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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]  but your sweet sinless sensation is not my style
    #1
    how do you fall in love
    harder than a bullet could hit you
    how do we fall apart
    faster than a hairpin trigger
    She is most at home in the dark, and rarely does she peel herself away from it. 

    With a cloak of black pulled over her she is able to blend seamlessly with the shadows that the trees cast; long and dark stretching across the carpet of dirt and pine needles, crawling away from the sun that sinks lower in the sky. The shadows that shift and churn around her hide the brilliant gold and vibrant white that makes up her coloring, lending her the camouflage needed to watch without being seen. 

    She was a curious creature by nature, but even more than that, she was patient. 
    With eyes hidden by the rolling curtain of black that spilled like ink across her face, she could watch and wait, endlessly patient until someone she deemed worth her time happened by. There was no telling what may catch her eye; sometimes something as simple as a flash of color or the sparkle of glitter, other times something a little more intricate, like strange wings or the way hidden magic seemed to hum beneath their skin.

    They were all fascinating in their own right, even if they didn’t appear as such on the surface. And Radiance wanted nothing more than to figure out what made them tick.

    In a matter of steps, she sheds the shadows, both her own and the ones naturally crafted by the light and the trees. Like black smoke ushered away by the winds her shadows fade, leaving behind the gold and white and the edging of black that keeps the two colors from ever touching. She looks out across the snowdrifts with the subtle haughtiness of an adolescent that thinks she understands how the world works, and without the ability to truly comprehend that this was merely the beginning.
    radiance
    Reply
    #2

    Aela doesn't mind the dark. In truth, the golden girl doesn't mind much. There is always something else occupying her mind - always something more - taking precedence. And if there were something that she would come to mind, well, Aela would just remove the problem. There is no room in her life for the things that she doesn't enjoy or serve no benefit for the almost palomino-looking filly.

    She leaves Pangea because she can. There is no one to tell her she can't or that she shouldn't and Aela takes absolute and complete advantage of that freedom. She commits herself to learn what she can from Straia and she makes use of every moment that the Dominus offers her. Act like you have accomplished everything you have set out to do.

    And so Aela does.

    She walks as if all of Beqanna already knows her name (and they will). She moves easily through the trees and weaves through the snow-covered trail like she has come this way a thousand times before and will travel it a thousand more times - without fear, without caution, without hesitance. Aela walks as if she knows about all the monsters that exist in their world and she walks as if she is something far more terrifying than they could ever hope to be (someday, she tells herself, someday she will be). Her elegant head is raised and as Aela turns it, something catches her eye.

    A painted girl. She crafts herself out of shadow, summons herself out of the dark with a grace that Aela appreciates. There is the familiar glint of gold along her sides (and the blonde adolescent wonders if perhaps they are both daughters of Carnage; she knows that most of the Dark God's children are star-marked but Aela has begun to conclude that her greatness meant she could only be descended from a God's loins). The stranger peers across the snowdrifts and the frigid landscape and Aela decides to purposely put herself into the direct line of sight of the other filly.

    The gold-striped girl peers over her slender at the other and slightly tilts her head to the shadow-maker. Aela is still finding her words but she starts at what she thinks the other girl will find easiest. She projects the memory of the sabino shedding her shadows like a shifter sheds their second skin. This means of communication is unconventional but if the other filly receives the memory, the question was clear: what was she?



    image credit to footybandit


    @[Radiance]
    Reply
    #3
    how do you fall in love
    harder than a bullet could hit you
    how do we fall apart
    faster than a hairpin trigger
    The other girl is golden against the bright white of the snow, further enhanced by the sun that has dropped behind her. Radiance is appreciative of all things lovely and beautiful, she is no exception. But her face, sharp and angular, is unreadable when she holds the stranger in her unwavering gaze. When her delicate head tips it seems to be a gesture of careful consideration, as though she is checking off some invisible requirements she needs this girl to meet before she will interact with her.

    Truthfully, she is more than adequate to hold her attention, but Radiance does not like to give herself away quite so easily.

    She does not step to meet the other girl right away. Instead, she pulls the shadows from the treeline behind her, spinning them into a ribbon as she sends them out in front of her. The tendril of darkness twines its way between Aela’s legs in a harmless way, just as the memory intrudes her mind. The surprise of it, and the alien feeling of something being planted inside of her, causes the shadows to evaporate in an almost jarring way. There is a subtle yet irritable flash across her face but she composes herself quickly enough, and by now she has taken several steps forward and is standing across from the other filly.

    “Are you asking how I can do that with the shadows?” She questions, simultaneously respinning the previous tendrils, drawing them up and letting them braid around each other in the space between the two. And then she shrugs, sending them away once more when she says, “I don’t know, I was born being able to do it. My dad taught me how.” She had always been so pleased to have inherited something from Illum. Her mother was lovely, but angel wasn’t really Radiance’s style.

    “And you? How did you learn to do whatever it was you just did with that memory in my mind?” She tries to keep the accusation from her tone, though there is a faint edge to her voice and the suspicion has returned to her face.
    radiance


    @[Aela]
    Reply
    #4

    Darkness and memory collide in a brief shock that registers on Aela's lovely face before she takes a step back, reappraising the sabino filly. Two strands of shadow twine themselves between her front legs like vines and the gold-marked filly rescinds her memories, tucking them away for the moment. The other does not step forward to greet Aela so she watches instead, peering across to her from beneath her dark lashes and flaxen forelock.

    Her blue-eyed gaze drops momentarily to where the shadows had been, wondering if their maker might reincarnate them. When all she sees is the iridescence of the powder-soft snow and the respinning inky ribbons reemerge, Aela looks up with a small (delighted) smile.

    For a moment, she wishes that all her practice speaking manifested itself. It would be so much easier to tell this other girl that she carries more with her and Aela would like to see it. Her head nods in acknowledgment of the question and she waits for the pale-and-gold filly to explain. The almost-palomino is curious about the other traits and how they work, if there are likenesses in the horses that wield them or if Beqanna bestows her gifts at random. Straia had told her that it is not Magic that makes a horse great but Aela still thinks it certainly makes life easier for those who have it.

    And for the ones who didn't have any gifts, well, may the Dark God offer... something to those unfortunate souls.

    This gift that the other girl has - the one that marks her as a shadowmaker - inherited hers just as Aela had. Her fellow adolescent asks about what she can do and the striped-marked girl doesn't mind showing how it works. A flurry of images - like a late winter storm - come forward and it involves Aela in various situations and different types of horses. They are small snippets of her everyday life and she thinks that her companion will be able to note the obvious. Not once does she speak.

    (It's never bothered her the way that her memories prod a stranger's mind; this is her means of communication and she refuses to apologize for it.)

    A squall of echoes join together in another common theme - Kensley, Heartfire, Straia - all say (praise) her name: Aela. When the storm passes and only the present remains between them, she waits.



    image credit to footybandit


    @[Radiance]
    Reply
    #5
    CrownS
    He has always loved the dark. Even when he first learned there was an entire world outside the den he was born into, he loved the strangeness of it. Crowns spent hours watching the shadows twist and bend themselves into all sorts of imagined horrors. And each night, the wild eyes of predators reflecting the moonlight found his gaze. He wonders if the forest here is the same as the jungle once the sun completes its descent beneath the horizon. Maybe things are even more unusual here?

    He pauses at the sound of a voice just a little further ahead, peering out from behind a particularly impressive oak tree. There is a girl talking as shadows flex and curl around her, seemingly at her command. Crowns feels his pulse quicken and he stares in wonder as she shapes the darkness to her will. Oh, the forest is a strange place indeed, and he finds himself thrilled at the discovery.

    But the other girl says nothing. She only stands and her face emotes as though her lips should be moving. The shadow-girl replies and he wonders just what is happening between them. His curiosity pulls him from his hiding place as he strides closer, grinning and eager to investigate the two.

    Why do you talk when she gives no reply?” he asks Radiance as he draws near. “Or do you read minds?

    His glowing blue eyes turn to Aela then, studying her as he paces slow circles around the pair to look them up and down like zoo exhibits.
    you got me on my knees; i'm your one-man cult.

    @[Radiance] @[Aela]
    Reply
    #6
    how do you fall in love
    harder than a bullet could hit you
    how do we fall apart
    faster than a hairpin trigger
    She is less surprised this time when the images flood her mind, and she is not as resistant as she had been at first. It was still an alien feeling, though, to have images from another's memory flash inside of her mind. They seem to push away her own memories, briefly erasing all else, until all she can see are the pieces of Aela's life that she has chosen to offer. “I see,” she says, slowly, once the memories have come to a stop. Her dark eyes flick across the other girl’s face appreciatively, adding with an inquisitive tilt of her head, “So, you can’t talk? At all?” Radiance wonders what she herself would have done in such a situation. Honestly, it seemed like the perfect excuse to avoid everyone. Conversations were still not her strong suit; she lost interest quickly, and was still so young that she felt there wasn't much for her to weigh in on.

    The fact that she was even still standing here with Aela was a miracle in its own right.

    “Aela,” she repeats the name that had been said in the memories, a question lingering in her eyes, making sure she had understood the message correctly, and then she says, “My name is Radiance.”

    So distracted by the conversation she was that she did not notice the colt until he appeared, seemingly suddenly, from the darkness. Without even thinking she draws a curtain of shadows around her, swallowing the bright white and glistening gold of her skin until she has all but disappeared.

    She realizes quickly that he is not a threat, and the shadows are whisked away, perhaps a little too exuberant, with an irritable expression flashing across her face. “While we're asking questions, why are you sneaking around the forest?” The words feel sharp even on her own tongue, but her pulse has already begun to slow, and her face softens just slightly. “She can't talk,”  she says as she gestures towards the pale colored girl, adding with a crooked tilt of her lips, “or, she won't talk. I'm not sure which one it is yet, exactly.”
    radiance
    Reply
    #7

    She considers - briefly - telling this other girl that no, without the aid of Beyza's magic, she has never uttered a word. The white Magician was wonderful in many ways but the thing that had made her most enchanting was the way that her Magic allowed Aela to find her voice. Aela has been searching for it ever since, convinced that her sheer determination to speak will make it so.

    Aela hadn't minded the quiet as a young filly. While she was still learning to reign in her memories, life was much easier without the presence of other echoes that could tangle around hers. Stumble across a soul - one seething with anger while recalling an argument, sullen with sorrow over a heavy loss, bubbling with laughter from a shared joke - and suddenly, not only was communicating nearly impossible, but the memories that would flood Aela wouldn't be hers.

    (Maybe the realization should strike some chord of empathy within her, because isn't that what she has done to Radiance? Isn't that what she had done to the others? But the string rings hollow in her golden breast. Without her Echoes, there would be no voice for Aela at all.)

    Radiance says her name - testing the word on her tongue - and Aela smiles, a demure thing that makes her look far gentler than she is. But there is no reason for her to be anything else with the tri-colored girl. Her gold glimmers in the midmorning sun, a brightness in what otherwise would be a pallid winter day. The name she was given (or perhaps she named herself?) was fitting; the filly was radiant. A stark contrast to the tendrils of shadows that languish at her hooves like fallen idols, waiting to be called up by their Maker.

    But like her companion, she is so fixated on the conversation - on the shadows, on the gleaming gilt of her markings  - that Aela doesn't notice the tobiano colt. Not until he is close enough that his voice cuts through the frigid air. She turns her blazed face to regard him, as unabashed in her appraisal of him as he is of them (she's only returning the favor, after all). Aela glances to the side at Radiance, curious to see what the other girl makes of this new arrival. Her blue eyes widen - shocked - when the adolescent disappears and then flashes back into view.

    Marvelous, Aela thinks appreciatively. Radiance's expression softens and the near-palomino turns to look at the colt again. She considers flashing a few memories for him but decides against it. Whatever her ability might have explained, Radiance surmises her situation it in a few sentences. A ghost of smile cracks the freezing cold on the other girls dark face and Aela tries to answer with a soft snort; a plume of silver-smoke that hides the brief look of irritation that crosses her lovely face.

    If only you could read minds, she thinks about the still-circling colt. Aela continues to watch him, wondering much the same thing that Radiance had. What was he doing, spiraling around them like he was a shark and they were minnows in a lagoon?



    image credit to footybandit


    @[crowns]
    Reply
    #8
    [quote="crowns" pid='110301' dateline='1606709878']
    CrownS
    He gives a small gasp of awe when she blankets herself in darkness, eagerly circling her as though she were put here for him to enjoy. When the shadows suddenly drop, he is equally impressed, and so he gives a wild laugh of delight. Crowns knew very well that all the things in the dark were shy. They always skittered and scattered from him when he gave chase. He is simply pleased that she has chosen to remain here at all.

    Should I stomp and yell as I walk instead?” he asks with another chuckle before turning his bright blue eyes on Aela now. She doesn’t talk? His head tilts at the news as he tries to make sense of such a thing. Crowns could hardly ever shut up. What on earth would he do if he couldn’t ask a hundred questions in a single hour? The thought disgusts him and so he dismisses it.

    He stops his circling now so they form a sort of triangle, all facing one another. “Why don’t you talk?” he asks, tilting his head and adjusting his wings uncomfortably. “Oh. I guess you can’t answer that.” There is a moment as he hums in thought, wondering if he’d been rude to ask her that. Ignorant, certainly, but he didn’t mind owning up to something like that. His question had been as silly as a stranger asking him why he had wings made of water. They are what they are - no more, no less.

    Well, anyhow, my name is Crowns. I was hoping to see spooky things here in the forest,” he explains with a grin. These girls aren’t necessarily spooky in the way he prefers, but he’s still glad to have stumbled upon them. They are each strange in a way he can appreciate.
    you got me on my knees; i'm your one-man cult.

    @[Radiance] @[Aela]
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