"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
He had jumped in surprise at her squeal but had eagerly taken her embrace, neck twining around hers to reciprocate it. She laughed by his ear, apologizing as she drew back, but he hadn't minded, for her scent had been intoxicating and her laugh just as wonderful. She had danced in place and he couldn't help but prance a little in kind, her energy contagious, her voice excited, her honey eyes practically sparkling. He was entranced by her exuberance, her seemingly endless reserves of energy, her bright and wonderfully expressive eyes. If he had been able to blush, he would have, at the compliment she bestowed upon him. He had simply smiled and bobbed his head as she sharply bobbed hers, as if adding a period to her words that floated by his ears. He hadn't noticed the frown that tugged at her salmon lips, only the gentle smile, and he had eagerly moved by her side upon the gesture towards what was to be his new home. "We shall." He had returned in the same playfully professional manner before they had set off, his pace matching hers as they moved towards the falls. He is astonished to see the land upon arrival, for it was unlike anything he'd ever seen. A cohesive mix of flatlands, hills, and forests cover his new home, set in the beautiful, fiery jewel tones of autumn that he loves so much; the river is unlike anything he has ever seen, and the waterfall sets in such a sense of awe he is speechless as they walk. He cannot believe that such a space can be his home, and he can see where Ygritte gets her beauty from, for she set in the same quiet awe he gets from this land. "This is incredible.." He practically breathes the words, skull turning from side to side as he tries to take in everything at once, his small ears pricked and alert as he takes in the sounds of rushing water, the sounds of birds singing sweetly in the trees overhead. He looks at her with bright eyes, nearly childlike in his wonder, and cannot help but nudge his muzzle gently against her neck. "Thank you for inviting me to make this my home." His thanks is filled with kindness, for it is wonderful to him to be able to now call such a beautiful landscape his home, and the thought fills him with a soothing warmth that he never wants to be rid of.
The mare can not help but smile in return as she gets to witness Farren's reaction to his new home. Like peeking through the keyhole, she sees the wonder fill him. The Falls was quite beautiful but few were so lucky to bask in the glory. It fed the land around it, cared for the horses who dwelled there. She nods slightly in agreement with his declaration of it's beauty as she allows her own sight to drink in it's splendor. Her frame moving a bit away from Farren's as she makes a rotation before facing the mouth of the waterfall. Delicate skull looks back to Farren. "Farren?" Vocals calling his name as he gazed in effort for him to join her as she finished her tour of his new home. "These waters will heal you of any ailment. Often I enjoy soaking in them." The young mare offers a smile before facing the lip of the water, hesitates, then draws herself into the warm waters. Little ripples bubbling outward around her frame as little air bubbles tickle her belly. She pivots easily, weightless in the water to face her friend.
Feminine features offer a girlish smile to Farren. She is happy he has decided to live at the Falls. The brightness of his eyes and the gentleness of his soul are a precious gift among horses. She wonders were Texas is briefly, of where Tyrna was though she had never met the queen mare but nevermind that! Ygritte dips her skull into the water and scoops it out towards Farren in a splash. "I'm so happy you decided to come, Farren. You will love it here." A small smile curls her lips after she finishes her speech, limbs churning the water slowly as she is not far off from land.
"What do you think so far?" The little smile spreads as she ask him, curious of his response.
He does not notice her move away, too enraptured by the land's natural grace to notice anything other than it, but his ears swivel and his skull turns to face her as she calls his name, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips in the realization he hadn't been paying attention. He turns on his hind and moves towards the delicate mare, looking at the water before back at her, ears perked to catch every word that escapes her lips. He eyes it curiously - for who has heard of magic water? - but he can imagine it must be wonderful to dunk in, as Ygritte says it is. He watches her slip gracefully into the water, ripples surrounding her, and she pivots gracefully, seemingly at home in the water. She moves as freely as a fish, and he aches to join her, but his experience with water is nonexistent. His sheepish smile turns into a warmer one as Ygritte offers him a kind twitch of the lips, and he moves to touch his muzzle to hers when her head moves, quicker than a bird, and suddenly his face is covered with water. He steps back, head high with surprise, before stopping, an embarrassed laugh escaping him at his own foolishness - it's only water, after all! He shakes his head, water flying, before refocusing on her, and the little ripples that surrounded her, and how lovely she looked in the water.. "I'm happy you offered me a place here." He smiles at her, stepping back towards the water's edge, pawing at it slightly to test the sensation of his hoof submerged. It is strange, and he knows the whites of his eyes are showing, but he refuses to show the fear of the unknown. He is a stallion, and stallions are brave! So he slowly steps further into the clear water, the river creeping slowly up his forelegs, so surprisingly warm and gentle he cannot help but feel a little more confident as he slowly moves into deeper water, towards Ygritte. He pauses, his forelegs partially submerged, at her question and smiles brightly at her, daringly scooping his muzzle down and out in an attempt to splash her back. "I think it's absolutely fantastic here." He chuckles, resuming his slow progress into the water, a childlike excitement in his eyes as he realizes the water could provide more fun than fear, for it seems to invite him in, its gentle movement promising it wouldn't carry him away.
She studies him quietly. When he turns to face her, she greets him with the ever present smile. Her heart swelling with the happiness that he exudes already for the Falls. She observes his hesitation to water and she feels sorry for assuming he was comfortable with it. She admitted to herself that she has sometimes forgotten that other equines in Beqanna did not have the luxury of swimming in the vastness of the Falls at their leisure such as she.
Ygritte observes his fear and she instantly grows concern and drifts closer to Farren from her place, limbs paddling to near him till he finds the courage to place his nails in the warm licks of aqua. Skull stretches towards him to encourage him, whickering softly as she slowly drifts back towards the water. She hopes to encourage him as she walks back into the waters depths but he seems to have grasp the concept. He moves on his own, the smoky form slowly moving to the water's depths, without further coaxing from Ygritte.
When he tosses the spritz of water, Ygritte exaggerates the extremity of his mild assault by tossing her skull as the water lightly dampens the bay coat to a brilliant brass. She laughs in clear feminine tones, enjoying her time with Farren. Muzzle extends to the stag as he progresses towards her, embraced and weightless as she. "Tell me about your family, Farren." The statement more of an inquiry as she speaks to him, hoping to not bee too forward but she was curious about her swimming companion. He is a gentle soul and she likes that about him. He is honest and kind and Ygritte admires him for that even more so. Lobes flicker towards her new herd-mate? kingdom-mate? He holds her interest intently. Pink maw dipping to sip the very waters that held their buoyancy. For now, the pair are weightless and free and safe.
He notices how she swims closer to him as he grows the courage to dip deeper, her whicker a gentle encouragement as his forelegs become completely submerged, hind not far from being underwater as well. He wants to join her, to swim as freely as she does, and so that only strengthens his resolve, as does her laugh from his rather poorly aimed splash. His skull turns, a smile on his lips, as her coat turns into a dusky copper from the water he did manage to get upon her, and he suddenly decides he wants to be beside her, water be dammed. So he struts forward, into deeper water, head tossing slightly as his feet touch nothing but warm water, legs a jumbled mess before he slowly starts to figure out the mechanics of swimming. He tosses his head, forelock wet and heavy by his eyes, as his legs finally figure out the movement required in swimming, his body by no means graceful as he attempts to swim towards Ygritte. He finds he is better at treading water than swimming, as of now, so he is grateful that the current floats him gently to her before his legs begin to move again, keeping him in place beside her. His muzzle touches hers, softly, upon his arrival at her side and his nostrils flare to take in her sweet scent. They are quiet, briefly, before she speaks up, voice a melody he already finds himself straining to hear. "I don't know much of my family," He admits to her, almost embarrassed - he would assume his lack of knowledge about his heritage would be shameful - but he continues all the same. "I have no siblings that I know of, but I know I have my dam's colors with my sire's markings." He had found, early on in childhood, that his unique facial marking was not one common to equines that he knew. His father's marking makes him feel powerful, for that was how he remembers him. "My father was strong, I know that, and my mother was kind, but she had more than just me to take care of. She watched over everyone." He wishes he knows more, like their names or where he was from, but he cannot remember many details, to his dismay. "What is your family like?" He asks her in turn, brightening from a more melancholy state of remembrance. He is sure she must come from a line of beautiful women and strong men, ones who lead, for she seems like a leader herself.
The process is slow for her companion. She can see that this is a new experience for him but she sees he is trying, becoming bold. The eagerness is present in his eyes as he musters the strength and risks himself to join her. "Yay Farren!" She calls loudly to him to encourage him into the healing waters. Orange-pink limbs moving slowly as she observes his descent into the liquid. There was no grace in it but it can only make the mare smile more till in a -whoosh- he is saturated, little waves tumbling in his wake. "Fantastic!" The exclamation was of praise for his bravery.
Amber pools meet the stag's when he bumps against her. His vocals soon fill the area with a short narrative of his family, of how he achieved fetching his features. Lobes flicker towards the young male as she listens intently. His voice thickens slightly and lowering with thought. Ygritte realizes she has touched a bit of a sensitive place and her own features gray with concern as she listens. It is only when he emerges from his emotional haze does his eyes follow suit and he inquires as to her own lineage. "Well, my mother was strong and beautiful. She could steal a heart with a bat of a lash but no man could ever capture hers. She was an Amazon Queen, in fact. Classic and graceful..." A thoughful smile replaces the pink lips momentarily. "She never said much of my father though." Maw twitches to the side as it draws to a small indifferent crooked frown.
ygritte
texas&nativity
((ygritte doesn't realize texas is her dad ;) that will hopefuly unfold in the future. heck when kahz comes back perhaps farren will find out texas is, maybe tell ygritte lol plottage!))
12-22-2015, 04:45 PM (This post was last modified: 12-22-2015, 04:46 PM by farren.)
He is slowly getting used to the sensation of swimming, or rather, treading water, and he is warmed by Ygritte's prior encouragement as he had so cautiously lowered himself into the water. He finds himself rather drawn to her, in a way he is unused to, but he doesn't mind the strangeness of the feelings; he has no inkling of whether she feels the same contented warmth as he, but he doesn't mind if she doesn't, for he has missed having a companion that this time alongside her was good enough for him. She looks brassy and content in the water, and he finds himself wanting to be as comfortable in this warmed water as she is.
He listens to her with rapt attention, ears perked as she tells him of her mother and her mystery of a father. He smiles at her, head bobbing slightly as the river keeps him afloat, but he notes how her faint smile tugs into a frown at the mention of not knowing her father. "I'm sure he's wonderful." He reassures her in a gentle voice, a matching smile twitching his lips up. "He would have to be, it seems, to deserve someone like your mother. And he would have to be to create someone as lovely as you." He compliments her genuinely, for his mother always taught him to be kind to mares, no matter their age, and she truly is the loveliest mare he's ever met. Although he has not lived long, or met many, he can sense her kindness through the way she talks and by the way her eyes look, so warm and forgiving.
F A R R E N
i'll taste the sky and feel alive again
((OOC: Ooh, that could be fun to plot with! I'm excited.))
Though Farren is young he is still a stallion. Ygritte had not been so skilled as older mares to recognize his attraction but with his words she realizes it is apparent and for a moment she stills, frozen by this realization. Amber pools flick to the stallion with whom she swam with and they darken with concern. She had chosen Mandan as her mate and even now their child had just taken hold inside her womb. She loved her bay stallion and their unborn babe fiercely already."Oh." The single syllable drips from her lips as she once again finds her body and it's weightlessness fades but she does not cause alarm. A small smile instantly erases the stormclouds that had settled upon her visage. Honeyed pool flick around them as she sought the addax horns of her mate's (they always seemed to be the first thing her eyes fell upon) before looking back to Farren. Her form floats towards the shore now, limbs drawing her back to land. The sopping wet mess of her brass and salmon body emerging much like one would imagine a kelpie to resemble with the bits of sea grass that tangled among the strands.
Delicate tiara looks back over one wither before she shakes ferociously, creating a rainbow of water droplets with the spray. Her laughter filled the atmosphere that Farren and she now shared before she turns to look for Mandan. "There is someone I'd like for you to meet." A soft dove-like coo is called for her stallion, coral tinted lobes flickering to catch a return of his call. Orbs return to Farren as she waited for Mandan to appear.
It is not in his nature to abandon; rather, he thinks almost of nipping her haunch and squirreling her away in some small herdland of their own - just the two of them, and the foal in her belly. He knows though (because he can smell it all over her, a mix of cedar and water) that her home is in the Falls and he would never ask her to leave it; he can see the way the place lives in her eyes, bright and moving, like she is, with her pretty pink points. Mandan knows that he must be the one to concede his nature for her sake, to give up the thought of keeping her all to himself because she’s too bright a star to be only his and that he must share her, meaning that he must follow her for all of his days wherever she will go. Maybe he knows what she’ll ask him before she even asks it, he just hopes that he hasn’t inherited his mother’s penchant for disappearing - Ygritte would never forgive him, let alone him being able to forgive himself, but he’s never settled in one place for very long (they almost did, he remembers, Scalped and him, when Finnley asked them to come to the Gates but mother spooked at the idea of belonging somewhere too long and they were gone again) and he’s not sure how well this will work out with his wild unruly nature but he’ll try, for her sake.
He can sense her nervousness, can hear it in the breathy agonized loving way she asks him if he’ll come back with her to the Falls. How can he say no to her? He can’t deny her her heart’s desire, not the way she looks at him with all the love in the world in her eyes - that same love looks out of his eyes back at her, deep and abiding, and he nuzzles her cheek gently. “Breathe love,” he tells her, laughing a little as she holds her breath and he realizes that he both hates and loves when she does that. “My answer is yes,” and he seals his fate to her forever, feeling like a little piece of him dies - a bit of that wildness that flashes in every shadowy pit of his strong bay flesh. He bumps her shoulder with his muzzle, ever careful of his long spiraling horns, “Lead the way,” and he follows her to the Falls, without so much as a backward glance at the meadow that has been a constant in his short life - as constant as the pale flank and red scarred breast of his mother, and is it a wonder that he’s fallen for a mare with as much spirit as her? It strikes him then, that for all that Ygritte is different and daring, she does remind him of his mother just the littlest bit and he loves her all the more for that similarity.
The Falls are beautiful, there is no doubt about that though their beauty pales in comparison to his mare’s. He follows the salmon-swish of her tail, fishlike and twitchy and pink as a salmon’s belly, smiling at the silly trail of thoughts in his head as she brings them further into her - their, he supposes - home. The trees are not overcrowded but abundant, thick enough to be considered a forest but he can see gaps that the sky fills in and light shines down through. He spies the pool at the base of the thunderous Falls, listening to the roar of the water like some great mountain-cat purring and rumbling happily over the rocks. It is no doubt beautiful, and he loses himself amongst the trails, learning the lay of the land as Ygritte wanders off to do whatever it is she does here. Maybe she just needs time to herself like he does right now, to be a mare as he is trying to be a stallion, patrolling and making himself familiar with the territory. Eventually though, he hears her calling for him and he plods along as a casual pace because there is no terror or rush in her voice.
Mandan smells her before he sees her, knows she is at the base of the Falls - most likely in the water, but he smells another stallion and he snorts fiercely. What is she doing with another stallion? He cannot help the flood of jealousy that flows through him, quickening his pace until he is loping up the slope to the Falls’ edge and finds her just leaving the water after a swim. Mandan shakes out his head, strands of mane flapping as his addax horns seem sharp and terrifying (so he thinks!); they sprout upwards in two great horns, three twists to their spiraling shape that ends in a sharp point, and he knows they can cause great damage but he thinks not of using them here unless necessary though he is a bit peeved that she had taken up with another stallion so quickly. He supposes it is their way here though, for all that he knows of the Falls, it is very little and he does not know what their ways are. The bay stallion is good at keeping his face carefully neutral, but his eyes spark and flash angrily in their dark animal-gloss, and he is quick to nip at his mate’s shoulder, proclaiming her as his - it was natural, he couldn’t help himself, but her scent calms him, heady and distracting, and he rubs his cheek against her back in a loving gesture, not caring if she’s still damp from her swim.
He tries to be polite for her sake and calls out to the stallion, “Hello.”
He is puzzled by the sudden bluntness to her voice after his words; he doesn't understand the meaning behind flirting, he is too inexperienced to realize how such words come across to a mare who knows much more than he. So he is puzzled, but he doesn't take it to heart, instead wracking his brain in an attempt to understand. Had he been inappropriate? He doesn't think so, but her reaction is negative, so he assumes he has crossed some sort of line he was not aware of. He notes this, and watches as her brassy body lifts gracefully from the water, just as comfortable on land as she is in water, smiling as she shakes and water droplets arc away from her svelte frame. She is admirable in his eyes, and he knows he can learn much from her. His ears perk at the brightness of her laugh, and his legs kick back into motion, propelling him - somewhat awkwardly - towards the shore and towards the salmon-toned mare. He, admittedly, struggles to figure out how to push against the gentle current but soon enough he is up on shore, shaking water from his own coat and shiny tinsel. He looks at her, skull tilting slightly as she speaks, and then lets out a coo that reminds him of a bird he doesn't know by name, but it sounds sweet. "Who is it?" He asks, intrigued, for a new face is exciting to him. Friends are something he wants, and definitely needs to learn from, although he doesn't know it; his childish ignorance is fine, for his age, but he needs others who can teach him what he has not yet learned on his own. His answer appears soon enough, and his eyes widen in surprise as he views the strange horns on top of this equine's head. He barely notices the nip, for his curiosity is so sparked by something so new and interesting. He hears the hello, and he means to reply in kind, but words slip out before he means to let them go; "What are those?" His voice is bright with the curiosity the tilt of his head implies, chin tilting briefly towards the horns. He doesn't see the possessiveness in the other stallion's stature, and he can see that Ygritte likes him - to what depth, he does not know, and it does not concern him - so he knows that he must be just fine. But then his words reach his ears and his ears flatten slightly, embarrassed, and he dips his head with an embarrassed sort of laugh. "I'm sorry." He amends, meeting the stallion's eyes with a sheepish smile. "Hello. My name is Farren. Who're you?"
Ygritte
