"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
It wasn’t anything unusual for the girl, but she had sworn she’d followed her mother’s directions exactly. It could be that she didn’t remember them correctly because she was just too excited when she heard of such a place. A place where she could meet friends and play with no grown ups to tell her what to do. Not that little Lala minded grown ups, but she imagined others her age to be so much more fun!
She wouldn’t know. She was an only child (to her knowledge, at least) and it had just been her and her mother since the moment she’d opened her eyes. She didn’t know her dad. Mother had never mentioned him and she just assumed that she didn’t have a dad, and that was just as well with Lala. It’s not like she needed one.
Regardless, the little pink girl started to get concerned when nothing looked like her mother’s description of this playground. Her concern deepened when she lost count of how many times the sun had gone to sleep since she’d started this adventure. She knew that mother must be worried, and that scared the filly.
By the time she unknowingly crossed Sylva’s border, she was only seconds from hysterics and utterly exhausted. She heard a rustling in the trees and her blood ran cold. Was it a monster? Was it mother?
“Hello?” she murmured, shakily, in her baby-voice before taking a single, pitiful step towards the noise.
b e u l a h.
its short, i suck. children are the worst.
@[Starsin]
08-12-2019, 02:08 AM (This post was last modified: 08-12-2019, 02:08 AM by Starsin.)
and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.
The first time she had stumbled across a child of Ophanim’s, it was the first time she had ever thought about killing something. The jealousy that had flared to life inside of her was still unmatched to any that she has ever felt – and as an incredibly jealous creature, she had too many incidents to compare it to. The thought of him touching someone the way that he had touched her, and the fact that he had children before they even had their first, was almost enough to push her over the edge.
Then again, she lived on the edge. And everytime she thought she was going over, she never seemed to actually fall.
Things had changed since then. She had thoroughly made a mess of everything, with her own retaliations and infidelities. In her typical fashion, she hadn’t been able to be content with evening the score; she wanted to win by a landslide. And in her victory, she had lost him. She hasn’t seen him since she came to Sylva, and she tried her best to not let that occupy every corner of her mind. The twins – the star-studded son and daughter she had with Litotes, just more tangled threads of her web – provided a worthy distraction, but they were in Pangea with their father today, and she was restless.
She rounds a bend of trees, and the blush-pink girl is stark against the autumn colors of the territory. She stops, staring at her with unwavering blue eyes, and she tilts her head in thought. She had seen a glimpse of Kensa’s daughter with Ophanim in Loess, before she had left. She had been shades of pink, too, along with Ciara, and she feels a growling anger begin to gnaw at her chest. Did he change his color on purpose? Was this his way of thinking he could hide all these children from her? Even though the logical part of her knows Ophanim is not malicious like that, her jealousy had never been very good with reason.
But she looks down at the small, visibly frightened girl, and she feels the envy and fury begins to fade away. She can tell by her thoughts that she is terrified, and again, she is amazed that somehow all of his children seem to lose their mothers, and they all seem to miraculously stumble across her. A sigh brushes past her lips, and though the sound is reluctant, her face softens as she approaches her with a lowered head. “Hey,” her voice is genuinely kind when she speaks, as she takes in the sweet face that almost reminds her of her own daughter, and her heart clenches. “Are you lost? Where’s your mom at?”Better yet, where the hell is your father, because I miss him, she thinks with a tightening of her jaw, and she resists the urge to immediately pull the little girl close, because she is so desperate for anything that reminds her of him.
starsin
it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted. ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )
Beulah’s first reaction is to let out a little sigh of relief. It was not a monster that stepped from the trees. But her next reaction was sheer panic because it was also not mother who stepped from the trees. It was a stranger that the little pink girl had never seen before. It was one of mother’s rules not to talk to strangers, but Lala always had the hardest time with that particular rule. Plus, this mare seemed nice enough. ”H-hi” the little pink girl stammers, still frozen to the spot by her wildly conflicting emotions. She’s taller that mother, but has the prettiest glowing spots that remind her of mother’s ability. The sight causes her to swallow thickly, fighting back the sob that sticks in her throat.
Are you lost? Beulah turned her wide eyed gaze up at the mare - eyes shining with unshed tears. The little pink girl manages the most pitiful of nods in affirmation. Her baby-eyes widen at the mention of her mother, followed by the quivering of her lower lip.
“I...I um....I don’t know,” she manages, hanging her little pink head in shame. She pulls her fuzzy wings to her sides as her shoulders slump under the weight of her embarrassment. Some would expect this would be the moment where a child would burst into tears. But not Lala.
The words come out in a garbled rush, and the girl’s brow furrows as she struggles through her story. “I don’t know what happened! Mother told me about this really cool place where I could play and told me how to get there. Only I was so excited, I didn’t really remember all the directions and I think I got the order all mixed up. So I walked for like, ever until I was too tired and had to take a nap. And when I woke up it was dark and the stars were out and I was super scared so I closed my eyes and fell back to sleep and then I walked more and more and eventually I got here and found you and...,” finally, she takes a breath, drawing her gaze up from the ground between her feet up to the mare once again.
“C-can you help me?” she asks, pleadingly, her voice wavering under the onslaught of emotions.
09-02-2019, 07:00 PM (This post was last modified: 09-02-2019, 07:01 PM by Starsin.)
and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.
If someone had told her that she would eventually be taking in Ophanim’s other children instead of murdering them on the spot (or just fantasizing about it, at least), she would have laughed. She blamed it on her maternal instincts; it had started with Malone, and she had softened even more after the twins were born. Or, perhaps what was most likely was that with the twins – who were not fathered by him – she would truly look like a hypocrite to shun one of his other children.
His infidelities outnumbered her own, but Starsin was tired of keeping score.
And so she listens, patient, and trying to keep the amusement from showing on her face at the little girl’s jumbled, rushed explanation of how she had ended up in Sylva. “Well...that sounds like quite the adventure,” she tells her, trying to keep her voice level even though her heart was twisting in her chest. “You’re a long way from the playground, though. Do you want to stay here for awhile? I have twins your age.” She reaches out, gently brushing her muzzle across the top of the young girl’s neck, resisting the urge to ask who her mother was; fighting away that incessant jealousy that refused to die. “I’m Starsin, by the way. What’s your name?”
starsin
it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted. ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )
09-05-2019, 08:35 PM (This post was last modified: 09-05-2019, 08:35 PM by Beulah.)
daydream believer.
Lala hadn’t thought of her idea as an adventure. Her brow furrowed and she lowered her gaze to consider the possibility. An ordeal? Sure. But an adventure? She cocked her head at the thought, her baby mind toying with the idea. She supposed that if she left out the scary bits (which was like...a lot) it was a pretty great adventure, wasn’t it!? She smiled up at Starsin at the thought. “You’re right! It really was an adventure!”, she trilled, happily. The little pink girl puffs out her chest at the realization. Instead of scared, lost child she was a brave adventurer! Certainly an improvement.
But her baby eyes widened even further when the mare mentioned she could stay. “Do you mean it? It’s okay if I stay here?” There was awe in the girl’s voice, and it was quite evident that Beulah and Starsin’s definition of ‘for a while’ were vastly different. And not only could she stay, but there was the potential for making friends. She practically quivered with excitement. ”Do you think they’ll like me - your twins I mean?” Because in her mind, Lala had already made two new friends.
The fear that plagued the little pink girl all but evaporated at the gray mare’s touch, and she closed her eyes at the comforting gesture. “My name is Beulah...but you can call me Lala!” the girl said, taking a step closer to the mare and curling her nose around one of her forelegs in a psuedo-hug. "Thank you, Starsin."
b e u l a h.
welp. its official. starsin has been adopted.
@[Starsin]
