"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
04-18-2021, 08:10 AM (This post was last modified: 04-18-2021, 04:02 PM by Gale.)
Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you
Midsummer Festival, Nashua had called it. Yet the air against Gale’s navy skin feels anything but summery, and with an avian laugh he says something to the effect of that to Mazikeen where she flies beside him.
Gale had chosen a shape at random, caring only that it was not the same type of animal as Mazikeen wore. He’s a great blue heron that retains his signature brindle and white coloring, his snowy left wing marked in a bright crimson V. When he lands on the beach, shifting back to a horse with the ease of significant practice, the wings remain.
The beach here is rough and stony, and Gale looks down curiously, finding the odd footing intriguing. He is just thinking about flipping over a stone with his hoof when he hears the sound of Mazikeen beside him, and remembers where they are. Lifting his blazed head, Gale looks around from beneath the white shade of his long forelock.
There is a bustle of activity, strangers of every shape and color, and after he takes them in, he looks back to Mazikeen with a delighted smile.
“Wanna do the games?” He asks, sure that the assembled branches and rocks are for some sort of physical fun. Though Gale rested only briefly after his midnight arrival, his Healing has whisked away any weariness, and growing up as one of three triplets and a bevy of older siblings, his competitive streak runs far deeper than his brindling.
“Or maybe the Forest and then the Games?” The words are followed by a wink he’s mastered only recently, which does a fair enough imitation of referring to what they’d been up to in the woods just before arriving.
Although it had been tempting to shift mid-flight to a heron, just to see if she could trigger a pit-stop by doing so, Mazikeen kept to the Haast’s eagle shape she had chosen for the flight. The short nap they’d managed was longer than most she allowed herself recently and she’s enjoying the flush of energy it brings. Or, maybe it wasn’t really the sleep at all sending electricity through her veins.
She takes a moment to admire the ease with which Gale shifts, to admire him, before landing and shifting back into herself. No extra animal features adorn her this time, just her curved horns twisting out from her head and her assortment of scars. Her keen orange eyes take in the sights, an instinctual wariness rising up, but she’s distracted from sizing up the crowd by Gale’s voice and her eyes dance with delight as she turns to him.
Mazikeen keeps her voice low when she replies, careful to make sure that only Gale would be able to hear. “If we go into those woods right now, we will not be coming back out.” As she speaks she brushes a quick kiss against his neck but refrains from doing anything more - thankful that the presence of wings at his side keeps her from pressing too close and therefore helps her keep to her senses. Her history of interaction with or as a couple in public is absolutely non-existent but she imagines there’s more boundaries - and hopes that even that quick contact wasn’t presumptuous of her.
Her orange gaze remains on Gale, watching for any signs of discomfort, and her voice returns to a normal volume. “So games it is.” Truthfully, Mazikeen isn’t really all that keen on a competition because she’s fully aware of how sour her mood will be afterwards if she loses. But she won’t admit this out loud and has, for the moment, forgotten that her sourness will display on her coat whether she wills it or not.
In an effort to keep her mind in the present and not straying back to how pleasant of a wake-up she had received that morning, she asks “Do you think any of your brothers will be here?”
Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you
Her words are unexpected, but the surprise on Gale’s face is quickly replaced by an amused raise of his brows as his blue eyes flick toward the woods. It is a constant delight to find his emotions mirrored in Mazikeen, and thus far none has been quite so pleasurable as lust. He thinks he might never get enough of her, and of the way being with her consumes every other thought in his mind.
So when she decides that they’ll play games, it is followed by Gale pressing his dark hip against her pale one. “Games first,” he agrees, and the merry way he nods his head doesn’t quite match the way his eyes dart across her figure like blue lightning, settling back to North, where the games are to be played.
Having battled Mazikeen before, Gale has a good idea of her abilities, but he cannot help but be curious how they will match up in this. Walking beside her, Gale begins to lose himself in thoughts of other ways they’d matched up. Her question draws him back, and he nods.
“Probably. Nashua is the heir here, and since Yanhua is ruling Taiga I expect he’ll come. Tiercel was in Loess so I’m not sure about him.” Using his abilities to find the others - Pteron, Elio, and Kestrell - was possible, but he has avoided using his magic Sight since discovering his Curse.
“Would you like to meet them?” He tries to keep his voice casual, but there is an audible tremor at the last word. He hears it, and swallows, and says so that only she might hear, while simultaneously smiling at the horse who comes up to greet them: “They don’t know. About my Curse, I mean. Only you and Eyas do.”
Mazikeen questions her own choice when Gale presses his hip to hers and she watches the way his eyes dance across her skin. She can feel that look and her first step involves a small stumble as a result. Though embarrassed, she laughs quietly at herself. There is a lightness in her heart when she thinks about how they’ll go home together at the end of this festival. Even though she knows these good days are numbered that doesn’t stop the hope that they’ll be able to share more of them.
They walk to the game area and she listens to him speak about his brothers, keeping the names tucked in the back of her mind so she will recognize them in the future. She didn’t know the names of any of her own siblings, not the blood ones anyway - just those she had found.
Mazikeen’s heart aches at the tremor in his voice when he asks if she’d like to meet his brothers. Her smile fades to concern and she watches him but the explanation is quick to come. She nods her understanding, reaching out to touch him again - with comforting intentions rather than lustful (and she wonders at how this simple, instinctual act makes her more nervous than what they had shared on the rocky hillside of Hyaline... and again in the woods). Gale’s secret was his to share when and if he wished and she’ll be extra careful to keep her mouth shut about it. Not that she had intended to go about informing anyone about any of it - mentioning she'd promised to kill him one day probably would not make the best first impression with his family.
In the short time they have before they’re joined, she remarks in a quiet and gently teasing tone meant just for him as she pulls her muzzle back from his skin, hoping to soothe Gale's worries away with a bit of humour and truth: “I would like to meet the brothers that give such excellent advice.” Not being aware of the other, less-excellent advice they had given him on how to be funny.
Her orange eyes are still dancing when she turns from Gale to look at whoever is approaching.
Tiercel originally had no intentions of traveling to the Midsummer Fair, but Gale had mentioned one of their younger half-brothers would be crowned. Even still, the blue-eyed stallion had contemplated staying home and wrapping himself in the warm silk of Islas’s side. He’d scratched his name from Wolfbane’s lines a long time ago, and the guilt he would feel about not being there is slim. His stomach had twisted at the thought of seeing another Wolfbane child rising to a position of power (an effective signal, in Tiercel’s mind, that he is a failure once again).
He cannot help but think his daughter’s presence has impacted his emotions — twisting them into something much softer than what they used to be.
Perhaps the Underworld had helped with that, too.
Regardless of when or why he has become such a soggy sap lately, Tiercel had made his way to Icicle Isle through one of Leilan’s portals. The sensation of moving through time and space had given him quite the flashback, and it had taken him nearly an hour to recover fully. The navy dun had tucked himself into the woods, hoping the trees would hide the way his heart vessels glowed with his rapid pulse. When the stark white trails of the Underworld had finally faded from his peripherals (and when he could no longer hear the sound of his own screams with each exhale of his quickening breaths), Tiercel emerged from the treeline.
It is perfect timing with his brother’s arrival, and Tiercel quickly notices the pale mare beside Gale. His cerulean eyes watch them for a moment, and the navy dun chuckles to himself at the hesitant touches and fiery expressions they share. Tiercel figures he should move to greet them before they find a secluded place where they can ignore the party.
This thought leaves an amused smile on his face that remains as he approaches the pair. Tiercel catches the tail-end of the mare’s sentence as he comes to a stop, and he refrains from sending a bit of lust in her direction (he’s sure she has plenty of it already, judging by the looks shared between the pair). “Well, if my advice is so excellent, I’m surprised you’re both here.” For all the trials he’s endured most recently, Tiercel’s eyes shine with bright amusement. “I’m Tiercel.”
04-18-2021, 09:08 PM (This post was last modified: 04-18-2021, 09:32 PM by Nashua.)
Nashua isn't far from the border and he spends most of the day greeting familiar faces and new ones alike. The North hasn't seen this much activity since -
Well, the striped stallion can't recall a time when the Nothern Kingdom has bustled with this much life.
His family partakes in all of it. Elegance had spent the morning sparring with a nomad and her pale sides had been slick with sweat when she had rejoined her family. Noel kept their youngest - the triplets Bolder, Safron, and Bravely - close by and the white pegasus had offered to take the children to play in the snow area created by the newly-made magician, Leilan.
The twins eventually found one of their many cousins and then it was just Nashua, strolling through the activities and watching with a glad expression at the merrymaking. Moments like this made it seem like the Darkness had really passed, that even though the moon would rise that night, the dawn would be there to greet them tomorrow.
It's another sight that greets him now. Blue-brindled Gale is easy to find against the glistening ice displays and the pale form of a mare beside him finally solidifies a name for Nashua. Mazikeen, his older brother had said on the dark shores of Islandres this past spring. His smile broadens and tugs boyishly at one side.
But before he can approach them, another does.
The Hersir pauses a moment, studying the gold-and-blue form of the other stallion. There is no mistaking that this is another brother and this must be the remaining one that Nashua has never met: wandering Tiercel had finally traveled to the frozen shores of the Isle. It's now or never and so the striped pegasus moves forward, dipping his blazed head in greeting towards the ttrio.
"It could have been mine," the younger stallion light-heartedly chips in, hearing the end of the same sentence. And then teases Gale: "what shape did you take to get here? A sloth?"
Tossing his head so that his flaxen forelock moves out of his green eyes, he looks back to Mazikeen and Tiercel. "I'm Nashua. Welcome to the Isle."
Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you
Gale leans into her comforting touch, breathing deeply the familiar scent of her skin. He can smell Hyaline as well, the cool lake and the cold mountains, and he finally smiles for much the same reason she had earlier - because they will leave together at the end of the Festival, and return to their home.
Her mention of his brothers’ advice draws another smile, and he might have said something lascivious enough to reroute them toward the woods were it not for the arrival of Tiercel.
The dun had clearly heard Mazikeen, and Gale grins widely at his triplet and the amusement that dances in his blue eyes. Seeing him reminds Gale of Eyas, their missing triplet, but he does not have time to miss her before another familiar voice attempts to take credit.
Turning toward Nashua, Gale’s happy smile grows so broad he fears it might split, and he greets Nashua with the same affectionate brush of the shoulder that he’d given to Tiercel.
Remembering his promise to Mazikeen, Gale looks back at her (had she gotten prettier while he greeted his siblings?), and says proudly to the others as he meets her orange gaze. “This is Mazikeen, and I love her very much, and we’re only late because I wanted to be nice and give you both a head start in practicing for the Games, since you probably need it.” By the last, he’s looking back and forth between his two brothers, his brows raised in amusement.
04-20-2021, 07:58 AM (This post was last modified: 04-20-2021, 07:59 AM by Mazikeen.)
Mazikeen
Mazikeen’s ears flick backwards when her words are picked up by someone else, embarrassment seeping in and making her a little wary. Two stallions join them, one right after the other and there’s a short moment where her smile is more tentative than friendly but it does not take long for it to genuinely brighten. Thanks in part to the names that are given (so she knows these are two of Gale’s brothers) and also their friendly, if teasing, greetings causing some of that tension to ease away.
She wonders if interacting with brothers is anything like interacting with her might-as-well-be sister Sabal (if so, she’s going to have to think of a few pointed but harmless insults).
She watches while Gale greets them, his obvious happiness further affecting her (and making her glad they chose to come and be social). Her eyes widen slightly at how he introduces her but the brilliant smile she offers him in return would be sure to leave little room for doubt that the feelings are reciprocated. She’d like to touch him again, she thinks she wouldn’t mind if they were always touching, but the presence of his brothers keeps her grounded in reality - and Gale’s attention shifting from her helps. It’s a little easier to concentrate without looking into those blue eyes.
When she looks to Tiercel and Nashua, her smile twitches up in the corner in a small sheepish acknowledgement that yes, she knows how she and Gale are very likely ridiculous and no, she does not think she cares one bit.
“It’s very nice to meet you both.” Something Mazikeen doesn’t say often and means less often than that - but she does (think) she genuinely means it today. She gestures over to the items laid out for the games. “What do you think, a little brotherly competition? I’d like to see if Gale is the strongest in the family like he kept claiming on the trip over.” She turns her horned head to wink at Gale as she says this - acknowledging that he had never said anything of the sort (though she does think this is likely the truth anyway). Then she tries not to focus on the instant worries that swarm in, twisting her stomach into knots and telling her she's got no right to join in their family teasing and goading.
And although she would like to test her own strength, particularly in some shapes, she’s hoping the presence of Tiercel and Nashua will give her an excuse to simply watch. It is a friendly game, sure, but she’d rather sit out than risk letting her anger ruin what may end up being a very pleasant day - trip to the woods or no.
Perhaps Tiercel might have shied away from the open affection Gale shows him if this festival took place before the eclipse. As it stands now, the dun brushes his shoulder against his brother’s in a mirror greeting. Tiercel won’t begin to uncover the thickly-coiled emotions that tangle with this simple action, choosing to breathe in this moment of familial connection. He can’t deny seeing his brindled brother draws attention to the empty space where Eyas should be, but Tiercel is grateful their triplet sister isn’t attending the festival. Their last encounter gives him chills even still.
A gold-striped stallion speaks in the seconds following Tiercel’s arrival. Although the voice and face are unfamiliar, Nashua’s name reminds the dun of his conversation with Gale about the festival. Gale had told him about their twin half-brothers — Nashua, a pegasus from the Isle, and Yanhua, the newest ruler of Taiga — but Tiercel hadn’t expected meeting them so soon after learning about their existence. A part of the Loessian recoils at the thought of calling them family, but the joy of the festival provides enough goodness to shine over his hesitancy.
“Nashua,” he says, “it’s great to meet you finally.” It is a brief introduction, but Tiercel knows they will have more opportunities to get to know each other. Besides, Gale and Mazikeen’s infatuation is thick enough for everyone to notice, and their blue brother is introducing the lady of the hour. Tiercel’s black and white forelock ebbs against his navy-splashed face as he dips his head cordially toward the pale mare.
Tiercel’s cerulean eyes brighten with amusement at Gale’s banter, yet there’s a spark of competitiveness in their depths. Despite his apparent lack of wings, the dun has never given up in the face of competition. He assumes the fairies gave this to him at birth, knowing that he would be one of three. Did they give Tiercel his stubbornness too? The combination of those two characteristics had led to some nasty fights during their childhood (and he won’t mention the last time he saw Eyas), and the stallion reminds himself that this is just fun and games. Right?
“Actually, I’m thinking you’re trying to prolong your ultimate failure as long as possible.” Tiercel’s pale eyes find Mazikeen’s, giving her a charming wink. “Gale might be pretty to look at, but his looks are just overcompensation.” With this, the dun turns toward the items prepared for the Games. “Now I know you two are all feathery and beautiful, but no cheating with those stupid wings, okay?” On any other day, Tiercel might have felt anger bubble to the surface of his ever-writhing ocean of emotions, but today his eyes are bright with the heat of competitive spirit and a warm delight in the day.
04-26-2021, 06:18 PM (This post was last modified: 04-26-2021, 06:26 PM by Nashua.)
Nashua's smile broadens to an easy grin and his blazed head nods in greeting (again) to the horned mare. Despite all the brotherly teasing, Mazikeen joins in and it makes Nash like her all the more. He's always been a stallion who wasted little time on the formalities - even less where it concerned family - and the striped pegasus immediately takes to the way that @[Mazikeen] finds her footing within their little group.
She's just met him - just as he only just met Tiercel - and yet they all join in on the easy banter together, almost like they have done it before.
The striped stallion studies @[Tiercel] as his half-brother greets him.
Of all the fraternal siblings that he has come across, this one is the one that reminds him most of Wolfbane. The gold-and-the-blue stirs back a memory from his childhood and he banishes it. This is also the brother that he knows the least about and Nash decides that if given the chance, he'd like to learn more about the nomadic lifestyle that had claimed Tiercel for so many years. "Likewise," the younger stallion reiterates with his head inclining towards the dun, with no sign of reluctance or hesitance showing on his pale face.
(There is a knot in his gut that belies how the younger pegasus truly feels.)
One copper ear flicks towards Mazikeen and her suggestion of a 'little brotherly competition'. Something sparks behind his green eyes. "Well, that means the ice maze is out." Nash joins in on the comment that Tiercel gives, "I think @[Gale] would enjoy his reflection too much." Nash's speckled wings - (if Nash is vain about anything, it is those wings of his) - settle against his dark sides and he glances between the trio. "Leilan is hosting a race," the Hersir adds and tries to gauge a reaction from his brothers and Mazikeen.
When Tiercel looks away from Nashua and towards the landscape of the Isle, the gold-striped stallion takes the opportunity to cloak his feathers with his invisibility. "Deal," Nash says a little boldly (and probably too eagerly but he's always enjoyed a good contest). "But if an old-fashioned race doesn't tempt you, there is also a competition for balance." He takes a moment to explain that there is a tree - a narrow pine felled from a summer storm - that had been placed over a creek and that the winner had to make it from one side to the other without falling in.
(There was also the added bonus that whoever did manage to win, the nickname 'twinkle hooves' seemed fitting for the victor.)
![[Image: jCdBK6.png]](https://img.nickpic.host/jCdBK6.png)
