06-03-2018, 04:25 PM
Although it’s summer, Nerine’s coastal lands are pleasantly cool. Along the shore, a gentle breeze accompanies the constant roar of waves crashing onto the beach. Nataliya stands just beyond the border between wet and dry sand, allowing a small amount of seawater to touch her hooves every time another wave washes ashore. Seagulls spiral and dive overhead, calling as they chase one another. Some might consider the noise annoying, but Nataliya would not have them any other way. She feels safe here, facing the grey-blue sea with her back to Nerine’s tall granite cliffs, and knowing that Hyaline lies between her home and the Loess-Sylvan alliance. (Nataliya feels like a horrible equine being for thinking like that, but … it’s true …)
A seagull swoops down in front of the dark bay mare’s face, and the rest of her thoughts dissolve into laughter as she chases after the grey-white bird in a carefree gallop. She gets far enough that the water reaches her knees before stopping to splash around, letting out a joyful whinny. For Nataliya, life in Nerine is wonderful. She doubts its shores will ever bore her. Tossing her head, she starts to trot back to dry sand when she nearly trips on a clump of kelp hidden beneath the water. Deciding that the sand looked appealing anyway, Nataliya trots to where the water is shallower, carried by her free, high-stepping gait, and starts to roll around. The wet sand sticks to her mane, tail, and coat, getting everywhere, but she doesn’t care. There is always the sea and its waves to wash it off later.
As she rolls, dark brown eyes spot an unnaturally sparkly shell. How wonderful! she thinks, reaching to nudge it with her nose. But as soon as she touches it, the world around her trembles and warps and bends until everything is a mess of jumbled colors and blurred outlines. Suddenly, shadows spiral from the shell, multiplying until Nataliya is surrounded by darkness. Startled terror takes little time to turn into fury. How dare the shadows attack her?! Moving is, for some reason, unusually difficult, but that does nothing to curb the Saddlebred’s determination to make the darkness pay. Ears disappear against the muscles of her neck and her dark mane, and Nataliya rises into an uncontrolled rear, lashing out with her front hooves before the shadows take her in their grip and she is forced down, down, down until everything turns black.
When she wakes, the world is dark and cold and unfamiliar. She’s lying on her side, surrounded by rough grey rock. She tries to move, but exhaustion surges through her veins and she has to lay down again. And - where was that creepy music coming from?
As if on cue, a shadowy shape appears in front of her, fiddling with something. “Welcome, and thank you for volunteering to help us gather new knowledge,” it greets, and the music stops abruptly. Nataliya feels a flash of anger. She never volunteered for anything. “We hope you don’t hate your stay here too much…” Here, the creature chuckles, an unpleasant raspy noise. “Though some things can’t be helped.”
OOC: If anyone's wondering what the music is, <a href = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXnLNdxLENk">here's a link.</a>
A seagull swoops down in front of the dark bay mare’s face, and the rest of her thoughts dissolve into laughter as she chases after the grey-white bird in a carefree gallop. She gets far enough that the water reaches her knees before stopping to splash around, letting out a joyful whinny. For Nataliya, life in Nerine is wonderful. She doubts its shores will ever bore her. Tossing her head, she starts to trot back to dry sand when she nearly trips on a clump of kelp hidden beneath the water. Deciding that the sand looked appealing anyway, Nataliya trots to where the water is shallower, carried by her free, high-stepping gait, and starts to roll around. The wet sand sticks to her mane, tail, and coat, getting everywhere, but she doesn’t care. There is always the sea and its waves to wash it off later.
As she rolls, dark brown eyes spot an unnaturally sparkly shell. How wonderful! she thinks, reaching to nudge it with her nose. But as soon as she touches it, the world around her trembles and warps and bends until everything is a mess of jumbled colors and blurred outlines. Suddenly, shadows spiral from the shell, multiplying until Nataliya is surrounded by darkness. Startled terror takes little time to turn into fury. How dare the shadows attack her?! Moving is, for some reason, unusually difficult, but that does nothing to curb the Saddlebred’s determination to make the darkness pay. Ears disappear against the muscles of her neck and her dark mane, and Nataliya rises into an uncontrolled rear, lashing out with her front hooves before the shadows take her in their grip and she is forced down, down, down until everything turns black.
When she wakes, the world is dark and cold and unfamiliar. She’s lying on her side, surrounded by rough grey rock. She tries to move, but exhaustion surges through her veins and she has to lay down again. And - where was that creepy music coming from?
As if on cue, a shadowy shape appears in front of her, fiddling with something. “Welcome, and thank you for volunteering to help us gather new knowledge,” it greets, and the music stops abruptly. Nataliya feels a flash of anger. She never volunteered for anything. “We hope you don’t hate your stay here too much…” Here, the creature chuckles, an unpleasant raspy noise. “Though some things can’t be helped.”
OOC: If anyone's wondering what the music is, <a href = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXnLNdxLENk">here's a link.</a>