[private] this is it, the apocalypse

[Anomaly]

A N O M A L Y

Anomaly had slept fitfully last night, and when she’d awoken she was surrounded by a pool of withered, deceased foliage.  Again.  It had become more and more evident that this was not normal.  She knew she could go to her mother with her concerns, but she hated to bother her over a few dead plants.  Little did Anomaly know that Anaxarete knew exactly what was wrong with her - and that was the reason she’d been gestated in an egg far away from any others. It’s why she hatched alone - surrounded only by extraterrestrial creatures immune to radiation. But, of course, in Anaxarete’s eyes - there was nothing wrong with her daughter at all.  Regardless, that led the gray filly distracted as she walked along the canyon edge.  She’d about memorized the footprint of this canyon, having spent the majority of her two years learning every crevice in this land.  Every cut in the stone, every cave, every ledge - she’d memorized them all. Well. Almost. Today she noticed an overhang she’d yet to explore. It was enough to elevate her sullen mood as she stepped nearer to the edge - peering down to see distant shapes lurking below.  It was only then that she registered a strange sensation beneath her hooves, accompanied immediately afterwards by a deafening crack. She did not scream as she fell as she was utterly paralyzed by the sensation of the ground giving way.  She knew she was falling. She was weightless. Time seemed to slow… And then it caught up with her. She screamed when her mind finally registered pain. Unimaginable, overwhelming pain. Her body was broken on the canyon floor - half pinned beneath the stones that had fallen with her. The stones were spattered with eering, glowing blood that she knew to be her own. She was pinned. She was broken. She was dying. So she screamed for salvation as her blood flowed freely against the sandstone. THIS IS IT, THE APOCALYPSE

@[caledonia]
@[Beyza]

[caledonia]

there's a voice that pulls me stumbling through a symphony
and the less of it I need, the more I get

Caledonia relies heavily on her hearing. It’s always been the case, but without the use of her sight, the other senses have sharpened in her young age—leaving them to be somewhat of a crutch, a way for her to experience the world without being able to see it reflected back to her. In some ways, she is glad for the relative quiet of Pangea. The land teems with life, but it is the kind that lives in the shadows. It is not overly loud (except when the one strange boy is around—he is quiet verbal) which means that she is better able to hear the nuances, the whispers, the small sounds that so often go undetected.

But not today.

Today the noise is a loud one.

She startles when she hears the crack and swings her head around, her ears pricking. She hears the sound of the tumbling rocks, the loud crash, and then, finally, the scream. Her heart clenches in her chest and although she wishes she could simply fade into the background—hide in the shadows until someone far more qualified than her arrives—she knows she is likely the closest thing to the source of the sound.

Grimacing, Caledonia begins to pick her way through the rubble, stumbling as she makes her way down a path completely unfamiliar to her. Her hooves strike rock more than once and she feels it reverberate up her legs, making her very bones ache, but she continues to move forward—trying to follow the source of the sound. When she is near, she notices the way the ground beneath her grows damp, the way that the rocks become more clustered together, the way that the scream seems to echo in her chest.

“I’m here,” she pants, slipping slightly, not noticing the way the blood stains the white of her legs. “Are you okay? What happened?” She swivels her head again, trying to figure out where she is, where the girl is. Finally, she drops her nose to the ground, the blood creeping up her pink nose. She snorts and feels lightheaded, but she assumes it is from the fear, the confusion, the stumbling trying to get here.

She pants, her head growing heavier. “I’m here,” she says again, continuing to use her nose to try and find her way until it bumps up against the feel of something warm and alive. An exhale. “I’m here,” but this comes out slurred, her head pounding and pulse racing. She has no way of seeing the way that her body begins to warp, the way the blood she has breathed in, practically bathed in, has begun to change her so quickly in the few minutes that she has been here. She has no way of knowing anything at all.

Without a word, she slumps to the ground, nose pressed against the other filly.

’til I'm swept up by the shape of all the centuries
like an echo in the chambers of my chest

[Beyza]

She hears the scream - and it’s a new noise to her ears. It startles her but mostly it draws her curiosity out from within her, like a rope tugging her forward before she can even think about whether she should find someone else. She is still so small and surely it would have been better to find their parents, or even Ana, to help. Beyza had been farther away and she arrives in time to see a white figure descend down a rocky slope and her heart jumps into her throat. “Cali.” At least the scream had not been her twin (and she is certain she would have felt it if it had been), but now she moves a little faster since her sister is involved. Not even hesitating to peer over the ledge before she follows the same treacherous path as her twin - stumbling just as she would have but though Beyza’s eyes are functioning - they are locked on the sight of the two girls at the end of her path. It’s a lot to take in - the girl being crushed by rocks, the glowing flowing and then coating Beyza’s twin as she goes to help. Beyza can’t hear the words because her pulse is pounding too loudly in her head, something screaming danger at her. And when her twin collapses before she can reach her - Beyza screams too. It erupts from the ghostly filly and echoes in the canyon around them, punctuated with a pulse of white fire that ripples over the rocks like a tide, scorching earth and stone - cleansing and burning the area of the glowing blood (though this is accidental, later Beyza will have time to consider the cause of what’s to come). When it reaches the other fillies it does not harm them, and Beyza is hurrying behind it as the fire shatters the stones pinning the older girl to the ground. There are cries, but Beyza feels distant to them and does not know they are coming from her mouth when she collapses close to the two girls - her muzzle tracing along her twin’s beautifully white neck. Her beautiful twin's wings are limp at her sides and somehow Beyza knows that the beautiful spark that was Caledonia no longer exists. A headache is forming, but whether it’s from the use of her magic, the pain, the crying, or the proximity to the girl with the glowing blood - it’s impossible to say. She feels as though she is burning alive from the pain of this loss - her first and already it’s one that carves out a portion of her own heart. As she continues to cry, kneeling in the rubble, the fire turns into sparks. Streaks of lightning brighter than sunlight arc around the three fillies and Beyza does more than wish that her sister would get better. She still doesn’t fully understand the magic within her but she calls on it now, digging for the feeling of electricity that accompanies all of her accidental experiments. The lightning that flickers across all three of their bodies does not burn, it heals. Knitting flesh and bones, cleansing blood of radiation, starting a heart that no longer beats. It does not differentiate between the two girls Beyza is curled up next to - though it cannot rid Anomaly of what she is but for now the presence of the radioactive girl is negated against the others as Beyza’s magic purifies this small patch of Pangea. That part, the healing and negation of the other girl, is accidental - Beyza is using her magic but the scope of it is not something she can contain just yet. Perhaps her magic knows she would want to heal the other as well. If it had been a conscious choice it would have been after her sister. “Come back to me Cali. Come back.” She whispers into her sister’s flesh, white eyes shut tight as diamond tears continue to fall - too afraid of her own failure to open her eyes and see if she’s finally doing something right. Just a little while longer, she thinks, because she can feel her headache transform into exhaustion and the brightness of the lightning begins to fade. BEYZA something borrowed into something new

@[Anomaly]

if you guys want me to change anything, just let me know <3333

[Anomaly]

A N O M A L Y

Pain. That’s all there is. That’s all she is. Nothing else exists. Nothing else is important. Somewhere, deep down, she recognizes she is still screaming. But the conscious thought of it - that desperation for help and for life has been lost to the feeling.  She is slipping beneath the waves of pain - drowning as they roll over her again and again and again. And then there is a soft touch. A sound that is not screams. It is soft and sweet and for a moment, she registers comfort. The world is hazy and strange and quickly begins to warp.  Darkness pulses in the corner of her vision. The sweet sound is gone now - replaced by a blanket of warmth. Unknown to Anomaly - that warmth she feels is the strewn body of her would-be rescuer. One who had inadvertently sacrificed herself in an effort to save her.  But the darkness continues to spread.  It feels absolute and all-consuming.  It is an escape from the pain so she welcomes this - allows the darkness to take her completely.  And as she gives up, pushes a last feeble breath through bloody nostrils, there is light. Pure, white, consuming light. And then the crushing weight is gone. She can feel life returning to her body. She can feel the bones mending and the flesh knitting itself together.  She lets out a haggard sob - equal parts out of relief and sheer disbelief that she was alive after standing on the precipice of death. The girl opens her eyes slowly, forcing the lids to open against the now-fading light. She forces air into her lungs but still lacks the strength and the will to pull herself to her feet. So she remains prone on the ground.  ”What - what happened?” she asked, groggily, while rolling to her side and finally taking stock of her surroundings. Her gaze immediately climbs the wall of the canyon as understand begins to settle in newly-mended bones.  She blinks a few times in an effort to clear her mind before the sound of sobs that were not her own fully registers. She then sees the sisters who had come to her aid - one still as death.  A strangled sound escapes her throat. “Is she --” she swallows thickly as guilt begins to burn through her, ” I-is she ok?” she asks, uncertainty painting her voice. “I heard her voice -- s-she tried to help me,” she added, her voice wavering under the weight of all the emotions threatening to drag her back beneath the waves. THIS IS IT, THE APOCALYPSE

@[caledonia]