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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


    show them the joy and the pain and the ending; any
    #1

    The world is in a state of constant change, and she knows it far better than most. Even she is not immune to the unforgiving tides of time, of advancement. Even in her endless chase of knowledge and secrets, she cannot halt those tides. But still, she ekes out what she can, makes her own destiny. Her own future.

    Once, she had thought her future solely here. Once, she had been slave to the endless dramas and subtle shifting of powers. Once, she had played her hand so expertly in this field.

    Once, she had been so very short sighted.

    But just as those tides had changed, so had she. And she could say now, with far more certainty than ever, that in the end, she would always gain the things she desired. Perhaps the road would not be straight, but now, she has all the time in the world. She had made sure of that.

    And so, just as quietly as she had left Beqanna, she had returned. It is easy for her to go unnoticed when she wishes. And she had learned much in her time away. Devilish curiosity had once ruled her life. Had stolen her will in the most insidious of ways until she had become blind despite all her talents. But that curiosity had also been her savior. Had brought her here, now. Stronger and better than before. And far more patient.

    Now, she bides her time. Waiting, watching.

    Today however, for the first time in ages, she sheds her self imposed exile. Discards her invisibility. Though she makes no grand entrance, as had once been her wont, she also makes no effort to hide her presence. With quiet steps, she approaches the frothing waves of the ocean, halting only when the briny water is lapping at her hooves. And she smiles, a faintly secretive smile that evokes every ounce of the Heartfire that had once, not so very long ago, graced these shores.

    i see your sins
    and i want to set them free

    #2

    WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT

    It ran in the family, this act of disappearing and reappearing just as the tides of the oceans are wont to do. Like grandmother like granddaughter; though perhaps it had more to do with the excruciating weight of existence than any familial blood ever could, a circular ode to the nature of things that took its toll on every conscious thing. Still, it felt important to those creatures, the familiarity: tying them to one another and creating the illusion of comfort in a realm sewn together by misery.

    But allow me to stop waxing poetically, for it is only yet another diversion from the pains of reality.

    She stood atop one of the iconic cliffs when her familiar crept back into this realm. Her eyes, molten and red-yellow in turn, snagged on the movement with a dragon's ease, as if surveying a thief approaching her treasure. A small smile tugged at her lips to think of her own return to Beqanna, and how she'd done it so very similarly: in silence, and under the guise of unimportance. But any who knew of her or her bloodline knew very well that they were important people; descendants of royal bloodlines, and if not that, than of stalwart citizens. Just as she had come to rise from silence to power, so too would this ghost of a face: but thankfully, this returnee came not from the land of the dead, but instead simply from the shadows of the living.

    Descending her cliffside throne in a timely matter, she met the woman's gaze just as her hooves hit the granular sand of the beach. Her granddaughter did not possess the same type of vision-skill that she did, but did possess one of an even greater stature; she knew this, or rather remembered it, from their first encounter, the first day of her return from the Afterlife. Heartfire had shown her all that had come to pass in Beqanna since her passing - a great number of things indeed - and now, in a funny sort of way, it would be Scorch's turn to do the same thing.

    "Welcome back," She offered in her low, gruff tones as she settled an appropriate distance away from the blue-roan mare, so reminiscent of her father and Scorch's son, Shahrizai. The smirk from before made a stubborn return to her charred lips, lilting them charismatic ally to the side. "I don't suppose you would remember me, daughter of my son?"

    Scorch

    Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle



    @[Heartfire] El Scorcho is excited for El Heartfiro's return >Smile
    [Image: scorch2.png]
    #3

    They are far more alike than her father could have ever guessed when he had named her in her grandmother’s honor. Different, true, but alike in all the ways that matter. And she would be a fool not to know of her grandmother’s legacy. Perhaps Scorch had died before she had ever been born, but the past is as easily accessible to her as the present. And her curiosity had, as ever, been her greatest vice.

    She had been waiting. Perhaps her eyes are turned to the sea, but she is perfectly aware of the comings and goings around her. She is a difficult creature to catch by surprise.

    Her dark ears twitch briefly at the sound muffled sound hoofsteps in damp sand, but she only turns to face the familiar scarred mare when her words of welcome resonate into the damp air. Her eyes, vibrant and blue, settle upon the fearsome visage of her grandmother, as icy and unsettling as ever. Her lips quirk slightly at the greeting, a soft, barely audible huff of amusement escaping her lips at the question.

    She would be hard pressed not to remember.

    “How could I not?” she replies mildly before allowing the silence to settle. Equine brows furrowing, she studies her grandmother, head tilting slightly as she considers her charred features. Finally, she turns to contemplate the sea once more, inching forward until the water is lapping at her fetlocks. A momentary distraction

    “I must admit, I’m surprised you gave up the throne so easily.”

    i see your sins
    and i want to set them free



    I'm sorry I'm a terrible person and this took forever and a day D:
    #4

    WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT

    She was a difficult creature to catch by surprise; but when ever had Scorch intended to surprise someone? Her ugliness, her hoarse voice, her abrasive and unabashed personality - all of it screamed in your face, and kind of more in a punch kind of way than a pinch. And to say the least, she would never want to hide herself from her family - with her spectacular mutation of her grandmother's dragon vision, Heartfire ought to know this.

    Her ears' twitch alone indicates her awareness of Scorch's arrival. When those two eyes - as icy blue as Scorch's are firey red - settled in tandem with the curve of her lips, Scorch knew that Heartfire needn't any guiding through any of what she had missed. The role reversal that the rat had been expecting would not come to be... But upon seeing such an uncannily familiar expression mirrored at her from one so akin to herself, Scorch knew that the conversation would be absolutely worthwhile nonetheless.

    On her own lips, a sideways lilt of her lips; the charismatic, cunning half-smirk; the same as her granddaughter wore.

    The blue roan replied with a rhetorical question, leaving them in an amusingly clever sort of silence that nearly left sparks flying through the air. In unison, their gaze meandered out to the ever-rolling sea, and as if commanded by the same brain and powered by the same heart and lungs, they crept into its lapping waves. It would never be the Jungle... But of it's own accord, it was home, and it was a thing of legends.

    I must admit, I'm surprised you gave up the throne so easily.

    "Hah!"

    The sharp tone of her laugh cut through the lull of the sea like a knife, and was followed by a half dozen softer chuckles. Her head, massive and inelegant, swung gently from side to side as the laughter faded, an expression of the incredulity she felt at having been asked such a bold question right out of the starting gate. Looking carefully sideways, the mare considered her younger counterpart more calculatedly; just who was this Heartfire... And who did she want to become?

    "I shouldn't be surprised that that's your first question. God knows it would have been mine, too." She straightened herself with the speech, rolling her shoulders as she more seriously considered the proffered question. "But the fact of the matter is actually quite simple. I am not Nerine's ideal leader any more, being set in the Ways of Old." She gestured to the small rose-and-vine tattoo that lay on the right side of her breast, the last remnant of that time long, long ago.

    " I serve best now as Second in Command, as she who will never leave and who will pick up where the Queens leave off." Her brows furrowed at the comment, gut squelching; where was Wishbone? Where was the girl she had so carefully handgroomed to be Queen...? She knew it to be her duty to step up as leader of the Leviathans if much more absence continued... but on the other hand... not now.

    "And now it is I who must admit." Her gaze turned forcefully to the mare, her smirk dropping slightly, though the mood remained altogether pleasant, if not a little abrupt - though what more would you expect from this pairing? "You left when we most needed members. Why?"

    Scorch

    Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle



    I'm also terrible so together we make something. Well. I LIKE IT OKAY. Also why did I use so many ellipses, send help...
    @[Heartfire]
    [Image: scorch2.png]
    #5

    The charred mare’s rough laughter elicits a faintly more genuine smile, a concession to her amusement. Heartfire has always been a bold creature, a trait no doubt inherited from her grandmother. To be fair however, it is not a quality that typically elicits laughter. But then, her audacity is not often quite so benign.

    Shifting her gaze, she eyes her grandmother curiously for moment. The response elicited is not unexpected, but she does wonder what her grandmother thinks of the current state of affairs. Absent she might have been, but Heartfire has always managed to keep abreast of the happenings in this kingdom (and others, though she would hardly admit that to just anyone, lest all her secrets be known).

    “Hmmmm,” she hums after a moment of silence, her tone contemplative. “Even so, given the current queen’s… lack of attention, you might have done a sight better.” The statement is not uttered in such a way as makes response necessary. Instead it is an acknowledgement. One that is heavy upon Scorch’s mind, if her next question is any indication.

    The slight change in topic hardly surprises her. It is a valid question. And one that has far too many answers, few of which she actually wishes to share. In part because she would be loathe to admit how much her feelings for a certain stallion had affected her. And even more so because they had been inherently selfish in nature. But then, she has never claimed to be a selfless creature. Just the opposite, in fact. She has never done anything that did not benefit her in one way or another.

    For a long moment, she chews over the question, debating how much she should actually reveal. Her grandmother might be as trustworthy as they come, but Heartfire has spent too many years learning to hoard her secrets to divulge them so readily.

    “Simply put, I discovered something which required my attention. And frankly, at the time I left, Nerine was doing well enough.” Not flourishing as it once had, but certainly thriving. And while Heartfire might be conceited enough to believe her presence would have improved matters, she is certainly not so conceited as to believe her absence is what had led to Nerine’s current state of inactivity. Though perhaps she should be. “Why is it, do you think, that I have returned now?”

    Perhaps she had been absent, but she had not truly been gone. It is not coincidental that now, when she is truly needed, she has returned.

    i see your sins
    and i want to set them free



    Omg I forget what a butt Heartfire is sometimes :|
    #6
    The mare opposite Scorch hummed to herself thoughtfully upon having her own question reflected back to her; the tone sounded lovely, and for a moment, nostalgia took hold of Scorch's heart like a vice. That had been how her voice sounded, before the dragon dream, low and brazen and mysterious. But the moment passed as Heartfire slid into her answer, giving her grandmother respite from the torment of immortality.

    "Yes, I might have," Scorch agreed in the end, though ruefully. Her eyes settled uneasily on the sea as she considered this notion, that perhaps she'd given the throne to Wishbone too early; what would have gone differently? Would they be better off now had she acted differently? But her gaze steels itself, and her head turns back to Heartfire. "But then again, I was behind Wishbone every step of the way - no decision was made without my approval, or at least without my knowledge. And at any rate, a change is coming." A pause. "You ought to know that."

    The conversation flowed forward, though it took Heartfire a moment to divulge her truth in regards to her absence; Scorch noted this hesitation, attempting to resist the mild hurt that crossed her heart at the thought that her granddaughter may not trust her. Not everyone can wear that heart on their sleeve like you, mom. This from Ea, her most reserved and stoic daughter. And not everyone believes in family like you, either. This from Echion, her faux-mother. Swallowing back these words of wisdom, Scorch nodded her head slowly, and considered the final question which was volleyed to her.

    "I'm sure you have as many reasons to return as you had to leave," Scorch offered curtly, cutting a knowing eye across to Heartfire. "But since you're here now... What do you want to do? Politically, personally." She shifted her weight, lowered her head to the salty sea and nuzzled it thoughtfully; lifted her head again, and spoke. "It must not be easy for you to branch out, what with knowing... Everything, as far as I can tell anyway."
    [Image: scorch2.png]
    #7

    Despite appearances to the contrary, she understands perfectly the weight a kingdom leaves upon one’s shoulders. Heartfire had not become jaded so easily. No, it had taken a lifetime. A lifetime and then some. Her immortality might be recent, but she is far older than her years would indicate. A fact very few are privy to. Illum is perhaps the only one who had ever learned all her secrets. But that weight is a difficult thing to hide. Even she is not so skilled, despite her command of vision. It’s in that unnerving quality, the one that affects so many but few are clearly able to pinpoint.

    It is the same thing that reflects in her grandmother’s eye. It has for a long time, but more heavily now.

    Her gaze shifts to the sea just as Scorch’s does, blue eyes searching. She listens contemplatively to the other mare’s acknowledgement, holding her silence until her final comment. At that, her lips quirk faintly in a wry twist. Her pale gaze flicks briefly back to her grandmother before she comments simply, softly, “Change is always coming.”

    Heartfire has spent years studying the behaviors of others, and her grandmother is rather an open book. Fiercely loyal with an abundant attachment to family. The blue mare can hardly scoff, for she is equally loyal to her family. She simply hides herself better. Family is such an easy tool to use in order to control others. Indeed, she has used it to do so to others. As such, she had long ago learned to control open displays of affection. It was simply a weakness she could not afford. Perhaps it had earned her the reputation of being cold. Heartless even. But she would much rather be considered such than to allow her family to be placed in danger.

    In that, she and Scorch greatly differ. Her grandmother has a distinct preference for brute strength. Heartfire is all finesse.

    Even so, she had very aptly demonstrated to enemies in the past just how far she is willing to go when those she loves are threatened. Finesse only gets one so far.

    Unfortunately for her grandmother, she is not entirely apt to share such things so openly. Her care, while deep, is certainly far more guarded. Sighing softly, she considers the surf for a moment longer before turning to Scorch with finality, eyes darkening with intent. “Personally, I have few aspirations.” She pauses for a moment. “Politically? Well, as I have always done. I gather power.” A briefly amused smile touches her lips then. “Nerine was a powerhouse once. We should be again.”

    i see your sins
    and i want to set them free





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