[open] like a storm on a dark night; any

[Aloy]

now i don't know who i've become
and another day breathes
tearing at the seams
and i hope i don't come undone

Winter falls across Beqanna in a blanket of grey weather and persistent snows. Where the clouds break sunlight spills down in streams and glitters across the snow-dusted landscapes below. She wonders if the cold season of the south will be a great deal milder than the one she spent in the east as a child. Aloy sails above the heavy clouds, her wingtips sweep down and whip them up around her white fetlocks. She drops through one of the cavernous gaps in the cloud cover and dives toward the plains-land far below.

Hoovers drop to the earth and take up a smooth lope that carries the chestnut to the streams’ edge. She’d seen it winking in the sunlight from far above and now lowers her head to drink from it, slowly folding her strong wings away. The water is cold but not frozen here and her breaths send ripples away from her muzzle over the surface. The immediate area is quiet but Aloy’s ears pivot and strain to pick up any noise over the sound of the water and wind. The bent grasses obstruct her field of vision and she raises her head alertly after only a moment.  While she has accepted Aela’s invitation to join the Pampas it is not because she liked the other mare particularly or because she has any illusions of fitting in among the members of this band.

Not for the first time she wishes that it were possible to just be alone. She thinks to turn from this place and return to a life she thinks that she enjoyed, separate, always moving. Away from Beqanna and the history that ruined her life before she even had the chance to have one. That would be ignoring why she is returned, however, because it turns out she is just as capable of bringing ruin upon herself.

Aloy

[Picard]

So far Picard had spent his two short years alive alone. That is unless you were to count the company of his mother and her friend Gossip. For two years he had gone without proper socialization, friendship and even without adventure and the promise of discovering something new and exciting.

Because of this he wishes nothing more then the opposite of the mares very own wish of being alone. Instead he wishes to socialize and be amongst others. Though that being said, the golden spotted colt had yet to experience any true darkness that the world held. In every sense his mother had sheltered him afraid that he would come face to face with the same demons she had discovered on her very own. Though due to her lack of proper raising, Picard had set off into the world with fresh eyes and an optimistic spirit. The moment he had turned two years old he had found himself wandering away from his mother's nest on his first adventure.

Though today he was on his way back. Gold and white butterfly wings flutter in the breeze as they carry him only a few feet above the ground and his eyes glisten in response to the cold air whipping against his face. With each passing day his coat grows thicker and he becomes more accustomed to the cold weather, though he can't say he's a huge fan of it. With a sort of floating grace he makes his way towards the river. It takes a while to make it there though when he does he drops happily to the ground at the rivers bank and he steps forward, his head lowering to allow himself a drink. Long drawn out sips are taken and for a while his lips simply shuffle in the water until he hears it. The soft padding of hooves as another approaches.

With a raise of his head he sees her, she's on the other side of the bank and without thinking he's up in the air his wings fluttering excitedly. "Hi," he calls as he flutters across the river. He comes to a stop infront of her, his wings fluttering gently as he hovers above the rivers frigid waters. "Are you new here?"

PICARD

"the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant
paranoia is very much shorter than we think."

@Aloy ♥

[Aloy]

now i don't know who i've become
and another day breathes
tearing at the seams
and i hope i don't come undone

Meeting the others here, beyond Aela, is a daunting prospect. Will they all appraise her like the other mare had, weighing her beauty as an asset? Some, her mother included, learned that beauty could be used for their benefit. Innocently wielded or weaponized it required a finesse, the proper personality. Aloy is distinctly without charm or guile but it doesn’t stop her loveliness from altering her life of its own accord. Someone would see her and come along eventually wanting to benefit in some way from knowing her or touching her.

Except the first one to come, on his butterfly wings, short spiral horns rising up among his blonde locks, is barely more than a boy. Water drips from Aloy’s white muzzle as she backs up a step, hooves crunching in the snow. Aloy does her best not to look annoyed, tipping her antlered head up to sniff at the air as the barely-a-stallion youth flutters his pretty wings over the water. “Hi.” She says, warily.

Her mother had tried to raise her in ever-increasing levels of isolation, and Aloy had left her behind almost as soon as she could. Thinking she could make a better life, have more adventures, be strong in ways Kensa had never been. Unfortunately, the world is hard and cruel, and full of lies. It preys upon the ignorant bravery of innocence and draws out the worst parts of every creature. This boy doesn’t seem to know that yet, she envies him as much as she feels a simmering hatred for what the world may twist him into.

“Yes I’m new. My name is Aloy. What is yours?” Maybe its his demeanor, or the delicate wings and whimsical sunlight-pale spotting covering his body but Aloy allows herself to relax as little. “I’ve never seen wings like yours.”

Aloy

[Picard]

He’s too young to be swayed by beauty, whether it is naturally regular or supernaturally enhanced. Or maybe it’s just that he hasn’t reached a moment in time where he finds it alluring. Though that doesn’t mean it goes unnoticed. To him she is simply beautiful. Though in reality he doesn’t have much to compare her to. For the last two years he had been hidden away in his mother’s personal isolation and the only mares he had met were Evarae and her friend, Gossip.

He smiles as she sniffs at him warily and for a moment, he remembers having the same wariness when first venturing outside the borders of the Pampas. That being said it hadn’t lasted very long and as a result the blissful ignorance to all the dangers of the world had taken place. So far, his heart and mind expected only the good and fun of the world. While dangers lurked in the shadows, the young colt had yet to carry the weight of them within.

”Welcome to the Pampas, Aloy,” the colt says happily as he continues to hover above the river’s waters. ”My name is Picard!” He flutters towards solid ground, his small body gracefully passing by the mare before landing softly. Seemingly trotting in place he shakes his body slightly while in an attempt to remove the frost that was trying to build on his wings. ”You haven’t?, he questions.

”I’ve only ever seen these types of wings,” it’s true, so far. Though he doesn’t mention the only wings he had seen at this point in time were his own and his mothers. ”What do wings usually look like?” His curiosity is strong enough that he can’t stop the questions from coming. He steps towards the other. ”Are they like the eagles?”

PICARD

"the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant
paranoia is very much shorter than we think."

@Aloy ♥