06-17-2019, 09:59 PM
It will be over soon.
Lepis repeats her husband’s words to herself rather than go over the myriad of ways in which it might not be soon at all. She’s done that already, followed the branching and forking paths of what if to their many ends. Not all of them are quick, she has found, but all of them are certain. She has been called arrogant before, and the dun mare knows it is probably true. She knows for certain that she is confident, and she is also quite sure that she is capable of the task that she has set herself.
The forest grows darker around them as the evening creeps in, but Lepis remains on high alert. She’d rather be walking the path deeper into woods than lingering here, but she trusts her husband to lead them to the right spot. Even before he’d changed, she had trusted him. Now, knowing that he has, Lepis follows his gaze the instant it sharpens, her blue-grey eyes searching the shadows. There is nothing there to her weak equine eyes for some time.
Then, even though she’d been anticipating someone, she still startles at their ethereal appearance.
The rational part of her mind reassures Lepis that it is just the fog and the moonlight, and presses relaxation that slows her suddenly racing heart and loosens her dry throat. She has time to swallow again while Wolfbane answers the query, time to look over the champagne stallion that blocks their way deeper into Taiga. He is hard-eyed and determined, and she knows he must be Aten.
Lepis smiles.
Her blue-grey eyes glance up at her husband’s admission of her diplomatic skills and offers him a smile that is equal part amused and adoring. Those attributes leave her gaze when she returns it to Aten, but her expression remains indubitably pleasant.
“You asked who we are,” she says, “My name is Lepis, and this is Wolfbane.” They’ve no titles anymore. That is why they are here, and her steady alto voice says as much. “We are here to take over the Taiga.” It’s a bold statement, and while she does pause for a heartbeat to read his reaction, she does not hesitate overlong. “I’d rather not spill blood, though that’s only because we don’t have to. Do you know why?”
And then, whether he asks why or not, she uses her gift to project a series of emotions one after the other with sharp distinctions between each. Anger, Sadness, Joy, Fear. She lets the last one linger for a moment, intangible in the air between them. If he does not feel them, does not realize how she might wield emotions like helplessness, terror, and inferiority against him and the other Taigans, then at least she is certain he will feel the hoof and tooth and claw of her husband.
“We would most prefer that you remain in an advisory position,” she tells him him, as blasé as if they discuss why the moon waxes and wanes, “We've run kingdoms before, but I'm sure you know the assistance of a long time resident would be beneficial.” The pegasus mare is not physically imposing, and she knows this. Yet there is unwavering confidence in her voice when she speaks and the pleasant smile on her face is not diminished by the determination in her gaze. "But if you prove troublesome, we will not hesitate to oust you from the woods."
@[Aten] @[Wolfbane]
Lepis repeats her husband’s words to herself rather than go over the myriad of ways in which it might not be soon at all. She’s done that already, followed the branching and forking paths of what if to their many ends. Not all of them are quick, she has found, but all of them are certain. She has been called arrogant before, and the dun mare knows it is probably true. She knows for certain that she is confident, and she is also quite sure that she is capable of the task that she has set herself.
The forest grows darker around them as the evening creeps in, but Lepis remains on high alert. She’d rather be walking the path deeper into woods than lingering here, but she trusts her husband to lead them to the right spot. Even before he’d changed, she had trusted him. Now, knowing that he has, Lepis follows his gaze the instant it sharpens, her blue-grey eyes searching the shadows. There is nothing there to her weak equine eyes for some time.
Then, even though she’d been anticipating someone, she still startles at their ethereal appearance.
The rational part of her mind reassures Lepis that it is just the fog and the moonlight, and presses relaxation that slows her suddenly racing heart and loosens her dry throat. She has time to swallow again while Wolfbane answers the query, time to look over the champagne stallion that blocks their way deeper into Taiga. He is hard-eyed and determined, and she knows he must be Aten.
Lepis smiles.
Her blue-grey eyes glance up at her husband’s admission of her diplomatic skills and offers him a smile that is equal part amused and adoring. Those attributes leave her gaze when she returns it to Aten, but her expression remains indubitably pleasant.
“You asked who we are,” she says, “My name is Lepis, and this is Wolfbane.” They’ve no titles anymore. That is why they are here, and her steady alto voice says as much. “We are here to take over the Taiga.” It’s a bold statement, and while she does pause for a heartbeat to read his reaction, she does not hesitate overlong. “I’d rather not spill blood, though that’s only because we don’t have to. Do you know why?”
And then, whether he asks why or not, she uses her gift to project a series of emotions one after the other with sharp distinctions between each. Anger, Sadness, Joy, Fear. She lets the last one linger for a moment, intangible in the air between them. If he does not feel them, does not realize how she might wield emotions like helplessness, terror, and inferiority against him and the other Taigans, then at least she is certain he will feel the hoof and tooth and claw of her husband.
“We would most prefer that you remain in an advisory position,” she tells him him, as blasé as if they discuss why the moon waxes and wanes, “We've run kingdoms before, but I'm sure you know the assistance of a long time resident would be beneficial.” The pegasus mare is not physically imposing, and she knows this. Yet there is unwavering confidence in her voice when she speaks and the pleasant smile on her face is not diminished by the determination in her gaze. "But if you prove troublesome, we will not hesitate to oust you from the woods."
@[Aten] @[Wolfbane]
