"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
somehow you lost your wonder in your quest to feel alive
Childhood had come and gone, youth passing and years long behind… time was something one is unable to restore, and she knew this. Like grains of sand in an hourglass she watches as all the seasons came and went, as the world went from sick to living, and the bones of infants rotted into adults and then to corpses.
She felt little and less, a muted sense of emotions; but exhaustion in her mind had long been the cause of that and there was no way for Cthalpa to avoid the bizarre existential crisis once. Now? She accepted it.
Her own body had changed through the years- muscle bulked and her weight gained as she blossomed from spider-legged and clumsy youth to a tall and graceful creature whose gait carried her through and around the leaves and ferns… over the branches and roots. She moved with precision and with a kind of regal demeanor that played in how her shoulders rolled and how smoothly she navigated the rough terrain.
A queen, a royal beast; but? She felt for none of it, cared little if at all for the blood and poise… for the history behind her family.
Cthalpa even cared less for where she drifted, evident in so much that she did not stop herself from suddenly springing over a small gap- purposeless and shifting left and right as she pleased, as the trail was easiest to maneuver. Inevitably, though, she paused to breathe and to look across the vast wall of trees and vines, of thorns and brush.
Easing her legs up and stretching each the oddly tranquil woman stood out in some fashion… the dark mane and tail thick and long, curled even, and her earthy patterned body was colored like sand and soil mixed together. She appeared scarred, worn, and tired: her eyes however? Were strange.
A bizarre green, brilliant and impossibly jewel-like, with flecks of gold and brown… slit like a dragon, and when she strained them the color changed from oranges and yellows to soft blues and silvers. Her vision, of course, read the heat around her; but more importantly, she noted the strange movements and shapes… the patterns.
Bird and animal alike she named them, her sigh loud and body frozen… the trail was just too much to finish now.
slayed your hope but didn't let yourself know it had died
Cthalpa
PVP: On
Severe Injury, Permanent Mutilation, and Death Permitted.
All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost
One thing was absolutely certain to the spotted hybrid: he needed to fill the Pampas. Regardless of anyone officially leading it or not, he was lonely there, and hated to see the flowers bloom for no-one to appreciate. The climate couldn’t be a problem - it wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too cold, in fact it was quite perfect, the grasses lush and bright green.
So he set out, a single purpose in mind, and perhaps if the leader did come back then they could talk about her apparent lack of interest. He’d only seen her once, very briefly, but she’d fallen silent then too and perhaps she just wasn’t the type to be outgoing, meet people, and bring them in to fill the home.
But Aodhán is that type of person, and even though he is loyal, well he can’t be loyal to someone who is-or-isn’t around. That’s why now, he is in the forest - skirting around Loess, on his way to the Meadow and the Field.
Her pale form is almost as bright a contrast between the trees as he is himself; a golden buckskin face but with a distinct roaning making her body slightly paler than a palomino’s would have been. But most of all he is curious about the mare were her eyes. He’d only seen such colour changes in one other individual, and he happened to be a family member. In fact… lacking the fact that she was buckskin, not bay, it was quite obvious the two were related.
He diverts his path quickly, offering a low nicker to attract her attention, although if her vision was anything as sharp as his father’s, she would have long seen him coming, if she’d looked in his direction. Aodhán doesn’t mind. He’s glad to find anyone at all, and if she is indeed family, then all the better. ”Hello! I’m Aodhán”, he offers her gladly, enthusiastically. The name sounding as any his siblings’, slightly strange, more like ‘ey-yhán’ - but hers, he hasn’t heard yet.
He stops near her, curious emerald eyes taking her in up close. He just can’t help examining the lines of her head and neck, looking for familiar forms. But well, when your parents leave when you’re 1,5 years old, and you only know your father’s niece and your grandmother - in his case that was meeting maybe 5% of the family. Not at all enough for one who valued family high. ”Who are you?” He wants to ask more - who are her parents, maybe he knows them, by name or by face, and if so why didn’t she live in Nerine with everyone else, or was she more like himself, curious about the world and wandering, wandering, before ever finding a home?
@[Cthalpa]
A little oveer-enthusiastic cousing for ya
somehow you lost your wonder in your quest to feel alive
Jaunty and quick moving the boy was spritely… a creature of bursting energy and curiosity that broke through the foliage as if it were little more than a veil to be brushed aside. Tracked and followed by him, she found herself quietly flicking an ear and peering at the speckled creature and the vibrancy of the pale gold and yellows… the whites: all of it. Even his eyes piqued a curiosity; but alas, she felt little desire to explore it… even when he drew closer to her.
Mother, she recalled, had warned her of the large brood of siblings she had- the grand stage of nieces and nephews and scattered cousins throughout the land; but Aodhan was younger, newer… and thus she knew not of him and rather of his Father. Softly as she can, there is a puff of air from her nostrils and her ears swivel a bit to listen- still studying him passively. Mindful enough of his knobby knees and boyish exuberance, Cthalpa finds herself centering what energy she can to pull her lips into a smile.
Inquisitive as he is, and as easy as Aodhan is to speak, she finds herself slow to respond: a virtue of fatigue and more, yet? She does nonetheless and when she manages it her voice is a mellifluous hum of song and tender affections. “Cthalpa.” she spoke, but the letters were ancient and archaic- a language long beyond Beqanna and so it came out rough on the tongue: ‘kuth ALP ah’.
Father had said it was the name for Lizard-like beasts in the far-world; but she had never been there, instead… she could only dream.
Such it was that she noted the heat signature and pattern, the various shifts and integrations: even distance had become a conquerable thing; but with his closeness it hardly mattered. Sniffing and unsure she shifted her weight, the pale hair tangling across her neck and the golden color bled into a kind of creamy facet with the roaning… enough that when the sun hit her, she appeared partially whitened; even her eyes changed too.
Black with flecks of red and patches of brown the reptilian appearance remained and she noted something in him that almost seemed familiar, and so she continued with the same voice and tone from before. “You seem eager or lost, Aodhan.”
slayed your hope but didn't let yourself know it had died
Cthalpa
@[Aodhan] she is the depression cousin
PVP: On
Severe Injury, Permanent Mutilation, and Death Permitted.
All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost
She’s… interesting. Yes, that’s the word. She keeps looking at him with her dragon-eyes, and he wonders why she seems to have so much trouble answering. Honestly, if she said he needed to get lost, he would - but instead she makes the effort of speech even though everything else about her radiates that she doesn’t really want to.
For a moment, he is taken aback by this, but then he lets it slide. She could walk away or snarl, and she did neither, so he stayed until she let him know he wasn’t welcome. Both horses find a moment of silence they share, in which they do explore one another curiously but don’t find it the right time to ask outright where they’re from. So, he nods at her name. ”Cthalpa,” he repeats with a nod, slowly getting familiarized with the strange sound. ”Nice meeting you.” he tells her genuinely, for he always loves meeting people even though she seems by far more timid than he.
The three-year old waits for her to see if anything else follows, not pushing although that would have been his nature (he would have, say, about 2 years ago). When she does speak, he grins at her a bit. ”Guilty as charged. Though I’m not lost - I’m on my way to the meadow, and perhaps the field. I’m moving, you see, or at least I hope they don’t kick me out - and I figured perhaps others would like to see the Pampas too. It’s really something.” he continues, the subject one he probably wouldn’t stop talking about for long if she let him - but he stops himself, just about polite enough - instead he focuses back on her. ”Where are you headed? Perhaps we can travel in the same direction a bit.”
somehow you lost your wonder in your quest to feel alive
For all the fatigue and the exhaustion dripping from her as if it were a tangible veil or curtain… an aura even, she strained to manifest the necessary energy in the moment and found herself slowly growing to acclimate to the exertion she put out, with the smile and gentle posture as it remained. Her eyes flickered and the pupils widened momentarily, the sight of birds flying between the trees and the motion of things beyond catching her attention just slightly; but more so it was the pulse of heat and blood… the heartbeat within Aodhan she recognized.
“You as well,” she comments softly, politely, and with no ill intention. “The Meadow?” she pauses, contemplative and thoughtful- drifting on memories and stories: half imagining the vast stretch of soft clover and flowers… the tall grasses and breeze. “Ah, moving though? That seems odd, I haven’t known many to leave what feels like home to them… unless it’s not your home. Though, getting kicked out would be a cause for moving...”
Sighing at herself and unsure of what to say or do, she focuses on the now: on Aodhan and all his charm- trying to brew the nothingness into energy and quietly finding herself more and more spent. Still, she shifts her weight and tosses back her hair a bit, shaking free the dust and ivy of her archaic and statuesque ways- a sense of life blossoming somewhere; but not like fire, no.
This was a smoldering ember, a sea of them.
“I apologize for that, losing your home is never easy, or what you imagine is home.” sentiment and longing drip into her words, and honeyed as they are Cthalpa cannot shake the way she lowers her gaze for passing moments before looking back up at him. “I’m going anywhere, everywhere… drifting; the world is… so big. I figure I can see it all one day, so I started here.” honest and gentle she twitches an ear- studying him.
slayed your hope but didn't let yourself know it had died
Cthalpa
@[Aodhan] Work delay sry abt that<3
PVP: On
Severe Injury, Permanent Mutilation, and Death Permitted.
All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost
The spotted baroque hybrid honestly hadn’t been very clear in his answer - perhaps deliberately vague. He knew a battle was upcoming, and wasn’t sure if he would be able to actually move like he said. Or, at least, not towards the Pampas.
Nevertheless, Chtalpa gave him enough of an answer to continue the conversation not too awkwardly. He nods to her. ”I used to have a home in the North, in Nerine and Icicle Isle, but honestly, since my parents left it hasn’t been the same. I figured I’d best start anew someplace else.”
He studies her a moment. Something in her changing eyes is familiar, and he figures it doesn’t hurt to ask. ”Do you have a home? Or did you?” he wonders. Curiosity had never hurt him before, though at the rate he threw it around the world perhaps it would, one day. For now, he’s young enough to still try, to want to help her see more of the world as well. After all, that is what he likes most - explore, discover, and meet new horses on the way. Like her.
@[Chtalpa] Ugh sorry for the delay... battle delay for me ^^
somehow you lost your wonder in your quest to feel alive
It’s more natural than she knows, the expansion of her pupils and how her gaze is able to focus almost immediately on nearby birds and other scurrying creatures. The vertical slits widening and the color burning between flits of orange and explosive flecks of yellow: though she remains focused on Aodhan for now- considering each word and shifting her weight as she contemplates the myriad of realities before her… familiarity, after all, had set in and for a moment she considers that this may be a member of her blood in some way or another. Draconic though, and unsure, she chuckles softly under her breath before speaking.
“I was born in Nerine,” she comments without fear, and the tire in her body seems to pass as energy and life spark in her. “But my Father took me the Silver Cove to stay with his husband and their son, also a woman named Mordgeld. We survived the plague and I… wandered off after a time, thought it best to see everything before I died. Morbid, yes, but I’m not blessed by immortality as others and nor do I want it.”
Pensive on further continuing the sentiment she mulled over Aodhan and quietly stepped closer to him, wandered enough to offer her nose in greeting and to give him a better view of the silvered mane and tail- the pale buckskin with it’s splashed roan patterns and points; but more so he could see the scars and patches where it seemed as if tread harder or fought longer. Nonetheless she offered him a smile, and when she spoke there was an audible warmth to her.
“You’ll find somewhere beautiful, I think. It’s not often people go too long without finding a home here… or at least getting an idea of where to go when searching for one. I heard the Taiga is lovely around this time of the year.” she murmured softly.
slayed your hope but didn't let yourself know it had died
Cthalpa
@[Aodhan] apologies for the delay<@
PVP: On
Severe Injury, Permanent Mutilation, and Death Permitted.
All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost
Aodhán’s face brightens a little when she mentions Nerine - though he quickly notes that he might have been born a little later; she mentions the Cove to which he’s never been, and at that point he gives a single nod to show he understands that is more or less her home, if anything was. His white tail moves a little, and he notices her shifting eyes, focusing on everything and anything. It’s familiar, but it’s only when she moves and he is reminded of her roaning, he combines all the knowledge of her into a single question. ”So who’s your mother?” he suddenly asks. Then, he figures that is rude, and quickly continues. ”You remind me of my dad, but I don’t think you’re old enough to be my sibling. I mean… my mom and dad were together together, but I have some older half-siblings from before that.” His explanation doesn’t get any better, he notices, and so he stops and shakes his head to get the rambly sort of words out of his head.
She suggested the Taiga, and he smiles. ”Yeah, I know. I mean, I was there last year. I figured it would be nice, and I think my dad was acquainted with Aten? But then some Loessians took over when I visited, and it became more of a political climate. I… kinda ran.” he offers with a shrug. He didn’t want to get involved with the double ties, to both Loess and Nerine. Nerine had always let Taiga be free, and now it was suddenly and important Territory. Ergo, not his preferred living space.
