"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
05-22-2019, 09:27 PM (This post was last modified: 05-22-2019, 09:28 PM by midnight.)
When she tosses him to the side, she says words he does not care to comprehend. Midnight is a quiet boy, though his mind never seems to cease moving. Starlust is a careless mother with a penchant for creating angry or odd children; perhaps she has created one with both distinct qualities, or perhaps Midnight has yet to meet enough siblings to know how like them he may turn out.
Whatever she yells grabs the attention of the gray mare clearly caught off-guard. His emerald gaze is deeply suspicious when he considers her and her indignation, and when he turns to see what his mother is doing she is rapidly making an exit.
There is nothing childlike in the expression he offers Starsin. The black and white colt merely shrugs and tucks himself beneath his sister. From between her two front legs, he peers at the retreating hindquarters of Starlust. Funny, he never really thought of her as a mother - he did not have the chance to, she hardly spared him a glance behind to make sure he was keeping up. For now, Midnight does not hold it against her. Mothers and fathers are a terribly foreign concept to him.
The grin on the colt’s face feels misplaced when he prances back out from beneath Starsin.
“Starlust is mean.” He nods his head and flashes the pretty green of his eyes. “Do you want to see something cool? I bet she’d be so mad if she knew I kept it a secret.”
Midnight closes his eyes and focuses hard on the space between them. A small circle of brilliant white light builds between them, then explodes.
“My name is Midnight. Do you want me to do it again?”
@[Starsin] here is your special demon i hope youre ready for lots of things to die
and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.
Her relationship with her mother had always been strained, to say the least. She hadn’t minded, at first, when she was always being left behind; she liked having her independence. Or at least, that’s what she told herself. When other children were being coddled and fretted over, Starsin had been free to go wherever she pleased. Even as a nearly-newborn she had been too stubborn to admit that she hated spending every night alone; she didn’t want to admit that she needed someone who so clearly did not need or want her. She had learned, perhaps a little too well, that she would rather be cold and alone than beg for love from someone that didn’t want to give it. The irreversible damage that Starlust caused was something still lodged inside of her, something still locked so tightly in her chest that not even Ophanim could touch it.
The odd spark of hope that ignited inside of her at the sight of the jade-eyed mare was quickly smothered by her own disdain for even allowing herself to feel it in the first place, and when she approaches her mother – and the incredibly young colt with her – her face is one of carefully drawn indifference. “I didn’t know you knew I lived here,” she says, her voice dripping with the saccharine sweetness she reserved for especially unpleasant situations. Starlust’s hard, jewel-like eyes lock fiercely with the cobalt-blue of her daughter’s, and all she says in her short, cool tone is, “Take him.” The white mare casts the colt a brief glance, and before the star-studded girl can protest, she is retreating.
Starsin nearly opens her mouth, nearly calls after her mother, but the hundreds of memories of doing just that immediately flood her mind, and she lets the words die on her lips. Instead, she turns her attention to her younger brother, witholding the frustrated sigh that she felt building in her chest. “Yeah, she is,” is all she says in agreement, refusing to let yet another seed of disappointment planted by her mother to blossom inside of her. It would be better that he was with her, anyway. He would have her and Ophanim, and their other children. Maybe he wouldn’t be like her.
But before that newborn hope can even gain traction, he is creating a small, glowing ball of light and it floats suspended between them before suddenly bursting. With a slow blink of her dark blue eyes, she is silent for a moment, before allowing an amused smile to spread across her lips. “Well that’s...definitely interesting. Wanna see what I can do?” She beckons him to look the other direction, and her eyes focus on a small group of cacti in the distance. Without so much as a flick of her head, she wills them to detonate. It’s a small explosion, nothing terribly loud, but it sends pieces of the plants flying. With a satisfied, side-long glance, she says, “I’m Starsin, by the way. Your sister, if you didn’t already figure that out.”
starsin
it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted. ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )
Starsin is much warmer than Midnight expects, though he hardly expected anything to begin with. No rejection of his disposal is uttered, and the curt words of his absent mother now feel too loud in his head. The colt’s ears tip slightly backward, tiny mouth tilted downward in a frown. There is a magnitude of pain in his green eyes but it is hardly comprehensible to a child hardly a month old.
He swallows the tears that prick at his eyes, a gesture he may do for the rest of his life.
Only when his sister offers a huge distraction does he realize those flashing emotions were a mere second long. A slight shake of his head is the only indication of his return to reality. The little black and white colt turns just in time to watch the cacti burst into countless slimy pieces. Those widened eyes manage to spread even wider, awe and delight quickly eradicating any negative emotion.
Midnight only breathes in sharply, lips mildly parted to draw in air. Several seconds pass before he returns his gaze to his older sister’s.
“Starsin,” is a matter-of-fact murmur nearly too quiet to be heard above the breeze. “Can you teach me how to do that with my light?” When he asks, there is a certain vulnerability in his voice, but it is quickly undercut by a sickly apathy. As if he knows the answer will be a no, and he cannot bring himself to care or even stop himself from asking at all.
@[Starsin] sorry this is horrible
and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.
She can hear his thoughts, and they are so similar to the ones she had when she was younger. Wondering why she wasn’t enough, wondering what she had done to deserve being left behind and forgotten. But whatever injury her mother had caused, she had not allowed it to remain weeping and open. She became calloused and detached when it concerned the jade-eyed mare, and she isn’t sure if it’s a good or bad sign when she recognizes something similar in her younger brother.
She almost reaches out to touch him, the way she would to Alita or Malone, but something keeps her from doing so. When it concerned her mother and any other relatives she has met, she knew only rejection and dismissal. She couldn’t shake the feeling of fear at being pushed away from him, even if they had just met, and even if it seemed so foolish to fear rejection from a child.
She is distracted from her own insecurities by his question, and she pauses a moment to contemplate it. “I mean, I can try. I can’t control light the way you can, though.” There is almost a hint of envy when she says it; she always has a special admiration for any power she didn’t have. But she nudges him lightly on the shoulder before moving forward, glancing backwards to see it he was following. She stops near a small, round rock, and with an inquisitive tip of her head she asks, “Can you pick this up? I suppose that would be a good place to start.”
starsin
it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted. ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )
There is little to be said between the two, but much to be understood. Midnight studies the lines of sister’s face, sharp eyes noting the cold similarities between her and their mother. One day, though, the colt may understand the underlying softness in Starsin’s eyes; he may see her as she is in her most vulnerable form (calloused to the world but so sweet beneath). Perhaps they will come to an understanding. Some part of the colt that he has yet to understand hopes so.
“Yeah, but you can blow stuff up, so,” he quips, stepping after Starsin as his mouth sets in a matter-of-fact line. He brushes himself against her legs as she moves, a gentle touch tying the two together.
“I already like you more than Starlust.”
It is a quiet admittance, one he does not even realize he has offered. Starsin stops and he follows suit, settling his attention on the rock she points out. Initially, he taps it with one of his talons, then centers his mind around the smooth surface. His imagination builds a thin wall of light that glides beneath the gray - eyes closed, brow furrowed, he pictures the rock lifting from the ground and -
It shatters.
The light had sliced through the rock instead of lifting it, and now exhaustion loosens the muscles he had tensed. Midnight overexerted himself on accident. He peers up at Starsin with a frown.
“I tried,” he murmurs, then shrugs. His little head droops and he unwittingly leans into his sister’s side. “I’m tired now. Do you have a home? Are you taking me there?”
@[Starsin]
06-16-2019, 02:52 PM (This post was last modified: 06-16-2019, 02:52 PM by Starsin.)
and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.
He brushes against her as they walk, and it incites that slightest of smiles across her face. She remembers when she was his age, and how all she had craved was her mother’s touch, or just some miniscule sign that she wanted her. The desire for want eventually receded, her expectations lowering and lowering – show me you love me, show me you want me, show me you at least realize I exist. Eventually, it was gone, and Starsin learned to never expect anything from her mother, or anyone else.
His quiet confession that he likes her more than Starlust causes her heart to constrict in an odd mix of sorrow and satisfaction, but she reaches over to tug lightly at his baby-curls as she says only half-teasingly, “She sets the bar pretty low, so that’s not surprising.”
She watches as his light slips beneath the rock, and she can see the concentration in the taut lines of his face. But the light breaks it apart rather than lifting it, and instead of being annoyed, she offers him a sympathetic smile. “We’ll try again a different day. You look tired.” She bows her own head as he leans against her, and this time she brushes her muzzle along the top of his neck. He reminded her of Alita; not hers by birth, but it hardly mattered. The familiar fierce instinct to protect him at all costs was already blooming inside of her, just as it had with the dragon girl.
“Come with me, and you can meet everyone else,” and with a gentle nudge against his shoulder to encourage him to right himself she leads him in the direction where the rest of the family was likely gathered; Ophanim, if he wasn’t busy, along with Alita, Malone, and possibly Meraxes, since her son had taken a liking to him and she never denied Malone anything.
starsin
it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted. ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )
@[Malone] @[alita] @[meraxes]
If anyone else wants to jump in and say hi to Midnight, feel free! He's Starsin's little brother if you don't want to read the thread.
