"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
01-23-2022, 03:11 PM (This post was last modified: 01-23-2022, 03:14 PM by Link.)
Could you help me push aside all that I have left behind
The young shifter had always been an adventurer much to his fathers worry. It was something instilled in both twins that Ledger had never truly understood in the way perhaps his mate had. The elder bear had experienced more then his fair share of “adventure” and most of it had been unwanted and unasked for. Yet for the sheltered Sylvan Prince and Princess, they could not get enough tastes of freedom.
Now that he had it though, true freedom, he found it didn’t nearly taste as sweet as it should have.
There hadn’t been many friends growing up. He had met the occasional foal in the playground and of course those that had called Loess home. But it had always mostly just been him and his family. The four of them against the world. Even when Manny had sidled into his sister’s affections… Lillibet had always been his best friend. His only true friend. No matter how far they roamed…. There had always been them to come home too. Now… Now there was no-one.
He hadn’t expected the loneliness, the overwhelming feeling of uncertainty on what he was suppose to do with his life now. From a pampered Prince to being a displaced pauper, things had not turned out anywhere close to what he had expected. Still, he can’t find it in himself to be bitter. Can’t help but cling on to hope with a vice grip and continue to search for his sire. Ledger had to be out there and if he could find him then maybe he could find the others.
So he wanders. And he searches. Anyone he meets, he asks them if they had seen the one-eyed stallion or a white one-eyed bear. Some are kind and some are not. He looks at what little is left on the thin stretch of land that remains of the South, trying to find a clue. He never gives up because there is no other purpose than this. What else would he do? The ambitions that he had seen stirring in his twin were not ones that he particularly shared. He had simply wanted to live life, to travel and see all of what Beqanna offered, and that would have been enough for him. With a cruel jolt, he realizes that he had gotten that wish after all. So his wish changes and every night, a little prayer is whispered into the darkness that they will be all be ok and come back to him.
Today he searches the cool shadows of the Forest. It slightly reminds him of Sylva. The leaves here are different tones of lush green unlike the fiery display of the Sylvan boughs but there is a heaviness here that he also recalls from his old home and it gives him a strange feeling of nostalgia. It’s not long before he has shifted into the large black and white shape he feels most comfortable in and climbs up into the nearest tree. Settling his furry weight firmly across a large steady limb, paws dangling over the edge, he watches with sharp gold-flecked eyes below in case somebody of interest passes by.
To her, Loess and Sylva existed mostly as stories.
Both territories had been her parents’ home for several years—first Loess, where her mother acted as royal advisor to two kings, and then later Sylva, which she took control over at the suggestion of Castile after the previous leaders tried to lead a failed mutiny. By the time Stargaze and her twin were born, however, they were living in Silver Cove, and neither parents were involved in the politics of Beqanna. There, her family lived a quiet life away from the unrest that seemed to constantly trouble the land, and while Stargaze had explored Loess and Sylva in passing, neither of them had struck her as particularly remarkable. Fighting over the control of giant rocks and autumn-colored trees seemed like a waste of energy, though she supposes she can see the appeal of power.
She had her own taste of power; a small version of it. She knew what it meant to feel that vibrating tension beneath her skin, to release it and watch something crumble simply because she had willed it. There was another power there, too, one that she had not really messed with; she was fierce, but she was not needlessly cruel, and so far she had not found a reason to quicken disease in someone else.
But, the day was young, and she was still on the search for some source of entertainment, so perhaps today could finally be the day.
She is walking along a quiet part of the forest, the sunlight leaving strange dapples across her blue-green skin, and the stars across her body glow brighter in the dimming light. The air was cooler here, and the frost on her skin seemed to sparkle all the brighter for it, relieved to finally be out of the direct sunshine. From the corner of her eye she sees the black and white shape of the panda resting in a tree, and she is careful not to look directly at him. She assumes that he is a horse in his shifted form—there weren’t many wild pandas in this forest, after all, but she thinks there is a fun way to find out if her assumption is correct.
Humming an indistinct tune to herself she continues walking, and once she is close enough—her eyes still staring so carefully at the path ahead of her—she shatters a branch neighboring the one he is resting on. Nothing that can hurt him, but, hopefully might startle him a little.
She jolts as if she is surprised by the sound of splintering wood and sudden debris tumbling to the ground, and wheeling around it is only then that she pins him with her vibrantly blue eyes. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she apologizes sweetly, her pretty face shadowed with a perfectly placed worried frown. “That was completely on accident, sometimes I just can’t control it,” she lies, but the undertone of silvery laughter is undeniable.
02-03-2022, 02:38 PM (This post was last modified: 03-07-2022, 08:42 PM by Link.)
Could you help me push aside all that I have left behind
Power is a foreign concept to the likes of him. He’s had small tastes of it before but had never put two and two together. With a well-regarded Queen for a mother and a title of Loessian (and then Sylvan) Prince, he had always been treated with respect and kindness. It had never occurred to him that it might be false, that perhaps some were only deferential and helpful because for all outward appearances they had to be. He had never looked at another and wondered if they were being deceitful or flat out lying to his face, had never ran into the likes of horses like Ashhal in most of his wanderings. In fact it was only Manny who had ever made him feel the suggestion of doubt before.
His father had done his best to protect his youngest children in ways that he had failed the others (and himself) but by doing so he hadn’t realized that it left them that much more susceptible to dark influence and harm. By sheltering them, he had made them more vulnerable. Luckily, Oceane had a much different view of parenting and so not everything was a mystery to him and he knew there were things like monsters and bad things that wouldn’t be terrified by his bumbling claws. Still, when it came to other horses… He could not always see the forest for the trees.
For awhile he lays there and figures it’s to be another boring day. In his warm fur and with all four paws dangling comfortably over the wide branch, he’s started to become drowsy. Perhaps a nap is in order. He’s nearly drifted off when a soft tune rises from beneath him, a hum that drifts between his fuzzy ears, and suddenly he is wide awake. He leans his panda head slightly to the side and spots the mare walking below who doesn’t seem to notice him. There is a strange pattern to her cobalt coat that winks and glows and he is so enraptured in whatever she might be that when the branch near him shatters, it startles him completely.
Down he falls, a tumbling ball of black and white with not an inch of grace or dignity. He sprawls before her and quickly stands up as her honeyed voice reaches him, gold-flecked eyes finding her startling blue ones and then shifting to her frown, as he quickly merges from bear to stallion. A crooked grin is instantly on his lips as he shakes himself off, it’s not the first time he’s taken such a tumble before and it’s certain to not be his last. “It’s alright, I’m ok!” He laughs gently back at her, not wanting her to worry that he had been harmed and feeling that he must have looked ridiculous, hence that undertone in her apology. Double checking that the only thing truly bruised was his ego, he glances back up to where he had been resting and now sees what remains of the splintered limb that had been near him. “You did that?” He looks at her again but there is no accusation in his expression or his question, only open curiosity and awe.
She isn’t actually surprised when he comes tumbling down to the ground, but she pretends to be. It was, of course, what she had been secretly aiming for. Even more delightful is learning that she is correct about him being a shapeshifter, maintaining that practiced look of concern as he shakes himself off in the form of a young stallion.
The boy seemed friendly, which should have made her feel bad, but it doesn’t. She isn’t entirely uncaring, it’s just that she didn’t view this as being malicious—it was just for fun. The fact that she was maybe the only one having fun was besides the point. Growing up with the several rambunctious siblings that she had, it wasn’t completely surprising that her idea of play was a little aggressive, though the mean streak inherited from her mother was likely playing a bigger role here than a simple penchant for mischief.
Although, based on his laugh and the easy smile that he wore as he stood, she clearly hadn’t hurt him, which she supposes is a good thing.
As if to prove this, she exhales a sigh of relief. “Oh good,” she breathes as she steps closer to him, her overbright-blue eyes making a show of traveling across his body. “You’re sure you’re not hurt at all?” her voice is softer now that she is alongside him, and she reaches out with a dark-tipped muzzle to brush an imaginary mark of dirt off his shoulder. With a demure smile she withdraws, an unspoken apology for touching him without asking first reflecting on her face. She isn’t sure how long she can keep up this shy damsel act, but it’s entertaining enough, for now.
She follows his gaze to the shattered remnants of the branch in the tree, and it’s only then that her facade slips just a little—thinking about how she could have easily just taken out the entire tree, and something beneath her skin hums in delight at the thought. “I did,” she says, careful to hide the hint of pride that threatens to slip past. “On accident,” she reiterates quickly, casting him a sideways glance, before deciding it’s time to deflect from her accomplishment. “My name is Stargaze. What’s yours?”
Could you help me push aside all that I have left behind
The way her bright blue eyes look over him in concern makes his grin turn more lopsided, eager to put her at ease as she moves closer. She reaches for him, her dark muzzle finding his shoulder, and the look on his face is one of awkward uncertainty. He had only ever been touched by his family before. The embraces from his parents, the rough tumbles he would take with his sister when he would hide and surprise her in his bear body. It’s unexpected but not unwanted, he finds. Her voice is soft, soothing in its breathiness, and he is stumbling in his response as he looks at her with increasing warmth glinting in the gold flecks of his dark brown eyes. “N-No. I’m ok. I swear.” His grin loose and stupid, unraveling beneath the attentions of a pretty girl. Wanting nothing more than to chase away whatever guilt she might be feeling. Blissfully unaware that she felt none at all.
It wouldn’t occur to him to be upset with her even if that sliver of pride had managed to work its way through. Magic is a wonderful thing after all. Oh, he knows that there were evil powers that could hurt him and he should be more on guard, Ledger’s faint voice echoing somewhere in his scattered brain. Knowing of them and experiencing them were two separate things. The threat the father had tried to impress on his son lost in the ether when the boy was so clueless. A child that had never felt true physical pain or knew what fear tasted like.
Why should he be afraid of someone with such a beautiful face just because she had broken a branch from a tree?
The pretty stranger seems shy and demure, pulling away from him. Admitting that she had in fact been the cause behind his fall. By accident, of course. He hadn’t thought otherwise. Stargaze. Her name is Stargaze and looking at the winking constellations dappled across her cobalt frame, it fits her like a glove. She glances away from him again and his heart stutters slightly in his chest. Weird. “I’m Link. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He says politely, exactly as he had been taught by his parents. Diplomacy was a skill that came easily to him, one that he had taken more interest in then he had in the art of war despite the claws he could wield. That was more of Lillibet’s line of interest to the point where she had taken private lessons with their father against his better judgement. Lil didn’t have the magic that flowed through the rest of their family though, the only reason why Ledger had eventually given in to her persistent pestering.
“I think it’s cool by the way.” He says, his tone encouraging and kind. “That you can do that. I can only shift and glow.” He adds with a little laugh. “Is there anything else you can do?”
