"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
The second girl arrives quickly, sliding up to her sister in a familiar way - @[Oisin] and Eurwen used to be as thick as these two, and he tilts his green-eyes gaze towards the girls with mild amusement still written on his face. The overo-painted girl examines him closely, and with every twitch of her ears and eyes, every frown written on her scrutinizing face, he know she is Eurwen’s daughter too - it’s only the pink spots that makes him certain they’re not Sheen’s.
Her conclusion seems to lean mildly towards his statement, but they’re still unsure. Aodhán waits rather relaxedly, up until she asks about their grandparents. Hesitation clouds his eyes as he looks from one to the other, their expectant faces now fully on him. Eurwen hasn’t told them everything, and probably for a reason; but they can’t not be told at all - but, he also makes sure neither Wen nor Leilan is around before he lowers his head in a conspirational fashion. ”They were very devoted to eachother when I was born. I never got all the details of what was before, as there was a Plague in the lands and Icicle Isle was the only safe land in the north. Dad had claimed it for Nerine, or for mom.” he starts, smiling a bit at the sentiment of mentioning the Isle and his father’s obvious devotion to his mother - not Nerine, he was quite certain by now; it was similar to the way he had chosen to live in Ischia, to be nearer to Eva. ”Your grandmother, Breckin - and your great-grandma on my dad’s side, Scorch - were both Queens of Nerine, once. My mom left Beqanna and her job to Heartfire I was about your age, and dad followed her later. I don’t know what happened after that, but they returned separately, and my mom didn’t recognize me when I accidentally bumped into her.” he frowns a little, lifting his head, searching the moors. ”If you happen to run into a mare named Roz, it might be safer to avoid her for now.” his tone is sad when he mentions the latter, and he desperately hopes they take the message to heart.
That is until he spooks, recognizing Eurwen’s scent and voice.
the secret of walking on water is knowing where the rocks lie
She had been towards Taiga when he arrived, but she picked up the familiar trail soon enough.
Thankfully for him, she hadn’t heard her spotted daughter screaming, but she did see Fechín running, and she wasn’t so naive to think that her green-and-rose painted daughter wouldn’t be up to something. For a small moment she had thought to let it go, however, but when she had walked closer she had noticed Brienna too, and the twins were talking to someone - so as a diplomat she needed to investigate at any rate.
She hadn’t expected Aodhán however, and for a moment she had stopped in her tracks - then smiled to herself and taken a ways around their hill, coming up behind him when he was telling the girls a story - with and ending she didn’t like. ”Aey,” she abbreviates his name in a way that sounds almost like an offended hey, and her darks eyes disapprovingly look from him to the girls and then back. ”What kind of stories are you telling my girls now? You’re the worst babysitter ever. I thought I taught you better.” she snorts, the rose-golden maned Eurwen looking strongly at the slightly larger baroque; then, she breaks the show and pulls his white mane. ”You took some time to visit, little brother. Where have you been and how many cousins do they have?” she asks, shoving him playfully. She knew very well how good he looked now, as she had expected when she had given him that Cure.
@[brienna] sorryyyy I have to many active characters in this family and they just wouldn’t fit in one post. I’ll try to condense them next time lol
06-13-2020, 05:57 PM (This post was last modified: 06-16-2020, 04:34 AM by brienna.)
told them your dreams and they all started laughing guess you're out of your mind 'til it actually happens
Fechin is busy studying Aodhan’s fetlocks and staring at his metallic spots, much as she had done. Those spots do seem like a dead giveaway that even if he wasn’t their uncle, there might be some family relation… somewhere. Their grandsire had other descendants, it had been explained, and so the stallion could easily be one of them.
Her twin glances sidelong at her - a rather conspiratorial look shared between the sisters - that leaves them in quiet agreement that this is a matter for their mother to settle. If they can find her. Before @[Aodhan] can elaborate on @[Fechin]’s question, Brienna interjects: "Remember, he can change shapes.” The yearling warns. If he could disguise himself as a bird, why not a horse with spots? Why would he? her glare says when she looks back at the shapeshifter.
A pale ear flicks to the stallion as he starts to speak and Brienna watches him guardedly.
She learns that their grandparents were devoted to each other. That Leilan took control of the Isle for Breckin, their grand-dam. It was an endearing story, one that might have made Brienna go soft-eyed if Aodhan hadn’t chased her across Nerine to tell it. He does come bearing a warning that clouds Bri’s curious expression. Roz? she thinks, storing the name away for later.
What threat might she pose to them? Was she another shadow for the North to fear?
A scent fills the air and when Brienna turns her pale face around, there is her mother. The girl’s face lights up with relief and the yearling filly even manages to smile at the arrival of her mother. Her uncle and his missteps across the moorlands are momentarily forgotten.
It isn’t until @[Eurwen] starts teasing the baroque stallion that Brienna finally starts to accept that there might be some merit in what he had said. Her spotted dam is bumping shoulders with the taller male that Brienna shyly teases (and she has a gleam of fresh sweat to prove it): "Uncle Aey tried to eat to me.”
06-16-2020, 03:26 AM (This post was last modified: 06-16-2020, 03:26 AM by Aodhan.)
The green-and-pink girls both stare him down, and apparently coming to the same conclusion - he could be related, but they can’t be certain until someone confirms. He grimaces at Brienna’s remark, tilting his head and then giving her a daring look. ”I could take Eurwen’s shape if that helps.” he offers - knowing she will decline, he chuckles. But then the painted girl asks a question, and when be finishes that story, thankfully his big sister arrives. ”Wen! I was looking for you.” he gives the girls an accusing look, then turns back to his sister with a playful look in his eyes as she pulls his mane. ”About five, maybe. You should come visit in Ischia.” he chuckles. More if he includes Eva’s sets of twins with Velkan, but he doesn’t want to explain that in detail right now.
When Brienna accuses him of eating her, he frowns at her, offended - or semi-offended, but she probably didn’t know him well enough to tell. ”It’s Aodhán, and that wasn’t me trying.” For good measure, he changes his head - back into it’s earlier draconic shape - to snap his teeth at her; and back to normal in the blink of an eye. He turns to Wen with an amused look in his eyes. ”Please tell me it’s just these two.”
Fechín gets bored - obviously the boring conclusion is that the shifter spoke truth, which had been the reason she asked more details of her grandparents; when mom confirms the challenge is sadly over. She looks to her sister, who also visibly stores the name Roz away, just like she herself probably does. If she doesn’t forget by tomorrow that is.
The overo girl starts to chuckle at the exchange of her sister with their apparent uncle Aey, or whatever that was short for - Aeyyan? She tilts her head, now understanding that her own name, and Brienna’s too, was probably of similar origin, but thankfully Fechín and Brienna were at the very least pronounceable. She almost forgets about the story she asked for, when suddenly it comes back to her and she blurts out, ”Wait, what’s up with the Roz?” If it doesn’t come with a better story, she will probably soon forget.
They all start talking together, explaining things, accusing and asking things, and Eurwen perks her ears left and right to follow, a frown etching into her face. Ischia - that’s where the cream-golden girl had been from; the world is smaller than she thought; but she doesn’t concern herself with the exchange between her child and her brother - surely he doesn’t eat horses, being one himself - but then he changes back and forth in an estimated two heartbeats, and she blinks her dark eyes at him in surprise. ”Since when do you do that?” Of course, not the eating but the shifting. Had she done that? Oh, dear. She inhales deeply when looking at the girls, the twins both asking way too much attention for her taste, and honestly she rather feels like leaving Aodhán to handle that by himself and take her rest while she can - until Fechín asks about Roz. At that, the spotted mare tilts her head at her younger brother. ”Yes, what about that? Does she eat little fillies too?”
06-18-2020, 08:17 PM (This post was last modified: 06-18-2020, 08:43 PM by brienna.)
told them your dreams and they all started laughing guess you're out of your mind 'til it actually happens
Brienna stands quietly, at first. Her silver eyes look from her spotted dam back to her older sister and then finally to her uncle again. Her tail whips between her legs and she still can’t tell where he fits in. If he stays as he is, then maybe he can in Nerine. If he keeps changing shapes (and the yearling is looking at him again, studying him), it might be something she has to talk to Mama about.
Their mother is playing with the stallion’s mane and Bri tilts her head curiously because the action is something that she and Fechin do. Her mother has a… brother? What an odd thought for a child. Brienna can feel her face squinting as she watches them, her blue eyes dancing from her dam to the stallion as if she looks hard enough, the truth will reveal itself.
It does.
@[Aodhan]’s head changes back to its earlier shape and the filly pins her ears, baring her teeth briefly before she gets scared enough to bury her face into the comfort of her twin’s neck. Thankfully, she doesn’t shake like she does when the thunderstorms blow through Nerine. Brienna keeps her eyes firmly shut and doesn’t open them until she is ready. The yearling stamps her front hoof, irritated with his Magic.
Feeling Eurwen’s brown eyes on her emboldens Brienna to speak up. How dare he speak to their mother that way.
"Mama can have five hundred babies if she wants,” the yearling says, defending their dam. It seems like a high enough number - in fact, it’s the highest she can think of at the moment.
Glancing back to her sister and then her mother as they speak of the ‘Roz’, she snorts. They seem so concerned with this monster that he speaks of that she thinks they forget whats in front of them. Brienna just glares up at the shapeshifter. He might be able to distract them but he wouldn’t fool her. Maybe, he could be this ‘Roz’ that he was warning them about.
06-21-2020, 06:00 AM (This post was last modified: 06-21-2020, 06:00 AM by Aodhan.)
”Aodhán.” The voice is sharp and reprimanding, and too close to how his mother would call him back sharply when he got too close to the Isle’s slippery cliffs, near the foal-eating seals (he’d never believed they did until he got chased by one and saw the teeth), or when he and Sheen would be tumbling a little too roughly. His ears flatten and his head is pulled to his chest reflexively, but his sister doesn’t seem to have a lot of time to be angry with him, instead quirking a brow at Brienna for speaking up.
Eurwen doesn’t feel like having a hundred babies, he thinks, but the gold-spotted male holds his tongue - this time.
He studies the spotted girl a moment, as she does him, but his attention turns to the more obvious green one who stands her ground. He smiles at the blazing face she pulls - probably for scaring her sister - though she doesn’t seem to want to back down. Sighing exasperatedly, the green-eyed stallion turns to his sister. ”I saw mom in the forest. Spots, smell, feathers and all - but she called herself Roz and reacted aggressively when I called her out. Thought it best to warn you. She even made me doubt it was her at all for the moment.” He shakes his head, a frown creasing his brow. No, he had been sure, especially in retrospect. It had just been the severity of her denial and the fierce, almost hateful way she had presented her circling logic to him that had him flabbergasted.
Shaking his crest, he looks at the girls and shrugs. ”I got the shifting abilities from that Magic you fed me, Wen. I’ve been a subconscious rock for half a year before someone brushed by me and woke me up.” he chuckles, remembering Lethy and Pteron. ”It’s fun trying new shapes though.” he tells her the latter to make sure she knows he doesn’t have any regrets or hard feelings a out it.
06-22-2020, 08:22 PM (This post was last modified: 06-22-2020, 08:23 PM by brienna.)
told them your dreams and they all started laughing guess you're out of your mind 'til it actually happens
Their mama cuts to the quick with the spotted male and Brienna gives her head an imperceptible nod of approval. Bri turns her silver eyes to look up at her dam and her face softens when she looks away from Aodhan, when she peers up at her mother from beneath her pale lashes. It’s an easy look to read - appreciation. It touches the corners of her mouth and the yearling almost lifts them up in a smile.
For now, the spotted stallion is speaking about Roz again and Bri turns her white head to apprehensively stare at him. She wonders if he took another shape when he met this mare. Part of the yearling thinks that she can’t blame the way that her supposed grandmother would react if she encountered @[Aodhan] much the same way she had. Perhaps he had sharp teeth that gleamed menacingly when he smiled, perhaps there was a predatory glint in his green eyes when he approached her.
Snorting softly, Brienna doesn’t think her thoughts are entirely out of line.
It was a confusing situation to follow. If it was their granddam, why would she pretend to be somebody else?
The spotted filly looks to the ground and nearly kicks out at a rock, trying to stand patiently like their mother had encouraged them to do. (What good was a dancing Diplomat?) Brienna is half-tempted to snort again, trying to vent some of her frustration in a tangible gust of hot air. Their uncle had been a rock? What an unusual shape to take. Her ears flick forward and she looks up, letting most of her silver-eyed gaze remain hidden beneath her forelock.
He laughs and Brienna tilts her head slightly, wondering if he might take the form of one of those new shapes he insists are so fun.
BRIENNA
apparently she has entered the angsty adolescent phase, lol
the secret of walking on water is knowing where the rocks lie
She sounds like her mother, she knows - sees it in the way her little brother reacts. But she doesn’t take the time to study the effect, instead catching the appreciative look on Bri’s face. She answers it with a conspirational smile of her own, but it disappears when she looks back at the male and his story. Even if he had scared their mother the same way he had her daughter, Eurwen doesn’t believe Breckin would have been that kind of mad at her son - heck, she was never mad at anyone! That she knew of anyway - but certainly she forgave her own children for any stupid things they did, Eurwen had experienced firsthand.
Nevertheless, Bri’s snorts and little movements attract her attention. They’re easily followed up by Fechín’s movements and if she’s not careful, stupid remarks from that one - or some sort of game that Eurwen herself fails to understand as well. Where Brienna tried... her overo daughter did not, and the spotted mare cast a glance to her metallic maned daughter in warning of things to come.
Eurwen’s head jerks back at Aodhan when he mentions being a rock and various other shapes. ”I’d suggest entering Nerine in horse shape next time,” she tells him dryly, then shakes her crest. ”Let’s take a walk, and leave my girls alone. They’ve been standing still way too long by now.” She smiles at the twins. ”I’m sure you can pester your uncle later with any questions you have.” before they open their mouths, she softly presses her brother away from them.
@[brienna] figured we should end it! Since he’s still visiting we can do a one on one with either, but this is a little too much for me haha
