She was not surprised to find herself alone when she awoke, just inside the Chamber borders. Lupei hadn't exactly seemed the type to be a guide - and what better way to get to know her new home, than on her own? So she rose and shook the dirt from her coat, and headed deeper into the Chamber. She was surprised that, after a time, the trees began to thin and give way into rockier land. She did not quite know why, but she had assumed the entire Chamber would be wooded; but, upon seeing the trees finally vanish and open land stretch before her, she could understand the name. It was mournfully beautiful, and she found her breath taken away momentarily by the somberness of it.
But, she found herself restless. Something about the ground made her uneasy. It felt like it was...thudding beneath her hooves, but as she looked around, there was not a soul to be found. It was steady, like a heartbeat, and she found herself wishing she were back in the forest with familiar ground beneath her hooves. She had already come this far, though, and there was no point in turning around now.
She found herself thinking of what used to be home. Perhaps it was the mournfulness of the mist, but she found herself reminiscing over what she no longer had, over the family she had lost and the lives she could've saved.
She was not unaccustomed to this.
She thought of them often, and for weeks at a time they would plague her. Their faces would taunt her in dreams, and she could not escape them. She could hear the scorn that she surely had left behind, and she knew she could never face them again - not that she would ever leave. Her shoulders squared, she faced her new home with a growing sense of determination, of resilience. She would not make the same mistakes here.
p a r a keep your mouth shut
 It is cold, it is warm, it is life, it is death. He is nothing, and yet he is everything. There are things he does not know, but there is more secrets that are his to keep. Yes the land beats, it breathes, its alive with the tree. The tree that burns, that keeps him warm, the tree where he meets Straia, wonderful Straia, the child almost worships the creature.
She had saved him after all. Still the ribbed beast meanders through his new home, venturing from the borders to make the mare proud. He comes back though often to find the Tree just as welcoming as the first time. He hears the soft trample of hooves, skiddish, and shaky. The quick breathing of a sweaty animal come to claim their home. He wants to laugh, no he does laugh, its a shattering sound, made up of tinkling sandpaper scratching together as its choked out through his cracked lips. Yess, our land breathes. His glassy voice snarking out to her from his darkened position under a scraggly tree, almost as bony as himself. Though the backbone of his body is sharper, and more defined then the snarls of the trees limbs.
I am Thanh He quirks his ears, milky eyes reflected in the sun beams with a sparkle. Welcome to the Chamber He had heard it several times and wasn't sure just what he was doing, or even if he was adressing her right. Eh never hurt to try. Thanh idk things reasons
The voice was startling, and she was quick to whirl around to face it. Her ears flatted onto her skull, head low in preparation of an attack - but it did not come. The voice was unsettling, as was the body it came from; he was bony, legitimately bony, the backbone of this visitor sharper than the peaks of a mountain. But, in a way, he fit the image of the Chamber; there was a darkness to her new home, despite its devastating beauty. He was dark, hidden in shadow, appearing to be very much at home.
His eyes were milky, and she thought briefly that he was blind, but the way his ears were trained on her and the way his gaze so readily met his banished the thought from her mind. Her ears slowly raised to focus on him, but her body remained tense, her instincts coming back in a rush. She had trained herself to focus, to feign relaxation, but such an equine left her unnerved.
His voice remained snaky, but he welcomed her all the same. So she dipped her head, eyes never leaving him, in a greeting. "I am Para." Her voice was soft and simple, but there was no mistaking the wary edge to her voice. "You know this land, then. Why does the ground beat beneath us?" She was still uncomfortable standing still - the ground thrummed so steadily it continued to keep her on edge, and she hoped that an answer would soothe her nerves, even temporarily.
p a r a keep your mouth shut
He quirks his head, stepping closer towards her. His nostrils pick up on her musky female scent, and the nervous flutter of her pulse behind it. Heat rolls from her, spreading like fingers across the ground to cling to his hooves. The stringy tail that was slowly beginning to fill out, though lacking greatly in luster and quantity whipped at the sharp contours of his hindquarters. Lack of nutrition, and milk had laid waste to his body. Though most would say him lucky to be alive. He wondered what alive meant. How was it to see, and enjoy all the sensations that his nose, and skin recognized as something more then the world was giving him.
Inscisors reveal themselves stained a reddish brown, to match his sparse coat, as he comes up to her side. Touching his nostrils to her skin in welcome. Teeth gently scraping along her hide for a moment drool filling his mouth with a swipe of his wet tongue he backs off of her. She reaked of fear, her skin was salty with the flavor. Its alive. He states it simply expecting that anyone would have known that, didn't all the land beat with the life of the land?
Darkness overwhelms his notoriously white eyes, with the shade welcoming him once more. He takes cover from the sun, and the pulsing red pain that accompanies it. Is there something I can assist you with? Scraping vocals force from his throat though after a moment he realizes that they are still across the border from one another You are welcome to come in ears swivel before straining towards her, attempting to get all the information he could from the sounds and scents around them. Thanh idk things reasons
She could practically feel his breath on her muzzle, the way he scented her, and her nostrils quivered to take in his own scent; he had the musky, woodsy smell of a stallion, mixed with something a little more sinister, darker. It intrigued her, teased her, the scent surrounding her. She quivered as he approached, eyes locked on the scars and blood that dribbled over his chapped lips, her ears flattened back.
(Leave, leave, he's going to kill you.)
She ignored this instinct and braced for some sort of impact, but instead his nose touched her flank, teeth grazing over her skin in welcome. Normal. It was a relief, and she relaxed at the touch; the teeth were stained red-brown with blood, but they were gentle. A paradox to the skeletal appearance. His answer to her question was startling, and she focused on the rhythm of the ground, realizing it has the rhythm of a heartbeat.
It was soothing, almost, now that she knew.
It made her heartbeat lessen and steady, and soon they thumped in tandem, her ears slowly moving from their flattened position. It was steadying, almost, and soon she found herself ignoring the heartbeat, focusing completely on the foreign stallion before her. She was intrigued, to say the least. He invited her closer into the border, and she accepted, hooves light as she stepped closer to the milky stallion, nostrils flaring as she took in the damp, woodsy, wintered scent of the ground.
"I am simply exploring without a guide." She let out a breathy chuckle, puffs of clouded air coming out of her nostrils. "Would you care to show me around..?" She trailed off, realizing the stallion had yet to tell her his name, and she couldn't address him as 'stallion'. Unless the implied power of the name pleased him. She had a feeling they would get on just fine.
p a r a keep your mouth shut
His eyes flick around searching out the sharper, almost painful points of hazy light for direction. She explores him, just as he explores her.
There seemed to be a difference between them that he was just learning to pick up on recently. He couldn't say that he was entirely unpleased by these differences he was finding. It seemed that females had a sort of perfumy musk to them that drew him in with curiosity. While the males scents repelled him, forcing him to wrinkle his nostrils in distate. He couldn't fully understand the forces of nature at work within him, but he was slowly begining to pick up on some things.
I am Thanh, and shall be your guide. His voice choked and strained, taking its time to vomit out the words. Scrawny as he was, he could still manage to stay on all four legs, though walking could sometimes take a greater effort. Another reason for him to adore the Chamber, especially considering the beats that he could regulate his steps to.
He begins their walk bringing them to the burning tree, after all that was where he had met Straia for the first time... maybe he could find her there again to show her the prize that he had brought the queen. Maybe the woman would look at him with pleasure, just maybe he could achieve the ladies attention, and pride. After all he had spent his time doing just as she had asked, now being of two years old exactly, the creature had already achieved two creatures within their borders. What brought you to the Chamber? His voice crackles and spits the words, his bony hips trailing next to her keeping her close, his steps match hers. Thanh idk things reasons
He was searching her, she knew that , but something in his eyes told her it wasn't just a visual search. Something told her that he was searching for more than just what appeared.
But what did she know?
His voice made her want to cringe, the noise sounding painful and more animalistic - ironically - than what she had heard before. But he offered to be her guide all the same, and she was more than inclined to agree. She'd explored so little, and this young stallion seemed rather knowledgeable for his age. But he looked like he was on the brink of death; his hide was sunken into his bones, and he seemed all angles with no rounded corners, so unlike her own shape. It was a marvel that he was even walking, it seemed.
She followed him with a dip of her muzzle as a silent agreement, ears flicking every which-way as the ground thrummed beneath her feet. There had to be quite the story behind it - never had she been in a land where the ground moved as often as she. Wanderer though she was, she found the Chamber growing on her the more she saw of it. His paced matched hers exactly, and she kept an ear trained on him with her eyes looking ahead as she answered; "I was brought by Lupei. He offered me a home here, and now here I am." Simple, really. She had been homeless and he brought her in. She was thankful. "I've not seen much of the Chamber at all, and know none of its lore. This is new to me."
p a r a keep your mouth shut
He leads her to the tree. The tree he had found when he was still just an it. The tree that had lead Straia to him, the tree that had given him his name. The tree that still held the fiery ravens in its branches. The tree that always burned and never fell. The tree that gave him life, and this place its heart. Its his tree, just as Straia would always reverently be his Straia.
Yea maybe a little sick in the head, maybe he needed to tone his obsessions down a bit, but so far he had no reason to. his thin tail whips against his bones, his ears quirk around, his eyes listless in their milk haze. He listens to what she says occassionally coming up to her side and bumping into her with his bony body every so often. For some reason the gesture felt good. Felt right, felt almost in a sense sublime.
He nods to her, what made you choose the Chamber, its not much to look at I must assume, nor is its inhabbitants as pleasant as others, or so I have heard. He pauses turning to face her, his voice parched from thirst. He needed to find a snake, needed to leave the Chamber later this day to find his bloody meal. But first thing was first, he needed to assist this lady, until someone else would come and take over the job. What kind of stallion would pick up a lady then leave her unescorted to the Chamber borders? Did not they realize the dangers that lay out there? Like the whip lash of bark that tore eyes open? Or that infernal howling of hungry creatures ready to maime and kill.
But then the dangers of the world for a blind man were very different then for the regular horses, something that he would come to know at a later time. Just happened to not be today. His mouth waters and he swallows, reaching to scrape at her whithers gently for a better taste of her disposition. The bay boy was finding that you could read a lot about a horse through touch, and the more he learned the the more he tried. Thanh idk things reasons
He leads her to a tree and she is struck by the sense of power that flows through the ground around it, like the massive roots that must branch out underneath; he bumps against her occasionally but she doesn't mind, for she is too focused on the great, branching monster that her eyes cannot be torn away from. She is finding that she enjoys his company enough, for it has been some time since she has been around someone else, and she feels no judgment from his milky eyes. She tunes in a bit belatedly to his voice and dips her crown towards his, tail swishing around her ankles.
"It was the home offered to me and so I took it." Her reply is simple and without fluff, eyes focused on the tree before her. She feels no urge to turn her head to look at the other, for he cannot see her and thus her gaze is of no use to him, so she remains enamored by the structure before her. "It suits me, truly, and although I have seen very little I already feel my roots settling into this beating ground." She glances at him, although she knows it is futile, and lets her muzzle bump lightly against his firm cheek.
He nibbles her withers and her instinct is to squeal so she does, but merely in surprise. She does not move to kick him, to bite him, but her ears flatten back briefly in an attempt to warn him - again, even though he cannot see her expression - and flick back up again. She does not mind the scrape of his teeth for it simply quelled an itch she had, and she lets her tail flick across his hind legs. The newness of spring finds her more relaxed, more agreeable than normal, and she knows it will not last long, but she enjoys the calmness it brings her for the moment.
p a r a keep your mouth shut
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