[private] give my all just to watch you fall; Nashua

[Nashua]

stars when you shine, you know how i feel
oh freedom is mine

Nashua dips his blazed head and can't help the lopsided grin that still tugs on the edge of his mouth. It's almost always there, as much a part of the young stallion as his stripes or his wings. He had allowed the tiger-shifter more space as a formality (his mother had raised him and his brother with some semblance of manners) and he disregards it as easily as she does. Titanya closes the space between them and Nash merely tilts his head as if they had never shared a battlefield.

The Alliance had been his first taste of violence. There had been flashes of rage, moments where his anger had come out in attempted strikes and kicks towards the sabino. As a ward of the Isle, it was something that he always worked to keep control of. To lose it, well, was a risk. The young pegasus had been attempting control and calculation in his only round.

He's never been the kind of creature to feast on chaos, to thrive on violence as Titanya might. Nashua is still trying to outgrow the dark shadow of a father who had done nothing but that. The Alliance had offered the chestnut stallion a chance to move away from that darkness. There had been the chance for glory and prestige; there had been the chance for glory and prestige. The striped pegasus is known for his wanderlust but not many know that Nashua seeks to create a reputation that might eclipse the one his sire left behind in the North.

Next time, he tells himself.
There will be another Alliance and Nashua tells himself that he will have experience on his side.

Nash tilts his head curiously, moving his head to the side to move the flaxen forelock that hangs over one green eye. He notices the new V marking on the side of her ebony chest and other changes from their last meeting; her comment about the thorns lurking below makes him wonder about what kind of barbs linger beneath her black-and-white coat.

"A courtesy from the Faeries," he explains. A gift from his time on the Plains. The grin turns into a smirk. "Just one of my many talents."

He considers bringing them back into view but he decides against it. Nashua can feel her amber eyes on his bare shoulders and thinks it's a better option to keep them out of sight. For now.

There is an itch between his shoulders and the muscles quiver instinctively. "For gods and glory," he says before giving his slender head a toss and eyeing up his former competitor again. "For the Isle," Nash explains (because most horses know it only as a chunk of barren rock that exists on the fringes of their world). Maybe it will always remain that way but there is a strong sense of loyalty grown from the boy who had once called Taiga home. Both his parents had vanished during his childhood and it had been Leilan who had taken him under his wing; Nash would always seek to repay his mentor for that. The Alliance had seemed like the perfect place to start.

His green eyes narrow slightly at @[Titanya] and Nashua thinks she is far too wild to claim a kingdom; it would be like clipping the wings of a bird or trying to placate a storm.

"This was your second time in the Alliance?" he asks and cocks a hindleg, "what keeps calling you back?"

NASHUA

html by castlegraphics; art by MirrorLands