• Logout
  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "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


    fur, any
    #1
    Ruan
    "How?"
    Her innocent astonishment tugged a smile from him. The wonder in her eyes warmed him through, this man of ice. She reminded him what it was like to have a child at his feet, and how badly he missed it. It surprised him just how much. Not just any child. One like her; a bit wild, like him. It made him feel more connected, less like a man without a purpose. Drifting from one responsibility to another. The monotony that had settled so solidly in his life. Maybe in his way, he needed her as much as she needed him.

    "Safe," she echoed and slid carefully to his side. Then he did touch her. His muzzle lowered and he breathed into the hair at her little nape. It felt good, she smelled good, and he found he wanted more than anything just then to keep her. His chin tugged her a step closer, sweeping his cheek against her neck in a display of affection that surprised even him. It was brief, and his heart hardened again as he straightened. His stare was sharp, but he turned it away from her.

    Come.

    He controlled his pace to make certain she could keep up, safely at his side. They passed through the forest on their journey there, and he kept vigilant watch on their surroundings. It wasn't so long ago, that encounter with the demon, and he didn't dare chance another run-in with the beast. Most especially with this precious fawn-child in tow. His eyes flit from one thing to another, catching on the slightest movements. He walked with his head low as he breathed in all the scents, much like his wolf counterpart, and his steps were methodical and silent.

    Come to think of it, hers were too. Raised by the deer she smelled like, she must've learned naturally to keep as quiet as she could. If he tucked her down somewhere, would she lie in wait for his return as a fawn would for its mother? He stopped, looked down at her.

    No, best to get her safely home first. They continued. The silence was comfortable for him, so he didn't even think to talk with her on the way. And he didn't stop until they reached the river that broke the Forest from the redwoods of Taiga. He looked over his shoulder cautiously, back the way they had come. Quiet. Still. Safe. He turned back and formed a bridge of ice, layering the top in snow for traction. Glacial blue eyes turned to her again. He thought about saying something, but suddenly wasn't sure what. So wild, feral. It was no wonder his ventures away from home were so infrequent.

    Instead, he gestured to it with a jerk of his chin. Silent command to cross, so that he could disintegrate the magic and secure them on the other side. Within Taiga. Home. Oh, he supposed there was something he could say, should say.

    I am Ruan. This, he said looking up into the canopy and all around, then back to her, is Taiga. Home. He paused, oddly afraid she might reject it as her home too. Do you like it?



    @[fur]



    Reply
    #2
    Heda
    She had missed him, father. His warming nostrils firing between her ears, and the gentle tug of a forelock. She had missed him, and the once little girl she was had grown. She was taller, still Juvenile but more dainty, and elegant. She missed his touch, she missed his wings, but most of all she missed the time they spent and cherished together. As a child she never realized the closeness with her father would grow weaker, and she never realized that she was less dependent upon both of her parents. Until now, She watches from above as he brings a new child into Tagia's grounds, and her heart fractures for a moment, that was her place. That was her father. And she wasn't planning on sharing him, with anyone except the few orphans that were apart of their family. But this child wasn't.

    With a spark of jealousy lighting a flame within those hazel eyes of hers, the girl dived downwards ground bound, and with an elegant landing upon all fours. Head strides forwards, flurs of golden flecked wings clasped neatly onto either side. And with hesitant words she glances at the child, and at her father, with envious eyes. "Dad.." She speaks hesitantly gesturing her muzzle towards the child beside him. Her navy tinged pistons, wishing to come forwards so she could spike sadness, and perhaps even fear in the child with one touch. But she doesn't, she doesn't know his intentions. What he's going to do with the child, and if the child was truly joining their family.

    "Who is this?" She gestures once more towards the child. Her expression settle, and neutral not necessarily the friendliest. Her gaze remains cold, amidst the jealously welling deep within her soul.She needed to know, this wasn't her replacement. Her bond with her father was special, and she was perhaps closer to him than any other of her siblings, he was her guardian, her protecter, her winters wolf, and most of all he was her daddy.
    Go ahead. Laugh at the girl who loved too easily
    [Image: dc9b5pd-da224f9b-4062-4ac8-924f-4dd26147...1Y8jmwEofM]
    Ex-Queen of Loess
    ・❥・
    Reply
    #3

    be humble, for you are made of earth

    Fur receives no explanation in regards to the ice-antlers atop his head that mimic her own calcified bony antlers. Still, he is similar in antlers and wildness, and she overlooks the fact that he does not answer her - not at first and not in the way that she most expects it, words. It comes as touch, in the way that his nose buried itself in her furry little nape and she snuggles deeper into his spotted side. His brief affection surprised her, made her take a step back and away from him as she judged his actions momentarily. Fur was ever cautious - overly suspicious, but he gave her no reason to fear him, only that one command, come.

    She obeyed, hesitantly, but she obeyed.

    Travel - fear - trust; they had exhausted her in turns and though he slowed his pace, she stumbled and struggled to keep up. The herd had never slowed for her, and she often chased them through the trees for days until finding them in nests of grass near streams that babbled too loudly to her in her sleep, making it short and fitful. She follows him; tired but diligent, her nose furious in its sampling of the air for anything awry and her ears never seem to stay still amidst the flaxen hair that tumbles crazily all down her face and neck, full of burrs and heavy knots. Fur bears a striking resemblance to a fawn as she trails him, close and closer still, almost able to secure a mouthful of his tail as a lifeline from her to him in case she needs it.

    She nearly ran right into him as he stopped so abruptly that it caused her to huff quietly in disgruntlement. Fur peered up at him only to meet his stare and her mouth grew slack in surprise, why did he look at her that way? It was a look of consideration that made her squirm in place, unable to stand still for very long beneath such a long hard stare as that until she looked back up at him and gave him the tiniest of smiles that she could manage, or remember. Smiling still seemed a strange habit to her, as the deer never smiled with their mouths, or even their eyes but she had known the liquid shine of love in her doe-mother’s, that much she was sure of! Then, their trek resumed and glad of the short breather they had taken, she kept to his pace better this time.

    The river loomed; she heard it before she saw it. A bit of unease bloomed as she backed up behind him, curious but cautious, as he crafted a bridge of ice over the river. He meant for them to cross it! She became nervous, not sure if she could trust his creation even though she trusted him, but the jerk of his chin in the ice-bridge’s direction meant he’d brook no disobedience from her and before he could think of snapping his teeth at her to hasten her across, she hopped up on the bridge and sprinted across it on quick clattering feet softened and slowed by the snow until she skidded to a stop on the other side. Fur listened to him, looked around in awe at the immensity of the trees. She understood home, but little of anything else he said to her in his rough burr of a voice that she found soothing. It made her seek his side and sequester herself there, in the soft thickets of his fur.

    “Ru-an, home.” she echoed dreamily, even as his name came out broken by its foreignness on her tongue.

    She might have answered him further had it not been for the fright the bird-horse caused her. The creature strode forth, impatient and jealous, and Fur backed away, abdicating his side to the tempest of strangeness that spun itself out in a small hurricane of cold looks and flippant gestures. She rounded his haunch and hid herself there, antlers catching in his tail as she peers back at them from the staunch shelter of his hind legs. Fur feels small, shrunken by the lack of welcome from this child of his - it called him dad, she recognized relation even if she did not wholly know the word, - and seethed. Seethed that she fled and hid, acting on instinctive impulse to a perceived threat - her, buckskin - navy - feathers, and Fur bared her teeth in response.

    HTML by Call

    Reply
    #4
    Ruan
    They arrived and she snuggled herself into him. His frozen heart melted a little more, and he carefully returned the affection with a gentle tug at her nape and a sweep across her neck. Her dreamy little voice and the broken way she said his name pulled another rare smile to his face, warmed his eyes. She was a perfect little thing.

    And then his golden girl was there, a beautiful mix of sunshine and twilight and his smile widened. She landed with such grace, and he was instantly proud at how swiftly and astutely she'd learned the ways of the sky. She was meant for the skies, day-and-night child. "Dad.." she said, and he tried to lift a wing invitingly out of habit to hug her close to his side, but the muscles only rolled uselessly beneath his taut skin.

    Heda, he grinned, ignoring the pain of his loss. She came with a wave of negative energy though, and his smile faltered. "Who is this?"  Sharp, jealous. He frowned, and the little fawn scuttled behind him, letting him shield her from the bad energy. Didn't Heda know how much she meant to him? There was no other like her. None so expressive and bright, and how quickly she could turn from sad to happy. His special girl.

    Heda.. he said more heavily, a warning in his tone. Fawn would be welcomed here. She is staying. Finality. He held her with a hard stare long enough to be certain she understood, then softened again. I don't think she has a name yet, he commented in invitation to come meet her. Blue eyes twisted around to the little one wrapped and tangled in his tail, little teeth showing in defense. He tsked and bared his teeth at her for only a second, though his eyes were kind.

    No teeth unless you want to see mine.
    Safe, he said again, giving Heda a pointed look. They would not harm each other in any way. Both were precious to him, and both would be sheltered and loved.




    Reply
    #5
    Heda
    She stared at him with deep dismay, it was fine when he brought illae. He had her consent, he was still her daddy. But now as she watches him, and that little girl she can't help but grow jealous. With envious eyes she grows angered, sensing the thick layers of love and happiness pulsating from his body, she must fix this... She plucks fear from her barrel of emotions, her body ready to force it upon him. 

    But with his stern disappointed vocals, she halts. Staring at him, with disbelief. And then everything changes drastically, her gaze flickers with sadness, and she can't help it. "Dad..." She is instinctive to say sorry, something that was imprinted in her brain an apology. Something so small and useless yet so sincere. And with hesitant words she apologizes, "I'm sorry, forgive me.. these emotions are still quite overwhelming." She peers over at the child whom was currently baring her teeth, and chuckles silently to herself. What a silly little thing.

    She glances over at the horned girl, plucking joy from thin air, and bestowing it onto the little girl. "I'm Heda. I'm sorry about that. Do you have a name?"  She questioned with some form of elegance. 
    Go ahead. Laugh at the girl who loved too easily


    lol crap
    [Image: dc9b5pd-da224f9b-4062-4ac8-924f-4dd26147...1Y8jmwEofM]
    Ex-Queen of Loess
    ・❥・
    Reply
    #6

    be humble, for you are made of earth

    Fur stares; she is bold, brave - foolishly brave, even as she hides in the soot-dark strands of his tail. Only brave because she is hidden, or mostly hidden for as much as one of her small size can squeeze behind his large backside. Bared teeth and bright, hard eyes are all that she has beneath the scant still-growing tines of her antlers. But he bares his teeth back at her, a reprimand she is sure, since his eyes are kind above the angry mouth. Her own defenses crumble momentarily as she ducks her head down, clearly scolded but not altogether sorry for her reaction towards the buckskin.

    She angles an ear forward as he claims the other is safe.
    Fur is not entirely certain this is so, but she afforded him more trust than she has given most and if he claims she is safe then she believes it, even if she lifts her little head to pointedly stare at the buckskin one more time before emerging from the shelter of his flanks and back to the staunch heat of his shoulder, leaning against the steadiness of it (like a heartbeat, a lifeline, an old familiar trail she’d know even in the darkest of nights).

    Fur snorts; she feels odd all of a sudden - joyous?
    How can that be? A moment ago she was baring her teeth then snuggling back into the spotted stallion’s side and now, she feels an odd inflation of feeling in her gut that churns and bubbles but not in a bad way. It feels unnatural but not forced, just sudden and jarring - not natural, and she can remember the last time she felt this way and that alone is just sad and cruel and makes her face fall from the smile that all but graced it a moment ago. The last time such joy filled her heart was at the side of the herd grazing in the green fields, long into the lazy dusk - long before everything changed, and she found herself alone, like them but not them - like him and her, but not like them, like horses and deer, but some mutation in between.

    “Fur.” she murmurs, unsure of just how she came by that name but that’s all she knows herself as - scraps of fur, bits of bone, eyes and antlers, different. It was the difference that drove that from her, faster and harder than the howl of hounds on the hunt and she chased them, even then, she chased them in the memories of far away and not there that glistened in the dark gloss of her very animal eyes as she looked from her to him and back again.

    HTML by Call

    Reply




    Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)