"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 first two are pushed out quickly in the middle of the night, as if they have been prepared for this moment all along and were simply waiting on their mother to birth them. The first, a buckskin colt with dark purple tresses, breaks through the sac that has contained him and mewls quietly as his sister, teal with stars in her mane and tail, follows swiftly after. Aditi's coat is dark with sweat and her sides heave as her body tries to expel the third, but the winged creature is un-breathing and she is so fatigued from birthing all three of them.
The speckled mare nearly gives up, resigning herself to whatever monster may find them helpless in the dark, but finally the stillborn colt slips free and she is able to breathe again. She affords herself a few moments to catch her breath with closed chocolate eyes and then finally Aditi is forcing herself to her hooves, her speckled body weakened by the exertion. She offers a quiet nicker to the first two children, her teal girl and buckskin boy, before making sure that their airways are clear of mucus. She nudges them quietly, waits for them to slowly find their hooves (the girl finds her balance first, though her brother is not far behind) and then waits for their wobbly-kneed selves to find her teat to feed.
She lets her dark eyes flutter closed, the blanket of darkness around them giving her a sense of security. Sylva has proven a decent home so far, their red-eyed King powerful and bold, but the last person she wants for company in the middle of the night is the irritable clown who frequently lolls his tongue from his mouth and smacks his lips together. She shifts slowly, turning her frame so that the two feeding children cannot see their stillborn brother, still wet with birthing fluid, lifeless near the shrubbery.
09-24-2017, 08:10 PM (This post was last modified: 09-24-2017, 08:10 PM by Tauber.)
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word
The Coward does it with a kiss
The safety of their mother's womb was far too short lived, although Tauber would only remember it for a short period of time. Space was limited, and when the contractions came Tauber was the first to escape the confines. His first moments were cold and wet. He does not feel his mother's tongue on him at first and struggles against the wet of the birthing fluids and incordination of legs that had no practice. Instinct drove at him, demanding he give into it. He must stand. He must. He sees his sister struggling next to him before he hears his mother's voice. A quiet nicker in the chaos that surrounds him. It calms him, allowing him to take stock of everything. He feels her tongue on him, and his focus shifts from panic and instincts to actually thinking the first problem of his life through.
A nudge was really all he needed. He notices his sister getting up first, and the instinct trickles back into his little fuzzy head. He props his front legs up, and then the back.
Within moments, he moves over to his mother and bounces into his sister to gain access to a teat. He hadn't realized his hunger was so all encompassing. He stops nursing for a moment to catch his breath, and looked around. Little did he know that in this blanket of darkness, it was him that could see the best. The starless night was his friend and though his mother tries to block his view, he still catches a glimpse of what would of been his third sibling. His heart does not hurt for the winged creature, as it had been dead a few months back. Instead he nudges the belly of his mother, demanding that his hungry stomach be fed.
TAUBER the brave man with a sword
@[Aditi]
(Carnage x Aditi)
Twin to Shirad
Avatar lines by Bronzehalo@deviantart.com
Coloration by Lavender
One by one the pregnant mares drop their bellies followed quickly by their foals. He was skeptical of the boy born to him by the mischievous Sylva diplomat, the boy hidden in the cave with no apparent traits. It was only it's sex that kept it alive, so young and already having so much it needed to prove. A boy to perhaps carry his line… Unless he proved to be worthless stock. His best is yet to come, the tantalizing viciousness of the cobalt and ebony bluebird delaying the process. But he would have her and his heir eventually.
Sylva becomes more familiar to him (as he is to the forest) every day. He is becoming accustomed to it’s secret deer paths, the twisted trees, the private thickets and undiscovered caves. He watches his subjects, even if they don’t know it. He needs no magic to hide in the shadows, having spent many years learning the art of skulking and covering himself within shadows. Today his ghostly figure slinks between the bent autumn branches. Despite the greenery of the forest floor, the leaves of the trees never change. There’s always an air of expectant decay, of the coming of death. Perhaps he should have taken this place to begin with. Then again, they would have all missed out on so much fun.
Crimson eyes easily find the groaning mare, already a child by her side and in the middle of expelling another. The “clown king” was nowhere to be found but the stallion had a weird fascination with children and he thought it best to stay and watch. Not out of concern for the mare but because his subjects were his. He decides if they live or die, if they stay or go. These foals could accomplish great feats in his name and so they are worth something. For now.
The second child slips free from the womb and he eyes it with scrutiny. The mare is still not done and he is quite fascinated that there could possibly be three. Alas, the third is dead on arrival. Still, two new servants for his dark causes. He is pleased even if they aren’t his own. ”Congrats.” Comes his whisper from the trees as he makes himself slight visible. ”I wouldn’t linger for too long.” This kingdom harbored monsters of all sorts and he will make them happy as long as they continue to serve loyally. Whatever it takes. His red gaze lingers on the dead foal before meeting the speckled mare’s with a raised brow. He could not protect a dead child from the hungry clown, it was free game. The other two however could be spared from the hunt.
Aditi and her children, two breathing and one not, have only a few moments of solitude before the red-eyed wraith King joins them, peeling his ivory frame from the dark backdrop to join them. She is indifferent about his arrival - she knows he is a wise and bold King, one that will not harm her children just for the fuck of it, and perhaps he will keep the clown away from them, at least for now. The black stallion had swiftly proven to be an irritation, a thorn in her side, and there are times that she is not willing to verbally spar with him - this is one of those times.
The two children suckle side by side and Aditi's ears twitch in acknowledgement of Gryffen's warning. She nods to him in thanks, the beginnings of a smirk twisting the corners of her mouth upwards. "They are Shirad," she motions to the teal filly, "and Tauber," and then to the buckskin colt. Her dark eyes watch them momentarily before she turns her gaze back to Gryffen.
"Thank you for taking me in. My children are available to you, should you need them to run errands when they are older." She nods gently before nickering at the twins, coaxing them from beneath her belly and to her side so that they may go find someplace private and away from the winged stillborn colt, who will undoubtedly attract predators.
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word
The Coward does it with a kiss
Tauber wearily blinked his eyes, his stomach full for now and the exhaustion of being born heavy on his little body. Tonight would be the first night of dreams, and safety with his mother and sister by his side. But there was a voice that slithered from the darkness without a face to match to it until Tauber turned his eyes away from his family and to a stallion that he, with time, would know all too well.
He faces Gryffen head on, and toddles towards him, his legs awkward and his gait jolted. It was amazing however, that he tentatively lifted his tiny legs towards the ghastly ghoul and managed to get three over a rather large (for him) branch. The fourth caught and he scrambles, before his hind legs splay out and he finds himself on his haunches like a dog. A tiny squeal of frustration echoes out from his mouth and he barely coordinates his legs back beneath him.
It was then, when he was settled and content that there were no more sticks to intervene he approaches Gryffen closer still, before stopping and sticking his golden nose in the cremello's direction, sniffing and attempting to figure out the world in such a manner. Aditi nickers at them both, and he glances back at his bother for a moment before walking back towards his sister and mother, very carefully avoiding the stick. Perhaps he was just thoughtful, but the night was dark and sticks look the same on the floor of the forest. If Gryffen was observant, perhaps it would give away that the colt could see perfectly at night, and that there would be more power to come with age and growth.
TAUBER the brave man with a sword
(Carnage x Aditi)
Twin to Shirad
Avatar lines by Bronzehalo@deviantart.com
Coloration by Lavender
