"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
and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.
Traveling to Ischia wasn’t how she would typically spend her day, but when the sun first breached past the mountain tops, she decided with a defeated sigh that she should get it over with. She did not mind diplomatic visits, usually; they could be tense and entertaining, and if they were a little boring she usually could find a way to add some spark to it. But that was not the point of this trip. Loess was quiet, for now, and supposes until she has Sylva more secure and a better foothold, they should keep it that way.
For once, she has no intention of stirring trouble.
She cuts through the lower half of Tephra, far from where the chaos of the war had taken place. It was less likely that she would be seen and stopped this far south, but she is alert all the same, with a slender ear flicked back, and her mind ever aware of any thoughts that might be picked up from nearby.
When she slides from the water and her hooves sink into the soft sand, the sun is high in the afternoon sky. She pauses a moment, shaking the remnants of ocean water from her skin, but her mane still clings plastered to her wet neck. She begins to move further inland, not entirely sure who she was looking for, but assuming that someone would notice the star-dappled stranger standing on their shores.
starsin
it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted. ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )
just a diplomatic visit from Loess, so, open to anyone!
She was still new to Ischia, but she quickly grew comfortable in her new home. It was quiet, and the island kept many out. She spent most of her time exploring, she wanted to know everything the island had to offer.
As she draws closer to the beach she sees another, the equine forces her to stop in her tracks. The mare could be another Ischian....but she didn't smell of Ischia, or even Tephra. She took a step backward, she hadn't been spotted yet, it would be easy to pretend she never saw the stranger.
Alas she fought the internal urge to run and hide, this was her home and she had to protect it. She was still young, just reaching a year on earth but she still felt it was important to see what this stranger wanted.
Hello there, she had to fight herself to not stutter when she gave a greeting. She came to a halt before the dark mare, she was much larger and filled out. Vita glanced over her, she was rather pretty and didn't seem to be a threat, then again Vita see's the best in everyone. Are you looking for something? She says settling on a way to word her thoughts politely. She couldn't pin point what kingdom this one came from, but it smelled much different from her salty Ischia.
Her children from last season are fully self-sufficient. They don’t need Adria anymore for survival, at least Luath certainly doesn’t. Ionia lingers around because the world is still too big, but she doesn’t spend as much time with Adria as before. Being a mother is embarrassing, apparently. Which makes Adria smile.
But she’s not sad about their growth. It brings her peace and plenty of time to return to the ocean, alone to practice her arts and tie her magic into the rhythmic roots of this Island and her sisters.
Eyes closed and thousands of leagues into the cold, dark depths below Ischia, Adria the Nereid felt the feather-light touch of ripples from the east. It would seem that someone new was coming. Someone who didn’t swim the same way fins moved, or the same way familiar hooves like Ruinam, Vita and Wrena moved.
Her bright yellow eyes flicked open. Adria rose as if she were jumping underwater and used her power to wrap strong currents around her. The funnel carried her up and out, angled like an arrowhead that curved towards the surface until she burst through in a leaping shower of sea spray. Down she landed, shaking her wet head and sending her mane flying, trotting forward across the sand with an eager expression brightening her already bright face.
“Mèsi Vita,” Adria thanked her newest member in a gasping breath of air. “I came as quickly as I could.” She sighed, laughing at her little show.
In a snap, both her head and her attention turned to the visitor.
“A foreigner?” The sea mare’s accented tone branded Starsin, part curiosity and part fascination. “Don’t let me interrupt though.” The elder female corrected herself smoothly, reaching forward with her soft, slender nose to brush Vita’s forelock like a worried mother.
She wanted to see what this star-horse had to say.
Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me
and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.
As was expected, she was not left to her own devices for long. She watches the vibrantly colored filly as she approaches, but the smile that edges across her lips is cool, impersonal. She was finding that it was difficult to feign interest and politeness in situations that did not directly benefit her. Her patience had strengthened as she grew older — no longer an adolescent, but young enough all the same — and she was learning there was something to be said in holding out for the long run, but instant gratification would always be her favorite. Still, she forces something a little warmer to her face, especially when she can hear the nervous thoughts of the younger girl. “Not something, just someone.”
Before she can say anything else, there is a sudden explosion of activity from the ocean’s edge. She watches with an inquisitive tilt of her head as the mare lands in a shower of seawater and scattered sand, and, having always been one to appreciate other’s traits, she offers the beautiful mare a signature simper with a quirk of her brow. “Well, that’s one way to make an entrance.”
She takes a step back, inviting the nereid forward to join them. “I’m Starsin, of Loess, and current caretaker of Sylva.” She was reluctant to call herself a leader, since it was meant to be temporary, and Loess was her true home. But those details were unimportant for this meeting, and so smoothly continues on, “We are just touching base with everyone. It’s been awhile since we sent anyone...out.” Because for some reason, burning down Tephra didn’t count as a diplomatic visit. She shifts her dark blue eyes to Adria, since she is the elder of the two Ischian horses, and asks with an upward tip of her lips, “Everything is going well here, I presume?”
starsin
it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted. ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )
It was ironic that the first equine she meets since Adria was not an Ischian. Of course she had her suspicions when she approached the dark mare, but the lack of Ischian scent confirmed it.
Her gaze finds the mares when she speaks, Vita asks about the reason for the mares visit and her response leaves her slightly confused. She came for someone? Who? Why didn't she just give a name for who she was seeking?
Though before she could respond both mares gaze flicks to the water. A equine rose from the water, and Vita quickly recognizes her as Adria. A smile grows on her maw in the comfort of the mares presence. Her gaze watches as Adria elegently moves, wrapped in a wave of water, to the shoreline with the pair.
She gives a greeting and quickly finds a spot with Vita and the stranger. Adria notes for the conversation to continue, and as they listen she reaches out her muzzle to Vita's forelock and the young mare warmly nudges into the greeting.
Her gaze and attention moving back to the stranger as she listens to her speak. The mare finally introducing herself as Starsin, as well as noting her homeland. Her last statement once again leaves Vita curious, why did she care about Ischia's wellbeing?
Yes, she quickly responds but with it she fades to silence. Her gaze flicks to Adria and back to Starsin, she wasn't a trained dipomat and she didn't feel it was her spot to get into a diplomatic discussion. Instead she would allow Adria to take the lead, learning from her.
The key to Adria’s beginning is all in the flourish. No matter who visits these shores, if Adria is there to greet them she intends to do so with a flash of showmanship. Ischia is no kingdom, nor is she a territory. She has no place among the larger bodies of power in Beqanna, not yet anyway, and so her purpose is to serve the needs of outsiders who want to peek at the tropical paradise.
This service Adria provides well enough. Past these waters she is content to be nothing and no one of significance, but here she is Dame above all else, and that title seeps into every gentle expression of concern or lighthearted laugh Adria musters. Starsin of Loess could see it plainly enough, but the Nereid has no idea she can see past it, and therefore her thoughts are free-running while the newcomer speaks.
Sylva; the name is familiar to her. A Loessian outpost, practically landlocked and set apart from every other place by its quirky decorating style. Interesting, Adria thinks, that a southerner would risk exposure in ‘enemy’ territory just to pop in for a welfare check. Leliana’s words came back to her, brisk as the first time they were spoken. Loess is an epicenter of selfish, cruel behaviors, she'd warned her new inhabitant. None of that accusation could be mistaken for anything other than hate.
But was Adria judge, jury, and executioner?
It takes her only a moment to recall that she’d stayed out of the war herself when it could’ve been so easy to interject.
“Yes,” The seahorse encourages Vita’s shaky reply, nodding, “you presume accurately.” The Dame chuckles. She transitions smoothly into the role, offering “Are you needing rest, perhaps a drink?” before the tilt of her demure eye sharpens, glinting. “Maybe someplace quiet for talking?”
Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me
and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.
It was not exactly a secret that Loess had developed a reputation, and not a very good one. They were a kingdom full of individuals similar to Starsin; not necessarily power hungry, but prone to bouts of boredom. Starsin was more into the mental games rather than physical violence, but she wasn’t above calling on her shattering ability when she desperately needed a release. Unfortunately for the other lands, Castile and some of the other Loessian residents shared her same taste for chaos.
Thankfully, she wasn’t hungry right now.
For a moment, her dark blue eyes flicker to the young Vita, a little perplexed on why she approached if she was so timid. She was young, but when Starsin was her age, she was in the middle of convincing Vulgaris to wage war and kidnap healers. She supposes she is an anomaly, however; maybe her life wouldn’t be so dramatic if she had been a little more like Vita. Maybe things would have been different if her and Ophanim had just stayed in Island Resort, tangled only in each other, instead of ensnaring everyone else in their foolish games.
Her stare returns to Adria – and it was easy to stare at her, because she was strikingly beautiful. Starsin had never been immune to pretty things, and the appreciative simper that perched lazily on her lips when she looked at her did nothing to shield her thoughts. “Thank you for the offer, but I don’t think I will be staying long. As badly as I would like to.” Even in the midst of her own personal turmoil, she was still the insatiable, lust-driven woman she has always been, and it takes all her self-control to not offer a coquettish rebuttal to the sea mare’s offer to go someplace quieter. Castile would never trust her on diplomatic visits again if she tried to seduce the leaders, and so she forces herself back on track. “How does Ischia operate? A herdland?” Or just an island of pretty girls?
starsin
it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted. ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )
@[Vita] @[Adria]
1) I hate diplomatic posts, I'm sorry
2) Starsin thinks Adria is hot, and I'm also sorry.
She was still young, yet she loved Ischia and a diplomatic role seemed to be the best fit for her. She hadn't necessarily chosen to get into this position with Starsin's visit, she simply reached out to her out of her curiosity.
Still, she tries her best and attempts to remain as quiet as possible. Even with little worfs spoken on her end she would leave the interaction with a world of knowledge. She hadn't been born into Ischia, but from her time here she knew it was a busy island! When she quickly answers Starsin's question Adria ensures her that her answer was not farfetched.
With a smile on her teal maw she watches as Adria continues to speak. The red queen kind in nature, she offers the ebony mare a drink as well as moving to a quieter place. Her hazel orbs move to the ebony mare, awaiting a response.
The ebony mare kindly turns down Adria's offers, and honestly Vita is surprised that the Loessian is as kind as she is. She imagined them all to be more rugged and blunt, but here she was as proper as any diplomat. When she speaks again she ask's about the operations of Ischia, whether it was a territory or herd land. Though she knew the answer she remains silent, it was best after all for the ruler to respond to her questions at this point.
