"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
like a house on fire we're up in flames; i'd burn here if that's what it takes
She has gotten so used to the same faces, the same voices, the same horses. Leliana and Tiphon and Dawn have really been the only ones she’s spoken to at lengths lately, and after a while she had grown bored of not having a broader social circle. She loves her friends and family deeply and fiercely, but she has become quite lonely. They are always there for her to talk to, but they are the only ones. She could always try to recruit for the Island, or even for their ruling kingdom, Tephra, but it seems so tedious – not to mention dangerous, with the plague lurking at every turn.
As she takes wing towards the common lands, her mind drifts to Leliana’s newborn. Dawn is her youngest child, and it feels like so much longer than three years ago that she birthed her... so much longer than that since Ledger was in her life. Dawn had never met her kind father, unfortunately, though she had never seemed to pine for him or long to meet him. It’s for the best, Cress tells herself, but she wonders what sort of father Ledger would have been to the girl. They were not lovers by any stretch of the imagination, but she likes to think that Ledger would have been kind.
She knows that things are not the best between Leliana and Malca’s father, whom she has never met, but she knows better than to pry into the other healer’s heart. If she wants to tell Cress, she will, and until then Cress will be nothing but the doting friend to her.
Eventually she folds her wings and plummets towards the ground, opening them again with just enough time to catch herself and land – just a tad heavily – on the banks of the river. To her east is a sprawling meadow, with grass already growing nearly to her knees. It has only recently turned back to spring and the air still has a crisp quality, but she sighs happily as she soaks up what little warmth she can. She doesn’t move from where she landed just yet, knowing that in the common areas one is never alone for long.
SO GIVE ME HOPE IN THE DARKNESS THAT I WILL SEE THE LIGHT 'CAUSE OH THAT GAVE ME SUCH A FRIGHT
He has little to do in Nerine, right now. His primary job is, actually, watching the children while others go about the majority of the business of running a Kingdom. Most looking on from the outside would assume the lauded warrior and taciturn magician would dislike being relegated to the role of babysitter, but a second look into his life would tell you differently. The thing is – Brennen had walked away from running a Kingdom with barely a second look, and had always valued being a father as highly or higher than most of his other jobs.
The bay stallion’s own children are past the need for constant supervision, however, leaving him with more free time than he really is comfortable with. Today, he’d been bored enough to leave Nerine and the first thing he’d done was fly for so long that even Brennen, most comfortable in the sky, was tired enough to want to land and rest; he decides to explore one of the common lands a bit. Vaguely he thinks that maybe he’ll stumble upon someone to recruit for Nerine, but more than that he simply thinks it might finally be time to become better acquainted with the new places Beqanna had gifted them in one of the last unheavals – better late than never.
He settles to people watch, spreading his overlarge black wings out around him and turning his dished face to the warm spring sun. After all this time he has become used to the rhythmic and cyclical sounds of the sea, so the sound of the wild river engorged by spring thaws is most of his focus. It feels strange but powerful, his magic shifting inside to echo it’s music, but the sight of another flying overhead draws him out of the reverie. She nearly falls from the sky, aborting her descent at the last minute, one of his favorite adrenaline thrills. The side of Brennen’s mouth quirks up into a smile for a brief second but it’s faded back into polite curiosity by the time he speaks to get her attention.
“That was neatly done,” he says quietly, so as not to startle her. They’re nearly drawled, his words, drawn out in the way he’d appropriated long ago from his own father. “I’m Brennen.”
BUT I WILL HOLD AS LONG AS YOU LIKE JUST PROMISE ME WE'LL BE ALRIGHT
like a house on fire we're up in flames; i'd burn here if that's what it takes
Until recently, the idea of ruling had never really crossed Cress’s mind. She’s a diplomat by trade and though she has incredible offensive abilities, she has always erred on the side of caution. Trying to resolve things peacefully has always been her intent, and she honestly doesn’t know if she would have the kind of strength required to lead. She has seen kings and queens beaten down by their subjects and the hurtful words they can throw, and through it all, Cress has always been such a gentle soul despite her fiery edges.
It is almost strange, that she has never met the dark stallion who speaks to her then, the one with scars and black wings so large and beautiful that they should be outlawed. His feathers are inky black and the wings themselves are so long they drag the ground, and she pulls her leathery golden wings close to her body in a brief feeling of embarrassment, before relaxing and letting them droop. There is no need to feel self-conscious but she feels as though those dark wings could envelop her and still have plenty of room to spare.
He compliments her landing and she grins, brown eyes shining as she manages to steer her thoughts away from his imposing wingspan. “Thank you,” she responds, shifting her weight from hoof to hoof and glancing towards the sky. “Life has been... a bit stagnant lately. Sometimes you just need something to get the adrenaline flowing.” The flames that hover just at the back of her throat flicker briefly as she speaks, and she has to swallow down the fire as her gaze turns wistful.
With a sigh, she turns her gaze back to Brennen and his wings (why am I stuck on his wings?), a sheepish look crossing her face. “I didn’t give you my name, I’m so sorry. I’m Cress.”
@[Brennen] she's weird and i shouldn't be allowed to post after midnight
