I am capable of anything; Shahrizai

[Camrynn]

so you wanna play with magic?

She's never been shy about disappearing. Of course, she's never entirely gone for long; it's just her way to weave in and out of things, like a needle through thread. But if she's the needle, she is also the thread, and the seamstress, and the fabric – she is everything, everywhere, at all times. It is her fate, to have a terminal, omnipotent understanding. And if she were anything more humble, perhaps it would be a bother to her.

But she isn't. She is Camrynn, the antithesis of everything that is humility. She wears everything about her like a badge of pride, stripped naked only before those she knows to equal or surpass her own powers. And that is truly her secret: she is never overwhelmed because she takes it all in stride, never doubting her extreme capacity to handle it.

And so it is that she stands on the sands, listening to the stories that this knowledge brings her. Since sharpening her focus on the Deserts, she can't help but notice a certain horse who's been making quite the name for himself. Mind you, she also couldn't help but notice him because of the way he stuck out in a certain half-aunt's mind (is that what Valkerine would be? Half-aunt? Her father's half sister. Who knows). She'd tucked the both of them away secretly, the two half-sisters who still didn't know what their relationship was. They were now just gently out of reach of anyone but those with magic, tucked somewhere where they'd never bother her, and never be bothered. In a freezer, if you will, like end of summer basil, frozen for possible needs during winter.

Creepy, right?

Creepy, but also secret. She can feel the two of them if she just reaches out with her mind, delicately brushing against the two of them like a butterfly's wing. They may be stopped in time, but she hasn't been cruel to them. Out there in the nothingness, they dream. Aletheia's dreams are of friends and family, of love and touching. Valkerine's dreams are of life in the Amazons, and Shahrizai always features prominently. Ironic, she thinks, knowing that the stallion has in fact settled in her own lands, here in the Deserts.

And then of course there's the third one. But the third one doesn't dream like the other two. The third one is…well, different.

Shifting smoothly from her reverie (or brief telepathic touchstone, or what have you), she appears beside the stallion. Of course he wouldn't know that she knows (and is more or less holding captive) one of Librette's twins, in the same way he wouldn't know that she killed Librette. And she isn't about to let it show on her face; she looks the same as always, a small, wry smile playing with her pretty lips, her face every inch as lovely as it always is. She is a vision, entirely black with no natural markings and a long mane and tail, unnaturally free of tangles. Across her chest the crook and flail of the Deserts crown stand in stark contrast to the black of her coat, gilded and shining. Across her cheek a trail of precious stones hangs like a necklace. And her eyes – today (or at least, for the moment) they're a rich gold.

"Shahrizai," she greets with a nod, pulling no punches. "Your hard work on behalf of the Deserts has not gone unnoticed and is to be commended." she speaks sincerely; she is many things, but even she values hard work. "I'm Camrynn, the less absent of your two absentee queens." she says the last with a distinct hint of humor, poking fun at both herself and Pevensie. And god knows, they deserve it.

CAMRYNN

co-queen of the deserts, magical, mother of badassery

@[insane]

[Shahrizai]

All things are possible, even the worst of things.

Perhaps his current thoughts are fueled by Camrynn, or perhaps he simply misses her. Whatever the reason, when she appears next to him, his mind is on Valkerine. He wonders how she is; wonders if she’s missing him too. He thinks perhaps that he will stop by for a visit soon. He had promised he would, after all. If only he knew, he might save himself the trouble of the long (ok, rather short) trek to the jungle.

He should have been startled by her sudden appearance. For some reason, he is not. His brown eyes settle onto her, curiosity openly evident in his gaze. He is as plain as coal next to a diamond when standing next to her. He has rarely been the ordinary one. Sure, he is decidedly powerless, but his distinctive lack of tail sets him apart from most. And even when he is the ordinary one, the extraordinary one is usually not quite so... extraordinary. But next to her he simply looks… ragged. Unkempt. Grains of sand cling unceremoniously to his speckled pewter coat even as his short black mane hangs in clumpy tangles. Fortunately he has never had much of a care for his appearance, nor would he start now, even in the presence of her magnificence.

That she knows his name does not surprise him either. He does speak to his mother on a regular basis after all. He definitely remembers her speaking of Camrynn. He grins then, a hint of amusement suffusing his features.

Nice to officially meet you Camrynn. We met once but never had a chance to actually speak to each other.

No doubt she remembers the time. He had been but a gangly youth. She had still been serving two kingdoms.

My ma’s mentioned you too. I feel like you could practically be family by this point.

His tone carries a teasing note as his grin widens. Though Scorch mostly seems to have gotten over her pique, for a while there she had had very few nice things to say about the Desert’s magical queen. Fortunately Shahrizai is a lot more forgiving, as well as much more willing to wait for both sides of the story. He’s about to continue in a slightly more serious vein when he catches sight of a shadow out of the corner of his eye.

Blast!

He mutters the word under his breath as his gaze fixes upon the ghoulish specter brandishing a rather wicked looking object at him. The damned creature is back! What the hell is he going to do now? He can’t very well take off with his new queen standing right there.

shahrizai

hestoni x scorch

This is what you get for all your shenanigans :|

<3

[Camrynn]

so you wanna play with magic?

How could she forget their first meeting? He mentions it, and she smiles a bit more widely than usual. It had been quite the thing, the Deserts competition. How easily he could perhaps have taken her place here, or Pevensie's. But no, the Deserts had known (do the kingdoms ever miss a trick?) and ejected him easily out onto the border. She is not surprised he has found his way back after all these years, and she knows that the kingdom is glad to have him.

He continues speaking and she continues to smile, giving him the hint of a teasing grin of her own at the mention of her being family. Little does he know that in a way, she actually is – little does he know that without her, there would be no Wrynn. And for that matter, she's absconded with one of his latest set of siblings. So…practically family in the same way that a natural disaster is a part of the family, sure. But much as she may think it, her face doesn't betray it, and she returns his teasing with a fair measure of her own. "Well, I'll be sure to make it to the next family reunion." her voice is light. "I'm sure Scorch would love to catch up."

She is actually really sure that that's the opposite of what Scorch would love. The once-queen isn't much of one to forgive and forget. But as Camrynn isn't really one to care, and the two kingdoms at least nominally needed/need each other, well, it all works out.

She feels the thing before Shahrizai ever reacts to it. Whether it's all in his head, or simply something that exists entirely for him isn't really relevant; if it's in his head, so is she. If it's something crafted entirely for him, well, she's all about rewriting the rules. She can see it terrifies him, and she doesn't doubt that there's good reason for that. If she weren't so perfectly equipped to fight back against, well, anything, she'd probably be terrified too.

But luckily for both of them, she's Camrynn, and she doesn't do terrified.

Before Shahrizai is even done speaking, a hard skin of magical diamond is spreading across his skin. It's transparent, translucent, almost invisible, moves and flows like a second skin – and will ensure that he's protected from any kind of shenanigans that this creature and its wicked object might want to impose on him. Sure, she could probably try to stop it directly, to destroy it or dispel it, but she can smell the scent of Beqanna's magic all over it – and quest magic is one of the few things that even she won't touch. It's not that she necessarily can't (this distinction is quite important to her), but rather that it is often much more trouble than it's worth.

Loyal subject protected, the black mare chuckles. "Well, that's new." she says in a completely calm voice that makes it entirely clear she's unruffled by the entire event. Hell, she's caused more significant magical shenanigans herself. "Been stalking you for a little while, and no one else can see it?" she speaks like a detective laying out a chain of events, knowing each answer before the question is even asked.

She reaches out and scrapes her teeth along his shoulder, causing a strange scratching sound as the teeth hit the diamond. He'll feel nothing, except perhaps a slight pressure. She pulls back. "That's diamond. Flexible, transparent, translucent, and functionally impenetrable." She turns her gaze to regard the wraith.

"How did you earn the pleasure of its company?" Her voice is wry, crisp, and dry, and she continues to watch the creature even as she speaks to Shah. Again, she hesitates to poke around too closely in the happenings of the quests – into his memories, maybe, but not deeper than that – but she knows that these kinds of apparitions don't just show up out of the blue. It takes some real shenanigans, and she's in the mood for a good story.

CAMRYNN

co-queen of the deserts, magical, mother of badassery

[Shahrizai]

All things are possible, even the worst of things.

The competition is something he will remember for the remainder of his life. The Deserts’ goddess had been kind and relatively gentle with him (and from what he understood, she hadn’t been to everyone). He still remembers clearly the warm feeling she had imparted to him upon depositing him on the borders, telling him he was too kind-hearted to be what the Deserts’ ruler needed. That had surprised him (even as patently true as it had been, and perhaps still is), but it had also shaped his entire future. It was perhaps inevitable that he would return here.

Camrynn responds blithely to his teasing, causing him to laugh. It is a deep, robust laugh, one suiting of a stallion his size and nature, causing his chocolate brown eyes to lighten and twinkle merrily. He does enjoy a good laugh.

And perhaps that is what makes this punishment extra fitting. The ghoulish creature is just about as opposite as you can get from a good laugh. It approaches him without appearing to walk, dark mouth gaping widely in its long, pale face. That sharp object is raised above its head as a wispy voice reaches his ears. What’s your favorite scary movie, it says.

What? He’s entirely baffled by this question for a moment, distracting him from his conversation with Camrynn. So much so that he doesn’t realize at first that a second, translucent skin has covered his own dark roan coat. He jumps when she scrapes her teeth against his shoulder, eliciting a slight scritch scritch from the material. He looks from his shoulder to her and back again in surprise, brown eyes wide.

He’s so distracted by the entire event that he doesn’t notice the creature has gotten close enough to attack until its knife arcs downward, only to skitter harmlessly across his flank. He jumps sideways, nearly bowling right into Camrynn in his alarm as his large rear hooves strike out reflexively at the ghastly beast. Suddenly he laughs, more in relief than amusement. That is, until the ghoul comes at him again, causing him to jerk back and scoot around to the other side of the black mare.

Finally he registers the words she had spoke, causing him to huff a soft breath of relief tinged with a hint of wry mirth.

Well, I guess thanks are in order.

He pauses then, considering her briefly as his expression settles into something more sincere.

Thank you.

He does grin at her next words however, the curve of his lips imbued with both amusement and exasperation.

It was the damnedest thing. This little spritely creature just kind of showed up out of the blue and started asking the weirdest questions. Pause. Well, I may have trespassed on its territory a little bit. But anyway, weirdest questions you ever heard. When I got too many wrong, it sent me on my way, but this ghoulish creature was following me. Damned thing keeps asking me more weird questions and trying to stab me. I’ve been fast enough to outrun it so far, but, well…

shahrizai

hestoni x scorch