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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


    The things we take with us || Jinn ||
    #1

    Adria

    I felt nothing at all, freedom of the fall

    Sometimes, when Adria swam out to the furthest reaches of Beqanna’s ocean, she felt a sense of what it must be like to fly or walk among the stars. Out there in the blue, where a deathly quiet and stillness ruled everything, the Nereid became a small creature devoured by a much bigger purpose. Nothing of the world she left behind seemed to matter anymore when she became a piece of living flotsam, bobbing aimlessly with the current and seeing no end or beginning to anything. Just blue.

    Before she’d made her way to Hyaline, Beqanna and her land dwellers had given her the same sort of feeling. A “blueness”, you could call it. That sense of being overwhelmed by something larger than you, and then shrunken down to nothing, nobody.

    But when Yidhra turned that terrible beak to speak to her, and Kagerus had addressed her likewise afterwards, for the first time in a long time Adria no longer felt like she was a nobody. It made her blueness fade away to warm, rich gold. It made her want to right wrongs and fight evil. It made her feel ten feet tall, instead of the slender waif she was.

    So with her Caretakers blessing and the Kraken’s dismissal, Adria took it upon herself to make right one wrong she’d committed. The water mare had slipped back into her cherished element and shifted, sparkling with gusto and a smattering of white-bronze scales as she swam south from Hyaline’s lake.

    I’ve no notion what his name is, She thought as she meandered through a bend that sent her right past the foot of the Mountain, Only what he looks like … and that he must be very sad now.

    She feels shame.

    At long last the seahorse eases herself to a stop in a swirling eddy of river water, bobbing up from the surface behind a boulder who still held out against the swell of her magically-shaped water. With a damp forelock parted between two periwinkle eyes she looks out at the opposite shore, into the shrunken Forest where the shadows of late evening greedily pawed at one another. A thrill of fear (should she risk it? They’d only met the one time…) seizes her for a moment, leaving her to contemplate the pros and cons of taking a walk on land but in the end, her incessant curiosity over the platinum and black stallion wins out.

    She drifts closer to the foreboding woods, rising up and out of the water without a sound before one hoof crunches noisily atop the sandy, rocky bank. From here on out her life is in fate's hands; every step she takes further into the embrace of darkness drains her of power, leaving only a sodden, mythic beauty where once a sea nymph stood.

    All of this for one chronically depressed soul.

    Worth it, The young female nods in silence, glancing back to watch the bend of River disappear and the curled, bare fingers of tree limbs close behind her. Now she can only hope to find what she came for.



    @[Jinn]
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    #2
    Jinn
    I had a dream that we were dead,
    and we pretended that we still lived
    When she had slipped beneath the rippling surface of the river and disappeared much the same way she had arrived, he had been unsurprised. It is the way of those who enter his life. No one truly wishes to be acquainted with a monster like he. He is not fearsome enough to inspire great emotion in anyone, nor is he plain enough to be treated as though he is nothing more than a normal stallion.

    His very birth had been cursed it seems. Even his father had believed it. Only his twin had ever seen him as something more, but she had long ago disappeared.

    And so he remains alone, forever the outcast. The monster living on the fringes of polite society, where everyone can pretend he doesn’t exist even as they gape in horror when they catch a glimpse.

    Still, a small foolish part of him continues to desire more. To wish that his life might be different. Better, somehow. And foolishly he had waited for her. A vain hope that her ears might once more peek above the current. But she hadn’t. Perhaps it was the way he had torn his own skin, or the sickly pall of death over his gaunt features, but somehow he had frightened her away. And though he had remained in that icy water until his skin had grown numb and his limbs stiff, she hadn’t returned.

    But what else had he had to do?

    Now he haunts the woods once more, his days bleeding together until time seems meaningless. It’s so very easy to lose track. Even that brief rumble and the voice of their gods had only marked the passing of a day. It seems nothing else had truly changed for him.

    He pays little attention to where his feet carry him. Bare limbs stretch above, reaching skeletal fingers through the chill winter gloom. The trees have begun to thin as he comes closer to the river, but he doesn’t seem to notice. It isn’t until the soft step of feet through snow reaches his ears that he realizes he is no longer alone. His gaze sharpens as he peers cautiously around a tree, a lifetime of experience teaching him discretion. He stills when his filmy eyes settle upon a slim figure. Her body had been hidden by the murky waters of the river, but that golden visage would be recognizable anywhere.

    He had not expected to see her again. And he does not expect she had come here for him. He wonders if it is too late for him to simply melt back into the trees, disappearing before she ever even knew he was there. Rejection is an old acquaintance of his, but still it cuts when they run from him. No matter how many times the story has repeated itself before him.


    Sorry for novel, apparently this made me musey haha
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    #3
    @[Jinn] is safe from the plague. For now. (rolled a 4)
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    #4

    Adria

    I felt nothing at all, freedom of the fall

    Rightfully she’s got no reason to be here. Her behavior had been crude at best and without an explanation to tack onto the action of abandonment, Adria could hardly be surprised that Jinn would want to avoid her (though she hasn’t seen him nor does she possess the power to read another’s mind.) It would be a lie to say the tri-colored sabino wanted to be in the Forest anyways, since every hesitant step and wild glance of her eyes screams how uncomfortable dry land makes her, but the Nereid is bound and determined to right at least one wrong in this backwards world.

    “Hello?!” She sings out into the void, sensing a watchful gaze even if she doesn’t hear anything. The seamare pauses in her journey and waits, rigid with uncertainty, fetlock-deep in the untouched snow. Her mane and tail have frozen over hard, one stiff against her now-dry neck and the other hanging in a clump of tendrils between her white-smattered hocks. She waits a moment longer, tilts her narrow visage to one side, and catches the dead stare of a quiet animal in the distance. Obscured as the stallion is, the sliver of his emblazoned face that peeks out from behind a thick trunk betrays his position. Adria swallows deeply, and then inhales.

    “Ah yes, I … hello out there, first of all-” The newly-minted diplomat (slash warrior, if one could believe it) stumbles to say, “I’m, uhm, we’ll I’m looking for someone and if … if you could trouble yourself to help me?” She murmurs, just a fish out of water and terribly shy despite how her feet begin to move again, leading her nearer towards the trunk where she’s sure the other horse is hiding. “Maybe you’ve seen him, a stallion? Black and gold. Maybe he’s come this way?” She asks, a bit stronger. The cadence of her accent as it bounces hollow between the trees lends a bit of comfort to the mare, and a tremble she wasn’t even aware of stops giving her shivers.

    Nearer to him but no nearer to an answer she pauses, all four legs coming to a graceful standstill in the bitter drift of winter’s thick powder. Overhead the raspy cry of two perched crows breaks the dingy silence, answering her questions with throaty laughs, caw, caw, hah, hah!

    “... hello?” She whispers.



    @[Jinn]
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    #5
    Jinn
    I had a dream that we were dead,
    and we pretended that we still lived
    He cannot help but notice the way her lovely dark locks stiffen against her skin, freezing in the chill of the winter air. She trembles against the icy cold as she peers through the trees, clearly seeking something. Or someone. Never has anyone purposely sought him out before, so he cannot guess that someone might be him.

    He is hardly worth seeking, after all.

    Her voice rings into the clear air, filled with question, with intent. It seems she had noted something of him here in the trees, though truth be told, he had not been hidden well at all. His face peeking from behind the tree would be enough for anyone to note, given the drab, hollow emptiness of the winter wood. There is little in the way of foliage these days to inhibit one’s view after all.

    He does not answer immediately, however, still uncertain how she would feel to discover it was him lurking and not another less gruesome bystander. But still he watches, unable to help himself. He frowns briefly at the way the cold had frozen her skin. No matter how he might look, cruelty nor dispassion have ever been in his nature. And her shivering shyness stirs the latent compassion within his soul.

    Though he does not step from the safety of his sheltered nook, he does send a tendrel of healing energy towards her, followed by a wash of light that wraps around her frozen skin, providing warmth and protection against the biting wind. Even he, for all his inexperience, can see she is uncomfortable on the icy dryness of land.

    But then her request registers, and he blinks, abruptly withdrawing behind the tree in surprise. He has never before encountered another with his distinct coloring, and it both alarms him and confuses him to know that she might be seeking him. Of everything she might have come here for, to find him had not even entered his list of possibilities.

    “Why do you wish to find him,” he finally asks, his voice echoing faintly into the air. The pause during his silent deliberation had been lengthy, and in his preoccupation, he hadn’t noticed that she had drawn closer. At least, until curiosity gets the better of him once more and he peeks his head around the tree, only to find her standing mere feet from his sheltering oak.
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    #6

    Adria

    I felt nothing at all, freedom of the fall

    A soothing, invisible hand finds her - not a reply. Not at first. In the same way her powers had tumbled out to greet him in the River, (curious, gentle, a bit unexpected) so does his healing affect Adria. It starts from the inside out, something like a warm embrace that she doesn’t resist, and serves to heal the tired muscles as well as distinguish the tepid fear inside of her. Seconds are all that it takes for the Nereid to feel well rested, though she’s traveled a good bit and sucked herself dry of energy. Her eyes close to the sensation and she sighs, opening them to a blanket of pure light that shimmers and undulates across her yellow-tinted coat.

    “Incredible!” She half-murmurs to herself, lowering the soft pink folds of her lips down to one knee, taking long strokes up and down her short cannon bone just to watch the material shift and reshape itself despite her interference. This was why she’d come ashore in the first place, about a year or so ago. She’d wanted to discover the magic, the hidden wonders Beqanna had to offer, and her secret guest is unknowingly indulging her childhood fantasies.

    His voice (for it certainly was a male, she could discern that much from this distance) and the way it fashions a question for her makes Adria smile, even when she glances towards the speaking tree to find those familiar eyes glancing back. Languid and graceful, the seamare gently collects herself again and blinks softly into the dim light, easing confidently nearer to the unfelled, massive tree before her own head snakes around the bulging curve for a good look.

    “I think a more appropriate question would be, why does he wish to hide?” The young mare teases without a hint of animosity. It seems she’s found what she’s gone looking for, and so the islander sets about making things right without further delay. “I’m sorry for the way I left you.” She starts, in a tone that seemed delicate but was most certainly melancholy. “Do you think you can forgive me?”



    @[Jinn]
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    #7
    Jinn
    I had a dream that we were dead,
    and we pretended that we still lived
    He blinks at her, murky eyes widening in surprise at her abrupt appearance so close to him. He steps backwards, head jerking sharply up, right into a low-hanging branch. He winces, ducking his head down once more before shaking it to remove the sting. His ribs expand with a deep inhalation, ribs protruding sharply against his dull flesh. When finally his jumbled thoughts have settled beneath the calming breath, he peers cautiously at her once more.

    She had been lovely in the water, but here, where he can see the entirety of her, she is stunningly beautiful. So far superior to the likes of him, even on the best of days. And today is certainly not one of his better. The light glimmers against her skin, accentuating the golden shimmer and graceful lines of her lithe form. In that moment he becomes painfully aware of the sickly press of his bones against his skin and the dull, patchy nature of his dusky pelt. They are night and day, the two of them. One so terrible of form and the other preternaturally lovely.

    He cannot help but stare at her, entranced much as he had been before, when he’d first spied her delicately curved ears rising from the rippling current of the river.

    Her question discomfits him however, and he drops his gaze, frowning into the forest floor. Did she truly wish him to say it? Surely she cannot  misunderstand why he might wish to hide, could she? One had only to look at him to see that veneer of death, the beastly facade stretched tautly over his bones. Even his own father could not bear to look upon him. And he had been an angel.

    Fortunately she does not wait for an answer, sparing Jinn the discomfort of having to voice such an obvious thing. He might recognize the truth, but knowing a thing and uttering it aloud are two very separate things. Her plea for forgiveness however, draws his attention, bringing his gaze swinging back to meet hers. For a long moment, he simply stares at her blankly, as though unable to comprehend what she had just said.

    No one has ever sought to apologize for their reactions to him, and it astonishes him that she had come here to seek forgiveness. For a moment, he wonders if this is perhaps a cruel joke of some kind. But his seeking gaze can detect no malevolence in the soft loveliness of her delicate features.

    He opens his mouth then, as though to respond, but he closes it before a sound can escape. He takes a breath, brows furrowing as he tries to formulate an appropriate answer. “I…” he starts, before stuttering to a halt once more. He tries again. “Yes.” He clears his throat faintly, uncomfortably. “You are not the first,” he finishes finally, doing his misguided best to assuage her guilt. “I am used to it.”
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    #8

    Adria

    I felt nothing at all, freedom of the fall

    If only she’d realized just how upset she’d made him. Leaving @[Jinn] on the fateful day had been hard (as it went against the very fiber of Adria’s being) but standing here in hopeful silence, watching his mouth gape open and his eyes narrow with a hint of mistrust ... that’s almost worse for the Nereid. It felt like being on trial for a crime, one where she had no base to defend herself or her actions because she was terribly guilty from the beginning. Putting herself into his skin at that moment came easily to the sympathetic mare, and when viewing herself and the lame apology through his eyes, she doesn’t fault him for his disbelief.

    Only, she couldn’t discern that his doubt was caused by a lifetime of being shunned.

    To the idealistic female it had everything to do with decorum and nothing to do with appearances, so she finds herself mildly shocked at his admission that what had happened between them was a regular sort of thing. Her sedate, hopeful stare crashes around her eyes and mouth, transforming into heartache that he might plainly see how his words had affected her. “How cruel,” The seamare blurts out foolishly, still unable to comprehend his situation fully, “no wonder you’re in such great pain.”

    And then, because it seemed wholly natural and acceptable to offer physical comfort in a moment of distress, Adria reaches out towards him with every intention of brushing her nose over the gold-white skin of his own.

    She’s never touched or been touched by an elder male, so if he allows it the moment will freeze like the bare branches around them, preserved and quiet like fallen snow under their hooves for her to recall some other time. “I don’t even know your name.” The ethereal creature murmurs pleasantly, half shy and half passion, “But I’d like to know that and much more, stranger. Would you come with me to Silver Cove if I asked?”

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    #9
    Jinn
    I had a dream that we were dead,
    and we pretended that we still lived
    It is a novel experience, to find himself the recipient of such unflinching kindness rather than casual cruelty. Indeed, most never even realized how painful it could be, to be shunned and dismissed so thoughtlessly. Monster enough that he draws notice, but not so terrible as to inspire true fear. As though he is nothing more than a thing to behold in disgust and recoil to avoid. As though there is not a man beneath the mask of death he wears.

    It is a rare creature that sees beyond that. At least in his world. Perhaps there is a plethora of these souls out there somewhere, but it seems he is not to have the fortune of meeting them. Indeed, it’s nearly impossible to believe such a thing actually exists.

    But she exists. For a moment, he can only stare when she exclaims at the cruelty of those who had come before her. Even when she reaches for him, he does no more than flinch faintly, almost reflexively. Her nose is soft against his skin, sending a shiver racing along nerve-endings. It has been so long since he has been touched, so long since anyone has braved the thought of reaching out to skim death.

    His mother had been the last, he thinks. She had loved him regardless, never once implying he might be less despite the pallor of his features.

    The touch seems to last an eternity and yet is all too brief. Fleeting and beautiful and forever etched in his memory as a moment of purity, without malice. But the subtle spell is broken when she continues. He realizes he hadn’t responded to her compassionate words, though now it hardly seems to matter. He wouldn’t have known what to say anyway. Kindness is as foreign to him as cruelty must be to her.

    “It’s Jinn,” he replies softly to the implied question, brows furrowing as he realizes he doesn’t know hers either. He opens his mouth to say just that when she continues, the question that tumbles from her lips stunning him into silence. His gaze leaps up to meet hers, his expression too open to hide the shock he feels. “Why?” he asks abruptly, unable to halt the confused question as it spills out.

    Because, for the life of him, he cannot fathom why she would want him to. Though it is something he has longed for since he was a boy, experience has taught him never to expect such invitations.
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    #10

    Adria

    I felt nothing at all, freedom of the fall

    He’s as unexpected as she’d expected him to be. Wonderfully different, almost a rarity in her opinion. Sweet Jinn, so curiously apprehensive when it came to others and their designs, yet so willing to extend himself for their benefit. Adria had never asked him for healing or the light, she’d never asked if touching him would be okay … he allows it, and she doubts it has anything to do with personal gain.

    No; Jinn was a servant by nature, intelligent without being a narcissist and impossibly kind. It was blatantly obvious why the seamare would hope to hoard his company (for she was lonely too) but his shocked expression, along with his question, take her by surprise as well. “Why not?” The Nereid questions, obstant. Her pale lips widen further, giving the appearance of someone who’s much more confident than they should be. “I’ve seen you swim … I won’t let you drown.” Adria promises, thinking such a thing would be the only plausible objection Jinn could have to traveling abroad.

    Internally she feels a bit wounded at such a sudden disinterest on his part. When Tähti had proposed a trip to Hyaline before this awful plague, the nomadic water horse didn’t even think twice about going. It seemed only natural to explore and meet others, but with a sharp and purely mental slap on her own wrist, the pied girl remembers not every inhabitant was keen on expanding their boundaries. Some, like her parents, were more than content to remain in one location forever.

    “I have to return there at some point …” She fondly explains, after a moment's peace to hear what he would say. “My priority is visiting Ischia, seeing my family. Maybe … maybe when I return to Silver Cove you’ll be there, waiting?” She proposes hopefully.

    Let it be purely his choice, then. He could choose the safety of anonymity and his shadows, or seek out the sunlight and her companionship. Either way it’s clear that the slender mare isn’t looking for a direct refusal at the moment. Instead she merely sighs a wistful sort of sound before reluctantly turning away, casting one long stare behind herself in hopes of glimpsing those eyes (the ones like her father wore) one last time.

    “Ask for Adria!” She croons, choking back a bitter, little sob as her steps transition into a lengthy trot. She won’t stay a moment longer, lest she succumb to childish antics like crying, so instead she disappears.
    In her heart, however, the siren of the seas knows how desperate she is to see him again.



    @[Jinn] Figured a wrap-up was necessary with the change of seasons! Please please please let’s throw these two together soon Big Grin
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