"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
Kota remembers the day little Aela was brought to Taiga, it’s not hard to recall really, it was the day after the child she carried for 11 months came out of her as a dead little skeleton draped in thick black fur. It was the day after she lost her baby that another wandered into her hard little heart. She may be a distant mare, but she has always been a very loving mother (and daughter too, actually). With Aela the days after they met came so easily, so quiet and pleasant for the most part. She and the filly existed among the tall trees and their shadows in hushed peace. Kota raised her a little different than her firstborn, who she arguably smothered compared to Aela. She was not quite a helicopter with Let, but she did not let the filly leave her sight until she was about seven months, and even then, not far, but with Aela she trusted her safety to her own hands quite early – as early as Aela wanted. Kota never bulked at Aela’s choices to move about when she wanted, and eventually the girl left to Pangea, or so she had said at the time. Their goodbye was a quiet as their existence together, but tender in its own way, as they always are together.
It's time now to check on her, the ghostly woman declares to herself, and moves off into the direction of the red cliffs.
She arrives at the edge of the burnt sands in early morning and tentatively crosses the ambiguous border. She’s very familiar with the outlay of Hyaline and even Silver Cove, but has never quite explored Pangea. She’s never thought to meet the residents either, so she moves into their home with a light foot and keen eyes. If she can manage to see her daughter first, that will ease her anxiousness a bit, but without knowing if it is a hostile place, she moves with caution. She finds a highpoint, a jutting cliff that has collapsed into a pile at the river’s edge. She’s a pale spirit at the crest of the crumbled rocks, her hair taken by the breath of chilled autumn breeze blowing in from the east. Her careful blue gaze picks meticulously through the landscape to see if she might spot her daughter’s familiar colors. She calls for her, not too loud or desperate, but something that Aela will likely recognize right away.
12-31-2020, 01:56 PM (This post was last modified: 12-31-2020, 01:56 PM by Aela.)
Aela can recall little of the day that Heartfire brought her to Taiga.
There is no memory of the silver mare from the River and even less of what happened that day by the crashing waves on Beqanna's wild shore. She has no recollection of the dark stallion that chased after her (though she has retained a weariness for water and aversion to coastlines). If she remembers anything at all, it is only Beryl's dark that enveloped her and took her away from a life she might have otherwise led (and that is how Lilliana had wanted it - a small sliver of hope in that Aela would never know of her or Wolfbane).
What Aela remembers are those she considers the most important in her young life: Kota and Heartfire.
It's been months since she has last seen her foster mother but the spotted mare is often among the thoughts of the golden girl. Leaving Taiga (and the entirety of the North) has been the best decision she has yet made but separating from Kota hadn't been as easy as she had anticipated. After the Pangean attack on Nerine and the magical barrier fell across the North, the striped filly had followed Straia on a path that she had assumed would lead to her eventual ascent to...
Well, to what was what Aela was still attempting to figure out.
But she still follows the advice of the once-Chamber queen and strolls easily through the cracks and caverns of ravined Pangea in a confident manner. The almost-palomino has little to concern herself with. Her flaxen tail brushes away the rising heat of the day and the insects it brings along with it. Aela goes searching for the small river that cuts across the arid landscape but she becomes sidetracked by a call on the breeze.
A familial one that brings the start of a genuine smile on her pale lips.
She finds herself still smiling when comes around the corner to find her spotted dam. Words still don't come easily though she practices earnestly. And so she falls into the old habit of sending an echo, of her memories with Kota when they existed like ghosts that haunted the Taigan fog. Her head tilts - a sign that more memories will follow - and Aela shares with her some of the sights within Pangea - the armored horses, the dragon-like ones, numerous star-marked ones (those legionary descendants of Carnage). The empty silence that follows is explanatory enough as her blue eyes peer curiously at her mother.
01-04-2021, 08:46 AM (This post was last modified: 01-04-2021, 08:48 AM by kota.)
ghost of the mist, keep your ancient tryst
back to the lone lane of the sea, slip silently
The ghostmother stood quietly for a while under the warm light of day, her blue eyes sweeping, her hair dancing gently. She sees nothing but craggy rocks and gangly tree life for a while, soon though, she can see Aela’s soft colors. She’s grown, Kota smiles a smile much like the one Aela has; warm, familiar, and for the moment, satisfied just to see the girl well and alive.
Sometimes the pale mare will lament that maybe she had robbed the child of learning how to use her voice in full. Like any ghost, even if she isn’t truly one, she is mostly silent save for when she chooses her words well. Her voice goes unused most of the time, but if she’s ever spoken to anyone the most, it would be her daughters most certainly – or perhaps her father too. She’s never spoken to her real mother, or not that she can recall anyway. She only remembers the slide of her mother’s snakeskin patterns passed her blurry newborn vision, the taste of her mother’s milk and the warmth of her underbelly, but no words. She fears, somewhere deep and quiet inside of her, that she may have done something wrong by raising Aela and Let in near silence as she stalked through the fog with them. It certainly doesn’t matter now, they’re both grown. Would it be different with the next child growing in her womb? Probably not.
When the echoes hit Kota’s body sinks into a more slack posture, her eyes closing and her lungs taking in a rush of fresh air. She moves through the echoes like one moves through a dream, the sounds tinny and bounce around, the images are clear and then smeared. The mother has never seen Pangea’s innards before, it’s always been such an ominous place in Beqanna, and truthfully the overo mare has never known the politics of the Kingdoms, which puts her at risk for doing the wrong thing (or so she thinks). Ghosts do not concern themselves into the politics of leaders and pupils.
“Aela,” she murmurs through the smile pulling at her pink lips. When the girl comes close enough, she bumps that rosy muzzle of hers across her pretty face, her shoulder and ribs, sniffing, checking her. She takes another deep breath of relief to see that her child has all of her limbs and no festering wounds (that she can see). “Impressive.” she refers to the echoes that brought her visions of Pangea’s sentinels, among many other features of the mysterious valley. “You’re well then? I hope.” her voice is quiet like the breeze, but Aela should know how to pick it up well, as she always has.
i wasn't sure if we wanted to pretend the end of the world happens AFTER their reunion or during.
feel free to include the darkness or not, i can go either way <3
01-10-2021, 01:34 PM (This post was last modified: 01-10-2021, 01:36 PM by Aela.)
@[kota] is a ghost from her past but the memories that the spotted woman haunts are all fond ones.
She is the only mother that Aela has ever known. There isn't a corner of her childhood memories that Kota doesn't linger, floating through them with a grace that the golden girl likes to think that she has inherited. There had been little need for language in those days. They existed on the edges of the Taigan fog and from Kota, Aela learned how to become a whisp. She learned how to melt into the shadows; she learned how to disappear and yet to linger.
The way that Aela's echoes reach for Kota is as much a part of the embrace as her blazed face brushing against the pale neck of her dam. Her memories come easily - gently - with the care that shows Aela doesn't want to overwhelm or overcome her mother (a tenderness she seldom reserves for anyone else). There is much to reveal to Kota and even if her mother has little concern for the happenings around Beqanna, Aela prefers her dam to know something of them. It is better to be aware than to get swept away by the unawares.
There is power in knowing; the images of Pangea swallowing the once-Chamber Queen is a warning. Aela would have her mother know of it. Who knows what the swallowing of a Magician - the stirrings beneath the earth - might bring?
Aela can't help but smile as her mother traces her face, her neck, her ribs. There are few that she lets this close and the golden girl would have laughed if she were able to. There are no sores, no wounds, no broken limbs (at least not yet). She's an ambitious little thing, having already tested the limits of her own abilities so now she prods at others. The different situations present different outlets to use her powers and Aela considers this like the wielding of a sword; her powers are as much a weapon as they are her voice and she intends to keep them both sharp. The almost-palomino mimics her mother, tracing the side of her neck moving her muzzle lovingly down the side of her dam until she notices the slight swelling of her abdomen. Aela blinks and lifts her head. It never occurred to her that she might have a sibling beyond the sister she has never met; perfection rarely comes more than once in a lifetime but it makes her curious what little deity her mother might deliver.
Turning to look at Kota, Aela tilts her head with an obvious question. A brother? A sister?
ghost of the mist, keep your ancient tryst
back to the lone lane of the sea, slip silently
Kota feels the warmth of her daughter’s forehead pressing into her mane and memories let in again like a stream trickling over smooth rocks after a heavy rainfall. The images are of many unfamiliar things, and some familiar things mixed in, a slew of images which the ghost-mare receives calmly even though it is a bit jarring. She blinks her aqua eyes slowly to clear her vision again, no words come, but her expression tells something like ‘holy shit.’. It is a foreboding vision, or visions rather, to receive. Pangea has always had an eerie vibe among Beqanna’s many strange lands, in Kota’s opinion, and this only confirms such a suspicion. Carnage’s beloved landbaby is sure to have many dark things in store, why would anyone dare to think any different?
“Another sister.” her voice is cold as it always is, like a spirit’s voice. Cold but not uninviting, only crisp against the mortal world’s stifled atmosphere. The pale mother draws in a breath, looking across to the jagged peaks on the horizon. She thinks of Let, and of her bouncy little granddaughter who was sure to be little no more. Aela has not met her own adoptive sister, but perhaps that would change soon if Kota could manage to track her down. The teal splotched girl is as aloof as her ghostly mother, so once she was grown the two have not seen much of each other; skirting through the mists, invisible to most, they patrol their own shadows and those dark corners seldom meet. Kota’s pink lips quirk into a half-grin, “Another Carnage seedling.” She chuckles. The dark magician (God?) has created most of the populace anyone sees today, if not directly, then he’s in most everyone’s genetics somewhere down the line. Every native knows this.
Something rumbles in the distance, sounding like thunder but feeling like it’s coming from the ground. A freight of sounds, like a moving wall of screams, spreads like the shockwave from an explosion and clouds set in. At first they’re gray, swallowing the sky, blotting the light of day out a little. Kota holds to nose to the air trying to smell anything – nothing but ash mixed with many other unrecognizable smells. What was happening? Her ears ring from the overwhelming shock of mind-blinding sound sent out across the world, her senses starting to feel frenzied already and then the light is soon completely taken away.
“Aela..” she reaches out to bump her lip to her golden shoulder. She guesses this is not just Pangea’s event, but Beqanna’s. What could it be now? The distant screams bubble up, agonizing screams, manic screams – something horrible was happening to them, and she could hear it echoing across the stilled world. Indistinct growls and roars, snarls and creepy clicking sounds join the sound of pain and horror. Darkness has swallowed everything and now something, or many somethings, very unnatural to this plane have been released. She can’t be sure that’s what this is, but something in her, call it instinct, tells her that is exactly what has descended upon the world.
OKAY so i suck but i tried to bring in the darkness to this post lol
my brain cannot handle having some posts out of the loop and some in, so i had to bring it right 'round for us XD
01-22-2021, 08:00 PM (This post was last modified: 01-22-2021, 08:04 PM by Aela.)
Another sister, Kota says and Aela lets the confirmation settle around them. It's been some time since she has seen her spotted mother and now comes the knowledge that it is not only just Kota but another sibling. Their family has always been small and she isn't exactly sure that she can picture it expanding but the proof is there, curving her dam's pale sides.
Aela will adapt, as she always does.
The knowledge that this sibling is god-born is received with a twinge of jealousy. Heartfire had said that the offspring of Carnage are legion but they at least had a creator to lay claim to; Aela only had a few cryptic words from her grandmother that whoever her father had been was some relation to the sabino mare. But the near palomino shrugs this away with a roll of her slender shoulders and focuses instead on grooming the lovely curve of Kota's neck. Even if her arrival was unexpected, Aela was happy to see her.
But their reunion is disturbed. Aela pauses and lifts her blazed head, glancing towards the direction of the sound. It reminds her faintly of the day that Straia had been swallowed. Its soul-stirring, whatever it was and the striped girl waits, watching the horizon to see if the devourers might finally take a shape. Other scents are wafting through the breeze and the golden girl presses herself protectively into the rounding shape of @[kota], as if Aela was expecting something.
Her blue eyes scanned through the dark, the night that had suddenly descended upon them.
Some sounds are familiar (and to the clicks that carry across the wind, Aela flashes images of the armored horses she has seen patrolling the Pangean border. There is familiarity in the images, implying that they are not the things that they should be worried about). The screams are unnerving but Aela hardly flinches and she keeps vigilantly watching, waiting to inflict anything that would dare approach the pair with horrifying memories.
"Stay close, Ma," she whispers (and almost trips on the last word) as she comes closer to Kota. Her ears prick and swivel, attempting to catch any sound while Aela waits, poised prettily on the edge of an attack.
ghost of the mist, keep your ancient tryst
back to the lone lane of the sea, slip silently
If she at all had a moment to spare, she would be so proud to observe the way Aela responds. Her posture, her attitude – her courage in the instant face of rising, mysterious danger. Kota lets herself think she had some part in that, in Aela’s fighting spirit. But the truth is she would have been brave no matter who gave her milk in her early days, or who protected and nurtured her to independence. Kota has no time to think of those things now though, or anything but hwats in front of her, her mind completely wrapped in the moment.
Aela’s visions move into her mind like music, soothing to her even while her heart beat rises. The child in her belly kicks – stirring from the sudden jolt of adrenaline flowing through their shared blood. The visions transfer to the baby, but who’s to say what the child can process without ever having vision, smell, or experience in the mortal world outside of the womb. It seems to calm the unborn, to Kota’s relief.
Kota answers by pushing her body against Aela. Shoulder to shoulder, they peer opposite ways with similar posture. Alert, alarmed, – processing while strike ready.
Something is creeping closer. It smells putrid, its eyes glowing, eight in total moving in the black either toward them. Its footsteps are strange across the rock, not pad or hoof, but quiet like cats feet. An odd sound rings out and suddenly Kota can feel something sticky all over her, like syrup, but stronger – like sap but fibrous. She sucks in a sharp breath, realizing what it is – what’s coming toward them, and what she’s trapped in. It’s spider’s silk, and that is, from what she can tell, an enormous mutant spider lumbering toward them. The monster seems to have deployed some sort of project web, claiming the mares as its prey, or trying too.
Kota finds a tear in the webbing, having to only use her muzzle to feel around, trying not to wind herself and Aela in it even worse. “We have to kill it.”She says calmly. “..before it kills us first.” This is what has been dealt – monsters – Kota knows there is no way around it. Unless of course Pangea’s armored guardians come to their aid quickly enough and lay down the law. Otherwise, they’re on their own.
so i'm thinking this sketchy spider monster thing popped out of the ground where the armored patrols dont see it, at least not right away
perhaps they rescue the girls eventually, or they fight their way to safety - whatever direction is way okay with me <3
it gives them a chance to fight together which i think is cute
03-05-2021, 10:55 AM (This post was last modified: 03-05-2021, 10:57 AM by Aela.)
It's such an odd, jolting sensation to have Kota press herself against Aela. For the first time in her young life, Aela feels the swell of a pregnant mare and becomes aware of the life within. The palomino has known what a broodmare is. It's just when Kota comes against Aela, her mother's stomach curves against her leaner one and there is a moment where the child stirs enough that Aela is aware of them.
This is her sibling, she realizes. A brother or sister and the shock of that realization almost distracts her from what is coming.
Kota sends her sweeping gaze one way and so Aela looks the other. She isn't afraid of these monsters. Apart from a few scars, she has managed to come away from them mostly unsathed. In her certainty, she assumes this time will be no different. She thinks it will be some shapeless thing with too many teeth and hunger for flesh (and oh, a part of Aela loves giving them the lesson that she is something so much more than mere flesh). The scent of whatever is coming approaches first, wafting towards her flaring nostrils, and Aela lits her slender head up to discern the thing that is creeping.
That is crawling, she realizes.
There are too many eyes and it is too quick. Perhaps if its fangs were closer, the monster would have delivered a quick death. But it produces a sticky, fibrous webbing that winds around everything. It covers the rocky ground, part of an Acacia, and Aela's shoulder to her right foreleg. Aela struggles for a few moments, further entangling herself, before she realizes that the jerking movements do nothing. They only make their current situation worse and so the striped girl stops, searching for an answer in the shadows of the nearby Acacia grove or to where she knows the nearest canyon is.
But it is @[kota] who tells her what to do.
We need to kill it, she says and Aela nods. She certainly doesn't feel anything akin to mercy for a creature that would devour her or those she cared for. It comes down to survival and from Aela, there is no apology for living. The palomino glows around her stripes and when the beast shifts one of its eight legs, Aela allows herself to become an inferno (much like she had with Skandar, when he had set her ablaze in anger) and small flames flicker against her golden skin. It doesn't take long for her to burn away the string-like restraints and there is only a moment before the monster comes close enough to strike.
(Aela tries to give it pause by filling the air with caution; Aela tries to warn it away with fear but who knows if these monsters can feel?)
The flames dancing on her skin dim as Aela urgently looks to her mother. She doesn't know what the fire will do to her dam's spotted skin, to her unborn sibling. But this is the only idea that she has. She can try to burn away the webbing. "Ma?" she asks her. What do you want me to do?
03-28-2021, 10:13 AM (This post was last modified: 03-28-2021, 10:14 AM by kota.)
ghost of the mist, keep your ancient tryst
back to the lone lane of the sea, slip silently
Aela proves to be as quick on her feet as her ghostly mother. It would appear their situation is dire, but it’s turned around quite quickly. Kota feels the warmth of the girl’s flames, they engulf her in a beautiful fiery display and it’s then Kota realizes the chances are in their favor.
The monster’s movements seem clouded, slower, almost puzzled, and she bets anything that’s Aela’s magics at work. The healer cracks a grin, watching her palomino daughter’s skin return to normal and her voice speak up. “Light it up!” She declares, closing her eyes and letting her healing magic, what she can manage of it, be ready to reverse what may happen. Kota doesn’t have fire control, or resistance, but she finds out the child in her womb must have something fire related (phoenix-type immortality) because Aela’s flames only burn away the webbing and leaves her skin untouched. She doesn’t even need to heal herself as she was prepared to do.
Kota reaches out to Aela’s golden shoulder in the dark. Thank you, the motion says, with no words. There’s no time to dawdle, and the paint mare moves into action quickly. They’re surrounded by deep canyons and there are boulders dangling by a prayer and whim in some places – a trap waiting to spring at just the slightest change. Luck is on their side.
Aela’s projections seem to slow the beast, but it still hunts them, screeching and launching web. They must dart from it’s way, and keep behind the gnarled acacia branches shielding them from being snared. “There are rocks up ahead ready to let loose into the canyon - it would do the hard work for us if we can just get it in there. I can lead it in, you run up and knock a few loose, the rest will come with them.” she springs away, webbing hitting the branches where she was. It’s easier for the pregnant one to be the bait rather than try to scale the side of the canyon in quick fashion. She nods to the palomino and dives into the open darkness, dim firelight flickering in rando corners of the landscape – it lets shadows and silhouettes be seen, and glowing eyes, wet fangs, but everything melds into the ever darkness. Kota is swift and dodges the attacks dealt, when slashes with what appeared to be ‘horned’ legs that swipe at her, she heals herself. “Run as fast as you can!” she directs Aela, hoping her quick little legs can bring her up the rock quick as a hare. When the monster is in position, frustrated and riled, Kota whinnies as loud as she can, the signal!
When she hears the landslide begin, she stays until the last minute to make absolute sure the thing does not escape their trap. Everything comes down like thunder, so fast and with a force she’s never felt before. For a second it feels like she may not make it out of the way in time, but she does make it, jumping from a large boulder’s path as it crashes down to split in half on the canyon floor. She lands on her shoulder, sliding across the rock and stopping with a thud, heaving breaths into the dust as she lays on her side for a few seconds. She calls out with a softer whinny for Aela as she brings herself to her feet – sore, but fine, and the child in her belly squirming excitedly.
