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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


    [private]  the crushing weight of paradise
    #1

    They had discussed the idea for weeks. The topic had crept into their conversations uninvited, although not wholly unwanted, until they finally decided it was what they both were truly needing.

    The matter had been decided, they would return, but the timing was another hurtle. There were new relationships, new favorite grottos, and beautiful vistas, and there was still something in Solace that hesitated. It wasn't easy to build a life up from scratch, and although she hadn't meant to, she had put down roots in this new land.

    But then something happened which caught her by surprise, something that was the final push she needed.

    Solace had almost begun to believe that Oriash would be the last foal. That her years of bearing and raising children were over. But she had been wrong, and when she came to realize that two little souls were creeping into her dreams, she knew that it was time to return.

    Kagerus' separation from Beqanna had never been quite so final as Solace's, and during her wife's dalliances with home, the gold-splashed mare had used the time to say goodbye to those she had come to know in this adopted country. It is more than she was able to do for many of those in Beqanna, and she takes her time in doing it. 

    But on the final night, Solace is waiting and she wonders why she waited as long as she did. 

    "Are you ready?" Kagerus asks, freshly returned and smelling of tangerines.

    "Mhmm," Solace replies, placing a kiss on her wife's scared face. "But it's not going to be easy to fall asleep."

    They settle in, leaning against each other for warmth and comfort, and Solace takes one last look around the place that had come to be home. The world shifts as the dream takes over, and Kagerus skillfully guides them across the miles.

    "It's not so different," Solace says, as she steps out onto Tephra's rich, volcanic soil. She realizes as the sunlight warms her wings the tension she is holding in her body, and she releases it with a shake od her head and neck. Frost flurries around her as she does, looking even more out of place in the shade of a palm tree they find themselves under, and the softest of smiles begins to find it's place on her pale lips.

    S
    olace
        we're reeling through an endless fall
    we are the ever-living ghost of what once was



    Whelp im super rusty but i did it @[Kagerus] @[Svedka]
    Solghostdoll2

    #2
    Kagerus
    { and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }

    Solace takes her time saying farewell to this other-world we became acquainted with. Neighbours and friends, be they sentient or simple, press their goodbyes into my wife's cheek like parting gifts into outstretched hands, words of faithful remembrance uttered between them. I too make my rounds, of course (though with a brevity compared to Solace's), having also come to know the people of this land. These strange moments before departure remind me of Hyaline's Exodus -- sad times, yet full to the brim with promise for the future.

    And to the future we go.

    When sleep befalls us at last (kisses weighing our eyelids), the miles do not hesitate to fly by. This form of travel feels almost as familiar as walking by now. In what feels like a heartbeat we find ourselves stepping out into the loam of Tephra, the scent of ash an overwhelm compared to the gentle scent of our little grotto Out There. Yet I welcome the overwhelm, relish the sun above and the ocean nearby; our families live here. We come home, today.

    "Practically identical," I allow in a low chuckle, closing my eyes and wiggling my face in the flurries which cast about Solace's shaken mane. "Your little friends will come in handy here, my love. The perfect temperature control." I return a kiss to my wife's cheek with yet another laugh, the black of my lips turned up without end. Straightening, I wiggle the grass at our hooves with a childlike anticipation before a thought occurs to me, and the land seems to still.

    "Though I would follow you anywhere, Solace," I murmur, casting my nutmeg gaze upon her perfect cerulean one, "I am so grateful to you for choosing here. Here," I inhale, eyes now upon the Tephran landscape, "At home. Surrounded by family." A pressure finds its way to Solace's swollen barrel, the air condensing there in a psychokinetic embrace of our twins-to-come.

    [Image: kag]
    dreamweaver
    #3

    let my shadows prove the sunshine

    The mountains of Hyaline had been his home - unknowingly - for years. He had ‘vanished’ years ago, beneath the tawny fur of a mountain lion, hidden behind teeth and claws, robbed of his life by the predator’s instinct. In hindsight, the lion had saved him from the plague and the war that had ravished Beqanna years ago, secluding him to the cooler mountain tops and keeping a solitary life away from others. The puma had a hold on him for a very long time - even now he is not so sure how his consciousness has returned, only that it had and he would strive to be sure that the predator did not take over again.

    He remembers nothing in that time in the mountains - for Svedka, no time has passed at all. To him, he had awoken in a blink of an eye, covered in blood from his mouth to his legs. He had traveled down into Hyaline, searching for his twin sister or for Kagerus, and found only strangers. This is how he came to understand how much time had actually past and how the lion had stolen precious years from him.

    Svedka had stewed angrily for days, only to realize that anger brought the lion to the surface. The more he remained his true self, the weaker the beast was. So he left the past in the past and began to venture to the only place he knew where to go.

    The stallion uses his head to brush the thick foliage away from him, the broad, flat leaves slapping against him as he passes, wet with humidity and dampening his champagne and ivory skin. He wrinkles his nose, the sickly sweet smell of smoke permeating the air. The volcanic landscape seems to open up to him as if it remembers him fondly and Svedka finds himself surprisingly comfortable despite the many years he has been gone. 

    Though finding his mother and father is what he assumed would happen first, it is uncanny that the familiar scent of his twin finds him first, along with Kagerus. A lazy smile curls onto the pink of his lips, a huff of air escaping his nostrils in quiet laughter, following the sound of their hushed voices until their figures come into his eyesight.

    They are as he remembers, despite knowing that years, even decades, have gone by. There is a familiar swell of Solace’s barrel which ignites a sparkle in his blue eyes. He has no children (that he’s aware of) but enjoys the many nieces and nephews that come from the love of both his sister and Kagerus. 

    “Ladies,” comes the familiar fluidity of his deep voice in greeting, casually sliding himself between them. “I had a feeling I’d find you here.” His muzzle tenderly brushes against Solace’s shoulder as he comes to a halt perfectly beside them, his matching cerulean eyes gazing curiously at the frost on her crest, lipping them playfully before pressing his mouth to her poll, wuffling at the icy tendrils delicately. He hums softly into his sister’s skin as if years had not passed between them. His smile is almost devilish as he turns to Kagerus, a sister to him though they share no blood, reaching his now-cold lips to the auburn color of her cheek in a gentle kiss. 

    He straightens, resting his head on Solace’s neck with a soft sigh like he was just a colt again.

    He had missed them dearly - though he hadn’t realized how much until this very moment -  and for the first time in many, many years, he felt like he was truly home. 
     

    svedka




    @[Solace] @[Kagerus] <3
    #4


    Kagerus had never stopped charming her wife. But flirtatious as her words are, Solace never doubts the sincerity of them. The twin foals shift under their mother's touch and Sol gives a small, involuntary gasp. They were getting big, and they hadn't returned to Tephra a moment too soon. "It will be a good place for Iridian and Indius to grow up," she adds, feeling the familiar twinge of excitement as she speaks the names of her children-to-be. 

    Thoughts of lazy days playing along their beach with them, and maybe teaching one or both to fly, preoccupied her mind. These were the little milestones she had missed with her last two - when sickness and war had been pulling her apart. But Solace doesn't let herself dwell on her past now, she lets the sounds and scents of her birthplace wash over her, a reassuring reminder that it is no longer that time.

    But her attention is captured quite suddenly, and her head turns to search for what she can hardly believe she has seen. 

    A flash of gold, the scent of wildflowers, mountains, and something darker, but still familiar. 

    Her heart skips a beat.

    Svedka had always been a mystery to her, a riddle she would turn over in her mind for a lifetime. While he could decipher her every look and mood, she was always left wondering where he would go and what he would do next. There had been times when others called her cold or aloof - when there had been the weight of a kingdom on her golden shoulders - but he had always seen past that. Or maybe, he had never seen it at al.

    But there are many more reasons than that which make her love him. No, that list would outnumber the stars. 

    He places himself between them and Solace is left speechless. Her cerulean eyes take him in and she can hardly believe she isn't dreaming. But she was too familiar with the world of dreams to truly doubt him. And even her mind, with its immaculate memory of her twin, could not render him is such perfection. 

    Where have you been

    The words rush forward and almost slip off her tongue, but she does not want to make demands or accusations. This was the way it had always been, he was wild and she was steady. She would always worry for him, and he would always come back home eventually - it was all she knew to do, all she could do, to rejoice and love him wholly when she could. 

    So she does not ask the question that had kept her up for so many nights. She will never tell him the way she mourned his absence in the early days of the plague. But those nights are washed away, like blood in the tide as he hums into her skin. 

    She is happy.

    "Oh, Svedka, you are still as wild as the wind, I see." She chides him with a laugh, returning his affection heartily. "Be we have only just come back, is it the same for you?"

    S
    olace
        we're reeling through an endless fall
    we are the ever-living ghost of what once was
    Solghostdoll2

    #5
    Kagerus
    { and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }

    As we stand there in consideration of the land which will house the newest additions to our family (little Iridian and Indius, whose spirits, personalities, and thoughts become more realized every day), I find myself contemplating perfection. In the aftermath of our abdication, of Oriash's belaboured birth, of my death in the name of healing Beqanna of her plague, and of our journey Out, I'd feared for the happiness of our future selves. Though I knew and will always know that I find my best self just by being with Solace, I also knew that we had potential for so much more.

    Little did I know just how much more.

    Before I'm able to express my surprise at the scent of Solace's twin brother more than nearby, Svedka explodes between us with that intoxicating grin sat just so on his handsome lips. The happiness I feel at his resurgence expresses itself as an invasion of melancholia; an ache so deep that the tears running down my cheek do better justice to how I feel than the warbling smile which finds itself attached to my lips. 

    Perhaps this emotion comes from the memory of him just after my attempt to end my life, perhaps it comes from the dozens of times after that wherein we exchanged oddities (he apples and fruits from close and afar, I with sea shells, feathers, and the like for his mane). Perhaps it comes from the pain I feel at not knowing where my own brother, Khaedrik, rests his head these days.

    Alas, I waste no more time with the analysis of my tears and instead lean the entirety of my weight into Svedka's shoulder when he turns to kiss my cheek. "Brother," I garble into his mane, getting my teeth stuck there but not caring at all. In a flash those same teeth find their mark on the stallion's insolent neck, all the fury I've felt since he abandoned me and, more importantly, my wife. "You are a fool and I hate you." Before the words can cause any true impact, I grin up at Svedka from tear-laden lashes; in an instant, a crown of flowers (yellow daisies, baby blue orchids, and pink sweet peas) befalls his head.

    "Welcome back, pretty boy."

    From there, I watch with joy as my wife and her brother reunite, their embraces as easy going as I imagine they were when the two were but unweaned foals. When Solace explains the newness of our arrival and then question Svedka's, my ears perk and I blink away my tears. "And don't spare any details," I chime in, eyes glittering with evident love.



    @[Svedka]
    [Image: kag]
    dreamweaver
    #6
    “As wild as the wind,” he repeats amusedly, his voice soft and hush, as if not wanting to interrupt the warm sound of Solace’s laughter that he brings to her lips with his presence, “yet somehow tamed in the midst of you two.” There is laughter in his voice, but as Kagerus greets him as well, Svedka can feel the tightness in his throat that makes him realize just how homesick for the two of them he had become. His already glittering blue eyes begin to water at the sheer emotion of their reunion, terribly happy and terribly sad all at the same moment, especially when Solace asks about his return.

    I had never left, he truly wants to say, but doesn’t know how. That would only open more questions and he did not want more questions. He only wanted tear-stained kisses and embraces, amidst satirical chides from Kagerus. Maybe things can be as they were exactly before he vanished – perhaps the lion was done after stealing years and years of precious time from him.
    Maybe there is no reason to fear anymore.

    Kagerus’ weight against his shoulder pulls him from his momentary reverie, a happy gasp leaving his pearl pink lips as he leans to support her, not at all surprised as the pain of her bite against his neck surges to the surface. He winces, not flinching away from her teeth, knowing he deserved much, much more. “What else is new,” he replies to her through a clenched jaw, though a smile paints his face. The lion stirs at the pain, a flicker of embers, but the feeling quickly subsides and is non-existent as a crown of flowers adorn fittingly upon his head.

    Unable to see himself, but knowing that the crown is only accentuating his looks, Svedka curves his neck proudly, showing off the musculature of himself as he paws at the ground with a foreleg enthusiastically. For extra embellishment, of course, he executes a half rear so that his forelegs slam into the earth beside his sisters, his gaze lovingly flickering between the two.

    There is a purse of his lips, raising his brows thoughtfully. He would not lie, but he would spare the shocking details for now. “I spent some time in the forest and the river upon my return – Beqanna really knows how to welcome me back.” He grins at the suggestion that he’s been ‘busy’ since his return to equine-life a few weeks, left open to interpret as they wished. “Perhaps some of them will make us a visit.” Svedka winks, though does not waste a moment in order to shift the spotlight off of himself; a bit out of character for him, but it had been a very long while since seeing them both. 

    His cerulean gaze flickers to Solace’s swollen abdomen. “I see you both were particularly busy as well,” his voice trails off suggestively as his smirk widens, wondering if it would be Kagerus or Solace who would find his comment too bold.


    @[Solace] @[Kagerus] phone post, no pretty html
    #7

    Solace's heart is full to overflowing, happy tears accentuating the sparkle of her crystalline eyes. She takes a sidestep as Kagerus and Svedka banter, her laugh a steadying note below the turmoil.

    They settle, and Solace returns to her twin's side, and she looks up into his face just in time to catch the look that he doesn't mean to show. It is quick, but she doesn't miss it, this thought that so briefly darkens his shining, blue eyes. But that happy gasp is leaving his lips is enough to chase away the thoughtful look that crosses her own features, and the moment is lost, but not forgotten. It will come up again when she and her wife settle down for the night, and her mind replays these happy events to her. Then she will remember this shadow of the lion, and ask Kagerus what she thinks it could mean.

    The truth, of course, is beyond their imaginings. That he was here the whole time would be a bitter discovery for her. That he remained in the mountains of Hyaline for years after her reign had ended was too much for her to imagine. She had comforted herself with the thought of his explorations in faraway lands, with the tales he would bring back to her and relay in half-told stories, because she could never know the full of it. 

    He borders on such tales now, but she doesn't have to pretend like she doesn't know what he is talking about. She was too old, too long-married, to be embarrassed by such comments anymore, and she gives a salacious roll of her painted shoulders. With a suggestive turn of his head, he implies the curve of her expanding sides, and she laughs.

    "There wasn't much to do," replies, as if running a kingdom or two had ever kept Kagerus and Solace their love-making. Frost for her forelock falls onto her lashes, and she tosses her head with a snort, before turning back to find Kagerus nutmeg gaze. "But we felt it was time to return, and once we knew the twins were on their way, we wanted them to be with family."

    S
    olace
        we're reeling through an endless fall
    we are the ever-living ghost of what once was



    @[Kagerus]
    Solghostdoll2

    #8
    Kagerus
    { and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }

    The shadow of the lion that Solace plans to discuss with me growls just beneath Svedka's skin as this conversation goes on. Solace notices the hints of its presence far sooner than I do (and how I wish I would recognize it sooner, too) but the fleeting moment disappears into the ever-folding layers of the present, as with all things noticed but left unsaid.

    Svedka shows off his flower crown with a flair of acrobatics and tells a short tale of his time away, ending his act with a suggestive glance towards Solace's stomach. My laugh now plays in the background of the conversation, ears perked to listen to Solace's story of her return to pregnancy. The smile I wear turns for exuberant to tender in but a moment. Indius... Iridian... I blink away tears as I whisper their names like prayers within the confines of my mind.

    "And what family we've found," I chime in with an emotional but happy tone, eyes gazing up at the handsome, flower-adorned face of my dear brother. "More than we could have dreamed of."

    The conversation continues like that for some time, jovial and familiar back-and-forths transpiring as though years hadn't passed since our last meeting. The happiness this inspires comes with a bleeding ache deep in my chest, one that remembers our time away, and without knowing how, I realize that I have begun to tell that story.

    "We descended from the Cove's throne when we realized that Solace's pregnancy required constant attention. We don't really know why but Oriash's time in the womb and subsequent birth came at a great cost." If only I knew the cost of our next daughter's birth, too. "I had to put us into a dream-induced coma. And when I awoke from that, Beqanna called me to her heart to take the final step in healing her from the plague..."

    I look to Solace with pain in the forefront of my eyes. "Leaving Solace asleep with Oriash just born and still weak felt impossible. And when I died..." I glance to Svedka, gauging his reaction. "Well. I got to say goodbye to some friends, hello to others, and then I returned. It felt like a dream in the afterlife but more grounded. Like I belonged there. But my death was short-lived and I awoke on the other side, so many parts of me gone, so disillusioned, and with a new power. I found Solace soon after that and we escaped Beqanna together. Enjoyed some quiet time in the rolling hills Outside where we meshed quite well with a small community of others."

    "I still miss her, though."


    Panthera appears in front of us before I finish my last remark. Her likeness exceeds what I anticipate myself capable of and for a moment (before the chaos starts) I admire my handiwork. The leopard's prints, whiskers, eyes, and figure reflect an almost perfect image of my companion, she who rests now in the afterlife with my grandmother. Yet despite the apparent reality of the leopard before us, it consists merely of manipulated air particles, their composition made to reflect the sun's rays in such a way that Panthera becomes the emergent property of their collective shimmering.

    If only Svedka knew that, too.

    [Image: kag]
    dreamweaver
    #9

    let my shadows prove the sunshine

    Solace’s laugh brings joy to his face, his crystalline blue eyes sparkling brilliantly against the stark white of his handsome face. As she shakes her head, the particles of frost and ice are brought to his attention once again and he cannot help but reach forward to lip again at the near-frozen tendrils, curious and equally delighted at their presence amidst the white and blue of her mane. “Twins?” Svedka murmurs, bringing his chin to his chest to gaze at her with tenderness from beneath his beautiful crown that still sits so perfectly on his poll. “I’m glad I’ll be here to meet them,” His voice is genuine and emotional as he kisses her cheek. His time in the mountains meant he had missed meeting his other nephews and nieces that are now grown themselves. He wonders if his sisters resent him for his absence, thinking he had been out galavanting with women and men, indulging in selfish pleasures while he missed major moments with his growing family. He swallows hard; it would be better for them to think that for the time being, if that was even the case, he tells himself. 

    His attention turns to Kagerus as she informs him of all that he’s missed - the rise and fall of their time as queens in both Hyaline and the Cove, leading them to where they are now. She mentions her own death (so casually, flippant in its reality) and Svedka’s head snaps towards her, offsetting the flowers adorning his head from the sudden movement. Without hesitation he reaches out to touch her again, to feel her solidity and warmth, making sure that she is in fact here with them and not some kind of dream-version of herself. He exhales exasperatedly, a small and thankful smile finding his pink lips. 

    When the panther’s figure warbles into reality before them, Svedka doesn’t think anything of it. There is the briefest second where his cerulean eyes take in the feline, head tilted ever so slightly, that same soft smile on his face. That gaze immediately turns black - there is no slow fade or rippling from one shade to the other and once this was all over, Svedka would not even remember the shift because the lion overtakes him with such ease. 

    The crown of flowers is a crumpled mess of foliage and petals between the large paws of the lion - but that only lasts for a second. A growl peels from black-lined lips which turns into a howling scream as the puma leaps towards the apparition. When the big cat doesn’t collide with the other, there is another angry and terrible howl that comes rolling out of its throat in confusion. It then whips its head over its tawny shoulder towards Kagerus and Solace, its deep and abysmal gaze flickering questioningly between the two before it lowers itself towards the earth, shoulder blades piercing against the pull of its skin as he slowly turns towards them. Yellowed fangs frame his flickering tongue, his tail whipping like a snake behind him. The moment is suspended like this for a time, the predator watching the two as if debating whether or not to leap towards them. With a sudden and swift movement, he reaches out with one clawing paw towards Solace, a grating hiss accompanying the warning as he comes within inches of her. He scrambles back a step; the low growl in his throat never-ending as he sways before them with his body lowered and poised like a viper ready to strike. Rage and now hunger ravages him, but the lion knows the chances of him taking on two full-grown horses and succeeding were low. 

    Somewhere inside the black, cold gaze of the lion Svedka sleeps, unaware of the change in his body or the fact his worst fear has come to fruition. 
     

    svedka



    @[Kagerus] @[Solace]
    #10


    Solace did not like it when Kagerus brought up her time in the afterlife, and she likes it even less when her wife speaks of the sense of belonging she had experienced in her time there. But although the topic makes her uncomfortable, the pale pegusus reminds herself that it is the past, and there was no benefit in concealing the truth.

    But the familiar form of Panthera was one that always made Solace smile, and she lets the discomfort fade away. Kagerus was here with her now, they had each other, and whatever the future brought they would navigate when the time came.  She was learning, little by little, to enjoy the moment.

    But as if just to prove how fickle the world they lived in truly was, her sense of calm and belonging is suddenly shattered.

    Her brother's soft smile becomes something terrible in an instant, and she feels her blood run cold. He luges for the vision of the other cat, but the failure to engage with that opponent leaves him looking for another.  It all happens abruptly - the three of them are an explosion of action, and Solace reacts on instinct. Yellow fangs and flashing caws are swiftly flying towards her, and she is painfully aware of the fragile burden she carries. She had not attempted to use her phasing in over a year, and never while pregnant, but before she has the time to weigh her options, her body takes on a ghotly translucency. The frost in her mane and tail flurry wildly around the empty space where her body had been, and all around her a blue light shimmers.

    Kagerus is in motion but Solace's eyes never leave the puma, even as the magic of her mate reaches to restrain him.

    "Don't hurt him," her voice cracking with emotion, the words leave her as a command. She knows that Kagerus would never hurt Svedka intentionally, but in the moment, in the heat of panic, her words are fraught with an intensity she had rarely used with her wife.

    The scene settles with the lion in tethers, and Solace steps forward. Her ghostly body moves with a liquidity as she brings herself face-to-face with the black eyes of her brother's lion-form. With the sunlight passing through her, she looks at him, seeing nothing she recognizes looking back at her. She takes a breath, her pulse still hammering, and tries to understand what has happened. Svedka was not behaving in the same way as all the shifters she had known. Her brow is knitted and worried, but with complete faith in Kagerus ability to restrain him, Solace becomes tangible once again.

    As her body becomes solid, the storm of frost calms, falling gently into her mane again. Extending her neck, she closes the final inch of space between them to brush the velvet of the muzzle across his brow. "Svedka?" she asks, the unidentified musk she had scented on him earlier now making sense. "Are you there?"

    S
    olace
        we're reeling through an endless fall
    we are the ever-living ghost of what once was



    @[Kagerus] ooc conversation took place about the plowerplaying, i tried to leave his "restraints" vague so kag could fill in the details!
    Solghostdoll2





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