"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
It is impossible to put into words how Kylin is exactly feeling. Not in the world she would’ve imagined munity to happen. She had experienced hostile takeovers before. The first had been led by her own grandfather, but Father had taken their family to some place safe. For a short summer they had settled in Hyaline, only to return home when the danger had been gone.
Back then it seemed like the right thing to do. She, and her twin brother, had been too young to get mingled up in something so nasty. But Kylin sure as hell wished she had been there to have simply experienced it while she had support from her family. Something she lacked during the second time strangers had come to take over Ischia. It had turned her whole world around, and Kylin has never really found peace with it.
Neither has she ever fully supported Krone’s rule. It is not that she dislikes the green mare, and perhaps she had been a little jealous that Ischia had chosen a newcomer óver her. Not that she had been a fit ruler, but hey, that hadn’t mattered to her conflicted mind. From there things had gone down, and further down, only for Kylin to end up in Hyaline for yet another summer. But this time she doesn’t return home to Ischia as a princess. Yet another surprise had been waiting for her.
Well, not one, two actually. The first had been Klaudius. She’d been stupid enough to leave him, her family, and the island that had been her home ever since she had been born. Memories of their night together makes her lips curl ever so slightly, sends a shiver down her back too. For the first time she had mattered.
It is the second surprise that confuses her, conflicts her even. Never had she expecting Brennen to actually mutiny against Ischia’s current rule. She had been sure he had meant to serve Ischia, not lead the island kingdom. But here she was, and her beloved home had been turned into a Brotherhood. Once again it had been taken from her, and now, she perhaps wasn’t even welcome anymore.
But leaving? No. Leaving is not on her mind. They couldn’t send her away, could they? She’s one of the few born here, would they really be cruel and kick her out? Kylin knows she has somewhere, someone, to return to, but Ischia had been one of the things that had been there all her life.
04-22-2018, 05:18 PM (This post was last modified: 05-10-2018, 02:12 PM by takei.)
Takei
They had won — the Brotherhood. Takei’s family had grown during those moments of strength, and in the moments after. Even if the mutiny had backfired (even if Krone had remained on the throne and perhaps even punished them for their uprising in her bitterness), the blood-and-bone stallion is still proud to know that he has a Brotherhood that will stand alongside him in even the worst of situations. It’s a thought that comforts him during the darkness of the night, providing warmth even during the chilliest of days.
It’s one of those nights that he finds himself reflecting upon their victory. The meeting had provided them with enough suggestions to fortify their creed and oaths, to pile together a collection of words they will live by. He finds himself upon Ischia’s shore, watching the waves slowly roll on and off the sand under the reflection of the moon.
For a moment — lost in his thoughts — he is transported back to the island of his dreams. He still isn’t convinced of the island’s reality, but it had felt real enough. Orion had seemed real; the emotions had been real. But whether it had been only a nighttime dream or something physical, the memories he can recall are hazy from time.
A sound draws his attention away from the inner workings of his mind. Red ears twist toward the treeline behind him, his head soon following to see if anyone were approaching him. The tide tickles at his ankles, only barely reaching over the slope of his hooves as it runs in and out. “Hello?” His voice is firm in the moonlit haze, unafraid of whomever might be hiding from his vision.
04-28-2018, 03:40 AM (This post was last modified: 04-28-2018, 03:41 AM by Kylin.)
Not once, not twice, but trice now her family had left Ischia. And only the first the does not leave a bitter taste in her mouth. It had been the only time she had left with her family, for a holiday spend in Hyaline. Both other times her family had left without her. Well okay, she hadn’t been around to leave with her, and she still could chose to join them, but Kylin’s ties to Ischia are stronger. They say that home is where the heart is, not in her case.
As of today, Kylin is still unsure how she stands with the Brotherhood. She has yet to talk to any of them – not true, she’d met Trekori, but the colt couldn’t decide whenever she was allowed to stay or not, right? – about her presence. Fear still holds her heart. Fear that they’d send her away. Kylin does not want to leave. Ischia had been her home even before any of them had even set foot on the island. At the same time the lavender woman knows, deep down, that Brennen isn’t the type of man to send someone away. Nonetheless, Kylin is glad that her pregnancy does not yet show.
Her legs carry her towards the beach. The sea still calls her, even after all this time, and Kylin does not have the heart to deny either of them the pleasure. As she breaks through the tropical foliage her eye land on the red and white male right away. The shock and surprise is enough to make her freeze. The panic is instantly there, making her heart hammer in her chest rather loudly, and she is more than ready to just turn around and flee.
The simple hello stops her from doing just that. He has noticed her, and it sure wouldn’t look right if she ran. It would simply make it look like he caught her in the middle of the act. But it does not make Kylin less hesitant to approach him, even if he is right there where she’d wanted to go, ankle deep in the sea water.
She does not reply, at least not right away, as she forces herself to move closer. Her frame is still too thin, but she does feel alive again. No dull coat, and a shimmer in her eyes again. “Hello..” she offers in return, coming to a halt somewhere to his right, with more than enough space between them for her to make a run for it when needed. Kylin’s muzzle drops towards the sea, all her muscles held tight, as her attention focusses on the tobiano male out of the corner of her eye.
Now and again he watches them, safe in the shadows of the kelp. Surfacing would make such observations easier, but the piebald creature would rather remain unnoticed and unobserved. Perhaps they've spotted him, but he'd seem to land creature nothing more than a young orca, testing out his boldness in the rocky shallows.
When he swims, his hooves are most often tucked to his chest, and the kelpie relies on his thick tail for thrust and his fins for steering. They aren't unlike wings in their general anatomy, his fins, and now they are spread wide at his sides while he hovers in the cerulean sea. A long stand of kelp brushes against his scaled side, and he twitches as it brushes a heavily scarred shoulder, though the wounds looks old and painless.
When his attention returns to the pair above,it is half-hearted. It is difficult to see them in the moonlight above, and it is past time that Ivar return to the island. Isobell is relying on him after all. Their chosen abode is small, a recently formed island that was just starting to show signs of life when they'd arrived. Lothbrok had loved it, exploring every bit of its surface, and an unconscious smile brushes across the kelpie's face at the thought.
Ivar needs to get back to her, to Lothbrok, to thier island, and to the suspicious addition to his mate's sides, which is much larger than expected this early in the season.
But then he realizes that one of the horses is Kylin, and he forgets that. He forgets himself entirely, it seems. The kelpie emerges from the forest and breaks the surface, shedding water down dark scales that would otherwise be a dull black in the moonlight. The opalescent scales on his face sparkle more intensely, creating the false image that a head with no body emerges from the darkness.
That's a useful tactic to startle children, but he is not thinking of that as he makes his way toward Kylin.
"I looked for you," he tells her, his eyes focused on the tobiano mare. "But you were gone and the main island was filled with newcomers." He glances up at the chestnut stallion only now, and there is something sharp in his dark eyes, but it is not really aimed at Takei.
"Who're you?" Asks the kelpie gruffly. In the past, he wouldn't have hesitated to put himself between the lavender mare and the other stallion, a natural instinct to keep her protected. Now though, he is not so sure how Kylin would react to that, to the fact that Ivar - who has been gone for far longer than he promised - thinks she is always in need of protection.
05-09-2018, 12:03 AM (This post was last modified: 05-10-2018, 02:12 PM by takei.)
Takei
Ischia is the closest thing he’s ever had to a home (and even in that regard it is much more her home than his) and it feels damn good. Although his parents did their best to raise him with tender words and open arms, the embrace of his mother or the tune of his father would never be home in his mind. They had provided him with enough knowledge to care for himself past their protection, but Trekk and Noori’s star-stricken eyes always turned back to each other in the end.
He didn’t mind the ferocity of his parents love. In fact, he hadn’t truly noticed it until Trekori came along to remind him of it. But Takei’s sure as hell glad to have his brother around, otherwise he might still be roaming Beqanna’s hidden hallways wondering if there’s a purpose to his life. Regardless of his parents affections or his brother’s arrival, Takei could never imagine leaving a place he has spent his entire life. He’s too much of a wanderer with worn-in hiking boots and a water-bottle tattooed with the bumper stickers of his travels.
Ischia has proved that his wayfaring heart can be sated at least somewhat. The kingdom life still rubs at the edges of his shoulders, forming minor bruises and itches that will fade with time until he has slipped easily into the roll. For now, his nighttime adventures along the beach (on a night such as tonight) help to comfort his drifting heart.
She comforts it, too. The moonlight shines on her lavender and pearl patches, illuminating her like a goddess of the night. Takei doesn’t recognize her, but she smells stronger of Ischia than even he (despite his association with the kingdom, underlying hints of Hyaline and Beqanna’s rural countrysides linger against his skin). She is hesitant and he can see it in the tension along her shoulders and the low sway of her head.
He’s about to respond to her soft echo when the ocean stirs before them. The Brother has seen whales and dolphins breach the waves frequently, especially when hunting, but it rarely happens at night. This isn’t any normal aquatic creature, especially when it calls across the expanse and begins moving toward them. Takei’s ears pin into the tangled mass of his red-and-white mane, his chin tipping into his neck as his oryx horns aim themselves more pointedly toward it.
But it knows the mare beside him, and so Takei finds himself relaxing only the barest hint. When it speaks to him, the tobiano’s voice comes out equally as gruff. “I’m Takei. Who’re you?”
watch the mind run far away, way ahead of us
@[Kylin] / @[Ivar] / *writes a novel just to say four words*
Another step forward and the velvet of her nose is caught in a wave. Surprised she snorts, and she pulls her chin to her chest as her heart beats loudly in her chest. Her attention had been so focussed on the chestnut tobiano, she even had forgotten to keep an eye on the water. It is not harmless, but it sure as well is not a pleasant feeling to have the salt water washing up into your nose.
It is enough to make her momentarily forget about her ‘companion’, and by the time Kylin has recovered from her little disaster, Ivar’s arrival becomes the center of attention. It had been too long since she had last seem him, and yet it is very much like it was only yesterday since they last spoke. “Ivar..” she mumbles. Different emotions are displayed upon her features; surprise and shock, but excitement too. Kylin cannot stop herself from smiling in the end. But it does not last long.
He forces her to look away, almost ashamed. She had indeed left Ischia, hadn’t even been here when Brennen had challenged Krone. Unconsciously she takes one step in the scaled piebald’s direction, wanting to be near him. Ivar has always been her friend, been more than that, and it had been too long since she saw him. “You left too..” she eventually murmurs, lifting her hazel gaze to meet his, only to find him looking at the Brother.
With Ivar around, Kylin sure feels more secure. She does not question that he has her back, he always has, and something big had to happen to change it. The lavender woman turns a little, her own gaze on the chestnut male, kind of wanting to hear his answer too. “Ivar..” she murmurs again once Takei has introduced himself, and shot the question right back at the former kelpie king. “Brennen is King now.. And Ischia has been turned into a Brotherhood. Takei is one of them,” a pause, and her hazel eyes move to the said male. “.. are you not?”
@[Ivar] @[takei] Thank you both for giving me muse <3
Ivar doesn't miss the defensive position of the other stallion's onyx horns, but he eyes them with no more concern than he gives to the jagged and useless teeth of the great whites. They are too close to the water for Ivar to feel even mildly threatened, and most of his attention is fixed on the lavender and white mare beside them. He does not miss the way she looks ashamed or that she brings up his own absence as well, but he is momentarily distracted by the tell-tale broadness of her barrel.
For the briefest moment he suspects the chestnut stallion and is prepared to bring horseflesh back to Isobell and Lothbrok rather than fish, but Kylin's explanation of the Brotherhood ends with a question for Takei. Surely she'd know that answer already if he were the father of her child, and Ivar finds that his inexplicable fury has no target.
It is an uncomfortable sensation, but he finds that pressing his muzzle to the smooth slope of Kylin's pied neck is soothing, and he draws her nearer to feel the warmth of her shoulder against his own. 'Mine', his body language says, even as he says aloud: "The Brotherhood? I heard they preferred the cold; Ischia seems a bit of a deviation."
Stories of the Bachelor kingdom were always located in the Tundra, one of the kingdoms that had been lost beneath the sea in the Reckoning long before Ivar's birth.
