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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]  and if everything's gone bad, we'll make it alright
    #1
    SIXTEEN
    please don't go. i'll eat you whole, i love you so.
    He doesn’t often leave his sister alone in Pangea, but she insisted on having a nap in the warm spring sun. After pestering her to see if she was awake for the umpteenth time, he supposed he should go find something else to do. The walk to the meadow had been short and now he finds himself straining to see over the tall grasses. Sixteen huffs in frustration as he tries to navigate his way around as easily as the adults seem to. Perhaps hopping would be better?

    He holds his wings upwards and performs a single leap to test his theory out. A laugh bubbles up from his lungs and then he hops once more, his silver halo wobbling on its axis. The boy continues on like this while the older horses step away from his path. They cast disapproving stares his way, but he either doesn’t care or doesn’t notice. He’ll have to bring Catryn here and show her this new game once she wakes.

    The young colt notices another figure weaving through the tall grasses as he takes another leap, though he can’t discern who or what it is from here. He strains his head higher to try and see, but he can only spot the telltale parting of grass stalks. Sixteen noses his way in the direction he thinks the stranger is, hoping to find another child his age.

    Then, quite suddenly, he runs nose-first into them. With a yelp of surprise, he startles backward and fans his wings out to balance himself.

    Sorry sorry sorry!” he quickly blurts out, his glowing silver mouth forming a frown. “I didn’t mean to run right into you!” His brow furrows in concern as he examines the stranger for scrapes or bruises.

    Are you alright?"


    Teeny is very clumsy but very remorseful! Please give him friends.
    Reply
    #2
    Without a mother, I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted. No one could tell me what to do or where to go, how to behave or be quiet. Bedtime didn’t exist, baths were useless, and so was self-grooming. Maybe I had liked all the things my mother did when she was around, but I loved life now that she was gone.

    Take today for example: I decided the den was boring and left, and no one tried to stop me. A few of the other, younger foals had clung like stickers to my sides and tried to follow me out, but none of them made it all the way along the trail - they eventually turned back one-by-one, crying and sobbing that I was the one abandoning them. Those poor, stupid little idiots! What else could I do but pity them?

    It was me, after all, that had drawn them in with false projections of warm happiness and promising illusions, though I could hardly be blamed for a talent I'd never learned to control. Ever since I was born I’d known the effect I had on others - could see it in the telltale glint of their eyes when they looked at me for the first time. Nothing happened initially, and then (subtly) a change would overcome them. Their expressions would soften and their noses would reach out to touch me, and ever since I’d been born everyone - everyone I say - had loved me without knowing exactly why.

    I would never have to worry about being alone, and that’s why being lonely suited me so very, very well.

    “Oof!” Sixteen managed to make me yelp. I’d been slinking in the grass, using my own wings like a fake turtle’s shell over my back to hide, when he came out of nowhere and cracked our skulls together. He fell back and so did I - equal, yet opposite reactions - but I was still shaking the ringing sound out of my ears during his apology. He got up fast for a colt my age.

    “Ya, I think I’m okay.” I giggled, looking up at Sixteen while flat on my rump.

    I know I shouldn’t do it, whatever ‘it’ is that my body tends to do when company is around, but I really can’t help it. These feelings and this magic inside of me, they’re more than superficial - they are me, just like Sixteen’s glowy parts and also like his leathery parts, which I really like. (My wings are so normal; beautiful, but normal.) Suppressing the way my skin tingles or trying to dam the swelling tide of radiant happiness emanating like an invisible glow from my core would be like… it would be kind of… well it would be like stripping away my personality!

    My personality is one that loves to be loved, and if Sixteen doesn’t love me then I might literally die from the pain of it, so I compensate by always leaving my magical charms on when others come around. I don't have a name for it yet, I'll know when I get older maybe, but horses tell me I tend to resemble someone they know, someone they clearly like, and I roll with it. (That's actually the most exciting part - I wonder if this colt will notice my strange resemblance to someone he loves?) Nothing ever gets me down either, and I think that natural happiness inside of me just tends to draw others in, so I shouldn't worry but I do. I have this secret, tiny worry that someday, some horse will see right through me and realize I'm just an ugly, brown little pegasus colt. Lucky for me, so far no one has ever made me try to turn it off.

    Why would they? Like I said: everybody really tends to love me.

    @[sixteen] OOC: I wanted to make him a pretty profile/HTML and all that but you've been waiting for so long I just said "F it", here's a post!
    [Image: decgetu-410f2b50-f05d-4438-bd4c-5d54e999...4Ft1YXr36M]
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    #3
    SIXTEEN
    please don't go. i'll eat you whole, i love you so.
    He has sometimes wonered if all mothers are as terrifying as his. Do they all snap their teeth and try to devour their young or are the twins simply unique? Ciara was beautiful and yet she had no warmth to her glowing grin. Some of the parents in Pangea coo and sing to their babies before bed and he finds himself bursting with envy at the sight of them, ravenous for that maternal care that he knows so little of.

    But he is kind despite his beginnings in life and he finds himself deeply invested in the wellbeing of the child before him. When Narcisus declares that he seems to be alright, a sigh of relief drifts from Sixteen’s lips at the weight lifted off him. It occurs to him, then, that this child is in fact the same age - that means there is a great deal of potential for a friendship between the pair. He grins at the thought with all his shining silver teeth as he eagerly wiggles closer.

    Glad you’re okay! My name is Sixteen. What’s yours?” he asks with a tilt of his dark purple head.

    The little drake moves in a circle around the other child, sniffing at his wings and occasionally touching his nose to the feathers sprouting there. They’re much softer than Teeny’s scaled and leather limbs. Catryn would probably like it better if he blanketed her with something like these each night instead of his bony wings.

    His gaze lifts to meet his new friend’s, now noticing that he may have changed since he saw him last. Those bright silver eyes stare for a while before he dismisses it.

    Where’s your parents? Did they try to eat you?

    @[Narcisus]
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    #4
    “Narcisus!” I replied eagerly, lifting myself off my rump to stand and shake loose dirt out of my tail. The little tuft of hair went this-a-way and that, a little herald flag that waved along to the sound of my own name. ♪ Narcisus / my name is Nar-ci-sus ?
    I hummed my little vagabond song to myself, in love with the way each syllable joined hands with the other. The silver colt’s name was nice too. ? Sixteen / his name is SIX-teen ? I did the little jingle again, watching the way he turned circles around me and touched my feathers with his nose.

    A nice name, but not half as nice as my own I think.

    Here we are just the two of us, Narcisus and Sixteen, and I can't seem to fathom where his mind goes to. Mine is filled to the brim with thoughts of self-interest: did he like my wings all soft and browny? He seemed bigger and taller than me, was that alright? Did I have something in my mane, on my muzzle? The indecision left me fidgety, ready for flight, but above the anxiety I was still interested in being Sixteen's object of study. I settled my racing thoughts, a willing patient as long as it suited my ego.

    “Um, Parent. I had a mom but not anymore! And noooo, she didn’t try to eat me. That’s weird!” The giggles struck again, high and trilling but just as innocent and sickly-sweet. I shook my head at this nonsense Sixteen was talking about. Why would parents try to eat their babies? “You’re weird looking and you say weird things. I like you.”

    There. The decision was made. He was all colorful and shiny, and most of my old friends back in the den weren’t. Sixteen was new and exciting, and I wanted him to keep telling me new and exciting things.

    “Where are you from, anyways?” I asked him, tilting my head until one of my ears flopped sideways.

    @[sixteen]
    [Image: decgetu-410f2b50-f05d-4438-bd4c-5d54e999...4Ft1YXr36M]
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    #5
    SIXTEEN
    please don't go. i'll eat you whole, i love you so.
    Sixteen laughs as Narcisus shakes a small dust cloud from his coat. Maybe he could roll in that dirt and do the same? He eyes the other boy’s landing zone for a moment before looking back to him. “Narcisus!” he echoes with another laugh. “Narcisusususus.” He likes the hissing noise that forms at the end of his new friend’s name, and he especially enjoys the way his name rolls into Sixteen’s so easily. Clearly, their meeting is fate and they are destined to e companions.

    The little drake pauses when Narcisus explains he only had a mother, and that she was gone now. She didn’t even try to eat him? How strange. The boy tilts his head with rapidly blinking eyes as he tries to make sense of what he’s hearing. Wait, does Sixteen have a father either? His gaze drifts to nothing as he mulls the idea over for a moment longer. Perhaps not!

    Oh, thanks! You’re weird too,” he replies, assuming the word is a compliment as he offers up his best smile. Sixteen mirrors the other child as he tilts his head also, his dark purple ear twisting in an effort to also flop over. “I’m from Pangea. It’s really hot there, but we have a river we could play in if you don’t like hot.

    The little glowing boy hopes that his new best friend enjoys swimming. While he certainly enjoys any time spent playing with Catryn, he doesn’t rough house with her for fear of hurting her. Narcisus, on the other hand, seems like he could potentially withstand a little less caution on Sixteen’s part.

    @[Narcisus]
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    #6
    Weird IS a compliment. A compliment good enough for Sixteen and good enough for Sixteen to turn around and use on me. I know that some horses use the word to describe things they don’t understand… They say it with their eyes all squinty like and sometimes in a tone of voice that makes me think they’ve got nasty food stuck in their teeth, but I reserve the word for horses that I genuinely like and not the other way around.

    Sixteen is weird and that’s a good thing. He’s got a weird smile and a weird way of asking me questions, but this is the most fun I’ve had outside of the Den so I drink the attention up for lack of better things to do. “Pan-gee-uh?” I ask rhetorically, trying out the word to make sure I’ve got it right. He says it’s hot there but I’ve got no real internal gauge of just how hot the wasteland flats could get. In my mind, I can only imagine the hottest summer days and I don’t think those are so bad. Pangea sounds nice if it’s hot like summer all the time.

    “I like hot!” I tell Sixteen quickly, afraid he might think I’m too much of a baby for admitting otherwise. “I love hot. I’m the King of Hot!” I laugh aloud, flapping my little wings. If Sixteen could live in Pan-gee-uh then so could I!

    “What do you want to be King of?” I asked Sixteen, shaking my head. The gnats and pests out here were bugging the crap out of me.

    @[sixteen]
    [Image: decgetu-410f2b50-f05d-4438-bd4c-5d54e999...4Ft1YXr36M]
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    #7
    SIXTEEN
    please don't go. i'll eat you whole, i love you so.
    Sixteen has never been spoken down to or called names and so he doesn’t understand that it could be used as an insult. He might cry if someone were to speak harshly to him, in fact, but he is fortunate enough to only know Narcisus and his use of the word “weird”. The boy laughs in genuine delight when the other pronounces Pangea. He supposes words don’t necessarily have to be said any certain kind of way, so he doesn’t correct him at all. His new friend is too intriguing for him to want to change a single aspect of him.

    Oh, you’d love Pangea then! Except at night. Deserts get super cold at night, which is funny when you think about it,” he muses aloud as his train of thought runs a little off course for a moment. When he asks what Sixteen would like to be king of, though, he can think of nothing. Certainly, he loves swimming and tag and naps, but not a single thing comes to mind when he tries to pick a favorite.

    I would be king of.. Hm.. Maybe snacks?” he offers with a grin that is a few watts shy of his normal expression. Although he certainly enjoys snacks, they are not his favorite thing. They don’t even make the top five. But he supposes the answer will suffice until he learns what he truly enjoys best in life.

    Maybe I’ll be king of something different later on. But anyway, if you don’t have parents, you should just come to Pangea. There’s some guy there who collects all the kids he finds,” he explains with a soft nod of his small head. “He’s weird but he isn’t bossy, so that’s good.

    @[Narcisus]
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    #8
    The Desert got cold at night? What was a Desert, I wondered? How could it be very hot during the day and then get just as cold at night?

    I’m in awe of Sixteen. He knows so much and that makes me feel very dumb. That question about being King of something was a stupid one - I shouldn’t have asked it. The other foals in the Den had played that game endlessly, filling their heads with made-up roles and then pretending to either fight with or join up against each other. Just kid stuff, make-believe. I’d never heard of ‘Kingdoms’ or ‘Rulers’ before my abandonment, but the way other foals played at it led me to believe this was how things were outside of the Den. I’d thought Sixteen would know this game too; turns out I was wrong!

    “King of snacks?!” I laughed, having a grand time. Sixteen would’ve been a hit with the babies back at the Den. None of them had ever chosen to be King of Snacks.

    “I would love to go there… someday.” I tell him. Whoever this ‘guy’ was that collected children… He sounded okay, I guess. I’d never heard of an adult that collected kids (had he been to the Den lately? Lots of foals there.) Then again, until Sixteen came along I hadn’t heard of a lot of things. For a moment I think about what the silver-laced colt is offering to me: a home, a friendship, maybe even a provider. I could leave with him and be just fine, I knew. One look at the meadow of horses who ignored us made me feel the truth of it. No one would miss me, would they?

    “When my wings are big and strong I’ll fly to your home. I’ll come visit you, and we can play again. Promise.” I bobbed my head. “First, I gotta find my mommy. She left me but I really don’t think it was on purpose? She should’ve been back to get me a long time ago. Maybe something happened to her.” My shoulders did the bobbing now. My head would be full of childish hope until I learned otherwise. It felt impossible that mother would've left me for good. Not me, her darling baby boy!

    Turning my head to pluck at a few misplaced feathers with my teeth, I felt a sudden eagerness to be on this quest of mine. The quest to find my mother and prove all my doubts and insecurities had been for nothing. I would find mother again, and when I did she'd hug me tight and tell me about why she'd been gone for so long. Sixteen would see. The babies in the Den would see. I stopped stretching and unwound myself to look back at Sixteen, a black feather clutched tightly between my teeth as a gift for him.

    "Taek Ert." I mumbled. I had nothing else to give. It was all I could offer a sign of just how much this new friendship meant to me. The feather was like a promise: I'd be back for it, and maybe Sixteen would remember me because of it.

    @[sixteen]
    [Image: decgetu-410f2b50-f05d-4438-bd4c-5d54e999...4Ft1YXr36M]
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    #9
    SIXTEEN
    please don't go. i'll eat you whole, i love you so.
    Thus far, Narcisus has only further cemented the idea that the world is full of kind and interesting people. He laughs when Sixteen attempts even the silliest of jokes and he asks questions that the little glowing boy has never thought of before. In short, he is delightful to be around. It seems strange, then, that his mother did not try to devour him or to keep him by her side the way some women in Pangea did with their young.

    Yeah! Everyone likes snacks, so everyone would like me,” he says with a nod and a toothy grin.

    His bright silver eyes study his new friend when he pauses to tack on the ‘someday’ to his words. Someday? Why not now? Sixteen’s brows furrow but he doesn’t interrupt Narcisus as he continues on. His confusion turns to concern when the other boy says maybe something happened to his mother. Did someone eat her, he wonders? It’s really the only bad thing he can think of, as it’s the only thing that could take him from his sister. And there is a part of him that wants to join him in this quest, but the thought of Catryn keeps him grounded.

    He tilts his dark purple head as he watches the other fuss with his feathers for a moment before plucking one. Sixteen’s eyes grow wide in wonder as he eagerly accepts the bauble from his friend. A gift! Just for him! He carefully tucks the feather into the grip of the clawed thumb on his wing.

    I’m going to keep this in my den. For every day you don’t come see me, I expect another feather,” he says with a self-assured nod. “I’m going to look for your mom too, though. And if I find her for you, then you’ll owe me precisely one favor.

    He grins with a mouth full of sharp baby teeth and nuzzles his face to the other child’s cheek. Then, with a flap of leathery wings, he is gone, off to interrogate the elders of Pangea.

    @[Narcisus]
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