"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
Life in a kingdom was certainly different than life had been on her own. She had done well enough alone in the dark, as one would expect from one of her kind. It had been more of a struggle to learn some degree of control. She hadn’t been fully feral like her father, but it turned out she had much to learn.
She was lucky to have found a teacher.
Better, a family.
A family who accepted her and the monster lurking under her skin. Somewhere they shared common blood but it wasn’t even something that Nyet thought much about any more. Fio was her mother, more family than her father had ever been. The father she’d been forced to abandon when no recognition registered in his black eyes when she’d hatched in the darkness. She didn’t know if he would have truly attacked her, but the threat behind the clicks and snarls were enough to send her away.
She struggled, more often than she’d like, with that part of her. With control. It’s why Fio had to take her away from the others. She’d been free to do whatever she want for so long – hunt whenever the cravings descended without prejudice or control.
That wasn’t conducive to a life here. Or anywhere where anyone lived or breathed.
They’d only just returned but being back around so many was already a struggle. Nyet could smell the blood pounding in their veins. Hear their hearts beating out their varying rhythms. She doesn’t wait to be overwhelmed as she once would have. Immediately she turns – looking for the flaming horns of her adopted mother.
“Mother,” she starts, shifting her wings though she doesn’t fear her mother’s judgment, “Is it always this difficult?”
i’ve been preoccupied with these sick, six senses.
06-21-2021, 06:51 PM (This post was last modified: 06-21-2021, 06:52 PM by Fiorina.)
don't be afraid of the fire, I'd never let you burn
Fiorina had been slacking in her duties to Loess as of late, and though there was a little bit of guilt there isn’t much of it. Some things take precedence, like making sure your children aren’t going to eat everyone in the kingdom.
Not Pax and Agathe, though she’s sure the perfect spotted pair wouldn’t mind being considered a threat - but Nyet. Still perfect, a piece of the family that Fiorina had distanced herself from. She wasn’t entirely sure who the rainbow-hued girl’s parent was, though whoever had both failed to raise her and given her those wings was certainly on the fire-horned mare’s shitlist. There’s just no justice in the world.
She reaches out to lip gently at Nyet’s armoured forehead, an affectionate action she’s learned from Breckin. Some of her edges have been softened, new actions and languages picked up as she helps raise both armoured and unarmoured children.
“No.” She tells her, a blunt word, but Fiorina doesn’t leave it at that. “It was harder for your father, though, and for some of our family so it will take a little more for you to get to where it is easy.” She is glad that Nyet has enough of her sanity to come and seek help when she needs it - that she does not give into the ferocious side they are both capable of. For Fiorina, it has always been a thing of voice - she can pull it on when she wishes it.
Nyet may be grown but she is still so young, and Fiorina is not worried - her confidence in the younger mare showing in her voice as she continues. “These first few days back in the kingdom are going to be tough as you get used to being around so many others. But then it will be easier, a little more each day.”
Nyet doesn’t flinch at Fiorina’s bluntness. It’s always something that she’s appreciated, all things considered. She certainly didn’t want to go from having a childhood deficient of any parenting whatsoever to one where she was coddled. She knew that their kind weren’t meant to be coddled. It’s not to say affection isn’t appreciated – that was something that had bonded Nyet to this family right away. That’s why she allowed herself to smile and lean into her mother’s touch. But she appreciated the directness just as much. This was a family with no secrets, and that was something she appreciated.
“With father once the switch flipped there was no turning it back. There was nothing of him left,” she said, remembering those empty black eyes. She wondered, sometimes, if he remembered anything from when he lost control. She had been powerless to stop her father then, for he would have batted her away like nothing more than a pest or some other nuisance in the path of a meal. That had been her last memory of him – disappearing into the darkness leaving only the eerie clicks of their kind lingering in his wake.
She looks back up to her mother, letting a small sigh escape her as she does. “It’s nowhere near like that for me, thankfully. I’m just…very aware of them. Of what would happen if I did lose control.” Consequences. An important lesson indeed. Her knife-tipped tail twitches. Fiorina’s confidence is contagious, and the encouragement is enough to put some of her fears at ease. For now.
”Do you think the others are here too?” she asks, of the rest of their family, trying to ignore the hot pang of guilt for having taken Fiorina away from them for so long.
i’ve been preoccupied with these sick, six senses.
