oh it eats us alive - gryffen

[alucarda]

first post ever with her.
totally gonna take me a hot minute to feel her out <33

Alucarda had always wondered if perhaps she was meant to be an outcast to society, or perhaps everyone around her were simply full of empty thoughts and unquestioning natures. Either way, it seemed her dam found her severely lacking in some large way. She wasn’t like other children her age. The girl didn’t crave attention nor fill her day with frivolous chatter and play. In fact, she barely tolerated her dam’s touch and simply jerked away when any other had the audacity to reach out towards her. 

Most often she would sneak away from her dam’s side to take midnight strolls almost every night. Guided by the silvery moonlight, she would watch the spiders build their death traps and swiftly cocoon any prey that had the misfortune of falling victim to them with their glistening webs. She would listen intently to the wolves howling their triumph in the distance after every successful hunt had been completed. Sometimes she would stumble upon the scat of some large bird of prey, more than likely an owl, and thoroughly examine the contents. 

The continuous cycle of life and death was something that Alucarda found herself to be fascinated by. She reasoned that she was supposed to feel something for those who found themselves to be the unlucky ones, considering her prey animal status herself, but all that remained within her curious head was a thirst for more knowledge and need for more examination. She knew her dam would severely punish her if she truly knew the outcomes of some of her late-night adventures. But a parent’s disappointment and possible threat to her freedoms did nothing to persuade her otherwise.

This wintry night found her in a position no different from her usual routine. An unhurried step across the open space of the meadow unfortunately revealed her position to a concerned stallion. The bay rushed to the yearling’s side, worried about the fact that one so young was all by herself and wandering about in the dead of night. 

“Are you all right, little one? Why are you all alone?

The buckskin girl flattened her ears, extremely uncomfortable with this stranger encroaching upon her space. “I’m completely fine. Nothing for you to concern yourself with. You can move along now.” She was being flippant, but why did these people always feel the need to come over when they saw her and proceed to bombard her with their ridiculous concerns. The stallion tilted his head slightly in response, confused by her borderline irritated response. Nevertheless, he continued to press his concerns upon her despite her ever increasingly aggressive responses. 

Finally, the girl shouted a command and she felt something previously dammed up within herself violently well over and crash through the thick walls. Her light blue, so light they were almost colorless, eyes glared up at him was accompanied by a shouted “Go away!” The stallion before her suddenly went rigid and blinked very slowly before doing an about-face and marching back across the meadow in measured, dare I even say robotic, steps. Alucarda was left to ponder the strange situation and her skin itched to further experiment.  

alucarda

Clipped wings, I was a broken thing
Had a voice, had a voice but I could not sing

[Gryffen]

a ghost in the darkness.

He is a collector, a magpie of shiny objects and trinkets. He likes them broken, easier to manipulate and sway. Give them a glimmer of hope to cling to and they are yours, loyal to the bone. However he has found a new thing to collect. Dark magic, souls that were so tormented with their abilities and needed a sweet release. These he is far more interested in then his broken trinkets, far more useful. There are not many emotions he can actually feel, so being fearful of these beings was laughable. What was there to fear when they could mutually benefit each other? As long as they were worth something to one another, there was nothing to be worried about. Everyone has a price. He needs them now more than ever to carry out his plans since the fairies had decided to punish him for his latest wicked deeds.

He tries to ruffle the feathers of his wings only to remember that they aren’t they. Phantom appendages, he can still feel the ghostly weight of them but when he turns his head to look, nothing. Irritation reflects in the depths of fiery eyes, nostrils flaring as he grinds his teeth. Having grown tired of hiding within the woods he has removed himself from the underworld of Beqanna, looking for new sport. He would rather be cruising in the cold altitudes of the sky, adrift and unseen. Removed from this flat and boring world. Instead he is forced to stay on the ground, tethered to the earth. His irritation rises.

For a moment he is so fully preoccupied with his current predicament that he almost misses the spectacle before him. Almost. His pale figure is half covered in shadows, sticking to one of the few sparse trees in the open snowdrifts. A soft mist hangs above his lips as he exhales, red eyes glowing. Looking very much a winter ghost in the icy landscape. Curved lobes slowly swivel forward as his smoldering gaze lands on the girl. An unremarkable stallion is addressing her and she doesn’t seem to be pleased by his attention. Her words are loud enough to carry to him, loud enough to catch the bite of agitation. He is already in motion, ambling towards them, as her protests become hotter and angrier.

He has no intention of intruding, he was merely planning on being an observer. Free show and all that. However the moment she screams at him, the blue of her eyes seeming to flash, the stallion’s muscles seem to spasm. A cloud shadows his face, clouds his eyes as if unseeing. And without another word, the stallion has done an about face and left. Exactly as she had asked. Even his retreat is odd, stiff. He wouldn’t have thought anything of it if he hadn’t seen the stallion’s face. The blankness. Magic. He is sure of it.

The soft swish of his tail against his haunches might pull her attention towards him. He waits till he is noticed, a hungry look in the depths of red. ”Now how did you do that… He wonders aloud, his grin rather wolfish as he eyes the foal. Taking in the odd emerald stripe that runs along her backside. What kind of secrets was she hiding within her tan flesh? In this case he doesn’t want to pry her apart, break her bones. If she can do what he thinks she can do, then she would be more valuable alive then dead.

Gryffen

[alucarda]

Alucarda blinked in surprise, taken aback by the abrupt manner with which the stallion left. Her eyes tracked his stilted, stiff-legged journey across the meadow until he disappeared into the darkness. The girl was strong-willed to be sure, but she had never exerted her will in that manner before. After that brief rush of power had filtered through her fledging body, she felt drained. Her mental strength was flagging, despite the burning desire to investigate further.

A glint of red eyes followed by a pale stallion emerging from the shadows caught her wandering eyes. But there was no misplaced concern to be found within his gaze. Instead, a curiosity tinged with sharp intent resided there. It was if she were confronting a wolf eager to swallow her whole. The thought that she may be flirting with very real danger, strangely, excited the young girl. 

Perhaps her dam’s mutterings of dark creatures who lived in the night might have some truth to them (more likely these stories were meant to curb her nighttime wandering, not that it did any good). Alucarda felt it was up to her to discover if these ill omens would actually bear fruit or to disprove her dam’s claims as the silly stories that they really were.

But the creature of the night does not engulf her as if she were Red Riding Hood.

Instead, the stranger asks the very question the girl would like to have answered as well.

“I’m not sure myself,” she says in contemplation.

Her light blue eyes look at him in consideration. How convenient that there had been another body to appear so very quickly after the initial incident. What better way to test a hypothesis than on a monster? She attempts an innocent smile, hoping to keep the wolf from guessing her intentions. For all of Alucarda’s precociousness, she does not take into account that not all wolves were big, dumb beasts.

“I need to experiment,” she states sweetly.

alucarda

Clipped wings, I was a broken thing
Had a voice, had a voice but I could not sing

[Gryffen]

a ghost in the darkness.

She was young which made her foolish. Mixed with the heady rush of power, she feels untouchable even as her energy wanes. Mistakes were bound to be made, mistakes will make her weak to him and yet mistakes will help her grow. Most look at him with uncertainty, something about the wraith made their skin crawl. If they were normal that is. She was not one of them, her curiosity matching his own. Crimson embers smolder thoughtfully on the filly as she admits she’s unsure what happened. What she did.

The Taiga ghost has made it his life’s work to familiarize himself with the many powers that float about Beqanna. It could be witchcraft, it could be poison, it could be a thousand different things. All he knows for sure is that he wants to add it to his collection. She innocently dangles the need to practice before him and his own wolfish grin responds. Her first mistake. Silly child.

”I suppose you do…” He muses aloud, his gaze remaining thoughtful. ”And how will you go about it I wonder? Better yet, what happens when you can’t control it?” He continues to speak as he slowly edges closer to her. ”What if it backfires? What if it ends up killing you?” The last sentence ending in a low hushed growl, a threat threaded within his question. ”What you need more than practice is a mentor.” An offer that hangs in the air between them.

Gryffen