[open] consider how to find a place to stand

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you Two years have passed since he last stood in Loess, but the landscape before him is largely unchanged. The dragonfire had scorched the land, but they had done no damage to the red rock spires that accentuate the eastern horizon ahead of him. The brindle pegasus has landed just outside the patrol route around the red canyons, knowing that he’ll be found eventually. He folds his white wings to his sides, and then after a moment tucks them away entirely, reverting to a more equine shape, save for the two sharp fangs that glitter just beneath his navy lips. The summer sun is not strong this early in the day, but Gale knows that by mid-morning most of the residents of the rocky kingdom will have found shelter from its burning rays. The thought reminds him of his own alteration, and he is grateful at having seen so many horses similarly affected during his journey to Loess. The changes have affected all of Beqanna, and not just Gale himself. It’s not an indicator of the Curse’s progression. Other things are, however, so he’s decided to visit his favorite views, to see them with his own blue eyes. He’d thought about landing right on top of the Sunrise Ridge, but that felt rude, so instead he’s settled here at the border, and wonders if Oceane will be the one running patrols or if he will encounter a stranger. @[anybody!]

[Tiercel]

stifled the choice and the air in my lungs;

better not to breathe than to breathe a lie

As summer spins on, Tiercel feels as though his mind is hazy and clear all at once. The sun fiercely bears down on him, and a piece of him is grateful for the intense light. Yet the rest of him (the majority of him) cannot shake the contrasting bright-white and deep-dark of the Underworld. At least, that’s what he thinks it is; it felt like hell to Tiercel, and he will be deeply concerned if it wasn’t. The harmony of screams ring in his ears in his nightmares, and he often wakes with cold sweat layered thickly on his skin.

And the pain… Despite his best efforts of confining those memories into a forbidden corner of his mind, Tiercel often feels the lingering effects of the consuming agony.

The trauma strikes him at odd moments. On this particular early morning, the sunrise looks too bloody for Tiercel to handle. The sky is washed in shades of red and orange, and it would look beautiful on any other morning — yet it reminds him of the pale winged mare, her blood splashing the black clay. He pictures the way her eyes rolled as she died, the way her body shook as their guard crouched over her, and the way life suddenly returned to her so her death could begin all over again.

He imagines that slow, torturous process as it happened to him. He feels every burning inch of it, and it scares away whatever exhaustion remains behind his eyes.

Tiercel heads toward the border, hoping that he can keep his eyes on patrolling instead of observing the mare’s blood coating the sky. The navy dun wonders if he will draw the attention of any lingering nighttime predators; since his return topside, Tiercel has noticed the core of his heart and the cords of his blood vessels glow with every heartbeat. He pulsates from the inside out, and it makes him sick to his stomach, knowing what the glow represents.

The sight of Gale’s familiar brindle stripes provides a hopeful distraction. Tiercel aims his path toward his brother, gathering his anxiety and fear close to his chest so he will only feel it. “Don’t be a stranger,” he says with as much warmth as he can express. “You know this place is home just as much as Islandres.”

tiercel.

@[Gale]

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you When Tiercel had last been on Islandres, he’d told Gale that he was thinking of staying in Loess, and it’s clear now that he’d done so. The dun stallion with his iridescent markings is impossible to miss, yet in seems that the returning light has altered his triplet as well. It’s an intriguing thing, his brother’s glowing heart, and Gale’s blue eyes go cloudy as he Looks closer. He comes quite close to ruining this happy reunion by asking about it, but fortunately Tiercel speaks first, and Gale does not ruin things quickly. His brother seems happy, warm and cheerful, and the newly sprouted idea that perhaps he should tell Tiercel about the Curse is immediately quashed. He can’t upset him. Not when Gale is still not sure, because hasn’t he felt better since the light returned? Perhaps this is all a misunderstanding. With that unexpectedly cheerful thought in his own mind, Gale shares other news instead: “As Hyaline.” And then, belatedly realizing that his response makes no sense, adds: “I’m moving to Hyaline, I mean. Have you been there?” @[Tiercel]

[Tiercel]

It seems his faux-enthusiasm effects his brother. It’s enough for Gale to ignore whatever memories he might’ve Seen and lean into the warmer parts of the dun’s greeting. Tiercel wouldn’t have felt the slight tug at the back of his mind if he hadn’t already been restraining his tide of emotions. It has become a familiar feeling, Gale seeing through his blue-eyed gaze, but the dun isn’t comfortable quite yet. It’s a strange sensation (feeling someone pull gently at his nerves and place themselves within his world) when he knows it’s happening.

It reminds him of the ways he had been splintered apart, put back together, pulled at, infiltrated, and exploited in the past months.

But his brindled brother moves past the glimpses of his torture, and Tiercel internally relaxes with this decision. He isn’t in the mood to explain why his heart glows, or how he can hear screaming every time he wakes up, or why the sunrise looks like blood. Gale’s news about his move distracts Tiercel from any deeper thoughts. “Hyaline, huh? What is it about the mountains that call to you?”

The tall mountainous range has always loomed over Loess, a mighty but daunting eye watching over the red rocks. The dun had wandered through the foothills on his journey away from home, but that had been years ago. Since his return to the canyons, Tiercel has failed to explore much past the soft, pale shoulders of his lover. With a sly, charming smile the navy-marked stallion says as much to his brother. After all, who is he to deny the affections and desires of a mare seemingly born from the stars?


@[Gale] Naked post because my internet in Tennessee is slow af.

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you Tiercel repeats the name of the mountainous kingdom and Gale nods, looking toward the peaks with his bright eyes. They are dark against the blue sky, and the view is one that the brindle stallion had almost forgotten. He hasn’t looked at Hyaline from here since he was a child. The mountains had been sparsely inhabited during their youth, and adventure had always seemed to shine most brightly in the opposite direction of Hyaline. He has entirely forgotten about Tiercel’s question as he looks west at the rocky terrain he now calls home. Why hasn’t he explored much of it, he wonders? The thought (and the concern that accompanied it) are plucked away from him as soon as he has them, and before he can realize this, Tiercel is telling him about Islas. Is she the star Ciri spoke of, Gale wonders? Or are there many stars walking Beqanna? He has a brief memory of a starry woman with legs and hair like snow, but then that too is gone, and Gale is smiling with delight at his brother’s sly grin. Intrigued, Gale alters both their vision so that beside them are the Islas from Tiercel’s mind and the Mazikeen from Gale’s. Two pale women, though beyond the coloring the similarities are many. Gale might have spent the morning comparing them for no reason other than he enjoys looking at pretty things, but then he remembers that he is in Loess and Tiercel is here and he hasn’t said anything at all. “That’s Mazikeen,” he explains, showing only the black-horned mare now, with her shadowy wings and bright orange eyes. “She’s the alpha of the Pack, and they live in Hyaline. So I live in Hyaline now too.” Gale is smiling contently, the warmth of emotions in his chest clear in his blue face. @[Tiercel]

[Tiercel]

stifled the choice and the air in my lungs;

better not to breathe than to breathe a lie

With a slight tug near the back of his eyes, Gale pulls the two pale mares into focus. Tiercel’s muscles tighten in response to the sensation, and his heart begins to speed up to match his anxiety. The rhythm of his glowing increases in time with his pulse, the light tracing the route of his blood vessels. He hopes this new pattern of his heart will seem to be a reaction to seeing the image of Islas, and not a traumatic response to the way Gale infiltrates his mind.

Tiercel focuses his energy on Islas, on her endless dark eyes, on the familiar curves of her face. He draws his strength from her, using the soft glow to fight away the memories that threaten to consume him. Blood and bone flash behind his eyes for a few moments, and Tiercel blinks hard to force the images away. When Islas disappears, the dun turns his gaze toward Gale’s mare.

She’s pretty, he notices, and there are many features that make her seem like a worthy companion for his brother. She looks like a warrior, with twisting horns and bright orange eyes that seem to look deep into his soul. Tiercel wonders if the image of Mazikeen can see why he purposely avoids the blood-red sunrise. He can’t deny his brother’s joy, even among Tiercel’s trauma, and he sends a dose of happiness toward Gale.

“That’s great, Gale. She must be able to beat your ass,” he says jokingly, moving his gaze from the strong-looking mare to his equally strong brother. While Tiercel and Islas don’t physically compete against each other, his wife is not the fighting type, and her body is not built for physical dominance. Yet the dun assumes that Gale must mock-fight with his companion if she’s that muscular. “You’ll fit right in with the mountains.”

tiercel.

@[Gale]

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you Focused on the vision that he creates, Gale remains entirely oblivious both to his brother’s reaction to the image. Nor does he feel the way Tiercel flinches from his intrusion. Gale is accustomed enough to battling with his powers that he passes whatever barriers his brother might have had without even noticing them, using a sword instead of a scalpel. What he does notice are the other images that Tiercel sees, a rather putrid blend of flesh and bone. Gale is not as squeamish as their elder brother, but that does not make the images pleasant, and he is frowning as the image fades. But then Tiercel makes a jest about Mazikeen’s ability to beat him in a fight, and Gale nods proudly, forgetting about the blood and bones entirely. He and the pale Alpha are an even match despite his victory against her in the Alliance, and she’d trounced him just this morning. There’s a jagged scar across his left brow as a result, but it had healed and regrown a glowing cremello before he’d really felt the sting of Mazikeen’s razor sharp tail against his head. “I think so too,” The brindle stallion agrees, imagining the tall peaks of the mountains as he does so. The tallest of them remain shrouded in snow year round, and Gale is becoming rather fond of the winter (it had shown in the thick coat he’d arrived in, one he’d shed for a sleeker one after standing beneath the Loessian sun). @[Tiercel]