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  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "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


    [open]  the blood that was spilled protects me
    #1
    litotes

    There is hardly exhaustion in those legs that are so faithful and true. Litotes pushes through the way that they might ache if his brain functioned properly; instead, he opts to tear through the dirt and grass of Nerine in the hopes that no one will catch him in this dash.

    The idea is to run until he no longer can, not until his legs give out but until the earth beneath his feet turns into air and he is tumbling endlessly into the ocean. An image of his shining cremello body falling like a burning a star clenches his chest but offers the tiniest sense of peace. He can see the faded, twirling galaxy on his hindquarters slipping from his skin and settling back into the sky, a quiet reminder of a life snuffed out too quickly. He thinks there may be those that mourn, that see that little piece of him left and shed a tear, but even their suffering is not enough to bring him back from this ledge.

    At his core, he is selfish. He always has been.

    There are blackened hyenas that run beside him, yellow eyes wild and vicious as they nip at his heels. The King had never thought his magic would turn on him like this, but he does not mourn for what he once wielded so easily. Each yip of his laughing dogs only serves to send him further from reality, further from any hope he may have to keep on living. He would laugh with them, if he could. He would scream his crazed hilarity at the swirling gray of the Nerinian sky.

    He would do anything, really - if he could feel at all.

    Rain begins to sprinkle and the cold Autumn wind chills the cremello as he gallops. The cliffside is within eyesight, and he does not slow or hesitate in the slightest; instead, his eyes grow more distant and determined the closer his death draws.

    i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me
    guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right



    lie is trying to die but probably wont. this is more for his character development but it can be a thread if anyone wants to reply Smile
    #2

    I can remember a time when I was so afraid
    when even my shadow wouldn't follow me


    Her dark father had always told her that the changes that would come and go were needed for this earth, for the world, for all of the life that lived upon it to continue. That the dying of the leaves and the rain and snow of winter was necessary for this land of splendor to stay so beautiful and so healthy. That was why the snow melted and fell, the flowers bloomed and wilted, and the clouds floated breathlessly in and out. And, if there was anyone that Elaina trusted the most, it was her mother and her father. Truthfully, she had trusted everyone in Windskeep, to keep her safe, to keep her entertained, and to love her unconditionally. She knew that there was not one soul in her wonderful paradise of home that would ever dream of hurting, betraying, or lying to her. Elaina had been desperately convinced that her father was some kind of superhero and that he would always be there to protect her and to save the day. Faithfully watching over their beautiful home and his ever growing daughter. She was convinced that the shadows would never be able to reach her here, or her family. Here in this ancient world she'd only ever known and loved since the day of her birth, the light that shone from every heart within would keep out the darkness and the demons. Of course, she was still so young and naïve.

    Elaina had been hardly aware the shadows that so waited for the little drop of sunshine to find her way to them.
    She too, had not been so aware of the shadows that plague so many others.

    Elaina was going on a diplomatic mission to Nerine, to reaffirm their relationship with Hyaline. Elaina had other motives though, she wanted to get to know some of the neighbors, to know their faces. She needs to erase another from her mind entirely. It has been floating in and out of her head since meeting him that day in the forest. Tunnel. The name haunts her lips, she finds herself whispering it even when she does not mean to.

    No.
    Stop.

    Stop.

    Nostrils flare as the scent of ocean waves reach her and she lets her nose suddenly lead her body and before she knows it, the terrain has turned rocky and vast. “Nerine,” she says, remembering what others have told her of the lands and their scapes. Heartfire ruled here. Elaina had not a clue as to what the mare looked like, but she figures, if she moves in towards the land a bit, perhaps she would show and announce herself.

    She has little time to dwell upon what Heartfire may be like or what she would think of Elaina, as the pounding of hooves pushes against her ear drums. Elaina is an equine and as such, a prey animal, instincts tell her to run, setting her veins on fire and making her heart rate increase. But she doesn't know where they are coming from or where they are going, what if she runs right into the very danger that she ought to be running away from? It is then she seems a starry stallion racing past her with shadow creatures hot on his heels. Elaina has seen this magic before, from Liam and from Mina, their shadow demons. But why are they chasing him? Who created it?

    She leaps forward, a desperate attempt to help a stranger she has never met in her entire life. Her hooves dig into the ground, pushing her off harder and harder with each stride. If she ran diagonally towards him, she would be able to catch up with him, and maybe help him rid himself of the demons that chase him. Amber eyes find his own as she races, the panic that has glazed over them, it was a blind terror that Elaina knew only too well.

    It is, perhaps, this reason and this reason alone, that Elaina is thinking clearly without the feeling of fear clutching her heart, that she notices the cliffside looming in the distance. He was going to run right over it, nothing in his body said he was anything short of stopping. Legs stretch out further and she does the first thing she thinks of. Elaina has always been a girl of action, her compassion her downfall, so willing to help others she does not see her own danger. So when she leaps her golden body in front of his own, a last ditch effort to keep him from killing himself, she has forgotten to take into account how much larger and stronger he is than herself. Her eyes close as the collision ensues, praying he wouldn't go over the edge, taking Elaina with him.


    elaina*
    benjamin and beylani's sunflower-girl


    I am hoping this at least made some sense. Sorry, I was in a rush from excitement of threading with him!
    @[litotes]
    #3
    The first thing she noticed was the laughing, jeering yips that cackled and popped off the seacliffs.

    That was a sound that didn’t belong here. Hyenas were a creature that Neverwhere, even in her travels, has not come upon before, and the unfamiliarity draws her closer, curious. Soon, the hard breath and driven drumming of a horse running too hot comes to her ears, thudding below the din of laughter. The dappled mare is alert and tense, but she has travelled alone so long that her first instinct is to freeze and assess, not panic and run. Her eyesight, oddly sharp here, in Nerine, finds the sweat dark stallion running beyond his limits and the yellow-eyed shadows that jeer and snap. Their hulking frames are dark and powerful, but unusual, forehand heavy with dramatically sloping backs and short tufted tails standing straight in the air as they run. A tremor runs across her skin, even without the dense black of their bodies, they seem unnatural, impossible.

    She makes no move to stop him, only watches from a small distance away. His rolling eyes suggest he sees nothing, running on fear and adrenaline, and as likely to trip and be swallowed by his shadows as to make it to the cliffs beyond. But how do you stop someone from bolting? Her nostrils flare, the salt-wind bringing the Runner’s scent to her, musk and sweat and fear. The shadows give no scent and the tremor on her skin grows stronger. Magic

    It’s always magic.

    And there’s always some damn fool...

    Neverwhere doesn’t know the golden mare running to meet the stallion, but she’s been here for so short a time that one can hardly be surprised that she doesn’t know a foreigner when she sees one. With a sigh that might strike anyone listening as entirely too composed for the situation Neverwhere leaves her place, picking up a ground-eating pace to catch up. The other mare has no hope of stopping him alone, and is as likely to break their legs in her fool-hardy dash, but together they could run abreast of him and redirect his path, away from the cliffs, until the exhaustion catches up to him.

    And the magic? She doesn’t know enough of magic to know if those creatures are even capable of touching them. They only look like shadows, and shadows don’t scare Neverwhere.

    She is nearly on them and ready to shout out to the palomino only to press him away from the coming edge with her shoulder, but it is already too late. Before the words can leave her lips, the sun-bright mare has leapt in front of him, eyes shut and bracing, and Neverwhere is hitting the brakes to avoid also becoming entangled in this rat-king of regret and tumbling into the sea.
    Neverwhere
    .........

    @[litotes] @[Elaina] Neverwhere has arrived to be... not terribly helpful
    #4

    She's got the devil's eyes

    There is little in her kingdom that Heartfire misses. And the pale, shadow-touched king of Pangea being chased by cackling hyenas? Well, that is something she most certainly does not miss. Why he had chosen Nerine for his little escapade, she’s not entirely certain. But she does know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is not ready for Castile to accuse her of murdering his favorite ally.

    And frankly, well, her curiosity is piqued.

    While she does not doubt madness would be enough to cause his wildly imprecise suicide attempt, she has a feeling there is something more behind it. And Heartfire does not particularly care for mysteries. Especially ones that have the potential to affect her kingdom’s political relations before she’s ready for it.

    As it happens, Litotes flight across the plateau had garnered more attention than merely her own. A golden mare dashes close on his heels, one new to Beqanna, though Heartfire had seen her features gracing the wood at her southern border. And Neverwhere, for all her self-imposed apathy, cannot seem to help but take notice of the odd little duo. While Heartfire doubts her intentions are as purely motivated as Elaina’s, she does move to intercept the pair before they tumble from the cliff.

    But alas, their efforts seem to be in vain.

    However, Heartfire had not been inclined to watch anyone dash from a cliff-top. And it had been a simple enough matter to tweak the sight, a small change, so that the cliff appeared to be some fifty paces sooner than it actually was. Rather than tumbling over the edge of the cliff, as they had doubtless thought would happen, they instead tumbled into pit hastily created by the roan queen.

    Walking in an almost relaxed manor to the edge of the hole, she peers down, eyes gleaming with something unreadable, an expression akin to exasperation tinging her features. With a soft sigh, she greets them simply with, “I hope that was worth it.”

    and they'll cut you like a weapon

    Heartfire
    #5
    litotes

    Litotes cannot say he thought that his dive over the cliff would be interrupted. The legs beneath him are moving so quickly that any that might dive before him will simply go stumbling to their own deaths. Any guilt he might feel is quickly swallowed by the reminder that he will be dead just as they will, and emotion does not follow one into neverending nothingness.

    The harsher the rain falls, the further from the world the King becomes. He blinks away the blur of the liquid and rushes closer and closer to the cliff’s edge. Nothing can stop him - nothing - not even the -

    A blonde blur launches in front of him, colliding with his side and his chest and forcing all of the air out of his lungs. He turns his head in surprise to find her damp side and the startled face of another woman some distance away. His eyes can only blink before the two of them are stumbling into a pit that seemingly has an end much closer than the cliff’s. An instinct to preserve the health of the woman that tried to stop him takes hold and almost without thought Litotes forms a shadow cushion at the bottom of their trap. They are tangle of legs and flesh and it is a wonder the cremello does not end up with several broken legs. Call it luck or the magic of Heartfire’s illusions, but Lie finds he is only sore and bruised.

    The Khaleesi’s face is peering down at him and the mare that tried to save him when he looks up with bleary eyes. There should be a ruefulness in his face, but there is only a certain kind of maddened amusement. “It probably wasn’t,” he quips back, before slipping into his lion form and latching onto the edge of the pit with his long claws. It takes him a moment to find solid ground after such an exhausting venture, but he does eventually find himself peering down at Elaina (belly to the ground, paws halfway over, tail flicking back and forth). “You should probably reverse that trick of yours. I don’t think she has a way of getting up,” he purrs, only turning to look up at her when he is halfway through his sentence.

    i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me
    guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right



    @[Heartfire] @[Elaina] @[neverwhere]
    #6

    I can remember a time when I was so afraid
    when even my shadow wouldn't follow me


    The golden girl with gossamer locks has always been told her compassion is her greatest weakness. It is what will get her in trouble. That heart of hers unable to not reach out to those who need her, she lives to serve them. She would lay down her life for those she loves and even, in this case, those she has never met. Elaina cannot help herself. And one day, it is going to get her killed. Maybe, that day is today. Or, perhaps not. Though the equine careening into her own would likely make the palomino girl with the heart adorned upon her brown believe otherwise.

    She didn't know why she thought this would work. That was the problem though, truly, she had not been thinking at all when she suddenly threw her body into this unknown stallion to stop him from running himself off a cliffside. Elaina knew only she had to stop him, and hardly knew how to do it. And suddenly there is the weight of the impact upon her body and all the air she has remaining in her lungs is pushed out followed by a desperate gasp for breath. She feels those springy ribs bend and bruise, but luckily, not break due to the force of the impact. Her slight frame has hardly slowed the cremello stallion down.

    It is a blink of an eye those thoughts. She is going to die, and it is only when she thinks this that time slows down, every second stretches into years that she has lived. Her parents’ faces, those contrasting colors that some how complimented both of them, making them equal, ying and yang. Lilli, her best friend on this entire planet, Kensa, and everything she has not been able to do in Hyaline.

    And she thinks, too, maybe this is always how she has been meant to die, tumbling over the edge of her impossible desire to save those who cannot be saved, to love those who cannot be loved.

    Elaina, in this moment, is perhaps, having an epiphany.
    And she very nearly reaches it.

    Until suddenly her body is colliding with the ground and it takes only a breath of a second to realize that she is very much alive.

    Once more, if she has any left, air is taken from the lungs with the impact. A tangle of limbs, sharp knee points, hard hooves. They are upon the ground. Solid ground. Elaina coughs dirt from her lungs and shakes her head, already imagining the amount of soreness she will feel tomorrow upon waking. Those amber eyes blink the dust from them as she takes into account what has just occurred. She was alive and so was the cremello stallion she had attempted to save, even if, they hadn't actually needed saving in the first place.

    Those lips that had been in a frown towards death suddenly lift upwards, apparently just he joy of being alive was enough to dissipate any feelings of anger towards being tricked. “Isnt it every girl’s dream to get tackled by a cute boy?” She asks in the roan mare’s direction. “And today, I got to live it,” she says in jesting, the quirk of her lips gives away her humor. This is when her gaze turns towards the cremello stallion who has suddenly, morphed into a lion. If Elaina had not already been living in Beqanna, even a short while, she might have been confused, but instead, she takes it in stride. She stares up at Heartfire with that same crooked grin, a similar one to what her father used to wear. “I would appreciate it, unless you intend to make me your prisoner….Heartfire.”


    elaina*
    benjamin and beylani's sunflower-girl

    @[litotes] @[neverwhere] @[Heartfire]
    #7
    In her haste to brake, she leaves scars in the earth where her hooves scrape and prop, digging into the rocky soil, but she does manage to stop short, both of the colliding pair, and of the pit that yawns suddenly ahead of them. She sees them meet, and even as she inwardly winces, she is greedily aware of her ability to see them, watches intently as they meet with a thud of bodies and sharp exhalations of breath, hair and dirt flying as they tangle together in knots and drop over the edge.

    This is the problem with magical vision, whoever pulls the strings decides what you see.

    Despite her avarice in consuming every detail, her reluctance to deal in magic is as likely the cause of her continued near-blindness outside of Nerine as it is Heartfire just being stingy with her curious gift. The soil of Neverwhere’s heart was simply too poor for the magic to take root, so she sees well enough here, but it is still by the sabino’s will. This begs any number of questions, the most recent being whether the cliff was ever real, or if thewas pit there before. She has no idea. The dark mare shakes her head, she does not seek out Heartfire’s shape, but her ears twist and turn to find the sound of the mare approaching, even as she herself comes to the mouth of the pit and looks over at the entwined mare and stallion. Mare and lion. A snarl dances across her scarred lips for a moment, unchecked, as he leaps up easily with sharp, agile claws, not because he is a cat, but because he is not and when he lands near her, she side-steps neatly, her ears burying deep into her mane.

    The roan finally approaches the edge of the pit and Neverwhere unhelpfully explains her own presence with a dismissive shrug. She could not help, after all. She’d only ever had a very limited capability to do anything, given the circumstances, and she was never going to risk her life for the cremello lion-horse. If she could not have redirected his course, she’d just have let him run over the edge like a lemming, if that was what he wanted to do. No sense sparing a single breath trying to justify it, instead she looks back down the trapped mare.

    “You say that like you think she isn’t actually considering just that.” The dappled mare quips, tilting her head slightly to get a better view of the palomino.


    Neverwhere
    .........
    #8

    She's got the devil's eyes

    And just as quickly as it had begun, it ends, two pale horses twined in a heap at the bottom of a hastily dug pit. Of course, given it’s lack of true depth, it’s hardly sufficient to contain Litotes. In moments he has melted into the shape of a lion and clawed his way out, leaving young Elaina behind to stare up at them.

    She could hardly blame them for banter either. After all, it’s certainly not an action she hadn’t taken before. Multiple times, as it were. Not that they needed to know such things. Of course, it’s also not a habit of hers to kidnap those whose disappearance would ultimately serve no purpose. She does have some standards to maintain.

    Lips twitching faintly, she peers at Elaina for a moment longer before turning her gaze to Litotes, one brow rising sardonically. “You say that as though destruction is so easy to reverse,” she replies lightly, though the candor of her words hold a great deal of meaning, given how they’d met only moments ago. “Some things cannot be undone.”

    Her eyes shift briefly to Neverwhere, openly amused at the warning the dappled mare gives Elaina. Of course, she has reason enough to say such things. While she is free to come and go as she pleases, Heartfire’s whim had ensured she’d have plenty of incentive to return. While Heartfire does not care to keep those who are unwilling (without good reason, that is), she is well aware Neverwhere would’ve been long gone by now were she not offered that incentive. And Heartfire has a feeling she would be a good ally one day, could she forget her own irritability for more than a moment.

    By this time, Elaina is likely wondering if Heartfire is, in fact, planning on keeping her prisoner there. She’s not, of course, but perhaps they are all now recognizing that heedless actions have consequences. It’s a useful lesson, but the roan mare does have to question whether it will truly stick.

    Shifting, Heartfire steps back, her swift glance at Litotes the only warning he receives before the earth begins to fall away at the edge of the pit. It’s gone, pulverized to nothingness, before it even hits the bottom. And, as though a great hand had come down and swept through the earth, dirt and grass peel away and disappear, until a slope is left. Enough for a horse to climb out.

    and they'll cut you like a weapon

    Heartfire




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