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    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


    Not your baby // Ciri
    #1
    "

    I've seen devils, i've seen saints
    I've seen the line between them fade


    We're safe, I think. Safe from parents who would destroy us for their own twisted joy, safe from blood and pain and death. That's what I tell myself as the days go by, and now that Cirilla has joined us here, I hope it's true. 

    Gar is less easy about things. He seems to have forgotten that Ciri and I are even here, with the way he buries himself in his mind. Thoughts of blood and pain occupy him, and a name I can't get out of my head. Breach. The only softness in his mind surrounds that name, and it cuts me to know it. I haven't gotten brave enough to ask him. 

    He's not the only one who's grown since we made our flight north. I dont think I'm ever going to be especially tall, but I'm taller than I was, and growing into a figure my mother would say only justified my naming. Tarte. A fancy word for whore, really. A bitter taste in your mouth. My mother is a spiteful creature. I know this, but it doesn't make it easier to swallow. Not when I have to wonder if she wasn't right. 

    I curl against Ciri in the bracken bed we've made for ourselves here. Away from the locals, but still in Nerine. "Do you know anyone named Breach?" I ask before I can think. If anyone would know, his sister would. My neck loops over to rest on the curve of her back, a gusty sigh underscoring my mood. It ruffles the soft feathers that cushion my cheek. I'm a little afraid that she will say yes, and describe some wonderful creature that I can't hope to be anything like. 

    A moment later I'm chiding myself for thinking that. Ciri is sweeter than honey, and I can't easily imagine her saying things just to hurt me. So instead I lay still as a stone, and wait for whatever words come.



    TARTE







    @[cirilla]
    #2
    The hours fade away into days, and days into weeks. Even weeks have begun bleeding into months, and Cirilla almost can’t believe that they’ve been in Nerine so long without Father coming looking for her. She was so certain that his rage would be great, but perhaps he, too, is too enthralled with Virgil to even miss his angelic daughter. Virgil didn’t seem quite as gentle-hearted as Gar, so maybe Father plans to use him instead in his nefarious scheming. Speaking of Yadigar, though... Cirilla has not even seen him once since coming here to Nerine, and as the days pass her fear for him grows.

    She can’t even find his scent within the northern kingdom, and she wonders if Father has returned to steal him away. What threat could he have made, to force Yadigar to return East? Her triplet had seemed so confident in fleeing to a different kingdom, certain that Father would be too wrapped up in his plans to even consider his missing children. It seems that he had been wrong, then.

    Cirilla can’t push the fear from her mind, even as she spends most of her days curled up against Tarte’s side. Invasive thoughts intrude even her dreams, and despite Tarte’s reassurances (for Tarte innocently invades even Ciri’s darkest thoughts), she can’t shake the terror that grips her in the darkest of nights.

    She has grown fond of Tarte since their arrival here, and their closeness is something that frightens her. She knows that Tarte is completely infatuated with her brother, even despite him abandoning them here in a strange land, and so Cirilla hides her budding feelings for the other filly; she buries them so deep down inside that the mind reader cannot find them. Is she scared of her own emotions? Perhaps.

    The magenta filly asks her if Breach, whom Cirilla has never met personally, and Cirilla offers Tarte a crooked smile. Her mind is a million miles away, somewhere in a nook of the Cove, but she forces herself to be present for her friend. “I’ve never met Breach,” she tells her honestly, leaning over to play with a lock of Tarte’s mane. “She is a friend of Gar’s is all that I know. He never really talked about her much.”

    Stifling a sigh, she puts her head down on Tarte’s back, her molten gold eyes lost in thought. “I worry about them so much, Tarte,” she whispers. “All of them, Mother and Gar and Virgil and Phyx and Frenzy. None of them are safe from Father’s wrath, and I feel as though if I return, I will never be able to leave again.” A single tear slips down her cheek as she considers what she’s about to say next. She doesn’t want to put her in danger, but she knows that Ghaul would probably imprison her if she were to return to the East. “Would you be willing to check on them for me? Maybe let Mother know about Gar and the wounds he showed us. Mother needs to gather the children and join us here, in Nerine. It’s safe here.”
    #3
    My friend is not happy here, and with all she's lost, I can't blame her. Their family may not have been the happiest, but I think there was something like love in it anyway. More than I'd have recognized before bringing Ciri and Gar on my self-imposed exile. 

    I wish it had been enough for Gar, just to get away. For him though, only revenge will do, and I think that's why he's gone. I only wish he'd thought about Ciri and me before he'd left. 

    I can feel Ciri pull her thoughts to me, their shades of grey flat and sad. Somehow her reply does nothing to ease my mind. Someone only Gar knows, someone he cares about. Someone secret. My brow creases unhappily at the news, but there's nothing I can do about it now. Not yet. 

    I'm caught up in my own feelings, ignorant of the one's Ciri holds close to her chest. Twined together as we are though, it's impossible to miss the distress as it runs the length of her body before she speaks again. My tail tosses as I take in what's been said, catching on twigs where it drags. Its a lot that she's asking, but I know I'll do it. Even if I don't understand why she cares so much about the ones who haven't seen fit to come looking for her themselves. 

    "Yes, I'll go," I nod after a moment. "For you, I'll go." I lift my head to shake out the tangles of my mane, eyes glancing to my sky colored companion's face. She's so worried for them. For all of them. A small smile softens my face. "You care too much, Angel. You know that, right?" I laugh gently. I can't imagine having that much space in my heart, but I wouldn't have her any other way. 

    @[cirilla]




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