"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
She leads the girl back to the Jungle, taking her time as they go. There’s a whole world to explore on the way, and while Rhy has seen much of it, Draconis has not. And if Rhy is going to be a temporary (or perhaps, permanent) mother, she’ll teach the girl everything she can. It’s that curiosity that makes a good diplomat, and even warriors need to know something about the world. Like the different kingdoms, and what the terrain is like for fighting. Who rules, their general policy towards others and other kingdoms. Anyone needs to know what kingdom is safe to approach.
And so Rhy tells her. As they pass one place and then the next, she lets the girl explore (as much as they can, without crossing kingdom borders). She answers questions, talks about everything she can think of that might be worthwhile for a young girl to hear. There would be more later, but for now, this was plenty.
Really, they do take their time. And it’s wonderful.
Though still, for the girl’s sake, she hopes that they can find the girl’s mother. But Rhy is happy to have Draconis at her side for as long as she can. Not that she knows that first thing about being Mom, but she knows a lot about teaching and being herself (kind and genuine) and this seems like a very good place to start.
Eventually, they make it to the Jungle. The heat, even on the borders, is already drastically higher than anywhere they have been. Rhy is used to it, of course. It feels like home here to the electric girl, wrapped in the dense humidity. She moves slowly, giving Draconis time to figure her way through the roots and leaves on the ground, the dense trees that they weave through. Until they come to the heart of the kingdom, where the ground clears some and it’s easier to move.
They take a leisurely pace back to Rhy's home, instead of rushing, and her gradually-less-sore forefeet are grateful for this. The little filly gamely keeps up at the electric mare's side, taking in the sights and listening to each lesson that her new companion tells to her. It is a lot for this former Meadow child to take in, but she soaks it up like a sponge. Rhy's lessons were much like the bedtime stories her mommy would tell her, except that she knows them to be made up of truth, about real horses and real lands that she had seen with her own eyes. The Falls had caught her attention the most; she had heard the distant waterfalls splashing and had yearned to go and see them in person, but since it wasn't polite, nor safe, depending on the kingdom, to trespass, Draconis restrains her curiosity. The waterfalls weren't going anywhere, and hopefully she could see them another day.
Absorbed in the excitement of their little "world tour", the black filly's thoughts are focused more upon all the new things there were to see and learn about, than her birth mother and where she might be now. In her defense, she is quite young still, and her attention span for things not in her here and now is presently not very long. Now they have reached the borders of the Jungle, where Rhy said she lived, and she follows her willingly into the wild expanse of green. Unaccustomed to the tropical climate within, she does her best to keep up, placing each hoof with care to avoid being tangled in vines or worse, stepping in a hidden hole. A naughty corner of her mind suggests that the going would be easier if burnt away, but she ignores it. Her companion would probably not appreciate having her home set on fire! The Jungle's animal cacophony has her turning her head in all directions, trying to listen and take it all in. Once in the clearing, she takes another look around, and then lifts her eyes up to meet Rhy's, a smile upon her small muzzle. "It's very pretty here. A little noisy, though. Is that easy to get used to, like a background noise? "
She is often reminded of her first time in the Jungle, when she brings newcomers back here. When Rhy had come, the Jungle had been quiet enough no one had even found her waiting on the border. Now, that would never happen. But then? Well things had been volatile then, uncertain, the throne passing somewhat quickly from one Queen to the next. In the end, Rhy had plunged her way through the Jungle completely alone, hunting for the kingdom meeting she had heard called.
And she too had thought it might be a hell of a lot easier to blast a whole through the underbrush to get her there, but she’d never done that. She’d stumbled and crashed through the vines and the trees, scratching her sides more times than she could count. Nothing that scarred. No, her only scar now was the strange burnt patch on her rump, the hair mostly white now. Which really, wasn’t that noticeable on her, given that she was gold and white anyway.
She remembers the heat though, remembers being covered in sweat. Remembers the sounds. Remembers, truthfully, being terrified then. She hadn’t been in the best control of her powers, and everything here seemed like a different world from the Dale. Her parents were gone, she’d been barely a year old, and she’d been left to fend for herself. Not so terribly far from Draconis now. But Rhy wouldn’t leave the girl alone. Not until she was ready.
“You get used to it quickly. Honestly, the rest of Beqanna is terribly quiet, and terribly cold to me now.” She chuckles slightly, but it was true. Life outside the Jungle seemed like a strange proposition to her. Could she ever get used to anywhere else at this point? Probably, but she wasn’t sure that she wanted to either. “Sometimes, if we are very lucky, the monkeys will come down to play as well.”
(Writing this on tablet, no HTML having major laptop issues atm. Sorry for the wait, and if it's bad or short <3)
She nods happily when Rhy tells her that she will get used to her new surroundings. Her moment of Zen is interrupted when a scarlet macaw shrieks out just behind her, causing her to buck a little in surprise. Her heart gallons briefly from the shock, but it doesn't take the filly long to regain calmness. She turns her dark head towards the noisy bird, sticking her tongue out at it childishly. She and Rhy were having a conversation, after all, and they hadn't invited it to join in. The fire girl looks back at her new guardian, suddenly hoping that she wouldn't mind Draconis teasing the crimson bird.
The lightning mare mentions monkeys, but she's not sure what those are, so she wonders that aloud. "What are monkeys, Rhy? Are they fun to play with? " An idea hits her, and she looks at the mare with a critical eye, appraising her. "Do you know how to play hide and seek?" The jungle terrain completely ruled out tag, but at the same it made hide and seek perfect. So many thickets and hiding places! She waits just long enough to hear Rhy's endorsement of the plan, then dashes off as fast as her hooves are able to manage. She searches a bit before selecting a hiding spot, mindful of the time limit, and works hard to keep her giggles from escaping so that the gold and white mare wouldn't hear her under the usual jungle cacophony. (I hope that isn't a bit of powerplay :o )
“Monkies are rather playful. Sometimes they will play with you. Mostly I think they laugh at us. Horses don’t really belong in a Jungle after all, no matter how accustomed we become to this place. You’ll find them looking silly and swinging through the trees.”
It doesn’t take long for Draconis to switch topics (sort of, anyway) to hide and go seek. Rhy smiles and nods, agreeing to play. The sad truth was she’s never played hide and go seek. Her only sister had been too afraid of Rhy as a child to come anywhere near her. It’s only recently that they’ve begun to bridge that gap.
But she doesn’t have time to dwell on the thought. Draconis is already off, and Rhy gives her an appropriate amount of time to get a head start. Not that she couldn’t cheat and use her lovely lioness nose to sniff the girl out quickly, but she wouldn’t. She’d play fair with Draconis. She typically didn’t play so fair with Lagertha.
Eventually, she sets off in the direction of the mangled underbrush. Some of the leaves are still bent on the ground, indicating the direction that Draconis shot off in. It takes Rhy a bit of time to follow the trail – it’s not a perfect trail, and she’s not trained as a warrior – but she can manage to do so. “Draconis,” she sings as she thinks she’s getting close. There’s a few more bent leaves, and then Rhy pops her head around a tree into some underbrush, thinking she’s found the girl.
Ah yes, summers in the Jungle. Naga couldn’t have asked for a better day. Not at all worried about a single thing, happily and aimlessly going about her day as any cat would. The sun dappled the world through a filter of rainforest treetop canopies. Monkies and lemurs, birds and all the other fauna of the Jungle were out enjoying this wonderful summer day. The black mare smiles, the sun warming her back. This was the life.
It is not that the threat of war was not important to her, so her being so carefree is not because she doesn’t care. She just knows that right now, the horses of the Chamber and the Valley were not crushing through the trees and down into the heart of the jungle, so there was no reason to go into a nervous panic. Right now, there is a lull, and she is a-ok with that, plus a walk is what she needed after all the kingdom duties she has been so busy with.
Green eyes flicker about, taking in the lush green scenery, the beautiful large ferns tickled her fetlocks as she pushed forward. Her ears flick forward when the sound of a foal playing graces her eardrums. hmmm...more lone foals? she thinks to herself as she walks toward the sound. But to her surprise, the gold and white woman that had taken her in as a filly here was playing what looked like hide and seek with a small black filly. Rhy had a foal? Nooo, she couldn't have...she didn't LOOK pregnant!? Maybe it isn't hers though... she bickers with herself in her head for a moment before deciding it was no use unless she asked Rhy herself. Nevertheless, Naga smiled. It was nice to see Rhy have some fun, all of this war business must have her stressing. The feline girl picks up a trot, her face full of contentment.
”Good afternoon Rhy! And who is this little bundle of fun?"
She asks with an entertained grin on her face as she watches the filly. She reminded her of herself when she was young. The jungle was so fun and mysterious to her when she was a child, though it still has not lost most of that feeling. The jungle is ever flowing with mysteries and mystical energies...never a dull day here.
Naga starts to feel nostalgic, and looks to Rhy with a playful grin. She prances in place a little, feeling her oats per-say, and nickers to the foal.
”You wouldn’t mind adding a third player would you? My name is Naga, I am actually very VERY good at hide and seek!”
She winks at Rhy, of course a cat shifter like her would feel tempted to hop up into a tree and wait until the seeker yells “I GIVE UP”. But, she would take it easy on the girl, but if this little filly is a child of the jungle, she won’t take it so easy on her in the future. Trees or bust!
naga
the jungle panther of atrox and shadowmere
OOC: hope no one minds Naga jumping in here This thread was just too cute and looked like too much fun for her not to jump in on it hahaha!
She waits in her hiding spot, little heart a-thumping with excitement. She can hear Rhy coming closer through the underbrush and tucks her muzzle in further between her forelegs to muffle any squeals that might escape. Hearing her name sung out by her guardian, she knows that now, unfortunately, the game is up, or nearly so. Alright. The star-blanketed filly tenses her muscles and leaps upwards, yelling gleefully in hopes of surprising the mare now that she's been discovered, barely missing Rhy's head as it entered Draconis' hiding spot. "Boo! You found me! You're pretty good at this, Rhy. But did I scare you? Did I pick a good hiding spot? " It's then that she sees the other mare standing with the electric female, and wonders where she had come from. She must already know Rhy, judging by how she was greeting her, but it leaves the girl feeling a little nervous at first. She seems very nice, though, especially when she referred to Draconis as a little bundle of fun, and the filly grins at the newcomer. "Hi, I'm Draconis! " Naga wants to to join in their game, does she? She'd once heard her mother utter the phrase "the more the merrier", and while it hadn't made sense to her then, she supposes that it definitely can be applied to this situation. Feeling impish, she looks both of the mares over, one at a time. "Sure, with more horses, the more turns and the longer we can play! But how are you going to decide who's going to hide next, hmmm? Maybe you guys will have to pick sides and flip a pebble? " The little firebug is amused by this idea, and giggles quietly while watching the adults. Were there even pebbles to be found in the Jungle, or had the ever-present green covered them all over?
The Chamber and the Valley wouldn’t attack here. The Jungle was safe, and Rhy would stay behind and see to it that it stayed that way. There were pretty few horses in Beqanna that a little electric couldn’t stop, so she wasn’t worried about playing guard. No. In all honesty, she didn’t entirely know what she was so worried about. If the Jungle was going to fight, she was glad they chose the Gates (Straia needed no help, really).
The majority of Beqanna against the Valley and the Chamber was at least an equal fight, tipping the scales in their favor slightly even. So why was she worried? No particular reason. Just simply because war always leaves the world torn and shattered in it’s wake. And despite knowing this, Lagertha and Straia and Gallows and probably others she didn’t know about where keen to go to war.
It was avoidable. They were choosing not to avoid it.
Draconis, however, is a welcome distraction from the truth of everything. She’s honestly just simply wonderful. It hasn’t taken long for Rhy to grow attached to the girl, a selfish hope creeping in that they wouldn’t find the girl’s mother. Rhy sort of wanted to stay with the girl, though of course, she’d do whatever was best for Draconis.
The girl jumps from the bush, nearly smashing into Rhy’s head. Rhy reels backward, trying to get out of the way, a few sparks instinctively flying off her coat for a moment (the electric girl’s equivalent of a squeak), before she regains her composure. “You’ll fit right in here,” she says with a laugh, shaking her head to settle her mane back where it belongs.
Naga joins them then, and Rhy turns her attention to her friend with a smile. But she doesn’t need to introduce Draconis. It doesn’t take long for her to warm up to Naga, introducing herself and welcoming her to the game. Rhy smiles, figuring now is not the time to mention how Rhy ended up with Draconis. The girl isn’t thinking about her mother, and Rhy doesn’t think she needs to bring it up.
Instead, she looks back at Draconis with a grin. “I think we should hide,” she says, nodding to Naga and herself, “And you should come find us.” It would be a good way for Draconis to learn her way around the Jungle. Rhy gives them both a playful grin before taking off in the other direction. “Count to ten!” She yells behind her.
She disappears into the greenery easily, not going particularly far, and looks for a nice dense piece of brush. She cheats here, shifting into a lion so she can slip into the bush and lie down easily, before turning back into a horse. It’s less comfortable as a horse, but she’s nestled into the bush pretty well now. Not impossible to find, but hard eenough to make it fun.
01-28-2016, 09:04 PM (This post was last modified: 01-30-2016, 09:43 PM by Draconis.)
But the night fades away and gives way to the day
Draconis nods, listening to Rhy, but finds herself unable to suppress a giggle over the idea that it is now her turn to Seek. She had managed to play-scare her guardian, as well, and that also adds to her cheerfulness. Had she accidentally hurt the electric mare by managing to collide with her, that would have been a different story, but since they were both fine, it was just another part of their fun. The firebaby squints her eyes shut, loudly counting to ten as instructed. It's lucky for Rhy and Naga that ten is all that is required, for if the filly had to count for minutes, she would have given in to the impulse to peek one eye open and see where one or both of the mares are headed. When she does reach the required number, she opens her eyes and looks around the verdant landscape, attempting to suss out where her targets had gone. Rhy said that she was going to fit right in here, in the Jungle, and the filly tells herself that now is the time to go with that idea. Draconis pauses for a moment, before deciding to try and find Rhy first, then seek out Naga's hiding spot.
She lowers her gaze to the Jungle terrain, trying to see if there's any hoofprints. Blissfully unaware of Rhy's lioness shifting ability, when she does locate hoofmarks leading off in one of the half-visible pathways, she is puzzled when they come to an abrupt end, leaving the trail cold. The star-blanketed girl pauses, looking this way and that. Rhy had come this way, she is sure of it. What had happened? She looks upward, towards the trees, but sees nothing out of the ordinary. Which would have left her very surprised if the mare *had* somehow been perched up there. Horses weren't really known for their tree-climbing skills, after all. Her little face wrinkles up with thought as she scours the underbrush around her, and with a determined grunt she decides to do this the hard way: sticking her muzzle down into each and every bush. She was going to find Rhy, no matter how she had to go about it. After several disappointments, she is overjoyed to find herself nose to nose with the gold and white mare. She's not quite sure how she managed to wriggle her way into this tightly-grown thicket, but isn't worried about that in the long run. The main thing was that she had found her! "Gotcha!", she cries out, pounding her front hooves with excitement. "You are really good at hiding, Rhy! "
Rhy’s pretty hard to hurt, in truth. There’s something really handy in the ability to turn ethereal, after all. It takes colliding right out of the question, if Rhy’s quick enough (and she usually is, though not always). Besides, a little bruise never hurt anyone. This is the Amazons after all, and though Rhy may advocate for peace, she does know how to fight. Knows pain far worse than any damage a girl could do by accidentally colliding into her (the fire, on the other hand, would probably hurt, though Rhy isn’t sure if she’d actually burn or not, since her own electric doesn’t hurt her).
Rhy waits in the brush, trying to keep as quiet as possible. She can hear Draconis shuffling around nearby, slowly but steadily growing closer to Rhy’s hiding spot. When the girl is nearly there, Rhy practically holds her breath. But it doesn’t matter. It’s not long before the girl’s nose is pressed to Rhy’s. She lets out a big puff of breath, and then a laugh, before crawling out of the brush. She doesn’t shift this time, because she figures having a lion staring you in the face is probably unnerving, and she won’t do that to Draconis quite yet.
It’s a whole lot harder getting out in horse form, and she scrapes her side here and there, though the marks only blend in with the other scars that dot her hide. The most noticeable scar is still the large white patch from where the ice monster at the end of the world burned her coat. Luckily for her, she’s already dotted in white patches, so typically the scar just blends in to the rest of her.
When she’s finally out, she grins at the girl, adding, “Do you want to know my secret?” Out here, the girl can see exactly what’s going on. And so she shifts, shrinking in size, the white patches on her coat turning to solid gold in this form. It’s only moments before she’s a lion, all teeth and claws, though the same eyes as her horse form. She doesn’t stay that way too long, shifting back once she thinks Draconis has had her fill of looking at Rhy the Lioness. “One of a few tricks I might have up my sleeve.”
having major laptop issues atm. Sorry for the wait, and if it's bad or short <3) 
This thread was just too cute and looked like too much fun for her not to jump in on it hahaha!