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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 Sweet Sting || Starsin ||
    #1

    I believe I'd die if I only could

    I sure feel strange, but it sure feels good

    Bane moved in ways unseen, and when he moved anywhere at all it went unnoticed by most. Some horses here were gifted enough they could find him in any shape, but even the majority of those horses had nothing to do with him; they wouldn’t know him from a stranger. That left a handful to be concerned with, and Sylva’s long-term, interim leader - @[Starsin] - belonged to that selectively irritating group of horses gifted enough and familiar enough to sniff him out.

    She did not, however, belong to the growing populace of horses who would very much enjoy the sight of his head severed clean from his body… he thought. Wolfbane couldn’t be sure who or what her loyalties were tied to, if she had any ties left at all.

    The vague gray area of her opinions about his past were just vague enough and just gray enough that the security of not immediately being discovered by Lepis drew the slithering skin-walker away from Taiga and its treasures, down to the borders of Sylva. He moved quickly, never settling on one shape, and carefully made sure he wasn't leaving any trail to follow. He kept shifting too much and sometimes he never touched the ground at all. The creature’s method of travel was erratic but effective; he covered miles in a dizzy blur then would stop abruptly before continuing on again.

    At last Sylva loomed all around him, the land of eternal fall exactly the same as he remembered it from so many years ago, darkened by a moonless summer night. Wolfbane uncurled himself from the nothingness of having a putty form, striking out with oddly quiet steps when he solidified at last into a shape most recognizable. His wings were gone; the sensation of being cramped and the closeness of the paper-white trees demanded it. Otherwise, the beast looked how others would expect him to: dark legs and stripes that gave him a sinister edge in the night, offset by a dull gold coat. His eyes swept the blackness, holographic and predatory.

    “We must be careful, now.” He told himself.
    For once the rest of him - those disjointed voices usually clamoring for attention, all gone silent - agreed.

    For this thread:  Sex: M  ◉  Appearance: Normal  ◉  Mood: Guarded

    [Image: Wolfbane2.png][Image: 3bCHvj.png]
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    #2

    and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.

    She, shockingly, didn’t get many visitors here in Sylva, and when she did they were rarely pleasant. Turning friends into enemies was like some kind of warped talent of hers, so of course the only ones that actually came here on purpose were her own family. She didn’t mind; chances are, she didn’t want to see whoever might show up here either. As she grew older she found that she much prefered the quiet life her and Ophanim had made for themselves in comparison to all the drama she had once sought out. She kept tabs on Loess, of course. Sylva remained beneath the kingdom’s rule, and there would always be political affairs that she couldn’t help but to meddle in; such as ensuring Lepis knew she had her loyalty in terms of her holding the crown.

    But other than that, Starsin was largely out of the political scene. She patrolled her quiet corner of the world, not really giving much thought to what was going on outside of it. For once, she felt what might be considered peace.

    She walks through the dark, the light of the moon asphyxiated by the clouds, but the faint glow of her dapples kept the night around her from being utterly black. There were some things about her that would never change; the stars along her sides shone like a beacon, like a light of caution, but her secret hope was that no one would ever heed the warning.

    And Wolfbane was always one she could count on to partake in her favorite game.

    When she finds him slinking along the borders of her home, she feels that familiar delight bloom inside of her chest. “Wolfbane,” his name is a heavy purr in the heat of the summer night, her intense blue eyes piercing through the dark to find his familiar face. She slips closer, like mist curling through the trees, until she is merely feet from him – closer than she is sure most choose to get to the unpredictable, cursed stallion, but she is emboldened in knowing that she could shatter him where he stands with a mere tilt of her head.  “You didn’t come here just to visit little old me, did you?”

    starsin

    it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted.
    ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )



    @[Wolfbane]
    Reply
    #3

    I believe I'd die if I only could

    I sure feel strange, but it sure feels good

    For him it gets harder and harder to remember how they first met. Wolfbane tries not to think of memories or anything at all, the first second they’re aware of one another and as he approaches. But it’s so hard not to wonder… Was it a good meeting, or a bad one? The thought, unwelcome, seems to make him grin in the night. @[Starsin] says his name like she’s so familiar with it, like she’s heard him say her name that way before too - all soft and rich, but he’s almost positive that he’s never spoken like that to her.

    Except now, he does.
    “About time I return the favor.” Bane alluded quietly with a husky smirk, bringing up their past meeting in Taiga a while ago. He considered their conversation unfinished as it was, and had been patiently biding his time for the opportunity to finish it. Of course, a few other things had taken up a bit of his time in the between - Lilliana, sneaking back into Loess, chancing across Celina - Oops! He stopped his thoughts there.

    He might not be able to remember much about their history, but Wolfbane knows enough of Starsin by now not to underestimate her bold little stature. The gray girl and her string of lights stared back at him without fear, and yet they lacked the animosity to kill him just yet. By the look of it, Starsin could be just as patient as he could - literally and metaphorically. After all this time she was still one of the more dangerously tempting mares he’d ever come across. His dark smirk widened.

    “Been thinking about you.” Bane laughed, but the sound of it was as warm and inviting as an open embrace. It filtered into the unseen breeze that whistled a low tune throughout Sylva’s dark woods. Dark and eerie as it could be, Starsin’s home had a nice feel to it. Wolfbane wanted to question the silence with his thoughts but he didn’t, instead turning his sharp eyes on the nearly silver, petite face a few feet away from him.

    For this thread:  Sex: M  ◉  Appearance: Normal, Wingless  ◉  Mood: Guarded

    [Image: Wolfbane2.png][Image: 3bCHvj.png]
    Reply
    #4

    and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.

    She had forgotten what it was like to play these games, but oh, how Wolfbane brings everything surging to the surface. She knows that he is not himself, and maybe that is why it is so enticing. The risk was simultaneously extremely low, and yet also never higher. Because she knows it is not the Wolfbane married to Lepis staring back at her in the dim, starless dark of the Sylvan forest. She is not even sure if this is the same Wolfbane she had caught cavorting with that girl from Taiga – she forgot her name, it was strikingly similar to so many other lily-sounded names it was difficult to keep them all straight, and Starsin has never been one to put effort into things she doesn’t care about.

    But knowing it isn’t Wolfbane had its pitfalls. For starters, she has no idea what his limits might be – but she certainly intends to test them.

    Her strategy is different though, now that she had her own limits. She likes to think that she respects Lepis enough to not see how far she can lure her once-lover (she is so sure it would be all the way, too), but it’s not really the dun mare that keeps her in check, but rather the thought of her own angel-boy that keeps her from boldy pressing her dappled curves right into him. She could play without touching him; maybe she will find she even likes it better this way.

    “You know you’re always welcomed here, Bane,” and it is only half a lie. Wolfbane would always be welcome in Sylva; she isn’t so sure about his new friends in his head, though.

    Her sultry laugh echoes his, her blue eyes nearly sparking in the dark as she looks at him with a tip of her head and a coquettish smile, “Oh yeah? I hope they’ve been good thoughts. Not that you’d ever have a reason to think bad thoughts about me.” She has moved forward by now, almost as though she is reaching to touch her lips against his neck, and then drifting over the space above his cheek and down his jaw as she breathes sweetly without ever touching him, “You don’t think I’m bad, do you?”

    starsin

    it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted.
    ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )



    @[Wolfbane]
    Reply
    #5

    I believe I'd die if I only could

    I sure feel strange, but it sure feels good

    A soft rumbling erupted into the silence, ripping out of Wolfbane’s throat. He purred a lion’s purr, not housecats, but the tenor of the low sound felt like bass through the skin: vibrating and pleasant, without ever having to touch the source it came from. Starsin could more or less feel his pleasure and Wolfbane felt nothing wrong with forcing that on her, if she wasn’t going to tease and taunt him the way he’d initially expected. “No fun at all,” Longclaw muttered in Bane’s head; if he were allowed to be present there wouldn’t be space to breath, much less move around.

    In the blue-dark, his sharp eyes followed where the star-girl stepped closer to him.

    He reacted like her partner in a dance, shifting his forelegs apart and curving his neck around the space hers soon inhabited. The heat from her skin was radiant to him; a dim white light in the otherwise gray swath of colorless woods. He tilted his cheek, feeling the faint breeze she left behind in the wake of her lips passing invisibly over his face, and gave her a handsome smile underneath the iridescent mask he wore. “Starsin, honey,” He chortled quietly, almost condescending if not for the undercurrent of sexual tension, “you’re the absolute worst.” He teased breathlessly.

    He groaned and shook his head, “See what you do to me?” He accused the satiny, silver mare. Uncomfortably, he shifted his hind legs and unstuck the… issue arising back there.

    “You’ve distracted me,” He lied with a grin, leaning against a nearby birch tree for support to give the pair a bit of distance from one another, “not that I mind.” He mused in that same rough, heavy voice. “I could probably be persuaded to forget everything entirely, if you wanted to give it a try.” The bastard winked in the dark.

    For this thread:  Sex: M  ◉  Appearance: Normal, Wingless  ◉  Mood: Guarded



    @[Starsin]
    [Image: Wolfbane2.png][Image: 3bCHvj.png]
    Reply
    #6

    and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.

    She laughs in that honey-sweet way of hers, the sound thick and full in how it seems to drip from her tongue. “Almost everyone says that about me, and yet I can’t imagine why.” 

    As if she has not been ensnaring anyone that she could in her web of manipulation since nearly the day she was born.  As if she had not convinced a mad king to pour gasoline on a growing fire, or had not aided in the destruction of romances that had no concern with her.

    She has gotten better though, she thinks. As time went on she became less inclined to stirring trouble, or creating it where it did not exist. But it didn’t mean she was opposed to it should the opportunity present itself, much like it has now. If the universe decided to drop a cursed Wolfbane on her doorstep, why should she ignore it? For all her growth and maturity, it did not change who she was at her core.

    There is a knowing simper of delight when he groans and shifts away, and she does not try to mask the satisfaction that settles across her face. “I’d be flattered, if I didn’t think just about anyone  is capable of doing that to you.” She is playing the game, as she always does, and though her eyes are intense and her smile is sharp, there is a peculiar brand of sadness that lingers in the undertones of it all for her. Under normal circumstances, this would never be happening. The old Wolfbane that she knew was charming to be sure, but he was not this – twisted and dark, a writhing tangle of voices and simply a shell of a body parading itself as Wolfbane. 

    But not playing the game seemed riskier, and though she did not fear for herself, she did not want to explain to Lepis that the pieces of her former husband were now scattered across Sylva.

    She watches him as he puts distance between them, and she fills half the space with her own steps forward, an almost defiant spark lighting up the dark of her eyes. There is that same smile curled across her lips, and she says with a sultry laugh, “As exhilarating as that would be, for you, I’m a married woman.” There is a heavy pause as she regards him carefully now, and anyone that didn’t know her might think she was weighing her words with the intent of treading lightly. He had all the makings of a time-bomb, but if anyone knew what it was like to dabble with explosives, it was her. “I guess you’ll just have to dream about me, if you even still dream at all.”

    starsin

    it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted.
    ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )




    @[Wolfbane]
    Reply
    #7

    I believe I'd die if I only could

    I sure feel strange, but it sure feels good

    What he can’t make out in her expression, he can make out in the cadence of her voice. Wolfbane almost wants to taunt her, but the welcome crinkle of breaking leaves under her dainty hooves and the truth behind what she says kept him silent. He could only observe her in the moment: how she moved and how she seemed unshaken by his unexpected appearance. He couldn’t comment on the barely perceptible drop in her voice that might be mistaken for sadness. He didn’t want to. There wasn’t anything for him to be sad about, so the sentiment couldn’t be shared between them.

    Bane thought he might find nothing here in Sylva. No horses or Starsin at all. Instead he finds his luck isn’t so widespread that all of his previously known acquaintances (now considered possible enemies) are dead or gone. This leaves no way for him to spearhead directly into Loessian matters, as he would’ve preferred, so he’ll have to do with entertaining himself in the meantime.

    A little distraction long overdue, he reasons to himself.

    “Shame.” He sighed. “All the good ones usually are.”
    The shifter smirked, happy to keep their blasé chit-chat going with an old trope about the best of mares Beqanna had to offer. Starsin knew that were he truly determined, an insignificant little thing like commitment wouldn’t stand in his way. By the looks of it, he doubted it would do much to deter her, either. The two watched each other in the few breaths of silence afterward, and the gentle whistle of a whispering wind tumbled through the darkness around them. So much had changed, and here they still remained the same. Not so for Lepis, or Loess, or most anything else.

    “C’mon,” Bane drew the word out, rolling his eyes and pushing off from the pale tree trunk. The bark had left a good indentation in his skin, and his shoulder twitched as blood rushed back to the spot. “you’ve got to give me something to dream about in the first place.” He laughed, gliding nearer to where she stood. An absence of sound from the sudden movement meant he was picking his steps carefully; only a few dried leaves were disturbed by his going forward. He paused when he felt it was right, close enough that he could look down on her with equal measures of curiosity and excitement.

    When he spoke, his warm breath spilled out into the cold air as proof of his existence. Perhaps Lepis would have others believe that he wasn’t a living, thinking thing, but he hoped Starsin wouldn’t be so foolish as to fall into the same train of thought. He could dream, and he could desire as much as any horse alive. “I won’t bite…” Bane told her calmly. He lowered his nose.

    For this thread:  Sex: M  ◉  Appearance: Normal, Wingless  ◉  Mood: Guarded



    @[Starsin]
    [Image: Wolfbane2.png][Image: 3bCHvj.png]
    Reply
    #8

    and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.

    They were treading into dangerous territory now, and though Starsin could recognize that, she could not seem to stop it. He was disgustingly charming, similar to the old Wolfbane but with an irresistible edge, like a blade she wanted to run against her skin just to feel exactly how sharp it promised to be. It was a strange thing, to want him and yet not want him at all. She knows, truthfully, she just wants him to want her. It was an insecurity so deeply rooted that she is not sure if she will ever leave it behind; but it does not mean she is going to cave to it.

    She is not sure if being wanted by a ghost, by this monstrous shell of someone she once knew, would be considered a win anyway.

    “Use your imagination,” she tells him with a laugh, shaking a dark forelock from her eyes.

    But he moves from his place against the tree, and something in the dynamic shifts.

    Heat rises to the surface of her skin, and there is a moment when the star-dapples seem to twinkle in a way that mimics stars in the sky. He is close now, close enough that he could touch her, or she could touch him. Close enough that the dark blue of her eyes meet his, and for the first time in a long time, her mind reading does little to help her. For the first time, she does not trust anything she hears. She does not trust his thoughts, does not trust his smile, does not trust his words.

    And, she wonders what this would be like if she wasn’t so suspicious. She wonders what would happen if the rumors – the rumors of how cruel he could be, the rumors that he is nothing like the man he once was – had never reached her. If this was nothing more than what it looked like it was (two bright and burning souls resisting the urge to crash into each other) rather than fire and gasoline threatening to collide.

    “Maybe you don’t bite,” her voice is impossibly quiet, but it does not matter since all the other sound seems to have fallen away. She does not hear the rustle of the limbs above, nor the lulling hum of insects. She does not even feel the heart that pumps inside of her chest, or the breath that whispers from her lungs. She just watches him, anticipating, waiting, her lips hovering near the corner of his mouth when she finishes with a whisper, “but I do.” Another step, another tilt of her head, and her silver lips brush against his cheek, murmuring so sweetly that had anyone intruded on this moment it would have been easily misconstrued, “And if you try anything stupid, I’ll explode your heart.” Or in Hestoni’s case, something a lot worse.

    starsin

    it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted.
    ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )



    @[Wolfbane]
    Reply
    #9

    I believe I'd die if I only could

    I sure feel strange, but it sure feels good

    He… doesn’t wonder about anything. There aren’t crashing stars or burning infernos dancing across Wolfbane’s thoughts as Starsin waited underneath him. Tonight he was forcing himself to be present and constantly in-the-moment, which meant that every other sense he had at his disposal was totally honed into the star-spangled girl and her reactions.

    He sensed more than saw the way her skin sparkled, and he liked it. That much was true. But like his other soon-to-be encounters, theirs was shifting. As if there was another being entirely consuming him. Lepis liked to say, “whatever was wearing his skin” but it was more like, “whatever entity was possessing him in the moment.” And right now, in the moment, there was someone taking full control who’d danced this waltz many, many times before.

    “That a promise you’re making?” Longclaw teased the petite mare, his voice barely above a heated whisper. He sensed nothing except the feeling of Starsin’s velvet nose, nothing but the sound of her body when it moved or the tension under her skin when it finally met with his own. He felt her ironclad determination, but was unsure if it was the determination to resist him or something more… sinister. He wasn’t sure that he cared.

    The smell of her was telling, now that she’d gotten close enough. Too late in the season, he more or less accurately guessed - but it’d be no skin off his back (pun intended) if they wanted to play house for a little while. None at all.

    “Take it, then.” His low words had reached a growling pitch, lacking any real anger or terror. Starsin could easily feel the way his throat vibrated, half purr and half desire. If that was what she was truly after - threats and sweet nothings - then she should take the opportunity. Here he was: the accursed one, the horrible monster of the north, laid bare and exposing himself right on her doorstep. “I’ll give you what the others want so badly. Take it, Starsin.”

    Wolfbane shuddered. He couldn’t leave her, but he struggled not to move while his chest cracked and began to fray open at the will of his manipulative powers. Bane was ripping himself open for her, peeling away the golden skin and writhing muscles until his heart exposed itself, beating in time to his racing pulse. Thump thump, thump thump, the sound echoed around them both, interrupted by the shifter’s ragged, painful breaths.

    “All… for you.” He heaved, tormented by the way he was exposing his most vital organ, even while his healing worked to fix the gaping wound. The skin would bubble and try to connect, but he was there to manipulate it back open again. Over and over, second by second. He waited for her decision.

    For this thread:  Sex: M  ◉  Appearance: Normal, Wingless  ◉  Mood: Guarded



    @[Starsin]
    [Image: Wolfbane2.png][Image: 3bCHvj.png]
    Reply
    #10

    and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.

    She has to resist, because toying with someone in one way or another had been such an integral part of her for so long that it’s hard to not fall back into old habits. She resists, because even though she thinks how amusing this could be, she has matured enough to consider the lasting consequences. She knows it would be entertaining, in the moment, to see what all the rage and ruin that made up his heart and soul felt like on top of and inside of her. To see what the very bottom of his desire felt like – would he just sleep with her, or would he try to kill her, too?

    An older version of herself would have pushed until she found out, but she has learned that there is no game worth losing Ophanim over. No matter how thrilling the game may be, and no matter how tempting the players.

    Take it, he says, and at first she is confused. It’s enough to make her pause, to have her step back, so that she might look at him better and try to understand what he means. She gets her answer soon enough, when his chest begins to split and tear. She remembers what it feels like to have her chest tore open and her heart ripped from it, and the sight of his pulsing in the open air causes the scar on her own chest to itch and burn. She steels the discomfort away from her face, her eyes seeming to harden and the set of her jaw tightening.

    Her eyes lift from the pumping, exposed organ and return to his own eyes, and some of the intensity softens. “Whose heart is this, Wolfbane?” She asks him, holding his stare as she steps forward again. Is it still his? Is it the only thing left of him, even just a miniscule part of it, or has that been immersed in darkness too? She touches the edges of the ripped skin, ignoring the blood that stains her lips, and hovers above where his heart pulses and throbs. Admiring, almost, but mostly wondering. “Is this what’s causing you so much trouble?” Her voice is a low murmur, the words wrapped in concern, but only to warm something more wicked.  She could feel her own pulse quickening, her mind racing. It would be so easy to kill him now, to do what others have been trying to do. One touch, one thought, and she could shatter the entire thing.

    But she won’t. Not today, not unless he pushes her.

    There is a part of her – and though it is small, it is loud – that thinks she might not have what it takes to kill him anyway.

    starsin

    it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted.
    ( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )



    @[Wolfbane]
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