09-20-2020, 10:35 AM
Yanhua
Taiga was an uncertain place these days, not the best for making new friends or meeting smiling faces. Her inhabitants had turned recluse, keeping to themselves after the attack from the East, and a few escapees might never return. Fear itself was enough of a weapon to damage an enemy; if horses couldn’t feel safe in the redwood forest, then they wouldn’t live here. How many nomadic horses would they lose, Yan wondered? Some of them had been on the brink of putting down roots here for good…
“All ruined,” The flaxen-haired stallion thought, trodding quietly through the maze of giants, “by malicious design.” He sighed.
It was a cold day, but not unpleasant. Snow had packed itself into thick, white layers overnight - Taiga had been transformed into a winter wonderland. The evergreens had never smelled more pungent and Yan had a pleasant hitch in his step despite the mood. He hadn’t set out this morning to have his thoughts contradicted immediately by fate, but that was exactly when she struck hardest.
Funny; the moment he’d been thinking about how quiet things were going to be around here, a pleasant echo interrupted his walk.
Echos usually did interrupt him, all the time and everywhere the goat-horned stallion went. They were memories left behind, not something he could conjure out of thin air. They were very real and very present in Yanhua’s life, when he’d been a boy sometimes they’d been overwhelming, but now he could safely manage to filter them out. He could also recognize when an echo was ‘fresh’, newly made - often indicating that the creator of the memory Yanhua saw was nearby or had been in the same area recently.
He turned his head and watched the ghost-like apparition of a mare - not the same Borderline, but the memory of her - walking just this way with her head swiveling around in nervous awe. Yan smiled as the memory walked past a trunk and disappeared. No one else could see Yan’s ‘ghosts’, he knew they were purely mental and part of his magic, but he felt their emotions in the moments they left behind. Living or no, the haunts of Taiga had always been Yanhua’s favorite part of living here.
He stopped going the direction he was headed in, and turned to chase the old scent trail Borderline had left behind perhaps an hour ago.
The blue-and-gray mare’s journey had led her out to an open meadow, one that Yanhua knew well enough after so many years growing up here. This was a place he and Nash had played together, when himself and his twin had been little colts with no father. Now, he materialized from the fog like an odd lantern, mane and tail barely glowing but still vibrantly yellow-gold, to see Borderline inhabiting the same space. She looked lovely in the pale snow, already part ice-princess with her shockingly vibrant, blue-colored hair, and Yan threw his horns and his ears up with a cheery, “Hallo!” her way.
He’d just stopped at the edge of the meadow, but no doubt Borderline had already heard and seen him approach.
“I was doing my rounds and I caught your scent,” The tall, young male ushered over his shoulder to the place he’d just come from, “I’m Yanhua; I live here.” He explained with a warm, animated smile. “Honestly, I could use some company… are you in the mood for conversation?” He asked Borderline, assuming that he wasn’t exactly interrupting her. She’d been nose-to-the-ground when he’d approached, and her echos made it seem to Yanhua that she could use a friendly forest guide, but he wouldn’t press the issue if she refused.
To each their own; Yanhua just loathed the idea of being alone right now and he was hoping that maybe @[Borderline] felt the same way.
“All ruined,” The flaxen-haired stallion thought, trodding quietly through the maze of giants, “by malicious design.” He sighed.
It was a cold day, but not unpleasant. Snow had packed itself into thick, white layers overnight - Taiga had been transformed into a winter wonderland. The evergreens had never smelled more pungent and Yan had a pleasant hitch in his step despite the mood. He hadn’t set out this morning to have his thoughts contradicted immediately by fate, but that was exactly when she struck hardest.
Funny; the moment he’d been thinking about how quiet things were going to be around here, a pleasant echo interrupted his walk.
Echos usually did interrupt him, all the time and everywhere the goat-horned stallion went. They were memories left behind, not something he could conjure out of thin air. They were very real and very present in Yanhua’s life, when he’d been a boy sometimes they’d been overwhelming, but now he could safely manage to filter them out. He could also recognize when an echo was ‘fresh’, newly made - often indicating that the creator of the memory Yanhua saw was nearby or had been in the same area recently.
He turned his head and watched the ghost-like apparition of a mare - not the same Borderline, but the memory of her - walking just this way with her head swiveling around in nervous awe. Yan smiled as the memory walked past a trunk and disappeared. No one else could see Yan’s ‘ghosts’, he knew they were purely mental and part of his magic, but he felt their emotions in the moments they left behind. Living or no, the haunts of Taiga had always been Yanhua’s favorite part of living here.
He stopped going the direction he was headed in, and turned to chase the old scent trail Borderline had left behind perhaps an hour ago.
The blue-and-gray mare’s journey had led her out to an open meadow, one that Yanhua knew well enough after so many years growing up here. This was a place he and Nash had played together, when himself and his twin had been little colts with no father. Now, he materialized from the fog like an odd lantern, mane and tail barely glowing but still vibrantly yellow-gold, to see Borderline inhabiting the same space. She looked lovely in the pale snow, already part ice-princess with her shockingly vibrant, blue-colored hair, and Yan threw his horns and his ears up with a cheery, “Hallo!” her way.
He’d just stopped at the edge of the meadow, but no doubt Borderline had already heard and seen him approach.
“I was doing my rounds and I caught your scent,” The tall, young male ushered over his shoulder to the place he’d just come from, “I’m Yanhua; I live here.” He explained with a warm, animated smile. “Honestly, I could use some company… are you in the mood for conversation?” He asked Borderline, assuming that he wasn’t exactly interrupting her. She’d been nose-to-the-ground when he’d approached, and her echos made it seem to Yanhua that she could use a friendly forest guide, but he wouldn’t press the issue if she refused.
To each their own; Yanhua just loathed the idea of being alone right now and he was hoping that maybe @[Borderline] felt the same way.
I GOT | Extra | FEELINGS