"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 darkness that once blacked out all of Beqanna seems to have returned again, this time in the form of never-ending nightmares and terror. It had only taken Starlight a mere moment to wrap herself in the power of her stars, hiding away from whatever wished her harm, invisible as she moved away from the kingdom that had never really been home to her in the first place.
So often has she found herself here - beneath the depths of twilight with only silence to greet her and only the silver, mysterious light of the stars to keep her company. It is no surprise that she had felt out of place in Tephra long before her father had disappeared and Gale took the throne. She has always ventured away from Tephra to be able to see the night sky without the smoke and ash to block out her precious stars, not yet finding a place to keep her tethered long enough. She moved with the constellations, taking flight and settling where the stars reigned in the night sky, with only the deep indigo of space being the backdrop of their twinkling, sentient light.
Just a few feet before her, a small orb dips and weaves through the softly swaying meadow grasses, brushing against the green stalks almost playfully. Starlight cannot help the gentle smile that curls on her glowing lips as she follows the star, hovering and darting before her with a life of its own. She has never thought to name it and it doesn’t speak - not in the way she does, anyway. It is another language, something instinctual within the star that Starlight somehow understands; some kind of ancient connection, one forged deep within her lineage that she didn’t even know was there. The star hums lightly, its silver glow pulsing with the thrum, and Starlight’s ears prick forward with a quick tip of her horned head upwards. She takes another few steps, her dark eyes scanning the meadow, while her star loses its courage and zips into her mane, hiding beneath the glowing strands.
Someone is coming, her star had informed her.
Starlight slows to a halt, the warmth on her neck comforting as her star’s light buzzes beneath her indigo mane.
With a thought, she bends the light of the stars to illuminate the area nearest them, bathing herself and a wide berth around her in silver light - as if a full moon was shining.
“Hello?” she whispers into the depth of night, wondering who has come to join her.
10-02-2021, 01:46 PM (This post was last modified: 10-02-2021, 01:52 PM by Knaught.)
Knaught raises his head from grazing in the night sky as a small light land on his nose. He snorts and perks his head up high, staring cross eyed at this thing on him. He shakes his head multiple times side to side and up and down trying to get it off. The light twinkles on and illuminated the sky around him. It begins to dance, like a ballerina, twisting and turning and making a small pathway of light behind it. It’s showing him something. But what? What is it that it wants from him? Why him? Where is it going? Knaught softly snorts and curiously follows the light ball. Only a few moments later, he looks up seeing this illuminated figure. He has never seen anything so beautiful before. He nickers softly to the mare standing only a few mere feet away. “H-hello?” He asks, softly, yet cautiously. “I-I’m Knaught. This orb has led me here, to you it seems.” He says, flicking his ears as the orbs dance from him to her and back to him.
@Starlight
He wanders tonight, thinking that perhaps the dark will serve as a way to quiet the persistent humming of his mind. Perhaps the shadows themselves will creep into his head and pacify the thoughts that keep him awake, snuffing out those embers that refuse to die.
Ever since he had found out that he had a daughter with Galadriel, but her whereabouts were unknown, he had found himself incapable of thinking of much else. To be an absent father had never been his intention, and if he’d had even an inkling that he had a daughter coming into this world he would have at least checked on Galadriel again. He had made the assumption that their tryst was simply that—not something the two ever intended to replicate, a true one night stand in every sense of the word. To discover they had a daughter had caused his world to tilt on its axis, but finding that Galadriel isn’t sure where she is rattled him to his core.
And so when he wanders tonight, it is with a dual purpose; because he cannot sleep, and because he is looking for his daughter.
He is quiet as he slips through the dark, a sliver of moonlight catching the glistening frost of his scales, but for the most part he goes largely unnoticed. Truthfully, he is not looking at the rest of them either. He scans them quickly, but as he is not searching for company this evening he mostly ignores them. It wasn't as if he was usually terribly social though (he grew tired of the stares his snake-like head attracted, of the way he could feel their eyes tracing across his scaled body and down to the rattle of tail), and he soon decides it would be better to vacate this area of the meadow in favor of some place more secluded.
It is only because a strange glow catches his eye—like a spotlight of starlight cast on one particular area of the meadow—that he changes course, unable to resist the temptation of locating the source of it. By the time he realizes what he has stumbled across it is too late, and he finds himself face to face with two strangers.
He comes to an abrupt halt just outside of where the starlight beams, his reptilian eyes taking in first the girl, and then the male. There is a tension that coils tightly beneath his scales, his jaw clenching in irritation at himself for putting himself in this position when he did not really wish to speak to anyone. “Apologies,” his voice is brusque, but the words slide easily from his snake-like tongue that some of the coolness is almost softened, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
— i slithered here from eden just to sit outside your door —
“It’s starlight,” she gently corrects the stallion that has found her in the midst of the meadow, a smile finding her glowing mouth as her namesake dances around her face. Her star, once hidden beneath the tendrils of her navy mane and much larger than the starlit orbs that she can create, bursts forth from its hiding place and upheaves itself onto the appaloosa, aggressive and protective. Starlight begins to move forward to attempt to calm her star that now buzzes with something like anger and fear, her dark cobalt legs and a flurry of equally dark feathered wings moving her swiftly to the stranger who had only just claimed to be called Knaught.
Though a gentle and kindred soul despite years of solitude, Starlight’s nameless companion is ageless and timeless - her bonded is fickle and easily agitated, finding the likes of mortals unfit for their presence. It had been quite a long time since the two of them had been in any real company and though Starlight does not wish to lead a solitary life, it seems as though her star would pursue it.
She touches her blue nose to the star whose audible buzz clearly signifies that it is burning hot. Starlight, however, does not get burned. The star warbles and flickers, speaking to her in some ancient language, before conceding to hovering just behind the crown of her head, giving her a halo-like glow. “I apologize,” she breathes softly into the night once her companion has settled - at least for the time being. “She’s the only one I can’t quite control.” Starlight smiles, laughter etching the softness of her auburn and blue face. Her horned head lifts, turning her face towards another who has stumbled into the light she bathes in. Nearly sheepishly, realizing what a beacon she must be drawing in what had been an attempt to shed light in the darkness, Starlight releases the light back into the cosmos, leaving only the light of her star and her glowing markings to illuminate the now trio.
“Don’t apologize,” she says gently to the uniquely patterned man that had stumbled upon them somewhat accidentally. Her dark indigo eyes particularly enjoying the way her starlight brought his scaled skin to life, dancing like a thousand diamonds beneath the caress of silver light. She realizes a moment too late that her softened gaze has lingered too long and her brow then furrows slightly, thoughtful and ever curious. “I’m Starlight.” The glowing mare turns her face from the reptilian stallion to the appaloosa, a tiny smile etched on her blue mouth. “I wasn’t expecting to find anyone out here in the middle of the night, let alone run into two.” She chuckles, the star at her ears pulsing with the vibration of her voice. “Do you both always wander at night, too? Or is there a purpose for your late-night trekking? ”
Knaught smiles, hearing the mare say her name. There’s something really endearing to him about her. Her soft, warm breath against his neck makes him almost melt. “What are those?” He asks, curious as the light ball flickers around and makes it back to its owner. He is mesmerized of the halo glow Starlight receives. His ears flicker back and forth as the orbs dance around Starlight’s head and land back into her mane.
He looks over to the teal reptilian equine, whom he has never met before. He has never seen a horse like that before. “No.. you weren’t interrupting,” he says, glancing over to Riptide. “Were you called here too?” He asks as he directs his attention back to the mare. “Not usually,” Knaught replies to her question. “I saw that orb and felt like I was being drawn here,” he says, reaching his neck out as an orb peeks out from her mane.
@Riptide
@Starlight
She is looking at him, and while this is something that he has grown accustomed to by now (they always stared) it still does not stop the way an uncomfortable heat crawls across his skin. He hates that he has no way of knowing what she is thinking—if she is repulsed by the strange shape of his head, if she is simply fascinated by his frost-laced scales, or if she doesn’t have an opinion on anything one way or another. His mind is quick to assume the worst, which only further hardens his angular face, and being beneath the scrutiny of the other stallion does not help matters.
But she is a soft, lovely looking thing, illuminated by starlight, and when she introduces herself it coaxes a nearly hidden smile onto his harsh looking face. “A fitting name, it seems,” he says as he tilts his head pointedly in reference to the silvery light she had returned to the sky above, his sage-green eyes watching the stars for a moment before his gaze is pulled to the other stallion. “Nothing called me here,” he responds frankly. “I saw a strange beam of light and came to investigate.”
“My name is Riptide,” and he knows even as he says it that it seems like such a strange name for him. He had clearly inherited most of his mother’s snake attributes—the shape of his head, his narrowed eyes, and the rattle at the end of his tail. But his kelpie father had been the one allowed to name him, and Varick knew little of anything beyond the sea and loving Sabbath. Everything about him was already strange, though, and so it seemed fitting that even his name was peculiar.
He watches the shivering light of the star nestled in her hair, and while he is curious he is distracted by her question, drug back to the reality of why he was out here. “I’m looking for my daughter,” he says as he again scans their immediate area, though he can already see there is clearly no one else around. “But I think it’s safe to say she is not here.”
— i slithered here from eden just to sit outside your door —
