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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


    I'm straining to reach the light on the surface; Levi, birthing
    #1

    The heavy heat of the Tephran clime presses thickly against the ashen blue and white of her skin, cloying and comforting all at once. It has become almost familiar now, the air tasting of home. Of familiarity. It is almost enough to mask the fear that has become a nearly living thing inside her, to soothe memories of a too recent trauma.

    It has been months now since the day Levi had found her curled, near death, on the beach. But still those haunting nightmares will not leave her in peace. She cannot seem to escape the sloughing blue and empty eyes of her dead twin, waking or sleeping.

    Levi is the only thing that brings her any comfort, the rock she clings to in the raging sea her life had become in the span of only a few short days. Even now, months later, she cannot seem to find purchase. And when her belly had begun to swell with the life growing inside her, she had known dread. What if she failed this child, as she has failed everyone else so many times over? She could not bear the thought, not when she already loves it so. More than life itself.

    She would give this child her last breath if she had to, but that does not ease the fear that has settled in her breast.

    She had always fled before, when these terrible emotions had burrowed so deeply. It had always been easier to escape into the wilds than to confront such things head on. But there is no escaping this time, nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Instead she cleaves to Levi, hoping he could forgive her for her faults.

    She is standing on the beach, staring into the sunrise with a heavy expression when the first contraction startles her. She sucks in a surprised breath as the muscles of her abdomen ripple with foreboding. For a time she does not move from her spot, her feet buried stubbornly in the sand as she stares across the waves. An irrational part of her wishes to cross those waters, to the mainland, to find Levi. To bury her face against his skin and let him soothe her pain as he has done so often these last few months. But the more rational part of her brain knows she hasn’t the time. Not with her contractions becoming ever more urgent, more insistent.

    He would return soon. He had to.

    As another spasm ripples across her belly, she closes her eyes against the pain. When finally it has settled, she turns and makes her way inland, towards the more secluded small wood at the center of their island. It is here their child had been conceived, and it is here she would give it life.

    The worst of her illness has receded, though she had remained too thin, too weak, her lanky frame unable to retain what substance it once had beneath the demands of illness and pregnancy. It is a struggle to bring the babe into the world, and by the time she has, her blue and white coat is dark with sweat, sand clinging heavily to her clammy skin. But still she struggles upright, determined to see to her child.

    As she nuzzles and cleans the colt, a bubble of love bursts inside her chest, glowing wearily from the blue of her gaze. He is a handsome boy, dark, with bright fissures of red and orange across his skin. But she does not have long to fawn over him before her stomach ripples with another contraction, seeming only to grow in intensity rather than fading.

    She gasps against the pain, fear once more crowding into her chest as she crumples beside her son. She nuzzles soft kisses along his little nose and forehead, tears leaking from her eyes as she squeezes them closed. “It’ll be ok,” she whispers desperately against his downy skin, though she does not believe it herself. “I love you. My sweet Firen.”

    If nothing else, he would know her love for him.

    It seems fate has a sense of humor, however. After several more long, agonizing contractions, another child joins them, slipping onto the sandy loam of their tropical home. For what seems ages (though in truth it is likely no more than a few minutes) Rapture lays exhausted, unable to stir herself from her prone position. Her muscles tremble with fatigue, eyes drooping heavily as she struggles to remain awake.

    When finally she can summon the strength, it seems she can do no more than pull herself sternal. After several stumbling attempts to rise, she cedes to defeat. Her struggles, at least, had brought her around enough to reach the filly that squirms against the sand. Exhaustion drags at her, but still she cleans the girl (a beautiful navy and white filly, so reminiscent of the woman who had birthed her), nibbling affectionately at the soft tufts of her mane as she fights to remain awake.

    “Ferran,” she whispers, unable to find the strength to do more than utter the single word before fatigue claims her.

    Make me a promise that time won't erase us

    That we were not lost from the start

    Rapture



    @[Levi]
    #2

    He is not there as soon as he should have been; he has grown languid in his duties as her keeper. As her fatigue seemed to grow so did the fire stallion's appetite for wandering.  She rests on their secludes island and he traces the shores of Tephra and sometimes further, his dark and brooding eyes avoiding those of others and his stride held an energy and purpose. It would be hard to tell had no end in mind. But still, he was back with her every night to make sure she and his growing child in her womb were safe and warm. 

    Almost every night. 

    She never asked where he had been, a gentle pleading of her soft, blue eyes was the worst she ever gave him. A wicked grin was the worst he ever gave her. 

    But whatever she may think he had remained true. Although they had never agreed to such a thing, although he had no idea if their bargain would last beyond the dawn. The pale hollows of her stir his loins the same way her robust curves had. The fragility of her, the soft yielding to his advances, ignite the fire in his belly and his need to have her - to keep her. He had yet to look beyond her for company of any sort in the last year. 

    They had a rhythm and he had always been a creature of habit. 

    By the time he finds her in the jungle their son has been born, and his sweat soaked blue-bird rises to stand. Parting ferns and fronds, he comes to stand beside her pressing into her for support as he admires the blinking colt who seems healthy enough.  But something is not right, he realizes, as she shudders beside him, and Levi turns abruptly as Rapture's eyes widen and roll in pain. 

    She collapses at his feet and fear strikes him hard and true in his heart. He is willingly her servant again, frantically trying to help yet feeling useless, ready to repentant of his wandering and willing to sacrifice it all - as it would have made a difference. But zealous dread soon turns to happiness as her pain gains context. 

    A second child.

    "Rapture," he breathes her name, covering her neck and face with hot and urgent kisses as she cleans them. They seem healthy, both beautiful in their own way, but his attentions are completely absorbed by their delicate mother. 

    Levi
    so scream you, out from behind the bitter ache.
    #3

    “Levi,” she whispers, her voice a desperate ache. The fear had become a living thing inside her breast, tangling her thoughts and squeezing her heart until she wonders how she might bare it. She had worried he would not come. That her strength would falter and he would not be there to catch her. She had feared for her children, for their safety in such a merciless world.

    But he is there, his touch a balm against her overworked flesh, centering her troubled thoughts. She presses against him, her cheek against his warm skin for just a moment as she soaks in the comfort he brings. She says nothing of his delay. She never has, only waiting for him to finally return. He cannot see the dread she had buried deep. That one day he might leave and never return. That he might one day grow tired of her.

    It would be no more than she deserves, for all the times she has fled.

    She still can’t seem to find the words to explain that it would only ever been him though. She says nothing when his absences span the day, the entire night, because he returns. She asks him nothing of what he does because she fears the answer. She would take any piece of him he would give her, no matter how small. Because it is the only thing holding her together. She lives for his touch, for the smell of his hot skin and the way his lips trail possessively along her blue body.

    As long as she has that much of him, she could be content.

    She only draws away from him when the pain becomes too great. And by the time their daughter is born she is too exhausted to do more that lean into his touch where it burns desperately against her damp skin. Her body trembles with fatigue as she struggles to remain awake. As she cleans their daughter and gives her her name. Instinct demands she rise, but she hasn’t the strength. Perhaps though, she has a little time before they find their feet.

    “Levi,” she murmurs again, as she droops heavily against him, struggling to remain awake. Keep them safe, she thinks, the words becoming lost somewhere in her throat. She would rest just a moment. Just long enough to gather the strength to care for her babies.

    Make me a promise that time won't erase us

    That we were not lost from the start

    Rapture

    #4
    He doesn't see the way she is broken - she hides it well - and what few cracks he can feel make her perfect for him. He feeds off the way she needs him, even in this desperate moment, as she pants his name and the pain causes her sides to shudder.  She is flawless, and his; it would be a lie to say he didn't love her.

    In his own selfish way.

    He had never had something all to himself before her. He had been given a taste for it when he kept Karaugh in her prison - but that was nothing like this. Kauragh had been a used up old bat ripe with someone else's bastard when he took her. She had hissed and showed her teeth, and taming her had been a rewarding challenge. But it was not what he truly wanted. 

    He wants her - Rapture - she is soft and content and that's all he ever sees of her. She makes him forget everyone else who ever left him. She is the safe place he always comes back to.

    She falls, and he gently places her head down on the warm earth, checking first for any stones. His gaze lingers on her features, finally restful, and while concern still grips him, the tall beast steps back and allows her a moment to sleep. 

    His attention turns to the two foals, yet his ears remain trained on Rapture as his mismatched gaze evaluates their offspring. Cautiously, he approaches the children and the flames along his crest dim as the boy blinks up at him. But he reaches for the filly first, lipping away any trace of film which Rapture had missed. When in turn she tilts her delicate face up to his, a puff of warm air leaves his nostrils and something inside of him softens.  

    Still silent, the stallion sinks to his knees in the soft loam, bringing himself to her height and their faces together. He nips her cheek playfully, more lips than teeth, drawing his muzzle back quickly afterward as he admires everything about his first daughter. 

    Levi
    so scream you, out from behind the bitter ache.
    [Image: BQLevipagedoll-DONE.png]
    #5

    i'm told that to be human i must stand still
    you can try your hardest, but i never will

    It’s exhilarating, this world. Bright and heavy and slightly uncomfortable, but still so thrilling. So much more than the endless warmth and dark, the soft weight of her brother pressed against her. Too many things to see and feel and touch. Overwhelming, but in the most glorious of ways.

    She squirms against her mother’s touch, a wildness in her breast she can’t quite name. An impatience she doesn’t have the words for yet. Ferran, she calls her, and she can feel it settle in her bones. It sounds right. It sounds like her.

    She recognizes her mother, soft and gentle and fearful. She doesn’t understand it, fear such a foreign concept to one who has never known anything but safety. She recognizes her brother. Her Firen. And her father, she knows him too. Recognizes the familiarity of his heat and the low rumble of his voice.

    When he comes closer, she wiggles impatiently against the sandy earth, tilting her small head to peer up at his flame-licked visage. She squirms until she has managed to pull herself sternal, her nose coming to the curve her father’s cheek even as he lips playfully at her own. She’s wobbly still, but she pokes at him, lips tickling the red and white of his sleek coat as she explores  the hollows of his face, She grows bolder with each passing moment, until she bites him, toothless and gummy. Gnawing harmlessly, almost experimentally, on the angle of his cheek.

    She’s hungry, she realizes. She doesn’t know how much time has passed, but enough for her empty belly to assert itself.

    Ears flattening, she shifts, nearly toppling over in her gangly clumsiness. But she catches herself, instead stretching around to nose insistently at her mother. Brows furrowed, she tries to collect her feet, to pull herself into a standing position. Her legs shake madly as she struggles, and after a futile moment, she topples heavily against Rapture.

    Mother stirs at that, head lifting groggily as she brings her nose around to steady her daughter.

    She tries her back legs this time, drawing them unsteadily beneath her as she lifts her rump, tail bobbing irritably against her haunches. She trembles as she slowly draws her front legs beneath her, small features stubbornly determined. Finally she is standing, limbs splayed wide as she struggles to keep her balance.

    She had made it. Now she only needs to figure out what comes next.

    ferran

    #6
    Firen, he is told, and he likes his name because it sounds like hers

    The little black colt doesn't bother to open his eyes at first he simply explores her mind and is content to take in the world second hand. She finds it thrilling, and her excitement touches him in the wordless way her thoughts filter into his mind. But as he tastes what she is feeling his own body is rigid with growing anxiety. 

    Everything was different. Everything that wasn't her, was strange. 

    But mother's soft touch comforts him and he finally does feel the need to open his dark lids to see his heavenly Mother Creature. The three of them were one only moments ago, and if he was making the decisions they would go back to that as soon as possible. But her touch quiets the rapid rhythm of his heart, and he takes a cue from his sibling. 

    Different isn't always bad. 

    As the black colt looks around for the first time, a garish brightness draws his blinking red eyes, sensitive and new as they are. He looks to the creature which nuzzles her, something like panic and confusion bubbling up in his narrow chest as he wonders what will happen next. 

    A deep fumble comes from the chest of the one called Father, and it is only through the touch of his sisters mind that he knows this is laughter. 

    Father doesn't like the way he ... cowers... Firen knows as the stormy thought of his sire press into his tender, new mind. The frail colt shakes his head violently at this, he didn't like these thoughts at all. He liked his sister's thoughts, his mothers. He didn't want to have Father in his mind too. 

    But Father isn't thinking about him anymore once Ferran bites (!!) him. There isn't much time for him to fear before, to his immense relief, the thoughts which come his way from the fiery male only grow lighter. And he doesn't have to look at the stallion's face to know he is smiling. 

    But Ferran's is not done there. What a day. Firen is just thinking Mother has the right idea, they should all take a nap, when his sister begins to wobble and use her legs in a way that had never crossed his mind.  Wide-eyed and worried, he looks to mother as Ferran falls, hoping he can catch her eye and receive a lovely, soothing touch once again.
    [Image: Firen-insane.gif]




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