"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
I move through the land, working towards the land that had been my home, that my parents were// or I assume my father was as Mother all but admitted she didn't know. She got so much crap from others for that, but she was a good mother none the less. I can't hold it against her that she wasn't super affectionate but she taught me what I needed to know, to be safe and survive the war. It was only right I go back and tell her where I will be if she ever needed me. I didn't want her to worry where I went off to.
I find I left too late in the day it is getting dark, I am close to the forest lands and need to get through them, but the night was not the best time to weave through unknown forests. I have little option so I move into the forest as I breathe sharply to chase away the nerves in my gut. I try to stay straight on the invisible path to Chamber but soon enough I realise I am lost. I looked around and there is nothing but tree after tree. There are no features that make one stand out more than the other. With the sun set and the clouds covering the sky, I can't use stars or moon to help guide me. I have no clue where I am. My heart races and I frantically move on trying to get out of the forest ,and that make it all worse. Oh my... I am so very very lost. My legs shake as I realize I have no one to help me. I think what Vaughan would do...just muscle on. Well, I already muscled on and now I am really really lost. I think what Mother would do....mother wouldn't get lost in the woods, that's what mother would do. Before I left falls Ygrittes kind and steel eyes helped me decide to go, so I try to think what she would tell me to do. That is hard, I don't know her well... Stay still and wait for the day? or retrace your step? I don't know, I don't know I don't know. I feel the panic turn to desperation and I want to cry. the tears are there just waiting to get through. and I swallow hard to keep them at bay. I decide to wait where I am until the morning. Nothing good would come from moving, I was so turned around.
I look around and there is a big tree wit ha slightly hollowed out base. I back against that, so no one can come up behind me and settle in for the night. Hopefully, the forest would be a quiet place tonight... a small cry escaped my throat, but I suck it back I don't want to be the weak crying girl anymore. Even if my heart races in my chest and my breath is shaky, I will not cry.
He has recently discovered that he quite likes the espionage life – the life of a roving vagabond with secrets up all of his sleeves. It's an enjoyable life indeed, but he knows he must soon get serious about the mission at hand. With his attitude, who knows how long he may survive this entertaining life of his. He's covered almost every corner he remembers in Beqanna. Surely there is some left out, but he'll have plenty of time for adventures after. After what, you ask? You'll see.
Nightfall catches him a bit off guard tonight. He was happily plucking ripened rose hips that have clung to their parent bush all winter. He decides to ignore it for now and willingly lets himself be surrounded by pale moonlight and a dark sky. Picking and chewing for awhile until a noise rustles just beyond his night-vision (not supernatural). He steps forward, swallowing the last hunk of hips in his wet mouth. He can barely see her outline, she's just a little thing and dark like the night. He fails to see the red hint in her bay coat, but he does not fail to see just how alone she is.
“Hey,” He calls out with an oddly gentle voice, who knows how genuine its paternal tones are... “You lost?” He slithers closer with only a few steps. Chem's thick feathered legs seem miles longer than her little spider-limbs and he has to crane his neck to lower his teal eye to look at her properly. He sucks in a breath quietly. He tastes it...he tastes her … is it the Falls? He can smell the humid leaves and moist mosses as well as the pungent smell of the water lands inhabitants. The pines. He can also smell...the pines. The Chamber's needle baring sentinels and its misty mountain aromas also cling to the young ones fur.
I'm not sure how long I waited against that tree. It felt like the longest time, ever second filled with sounds that in the light of day would have been normal but now triggered an alarm. This unknown forest was not the same the forest she followed her brother through at night when they wandered away from Mother. Even though the concept was the same, a lot of trees all together in one place, it didn't change the fact that I feel completely and totally out of place.
I wasn't a kid anymore, my body, while it still left plenty of space for growth, had grown into the form of a more mature mare. I left my childhood home and found my own space, and all there was left to do was fulfil that daughterly duty that nagged at me. The task was all that held me still, unable to move on, unable to start her own life. I was rather lost in my own thoughts and woes when I heard it. A snap of a twig, the light creek as the wood moaned against the pressure then the sharp echo-y crack as it gave way. I tense, every muscle clenched to flee, then a curious soft voice rings through the air. I know it comes from a male by the voice, but the form is hidden in the darkness. I shrink back further against my tree, there was something about the tone of the stallion, that made her think he might be safe. "Hello?" His words continued in a mock echo of my own. Cooing, coaxing me to safety, bringing me a guide from the haunted darkness of the forest. He must have heard me and he moved closer, my eyes finally could make him out, and boy he was tall. I mean TALL, and built, I should have been intimidated, but I wasn't. I watch him move to me, and I relax, I have no reason to, everything mother taught me said otherwise, but I did, I relaxed. Maybe I was just so tired of being scared, or I was just so relieved, but I so happy to see someone else in this darkness, that I trusted his intentions....well I trusted he wasn't an immediate threat.
I looked up at him the detailed of his features were still hidden but I searched for details of why he came here, was talking to me just the same. He asks if I am lost, and I instinctively nod before I even have a chance to speak truth or lie. "Yeah... I seem to have gotten turned around. I have only been through here once before and it was during daylight....do you happen to know the way to Chamber?"
04-14-2016, 09:43 AM (This post was last modified: 04-14-2016, 09:44 AM by Chemdog.)
The demons in him are chewing and clawing like angry dogs in cages when they see that gentle, sanguine look in her youthful eyes. They growl, snap and bark behind his exterior, his bright eyes fluttering across her delectable little body. She cannot see them, thankfully. They're hidden behind a lump of dreadlocks and thick spirals of coal forelock that's perpetually spilling down his face. He wants to wrap himself around her and usher her back to wherever he can hoard her, to covet her. To hide her away until she's a grown woman – because she is clearly not, which makes some sick part of him stir. She's just so... perfect. Innocent, soft, untorn by this fucked up world. What a woman she will be in just a few short years...
She can't be anymore than a year or so. An age where even a monster like Chemdog would not dare take for his own twisted desires. He's more of a planner – a prospect hunter, and what pure prospect he can immediately see in the wide eyed baby... even in this ominous veil of darkness.
Her voice makes his veins flush under his oil-black skin; his flesh hot and cold at the same time. He moves into a dim sliver of light that sends a beam through the trees. “The Chamber?” He feigns ignorance to the place, quirking his head to the side as if to think of what she means. “I might just, actually.” He grins and bends his face down to be lit by the faint strip moonlight in front of her. “My name is Chemdog – you can call me Chem though, the 'dog' part is just so unnecessary.” He tilts his face to one side to let his forelock tumble off to the side. “You wanna follow me and we'll see if you we can't find this home of yours, eh?” If only she knew the sinister man that hides behind this charm, this kindness. Though it's undeniable that to some degree he isn't faking it and will indeed not harm her....but she has no idea. Furthermore, she has no clue what might be brewing in his sickened sort of mind – what sort of thoughts he might be having.
He's innocent enough to not mean her any real harm like violence, or rape, but he's got no real plans to return her safely home just yet either. He pivots to lead the way down a thin and dark path, “I believe it's...this way.” He nods and smiles a bit wider, propping his head up and giving her a friendly sideways look. “Yep, I remember, it's this way indeed.” He starts to walk away, looking back over the curve of his speckled back, “You comin', girl?” His yellow teeth seem white in the darkness as he offers a happy grin.
"You Know Chamber!?" It wasn't really a question that fell from my mouth as soon as the somewhat hidden stallion spoke his words, she was just so relieved that her instant relief came forward in probably an overly zealous slew of words. I can help hearing Vaughan's words in the back ok my mind, this would be the moment he would crash through the trees and chastise her for not thinking. Tell her it wasn't safe, but the shadowed beast had not done a thing that was intrusive. I catch my breath at the thought of the shadowed man being a threat, but he moved into the light at that time and I saw his features. The kind and worried look that was on his face and the calm way he spoke to me there was no way he meant me harm. I heard his name, Chemdog, and I chuckled a little probably due to a combination of thinking the name was a little odd and nerves that lingered (even though Chem made light of his long name). I stifled my giggle and look at him. He didn't seem to change the look on his face from the silvery glow of the moon, but I've been wrong before. A little more bashful, as I embarrassed myself again, "Hi...Chem, I'm Vessel. And I think that sounds good, I just want to get out over."
I watch him move out, and wonder again what Vaughan would do, he wouldn't like the situation, not one bit. But Vaughan wasn't here, and I had following this guy through the trees had to be better than waiting scared and alone for daylight to maybe help her find the way. I saw him look over at me, and heard him ask if I was coming, and of course, I was. I hopped to it, pulled myself up and gathered my nerves. Enough was enough I had to just trust myself. "Yes, right behind you."
I wandered with hi through the trees, my reddish bay coat caught the light occasionally as the moon shown through the trees. I move easily next to the tall form of Chem. The moonlight had illuminated more of him as we walked through the dense trees, he had large patches of black and white, and towered over my small, still growing frame. I still sensed no ill will from him, my defenses dropped a little more, as I smiled up at him. "Where do you live Chem? You don't smell like the forest. You don't smell like the Falls or Chamber... I don't know any other places smell, yet." I peered up at his odd eyes and then to the path before me. I didn't want to trip here, I had to get out of the forest not get injured and never leave the forest."Thank you for helping me. I hope it isn't too far out of your way. I hate to be a big bother. I'm sure I can find a way to repay you....Mother will know how to repay you." I stop before I rambled on too much more. The night was at its peak and I hoped to be clear of the land soon, so I could get home and repay the stallion who had graciously helped me. I walked in silence for a while, this must have been some large forest, as I still was in a the dense wooded land, and we had walked for quite some time. "Do you think we will reach Chamber soon? It was a sweet question, not a wary one, I don't think anything is wrong, I'm just anxious to be home. In the meantime, I am just grateful for a sweet kind stallion that had graciously offered to be my guide.
vessel
nymphetamine x kimber
ooc: finally getting this up... stupid grad school. Feel free to Reply to this in the Forlorn Forest
