"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
04-19-2018, 04:32 PM (This post was last modified: 04-19-2018, 04:33 PM by Wolfbane.)
If it was practise Longclaw wanted, then practise he would get. The bitter old man had snarled his distaste at Wolfbane's apparent lack of "flapping" and that had been just enough to irritate the growing stallion into doing exactly just that.
Gangly, still growing into the lanky bones and flesh his parents had bestowed on him, Wolfbane was somewhere between 'cute' and 'handsome'. His body couldn't decide, and neither could he (not that he thought much about others opinions anyways.) What he did know was that there were three loves in his life; His dam, Tephra, and his Wings. To think that his sire, Longclaw, believed that he was wasting their usefulness just went to show how distant he and his son had become in the past few months.
Wolfbane used his wings almost always, much like he was using them now - to catch a slight breeze off the shore of Tephra and drift away into it.
Flying long distance was out of the question. The great, white appendages flexing over his hide were yet unmatured, just like him. They could lift and soar, bank against an updraft and keep him from spiraling into the ground, but they simply weren't strong enough yet for hours of endless work. It might take him another year or two before he could be comfortable going from one end of Beqanna to another.
But he was pushing himself, daily. Flying from the Tephran shores back to the mainland was almost too simple lately. If he went south from there he could coast for a while, perhaps touch down in the Field or Meadow. Today, though, his father's ungrateful lashings rang hot in his ears and prompted him to turn North, to push himself harder than he had before until, exhausted, he'd careened downward to land in what he assumed was River territory.
It was the farthest he'd ever been. Sweat soaked his belly and neck, pooled between his wings as he folded them neatly to his sides, and stuck to his rump as he moved forward through the sparse grass in search of fresh water. Every now and then, the pale sunlight would catch on his iridescent stripes and leave him glittering; a fine, blue contrast to the golden palomino color of his coat. He was only lucky that his mane wasn't like the others - hanging limply on his neck - instead it stood upright, much like a fjord's but bone white, through and through.
Panting, Wolfbane didn't give much thought to anyone else until a rustle nearby gave him reason to pause. "Hello?" He called out, one foot lifted in suspense as he waited tensely for a reply. When none replied, his dark lips parted to loose an animal snarl and to reveal his growing fangs; a light threat. "Is anyone there?" He tried again, wondering if he still had reserve strength to escape an attack ...
OOC: @[Tähti] Bear with me, I need to make him HTML
She was getting good at sneaking away. That this had to do with practise, she had no doubt; that her mother was lately more and more occupied with kingdom business and that Ilma also thought it would be good for the filly to learn and explore on her own as well, had not come to mind. Still, she had her coat with her on this; black, or even summer black like now, she was easier to be overlooked than had she been white like her mother.
The riverlands were close to Hyaline and far from Loess; a relatively safe place that she could think of to explore. Once, she had been with her mother; twice more before had she come alone without her mother noticing although perhaps auntie Solace would know - but she never told anyone if she did.
Today was different though - someone else was around. Suddenly a little anxious, the young filly found herself hiding in a bush to watch - then another young horse came into view. Or well, young... honestly to Tähti he was of a more impressive age, and she studied the iridescent blue that was such a contradiction to the golden-yellow of his palomino coat. Now, she knew that colour combination from Svedka; but Svedka was a known Hyaline resident and this fellow was a completely new horse.
A feather got stuck to a branch, which tickled and she moved. However, that apparently meant she was being heard, and the colt immediately called out. Shocked, Tähti stood frozen; once again he called out, now revealing fangs. All of a sudden she wasn't sure she liked this little adventure of her any more, but now it was too late and her mind raced for what she should do. The ebony girl had never been in a situation like this, and instead, kept very still in hopes that the moment would pass...
we are Stars, wrapped in skin the Light you are searching has always been Within
His threats fell on seemingly deaf ears. Wolfbane, forelegs spread apart and his great, white wings poised for flight, stared into the not-so-distant line of scrub along the watery banks and kept his fangs exposed. His ears were marble; unmoving and trained in the direction where Tahti hid. (”Am I scaring myself, hearing things?” The growing colt thought.)
The rapid succession of his quick, nervous breaths could be seen by the flutter of his proud, square chest. Every now and then, the Autumn sun would glance across it and send his ragged stripes into a flash of wild color. He knew, as all that lived here knew, open territory was a harboring ground for those who could not fit the mold of Kingdom life. Rapists, killers, thieves and magic were commonplace - all it took was a chance encounter; the wrong place, the wrong time.
It was easy to die out here.
Acting on instinct alone, Wolfbane drew the trump card of his gifts: Invisibility cloaked him head to toe (“And to think I complained about Mother’s teachings…” He was reminded, when the cloak of true camouflage snapped easily upon him.)
Where once there was a brilliant, gaudy creature, now there was simply … nothing.
The Tephran-born yearling breathed a soft sigh of relief and inched as silently as he could manage towards the now-silent bush.
For the ebony girl to remain frozen wasn't too much of a trouble - her eyes however, could not peer through the bush enough to know for certain if the threat was looking really threatening (she just remembered the flash of sharp teeth) or perhaps as scared as she. But the longer it took, the more she realizes she should breathe - she exhaled slowly, inhaled again, eyes closed for a second, and blinked her eyes - whoever stood there, she could no longer see them.
Now she was certainly doomed. For an enemy to be seen, she could live with that - but an invisible something the could either be getting away or creeping up at you - oh no. She panicked silently; debating lying down on the ground to make herself as invisible as possible in the dark shadows of her bush - or making a run for it.
The longer it took, the faster she ran out of options. She wasn't sure she was able to make it, but she also knew that lowering herself wasn't an option, for the bushes would let the other know of her presence. She felt there was no real choice in this.
Suddenly she burst from the bush - sideways if the colt was still standing where he had before, she was at least smart enough to avoid running into the thread directly. Wings pressed at her side, she became an adrenalin-fuelled blur until she reached the more open pathway, and spread her wings. Not that she would come far, but she'd made the trip from the river to Hyaline before, and if she could make it up before someone overtook her, she would be safe, she'd reasoned. Unaware of the fact that the colt she'd ran from might have wings himself and was in fact much faster.
we are Stars, wrapped in skin the Light you are searching has always been Within
Momentarily, Wolfbane is stunned into a motionless body of pure surprise. He holds his cover, keeping the invisibility as strong and as thorough as he could muster even as the peeping filly darts like a scared rabbit from her hideaway.
“Hey, wait!” He calls out finally, shaking himself from stupidity and out of his invisibility - but it seems he might be a bit too late. “Wait I won’t hurt you, wait!!” He yells, already pushing himself into a leggy trot in hot pursual. What the hell was a thing like that doing all the way out here, on her lonesome?
Certainly Bane was no judge of children’s age simply by looking at them, but he can’t help but assume that she’s just a baby; it wasn’t so uncommon for useless mares to drop their get and leave it as it lay. (“Mother would take her in, if she’s a stray.”) Wolfbane thinks, spreading his wings in a flick of practised motion when he sees she’s prepared to spring.
He leaps first.
The glinting shape of his body arcs splendidly, a bell curve of motion that has no end because his wings force themselves down in a powerful flap and he lifts, ever upward, until he’s flapping right above her. From there he releases again, dropping earthward once he’s fully in front of the young girl to come to a land in hopes of blocking her escape attempt.
“NO!” He shouts, as forcefully as he can muster. His body swings around and his wings, still spread out at his sides, act like a barrier to keep her from darting one way or the other. “Just wait one minute!” He tries again, softer this time.
05-02-2018, 03:16 PM (This post was last modified: 05-02-2018, 03:18 PM by Tähti.)
Tähti
The little shadow of a female doesn't make it far before she hears a voice. Of course, the colt she saw earlier is her senior by a year, and thus further grown, carrying more muscle on his body than her 7-month-old one. The shouts confuse her, but she doesn't really let the words sink in but tries to take off in the general direction of Hyaline - south-west.
But he doesn't let that happen. Tähti has too much speed to stop, blood rushing in her ears that she hardly hears the words; but his "no" is the clearest thing yet, and she tries to make a sliding stop only to bump into the colt's chest when he jumps right in front of her. It is in her tumbling that she realizes perhaps he wasn't here to eat her, but then she's wings-spread-legs-tangled-head-down somewhere, and although she is only bruised, she is rightly confused when she comes to a still.
She makes a face at him from the ground. She's directing it only somewhere in his general direction, not sure if he also fell or not. Now that she's somehow no longer scared of him - his words did sink in after all, if a little later - she feels defiance, as any girl in her almost-teens would. She moves her legs and tucks her wings to her side to stand up and face him, that look on her face that is was actually his fault that he scared her so and sent her flying, even though it was she who shouldn't have been here in the first place. She's panting too much to speak out just yet, but perhaps he has something to say instead.
we are Stars, wrapped in skin the Light you are searching has always been Within
The coal-colored filly slams into him, and not gently, either. He’ll give her this though - she took him by surprise, and Wolfbane is sure he’ll be feeling the ache of her rather sudden stop before he knows it. The palomino-striped-blue boy does, however, feel guilt over the predicament she ends up in, afterwards. That mess of tangled hooves and feathers he steps away from looks less-than comfortable and close to painful as his petite stalker untangles herself.
“Sorry.” He mutters, expelling a deep sigh now that the worst was past them. “But you shouldn’t be spying on other horses, got it?” He snaps soon after, seeing the mute look of blame and anger cast a shadow over the girl’s face. “You don’t know who could be out here, which reminds me -” He pauses, “- Where are your parents?”
For a second, he considers that she might be mute.
She had been rather quiet this whole time, from bush to tumble. Not so much as a peep out of her … and he’d just now shouted at her, poor thing! “You can talk, can’t you?’ He gushes, quickly; the heat from earlier washed instantaneously out of his tone and expression. Gods Bane would feel utterly terrible if this creature was just some incompetent, lost kid who couldn’t speak.
The ebony filly waits - it doesn't take long for the blue-hued palomino colt to speak. First he seems to be sorry under her glare from her tangled body; but then he snaps that she shouldn't be spying anyway, gives her a Talk - during which her ears lay flat against her head in dislike - but when she opens her mouth to actually say her first word to him - he completely changes behaviour. She snaps her mouth shut when he figuratively deflates, asking if she can even talk.
She sighs. She nods. She shakes her body to rearrange her tangled fur and wings, then looks him over. "Yes." she outs, still a little shaken from the whole ordeal, she doesn't seem to be able to emit a sentence for a few heartbeats more. She cocks her head at him, curious. "I'm not lost. I'm two steps away from home. But you seem to be. Is that why you threatened me?" She looks up to him when she asks him this - he's taller - her eyes about the height of his fangs, should he show them again. Perhaps he hadn't realized how it must have looked on her side, but now that it turns out he's just another winged colt - albeit with fangs and okay, he's older and possibly stronger - she doesn't fear him as much as maybe she should. But while Tähti's mother is stubborn an naive, her father is a warrior, a sleek strong man whose sense of danger has been dulled either over the years or from character and to be honest - she takes after him in more ways than the one she doesn't yet know about. She's not easily scared - but triggered into a stubborn way of fighting against that fear so quickly sometimes.
She shakes her mane, again dropping a few forest leaves, hopefully these are the last. "So, here we are, both where we should not be no doubt. I'm Tähti, I'm from Hyaline." The girl tells the colt blankly. "What about you?"
we are Stars, wrapped in skin the Light you are searching has always been Within
Thanks the heavens, she does speak - quite well, actually. It turns out that the girl isn’t far from her home, or at least that’s what she tells Wolfbane, once she’s gotten the opportunity to tell him a bit about herself. That cute little mouth is vile, though; Tahti has no fear when she’s got no other place to run, her spunk takes the older horse by surprise. “I’m exactly where I want to be, Tahti.” He replies, after she’s told him that her home is Hyaline.
“You’re the one who’s out of place.” He sighs, turning away from the dark filly as she shakes loose the remnants of a few, lasting leaves. It’s hard for the growing stallion to come to terms with the fact that he’d been scared by a tiny girl. “I’m called Wolfbane, and I was born in Tephra.” The stallion explains, unfurling his wings again before turning to look back at his newfound companion.
It was high time for him to be moving on; there was nothing to be gained from keeping her around and Bane had very little to offer her in the way of friendship. They were too … different, at the present. He still felt the awkwardness of their age gap and considered himself an adult, compared with Tahti’s youth. “You should go home, where it’s safe.” He growls, softly. The late autumn wind catches against his feathers, readying them for flight. “Next time it won’t be someone as nice as I am.”
And with that, he lifts himself into the air with a robust flap, and flutters away into the distance.
@[Tähti] figured we should wrap it up with the change in season
![[Image: Wolfbane2.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/601918740845559818/696502662816071770/Wolfbane2.png)
![[Image: 3bCHvj.png]](https://img.nickpic.host/3bCHvj.png)
