"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
She had never really known her father. She had heard many stories, of his great triumphs, of his infamous ways. Her mother taught her much about him, how to act when he was around, how to hold herself in his presence. She always felt him within her, even if he wasn't never really there. She had always wanted to make him proud.
But how could she make him proud, when he cared only for himself?
After the Reckoning, she lost nearly everyone. She didn't know where any family or relatives were, let alone the father she had only seen a couple of times. She herself had spent many years afterwards wandering, not really sure of her place, not really sure of who she was. Her father had been so evil, so hellbent on conquering the world, all Krone had wanted was to...I guess, show him she was too?
Ischia. It had...changed her outlook, on many different things. She harbored hatred, anger, sadness, a whole swell of emotions in her chest from never really feeling loved or like she was worth something to those around her. The island made her want to be someone better, to care for something more than anyone had ever cared for her.
She is hovering above it now, fresh off a journey from the mainland. And that salty sea breeze fills her nostrils with a delight she hasn't felt since she was a child. Her breath, it catches for a moment as she realizes maybe this land would be the first thing she has ever truly loved, because it is the only thing that has ever loved her back in such an unforgiving world.
And in that moment a realization hits her. Maybe she didn't have to be like her father to make him proud. Maybe she didn't have to make him proud at all. Maybe, for once, she could try to make herself proud, instead of everyone else around her. She can see the new inhabitants, new visitors, and all the wildlife and plantlife from her vantage point, and she grins.
Maybe she could conquer the world...but in a different way than her father had intended.
OOC: I've been wanting to get this post up for awhile. It was typed on my phone so excuse any mistakes and the fact that it is HTML-less. xD basically, she's had a change of heart because she wants to be a different kind of person than her father was...she wants to be capable of loving something other than herself. This is her first step. Feel free to reply or not, she's still flying lmao.
hold me in this wild, wild world 'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
He emerges from the trees with every intent of maybe taking a quick gallop down the beach, then possibly heading into the mainland to possibly do some recruiting, or something, but he is sidetracked by the sound of the waves crashing on the shore at high tide, and despite a normal aversion to swimming (wet feathers work about as well as one would think they do), the bay stallion walks out into the water until his knees are submerged, and then the cold water touches his barrel, and then his wings are spread, floating on top of the water, and he slips off of the ledge where the shore drops off and he swims in a wide circle before returning and emerging from the water, shaking off the worst of it and standing quietly, feeling peaceful.
It is at that time when the shadow of another pegasus covers him momentarily in shadow and Brennen raises his amber gaze to the sky to investigate. He recognizes the bay-and-green girl despite the height at which she is soaring, and though his heart immediately leaps into the sky with her, the stallion is grounded for now, until his spread wings have dried under the midday sun. Brennen is forced to wait and see if she chooses to come down to him; he supposes that he has a 50/50 chance...she is either coming or going, and there is nothing he can do to change it.
Content in that knowledge, he lifts one foot and settles into a relaxed stance, overlarge black wings spread out far and eyes closed to wait for something to change. He will hear Krone descend, or any others who choose to approach.
hold me in this wild, wild world and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
The sky has always been her happy place. If she wasn't in the sky, she was thinking about it, and sometimes she wished she could be there forever. She gives her wings are hard flap, gliding through the air gracefully. A splashing in the water catches her attention, and she glances down to see the familiar bay. Brennen, she remembers. She figures this is good a time as any to get to know a fellow citizen of Ischia.
A moment later, she is landing. She takes a quick moment to preen her wings, plucking carefully at the green feathers, tucking them back into their rightful places. Her eyes glance over to the bay stallion, and she tucks her wings back tightly to her sides.
"It feels nice out today," She mutters, growing closer to him. She notices the dampness of his own dark feathers. "If only you weren't so drenched." She jokes, giving him a mischievous wink.
hold me in this wild, wild world 'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
The sound of air through feathers is as familiar to him as his own heartbeat. His childhood was full of feathers; he was raised from birth until nearly a year old by the ravens and he flew before he could even really walk. It doesn’t matter how long he has lived in civilization, it is the sky that he loves the most, and the birds who were his first friends. So he hears her coming to ground, and slowly blinks his eyes open, focusing on her as she preens quickly and then meanders in his direction, sinking into the sand with each step.
“I thought,” he drawls, “I should at least pretend to know what it is like for those who have to swim back and forth from the mainland.” A brief, laughing tilt of his head. “In case they ask, during recruiting. You know how it goes, they worry about the weirdest things.” The bay half-mantles his wings, feeling the dampness still beneath the very top surface, and then spreads them again as far as he can. He turns his honey-brown gaze from her to the waves lapping at the shore behind him and adds, “You would really have to love it here, I think - to be stuck here all but a few hours of low tide when it is possible for those who must walk to cross.”
He is thoughtful as he turns back to her. “How are you liking our new home, so far?”
hold me in this wild, wild world and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
For a moment she is listening to him without actually looking at him. Her eyes are adrift, gazing out to the waves crashing violently against the shoreline, as they so often did at any point during the day. It is only when Brennen spreads his massive ebony wings that she turns her head, mouth slightly agape, gawking at them. They are nearly twice the length of his own body, how had she not noticed their sheer size before? She isn’t usually one to stare, but it seemed an appropriate time to do so. She had seen many Pegasus, with wings of different colors, sizes, and textures, but never some quite so large; her own emerald feathers seem laughably tiny compared to his.
She finally manages to pull her eyes away from them to meet his honey-colored gaze. ”I suppose that’s a good reason for your little dip,” She teases, cocking her leg. “I must say I’ve only brought one back by water, and the trip wasn’t so bad. Rough, but nothing impossible,” A smirk spreads across her lips. “And I managed not to soak myself.” She lets out a soft chuckle, fluttering her wings at him. “Try to keep them up when you swim, you won’t retain as much water.” A sly wink, because she knows he is probably already aware of this fact.
She again looks to the sea as he asks his next question. A sigh escapes her, but one of happiness, not grief. “I find myself rather content here. It’s beautiful, calming...but I agree, I wouldn’t have to be stuck here all the time.” Now a glance back up to the sky, where her heart leapt from the ground to the clouds. In a past life, Krone probably would’ve been some sort of sea bird – her shared love of the ocean and the sky make her feel it would be impossible for her to have been anything but. The wind catches at her wings, and she allows herself to spread her own span as well. The vibrant green feathers reflect almost like jewels in the midday sunlight, and she side-eyes Brennen to see what he would do or say next.
