• Logout
  • 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


    Thread Rating:
    • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    [private]  I'm just warming up
    #1
    mazikeen
    A few days Gale had told her.

    So she had waited a few days, she had raged for a few days, and then she hadn’t been able to take it anymore. She left Hyaline, her body almost entirely covered in fire-bright cracks. She can sense Gale in Tephra, his thoughts clearer as she arrives on that side of the continent, but she does not go to him. Although she is annoyed that he is finally doing something and it’s without her - her focus is instead on a land she’s never been to. The one Aela had mentioned and that Gale had shown her, along with the one who would be stealing their daughter.

    The Pampas.

    Compared to the pines and near-constant winter in Hyaline, the vivid display of wildflowers even in autumn is almost an assault on her eyes. She flies over it as a griffin, her orange eyes scanning for the iridescent blue filly but not seeing her. Even her sharp eagle eyes cannot tell that Sickle is camouflaged as a pastel-coloured fox, napping beneath a canopy of flowers in the meadow after spending her night chasing nightmares.

    Far past subtlety and any chance at decorum, Mazikeen doesn’t hide her search and when it ends in disappointment she does not return to the border to wait to be greeted. She continues to fly until she spies Aela and makes right for her. She lands heavily, remaining as she is but she is the same blood-red colour she had been when they first met and wears those same curved horns on her eagle's head. Only now it is splintered and cracked through with fire-bright markings fed by her anger.

    Although she tries to land close, as though for a friendly conversation, her claws dig into the grass instead of flesh. She’ll attack if she needs to but that is not her first tactic today. Her dark beak snaps out her question. “Where is my daughter?!” Maybe it’s just her rage, or maybe it is an impression formed when they had met, but she has no doubt that Aela will know exactly who she is speaking of.


    @Aela
    #2

    Obscene had left the Pampas to attend Cheri's coronation.

    Perhaps other Pampaiians had gone as well, because the Flower Court feels almost quiet. The palomino stands and stares across the colorful hills rolling on towards Loess, wondering if she should partake in the festivities as well. Her presence would be rather illuminating and Aela amuses herself with all the things she could do without even batting an eye: twisting emotions around so that they would break Cheri's regal exterior, angering Nashua until his face became thunderous with a dark rage, or if the old lecher was there, perhaps Ledger could use a reminder about the propriety of staring too long in public.

    But these are all mild amusements, and with Skandar burning for blood, Aela feels a need for something... more.

    The Gryffen flying overhead is a surprise, but it is also an answer. Having encountered and pitted herself against many magical creatures across Beqanna (and other realms), the imaginative one that lands before Aela is given little more than a curious tilt of her head. The horns and the molten red-orange eyes boring into her make the mystical beast recognizable to the Seneschal, and she purs out a greeting more suited to the Gryffen's feline half. "Mazikeen," Aela says, and moves to approach the other woman from the shoulder nearest her.

    Aela had thought if Sickle's mother had come to the Pampas that she might try to play the concerned friend, to try and insinuate the steal had been Obscene's idea. But Mazikeen is quick with her mind - almost as cunning as herself - and would have seen through that rouse immediately.  The gold-striped mare has been rather irritated with Obscene of late - first from their argument and then his recent treatment of Fyr - and so the scowl that storms across her face is genuine, even what she says next is not.

    "There was talk of taking her to Taiga," Aela says, which is partially true (and with the Prince absent, it lends credit to her story). It had been one of the options considered when they first stole Sickle. She hadn't been entirely partial to the idea, but the chance that Gale could smite the mighty Redwoods for their insolence was a sacrifice Aela had been willing to make. "As a show of good faith to the North and all that," she continues.

    They doused your soul in water,
    but the flames raged higher.
    And they called you devil's daughter,
    such a pretty liar.



    @Mazikeen
    #3
    mazikeen
    The North. Suspicions run through Mazikeen - Aela’s too smart not to realize sending Sickle anywhere other than Hyaline was painting a target on that land. But that is also why this could make sense. They shared a dislike for Nashua, giving Sickle over to him and unleashing her parents in that direction was delightfully devious.

    Maybe they had all expected Gale to be the one to show up, maybe they expected his shadowy fury. And if that were true, if they were under the impression he was the parent they had to worry about, she would take delight in proving them all wrong. She may not be an immortal curse but she did not have the same weaknesses he did. She did not have the same limitations.

    It’s only been very recently - since her conversation with Reave -  that Mazikeen’s realized they might not be leading as anonymous as a life as she thought. It simply had not occurred to her that she could leave an impression.

    But she intends to leave one now with Aela.

    Her gaze had drifted to the north, her thoughts already on the redwoods and what it would take for them to burn, but those burning eyes snap back to Aela and Mazikeen takes a small step forward, the light of her markings dancing on the flowers around them.

    She lifts one of her large, taloned forelegs and it extends towards the other mare, bending and growing her bones to bridge the gap. Just enough to try to brush one of those talons gently against a golden cheek - Mazikeen’s unblinking stare not looking away from Aela’s gaze for a moment as she croons “If I find out you’re fucking with me, Aela, we’re going to find out what this little face of yours looks like inside out.”

    Even if the other mare flinches or moves away from the touch, it will still be a victory. The message will still be the same.

    Her blood-red wings flare a second later, and she only pauses long enough to add “I’ll give Nashua your best.” before taking off.


    @Aela
    #4
    ~ some time later ~

    mazikeen
    Exhaustion bleeds at the corners of Mazikeen’s mind - she’s been burning too hot for too long - but her rage gives her enough energy for this last trip. She does not pause to rest after leaving Taiga though she should. She does not know what tricks Aela may have up her sleeves when she gets back to the Pampas.

    But she is so beyond caring. There isn’t a scrap of her that isn’t flush with a furious flame, both on her skin and inside. None of those shadowy corners linger. She knows the darkness Gale had left inside her is still there, it is just overpowered and she does not feel it anymore. There is only one thing inside of her mind and her heart and it keeps her wings pumping, keeps her eyes open until they find that golden form.

    Mazikeen trades the ability to change her colour for the ability to become a griffin larger than what she had appeared as when she had landed here last. But where her coat would normally be bright white crisscrossed with scars, it is riddled with glowing markings that burn bright in the fading light of the day.

    She lands with a heavy thud and wastes no time in pacing forward, intent on closing the distance between her and Aela. Gale’s annoying family could play all the games they wanted, but she was done and would be keeping the promise that she had made when she left here. There is no point in commenting on how her mission had been a failure - the other mare will already know.

    No more threats come from her, she is silent fury and a steady stride forward - her mind already working on how to go about peeling flesh from bone.



    @Aela @Skandar
    #5

    Aela finds that time is once again on her side.

    Sickle is nowhere to be found, and if she can't find her, it means that it will be very unlikely that Mazikeen will, either. She didn't know how long the Hyalinean Alpha would remain in Taiga, but by the time she arrives back in the Pampas, the Seneschal finds herself pleased. It was enough time that if she hadn't managed to burn the entire forest down, she should have at least managed to shred her brother apart.

    Especially with the talons that she sports.

    The other mare doesn't trumpet her arrival. There isn't a warning sign of smoke or flame. She appears as the griffin that had been in the Pampas earlier, but bigger and so Aela manages to give her a wide berth this time around. Her abilities had never been in brute strength and given that Mazikeen is more impressive now than she had been earlier, Aela doesn't particularly wish to attempt her physical abilities now.

    Not when she still has a healing scar on her topline from where Gale had gouged her in a similar shape to his former mate.

    Circling wide around Mazikeen, she summons on the emotions that would keep the griffin from leaping towards her. Aela finds a whisper of caution and brushes it against the glowing creature. She doesn't let it seep into her skin - not as she had done with Islay or Nerica - but Aela lets it linger long enough that Mazikeen shouldn't immediately strike.

    They doused your soul in water,
    but the flames raged higher.
    And they called you devil's daughter,
    such a pretty liar.



    @Mazikeen
    @Skandar whenever you want to hop in
    #6
    mazikeen
    Mazikeen’s eyes change from red-orange to a red so dark it is nearly black as Aela circles wide around her. Her entire focus is on the palomino mare, only the faintest sense of instinct remaining aware of their surroundings. She has little care for what else might be housed in this place - her business is with one.

    Her weight begins to shift to change her easy pace to a charge when a sense of caution settles into her mind and she pauses. A frown darkens the large griffin’s face and she glances around quickly, checking for anything that might have tripped up those preoccupied instincts. Seeing nothing, she burns a little brighter when her attention snaps back to Aela.

    This caution she feels, shallow as it is, does not belong to her. It is like the shadows that fill up her empty places, like the glimmer of golden light that highlights all the way she is lacking.

    She is far too angry to find her voice to threaten Aela again, but a savage roar escapes her in place of words. She is so beyond sick of having the emotions and thoughts of others inside of her mind that her vision goes spotty with her rage. If Sickle is not here, if the girl is lost, then Mazikeen will at least carve a reminder into Aela of why she should not be tampered with.

    That caution burns up along with the silent fury that she had begun with. Now it is screaming, now it is blasting in her mind as she unfurls her large wings and launches herself towards the other mare.



    @Aela
    #7

    The savage roar that Mazikeen unleashes is the only warning Aela needs.

    Her golden skin - which always gleams and shines in the light - glows until the flames that flicker beneath her skin reveal themselves. She can feel the heat emanating from her as she tries to move away from the shapeshifter. Aela summons her fires so strong that blaze from her to the grasses and the Seneschal wastes no time in lighting a line of flames between them.

    Mazikeen can fly, an ability that Aela doesn't have, and so she compensates by summoning the flames as high as she can. She won't make her landing easy. Where they burn after this, she can't control. But she has already been attacked by Gale's claws (though one of Maze's had struck her head and a trickle of blood flowed down her blazed face) and the recent memory of that attack keeps her on edge for this one.

    Aela doesn't relent with her fear and caution; she keeps sending it in waves over the burning Pampas grasses as her blue eyes flicker angrily. She begins to pace quickly, attempting to keep her slender face away from the gouging talons and beak away from Mazikeen. Her hind end angles towards the griffin, ready to strike out if it came to that.

    But her most recent encounter with her brother had taught Aela something. It's the silent fury that keeps feeding Mazikeen, and the shapeshifter would come to realize that the closer she came to the Empath, the farther away she would move from her anger.



    They doused your soul in water,
    but the flames raged higher.
    And they called you devil's daughter,
    such a pretty liar.



    @Mazikeen
    #8
    The entrance of Mazikeen was no secret, though he knows nothing of the beast that flies boldly across the wind-scrubbed skies of the Pampas, her heavy wing beats pulsing like thunder across the emptiness of the long grasses and the newly blossomed spring flowers. The long stalks quiver in the intensity of her movement, shuddering as Skandar’s narrowed orange gaze follows the behemoth form that thuds to the ground with sickening strength. She is a shape he has never seen - wings that spread out far from a tawny and glowing body, with sharp and menacing talons at the fore (ready to tear and shred, devilish and piercing) and eyes that shine with rage against the feathers that crest her head and neck.

    Skandar is not surprised to find such a creature prowling amongst the Pampas, anger, and rage fueling her every step. It is what causes him to continue to watch her curiously, studying that foreign form and feeling the fabric of his skin itching as it flutters across each inch of his star-strewn body. It is only when realizes the target that the studious stallion suddenly became more intrigued rather than curious. He is sure that Aela would feel the heightening of his own emotions from nearby as he watches the griffin lumber towards her, quickly realizing the heat of battle that now hangs heavily across the wildflower-dotted field.

    There was no time for practicing.

    At the sound of the griffin’s roar, Skandar gives in to the itching of his flesh as he propels himself forward with ferocity. The flickering flays of skin click into feathers and talons and a sharp, protruding orange beak. The colors are off (he has no time to think of what color he should be, only the important parts) but he focuses instead on the talons and the beak, the sheer size, and the wings that now instinctually pull him into the air. The shifting into this skin is simultaneous with the flames that erupt from Aela’s hooves as he attempts to mimic the large griffin that roars before her fire.

    The shape he wears now shrieks in response, the haunting sound of his now raptor voice piercing the air as his wings allow him to glide (albeit clumsily) into a position that puts him in between Mazikeen and Aela, behind her wall of flame. Skandar leaps through the fire without hesitation (not before a loose aura of flame tightly wraps around him for protection through it), his now-clawed forelegs grasping for anything that he might find before he lands on the other side. He hopes that the shock of fighting another griffin would give him the upper hand for the moment (and bring the attention away from Aela).

    There is no telling how long he can hold such a difficult shape, after all; though it is surprisingly easier for the mimic when the specimen is right before him. He does, however, have other tricks up his sleeve if the skin he wears begins to fail him - it is seen in the brilliant bright red of his glowing eyes.

    Aela has done so much for him in the few years they had known each other. It had been near overdue for Skandar to return the favor.

    skandar

    i want to be the bullet
    that brings you to your knees




    @Mazikeen
    @Aela
    #9
    mazikeen
    The scent of Aela’s blood from the trickle that leaks down her face almost tips her over the edge as Mazikeen lands just outside the flames and prepares to attack again.. It floods Mazikeen’s mind like the emotions coming from the annoying golden mare and it would take no effort at all to lose what little sense of herself she has left.

    But she holds on for now. She wants to be aware when she skins the other mare, she wants to remember it. And then she will drag Aela around until someone gives Sickle back to her.

    The fire that Aela conjures does not frighten her, but there is fear that scrambles in Mazikeen’s mind as she approaches again, keeping up with Aela’s pacing. It doesn’t belong to her, just like the caution, and confusion flashes across her expression and causes her steps to falter. She hasn’t felt afraid in over a year and she shakes her great, feathered head to try to scatter it. The burning markings on her coat fade and then return even brighter as she fixes a dark stare on Aela. “Keep your fucking emotions to yourself.” The assault inside her own mind loosens her tongue, brings her back from the brink enough to be able to speak through ragged breaths.

    She’s becoming very aware of what it is like to have someone else in her mind. This is not shadows, not golden light, not her own flames - Aela’s projected emotions are a shimmering mist that could douse her fire if she let it.

    But she is not here to be calmed. Her stubbornness has remained through her incarnations and it carries her along now through her exhaustion and changing emotions. She hadn’t thought Aela was stupid but maybe she was wrong. Mazikeen had left here, leaving behind a clear and specific promise, and she intended to fulfill it.

    Or maybe she was just being underestimated again. Did they really think Gale was the only threat to worry about in Hyaline?

    Mazikeen is readying to leap through the flames when another griffin joins them, placing himself between her and Aela. A tumbled combination of delight (at the promise of a decent fight) and frustration comes out as another roar and Mazikeen’s shape changes into that of a dragon before she launches herself at this interloper with a flash of claws and teeth, as though trying to scratch her way through him to get to the mare. “Where is SICKLE?” She bellows at him, at Aela, on a breath that carries a burst of her own flames.



    @Aela
    #10

    Aela keeps her emotions as sharp as Mazikeen's teeth. Each one she unleashes on the shapeshifter is pointed; the fear and the caution are meant to pierce her; but she doesn't want Maze to lose control. Not yet. This game they are playing is unfurling so perfectly, and the Seneschal doesn't want to reveal her hoof just yet.

    Not when their fun was just starting.

    She smiles coyly back to the pale griffin, tilting her head so that her blue eyes hold the molten gaze of the other female. Aela attempts to push other emotions onto the Alpha - perhaps anguish or desperation - but ultimately decides against it. Mazikeen is coming closer and closer to an edge with a stare full of intent and she still seems to assume that Aela is something easily torn apart -  as if she was simply skin and bones.

    As if she were merely mortal instead of something divine.

    Something was kindling within the other mare, she could sense it. Something other than the (self-imposed?) shadows that Aela could sense darkening so much of her.  So much internal conflict. Still smiling at Mazikeen, and using her aura to become a conflagration of flame, she says, "My, you really are a mess, Mazikeen." The blazing creature says with a flickering, wicked grin. Aela begins to move through the crackling fires, relishing the heat as it brushed against her coat.

    But before she can get closer, another griffin arrives and suddenly, Aela loses track of where Mazikeen stands because her awareness (momentarily) shifts to Skandar. His red eyes glow in a warning and their silent message passes onto Aela, who enjoys the thought of what kind of lessons Maze might learn from reckoning with them.

    (Perhaps her stubborn nature would keep shining through, and Mazikeen could useful in Aela's plan for 'redecorating' the Pampas.)

    The moment that the intruder bellows her demand - when she and Skandar are a tangle of talons and claws and knife-sharp teeth - Aela concedes. This portion of the Pampas burns all around them, and the inferno surrounding them should have attracted notice. The memories that Sickle held dear revolved around a purple mare and black-striped colt; will she be expecting Wishbone?

    What will she think of the raging woman who had caused so much destruction?

    Smothering her flames and concealing her aura, Aela calls out in a voice of familial concern, "Sickle, darling," hoping to draw the filly out. And if that didn't bring the girl out of hiding, she adds, "Your mother has come!"

    @Mazikeen

    They doused your soul in water,
    but the flames raged higher.
    And they called you devil's daughter,
    such a pretty liar.





    Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)