"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
if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes
(Post-Castile/Amet in River & Post-Jah/Amet in Ischia...) (Will mention those vaguely since NEITHER ARE DONE YET BUT JEJE IS IMPATIENT)
He awakens, groggy and sore and quite under the weather. Whatever Jah-Lilah have given the stallion had been... astonishingly eye-opening, but such encounters call for much solitude after, in hopes to reflect upon the wisdom the soothsayer had bestowed upon him and the things he had seen during his journey. The gilded king as rocked himself from the sandy loam, leather-plating ridding itself of the granules easily. His foreleg and his head ache dully, prompting a groan from Amet as he finally starts to move ─ this time, in the direction of the mainland.
The tropical trees offer a plethora of shade with their giant verdant boughs and the Akhal-Teke is thankful for this fact. His strides are slow and leisurely, lacking the lightness of his usual gait, but at least Jah-Lilah has given him a distraction. Something to keep his mind away from Ciri, even when her scent drifts to him on the breeze and his chest threatens to tighten and suffocate his heart. Amet grunts, turning his amber eyes towards the ground as he continues on his mission to leave, to get out of Ischia and back to the safety of Hyaline.
The gilded king forces himself to think of his journey (the one before him and the one behind him ─ anything, really, to avoid the thought of her) as he pulls away from the treeline, only to have his amber eyes rest on the smoky black frame of Ciri as her voice rings out hopefully (Castile) to a familiar tobiano.
He nearly scoffs (nearly gasps, nearly sighs ─ there are too many emotions to choose from), instead finds it in him to bite his tongue as he silently takes the two strides back to the shelter of the tropical jungle, beneath the hanging branches and between the vines, and continues in the shadows while he tries to figure out what the second best route back to Hyaline would be.
After some time, Circinae, he realizes, could probably be of assistance, and Amet begrudgingly turns around to search for his emerald friend, all the while repressing the hot anger and pain threatening to flare in his chest.
Since Sii want to make my life difficult this is after Castile convo and only mentioned vaguely since DONT KNOW HOW THATS GOING ;p
Ciri
She moves through the jungle forest, reckless and uncaring. Vines rip at her raven locks as they become tangled and trapped within their webs. Cruel twisted branches rake against her scarred hide. For a moment it’s like she’s back there again. Back in the Underneath, fleeing from an enemy she cannot see. She cannot understand. Love had given her a taste of all it’s pleasures and then showed her its dark side. The cruelty of it, the spiraling pain of it’s existence.
It wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth any of this. How she wishes she had never fallen into that portal so that she would have never washed up on Hyaline’s shores. How she wishes she could take back the last year of her life and simply be the wandering vagabond again. Needing nobody but herself. But now here she was in this tangled sordid triangle and even worse… Pregnant. Pregnant and alone.
Soliel had only told her vague things about her father. He was a riddle wrapped in an enigma. Magical, she had said. They had met one night and only that one night… The night of her creation. And then her mother had never seen him again. There had never been any hurt in her voice when she spoke of him. Instead there was almost a fondness for the mystery stallion had gifted her with a child she had wanted, a child she had loved. That had been enough for her mother but it wasn’t enough for her.
She had never wanted to be settled with such responsibilities. To be tied down, she hadn’t thought herself capable of such a life. And then Amet came along, brilliant and bright. He glowed like the sun and seemed to compliment her stars. And then Castile, brooding and dark with storms in his mismatched eyes. Something lurked beneath his surface and perhaps that was what had drawn her in all along. A beast that beckoned to her, sensing a slayer to the monster within. Perhaps she had her own streak of darkness within her, undiscovered. Perhaps she knew it deep down but ignored it, fought it.
Part of her doesn’t want to fight it anymore.
She flies through the jungle until a scent hits her like a brick wall, making her slide to a stop. She is a disarray with her mane flying about her, the still silver of her eyes finding him and she suddenly can’t breathe. Her extended sides are heaving and she can’t find her voice, can’t find the words. She merely stares at him, feeling the anguish pressing against her heart just as the baby presses heavily against her stomach.
all of time and space, everywhere and anywhere, every star that ever was
if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes
His foreleg is still stiff despite the healthy amount of walking he's done so far today. The stallion had hoped that it would loosen, that he hadn't actually harmed himself during his adventure with Jah-Lilah, but he is starting to doubt that it's entirely unscathed. The way his hooves sink into the sand does little to assist the sore appendage, but there is no avoiding the terrain as he trudges across the island.
It would seem that Circinae has left Ischia for the day, most likely through her water portal, and Amet sighs dejectedly. He will need to venture back towards the shore, towards Ciri and Castile. Towards another bout of heartbreak. The young king suddenly screams his frustration into the trees, letting the sound echo through the verdant topiary and coax colorful birds from their roosts. He pays no mind to their wings and the way they rustle through the branches, instead pivoting his malnourished golden body around so that he may head again in the direction of home.
The rustling of a creature much larger than a bird draws his attention and Amet slings his head towards the noise, his pupils narrowed as he waits for whoever it is to break through the trees and vines. Perhaps it's Circinae, he hopes, but alas...
Their eyes meet, all gold and silver and rife with emotion. Amet's breath catches and his heartbeat does the same, threatening to break that which beats within his narrow chest. He hadn't wanted for her to see him like this ─ thin, unhealthy, heartbroken, sickly. His jaw clenches and he turns his gilded frame to get out of her way if she wants to move by him and he wills the hurt inside of him back down once more, hiding it deep within him in hopes that doing so for long enough will dissolve the emotions entirely.
"Sorry," he says finally, breaking the silence with a hollow voice, "if I interrupted your meeting with Castile. I was just trying to go home." He can still hear her voice calling to the other stallion. The hope that had trickled into it. His ears flit backwards briefly before his neutral countenance returns, eyes moving beyond his akmar the smoky black mare and to the tropical backdrop. "I guess I should go now."
11-10-2017, 10:10 PM (This post was last modified: 11-10-2017, 10:19 PM by Ciri.)
Ciri
They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one.
She had hoped he had been here to see her. To have a conversation, to lay all the cards on the table. As the still tarnished silver of her eyes searches his golden, she can see instantly that’s not the reason of his visit. There is a pang of guilt as her gaze caresses the once familiar terrain of his golden scales, unable to avoid the unkempt appearance. The skinniness of his frame. He however had completely missed the fullness of her barrel, too focused on Castile. There is a stunned expression on her face as he mentions it, as he turns his back on her.
I can feel the flames on my skin. He says, "Don't throw away a good thing”
For a moment, there is nothing but quiet in her head. But then a soft buzzing begins to infiltrate through her ears just as something takes hold of her. An old feeling, one she hasn’t felt in quite some time. It’s unbridled rage. ”Don’t you dare walk away from me King of Hyaline.” She suddenly hisses through clenched teeth, the sudden still waters of her eyes beginning to ripple as the fire of her anger spreads. ”Really? That’s all you have to say to me? Throw Castile in my face and leave?” Had he been spying on her? Hadn’t even had the courage to face her?
They say I did something bad, then why’s it feel so good?
The child inside of her seems to shift, sensing this new emotion. As if bracing itself from the sudden storm that it can surely feel raging within her. Crackling with electricity as the sky above clears. As the stars come for her. ”How dare you… HOW DARE YOU!”Light me up. Her voice rising, making the birds titter nervously above their heads. Her body is trembling violently as the raw emotion courses through her system like heroine hitting her bloodstream. Both of them, fucking both of them acting like victims they weren’t. When NEITHER of them had ever been truly honest with her about their own hearts. Amet had bided his time to tell her how he felt and Castile…
I never trust a playboy but they love me
As if she couldn’t smell the scent of others on his skin. As if he thought she was stupid enough to not know. Here she had been, pining away with a broken heart over them and all for what? What did she have to show for it? Nothing. She was done with it. Done with being the pathetic little girl crying over boys that had no regard for how she felt. She hadn’t ran into Castile’s arms, hadn't gone to him to tell him what had happened. Because she had given a damn about both of their feelings. And neither of them, these dragons… these BEASTS… Had once thought about her, about her heart. Only their own fragile feelings.
You gotta leave before you get left
The tears in her eyes aren’t from sadness, they are raw with anger and frustration (and fear) as she suddenly raises her head up high. Fixing him within the suddenly fast paced swirl of her steely gaze. They had both held all the power over her and god damnit she was going to take it back. ”Do you not see? Do you not see what you’ve done to me?” The soft hiss of words dangerous and coiling like a cobra, razor sharp and ready to strike.
I let them think they saved me
It’s building, gray matter and sparkling stars, swirling around her heavily scarred figure. Illuminating the ravaged skin across her face, the sudden molten fire in her metallic eyes. And then with a sudden explosion of light and stardust, her power explodes around her just as her voice explodes through the jungle. ”YOU BASTARD!”
It just felt so good.
all of time and space, everywhere and anywhere, every star that ever was
if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes
He is almost free (almost). Amet concentrates on the trees, the sand, the clear sky for the brief moments between his directional adjustment and Ciri's scathing, hardened tone. Anything but her, the source of his heartbreak. The gilded stallion is not surprised, though, when he isn't given the gift of solitude. When he doesn't get to avoid their conversation for another day. She throws his title in his face and Amet jerks his leather-plated head back to lock his gaze on the starry-eyed girl, amazed at the anger in her voice.
He doesn't find words right away ─ he is focused too intently on the rage in Ciri's scarred face, the swirling of her silver eyes, the stars that begin to descend on her. He thinks to reach his mind out to her, to dampen her control of the stars with his nihilism until he is certain he is not in danger, but no, he could never (would never) make her feel powerless like that. She is not a creature to be bridled or caged. And her inner storm is raging to show him just that.
Ciri's voice grows louder, her rage permeating from her silver eyes and her taut muscles. She nearly quivers as she screams HOW DARE YOU! and the dragon king is rising to meet her now, his own face twisted with anger. "How dare I? I give you my soul and you ask me to just be okay with shari ─" he is cut off as she hisses venomously again and he tucks his golden head to his chest, blunt teeth clenched together in pain and rage.
"I've done nothing," he retorts, but then he realizes what she is telling him, though slowly at first. Her sides have widened, her scarred back swayed with added weight. His mind flashes to their night in Sylva, joined in ecstasy beneath the golden trees. "What?" drops quietly from his lips, all anger ebbing into disbelief as he gazes on the daughter of the stars with widened amber eyes. Ciri's rage climaxes, exploding around them and pushing Amet back a stride.
She screams at him again, YOU BASTARD!, and the Akhal-Teke's anger comes back in an overwhelming wave, but it's laced in something else. He wants to close the distance between them, to celebrate their creation of life, to hold her close and intimate ─ he is confused in his emotions, raging and ecstatic and wanting all at the same time. "Is is how you tell me that I'm going to be a father? By calling me a bastard? I gave you all of me. All I wanted was you." he whispers at the starry-eyed mare, his chest expanding with his deep and anxious inhales.
She had half expected him to try and smother her stars and her power. Perhaps by the expression on his face he is too stunned to act. By the look on his face, it seems he had thought her incapable of such raw anger, such fierce emotion, such sharp words. It seems he had never really known her at all. His face twists and contorts with his own seething anger as her words hit home but oh, that’s the difference between them. She had always known what lurked beneath his golden scales, had seen the mask slip ever so slightly. She had always known what he was capable of. He was the one that had forgotten that stars are made with hot gas, a mix of hydrogen and helium, ready to explode and streak across the sky.
But if he drops my name, then I owe him nothin
He tries to retort and she cuts him off with her venomous words. ”When did I ask you to share me Amet? Don’t you put words in my mouth.” She snaps in her blinding anger that seems to seep from her pores and spread it’s dark fingers closer to him. Infesting into his orifices and settling on his weighted heart. I’ve done nothing.” Oh but that was the whole problem wasn’t it? They had both done nothing. They simply expected her love on a silver platter without offering any security in return. Amet had given her sensual pleasure and pretty words but he had never made her think that she was anything but a passing fancy. He had never exposed his heart until she was already questioning her own. And who was the one truly paying for it in body, heart, and soul? Who was the one carrying the full consequence of a failed love?
If he spends my change then he had it comin
Her scream radiates through the canopy, echoing through the vines and dense foliage, permeating into the atmosphere. It pushes him back but it seems he has finally.. FINALLY… Caught on. The explosion of such power instantly makes her weak, the child within stealing her life-force and draining her vigor with each passing second. She is gasping for air, rattled breath stirring within her ragged throat. Her anger still simmering just below the surface and now she can only laugh with disbelief as her cold iron eyes narrow on him. ”It’s always about you isn’t it?” Even now when she is the one with child, when she has been the one trying to spare both of them hurt…. Still it means nothing. Gritting her teeth and hiding her silvery gaze within the mass of tangled raven forelock that sweeps across her face to tickle along her scar, she turns her head to leave.
They said I did something bad…. Why’s it feel so good?”
all of time and space, everywhere and anywhere, every star that ever was
if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes
He had thought that his hallucinatory journey with Jah-Lilah had been a mere hallucination. A panther child had been birthed, one that called to him and possessed his undying love from the moment Amet had seen him through the colorful waves. The gilded stallion had put no weight behind the drug-fueled dreams other than in the wisdom that the red wytch had shared with him. But maybe... could it be? Could the peyote have opened a window to the future for him to gaze into? Incredulity at the possibility draws him from his anger, thrusting it away as his amber eyes search the raging inferno of Ciri's silver ones.
He had always known her capable of anger. Had always suspected that she knew how to harness the power of the stars even before she had been gifted the ability to do so. No ─ he had not thought the smoky mare meek or fragile. It's the direction of the anger that has pushed him onto his heels. It's that the anger is directed at him.
His brows furrow, sad at this realization, as the last acrid remnants of his own rage fade, threatening to return him to his indifference. The young stallion inhales shakily as Ciri's last scathing retort berates his ears and he wills himself to say something to comfort her, to not let her leave as she turns to go. His tongue feels thick as he whispers, "Wait..." and then searches frantically for something else to say. Something to make it better despite the rage and hurt in her eyes.
Despite his own desire to be that young colt from the Dunes again.
The silence between them stretches for an extra beat, and then two. How to tell her how much she means? How ecstatic he is that they will be parents together? How to tell her that despite these feelings, he is still heartbroken. Still uncertain of his own worth.
"Despite my charm," he finally says, quiet but reminiscent of the day he'd asked her to stay in Hyaline, when he'd surprised her with their private den... when they'd explored their own affections and each others' bodies, "I still have no idea what I'm doing." He nickers quietly to her, hoping that she will stay long enough for him to say more.
"I love you, Ciri, with every fiber of my being. And I'm sorry that I've hurt you. I'm so..." he clears his throat, head tossing to rid his amber eyes of his forelock and also to bide time, to find the correct way to explain, "... torn. Because I want to be your one and only. Just as I'd like you to be mine. But I... I'm afraid... that asking that of you could make you resent me in the future." He frowns, his amber eyes searching her gaze even though they beg to look elsewhere, afraid to say the wrong thing. "I don't want to cage you, akmar, I just want you to be happy. I just hope that your happiness is with me."
The leather-plated king takes a step towards the scarred mare, the mother of his unborn child, and he craves to diminish the distance between them entirely. He yearns to pull her close, but he can't yet ─ not when he is still unsure of what she wants. "A child, akmar," he whispers quietly, his eyes drawn to her widening barrel, "Our child." He feels so small in this great big world, but now so powerful. They had created life, the two of them, out of their love. He just hopes that it is not too late, that the wedge between them has not created a permanent crevice.
"You are so beautiful," he lets slip as his gaze returns to her swirling silver eyes, hesitant and hopeful as they stand surrounded by the sounds of Ischia.
