"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
11-09-2015, 04:15 PM (This post was last modified: 11-09-2015, 04:16 PM by Amorette.)
”You are IT*!” Her shrill voice echo’s through the forest as she spins around on her hind legs before dashing off as quickly as she can. Just moments before her muzzle had been in contact with Besra’s rump, touching the base of her best friend’s blue tail, tagging the other filly in their game. Amorette gallops as hard as she can without stumbling across one of the trees’ many roots. Sometimes her hooves slip on the mossy ground or she jumps to get across obstacles.
Shouts and other noises erupt from her throat as she tries to stay ahead of her friend. With her much longer legs Besra can run faster than she can, but to make up for her lack of speed the dark filly uses her agility as advantage. She swirls through the trees, not really paying attention to remember the route they take. ”Catch me if you can!” she challenges the blue haired filly. A grin spreads upon her lips as she bucks in delight.
She dashes out of the forest, but only to notice that she’s going straight for one of the many ponds. ”Aaaah.” Amorette stretches her legs as she moves her weight on her hindquarters, trying to stop by using a sliding stop. She’s only mare inches away from the water as she comes to a halt, her heart beating fast and her sides moving as she is panting quite heavily. Nonetheless Amorette is enchanted by the pond, and a the little things that swim in the water or hover above the surface. ”Oooh. Besra look! It’s beautiful!”
In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different
In her mind, she thinks of Amorette as her sister. She calls her such, loves her as such. In her mind, they are nothing short of blood. Her sister’s shrill call causes Besra’s head to shake side to side, a determined look beginning to grow on her face. The shadowy little girl shoots off like a rocket, but Besra gives her a head start. It’d be plain unfair to overtake her with her mature legs. Just as her black rump begins to fade from view Besra springs into action, leaping like some unearthly graceful deer through the overgrowth of the playground. Amorette is quick, bounding and writhing through tight spots that Besra can no longer fit through, but the blue-haired filly isn’t so easily fooled.
“You better run fast little rascal!” She screams with laughter, gait extending so she can eat up the ground with her long stride. Her little companion shoots ahead, like a rabbit on the chase, and she heads away from Besra, racing towards the edge of a lake. Fear grips the elder filly for a moment, and she races forward, heart pounding in her chest. “Amorette!” She calls out, remembering her promise to keep the little black girl safe.
With a gasp she watches as her herd mate skids to an uncertain halt at the lip of the encroaching water. Besra comes alongside her, nose reaching out to bump Amorette’s shoulder lightly. “Be more careful, mon chéri!” She tsk’s softly, sighing at the little girl’s enthusiasm. Her pale blue eyes peer out across the still surface, and she watches as life teems below. “It is!” She agrees, looking mischievously at the black girl for a moment before her nose snakes out to tap her on the back.
“But now you’re it!” She squeals, leaping away from the girl before racing around the edge of the lake.
11-09-2015, 11:35 PM (This post was last modified: 11-09-2015, 11:36 PM by Leck.)
Leck had followed them, like a slow, slinking shadow he had slipped from his home and wound his way down the rocky slope. From the mountain and all the way to the playground. Leck’s lips twisted into his customary sneer. He had never come here as a child. His parents had never seen fit to bring him and Leck had never cared to go. This was not a place for him, this was a place of childhood, and the gray colt knew, with every bone in his body, that his childhood was over, that he had never had one to begin with.
But, there were these little girls. Two of them, so delicate and small, so full of life. The boy twined around a tree. He wasn’t sure why that made him angry. He wasn’t sure why their laughter made him writhe and twist in his gut. Was he jealous? Did he want something he could never have? His soul chuckled and rolled its eyes, the devil in his heart peeked out from behind the glinting gleam of his smile. No, he was not jealous.
He was curious, though, and bored. He had spent too long in his own company, or in the company of women. These were girls, true, but they were little and small. They were not mothers, they would demand nothing of him, and he could do with them as he liked. The little boy, much older in his mind than his his body, relished that thought.
Not the mention that these girls were special. He had been there when they were born. He had seen the fear in Felinae's eyes when he approached. He’d seen the distrust of his own mother, felt it crawl along his skin when she had told him to leave. These girls were special, not like he was, but in a way Leck could not define. Amorette was easy enough to understand. She was his sister, his real sister, born of both his mother and his father. That made her other, made her different from the other girls. He didn’t know if that otherness made her better or worse. He didn’t know if he should protect her as his own or kill her as competition. But, he knew she wasn’t competition. She never could be. He was his father’s son, as far as he was concerned, his father’s only true son. As for Besra, well, Leck just wan't sure what to do about Besra.
Amorette teetered perilously close to the water’s edge and Leck stepped out from behind his tree, slowly, unhurriedly. The girls recovered quickly from their little scare, and again he stepped closer, wondering if they would notice the gray ghost who had come down from the mountain.
Johnathen obeyed his mother. He headed to the playground. There were two fillies and a colt. They were playing, what were they playing? He approaches them just as they run through the woods. Johnathen chases them, scraping the trees in his unique little way so as not to get lost. By the time he gets to the trio, they have stopped and are peering over a beautiful lake. He stops to soak in the beauty. He approaches them, head nodding in greeting. "Hello, my name's Johnathen. What's yours? he says, attempting to make friends. "Where do you live? I'm from the -uh- gates." he says, scraping his brain to try to remember what the place is called.
Momentarily she has forgotten about their game, too enchanted by all the little things she can see in the pond. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had heard Besra call out to her, fear lacing in her voice, but she is honestly too engrossed to acknowledge it. As the older filly’s nose bumps her shoulder Amorette looks up to meet her gaze with a wide grin, jumping enthusiastically on her place. ”Just look Besra! she once again urges her friend to look at the wonderful thing in front of them, not acknowledging the warning the older girl had just given her.
A wide grin spread on the dark girl’s lips as her sister – because in her eyes both Felinae and Besra are a part of their little family – finally looks down to the enchanting water and agrees with her. ”I know right!” she exclaims, voice still convoying her enthusiasm. Amorette slowly lowers her muzzle towards the water, eyeing it a little carefully and hesitant – after all, you never knew what could be hidden in the water –, before touching the surface. Just as she was about to pull back giggling to watch the now moving water, she can feel Besra’s nose bumping her shoulder once again.
Instantly a pouts form on her lip as she watches the black and blue filly leap away from her. Amorette doesn’t notice the form of her brother behind her back yet, focussed on the blue haired girl she now tries to catch up with. ”That was not fair!” she calls out loudly and whining. The distance between her and Besra is too big and the further she crosses around the lake, the further the other girl gets away.
The pout once again adorns her lips as she stops, panting loudly as her eyes follow her best friend’s form. ”This is no fun..” she mutters underneath her breath, stomping her hoof on the ground as her little tail flicks through the air annoyed. ”I wasn’t even paying attention.” As she looks up again, to look at her friend from across the water, she notices the pale form moving in her direction. Instantly she knows who he is and what he is to her, all though he had never formally met him. ”Brother!”
Once again Amorette has forgotten about their game, now making her way towards the horned yearling. Her maman had only mentioned him, told her about him, but she had only seen him from afar. Smiling widely she nears him, a little too eager and jumping up and down in enthusiasm. ”Did you come to join us? Pleaaasee?” Her eyes shimmer in hope, already getting enthusiastic from the thought only.
Not that much later another colt joins them and to her surprise – and enthusiasm – he is closer to her own height than to Leck or Besra’s. ”Salut!” she greets the bay and already graying boy back. Her gaze lingers on him only for a moment before she looks up at her golden, but also graying, horned brother. Right now she finds him much more interesting and who could blame her? It was the first time she saw her mysterious brother up close and little Amorette was more than eager to meet him.
In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different
By the time Besra has turned about to see where her pouting little sister has disappeared to, it’s already too late. Amorette is lingering right where she left her, some feet away from the shore, but her back is turned and her attention is wholly focused on something lingering just out of sight in the woods. Besra is motionless, wavering breaths coming in short, rapid bursts while she feels some lingering, unknown fear begin to rise in her breast. The flicker of ghostly skin already sends some mixture of excitement and trepidation through her, but she snaps back to her senses, the thought of Amorette’s safety rising above everything else.
Her careful steps lead her swiftly back around the lake, bright eyes shifting back and forth between the crowd that has gathered. There’s a colt among them - and then, looming over her sister like some nightmare in the broad daylight - is the horned one. Has he grown smaller since the last time she’d seen him? No … Besra has grown larger. The girl will soon be a yearling - no match for him or his horns, but less a weakling to be dealt with. It’s strange that she thinks of him like that, an enemy. But he hadn’t come with kind words or sweet intentions any other time she’d come across him.
She comes alongside her sister, shoulder brushing against the little black one’s. Her eyes, unnervingly bright and calm, stare him down with a lack of emotion. “I think he’s a bit too old for your games, sister.” She croons, head turning to the side so that her nose can protectively sweep across her cheek. She would give her life, happily, for her sister’s safety. There was no one else in the world whom she had to love. Her gaze snaps to the young colt, and she nods a simple greeting before focusing once more on Leck.
“Of course, we could always play hide and seek.” She mentions with a sideways grin, her mind thinking of ways to escape from him. “We could hide, and brother could stay here and count.” She offers, laughing softly to try and ease the tension. The word brother is like metal on her tongue, heavy and tangy - like blood. She doesn’t like it, and she wonders if he’ll find enjoyment in throwing the fact that they aren’t related back at her. She could only agree. Thank god his blood did not flow in her veins.
He doesn't know how to respond. He has never seen another foal before. He has never had friends before. He hasn't played games before.
But there's a first time for everything.
He smiles. "What's your name?" he says to the little filly. "What does 'Salut' mean? he asks. He tilts his head, not knowing how to respond. "And how did get blue hair?" he says, turning to the other filly. If there was one hobby Johnathen liked (and got in trouble for) that was quizzing others on anything and everything.
Leck couldn’t help but he delighted when his little sister knew him, and delighted at seeming him. The beast inside him twisted and writhed. On the outside he smiled, a sly, spider smile that held a lot of glee but no joy. She is so very enthusiastic, this little girl. Maybe she was like Mother, before she met Father. Leck walked around the filly, inspecting, studying. He lifted a lock of her mane then let it fall. She was a smokey black, where he, and their parents were gray. She did not look so much like their father, all dressed up in black, but Leck shrugged. It is of no matter. It is a fine color.
“Sweet sister.” He crooned, and it was, perhaps, the kindest thing he had ever managed to say. Of course, the words were much kinder than his heart, but just how he intended them to be. Leck is learning, slowly, but learning none the less. Finally, he can say one thing and mean another. The girl asked if he was here to join them and his smile turned lazy, indulgent almost. That was when his eyes flashed to Besra, and his amusement deepened. She was older than little Amorette, and that made her more and less useful. Less trusting. But more fun perhaps. Leck wasn’t adverse to a challenge. At her words he flashed the older girl a smile, a wide, wicked smile. Then, as quick as it had come, his smile turned into a pout.
“I’m sorry, Amorette. I don’t think Besra wants me to play with you.” And again the smile was wicked and wide, and directed at Besra. It was a challenge, a tease, a “look what I can do.” He would make his little sister love him, for love with a powerful tool. Casually, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, he moved a step closer to the girls, his teeth and horns glinting in the light. With a lazy shrug, as if it didn’t matter too much, Leck offered.
“Oh, now where’s the fun in that? I’m a horrible cheat, if I stay and count I’ll peak.” He winked at Amorette, as if this was a grand game and a great secret they were being let in on.
“Why don’t you count Besra? Then we can be sure it will be fair.” Because, of course they could trust Besra. Why wouldn’t they? After all, they were the best of friends, and nothing could be more fun than that.
The young girl can only happily smile, totally amazed and utterly happy at her brother showed up at the playground too. At home he had never approached her, to Amorette’s disappointment. If she would only know what happened just moments after Besra’s birth she would’ve understood that her maman wouldn’t let him near her. Her smile widens as he addresses her, almost beaming as there is a fluttering feeling in her stomach. Curious her eyes follow the palomino based gray and horned colt and she is not able to contain a burst of sweet giggles as he reaches out to touch her.
Then Besra joins them and she presses against her sister’s side, not at all aware of Besra’s dislike. ”Look Besra! Brother has come to play too” she says as she happily grins before pressing her muzzle against the taller filly’s neck. And then her wide smile turns into a pout, matching the look upon her brother’s features. Disappointed she tilts her head a little, looking at the blue haired girl and then to her brother again. ”Why not? Don’t you like brother?” she asks her sister, almost questioningly. She was so happy that her brother finally approached her and wanted to join their game, but then her sister took away all her excitement just like that. And little Amorette simply couldn’t understand.
Her attention is pulled back to the young colt. Amorette offers Johnathen a smile. ”I’m Amorette. This is my brother Leck and my sisters Besra” she introduces the three of them, the smile still adorning her lips. His second question has her a little flustered and she cannot help but to feel somewhat shy. ”Salut means hi” she answers him, voice soft and a little hesitant.
When her sister speaks about playing hide and seek – and including her brother in the game – the smile is instantly back to adorn her lips. ”Oh yes pleaaase, I really want to play all together.” A little too eager she looks from her sister to her brother and back to her sister again, sometimes turning her gaze in Johnathen’s direction. He could join them, if he would want too.
She giggles with his confession, which isn’t something to find funny – because cheating is bad – but she cannot stop herself because of the way he so nonchalantly said it. Amorette steps away from her sister’s side, closer towards her horned brother, before turning back at the blue haired filly again. ”You count, Besra, please! And no peaking!” Her voice is light and excited, as she expectantly looks at Besra, waiting for the filly to close her eyes and start counting. She’s giggling softly, before looking up at her brother as she reaches out to him.
