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    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


    the past, it haunts us; ANY
    #11
    Eilidh

    She wants to stop him.

    She wants to place a gentle hand across his mouth, and have him know by the quiet gesture alone that what he is about to say is not the right thing for these quiet, dark moments. Of course she does, because as he starts his sentence she doesn’t realize that quietly he is practicing his own learned methods to keep them safe, more physical than her own, more tangible. She almost does — she opens her mouth to speak, to steer the conversation elsewhere — but she is too late. He says it all, every word: “Sometimes they do.”

    Three words is all it takes to steal the breath from Willa’s lungs, and the act itself is so forceful that Eilidh can almost hear it.

    She can only hold her breath as Willa spins on him; her heart can only ache for her. Leilan continues though, he goes on to ask for a name and suddenly Eilidh comprehends his maneuver. She smiles softly to herself for the knowledge while she hopes Willa can see what he is trying, too. She does, but there is no smile, no soft ‘thank you’ for his efforts when it happens. She tells them his name though, and when she does Eilidh repeats it beneath her breath, learning its hills and valleys and looking up as she does so as though the name itself is riding on her irises so that it can flip backwards into her memory for safekeeping.

    “Just saying his name…”

    Here Willa’s honeyed voice drifts away, and Eilidh looks inside herself and finds she can relate. She didn’t want to say His name either. Deep down she knows he is no more powerful for it, but something about breathing life into his existence by simply acknowledging the letters of him feels like a betrayal. She knows what that feels like, even if she doesn’t fear him anymore.

    “My mother loved the stars,” Eilidh says then, looking upwards again to find them there in the blackness, shining down across their backs. Here and there they pulse, as though drawing in colossal breaths of the night.

    “She said they were a light in the darkness.”


     

    ⤜ nobody's watching, drowning in words so sweet ⤛




    @[Willa]
    @[Leilan]
    Reply
    #12

    Leilan
    a dragon who couldn't be hurt on the outside
    could have so many ragged holes inside
    His name is Tarnished and there's not protecting yourself from him.

    Registered. Filed away under 'kill when meet'.

    He looks at Willa's reaction, not excluding Eilidh in the slightest, but more or less focusing on the one who needs the most attention. Just saying his name....

    "Well, then, it's a good thing it's not myself I'm protecting." He huffs, looking at her to see if she could be cheered up a little or would shrink down even more. "But he's not here now. Willa. Look at me. Repeat. He's gone. He's not here, and even if he was, I'm not gonna let him hurt you any more. Got that?" Dead-serious, he stares her in the eye. Not going to give in until she agrees.

    Eilidh gets a turned ear, a sideways glance, checking if she's still here. She is holding up, but she's also shaky. She might be over it - but the scars are still there. Two in one go, then, even if for Eilidh he is relatively too late. "You too, Eilidh." A lot softer, as if Willa is a sleeping baby that doesn't need to be woken. "What about you?"

    Say it. Please. Out loud so you may convince yourself. It's over.
    HTML by Vanilla Custard, picture by x-celebri-x on deviantart


    @[Willa] @[Eilidh]
    Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
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    Reply
    #13
    She almost laughed but it would have been without humor. To think that she could just wish him away with saying it aloud. If only that was a possibility, to whisk him away with all of her past and problems that he had brought with him. She has tried, believe it or not. She has said his name aloud enough times, cursing the heavens and wanting his touch to be erased from her mind, from her ability to remember.

    She was terrified, not only that he might return, but that she would be stupid enough to fall for someone else like him.

    She stills, realizing that maybe after all this time she wasn’t exactly terrified of him exactly. It was that she might make a wrong decision, that would affect her the rest of her life instead of just a short time. That this time she would make a wrong decision and it would hell for the rest of her like.

    That this time it would kill her.

    A piece of steel snaps itself into her spine. And then another one. A piece of her broken will comes back together. Whether he meant it or not Leilan had done that. And Eilidh. A long lingering glance on the mare as she spoke of the sky and the stars and darkness and Willa pauses some more.

    “Aye, my Da would spend hours looking up at them.” She says softly. Leilans words permeating into her conscious and perhaps this time as she thinks through them again...she does laugh a little. There’s a noticeable difference in the way she stands, the muscles along her body unclenching just a little bit. Though her eyes still linger here and there amongst the shadows of the dark night, still looking the monsters that she had been terrorized by when she was with him.

    “You don’t need to protect me.” She says after a moment. “Not...not that I don’t appreciate the offer.” A very small tiny smile that she doubts he can see in the night. “But I simply don’t trust you.” A small shrug of her shoulders, even as she unintentionally takes a step back. She doesn’t want to be afraid but she has been for so long.

    If he were to erupt into a rage, at least it would be on her so the other mare could get away. That’s the thought that briefly runs through her mind even as she stubbornly sets her jaw. “But I would be okay with going with you to see the place you call home….either of you.” She says tilting her head to look back over at the quiet mare.

    Which was about as big of a leap of faith as she could make right now.
    Reply
    #14
    Eilidh

    Willa seems to soften as she acknowledges the stars.

    Like the lines of her body are spun together with the memories of her father, and to remember him is to remember the way she was then, too. Even as her shoulders relax, even as her bones hold firm rather than tremble, it’s hard to imagine that there was ever a time in her life where she was at peace, with her eyes as wild and white as they had been. They are all made up of grit and bone, bound together by muscle and flesh. In theory, built for survival — hardy enough.  It’s a wonder to think how in spite of all of that, they are still so fragile.

    But the world can break anyone it wants.

    Lost in her own thought, Eilidh listens quietly as Willa explains her distrust to Leilan who is holding firm in his resolve to save them. She admires him, and his determination, even if she doesn’t say it in these moments. It would be so much easier to walk away, to fade back out with the ever-lengthening shadows that he came from, unburdened. He stays instead, dodging assault after assault to his character (however unintentionally), because he’s better than that — better than most, Eilidh would wager to believe.

    “You too, Eilidh.”
    “What about you?”


    When he looks at her she smiles gently for him, but she does tilt her head in contemplation. She isn’t frightened, the syllables of his name hold no power to her, but it wouldn’t solve what happened to her either. Beyond that, she knows her monster, as it were, could not be stopped even if a thousand men as kind-hearted as Leilan is vowed to erase him. She will tell him though, she decides, because his courage is deserving in her eyes.

    So, she opens her mouth to speak, is about to tell him ‘My father,’ but regrets their relation enough that she thinks better of it.

    “Carnage.” She says finally, settling.

    “But I would be okay with going with you to see the place you call home… either of you.”

    Willa speaks again, drawing Eilidh’s eyes back in her direction to meet her gaze, now steadier.

    “This meadow is the only home I’ve ever known,” she answers, and though the words alone seem sad and heavy the expression on her face can only be described as wistful.

    “Of course you’re welcome to stay with me here, but I understand wanting more. If you wanted to see Nerine I wouldn’t be opposed to travelling with you, if it helped.”
     

    ⤜ nobody's watching, drowning in words so sweet ⤛




    @[Willa]
    @[Leilan]

    Sorry this is so late, folks!
    Reply
    #15

    Leilan
    a dragon who couldn't be hurt on the outside
    could have so many ragged holes inside
    You don't need to protect me. He tilts his head, and gives the black mare a knowing smile. But of course he does. That's what he's made of; that's what fate has brought him here for, no doubt. She steps back though. A deep breath intake, not yet a sigh. If it were easy for her to trust anyone, she wouldn't have reacted so badly to both Eilidh and himself.

    Her tiny smile is apologetic in the night when she says she appreciates the offer but doesn't trust him; with his supreme vision, that doesn't go unnoticed."Then don't," he offers, his tone uncomplaining at that temporary solution, "but you can't live your whole life not trusting anybody. Life is about balance, so it's your turn to have something good coming your way now." She has to believe in something, if she has to make it work. She's young enough to start over if she wants to. Perhaps she can trust the silver bay mare, instead.

    Eilidh settles with something other than she was about to say - ends up with Carnage. Hmm, that would be a challenge. Then, on the other hand, he's not about to go looking for either man - just offering the mares a safe haven, instead. He can't go on a revenge trip for everyone he meets - but he can secure one safe place in the world, where he could be found if needed, or where they could stay, or even hide, if they wanted to. And he's pretty sure Breckin would agree on keeping those girls safe, so there's really no doubt they will be accepted in Nerine.

    She looks to Eilidh when she says she would go with either one of them, but the other mare says she only knows the meadow. Leilan is rather thankful for the silver bay to be here, offering the mare company where he cannot, simply because of his being a male no doubt. That still stinks, but that's the truth of the matter. The silver bay offers to go with her to Nerine if she wants to; the silver bay roan nods at her. "You know you'd both be welcome." He thinks it over for a moment and adds, "If any old Amazon gives you a hard time on the border, just ask for me or Breckin." he adds. He knows how gruff his mother can be, or Castile really.
    HTML by Vanilla Custard, picture by x-celebri-x on deviantart


    @[Willa] @[Eilidh] uhm.... speaking of late. But I figured this is enough of an ending; if either of you wants to visit Nerine we can continue there later.
    Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
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    #16
    @[Leilan] @[Eilidh] Do you both want another thread with Willa? I can post her in the Meadow and then in Nerine or if Eilidh plans on going to Nerine...? Whatever. ^_^
    Reply
    #17
    @[Willa] I’m down for something in the meadow of that works for you, just because timelines. Eilidh is currently plague ridden, if that matters at all Smile
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