"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
02-20-2020, 01:31 PM (This post was last modified: 02-20-2020, 01:32 PM by Oceane.)
O C E A N E
Hath in her veins, to beat and run, the glad indomitable sea, the strong white sun.
Pangea.
The name, whispered so easily by Alcinder, had drawn a small tremble across Oceane's pursed lavender lips. Her little winged boy, barely over half-a-year now, had lived captive in a territory she had yet to lay her own eyes upon and had ─ thankfully, blessedly ─ found his way home on a whim and wisdom. Gone was the anguish of the unknown: had he been injured... tortured?... killed? Now, in its place, sits a marriage of rage and relief.
And, in the background, a mistress named Curiosity.
She had placed a gentle parting kiss upon her son's crest and left him in the capable wings (and talons) of Lepis and Castile, respectively, before following the eastern winds. She uses autumn's thermals to keep her afloat as she meanders, airborne, first above the crystal clear lake of Hyaline and then over the mountains that stand like silent sentinels at its border, and then, finally, over the red and yellow sandstone canyons of Pangea. Oceane is struck suddenly, oddly, by the way it reminds her of the canyon den in northern Loess she had made her den. Perhaps Alcinder had been more comfortable here than she had been able to imagine, and that brings the winged woman closure.
Despite this, anger and curiosity fuel her still, and both refuse to be kept at bay. So she alights near the center of the territory, her lavender hooves falling on hardened sandstone and her wide opalescent wings send specks of light skittering against the rock. It smells of dust, hot and dry, and she sneezes as she pulls her feathered appendages into her sides. With a small wiggle of her nose, the Loessian Lady peers around the open canyon around her, intrigue showing in her hardened amber eyes, as she awaits for someone to happen upon her here.
@[draco] & Any ""
neamrel / thedayofshadow
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
i've got a face of gold, i've got a heart of coal, but baby that's my cross to bear
Draco hums goodnaturedly to himself. Oceane should be arriving in Pangea soon, and if she doesn’t . . . she and her child know of the repercussions. Draco finds the woman unbearingly annoying and terribly well-behaved, so it puts him in high spirits that she will be forced to live with the kinds she most certainly considers heathens (and perhaps even evil).
Their encounter was not entirely peaceful, though it went much more swimmingly than Draco expected. He was disappointed that she didn’t fight more. The threat “it’s you or your son this time” worked exceptionally well. Draco was also disappointed that darling Lepis didn’t want to come this time. He wondered what it would be like to watch her already hardened eyes harden even more amongst the bad-natured residents of Pangea. His heart thrums healthily at just the idea of changing more of Loess’ residents.
Oceane comes, just as Draco expects, and when he reads the curious and angry thoughts in her head, a delight smile lifts his lips. She is but an opalescent speck in the distance, a sheen of brilliance that stands out amongst the golden canyons of Pangea. She doesn’t suit this place, he thinks, but that only serves to excite him more.
“Hello, darling!” the demon sings into the whistling breeze. His grin spreads from ear to ear and his eyes radiate just the tiniest amount of fear aura. “Welcome to Pangea. I’m so delighted you made it! How are the winds above my home? I hope they gave you just the right amount of resistance.”
Draco draws close enough to potentially make Oceane uncomfortable, amused red eyes studying every sparkle she carries.
“I hope poor Alcinder doesn’t miss you too much. I hear he’s the King’s son . . . Do you think Mr. Dragon Castile will come to your rescue?”
She’s been stretched quite thin lately. Protecting Ripley from this distance was not without effort. So far, she’d not found the creature to be in much distress. How foolish must the dragon-king be to invite such a monster into their midst - a monster that heeds no one save for the shadowmare. Ripley seemed to be enjoying herself - hunting freely and unrestrained for the first time in months. But Anaxarete had been more cognisant of what was happening in Loess - specifically with the dragon-king who had taken something precious to her. Something he knew was precious to the shadowmare. She could understand, in some way, his attempt at wounding her. But it wouldn’t work. Not when Ripley left a path of blood in Loess before she returned home. And the shadowmare wouldn’t allow any harm to come to her.
Magic was just so useful sometimes.
It was this magic that gave her the knowledge of what was happening in Loess and subsequently in the Isle without ever having to step foot outside of Pangea. She normally wouldn’t waste her energy on such things, but the sight of Oceane is enough for her to consider this information particularly valuable. A twisted smile tugs at the corners of her lips for only a moment before she makes her way towards Draco and the Loessian. Draco had also been busy lately, such things pleased the shadowmare greatly. She offers a nod of greeting to Draco before inserting herself casually into their conversation, making note to see more of the demon in the future.
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about a rescue attempt,” she says to Draco, nonchalantly. She knows Castile will not be coming. And if he did, he would be dealt with. And it wouldn’t be a pretty picture. She turns then to the purple and blue mare - her icy gaze as cold and expressionless as ever. But for a moment there is a flicker of curiosity - just a hint of interest behind the ice and cold.
“It seems your dragon-king is preoccupied with burning down an entire territory in Nerine,” she said, simply, with a shrug of her scarred shoulders. “Not that it’s the first time he’s done such a thing. I still don’t think Tephra has recovered,” she said, matter of factly. Something told her that Oceane was unfamiliar with this darker side of the dragon king, so the shadowmare was not careful with the details she provided. Regardless, this was something that a ranking member of a kingdom should surely know about their leader, no?
“Oh, but don’t worry!” the shadowmare offered, with (exaggerated) concern dripping from her lips “You’ll be safe here. Perhaps even safer than you would be in Loess,” she says, with the smallest of smiles tugging on the corners of her dark lips. That much was certainly true. With Castile on the rampage and Ripley loose in Loess, Anaxarete couldn’t think of a safer place to be than right here.
Hath in her veins, to beat and run, the glad indomitable sea, the strong white sun.
Faced with Draco's proffered ultimatum, Oceane had, of course, agreed to travel to Pangea for an inevitable stint of captivity. Arriving in the sandstone kingdom does not coincide with any uptick in fear, but instead instills her with a feeling of control. She is here, and Alcinder is there ─ as much as she will miss her son, will grow to lament the time spent away from the growing boy, at least he is not here.
Her sneeze resounds in the open space that surrounds her; she shakes the red dust from her flaring nostrils and pulls her balefire wings tight to the curves of her lipizzan body as she begins to inspect what will be her own home for the next year with analytical amber eyes. She isn't given much time to appreciate the naturally beautiful architecture of the canyon, however, because as expected, the red-eyed stallion had been awaiting his prize, and Oceane pivots her opalescent body to meet his zealously facetious greeting.
"It's my pleasure, truly," she responds, dry and humdrum, and meets his red eyes with her ambers. A knot twists in her stomach as she is met with the tendrils of his fear aura for the first time, though she works casually to keep her facial expression keenly interested in him and, in turn, Pangea. "The thermals above the canyon are sufficient," she turns her gaze pensively to the wide open sky as Draco slithers his repulsive body closer, "I would ask for an airborne tour but ─" she sighs as her gaze returns to his, her stomach roiling again, "─ I would accept a hoof tour, considering your disappointing lack of wings."
Oceane rustles her own at her sides, letting the gleam of her feathers throw splashes of sunlight, harsh and agitated, against the sandstone around them. She wants to bristle against Draco's mention of Alcinder, wants to cleave her son's name straight off the demon's tongue, but instead she extends a tight-lipped smile of faux-gratitude in his direction. "Your concern for my son is noted and appreciated, but no, I─" she means to tell him that she is not expecting for Castile to arrive in Pangea, but instead they are joined by a third voice and its attached body. Oceane shifts her gaze away from the red-eyed Draco and to an unfamiliar dappled woman, their icy eyes meeting each other without apprehension. The Loessian pegasi has heard of Anaxarete, of course, due in part to Loess' prodigious Cleric.
Her ears flutter curiously as the Pangean Queen addresses her directly, her tone an interesting combination of dismissive and matter-of-fact.
It's a task to keep the surprise from her eyes, but she succeeds as she nods her own lavender head and returns Anaxarete's gaze with an apologetic smile. "Yes, I was just about to tell Draco that Castile had a prior engagement, so we shouldn't expect the pleasure of his company here." Regardless of his current actions ─ which she will pause later to analyze ─ Oceane would not have expected the Dragon King to drop everything and fly to her rescue. He would know she had made the decision to keep her son protected, no matter the cost to her own personal safety, and that his interference would only serve to endanger Alcinder even further.
Oh, but don't worry!
The counterfeit concern permeating from Anaxarete is sickly sweet, and Oceane reciprocates with what could be perceived as a polite nod of her opaline head. "I've no doubt I'll be well taken care of while I am here. It just wouldn't do for one of your captives to force their own early release again, I'm sure." She runs her pink tongue over the back of her blunted teeth as she thinks of Alcinder's escape from Ghaul before she turns her gaze away from the pair and to the sections of Pangea that unravel before her. "So, how about that tour?"
@[draco] & @[Anaxarete] ""
neamrel / thedayofshadow
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
