"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
02-03-2022, 06:13 PM (This post was last modified: 02-15-2022, 01:01 AM by adrius.)
adrius
sometimes i think i am free
until i find i'm back in line again
It’s been months since Adrius’ first venture into Beqanna. The cold press of his soaked mane against his slick scales is what reminds him of land. Sometimes swimming aimlessly to avoid other Baltians isn’t enough (most times it isn’t enough), so his already frayed mind frays even further.
Today, the seams holding his thoughts together burst open with violent force. All he can think about is the dark woman that met him upon the shore, the lack of answers he received, and all the questions he didn’t get to ask. Adrius hardly makes a show of holding himself together. He allows the thoughts and remnants of past sensations overwhelm him until the only direction he can bear is directly toward the surface.
Last Adrius went under was a few days ago, at a particularly quiet estuary. He studied the luscious green grass and rushing fish while he swam upstream. Day and night he spent underwater, only stopping to feed himself and rest. He moved as if being chased, as if he desperately needed to widen the space between himself and all of Baltia.
Now, Adrius surfaces, rejecting all thought of the past he’s running away from. He’ll go back, right? That’s what he always tells himself. All of this is supremely temporary. In a few days, he’ll have a plan to restore his family’s name.
All will be well.
Later.
What Adrius first sees when he peeks above the water is cattails. Rows upon rows of cattails only occasionally broken up by well-worn trails crafted by creatures in need of a drink. Truthfully, he would have hardly noticed Stargaze had the color of her coat not stood out so starkly amongst the beige foliage.
Adrius stares for what might be an inappropriate amount of time before he quietly calls over the gently rolling water, “Hello.”
03-01-2022, 11:22 PM (This post was last modified: 04-23-2022, 11:12 PM by Stargaze.)
There had been whispers of a kingdom beneath the sea, but she hadn’t paid much attention.
For all of her abilities, being able to go into the sea was not one of them, and so, it was of little interest to her. Any vague curiosity had quickly passed—mostly out of irritation—once she realized she wouldn’t be able to see it for herself. If there was one thing Stargaze despised, it was having to admit there was something she could not do. It was a stupid thing to be annoyed over, since it wasn’t as if it was her fault she hadn’t been born a kelpie or some other kind of water-associated being, but it didn’t stop her. The annoyance sat in her chest, immovable, until she decided to smooth it over by pretending Baltia didn’t exist.
It was much easier to feign disinterest—what good was a sea kingdom to her, anyway?
She follows the river, watching the water as it rushes along the bank without really seeing it. On the breeze there was the faint smell of the ocean, which told her she was nearing the coastline. This was supposedly the area that ruins had been unearthed, and while she was mildly intrigued by that, she held off on exploring, deciding to hold onto her unfounded grudge against the ocean for a little bit longer.
She would not have seen him if he hadn’t said anything, and she has to immediately hide the fact that he had startled her. The hot wave of agitation that rolls over her takes a moment to stifle, and when her blue eyes snap to his face they are sharp, but her tone level. “Were you spying on me?” she forces her signature rolling purr into the words, stepping through the tall cattails to look at him better, having by now recovered enough from being caught off guard to really look at him. Apparently finding men in water was becoming a trend for her.
03-04-2022, 02:17 AM (This post was last modified: 03-04-2022, 02:17 AM by adrius.)
adrius
sometimes i think i am free
until i find i'm back in line again
So vexed by this land Adrius sometimes is, he has taken to occasionally forgetting his manners. While he was not spying, he was staring - which, if he truly wanted to think about it, was he spying on her? Adrius has never been a shy creature, nor a creepy one; and so, his initial response is to indignantly rear his head. How dare she suggest such a thing?
After the initial impulse wears off, Adrius violently realizes her tone was not one of offense. He blinks, thinking she sounds an awful lot like his mother when she was trying to appease strict royals. He blinks, black eyes clicking with the sound of his scales. Was every being here so unimaginably . . . casual? Adrius straightens, briefly recalling the way Maurtia teased him. He would be damned before he was caught off-guard again, and makes a valiant effort at mimicking Stargaze's attitude.
"That depends on what you would consider spying," Adrius answers, approaching the cattails slowly. More and more of his body is exposed, hundreds of tiny water droplets showering like glitter from his belly. He shines beneath the bright sun, fins flaring instinctively. Beneath the brilliant light, his fins cast a faint glow of pale blue upon the water. In Baltia, he is considered a healthy, handsome creature; and so he carries himself with the kind of pride one was instilled with from a babe. Beautiful from birth to adulthood, but entirely unaware of how strange he might look to another culture. Adrius stops just in front of Stargaze, drawing his body to a statuesque stillness.
"But if I was spying on you, I would not have been found," he adds after a moment. "You are very striking amongst the cattails, and I was curious . . ." Fighting the urge to shift uncomfortably, he finishes, "My name is Adrius. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?"
03-07-2022, 02:59 PM (This post was last modified: 04-23-2022, 11:13 PM by Stargaze.)
She watches as he emerges from the river, water pouring from his dark body like it has its own current. She has seen glimpses of the kelpies and other sea-like creatures that also call Beqanna home, but she has never spoken directly to them. She does not immediately assume that he hails from the new kingdom since it’s not as if Beqanna itself is low on magic and strangeness, and she does not know enough about the species that have always existed here to recognize the differences—the different eyes and different gills.
She sees only that he is remarkably unique in comparison to anyone that she has met, and it is enough for her attention to be captivated.
He says if he had been spying he would not have been found, and this inspires a humored laugh from her. “You seem pretty sure of yourself,” she says, an echo of the laugh still lacing her words. She had long since shaken off the way he had, in fact, startled her—and the fact that if he had not said anything, she would not have seen him, which suggests he is correct in his assumption. But she is a stubborn thing and far too proud for her own good—too proud for someone so young that has accomplished literally nothing.
And definitely too proud to admit that she had lost round one of this imaginary battle.
His comment on her appearance being striking doesn’t go unnoticed, though, and she decides she would much rather talk about that rather than whether or not she stood a chance catching him spying. “You think I’m pretty? That’s so sweet of you,” she says with another brilliant smile, something like wicked delight glinting in her blue eyes. “You’re rather striking yourself.” She closes the distance between them, cattails brushing against her frosted skin. She tilts her delicate head upwards, an amused simper still settled casually on her lips when she answers his last question. “Stargaze.”
He is an admittedly handsome creature, Adrius. He bears the ruggedness of a well-trained warrior with the charm of a socialite—when the setting is correct. Perhaps this setting is just correct enough, beneath the wandering eyes of Stargaze.
“I’ve always been sure of myself,” he rumbles in response; and he’s not sure if it’s the cool water or the warm sun or the calming breeze, but the stallion finds himself in an amicable—if a bit of a shockingly flirtatious—mood. He blinks those dark, shadowed eyes at Stargaze and allows a warm grin to line wrinkles across his face. He mustn’t just say he’s always been sure of himself, he must behave the part, as well.
“It is truly a pleasure, Stargaze,” he answers, blinking down at the mare through thin lashes. The grin on his face never leaves; in fact, it grows dangerously, and a wild thought strikes him:
“I would have never even imagined approaching you if I didn’t think you were pretty.”
Rapidly blinking away the shock of his own boldness, Adrius lifts his chin to peer into the thick cattails.
“What are you doing alone on the riverbank, anyway? I do hope I’m not intruding.”
Stargaze knew that there was more to life than being pretty, but she could not deny that she never grew tired of being told that she was. Her mother was beautiful, but more than that, Starsin was smart, and she knows her mother would say she would rather be known for being cunning than being pretty, if she had to choose. Thankfully, I don’t have to choose, her mother would laugh with one of her cutting smiles. But Stargaze does not quite possess the same edge as her mother. She isn’t necessarily kinder, but her gifts are different, and less suitable for prying what she wants from others against their will.
She always finds a way, though, but once again examining the man in front of her, she isn’t entirely sure what she wants from him quite yet.
“I’d remind you that flattery gets you nowhere, but that is rarely the case with me,” she teases again,and this time she carefully steps through the cattails in order to get closer to him, ignoring the way they carve delicate designs into the frost of her skin as they brush against her. “I love compliments,” she finishes with another coquettish smile, followed by a nonchalant roll of her shoulder. “Guess I’m shallow.”
“You weren’t intruding,” she reassures him as her gaze follows his own to the cattails, and the paths that snake through them and lead off to the rest of Beqanna. “I was just walking. And I’m always alone, so that part wasn’t really anything special.” Returning her bright blue eyes to his, she tilts her head, asking him pointedly, “What were you doing alone creeping through the cattails?”
