"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
The Jungle has been somewhat quiet as of late (though even quiet here is busy). Though in truth, Rhy has finally just spent some time to herself. She finally told her sister about the death of their parents, about the lost brother neither of them had ever met. And soon, they would go visit their family. Soon, they would stand together as a family should, as they had never been able to do before. But it wasn’t the thrilling dream that Rhy had always hoped for. No, because their parents were dead.
And for a bit of time, Rhy just needs to be alone. She stalks the Jungle as a lion most of the time, leaving her life as a horse and avithillar and blood rider behind, at least for a moment. Because she needs that time to finally wrap herself around everything that had happened, everything that wouldn’t happen in the future now. She may never seen her parents among the living, but perhaps one day they could find their brother. Rhy has gone on a few trips, though she’s never gotten that far outside Beqanna’s borders before she’s had to turn back around. Kora would have better luck anyway. Her sister knew where their parents last were, knew the places outside Beqanna in a way Rhy never would. Maybe Kora could bring him home.
But today, finally, she decides she’s spent enough time dwelling in her own thoughts, on the life she’ll never have and the one she never expected she would have. So she shifts back into a horse, seeking out the center of the kingdom. Someone is always there, or lurking nearby. It’s time to join the land of the living again. Time to hit the field, time to see what sisters are around for her to talk to. Time to live again, like her parents would want her to.
08-27-2015, 10:23 AM (This post was last modified: 08-29-2015, 09:52 AM by Lagertha.)
this will never end, ‘cause i want more, more, give me more
It’s been awhile since she’s seen her electric friend, and knowing what it was that Rhy went through in the Afterlife, she’s happy to give her space and time to figure it all out (if she needed to). Lagertha preferred the bull-headed method of just conveniently forgetting (most of the time) that she had been to space and fought acidic, ghastly creatures, and then chomped by the metal-grating Langoliers. It didn’t help her with anything in the real world, so why dwell on it? The gray mare can, however, imagine that if she had seen her dam, or her siblings, or anyone that could theoretically matter to her, she would have a vastly different perspective on it all.
Anyway.
The two of them have some major work to do.
She’s already chilling in center of the kingdom, taking a lunch break, if you will. Lagertha looks up and spots the familiar gold and white figure, and lets out a loud greeting. In a particularly odd fit of childishness, she leaps towards the other mare, taking a few steps before lowering her head and brandishing her ever growing horns. There's a challenging, sly grin on her face. It's not as a threat, of course, but in play. She could never truly best the lioness (and she doesn’t want to try - that could only end poorly). But look! She has sharp, pointy bits too!
there's a song in your lung and a dream in your eye
She has been exploring the jungle, discovering all the nooks and crannies in the confines of her new home. Avoiding grasping vines, ducking low-slung branches, skinning her cannons on raised and gnarled roots, tripping on the thick tangle of vegetation littering the jungle floor. All of it is part of a learning process. She has slowly become more adept at traversing the jungle’s maze of flora without the aid of her flight. Granted, she could have easily used her ability to avoid all the tripping hazards, but she has to learn how to walk in here at some point. What better time is there than now?
She stumbles upon the two mares quite by accident. She isn’t surprised, however, as she glances up and realizes that she has made her way back to the more communal areas of the kingdom. It would make sense that she would run into someone here. There seem to be plenty of residents after all. Quite a change from the quietness of the land in which she had been born.
She seems to have stumbled in at precisely the wrong (or right) moment however, as the gray mare appears to be brandishing her horns at the yellow and white mare. A small frown touches her lips as she eyes the darker female. She does not interfere (she would be surprised if the paint mare could not defend herself), but she does step forward, making her presence known. Not that she would exactly be good at making herself invisible anyway. Not with her cracked skin flashing brightly in the dimly lit interior of the jungle.
Hello.
She offers only the single word as a greeting, a way to draw their attention if they hadn’t already noticed her (though they would have been blind not to).
joscelin
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Rhy isn’t alone for long. There’s always a few Sisters in the heart of the kingdom, though Rhy is glad when it’s Lagertha who lets out the hello call. The mare springs forward though, head down like she’s ready to ram Rhy with her new, growing horns. Rhy resists the urge to laugh, instead emitted a low growl and baring her own sharp, pointy teeth. She can’t quite smile with those teeth, and to someone who didn’t know her, the look might be threatening. But Lagertha, of course, would know its just play as well.
A hello cuts through the sound of her growl however, and Rhy turns to look in the direction of the mare. Not that Rhy hadn’t vaguely registered a glowing presence nearby, but rather had to admit she hadn’t been paying much attention. It felt good to play, felt good to let loose a little bit. Maybe she needed a real battle. Well, real as in something other than play, but mock. She wasn’t a warrior really, but she could admit that she wondered what it would be like to be one. She’s fought off enough monsters at the end of the world to think she might be pretty handy at it.
Also, it would just be sort of fun to play with all her traits.
Instead though, her teeth shift back to regular old horse teeth. She’s not trying to scare their newer sister off with her sharp pointy bits. Her smile is real now, and she nods her head in the mare’s direction. “Hi. I’m Rhy, and this here is Lagertha.” It doesn’t take her long to turn back on, back into the Jungle’s diplomatic golden girl. In the end, that’s what she’d always be.
this will never end, ‘cause i want more, more, give me more
Lagertha and Rhy can have that sort of relationship and though it may seem odd to others, to her it is perfectly normal. She cherishes it. Lagertha has something with Rhy that he has with no one else - without an actual mother, living siblings, or female children, it is the strongest female relationship she has. The iron mare wouldn’t change it for anything. At Rhy’s growl, she mock paws at the ground, snorting as if she were a fierce bull.
But at Joscelin’s Hello, she pulls her head up, turning to look at whoever spoke. A mare who seems to glow from the inside. The clearing is light, and the General had been preoccupied, so she hadn’t noticed the bright new woman. She nods in assent, following Rhy’s introductions with a “and what is your name?”
She doesn’t recognize the new mare, and doesn’t know that she’s from the Dale, where her son is supposed to be. Supposed to be, being the key words. But who actually knows.
There's a song in your lung and a dream in your eye.
Fortunately she does not frighten easily. When one has experienced death, there is no longer much of anything to find frightening in life. She understands much better now how very temporary everything here is. Not that she wouldn’t strive to make something of herself. She has to live here after all, quite possibly for many, many years.
Both mares leave off their play to turn their gazes in her direction when she speaks. She recognizes now the light-hearted nature of their antics. When the yellow and white mare had responded in kind, it had become patently obvious. She speaks first, introducing herself and the other woman as she swiftly switches gears from playful jousting to smooth cordiality. Tipping her finely sculpted head slightly, Joscelin regards her quietly, golden gaze intent.
The gray mare speaks then, inquiring after her name. She shifts her head slightly as her eyes find Lagertha, studying her as closely as she had Rhy. She doesn’t smile (it has been a long time since she has truly smiled), but she does school her expression into something hopefully more pleasant.
I’m Joscelin.
She pauses for a moment as she considers her next words.
I hope I didn’t interrupt. I’m trying to get to know the jungle a bit better. I didn’t realize you guys were here.
Joscelin
Tiphon x Elysteria
html c insane | picture c mikanicole.deviantart.com
They have something in common then. Rhy knows what it’s like to die. She had nearly died, after all. Lagertha as well, devoured by the mouths at the end of the world. Though only Rhy came out of that little trip actually dead. Well, dead and alive. She could choose. It was still strange, truthfully, though she was becoming far more comfortable as a ghost than she might have expected. And now, like her friend, she could live forever if she so chose. She would certainly live longer than she might have otherwise.
But how do you die, when you are already dead?
“Pleasure to meet you Joscelin,” Rhy says easily, not worried about being interrupted or not. There would be other times for play, but the Jungle and their sisters always came first. Both Rhy and Lagertha lived under that one simple rule. Besides, she didn’t doubt that she’d spend plenty of time with her gray friend. Rhy had the entire Jungle, certainly, but Lagertha was one of the only mare she was truly close to. Beside Scorch. Which had always been fun for Rhy, being stuck in the middle of their feud.
But in the end, Lagertha held the closest spot in her heart. Rhy had barely known her parents, and has only recently gotten to know her sister, and has never even met the brother she apparently has. But Lagertha’s exists in some of Rhy’s earliest memories in the Jungle (and in her life, given that Lagertha is distinctly older than Rhy, not that you can from sight). Lagertha is family, in her own way.
“Well, as it turns out, we might be able to help you familiarize yourself with the Jungle. “ She says with an easy grin. Smiling has always come naturally for the electric girl, unlike Lagertha. They are polar opposites. One a warrior and the other a diplomat. But together, they make a pretty good team. “Shall we walk?” She offers.
this will never end, ‘cause i want more, more, give me more
Joscelin interests her - not only because of the cracks in her skin, but because she seems to have a cool, calculating thing going on. She mirrors the cracked girl’s golden gaze with her own dark one, though it drifts from her eyes down and around to the various lines of light that leak out around her. Lagertha nods her assent at Rhy’s words, adding a simple, “Not at all,” in regards to Joscelin’s apology. Then she looks to her left, and then to her right, trying to decide where would be best to go. “To the river?” she asks the both of them. It’s probably one of the more important landmarks, for obvious reasons. Although when the rainy season is upon them, it’s an area to stay away from, especially when it floods.
“Unless, you have some particular questions. The Jungle is vast, and I’m not sure either of us knows it in its entirety.” Who could, except for the immortals, and the magicians? It was always changing; always growing and dying and hiding or revealing secrets. That’s what Lagertha loves about it. Nothing is ever the same, except for the paths they work to keep clear.
There's a song in your lung and a dream in your eye.
In that respect Joscelin is fortunate. She grew up in a closely knit family knowing that she was (and is) well loved. The misfortune that had befallen her, leaving her broken beyond repair, had been one entirely of her own making. But even then she had had the love of her family to return to. Her brother had spent months doing everything he could to bring her back from the insanity that had befallen her. She loves him all the more for that (though she seems to have a difficult time expressing such feelings, a remnant perhaps of her months long attempts to suppress the wild emotions that had threatened to ravage half the Dale). She recognizes how selfish she had been during that time. Ramiel had seen things she cannot imagine, but he had been the one to comfort her.
It is not something she cares to dwell upon however. It had been a very dark time in her young life, and she has no desire to return there.
Rhy offers to help her in her endeavor to learn more of the Jungle’s secrets, and Joscelin is more than willing to accept. The kingdom is extensive and despite her most industrious efforts, she has not made as much headway as she might have hoped.
Let’s.
Lagertha jumps in then, suggesting the river as their starting place. Joscelin had not yet made it to the river, so that is perfectly acceptable to her.
The river it is.
Waiting for the other women to lead the way, she moves easily in step beside them (or behind where the path becomes too narrow). As they walk her gaze is constantly moving, surveying their surroundings as they pass. After a long moment, she continues their conversation.
How long have the both of you been living here?
Her golden eyes flick briefly back to the two women as she asks her question, a faint hint of curiosity in her gaze.
Joscelin
Tiphon x Elysteria
html c insane | picture c mikanicole.deviantart.com
09-14-2015, 08:26 PM (This post was last modified: 09-14-2015, 08:27 PM by Rhy.)
and when i breathed
my breath was lightning
She never doubted that she was loved. It’s a strange thing, to be left by those that love you the most. Though she knows too that some of it was on her shoulders. Her father had offered to stay, but she couldn’t make. She wanted to so badly, wanted him with her. He had helped her learn to control the electric in her veins as a child, had taken more shocks and burns that anyone ought to. She did not, of everyone, want to lose her father.
But how could she ask him to stay? How could she ask him to wallow away in the Jungle, where he did not belong, when he could be beside Rayelle? He belonged with her. And Rayelle had to take Kora away. At the time, she simply blamed Kora. But as she grew up, she learned to stop blaming any of them. Kora couldn’t help the fear – fear of the electric that had shocked and hurt her when they shared a womb. Rayelle had to help the daughter that could not help herself. And Riagan? Riagan had been too good to force misery upon him for her own benefit.
So that is love. It had just left her terribly alone. Until she found the Sisters, Scorch, and Lagertha. At the end of the day, she always has Lagertha. Who may not be much of a shoulder to cry on, but she’d punch whoever made you cry. Which was sort of better.
Lagertha chimes in, and Joscelin agrees to the plan. So off they go. Rhy settles into step with them, starting it off but not getting too far ahead. The move off to the right some, their path a bit diagonal through the trees and the vines. Monkeys chatter and screech above them. The cats are likely lurking in the shadows somewhere, but they do not see any. She turns her attention some to Joscelin at the mare’s question, though her eyes bounce back and forth between where they are going and the other mare. Should could cheat, and turn herself dead and just float through all the obstacles, but that doesn’t seem like the way to learn the Jungle.
“God, how old am I?” she laughs, because she has begun to lose track. “Fourteen years, or around that. I came here when I was a yearling, and never left. Was born in the Dale, but I was just a little too much for the residents there, and the kingdom never did hold my heart, as lovely as it is. Besides, the Sisters seemed rather content to have an electric girl in their midst.” At the time, she had only been electric. But it had been more than enough. It was all she could do not to burn the Amazons down by mistake some days. How far she had come.
