"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
there's a song in your lung and a dream in your eye
For a time, there are only dreams. Bits of pieces of faded echoes that she can never quite reach, can never quite grasp. She feels they are important, but she cannot seem to comprehend why. Only the strong feelings in her chest tell her it is so.
Suddenly, she wakens. Golden eyes blink open, taking in the expanse of bare tree limbs that hover over her, incomprehension in their depths. She is sprawled upon her side, snow packed beneath her compact frame, the chill leaching through a coat grown thick for winter.
Easing slowly into a more upright position, the red and white mare takes in the unfamiliar trees that surround her. Snow stretches between the trunks, coating a forest floor covered in last autumn’s leaves and etching the world in endless whites and browns and grays.
Blinking eyes that suddenly betray a bit of loss, the confusion and discontent that stirs inside of her, she sifts through a mind that feels both familiar and alien. One that contains no clues as to just where she had come to be.
She stretches her limbs before her, intending to rise to her feet, when her bright gaze catches upon them. She frowns. The legs are hers, but they feel somehow… disconnected. She does not recognize the red that fades into white. The odd cracks etched across her limbs like a wayward map. Swinging her head around, she sees the rest of her is the same. White locks, cherry bay frame with its roadmap of fissures marching its way across her skin.
Letting out a breath, a single word escapes the mare on a soft exclamation. ”What?” Her terrible confusion is easily evident in that single syllable.
The spotted mare had made efforts to visit the main land. She had been living out a honeymoon dream filled with a burly, stubborn head haired man and all his shenanigans. She was fierce with him, in love and fight, and he never failed to agitate her to no end at times but she could not think who could ruler her better than he.
But on this day, Marlyn is seeking something. Solitude? A friend? She wasn't sure but as the pregnant woman moves through the forest, admiring the beauty that Beqanna created all on her own, she spies a bewildered woman. Red and white and etches with small tributaries spanning her pretty frame. Marlyn hesitates a moment as she reads the situation, the other, her telekinesis is easily within grasp if the other should decide to lash out but perhaps the hormones made her a little aggressive or wary. What? Marlyn clearly hears the word, a quirked brow follows as she looks around her. "What?" She echoes before realizing it was more of a rhetorical question of confusion.
"Hi, um, are you okay?" The bay woman moves a pace with a lightly feathered foot. Concern touches her features she can smell a real fear on the other's skin. "You're in the forest...in Beqanna. What's your name?" She asks with a more gentle tone, slowly understanding the situation with a more careful understanding.
03-09-2017, 10:11 AM (This post was last modified: 03-09-2017, 10:12 AM by Joscelin.)
Iiiiii forgot she has wings as her temp trait D: please pretend I'm not horrible and forgetful
there's a song in your lung and a dream in your eye
She is too lost in her own confusion to hear the approach of another. For a moment, her mind feels surprisingly… weightless. There is simply no recognition there. No matter how she scrabbles, how she searches and grasps, she cannot find anything familiar. She feels as if she should know, but she does not.
The echo of her own word, the word torn so unexpectedly from her throat, brings her head around rather abruptly. Her frown deepens, brow furrowing as she considers the stranger. For a moment, she wonders if they know each other. If she had seen what happened. But the freckled bay mare’s next questions confirm that they must be strangers.
”I… think so,” she responds softly, in a hesitant voice she does not recognize.
Abruptly, she realizes she is still on the ground, a position that puts her at a distinct disadvantage. For some reason, that bothers her. So the dual toned mare rises quickly to her feet, a bit clumsy in her haste. Heavy wings fall at her sides, and she ruffles them irritably. They feel awkward and cumbersome, as though the do not quite belong, though she cannot for the life of her place why.
Beqanna. Forest. Her words sound both familiar and foreign. Shifting her bright, metallic gaze, she settles it upon her companion, opening her mouth to give her her name before the realization sinks in that she does not know it. Shutting her mouth with a jarring force, she glances towards the trees as her features fall with bewilderment.
”I don't…” she begins to respond before halting as she racks her brain. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, she turns her eyes back to the stranger before continuing, ”I… don't know.”
She cannot help the small bit of helplessness that creeps into her tone. She only knows that she instinctively hates the way it sounds upon her tongue.
Nerine had begun to flourish with bountiful life. New equine had begun to enter the coastal kingdom uninvited, many were envoys from nearing kingdoms while others were recruits sent by the mage of Nerine, and the queen of Sylva. These intrusions have caused the ebony speckled maiden to be occupied between keeping an eye upon both of her troublesome children and greeting newcomers, she had become quite busy. But finally there was a break, a little peace in the chaos that made up her life, newcomers had been greeted by other residents, and her children were under the watchful eye of her queen, she could finally escape.
So our alabaster feline leaves her kingdoms borders, in search of a break and new comrades, and perhaps even a familiar face.
Trudging through the thick layers of snow blanketing the forest, the thin coated feline trembled with every freezing step. Her paw pads growing numb in the bitter cold as she continued forwards slowly eventually shifting into her inky speckled form. Tendrils of withered vegetation brushing across her porcelain hocks. White lobes flickering to the vocals of the frost covered forest, as her verdant gaze caught sight of two equine.
Moving closer to the pair, she recognizes a voice. The hardened sweetness of her own mother's vocals, the red bay mare who had loved her and cared for her. The only equine who knew her whole story, of how both of her had parents perished. The mare who Celeana had always lived up to.
But as Celeana grew closer, she realized something had changed. Her mother never had wings, nor white socks riding up all four red limbs. But she had those fractures, intricate cracks aligning every part of her body. Her gaze is worriesome as she enters the small group,"Mom.... Joscelin?" She speaks up. Her muzzle reaching out in an affectionate manner."Are you alright?" She questions.
Where the Wild Things Are
I coultn't help myself I just adore Joscelin and Celeana needs this <3
The mahogany mare stands off as to not crowd the other but she is pleased to see the cracked woman find her feet. The frown that twists her face, furrowing her features. Marlyn opens her mouth to say something but instead hushes as the other starts to speak in response to the spotted woman's inquiry.
But there is nothing of value in the short statement. The poor thing hasn't a clue who she is. (Pregnancy has seemed to soften the former queen.) One foot draws her closer, balancing the weight of her growing child. "I'm Marlyn..." she starts before the sound of another animal, a mare it appears, through the slender stalks of saplings, "you know her?" Dark eyes narrow slightly at the pale woman as Marlyn instinctively (ugh, hormones!) steps in front of the confused mare. Yes, 'mom' and 'Joscelin' both are registered by the tall mare but it was still to be confirmed. The white masked mare throws a glance towards the other female. "Joscelin? Is that your name?" Marlyn stands waiting for an answer, her eyes returned to to alabaster mare, features neutral but watching.
It may be possible that Marlyn is being over zealous but she has lived in Beqanna long enough. Many things are not what they seem. She does not act aggressively but merely protective of a wounded animal thought it wasn't a physical injury. Marlyn notes the other mare's size, the toned frame, the wise eyes that lay prettily in her porcelain head but it was still best to be safe and so she waited for the mahogany mare's answer.
there's a song in your lung and a dream in your eye
For the first time in quite possibly her entire life, a tingle of fear, of alarm, creeps down her spine. She draws in a sharp breath as the realization sinks in that she knows nothing. She knows not her past, her family, her home. She does not even know her name. She is entirely at the mercy of the world, one which she does not know whether it is cruel or kind. A niggling doubt in her mind suspects the former.
Mom… Joscelin? The words draw her head around, drawing her gaze to the tall, pale mare that approaches her with familiarity. For a moment, she doesn’t know who this newcomer is speaking to. But, no, the other mare has introduced herself as Marlyn. It can only be her she means. Joscelin. It could be her name.
Mom. Is she a mother? Does she have other children? She doesn’t know. She knows nothing of her family, and if this woman is indeed her daughter, she must take after her father. She opens her mouth once, as though to answer, but closes it without speaking. She turns a bewildered gold gaze onto Marlyn, but there is no confirmation of anything coming from that quarter.
Are you alright? The question is an echo of the one Marlyn had already asked, and Joscelin shakes her head, though she does not mean it as an answer. The movement however, does nothing the clear the fog from her brain. A part of her feels almost a hint of familiarity, of fondness, towards the white mare, but she cannot help but wonder if that is truth or simply a product born of hope.
She shakes her head again, though this time she does not expect it to do any good. ”I don’t know.” She takes another deep breath, not quite sure who to turn her gaze to. She feels as though she is constantly repeating herself, as though she is utterly useless. ”I just… I just can’t seem to remember.”
She grows concerned, maybe a little heart broken when Joscelin speaks. How could she not remember her? Joscelin had rescued her numerous times from the terrors of her childhood, even when they first met she chased off a stallion that had terrified the little white girl. How could she not remember her?
"Mom—Joscelin, you adopted me, you protected me. You thought me how to fight, and to stand up for myself." she pauses, a lump forming in the back of her throat."I'm your Celeana, your daughter. Do you remember me?" her muzzle reaches out once more towards her mother. She needed her... and she missed her.
Her verdant gaze wavers over Marlyn, she could feel the tension welling within the air, and took little note of it."Joscelin, you lived in the amazon—the jungle. You were a warrior, but you disappeared after the world changed." She paused, truth laced in every individual word emitted from her pink lips.
"I looked for you. I tried, I searched all over Beqanna for you. But you were no where in sight." Her emerald hues meet Joscelin, then Marlyn her facial expression still riddled with immense worry.
