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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


    [open]  Fall inside the rabbit hole again; Heartfire/Any
    #1
    Briella
    no one understands me, too scared to command me. walking through an empty underworld of demons dancing.

     Once upon a time she had walked beside the skeletally dressed man, beside the thinner and battle hardened frame of the one she called Father; but he had brought her to many places… many homes and to all the vastness of his family, and in the void- she had lost them. Still, her steps are easily paced and Briella drifts from Loess to the Taiga and to a thousand places and roads she walked once beside her Father, Dovev.

    Time had stolen that, and the plague had almost killed her; but only almost.

    Such it was that she stood at the border of Nerine, her gaze cast over and out at the vast stretch of land that was the wildgrasses and cliffsides… distant beaches and a swelling tide. She drifts and wanders, walks through and around without care of comfort and now, most importantly: she is alone. Tediously she looks over to her side and expects to hear the sounds whistles and clicks but they are absent and instead there is wind and gulls crying and the scent of salt in the air.

    Her coat, though just lightly shaggy, has changed significantly in its color and the hairs have become a deep abyssal black spattered by grey and a thousand shades of blue- white spots painted across her and the appearance of a milky way or the stars themselves were plastered upon her. Stony hooves and strands of ice for hair added to the gemstone eyes and Briella blinked when she felt the strike against a rock.

    Peering down she mired herself in thoughts, kicking it aside and recalling the sudden blast and light: the devastating burst of energy as atomized landscape was met by the power that Heartfire had once unleashed. To herself, she cannot help but wonder if this has been caught in the blast, and yet? It matters little- she merely has to keep going as she walks and moves… as she brings herself to the edge of the cliffs and to the beach below.

    Staring at the glimmering water and feeling the wind, she smiles to herself: it’s familiar… and the child knows it.




    @[Heartfire] excuse me ma'am wyd
    #2

    She's got the devil's eyes

    Heartfire had grown so familiar with every stone and hollow of Nerine that she could likely walk it blindfolded with no aid of her own abilities. She had always kept a close eye on the goings on of the place she had chosen as her home, but now, since ascending the throne, it had become impossibly more familiar. And though it might not be as the ancient lands were, it is spectacular in its own way. And it is hers. Hers to protect, and to grow.

    She’d never thought she would consider a land truly hers. Not like those she cares for. Not like her family. Not like the ones who, though they may not be related by blood, are just as much family as the ones who are.

    Time and distance might separate them, but they would always be hers from the moment she had claimed them as such.

    So when Briella’s meandering path leads her to Nerine, Heartfire immediately recognizes her despite the years it’s been since she’d last seen her. The girl had changed, of course, though this does not surprise the blue and white woman. Before she’d disappeared, she had been impossibly determined to the follow the heart-quest she had so earnestly set for herself.

    She does not go to her immediately, instead watching as she makes her way along the stoney cliffs and windswept shores of the northern kingdom. She cannot deny the swell of relief that she appears well. That she had come back. For all that Briella had been Dovev’s child, Heartfire is not nearly so heartless as she often appears.

    Because she had cared a great deal too. Quietly.

    After a time, she slips from the small cove she had sheltered in. Her feet carry her easily across the uneven landscape, as familiar with each path as the water is the pebbled beach below. When she reaches the young woman, she slows, her blue eyes fixed as she surveys her closely. “Briella,” she greets softly, a familiarity in the tone of her voice. “I’m glad you’ve returned.”

    and they'll cut you like a weapon

    Heartfire


    I would give you a million hearteyes if I could
    #3
    Briella
    no one understands me, too scared to command me. walking through an empty underworld of demons dancing.

    What happens is a prickling sensation in the back of her mind: a quiet stirring of something akin to synesthesia as the chill and anxiety sweeps across her and forces Briella to acknowledge the odd suspicion that she was being watched. Bold as ever and calm as she was the jewel-girl turns on hooves of stone and earth and looks back to the blue-grey and stony black of Heartfire… looks to her eyes and finds the same face she had known years ago. Time has touched her, undoubtedly, but even then it’s minimal and strange; but Briella is more used to the nature of timeless things… out of place and out of years, she only consistent in how much she changes.

    No matter, she watches Heartfire with her pale gemstone blue eyes widening and the facet like refractions of light shone momentarily as she blinked and studied Within the pale white strands of ice laying along her neck, droplets of water clinging to her skin and slide along the curves of her neck- the same sun pouring between and creating rainbow like strands in the air.  “I got lost again,”  she remarks softly- peering at the older woman and quietly sauntering towards her with a slow pace, leisure rather than hurry. To her credit though she exhales, and when she speaks up there is something new in her voice: a sheepishness never expressed.

    “I fell asleep and when I woke up, everyone was gone. So I kept walking through the caves and the darkness…”  blinking and considering the madness of it Briella stops near Heartfire, near the very person she trusts- the only person left of the Family she knew. Sturdily built for her heritage, she still seemed perhaps a tad shorter: knees still wobbly and not truly grown… childlike in her mannerisms and movements; but all it carried with a solemn kind of motion- poise and grace. With some excitement she reaches the velveteen soft nose out if only to sniff and bump against Heartfire’s shoulder and even ruffle the mane as it was.

    In such a same sheepishness as before Briella speaks, and finds herself girlishly flattening her ears back not in anger but embarrassment and her head shrank down as she took on something of a scolded look or even one of hesitation.  “I’m sorry I vanished, I tried to come back but it was really dark and strange. I think I found Pell but… it might’ve just been an illusion.”  though she frets and fidgets, she is slow to acknowledge something: to realize the changes in herself and her shadow… the new coat coloration and touches of magic blossomed well across her.

    “I stopped coughing!”  she paused, blinking as she realized something for the first time- she was no longer sick.





    @[Heartfire]
    #4

    She's got the devil's eyes

    Heartfire is familiar with the vagarious whims of magic. She has seen enough of it to know that, sometimes, things may appear as though they have no sense or meaning. Invariably it is untrue. Ultimately it is always only the beholders lack of understanding that causes magic to seem senseless and without logic.

    Perhaps there is no reason at times, but always there is an explanation if one cares to dig deep enough.

    And so, where others might peer at the jeweled girl before her and see madness, Heartfire only sees a child who had been caught in a maelstrom. Her body may have matured too rapidly, but the mind is not so easily coerced by those same magics. While the blue and white mare may be many things, she is still a mother too. And Briella’s soft admission stirs those dormant instincts, drawing her closer.

    Her lips move to the ice-encrusted mane, gently grooming the heavy strands in a comforting gesture. Anyone of passing acquaintance might be shocked to see such a thing. But anyone who truly knew her knew also that, beneath the well-practiced mask of disinterest, she has a heart that beats and an abiding love for those she considers her family.

    She listens without interrupting as the girl stumbles through her tale. Heartfire could, of course, see everything if she so desired. But sometimes one can learn more by listening than by observing. And in a moment such as this, where there is nothing she can do to alter the past, it is Briella’s current well-being that she truly needs to discern.

    “You found your way back Briella, and that is all that matters,” she answers softly, withdrawing slightly to peer thoughtfully at the young woman’s altered features. “If Pell truly was there, I imagine he needs to find his own path.”

    Her sudden, excited exclamation brings a faint tilt to her lips. Of course, the plague had been banished for some time now. For Briella though, it may as well have only been yesterday. “So I hear,” she humors her with faint amusement. “It seems I have too.”

    and they'll cut you like a weapon

    Heartfire
    #5

    you said you'd wait forever, but I blinked and the world was gone

    A part of the world war the void and the dreaming, a part that festered and reached: grabbed and tried to seize all things within; but Briella had stepped out… had gone to silvered moon and golden sun, and there now she stood with Heartfire- listening and waiting. Patient and sobered she felt the weighted strands of ice moved and pushed… felt the warmth of breath on her skin and all the gentle tickles of whisker and grooming. Like a girl lost to the moment, she talked, but her small velveteen nose inevitably reached out if only to brush or gently bump against Heartfire’s own neck and shoulder.

    Like a wispy girl, lost to whim and wander, Briella sighed heavily before speaking back up: her speech lacking stutter and stumble and the accent lingered in each word.  “He’s probably dead.”  she resolved to admit.  “Expelliarmus… he was not a loved King nor did he not have rule without Chaos. I believe he  warred several times with Gryffen and others.”  she blinked: her ears pressing backward as she found herself trying to remember a time so long ago that her head hurt at the start.

    “If he’s lost to the shadow than, yes, he will need to find his way; but I think it’s just feeding off of my desire to find the people I miss. My… family.”  she found it hard to say, found the bitterness in it hard to swallow and it lumped her throat with something she choked on before she could speak again. Such it was she looked up to Heartfire and with the smallest gesture of a smile she sheepishly laughed and found herself relaxing in the other mares company.

    Tender and familial, she managed a kind of voice that carried a hint of happiness through the rue and sobriety.  “You were going to get better no matter what, death doesn’t come for the things it fears. Not directly, those it takes in their sleep. You- I always come back, and this time it’s to you.”  she blinked, a sparkle finding itself in her eyes.  “I know this may seem strange but, can you tell me of family… of yours: what it means to you? What they mean to you?” 

    BRIELLA



    @[Heartfire] ...this is a thing.
    #6

    She's got the devil's eyes

    Were Heartfire not so wholly aware of the past as she is, she might find it disarming to watch the disconnect between the stories Briella tells (as though they happened only yesterday) and the time that has passed since their occurrence. But she has seen too much - lived too much - to find herself disconcerted by such tales. Though she does not look it, her life had also begun in the Beqanna of old. The one now washed into the seas, almost forgotten but for those who had lived it.

    The weighty matter-of-factness with which Briella announces the likelihood of Pell’s death draws Heartfire back a fraction, her gaze shifting to rest thoughtfully on her lovely features. Had Heartfire sufficient time and resources, she could likely trace through history until she found the truth. Still, no matter what that truth was, it was never going to be what offered Briella the solution to her woes. No, her answers lay in moving forward, not backwards. And so her response to that supposition is simply, “You’re likely correct.”

    Though her tone is not unkind, she too often lacks the gentleness needed for these situations. Of course, Briella had known her well enough that she likely already knew this. And she doubts the girl had come here seeking that kind of comfort from her.

    She slips easily into musings of family, causing a faint kick of her lips as she watches her work her way verbally through her thoughts. She does not try to interrupt, instead listening quietly to her muse. Briella’s supposition that death must fear Heartfire causes a stir of amusement. Perhaps one day she would share the story of her and Dovev’s journey to cheat death, but today was not that day.

    Her final request gives her pause however. Truthfully, it is not a question she had ever before considered. Family had always been important to her, no matter what outward appearances might suggest. Indeed, she had done very questionable things for her family. Things the world would likely never learn of, if she had her way. Still, she had never paused to try to define it.

    After a rather lengthy silence, she sighs, her response, though slow, carefully considered. “You are family, Briella,” she begins, her blue gaze fixed on her, sharply serious. “Perhaps that doesn’t mean much, coming from me. But…” She pauses, weighing her response before continuing. “For me, that’s everything. It’s… loyalty, I suppose. Protection. Acceptance.” She trails off, head tilting slightly before reaching to lightly touch her forelock.

    “Why do you ask?”

    and they'll cut you like a weapon

    Heartfire
    #7

    you said you'd wait forever, but I blinked and the world was gone

     It matters little, if at all that Heartfire speaks in such a way… for, as she imagines it: Briella knows above all that this is merely her way. She, however, pushes back the memories of her past… of the voidal world and of the horrors therein. Quiet and calm, older but not so much… Briella finds herself comforted by the consistency and by the affection and part of her cannot help but wonder how long before the darkness snared her back and before the world turned upside once more.

    Such it was she listened and calmly tilted her head: ears perking forward.  “I… you?”  she blinked, stammering on her words as if ice-water had crashed into her veins and her eyes wider now.  “It means so much.”  she confirmed, continuing after a breath. 

    “My whole life I spent it floating between here and the dark… constantly looking for someone or anyone to call my family. Mine, they… abandoned me, and when Dovev found me I was just coming back from the other side. Everyone was gone, and the world was so different. He… was- is, my father. Yet? The darkness took me again and he was gone when I got back. I thought he had left me like the others.”

    She struggled at the thought, her mind racing.  “So I tried looking, and every time I found someone else… Wolfbane, Vulgaris, Lilliana, Leilan, and even… Santana.”  the latter of the names is spoken with a flutter in her voice, a girlish giggle and blush that indicated attraction and even something beyond it.  “I found you, but, I didn’t have to look far… Nerine and her people have always been yours.”

    Briella contemplates the moments between: Aunt or Mother, or even Sister. Heartfire had been all and none, but always one or the other, and she found herself echoing the words… the confirmation that she was family.

    “You were always there for me, and I wasn’t sure at first. Maybe I was always hesitant… but you are my family. My mother.”  she stated it without any hesitation and allowed the word to convey with it the warmth and love of a child.  “I asked the Fairies on the mountain a question, and they sent to find answers… other peoples experiences with friends and family. So that I would better understand what it was to be part of one.”

    She admits it with a weight in her words, and Briella cannot help but remain where she was. 

    BRIELLA



    @[Heartfire]
    PVP: On
    Minor Injury, and Some Mutilation Permitted.
    #8

    She's got the devil's eyes

    Even when one’s past and present are not so tangled as Briella’s, what she seeks can be difficult to find. And even more difficult to define. Many might say blood, but Heartfire knows that answer is a false truth. There are many familial bonds that might start in the tie of blood, but that is not what truly holds them together. And it is not what decides those fates.

    Not for Heartfire, at least.

    It’s not often she is asked to be so introspectively contemplative. Even less is it something she especially cares to do. She has done too many questionable things in her lifetime to truly wish to consider herself in any kind of gentle light for she knows it will not shine kindly on her. Truthfully, there is still too much she has yet to do to begin questioning herself like that either.

    Were she a better woman, she might still do it, to show Briella the truth of herself. But she is not a better woman. She can only hope Briella would understand that, despite her many shortcomings, she truly does have a family here. That she always would.

    “I don’t think it is other’s experiences they truly care about,” Heartfire finally replies after a thoughtful silence. Certainly, Heartfire’s own experience is probably not an ideal one. “I think it is your own understanding.” A faint flicker of what nearly borders on sadness crosses her features, one gone so quickly it is almost a question of whether it was even there to begin with. “There’s no such thing as a perfect family anyway. In the end, it’s what’s in your heart that will give you your answer. And when you know that, time and distance are meaningless.”

    and they'll cut you like a weapon

    Heartfire




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