Beqanna
[private] and in my dreams i've kissed your lips a thousand times // Yidhra - Printable Version

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and in my dreams i've kissed your lips a thousand times // Yidhra - Kagerus - 11-02-2018

Kagerus
{ and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }

As if everything (the plague, the exodus, the re-gathering of everyone, the fact that I must be separated from my pregnant wife and she in the place that is not guaranteed to be safe, the fact that my children are now abroad and not under my direct care, the fact that our kingdom is being split in two where once we had unity) is not enough, a sea monster appears during the kingdom meeting.

It feels comical even to say: a sea monster. When first my eyes had landed upon the betentacled witch, my first reaction had been to laugh; but I stifled the mirth successfully before letting on that the chaos of this reality has brought me to mania. When Solace in turn does not address the creature, I push aside the giddiness of terror and disbelief, forcing myself to take what has been given to us and use it to our best advantage. Solace leaves immediately with the end of the meeting, and those who have chosen Hyaline go with her; those who now call the Cove home go off in murmuring groups to find new homes. That leaves only me, and the kraken.

My eyes behold her in her full majesty, with a sobriety that I'd not possessed before in the presence of so many others. The tentacles speak of an aquatic existence that reminds me of Ivar, but with a crueler tang to it; surprising, in that Ivar can be as cruel as they come. But the witch is mighty in stance and in stature, and I give her that, mentally; but the tall crown of antlers atop my head and indeed the tawny leopard which stalks at my side are enough to reassure me of my own might and prowess.

She may be a witch, but I am a Dreamweaver, a Caretaker, a Leopard tamer, a Mother, a Fighter, and so much more. She may be here to recruit for a cause that none here shall feel called to. She may have her own history, her own titles, and her own reasons for her actions; but that is why I approach. To discover her. To uncover her.

To discuss the details of our relationship, as partners in the East.

"Kraken," I say in greeting, not wanting to squander precious time on pleasantries. My eyes go briefly and absently to the tentacles adoring her many features, and then to her own gaze; it pierces me, but mine pierces her, too. "You speak with an authority that I'd not known existed within Pangea. That being said, I am not a fool. If you do indeed hold such an authority, The Sanctuary is interested in parleying with you."

I pause, the steam from my words lifting to the prongs of my antlers where it is cut into many tufts of fog. "You suggest peace. We are wont to accept. The East shall only benefit from such an agreement. However, it must be said that only one kingdom can exist in each region." A moment passes, wherein my gaze says more than my words can. "The Sanctuary, that being centrally Silver Cove, will be that kingdom."

My stomach squeezes, but I do not let on that my own confidence makes me uneasy. For the good of my people, and of my wife and my children, I must present only the strongest of faces.

"However, your fascination with finding a cure is not intrinsically alienated from that which we stand for... If you are willing to function together, and to bend the knee to us and our ways of peace and not violence, then I must admit that I, too, am fascinated by this."

I inhale sharply and with a smile, hoping to cut off any impulsive interjection which may come from this, my last statement - though I doubt that the kraken has an impulsive nerve in her body.

"Of course, in times of war, we will need willing bodies... But please. Tell me your plans for Pangea. As of now, I am functioning mostly on a superficial understanding of your motives."



@[Yidhra]


RE: and in my dreams i've kissed your lips a thousand times // Yidhra - Yidhra - 11-02-2018

A lifetime ago she wielded the earth, powers of life and death: of nature in its most raw forms… she’d been quartz and rock, soil, and vine- she’d been the Primordium, and they had bowed to vision and word. Yet these hundreds of years have stripped her of that, they have blackened and devoured pieces of her and left only whispers of a power long lost and gone: of a world that had fallen to chaos, to the bottom of the sea. Her mind recalls the names: Desreal, the Summerlands, Ni’srilan, Jaeger Reef… Ersatz, and in these names she recalls autumnal leaves and summer wind, wild sand storms, and all the murk and gloam of ancient swamps and jungles.

She cannot show these things to her, not display the fate and the fall: not warn this strange woman of all the vast similarities; but she can answer, and she lurches forward through the rocks and algae and ice of the cove… across wet sand and gravel-ridden ground. For a moment she sees the remains of broken shells and bones, her teal eyes narrowing as she reaches a single appendage down and curls the paddle shaped tip and it’s barbed suction cups around a sand dollar.

Studying and quiet, she mires at the patterns and dried flesh, at the dead creature and its frozen remains… but Kagerus has her attention, an ear flicking and her body turned as she slithers forward towards the earthly spirit and the platform she seeks to take. Amused by the nature of the creature crawling around her legs, by the shape she holds: she very suddenly bends and reshapes the tendrils of her mouth into a nose and lips, into the mockery of a grin.

“Kraken… yes, Abyssal also works.” she chatters the beak as she speaks, laughs in a watery and sultry purr before continuing. “Authority has not existed in Pangea for some time, it was left to chaos and ruin: to the bottom of the ocean. As I understand it… it slumbered until Beqanna woke it up, the people opted to bring it back.” she pauses, and shifts her weight, her head twisting as she stretches the length of her neck. “And people yet again went to it, killed on its sands and shores: in it’s vast crevices. Only three tried to stop it, therefore we are all responsible for this.” she is mastered in this logic, in this mentality.

Yidhra furrows her brows, narrows her eyes and allows the barbell shapes irises to become little more than slits of black. Across her neck the tendrils writhe and the lengthier ones on her shoulder reach up to shatter the sand dollar and drop it before her feet. “You see me as a threat to your rule.” she is blunt, swift, and unapologetic, her posture rising and height growing some inches as she pushes herself up to full stature.

“That is wholly amusing; but calm that part of your mind, I do not care for ruling to such a degree. Queen was never my title, never my claim: I am simply the overseer of Pangea and its residents, the Martinet. Let the Sanctuary remain the ruling Kingdom, so be it; but you ask something very interesting.” she pauses, shaking her head softly. “You want us to work together; but you ask that I bend my knee in service of you. That is not together, that is imbalance and obedience disguised as kind words and hidden in an uneasy smile.” she peers at Kagerus, harsh and severe: the whole of her body remaining at a distance; but close enough to allow the other mare to see the countless scars and marks on her porous skin.

She tilts her head, considering many things. “My name is Yidhra,” she states though the pronunciation is ancient and unfamiliar to Beqanna… Yee tho rah. “Just so that we’re formally introduced, it was rude of me not to give my name.” shrug and purr.

“I propose that Pangea remains its own land, allied to the cove and to Hyaline… in return you too will make the same alliances. Pangea will be free to rule and function as is necessary and as I will it, unbound by your traditions and practices… and because you are not stupid, I will tell you why. To travel to the Cove you must either march through Hyaline or Pangea- and more so Pangea than Hyaline, this means technically speaking we are border- your safety net if people decide to march upon the whole of the Sanctuary. I want your Sanctuary to flourish; but I will need forces to ensure protection- after all… Loess and Sylva were going to war, what stops anyone else in the wake of the chaos caused by this plague.” she stops for her breath, and suddenly wanders closer, walks to Kagerus.

Closer she draws until she feels distance is appropriate, and then she stops: allowing the tendrils on her shoulders to cross over her own chest. “In times of War, we will fight: consider us border guards; but be assured I was not lying. Pangea is the cause of this sickness, Carnage and the actions of Beqanna’s people… that means Pangea holds the source and best place to look for a cure- yes, cure. Not just treatment, but a solution, an inoculation. The problem is that to solve it, I need bodies- I need allies and I need to do what I must: dangerous logic, I know.” she shrugs, halfhearted and heavy.

Part of her considers the finality, the closing and she exposes her beak through the tentacles: the blood dripping down.

“My plans are simple: I build a guard force to secure the area first, that way no chaos can arise further and from there I can begin contacting the mages and those who have history in their background to come in and begin research and work. Structure and order, a union of those who wish to wear the mantle and burden of the sickness… all to find the cure. I will not lie when I say that it may sound vague, but, for now that is what need be done. Otherwise Carnage’s cultists and those who seek to sow chaos will rise and I will be chased away… no cure.” calm, and austere she swivels her ears back.

“I am already infected, no- I cannot die; but others can. I have to help.” the latter is quiet, perhaps guilty; but no matter what, it is always severe.   

Yidhra



@[Kagerus]


RE: and in my dreams i've kissed your lips a thousand times // Yidhra - Kagerus - 11-04-2018

Kagerus
{ and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }

"Titles mean little," is all I say in response to her comment about being Abyssal. I couldn't call her that even if I wanted to, what with having my firstborn son being named Abysm. I don't mention this however, unwilling to disclose any personal information to the kraken, and more enthralled by her shifting physique than by my own unimportant musings. Still, I keep my intrigue carefully under wraps, nutmeg eyes half-closed in content and placidity, as if the creature's presence is barely enough to sustain my interest.

We are responsible for this.
I make no comment yet, blinking once. Beqanna is not a fair master. I have lived here longer than this eldritch creature, and though she has experience elsewhere, it is I who understands this land, not she. We are responsible for nothing. Beqanna does as she will.
You see me as a threat to your rule.
This I do not engage with either, preferring to let the kraken come to her own conclusions as to the matter. I do not, in fact, feel threatened. The turnout at the kingdom meeting was by far the largest in decades, perhaps since even before the Reckoning; whether she likes it or not, The Sanctuary has numbers enough to ensure that even violence cannot threaten us, to a certain degree. Certainly not by a single mare, at least.

She next accuses me of using slyness to gain authority in the East, to which I do allow some reaction. She is a perceptive creature, mastered in the arts of speech to say the least; this much I do not deny her, allowing the silk of my lips to curve into something of a smile. "I must secure peace for the Harboured - that much you can understand." On the topic of just how our dynamics will work with the Cove as the central eastern kingdom, I remain for now silent, as she goes on to introduce herself formally.

"Kagerus," I offer in reply, reforming my stoicism as she continue to describe her threshold.

She speaks of peace and of alliances, but I am still largely with doubts and hesitance. She is new in this land as I said, and I am wary of whether or not she truly understands the ways in which Beqannans can come and fuck up your plans. She speaks as if she has many who follow her - but she does not. At most, I can take her claims and her proposals and her plans as maybes, as hypotheticals: until she has a following, her words mean nothing to me.

But she herself is bound to authority as the wind is to the sun: she is master of herself, and I do not doubt that many will flock to her, if she plays her cards right.

I need bodies.
This, I take particular note of.
I have to help.
Just how, I am beginning to have a picture of.

"Yidhra..." I inhale to speak, think better of it, flick my tail, and then try again. What she proposes is not something one can come at head on - she presents too many sides all at once. "You impress me." Start with flattery - but at least it's true. "Truth be told, I hope that the harbingers of chaos will kneel to you - for I see in you a logic that overcomes the mania inspired by the plague."

"Hear me when I say this: The Sanctuary is your strongest possible ally right now. We hold the highest number of horses in all of Beqanna, and we are by far the most cohesive. Go to the sea and observe the others and see for yourself; all across the continent, chaos is being bred and evil is finding roots in those who thought themselves immune to its disease. The Sanctuary alone is the kingdom that has made it through this mess in one piece..."

"That being said, you would do well to oblige my requests. You are our neighbour, and I am not interested in competing for the title of Ruling Kingdom - we outnumber you in that regard a dozen times over. That being said, I am not opposed to hearing your demands... But you will not only hear mine, you will take them and implement them in your Pangea, too."

"First, if we are to be allies, then you are to be at least friendly with our allies: Tephra, and Nerine. I believe that Ischia has been absorbed into Nerine, but if it has not, then them too. Loess and Sylva I have no care for. Do with them as you will. And Ischia, too, if it has fallen."


"Second, you will not poach any Hyalinians. If they choose to go to Pangea, so be it - but I will not have them coerced or kidnapped. I have had my children stolen out from me before, and I will not have it happen again." My mind goes to the dream-war I had with Wolfbane, to the magmatic battle we fought that in the end lead to peace. My lips are set in a grim line as I continue. "And any evils that you commit in your land must not involve my people, nor may you ever imply that we The Sanctuary have ever endorsed anything beyond peace. You may do what you will and I will not stop you - but do not taint our nation with whatever choices you and yours make."

"Third, you will not allow your subjects to come into The Sanctuary unless they are passing through to other lands. They will require escorts at all times if they intend to come into the hearts of either kingdom or subkingdom. I will make it clear that the same goes for my subjects, too."

Here I pause, feeling that I have said nearly all that I must - but then again.

"Again, Yidhra, I must have it be known that you command a respect that surely none have in many ages here. The Sanctuary advocates for peace, and that will not and has not changed in the whole time that we have existed. Abide by our simple terms, and things will go easily for us - and we will present the strongest and most united front in all of Beqanna."

"Your cooperation is the last piece of the puzzle. The strength of the East lies in the choice you, and Pangea, make."



@[Yidhra]


RE: and in my dreams i've kissed your lips a thousand times // Yidhra - Yidhra - 11-07-2018

Intrigue is a sensation created when Kagerus speaks, a thing that prickles her skin and shakes the dark corners of her mind: dreams of the other woman slowly forming in her mind, and Yidhra does not deny the appeal of her voice or the posture in how she stands with all the world-soul balanced atop the points of those dangerous antlers. She muses and mires in them, considers a time when she might’ve been the same; but it gets away from her and Yidhra speaks slowly with a dulcet purr. “Truly?” she clicks her beak as if to imitate a tongue. “Such a difference in cultures, where I once dwelled a title meant a great deal- it was something earned and forged by your owns actions. We considered them a polite way of address, much like one refers to their King or Queen by such. Primordium, Imperious, Abyssal, and Mother: names and titles I dream about, things that I hear in whispers.”

Rolling her shoulders back she draws herself up to stature, lacking menace and violence- lacking malice: instead she carries a veil of some almost-tangible dominance, some confidence in her own authority that remains even when Kagerus introduces herself- and before she can speak the Kraken’s name… Yidhra purrs and speaks up as if to ease what existing tension might be present. “I will tell you a secret: a show of trust between us. You see, no one knows where I came from- how it is I slithered my way onto Beqanna… they only know that I crawled from the depths of the ocean. Sick and thin, covered in barnacles and coral- rotted so badly from the pressure and cold that it was miracle I even breathed.” she pauses, turning slowly to her side.

She exposes the hairless and porous skin, the black and blue roan spattered with gray- colored like a rock… but most of all she exposes the scarred leg and flesh: all the bites marks and blackened scabs where a great mass of barnacles once existed: bitted and pulled off of her flesh. Yidhra also shows, in that gesture, the burned and scarified mark on her neck of a flower with a thorny stem and she continues quiet: a whisper meant only for them. “Hundreds, thousands of years ago: I lived, and I was born where wings indicated your birthright. Mine were blackened and beautiful: so lovely that I found them to be a burden… and so I tore them off. I shattered the bones and broke apart the skin until only scars remained… and I cast myself out. Or so that’s what my dreams tell me. You see, I remember that once upon a time I had a great family, powerful and strong; but they ultimately paid the price: vanished into the annals of history.”

Shrugging, she chuckles: the faint memory of Aerofire in her mind.

“I traveled so long and so often that I knew no home but many houses… and eventually I settled into the Element. For years I watched as a land soaked with power warred and fought, as chaos reigned without any order or challenge. I fought my way to gold, to a title- and then? I traveled to peaks where my will and mind were tested… and I was given a new gift: vision. I saw the end before it began, I saw the stone being remade and the blood that spilled in its name. The stone was what gave the power to the land, and in turn, I gave the lands back to the stone. Yes, I did it. I wrought cataclysm upon the Element and watched as all the world was brought beneath the sea.” she stops, looking sidelong as if considering something.

“The Stone brought order to the chaos, it brought the end of a maddened era of war and sickness: it did so by killing countless many and forcing the survivors… the strong, to go elsewhere stripped of their power and with the last words of what once fueled them. I? I for my service was banished to the depths, brought to a place where whalebones are decorated by anemone and worms, where kraken and leviathan alike swim and slumber. I spent so many years in the dark, suffering and twisted: immortal and always drowning; but it taught me a lesson. Where chaos reigns, order must be had: because in chaos, we are weak and suffering- we risk being pulled apart and killed off in paranoia and senseless violence.” why she stops, she cannot say, but, Yidhra takes a breath.

Her lungs are still waterlogged, raspy and heavy- and she looks at Kagerus with a deadpan stare: with her posture maintained and her gaze leveled on the other woman. “These are my dreams, my truths: or so I think they are… it is very hard to tell when you’ve died and been reawakened, reshaped and remade in the image of the thing you serve. I do not care for chaos, nor for strife without purpose or meaning, and I have seen the end of one world- I would hope that I do not have to see a second… even if my hand has already been played into what feels like the beginning of it. I will not treat you like a child, you deserve far more respect than that.”

In there is an absence of things to say and she listens to Kagerus’ words with a nod: though she afford the mare one thing and forms the tendrils of her mouth into lips and mock-nostrils. She imitates the face she once possessed and slowly smiles, soft and genuine: nodding before sobering and minding the ruler with her ears perked.

It is when silence falls that she does something out of the ordinary, and a sudden heaviness clouds the air: a weighted feeling of cold that sweeps across the ground and weaves around Kagerus like a serpent or perhaps, like one of the ominous tentacles she possesses. There is something subtle in it, shadows that move in the peripheral vision, the static pulse and low hum of a sound far away: the unnatural and chilling feeling of someone being watched. Fear.

She narrows her eyes, waits for Kagerus to respond, and she breathes softly then- considering the boundaries and actions she must take. “Apologies,” she says slowly- the fear fading and her demeanor shifting as she stretches and blinks. “I agree to your terms, and I have no issue with abiding them; but something to know, and I hesitate to say this publicly… you want me in power. You may not trust me or my motives, my reasons… you may not like me; but you cannot afford to let anyone else control Pangea and I already know who will if I do not. You will not agree with everything I must do, but, it will not be my choice to do anything else. We need to work together: I will not watch another world fall apart.”

The dream is whatever Kagerus makes it, and Yidhra merely exists- still and quiet. 

Yidhra



@[Kagerus]


RE: and in my dreams i've kissed your lips a thousand times // Yidhra - Kagerus - 11-10-2018

Kagerus
{ and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }

She mentions her past place of dwelling, a continent I imagine to be like Beqanna but different, with different gods - crueler, I'm guessing. Though few come now from the Other Places, I can only assume it is because those Other Places have been ruined due to calloused and neglectful gods. Although Beqanna can be vindictive and cold, she ultimately treats her subject with a compassion that no other land could begin to fathom. We have been here for centuries: we will continue to be here, even when the last of the Others fall.

I simply nod my head in quiet attention as her speech goes on, intrigue colouring my expression as she mentions a secret. She spins the tale of her arrival, waxing poetic about the state of her physical form upon washing up on Beqanna's shores. The picture is far from pretty, but the scar which mars my face speaks the same of my own story here.

She explains her life in the Other Place, elaborating on the customs of her people - though they sound more rigid than customs, more like natural law - and identifying her place in that culture. I listen with piqued interest, imagining myself in her place with a curse to fame, with a powerful family; my family now may be the best known in Beqanna, but ruling here is as flippant as the weather, so we hold no great powers like the ones Yidhra describes. I do, however, lower my eyes at the mention of disappearance: that much we Beqannas can understand, losing others daily to the pull of the Beyond.

Her story of the Element and of the stones is largely lost on me, the implications of the items of which she speaks not available in the dark recesses of my mind. I have only ever known Beqanna. But the moral of her story is not lost to me, in spite of the many intricacies of her tale. Order must be established, even in the most chaotic of times - perhaps most, then. That, in the end times, there must be a calm whose precision pierces even the fabrics of fate itself.

At long last, the sea creature agrees to my terms - agrees to be a subkingdom to the Sanctuary, answering to her and obeying what few laws I have established for her plague-ridden land. Despite my success, a strange, otherwordly anxiety begins crawling across my skin. My whithers twitch in an attempt to be rid of it, but the motion only reveals the effectiveness of her powers; as her water-logged voice continues to reverberate around me, my eyes narrow.

"I want you in power, Yidhra. But you are The Sanctuary's subordinate - you are my subordinate - and what work we do together will but entirely up to the discretion of each of my individual subjects. As for me personally, this is the extent to which I wish to parley with you. In light of our agreement and your cooperation, I bid you good day."

Inhaling with a shudder, my eyes close; and in the dream which immediately greets me, I see Yidhra as she once was, the monstrosity that her figure was in a land that I cannot begin to fathom.

I pull away - I've no wish to play with an eldritch being such as her in my dreams.

I have night terrors enough.

When she looks to find me again, in the awakened world, I am gone - teleported via dream to a spot elsewhere on the Cove.



@[Yidhra]