She’s never had a selfish heart before and she doesn’t know what to do with this one.
It’s in there, battering away against her ribcage in a demand to be set free. But that had been exactly her problem. She had tried to give it away, tried to let it go where it never should have gone and now she has to learn to live with this one. Her old one had been littered with her own scars - this new heart contains faultlines and fissures that aren’t just her own. They crack all the way to Loess too.
When she catches a glimpse of her reflection in the iron-clad grey eyes of Lepis, there is no hiding or grimacing away those facts. There are no half-truths, easy smiles or laughing eyes. That’s precisely the point - when the pegasus mare shakes away her forelock and the look on her face becomes a cousin to amazement - Lilliana sees nothing familiar reflecting back at her. The girl recognizes nothing of the copper woman who is echoing back at her from Lepis’ frowning facade. The girl had been bright-eyed, hopeful, soft; the woman here is hesitant, hard angles, guarded.
Her blue eyes glance up briefly to where she sees the navy tips of the Cleric’s ears bury themselves into the dark, soaked mane before they come to regard Lepis again.
Lilliana exhales and tries to alleviate the building tension by flaring her dark nostrils. The anger is there. And for a moment, it is tempting to unleash it all. It would be an easy thing to do. It terrifies her at how easily she could let that anger fly. At how all these months of practiced restraint could come undone in a moment. They could court more than bitterness on these lonely ledges. No. The Diplomat considers explaining her question. (Why would Lepis come back to Nerine? Why would she want to come back where to where she had been threatened?)
Why the pegasus is here is something she doesn’t understand. Perhaps for the sake of Loess and diplomacy. In the end, the copper mare decides it doesn’t matter. It doesn't matter that she doesn't understand. Lilliana nurses her own ghosts differently - it’s why she has never returned to Hyaline or gone wandering through the Forest. But she has been learning that souls can be easily haunted. Sometimes, the place simply doesn’t matter.
In the end, she shakes her head and bites her tongue while feeling the winter damp wrap around her crimson coat. (She will bite it until she tastes copper and iron.) Until finally, "The Redwoods will be happy to see you." She swallows the words, feeling each one as it constricts around her throat.
@[Lepis]
It’s in there, battering away against her ribcage in a demand to be set free. But that had been exactly her problem. She had tried to give it away, tried to let it go where it never should have gone and now she has to learn to live with this one. Her old one had been littered with her own scars - this new heart contains faultlines and fissures that aren’t just her own. They crack all the way to Loess too.
When she catches a glimpse of her reflection in the iron-clad grey eyes of Lepis, there is no hiding or grimacing away those facts. There are no half-truths, easy smiles or laughing eyes. That’s precisely the point - when the pegasus mare shakes away her forelock and the look on her face becomes a cousin to amazement - Lilliana sees nothing familiar reflecting back at her. The girl recognizes nothing of the copper woman who is echoing back at her from Lepis’ frowning facade. The girl had been bright-eyed, hopeful, soft; the woman here is hesitant, hard angles, guarded.
Her blue eyes glance up briefly to where she sees the navy tips of the Cleric’s ears bury themselves into the dark, soaked mane before they come to regard Lepis again.
Lilliana exhales and tries to alleviate the building tension by flaring her dark nostrils. The anger is there. And for a moment, it is tempting to unleash it all. It would be an easy thing to do. It terrifies her at how easily she could let that anger fly. At how all these months of practiced restraint could come undone in a moment. They could court more than bitterness on these lonely ledges. No. The Diplomat considers explaining her question. (Why would Lepis come back to Nerine? Why would she want to come back where to where she had been threatened?)
Why the pegasus is here is something she doesn’t understand. Perhaps for the sake of Loess and diplomacy. In the end, the copper mare decides it doesn’t matter. It doesn't matter that she doesn't understand. Lilliana nurses her own ghosts differently - it’s why she has never returned to Hyaline or gone wandering through the Forest. But she has been learning that souls can be easily haunted. Sometimes, the place simply doesn’t matter.
In the end, she shakes her head and bites her tongue while feeling the winter damp wrap around her crimson coat. (She will bite it until she tastes copper and iron.) Until finally, "The Redwoods will be happy to see you." She swallows the words, feeling each one as it constricts around her throat.
@[Lepis]
but it's all in the past, love
it's all gone with the wind