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  • 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


    Out with the golden we sew // Glim + Khaedrik/Solace/Any
    #1
    They flow together as a river does to the ocean, conduits for energy and life that ultimately become one. I stare in fascination as Dim swallows the girl with his being, and then comes together like a too-thick mist into the shape of a bat. Fanged, like me; my tongue runs over said decorations at the thought. Although he speaks to her and her along, I decipher from this subtle shift that he likes me; that he approves.

    I can only hope that she does, too. For she is not some dumb foal, fresh out of the womb; she has eyes that strive to see, and a body that will take her to see it; it being whatever she chooses. I smile at the thought, again thinking to the potential of the being before me. Such grace in a little body, though I'm coming to see it more as a grace of the mind. Glim understands far more than some of the adults of Beqanna - than some of the current rulers.

    (In truth, my heart aches at the thought of this girl growing up in the political climate that is due to erupt into a violent storm at any moment. She ought to stay tucked away in the corner until peace returns, though it hasn't left yet - but one can taste it in the air, this change across Beqanna. Big things are coming, and if it were my choice, I would gather all the children in one area and spare them the ugly mess of things... But then again. Hyaline was designed with the intention of being a safe-hold - especially for children. Hyaline is the only place that Glim has a chance of surviving what next shall come; had anyone other than me approached her today, had she not taken a shining to my black fangs and nutmeg eyes - she would be in perilious danger. So, in truth, my heart aches; but this is the best option for her.)

    Dim holds my gaze as Glim commits my brother's name to memory, and an understanding passes between us. But for all that he is a manipulation, I respect his existence nonetheless; for I am a birther of things otherworldy. I have been a conduit for two lives from the dreamworld to here. I manipulated them into literal existence - and this shadow bat, this yellow-eyed soul; he is of the same nature. Shadow and dream are not so very different from one another; as my dreams are to Dim, so too is Glim to me. Kindred; connected; tethered.

    Glim offers a thoughtful statement on the topic of my power of nightmares, and I nod my head, though avert my gaze. The truth is that I am not always the smiling, upright, noble woman she sees me as today. In fact, I am more often one of darkness. Birther of demons, seducer of royalty, suicide attempter. Balance must be kept, and I have failed to keep it; and in the presence of such an unmarred life, the guilt of having submitted to the darkness overrides my ability to keep a presentable expression.

    But the pained look passes, and I raise my gaze to hers again. My mouth feels chalky, but I refuse to brush her off in the name of goddamned propriety. She deserved to know. "It's not always easy to keep the balance, my friend." My brow furrows, but I hold her gaze almost as if to look away would be a fault on both our parts. "But I hope that you hold on for as long as possible."

    Shuddering, I shake off the weightedness of this last exchange, and turn to gaze at the setting sun. When Glim's eyes follow, hope returns to my darkened chest, and I wonder if she will choose to accompany me back to Hyaline. Gods, I hope so. And as her little shoulders square off and her voice rings out strongly and with a well-earned pride, I cannot help the genuine grin that alights on my darkened lips. How strongly I feel for this little life already; how passionately I will protect her.

    "Let us go."

    --

    Darkness has just begun to truly settle as we reach the scentlines of Hyaline. The journey went by quickly, as I only stopped twice to allow Glim a rest; passing by Sylva and Loess makes me anxious these days, and I couldn't afford to get either of us captured and held for ransom right now. There's too much at stake - in this moment in particular, Glim's life being the foremost priority. 

    But we are here now, and with a smile cast in the girl's direction, I raise my head to whinny an open-ended greeting into the kingdom. For Khaedrik, perhaps, or Solace; even Svedka might come. At the thought of that last, the golden stallion, I wonder if he will come bearing an apple, too; he's been rather odd lately, coming and bringing me gifts of apples for no reason besides he's Svedka and he has no real responsibilities here except to be cutsie I guess.

    Anyhow!

    Snorting and leaning down to snatch a biteful of my homeland's succulent grass, I continue walking for some time before swallowing and inhaling to speak. "I hope you aren't too tired from the journey, Glim. I would have taken more time, but there's tension in Beqanna and stopping for too long puts us at a great risk. As it is, we're here now, and there's caves by the lake to sleep in if you'd like; but if you have the energy, seeing the lake is always what people like most." I smile again, fangless now after the long journey, but hoping that she'll still like me even without the black teeth. "It's not so far, but if you need to stop, we can."

    @[glim] I love these two so much!!
    [Image: kag]
    dreamweaver
    #2
    Solace dreams of gathered dead, of soil made fertile at the expense of the living, and these dreams startle her into bleary-eyed wakefulness. Fall has come, bringing the cool night air which will soon change the foliage and sweep away summers blossoms. This chill seeps past Solace's summer coat and into her bones as she lies in the emptiness of her maple grove. The dew has already fallen, covering her as it does all organic matter, and she rises to shake away the damp and her unsettling dreams alike. Dawn will break soon, and when it does the spectral queen will be in the sky to meet it.

    She is not a dreamer by nature; she is practical and she would rather think than feel. But rarely does she get what she wants, despite her title, for she has a habit of asking too much.

    But for now, she has a request which should be a simple one- she wants Kagerus.

    Hyaline's Protector is a far-traveling woman. A woman of action who carries the scent of every corner of Beqanna on her bone-and-blood coat. Her many absences had not gone unnoticed by the winged caretaker.

    Kagerus seems to bee off on one of these self-appointed missions today. Solace spends the day in flight, gliding between mountain peaks and mentally noting the location of many of Hyaline's residents - especially the new refugees. Things seem to be peaceful in The Sanctuary and no newcomers appear in the foothills... that is until the sun begins to dip low.

    Solace is about to turn away from the no-mans-land outside Hyaline, to give up her patrol in favor of her twin (if he has not already found a companion for the night) when movement catches her eye.

    Kagerus.

    Without a second thought, she alters her course. A melodic call leaves her as she flys towards the filly and Hyaline's Protector, surprised but happy to greet them. She lands delicately on a soft piece of earth between the stones, before closing the distance at a trot. "Welcome back," she says as she approaches with her eyes locked on Kagerus'. Solace is struck by the inadequacy of those words to express what she truly meant, and she accentuates them with a brief touch of her muzzle to Kagerus' dark cheek before her attention turns to the filly.

    "Hello," She says to the child, as she extends her muzzle to exchange scents in the familiar way of her ancestors. "I'm Solace, whats your name?"
    #3
    Glim knows that she has her mother’s brand of curious wanderlust at this age. Knows too, that she probably has the oily black mare’s sense of reckless abandon that actually masked careful thought and cunning. Father had told her the stories of how she gathered foals to her side for some cause long since forgotten and how they’d stormed kingdoms in a rush of eager little bodies. He’d made mention of breathless giggles and endless devotion to their fearless leader.

    It was hard to imagine father laughing let alone giggling with a measure of unrestrained glee. He was such a somber fellow. More so since mother continued to wander and did so more without him. Glim understood that they cared greatly for one another because that’s how she came to be but also realized that they were two cast individuals that seemed not to require the consistency of the other being around to keep them going. 

    He gave her smiles, sometimes. Grave manipulations of the mouth that sometimes failed to reach his eyes. Not because he didn’t adore her - she took after him with her spotty skin! But because he saw her mother in her and there was a story covered in sorrow there that she never once asked about and he never volunteered. So Glim did what Glim does best in the vein of her family, she wandered off and was thankfully smart enough to survive.

    (Dim most likely played a great part in that!)

    It is no surprise either that she decides to go. She might not be surging ahead into the kingdom at the forefront of a wild herd of stick-legged children but she is certain of her decision, standing firm in the face of the hurricane winds of political upheaval that blow and whip all around them in passing. What else is to come is not something she is given to know beyond the fact that she trusts Kagerus of the dream-fangs and honest eyes. 

    Glim believes that she trusts her implicitly in such a small amount of time. There has been nothing but truth and respect between them and she trusts the breathy reach of intuition that rises up from her gut when it comes to trusting the blood-and-bone mare. It is also that sense of kinship that has her quick to follow since no one in her immediate and known family is like her. Dream and shadow are so alike and she is even quicker to recognize this. 

    But the longer she looks up the mare’s face, the more familiar she becomes with it and can start to read the nuances of every muscle-tick and brain-impulse. It is most noticeable when the eyes are averted away from her that she understands a tiny measure of the enormity of the guilt and pain that chase one another across a face she is no longer looking at out of respect for privacy. She stares down at the ground in front of her little hooves for the space of a few breaths. Just long enough to feel the weight of that aching gaze resettle on her and cause her to raise her head back up to meet it. 

    Oh her heart!
    Her little heart! The imagined squeeze of it as something other than blind muscle is what compels her to step forth and bury her face in the mare’s chest. She rubs a cheek and the tip of her nose over that dark skin before saying, “No but we can try. Sometimes that’s the best we can do.” Glim understands. She is a child with light and innocence in her heart despite a strange upbringing and being no stranger to the perils and pitfalls of life that her parents have made her aware of. 

    It helps too that she has her own brand of darkness. Perhaps that is part of her own dangerous charm. She only keeps Dim’s company to be safe from the allure of robing herself in a writhing mass of shadow and wreaking havoc with an army of such at her command. Power like this can corrupt and every day is a constant battle against that. So she understands, she really does for all that she is a third of the size that Kagerus is.

    Then it is time to go. The moments of introspection and revelation are over. Night comes far too swiftly to their corner of the field. Which means it will dog their heels for much of the trip throughout the lands until last they make it to the kingdom stronghold that Kagerus had spoken of. Glim feels Dim lift off her back and take to the oncoming night with the same sort of thrill that she always feels when night is closing in on them. The long dark arms of shadows threaten to swoop in and gather them up for a hug that Glim would gladly stand there for if it was not for Kagerus urging them to go.

    So they go and with only two opportunities to take a short breather before they were off again. Glim kept up as if her feet had little wings attached to them. Or as if the shadows gave her sustenance enough to renew her strength as they continued to fall all about the lands they passed through. Soon she is lifting her nose like a stallion to the air and pulling a whole bunch of new and exciting scents into her lungs. Her nostrils continuously quiver like independent hearts and every so often, an excited snort leaves her.

    Kagerus slows; whinnies an announcement of her presence for all to hear and Glim remains close to her. The spotty filly is dancing around on her toes as the mare snorts and grabs a bite of grass. Here the air is cool and clean - mountain fresh! It is invigorating enough to keep Glim wide-eyed and awake, and even laughing as Kagerus asks if she is tired. “Not at all!” she crows happily, still prancing around. The fangs are gone but she doesn’t mourn their absence, darting in close to nuzzle the red-brown shoulder with a quick gesture of affection before spinning off just as fast and chanting, “The lake! The lake! The lake”

    Dim is still a bat. He swoops in and out over Glim’s head. Her enthusiasm is infectious and he cannot manage to settle his tiny bat-body to offer an apology to Kagerus for Glim’s behavior. It was rare for him to see her like this as if she was drunk on the very air they breathed. Yet it was somehow refreshing to see that she was at times a simple, easily excitable child too. 

    Before they can go there is an answering call that seems to come from up above. Glim whirls fast on her feet to meet the incoming creature - fast enough that neither of them should notice the glimmer of hope in her eyes that it was her mother. Neither the call nor the shape are draconic in any way and she smoothly covers up the crush of disappointment with a glib quirk if her lips that could only be considered a smile. 

    Glim is not surprised that she is not the source of the flying mare’s excitement initially. Kagerus is. The filly gives them room to touch and reconnect before squeezing her way back in to Kagerus’s side. If she didn’t know any better, she’d mistake them for sisters or something equally close. 

    There is a bond there that Glim can feel is sweet and deep - she is a highly perceptive child but does not mention that sense of sisterhood or other that she feels she has perhaps intruded upon it. It’s too sacred to speak of but she hopes that she has a taste of it one day from the looks of the sweetly given touch to the cheek by one mare to the other. Now that nose is offered to her and she sticks her own to the point that they could touch but don’t. She breathes Solace’s scent in deep before letting the long breath she held back out. Then she boops the tip of Solace’s nose with her own, not bothering to stifle the giggle that followed. 

    Above them hovers the yellow-eyed bat that is her most faithful companion. Glim looks up and rewards him with a nod and a new shape. He is forced to land as she exercises her power over him and shapes him into a flop-eared rabbit that hops over to her and plants himself staunchly between her two front feet. So much for something terrifying, he thinks to her to which Glim giggles some more. “Glim and this is Dim,” she says with a fond touch to the shadow-rabbit’s head.

    @[Kagerus] @[Solace] <333
    #4
    In all honesty, I've never given even half a thought about my mother. She'd tricked my father into believing she was his wife through some sort of magic, and she died after birthing me - that's the extent of what I know about her. Perhaps more strange than even this is my genuine contentedness with  having been raised by a single father; never once in my life have I yearned to replace what was missing. But in truth, I never felt that missing. I only felt - and continue to feel - love for my father, as he was, and continues to be even in his old age, the ultimate caretaker.

    Furthermore, when we moved to the Jungle, I took on all the feminine role models any little filly could bear to have - so I am not lacking in my own feminine charms now, though they happen to come with fangs more often than not. But those fangs are sheathed for today, as Glim and I are walking along; perhaps peeking out once or twice when we come to a more heated topic of discussion, but for the most part, I act the lady.

    When silence takes us, I can't help but to think back to the last minute before our departure from the field. Each time my mind's eyes goes there, my heart squeezes terribly, and something that's both smile and grimace marks my expression. She'd hugged me, as a child would her mother, buried between my breast with an innocent, childish abandon. I'd been shocked at first, frozen solid at the youthful affection, but she said that we can try. And the words had struck true to me; we can try. Before she'd had the chance to pull away, my neck was arching over Glim's painted buckskin figure, returning the embrace with a few soothing actions of my mouth against her skinny whithers.

    My heart squeezes again upon remembering this, and I know why: because I liked holding her, and feeling her close to me. Because I don't like holding my own son, and never have like that. Because I'm a confused, broken mess; a failure of a mother and worthless in the eyes of one such as Glim... Except that I'm not. She sees past my failures. And again, this is but another reason for my heart to squeeze. Too many more squeezes, and I fear that it may shatter.

    But the scentlines are here, and my troubled mind becomes distracted by the mirth of seeing Glim lift her nose to smell the air so exuberantly. "You're cute," I mutter affectionately as the girl trembles and snorts with the energy of a thousand grown horses stuffed into a half-sized, stringy little body. As my call rings out around us, I cock a brow at her antics, adding my low chuckle to the bubbling brook of her laughter. When she comes close to brush against me, I intuitively move to blast her little fast with warm air, sending her off with forelock all a-hoo as she prances and spins and sings.

    (She could be your son, you know.)
    Please, I'm having a good day, let me have this.
    (You deserve nothing! Your own son is standing neglected with his father in some remote thicket far away. You could be showing him Hyaline. You could be making an impact on his life, as you are on Glim's.)
    I don't have anything to say to you... You're right, and there's no argument I have to fight that.
    (Worthless slut.)
    Please, stop...

    As if she could read my thoughts and knew I needed rescuing, the familiar sound of Solace's wing beats drew me from my revere. My lungs fill with air as if for the first time as I turn to catch the sight of the beautiful woman alighting on the earth, and all the darkness inside of me slips away, disappointed to be so easily conquered. Oh, Solace...

    "Hello, love," I murmur in response, moving fluidly against the white-gold woman with a press of my lips to the warm, pulsing underside of her jaw. I linger there for a moment, eyes fluttering as I inhale her soothing, familiar scent. But she is withdrawing before I do, and I remember myself with a little start, stepping away (though only a step) to look again towards Glim with a smile upon my lips.

    "Solace is the leader of Hyaline," I explain easily, nutmeg eyes going over to said mare as the words leave me. Gods, she's gorgeous. I look away again before I'm able to be entranced once more. "If you ever need anything, she's the one to call for."

    Head tossing, I suddenly remember where we'd been heading; the Lake!" Comes my excited cry. "I was just going to show Glim the lake," I explain with a big, happy smile - as if all I am is big and happy, as if I hadn't been crumpled and suicidal weeks ago. "Would you care to join us, queen Solace?" The question is rhetorical, and the title is more of an innuendo than anything respectful; but with a nose bent down to push Glim on ahead of us as her baby tail whisks past, I step in time with Solace, her wing brushing my side and a secret smile exchanged with her.

    "She could be ours, you know," I whisper when Glim is just out of hearing range, reaching over to brush a strand of forelock out of Solace's beautiful cerulean gaze. "I could make that happen; we could raise a princess together."

    @[Solace]
    [Image: kag]
    dreamweaver
    #5
    Solace is not immune Kageru's kiss, and it nearly unravels her in the best of ways. Despite their little onlooker, her eyes slide closed as the painted mare's lips create a spark just above her jugular. I could get used to this, she thinks almost guiltily, but the soft smile which pulls at the corners of her pale lips does not expose anything other than contentment. 

    But she remembers their guest before she is tempted to cozy up any further, and she extends her greeting. 

    Solace contemplates the feral scent of the child before their noses meet in a soft, innocent kiss of their own The filly's giggle causes the queen's smile to stretch, reaching for the lightly crinkled the corners of her eyes. She retaliates with a playful nip (which clamps onto nothing but air) before returning her head to its usual height. "It is very nice to meet both of you," Solace says to the unusual pair as her curious gaze follows the shadow creature during its' transformation. She doesn't worry about the dangers of another powerful child in Hyaline, not while Kagerus is beside her and smiling. 

    Then Kagerus is reminding the girl of Hyaline's top attraction, and pulling Solace back in with her innuendo. The dreamer was the only one who could make a title sound so suggestive - although a few had tried - and Solace can feel her pulse rising with thoughts of the places they could go in their dreams. "I was just heading to the lake myself before I saw you three," she remarks to them all in general as they fall into their places the trail. Then her voice lowers as she and Kagerus find themselves walking side-by-side. "I was hoping you would be back tonight, I missed you."

    Kagerus' next words cause the usually poised mare to clip her toe on a stone in the path. Motherhood was not something Solace often considered. Tangerine had set a marginal example (at best), and even though her sixth spring was approaching, she had yet to feel the biological prompting to nest. But with Kagerus' words, her indifference is replaced by a spark of excitement. "We will have to ask her first," she counters teasingly, even as she leans into the intimate, fleeting touch on her brow. 

    "I would like that," she corrects, as she presses a lingering kiss to the corner of Kagerus' mouth.

    "But If we are planning on keeping her, I think we better catch her." With a bump of her hip to Kagerus' flank and a cheeky smile, Solace picks up an easy lope across the stony terrain. "Glim and Dim!" She calls as she pulls ahead of the group, "This way, It's not too late for a swim!"




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