"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
Texas is disappointed to see that the Jungle hasn’t burnt down yet. He’d been delighted when it was underwater and elated while it was frozen, but good luck can’t last forever, and the Amazons are even more persistent in their existence than cockroaches. They choose to live in what is, arguably, the very worst place in Beqanna. It’s hot and sticky and there is so much green that his head hurts. The birds and monkeys are screaming (probably because they’ve noticed an intruder) but Texas simply snorts a few obscenities at them and continues on his way.
He knows the trails through the Jungle, and while there are a few young trees he doesn’t remember, for the most part the place is ingrained in his memory.
He’s not sure who the queen is, but since it’s not Prague he cares very little.
He has instructions for his venture here, and while he does intend to fulfill them, he’d rather do so as quickly as possible. Standing as close as possible to the border of the kingdom, the lanky bay stallion calls out. Perhaps Lyris will answer and he can give her the answer and be gone. He can only hope.
The call comes after the animals of the Jungle have alerted the Sisterhood of a possible intruder. A particular talking parrot – a great grandchild of the parrots Hugo taught to speak perhaps – has taken to cursing the man into every possible and unfortunate situation. Taking this as a sign that she ought to be present at this meeting, Scorch glances one last time at the small silver Patronus who comfortably occupies the small clearing which Scorch has been grazing in. While the Khaleesi may not relate so greatly to the jaguar as Rhy in her lioness form, something of a kinship has sparked between Spirit and Queen.
She arrives quickly, her bald skin rippling, though no longer with fire. Nothing of the old, recognizable Scorch remains save her ever changing dragon eyes, and the shadows which float around her hooves. Regular hooves, now. With this in mind, she figures reintroductions may be necessary, though not many horses these days are quite as hairless as she.
Some horses are simply idiots.
“Khaleesi Scorch,” She says in her husky voice, standing tall and proud before the – in her opinion – disheveled old man. “What can I do for you?”
Rhy feels like she’s always on the move, as of late. Everything has changed. Old faces are flocking home now that Beqanna has finally let them return to the places she loved. New faces as well, perhaps drawn by the ripples of the magic. She wonders sometimes how this change feels in the once non-mythical kingdoms, with their powers restored and new ones bestowed. It must be a beautiful thing, in those kingdoms. It must not hurt in the way it does here, without their tattoos. For Rhy, little has changed. But for Lagertha, age is becoming a problem. For Scorch, she wears the horrors and events of her past on her skin. Quite literally.
Rhy was one of the lucky ones, she knows. And maybe it’s this that motivates her to work even harder, to make up for losing so little. Just the tattoo, which has been promised to be restored to them. Even just such a little thing as that had hurt though. She loves her tattoo, is proud to show the world just who she is and where she belongs.
Now, she felt fucking normal. Granted, Rhy was anything but normal.
The animals are screeching, louder than normal, and Rhy figures someone new has shown up. Probably not a new recruit – the animals had a strange sense of these things. Rather, this was likely a man, because they mostly loathed men. She follows the sounds of the animals, and eventually the sight of her hairless Queen in the trees ahead, until she finds the Falls Ambassador. Scorch introduces herself, though they have all met previously. But Scorch looks so different even Rhy barely recognizes her, though she knows those eyes. She comes to stand by her Queen with a nod of her head to each, and then remains silent. Texas was the one with news.
"Three is the max," the girl quietly murmurs to herself when she follows Scorch and Rhy at a distance. Her senses were quick to notice the pungent odor of a stallion, but she hesitated to greet him. Why? She questions herself but remembers her conversation with Rhy. If a more suppressed and placid girl is what they want for now then so be it. If this is what will help her prosper in the end then she will suffer.
She can't help but silently hate being told 'no.'
She's a granddaughter of Echion's, after all.
They arrive at the border with Scorch at the head. The Khaleesi introduces herself but Rhy is silent, most likely already familiar with the stranger at their doorstep. Her mistrusting autumn eyes scrutinize him and take note of his own expression and nonchalant way of seeing their home. Underneath her onyx forelock, Nayl looks to the side in distaste before settling back on the male. A deeper breath is drawn in and more closely calculated. He smells of flowers and water and an airy freshness that is very absent here. Still unfamiliar with the different kingdoms the girl stows away the information and only steps forward to introduce herself. "I'm Nayl," she offers placidly while her mind races and churns.
She is here to learn, she reminds herself after briefly glancing to her aunt and Rhy.
Hope you all don't mind Awkward Miss Awkwardness joining in? I would like her to see the sights so to speak xD
Just throw it back, for one more night
On a starlit and moon-struck night.
The vines snap, unfurling like like claws of some perpetual dragon. The deeper I go, my vast red frame gnarled beyond the vines and throws, the more I realise perhaps it was wiser to stay in the confines of flat ground, viridian green backdrop and sturdy, vine-less world of the Falls. Here I was following Texas's trail like some terrible bloodhound. Going deeper and deeper into the dragon's den. Texas left very little of a trail to follow, but I thought to myself perhaps, perhaps I needed to do something other than idle in the fields, stare at my wallflower reflection all day and just spend the nights wandering the woods. Oh, yes, a little adventure indeed. But no one had mentioned that the Amazon's had such a monstrous wall of vines stopping outsiders.
And I truly was an outsider.
In the literal sense. My feathered feet were clumsy -- as they always were -- in picking their route, tripping over gnarled roots, staggering themselves beneath the bed of strange, spiky flowers. I lower my head and breathe them in, expecting the quaint aroma of a rose, perhaps even lavender. No. What I'm met with is a stung nose, my salmon muzzle twinging with trails of blood. Okay. Taking notes as I wound my titanic frame through the vines. Do not stop and sniff flowers. They will bite you back for intruding. I shake my head, pieces of vine, thorn and green leaves decorate my knotted mane. I had looked reasonably presentable when I left the Falls. Something Texas had mentioned before. I took it to heart, as ever, and I had not a single thread of bramble in my tail, or mane. Now, now I was a ramshackle mess.
I break through the vines, and see the silvery bay form, gleaming up ahead. I snort, blowing away the clouds of flies, of stagnant jungle air. Sweaty patches gleam against my coat as I wander up ahead, tossing the mess of mane out of my eyes. 'I think maybe they need to invest in a trail. You know, for us larger folk.' I snorted, a chuckle lost within my delicate voice. 'I don't think the jungle likes me, do you ever have this problem Tex--' With crimson mane from my view, I find that there are already three mares standing there alongside Texas. Oh, as per usual, I'm an awkward weed amongst gigantic roses, with budding thorns and beautiful petals.
'Oh. I'm sorry. Hello, I'm Eld, I'm from the Falls and well... your jungle sure is nice.' I cover my doubt with a smile, and then continue, emerald eyes flitting around the vast thorns, vines and the howl of the monkeys and other life beyond even that filled my squirrel earlobes. 'It er, has some getting used to. Is it always this... stuffy? The plants too they are rather... hostile. Oh, I'm sorry, I.. I'll just stand and watch if you don't mind.' Shut Up. Shut Up. I can hear the inner voice inside of me, the logical one, she slaps her hand against her forehead, giving up hope already. I square off my shoulders, rolling them gently, and lower my head to each, before silencing myself and pulling in behind Texas. He was a veteran in this, well, I hoped so, I didn't think my mass ejection of words would help -- unless you call the fact perhaps boring them to the point they wanted me out, so would agree with anything, came to mind. then maybe, maybe I did come in handy. But that thought is doubtful, yet sits in the back of my mind like a sour sweet.
The ground did fold and eat us both
But all my love, I did devote.
07-21-2015, 03:49 PM (This post was last modified: 07-21-2015, 03:51 PM by Texas.)
sorry for the delay in response guys, I've been crazy busy with work and moving. Since it's already been assumed what Texas will say can we just end this thread? I don't have a ton of motivation for something with an end thats already been decided on, since the uncertainty of "what will come next? " is the most enjoyable part of writing posts for me. he wasn't going to mention the swap for personal/character development/him being stubborn reasons but since I know several other posts in another thread have mentioned it I don't want to make everything make no sense and to have the other posts be wasted just bc I wanted some character development xD. I'd rather just end it and not waste posts/time. no hard feelings
I'd be more than happy to post him to everyone else later (and to Eld, his post to her in the falls is next perhaps he can mention this thread in that one for continuity's sake and so your post today wasn't wasted? )
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