"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
12-11-2016, 11:06 PM (This post was last modified: 12-11-2016, 11:07 PM by Terra.)
when you speak dreams and reality collide
She runs as if her life depends on it.
Her body continues to ripple as she passes tree after tree. She can feel her coat changing as she moves, becoming coarse, becoming thick, becoming fine once again …
Once in a while she can feel something sprout from her back or scalp, only to melt away, but she doesn’t stop, doesn’t turn to look. No, she keeps running as fast as her legs can carry her, back to her family, back to Ruan and Reagan and Iasan …
But then, as she crosses the border something suddenly ripples in her feet and she falls, body rolling over root and bush. A scream rips from her throat as she falls - “Dad! Mom!” She’s never been so terrified in her life. What is happening to her?!
When her body finally slides to a stop she raises her head to look at her feet (her newly transparent wings aching from being battered during the fall), and is instantly frozen by what she sees. Instead of normal grey/brown hooves a pair of taloned raptors’ feet (like those of an eagle) are sprouting out of the ends of her dark legs. “Ahh!” She tries to force herself upward for a moment, but unused to such unusual feet as she is, she slips back to the ground. Her brown eyes turn to the surrounding foliage instead, hoping that her parents will have somehow heard her call. “Mom! Dad!” Maybe they’ll have some idea of what’s happening to her.
He can nearly feel the panic as she tore through the forest. Sense it. Taste it. His eyes were immediately wide and alert, swiveling in the direction of her call. And then he was running, racing his way to her. There was no mind for stealth as he crashed through the brush like a maddened bull, throwing up needles and leaves in his wake. There was only urgency, sharp and cold.
Rhythmic thunder quaked the earth with his stride. He was changed recently; colder, harder. The soft wings at his side had been torn violently from him, replaced with delicately carved wings of ice. Cloudy white with a sheen of frost, they looked like frosted glass, and with magic, moved as fluidly and naturally as the feathered ones had. They lifted and dropped in sync with his gallop, propelling him forward.
"Mom! Dad!"
She called again, so near. He stormed to her as he drew closer, ignoring the odd scent coming off of her as he stood over her protectively with wings splayed wide like a shield, and sought out the threat. Trees, trees. Only their forest, frightened critters gone silent in terror. He searched a few moments longer, analyzing the scents through wide nostrils. A stranger's scent lingered on her below him. And.. bird?
Terra..? He carefully stepped to the side, studying her with concern. Strong talons replaced her little hooves, as though stuck halfway between shifting into some other creature. His muzzle lowered, and with a breath he calmly blew a loose raven-black feather from her coat. Whatever this was, she should have control over it, but her grip was lost in her flight.
You are safe. You are horse. Close your eyes and see it, he commanded gently. If he could get her to return to her familiar body, she could calm sooner and they would be able to sort this out. Reagan would be able to see what this magic was, and what sort of shifter she was. Because it very much looked as though she wished to be a Gryphon just then.
Reagan and Iasan keep running. The grey mare had heard her daughter call, and she had immediately stopped what she was doing—eating—and ran to where she knew the commotion would be. Iasan had said nothing—rather, he had moved along beside her as fast as his legs could carry him; his little spotty behind wiggling as he ran.
Miley Cyrus would have been proud of him.
When at last they come to where She knew Terra to be, her eyes opened wide to see that she had the feet of… a bird? Ruan was there, commanding her gently to return herself to normal. The alpha female moved her way silently around her daughter, as if viewing the damage for the first time. She got her powers back, Ru she whispers into his mind, flicking her tail and moving her ears back and forth. Her nose goes to the ground to inspect the damage, while at the side, Iasan falls over, his pink hooves up in the air. “AHA! Ahahaha! Terra?! You look like a swimming bird! Look at those flippers! I’ve got a flipper bird for a sister!” He is laughing, a sweet sound that takes over the moment and bounces off of the trees around them.
Reagan scowls at him. “That will not help, son. And when you get your powers, whatever they are, let us see you not have any problems displaying them…” Iasan shook his fuzzy head adamantly, his ears flopping about his head. “Nuh uh, mummy. If I had any powers, but I would be perfect at them, just like you and Daddy are. But I am not weird like Terra, or Heda or Jinju. I won’t ever have to worry about…changing like they do.” He sneers the word “change”, as if the idea of any traits is abhorrent to him. The idea that he may have had powers in a previous life does not occur to him. He is a boy—what does he know of such things beyond whether or not his tummy is full?
Panic fresh in her heart Terra continues to scrabble at the ground, but her new awkward bird feet break through the loose soil and she slips yet again. “Mom! Dad!” She’s so confused, so scared. She's never been exposed to shifters before, had never even known that a thing like this was possible.
And then suddenly he’s there. A familiar dark shape crashes through the trees, then stands over her with wings outstretched. And while she’s still frightened, she suddenly knows that everything will be alright. Ruan and Reagan will know what to do.
After a few moments Ruan steps to the side, and finally realizes what’s happened. But while there’s concern, there’s no panic in his voice, and his infectious calm begins to leech into her. “You are safe. You are horse. Close your eyes and see it.”
She obeys, shutting her eyes tightly. And somehow instinct takes over, her mind remembering her hard hooves, and the way the earth feels beneath them. She’s so focused that she does not hear Reagan and Iasan approach … but she does unfortunately manage to hear the tail end of Iasan’s comment. “I’ve got a flipper bird for a sister!”
Her eyes snap open, but she checks her feet before expressing her irritation at her brother. Oh thank goodness. Hooves once again. Her brown eyes snap to her spotty brother, narrowing into a glare as he claims - “But I am not weird like Terra, or Heda or Jinju. I won’t ever have to worry about … changing like they do.” She bites back the insult about his face that’s rising to her tongue. She’ll have a chance to pay him back later. She wants to know what’s happening to her.
Her eyes return to Ruan, then back to Reagan. “Mom, Dad, what’s going on? What’s happening to me?”
He glanced to Reagan as she entered and examined Terra, giving her an imperceptible nod. Iasan belted out laughter and fell to the ground, kicking his little legs in mirth. Ruan clucked his tongue at him in disapproval, but it was Reagan who scolded the boy's torment of his sister. Iasan shook his head.
"Nuh uh mummy. If I had any powers, but I would be perfect at them, just like you and Daddy are. But I am not weird like Terra, or Heda, or Jinju. I won't ever have to worry about... changing like they do."
You'll not speak of your sisters that way, Iasan, he said firmly with a hard look. Best to cut the boy down early so he would not grow to think himself better than them. Their daughters, although adopted, all meant as much to him as their own flesh and blood colt. He was such a handsome little pup, though, wasn't he? A beautiful blend of both his parents.
His blue eyes fell back to Terra as she changed back to herself. "What's happening to me?" He smiled warmly, reassuring her as he touched his muzzle to her shoulder. Well, your magic has returned, clearly. Perhaps a shape-shifting ability of some kind. Can you discern what it is, Reagan? he said, looking back to his mate in askance.
