished. There were thoughts of stories to tell Brash later filling her innocent mind as she lifted that fateful leg, too. A feeling of confidence blossomed inside of her, warm and almost taking shape in a way Ehko could picture clearly. Another step, the blink of an eye, and everything could change. @[Locheed] @[Waverly] RE: I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed - Locheed - 03-30-2021 Locheed @[Waverly] RE: I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed - Waverly - 04-02-2021 your heart, it's like a drum As the girl moves, censure a halo surrounding her reprimand of the other woman’s supposed rudeness, Waverly sways. A sign of weakness, she had learned. One that inspired kindness and aid. Were she a less feral creature, she might have felt guilt at such deception. But when one’s belly rumbles with hunger, guilt becomes a surprisingly absent emotion. Waverly @[Ehko] @[Locheed] RE: I'll be there when your reality drowns; Ehko, Locheed - Ehko - 04-02-2021 A foal never sees what an adult mare chooses to hide, and Ehko clearly misses what’s unspoken between the two horses sandwiching her here on the beach. Their glances at one another go entirely unheeded by the young filly, though Locheed manages to twist one of her pale ears back with interest, mostly due to the sarcasm. Ehko herself was a terrible judge of social interaction; being cut off from the mainland since birth meant there weren’t many social gatherings taking place, and so she thinks that the bay mare’s tone has everything to do with offending the washed-up seamare and nothing at all to do with reality. She feels mocked, made to feel small and stupid (as if she didn’t already know there were sea monsters) in a way that jerks her little, petulant mouth down into a comical frown. Hmph. Ehko flicked her ear back into place as Locheed moved to cut off her escape, though she couldn’t see that for what it was, either. Not once did Ehko consider them to be the moving arms of a timepiece, simple cogs turning against one another’s perfect teeth with deadly tandem energy, winding up fate for the chiming of death’s bell toll. Her hoof landed square into the wet sand and not a second later, Waverly’s jaw had Ehko’s neck clamped in a bloody vice. The filly squealed, a pig caught by predators, shrilly as Waverly’s rows of teeth sank into the parts of her flesh unprotected by the pearlescent scales her father had passed down in their bloodline. Ehko could register nothing but the pain, so she fought against it in the wild way a trapped creature might. Her legs flailed and beat against the earth, desperate to knock Waverly off-balance or stop her from dragging Ehko into the sea, but the resistance felt useless. The elder mare was deceptively strong and soon enough, the wine-dark sea coiled over the little filly she gripped in her mouth. It became harder and harder for Ehko to fight with so much water weighing her down, making her sluggish so that she had to pause in her wriggling just to breath. And every time she did, Ehko gave Waverly the means to drag her further out. The darkness hid how fearfully twisted Ehko’s face had become, and her eyes widened with that panic we all know so well — the feeling of this is it. That dreadful knowledge without the means to reverse it: a slow crash-and-burn into death. Around her weakened body, the saltwater felt like ice and burned like black tar when it poured into her lungs. She opened her mouth to scream and only choked, jerking softly while the ocean ran over her tongue, down her throat, and filled up her tiny belly. Everywhere was black, there was no up or down, she thought it funny how the pain had gone away too, and then Ehko saw the stars for the very first time in her young life. They danced across her vision and swept her up into a spinning, dizzying sort of waltz. Drowning came quickly. Her body went limp in Waverly’s unyielding grip, and Ehko’s fight ended before it ever began. @[Brash] big bro to the rescue? <3 @[Locheed] @[Waverly] |