[private] carry me out, up and away

[Anubias]

Ever since meeting his companion, Anubias had since been informed that it was a red panda - but they had gotten no closer at discovering the perfect name. They used Cheri’s suggestion - Creature - and still planned on always using it whenever they were around the filly, even though they both agreed it wasn’t quite right. Accurate, but not perfect. Neither the yearling boy nor his companion minded the lack of The Name all that much - it did not hinder their games or their bonding. They made the most of this dark world and Anubias regaled the fuzzy red creature with tales of the sun and all the wonderful things they’d be able to see once it returned. It was with such thoughts that the pair ended up drifting to sleep in a protective copse of trees near the forest’s edge. This dream felt different, though Anubias did not think much about it. He easily assumed it had something to do with the warm golden sunshine that washed over him, reflecting off of the metallic sheen of his coat with more intensity than it had ever done in life. His companion skittered after some of these light spots and Anubias’ laughter brought brighter sunshine and with it, more pieces of reflected light for the red panda to chase and scramble after - all while her striped tail twitches behind her. The grass beneath his hooves is golden, and in the way of dreams everything outside his immediate area is still a pastel-coloured haze, waiting to be discovered - waiting, though he doesn't know it, to be built and shaped to his desire.

@[iridian]

[iridian]

iridian

She knows he is different the moment the dreamscape bends to fit him. He makes ripples like her own mother does when she visits, like Iridian herself might if she possessed the ability to come and go, if she weren’t anchored here in death like a ghost. His presence can hardly go unnoticed - he is like another spider in the web instead of a fly, and she marvels at the way the dreamscape strengthens with his arrival. It is like he is a piece that has always been missing, and she is drawn to him just as readily as the sunshine that falls over his metallic body.

She is watching already, of course.
She is in all the fragments of dancing sunshine that tumble across the ground.
She is the brightening at the sound of his beautiful laughter.

Even in a world of dreams and make believe, he is the brightest thing she’s ever seen. Perhaps there were fish in some of the streams that came close, but she was completely certain that none of them had a green like this made of so many shining shades. She couldn’t even fathom the number of shades she would not know the names of.

When she is certain that he is not a nightmare, not something dark and unkind masquerading as kindness - that was happening to her more often now, as though something was poisoning the dreamscape - she pulls free of the sunshine to appear first as a silhouette of watery sunlight, then something more solid.

It is tempting to hold onto some of the shine so that she can be as bright as he is, but she does love even the plainness of her red and white skin, the shock of pale blue in the twists of her forelock. She smiles at him, soft and shy and only a little uncertain as she settles into the body she might’ve been born in. Her wings fold delicately against her ribs, the feathers whispering as they settle.

“Hello,” she says, and the words are as soft as the sunshine that seems to love him so much, as soft as the navy of her eyes like crushed flower petals, “I haven’t seen one of those before.” There is puzzlement on her delicate face and in those too-wide eyes as she leans down to take a smiling look at the small animal playing by his feet. “Do you have a name for it?” She of course means like how he is a horse and how the things in the sky are birds, and not like how she is Iridian. “Do they come from Tephra, or Hyaline?” She plucks the words from her memories, the only places she knows of where horses live outside the dreamscape.

@[Anubias]

[Anubias]

Anubias has never come across anyone in his dreams before - even his companion usually wasn’t as clear as she was right now as they played. Normally, everything else was vague - shadowy shapes that hinted of other horses. Mostly, his dreams were about places more than faces - worlds brimming with flowers and light. Especially since the sun disappeared. So it is a surprise when someone else shows up - nothing vague about her but there’s definitely something dreamlike. She seems to match this place, he thinks as he starts to smile, even as she solidifies. His companion ceases her game and clamours up Anubias’ leg and neck so that she can peer at the stranger over his head. She flattens her belly against his white mane and settles in. This situation is not particularly comfortable for him, especially where her claws dig in when climbing and when she occasionally gets bored and nibbles his ears. Now, though, she’s just as curious about the stranger as Anubias is - and they are both delighted by the topic she’s picked. “My mom called it a red panda, but I don’t know where there might be more. She's the only one I've seen.” He flicks his pale green eyes up, just catching the smallest glimpse of the fur in his periphery. “She just showed up one day.” And things had been wonderful ever since.  “I’m Anubias.” He offers when his gaze returns to the winged stranger.

@[iridian]