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  • Beqanna

    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]  you know your place in the sky
    #1

    The young girl hums quietly to herself as she strolls beneath a new moon, guided only by the softly winking stars that shine overhead in a cloudless sky.

    So often has she found herself here - beneath the depths of twilight with only silence to greet her and only the silver, mysterious light of the stars to keep her company. It is no surprise to her that she feels out of place in Tephra and has ventured further to be able to see the night sky without the smoke and ash to block out her precious stars.

    Just a few feet before her, a large orb dips and weaves through the softly swaying meadow grasses, brushing against the green stalks almost playfully. Starlight cannot help the gentle smile that curls on her glowing lips as she follows the star as it hovers and darts before her with a life of its own. The star hums lightly, its silver glow pulsing with the thrum, and Starlight’s ears prick forward with a quick tip of her head upwards. She takes another few steps, her dark eyes scanning the meadow, while her star loses its courage and zips into her mane, hiding beneath the glowing strands.

    Someone is coming, her star had informed her.

    Starlight slows to a halt, the warmth on her neck comforting as her star’s light buzzes beneath her indigo mane.

    With a thought, she bends the light of the stars to illuminate the area nearest them, bathing herself and a wide berth around her in silver light - as if the moon was shining.

    “Hello?” she whispers into the depth of night, wondering who has come to join her.

    starlight

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    #2

    in this hole, that is me...the dead are rolling over


    The darkness has always called to him, singing a sirens song that he could not resist. Perhaps it had to do with his breeding, or the celestial markings on his legs, or the frightening gift the Gods had bestowed upon him. Whatever it was, he has listened, gorging himself on moonlight and starshine though never getting his fill. He basks in their muted glow like a housecat in the sun, but still he craves more. Greedy, perhaps, but who is he to deny his temptresses?

    Tonight, he is not the only thing out amongst the stars. He sees the girl immediately, though he makes no immediate move towards her. For now, he is content to watch, and he is enthralled by the way she pushes and pulls the star she has created, allowing it to travel in front of her before it winds itself back around her slender neck. They are a matched set, he and the starfire filly, though he lacks the impressive headwear and plumage. His party trick is very well hidden, and for the moment, he remains that way. But his mouth twists upwards in the hint of a smile, a smile that gives away little to his true intentions but there all the same. As the star shoots away, he closes his eyes, allowing the flesh to fall from his frame and bleach-white bones to take its place. He glows blue in the moonlight, though it is only a trick of the light and not a true radiance that he is emitting. It is more than enough to startle any small creature that was lurking around him, but he pays them no mind. He has eyes only for the winged girl who makes playthings of stars.

    Quickly, he slips into the very edges of the forest surrounding the meadow. In his skeletal form he moves easily through the trees, and there is no coat or mane and tail to become tangled in the underbrush. She is just ahead of him, but facing away, which works perfectly for his wicked little plan. It is not meanness, necessarily, but he certainly harbors a wicked streak. When the distance is closed he breaks from the trees, the jingle of branch to rib bone the only indication of his presence. He announces his presence with one word, one very fitting word for the skeleton shifting star lover...

    ”Boo.”

    --CHEMOSH

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    #3

    The longing that the stranger feels is not unlike the one that stirs inside the young girl. She looks to the open expanse of inky sky, with its cluster of milky stars that churn stoically above them in an ancient dance, and finds herself desperate to be invited; perhaps there, she will finally be at home.

    But they never ask her.

    Even so, she is obedient and loyal to them - the stars are hers as she is theirs and even though lightyears separate them, Starlight does not question her place amongst them.

    There is nothing about the young filly that is muted and perhaps as she grows she will realize that the gentle, blue glow of her legs and face will draw more harm than good. She is a walking beacon, a target amongst the darkness, but there is something about her - an otherworldliness that keeps fear from clutching at her heart with its icy fingers.  Maybe it is her star companion that gives her this inability to be swayed by the unknown; confidence that shines in her dark eyes as her silver light illuminates all that is around them.

    Starlight’s indigo-lined ears flick back at the unfamiliar sound (that she would soon learn was the scratch of bone against bark) but even the knowledge of a presence does not give her enough time to prepare herself for whatever may be coming towards her from the darkness. Her starlit spotlight shifts with the gentle turn of her head, illuminating not only herself but the very much alive skeleton that has snuck up to her.

    It is no surprise when she shies away, leaping forward and away from him with an uneasiness that is heard in the soft yelp that falls from her glowing mouth. Her movement is simultaneous as his voice, her starlight wavering as she loses control over them in her sudden rush of adrenaline. Once her slender legs find the earth once again, Starlight whips her head towards him with a gasp, her heart thundering in her narrow chest. She almost cannot even come to terms with what (who?) she is looking at, blinded by her surprise.

    As she finds herself steadier, her ears fall back slightly into her cobalt mane. Her eyes narrow gently, studying the creature before her with a bit of wariness to her stance now. Her star glows brightly beneath the short strands of mane, buzzing and humming with words that only Starlight could decipher. She tsks softly, though not at the stranger that had frightened her.

    “I’m sure it was all in good fun,” the filly chides to her star before letting her dark eyes fall on the skeleton man. “Wasn’t it?” She addresses him now with a light-hearted tone, but Starlight finds that her glowing lips are pressed into a thin line of uncertainty. 

    starlight




    @[Chemosh]
    sorry for the wait! Sad
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    #4

    in this hole, that is me...the dead are rolling over


    While her appearance had caught his attention, it was her presence that had kept it. She had an otherworldly quality about her, something that spoke of far off constellations and swirling galaxies. While he simply wore the heavens on his legs, she brought them to life. Where he gazed at the stars and basked in their glow, she made them her own. He admittedly had seen little of the world in his three years of life, but she was far and away the most interesting. Even here in this land of oddities, she stood out from them.

    She shies away from him and he does not follow, though a smile forms in his mind though it is invisible on his fleshless mouth. Not a smile of malice, but he cannot help enjoying his trick just a little bit. The star clinging to her neck bobbles too, and his eyeless sockets turn away from the filly and onto the flickering ball of gas and space dust. He knows he could shift back, should shift back and save her the trouble, but he lingers in his skeletal form for just a little longer. If she knew what else he had tucked up his sleeve, his skeleton would be the least of her worries. The other beast that he hides beneath the bay of his coat and nebula of his legs is far more powerful, much more fearsome, and more than a little out of place for a living skeleton who loves the night. He does not wield that form often, but keeps it carefully hidden away until such time that such a monster would be needed.

    Once she comes to a halt and whirls to face him, he shifts back, dark eyes glittering pleasantly and a small smile turning up the corners of his black lips. In this form they are nearly identical, and he is sure to outsiders they make quite a site, especially if they had been around long enough to see the previous act. Her small ears disappear into the blackness of her mane, though he can see them easily enough in the light of the stars that bounce around her. She finally speaks, and for a moment he isn’t sure if the words are directed at him or the star. But, he decides to answer all the same, even if they weren’t for him. ”Good fun, yes. Just a spooky little trick.” he says with a nod, his shoulders relaxed and a hind hoof cocked in hopes of settling her nerves. ”You reacted just the way I expected you to, though I don’t know why anyone with horns like that or wings would be scared of a rack of bones like me.” he says with a snicker. No one has ever accused him of having manners, let alone good ones. His mother had birthed him, weaned him, and he has been left to his own devices ever since. A life of such little structure was bound to lead to an odd duck, though thankfully not an evil one. ”I’m Chemosh, by the way.” he adds, as if his name were an afterthought to his trickery.


    --CHEMOSH

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    #5

    Her deep blue eyes - so dark, nearly the same indigo as the sky that stretches endlessly above them - cannot help in the way that they stare. Perhaps it is the soft warmth of her star that keeps her so courageous, but though her muscles tense she does not flee from him. There is a moment - a breath inhaled from her glowing-blue mouth - that she thinks about reaching forward to touch the slick ivory of the bridge of his nose, just to make sure he was real. She can feel her star beginning to buzz with worry at the thought that they share, but Starlight ignores it as she often does. He is much too curious - otherworldly himself - to deny it.

    But just as she thinks to stretch her neck forward, her companion blinks back into what Starlight believes is his true form. She snorts softly, a gentle smile playing on her lips, wondering if he somehow knew her intentions to touch his skeleton. “A spooky trick,” she repeats with a twitch of her glowing mouth into a smirk, matching his own. 

    The filly’s eyes quickly are drawn to his legs, where the nebula she traces each night play across his skin. She gasps softly, lowering her face to look at the patterns more carefully, her eyes widening in awe. Perhaps they are somehow both star-born, with the maps that decorate his legs.

    When he begins to address the way she looks herself, Starlight’s head raises abruptly. She often forgets about the deep grey horns that are sprouting from her head (small still, in her youth) and the glowing wings at her sides. She flutters them thoughtfully, stretching the lithe bone, and contemplates telling him how she has more than once attempted to fly to the stars. She decides not to with a tiny shake of her head, her cobalt mane falling into the spirals of her horns.

    “Well, I’m not frightened anymore,” Starlight admits a bit sheepishly, just as her star begins to peek its way out from beneath her mane. “Should I be?” she wonders aloud, though it is her star that telepathically forced the question into her mind. The glowing girl pauses, her dark face all lit up with the soft glow of her star as well as the ethereal glow of her mane and face. “My name is Starlight.”

    starlight



    @[Chemosh]
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