[private] She sells seashells by the sea shore // Warbird

[Aquaria]

aquaria

- THE TIDE IS HIGH, IT'S SINK OR SWIM -

She'd gotten overwhelmed. Stressed and brittle in the island heat, facing truths she'd tried very long to ignore l. While the island would always be her home, get shelter, that night it had felt too close to everything on her mind. So she'd swam for the mainland and breathed deep in the cool waters until the burning in her chest faded to a dim ache. Water was there for her in ways others seldom were, and she loved it for that. 

It was lonely though, beneath the waves. Beautiful but it held her only when she made it. Not enough to fill the v chasm in her chest tonight. The shoreline opened up before her, saltwater and fresh mingling where the river met the sea. It was a turbulent place, but one she way fond of. It let her inward, along the river to where the landbound others lived. To where they gathered and sought one another out. 

It was probably a combination of grey loneliness any the warm rush of the season, heavily influenced by her own impulsive nature, but the next morning found her side by side with a stranger. Wings, what was it with her and winged strangers... But handsome in the early light. She stretched and yawned, shaking the fog of sleep from her mind. Her body ached with use. Her head felt better though, as if she'd burned away some of the tension she'd been carrying. Release, in more than one way. 

Smiling faintly, she nudged the stranger's shoulder with her own. "That was fun," she murmured, kissing the curve of his neck absently. Her sister had always been free with her love, and even Eva's children had a variety of sires. Perhaps there was something their kind of loose attachments.

- MY ONLY RIVAL IS WITHIN -

@[Warbird]

[Warbird]

The night was a muddied whirlwind of intoxication and pleasure, and he's not sure he remembers it all. He doesn't have to; Warbird remembers enough through the fermented fruit haze to know he had a good time with a stranger. 

It isn't the stallion's usual MO. Warbird usually has so much control, too much rigidity to him to indulge in the looseness of intoxication -- he's never really liked how it affected him. But loneliness has a way of sneaking up on a man and making him reconsider things he normally may not have given a thought to. The striped stallion spent an evening talking, eating rotten, terrible fruit, and engaging in delightful debauchery with a mare who's name he's not sure he remembers.

Warbird regrets none of it. Dark lips quirk into a smile as he looks at his current companion. She is unique, and terribly beautiful for all that he's never seen someone quite like her before. The land from which he hails is more ... tame, as it were. Pegasus were common, as were horns, and odd colors, but this place has magic Warbird could never ever dream of. 

"It was very fun, my dear," Warbird thrums, using the term lightly. Then, he gets an awkward, apologetic look. 

"And I am very sorry. I am positive you told me your name, but ... how terribly inappropriate of me to have forgotten your name." He really does feel awful. "Would you be good enough to remind this old dumb stallion?"

WARBIRD

icarus flew too high

[Aquaria]

aquaria

- THE TIDE IS HIGH, IT'S SINK OR SWIM -

Amusement played across her placid features as the gold banded stallion trailed over an apology with all the finesse of a high born equine. A careless shrug rippled across her shoulders, the breeze playing with the sail of her mane. 

"No need to apologize," she laughed lightly, feeling brash with the night's freedoms. "I'm sure I didn't give it to you. I'm Aquaria, of Ischia." She added, in case it wasn't obvious to the stallion. Most however would likely be able to put in an educated guess as to the home of the nereid woman. Someone so very sea-born could only be perfectly at home in a small handful of locations in the continent. 

As she waited for his response, she looked him over with a more assessing eye than she'd used the night before. Last night it had only mattered that he was handsome, and that she didn't know him. Today, she could see that he was better in the daylight, well built and looking as though he could be at home anywhere he chose. Even after their night of lowered inhibitions, he still radiated the kind of dignity that just didn't wash off. It was in the way he held himself, in the way he spoke, and she found herself a little bemused by the elegant mannerisms he displayed. 

What was she but an island girl, born and raised among the waves. There'd been no call for fancy words and delicate manners when the isle had called for nothing more complicated than simple respect and honesty. The way he acted though, she knew he could only hail from one of the big kingdom's, where every word and action required careful planning, lest the wrong horse be offended. 

 class="aqua_quote2">- MY ONLY RIVAL IS WITHIN -

@[Warbird]

[Warbird]

Ah, yes, but the stallion is ever the politician. Prim, proper, maybe a little too upright, it served him very well in his days as king of Calina. One could not afford to always insult the wrong horse, but it was far more than simply tiptoeing around and schmoozing with the other royal horses. Politics and leadership are fickle creatures, and while Warbird misses the structure of his life before, he's not sure that running an entire kingdom is worth missing. 

Oh, he does, to a certain extent. But it's more the relationships that he misses. But she is gone, as are his sons. 

"Aquaria," he repeats, feeling her name on his tongue. "It is my deepest pleasure to have met you. I am Warbird, from ... no where near here." The stallion runs the wrist of his nearest wing along the curve of the nereid's back, only to reach out and trace the same path with his nose. 

"Your scales are beautiful," Warbird rumbles earnestly. "I've never seen a fully scaled horse before. Are they difficult to care for?" He knows his feathers can be a pain sometimes, especially considering they have no waterproofing, and he cannot fly in the rain. 

WARBIRD

icarus flew too high

[Aquaria]

aquaria

- THE TIDE IS HIGH, IT'S SINK OR SWIM -

It was odd to hear her name on his tongue, and dirt a moment she wondered if she shouldn't have given him a false one. Kept her anonymity in what was meant to be a one night stand. Too late to take it back, however, and she accepted his own offering of a name in turn. 

"Warbird," she repeated, feeling the strangeness of it. It made sense when he said that he was from far away. His name was more direct than most, and vaguely she wondered if there was meaning behind it. Did it really matter though? She had no intention of lingering. Her gleaming body shivered under boys touch, memory of other wings surfacing without invitation in her mind. She beat them away like surly jellies. Other memories. That was what she needed. 

She smiled awkwardly at his compliment and following question, a shrug rolling across her pale shoulders. "Oh. Um. Thank you," her mouth touched on the words, smile turning wry. "They're simple enough, as long as I spend time in the water every day. Otherwise they dry and flake and itch." She was as sea bound as they came while she wore her preferred skin. The cost of being a nereid, yet it was far better to her than her dull equine coat. That she wore only when making long treks inland. 

The call of home had been sitting at the back of her mind, and now she leaned into it. She'd had her night of fun. Now the real world needed her. Her tail swayed uncertainly against her hocks as she considered what next to say. "Thank you again, for-" a short laughing exhale "this. Thank you for this, mister Warbird. I've got to be heading home, but I hope you have a good rest of your day. Feel free to look me up if you ever visit Ischia." Her head bobbed agreeably, a few paces taking her closer to the river's banks, closer to home.

- MY ONLY RIVAL IS WITHIN -

@[Warbird]

[Warbird]

...That went south somewhat quick. Warbird listens to her awkwardly talk about her scales, only to have her pull away and call him mister. The stallion's head rises, a look of polite confusion crossing his features as she thanks him for a good time and steps slowly towards the river. The striped man makes no move to stop her, or raise any objections -- he only observes as the wind blows his long blonde forelock all over the place. 

"Well, I," he says finally, words halting as Warbird struggles with what to actually say. "...It... was a pleasure to meet you, madam." The stud lowers his head in a polite bow, and turns to slowly make his way back to higher ground, where he can catch the wind and take to the sky. 

What on earth did I say?

WARBIRD

icarus flew too high