Pangea was exciting, true, but it became suffocating under the sudden burst of greenery. With Carnage gone it was slowly transforming into a normal land, less of a waste land of hopelessness. It looked like the promise of the future - a reality that (to be honest) disgusted and upset Harmonia more than anything else. So she left it for a bit, Ajatar following her in her usual silence, bounding with innocence.
The child was anything but, and Harmonia knew enough to keep her space and press the girl only when necessary. It turns out she had the temper of her forefathers and at the smallest slight would erupt into a volcano of rage and her...ability. Disease. Whatever you wanted to call it.
A better mother would shield the girl but Harmonia was not a good mother, or a great mother. She was vengeful and knew only about quid pro quo. Her daughter was a weapon and she intended to use her when the opportunity struck.
Under her watchful eye the snake scaled girl wandered far enough away, just at the edges of Harmonia's vision, to a lone horse. Her ears pitch forward and despite her outward, shocking appearance she smiles wide and easy and in her childish voice says, "Hello!" HARMONIA the pied piper
@[Lauchlan]
12-29-2016, 02:07 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-29-2016, 02:07 AM by Lauchlan.)
 Everything just seems to be falling in to place. He has a wonderful family, a friend, finally and, as of recently, possibly a new home of his own. For the first time in his life he feels like he has a place in the world, a small place, but it’s his all the same. And, all in all, life is good.
There’s a wide smile on his face as he walks into the meadow, and a bounce to his step that’s never been there before. There’s a new confidence to him, a new openness. For the first time his anxiety isn’t holding him back and he’s looking forward to the future with anticipation.
He’s waltzing through the centre of the meadow, head held uncharacteristically high, when the girl first approaches. His brown eyes catch on her strange scaly markings, but continue on to her face with a welcoming smile. He knows much about being different, he isn’t one to judge based on an odd appearance. “Hello there!” His head leans forward so that their eyes will meet at the same height. “I’m Lauchlan, what’s your name?” He finds it a bit strange that she’s out here all alone, being so young. “Where are your parents?”
the itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout
The scaled child does not mind wandering far from her mother - the mare was ruthless sometimes. She'd chide her, get her to do - things - the angry things Ajatar preferred not to do. It's not in a child's nature to be angry, but Ajatar was finding her nature changing slowly but surely. She felt the hot pangs of anger as her mother spoke to her coil up more readily and had to force them down. It's not as though her (sickness? trait? disease? what was it!) didn't hurt her too, she was not immune to its cold tendrils. The way the boils displaced her scales, the way she itched for days until it healed.
If anything, the further from her mother the happier.
"Oh don't worry," Ajatar tells the stallion - Lauchlan - with a broad smile. Her smokey black coat has the bits of grey mostly around her eyes, and it's fetching. At least she thinks so. "I'm Ajatar, and..." she begins, but she's cut off all too soon by her.
Mother.
The festering wound on her side.
Harmonia is all of 14 hands, on a good day, and can't weigh more than 500 pounds...but she's impressive. Lithe, immaculate coat, old eyes - something about her screams power. Even without her magic fully restored she is a lethal force and she can see this creature, this Lauchlan, as something she'd rather not deal with.
"Can I help you?" asks the palomino, her eyes murderous on the stallion that speaks to her child. Her asset, really, she cares little about blood relations. Ajatar belongs to her, just as her power does.
The girl seems friendly enough, and his smile broadens in answer to her own. It’s hard not to feel cheerful in the face of such a bright and open manner.
But when she tells him not to worry, a strange niggling sensation in Lauchlan’s head tells him something isn’t right. He barely has time to consider the feeling however, when the girl’s introduction is cut off by the sudden appearance of a short palomino mare.
“Can I help you?” He’s frozen, quailing under the look of pure loathing being directed his way. “Uh …” His lips work for a moment, trying to find the right words to reassure this little personification of fury. “You must be her mother!” He smiles awkwardly, trying and failing to keep his unease out of his voice. “I’m so glad! I was afraid she might be lost!” His eyes gaze hopefully into the mare’s face, hoping to find some sign of patience and understanding there.
He shifts uncomfortably, his body rocking slightly from side to side as he tries to think of a way to gracefully extricate himself from the situation. Unfortunately none occurs to him, and he’s left with option B. That is, extracting himself awkwardly.
“Weeeeell I’d better be going then …” He tries to smile and bob his head in a casual manner, but it just looks terribly strained. “It was nice meet you Ajatar! And Ajatar’s mom!” He turns and starts to walk away, forcing himself to move at a slow and leisurely walk. He’s almost to the bushes, almost there …
the itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout
"Stop." He's made it to the bushes when Harmonia barks her command, curious about the stallion. He's right to be afraid of the small mare with the harsh look in her eyes. She is unkind, and it makes Ajatar nervous. The little girl moves to just in front of her mother, blocking her new friend. "It's okay, Mother. He's just a friend I met just now. Very kind, really mother - very kind..." she trails off when she realizes her mother isn't listening. She's studying the stallion closely, considering him.
Truth be told, Harmonia was not about to give favors for free. She is not kind, she is about bartering. Wages. She watches the stallion and his broken off wings and considers that he might have something to trade for her. See, she knows that wings were not common before the...whatever the fairies want to call it ... and they're rewarded on a temporary basis to those who lost other traits. Traits they needed to win back. And Harmonia happened upon a fairy that granted her the ability to give five little ponies their juju back.
For a price, that is.
"Your wings," she calls to him, pushing by the little scaled girl. "Are they one of those temporary things the fairies gave out in return for their arrogance?"
“Stop.”
Damn, he was almost free. His hoof freezes in mid air. There’s a tone to her voice that makes him obey immediately. A tone that tells him she is not to be trifled with.
He can hear little Ajatar trying to reassure her mother, but the child trails off, obviously realizing that her efforts are futile.
Lauchlan has the distinct feeling that he’s about to get kicked, or bitten.
He forces a smile back onto his face (though it looks frozen and afraid), and turns slowly back to face the mare. He doesn’t want to make a sudden movement and set her off.
He waits then, expecting to be berated for approaching little Ajatar, and possibly be accused of being a creep or a kidnapper or something. He’s rather unprepared for what the mare actually does say.
“Your wings, are they one of those temporary things the fairies gave out in return for their arrogance?” Lauchlan’s head cocks to the side, brown eyes widening in confusion. “… huh?” His wings?! What do they have to do with anything?
He stretches his wings out for a moment, head tucking around to take a look, before returning his cautious gaze to the palomino. “Yeah, they were from the faeries?” Of course, he’d had wings before, only mutilated little stumps of wings (and he’d had his … problem) … he’s just not about to share that with this angry stranger.
the itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout
Harmonia misreads the situation. Without her magic she is fumbling in the dark, but she knows where an opening is and knows how to take it. She doesn't do this for the others, she does it for herself. Collecting those useless fairy tokens to regain her magic, to bargain with those putrid flying things. They promised her magic to return but instead Ajatar took in while still in the womb, her pestilence born with her to usher in her new kind of savagery. The girl doesn't know it, she doesn't know what vile hatred runs in her blood, but she will soon.
She'll learn.
Harmonia thinks this is her golden opportunity - the last trait to restore. After this she is free of this burden and can go to those stupid cow fairies and demand her magic back. She ran their errands, she completed their tasks, now it's her turn. She knows only the traits of greatness, of magic and power. She doesn't know of those other traits that bump in the night, the ones most horses would rather forget they have. A wonderful, wonderous thing to be so privileged, isn't it Harmonia?
By now Ajatar has slunk to the side and watches her mother carefully. She knows her mother is not without a price.
"What did they take from you?" she presses, taking a step toward him, eyes wide. "I can give it back."
A promise.
A threat.
There’s an intensity there that unnerves him, and as she presses forward, he slinks back beneath her gaze. “Oh um …” He feels more than a little uncomfortable. “My trait is … well, really not that great. I don’t want it back. I’m just fine with these wings!” He knows most would probably leap at the possibility of getting their traits back, and he has a suspicion that this mare will want to know why he is not like the majority. But he can’t bring himself to discuss his spider problem with this mare he doesn’t know.
But he hopes she at least understands wanting to keep the wings. They give him such happiness and freedom. There’s no way he’d want to trade that for … well, his problem.
He glances nervously back at the bushes, painfully aware of both how close and how far away they are. He could make a break for it, but that would be awkward beyond belief. Even more awkward than he usually is. His eyes return to the palomino, and he tries to offer what he thinks might be a winning smile. “Well, I should probably be on my way. I’m glad Ajatar wasn’t lost. And it was really nice to meet you!” He lifts a foot, but he doesn’t step or turn away. This time he waits for permission. the itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout
He should have run.
Really.
Harmonia is not an idiot, though it doesn't take a master mind to see how uncomfortable he is at the suggestion of a return to his powers. Something must bug him and Harmonia is in a giving (as in, giving shit) sort of mood. She could press him but she worries the flighty thing would take off for the hills. She couldn't have that, could she?
Ajatar sees the look in her mothers' eyes and takes a step toward her. She's unsure what her mother will do, after all, she didn't have magic. She had nothing. She was traitless and empty, whereas Ajatar was great and strong. She could bring the mare down if she wanted, with just the right pushing or prodding...
But Harmonia isn't paying attention to the little scaled girl. No, she's focusing on the retreating figure. And, just like that, the winds stirr and poof! She returns his trait to him. It's the magic given to her by the fairies, the last of it - honestly - though this time without a bargain. It's not that she wouldn't have preferred to trade it for something more useful...it's that this is infinitely more fun. And Harmonia loves to have horrible fun at others expense.
"Sharing is caring," she says lightly, a slow smile spreading over her face.
|
