"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
The most laid-out plans were the ones that took months to perfect. There was an art to mimicry, a need for attention to detail and plenty of patience. It was easy to assume another form; just like snapping one’s fingers, you could trade a color or a marking in the blink of an eye. Shape was a little harder; three-dimensionally one must be familiar with the subject. Do the bones curve just so? Is this muscle more developed here, less developed there? Mannerisms came next; how do they walk, talk, eat? Do they sleep a certain way, own a certain smile or a hold fast to a permanent frown? Then acting - you must become the other individual so completely that you forget yourself.
And lastly, smoothing out the rough edges. Scars, a cow lick, the color of each hair in the mane and tail, the different layers of color that made the eye, how the teeth looked when exposed … you get the gist.
Wyrm’s rubbing down the last few edges now. “Solace …” He tries, peering at himself in the reflection of a stagnant pool. He clears his throat, adjusts the length and width of his vocals chords, tries again. “Solace …”
That one was perfect.
For a minute longer he considers the image peering back at him. Its likeness is of the Queen’s trusted childhood friend - a stallion by the name of ‘Smoak’ - and Wyrm is rather pleased with the result. He’s been watching them for a long time, after all. A very long time. He remembers how the two had gone to wait out a buffeting storm in one of Tephra’s caves, (how fortuitous that he’d come to look for Longclaw, and found those two instead) and how, after a spell of time thereafter, he’d heard of her coronation.
In his mind, that was opportunity.
It was almost impossible; Smoak’s discerning feature was his amor, cast of bone and unique in every way - except for the fact that this method of defense had been cultivated thousands of years before mammals ruled the earth. Heartfire’s visions, given to him as a boy and proved useful ever since, had revealed an extinct creature squat and thick, and most importantly, covered in bone armor.
They are not exactly the same, (only Smoaks could be deemed the original) but for looks and touch they do the job nearly as well as the real ones. “Hmmm.” He ponders aloud, lightening them by a shade or two until he feels they’re identical and then, he exhales before turning away.
In the solitude of his walk from the Riverlands to Hyaline, he forgets everything that he used to be. Wyrm washes away, taking with it all sense of tension or unease, and Smoak takes center stage, complete with a smile Wyrm knows that Smoak reserves for his favorite tri-colored girl.
Wyrm
Ain't it funny how your new life didn't change things?
After Svedka and Smoak's departure, Solace has felt a profound emptiness. The eastern border now held a magnetic pull for her, her gaze seems to drift in that direction after every other breath. Lingering along the horizon line her blue eyes are sharp and clear, yet they lack their usual vitality and sparkle. She tells herself she is being foolish, immature, obsessive - everything she doesn't want to be. But the missing presence of the spirited stallions in her heart and daily routine is simply too vast to be ignored.
Despite her forlorn glances, she didn't truly expect to see either of their pale forms for weeks - or months. She is left to wonder if she had made a mistake when she decided to send Svedka away before he could grow restless.... if she had made an even bigger mistake when she agreed that Smoak should go with him.
Her stomach churns to think of what could happen in that much time. For two handsome stallions gallivanting across the map, the possibilities (for good and bad) were endless.
But she wouldn't let this time go to waste, she wouldn't fret herself bald during this window of time which had been meant to help her focus on running Amet'sher kingdom.
At least that's the plan - until she catches sight of the same champagne stallion she had just been thinking of.
The smile which blossoms across her face is radiant, as it is the symptom of a heart overflowing with joy. "Smoak!" Solace calls across the distance between them, and her hooves dig deep into the soft spring earth below her as she leaps into a canter. "Was the world out there not everything you thought it would be?"
She reaches him quickly, letting her chest meet his as she nips along his withers. Her high-set neck arches as she brings her muzzle along his shoulder, huffing in the river scents briefly before taking a step back so she can better see his face. "I won't pretend I'm not happy to have you back early."
Smoak is overjoyed to see her - it can’t be misplaced as anything else. His warm eyes are endearing as they watch Solace cry out for him, every twitch of his muscles aligned to show the wholehearted yearning he barely contains when she lightly teases him.
“It was lacking a certain … someone, honestly.” He answers shyly by pressing his lips to the curtain of her two-toned mane. His body warms against her own, molds itself to the shape she presses into him, and with only reserved hesitation Smoak pulls her close in a gentle hug. “And I won’t pretend I’m not happy that the adventure is over.” The young stallion laughs as Solace pulls away - a sound free of concern now that he’s been reunited with Hyaline’s brightest star.
She wants explanation, though; His hazel eyes are never far from that attractive face she sports. “Svedka was fine without me - I barely had to suggest it.” He presses easily, a knowing smile tilting his stolen lips into a thoughtful, handsome grin. He chooses his next words carefully, very carefully, and that attention to detail gives the sentence a serious air when he finally does speak again, “It’s peaceful out there, lots of friendly faces. We met a charming mare who wanted to tour with us as far as Ischia.”
Now his gaze darts away, as if trying to recall the shape of an imaginary woman to mind. Smoak seems hazy with the memory, even goes for a wistful, pining sort of look before pretending to suddenly come back to the present. “But I guess wanderlust just isn’t a part of me.” He shrugs, “It really only made me think of home …” He drifts, moving forward to press his angular nose into the shadowy dip of her pale shoulder, “ … and you.”
That’s enough, for now.
Smoak the heartthrob disappears, easily replaced with the fluid personality Solace might find more comforting after such a roundabout statement. His off-white teeth catch a tendril of her mane and he tugs, playfully, before moving to pass behind her and stop at her opposite side. “What have I missed? Hyaline didn’t crumble without us around?” Smoak laughs, the sound sweeping away what’s left of the tense air.
Wyrm
Ain't it funny how your new life didn't change things?
01-25-2018, 01:30 PM (This post was last modified: 01-25-2018, 02:02 PM by Solace.)
Solace
He aptly anticipates her concern, dissipating the apprehension she has before it has time to truly take shape - she knew all too well that Svedka would be just fine traveling on his own... or with a companion he picked up along the way. Smoak seems to know this too judging by the grin he gives her, and there is a slight satisfaction in thinking that he had been the third wheel. His short adventure has somehow aged him, but she finds the minor change in his mannerism intriguing.
She wonders if she had unintentionally given him a test.
As a child, Tangerine's interest in far away had left Solace motherless, and Svedkas unquenchable desire for adventure was a constant source of worry for her. She had fought and lost to adventure her entire life. Even in her kingdom, there would be those who looked down upon Hyaline for the very characteristics she painstakingly fostered.
If she was ever to give away her heart it would be so much easier if she didn't have to fight something new anymore. If she could be enough for someone - completely enough.
If it was a test, Smoak aced it.
"I guess wanderlust just isn’t a part of me.” He shrugs nonchalantly as if the words he is speaking aren't re-arranging all her priorities. “It really only made me think of home …”
He says exactly what she wants to hear, not that she knew she needed it until he said it. But that was who Smoak was to her, he filled in the gaps before she even had to ask, and her heart is glowing as she stumbles into her own fairy tale.
But somewhere in the back of her mind, an alarm is ringing.
She decided to push it away.
She was tired of pulling herself in, bristling every emotion - if there was anyone in the world she could be herself with it was Smoak, she was tired off the bell which has been censoring every action her entire life.
She just wanted to say and do what she felt like doing, and with that thought the tension between them seems more like magnetic electricity - something to savor, not diffuse.
But he is moving on, she doesn't stop him. It was always easy for her to talk about Hyaline. "A few new faces, mostly." She thinks back to the handful of horses who had found the lake kingdom seeking sanctuary over the winter and her mind begins to wander to kingdom duties. "Now that your back, I want you to think about taking on more of a roll in the guard. I know everything has been quiet around here," Her gaze drifts to the south where her unknown neighbors live "but I don't want us to be caught with fifteen diplomats and one fighting man if something should happen."
But her thoughtful gaze quickly returns to her companion. "Sorry," she laughs, bumping her pale shoulder against his, "Enough about management, you don't have to decide now."
caretaker of hyaline
I'm saying this is right before she gets her wings in the timeline
