"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
The river was her favorite route to the mainland. It brought her to the heart of things, and the pearl nereid felt that opportunity was endless, just depended on when she chose to leave the arterial vein.
As graceful as a silver fish, the seamare cut her way through the chill waters, bemused at finding herself drawn inland in the midst of winter once again. Taiga called her, briefly, but she decided against it. There was unfinished business among the towering redwoods for the nereid, business she felt unprepared to handle as yet. Instead she pushed against the current, further North.
The landscape grew rocky and rugged, scrubby plant life reaching for the ice-rimmed water. Frost glittered from every surface. Aquaria herself looked frost-tinged when the pale sunlight glinted off her exposed scaly back. The beauty of winter was not lost on her this time around, now that she knew what to expect from the frigid land this time of year. It was even possible to admire the way her breath curled from her lips and nose with every exhalation.
That she made the water she swam in considerably warmer helped brighten her perspective.
It wasn't clear when she left that morning what she waa looking for, only that she felt the need to stretch out beyond the reef she had kept to the last several moons. Halcyon had kept her beyond busy, and raising the tiger cub had so far been a life changing experience. He was big enough to be looking for a measure of independence now, though, and goodness knew she'd been thinking wistfully of having a day to herself.
Today had been as good a day for it as any. Leaving the young cat to his own devices for the day brought her no small amount of anxiety. But the island was safer than many places, and she knew they both would benefit from the break of each other's constant company. She tried not to think with too much worry as she trod water, eyes open for the sight of anything intriguing to explore along the river bank.
The gleam of iridescent feathers and hair caught her attention some way up the stony bank. Brilliant blues and violets made even more vivid by the flat grey and brown of the landscape. Aquaria let herself drift a little ways past before paddling closer to the bank. The bite of cold air grasped at her the moment she left the water, making her shake a moment as she forced the cold to the back of her mind. Winter was a ridiculous season, when it really came down to it.
Trying not to shiver too obviously, the seamare climbed the bank. Stomping her hooves cracked a thin layer of ice when she reached level ground, but it helped the blood flow as it should. Smiling with as little panic as she could, the violet-eyed mare looked to the woman she had come across. "Hello there. I'm Aquaria. Mind if I join you?" She asked, despite not knowing exactly what she was asking to join.
The mare was even more exceptional from up close, with large multicolored wings clasped by her sides. Wishfully, Aquaria thought back to last winter, and the warmth and contentment of being surrounded by the warm embrace of Pteron's wings. Useful appendages, those wings.
Oceane had left Kensley at the shoreline where the river delta purges itself into the dark and churning sea. Their conversation had been pleasant and the scenery beautiful if one observed it long enough (what really piqued her interest, though, was the sea's ability to roil and rock throughout the winter months, never once hardening beneath the chill), but despite the seasonal shag in her coat, the winds had chilled her to the marrow in her bones.
So the opalescent woman took leave of her new acquaintance and found cover beneath pine branches, her nostrils flaring in appreciation for the woodsy scent of them as they drag across her skin. As she continues to follow the river inland, Oceane searches - though she's unsure for what. Something to catch her attention, whether it's simply foliage or equine or entirely unexpected, she's in the mood for intrigue today.
A small wooden hovel catches her attention; gnarled branches entwined, it creates a small half-dome by the river bend and offers additional reprieve from the winter squall. Oceane murmurs appreciatively, tightens her massive feathered wings to her rounded violet sides, and presses herself beneath the natural shield and watches the relentless river for a time.
She is not alone with her thoughts for long: a flash of amber champagne, first believed to be imagined but then there it is again, draws Oceane's bright amber eyes. She smiles in surprise at the realization that it is a finned woman who bobs on the surface (though there is still a sourness that coils in her stomach at the idea of water-horses, and she double checks that she is just far enough away from the sodden bank to avoid being dragged beneath the surface of the tumultuous current); her gaze follows the skilled swimmer until her nereid frame crawls gracefully forth.
The woman's webbed mane and tail draw a hum of appreciation from the opaline woman. Her polite scrutiny of the stranger's physical appearance is short-lived, and her attention is turned to meet the woman's blue-violet eyes as she introduces herself. "Not at all," Oceane responds without hesitation and sidesteps to ensure they can both fit comfortably beneath the pine cupola and away from the icy breeze.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Aquaria. I am Oceane." She adjusts the wings at her sides to better warm the distended belly she hides beneath them. "Do you live in these waters?" she asks without preamble, a glint of curiosity alight in her deep gold eyes.
@[Aquaria] " "
i must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by
The white-gold mare found welcome beneath the scraggy branches of a strange tree. It held onto its bluey green color even when other plants looked dead and skeletal, an anomaly in the barren landscape. There wasn't much thought beyond this spared to the foliage, however, as the vivid colored mare made space for her own baroque form.
Beaming up at the taller mare, Aquaria found it much easier to be genial now that the warmth was shared between them, and the wind did not cut so close. Hurried along by her own subtle prompting, chill water dripped from her finely scaled breast and flanks in rapid streams. It was a handy trick, to not be forced to stand wet and cold.
The focus of her eyes returned to the outer world as the glimmering woman spoke. Shifting her weight comfortably, the nereid shook her head. "Happy to meet you, Oceane!" She chirped, wondering vaguely if the winged mare had any link to the water as her name suggested. There was no scent of saltwater embedded in her, but that was no certain thing.
A bubble of laughter spun from her lips as she glanced at the river in question. "Great whales, no! I'm more of a beach bum. I just like to visit the mainland every so often, the keep up with friends and uh, current events." She grinned at the awful joke, unsure if it would be appreciated or not.
Her tail swished as she tried to figure out Oceane. The scent she carried wasn't one she could immediately place, though she knew she'd come across it before. She hummed a note before expressing her curiosity. "Do you live here? Lots of horses live in the riverlands. Not a bad place to be, especially in the summer." If you didn't mind the constant buzz of mosquitos, anyway. Aquaria knew she'd take the beaches of Ischia over the river any day. Still, to each their own.
Almost immediately, the opaline pegasi finds a warmth in Aquaria's company. Her easy, excited smile coaxes a similar expression from the Loessian mare and she finds that there's hardly an opportunity for awkward small talk when her newest acquaintance could most aptly be described as sprightly and vivacious.
They settle in beside each other, sea pearl and avian opal, to hide from the wind as if they are old friends out for a lunch date. Aquaria smells of saltwater and sand, two scents that Oceane holds dear in her heart, but her thoughts on this are left behind as her own light laughter follows swiftly behind the finned woman's contagious bout. She grins at her company's humor and turns an amused side-eye towards her.
"I, too, am a sea-sonal follower of politics," she quips happily, and her playful grin remains even as she falls silent to listen to Aquaria's question with a swiveled ear. She shakes her head in response, violet forelock coiffed by the subtle breeze that still finds its way into their arbor. "I don't, though I find myself here quite often. I actually live in Loess."
At the mention of her foothills home, Oceane's playful grin turns into something laced with pride. She'd taken up residence under Castile's capable eye over a year ago and each day has brought her a new adventure. Almost subconsciously, she adjusts the wings at her side to caress them against her unborn.
"As a self-proclaimed beach bum, is it Ischia you call home?" Ischia. The name of the island nation increases the sourness that roils in the depths of her belly and she tries her best to push the memories of Ivar down, down down.
@[Aquaria] " "
i must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by
01-09-2020, 09:03 PM (This post was last modified: 01-09-2020, 09:04 PM by Bruja.)
aquaria
- THE TIDE IS HIGH, IT'S SINK OR SWIM -
The pearl seamare found herself easing into the conversation with little difficulty. There was no physical similarities, yet Aquaria sensed something of her elder sister in this new face. A kindness belied by a core of strength that seemed to touch everything they did. True, she had only known Oceane for scant minutes, but there was a kindred feeling all the same.
Her golden smile widened with delight at the wing woman's riposte to her own silly humor with an equally corny joke. Oh yes, this was a very good day in the making. Her head bobbed at the woman's declaration, that connection between scent and location falling into place. Loess, that made sense.
She'd been there only once, and that only a brief landing on their shore. It hadn't been much more than a rest stop with an uneventful conversation thrown in. "I hear it's lovely there! I don't know much about it myself though, it's not a land I've visited." Really, she couldn't count standing on their gravel shore as actually seeing Loess. The clear pride in the painted mare's face made her want to change that, though.
When it was her turn to acknowledge her own dwelling, Aquaria found herself beaming with similar pride, despite catching what seemed like a hitch at the mention of her island home. She shot a questioning glance Oceane's way but let it go. Too soon to prod into personal details. Instead she smiled and nodded. "Good guess! Yes, I'm Ischian, bred and born. It's been my family's home for generations." She announced with no small joy.
There was no where else she could imagine being so happy as her island. Sure, the mainland had its draws, it's own flavors off beauty. She would always have a soft spot for the redwoods of the Taiga. But it was Ischia with its jungles and crystal waters that her heart loved best. That Oceane might have found a reason not to love it baffled her.
01-10-2020, 03:58 PM (This post was last modified: 01-10-2020, 04:17 PM by Oceane.)
oceane
at me, the sea withdrew
"It is, quite," lovely, she means. More hides in the depths of Loess than even Oceane had ever expected to find; she is constantly made breathless by the diversity of the scenery and fauna that call the foothills home. "I'd love for you to visit sometime," she adds as a polite afterthought, the statement accentuated with a kind and genuine smile. More often than not, she's roaming the contours of the hills on her own and enjoys the occasional opportunity to share her home with others.
Recently, though, her wanderings have consisted less of random meandering and more pensive investigations. Instinctively, she has begun to nest ─ next season she will give birth to the life that grows within her now, and there's an urgency that washes over her each time her attention is drawn back to it. Borne of primal instinct and personal history, Oceane knows well that the panic that presses at her heart will neither ebb nor disappear until her child is birthed and safely at her winged side.
She attempts to hide the waver in her tone as she brushes over Ischia, but the not-so-silent tell still draws a sideways glance from Aquaria. Had she not already felt an emerging kinship with the pearl-finned woman, Oceane would deign to give her any more information about the way she feels toward the island territory. But there's something that already exists between them ─ something that, admittedly, reminds her of her relationship with Isobell before discovering that Castile's sister was married to the very catalyst that formed that acidic taste in her mouth.
And, more likely than not, it's a friend that Oceane needs now. "I've visited once," she says tentatively, though she tries to find a more casual tone, "Everything was so vibrant and beautiful. I ─ I can't recall any other time I've seen a land so dynamic. I explored as much as I could, though I had quite an unsavory conversation when I visited the small island just to the north of mainland Ischia," she fades off, unwilling to place a name on the kelpie she'd interacted with ─ if only because she is curious whether or not his face will be the first to come to Aquaria's mind.
@[Aquaria] " "
i must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by
01-12-2020, 01:21 PM (This post was last modified: 01-12-2020, 01:23 PM by Aquaria.)
aquaria
- THE TIDE IS HIGH, IT'S SINK OR SWIM -
Oceane's quiet joy in her home was contagious, and the seamare find herself calculating when exactly she could take up the invitation to visit. A day in the warmer season, preferably. With a gentle whicker, she agreed to it. "Yes, that would be wonderful. When should I make the trip?" It wouldn't do to walk in when she wasn't expected, after all.
It was an exciting prospect, visiting a new kingdom on personal grounds instead of political. She'd come to learn over the last several years that diplomacy was not her strong suite. She could bluff her way through it, usually, but found that the carefully worded life of a diplomat was not one that came naturally to her. Speaking her mind had proven a much more effective route to the nereid, when the situation called for it.
Her outspoken leanings weren't always a benefit, but she did try to listen when someone needed to be heard. Oceane's dancing around the source of her misgivings towards Ischia translated very clearly to the girl who knew the island so well.
"Oh," she said, nose wrinkled in knowing sympathy. "You've got kelpie troubles." They stayed on that little daughter island most of the time, and kept to themselves. There were several that roamed the waters of Ischia, but one held a bit more infamy than the rest. The elder kelpie, Ivar, who kept his children and his herd of blank-eyed mares close, and who's hunger was a quiet warning to the other islanders.
The pearl nereid made a mental note to bring the subject up with Eva when they next met, that perhaps they needed to revisit the subject of the kelpie's residency. In the meantime, she wished to ease some of the bitterness from the pegasus woman's experience of her home.
"I'm very sorry that happened to you. I'm a nereid, if you were wondering. The kelpie are sort of cousins to my kind. Just that while nereids are more easy going, the kelpie are... more hungry, I guess you could say." She puffed a cloud of breath at the words. Cannibals is what they were, if the stories were true. Her spine prickled just to think of it. Still, she wanted to prove that a clan of sharp toothed sea dwellers were not the runners of her home.
Her smile returned, a bit more subdued perhaps, but warm nonetheless. "If you'd like to visit again, I'd love to give you the tour. I'll show you all the beautiful places Ischia has to offer, and we'll steer clear of the kelpies." She promised, offering a second chance at the serenity that was her home. She would see to it that her new friend was not harassed a second time.
There is no hesitation in Aquaria's agreement to visit the foothills, no hmmm'ing and hawing that she would have to travel nearly half a continent to see the opaline pegasi again. Oceane can appreciate an adventurous soul — she is in possession of one herself — and finds herself hoping that this friendship will continue to blossom beyond the banks of the riverland.
"Wonderful!" she exclaims as she tosses her forelock from her gilded eyes again, having been mussed by an errant bout of wind that had made it beyond their woodsy bulwark. "I could even meet you at the southern shore, if you'd prefer to swim from Ischia." She'd visited the southernmost point of Loess with Ivar last, but she has refused to shy away from one of the most peaceful areas of her home on account of the malicious kelpie.
She chuckles warmly. "Perhaps that decision is best left up to you. The springtime is beautiful, of course, with the desert shrubbery blooming," she adjusts the blue and lavender wings at her side, pulling the right one back a little ways to reveal the bulge in her abdomen, "But if you'd rather not be accompanied by a newborn, then I could give you a tour in the summer when my child is inevitably more interested in exploring than joining my daily activities."
And, to Aquaria's credit, it does appear that she knows exactly who Oceane had encountered during her first and only visit to the island territory. Though the finned woman doesn't identify him by name, the way she wrinkles her champagne nose and offers explanation of her own heritage offers Oceane enough evidence of the woman's relationship, or lack thereof, with the blue painted kelpie.
"I would love that," she says softly and with obvious appreciation of Aquaria's offer, "Perhaps when you come to visit in Loess, I can accompany you on your journey home."
@[Aquaria] " "
i must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by
01-14-2020, 08:56 PM (This post was last modified: 01-14-2020, 08:56 PM by Aquaria.)
aquaria
- THE TIDE IS HIGH, IT'S SINK OR SWIM -
The journey between lands was always faster when she traveled by sea. The water pulled her along with shocking speed sometimes, enough so that even by traveling the perimeter of the continent, she still made better time than if she'd gone over land. It helped that there was no need to stop at every border on her way, no need to explain herself time and again before being allowed to carry on her journey. Yes, it would be no trouble at all to visit Oceane in a few moons.
She sighed in appreciation when the shimmering mare revealed the rounded swell of her belly from beneath her wing. "Oh! I think spring would be just fine!" Her smile widened brightly, curving her own body to touch her muzzle gently to the woman's shoulder. "I have a pod of nieces and nephews, and a little beastie of my own. I would love to meet yours." She'd gotten much better with babies over the years, and had even developed something of a soft spot for the little ones.
Meeting Oceane's would be a happy thing.
As the plans evolved, the seamare felt her excitement growing. This was a new adventure building before her eyes, the sort of thing she'd been missing so deep down. They were wanderers, her kin, moving from place to place even after they'd found home. It became a safe place to return to, a haven when the world got too big. Ischia would always be there for her, no matter how far she went. It was meeting kindred souls, like Oceane, that made the journey all the more worthwhile.
Her head dipped softly, when the sky mare offered to travel back with her. "If it's not too much of a journey for you and baby, that would be wonderful." She supposed it depended on how old the foal would be by then, especially if they would all be going by land together. "If the timing is good, the island is usually full of foals in the springtime. It'll be a good chance for little one to make some friends!" And perhaps by extension, a well earned rest for the blue woman.
A pleased smile finds her lavender lips as they agree upon a springtime reunion. "Perfect. It's settled," the excitement she feels weaves its way into her words as Aquaria tells her about her pod — she chuckles good-naturedly at how well the term fits — of nieces and nephews.
"Ah!" the pegasi proclaims, "Feel free to bring your little one along, if you think that'd be a fun idea." Unlike Aquaria, Oceane hadn't ever had the opportunity to spend time around younglings. She'd never had nieces or nephews to bond with, and even her own two sons had been ripped from her before they'd had time to find her swollen teat for the first time. She tries not to think of this now, not while the mood between her and Aquaria is full of hopeful potential for their new friendship, but the memories have resurfaced more and more recently now that her womb is full of new life.
A harsh shiver crawls swift and unbidden up her spine, causing her to pull her gossamer wings tight to her sides once more. She brushes it off, pretending that the chill had come only from the cold as she gives a nod to the finned woman at her side.
"I look forward to it. Truly," Oceane adds at the end, hoping that despite the experience she shared about the last time she visited Ischia, Aquaria can hear the authenticity in her voice. "I should probably return to Loess now, however, before it starts to get dark. Thank you for keeping me company. I look forward to your visit in the spring, my friend."
@[Aquaria] " "
i must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by
