"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'm waiting for this sky to fall, i’m waiting for a sign. i know you're out there; somewhere out there.
She’s kept to herself since running into those creatures in the meadow. She’s stuck to the rivers and streams, slinking about in the shallows and feeding off the many fish she finds there. She doesn’t want to shock anyone else, but she doesn’t want to leave. She doesn’t want to get swept out to sea again, she likes this place.
But she’s still curious, curious about that strange stallion with his faceted eyes and his long tongue. He’s different, like her. Not like the so many ordinary horses that populate this land.
And so she finds herself following the traces of his scent, tracking him through the waterways until she comes across a sprawling green land, full of trees and little hills and many more of the ordinary horse creatures. In the centre sprouts a massive tree, unlike anything she’s ever seen, watered by the clearest spring she’s ever swum in. It’s lovely, certainly more lovely than anything she’s ever experienced, even in her previous home.
She’s sure that she could grow to love it here … so long as the other inhabitants don’t discover her. She has no doubt they wouldn’t look to kindly on her feeding habits, though she always does her best not to kill the creatures she feeds upon (but try as she might, sometimes she does take too much). Unfortunately, they’ll probably find her at some point, but for now she’s content to enjoy the place, spending her days sunning on the banks of the little stream and splashing about in the water.
watch your tongue or have it cut from your head, save your life by keeping whispers unsaid.
There had been many times in his life when others had shied away from him, avoided him or mocked him. It no longer defined him. He had come to know adoration, affection and companionship, all in spite of his strangely obtrusive compound eyes and feathery antennae, which danced along in the current breeze - a last wisp of summer as autumn settled into the land. It was these experiences that spurred him forward and allowed him to keep out the dark thoughts that had so often plagued him in his youth.
He was Elysium; he was himself and nothing more - and there was little he could do to change it, even if he had wanted to. He was beginning to sink into his realization as the years dragged on, and it was becoming a comforting understanding. Alas, his mind still drifts to the other, at times more interesting, creatures he has come across - and Karris always lingers at the very top of the list. He had recognized something extraordinary in her when he had first met her; but oh how little did she realize she was not alone. There were many unusual creatures in all of the land - he was not the most unusual, nor was she. For her to think otherwise spoke of her experiences. Negative ones, to be certain, which he too shared.
He does not linger on these thoughts today though - instead, he is thoroughly enjoying the gentle waft of air as it crawls up along the delicate curves and edges of his wings, and the warmth of the sun is not so painfully strong today. He lopes along the riverbed, his six legs moving forward in a lazy tandem - graceful, and yet slightly eerie in their movement. His gaze is unfocused, for the most part, as he wanders towards the massive tree that looms in the midst of their meadow. He often spent time beneath it, shielded from the light of day and soothed by its shadows. Today was no different.
Or was it?
Something catches his eye - a drifting movement along the pliable surface of the water. He pauses, breath held tightly in his chest as he observes carefully. His compound eyes piece together a more vivid image than any simple equine's could - and her motions were entirely aquatic, yet her form was unusual in and of itself. He recognized her immediately and yet did not understand why, or how.
Perhaps it was wishful thinking.
"Karris?"
elysium
no mercy from the edge of the blade, dare escape and learn the price to be paid.
i'm waiting for this sky to fall, i’m waiting for a sign. i know you're out there; somewhere out there.
She is certainly growing to like this place, this land of plenty. The water is cool and clear, the vegetation lush and there’s far more to eat than she had ever thought possible. In so many ways it’s so much better than home and yet … And yet.
Her thoughts turn to Relael as she paddles slowly about in the shallows. Relael had been sparse, harsh even, with little in the way of plants and only a few animals upon which she could feed. But it had been home - the first land she’d ever washed up against, the first place she can even remember. And the creatures there … though she’d been particularly unusual, even for them, she hadn’t been quite as much of an oddity as she is here. She’d still gotten the same looks, but there’d been so many others as well. Here the only other true oddity she’s met is Elysium.
She sighs quietly to herself and dips her grey nose back under the cool water. There’s really nothing she can do. She wouldn’t know the first thing about finding her way back to Relael, and she’d likely be trying to swim against the current the whole way there. This place will have to do.
A nice fat fish swims past her nose and she lazily snaps at it, not truly hungry, but instinctually chasing after the scent of blood. And then … something else catches her attention …
Her rubbery ears, still above the water, catch the sound of something she really doesn’t expect to here - her name.
Her little head explodes out of the water, black eyes wide, and freezes stock still the moment her eyes alight upon an unusual looking figure that she recognizes. “Oh! Uh …” She’s so unused to social interaction, what exactly is one supposed to say again? “Hi Elysiuh.” Damn her ill-formed mouth.
