"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 Taiga was an army of watchful sentries, canopies branching over like shields in protective salute, witnessing their stoic leader return in silent procession. Glacial blue eyes lit from a rich, black face, sober and direct in their verity. Dark and writhing shadows followed in his wake, sifted and drifted out of the way of his solid step as an icy snap surrounded the air around him. Slow. Steady. He was the beat of this heart. He was the love, the deeply embedded strength that was there, so quietly there, but always present.
And he made his presence known.
The robe of his quiet slid off his back as he progressed through their home, slipped like perfect silk to reveal the naked skin of the man they almost knew. The deep purple of royalty was dripped across his body like a painted rain, dark amethyst stones embedded within the imperfect ivory of him with violent slashes of scars down each of his sides. They were the vicious smiles of only a small piece of his life, and the stealth of the wolves he'd lived years with was not present today as he walked soundly among these trees, among these hearts.
You have keen ears, he remarked aloud as he continued calmly, steadily, knowing it to be true for each of the members in this family, this pack, this forest. He didn't call for them, didn't whistle and demand they show. Those true to the Taiga, true to their home, true to him, would sense him and would hear. He didn't have to see them to know it. He had spoken to them on a more personal level, those that were actively thriving within their borders, and he would continue to do so. He was one of them. Not above them.
Loyalty and compassion for each other is the only thing I have ever expected of us. If it is too much to bear, then you can follow your queen out of this forest. His tone was even and unyielding, and no hint of malice tainted his truths.
If he has earned respect, the faithful will stay. The trustworthy and true. The rest were freed from his offered guidance. He turned his bright eyes towards the perpetual darkness, the part of the forest where the powerful beast haunts in his ready quiet.
03-20-2017, 03:42 PM (This post was last modified: 03-20-2017, 04:04 PM by Jinju.)
Jinju
She comes, of course she does. They might not be on best terms, but he still is her father. Yes, he’s her leader too, but before that, he’s one of the two adults who raised her. Jinju loved him and looked up to him. Like any child whose father is their hero. She’s old enough to not make those silly comparisons, but that doesn’t change how she thinks of him. Or that she cares about him and that she very much needs his attention and approval.
Jinju wants to move up close to him, to settle herself at his side like she had done as a child. Perhaps he did no longer have wings to hide her – and she doesn’t feel like hiding anymore either – but she missed the comfort, the closeness. Was it that bad to get an occasional hug from your dad? She didn’t think so. However, she’s not quite ready to be turn down again. So instead of settling herself at his side, she keeps distance between them. ”Hi dad” she murmurs softly, before slipping to the background while waiting for the others.
One by one they come. She watches them silently, trying to keep the look upon her features as neutral as possible. She didn’t come to make problems, to start another argument. Though she wants to, once he talk about her mother. Jinju gasps softly and her ruby eyes widen in surprise. Did she really hear that right?
There are so many questions she wants to ask, but none of them make it past her lips. They weren’t meant for her to ask. Whatever happened to her parents isn’t her business, but she still wants to. She wants to know. But most of all, she wants to know if hé’s okay, if her mother is okay. Soon Jinju’s eyes search the crowd for the familiar face of Romek, wondering why her dad had called him out.
Things are changing at breakneck speed around here these days. Circinae had known that they would though - from the moment Ruan had loosed his mournful cry and called her back home she’d known there was more churning beneath the waves than what was rocking the boat above them. It makes her feel guilty (though, she’s not sure what exactly for) and nearly sends her in the opposite direction from where they wait. But Ruan isn’t one to be denied and Taiga makes no exceptions for the ones who straggle behind so she stays on course and eventually picks up a loping sort of canter that brings her to the appointed gathering place.
Ruan looks … terrible. And Jinu, who’s filed neatly to the side, seems on edge. Circinae knows she shouldn’t but she slows and takes her place beside the midnight girl, a faint bump of her nose against her powerful, dark shoulder given in a silent form of greeting. The last time they’d come together, some eyes had seared into her skin and left trails of burning hate for her to think on after. This time, she won’t reflect on them, only accept that they are together no matter the circumstances.
Jinju couldn’t escape her forever, and neither could the rest.
One ear hears her leader, the other points deftly backwards to hear the rest pour in - she’s distracted, if only for a moment, and then the pale words “your Queen” drive a hard, sharp point through the rest and she’s staring - deep blue eyes locked intently on her Alpha. What in the actual fuck had happened? Still, she reels from the statement and finds that she can only blink back her surprise and numbly search for the stallion with glowing spots that she’d met so long ago.
Speechless. She is speechless.
Circinae
I need the crack of a whip, I need some blood in the cut
03-22-2017, 05:11 PM (This post was last modified: 03-23-2017, 05:58 AM by Romek.)
fuck all your dreams; they're not all they seem.
They were the strength and the hope and the future. From them would flow new life, new blood from new blood, and new breath from breath.
But not Romek. He was old now – perhaps not in body, his immortality took care of that, but in spirit. He had loved and lost and lost and lost. He had never had much tolerance for the sly-footed social dealings of the equids even as a yearling, but now it had almost entirely disappeared.
He had not noticed the weirdness between Reagan and Ruan. He had not noticed the change in their wolf-leader, had not noticed the tension at the meeting – Romek had never been the best versed in social cues or behaviour, but perhaps now he was now more ignorant of it than he had ever been. If not for Maribel and their children, he would be a solitary beast once more, a striped shadow-within-shadows. Silent sentry.
And at the sound of Ruan’s voice, his feline ears twitch. He realises it is a summons, of a sort, and rises to his striped paws in a single fluid motion. He moves through the underbrush almost silently, making sure to snap a twig there, brush a leaf there – he does not particularly wish to startle them. The ice man calls his name as the tiger steps out into into view. He gives a half smile and walks towards them, with each step becoming more equine, until there is a spotted stallion standing beside them.
Even Romek can see the surprise and shock on their faces, and he turns to Ruan with a tilted head.
“Reagan has left.” More of a statement than question.
Reagan had been his last solid connection to the members of this kingdom – it had been she and Romek and Demian who had come together, formed a kind of alliance, discovered this land. Ruan had been barely a stranger to him – some random stallion that Reagan had recruited. He remembers thinking – if she trusts him, then so do I.
But he had proven his trustworthiness, his strength as a caretaker of the Taiga (it was a job the stallion did not envy), had earned it by his own right. Romek settled a little, glanced at the other two briefly.
“How can I be of service?”
Romek
**EDIT: Quick edit but I just remembered that Romek's daughter Anastazja should be with him.
SO just assume that she has followed him here and is behind him. I will chuck up a post for her later.
It isn't hard for her to find them, as their emotions had hailed her here. There was confusion riddled, with a growing sadness. And as the sunlight princess enters the clearing, she can feel the intensity of her father's emotions, and only his. her mother was no where in sight, her hazel gaze travels over those who had joined the group searching for the slate wolf that guarded her family, her forest. But her queen, her very own mother was no where in sight, her place left empty beside her father.
Heda strides next to Jinju. Allowing her velvet to gently brush against her sister's shoulder in a greeting. She doesn't speak, she doesn't move, she doesn't greet her father. She listens, and when he says those words, like a dagger staking her through the heart,If it is too much to bear, then you can follow your queen out of this forest. Anger now wells in her eyes of hers, who was he to rip apart HER family. As steam expels from her navy tinged lobes, her feathers ruffle up in a form of aggression. With the nares of her nostrils flaring she fires, "What have you done." her words are barbed, and poisonous.
Her gaze lifts towards him, in defiance. She will not leave HER forest, this was her home as much as it was her mother's. Her trust in him now broken, she will not allow him to rip this family apart.
03-23-2017, 01:46 PM (This post was last modified: 03-23-2017, 01:47 PM by Anastazja.)
dreamer, every time you stargaze the whole world is lying at your feet
The metal and cream filly followed her father through the forest, a little stumblingly, but otherwise surprisingly quiet – with every day that passed she became more and more used to this terrain, and more skilled in moving across it fluidly. It was more fun than bounding across the meadows of the Playground though, she knew that for sure.
She hears a man’s voice say her daddy’s name and she pauses, looking to see what his reaction would be – but he didn’t really react at all, and Ana found this an easy thing to imitate. There is a collection of a lot of horses as they break through the last bushes separating them. She knows none of them and her light applegreen eyes widen, and she hastily moves her spindly foal legs so that she is pressed close against her father. This is different to anything she has ever witnessed before; her daddy doesn’t give anyone cuddles or nose-boops like he does with her mama, nor does he even properly greet them. On the whole, he is cooler and this worries little Ana, and she buries her face into his shoulder (and Romek turns to nuzzle her fluffy head briefly). That is enough encouragement for her and she watches with wider eyes than before as one of the mares, one with pretty black wings on her back, speaks aggressively, ruffles her feathers. Ana takes a step back, a little uncertain of this loud angry one, intimidated, scared.
She wants to ask her daddy why she seems to have a bee in her bonnet but she is smart enough to realise that this is probably not the time. Well, equal parts that and not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to herself. She waits this one out, anxiously pressed against the side of Romek.
got a chick i call her lola, she feel like the ocean
The young blue mare watches with pale eyes. It was easy to find Ruan as he moves amongst the tress. His hooves fall like thunderclaps against the Taigaian soil. She chooses to pay no mind but when he catches the words of 'then follow you queen out of the forest.." well what in the holy hell is going on?
Lightly feathered hooves move her lightly over the fresh spring grasses. Ferns ands moss cover the forest floor as she comes to find the familiar form of her father with a tiny filly at his side. No doubt it was a sibling. Liv never faulted her parents for their love and their many children.
Liv hopes to forge a relationship one day with them all.
But for now, the indigo mare slides near her father, a warm smile offered along with a light nudge as she takes his free side. "Dad...what's going on?"
The white mare does not try to hid herself. She is milk and honey amongst the dull tree trunks. Already he youngest was at her love's side, curious and bold. The gold lips of her face spread into an easy smile as she rests nestled amongst daffodils and soft grass.
Maribel is growing older, her body not as supple and smooth as it once had been. Ana's birth had been taxing and so the mare had to rest more frequently but the beautiful child was worth every ounce of pain. But it is the call of her husband's name that she stirs. Romek. Maribel moves to her feet, gold legs struggling only a moment before she moves toward the direction of her husband's scent.
Luckily she finds him shortly, having known his scent for many years now. Two of their children stand at his side. Mari greets Liv with a loving exchange of nips and rubs before she plants a big kiss on Ana's brow before moving to meet Romek's gaze with a tender embrace and lips upon his cheek. Mari, gentle and kind, would stand at his side through thick and thin and so whatever the king had to say could be spoken to both of them.
And when she laughs you'll always take notice.
'Cause her heart's charm will shine right through it all.
Tyrna is among the last to arrive, but she still shows. The steel mare stands at the back of the gathering, hiding in the trees if she is being honest. Ruan said he would never call her like a pet, and he didn't. She said he would never have to stand alone, which is why she is here, but his words surprise her. The gathering, reminiscent of the meeting held so many short months ago, feels cold. Not just from the bite to the air, but from the ice in his words.
Tyrna had not been a member of the quiet Taiga for as long as some, but she still loved it fiercely and would gladly go to war for any of the members that also called the forest home, but this was different, personal. Ruan's statements are cordial and brief, but there is something lurking in them that shocks her. Her blues eyes seek his, offering what comfort and warmth she can from the shadows. Needing him to find her, to know that no matter what happens he isn't alone anymore.
She surveys the gathered crowd, the young and old, all who call this magical forest home, and finds herself wondering who will stay. Some are hostile towards their monarch, others confused. All, it seems, are waiting with bated breath for the revelation that he is about to deliver to them. And she hopes beyond hope that he knows what he's doing. She can't bear to see him hurt.
04-01-2017, 06:00 PM (This post was last modified: 04-01-2017, 06:01 PM by Ruan.)
Ruan
He hadn't expected them to show, only hoped they would hear and do as they wished; either stay or go. Seeing them come, one by one, was a pleasant surprise, budding a glowing warmth deep in his aching, shattered chest and slowly beginning to twine a fragile thread of hope within him. Maybe even of pride. There were still some loyal to their forest. And the missing faces did not go unnoticed. Better gone than traitorous.
Jinju was the first to show, of course she was. He remained still, though he wished to comfort her, though he wished he had her to comfort him. More than ever before, he needed her at his side as they used to be. The confusion in her dark face broke his heart even more, but he only swallowed the hurt and remained where he was, waiting. Then Circinae was at her side, and somehow that step eased this endless pain even just a little, seeing that Jinju would not be alone for this. That Circinae was here.
The deep blue of her eyes snapped to his at the title he'd given his wife -no, not wife. No longer Queen either. Not alpha, not anything. Dis-entitled by her own actions; as wife, anyway. The rest by choice as she heeded his wish to not see her return home, chose not to hold on to her place here as leader. But he would name her Queen, of course. This last time. The highest title he could give her in respect of the woman he loved deeply. Yes, still loved, even as it killed him.
The muscle in his clenched jaw twitched as he stared back at Circy, breathing deep though every breath felt like knives down his throat, through his lungs, in his heart. She held him grounded without meaning to, without even knowing it perhaps, as he pushed against the emotions threatening to break him and let the beast in his mind -still embedded there even without her magic- focus on her. But both their attention turned to Romek as he entered, and for the moment everything else fell away.
They probably wondered why Ruan had called for him. Maybe he didn't truly know why he asked for Romek, himself. He felt his name on his tongue and he spoke it. He felt a driving need to see him and so he requested to. Led by instinct, driven by intuition. As wild as he always would be. The meaning wasn't clear to him either, not until he saw that dark and familiar face. Not until he met his eyes. And then he knew.
It felt like his ribs wanted to explode outward, open and splay everything inside him, lay his raw suffering bare for the former king's perusal, for his judgement. Did I do the right thing? He needed him, this man that had earned so much of his respect and love. Somehow, Romek was the last piece of everything he once had, there from the very beginning before he and Reagan had ever adopted or had any children of their own. He'd been there from the start of it all. Here for the end of it all. Quietly in the background, but always there. Romek was the last thing holding him together. Maybe it didn't make sense, but it was exactly how it felt.
But there was no judgement in those deeply knowing eyes. What he saw there was acceptance. Respect. Trust. It wasn't something either man would do, but it felt as though Ruan's spirit rushed forth and hugged him, wrapped around and soaked in his strength, and he had to close his eyes over the naked vulnerability suddenly there brightening the blue of them. He gathered himself silently, rebuilt his stability and slowly opened his eyes again.
His heart squeezed in happiness, and maybe a pinprick of envy, as the tiger's family slid in place at his side; his children and his beautiful, loving wife. "Reagan has left," Romek stated, and he gave a short nod in quiet response. She chose a different path in life. One that didn't belong here where loyalty was something more than a word, more than an idea. "How can I be of service?"
The hostility in Heda's voice interrupted him before he could answer, "What have you done", and his head slowly turned to his sunshine child. His girl of sunny dawn and deep twilight, always so loving and caring towards him, so beautiful and wild, and now suddenly sharp and bitter. He stared at her blankly, hiding the hurt at her accusing tone, soaking in the blame. He would rather she hate him than know the truth and think differently of her mother.
Do you see her coming back? he didn't ask, didn't point out if she was not already seeing it for herself. Do you see anything stopping the all-powerful woman from doing what she wished, ever? But he held his silence, held that hard, icy gaze unyielding against her young defiance.
He would never think to force her to stay if she didn't wish it. Like all of them, she was free to leave. Just as Reagan made her choice, any of them could as well. He'd already said this, and would not repeat it. As to her question, what had he done, he would not answer. He was unable to accept someone back in his arms that was so painfully disloyal to him, unfaithful. He had done nothing but assert himself and walk away with a broken heart and shattered soul. Leave her to her desires wherever they took her and wish her peace in her ventures.
As to the question in all of their eyes -what had happened, what had Reagan done- he would not answer. He would not soil her name even if what he said was nothing but truth. She was gone, and that was all they needed to know. She chose not to return, and they could choose to leave to find her if they wished. He would not stop them, and he would encourage their children to seek her out as often as they wanted. She was their mother.
Loyalty. Compassion. Integrity. These are things expected of all of us here in the Taiga. His stare turned to take them all in, all the ones that have shown themselves, all the ones that remained hidden and listening. If it is out of your frame of character, then you don't belong here. And you are free to leave. Glacial, blue eyes slowly made their pass and landed on Heda again. Silently, he added firmly.
He stared at her a few moments longer, making certain the quiet rebuke of her lashing had been understood. Then he turned once again to the former king, tilted his head in deep respect. Already, he felt his strength ebbing and growing, fortified by those that made themselves known, stood by him and their forest -by Tyrna's quiet but steady presence, too- and those that he felt were still here even if they had not shown their faces. He hadn't meant to call them, after all, only hoped to be heard.
I ask that you stay, you and your family. He didn't feel like Romek would leave this home, but it was Reagan who had introduced them after all, and it was Reagan that the tiger may be tied to. Ruan couldn't deny the strength he felt having him here, though, the strange sense that somehow he needed Romek. At least for a while. Help me get on my feet again.Continue to protect it as you have been. His voice dropped low and quiet at his next words, barely loud enough to be heard, met his eyes soberly.
And should anything happen to me.. Take my place. Take back your kingdom.
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