Beqanna - Sylva

i do not want to move mountains

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 21:37:46 +0000

Lillibet

"Link," her voice has grown more conspiratorial with age, and today is no different. As she moves closer to her lilac twin amidst the gold-and-sun tree boughs and overlarge boulders of Sylva's heart, Lillibet grins. "I have an idea." Truth be told, she's unsure whether her brother will side with her or not. Sometimes, for each of them, it depends on the day and their mood. Link may decide to throw himself headlong into her idea and join her, or he may scoff at its absurdity.

Lillibet lowers her voice, her narrow head slung down for added clandestinity. "What if we leave the South?" Her bright eyes search his for an initial reaction, any inkling or hint of what way he may lean.

"I just want to do something, Link, and I want it to be something exciting." She doesn't tell him, not yet, that her sights are set on the newly empty throne of Pangea. If the rumors are true, that is. Instead, she smiles at him sheepishly as she presses her ears forward in anticipation of his response, the ethereal glow of her body illuminating the forest that surrounds them.

I do not want to move mountains;
I want the mountains to see me coming
and to crumble.

RAYOFLIGHT

who caught and sang the sun in flight

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 01:39:57 +0000

------H E R R I N
in short:--------------------------------------------------
all good things are wild and free

The red leaves overhead are a striking contrast to the black branches and white snow that Herrin winds his way through. The buckskin horse looks up at them, well lit by the early morning light. Not even winter can pull the color from the trees of Sylva, and the black-eyed young stallion has always appreciated that aspect of his home. Raised in the no man’s land between the ever-autumn forest and the red hills of Loess, Herrin’s fondness of the place has kept him from ever leaving for long.

He’s heading toward a stream, intent on quenching his early morning thirst, but draws up short at the appearance of tracks in the newly fallen snow. It is not often that others find themselves in this part of the woods. Herrin’s woods are far from the trails that connect the Southern realms, and he prefers it that way.

The stallion’s dark lips pull back in a catlike snarl of displeasure, but he shifts nothing but those glittering white teeth. He prefers his horsehair coat to that of the cheetah, especially on winter days like these. And perhaps it is simply a wandering elkear, lost on its way to the grasslands.

Following the tracks, he finds that they are paralleling his intended route to the water. Had they been looking for a drink as well? The trail leads through thick stands of red sumac, obscuring his line of sight, and he knows better than to go in blind.

“Is someone there?” His voice sounds more pleasant than he feels at having his morning routine interrupted, but it has also been some time since he’s seen anyone, and perhaps he’s overdue to find out what has been happening in the world outside his woods.

it was cold when we were apart

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:34:17 +0000

oceane

a little white light
in a sea gone black

Leaving Loess proves itself to be one of the most difficult decisions Oceane has made in the duration of her lifetime. Her heart and head are at odds, the combination bittersweet. There is the dull, intense ache of her heart and the bright hope for the future that now rests on Cheri's extremely capable shoulders. There is sorrow ─ it clings to the memories of Castile and Lepis, of the Long Night and the monsters within. It weaves its way into her thoughts of Tarian and the unfettered loyalty he had shown her and their kingdom from the very beginning, and still, to this day. It lingers around her memories of her canyon home and the prickly pear she'd once shared with Lepis upon her arrival, and in the way she remembers each heave and drift of the land's topography.

Despite this sorrow, there is excitement. But it doesn't bloom just yet.

It doesn't take her long to find Ledger, hidden within the boughs of their new golden home, and she falls into him once she does. Tears stream from amber eyes as she buries her soft face into the crook of his neck and her chest heaves with the power of her heartbreak. Loess had been her constant savior since she'd run from Nau-Aib. Though the seasons and fires and darkness had brought change, it had always been there. Through the eras of Lepis, Castile, Soran... through the birth of her children. Through the reception of her magic and her growth as a genie.

Loess had always been there.

The weight of her sadness keeps the words at bay, and though she is silent beside the heavy sobs that fall from her open maw, she knows that Ledger understands. And it's in his embrace that she eventually settles down, the sobs becoming weak gasps and her puffy amber eyes finding drought where previously they had flooded.

When she is able to find her voice, Oceane forces humor into her words and offers her scarred lover a small grin. “I hope you weren't worried that I wasn't coming,” she presses her soft muzzle to his cheek and shuts her amber eyes against the wave that once again threatens to crash against her opaline face.

“”

n | v

the light of a thousand suns

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 23:20:33 +0000

LILLIBET

a star burning with the
light of a thousand suns

What little information Lillibet could glean from Mother about her past, the young girl clung to. The customs of Nau-Aib interested her the most; especially now, at the turn of the season, when Mother said monsters used to roam the woods of her ancient home as the veil between life and death thinned. Perhaps an attempt on Oceane's part to keep Lillibet close at hand, the anecdote had produced quite the opposite effect. While the Loessian Queen attended to the kingdom, the young alabaster girl had departed in the direction of her father's new abode.

In passing, she had mentioned her plans to Link.

Through the golden forest and atop fallen leaves, Lillibet runs. She makes a game of circling the forest's massive boulders, her imagination planting monsters just around the jagged curves of the ancient stones, only to be seen at the last moment and with a loud, commanding squeal of surprise. Her heart races at the imagined danger, at the feel of the autumn tree branches reaching for her angrily as she flies between them.

Her lithe frame begins to glow, the effect more apparent as further the sun sets, the ethereal light bouncing against tree trunks and rock faces until finally she is the only light source around. A loud, fearless whinny is thrown into the darkness as she plants her forelegs wide and presses her ears forward in a silent challenge for whatever might be hiding in the darkness of the forest to show itself.

— @ Any —
“”

s | n

Set fires to my forest and let it burn [Any]

Sun, 22 Aug 2021 23:50:25 +0000

I'm coming back again
I want to live tonight

His visit to the common lands had eased some of the loneliness but Oceane’s absence had not gone unnoticed when he had swung by Loess on his way back “home”. He had found the children, wild and free as ever, making them a firm promise to bring them to Sylva soon for a visit. Of his twilight love there had been no sign but it had been clear from the others that she was wrapped up in kingdom affairs. For a moment his anxiety rises in his chest as he looks at his two children, the thought of them being unwatched bringing a thousand “what-ifs” to his mind. Eventually he soothes himself with the thought that Loess is well protected by the likes of Tarian and Cheri. Besides, he’s still not sure he trusts the quietness of Sylva. Not yet.

He spends the rest of his trip from Loess to the autumn land lost in thought. The Loessian Queen’s first duty was to the South, he had never doubted that nor wished to change it. Yet he can’t help but be bothered by her growing absence and leaving the twins behind feels like a stab to the heart. There hadn’t even been a chance to catch up with Cheri, if only for peace of mind regarding his iridescent Queen, knowing he had been away from Sylva for too long. Soon enough he finds himself among the familiar gnarled woods and follows the dried up riverbed through the eerily silent forest, admiring the fiery colors and catching the song of robins that break through the thick quiet.

It’s not until he is hock deep in a patch of wild strawberries that he finally comes to a halt with a frustrated sigh. The lonely days and nights, the constant gnawing ache in his chest that comes with missing his family, and the irritation of leading a land that seems to be hiding from him all seem to combust together as his temper flares and sharp bear teeth pop through his gums, replacing the herbivore ones he usually wore. “I know someone’s there.” He snaps into the growing darkness that begins to settle over the woods. “I’m not interested in your hide and seek games.” He grimaces slightly as he glances behind him, waiting to see if what lurked in this forest wanted to finally show itself today.

Ledger

Activity Check [August 2021]

Thu, 12 Aug 2021 22:01:27 +0000

I literally have no idea who still lives here so let me know who needs to be added to the board once it gets made!

Hands down, pray for me [All]

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 16:49:09 +0000

Help me out before I drown
Save me now before I give up

It had been no secret that Oceane held no love for Sabra and her motley crew in the autumn lands of Sylva. There’s a certain distaste in her tone whenever she speaks of the place and the pastel mare who ruled it. So when rumors reached her of Sabra acting stranger than normal, she seemed incredibly focused on monitoring the situation. And then there seemed to be nothing but silence coming from the woods that had been always attracted the morbid and ambitious, the cruel and power hungry.

When she had asked him to take the land in her name, he had laughed at her joke and then quickly grown silent as he realized that she was completely serious. While his father had ruled multiple kingdoms and territories in his multiple lifetimes, Ledger had never had the head for such things. To be fair he had spent most of his life in constant chaos and torture so the opportunity had never really arose, but he didn’t have the confidence in himself to be like Magnus. Didn’t believe that he could be half the ruler he had been. He was better as a servant, a protector, a diplomat. The thought of being responsible for such ruling decisions required and the well-being of so many made his anxiety spike in new ways.

However it was hard to resist Oceane on anything and he can understand her concerns, can see the sensibility in placing someone she trusted in that particular seat of power before somebody else did. And so reluctantly he finally gives in and begrudgingly accepts her offer. There is nothing he wouldn’t do for her and if this is what she wanted…. Then he would do it. Only for her. "If that is your wish." He looks deep into her vibrant eyes and smiles crookedly, trying to muster a confidence that he doesn't exactly feel.

He has not left Loess in some time and he looks over the hidden cove they had shared for months now, the home and life he has made here. The cave where they had conceived the twins and where she had birthed them. This was his first true home, the first place he had learned to be truly content and happy. He is loathe to leave it, to leave all of this behind. “Just until Cheri can do this on her own.” She gently reminds him again and he nods quietly before pressing a kiss to her jaw and turning away before he could change his mind.

The gold and red leaves of Sylva are thick above him, dappled light filtering through their translucent papery skin and leaving a kaleidoscope of color strewn across the forest floor. This place had not changed much since the days of Gryffen’s rule when he had last been here before, it still seemed to call questionable souls to it. Those had been dark times and it leaves a bitter taste on his tongue, the bear within him stirring with curdled remembrance of what he had once agreed to beneath these trees. How he had almost taken a life to free himself from the vapid glass heart that had once hung heavily in his chest. It beats now, strong and thunderous, and reminds him that the past was better in the past.

There was Oceane now and that was all that mattered.

He doesn’t look forward to unearthing whatever creatures Sabra has left behind but he knows it’s inevitable and so he goes forward to do just that, trying to seek them out and gather them to let them know exactly what changes could be expected in the days to come.

Ledger

@ Any

Ledger is claiming Sylva with Oceane's insistence blessing

dangerous levels of introspection

Sat, 24 Jul 2021 16:27:49 +0000

Gale
this is going to break me clean in two --
this is going to bring me close to you

He has been watching Sickle all morning, but it is time to return home.

The blue striped child is almost a yearling now, and growing taller - and more powerful every day. Shifting comes naturally to her, and the cursed creature is filled with contentment as he makes his way south through the thick jungle. The warmth from the volcano is soon replaced by the warmth of an early spring, and the trees overhead turn slowly from emerald green to blazing gold.

Gale is rather fond of the color that these trees don year round, and he glances up at them appreciatively with his pale lightning blue eyes. The sunlight that filters through them dapples his iridescent navy coat, and adds light to the everglow of his cremello stripes and scars. The white of his spinal mane is matched by the feathers of his quetzalcoatlus forelimbs, which carry him quickly through the no-man’s land between the West and the South.

His eyes remain sharp searching for a deer or other prey that he might hunt. Gale is not familiar with the animals of these lands, but surely there is something here for a predator to eat. As he looks, moving slower now, with more caution, the flat teeth of his equine mouth grow slowly to points better suited for the tearing of flesh.

current appearance:natural horse form - iridescent mostly navy blue stallion with glowing cremello stripes/markings and blue lightnings,
white spinal mane and tail, white quetzalcoatlus forelimbs, red V-shape on left wing, black with blue glowing horns, sharp teeth

Couldn’t lie, couldn’t lie

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 16:07:20 +0000

Leilan

Sylva. Why not? It had a tendency to attract the ones who would rather lurk in darkness, beneath the moldy canopy - but Leilan himself had never been held captive here, so why should he feel uneasy with the place. Sure it hadn’t got anything to do with his own time in Loess. Or with the way Jesper still refused to talk about it, the way the black stallion would avoid going into forests in autumn for a long while.

No, nowadays - especially nowadays - he should be rather happy with Sylva’s ever-autumn - the water-cold forest provided enough of a climate that he could use his magic, even though it would be stronger in winter or on the Isle. And he had to make sure he scoured every inch of Beqanna, too, so...

Why not?

Something pearlescent catches his eye when he moves forward beneath the trees, and he remembers why he never came here. She never did quite appreciate his attempts to lighten her mood that day when she had found herself nearly incapacitated with a certain large tree appendage. One she still carried today, he found.

He approaches her - she would find out if he went around her, and he never did play avoidance tactics anyhow. ”I’ve got to say, the more you stick to it, the more it becomes you.” he muses aloud. ”You never got rid of it then?” Was it that hard to do - it was a magical thing, true, he can sense it now, but still; there had to be some misfortunate soul that she could have passed the thing on to.

something so right
doing the wrong thing

It's a long way down to the bottom of the river // Residents

Sun, 27 Jun 2021 20:41:22 +0000

I am a tapestry of scar tissue, pale skin woven together with threads of lightning and gemstone chips. Beautiful, in the way that broken things are when they haven't been put back together in quite the right way. Missing pieces filled in with improvised materials and make-do ideas. Some of them are just empty to stay, but those holes aren't on the exterior.

They're in my mind, mostly. One in my heart, and that one has been raw and aching for many years now. It's gotten to the point where I'm sure I wouldn't know what to do if it did heal. What would be left of me? So I'm buried in my moth-eaten conscious, wrapped in a tattered blanket of mistakes and outright damnation. I don't cry for what once was anymore.

Instead I stare at the present, and pry at the edges of my reality with unforgiving claws. Life has never gone my way. For a mare with simple enough desires, they never seemed to fall quite inside my reach. I'm done asking, now I think I'm ready for taking. For molding the world into one that will be what I want it to be.

The certainty of this runs cold as winter in my veins. Cold as the wind that rattles the trees and stirs the leaves at my feet. I have never liked the cold, but I am beginning to think of it as more of an ally than an enemy. Allies are important to have. Important enough that I think it may be time to actively seek them out. It's not as if I have anything better to do at the moment.

So I start small, close to home. Inside my house, in fact. Looking for those dark faces that I have glimpsed but have no names for, or those I do. It's about time we all started earning our keep. I call them, and I count them as they come.

@"Narcisus"@"Jackel" @"Nexu" and any other monster friends!

This is an activity check + plot thread. Please respond IC. If you have multiple characters only one post needed per player, just let me know in a note what your other character(s) are doing!

we used to be giants

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 18:22:18 +0000

Ashhal hadn't been as easy for Tarian to find as he would've liked, but the gray pegasus found the other eventually. The pair had exchanged a few words and those had seemed enough to settle the decision that they would travel to Sylva. He didn't expect the darker gray to be thrilled with the prospect of traveling to the adjacent territory but Queen Oceane had asked Tarian to visit and the Champion didn't intend to make this trip alone.

The whelp from the Pampas had been enough of an experience that Tarian knew he wouldn't have minded not undertaking another "diplomatic" trip again for some time.

But what the Queen asks is what Tarian will do. There is a deep sense of loyalty to her and to Loess that is driving him forward now, reminding him to keep his mouth mostly shut and that once they exchange a few words with Sabra, they can return home. His blue eyes glance back to assess to see where the other winged brute is. While Ashhal manages to keep out of the periphery of his vision, a dark shadow (almost constant) shadow tells him that the stallion is still there, probably wearing the same scowl that he had left with.

As the spires and turrets of imperial Loess fall behind them, a forest starts to rise in its stead. The leaves start to blaze with a brilliance that earn a brief look up to the cathedral branches and Tarian finally stops. This was the border of Sylva. Knowing not to venture in any further, the lighter gray lifts his head and waits for Ashhal to come alongside him. When he finally does, Tarian trumpets out a call to announce their arrival.

@[Ashhal] @[Sabra] but also open to any - have a horrible starter

It's been awhile since I first saw you

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 16:02:53 +0000

I can see through you, see your true colors
Cause inside you're ugly, you're ugly like me

The Loess visit had proven… interesting.

However there was one more stop on this political train, one more place to visit, one more person to inform of his “ascension” to the wildflower throne.

The dark Fae did not trust Sabra as far as he could throw her. To say that he didn’t particularly like the pastel mare with the large stick jutting out of her chest would be an understatement. He still remembers the magic crawling over his skin and sinking into his brain, the haziness that followed her hypnotic gaze, the way he became pliable under her spell. There is also a small part of him that’s loathe to admit that he had been pleased to be seen by her, she had found something past the mortal shell of his existence and stirred a little kernel of thought that maybe he wasn’t such a worthless fool after all. She had seen something in him that he couldn’t see himself. For all her flaws and danger, he couldn’t shake that.

It is always autumn here, he is reminded, as gray clouds hide the blue in the sky and the red and yellow leaves dangle off the tangled limbs of wide trees. It had been Spring when they had visited Loess but he waits till the last signs of summer to step foot in the eternal autumn lands. He had thought to send Wherewolf here but thinks better of that idea. There’s a time for pranks and this isn’t one of them. Instead he travels with the Pampian Seneschal who had proven so useful on the last trip.

When he had last been here he had been just a mortal but handsome young stallion. Now he was Fae, now he held the Pampas in his grasp, and now he had those like Aela at his side. He moves past the heavy woods of oak and maple until he finds one of the few clearings, avoiding the thick thorny briars that threaten entangle them in their thickets. He loosens a call and cocks a hind hoof, his expression as unreadable as ever despite a small flutter of nerves, and glances at his companion out of the corner of a fiery red iris. “Don’t look her directly in the eyes.” He mutters to her under his breath as his finely tipped ears swivel forward and await the arrival of the javelined mare.

obscene

I thought I cut him at the root // Wilt

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 01:49:20 +0000

I slip from tree to tree, sucking down air in thick gasps. My shoulder aches where a bruise is blooming. Couldn't keep my mouth shut, as usual, and also as usual I've paid the price. Coming down into a low point of the dry riverbed, I come to a stop, leaning on a weather worn boulder.

"You'd think I'da learned to keep my mouth shut by now," I sniffed to no one, pressing my skull into the rock until the ache eases slightly. As I have a hundred times before, I wonder why I'm still here. Where my very existence is an affront and a disappointment. Why don't I leave, why didn't I do it the first time I realized I could?

And for the hundred and first time I defy myself, convince myself, that just because she doesn't care for me, doesn't mean I can't love her. Worry for her. "It's not her fault she's the way she is," I protest the very air. Talking to myself. Its another facet that she can't stand about me, but one I can't shake. I have things to say, you see. Even if there's no one who'll listen.

Flexing and stretching the soreness of my shoulder, I shake my head and straighten up again. I've got to keep moving, to keep the stiffness at bay. Tomorrow will be rough but for today, all I want to do is stay out of the way.

quite possibly trash sad girl words

Summer's kiss through electric wire // Any

Fri, 28 May 2021 02:05:51 +0000

My tongue feels heavy, thick and wooly. Copper hot metal coats my mouth and when I can muster enough saliva, I spit.

Blood swirled saliva smacks the ground, my lips rimmed with the same color. I've bitten my tongue at some point. Recently, if the ache in my mouth is anything to go by. And the spear of knarled wood in my chest... The flesh it touches is torn and weeping rivulets of that redness. Bruises bloom all down the front of me, and deep in my body I feel swollen and damaged. The injury I've grown so used to carrying is like new, and worse.

I don't remember... What happened, why the ground is splashed with more blood, why my body is coming apart at the seams. My shoulders quake. The sob that's threatening to erupt is unforgivingly forced back down my throat. Ragged, painful breaths are all I allow to pass through my lips.

Wings lax by my sides I force my legs to move. Forward, one stiff step at a time until I've moved beyond the blood stained grove and into deeper cover. It's cooler here, and that feels right. Dark and soothing, I take something that feels like my first full breath in an age. It hurts. It aches like breathing fire, but it brings me just a little closer to the ground.

Close enough to feel the first chill determination. For all the blood spilled from my heart today, there is blood enough left in me. Whoever did this has written their own death sentence.

I just... need to figure out who it was.

I've watched you change [Any- Chaos Week]

Sat, 22 May 2021 19:09:15 +0000

a ghost in the darkness.

The ghost had always done things for his own benefit and nobody else’s. Selfish red eyed thing that he was, he had simply left them when he had grown bored of ruling. Bored of the simple minds behind thick skulls that could never see the bigger picture. So he allowed them to think him missing, think themselves abandoned, think that he had vanished. He watched as some lashed out vindictively in his absence (his favorite pet, the two-toned bluebird, seemed particularly unhappy with him) and others grew bold.

The Eclipse had called to him (darkness, shadows, and monsters) but he still held back.

Not yet, not yet.

It wasn’t till the spring, when magic played through the pile of bones that lay haphazardly amongst the dark shade of a red and yellow canopy, that the empty sockets seem to blaze back with a fiery hue of red. Now. Says something in the air, a whisper that curls around the exposed bones of his ribcage, that whistles through the bleached skull and intwines around femur and vertebrae. Come back. Come. Back.

As the skeleton walks, the world seems to wither from his touch. Leaves fall from the branches, shriveled and dry by the time his hoof crunches over them. The violent reds and golden yellows of the trees suddenly alight like tinder, the colors turning to actually flames. There’s no lungs to see but the bone man still seems to inhale deeply, this chaotic magic that flows through his bones, the crimson of his eyes dancing with the flames of the blazing woods above.

There’s new magic in these lands which means new things to discover. It’s been so long since he had picked up his scalpel and peeled them apart to see how they ticked, how their magic kicked into overtime or sputtered to a halt. It’s been so long since he broke them apart just to watch them bleed.

They had been quiet for too long, had grown stale and boring. A lot of bark and no bite for those that claimed to be wicked, claimed to thrive on violence, claimed to love chaos.

Nobody loved chaos more than the red eyed ghost.

Nobody understood chaos like Gryffen.

As the flames writhe around him, flickering amongst the open spaces of bone and air, his neck arches vertebrae by vertebrae and his jaws clack together, a resounding crack amongst the smoke and flames. He was back just in time to watch the world burn.

Gryffen

It's Chaos Week baby!