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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


    [private]  i feel a bad moon rising | litotes
    #1
    The tread of her hooves feels louder here, each placement a solid clack against the dry and brittle earth. She glances over one blonde shoulder to see that the trail of her passing is faint here, and that the dry wind that blows across the drier earth will soon erase those half-moon prints in the Pangean dust.

    It has been quite some time since she was this uncomfortable, and she curses the blazing sun and the hand of Fate that guides her here.

    Because it must be Fate, of course, the fickle mistress that has held Lepis in thrall her entire life. Fate that she be born a queen, Fate that she be nothing now. Fate drafted her plans, revised what she planned on those late evenings with her husband. Fate that she turned to after the death of her son. It is easy to blame a higher power, and Lepis has always enjoyed easy.

    This particular journey has not been easy, and sweat streaks the dun mare’s tricolored hide. Her wings are held out from her sides, the golden feathers spread wide to keep from growing damp with sweat from her tobiano hide. The navy-to-white hair of her long mane is clumped and tangled, revealing the myriad of scars across her withers and crest. The scars are growing older now, not the raw red things they had once been, but there is no mistaking the story of damage they told. She prefers to keep them covered by a full and well-groomed mane, but there is no helping that here in this forsaken place. Her scars are always the first to catch the eye; most do not look past them. There’s not much to see, of course, even if they do. Lepis is hardly average when it comes to traditional beauty. In times like these though, when her emotions run high, she is filled with an internal fire, one that illuminates her from the inside with a blazing light. She demands to been seen when she is like this, radiating her current passions through the air around her. 

    Today it is irritation, frustration, and an emotion that somehow completely encompasses the deep relaxation that comes after a long soak in a Loessian hot spring. That is the last time she had been nearly this hot, and she is imagining that she is there instead of here beneath this white sun and between these sandstone walls. 

    Why would anyone in their right mind would want to live in this wasteland, the mare wonders? Her husband had spoken highly of the leader of Pangea, but Lepis has begun to doubt the fabled Litotes on this journey to his realm. How thriving can a community in a desert truly be? What is out here to sustain the prolonged interest of rational horses? She has business to attend to, but she already knows the first question she will ask of the feline ruler. Why had he left Loess for this wasteland?

    @[litotes]
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    #2

    boy what's normal to you? 'cause that sure ain't normal to me.

    Litotes can no longer claim that Pangea is empty. It seems that more often than not, he has visitors. Most come and go, none claiming his canyon kingdom as home. The Archon does not mind, though, as he grows comfortable within his loneliness. Whether that is a good or bad thing . . . he wonders about on some days, though today is not one of them.

    The red dust of Pangea’s floor stirs beneath the rapid trot of Lie’s hooves. His eyes narrow at the specks of red and gold that glimmer, knowing soon his legs will be caked in a pale sheen of dirt. He is used to it, for the most part - his shiny cremello hide tinted a soft crimson by the mark of his home. What little bits of him remain untouched by the dust are few and far between. Luckily for the stallion’s pride, the shifting splash of space across his hindquarters always remains as brilliant as ever.

    A dry breeze ruffles his tangled mane and sends sparkly dust particles to glitter in his unruly locks. He stops, shakes his head, and attempts to not be so irritated by the clinging dirt. It is within that irritation that he notices his most recent visitor. She is but a stirring in the shadows of Pangea, but when he finally comes upon her, he finds she is so much more.

    “I recognize you - Loess?” he questions with a tilt of his head. Shadows swirl like fog around his hooves. “Wolfbane’s wife, yes?” Lie’s eyes glimmer with curious mischief, but he quickly adds, “I am sure there is much more to you than that title, forgive me. I am Litotes, though something tells me you already know that. What brings you to Pangea?”

    and if i fall would you know that to do?
    and if i'm caught up would you stay?

    Litotes

    @[Lepis] sorry he hasnt wanted to come out much lately :/
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    #3
    As Litotes emerges from the haze of the shimmering heat and crimson dust, Lepis recognizes him. Wolfbane had given her a brief description of the stallion but she had not matched it with the horse she had seen from time to time in the hills of Loess. She had not paid much attention to anything beyond her family in the short time they had been kingdom-mates. Now she takes a better look than she had before.

    He is younger than her decade, but far from a child. Taller than she is, but without the added bulk that her golden wings add. The bit of night sky that has fallen onto his back is the only unnatural thing about him she can see, but she recalls her husband’s mention of some of his invisible talents. Distracted by looking him over, she is late to pull back her projection of her emotional state. In this case it was recognition and she unsure at first if his greeting is entirely natural.

    But he names her flaxen-haired mate, and Lepis smiles and nods. Her blue-grey eyes flick briefly to the shadows the swirl unnaturally at his hooves and then back up to his own. There is nothing but pleasentry in her expression as he continues to speak, confirming that his recognition is genuine. He is humorous, something that has been lacking in her life of late. She’d nearly forgotten it, she realizes, and with a single blink she forces herself to feel it as well.

    Litotes’ playful jest elicits another nod, and the short introduction: “I’m Lepis.”

    Then is the answer to the question of what has brought her here to Pangea. “I’m spreading word of the changes in Taiga, that Wolfbane and myself have taken charge of the forest. I also wanted to learn more of the state of other lands, and to ask why you’d choose this wasteland to live in after Loess.” The last reason is the most pertinent in her mind with her current physical discomfort. The winter in Taiga has been uncomfortable at the totally opposite temperature, and to switch from one to the other so quickly is disconcerting. She longs for the many springs of Loess, where one could find liquid relief no matter the season.

    “I don’t suppose you have any cold springs here?” Lepis asks with a raise of her brow and brief pursing of her dry mouth. Unlike her spouse and children, she does not heal immediately from the ill effects of dehydration, and it has been several hot hours since she had a drink.

    @[Litotes]
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    #4

    boy what's normal to you? 'cause that sure ain't normal to me.

    Though his residency in Loess is now a distant memory, Litotes considers the rocky hills a second home. He knows that if he were to be found wandering its yellowed grasses, most would not question his Pangean scent. So, he recognizes the faces of those he was amongst, if only it was because he did not have much else to do at the time. Lepis being one of those faces he happened upon in his bored observation, she is a welcome fixture in his home.

    “Ah, Lepis. Yes, Wolfbane certainly did mention you,” he murmurs, confirming mostly for himself. He cocks his head to listen to her mention of Taiga, eyes growing animated with delight. The Archon had wondered when his friend would finally find power of his own once again. Even from their first meeting years ago, when Bane sat upon the throne of Loess, Lie thought the flaxen-haired stallion did not suit servitude. “How damn exciting!” he exclaims, then chews on the wasteland comment. An amused smile lifts his lips.

    Before he can offer her a fitting rebuttal, Lepis asks about cold springs. Pangea does not have them like Loess does, but it does possess frigid underground rivers. Lie chuckles once and then murmurs, “Not exactly, but we do have something.” He turns away from the comtesse and swishes his tail. “This way.” His voice is languid, if a bit demanding.

    The canyon where Kensa gave birth to Kelynen is where he has in mind. Litotes fills the silence as they travel.

    “To be short, I chose Pangea for revenge. I had no particular designs on a ‘wasteland,’ at the time.” The cremello pauses, casting one gold eye to the sharp face of his companion. “I do find it amusing, though, that Pangea has a reputation as a wasteland given by those that have hardly been here.” They are close to the short drop into the canyon, so the stallion stops speaking for the time it takes them to reach the small decline. He drops down the side with a clatter and a drag, then prances into the cool water. “I think there is a lot to enjoy.” His gaze finds Lepis’, and he smiles. “Why Taiga?”

    and if i fall would you know that to do?
    and if i'm caught up would you stay?

    Litotes


    @[Lepis]
    Reply
    #5
    The cremello stallion seems genuinely pleased by the news of Taiga changing hands, and Lepis begins to understand what her husband sees in the man. She returns his smile as she follows him, rather certain that whatever he has will not be comparable to Loess. No where will really, and this is something that she has come to terms with only recently. No matter where rests her head, she opens her eyes each dawn looking for rolling hills on the horizon. Each dawn that she sees something else is a disappointment. Litotes answers her question – for revenge – and she is willingly distracted from the path her thoughts have taken.

    Why Taiga, Litotes asks with a smile. Why indeed?

    “Because Loess was already taken,” she answers. Lepis knows that is an evasive answer – Taiga had been taken as well. But Loess is held by a greater power than the quiet redwood forest had been, and Lepis had never even considered standing against her dragon-king. The little navy-haired mare is a great many less than savory things, but she is not disloyal to her family.

    “And because it lost the stone-flip with Nerine,” She smiles briefly to herself at the memory of the red and yellow stone tumbling down the cliff in front of them, sealing the fate of the northern woods. Taking over the Taiga has also effectively sealed Tephra and Sylva from the common lands by land-route, and that stratagem has not escaped Lepis. It is not one that she now shares with Litotes, but perhaps that is only because her attention has been caught by the place that the slide down the scree has brought her to. Lepis has not seen anything like this place before, and her blue-grey eyes trace the canyon walls and dripping water with interest.

    She has heard the stories of Pangea since she was a child. A dry, barren wasteland, as void of water and life as Carnage himself was of mercy. To breathe in the dusty air was to accept his chaos, to look overlong at the dunes would blind a child. This and much more she has been told. The silliest stories – those designed to keep a wayward child in check – she now recognizes as fantasy, but as she stands in the echoing canyon she wonders how much of them had been built on reality. A chill that is no result of the temperature creeps along her spine.

    Lepis drowns the uncomfortable sensation with a brief infusion of confidence, and she takes a second draft of the cool water as she watches Litotes standing farther out from the shore.

    “I’ve not been to the other lands yet with our news.” She tells him, taking a few steps forward so she might feel the water against her fetlocks. “I’m sure some of them will not be as excited as you seem to be.” A half-smile darts across her navy mouth, for she is amused at the memory of his excitement as she is at the prospect of potential conflict.

    @[Litotes]
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    #6

    boy what's normal to you? 'cause that sure ain't normal to me.

    Litotes finds that it is easy to be with Lepis. She has a blunt way about her that most of the women in his life do, so what may appear as biting to some is welcome to him. He smiles at the way her words twist harshly around each other - most are not so bold as to call a ruler’s kingdom a “wasteland.” It is that queer confidence that saves her quick tongue, at least with the shadow-weaver, and he leans into whatever banter they may discover.

    “Hm . . . so are you saying you considered a battle with all-seeing Heartfire?” Lie casts a curious - if a bit taunting - glance back at Lepis. The water is cold around his hocks, and he shivers, though his shake is mostly due to the countless thoughts now spinning in his mind. Lepis’ infusion of confidence does not go unnoticed, and the cremello finds himself perking up with an outstretched chest. His tongue turns in a way he feels he cannot control: “She is one I have yet to meet, though her reputation does not escape me. Should I watch my tongue around her?” Not that it entirely matters - the Nerinian queen can pluck this memory right from him if she so desires.

    The breeze chills Litotes’ neck when he shakes it out, one ear turned to catch the comtesse’s musings. “Beqanna has a way of fighting those that take what they want,” he pauses to catch her eye, “I am sure you have already been met with conflict, and I am sure you have more to come.” He laughs, casually dragging his hellish years of rising to power to the forefront of his mind. “Make no mistake, though - Wolfbane has my loyalty, and now you do, as well. The East will provide what we can.” An almost imperceptible sigh drifts from Lie’s mouth, and he tosses a wayward glance at the sky. “I hope you do not take offense to this, but I can only hope my loyalty goes both ways. I have seen far too many turned cheeks to wonder otherwise.”

    and if i fall would you know that to do?
    and if i'm caught up would you stay?

    Litotes


    @[Lepis]
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