"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
10-31-2018, 01:45 PM (This post was last modified: 10-31-2018, 01:48 PM by Titus.)
titus
one day it's here and then it's gone,
how are you still holding on?
A lull has seemed to fill the lands for quite some time now. Even Loess has been too quiet for his liking. The life of a mercenary has seemed glamorous and filled with glories, but so far, the years of being part of the ranks within it has been rather uneventful. Well, there had been the takeover of Sylva but even then, it had not been that hard to claim another of their own.
Bored out of his mind, Titus leaves the confinement of his home. He searches for something more than the normal routine. A routine that leaves him rather idle lately. He even has given up on his daily routines of keeping in shape.
Perhaps there would be something more entertaining elsewhere.
There were a couple ideas he considered doing after leaving Loess. One of them had been going to find Daedra and asking her for a hunt. The second one had been visiting Nerine and seeing his family. However, that idea remained a bit sour for him. Titus wasn’t even certain if he should be visiting his family a lot after he has just reunited with him. He didn’t want to seem too eager to be happy to be welcomed back. Then again, he wasn’t sure if it was even right for him to be around his family even now after seeing them. Sometimes he feels happy about rekindling their relationship, but most of the time he feels bitter about how everything that has happened within his earlier childhood.
It seemed both of those ideas were out of the question truly. Titus found himself nearing the meadow, a place he doesn’t often find himself in, as he glides through the sky on an early autumn afternoon. He can feel the crisp wind roll through the cloudless sky. It sends a small shiver down his spine, but he embraces it.
Titus flies in circles now, preparing for himself to land. With a couple flaps of his wings, he descends easily and comfortably, making a clean landing onto the spotted green and brown meadow. He stretches his wings out once and folds them neatly on his classic champagne colored body.
He then looks around the meadow, searching here and there with nutmeg colored eyes. It seemed to be a rather normal day, nothing stuck out or really drew his attention. Perhaps the meadow had been the wrong place after all.
Pity, he thinks with distaste and lets out an irritated snort.
son of rome and porcia male, classic champagne appaloosa ocelot-shifting, wings, immortality
The slide into winter had been accompanied with a cold front. No snow yet, but the air was cold and brisk on her face as she she flew. Sometimes she would close her eyes for minutes, just enjoying the way that the breeze felt on her face. Sometimes she would remember Ashhal and the way his dark eyes still haunted her dreams. She would remember the way he touched her and the way his lips had dragged across her skin….
And she would remember the way he tasted under her lips.
With a shake of her head she tucked her wings to her sides, willing thoughts of him from her head, for at least another long moment. She dove, the wind tearing through her mane, causing tears to fall from her eyes, streaking themselves into the fur along her face. Just at the last minute she snapped them open, her muscles straining and her wings pulling as she leveled out and landed, her hooves kicking up dirt and sod as she slows her momentum.
She snorts when she sees him just there in her way and her wings flap backwards, trying to slow her more. Amazingly she manages to slow herself before she hits him and manages a laugh, a smile that lights up her eyes. “Sorry. I had my thoughts busying up my brain and wasn’t paying attention.” Her nose reaches out to brush off some of the dry grass that she had unintentionally stirred up on his shoulder. Her black coat and her black wings nothing extraordinary in coloring. But she takes him in, noting the way the white and champagne colored his body.
“You’re pretty.” She says, her lips reaching out to trace one path of color before she pulls back. Her actions almost too innocent, too naive. “I’m Graeme. Who’re you?” And talkative, barely waiting for him to answer before she is circling around him slowly, her lips brushing against his wings. Until she stands in front of him again, that same smile on her lips.
one day it's here and then it's gone,
how are you still holding on?
Something quick moves in the corner of his eye. He turns his gaze towards the moving object, quickly catching ahold of what comes at him with a quick speed. “What the hell,” he screams out, scrambling to get out of the way as the winged mare comes landing right where he just was.
It was too late though. He barely moved before being showered just a little with dirt and sod. Titus growls loudly back at the mare in reply to her laugh. A smile easily falls onto her black lips. The black mare attempts to apologize to him, but he is already on edge of irritation at the entire thing. “You could have killed me!” He says with a sharp tone, though his words are obviously being overdramatic.
“You really should watch where you are going.” He snorts softly at her. Did he really have to lecture someone on how to fly? He never had to do that to anyone because he just assumed everyone knew how to properly fly by the time they were adults. “Maybe instead of flying—” Titus steps back from the mare who insists on removing the dirt from his shoulder after his near-death event. “Do you mind?” He says boldly, narrowing his nutmeg gaze at the black mare.
Something felt way off about this mare, Titus decided by the way she suddenly started to look at him. Then she decides to call him pretty. The boy chokes, caught off guard by her words and compliment. She doesn’t even give him a chance to say anything and then starts circling him like he is some sort of interesting piece of something.
He doesn’t say anything. The boy is obviously too dazed by the way she speaks freely and moves easily around him. It isn’t until she stops in front of him again with her smile that he finally gets the words out of his mouth. “I’m Titus.” At least that was out now. “And thank you?” Except he wasn’t sure what to say about being called pretty.
son of rome and porcia male, classic champagne appaloosa ocelot-shifting, wings, immortality
She doesn’t take offense at all when he starts yelling at her. In fact, she mostly ignores it. And she laughs when he asks her if she minds. “No, not at all.” Before their conversation shifts and rolls and continues on without waiting for a response. Something off? There was a good chance. Or probably more likely just her upbringing with her very happy and quirky father and equally happy and calm mother. Hard telling when you were lost in amongst a bunch of siblings all the time. It was easy to blend and be forgotten, especially when you wanted to be.
So she watched a lot. Learned a lot from watching, or she thought. But mostly she just liked to take her father’s approach and be rather blunt and honest from the get go. Things seemed to go much smoother when that happened. Or things could get really messy from the get-go but she liked to be positive.
“Oh you’re very welcome. It’s very nice to meet you Titus.” She tilts her head. “What are you doing today?” She shifts her feathers against her skin. For once she is quiet, instead of bombarding him with questions even if she had a pile of them forming at the back of her throat. No questions, but her lips parted again. “I am sorry I almost hit you.” Her eyes ducking down slightly before they met his again. “I had...something on my mind and wasn’t paying attention. Although I think you were a tad melodramatic. I was not even that close to hitting you, let alone killing you.” She beams. “Besides, you’re awfully pretty with those colored spots, I wouldn’t have hit you.”
one day it's here and then it's gone,
how are you still holding on?
For the most part, Titus had spent raising Venus and himself. His childhood should have been a perfect one, or so it at least was in the beginning. If it had not been for that pesky mare who tried to snatch Venus away, they both would have had happy years within Nerine with their parents and multiple siblings.
But nothing is ever perfect.
His parents didn’t come looking for him like they were supposed to (or so he thought they had not). It made him become bitter. A bitterness that quickly sets him on edge. Titus should have forgotten about the whole thing after reuniting with his family in Nerine, but a part of him just hasn’t been able to let the whole thing go. He just can’t find the will within him to do so.
And he definitely did not bother remaining in his childhood home too. He was raised a Loessian, and a Loessian he would always be.
Titus still isn’t sure about the black mare. Her bubbly personality puts him over a bit. It’s her attitude of happiness and optimism that boils him beneath his skin.
She falls silent after asking what he is doing today. Is that how I get her to shut up? He thinks, still not quite sure what to even do with this girl. “Well,” he says thinking about the question, “I’m not entirely sure. I just came here to get away.” Truly, his life was rather boring right now. “I was bored so I decided to come find something for me to do.”
The winged boy bits his lips at her next words. Melodramatic? Really?! He shakes his head silently at her words. He was hardly dramatic at all. Titus snorts softly in reply to her words. “I accept your apology. But I was not being dramatic.” He narrows his nutmeg eyes at the Graeme. “Besides, you shouldn’t be flying if you don’t have a clear head. You could hurt yourself.” Not that he cared the slightest, but it slipped out anyway.
son of rome and porcia male, classic champagne appaloosa ocelot-shifting, wings, immortality
11-27-2018, 05:04 PM (This post was last modified: 11-27-2018, 05:05 PM by Graeme.)
“Get away from what?” Ah, there they were, the unending questions. Once one bubbled past her lips there was always a chance that there was going to be another and then another and so on and so on. Curious, so curious and without that filter that seemed to stop others from asking personal questions. She just wanted to know, almost had to know sometimes, and even when she didn’t quite get the answer that she wanted, or in some cases any answers, she persisted.
“What is there to do out here in the Meadow?” Her dark eyes turning to take a long look at it, seeing nothing especially special for something to do. And then she laughed. “Oh I guess meeting new people huh?” Her ears flickering forwards and then backwards before finally resting on him again. Her body relaxes, her tail flicking lightly at her haunches.
He argues against being dramatic and she says nothing, but a small smile curls her lips again. She nods her head slightly in acknowledgement and when he scolds her, her eyes glitter with a small bit of amusement. “You’re absolutely right. But it’s so easy to lose yourself amongst the clouds.” She steps closer, her eyes blazing with a type of wonder as she tilts her head to look upwards. “Flying so high you feel like the sun is going to burn you, or the light of the stars touching you with their cold magic. When you can’t catch your breath from the thin air…” She sighs, it was almost as good as Ashhal’s teeth on her skin.
Whoops, no time to think about that right now. She shakes her head, chasing away the thoughts and settles her eyes back on him. “Losing yourself when you fly is one of the best things. You should try it sometime, if you haven’t.” Her grin returning. “I can show you now if you want?”
one day it's here and then it's gone,
how are you still holding on?
“God,” he says flatly, without a care to hold back his words, “You really just need to know everything don’t you.” Her optimistic personality might be overwhelming, but there was one thing that Titus didn’t really like about others. Being nosy. Was it even possible to be this bubbly and nosy at the same time? it seemed like a complete disaster to him. Somehow that disaster found him!
It didn’t seem the questions would stop either. From one to the other they came out of the black mare’s mouth. There was no way to stop her. Even if he tries he knew she would not.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what you do when you come to the Meadow,” he states obviously when she turns to look back at him again. “Isn’t that why you came here?” The question slips out without him thinking. He grumbles softly under his breath at even asking her something.
She then begins to describe flying, like he hasn’t done it before. But there is something more to it than the way she paints the picture to him. There is thrill and love in her words. As if flying was the entire reason for her existence. Titus cannot help himself to look up half way through her words, trying to somehow admire the endless sky as she does right now. Well, he isn’t very good at doing it like Graeme does.
The muddy stallion looks back down at her. He looks at her curiously with his nutmeg gaze, wondering exactly who this mare really was. Something within her words about flying made him feel a bit warmer. A seed of desire planted within him, slowly growing to want something what she has. Happiness? Was that it? It could be, but what even was that?
“I’ve tried it before,” he replies when she offers. But he isn’t sure exactly what she means by showing him, so he cannot help but pursue it. “What exactly do you mean showing me?” There couldn’t be nothing more to it. “Flying is just flying,” he adds.
son of rome and porcia male, classic champagne appaloosa ocelot-shifting, wings, immortality
“Mmm, well if I don’t know I should ask right? Instead of just making assumptions?” A small tilt of her head as his obvious displeasure makes itself known. She wasn’t intentionally trying to upset him and if he had said he hadn’t wanted to talk about something she would have moved onto another subject. Her family had been a bit different and somehow she had gotten lost and separated from them. Really she didn’t even know if they were still here. There had been a lot of scary things happening back when she had disappeared. Just barely grown and just barely old enough to know enough about life to keep her safe, to keep her alive.
Now she was older, slightly wiser, but no less lonely without her family around. All those siblings she had had, and no doubt there had been more afterwards.
She has always been happy with her lot in life. She knows it could have been worse, much much worse. Being adopted by Eira and Weir had been the best thing to happen to her...well, no being abandoned by her birth mom had been the best thing. It lead to the rest of her life. So she had always had the positive attitude, always looking for the bright side of it.
“Oh, no I came here because it was a flat place to land and I mostly live here. I wander through the River and the Forest now and again but I like the Meadow too. In spring there are so many pretty flowers and small little honey bees. Oh and the butterflies!” She laughs.
“Flying is more than just flying.” She says, another small laugh, her wings flaring out. “It’s the world’s breath under your wings, lifting you, giving you something not everyone else has.” A gleam of happiness and excitement shines in her eyes. “It’s a gift and it’s to always be enjoyed.” She steps closer her lips touching his shoulder as she walks past him. “Come on. I’ll show you.” Her wings outspread once she gets past him and she starts to run until she is in the air.
She circles above him, just above the trees. “Come on Titus! It will be fun!” She laughs, her long wings outstretched as she dipped her wings around in another circle. A strong flap and she goes just a bit higher.
one day it's here and then it's gone,
how are you still holding on?
Well, she certainly had a way of saying things that were right. Titus, however, didn’t want to agree and admit it. He was feeling a bit stubborn today and he didn’t want to let some stranger have the upper hand of him getting to admit that he had been wrong.
“Oh, I should have asked if I could come into your home!” He offers softly after she describes what she often does. A soft smile touches his lips at his hint of sarcasm in response to her words moments ago. Titus then glances to the meadow around them, trying to depict the spring time picture she had painted for him. “I’m sure it’s pretty here,” he adds with a soft scoff, clearly telling he doesn’t care for such things. Titus isn’t really one to take the time to notice the details of the world around him. He finds it better to ravel in the bitterness of it all.
But even that has grown tiresome for him.
Her small laugh draws him back to her as she explains more about her fascination of flying. The warm feeling, he felt previously still lingers within his chest as she continues. Her enthusiasm for flying is something different. Flying was just a simple thing to him. It was part of life, and that pretty much is what flying always has been for Titus. But, she spoke with it like it was something else.
She steps forward, brushing her lips on his shoulder and beckons for him to follow her into the sky. The muddy stallion doesn’t move, instead, he watches her with awe and the happiness it brings her. She circles above him and the trees, calling out his name and telling him to join her.
Titus lets out a laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Then a large smile grows wide across his lips, and he can’t seem to take it off right now. But before he knows it, he is already making a run across the grass and unfolding his wings. The leaps up into the air, feeling the wind quickly take ahold of him and he is up in the air.
He quickly flies towards her, circling around her when he gets closer. “Alright, I’m here. Now what?” He asks, still holding that same smile from before.
son of rome and porcia male, classic champagne appaloosa ocelot-shifting, wings, immortality
She can only smile at his words, noting the sarcasm but ignoring it. She would get him to see her line of thinking. She was determined to make him see the world just a little bit better of a place after meeting with her. A small smile. “Perhaps you should have.” A curling of her lips in a grin. But then she is in the air and she can think of nothing else but the wind beneath her wings. It takes her a moment for her to realize that he didn’t follow her up right away. She didn’t understand why he would hesitate but when she finally realizes that he isn’t there, he’s there.
He had spread his wings, and got himself into the air. She laughs when he circles around her, asks her what it they needed to do now. His smile is contagious and she beams in reply. “Why we fly of course!” She laughs again and shoots up into the air. She engages him in a million different games, or at least what felt like it. She plays tag with him and they barrel roll. She laughs with him, or at least she laughs at him.
She doesn’t know if she can see the same wonder that she feels yet, and so she climbs higher. “Come on!” Higher and higher until the breath was thin in her lungs, until she can hardly catch a breath. She climbs just a bit more, until the lights dance before her eyes and then she turns. She dives, her wings held against her sides. Her sight clears and she can see him as she shoots past him, snapping her wings open at the last possible second.
She laughs even as her muscles feel like they are tearing. The wind feels like razors against her eyes. Her wings are tired, she can feel the ache, feel the weakness but she grins through it. Grins until she lands, careful this time to avoid anyone that might be below her. Her legs feel weak and she can only laugh as she folds herself up in the grass, waiting on him to join her.
Her eyes still glitter with happiness, with joy. “See? There’s more to flying than just getting somewhere.”
(Feel free to use your imagination as to what they do, as mine is used up. I need a nap xD)
@[Titus]
