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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


    i only like the sad songs, ryatah
    #1
    echis
    “ I will love you until we run out of mornings. Then I will love you in the dark. ”

    She’s gotten very good at this, losing her mother. At least now she’s tall enough to see over the tall grasses so she can make her way to the river. Ryatah always told her that if they got separated again, they should meet there. There is a small fear roosting between her ribs, a sneaking idea that she may be truly lost this time. She manages to force a brave smile across her small face in spite of it. Nevermind the way her heart beats a small thread of adrenaline into her veins.
     
    There is a thick fog that makes it harder to see the closer she gets to the sound of running water. She snorts softly and squints as though it will somehow clear her vision. Echis nearly slips in the mud near the river and she gives a squeak of surprise while she stumbles to catch her footing once more. When her mother returns, she will have to insist they meet near the river rather than at it next time.
     
    Oh! But there’s a pale figure up ahead grazing on something, and she wonders if maybe that is her? The girl happily toddles forward. This time, she is careful with her steps as she draws closer. But this stranger does not have wings or a glowing halo like Ryatah. Echis pauses and cranes her neck around to see the stranger’s face just to be absolutely sure. The figure lifts its head and for the first time the girl realizes this person is littered with ugly scars. His wild green eyes meet her horrified stare, blood dripping from his chin.
     
    A monster.
     
    She shrinks back, ears curled back as she whimpers softly. He turns and easily closes the distance between them with long strides. “I’m-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to..” Her voice quakes and cracks as she tries to figure out just what she’s apologizing for. But he says nothing, simply lowering his head to meet her gaze as he looks her over. He steps away to dip his face into the frigid river waters and rinse the blood from his face. Then he is back, rudely fussing with the fluff of her baby mane.
     
    “Do you have fangs?” he asks, nudging at the corner of her mouth. She blinks in surprise and touches her tongue to her teeth. There are fangs there now! Echis didn’t even realize her body had reacted before her mind did, coating her in scales and arming her with fangs to defend herself. The terrifying man nods to himself as he takes a step back. “What’s your name?”
     
    I’m Echis. My mom will be here soon, so please do not eat me,” she explains as she stares up at him. His stoic expression does not change aside from the corner of his mouth curling into a fleeting smirk.

    @[Ryatah]
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    #2
    “I know when you go
    down all your darkest roads
    I would have followed all the way
    to the graveyard.”
    She is perhaps not nearly as concerned when she notices Echis has slipped away again as she ought to be, given the fact that if anyone knows the dark things that lurk in Beqanna, it is her. It would have made sense for her to be on edge, to want to keep her children close to her sides and be hesitant to let them out of her sight, but it has, in fact, done the opposite. Instead she looks to the shadows searchingly but not fearfully, and she lets her children wander without fear of them never returning. The dark always returned her, after all – sometimes changed, and sometimes worse for wear, but it always spit her back out eventually.

    Still, she sighs a soft sigh and makes her way towards the river, if only because while Echis seemed to have a penchant for disappearing, she did not do it with mischievous intentions the way most of her children did. Echis was a testament to the light that could be born from the dark, and it was something that stirred a kind of fear in Ryatah’s chest. She knew she could not save her; she could not protect her innocence, and she could not keep the shadows from crawling closer. It was a helpless feeling, and not one that she was accustomed to, since it seemed like most of her children were born half-way in the dark already.

    The sound of Echis’ sweet voice is muffled by the sound of water running over rocks, and when she gets close enough to see a familiar green-eyed figure touching her, she freezes.

    Larva, despite his possessive-sounding promises, was not someone she had actually expected to see again, and she certainly had never counted on him coming across their daughter. For some reason the fathers of all of her children, regardless of whatever may tether her to them, never seemed to care or seek them out, which has never bothered her. For the most part, it was better that way.

    The way Larva is touching and inspecting Echis leads her to believe it may have been best if he had stayed away, too.

    “Larva,” his name is said softly as she closes the space between them, and she does not hesitate to come alongside Echis. Her gaze diverts to her – though her attention never fully abandons him, either –  and she lowers her head to press her lips to the top of her poll, dragging her nose across her neck before drawing her into her chest. “He’s not going to eat you, love.” And now her dark eyes meet the green of his, a knowing smile whispering at the edge of her lips, illuminated by the glow of her halo when she says, “That wouldn’t be very fatherly of him.” She watches him carefully, though, knowing full well what she says is a lie; she truthfully has no idea what Larva would do. She doesn’t know him well enough to trust him, but if he is anything at all like nearly every other man she has been with, he likely had no limits to who or what he would kill.
    ryatah
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    #3
    echis
    “ I will love you until we run out of mornings. Then I will love you in the dark. ”

    He has only ever tried to murder a handful of his children but even a short track record like that gives others pause, he’s learned. The others were mild inconveniences that he simply preferred to avoid. But Echis is much like Darling or Priya and this fact draws out the fleeting kindness that remains in him. She cowers at his touch and he wonders how long the flickering candle of her light will burn. How long before she, too, is snuffed out?

    He lifts his head when Ryatah draws near and Echis eagerly lifts her head higher to receive her mother’s kiss. She giggles softly and presses her side close to her mother. Larva observes, detached and stoic, as he wonders what it is like to receive a parent’s love so easily. His eyes meet hers when she speaks his name.

    Ryatah,” he replies, the corner of his lip curling into a smirk. The tiny child doesn’t seem convinced when she explains that Larva would not eat her, and she sucks in her breath quite suddenly when the word ‘father’ is spoken into the air around them. Her wide green eyes meet his and she studies him a little more closely this time. “I only eat my bad children. You’re not bad, are you?

    He jokes but his humor sends the filly nosing her way beneath Ryatah’s wing for safety as she trembles. Her soft whimpering makes him chuckle. Larva leans closer then and traces his lips along the angel’s jawline as he reacquaints himself with her warmth.

    I suppose I won’t eat this one, if you like her that much,” he offers with a hushed laugh. Their daughter peaks around her mother’s pale shoulder with terrified eyes and small ears turned forward to hear him better.

    @[Ryatah]
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    #4
    “I know when you go
    down all your darkest roads
    I would have followed all the way
    to the graveyard.”
    She curls her neck to press a reassuring kiss to the young girl’s brow when she nestles herself beneath her wing, right next to where the glass horn spirals from her skin. Echis was one of her sweetest children, and it evoked a rare protectiveness over her; different from the kind she had for all of her young children, this one was stronger, relentless. Most of her children were born with an edge to them, one that only got sharper as they got older, but that was unsurprising considering their fathers. It was difficult to take all that darkness and make it light, especially when any light she harbored herself was tainted, corrupted.

    Somehow Echis had escaped the darkness of both her parents, and when she watches Larva, careful and unsure, she wonders if he will see that as a disappointment.

    If he will find her too soft, too fragile, and if he will blame her own weakness for it.

    When he steps forward to press his mouth to her jawline she tips her head to receive his touch, softening against him. She steps forward, just enough to run her own lips against his cheek, reminding herself of the feel of his scales beneath her skin. Larva was different than the others she spent time with. In a way he was almost the most difficult to read, and because she did not understand where his darkness was born from, it made her cautious. She wasn’t sure of her limits, but much the same as with the rest, she never wanted him to be angry – especially not at her.

    “I do like her,” she concedes with her own quiet laugh, and turning to touch her nose to Echis again. She lifts her wing, encouraging the young girl forward again, but her eyes turn back to Larva’s, and she hesitates before asking him gently, “How are you? I actually didn’t really expect to see you again.”
    ryatah
    Reply
    #5
    echis
    “ I will love you until we run out of mornings. Then I will love you in the dark. ”

    Echis has made up her mind that father’s are nowhere near as good as mothers, if hers are anything to go by. Larva jokes, with his sharp teeth and gravel voice while Ryatah simply presses a kiss to her head to calm her. They couldn’t be more different. What on earth could she possibly see in him? Of course, she is naïve to the ways of the world and she does not recognize the allure of monsters and evil lovers, nor will she ever.

    But as he watches her, Larva finds himself feeling quite the opposite. Her every mannerism is bright and beautiful, as children so often are. She is a rare kind of gentleness in a world that would devour her whole without a second thought. He fears her because she will be a source of heartbreak for him and he can feel the root of his love for her thriving already. His brow furrows in concern before he brings his gaze back to Ryatah. So often, he does not know how to respond to a gentle touch such as hers. He blinks and takes a step back.

    The small girl steps out from beneath her mother’s wing but her small ears turn back. She watches him like a mousetrap ready to snap shut on her. And when he extends his nose to touch the small bump of her baby horn, she freezes in fear until he retreats once more. He smells like blood and she doesn’t think she could stomach being too near him.

    I’m as well as a monster can be,” he offers with a shrug of his scarred shoulders. “I never know how long I have until I die again, so I keep my expectations low.” He laughs and the sound is crooked in its dark humor. Echis cranes her head back to stare up at her mother uncertainly and touches her nose to Ryatah’s shoulder for attention.

    “Is he.. a ghost?” she whispers with quick glances in his direction, as though he may still suddenly strike. Larva’s sage green eyes remain trained on her as he tilts his head curiously. Is he?

    @[Ryatah]
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