[private] I will shield you from the darkness when the walls around us quake;

[Briella]

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

Water rushed along rocks, along the decrepit banks and mossy overgrowth where vines and reeds blended together, and the trees drank deep with might roots tearing through soil and sp-read mad across the land itself. Green plants had begun to wither and frost touched the edges of their leaves… curling them in upon themselves at times. Petals and flowers had long gone and even the humming on insects had faded with the sweeping burst of autumnal winds. There were no moon or stars, no great shadows and darkness… the canopy (though orange and brown) blocked them out and even dimmed the sunlight as it began to pour across the morning horizon.

Wolves howled, deer bedded in hidden places, and all life began to shift with time; but one constant was the dull sound of hooves amidst the crackling and fallen detritus… the thudding as someone walked atop the frozen ground and seemed to guide themselves through the worn trails and tall grasses and briars. As such it was not odd to see the splash within the shadows, the burst of movement as a singular individual walked outward into one of the many clearings within the unending labyrinth of trees. Birdsongs and the mimicry of sparrows came from her lips, though it was sloppy at first… and it took minutes for her to tune the whistles and sounds.

Briella paused the whistling though, listening as the echo kept through the trees and eventually disappeared.

Change had swept her undoubtedly, the once fair-haired and earthy colored girl had… after all, grown into something else. Matte black and deeply colored the baroque body was splashed with milky gray and white patterns and alternating highlights of blue that went from an icy near-silver to a deep glacial sapphire… her hooves and eyes seemed to reflect this as well: refracting light as if they were gemstones and colored in an impossible way. Still? Her mane and tail, long and curly, seemed to radiate a sweeping steam: the icicle strands of frozen water thin and imitations of hair.

She shone, and shimmered, looked akin to a treasure that belonged in a draconic hoard.

Such it was that she bounced, girlish glee and childlike wonder: her ears twitching as she stopped dead in her tracks near the rushing River and the banks- her gaze falling flat on the odd shape of another. Drawing herself up, she took on a sort of poised look, postured and well mannered… and with a mellifluous and unforgettable voice (her accent singularly unique) she tried to speak.

“Dovev?”  she blinked, half expecting the bone-ridden figure of her father to emerge; but instead she finds herself staring at someone else… no change in her tone, only a slight draw of brief.  “Oh! I’m sorry, Bane… that was your name. Apologies, I thought, ah. Nevermind.” 

BRIELLA

@[Wolfbane] & @[vulgaris] if you're feeling spicy for the sads.

[Wolfbane]

It was a restful, lingering night that kept Wolfbane asleep long after the first rays of the sun had touched the cold earth. He burrowed deep into the soil as a blind mole, seeking the warmth of dirt not yet touched by frost or winter winds. There, in the quiet darkness of a different world, he slept and didn’t wake until the resounding quake of thudding hooves shook him from a pleasant slumber.

What the hell? He thought at first, picking himself up off a woven bed of dry grasses and shaking loose crumbles of black dirt from his even blacker shoulders, “There’s never any peace in Beqanna.”

With an irritated shuffle he squirmed away from the now-empty nest and scuttled through the tight passageway he’d built towards the riverbank, nosing the air and the roots with a soft wiggle of his pink, star-shaped nose. He smelled water and then jerked back, away from the sudden opening and the bright flash of daylight that hurt his nearly-useless eyes. Shifting into a new body this early in the morning could be a hassle, and the idea made him almost turn around and head back for the warm nest again.

But antagonizing the loud-foot who disturbed his sleep in the first place? He thought it over.
Worth it. He shrugged his little, furry shoulders.

Seconds later a long, svelte snake glided out from the hole set in the banks. He slithered down between the exposed roots of greedy little water plants and curled in hidden safety among the reeds, rising after a cautious moment to see the tail-end of Briella as she made her way past. Through two beady eyes he watched her disappear, then Wolfbane sank down to the earth and sped along after her. He trailed nimbly through the many layers of fallen leaves like a black satin ribbon, tongue flicking out to follow the trail of heat she left in her wake.

She was unfamiliar to Wolfbane by sight alone. After all, the first time he and Briella had come across one another she’d looked… very different. But her smell is eerily recognizable to him, enough that he exhausts himself by shifting again - this time into his natural form, fangs included.

“Pssshh.” The pegasus stallion blew a hefty gust of wind from the corner of his mouth, rolling his amber-green eyes mirthfully as he stepped from the copse and out into her line of sight. He hadn’t heard that name, Dovev, in quite some time.
He’d also never thought he’d be mistaken for that ragged bag of grandmother-humping bones.

“Apology accepted, even if you did just try to call me an expletive.” He sighed through a half-cocked smile, stepping gingerly and with near equal amounts of savage grace through the trees. His shouldered wings brushed aside bare saplings, not yet grown above his withers, and Wolfbane came to rest at a comfortable distance to the girl. He considered her and considered the fact that she knew him, but he had no idea who she could be, and decided to play ignorant of that fact for a minute or two longer.

“What did you think?” He urged her on curiously, twitching both his golden ears forward to hear the frosty mare’s reply. The way she’d said that vagabond scum’s name… sounded almost hopeful. Did she want him to be Dovev? Clearly. But why? The only horses he could associate positively with the broody, confrontational character had been Heartfire and a few younglings he’d brought to the Pampas long ago.

Hmm. The Pampas.

@[Briella]

[Briella]

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

 Time ago he had near towered over her, a timid yearling who… with all the stubbornness she could muster: managed to put her foot down enough that there was allowances; but then she had others with her and here? She was alone. Such it was that she found herself caught in the sound of the hissing air and the footsteps that followed, her jewel-like eyes sparkling and peering as she stepped a bit closer and dropped her head a bit before adjusting her ears and noting the distance between them; but more importantly, how oddly predatory he seemed beyond all his smooth gait and graces.

To herself she considered the possibility of a soured experience pending her answer to his question but with some hesitation to her words Briella found herself trying to speak up.  “Expletive? No… he-”  she paused, aware of the smile and caught up in the moment, her own eyes widening as she looked away out of momentary embarrassment for not having caught the jest or original intention of his words. Playful as it was, and girlish as she had a tendency to be she could hardly help but open her mouth to speak: stammering for a moment or two before finding the very thing she wanted to say.

“Years ago he and I met here, when I found my way out of the darkness. I was a small child then, and I only remembered the Forsaken Valley and Expelliarmus… Gryffen too, but that was because Pell and him hated each other. Dovev took me in and I… thought, hoped even, that I might find him here again.”  she paused, aware of the rue in her voice and the strange longing that poured itself through her heart and words.  “I looked different then. Patchy brown with silver-blonde hair… but when I started helping the fairies during the plague I changed.”

She stumbled a moment on her words, looking up at Wolfbane with an unsure stare and her ears leaning forward as she relaxed and found herself nothing the gold and blue patterns… the fangs. Winged and strangely well blended with the autumnal leaves and other features of the plants Briella could hardly help but try to continue to provide an answer.  “He might not recognize me, but, I can only hope that he will… it’s not like I’m a different person. I’m still me. Briella. But, I didn’t think I’d find you here, I thought you’d still be in the Taiga.”

Scared as she might’ve been, likely due to the raw power he possessed, Briella stifled it: pushed it back and stood with her attention focused as she studied Wolfbane and movements he made… the wings and all manner of addition.  “Have you been well since then? I hoped you were okay. Rumors said people died and… it would’ve been terrible for you to go.”

BRIELLA

@[Wolfbane]

[Wolfbane]

She was nothing like the strange girl he tried to turn away in the Brilliant Pampas. Only her smell, carried on a faint breeze that rustled the few-remaining leaves, gave Wolfbane any indication that Briella wasn’t a complete stranger to him. He stood unusually still and hardly seemed to breath at all, a romanesque statue with hooves planted firmly into the cold soil and only the pale flutter of dappled light winking across his skin to give him any sense of life. The mystery presented to him began to unravel herself while he listened, and Bane (though not entirely warm in her presence) checked his earlier sarcasm in favor of a more relaxed look.

The imperceptible cues of her discomfort - a twinge or hitch in her voice, the slight crinkle of winking sapphire around her feminine mouth or the glint in her crystalline eyes - maybe she tried to the best of her ability to seem unmoved by the suddenness of his ‘unexpected’ presence here, but Briella’s unspoken fear was a palatable thing to Wolfbane. She might be ice and snow to others, a winter beauty searching her way through deadwood for someone Bane hadn’t seen hide nor hair of since the Plague, yet to him she’s a distinct blend of pheromones; part fear mingled with slight hints about her age, bodily health, and so much more.

It’s rare that he finds enigmas anymore, but Briella’s mention of helping the fairies dispel a nation-wide sickness is a great point of interest anyways. Enough that Wolfbane blinks a few times and resumes normal equine activities - moving his legs around, throwing his tail back and forth - in an effort to seem less unsettling. “I admit I haven’t thought much about you since our first encounter.” The winged stallion told her, “You left an especially sour taste in my mouth.” He reminded them both.

“I contracted the plague but one of my less-obvious powers prevented it from taking hold. I was lucky. Your concern about my well-being and my current whereabouts are kind, though.” Bane fended off what (he presumed) were false niceties. If memory served him correctly, there'd be no lost love between himself and Dovev’s headstrong brood. He was more apt to keep his tone level and his affections at arms-length with this one in particular. “And if our world knew more of you I’m sure they’d feel the same for your … help. During the Plague.” If that was what she did - help.

He knows the nature of the mountain and quests given there, which is why Bane had never made the trek himself.

“It’s been some time since then.” The fierce male contemplated, his tentative words accentuated by the occasional flash of navy blue from where his lips moved over the pair of bone white fangs. Children born today hardly thought about what he and his generation had lived through, just as he’d only dreamed of Beqanna’s great slumber and then violent awakening before his own birth. “Where have you been, hmm? You hardly seem a day older than when we first met Briella. Different-looking perhaps, but still the same guarded girl who defied me in a sanctuary under my protection.” He glanced over her quickly, alluding to the stiff attention she gave him.

“Only, no Dovev here to press warm kisses into your cheek.” Wolfbane chuckled bitterly. Oh how the mighty fall…
No Dovev, no witnesses, and sadly for Briella no utterance of kindness from the shifter she might’ve once befriended.

@[Briella]