"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 doesn’t hear the other mare approach (not realizing, of course, that there was no approach to be heard) - but the sound of the voice snaps Tavani out of the fog that had been creeping in on her and she turns her head. Gratitude for something else, anything else, to focus on swells up inside of her. The mare could almost be confused for a Stratosian - a fact which fills Tavani with a confusing and gut-churning combination of disappointment and relief - but the eyes are the giveaway. They are a deep black and are not blooming as a perfect mirror to the sky above.
For now, she doesn’t move any closer either - it’s comfortable enough to speak standing as they are, and she hasn’t interacted with many lately so probably best to be on the safe side. Her dawn-pupilled eyes remain focused on the stranger. Unwilling to move closer, but unwilling to look away and feel alone any longer. “I know the polite thing to say is yes - everything’s fine.” She pauses for a moment, considering whether to leave it there, but she’s feeling off-centre. “But the truth is kind of the opposite.” Or very much the opposite, but Tavani’s thoughts are still wrestling with the mere idea of unloading her troubles on this kind stranger - so she will downplay them as much as she can even as they tear into her heart.
She cannot truthfully say she is from Stratos, because she was never welcomed there - only viewed it from a distance. And she is not from Baltia either - not since she didn’t inherit any of the helpful tricks from her mother like being able to breathe underwater.
“I was brought here in the storm… sometimes the memories of the winds sneak up on me.” There, that wasn’t too burdensome of a confession - right? No mention of the feeling of her breath being stolen from her as she was surrounded by violent air, no mention of how she had chosen it willingly. “I haven’t been able to bring myself to fly since.”
