take a look all around; any

[bean]

Asking her where she’s been is like asking why the sky is blue. It just is, although there’s a more scientific answer for it just as there is for her sudden disappearance. Bean just doesn’t know what it is because she doesn’t think about it. Like ever, or at all. She does think about those left behind in the lurch. Those first few amazing forays into friendship that she hopes against hope she hasn’t ruined. 

Blue. Ghoul. Oceane & Leilan. Clegane.

The latter she thinks about the most, almost as if it is a crush that has blossomed in her breast like a tiny sweet flower struggling against the influx of Bean’s much greater and sillier emotions. She strains towards the place of their meeting - the meadow, as if it is somehow the most familiar place to her but all the common lands were. She traipsed through without further regard to finding an actual place to put roots down in like a good Bean should.

She also thinks a lot about Blue. Couldn’t forget him either. He’s become like her bestest friend in a short amount of time and she might have had a small crush on him too. Ghoul also wasn’t far from her thoughts, her Big Bad Buddy that she missed dearly. Oh god, how had he fared in her absence without her there to collect food for him?! Bean was struck with terrible visions of a starved toothy giant of a stallion and her heart nearly broke itself on her rib cage in guilt and horror.

She needed to find each of them unless they found her first. A game, of sorts that she wasn’t too keen to play but she couldn’t split herself into multiples to find them faster. But how neat would that be? Actually probably pretty terrifying - nobody would want multiple Beans running amuck and that’s exactly what would happen too! This tiny drab brown tricksy terror causing all kinds of trouble and trailing laughter everywhere like it was stardust and wishes.

The shoulds and shouldn’ts that Bean ought to do just don’t occur. She blows into the meadow like a bat straight outta hell: snorting, stamping her small feet, nostrils flaring, eyes wild and so much brown, from head to hoof. It takes her a moment to settle down, circling around a small winter-bare spot that just gets muddied up by snow-runoff and Bean’s hysterical trampling. 

She finally calms down, blowing just once or twice more through her flared nostrils and flinging the hair up out of her eyes to better see the land and horses in front of her. Bean decides to wait, except she’s never been real good at that. It was like finding a drop of rain in the ocean, her patience and it tended to evaporate just as quickly. All too soon, Bean was stretched out in one of the smooth common gaits of her breed and just tolting around all over the place because like a live wire, she twitched too much if she just stood still.

[Leilan]

We got older and I should have known
that I’d feel colder when I walk alone

The meadow is as good a resting place as any, for a dragon on recruiting business. In fact, it’s better than most places, though he might prefer the coolness of the forest himself, what with the sun on his body lighting him up like a disco ball. Thanks to his icy scales and golden mane and tail, he never gets to hide anywhere.

Unlike Bean, who profits from her brown coat more often than she probably realizes - though not when she is in the spring-tainted meadow, surrounded with colorful greens and flowers. As the dragon’s gaze follows a bee, his eyes land on her and he smiles a bit to himself at seeing her again. He remembers how incredibly nice she was, that day when he’d been worried more about Oceane. Frankly, she was a good friend, or would be if he’d seen her more often after that one time.

”Hi Brownie.” he walks up to her. He grins a bit at her, the smile in his eyes obvious though. ”How are you doing? Found a home you liked yet?” he asks, remembering that being the topic from before.

Leilan

no. 7 | ice forged in fire

@[bean]

[bean]

Bean’s tolt slows to another halt, and she’s not even out of breath! It had been just what the pudgy little mare needed - a good bit of exercise and stimulation to keep the blood pumping and the heart ticking. She shook out her long curly mane and felt the breezes grab at her hirsute coat, since Bean was a hairy thing after all. It felt so nice today! But now she felt like a nap…

Never mind that she never saw the glittering dragon or many of the other fantastical creatures that frolicked in the meadow; she sought a tree for a good butt scratching and a nap in the shade. If she saw fairies, she didn’t know it and the same with dragons and ponies straight out of her wildest dreams. Bean had eyes only for her next resting spot and she found it - a nice big oak that stretches out its broad limbs. 

She could already hear how the wind would catch in its green leaves and rattle them. It would be a sound to accompany her dreams and she was certain those would be nice too. Bean rarely suffered a nightmare, and if she did, it was forgotten the moment she blinked the sleep from her eyes. Her course naturally alters to an easygoing amble with the oak as her destination, but the day has other plans in store for her.

Hi Brownie.

Bean’s eats too forward in recognition as a grin finds her plain brown face. She looks as radiant as the color brown can be, as if lit from within and her happiness is apparent at the sight of a familiar face. “Hey Grumpy,” she echoes back goodnaturedly. “Doing good and glad to see a face I somewhat know.” She chuckles, remembering too, how the topic had changed course to her finding a home instead of focusing on the brilliantly colored mare in the forest. 

“Nope, still pleasantly homeless and drifting. Just can’t seem to tie these feet down.” here ya drop down and her nose follows before she tosses her head sideways in a gesture of mock hopelessness. But she can’t keep the smile from her lips or the gleeful glimmer from her equally brown eyes. “What have you been up to? Still spreading the grumpiness around?” 

Bean jokes, reaching out to rap his nose with her own in a sign of solidarity. Tricksters have to stick together and mischief is more fun in pairs. She could almost sigh, having missed his quick-witted banter. 

@[Leilan] better late than never! ❤️

[Leilan]

”Somewhat, eh? And here I thought I had some memorizable features.” the shifter chuckles, closing the distance for comfortable talking. He settles in for a longer wait near the oak, looking the brown mare up and down for a moment. ”Glad to see you’re still you. Never thought I’d get a chance to be the grumpy one, but you’re nailing it.” Amused, he matches blue eyes with brown ones, his body today not sitting still.

”Did you visit Nerine yet, perchance? You wouldn’t believe it, but its Khaleesi is the most grumpy I’ve ever seen in my life.” And that included his mother and his niece. He grins widely, not bothering with hiding his teeth any more now that that little change had come to pass; to be able to choose (though, shifting still happened involuntarily most of the time) how he presented. It was truly a gift that the fairies gave him, and he definitely wasn’t going up there any more, ever. Definitely. Well, probably then. Because, who knows what strange things might happen in the future. But to go for changes for himself? Definitely not.

”Oh, and I found my home there too. Well, Icicle Isle, anyway, not Nerine itself.” he adds casually - almost forgot it through their line of conversation. No other big changes had happened that he knew of, or that he could come up with out of the top of his head. Bean would probably have missed all political changes, and he could only envy that simplicity sometimes. And yet he already knew, from being home-less before, he wasn’t the type. A wanderer he was, certainly, as today showrd - but he still needed a home base.

nothing burns like the cold

Leilan

@[Bean] srry for lack of detail today

[bean]

“Memorable?” she scoffs, playing along to the banter they have going that she finds rather enjoyable and thinks is much truer to his character than she initially knew. Bean grinned; giving him a good once-over with both her eyes and her full attention. Truth be told, she hadn’t gotten a real good look at him the first time they met in the forest. It had been all about that lovely mare that he seemed to be familiar with and Bean, well she just happened to be there. 

Now, she has the opportunity to notice him and look long and hard at the tall (she was easily dwarfed by most horses!) drafty lines of him and all that silvery roan skin that made his brown more exotic than hers. Throw in the gold streaks in his hair and hot damn! Except Bean just admires him like she’d admire the oak he’s inched closer to - it’s the same kind of admiration she gives just about everything, unless she’s looking at a certain someone.

Then she’s all moony-eyed and her heart starts tripping all over itself and Bean forgets that language exists because she just wants to mumble unintelligibly around him. Even now, her breath hitches just thinking about him but she plays it off like she’s huffing in mock exasperation at Leilan. “As if I’d ever change?” Bean laughs, the grumpiness all a charade as she practically guffaws like a donkey.

She matches that blue gaze; it’s like staring up at the sky or down into water, and she can’t decide which. It’s calming though, she’ll give him that for all that he seems full of beans today and can’t remain still. “Nerine? Afraid not, I can’t seem to get beyond the common lands.” Another chuckle, even if it is painfully true that she seems to haunt the common lands like a brown ghost. Then his teeth caught her attention as they no longer looked ordinary.

“My what big teeth you have!” and she let out a little whistle of appreciation. He blathered on about some isle but it sounded a lot like her birthplace, cold and icy and she felt a tiny little stab of longing. She might have to ask him if she can visit someday though she’s almost certain the conversation will build up to that anyway. It usually does, or so she’s gathered from eavesdropping unintentionally of course! 

“Your home sounds kinda nice,” she admits, scuffing a hoof in the dirt as she thinks more and more about asking for visitation rights. Then again she’d just trespass for the hell of it since it might annoy him, or he’d welcome her goofy little self there any day - who’s to say? Bean sure couldn’t! “Oh!” she exclaims, having a lightbulb moment where an idea hits her.

“Hey, do you know much about the magic of this place? I’ve got a little… problem.” there, that sounded not so bad as she suddenly raises her head as high as it can go and looks around for the little goatling she couldn’t seem to shake these days. Bean was certain it was lurking somewhere in the grass where she couldn’t quite see it, either asleep or gorging itself on whatever it ate. 

She returns her gaze to Leilan’s and smiles broadly.

@[Leilan]

[Leilan]

At this rate, the shifter might get to proposing they do something incredibly stupid today, he thinks, like sneaking in someplace and messing things up a bit, or convincing a random stranger to eat the hallucinative weeds and shrooms he knows - he’ll never forget about Trekori and Andulvar, not for a lifetime - and his eyes take a rather distinctive emerald color when he thinks of it, estimating if she would be up for it. The topic of his being memorable - or not - seems to amuse her but also actually make her look - which somewhat surprises him, as he himself usually is keen on faces and coloration, and -used to be- quick to find the prettiest girl in a grazing spot (either to flirt with or to mess with, as usually they would be stiff pricks). Now, he just lets the brown mare catch up and when she shrugs of the kingdoms, he laughs at her. ”That’s the best way to avoid trouble...” he doesn’t end the sentence for a reason, his eyes twinkling mischievously as he waits for her to follow up. Is staying out of trouble what she wants?

His home however, is a topic that brings the blue back to his face, a little darker than before as he frowns. ”Someone decided it was too cold. Now we eat ash-tasting grass, but it’s better than when there was no grass at all.” he grimaces. ”You can visit if you want, but I’d personally wait till next spring in your case, if you want to stay for dinner.” he shakes his head. ”For now, we’re free to roam Taiga’s forests though. If you think ice-lands sound nice, the north should be able to offer you a home in any of her lands.” he smiles, tilts his head, then shakes it. ”I’m using those teeth for an alternative diet until then.” he laughs, but then when she exclaims her Oh! he perks his ears.

”Why, I couldn’t imagine you getting into trouble. But do tell,” he offers. ”I’ve had enough experience with the Mountain fae for three lifetimes, so perhaps I have your answer.”

nothing burns like the cold

Leilan

@[bean]