"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
10-13-2015, 07:00 PM (This post was last modified: 10-13-2015, 07:00 PM by Gallows.)
“Better me than taking after her father.” I reply cheerily. I'm not sure anyone could or should dissect why Carnage and I made babies, but suffice it to say neither of his children from me are turning into crazed sadistic murderers. Mischief makers, certainly, but only for the sake of hedonism.
I grin at Hestia. “I haven't been a filly for a very long time, and it's doubtful I suckled my mother longer than it took for her to be on her feet and walk away after birth.”
I don't hold it against Epic. Some are made to be mothers. Some aren't. And some of just choose to stick it out whether we are good at it or not. I have never held my mother any ill will. Cade and I did just fine without her in our life and it seemed an enormous waste of time to be full of rage over her abandonment. She was a bit flighty and she probably forgot she had us nearly as soon as she gave birth. Other than the day she gave Cade and I life, I only saw her one other time. Two years into my reign she dropped my little sister Nyx off at the proverbial door for me to raise.
Nyx. I blink, looking away to glance at my daughter. That's who Namaah reminds me of. Delicate and feminine and beautiful. In other words, nothing like me. Or her father, but I figure that goes without saying.
My father, by the way, was apparently a sperm donor because I never heard a word from that one.
“I had no idea.” I say to Fennick, rather dryly, when he introduces me to Hestia. Does he forget I read minds or-? Aw, poor boy. He's defending her. Seems our second man has a weakness. Adorable.
Reading these two's minds is like watching a romantic comedy. I'm dying to tell each one what the other is thinking. He likes her, she likes him, etc. Just kiss the girl already. But spilling the beans would spoil the fun, I suppose. I sigh inwardly. Mind reading is such a burden.
And gods, do I love it.
“Well, what skills are you looking to improve? Fennick here is a jack of all trades and I tend to have more skill fighting.” I grin at Fennick, wondering how a mock between he and I would turn out. Perhaps that will have to be put on the agenda. “I was a diplomat for ages but I tend towards brutal honesty. Apparently that's not always desirable in diplomacy.”
It's age. It does something to you. Eventually, you just stop caring what others think.
G A L L O W S We must all hang together or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
Mother is often talking.
And me? I am always listening. I know I'm too young to understand 'most everything I hear but that doesn't stop me from filing it all away so that I can puzzle it out later. And mother is always there to explain it to me. Some day I will learn that not all mothers explain to their young children about death and sex and the meaning of life, but I take it all in stride.
Having a mother who reads minds is not particularly easy, but she does her best not to torment me with it. She ignores most naughty thoughts with an amused grin and almost always gives me a chance to speak my mind before responding to what my brain is saying.
She's a handful, my ma. I love her, but I am glad that she isn't always focused on me. It's much better when she's scowling at my Kushiel.
I catch the sound of my name but I don't respond right away. It isn't a direct call and I am very busy trying to understand why toads can hop but I am not so talented. After sprawling into an ungraceful pile more than once I give up with a forlorn look. Life is terribly unfair.
I trot nearer to my mother and the two unknown horses. I give my mother a questioning look, for once grateful that she can read my mind.
"Namaah. That's Fennick, and that's Hestia." she murmurs into my ear as she ruffles my forelock. I scowl at her. She and my brother are forever mussing up my hair. I flick my wings in a clear sign of irritation.
"Hello." I say, turning to the pair with a beaming smile. I stretch my neck to nuzzle Hestia playfully. Knowing mostly adults, and my big brother, I am at ease with horses of all ages. I do not, however, possess much tact.
I look at mama. "They are awfully close, Mother. Are they going to make a baby like you did?"
I would like that. I need more playmates around here.
Namaah
ooc: fun fact. I had a five year old ask me today if i was going to make a baby when i kissed my husband. i immediately decided i needed to include that in this post.
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun
Fennick was used to feeling like he came into a conversation immediately after the punchline of a joke. He wasn’t the guy who was constantly saying, “wait, what?” but only because he long ago learned to live with the feeling.
Such is life.
Still, he tilted his head in confusion. Hestia didn’t seem old. She didn’t seem any older than himself. He looked back and forth between the mares. Had she already met Gallows? His eyes narrowed slightly.
“Wait. You two have met?” Poor Fennick. Always surround by immortality, never understanding how everyone seemed so ancient and wise and still seemed as young and lithe as himself. It didn’t seem particularity fair. The yearning of the young was wisdom, and the plight of the old was age. You couldn’t have both. The black stallion snorted. If everyone was immortal did that make him a child? He looked at Gallows little girl.
At least he was older than her.
Still, Fennick was determined not to be regulated to the kiddy table. He did this by curbing another childish remark to Gallows. He just smiled a little wider. He was coming to enjoy it when her tone got very dry and her voice very flat.
He was snapped out of his inner turmoil by Hestia’s question. It took him by surprise. He’d never even considered children. He’d never considered that any girl would hold still long enough for those children to be created.
“I don’t. If my personality doesn’t scare the girls off they usually start running when I turn to stone.” He grinned lopsidedly. Those were fun times. Fennick turned to stone when he slept, or when he was particularly mortified, or if he sneezed really hard and lost control of his ability. Again, such was life. He belatedly realized he hadn’t told Hestia about that either. He was on a roll wasn’t he? First the cosmic fire wall and now the stone man. Cool, another good job by Fennick.
Still, Hestia wasn’t running quite yet. She brushed against his side and Fennick looked down. The big stallion smiled slightly. It was rare, that he didn’t make a botch of things. Against all odds she had apparently chosen to like him, or at least like him more than Gallows. He smiled again.
Naturally, Namaah chose to comment on it. Fennick blushed beneath his fur and was immediately worried that he had been crowding Hestia. He stepped a little to the side and looked sheepishly down at her. He was about to say something, probably a bad joke, when the filly spoke again.
Fennick chocked loudly on what could have only been his own tongue. He sputtered a little and blushed furiously.
“Geez Gallows, what are you teaching that kid?” He certainly wasn’t questioning her parenting style. Good for her, for having the talk. He just wished that talk hadn’t come back to bite him in the ass. Nice guys really do finish last.
"Ahh, I must have gotten you mixed up with someone else the last time I was around beqanna." She pauses for a moment. "You remember the wars? Erros, Jadis, Cassiah, Infection... Gunsynd" There were others involved, more than she could count. It had been a dark period in the history of Beqanna. "It runs together sometimes." She say's almost as a side note.
When Fennick steps back into the conversation, she bites her lip a bit sheepishly. She thought he had picked up on her hints. Oh well, it was still a cute moment. One she wouldn't forget. "Ah, sort of, more in passing then anything else, we happened to be attending the same meeting." She isn't sure just how much of the story he is wanting, but she is sure that if he wanted more he would ask. She nudges him reasurringly, before turning her attention to the youngling.
She purrs through her nares a small chorkle escaping towards the affectionate girl. "Wonderful to meet you as well Namaah." The leafy orbs fill with a shimmer of warmth, teasingly blowing air to tickle her in the last moments of contact.
Looking up at him for a moment she sees the grin and can't help give one in return. "It must be something to scare off females like that. Guess they just can't handle the prize." Her eyes twinkle wondering if he knew she was refering to something other than literal stone.
Finally siddling back to Fennick she takes comfort from his presence, just as she does from Gallows and the young creature at her side. "You're a good mother Gallows." Wow a compliment from Hestia? What was this? Maybe it was the effects of the fire wall. Well in any case she needed to shut her trap before something happened that she wouldn't be able to recover from.
Almost as if the woman can read her mind the subject is changed to politics. Grateful she straightens herself out, "Well if fighting is what you are good at, then it would be fighting that I should ask of you." She smiles again. Nope it dissapears and she pretends that it didn't exist.
With a smile from him it encouraged her, she couldn't help but continueing to look into his eyes. Until the child talks once more, this time it sends Fennick a little distance away. Hestia hides her dissapointment by turning to the little one, "Well not quite. Do you think we should have one?" Oi she was encouraging the little one and she knew it. She hoped maybe he would get the point and if he did, would he tell her to bug off, or accept her... Well it was a risk that she was willing to take.
As the sun started peeking over the edge, yawning as it rolled over and went back to sleep, she hoped to hide her discomfort by starring into the rays. Glossy eyed, and a little let down she stepped away from him. Knowing that if he wanted her, he would let her know. She had given away how she felt as much as she was willing. Now it was time to lock it all back up. She was an independant woman, and didn't need anyone's help.
Hestia had allowed herself one moment in time to dream of a life that she could have had. A life that she desperately wanted, but, sadly, never felt that would be hers to own. For if her family came calling she would drop everything in a heart beat to help them. And Fennick... well as much as he let on that he liked her, seemed to be interested in friends only. So once more just as Erros was just a friend. It seemed that Fennick would be just a friend as well. Whether she was hoping for something more or not it didn't really matter.
10-16-2015, 07:17 PM (This post was last modified: 10-16-2015, 07:19 PM by Gallows.)
I nod absently in response to Hestia, thinking of the days of desecration and the split between the lands.
“It does run together, after a time. There have been so many wars, and raids, over many of the same things.”
Not that I tire of it. To me, it's like rereading a story you loved. Life is really only worth living if there is suitable entertainment. And speaking of that, my daughter is entirely capable of creating that. I bite back my laughter at her intrusive question, interested in the lovers' response. No way am I helping them out of this one. It's much too entertaining, and they do not dissapoint.
“Whats the matter, Fennick? Did your mother forget to have the birds and bees talk with you? I can fill you in if you like.” I grin wickedly at the stallion. Poor boy. He is completely in over his head between smart-ass me, a precocious filly and a mare who is head over heels for him. There is no way he's coming out of this conversation unscathed.
Hestia compliments me on motherhood and I grin. Namaah's mental response, however, has me gasping for air. After a moment laughing at a joke only I can hear, I nudge the filly.
“Go ahead, darling. Tell them what you think of my parenting skills.”
She throws me a dirty look but does as I've asked in her oh so serious childlike voice, “She's 'xaseperating. She won't let me fly yet until my wings get stronger and she says I mustn't try to touch my brother's fire and also she looks at what my head is saying, but I guess she's mostly all right.”
By the end of her speech, Namaah is grinning in a very similar manner to my own, and she nuzzles my chest playfully. Rotten child. Every word she says is true, of course, and she knew all that without my abilities.
“As for fighting, we can mock battle if you like. I can always use the practice and with the way things are, we may need able fighters soon.”
The alliance of the Chamber and the Valley goes back ages, and is just as predictable as our enmity. Thankfully this time around their queen is willing to believe that more is merrier.
I pick up on Hestia's disappointment and I give her a small smile. “Don't give up on Fennick yet. He's just oblivious.”
There. I've done my good deed for the day and it has only just started.
G A L L O W S We must all hang together or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
I am ignoring my mother's laughter when Hestia asks me her question in response to mine. Should they have a baby?
I look at the pair, seriously considering their parenting abilities. Fennick looks a little sick and I think he choked on something he ate, but I bet he would make a good father anyways.
(Although I don't really know what makes a good father. For me there is only mother. I asked her once what my father was like and she just said he was full of himself. That confused me enough that we haven't spoken since. How can you be full of yourself? Aren't you always just yourself?)
And Hestia is nice and seems like she would be a lot of fun to play with. Even without wings I bet she could be a good mother, and she'd be even better cause she wouldn't read her kids' mind. That is a significant drawback to my mother.
"Yes." I say finally, after contemplating their decision to procreate carefully. "You should. I bet you would have a boy and maybe he could be my friend."
I nudge Hestia's shoulder playfully, glancing at Fennick. "Maybe you should kiss him. Mother says that can help. Well, not with father. She says that was mostly business."
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun
In his coltish days, Fennick had been as rambunctious as the rest of them. He’d been significantly more awkward, true, but he had taken his fair share of bluster and bravado. He’d butted heads with the other colts, bucked and romped until his legs were tried. Perhaps, because he was the most awkward, he was also the most likely to be led astray by his brethren.
One day on a dare, he’d talked to a real, in the flesh mare.
That had not gone so well. He swaggered up to her and said one of the horrible pickup lines the other boys had deemed perfect for wooing. She’d bared her teeth and sent him scurrying back to his band of dumb little boys. He’d learned something that day. Women were scary, and they were not to be messed with. He’d maintained that mind set into his adult life. He’d reevaluated slightly, to be sure. Women weren’t always scary, women were just scary when you wanted something from them. Don’t mess with the bull and you won’t get the horns. You could, however, ask the bull how her day was going, and that usually went over pretty well.
Fennick considered for a second. Did lady bulls have horns? He sure hoped not. He’d really pity bulls if their women folk were weaponized.
That was not important. What was important was that Hestia was teasing him. His eyes glinted playfully, both because she was goading him, but also because he had picked up on it. It was possible he was a little savvier now then he had been as a colt.
“Oh it is. He’s got a great personality too, a real crowd pleaser. Much better than this form that tries to make bad jokes.” Another grin, maybe a little sheepish. It was certainly possible that rock Fennick was, indeed, his most charming personality. There was also log Fennick, for when he felt stiff as a board, and goo Fennick, for when he just couldn’t keep it together. Hopefully, Hestia would never have to be plagued with his more disastrous selves.
He finished grinning at Hestia just in time to scowl as Gallows. His heart wasn’t in it though. After the initial shock of baby talk had worn off Fennick was falling into a teasing, light hearted groove. You just had to give the poor boy a minute to catch up.
“Rea didn’t really need to sit her children down. She probably assumed we’d catch on eventually. Fennick had a lot (read a lot) of half siblings. Rea had many children, Fennick was among them. While Fennick didn’t particularly enjoy thinking of his mother in that way, none of her kids were strangers to the birds and the bees.
Fennick didn’t know his father, but he had heard he was a whale? He didn’t know what think about that.
The black stallion smiled between Namaah and Gallows. The child really was precocious, and he found himself grinning again at her explanation of Gallows’ parenting skills. Their little family seemed like a merry, and a little scary, bunch. For the first time Fennick wondered what it would be like to have children of his own, and the thought didn’t seem entirely ridiculous. He tried to imagine what a son of his would be like and couldn’t. He did, however, blush at her suggestion to kiss Hestia. His own embarrassment was overpowered by sly satisfaction at Gallows’ choking (serves her right). He looked coyly at Hestia, a grin tugging at his lips.
“I should kiss her, huh?” In an uncharacteristic show of boldness, he closed the distance between them, his head snaking out as he tried to trail a big, wet lick across her cheek. There, that should woo any mare. Who wouldn’t like a big, sloppy Fennick kiss?
To Gallows she nods, "Then it will be good practice for the two of us, I'm afraid I will not be much of a challenge, considering how rusty I am." The black creature can't help but let the dreamy feeling slide through her body.
Hestia listens to Fennick attentively. Possibly a little flabbergasted at his new found ability of quick wit. He had been so... oblivious before. That period of time lasted until she thought, that was just his nature.And had just been starting to accept it. When this suprise occurs. For a moment she is caught in the throws of the conversation. Giggling at the jokes being thrown around. "Well not many can stand to be around someone better then themselves. As for rock, I'm sure that it can have its pleasantries as well." For lack of something better to say, she leaves it at that.
Though it is a quick recover from the miserable failure at a whitty remark when the conversation is switched to the birds and the bees. "Two heads are always better than one... or in this case. Teachers" she grins mischeviously at the two. Well if they wanted to play that game, she was never one to discriminate.
The reply from the filly is more than she expected. So mind reading eh? Well she should have been able to guess, if she hadn't been so distracted by Fennick that is. This only makes her grin spread more, wasn't really a suprise, Not like she would have been able to hide anything today anyways. Damn Fennick being such a distraction and all.
When Gallows continues with a remark on Fennick's nature, she smiles gratefully towards her. Emotions fluttering through her body. She wasn't like the other mares in Beqanna, most growing up with the free will to fall in love, and have children. To do what ever whim is floating in their minds. For Hestia it had been a soldiers road. Princess of the Amazons. Well... couldn't very well say she was a princess now of course. It didn't stop the blood in her veins though, nor the heart beating in her chest. She had been raised to a high expectation, rigid boundries, and most of all... No male company.
How was she supposed to act? How was she supposed to treat these people. So relaxed in their ways, and lives. So different from the prim and proper up bringing that was hers by birth. Where steps must be silent, head held high, muscles coiled and ready for battle, eyes sharp and aware. She had indeed grown rusty to bend and talk to a foal. It was no longer about old world customs, and eliquent speeches.
It felt nice, being here, without her mothers hawk eyes to watch her. Being able to laugh and flirt. It had a warmth to it that she definately missed in her years away from this land. It reminded the mare as to why she called this place home. Why her heart had longed to be back here.
She is pulled from her thoughts when the child adds to her previous remark, and she can't help but let out an out right laugh. Until Fennick dares to respond and send her head reeling with shock. He wouldn't dare.... would h...
Just as she is thinking it she can hear him stepping closer towards her. She turns her head bewildered, recieving the full force of his kiss to her face. Well if Fennick seemed oblivious to her, she must be choking on her own tongue at this point. She liked it, no more accurately loved it. Well maybe she should ask herself what it was first... Butterflies sent searing heat through her joints, No one had ever dared to do that before.
In a way she wanted it again, wanted to give him one in return. In a knee jerk reaction she squealed and playfully nipped at his tongue attempting to catch it in coy punishment. Her insides trembled at the sensation, her eyes sparkling green and lips curved into a smile.
When she turns her attention back to Namaah she winks "Your right I think it just might help."
Let it not be said that I can't pick up on subtleties. Of course, mind reading makes that a tad easier but I like to think that I'm still fluent in body language.
Hey, it's my mind. I'll fucking think what I want.
I nudge Namaah's side, and wink at the twitterpated ponies. I have the feeling, ahem, that they would like to be alone. And just because I've told Namaah how babies are made doesn't mean I want her having a front row seat to that show.
"Time to go, fledgling. Fennick and Hestia need to be alone if you want that playmate."
She makes a face, but doesn't protest. With a chipper "Bye Fennick! By Hestia! Have fun!" she bounds away ahead of me. No doubt ready to talk my ear off about her potential new playmate. I roll my eyes, and leave the pair without a backwards glance, my wings ruffling the grass.
G A L L O W S We must all hang together or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
i immediately decided i needed to include that in this post.
