They’ve never melted in the gas-lit fires of a stove, never had their legs stuck together, twisting and smoking and turning black, black, black. So they can laugh at their poor, addled Priestess all they want, but she’s clearly suffering from some type of PTSD.
Never judge a book by its cover. Even a bunny-killing, slightly obsessive-compulsive cover. Ok? Ok.
A black stallion approaches - he smells like the Chamber, and she is instantly a little calmed. Clearly not everyone is dead yet. She stops and faces him, going from running in circles to just shifting back and forth in agitation. Her tail whips back and forth, and she manages to eke out an “No, I can’t leave,” and then look anxiously back and forth between the fire and the spirit. Then another stallion approaches (dear lord, they had a lot of men in this kingdom), and he is very loud-mouthy and demanding and berates her. Not that any of his words stick, they pretty much just go in one ear and out the other. He’s just bothersome. Like, unless he can put out the other fire, he’s not helping. Her lips quickly crease together into an irritated frown, but again, all she can get out is a “Look, you guys -” And then there’s another one, but this one is just a boy. Good lord. Is this what she is supposed to do? Were some sort of additional duties written into her contract that she didn’t know about? Allay the general public’s fears and/or create a safe area within which to put children?
This war fucking sucks. She wants her privacy back.
Shaytan has never been commanding, and aside from her large and bulky size, she isn’t ever likely to be. This type of situation is not her forte. Hell, not even one-on-one situations are her forte.
And then there’s the smell of blood in the air - only it isn’t her favorite type of blood, it’s horse blood. Welp. That went downhill quick. Her dark eyes flit around again, and land on a buckskin that’s rushing straight at them. Well that won’t do. THIS IS HER GODDAMN TREE OK. The Priestess is about to shoulder the men aside and attack when a lighter stallion comes out of nowhere to attack the buckskin, and the loud-mouthed bay seems to think that he doesn’t need any help to handle this. Ugh, Shaytan thinks. Men and their bravado. If she wanted to, she could pull rank and demand that they stand down. But the sad reality is that she has absolutely no fighting experience and the most she could probably do is take a few solid hits and give a few solid hits and hope that her opponent gets tired of her being so stubborn. Her thoughts have taken her out of reality, but the wail of children brings her reeling back.
Now, Shaytan is not the mothering type. She was absolutely wretched with Sayaa (but after a rape like that, can you blame her?) and has since avoided childbirth like the plague. But in this sitauation, all things considered, she can try her best. Putting on her Authoritative Voice, she yells over the commotion to the panicking foals, “You, kids! Get over here!” And then WHAT THE FUCK, first stallion is a bear and even though she knows he’s on their side, she thinks that if she were foals, she miiiiiiight not want to go running towards a bear. So what to do? She turns her gaze back towards the ever merrily flickering tree, and makes a little wish. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. Either way, the flames seem to come alive and twist into the form of a bird, while little tiny flamelets in the shape of mini birds drop to the ground. It sheds light on the group, though the clearing smoke, and serves as a beacon for those who might be able to see it. The Chamber still stands. Fight on.
shaytan
when people run in circles, it's a very, very mad world
- Shaytan reacts to all the ponies
- calls to the kids to come to safety
- makes the tree's flames twist into the shape of a bird as a inspirational sort of thing
