01-11-2020, 08:14 AM
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Alex+Brush|Poiret+One" rel="stylesheet"><style type="text/css">.oriash_loweredhorns_background{position:relative;z-index:1;width:550px;background:#112331;padding: 15px;border-radius: 50px;box-shadow: 0 0 10px #000;border:1px solid #000;}.oriash_loweredhorns_container{position:relative;z-index:2;width:550px;background:#040309;font:12px 'Times New Roman', serif;border-radius: 50px;box-shadow: 0 0 10px #000;border:1px solid #000;}.oriash_loweredhorns_container p{margin:0;}.oriash_loweredhorns_gradient {position: absolute;z-index: 5;top: 270px;width: 550px;height: 100px;background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, rgba(11,27,27,0) 0%, rgba(4,3,9,1) 100%);background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgba(11,27,27,0) 0%,rgba(4,3,9,1) 100%);background: linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(11,27,27,0) 0%,rgba(4,3,9,1) 100%);filter: progid
XImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#000b1b1b', endColorstr='#040309',GradientType=0 );}.oriash_loweredhorns_message {position: relative;z-index: 10;width: 450px;top: 10px;text-align: justify;padding: 20;color: #415971;border-top: 2px solid #112331;}.oriash_loweredhorns_quote {position: relative;z-index: 10;color: rgba(217, 231, 242, 0.6);font: 12px 'Poiret One', sans-serif;letter-spacing: 2px;text-align: center;padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px;}.oriash_loweredhorns_name {position: absolute;top: 325px;z-index: 15;right: 175px;bottom: 60px;color: #112331;text-shadow: 0 0 5px #C1C2C4;font: 70px 'Alex Brush', cursive;letter-spacing: 2px;}</style><center><div class="oriash_loweredhorns_background"><div class="oriash_loweredhorns_container"><img style="width:550px;border-radius: 50px 50px 0 0;" src="https://k.nickpic.host/bztFVD.jpg"><div class="oriash_loweredhorns_gradient"></div><p class="oriash_loweredhorns_name">Oriash</p><div class="oriash_loweredhorns_message"><p class="oriash_loweredhorns_quote" style="margin-top:-10px;">they promised that dreams can come true</p><p>Kagerus.
Her mother appears between the pillars as Ori remembers her, tall and proud, antlers carving into the sky. For a moment Ori wonders if her illusionism has been turned against her. It would not be hard, as it has always turned against her of its own accord. Does it matter though, if this is real or an illusion? It is not her mother before her, not really, or at least she doubts it. Her mother was long gone from Beqanna and certainly wouldn’t have bothered to seek Ori out. This is her mother and it is not her mother, all at once.
None of it matters though. Not the difference between her mother but not her mother, not the difference between reality and illusion. Kagerus charges, a bloodthirsty yell ripping from her throat. Ori is paralyized for a moment, watching as her mother comes to kill her. It almost doesn’t surprise her. Almost.
Her shock fades and Ori runs, using the momentum to launch herself into the sky and away from Kagerus. The purpose of this was clear. The red dome that had formed around them has trapped them in. Kagerus is coming for her, the earth beneath her mother’s feet shifting up, up, up to meet Ori in the sky.
They have to fight.
All the anger Ori has felt over the years at her mother is gone now, vanished at the sight of her in the flesh. Real or not, it is her mother, a mother she’d hated because she’d <i>missed</i> her. They are emotions easy to confuse. Hatred hurts less than feeling abandoned, unwanted. The truth stuns her, the realization of it coming in a rush as the ground slams up to meet her. Ori hits the earth with a thud, tucking her wings back to her side as quickly as she can though the right one is crushed against the earth at an awkward angle. She scrambles to her feet, pain lancing through the wing as she tucks its against her.
It doesn’t matter what she feels. This version of mother would kill her if Ori didn’t kill her mother. The choice hurts, but Ori doesn’t want to die, doesn’t want to fall here at the hands of someone who never really cared about her. She loves her mother, but not enough to give in. But what does Ori have in this fight? Wings, one bruised, and no magic or horns or fighting experience to speak of. Her mother has her powers, psychokinesis and dream manipulation. Only one will be useful in this fight, but it an unfair match indeed. If only she had her illusions.
And then it dawns on her. Just because she doesn’t have her illusions doesn’t mean she has ceased to be a painter.
Kagerus charges. With screaming effort and pain, Ori runs forward, launching herself up and over her mother at the last minute to avoid the antlers, kicking out in an attempt to hit her mother’s back as she flys over. Her hooves connect, but only barely, and she does little to her mother besides illicit a scream of rage. <font color=#a1abb5> “Do you remember when I was very small?”</font> she asks when the scream dies down, unsure if this mother would have her real mother’s memories, but it’s her only idea. Ori lands, turning around to stare down the barrel of a smoking gun. The land is receding back down, a rock hurtling at Ori dead on and she skitters to the right to avoid it. It hits her left side though, knocking the wind out of her and bruising a few ribs.
<font color=#a1abb5>”We used to go down to the beach together early in the morning, before the sun rose. It would be dark like this.”</font> She is thankful for the eerie red glow from the barrier, casting a light that, if she squinted right, felt almost like a sunrise. <font color=#a1abb5> “We’d wait by the water for the sun to rise, standing in the waves to see who’s hooves could be buried in the black sand first.”</font>
Around her the world starts to change, her mother’s power creating what Ori describes. They stand on the black sand beaches of the Cove now, an ocean forming between them and the edge of the dome. The waves are not gentle though, they are large and threatening, crashing roughly against where Ori stands. <font color=#a1abb5> “You’d stand with me,”</font> Ori says again, trying to bring her mother closer. It works, though not in any loving way. With another bloodthirsty scream, Kagerus charges, antlers lowered. Ori runs, not away from the water but toward it, forcing her mother to follow, to chase. The wave grows larger, but her mother is too blind in her own charge to see what is happening.
Ori launches herself into the air, wings screaming. She is too slow to get over the cresting wave and it catches her, throwing her back into the ocean. Her mother doesn’t realize what’s happening until the wave is breaking over her, claiming her as its own. Ori loses track of Kagerus as the wave throws her around, tossing her like seaweed, and then...and then the water is gone. Ori is left on the red dirt of the plains again, the feathers on her wings ripped and tattered around the edges, cuts oozing blood on her sides. Beside her is her mother’s body, neck bent at an awkward angle.
There are no tears, though there is a pain that lances deeper than the wounds from the battle. She doesn’t try to figure it out, doesn’t give the feelings space to live. Not yet, not now. Instead she stands, walking away from the body, waiting, afraid of whatever might come next.
</p></div><p class="oriash_loweredhorns_quote">but they forgot that nightmares are dreams too.</p></div></div></center>
XImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#000b1b1b', endColorstr='#040309',GradientType=0 );}.oriash_loweredhorns_message {position: relative;z-index: 10;width: 450px;top: 10px;text-align: justify;padding: 20;color: #415971;border-top: 2px solid #112331;}.oriash_loweredhorns_quote {position: relative;z-index: 10;color: rgba(217, 231, 242, 0.6);font: 12px 'Poiret One', sans-serif;letter-spacing: 2px;text-align: center;padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px;}.oriash_loweredhorns_name {position: absolute;top: 325px;z-index: 15;right: 175px;bottom: 60px;color: #112331;text-shadow: 0 0 5px #C1C2C4;font: 70px 'Alex Brush', cursive;letter-spacing: 2px;}</style><center><div class="oriash_loweredhorns_background"><div class="oriash_loweredhorns_container"><img style="width:550px;border-radius: 50px 50px 0 0;" src="https://k.nickpic.host/bztFVD.jpg"><div class="oriash_loweredhorns_gradient"></div><p class="oriash_loweredhorns_name">Oriash</p><div class="oriash_loweredhorns_message"><p class="oriash_loweredhorns_quote" style="margin-top:-10px;">they promised that dreams can come true</p><p>Kagerus. Her mother appears between the pillars as Ori remembers her, tall and proud, antlers carving into the sky. For a moment Ori wonders if her illusionism has been turned against her. It would not be hard, as it has always turned against her of its own accord. Does it matter though, if this is real or an illusion? It is not her mother before her, not really, or at least she doubts it. Her mother was long gone from Beqanna and certainly wouldn’t have bothered to seek Ori out. This is her mother and it is not her mother, all at once.
None of it matters though. Not the difference between her mother but not her mother, not the difference between reality and illusion. Kagerus charges, a bloodthirsty yell ripping from her throat. Ori is paralyized for a moment, watching as her mother comes to kill her. It almost doesn’t surprise her. Almost.
Her shock fades and Ori runs, using the momentum to launch herself into the sky and away from Kagerus. The purpose of this was clear. The red dome that had formed around them has trapped them in. Kagerus is coming for her, the earth beneath her mother’s feet shifting up, up, up to meet Ori in the sky.
They have to fight.
All the anger Ori has felt over the years at her mother is gone now, vanished at the sight of her in the flesh. Real or not, it is her mother, a mother she’d hated because she’d <i>missed</i> her. They are emotions easy to confuse. Hatred hurts less than feeling abandoned, unwanted. The truth stuns her, the realization of it coming in a rush as the ground slams up to meet her. Ori hits the earth with a thud, tucking her wings back to her side as quickly as she can though the right one is crushed against the earth at an awkward angle. She scrambles to her feet, pain lancing through the wing as she tucks its against her.
It doesn’t matter what she feels. This version of mother would kill her if Ori didn’t kill her mother. The choice hurts, but Ori doesn’t want to die, doesn’t want to fall here at the hands of someone who never really cared about her. She loves her mother, but not enough to give in. But what does Ori have in this fight? Wings, one bruised, and no magic or horns or fighting experience to speak of. Her mother has her powers, psychokinesis and dream manipulation. Only one will be useful in this fight, but it an unfair match indeed. If only she had her illusions.
And then it dawns on her. Just because she doesn’t have her illusions doesn’t mean she has ceased to be a painter.
Kagerus charges. With screaming effort and pain, Ori runs forward, launching herself up and over her mother at the last minute to avoid the antlers, kicking out in an attempt to hit her mother’s back as she flys over. Her hooves connect, but only barely, and she does little to her mother besides illicit a scream of rage. <font color=#a1abb5> “Do you remember when I was very small?”</font> she asks when the scream dies down, unsure if this mother would have her real mother’s memories, but it’s her only idea. Ori lands, turning around to stare down the barrel of a smoking gun. The land is receding back down, a rock hurtling at Ori dead on and she skitters to the right to avoid it. It hits her left side though, knocking the wind out of her and bruising a few ribs.
<font color=#a1abb5>”We used to go down to the beach together early in the morning, before the sun rose. It would be dark like this.”</font> She is thankful for the eerie red glow from the barrier, casting a light that, if she squinted right, felt almost like a sunrise. <font color=#a1abb5> “We’d wait by the water for the sun to rise, standing in the waves to see who’s hooves could be buried in the black sand first.”</font>
Around her the world starts to change, her mother’s power creating what Ori describes. They stand on the black sand beaches of the Cove now, an ocean forming between them and the edge of the dome. The waves are not gentle though, they are large and threatening, crashing roughly against where Ori stands. <font color=#a1abb5> “You’d stand with me,”</font> Ori says again, trying to bring her mother closer. It works, though not in any loving way. With another bloodthirsty scream, Kagerus charges, antlers lowered. Ori runs, not away from the water but toward it, forcing her mother to follow, to chase. The wave grows larger, but her mother is too blind in her own charge to see what is happening.
Ori launches herself into the air, wings screaming. She is too slow to get over the cresting wave and it catches her, throwing her back into the ocean. Her mother doesn’t realize what’s happening until the wave is breaking over her, claiming her as its own. Ori loses track of Kagerus as the wave throws her around, tossing her like seaweed, and then...and then the water is gone. Ori is left on the red dirt of the plains again, the feathers on her wings ripped and tattered around the edges, cuts oozing blood on her sides. Beside her is her mother’s body, neck bent at an awkward angle.
There are no tears, though there is a pain that lances deeper than the wounds from the battle. She doesn’t try to figure it out, doesn’t give the feelings space to live. Not yet, not now. Instead she stands, walking away from the body, waiting, afraid of whatever might come next.
</p></div><p class="oriash_loweredhorns_quote">but they forgot that nightmares are dreams too.</p></div></div></center>
Use of mild power playing is allowed; no injuries without permission