couldn't stop the ocean leaking in the cracks; demi

[Demi]

Demi

Swimming was quite different than flying.  Within the atmosphere above you could see for miles on almost any given day, so long as the clouds didn't linger too low, or unless a thick cover of fog rose from the moist ground.  But within the water, especially at night, you could hardly see a foot in front of you.  But still I pushed on, scouring the ocean depths of any hint of my scaled sibling.

I had to try at the very least.

And try I did, for hours I searched the ocean bottom and everywhere in between.  The dark of night did me no favors in my quest to find Deiti and soon I begin to get weary.  Dusk turned to night and night into dawn, yet still I searched.

My aquatic form surfaced for a breath, in the same moment my eyes gauged just how far away the Gates shore had become.  I had been searching for many hours but still I could make out the large expanse of land on the horizon.  And on it, as the sun began to rise, was a bright array of colors.  

I decide then to make the trek back and update my friend on my failed attempt.

---

The waters were calm making me glide effortlessly beneath the surface.  I could hold my breath for an impressively long time now, having grown accustomed to this form over the last several hours.  So, I flap my fins and kick my webbed feet to gain momentum as a smirk curls my beak ever so slightly.

I lunge from the sea, breaking the surface and gliding over the stranger, I now realize is with Ruhr.  

My shift from water creature to a more suitable flying form is flawless.  Flapping my large, feathered wings I go a short distance away before turning around.  Unsure if this stranger is friend or foe I decide to gauge the interaction on my gliding flight back to the pair.

It takes no more than a second for me to assess the black form that has turned to watch me.  Her smile is just as toothy as I remember, and her scales just as brilliant.

I descend my altitude, skimming across the shoreline before shifting once again.

The forward momentum puts a two-beat pace in my steps, that which I continue until I am near enough to be heard. "Deiti!" I shout excitedly, she turns to face me and I stop, a bright expression on my face as I look to her with my two-toned eyes.

Only moments after I stop are we embracing one another.  Water begins to moisten my eyes as I feel her warmth against my soft coat.

Soon she pulls away and I can't help but sniffle a tear away.  My ears perk forwards to listen to her angelic voice, it was much softer than I remember.  She then looks to Ruhr and snickers at her comment, but the humor is lost to me as I reply, "I'm good Deiti, how are you?!"  My smile is bright as my eyes follow hers to Ruhr, "I didn't know you had Baltian ancestors too!"  Of what I knew about Ruhr and Stratos I would have never guessed his ancestors were from the water as well.  Clearly, I wasn't as quick on land as I was in the air.

I walk a few steps towards the sunset adorn stallion, forming a tripod between them.  The sun's rays began to warm my speckled back as it lifts from the horizon.  "How did you find her!?" My eyes fall on Ruhr as I think of the long hours I had just spent searching.

Legends & Myths

Appearance: Penguin, then barn owl, then equine form

@Ruhr

[Ruhr]

‘I’m afraid I haven’t seen Demi since our parents’ deaths.’

Ruhr had known only that the sisters were separated, and at the news that Demi’s parents had died together, and that the event had ben a catalyst for years of separation, his feathered brow lifts in surprise. The tale, though sad, is a distraction from his own upsetting thoughts, if only because he knows how swiftly this sadness might change.

And it does, brightening to joy in the kelpie’s face as she finally understands what it is that Ruhr knows, why he had done a double take at realizing exactly who she was. He does not answer Deiti’s excited questions aloud, but rather nods softly, the edges of his lips turning up in a faint smile as she turns back to the sea as if to search.

Ruhr toward the Moon, asking Her to hasten the search. In answer, the water begins to ripple, and Ruhr’s faith is soothed, at least for the time being.

Demi emerges, wearing the same shape she had at their separation, and transforms into an owl in the open air. As fascinated by her ability as ever, Ruhr watches with a pleased smile as the owl becomes a red and white mare, who trots forward to embrace the dark kelpie. He can see the family resemblance, even with their differing colors.

Had the Moon chosen them both? They are both gifted, far beyond what Ruhr might have imagined. And what of the third sister? The possibility - and the power - intrigues him, enough that when Deiti teases that he had been getting in touch with his Baltian ancestors, he does not bristle. He had started the joke, after all, thinking that it was clear he had no drop of water in his bloodline. But Deiti is of this world, not of his own, and her reminds himself that she does not mean the words as an insult.

“I don’t,” he replies, “I was only joking with your sister.” The inclination to add a barb about water dwellers is there on the edge of his tongue, the product of a culture he cannot entirely shake even when in a new world. But it remains unspoken, a testament to his will and to the presence of a non-Baltian creature of the sea.

‘How did you find her?’ she asks, and it is as natural as what he had just held back to answer: “The Moon.” 

@ Deiti @Demi

[Deiti]

My poor gullible, naive sisters.  They were so good, so kind.  Untouched by the terrors of the world.  Their only true strife in this world being the death of their parents.  And perhaps the solitude that followed.

"I'm great! Now.  It was touch and go there for a bit," I chuckle to myself, "But no one died so I call that a win!"  Unless you count the rabbit but...

My spotted sister turns to her friend, questioning his sleuth skills and when he answers my delicate face tilts in wonder.  The moon seems to control more than I realize and part of me wonders the true powers in such an entity as great as the one that hung in the night skies.  Could it be more powerful than even the fae of this world?  Could their powers be derived from it as well?

Questions for another time perhaps.

"I guess many thanks to the moon then!"  A sly smirk curls my lips as my dark form shifts slightly, my gaze settling on the sunset stallion, "If you ever decide to give swimming another go let me know and I'd be happy to give you some pointers." 

"Have you been in the Gates long?  I haven't had a chance to explore much more than the beach area.  I'd love to look around if you'd care to join me," the sunrise was just rising past peak color now and soon the hot summer sun would be high above them.

D

eiti

A God's Creation | Carnage X Dynast

@Ruhr  If you're up for exploring, Deiti was thinking of coming across the waterfall of healing.  If you have plots elsewhere that's fine too!
@Demi

[Ruhr]

There is something in Ruhr’s eyes, something behind the perfect reflection of the dusky sky overhead. When he catches sight of it in his reflection, he reasons it is the Moon. It is just a flicker, the faintest glimmer of the moonstruck. It is easy to miss, especially when there are so many other ways in which he differs from those of this place.

It shines especially bright on this autumn afternoon, intensified by the waning moon and the youth that is seeping back into him as the new moon draws near. The last rays of the sun illuminate his colorful coat, no longer dimmed by the dapples of age. As he carefully picks his way down the slope toward the waterfall, Ruhr reminds himself of his purpose in coming here.

He is not here to be Healed, but rather to see if the Moon will grant him a vision in the waters. There is no use in even trying to be healed, he reminds himself as he stumbled and a jolt of pain travels up his foreleg. The Moon would have healed him if it were possible for him to be healed, and if ever someday he were to be healed, it would be because the Moon had made it so. The circular logic drives the spark in his eye, the glow in them that intensifies as he draws nearer to the thundering falls.

They are more impressive when viewed from the ground, Ruhr admits.

For a while he is quiet, taking in the sweeping view, the way the setting sun glows through the mists, the dark stone against the crimson sky. He has some time until the Moon rises high enough to be seen, after all. There is no harm in taking in the view, he tells himself, or in slowly picking his way down to the shore.

He’d declined Deiti’s earlier offer of exploration; with his limp he finds no pleasure in aimless wandering. Flight is his preference, and it is by wing that he had surveyed the kingdom through the late morning and the rest of the afternoon. It was then that he’d first spotted the waterfall, and been reminded of the rumors.

He was not here to be healed, he reminds himself, and it’s not like there are any residents here to make the magic work. Lowering his feathered head to the water, Ruhr rakes a few sips before looking around.

@ Deiti

just a brief time jump to later in the afternoon