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  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "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


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    [open]  We are unlovable; any
    #1
    You’re uncontrollable
    and we are unlovable
    Helping.

    He’d done his fair share of helping in his life, or so he thought. Offered a home to mares who felt they needed protection from someone who’d wronged them, defended such a home from invasion even though he might admit that it wasn’t a wholly selfless reason since it meant he would lead the place and he really wanted to try his hoof at it at the time.

    Now he returned, not that living on Icicle Isle would be a problem with Jesper still there, he thinks, but he worried that he might not meet a single soul out here who had come unprepared, and would need help against the cold or against the predators that made use of said cold. Leilan suspected seals and ice-bears to have adapted, but he really wondered if that was what the fairy wanted him to do.

    He’d have to make the best of it.

    He passed through Hyaline on his way north to tell Kensa of his quest, promised to return after the year. He sincerely hoped Sabra would still be where he’d left her by then. Had it been helping her, by forcing her to take a break from life? He didn’t know - it probably wouldn’t count, since it was technically also murder. Even though she had quite literally asked for it.

    Yawning against the cold, he doesn’t take the time to shake off the water. It simply means that more ice will cling to his scales which in some twisted way keeps him warm as well - it insulates. Perhaps that is the only clue, the scaled roan thinks, to know how to protect anyone from the cold using cold. Because let’s face it, it was a near impossible task.

    He calls out. Perhaps someone is near already, who knows.

    and I don’t want you to think that I care
    I never would, I never
    could again
    Leilan
    no. 7 | ice forged in fire


    I’d be most happy with someone who needs a shelter out of ice or someone who needs defending from a wild animal, or perhaps if you have other ideas of him being able to help someone survive up here? Finding food? Idk

    Then again I do love to thread here so I don’t really mind if you just want your character to say hi, that’s fine as well! He has to live here for a year xP
    Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
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    #2

    you said you'd wait forever, but I blinked and the world was gone

    Years ago it seemed… when time had brought forth plague and brutality, when the whole of the world had been ripped apart and sewn back together like a quilt, and Briella had never forgotten those moments. A time when her small body was ragged and sick, when blood dripped from her nose and she coughed just as much as she breathed; but of all those things she remembers most of all… the journey she had taken in the name of the Fairies of in a quest to do right by all the people of Beqanna.

    She’d have died if it meant even saving one.

    Briella now though, is different, years have passed and her earthy, soot covered coat was gone: instead she was a matte black with milky gray and blue spread like scattered roaning patterns and highlighted by a sapphire color that seemed to darken and shine. Spatters of white, like stars, painted her body and the hooves and eyes were refracting gemstones of translucent hemimorphite: she was a jewel, a gemstone… and rather than hair her mane and tail were comprised entirely of thin strands of ice that sparkled in the sun and never seemed to melt.

    Change of course was not only physical for her, a part of her had long hardened and she felt her limbs heavier as she walked: as she dragged herself through the autumn snow and ice… as her entire body stood out and she found herself staring at the leopard seal who snorted at her.

    Familiarity from the plague quests, from her first journey.

    Leilan though is a different reminder, yes he had been present for those adventures; but more over he is a relative of a kind to her. Heartfire had been Aunt and Mother, and Leilan? A detached Uncle, in a way. As such she has no fear in calling back to him as he has done so; but she moved to him with little issue and no speed… leisurely.  “Leilan!”  she spoke up, the name finding itself in her mellifluous voice.

    “It… it’s Briella.”  she remarked this with her eyes blinking and a smile forming on her lips, the thicker fur making it obvious that there was a kind of swelling to her sides.  “I, hadn’t expected to find anyone here… I mean- I know people claimed it as theirs but it’s so spare here. I… was going to find the pond, from when I first discovered this place… when the fairies sent me here; but-- I’m rambling.”

    Stumbling over her words she found herself sighing.  “Why are you here, not Nerine or somewhere else?” 

    BRIELLA



    @[Leilan]
    PVP: On
    Minor Injury, and Some Mutilation Permitted.
    Reply
    #3
    You’re uncontrollable
    and we are unlovable
    The ice, at least, hadn’t changed a bit. Perhaps that made it easier to come live here again for another year, to adjust to the stark grey-and-white surroundings once more - or perhaps, on an emotional level, it might make it worse; he recalled a great many events here, after all - most included highly emotional events, some bad, some good.

    But Leilan had found a trick to prevent the latter, and had closed off his past with a loud shutting of that door. He wouldn’t involve himself again, he decided. Setting course straight north towards the heart-shaped lake, he decided he’d live there, as that was the coldest place, and with minimal involvement in his old life if he could.

    Of course that idea failed as soon as someone recognized him. Though he could not say he knew the mare who approached him, by heart. Curiously, he studied her as she approached. Ice in her mane and tail, no, for her mane and tail, suggested she had been one of the many who went with him on that day that he got frozen all-over (probably due to the long swim through the ocean he’d taken). Maybe she recognized him that way - or from his previous time as the leader of this place. Who knew.

    She was polite enough to give him her name, and that was indeed something he remembered. ”Briella? You look different.” He recognized he was stating the obvious, but he didn’t really care. Listening to her - rambling, indeed - he outed a low chuckle. ”The Isle was never deserted completely. I’ve lived here a good many years, then left it to my brother in arms, Jesper.” he explains. ”So far I haven’t seen that change.”

    He shrugs a little, shaking his head at her mentioning Nerine. ”Things changed, both here and there. I’ve been away too, for a while, and when I returned, it seemed only Heartfire was still there.” After all, his niece could be trusted to persist forever, he mused, though he wouldn’t tell Briella this. It’s quite possible she had already seen her adoptive mother recently. ”Lived in the Hyaline mountains recently, but a fairy sent me this way for the next year to prove myself.” Briella, he recalled, had also visited the Mountain once or twice, so she probably knew very well what he was talking about.

    He swishes his tail, looking from her to their surroundings. ”Though you look the part, I don’t think you’re immune to the cold though. What brings you here?” Memories, perhaps, he wonders. The very things he’d decided he would try to avoid.

    Ironically, the way the world - and the fae - worked.

    and I don’t want you to think that I care
    I never would, I never
    could again
    Leilan
    no. 7 | ice forged in fire


    @[Briella]
    Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
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    #4

    you said you'd wait forever, but I blinked and the world was gone

     There was no time to waste in closing the gap between them, Briella had… after all, been eager from the start at recognizing him. Such it was she ventured close and barely bothered to hide the bits of frost on her already odd colored coat or the way the ice gently struck together and made a sound akin to glass chimes when the breeze blew. Leilan had crossed the water, he’d traversed the mountains… he’d seen the disaster and horror of the plague and perhaps had even known it’s ravages; but more importantly- she remembered that in some strange way she had once regarded him as family.

    Quietly lifting her head and listening she mulled over his words, her mind racing with images of the leopard seal and the water… of the pressure on her chest and how badly her lungs hurt. She recalled the taste of blood, her blood, and the first time she saw the lake… the fairies had been so cruel and yet? She conquered that quest. Trudged through snow and ice… made her own path where another yet existed and she remembered that in this world- the easiest paths were the most dangerous, one must carve themselves through fury and elements if they wished to help.

    “I was changed, over time, and I never quite gave up the things I earned for my failings.”  she spoke, tossing back the icicle mane and tail… lifting a leg to show the gemstone hooves, and even exposing her eyes for him to see: hemimorphite and shining.  “Pretty things and cold things, all of which I have become made of, but, I hold no grudges: this is simply the nature of the world around us. We are born one thing and we journey to become something else.”

    Had she the ability, she would have shrugged, but she spoke with a kindness in her words: nodding her head in agreement and acknowledgement.  “Part of me always wondered if I should claim it, fight for it… if I should make this mine. I found it first, after all. But I’m not here for that. I was sent on a task by the Fairies and I thought I might meditate to find answers here. You know, at the place where I first went to try to save the world.”

    Sighing to herself, Briella felt anguish in her failings… and her head shook softly.

    “Not immune, just used to it. But… I have to find others and ask questions, I need to hear about other peoples experiences with friends and family. Positive or negative.”  she blinked, looking up at Leilan quietly.  “It is very cold…” 

    BRIELLA



    @[Leilan]
    PVP: On
    Minor Injury, and Some Mutilation Permitted.
    Reply
    #5
    You’re uncontrollable
    and we are unlovable
    They talk easily, he notices in the back of his mind, perhaps due to their relationship being that of distant family once before - distant but respecting one another. They fall back into that rhythm now, though the young mare before him is nothing like the wide-eyed child he knew, coughing roughly besides his niece. She’s grown a little wiser, and looks a little different; she’s similar and same. But that’s good, he thinks, that she’s grown. It wouldn’t do for anyone to stand still.

    She talks about her changes as if they are bad things though - a bit, anyway. Things I earned for my failures. He shakes his head. ”Things you earned for trying despite the odds. Pretty things for a pretty girl.” he corrects her, an amused smile to his face. The odds had never been in their favour. ”I almost drowned when we went up for the tree’s icicles, hence the layer of frost.” It could have been worse, he thinks, for her. She takes her failure hard, but honestly, nobody minded but she herself.

    He tilts her head at her question if she should have claimed it. What, the Isle? He looks at her, a bit amused at the sight of the then-Briella (honestly small, weak and confused at the time) claiming a territory. She must have disappeared before the matter was settled, he thinks, looking back. ”Icicle Isle is, and has always been, Nerine’s territory, whether you tried to rule it or not. Together we claimed it, together we won it. There’s no shame on you - you did what you could against the Plague, like we all did.” Does she think that bad of herself? He starts to wonder. There’s little hints in her speech that says she thinks herself not good enough, while nobody expected anything from her - she already proved to care and continue no matter what. But she seems hardly convinced.

    ”You’re in luck to find an old family member then.” he smiles a bit. ”Ice Fairy sent me up here to spend a year - in the coldest place Beqanna has to offer - and to prove to her my heart isn’t as frozen as the rest of me, to help others out here.” he grins, shakes his metallic mane at the idea. Perhaps the fairies set all of this up, perhaps they’re just lucky. ”First let’s get you a shelter though. Do you want anything permanent or temporary enough for now?” He’s already on the move, on his way to find a good rock to build with - using the ice alone would make for a lousy foundation; but ice built on, grown from, an existing structure would hold longer.

    As they near a good place, he looks back on her. ”What kind of questions do you need help with answering?” he asks, already assuming that she’d take the opportunity since he offered it.

    and I don’t want you to think that I care
    I never would, I never
    could again
    Leilan
    no. 7 | ice forged in fire


    @[Briella]
    ‘Sure lemme make you a wall or a dome, whichever is fine, and answer those questions for ya in one go’
    Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
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