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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]  we're all just stories in the end, voracious
    #1
    She thought it would be easy to fall back into her old habits, but she was wrong.

    Ever since she had returned, her dreams were haunted by great stone castles and the sparkling city of Atlantis. She had always known her thirst for adventure was insatiable, but now that she had discovered there was more to Beqanna than what was on the surface – that there seemed to be portals that led to other bright, extraordinary lands – it was hard to be content with what was here. She knows there is magic hidden in every corner of this vast land, but her almost ravenous heart was not content with what was here. She wanted to find the rest. She wanted to seek out the hidden gems and the dark corners, she wanted to see what other brilliance this place had to offer but for now –

    For now, she just wants to find him.

    Castles and Atlantis found her in her dreams, but sometimes, he was there, too. The peryton boy that had ran through the tunnel with her, away from that lost city and back to here. 

    They had gone their separate ways, and today, since she was bored and had no other way to spend her time – and maybe because he was in her dream last night too – she sets off in search of him. 

    Dawn had not yet touched the sky when she leaves Tephra, leaving the glow of its great volcano at her back. She travels swiftly through Sylva and Loess, and then into the depths of the forest. She walks along the well-worn paths, peering through the dappled light in search of a flash of blue and cream. As usual she is careless in her travels, ignoring the way branches scratch her skin and dead leaves that still clung to the limbs found a new home in the long locks of her mane. She is too focused on the task at hand to worry over her appearance, not that she ever does anyway.

    It is not until she breaks free and into the clearing that leads to the river that she finally finds her first clue. Out here in the open the snow was able to accumulate on the ground, and in the waning afternoon light she sees an odd set of tracks. She stops, tilting her head to observe them closer. Cloven and bird-like prints, clearly belonging to the same creature.

    With a newfound vigor she nearly bounds forward, and it is not far up ahead that she finds his familiar, stag-like figure. “There you are!” She exclaims, as though he was just supposed to know she was going to wake up and decide to look for him today. She draws alongside of him, a little breathless from her travels and her cheeks flushed warm. It doesn’t occur to her that she looks exactly like someone that had been journeying all across Beqanna today, with debris in her tangled hair and dirt across the white splashes of her body. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. You’re a lot harder to find than I thought you would be.” 

    But despite the almost reprimanding tone, there is a bright smile on her dark lips. With a tilt of her face the vibrant pink of her eyes find his own, and she asks with a genuine curiosity, “So, do you like Beqanna? Are you bored yet?”



    @[Voracious]
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    #2

    You twist, I turn, who's the first to burn?

    You sit and stay, I don't obey.

    Unlike her, he has yet to grow bored with the endless possibilities of the surface world. Everything is so vastly different here that, at times, he wonders if he might explore it forever and never cease to be amazed. The only land he had discovered that he had taken an instant dislike to had been a bone-littered beach that smelled of salt and death. Too much that place had reminded him of home. The endless burden of brine hanging in the air, tainting the blood and death his kind seemed to spill so easily.

    Everything he had chosen the leave behind.

    Truth be told, he had not spared as much thought for those who had aided him, and for whom he had in turn provided aid, as he likely should have. There had been too much to discover here for him to lend great thought to such things. And, well, though he may be different from his brethren in many ways, in others he is far too similar.

    Were he aware of such things, he would have despised it. But alas, he still has much learning to do.

    On this chill evening he has found himself in the depths of a forest made notable by the large, old trees that shelter it’s reaches with spindly, leafless branches. The dropping temperatures had alarmed him at first, never having had the pleasure of experiencing winter before. But he had quickly discovered this chilly season to be a common occurrence on the surface world, with water frozen into expansive white fluff and ice clinging persistently to lakes and trees. Though he had taken to lingering in the warmer climates on the coldest of days, today he his wandering curiosity had overtaken him. He had spent what was likely a shameful amount of time licking frost and ice from brittle leaves and rattling branches until curiosity had drawn him to nibble on the hardy green leaves that seemed to persist despite the cold.

    He had found them prickly and sharp-tasting. Unusual, but not entirely unpleasant. This is how he could be found when the splashed girl locates him. He had been paying no attention to what locals might be present, and so when her voice rings through the crisp air, exclaiming at having found him, he startles quite badly.

    Heart hammering in his chest, he whips around, brightly-colored wings flaring, feathered tail ruffling upright as he snorts in alarmed warning. When reason returns however, and he recognizes the sources of that voice, an apologetically surprised chirp escapes his throat as he breathes a sigh of relief. Shaking himself, he settles wings and feathers back into place before offering her a small, sheepish smile.

    “I am… right here,” he replies a bit quizzically, before belatedly realizing she likely didn’t have the same ability to locate prey as he. Or, er, others, rather. Should probably not think of them as prey any longer. Her excited questions cause him to blink in surprise. He stares at her for a long moment, no doubt a bit stupidly, as he tries to decide if it is meant to be a joke. “Who could ever be bored here?” He blurts out abruptly, genuinely confused. “There’s no training. No schedule. I can do anything I want!
    Voracious
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    #3
    She had grown up almost entirely untethered by anything. Her mother, though protective in the beginning, had been quick to relinquish any kind of hold on her. Like most of her siblings Aislyn was independent and reckless, and once she realized Ryatah didn’t seem to mind that she spent most of her time away from her side, she stopped returning. Aislyn had ran headlong and fearless into the unknown, and not once has she looked back.

    When she realizes he had been eating pine needles off the tree she can’t help the laughter that bubbles from her chest, not seeming to notice — or maybe just not caring — that she had startled him. “If you dig a little bit under the snow there’s still grass. These trees are gross. At least, I think they are.” She scuffs at the ground with a single front hoof, dislodging a layer of snow to reveal damp, trampled blades of grass. Frowning for a moment, she admits, “Looks kind of gross though.” And then with a nonchalant shrug and a vibrant chirp, “Guess we’ll just starve!”

    Not bothering to wait and see if he had caught onto the fact that she was teasing she moves on to the next topic, shaking snow from her mane as she does. “I mean I guess it’s okay. I just feel like I’ve seen all of it already.” Her bright pink eyes rest longingly on his wings, and she says to him with a thoughtful tilt of her head, “You know with your wings you could go literally anywhere.”
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    #4

    You twist, I turn, who's the first to burn?

    You sit and stay, I don't obey.

    The full extent of his freedom had not yet been something he completely realized. Truthfully, such a lack of tethers is so entirely foreign to him that it takes him time to do much beyond what he has already begun to slowly discover. Someday perhaps her would explore the wider worlds outside Beqanna. But for now, this land is endlessly fascinating.

    And so it is confusion that Aislyn’s youthful enthusiasm is met with rather than any number of other emotions she might have preferred.

    Of course, there is a lot still that is met by Voro’s confusion. Curious he might be, but even he is not entirely above the bonds of his heritage and upbringing. They had not been taught the more carefree and joyful arts of learning and playfulness. Nor had any sort of curiosity or wishfulness ben fostered. Voracious had been strange for that desire. And far too often punished for it.

    So, ultimately, it’s likely no surprise that he is hesitant even now. Even in the face of such boundless freedom, he cannot seem to overcome the lessons of his youth.

    Frowning at the unearthed grass, he lowers his head to sniff hesitantly at it. The girl’s fervent exclamations of inappetence over the forage is puzzling, to say the least. He had certainly eaten far worse in his life. Peering up at her, his frown deepening, he asks “Is it poisoned?”

    Lifting his head, he tilts it slightly as he peers quizzically at her. “Certainly we won’t starve, even if it is? The pokey leaves seemed safe enough.”

    Her face somewhat wistful as the conversation turns, he begins to wonder then if perhaps this Beqanna is to her what his home had been to him. He stares at her thoughtfully for a long moment before replying slowly, “I suppose you are correct. But,” he pauses then, not quite certain how to voice his concerns, “you are not trapped here, are you? Could you not go see other lands?”
    Voracious
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