"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
Aditi's first thought is that her bright coat will stick out like a sore thumb, and she cannot help but sigh in exasperation. It will be hard to hide herself here, though it will not matter eventually - she is not the the face of friendliness, after all. Her gait is slow and leisurely as she enters the wasteland. There is no rush to explore the place, considering Rodrik had made it clear that his answer to her question would not come in the near future. Whether or not he answered her was of no real concern to the dappled mare. Now that she was here, within Pangea, their silent accord had been signed and sealed: she would provide Rodrik with her presence, perhaps her intellect if she ever decided to reveal it to him, and he would offer her protection while she resided within his humble abode.
In time, he would discover her usefulness, and there was a chance that their business relationship would flourish, but the Nez Perce mare would simply relax in her new home, at least for now.
She follows a dried riverbed, her ears twitching each time the wind picks up and echoes hauntingly against the canyon walls. On the plus side, she muses to herself, she will not have to feign friendliness, like she would have felt obliged to do in Tephra, with Magnus. The buckskin stallion had been amiable and warm, and Aditi simply could not subject him to her personality, which frequently came across as cold and uncaring.
The black-pointed mare finds a (comfortable?) place near the riverbed, in the general vicinity of some sparse, patchy foliage. Whipping her tail against her flanks nonchalantly, Aditi throws her head upwards and whinnies loudly for her new acquaintance. Part of her yearns to sing-song come out, come out, but she deftly avoids the cliche.
12-13-2016, 03:46 PM (This post was last modified: 12-13-2016, 03:47 PM by Rodrik.)
Beyond the little offering of food and water here, there is something deeper within the wasteland. Pangea has become to feel like an old home to him—the very kingdom he ruled himself at one time before the Reckoning. This place, he has come to call home, is not for the weaker hearted. It was made for those that fight against the current of the ocean, against what life force desires to bring them all down. Pangea was created for the strong-willed, those that fight to survive, to live another day.
They had all come to take what belonged to them. Selfish creatures that lived within this grey wasteland was not uncommon. Rodrik may not know the current residents very well, but he remembers the Chamber residents were just the same. It as if the Chamber’s own will has come to find its place in the new world. Rodrik would not object to such things. He desired such powerful entities, especially among those he surrounded himself with.
In fact, he found something admirable with Aditi. There was something hidden within her that would prove to be useful one day. Rodrik has had his time to master the skill of choosing the best to rise up a land. However, he is no leader among here. He is simply a helping-hand, bringing the wicked who do not rest to one place. At least, hopefully, his efforts will be noticed eventually.
He strives for power, not greedily like most, but often as a protection for himself and loved ones. Sometimes it was simple power that was used as a stepping stone to reach higher for something more. Rodrik had found that being merely a king was a stepping stone, as he thought himself to be in the highest power of all in Beqanna at one time. The devil had been wrong—there were other things much greater than holding a kingdom and crown upon your head.
Rodrik is not far from here when she calls him. He has kept watch on her ever since they arrived in the wasteland. Some would find it not appeasing but Rodrik found it a useful tool to use in order to gain information. It was usefulness of another to where he found their worth. He approaches her at a causal pace. There was no hurry for Rodrik these days when every event was playing out in his favor. If anything, you could say he felt no longer apprehensive of what eventually would contain him, shackle him back into the shadows.
“Aditi,” he says with a smirk, ever growing on his lips as he watches her, “It’s so good to see you. Rodrik licks his lips lightly and allows a moment of silence to wander between them. “What do you think of Pangea?” It truly did not spark any beauty, but beyond the physical of things there was much more. Rodrik and always found such things in others—he valued the mind and soul above all else.
Aditi waits alongside the riverbed, though not impatiently, using her current solitude to her advantage. Her gaze moves slowly, from one side of the wasteland to the other, with something that could be considered a little bit stronger than general interest. This portion of Pangea offers little in foliage and in aesthetics, but the openness of the terrain is what truly catches the mare's eye. She finds Rodrik's arabian-esque frame in the distance even before she can hear him, and her dappled body turns to face his direction.
It's another minute or so before the chestnut brute is before her. His smirk precedes him.
Aditi offers a nod to the stallion. Her ears flutters in their tousled nest of a mane, pointing in Rodrik's direction as her name rolls from his tongue. An odd sensation courses through her suddenly, and swiftly, though it's not entirely uncomfortable. Aditi shifts her weight in a brief bout of confusion, and then proceeds to push whatever that was out of the way.
"Rodrik," her voice is soft, though not quite a purr. She refrains from returning his compliment and instead turns so that she can see him more comfortably, her bright amber eyes analyzing the way he holds himself. The red stallion looks at home next to the parched river of Pangea, or at least more comfortable than he had been in the field. She supposes, though, that Magnus could have had something to do with the dynamic of their first conversation.
The tone of his question is neutral enough, but Aditi is quite sure her new friend is not looking for her to inflate his ego over the beauty, or lack thereof, of his wasteland home. She lets silence settle comfortably between them for a few moments, her gaze moving now across the contours of Pangea, before offering Rodrik her response.
"There's a defensive advantage to living here. The threat of raids has been virtually nullified by how open the valley is," she moves her amber eyes back to the stallion casually as the wind begins to pick up again. She resumes speaking, though a bit louder this time, "The only negative I see is the lack of foliage, though I imagine you've a spot hidden away in one of those canyons that can sustain the herd." Her two-toned mane and tail sting as they whip against her coat but she pays no mind to either of them as she tosses her head towards Rodrik.
"And you, Rodrik? What do you think of your new companion?" She's feeling playful, but Aditi's face remains neutral as she asks. Her tone is neither hopeful that he will humor her or laced with the spite that some "claimed" mares tend to carry with them, but instead illuminates her pure curiosity in the stallion's opinion.
Knowing him well would make her stay in Pangea much more pleasurable, and there was no better time to start.
12-23-2016, 09:20 PM (This post was last modified: 12-23-2016, 09:21 PM by Rodrik.)
In truth, Rodrik would never need anything to inflate his ego. He is more self-confidant than anything in his ability to do and get what he wants. When you are the devil, everything is quite easy to get. It surprised him how foolish others can be. Moreover, he is more marveled at the idea of others that think on the same thought line as him. It has made such tasks easier but also manipulating quite harder to do. Rodrik, forever and always, never feared a challenge. It was a fun game—a dangerous game to play.
Rodrik listens carefully to the blanket buckskin. He never lets his nutmeg gaze slip away from her as the moment of silence consume between the two of them. The silence is welcoming, a certain dark peacefulness comforts him. Aditi moves her gaze across the land as he curiously waits for what she has to say.
What she says is something he does not quite expect. There are few who would think so deeply into a land. Most others would comment on the obvious, but Aditi thought outside the box. “You have an eye for unobvious matters,” he comments, “though I hope no raids will take place very soon.” Beqanna deserved a peaceful moment. A moment for them to rebuild a life and find a foundation of balance and strength in their new lands. “Beqanna indeed is in a time of peace, but when with the coming of the Reckoning it will all be forgotten soon enough.” He flicks his tail as he feels the wind picking up. Rodrik has grown used to the wind and the song it sings sometimes. It is a comforting tune he has found coming close to his heart—a new age it reminds him of. “Of course there are spots for us to eat. I would not dare live in such a place without.”
Rodrik smirks at her next question. Aditi does not give away anything with her neutral expression. It reminds him of a game he played once with Brunhild. However, such a thing turned into something else. It was nothing he would have thought become between them but it did. “I would say I enjoy my new companion so far.” He admits honestly as the comment isn’t very hidden when it comes to those he feels he can bond with (though always for his own benefit in the end). “I see that we might get along, perhaps one day you might prove to me worth something to me.” Rodrik tilts his head for a moment, nutmeg eyes studying her set of eyes. “Then again, you might make a very worthy enemy to me. It’s hard to say but I am sure in time I will find out.” He smirks at her softly.
"Peace never lasts as long as we'd like," she muses quietly, as her amber eyes move back to Rodrik. The winds embrace them both for a moment and Aditi's nostrils flutter at the mix of scents from the wasteland and the stallion's musk. There's another, almost heavier, scent in the air, and she makes note to ask Rodrik about it later on. It was not uncommon for multiple stallions to reside within the same herdland, but Aditi would not feel comfortable within the confines of the wasteland if she did not learn the pecking order -- and swiftly.
Her two-toned mane is still whipping around her dappled neck when Rodrik comments on the lack of visible foliage in Pangea. She refrains from responding, considering the matter closed now that she knows she will not be forced to trudge to one of the mingle lands whenever her stomach grumbled, but she does nod to acknowledge that he has answered her.
The mare's eyes watch closely to see if her last inquiry has caught the red beast off guard, but he betrays nothing, and instead gives her the grin that she has already come to expect.
It's not an unpleasant expression, she admits to herself.
Rodrik is forthcoming with his response, voicing a concern that those with an ample amount of intelligence struggle with on a regular basis. It was relatively easy to find other intelligent beings to network with on a daily basis, but the real challenge was finding someone intelligent who would be loyal and trustworthy. For once, she gifts Rodrik with her own grin in return and her words are light with amusement, "Why not both?"
Shifting her weight, the dappled mare turns slightly so that she is facing the cracked riverbed. The winds have died down, though not entirely, and loose granules of dirt dance and glide against the hard-packed earth where water once flowed.
"Do you have the time to give me a tour?" She implies that he may have something other than her to take care of, though the inquiry is neither biting nor terse. She could explore on her own, should she need to, but something tells her that Rodrik will be willing to bring her around, now that he knows she is not looking for him to give her a tour of the "top ten most breathtaking" parts of Pangea.
01-07-2017, 05:14 PM (This post was last modified: 01-07-2017, 05:15 PM by Rodrik.)
He knows peace and ware. The stories of the old world before he was born were passed onto him. Rodrik had his own share of war between kingdoms as a young stallion and when he was a king. Osric leaves a sour taste in his mouth still, but the death of his co-ruler is far behind him. Rodrik does not have a need to remain in the past, only to learn from it and never make the same mistakes again. And that is exactly what he has been shaped into doing—never truly trusting another so openly like he did with Osric. However, there was a difference when it came to Brunhild than his once co-ruler.
The grin from Aditi was surprising, but Rodrik does not let such pleasure show. He knows he surely might be on the right track as her grin and tone of amusement are evident to a good start. The red stallion rolls his shoulder slightly, considering her question for a moment. “It would be unwise to consider your enemy a companion,” he says with a smile as he continues, “Of course, only the best can play both parts without the other one knowing.” He laughs then and adds, “I’ll have to keep an eye on you.” But the devil is always watching.
Rodrik’s mane settles down just as the wind does, no longer strands of hair are piercing his vision as he watches the blanket buckskin mare. “I suppose that would be the gentleman thing to do,” he says with a smirk. Rodrik’s nutmeg gaze flicks to the riverbed before them, considering where he might take her first. “There are some caverns I’ve come across but never ventured into,” he mentions. “Of course, we don’t have to if you are afraid of the dark.” He flicks his attention back to her with a wider smirk this time.
"Please do," she says playfully (and uncharacteristically), as Rodrik threatens to keep an eye on her. Aditi turns her amber eyes from the stallion and lets the grin drop from her face, replacing it with something much more... noncommittal. A quick, almost incomprehensible memory of Tabor and Fantome weasels its way into the Nez Perce's mind and it suddenly hits her that Rodrik could have been the third to complete their version of their Three Musketeers. She flicks her gaze back to him, slightly wary, but perhaps even more intrigued than before.
She shoves the nostalgia away and inquires about Pangea, pleased that the chestnut stallion has agreed to assist her in familiarizing the wasteland. "Are you implying that you are a gentleman?" The question is innocent enough, but a certain amount of mischief lights up Aditi's eyes. She flicks her duo-toned tail lightly against her flanks as she falls again into silence, but the rest of her frame remains unmoving.
Rodrik pauses to consider where they will go, and Aditi is not disappointed when he reveals his choice. An amused snort flutters her nostrils at the stallion's jab and the painted mare finds that he has caused her to grin once more. "It is you who should be the fearful one," She paws a black hoof against the dry earth, a plume of dust drifting away from them, "I get quite predatory in the dark." She offers him a wink, feeling slightly odd at the gesture, before she pivots on her hinds and readies herself for their adventure.
"Which way?"
(Your post was great! You have to promise not to judge this one, though xD)
![[Image: lRJZ7qE.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/lRJZ7qE.gif)
