the Rift


[OPEN] Run for cover

Cathun Posts: 88
Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 3.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17.1 :: 3 HP: 60 | Buff: NOVICE
Tai
#1

The narrow path was slick and dangerous. Each step was carefully measured as the young stallion eased his way down, nervously eying the looming walls of snow, sleet and ice-covered rock that rose up around him, narrowing as it fell into the earth. He loathed this part, the steep descent into darkness. It reminded him too much of the prison he had once lived in, the polished marble halls where the only light came from his own smoldering embers. He wasn't usually claustrophobic, but that place, and this place, and the feeling of heavy walls closing in above his head... it was enough to steal the breath from any throat.

If he'd had a choice, Cathun wouldn't have gone down this way at all. But the storm was raging with increasing intensity, the winds paired with swirling wet snow enough to choke the air from his lungs and blind him; it was too dangerous to remain without shelter in this weather. His options stood between whiteout and blackout, and though he feared neither it was decidedly easier to endure an out where he could breathe properly.

Besides, the darkness only lasted for so long.

Soon enough the rocky slope planed out into a smooth stone floor and the ceiling rose up high above the youngsters head, enough that he could raise the neck with a sigh of relief. Darkness fell away to nestle in the corners as a warm red glow replaced the light of day, emanating from the quartz wall that separated the cavern from the roiling, writhing mass of lava on the other side. The first time he had entered the cave Cathun had been left standing for hours by the barrier, staring in helpless fascination at the center of the center of the Heart. Now he barely spared it a glance as he shrugged snow and ice from his coat and continued through one of the many openings and emerged into the glowing room filled with a more subdued light and warmth, the sound of dripping water and - most important of all - food.

With ravenous appetite the stallion began to graze from the glimmering grasses, hardly even bothering to look around and see who else was there. This whole system of caverns was a saving grace for everyone who didn't belong to a herd, and while Cathun didn't quite belong he still felt more comfortable with these lawless vagabonds than he did on the red desert island. A golden key still hung braided into his mane, a silent reminder that he could go back if he chose to, but... something kept him away. A gnawing irritation, seething anger stemming from no particular source but set lose by rejection, foul play, perceived injustice.

Anyway, he was trapped below ground for now. Until the storm abated there would be plenty of time to stare at people, exchange life stories and what not. It wasn't like he knew any of them anyway...


@[Nymeria]

Cathun
The firebrand


» Magic and Violence is permitted at all times
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Nymeria Posts: 182
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 6.0
Mare :: Equine :: 16.2hh :: 3 years HP: 69.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Lilómiel :: Plain Black Dragon :: Fire Breath Wanderer
#2
There was a gray horse grazing in way of the exit. Nymeria hesitated, ears flicking forwards and back, uncertainty painted in the gentle curve to her ears and lilt to her skull. He looked—familiar, almost—with that strange mottled dappling and the embers bleeding from dark nostrils and bright eyes, and the flames dripping down from the ends of his mane and tail. Yet with his exponentially different characteristics, she would've thought herself to remember him; and for the life of her, she could not place that face.

Lilómiel chirped, parchment sails singing in the hot, humid air, circling above his bonded idly. Cautiously, Nymeria gropes for a handhold in his head, and swings up and into his skull, settling into place among the nooks and crannies of his cranium. Here, enveloped in his emotion, she is overwhelmingly him: her wings beat, her muscles work to keep her in flight, her mouth tastes like blood and festering decay. It was unsettling, even connected as they were, to feel their mind squeeze and press against each other, the enormity of their thoughts chafing against one another.

Perhaps it could even be described as unpleasant, to be this close to all Lil's raw emotion, the tangy bitterness of his cruelty and ferocity.

Cruelty. Her eyelids drift shut; her lips (Lilómiel's lips) twist in curdled hypocrisy. Here she was, nestled in the foundations of her bonded's brain, and all she could think of was the flaws they shared. Their emotions—their beings—ran both ways; he and her were one and the same, no matter their slight variances in approaching a problem. They had been together too long, and from the very cusp of her youth. And they were to be together as long as she lived. It was Nymeria, after all, who corroded and corrupted and controlled his livelihood, she who burned away his individual thought and branded him to be hers, hers, hers.

Do not complain for having what many seek.

Nymeria opened her eyes and fell back into her equine body's familiar shape and size, leaving behind Lilómiel's decidedly different carapace. Her gaze flits upwards to him; he snorts, and banks away, leaving a smoky trail behind him. A low sigh filters through her nares, and she steps up and out, step quickening as she shifts her path towards the grazing stranger. It felt pointless, this—she wasn't, by any stretch of imagination, the type to strike up conversation with individuals unknown. And here she was anyways, a-wandering towards awkwardness and tedium, urged on only by the spurs of Lilómiel's approval.

Nymeria & Lilómiel
Caught in the fire, watch it burn,
Ash to ash, now it’s our turn,
Take their kingdom down and smash it to pieces

image credits
@[Cathun]


OOC: This is rather terrible but I figured we may as well get the thread rolling! The posts should hopefully improve later on <3


Yes I lied, don't think about you all the time
All my switchblade words ain't aim to cut your sweet delusions


Blu the Bootyful Posts: 443
Administrator atk: 99 | def: 99 | dam: 99
Mare :: Other :: 5'7" :: 25 HP: 99999 | Buff: TWERK
Blu
#3
unarchived per request
 HP: 1100

Helovia Hard Mode

Cathun Posts: 88
Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 3.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17.1 :: 3 HP: 60 | Buff: NOVICE
Tai
#4

He felt the weight of crimson eyes upon himself and looked up, gazing warily at the approaching mare. It was rare to be approached. Usually he was the one who barged up to others, badgering them about arcane secrets and pointers on how to become a decent soldier, hanging at the heels of those older and more experienced than himself. Wiser too, perhaps, but Cathun was hesitant when it came to dish out praise on that department. Few of the tottering idiots he had met so far could even be praised as intelligent, and the exceptions had been sage enough to avoid crossing his path longer than they had to. None, of course, had been able to provide the answers he really wanted.

Now, this exception to the general rule. She looked vaguely familiar but Cathun couldn't quite place her anywhere in his mind. It was more like the memory of a scent, the lingering fragments of a dream, a knowing ache in the muscles of the legs, the back, the head... He shrugged it off as imagination and smiled instead at the girl, eying her with covert appreciation. Dark, graceful but by Gods, did she have body! This was far better than the wispy little waifs that tittered by lakes and streams he sometimes passed, too thin to be healthy and eying him as if he was a piece of meat on legs.

With a brow raised he tossed the damp curls of the rich mane to one side, grin widening as he addressed the approaching vision, knowing all too well that he had enough looks to match her otherworldly charm.

"A visit, how nice. What owes me this pleasure?"

He had no doubt it would be. Not as long as he was allowed to keep his eyes open.

______________________________

@Nymeria


Cathun
The firebrand


» Magic and Violence is permitted at all times
» Please tag me!


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