"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
The sands of time leave his bones untouched and still they creak like a wheel in need of oil. Chem grunts as he rises to his feet, acting like he’s aged 100 years in his brief disappearance into the shadows of the Cove. He shakes himself free of the cobwebs gathered and steps into the golden morning light. Irisaen slithers out from around his feet, she’s full grown now, and not obnoxiously big but definitely enough to make one’s heart race if they’re not familiar with her – or if they’re are afraid of snakes. She’s a convenient sized to cling to him if needed, and at the same time can hold her own moving about naturally. How ever she moves, she’s never far from him.
He's avoided everyone, abandoned tasks, and sunk into his beloved shadows for months – maybe a year now? He’s not sure. And he’s not sure he’s even ready to emerge, but for whatever reason he does feel the need to wander the hills of his home today. There are a few others, here and there, no one he considers an intruder, and no one really requires his introduction either (most have been here longer than him). Its easy enough to nod to them and travel by, Irisaen slithering behind.
It’s a foggy morning, warm, and clearly pressing to perhaps be a humid day if there is no breeze – but he is lucky here, there is always a breeze. There are no real forests in Silver Cove so the wind sweeps uninterrupted over the emerald and heather-flower knolls. He’s aimless in his wandering the pathways, half hoping to find Bible, or anyone he’s tried to bring here, really; but the gilded woman is always in the back of his mind.
booo this sucks
i'll be slowly getting to his replies but he made put this here ha
throw anyone at hims, he's bored ♥♥
She had not forgotten him, the thick black and white stallion with his spots and smirks. She has not seen him since they had traveled to Hyaline together, he had never come back as she thought he might have. It hadn’t truly bothered her then and much had happened in the time since she had last seen him. She had settled in Taiga (although Yan’s absence and the unusual silence in the redwoods had drawn her back to wandering), she had found her mother, and she had learned of the long lost half-sibling which she now took to seeking out. And then there had been the creatures she had met along the way. The demon in the River, the beautiful young Queen of Loess, and the black and blue bruised creature who had taken a part of her that she had willingly given.
The rumors coming from Hyaline are enough to keep her from searching the lands of the East too closely but she’s heard that the Cove is a beautiful place and a quiet one where one might be hiding if they don’t want to be found. So she takes the risk, traveling that dangerous path between Pangea and Hyaline to get to the destination she seeks. The light is golden but bleary through the fog and clouds that settle over the morning dew and she is instantly impressed by the beauty of this place. As well as a familiar figure cutting through the mist.
She dances over the heather to him, a teasing smile on her lips and a glittering in the golden depths of her eyes. “Hiding or did you turn senile and forget how to leave?” It comes to her that he had told her once about the Cove she thinks, a memory that had gotten pushed down with time and more pressing issues. Perhaps she should feel guilty for not seeking him out sooner but she doesn’t, life moved quickly and she could not feel bad for following where the winds had taken her.
They may call me a sinner, but I am at peace with myself;
Chem would be glad to hear that she doesn’t have guilt for never finding him – he never felt guilt for leaving her, and not turning back. Not to say he isn’t delighted to see her buttery figure in the morning sunlight. The heather rustles around her black legs and small yellow moths coming bursting out of the shrubbery as she comes dancing toward him. He calls out, an echoing whinny, his companion ‘standing’ up (her head to his foreleg/elbow). It can be alarming to see a snake raise itself in such a way, but he hopes Bardot remembers her from before – even though she’s much bigger.
“Bardot!” he calls out again, but this time with her name. Her face is one of the last he thought he might see wandering around, but he is not disappointed for her company. He laughs, genuinely entertained by the jibe, “A touch of both, I’m afraid.” He reaches his nose out to touch her shoulder as she comes nearer, dragging his lip gently across her warm skin. “And you? What are you doing out here?”
If the shadow serpent catches her off guard it doesn’t show although her steps slow only slightly, hesitant, until she recalls seeing such a thing before around Chemdog when she had first met him in the Field. She was the epitome of all things sugar and spice on the surface with the tangle of jungle flowers weaved deeply into her sable tresses, the smoky spiral that graces her forehead, the hint of gold that peeks from long lashes that flutter with natural flirtation at him as she nears. The few bite marks that still linger across her buttery pelt tell only a piece of the story of what she had been up to in the time that’s passed between them.
He seems pleased to see her, her name filling her ears with warmth as she finally settles beside him. She chuckles at his response and gives a quiet smile as his muzzle grazes her shoulder, his lips tracing a path that had been traveled by a rougher mouth than his awhile ago. She had never minded being touched and she doesn’t mind now although his gesture of affection brings back memories that make her curious.
“I’ve been looking for my brother.” She responds honestly, looking up at him with her usual brightness. “Half-brother really.” So far she had some promising leads and intended on following them shortly. But it wasn’t her quest for her sibling that had brought her to the Cove today. “I thought I would stop here along the way since I’ve never been.” She grins at him, something wolfish and taunting as she tosses her thick petaled locks to reveal the pale dapples hidden beneath along the crested arch of her neck. “How lucky for you I've come or you might have been lost for ages.”
They may call me a sinner, but I am at peace with myself;
![[Image: BQjeje-Bardot2.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/T37nJTF6/BQjeje-Bardot2.png)
