"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
07-17-2015, 08:46 PM (This post was last modified: 07-19-2015, 03:09 PM by Scorch.)
WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT
She feels utterly naked. She looks it, too; fire dances no longer upon the devastation that is her anciently charred skin. No longer does the fire consume her; rather, it has been put out, and underneath lies the hideous scars which it has left.
Not only this, but her chest feels empty. The lack of the blood read flower sparkling on her chest causes her to feel vulnerable. This, however, she takes solace in: all of the Sisterhood is united in their normalness. Everyone was effected by Beqanna’s rage and benevolence, not only she.
Because of this, she must take the matter to the kingdom. And so she does.
She raises her hammer-head, calling for the Jungle-dwellers through uncomfortably dull, regular horse-teeth. They trickle in, and Scorch greets each woman by name, as she does not want to be mistaken in this new, hideous, uncovered body. Only Malka has seen this side of Scorch, the lumpy, pained, scarred, burnt side of Scorch, the one with reoccurring blisters, tearing skin, and disfigurements. Immortality has aided the pain aspect of her defect, but even traits cannot cure her ugliness.
“Sisters,” She begins in an authoritative voice, “As I know you have noticed, our tattoos have been taken from us, and our kingdom granted traits, too. Something has shifted in the Spirit of Beqanna. The Goddess of the Amazon came to me in a dream and explained the coming changes, which include the slow return of our tattoos, though not our traits. Instead, we have predetermined traits to give; two pairs of wings to create an airforce, and invisibility for the second-in-command diplomat. Our caste-leaders have also been rewarded, and myself as well. In time, the Amazon may grant more traits when petitioned to.”
She pauses, glancing from woman to woman in an effort to make sure they understand the situation. Scanning the crowd slowly, she continues speaking, projecting her voice to the very edges of the clearing. “There is one final matter which the Amazon Goddess spoke to me of – Her spirit, which roams the Jungle in the form of a jaguar cub. She may appear to you, or come when summoned. As Her magic is still weak, we must protect Her at all costs.”
During this spiel, a small silver shape appears. Her paw-falls are silent, though she moves like the wind. The cub settles herself before Scorch, facing the gathered women. No words are spoken, no tattoos re-given, no miracles performed. Yet her presence at the meeting brings a smile to Scorch’s lips; the cub and she have spent hours simply sitting in each other’s vicinity, but the Khaleesi feels no closer to understanding the Patronus, if she could call it that. It’s wonderfully thrilling.
“Nayl suggested that we give Her a name. I would suggest ‘Siha.’ This name means: a warrior-angel, fierce in wrath; a tenacious protector.” She lowers her head in a show of humility. “But I will leave it up to the Sisterhood. Perhaps we may all have our own names for Her.”
A moment passes before Scorch switches topic, uncomfortably aware of how different she looks now; this only urges her to be stronger. “I have no promotions to give this year, though I thank Rhy, Lagertha and Pharaon especially in their efforts to recruit.” Her dragon eyes scan through the crowd intensely, pausing in the depths of each woman’s eyes. “We must give our all in this kingdom, Sisters. The battle grounds are silent, and the stealing grounds lacking Amazons. I encourage each of you to frequent these places when you are able. And, in case any have forgotten, the Valley, Chamber and Gates are valid targets. The Tundra, Deserts and Dale are visits only. As for the Falls…
“Queen Shatter Me of the Falls has made an ultimatum for the Falls’ relations. No treaties are to be had, and in order to solidify an alliance, one of our number must live in the Falls, and they will act as our Healer. I do not like the sound of this, as the Falls are a quiet kingdom and we Amazons may not find the land stimulating. Healing waters are handy to have, but we must decide what we are willing to give for it. Please let me know your thoughts on the matter.
”Also, I encourage anyone and everyone to compete in the Deserts competition or to simply go and watch. It will be a good chance to mingle with the other kingdoms and to scope out their weaknesses and strengths.
“In closing, if you would like to join a caste or two, please speak up. You do not need to be initiated in order to serve the Jungle. If, however, some among us wish to take the vow, you may repeat after me... You will not receive your tattoos immediately, but the oath remains significant and life-long.” She inhales deeply before continuing. “‘To the Jungle, I swear my service in life and death. To this kingdom, I swear my blood and my body. To my Sisters and Brothers, I swear my loyalty and love.’” A smile ripples across her lips when/if a mare takes the vow. "Welcome to the Sisterhood."
Scorch
Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle
Seeing as Texas just posted, I took the liberty to pretend that Scorch has already replied and learned the stipulations with the Falls.
If anyone wants to play with the Patronus, go ahead, I don’t control her (:
And finally, the underlined section was added on because obviously I forgot something right?
Thanks!
07-20-2015, 02:08 PM (This post was last modified: 07-20-2015, 02:18 PM by Lagertha.)
this will never end, ‘cause i want more, more, give me more
Lagertha hates the bureaucracy of it all - the endless meetings that Scorch calls would have herp icking at her cuticles and digging dirt out of already short fingernails if she were human. Of course, when she becomes Khaleesi, it will be a necessary evil. But for now, she can linger in the back and roll her eyes and be the anti-meeting General they all know her to be. She is no different, save for her new sorta-crown. The waterbuck horns on her head no longer make her skull and neck ache, though the tips are now past her ears. They would be useful for fighting…. very useful indeed.
She would be thorny everywhere.
Lagertha’s had some brief encounters with the Jungle spirit - mostly in the guise of a curious cub staring out at her under some leaf, or padding along a tree branch above her. Once, when she woke up, there were little paw prints around her, and her chest was awfully warm. She wasn’t the type to seek the cub out, or presume that it would spend hours alone with her - but hey, to each their own. Maybe Scorch is really freaking special and she’s never realized it. Maybe she’s got the spirit all wrong, but her impression was that it wasn’t a docile pet to sit at the ruler’s hooves, and that they should be lucky to see it. But perhaps that’s just when it’s grown.
Normally, if someone needed protection, she would assign a rotating guard. But was it necessary? “We could always try to assign it a guard - though I imagine keeping tabs on a spirit could prove logistically difficult.” And then she says no more until the end, half listening and half wondering where her foxy little friend has gone to.
Finally, when Scorch has said her piece(s), but before new sisters say their vows, she gets down to Army business. “There will be a meeting after this to restructure the Army ranks, as few of us have done anything. If you think you deserve your current rank, speak up then. I’d like Lyris to have one of the pair of wings. And until another sister steps up, I will take the second, because there’s no point in wasting a perfectly good pair. If anyone wins anything in the Desert events, they will receive the pair. If no one wins, but comes in second or third, the wings will go to that sister instead.” She had never had any intention of letting Malka have the other pair - not only was she gifted enough, but she had done nothing for the Jungle lately, and Lagertha didn’t think she deserved them. Whether or not the General deserved them either was debateable, but she could not direct and air force if she did not know how to fly herself. And she is more than willing to give them up, as stated, to someone else who wants them.
She pauses for a moment, thinking of what Malka proposed - to name it. "What about Inavva, which means sister, or Oakah, which means soul?"
lagertha
carnage x grim reaper; amazonian general
[so i think this answers the fairy thread, too? idk if yall wanted to continue that or not.]
"Come on, you buffoon. Aunt Scorch is calling," Nayl shoves forward Tytos from his bed of dirt and leaves. A frown cracks his stoic face as his orange-gold eyes peer up at her. "Why are you so pushy? No need for name calling, beloved sister." He glances toward the trees where there is only silence. "What about mom and Rhonan?" When his head turns to look at Nayl he's met with a venemous stare. "Rhonan isn't here right now and mom is resting. Now get up." She shoves him one final time before they venture off into the endless sea of emerald. The gurgling of the river guides them for seemingly miles until Nayl lead them away toward the origin of their Khaleesi. "We just passed some fillies I wanted to meet, so hold on.""Don't make me sick. You aren't meeting anyone yet." Being a sibling is a challenge, she's finding out. For a fleeting moment Nayl wonders how Thorunn manages having a twin.
The two of them arrive shortly after Lagertha. They look at her for a heartbeat and take regard of the horns sprouting from her skull. "Those are new," Nayl remarks prior to turning her attention onto their Queen. "She's bald," she whispers in shock to Tytos who quickly replies, "I've only ever seen her naked like that. She's wrinkly..." The comment is halted by Nayl hitting him by swerving her hip into his much smaller body. He frowns and stares at her in shock before settling into a silence as she steps forward to quietly admire the apparition in front of them. "So is this what has happened across all of the kingdoms? Are we all the same now?" The Amazons will always be different in their hearts, but how are they to differentiate to the expanse of Beqanna?
As Scorch presses into the matter of the Falls, Nayl takes every bit of information into consideration. Her head begins to shake but stops as she readies herself. "Why have an ally that can offer absolutely nothing in return except healing waters? They are notoriously quiet. We should have allies that will support us and will have the ability to do so.I'm sure we can find healers if we ever need one." A thought threads through her mind and her eyes meet those of her aunt's. "Have any of us even needed healing in the last few years? Are there things to happen that we would really need it?"
Although beneficial, she remains steadied on the idea that an alliance is too high of a cost for a puddle.
She is here to learn, she reminds herself after briefly glancing to her aunt and Rhy.
She comes at the sound of the call, not exactly surprised by it. Another kingdom meeting was inevitable, after the changes that have rocked Beqanna. She’s quick to arrive, but really, she’s cheating. She disappears from view and reappears where the meeting is being held. Well, she reappears some distance away so she doesn’t materialize on top of someone else, and then walks a few feet into the meeting.
Scorch is in her customary spot, and Lagertha is probably as annoyed as ever, though mostly the general doesn’t show it. Instead, she sports growing horns, making the mare even more prickly than she ever was. Rhy loves her all the same, despite it. Or maybe for it. Sometimes it’s hard to know the difference.
Rhy, for her part, hasn’t changed much. But the Amazons had given her one gift in the form of very uncertain empathy. The trait is still growing along with the cub that Rhy has grown fond of playing with. They have not necessarily spent hours together, but every now and again Rhy hears the low growl of the spirit and she returns in kind, the spirit finding her as she switches from horse to lion. The cub may be the spirit of a goddess, but it was still a cub. It liked to play.
The empathy is probably why she knows Lagertha is annoyed, why she knows Nayl is trying to listen and learn. She can’t exactly pinpoint why she feels these things, how she understands them, but she gets hints of it. Though Nayl has useful questions to ask, and in this forum, Rhy doesn’t mind having the girl speak up. In truth, Nayl is currently her choice for invisibility, though she’d like to watch the girl just a bit more before deciding for certain. Like Lagertha, Rhy had never planned to give Malka the girl. The bird-mare was gone more often than she wasn’t. She didn’t need any more help being invisible.
“I agree with Nayl,” she says, looking at the girl briefly. The Amazons had Sunday, even if Sunday’s healing powers were questionable at times. The girl could heal. They might have Prague again as well, if Rhy could figure out how to drag the magician out of the meadow. And the Amazons were strong. They knew how to handle pain, how to heal on their own.
Rhy would have agreed to an alliance for the healing waters, would have agreed to back up the Falls in time of need. But she’s not sure she’s ready to agree to selling a sister to another kingdom. Not when she herself would never consider going, and it was her own family that had called the kingdom home for so many years. “Unless there’s a Sister who wants to go to the Falls. Otherwise, I think the cost is too high.”
She pauses for a moment, and then turns to address the group herself. “I will be on the lookout for someone who deserves invisibility and the rank that comes with it. However, you do not need me to send you on diplomatic meetings. In fact, you don’t need to go to another kingdom at all to be of use. Go to the Deserts and mingle. Go to the meadow. There’s much to learn, when you know how to listen. And report back.”
Done with her piece, she settles back in to see what others have to say. She does not, however, weigh in on the name of the cub. Rhy already knows want to call the jaguar, but of course, they speak the same language. And growls do not translate well.
She is young and vibrant and curious and the world is her oyster.
Today, though, is not a time for exploring. Jaide trots happily down the well-worn Jungle path, responding to a call she can barely hear over the squawking of macaws. She has found their company to be most delightful – with their rainbow plumage and secret vocabularies of chirps and whistles -but she finds that she prefers the ever-inquisitive and fearless monkeys. Not that she’d ever tell them, of course. Monkeys already have egos as big as the sky surely is above the canopy.
She’d learned that the hard way months ago, when she was much smaller than she is now. The little spider monkey had seemed a willing playmate at first (other than its initial shyness when it had poked its head out from between two ferns). It warmed up to the filly quickly, had even climbed onto her back and pulled at her mane with abandon. They had cavorted around the clearing, played hide-and-seek with her behind the kabob trees and the monkey actually up in the trees. It was a grand time until he had spotted a singular, ripe papaya hanging above him.
The rest of the fruits had been picked through or hollowed out by birds. The monkey had jumped from her back up into the tree, his eyes lit with his newfound purpose in life. As he had climbed closer, however, the limb shook terribly with his weight. He reached out with one delicate hand, but already the shaking had severed the overripe stem. The papaya fell and as it did, so did the monkey’s gaze. Jaide seized the opportunity and grabbed the green-yellow skinned fruit once it hit the forest floor. She only meant to prolong their play as she pranced with it about the glade. The spider monkey grabbed for it many times, bounding along beside her as she kept it lofted above his head. Eventually, his shrieks had turned to dejected chattering. The monkey jumped up into a tree, looked back at her once with palpably hurt eyes, and disappeared into the dense canopy.
She had learned her lesson that day – that monkeys were all fun and games until they were temper-tantrum-throwing assholes.
She thinks on all of her stories so far as she comes upon the meeting. There aren’t many, of course – she’s only nearing her third birthday after all. But what she lacks in quantity, the blue girl makes up for in quality. She appreciates every facet of life in the Amazons. She loves the ferocity of the jaguar, appreciates the persistence of the mosquito, and gravitates towards the compassion of the river manatee. They all have a purpose, every one. And in that spirit, in the mind frame of work and dedication, she comes ready to devote herself to the place.
Jaide knows all of the Sisters though they might not know her. Her mother had raised her close enough to the central portion of the kingdom that she knew faces and names, but far enough away to never really join in with the other fillies. The mare was old and uncomfortable with closeness outside of her daughter. It had been difficult to leave her side, but Jaide is not like her mother. She is all things social and warm; she is quick to laugh and slow to judge anyone. She smiles warmly at each girl and woman that comes to stand before Scorch before listening to the queen herself.
Everything is new to her young ears; everything is completely and wholly exciting. She knows of the tattoos, but has arrived too late to receive any herself. Will they come slowly for her as well if she pledges today? Thoughts clamor for space in her mind, each more intriguing than the next. She remains silent until her bald aunt finishes speaking, not knowing anything of the politics she would soon have to learn. The time feels right, though. She feels ready. “I’m Jaide. Hi everyone.” Her luminous green eyes peer around her, taking in all of the sisters equally. When she looks back at the Khaleesi, her eyes remain fixed as she speaks the vows. “To the Jungle, I swear my service in life and death. To this kingdom, I swear my blood and my body. To my Sisters and Brothers, I swear my loyalty and love.” Afterwards, she beams, feeling the Amazons fully claim her as Her own.
The rest of the meeting passes in a blur. Jaide listens as best she can, but she’s awash in pride and love for the place around her. She watches Rhy more than the others, intending to join the peace caste in the near future. “I’d like to help with diplomacy, if you’ll have me.” And she falls silent, listening and learning.
I was staring at the sky, just looking for a star...
Pomona's attendance to the Jungle waxes and wanes like the seasons, sometimes spending months in seclusion before returning to attend her duties. This particular absence has left her heart guilty so when the beautiful flower that had graced her chest for so many years melted away into the earth, she gave a scream of horror and raced back to her familiar lands, liver chestnut pelt quivering.
Sullen and shy, afraid to meet the gaze of any of her sisters, she doesn't realize precisely what's happened until she answers the summons to a meeting and is shocked by the site of a creature she doesn't immediately recognize. Scorch without her living flame and dragonesque appearance is strange to behold. Pomona pulls her mouth closed and gives a jerk of a nod at her greeting, aware of how uncomfortable the usually brash Khaleesi and takes a spot near the back. This forces her to stand near the huge General and her new horns. Only then does she realize that none of her sisters have their marks, personal or otherwise. It fills the drab mare with disquiet, the usually bright gathering is somehow more subdued. Even with her golden wings of light, Pomona no longer stands out quite the same way without her bloody colored orchid and golden chevrons.
Listening wordlessly, Pomona offers no name for the cub, though it does bring a ghost of a smile to the nervous mare's lips. Only after the others have spoken does she make her presence known as she says, "I know that I am not the most reliable of mares," she put her head down shamefully before regarding them with large brown eyes, "but if it's decided that someone must go to the Falls as... well, hostage... I would be willing to go. I have tried to find a place among the warriors but giving a woman weapons does not make her a fighter." Her wings flapped sharply, one swipe neatly bisecting a branch from a tree in demonstration, "I have tried to be an ambassador but I lack the spine even for that, I am too quick to back down. But even I can be a warm body in another land if that's what's required." With that she drops her head and backs away slightly as if trying to make herself smaller, regretting that she'd spoken at all.
Sarkis had followed, though one may not have noticed. Her opinion of follow meant trailing several yards behind her mother's progression. Mother always had something to do or somewhere to be, but Sarkis did keep her naked hide within sight. Even the pretty tattoo had gone from mother's chest, leaving her utterly bare, but Sarkis didn't really mind. She hadnt the slightest care what others opinions might be, because underneath it all, it was still mom.
The meeting began, while the little roan frolicked in the background. A comical backdrop perhaps, but she had found a tiny frog you see. Together they hopped, or truly the frog did most of the hopping. Sarkis stumbled about after it, doing what she could to hop about on filly limbs. She hadnt been paying attention at all, not until the cub had padded out, her tail flicking with excitement.
The silver creature was mostly a welcome sight to the girl, a few times they had played, or tried to play at least. Sarkis, wasn't entirely fond of the cubs sharp teeth or claws. Sometimes it got too rough, carried away even, like most children did. There were no sharp bites in return, no scrape of nails to claw the felines pelt. Sarkis had none of these, so oft she did not initiate play with it anymore. That didn't mean she had hard feelings towards the spirit, she had just learned to respect it for what it was.
Otherwise the filly found the meeting a bore, listening curiously at the names suggested. She thought each one was okay, but none of them stood out more than the other to her. She carefully, approached her mother now, looking out at the herd, studying each of their faces.
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