"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
He was so bored with life lately. Astri was always busy disappearing with Dacia someplace or the other, and there wasn’t really much going on in other places to warrant any true interest, so Lupei had made his way back to the meadow. It’d been some time since his quiet murder on the beach and he’d had yet to see any repercussion for his actions so he figures that the stallion was just some worthless nobody who was making his way to the water to die anyways. Why else would you wander into the place of the dead if you had any intentions of coming out again?
But he knows, deep somewhere in the back of his mind, that the black and white stallion with that odd stripe of gold hadn’t been just a nobody. He’d been hiding something underneath that hideously maimed fur, something that had set Lupei’s insides on fire and burnt through him to the marrow until he awoke one day and felt like he was nothing more than ash. Ever since he’d digested the fresh heart of his fallen prey, he’d felt his own heart consumed in some sort of strange, intense flame that never doused.
That same sensation irritated him now, causing him to shake his chiseled head and blow hot air through his nostrils in an exasperated sigh. Talk about fucking heartburn. He turned away from the edge of the meadow, picked up a rather rambunctious trot, and reveled in his own youth for a second, enjoying the pull of his muscles and the way his body seemed finally perfect. He was phasing out of his gangly youth and fleshing into his adult body, and it felt sinfully good to be healthy and strong. Of course, he knows that he’ll have to start training soon, but the thought only excites him.
Confrontation had always been his forte, and it seemed only right that he continue down the path that was so obviously made for him. With the casual turn of his eye he notes the competition around him. Plenty of shifty males, almost too many really, but he’s not like other horses and he knows this. A palomino catches his eye, and he’s about to make his way towards her when the flicker of another color stops him in his tracks. It’s a mare, sporting a uniquely vibrant set of purple-ish points. Something about her seems irritatingly familiar, and try as he might, Lupei cannot resist.
He approaches her with ears raised and one eye already narrowed, the sly grin Astri so often wore now replicated on his own lips. “Do I know you?” He breaths, head tilting gently as he looks her over. Now that they’re close, he’s glad he’s abandoned the palomino for her. Whoever she was, she was definitely someone Lupei could get used to looking at.
As my soon to be dance partner revels in his youth, so I am reveling in mine. I am fueled by my warring emotions. Restlessness grips me. A soul deep lethargy snakes up my legs and roots itself into the pathways of veins and arteries. These feelings keep rising up in my chest until I cannot keep them down. Furious, I fuel my boredom into a wild gallop and leave the Cove without a backwards glance. I let the wind and trees tear a story into my skin. I relish the faint red marks on my coat, a hiss of satisfaction sliding from between my teeth. But it isn't enough. I am not sated. I want more.
I am angry without reason, reactionary without cause. I feel reckless. I want to fight. I want to fuck. My skin feels stretched too tight for the tumult inside me. I will burst and fly open, and all my knowledge will be for nothing.
I hurtle towards the meadow, upsetting a lover's tryst amongst the trees. It is obscene. Sex. A disgusting but necessary act. And yet I can't help the blood rushing to my head as they exchange sultry caresses. They spring apart, one becoming two, and I back away, suddenly light headed.
I need this. I want this.
Khaos, what is wrong with me? I think.
I trot some distance away from the nuzzling couple. I am oblivious to the world in which I so often find myself engrossed. My body, my thoughts and feelings; these have always been predictable, controllable. I have never studied myself because there was nothing to me. I am as I am. But this stranger who stalks the meadow with her myriad of tumbling thoughts bears scrutinizing.
I should go home.
I should ask Khaos, or Kult or Kirin or anyone in the family for guidance. I have a sudden flash of Kirin and Nicia in my head, imagining them caressing and kissing and then taking the positions of the lovers I had only just interrupted...
I shake my head angrily, and it is then that I hear the voice.
I remember him, although it seems he has forgotten me. His name is not lodged within my brain; it wasn't important. He wasn't one of us, and he wasn't a subject I wanted to study and so he was irrelevant.
But now. He is here and he is warm and he is very male. I can see the throb of his heartbeat in his neck and I stare, oddly fascinated.
“You did.” I say, slowly. My voice is low, and breathy. I do not know myself. I step closer, my bright tail held high so that the strands dance around my legs. “I am Kersey. And you are the boy who wanted to play truth or dare.”
My lips hover near his neck, only the warm breath from my nose touching his skin. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, and smell the musk of him. It carries the hint of predator, wolf-like, and I wonder if there is more to him than what I see. I hope there is.
“So let's play.” I whisper.
I hope he aches like I do. I hope pain and longing and boredom fuel his response. I hope we are both possessed by the same demons.
Lupei is, at first, confused. What a positively strange creature she was. Her body nears his and suddenly he becomes rigid, sensing every nerve in his skin on edge. Her mannerisms excite that primal urge in him, and Lupei is, for the first time, afraid of not being able to restrain himself. His tail lashes, that so-called irritating itch just at the base of his skull drying out his mouth and tensing his muscles. God’s above he’d never met a mare quite like this one. If he knew that more existed like her, he’d be more inclined to pardon the female species more often. But no, not Kersey. He knows as soon as she speaks that there’s not a match to be found in the entire world for her.
Of course he remembers her now. How could he forget that innocent-looking face trimmed with vibrant purple markings? A face that disguised a brain perhaps as mentally unstable as his creator. Yes, he remembers her well now. Little Kersey, the fish-killer. The thought of her back then as an indignant little twerp rouses a coy smile along his lips, and he cools, relaxing with the connection. My my, look how the world turns. She’s all fire now, still hellbent on getting her way and getting under Lupei’s skin.
“Truth.’ Lupei says, his low voice carefully enunciated and soft. He breaks away from her, gently, circling her so that he can allow his eyes to roam her body. Time had been incredibly kind to her, almost allowing her an unfair advantage over the other mares who milled about here. “What have you been up to all this time that I’ve missed out on?” He questions, eyes narrowing playfully as he comes to a stop beside her.
Lupei can’t quite be sure, but he thinks he might be in danger of actually liking her.
I note the confusion and then the tense response of his body reacting to mine with satisfaction. A lazily seductive smile crosses my purple lips. It is a strange thing to revel in the curves of my body, to embrace the temptress within like my mother and Nicia do. I am starting to understand the fire that gleams in their eyes. My whole world has been serving Khaos and my family through blood and destruction, but perhaps there is more.
At the very least, this is the most entertaining diversion I've encountered short of rending a seal cub to pieces.
He breaks away from my almost-touch, circling my body appreciatively. I can almost feel the weight of his gaze caressing the lines of my body. I am young and vibrant and, yes I know it, beautiful. Bright shocks of purple travel up my legs to intertwine with a rich dark coat. My mane and tail hang, for once, untangled down my neck and legs in strands of orchid. As he rounds my back, I flick my tail teasingly, a low laugh escaping from my throat.
I wonder which of us will give in first. I wonder if I will mind.
Truth, he says. Truths, I am ripe with. “Discovering the limits of the body, the agony one can inflict before a heart fails.” You see, I've moved far beyond watching fish drown. I meet the green male's eyes with a look of temptation. My skin tingles and stretches as I move, my turn to circle him with appreciation. I could drink him in, the warmth emanating from him like an invitation. “And learning the pleasure in pain.”
I wonder what he will think of that, if his upbringing has tainted the wildness he once possessed. The world is such a drag when we limit ourselves to what is traditionally right or wrong. For Khaos' children, the only wrong is to betray the family. It is immensely freeing having whatever I want within reach.
And right now, I want the boiling in my blood to be sated.
“How about a dare for you, old friend.” I stretch my neck to whisper in his ear. “See if you can make me gasp.”
ooc: nothing permanent, but feel free to do what you wish. ;-)
Of course, she shares a similarity to many other mares he’s known: self-importance. She drinks in his attention, it’s nearly palpable in the air around them; the flutter of her body beside him, the thick, charged energy Lupei was so hungrily feeding off of. A careful dance of tug-and-push, and up until now Lupei had been playing it safe. Her tail flirts against his skin, and through his tightly bound lips Lupei mimics her laugh with his own. She was so eager to push, and he was waiting for the right moment to pull her in.
You see, unlike Kersey, Lupei enjoys the chase almost as much as the kill itself. He can read the eager glint in her eye, and though he’s not sure if it’s solely him that’s fueling her excitement, he fairly enjoys that she’s letting it out on him. Lupei’s question has her in a rather good mood, and she takes a move from his book to corner him with her own appreciative gaze. He smirks. “Is that so?” He replies, enjoying the way her voice makes his own blood pound in his ears. “Seems like we’ve been living very similar lives then.”
Oh Kersey. He likes her very much, he’s afraid, and that simply won’t do. He’s sat back, let her have the lead, watched as she took her liberties with him. But the next words out of her mouth are more of a mistake than she realizes. Old friend, she calls him, and Lupei’s grin widens. Her breath tingles against his his skin, and he shudders, chuckling softly. “Be careful what you wish for.” The azure stallion concedes, pressing his shoulder firmly against her chest so as to brace against her, neck against neck. “Don’t …” He begins, whispering the single word above her withers, “... move.” He finishes, forcing the command through his teeth.
His eyes shut, rolling slowly back until the darkness closes in on him. Above her back his nose hovers, turquoise nostrils flaring as he lowers his head so that their flesh can meet. It begins as small circles, a rumble building in the cavity of chest. Lupei can sense that other side to himself, quivering with anticipation. His lids snap open, yellow and predator-shaped, pupil wide with adrenaline. A snarl rips through him and his mouth shifts, canines jerking down into her back.
He wants to kill her. To clamp down onto the thick skin above her spine and render it free of its place. But instead, he shifts back, tongue rolling out across the hollow needle points so that he can sample her blood. “Dare.” He pants, swallowing dryly. “Make sure, right now, that the next time we meet I won’t be able to forget your name.” He barks a short laugh, gathering his senses as he tries to clear his head. Kersey was certainly much more dangerous than he remembered.
I know the mistake as soon as it's made, but I don't feel regret. There is a change in the air. An electricity that flickers from his body to mine and leaves me aching to learn the consequences of my words. But while I am hurtling forwards to a conclusion, my companion is relishing the chase. It is a delicious agony, this unquenched thirst.
His voice slips from his throat, a heady, teasing sound. He speaks in such a way that I want to ask him what he's learned, if the truths he has uncovered are anything like those I've found. But I am too far gone to think of my studies. My focus has shrunk to the two of us, in this corner of the meadow. My mind slips towards the memory of the lovers entwined. They seem... tame, in comparison to the rising tension between the green stallion and I. Loving, sweet, gentle... I want none of that.
His words hiss in my ear and I submit, anticipation turned to lust. I have been trained to obedience. From my mother to my brothers, I know what it is to follow an order. But never before has one felt so deliciously sinful. The rise and fall of his chest against mine, bracing for what is to come, sends a shudder through me. I have never been so close to anyone. I should be afraid.
I am not. Yet.
A groan escapes through my lips, a sound I don't recognize. It hits me with sudden clarity that he will win this dare. I find I can't be irritated. A snarl builds in the air, predatory, and it is followed by a sharp clamp of teeth behind my withers. He's shifted, so quickly I don't recognize the threat. Canines sink through my flesh with practiced ease. This is not his first time wielding these teeth.
I gasp.
I am tempted to beg. Not for relief, but for more. Blood drips from the wound he has inflicted. It burns and tingles and I arch my back in invitation. He could kill me. I know it, but I do not fear it. For one, my brother's would tear him limb from limb if he did, and secondly, I do not believe he truly wants me dead. At least, not yet.
The world shifts back into focus slowly. I see red and white around my vision. I can hear him panting. I am strangely satisfied to know that I caused that, his breathlessness. I laugh at his words, my own voice shuddering.
“You mean,” I say as I run my nose against his lips, my blood still staining his teeth, “you are going to forget me after this?”
I do not have his teeth, but I do have a more than basic knowledge of the body. “Let's see how well you can stand still, hm?” I decide on agonizing slowness with which to torture him. Anticipation, after all, can bring one to their knees.
With a practiced air, (although oh, so different this time when I'm not intent on the finality of death) I nip gently at the base of his neck, where it meets his chest and slowly work my way up until my teeth are grazing his jaw. I brush the side of his body with my own, lightly, sensitizing it, making it vulnerable for me to play with. I dance away, circling him closely, aiming to make his body ache for mine. My warm breath caresses his shoulder before I twine around his body, flicking my tail in whip like strands and yanking roughly on his neck. It is strange and powerful, flaunting sex in front of him and demanding he simply watch and feel what I offer.
I meet his eyes then, purple and bright.
“Truth. Tell me what you think of me, all grown up.”
ooc: power playing is obviously happening. ;-P Let me know if you want me to change anything!
Like the thrumming of fingers against a hard surface Kersey simultaneously soothes and annoys him. The sound of her voice has him grating his teeth and narrowing his eyes. He wants to shove her away, pull her closer, curse her and praise her all in the same breath. Damn this mare and her disgustingly addictive ways. Her nose slides against his lips, and his bright eyes watch as the color of her own blood mars her otherwise beautifully dark coat. It’s twisted, whatever it is that they’re doing out here in the open, and Lupei is loath to admit it. Hard pressed to deny her any fun, he smirks at her question, tilting his head ever so slightly before replying, “I can certainly admit you’ve made a lasting impression.” He laughs, somewhere deep within his chest, the sound vibrating throughout his body as he waits patiently for her skill to reveal itself.
Kersey was certainly hiding something beneath that coy little grin. It’s frustrating to stand so completely still, especially when he simply wants to … what’s the word? Dominate her. Completely. But her mouth is suddenly at the base of his neck and he feels his eyes closing against his will. His chest constricts, the area of his skin that she trails against suddenly feels as if it’s burning. His mouth opens, a tortured groan escaping as she rests her teeth against his jaw. Lupei shivers, a sensation he’s beginning to enjoy, and the fire that was once slow-burning is now beginning to grow. Kersey was incredibly talented. She presses to him then, her supple curves molding to his side before she dances away. Lupei’s eyes snap open, a dissatisfied growl breaking the tension. But she knows he would react this way, and he can see the edgy satisfaction in the way she moves as she comes back, her tail drifting across his flanks while her mouth grapples with his neck.
He snaps playfully, trying to diffuse the raging inferno in his chest. It’s difficult, holding back the blasted heartburn while she’s staring at him with a gaze that practically begs him to ignite. Her next question has him grinning wildly out of control, and the blue-green stallion draws himself up. “I think that you’ve been up to no good, and I approve.” He tells her, taking a step in her direction. His tongue glides across his teeth and the hunger in his gaze reflects his emotions. “It’ll be hard to watch you leave.” The fire that had pressed inside of his bones and pressured him nearly to the point of breaking finally feels his release and it rages as a blue-white flame around them, encircling the two while Lupei glares at Kersey.
