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    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "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


    I threw stones at the stars but the whole sky fell, Jason
    #1



    She leaves the Dale immediately after the meeting concludes. The panic that had been building throughout it grows increasingly stronger with every step outside the kingdom, setting her on edge until she begins to run. She has no real destination in mind, no real purpose. She only knows that every ground-eating stride feels good; for once in her life, it feels right to leave the mountain-lands.

    The plains spread out the further she retreats from the Dale. It’s beautiful in a different kind of way, but she can’t imagine living without the comfort of the trees. She can’t imagine a life without the purple-blue mountains as a constant backdrop. The late summer sun is blazing in the open sky. It heats her metal skin rapidly, and if anyone happens to touch the glinting galloper, they will be in for a scorching surprise. Talulah realizes she is heading northwest, unconsciously taking her usual path to the Field. As much as she knows that’s where she should go – should help her son raise the status of their home – it’s not the destination she has in mind today. Not that there is a destination, per se, but if there had been, the recruiting grounds would certainly not be it.

    Her run is punishing but effective. By the time she comes to the Field, her limbs shake with spent energy but her mind is mostly clear. She stops and breathes and looks towards the homeless horses, her eyes glinting in the shadows of the treeline. I should stop here, she tells herself, I should convince someone to go with me and go home and quit with this nonsense. But even as she begins to scrutinize her choices, to search for potential amongst the lot, her heart quickens. The same fear rises within her, gives new life to her legs, and she decides to continue on.

    Talulah has never been this far past the Field. Gentle hills begin to rise up before her so that she is forced to take a more leisurely pace to wherever she’s going. Still, her worry leaves her breathless by the time another kingdom opens before her. At first, the grey mare doesn’t know where she is. She forgets where, exactly, each kingdom is placed in relation to another. The lush, rolling rises and endless forests around finally becomes enough of a hint. The Gates. She walks in, for the first time forgetting her manners. She doesn’t go far, however, before she realizes her mistake. But also for the first time, she finds she doesn’t care. Let the angry masses descend. It’s completely unlike her, and wholly, truly thrilling. Leaning against a young willow tree, Talulah waits, her mind and heart unable to stop running even if she has.




    t a l u l a h
    lady of the Dale

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    #2


    There was nothing unique to Jason’s day. Other then loads of thoughts weighing down his mind he was at peace strolling through the kingdom. There was something about the crisp air of the Gates and the swirling, diving leaves that took his mind to another place. He was able to compartmentalize certain feelings that had been looming over him like a dark cloud. There would be no decisions today, and the blue stallion was pleased to forget- to procrastinate. His heavy body slunk through the shadow of the pines. Against the course flora he appeared far less beaten in spirit. His coat was clear of mats and messes, and his mane clung softly to his side. Besides his muscular features Jason almost appeared angelic-like against the merging sun rays through the branches.

    Jason had every intention to keep to himself. He considered straying to his twin’s sides at some point in the day- maybe checking on Fiasko and her health. He yearned to be closer to Sidra and Sahm, but in their presence there were the thoughts and he needed to avoid those still. A silent alarm sprung in his mind when an intruder crossed the boundaries of his home. Jason stopped his swaying movements and closed his eyes to focus on horse that had entered unannounced. Slowly the body and face of a steel grey mare came to him, and he hesitated. He watched the mare as she nonchalantly paced through the kingdom before stopping and calmly leaning against a tree. Curious, Jason thought to himself.

    With the image still clearly painted in his mind he made his way toward the willow tree. Each step happened sooner then the next. Jason sped up his pace with increasing urgency until he reached the mare. He switched his gallop into a calm walk. His heart raced. ”Hello.” He said with a crack in his voice. ”What brings you to the Gates.” His throat cleared.
    jason
    magical son of eol and ashling

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    #3


    The rough bark presses into her side, but the metal makes her numb to the feeling. Talulah feels numb in other ways, too, ways that are new to her. Even the breaths that she has to pull into her lungs are blank, her chest barely rising with the effort. She closes her eyes briefly, tries to shut out the worst of the panic, but she doesn’t like the uncertainty that not-seeing brings her. The worry she feels besides the numbness is less new – she’s felt it as a quiver in the corner of her heart for months, years even – but she’s grown accustomed to it. It’s an old burden she carries on her shoulders, a noose that feels more like a necklace for all the time she’s spent wearing it.

    But this?

    This is the gallows of her happiness. This is the executioner waiting too early, at the peak of her life.

    A heavy stone of apathy settles where the fear once sat comfortably within its chamber. Her breath is steady now, her pulse no longer in a race with her troubled thoughts. She looks about the Gates mildly, hardly realizing the extent of her foray into its borders. Of all the places she could have gone, why here? What has drawn her from the depths of her despair (despair of her creating? or a catalyst of change?) to the emerald plains of heaven?

    She has no time to think on the why’s or the how’s, even though the cogs have begun to turn again in her head. The sound of approaching hoof beats is proof enough of what she’s done, proof of the madness that has seized her entirely, mind and body alike. But she doesn’t tremble in the face of being caught. She doesn’t retreat or fall over herself in apology when the stallion comes near enough to see. She should do any of those things, all of those things for trespassing, but she doesn’t. And still she doesn’t care.

    “I’m sorry, but I don’t know,” the grey says, only half of her answer true. She’s not sorry at all, but she’s certainly uncertain. He is so earnest in his protectiveness, though (she hadn’t missed how he had thundered towards her at first) that she wants to give him more. “The answer would be politics on any other day.” Talulah looks away to make some space between herself and the willow, feeling uncertainty creep up for the first time. When she turns back towards the blue stallion from her new angle, the light hits him differently. He’s awash in the gold of the sun, and for a moment, the mare thinks of Tiphon.

    She knows the image of an angel all too well, and here is surely one before her.

    Her brief hesitation disappears then. “But today is not one of those days.” Talulah smiles a little, moving closer to the stranger so that the light hits him differently. She can’t think of angels and gold; she doesn’t want to remember the fear or the running. She just wants to feel something. The stallion is handsome in a way she is unaccustomed to noticing, but she’s far more drawn to his eyes. They are kind despite the questions lingering between his lids. She wants to pull that warmth from them. She wants to wrap herself in his sympathy the same way he has wrapped the sun around himself.

    She wants him to forget that she’s trespassed, wants him to pretend that she belongs here, just for now. The metal mare wants all of it, but she doesn’t say so. Instead, her amber eyes search his openly, almost pleadingly. Because she feels nothing but she also desperately wants to. He can drive her away or refuse her, she knows this, too. The possibility for rejection is there, and on any other day she would have worried at the potential. But today, blind courage compels her. “I’m Talulah,” she offers. It’s quiet and barely there, but she hopes he will take it.





    t a l u l a h
    lady of the Dale

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    #4


    He watched her with a quieting spirit. Normally Jason would be growing in curiosity as he waited for a response. Instead he hung with bated breath for any words that would be spoken. It didn’t matter if she addressed her purpose- Jason had grown exhausted with his thoughts and the responsibilities he held within the Gates. All he wished to do was melt into the background and listen- listen to someone else, someone that didn’t know him.

    Eventually the mare spoke with uncertainty, and Jason mindlessly nodded his head in acceptance. She mentioned politics would normally bring her to the Gates, but today was not one of those days. Jason was thankful for that. He too was not in the mood to discus diplomatic relations. Instead Jason wanted to get to know the stranger that so curiously shifted before him. She seemed to be made of metal, a monochromatic grey color. His gaze lifted from her eyes and wavered for a moment on the gold clasp that clung to her ankle. It was an unusual accessory. He then looked along the curve of her neck, which eventually led back to her eyes.

    Talulah, she spoke her name- it was one of beauty that clearly matched her in appearance. ”Jason” He softly said back. ”Tell me Talulah..” He paused, searching her eyes for any hint of attraction. ”If today isn’t one of those days…then what is today to you?” What did this day mean for her- what did the Gates offer her?
    jason
    magical son of eol and ashling

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    #5


    She waits in the empty space of her offering and what he will do with it. She hovers in the silence, anticipating rejection and acceptance equally. Everything funnels down to a span of time that is likely less than a minute; she is frozen in a way that she’s never been before, more than her body has ever forced upon her.

    She realizes it’s because she’s never had to question this kind of approval from another. Tiphon’s love has always been there, an unspoken bond that only dozens of years of living together can form. She’s never questioned that he cares for her deeply – just as she expects he knows it of her – but his refusal to say so has hollowed her. It’s pulled apart the finely crafted seams that had once been enough to keep them together, despite his wanderings and her worries. It’s scooped out the core of a relationship that has already borne fruit. Until recently, Talulah hadn’t had a name for the emotion, because she hadn’t ever felt it before. Insecure, she thinks, knowing now. But maybe there’s a reason for it.

    It reminds her of Tiberios, in a way. She remembers how the black sabino had looked at her once, with a mixture of longing and openness she’d thought was only a friendship for the longest time. She thinks now that it was so much more for him. Had she known, would she have done anything differently? Would she have sunken below the tumultuous waves of uncertainty that she now drowns under? Would she have been so passive when she’d learned that there were other children, other lovers? She thinks not. Tiberios had been fire in all ways, and she knows he would have met her challenge with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. It hadn’t come to that. He’d had to question plenty, though, and it’s only fair that the tables have turned on her. Karma, or something akin to that.

    The moment stretches on as the blue-grey stallion searches her. She accepts the search because even in her numbed state, she knows she would have done the same. His eyes trace over her, golden anklet to amber gaze, and she finds herself almost enjoying watching him watch her. It’s more deliberate than a cursory glance, and any other time, she would have enough humility to look abashed at his interest. But as she’s said, today is not one of those days. She meets his eyes steadily, borrowing some fire from an old friend so that they glint in the sun. He gives his name, and it’s as good an acceptance as any.

    Jason searches for attraction in her eyes, and he surely finds it there. Attraction and sadness, confusion and yearning. She wants to hurt and to heal all at once, and she thinks maybe Jason is the one to help her with both. “Today is mine,” she says by way of explanation. The words feel selfish and foreign on her tongue – her voice is not her own – but they feel right in this moment. She steps closer, near enough to touch but refraining for now. “I’ve spent all my days solely for my kingdom and for my son.” Talulah pauses, a mistake in an until-then unblemished sell. What will he think of her having a child? And more importantly, why does she care? She presses on. “I’ve given days for my home and for those living in it.” She looks away across the rolling hills that are like the Dale, but are not home. Maybe that’s why she’s chosen the Gates, because they are similar in many ways. Beyond the greenery, though, there’s a historic kindness in the people. Maybe it’s what she’s needed more than anything.

    Talulah looks back at Jason, smiling wanly, tiredly. She knows what she wants, but she hesitates on the threshold of it. Tiphon has hurt her, certainly, but she’s never spoken a word of it to him. Isn’t it her responsibility as much as it is his, then? She shakes her head marginally, her mind made up. “I just want one day.” She touches him gently under his jaw, breathing out before withdrawing. “Today can be yours’ too, if you want.”






    t a l u l a h
    lady of the Dale

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