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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


    Litotes, anyone - birthing;
    #1

    how come I never got used to the feeling of sleeping in a cage?
    too long driving, too damn hungry; a tied-up hound but nothing stays

     She hasn’t left, not really.

    There was a brief visit to the forest where her eyes once again found Sinner shrouded in darkness. Sylva is no longer his, he said. There was a pang in her heart, a crack that split through her, but she remained composed. She had to. Even as her womb housed life during their reunion, Valdis remained stoic until the meeting quieted and disbanded. Contractions pulled her away and into the direction of Pangea where she has found some amount of comfort these past few months. It’s fitting that the King’s child should be born within the kingdom.

    The memory of their coupling flashes across her eyelids as they slowly drift shut. Valdis is already in Pangea, lying down in anticipation. Springtime’s sunlight bathes her as contractions continue to grip her. The span of time between each lessens. A heavy breath escapes her. This is all too familiar. First Dracarys, then Erio.

    A flicker of concern opens her eyes to search for the small boy, but his scent is faint and his image nonexistent. Wandering again, she presumes, but doesn’t bother to pursue him as pain wracks through her. Then again.

    Her breath hisses through her clenched teeth as sweat rises to her coat. Her entire body glistens as it teeters between hot and cold – frost and perspiration – and the pain versus moments of a lull. Alone, Valdis has no other option than to reassure herself. Hushed words escape her, wanting only for it to end before it has even truly begun. Erio’s delivery was eerily fast and simple, but that can be assumed based on his size. So this one, she muses, will be normal and strong.

    Minutes melt into hours as the labor continues through the night and into the dawn. Brief periods of time allotted opportunities to graze, but Valdis otherwise is lying down until, finally, a child emerges. Exhaustion rushes through her as the adrenaline recedes. Every muscle trembles, and they groan when Valdis forces herself to rise and address the small foal. Despite her fatigue, her eyes brighten fondly when they trace the filly’s small – but normal – body. ”My little gem,” in the early hours of morning, with the sky pastel-painted, she reaches down and brushes her daughter. She duly notes the soft kiss of blue flirting with the white of her skin, the metallic sheen of her damp Mohawk, and the markings across her delicate face. Smiling, approving, Valdis whispers into the cool air, ”My little Altissima.”

     

    Valdis

    [/font]

    @[litotes] @[Squirt]
    Reply
    #2
    litotes

    When she comes, he notices. The King notices as he does all who wander amongst Pangea: quiet, observant, hardly concerned. There are rumors he may tend to, but even those he hardly feels fear over. What will come, will come. For now, Valdis is the only future he is thinking of.

    The fierce woman labors, shifting from her side to hooves when the need arises. There is a certain longing that whines to be with Valdis, to curl himself around her while she struggles, but he denies that incessant voice. Does he belong there, at her side? Or does he belong here, swathed in shadow, golden eyes creasing with concern? A low grunt escapes his throat. There are no answers in the solitude he surrounds himself with.

    Eventually, Valdis finds her rhythm, and then her end. It is not until the sun is peeking over the edge of the earth that their child arrives. Lie concedes to his need to comfort and see, wrapping the dying shadows around himself to teleport closer. His arrival is small, just silent enough to hopefully not disturb the mother and the child she is cleaning. “Valdis,” the cremello finally calls, hesitation no longer present. His voice is barely loud enough to reach the two.

    There is nothing but the parents and their daughter’s sunrise.

    “She is so beautiful,” he murmurs, dipping his muzzle just close enough to drink in her newborn scent. “Blue like her mother.” Lie’s eyes flick up to Valdis’ then, something bitter and sad mingling with his teasing. The skin of her cheek is salty and soft when he reaches to nibble at it, warmth rolling from his maw. “What is her name?”

    i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me
    guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right



    @[Valdis] <3
    Reply
    #3

    In those first moments, all Altissima knows is happiness. It’s her entire world – this softness and warmth. The gentle touch of her mother, the caress of the morning sun illuminating the two winter-dressed females, the sweet sound of her mother’s voice. Altissima blinks dark blue eyes up at Valdis, a dreamy smile on the newborn’s expression.

    If this is what life is like, she won’t mind it one bit.

    Another joins them and the filly is still wrapped in her dreamlike state so she doesn’t mind. He’s just another part of this wonderful world, soft and gold and, looking as though he was once part of the sun that is shining on the small family as it begins to rise.

    The words the adults exchange go, literally and figuratively, over the girl’s head but she watches them as they speak all the same – head moving back and forth to look at each one as they speak. She wants to join in the conversation too but when she opens her mouth to, the noise that comes out is more of a squeak than any words.

    Still this doesn’t bother her. She made a noise, after all, and that’s all their words are to her. So she considers it a win and instead focuses on her legs that are curled beneath her. She wants to unfurl them, wants to stand the way they are. And that becomes her next mission.

    With incredible care and slowness, Altissima shifts herself and tries to push those tiny, blue-tinted legs beneath her. The first time results in a tumble, and the second time she stumbles forward and may collide with one or both of her parents, but the third time she gets it. Her legs tremble, but once she’s standing she tilts her head upwards and beams at them both, ecstatic in her accomplishment and wanting to share it with them.

    Altissima
    of litotes and valdis
    image from pixabay


    @[Valdis] <33333
    Reply
    #4

    how come I never got used to the feeling of sleeping in a cage?
    too long driving, too damn hungry; a tied-up hound but nothing stays

     She doesn’t expect Litotes to be tender, to even be present for the delivery. Her eyes blink, windows into her surprise, but they soften almost immediately as he hesitantly inches closer. A warm smile blossoms across her lips, warming the frost that encases much of her skin. ”Hello, Litotes,” her voice is serene, a velvet blanket caressing him on a cool night, as he looms above her with fascination adorning his cremello face.

    Erio’s birth had been in secret and so alone. Prior to that, there was Sinner warming her body for Dracarys’ arrival. Today, Litotes takes his place to comfort her as their newborn daughter tries to find her legs. This – all of it – happened so quickly and unexpectedly, but when she peers up at him, there is no hate or regret. Perhaps, somehow, this is what she needed as her world crumbled and everything she knew fell apart.

    ”She is strong,” she whispers into the wind as her gaze falls to the child while she attempts to stand. Understanding, Valdis rises to her feet and shakes away the dirt and debris. Blood traverses down her hindquarters, staining the rocky earth underneath. Pain still occasionally slithers through her groin, but her mind is far too engulfed by this moment to take notice. She glances between father and daughter, unable to suppress the grin that still splits her lips and betrays the elation blooming in her chest. Breathing a lungful of air, Valdis savors the memory knowing that one day it will all end, that one day her life will fall back into Sinner’s hands and her daughter will grow up. Inclining her head, she leans against Litotes, taking his previous gesture to her cheek as an invite for contact.

    Even after coupling, after creating this, it’s strange to fall into another man’s embrace.

    ”Altissima,” she announces proudly before pressing her lips to his neck, ”and she’s perfect.” She nearly steps away to warn him and to remind him to whom she has always belonged, but her heart doesn’t want to tear apart the first beautiful moment she has had in months. It flutters in her chest, craving this attention and heat from his body after so many cold, lonely nights. Leveling her sapphire eyes onto his, she cannot help to quietly – intimately – insert some amount of coy humor. ”Is this how you treat all of Pangea’s prisoners?” A fling, she reminds herself, this was all a game of lust.

    No one would want her like that, not truly.

    Stepping forward, Valdis reaches down to cradle her newborn’s cheek, brushing her cool, frosted skin across her playfully. ”You already make us so proud.”

     

    Valdis

    [/font]

    @[litotes] @[Altissima]
    Reply
    #5
    litotes

    The feeling of his newborn daughter against his locked legs brings a smile to his face. Litotes peers down at her with glimmering gemstone eyes, longing to press his mouth to her mane - but remembers the lesson he has learned raising daughters (especially Isilme); instead, his smile remains like a flickering ghost, translucent and near-weak. I love you, he thinks, knowing how fiercely that is true.

    She is like a little bird, so sweet and brilliant in her tiny joy.

    “Altissima,” the cremello parrots, dragging his eyes back to Valdis. “It . . . it suits her.” It does, and he means it, especially as he speaks her name into existence and ties it around his heart.

    Valdis’ jest loosens the death-grip on Lie’s chest, and he nibbles at the curve of her jaw, sad smile turning those somber lips of his into something sweet. She is unique and perfect in her way, and the Archon will not have her any other way. “I can’t say I am much of a prisoner-taker; but Valdis, you would be different even if I was.” He means this, too, even knowing that she has her life outside of the odd bubble they have created (so much like every other woman in his life) - even knowing that the soft curve of his heart he keeps her in will callous when she leaves.

    She has something about her that demands his affection, and Litotes has always been a sucker for secretly powerful women.

    The moment pops when Valdis steps away, but Lie’s smile remains.

    “Yes, so incredibly proud.” Proud of both of them.

    i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me
    guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right



    @[Altissima] @[Valdis] valdis always gettin mr softy soft lie
    Reply
    #6

    how come I never got used to the feeling of sleeping in a cage?
    too long driving, too damn hungry; a tied-up hound but nothing stays

     In spite of herself, Valdis cannot help to smile. Her sapphire eyes dance across her daughter with adoration and awe. The tenderest moments of her life have been with her children, the fathers shadowing her. Her genuine happiness seeps from her every pore and brightens her face. A flicker of uncertainty arises only when she remembers that it is Litotes behind her, not Sinner. A habit, she muses. The hellhound often concealed what lurked beneath the surface and the reasons his heart hammered against her when they embraced. Valdis accepted it and assumed that’s what life will be like – everyone at arm’s length, never confessing a semblance of love.

    But Litotes is showing her so much more in this moment. The barriers melt between them. This appears as a seamless dream she once had as a child – having her own family built on a sense of love.

    The soft nibbling along the edges of her jaw pull Valdis from the grip of her childhood dreams. A honeyed smile meets him, brimming with a fantasy of what life would entail if she remained here in Pangea with him. How different would it be? A pleased hum vibrates through her core. ”I feel honored then,” she whispers with a sweet tang of humor and sincerity as their eyes lock. ”Had I not been stolen…” she trails off slowly as her attention drifts down to their daughter, imagining not having such a light of perfection in her life (she still has Dracarys, of course). Where, however, does this lead them?

    When she looks away, there is more than one path in front of her. There is Pangea and Litotes, Sinner, and an unknown.

    No, silly girl. Why get so ahead?

    Rolling her shoulders she presses a kiss to her newborn’s head for a surge of strength – emotional, physical – before looking up with a lopsided grin. ”I’ve considered going to the Mountain to have my heart removed,” she pauses with a contemplative lick of her lips, ”but I’m afraid to never love my children.” It would save her from the aches and strife of men, but there is so much more to life than the opposite sex. Yet, it still weighs on her heavily as she finds her world shrinking day by day.

     

    Valdis

    [/font]

    @[litotes]
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