"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
04-27-2018, 06:25 PM (This post was last modified: 05-29-2018, 02:31 PM by Kagerus.)
kagerus
and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times
There's been a shift in the council of Hyaline, though the residents have yet to be notified. And though a kingdom meeting is in the works, I can't help but want to get ahead of the game. I could have done this as ambassador too, but somehow I felt that Hyaline kinda rocks on that side. Or at least, they need more help with war than peace in every single way. And with the political scene the way it is, well, every day is a potential threat to our lives.
I'm standing under Svedka's willow tree, just off the coast of the lake (with a daisy stuck in its branches as silent payment for letting me use his spot for this meeting). The autumn sky is clear for now, but the sun still shines only weakly upon the open area. Winter will soon be upon us, and the thickening of my mottled red-white coat tells this tale clearly. After a few minutes of waiting in thought, formulating my words, I raise my head and give a throaty call to the residents of Hyaline.
They come slowly, trickling like a stream to the lake, and I await them patiently. My nutmeg goes out to each who choose to make an appearance, head dipping, and perhaps some soft words of greeting exchanged. Eventually however, I decide that everyone who will come has, and that if more come, it will be to my joy, not to my anger.
"Hello, Hyalinians," I begin in my low voice. "For any who don't know me, I am Kagerus. It is my pleasure to announce that I have been granted to role of Protector of Hyaline. This makes me your general. Historically, Hyaline has had next to no army, or war experience. However, it is time we make an attempt. Please, if you are interested in the war caste or even in learning how to defend yourself as a diplomat, step forward and introduce yourselves. After we have all gone around, I will have more to say on the topic of training, duties, and expectations."
Quieting, I sift through the faces gathered before me, wondering who will be the first to step forward.
PLEASE EVEN IF U ARENT IN THE WAR CASTE, PLZ, PLZ SHOW UP
<33
She had told him that a meeting would be taking place, one that she planned on hosting, and asked him if his willow could be used as the meeting place. He had, of course, obliged (because it is Kagerus, and though their ‘friend’ship had started out spectacularly strange, he rather enjoyed the woman). She hadn’t asked him to attend, or if he was interested in doing so, but he would never take offense anyways, so he hadn’t mind that she hadn’t asked. He is meant for wild nights beneath the moon and for sunrises that burn the atmosphere - he is not surprised that he is not the first she thinks of.
Svedka grins. Her voice resounds throughout the valley, and though he knows what it is for, he begins to move towards his willow anyway - interested genuinely, of course, but also curious to see Kagerus’ reaction at his arrival.
She is beneath the willow - her dark and ivory body shadowed beneath the softly swaying vines of green. So much had happened here, beneath these branches, and as he moves them from his eyesight with a gentle push of his grinning mouth, he remembers the evening fondly. He knows his smile would unnerve her, but he cannot help the easy way his lips curl when he pushes through the branches and joins the group. He notices the daisy - out of place yet vibrant and beautiful - nosing it tenderly with a bump of his muzzle before allowing his cerulean gaze to sweep to hers, laughter and joy in his eyes.
“I am Svedka,” he begins, pulling his gaze slowly from Kagerus to meet those of the horses around him, his voice cool and light. “The Heart.” He does not state why is here - if that is required, he will. He has never been one for violence or fighting (not when love-making could be a first option), but his bond to Solace creates a sort of instilled duty within him to protect her. The now-healed scars on her withers spurred in him, and he knows if he is ever not able to defend her, he could never live with himself.
These thoughts do not show outwardly on the milk-and-honey stallion. He still smirks lazily, his eyes slowly turning back to Kagerus - the General.
and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times
Well, my spiel falls on just one set of ears, apparently. And it's not the one I'd have expected, local be damned - as he slinks into view with a little smirk blossoming tenderly on those damnedly fine lips, I can't help but to roll my eyes; and then to smile, because hey. It's Svedka. And even if our friendship had had a spectacularly strange start, it's now become something I take great comfort in. Atop my head, the little seas shell he'd hung upon my horn jostles quietly in the wind, as if to remind me of exactly how close the Heart and I now are, even after everything.
Sighing when no others show up, I give up the waiting game and slide free of the willow's trailing branches, towards the stallion I've come to know as a sort of brother - it would make sense, considering I see his father as my father, and his sister as my wife. Trying not to feel too defeated, I huff lightly as I approach the golden overo, shaking my head in disappointment.
"Hyaline just isn't ready yet," I offer quietly as I walk, eyes downcast. Without thinking too much of it, I come alongside the stag and nuzzle into the crook of his neck, the lengths of our bodies pressing comfortably together. Smiling when my shell jostles again, I angle my head so as to gently groom the slope of his shoulder as we stand there below his willow tree, as we once had; but it's different now, I'm no longer catatonic. In fact, I'm at peace - even if my meeting had flopped so grandly.
"Thank you for showing up," I say, but the words get garbled by a yawn. Nuzzling closer and attempting to bury myself in his taller frame, my eyes blink heavily as sleep threatens to overwhelm me. "I'm so tired Svedka..."
@[Svedka] for once she's actually? falling asleep? this never happens
She sighs, a bit defeated in the fact that he is the only one to accompany her. His smile never fades though, for he is truly happy to be with her and despite the lack of newcomers, she will soon realize that Hyaline is still growing and becoming more of a kingdom everyday thanks to her and Solace’s reign. Her eyes fall downcast however, and not the one to allow such a defeated look to arise on his friend’s expression, he easily puts the bridge of his nose beneath her chin and lifts her head slightly, a soft chuckle falling from his lips. “And when Hyaline is ready, so will you.”
Kagerus easily falls beside him and he is comfortable with the closeness she allows him. The pinkish-pearl of the shell twinkles gently against her horn and the sound creates a smile, which he presses into the thrumming pulse of her throat, where a satisfied hum from his chest resounds. She grooms the slope of his golden and white shoulder, white the pale of his lips brush at the tendrils of onyx and ivory in her mane, a deep inhale relieving from him in a gentle sigh as dusk slowly approaches them.
She thanks him, and his brows rise in amusement, despite her words ending in a yawn. Her idleness is contagious, and his ears flip back slightly as he shifts his weight, a back hoof tilting beneath the comfort of the swaying vines of the willow tree. “Of course,” he replies tenderly, his cerulean gaze peering out from beneath the tree’s branches to see the soft bulbs of fireflies begin to dance from their hiding places, thrilled to be dazzling around in spring time air. Kagerus has stopped grooming him, leaning into his robust figure with as she admits how tired she is. His eyes flicker downward, with a slow blink of his lashes across the blue of his irises, the slow and steady breath of her rhythmically lulling him into sleep. “Rest,” he murmurs, his chin resting on her poll, “rest.” He says again, but this time his voice is nearly a whisper, the sound of awakening crickets chirping in the tall, swaying grasses around them.
and in my dreams, i kissed your lips a thousand times
His words are comforting, lulling my tired soul further towards a restful night's sleep. Licking my lips and swallowing as my eyelids give up the fight against gravity, I focus on the way his lips feel running through my mane. It's not unlike my nights spent with Solace, though my feelings towards him are entirely different; but still, his presence and touch leaves me utterly content, my fluttering eyes happy to glimpse the last rays of the sunset as evening settles upon us.
Rest, he says as his body melts into a posture for sleeping. Rest, he whispers as his chin gently sits atop my poll. Caught with my guards completely lowered, I am in no condition to disobey his happy command; with a final little yawn, I press into him. From afar, one might see us two overo figures gently cuddling beneath the willow tree - and as sleep tumbles towards me with the reckless abandon of any child, I momentarily worry about what Solace might think. But then, I remember that she, too, often forsakes my side for her brothers. We are a family - there isn't anything weird or wrong about that.
As the thought of my lover coaxes me to sleep, a serene smile alights upon my lips, my final expression before darkness descends.
Ew, Kag, gross! Can you not dream of that while I'm here??
Gasping as my head flies up from between a certain dream-lady's legs, our usual bed and bedroom dissolves rapid-fire like paint being hit with a bucket of water. Tomato-red in the face and literally wanting to kill myself - well, not literally but still - I dream myself some clothes (a hoodie and some jean shorts) and sheepishly walk around the undefined dreamscape, looking for Svedka. Well, at least now there can be no mistaking exactly which twin I have feelings for.
When I find him, I do not give him a specific shape, instead allowing him a second to look me over so he has an idea of what these dreams are truly capable of. And also because for the love of Christ I was just performing oral sex on his twin sister. Still redder than a spanked ass, I avoid meeting his gaze - but at the last, I burst into uncontrollable laughter, buckling over and covering my mouth as tears swim in my gaze.
"I - am so - sorry -" I gasp through the giggles, the wetness of my tears causing my auburn curls to become plastered to my pale skin. "You were NOT supposed to see that." Not knowing what else to say on the subject, I wait for the laughter to subside, and then I figure that I better explain some stuff.
"Anyway, the figure you see is called a human. I know about them from a quest about a decade ago or so; you'd look like this:" Beside me, another dream-figure appears, prince Francis from that very quest. He's male, blonde, attractive as fuck. Then about a dozen other exemplars flit by, until I think he can figure it out for himself. Settling my weight into a hip and throwing my hands into my pockets, I wait for him to decide - and pretend like... Yeah. WE'RE STILL PRETENDING.
05-29-2018, 04:55 PM (This post was last modified: 05-29-2018, 05:00 PM by Svedka.)
the secret of our world is written in the stars
He had heard of Kagerus’ dreamworld (Solace had mentioned it countless times), though Svedka could never truly fathom such a thing, or that Kagerus would bring him into it without him knowing. So when his eyes flutter open and two creatures are before him, he is at first confused. It felt like a dream, hazy around the edges and a bit foreign, but all of his senses were extremely vivid. He blinks wildly, trying to figure out where his mind had led him, before he realizes that though the creatures are unfamiliar to him, that they are truly two beings he utterly recognizes by scent alone.
“Ew, Kag, gross! Can you not dream of that while I'm here??” He cries, incredulous as he turns his head away, feeling slightly woozy at catching such an amorous act being wrought on his sister by one of his best friends. She apologizes, and when he turns to look back the scene has changed, and a sigh of relief leaves him. A human, Kagerus describes to him and he realizes that he hadn’t even looked down at himself to see how the dreamworld had shaped him. He hasn’t the chance to see what he truly is because the moment Kagerus suggests this is what he could possibly look like, that is the shape he assumes.
The man - Prince Francis - looks down with wide, curious eyes at the hands that now are before him, and the way he stands upright. Breathless, Svedka’s face turns towards Kagerus with a wistful grin, a howl of laughter leaving his mouth. “This is wonderful!” He exclaims, taking a step towards her. He falls, of course, face-planting into the bedroom floor that Kagerus has dreamed up, his laugh muffling into the carpet. He goes to stand, using Kagerus’ human body to upright himself. “I want to see myself!” he tells her, though does not wait to run to the nearest reflection (a mirror, though he didn’t know the name) to gaze at his human self. He’s wearing a simple white t-shirt and jeans, but Svedka is too busy peering at his own face to notice what he’s wearing. At first he is elated, though after a short while his broad smile fades into a thoughtful line, curious. His blonde hair then grows, just to his chin, in golden waves around his jawline. He smiles then, proud of his adjustments.
Curiously, he lifts his shirt to see what lay beneath the layers that Kagerus had given him, running his hand over the lean muscle of his tanned body. He turns to her with a wide smile, white teeth parting as another bout of laughter spills from his lips. He releases his shirt and takes a leap towards her, grabbing her hand. “Something else, Kagerus! What else can we do?” He gives her no time to answer, for he has opened the door to the bedroom and ran through it with Kagerus tagging along whether she wanted to or not.
The scene then changes immediately, the walls of the room melting away and the white sands of a tropical inlet appear. Svedka’s running stops, though in his surprise to the sudden new scene, continues to hold onto Kagerus. It is a lagoon, with low hanging palm trees and chittering parrots in the trees. He had never been there, but his recent time with the beautiful woman from Ischia allows him to dream up what he thought it would look like. Maybe Kagerus would even recognize the area, despite it being not as accurate as the real thing.
He turns towards her, dropping her hand so that both of his cups her face, putting his face close to hers in his excitement. “Brilliant!” he exclaims, kissing her forehead before spinning and running towards the quiet and inviting shallow waters.
(be my escape)
Svedka
@[Kagerus]
i'm picturing him literally like his html right now. :|
and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times
Without any hesitation - because why would Svedka use his head, maybe ever - he takes the form of Prince Francis, and for a moment, my heart lurches. In my quest, we'd been courting, romantic dances in the orchard, warding off an advancing evil, all that jazz (I can use that line since I'm human now, heh). Seeing his shape here again sort of makes me sick, but when Svedka takes a step forward and literally face plants, any and all tension I hold completely disappears.
"Aahahahahaha!" My laughter rings loud and clear in the rather undefined mist around us, though just as he's about to knock himself out, I dream him rubbery and and nerveless. When he tries to right himself (looking honest to god like a fumbling foal and for that realization I really must kill myself later), I release that aspect of the dream - or rather, it gets clawed from me as he uses me like a ladder to stand. My laughter only redoubles as he does this, tears swimming in my eyes again as he looks around like a puppy who's tail whaps him in the face but he doesn't care cause he's having such a good time just standing there being a puppy.
Definitely needing a minute to compose myself as the laughter subsides into miserable-sounding chuckles and hiccups, I lean myself against a bed I conjure, wiping my eyes with my long elegant fingers. Sniffling obnoxiously, I only refocus just as the delightfully newborn idiot grows out his locks into a shaggy mess. Grinning, I stretch my mind a little and, on top of everything else, I give him a lush brown beard, perfectly sculpted to his face.
Because I really need to add to him any more, right?
Rolling my eyes, I splat my face into my hand when I realize exactly what he's doing, lifting up his shirt like that. He turns to me, shirt still lifted, laughing like the silly boy I once proclaimed him to be. "I'd show you mine but I think it'd be a little inappropriate. Plus, you'd lose your mind," I laugh, grinning myself despite how desperately I want to be putting on airs in this dreamscape I've so mastered. But then he's grabbing my hand and I've not a thought besides his words and how he's tugging me towards a door, pulling me through it with reckless abandon.
"Svedka, wait -"
But he doesn't wait, and as we burst across the barrier into a new dream that I hadn't time to prepare, which in all honesty could be a nightmare considering our quick approach of it. Luckily, it seems to be bright and peachy, and I relax my grip on his poor hand, though I doubt he'll notice such a nuance. My eyes blink in the brightness of the sunshine, barely registering the coasts that, frankly, I don't recognize at all. I've never been to Ischia - but it is what my mind thinks of, with all these beaches around. That's what they're known for after all.
He drops my hand. Thinking that he's going to go off and try to swim - which would probably go as well as the whole first step scenario - I step as if to quickly follow him. Which really doesn't work in my favour. As I am lunging forward, he pivots around and grapples my face, ending in a very abrupt and inelegant smashing of our mouthes together in what I suppose you could call a kiss, though it felt more like the weirdest goddamn thing to ever happen in the history of the universe.
Sputtering, my hands flail uselessly at my sides as I try to understand what the fuck just happened, and why he is still insisting on kissing my forehead. But before I can even begin that process, he's sprinting away like a little fairy, his blonde locks streaming behind him like tiny, happy little wings.
Wings!
"Svedka!" I shout; furthermore, I make him immobile, freezing him in place as I jog to catch up. There's a grin on my face, and for a split second, I wonder why I'd ever had dreams that didn't reach this level of exuberance. Nearly vibrating, I clasp my hands together and just launch right into it. "Okay, okay, just listen, you can swim whenever but watch, watch watch watch!" Bouncing on the tips of my toes, I place massive gold-blue wings atop the man's shoulder, bending his anatomy to accommodate the appendages.
He’s sprinting away from her (maybe skipping, but even in a dream world he is uncoordinated), breathless and spinning with arms stretched wide in this vivid dream-world, bouts of laughter spilling from his lips. She calls his name and for a moment he almost decides to ignore her, hellbent on splashing into the lagoon and feeling what dream-water would feel on this body she has crafted for him. But he’s found himself frozen, and with a wickedly terrible frown deepening on his face he turns to her, completely immobile and completely infuriated that she has made it so.
“Whyyyy are you - ”being such a fun sucker, he was going to say, but he is cut off by his own surprise. Wings, feathered and gold and brilliant blue, sprout from his shoulder blades, cascading down his back in an ethereal and stunning fashion, his cerulean gaze widening as they magically appear. He turns about wildly, trying to see them fully himself, spinning this way and that before he finally stops (a bit dizzy) and reaches behind him to grab at the lower part of the wing near his thigh, his unfamiliar fingers feeling the soft downy and velvet of the blue and gold feathers. His face whirls up to meet hers, and for a moment he thinks about kissing her again out of sheer exhilaration and happiness, but the need to try flying overcomes that urge.
The wings unfurl, large and beautiful behind him, appearing almost angelic in the soft sunshine of dream-Ischia’s beautiful lagoon. Without much thought he makes them sweep beside him in great, whirlwinding flaps, a shout of glee erupting from his face as he begins to lift off the white sand beneath him. The moment only causes him to beat the wings more steadily, carrying him up and up and up until he is maybe a few hundred feet above the ground. He glances down at Kagerus below him, another peal of laughter falling from his chest, and with a wave, begins to dip and dive and spin in ways he never thought he could.
Soon, Svedka is comfortable with the new appendages, and his flight pattern becomes gutsy and ever-faster. He’s laughing the entire time, shouting down at Kagerus randomly (Watch this! Did you see that?!) as he goes higher and higher, each time more bold than the last. He dives steeply at one point, head-first towards the ground, before turning up at the very last second and barreling towards Kagerus with a wild grin and endless laughter. He grabs her with sturdy hands, lifting her up off of the ground and spiraling high into the air with the wind pulling at his hair. “Where should we go?!” He shouts to her over the sound of whipping wind and her screams of protest.
and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times
As I'm whirling to face the frozen Svedka, a sound like a whine begins leaving his mouth, but I don't give him any time to finish the complaint. With a gush of warm air, I step back to admire my work, and am left buckled in half in laughter at the sight of Svedka chasing his tail like a dog. Gleeful abandon surrounds us undeniably, and I feel the electricity of our adrenaline as he swoops to come face-to-face with me again. The small urge to kiss him arises in me as those wide brown eyes stare into mine with the gawkiness of a newborn and yet the same soul of the man I've come to see as a brother.
That urge quickly dies as he spreads his wings and renders himself in an even softer, girlier light than before. "You're such a boy," I scoff, pushing him with both my palms as he glows in his angelic rendition of flighted man. It's ridiculous how good he looks standing there, basking in the sunset with wings and arms upheld like some kind of religious token; but that ridiculousness is what reminds me how totally in love I am with his sister, and not him. He's a buffoon, a foolish man like I've always said - and I love him for it too, just in a different way.
As he pushes off with a single powerful stroke, I plop down on my behind, feeling the sun-warmed sand just beneath my fingertips. My head tilts back to watch Svedka's airborne antics, a grin plastered across my lips lazily and happily. I laugh when he does, and jeer back when he begs me of such attention with his goading shouts of ecstasy. It's a fulfilling feeling, to watch someone experience something so new and so raw without any reservations. Svedka is his own creature, his own man - and he's enjoying himself, as well he should.
"You're going to faceplant if you kee -- SVEDKA PULL UP -- ACK!" My reverent daydreaming is cut short by the dive bomb sneak attack that Svedka launches my way full throttle. Before I even have time to dream it differently, he's got me in both his arms, easily taking us back into the sky as if we weigh less than even a single feather from the mighty span of his wings. "You absolute fool!" I shout over the wind, but the anger in my voice is in truth more of a reluctant need for adventure. Clinging to his shape, I carefully dream us a net below. If I forgot that detail, and he dropped me... Well, these dreams do have consequences.
With that task complete, I lean my head against his broad shoulder and sigh. "Take me to the stars," I murmur, my eyes fluttering closed. "Take me to the stars."
His mouth is full with laughter, her screams of protest only fueling his climb upwards all the more. He is breathless and wind-driven, the soft waves of his dirty blonde hair falling into his eyes and his open mouth, wondering what Solace would have to say about the curses that spill from her lover’s lips. The brilliant wings she had dreamed him are steady and true, carrying them higher and higher into the clouds. Of course, the flying man had no idea that the dreams here could have repercussions on his actual body, which is why later in life he would be thankful that Kagerus would always be around to ensure his safety when excitement gets the better of him. She clings to him, and finally the shape of her body is no longer tense but actually enjoying the sensation of flight, his laughter stops and only a broad, handsome smile adorns his bearded face.
Take me to the stars.
His brows rise in amusement, his chin tipping downwards to glance at her momentarily - her eyes are closed, a breath of peace expelling from her mouth. He grins, tightening his sturdy grip around her waist and back before turning his face up to the bright blue sky. Svedka’s wings do not tire (he wishes them that way) as they break through the atmosphere, passing through clouds and wind and sun until suddenly they are surrounded by sparkling cosmos and galaxies, millions upon trillions of stars and their constellations glittering around them.
The man is breathless but whole-heartedly so. His bright blue eyes reflect the soft colors of violet and pink, the fractals of stardust and starlit creating a prism of color he thought he could never even fathom (yet somehow, he did). “Kag,” he murmurs softly, starlight in his eyes, “I don’t want to wake up.” His voice is nearly pleading, because like most dreams, he can feel the tendrils of wakefulness just barely beginning to rouse him.
![[Image: kag]](https://78.media.tumblr.com/2e8039018ce4dff6112c167ec23e886a/tumblr_p72zjit7wC1s5a0qvo1_100.png)
