"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
Knee deep in icy lake water, Aditi draws in a sharp breath and savors the crisp air in her lungs before releasing the breath as a quiet snort. The lower halves of her legs are nearly numb and yet she does not move, instead closing her amber eyes to succumb to the white noise-like feeling.
Her buckskin face is mostly expressionless, which tends to be the story most of the time, though not for lack of emotion. She always knew how she was feeling, and she did not consider it a necessity to share those feelings with others. Some thought it standoffish, though Aditi rarely lingered on such things long enough to figure it out.
When a shiver finally rocks her spotted frame, the Nez Perce decides it time to remove herself from the frigid waters. She meanders on the shoreline for some time, before finding a relatively sunny patch of grass where she could quietly enjoy the springtime sun, never once paying mind to the other equine who roamed the field.
i'm contagious, it'd be safest if you ran; fuck, that's what they all just end up doing in the end
11-25-2016, 10:28 PM (This post was last modified: 11-26-2016, 12:34 AM by Rodrik.)
It is heavy—this fear that cling to him like a leech.
It is a fear that tears at the insides of his very existence, a wholesome body. This body of his had once been a twisted and monstrous thing, just as he had once been a monster. He had been a devil before the mountain had come and taken it all away. And now he was left with nothing, nothing but a growing fear each day. A fear that did not die away and bury so quickly just as all his other fears had before.
He is left with a constant habit, a stomach that turns constantly out of anxiety for what may come. But most of all he is scared of when it will come. He wonders when the darkness will consume him again, when it will take away his free will. It has only been a couple years of freedom, and he will not go without a fight to get back all those decades and lives he had lost from being constantly consumed by the darkness.
But he always answered the call…
It was always so sweet.
So bitterly sweet the taste was.
If he has learned anything in his past lives, it was the knowledge of not acting like a fool. He does not show his apprehension for what will eventually find him again, but he looks forward. The devil, underneath it all, wears a mask of many kinds. It is a skill he had picked up being in this new body—and surprisingly the owner of this body was a master of the craft. The cunningness and mastermind of everything and almost appeared that anything could come easily to him. It was something new, a fresh find, to feel such strength in the body of the soul who is named Rodrik. He had, an old soul, harbored many bodies throughout the thousands of years. The names of each body he hosted had always been weak and their names had all consumed into one being.
However, this body, this Rodrik, had been something different. There had been complete acceptance that day he had been transferred into this new body. It appeared, no felt, as if they had been one of the same. Looking back now, it made sense. Aryeh had been a careless choice for action but more of a holder until Rodrik had been born. If only the creature, this body, knew before that he had killed his own uncle for such a sinful possession.
Rodrik tosses his head, letting the thoughts troubling him slip away into the darkness. The field just lies before him and he is not here to waste any time. If he is to ensure the safety of himself for the coming of the darkness then he must work for it. He must start from the lower ends of it again—even if he had been a king once.
His nutmeg eyes, a dominant gene passed through his mother’s side, scan across the field. The chestnut stallion makes his way across the field at a steady pace. He is never in a hurry, but chooses carefully to whom he approaches. Rodrik has always found it easier to watch others and learn what their intentions are. He has always found actions speak louder than words even if he was a master of persuasion.
The blanket buckskin catches his eyes first. He watches her for sometime, particularly noticing she does not allow her emotions to cross over her features. There was something in the way she moved as she leaves the water to graze, a familiarity that Rodrik knew for sure was not the creature he knew. However, he does not wait to analyze the situation anymore. The chestnut stallion is already on his way to her and her little grazing area on this spring day.
“Hello,” he greets warmly as he approaches.
Rodrik
angels banished from heaven have no choice but to become devils
Aditi had no disillusions that she would be left to her thoughts while roaming a place that was made solely for interaction. The stallion's voice still startled her, though, expelling the clouds of her daydream. Her amber eyes snap to him swiftly and her muscles flex involuntarily. Her discomfort disappears as quickly as it had come and Aditi recovers with a terse nod of her head.
"Hello there," she muses softly. She shifts slightly, presumably to see if the feeling had returned to her lower legs, while her amber gaze takes in the sight of the Arabian. He appeared warm enough, though Aditi didn't quite return the same enthusiasm. Still, there was something off... "You seem tired." Her voice is slightly softer now, a simple observation more than an accusation. She moves her eyes from him now and angles her body to face the mostly frozen lake. "What is this place?"
The mare turns her gaze back to her new acquaintance, patiently waiting to hear about the civilization she had happened upon.
She shifts again, the feeling finally returned to her legs.
i'm contagious, it'd be safest if you ran; fuck, that's what they all just end up doing in the end
It was very out of character for Rodrik to warm and welcoming to others he did not know. In fact, it was only normal for him to be warm and gentle to those he truly cared about, such as his family and very few selected friends. But, then again, friends were something very different than what others thought friends were. Rodrik is always a ruthless and cunning individual that hunted for getting what he wanted. He was not stupid of how to work with others and use them for his own benefit. He was power-hungry individual with mastered skills and resources to match to get whatever he wanted.
However, in this moment, he is weakened and vulnerable. The constant anxiety and having to look over his shoulder had made him weary. Wandering thoughts and constant nightmares have kept him up for more than weeks at a time. He knows he must put an end to this madness, this worry that he will be taken a prisoner again or it will be surely the death of him.
Rodrik is quick to flick the switch on as it had been turned off at acknowledgment of her words. He would’ve narrowed his gaze at her and simply dismissed her for being a small-minded mare with nothing better to do, but Rodrik was here for something else. It was the very skills and who he was that he must rely on to continue forward. “The days have been long,” he says simply and dismissing anything more on the matter. He would not allow such vulnerability be shown so easily and freely. If anything, he must get his head back on his shoulders before he ruins himself in this pitiful anxiety he has dug himself into. “I’m Rodrik by the way.” A name that stood for something at one time.
“This is Beqanna.” A land that gives and takes, teaches and steals, he wants to say but does not instead. It only mattered who you spoke to and what their opinion of Beqanna was. “It seems though you have come at a good time.” He rolls his shoulder casually at his words. “We’ve had bit of a change here, a bit of a reckoning for paying a price apparently we owe.” A slight grin lifts from his corners. There is a hint of mischief in his nutmeg gaze as her eyes turn back to look at him. “I suppose it’s a bit of a second chance to make amends for who we’ve become.” As if who he was had been so bad.
Rodrik
angels banished from heaven have no choice but to become devils
For a while, Magnus stands off to the side of the group, one ink-dipped ear flicked in their direction. It was not often that he did not approach right away; he was much more accustomed to introducing himself immediately. But something about this particular interaction kept him checked, his handsome face passive as he grazed, although little passed his lips. There was a discomfort about her greeting that struck a chord in him and something about the red stallion that belied his appearances. Magnus had no way of knowing what simmered beneath the surface, but he had been around long enough to know something was odd.
After a moment or two of assessing the situation, Magnus lifted his head and made his way toward them, stopping once he had come within a few feet. “Hello,” he greeted, his gold-flecked eyes washing over the mare first and then the stallion. Once upon a time, he may have smelt the pine upon Rodrik and recognized is at his old home. He may have even smelled the faint feline scent of his own father. But that time was now long past and the only thing that clung to Rodrik was the wasteland that was Pangea.
“My name is Magnus,” he offered, dipping his head. To Rodrik’s answer, he offered a crooked smile, almost bashful in nature. “Beqanna certainly does love to offer her children the chance to make amends.” He himself had only had a tenuous connection to magic, but he had certainly offended the land in other ways. He had been a warmonger, he had spilled blood upon her shores. He was no innocent.
“What brings you both here?”
A standard question but a telling one. If you asked Magnus today, he would tell you he had come because he was now shepherd of a flock that had not been his but was now his responsibility to guard—and that meant bringing new life into her folds. But that had not always been his purpose. He had come here before because he was lost. He had come here before because he owed a duty to those who lay buried beneath the ocean waves and sought purpose. He had come here before because it was work and it was easy to forget one’s self in its rhythms. Looking now upon the two, he could only wonder at their answer.
There's a finality in the stallion's voice, and Aditi is not intrigued enough to press the subject. Her amber eyes watch him closely, though, as is her nature. He offers his name and the dappled mare gives him a terse nod in return, "Aditi." Falling silent, the mare flicks her ears forward to listen to Rodrik's description of Beqanna.
He portrays his homeland almost cryptically, which does a bit to improve her aforementioned intrigue, but it's at this time that another stallion joins them, and Aditi's attention is drawn away from Rodrik.
She assesses the demeanor of this newcomer and decides he's quite amiable. She nods again, this time to Magnus, before shifting to make it easier to see the both of them. A cold wind picks up, requiring Aditi to step forward to better hear the conversation, though she decidedly sidesteps Magnus's question. Instead, she refers back to Rodrik's previous statement pertaining to what they had all become.
"And who have you both become?" Her amber eyes move between the pair casually, though she's increasingly curious of whatever had caused the reckoning in this place.
i'm contagious, it'd be safest if you ran; fuck, that's what they all just end up doing in the end
If Rodrik knew he was being watched by another, carefully assessing his every movement, he would have not cared. Perhaps once when he was the king of the Chamber he would have. Rodrik is now a free man. He only dares to think of himself and what the future holds for him more than anything else. He is selfish in all his actions. But, at one point, there had been a time he had extended his care for those that were beyond him. And truthfully, he would do anything for those he cared for as he has always been a loyal servant to his family and loved ones.
There is only him, and it is only he will serve at this very moment.
The sound of hooves and new scent of another makes his nares flare. His nutmeg gaze looks over to Magnus as he approaches and makes himself comfortable within a few feet away. Rodrik allows himself to assess the newcomer to the group as the stallion names introduces himself as Magnus. “And I am Rodrik.” He speaks when Aditi has introduced herself.
Rodrik at one time would have prodded at such statements like Magnus. Moreover, he would have looked for weaknesses within the buckskin. There was always something to be found, beneath the silly conversations that were often casual as of now. However, it is only these type of power hungry information seeking work one on one. Rodrik could not fully read the mind of two others so easily as he did of one. It had always been the hint of the physical appearance that let him know it all.
He smiles when he hears Aditi sidestep over Magnus’s question. It is a clever trick and question she resorts to asking them both. Rodrik sees it more as a master skilled to prod more in others by revealing less of yourself to the other. Though such things can still be accomplished by piecing words together quickly and smoothly.
“Well, for certain, this place has not changed what it stands for. I came here to offer a home for those that want to come live in Pangea.” A wasteland he has made his home to be, but there is something like minded in the way everyone has come together. Rodrik knows though without others it would not work, and the field offered resources for him to recruit. Of course the red stallion had his own personal ideas in mind when it came to raising the power of Pangea. There would always be a motive for him. “What brings you here, Magnus?”
Rodrik turns back to Aditi. Her question poses much information to be asked for. He would never reveal what he has become or who. Rodrik holds too much sin within his own black heart. His motives are beyond the personal care for others. He carries blood on his hands after killing a few others. He says nothing for a moment; instead, his nutmeg eyes peer at her for just a moment before speaking. “In time I might have an answer for you.” A natural smile crawls at the edge of his red lips.
Rodrik
angels banished from heaven have no choice but to become devils
He does not miss the way she sidesteps the question and although one corner of his mouth pulls, briefly, in the corner with concern, his expression soon washes clean. He was not the type to press or to worry a piece of thread until the tapestry unravelled. If she did not want to discuss what brought her here, he was not going to pester her into doing so. Everyone had their own reasons, their own cards to play.
Instead he turns toward Rodrik, his gold-flecked eyes analyzing the other carefully. If there was something of the red stallion that reminded him of Lucrezia, he did not say. He had no way of knowing how their two paths intertwined. How Rodrik’s daughter Lucrezia was a steadfast resident of Tephra and comrade of Magnus. How Magnus’ own daughter Brunhild, his brother Makai, and his father Atrox played a role in the once-Chamber King’s life. They stood, completely separate, and yet tied together.
“I like getting a chance to meet those who are at a crossroads in their life,” he answered honestly, his gaze moving back toward the mare. “The field is a chance of new beginnings for many, and I consider it a great honor to help others on their way into the next chapter.” Sometimes, that meant guiding them home to Tephra, but not always. He had helped others discern the best choice for them before when the answer was not his home. After all, it did no good to bring someone home who would not be happy there.
At her own question, he thought carefully, his eyes slightly stormy. What had he become? He was many things. Titles had never eluded him. He had been many things in his time—King, Lord, General—in more than one home. In his personal life, he had been other things. Loyal son, friend, lover, father. And then there were the other things, the things he was not proud of, the things passed on through blood and then fostered in his heart. Warmonger, murderer. Things with ugly thorns that drew blood.
After several moments, he rolled his scarred shoulders and shook his head, the sun-bleached edges of his tangled mane flipping to the other side of his heavy neck. “I am not sure,” his brow furrowed and one corner of his lip rose into a crooked smile. “It’s an answer I am looking for every day.”
She knew that, sooner or later, the trio's conversation would turn to the topic of homes. She was not foolish; this was not her first outing, fresh from her mother's teat. However, Aditi enjoyed prolonging their meeting, because she had come to learn that the leaders of Kingdoms would give her the most information about themselves when they thought there was still a prospect that she would join them and add another pretty creature to their collection. She couldn't fault the stallions -- she would do the same, were she the Queen of some land. Their endgame would always be the same: numbers correlated with protection, with legacy, with power.
Rodrik mentions Pangea and the dappled mare's gaze moves lazily back to him, away from Magnus for the time being. Her ears twitch casually, before she inquires of the herdland. "Why did you choose Pangea as your home?" She knew nothing of the territory, and while climates didn't generally matter to the Nez Perce, she was curious if Rodrik had taken to that specific land because of location or something different.
Magnus interjects again and his warm voice draws Aditi's attention back. Her amber eyes watch him closely, her curiosity turning to something akin to confusion. "Are you usually so open, Magnus?" There is genuine interest in the inquiry, and her gaze lingers on his smile for a brief moment. He did not seem to falter when it came to providing her with information, and while it was pleasant, she was not used to coming by what she asked for so easily.
Aditi does not expect an answer to the question that she has posed both of them, and it's Rodrik's answer that makes her mouth twitch so, so slightly in amusement before it returns to stoic and flat. Magnus grants her with his refreshing brand of truthfulness once more. She considers the fact that this trait is something that many of her sisters would swoon over, but all that means to Aditi is that his home would most likely be crowded with those who vie for his attention.
Rodrik's gruffness, perhaps, would be a deterrent to some others.
"I'd like to join you in Pangea until you give me an answer to my question," she says to Rodrik, before adjusting again to look at Magnus. "I hope our paths cross again, Magnus. Thank you for joining us."
i'm contagious, it'd be safest if you ran; fuck, that's what they all just end up doing in the end
12-11-2016, 10:48 PM (This post was last modified: 12-11-2016, 10:50 PM by Rodrik.)
Indeed, the two stallions are closer than they ever might know. Rodrik would have found the situation to be mostly amusing, but perhaps something he could gain from. He has always tried to have the upper hand when it came to dealing with other families. In fact, the old Blood Alliance involving the Chamber was something he had to meddle in quickly when he became king. There was always something powerful when a family came together. Rodrik had a hidden love towards his family, something he valuable greatly more than himself.
Rodrik listens with an ear in the direction of Magnus. He watches with the familiar nutmeg gaze that genetics has passed down from generation to generation. There is something honorable that he finds in this new stranger. It is a lost trait many have forgotten to possess—the desire to help others with nothing in return. Some would say it is a heroic characteristic in many fairytales, but Rodrik knows for one thing that these heroes do exist. He does not mind them, only that their so ‘honor’ does not get in the way of what he wants. He would crush it instantly.
“Tephra sounds quite pleasant,” he says with a sly smile creeping the corners of his mouth so softly. Tephra truly was nothing compared to Pangea. In fact, these two lands harbored different principles altogether. Pangea was built on a foundation for those that held darker views, selfness, and Tephra was a safe haven for anyone. Tephra was a place that held the weak, but Rodrik would never say that openly. He would simply keep such comments to himself.
Aditi questions him, so he turns his attention to her. “Pangea was created by and for those who are strong hearted and willing to do whatever it takes. However, it does have a nice view of the west coastline.” He smiles at her with a smirk. Rodrik does not list the personal reasons why he went to Pangea and gave up something to be part of its creation. This information was to given so freely to someone new such as Aditi, and even then such truths were hardly ever spoken to others.
Another smile draws across his mouth at Aditi’s words to Magus. Yes, he had to agree with her that Magnus was a very open and honest individual. It is something that likely sets him apart from both Aditi and himself. Rodrik usually played his cared rights and spoke honestly when he thought it was needed, such secrets and feelings were buried and kept deep within.
“You might have to wait a long time for that,” a hoarse laugh escapes through his throat. He then turns to look at Magnus. “A pleasure to meet you Magnus. I do hope we meet again as well, but hopefully still in friendly circumstances.” It is a dark thought, but Rodrik does not need to hide such truths away. There will be a day when something else will come—something to drive this lull away from Beqanna. “We have a long journey ahead. Shall we, Aditi?” He says taking a step towards the direction of Pangea and waiting for Aditi to join him.
![[Image: lRJZ7qE.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/lRJZ7qE.gif)
![[Image: gqYjsHr.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/KjqNDKxc/gqYjsHr.png)
