We’re gonna play like that shit in the Veins never happened, okay?

Got it?

Clear?

Good. Okay.

Well.

So I was still pretty clueless. Yeah, that’s never really a thing that stops with me. And when my mind cleared of undisclosed intoxications, I figured the best thing for me to do at this time was stop worrying about shit I didn’t understand. Okay, sure, it’s not as though I could completely zone out of my role as…whatever the hell I was, sure. But my mind was breaking. I was confusing myself into a vortex of utter…well, even more confusion. I was walking myself in circles only to realize my path was a rhombus, and then walking the fine edges until realizing the road curved into strange domains. Mathematical.

Anyway, my point. I decided to take some time to focus on things that I was sure about. Things that were tangible on my tongue, to my touch, in my sight, in my ears—promises I may have kept and obligations I had bound myself to. Like…

…Jiji.

I dragged her out of the Foothills, promising to go on adventures with her, be her companion, keep her safe. And I had done absolutely none of that. Because I suck, and I warned her, but she decided to come along with me anyway, completely leaving me behind on those large, dazzling wings of hers to go do her own exploring, soaking shit up like a champion while I wandered in angry, anxious circles knowing I had to go somewhere and not knowing which direction to go to.

So I…took a step back. I caught my breath. I ate some things (shut up). And when I got back to what seemed like the mortal plane, I twisted a few arms, wrestled a few bears, ran a few errands. Some things—let’s just say that. And at the end of the things I did, I came about with this ring of metal that now sat on my horn, this brassy thing that sparkled slightly in the light, the rays catching on the tiny gemstones set within it. I didn’t know what it was or what it was for, but it was pretty as hell and it made me think of Jiji and I—

--uh—

-- I guess it was a peace offering of sorts? A thing that said “Hey I suck but I’m still thinking about you” or “Sorry for sucking” or “You’re hot” or whatever sentimental message that you could put in an inanimate object. Just…don’t judge me. I don’t know what I’m doing, but this feels right, even if it’s a little dumb. I—whatever. Shut up. Stop talking about me.

Anyway.

I was far west. The place I was in was in the exact opposite direction from our home—I guess I subconsciously avoided the place, because I was supposed to be taking her away from it. To see the world and explore places, and I sure as hell haven’t been here before. So here I was.

Except it was foggy, the mist super heavy in this place, even if it smelled like salt for some reason. Which was weird, but I’m no one to judge things as weird. The point is that I could’ve ended up lost if I didn’t know where north was (and I always knew north for some reason, don’t ask me why). The scents of other horses permeated this place, but it was diluted in some way I couldn’t place, so I brushed it off as though it were another wild place where outlaws roamed and hookers did their thing and all that fun stuff. Like Jiji would even be here. Whatever. I cleared my throat, the brass ring gleaming dully as it sat precariously on my horn-tip.

“…Jiji?” I kind of whisper-called, reaching out for her with my eyes, groping for her with my ears, “I—uh—could I talk to you?”





@[Ranjiri]

[Roskuld will be giving the brass tail-ring to Ranjiri in this thread. Also, to clarify, Ros can't discern the glass wall at this point (even though it IS visible, but she's not really trying to look for it/isn't quite aware of it) Otherwise feel free to smash <3 ]




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I was prepared for a super long trek in places I wasn’t familiar with just to see her—I guess I had just become accustomed to expecting tedious, frustrating fumbles in the dark, because that’s all I had been doing lately. So when she just…sort of popped out at me from the fog, answering with her own springy gate and this smile plastered on her face as golden as the rest of her, I forgot exactly what I was doing at that moment and I pranced backward a few steps, snorting nervously, spooked even though there was obviously nothing to be spooked about.

I don’t know. There was still that warm gushy feeling I got every time I saw her (you shut up), which only seemed that much more intense in the thick, cooling fog that rolled around us. I was stunned though as she came up against me, showing her affection freely, being bolder than I could ever have been in that moment; I was stiff-necked, but it wasn’t out of rejection from her touch. I just… It didn’t matter how many times I saw her; that body of hers through me for a loop every time I watched her move. Just this…gracefulness that bended her knees, arched her neck, preened her feathers and flagged her tail that always dumbfounded me. I was still catching up with the world and its turning, changing stuff, but whenever it came to Jiji I was always a leg behind. I just couldn’t win.

Anyway, she was talking to me, and I had to answer her and play like I totally wasn’t embarrassed and wrong-footed. Because I wasn’t. So shut up. “I went to the Veins,” I mumbled, scuffing a hoof in the damp grass underneath; I wasn’t about to go into that whole “interesting” fiasco, but I wasn’t about to lie to her to, so. Yeah. “You took off so fast you left me in the dust.” I smirked a little, my eyes coming up to look at her shyly, because before then I had been looking everywhere but her, my eyes darting around the fog and the forest and the salty air, looking for the right words and a tonic for a jumpy, squeaky voice.

“Anyway I….I picked this up along the way,” I backed up a little and kneeled before her, and the ring tinkled a little as it slid from my horn to the ground at her feet. I straightened, my eyes aching to flutter everywhere, my will forcing them to look her in her ruby gaze. “I just…well, I thought of you when I saw it, so…uh,” I scuffed my hoof again; this was too damn hard, B. “I mean, it’s a little too glitzy for me and I figured you might…well, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with glitzy but I couldn’t—I mean, you could probably pull it off better than I could and—well—“

It was too much; I looked away from her again, idly glancing over my shoulder, thoroughly thankful for my inability to visibly blush. “It’d be prettier….on you…”

You can just shut up and shut your face and shove it in the meat-grinder you pathetic little ASS-CRACK VON THUNDERCUNT.






@[Ranjiri]





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I didn’t see her judgment of the ring, since I was still too tongue-tied and shy-eyed to look her in the face. But I heard her soft approval nonetheless, which gave me just enough confidence to twist my head around and try to man-up and meet her eye again. But she was already heading right for me—before I was aware of what was happening, she was stabbing me behind my ear with a slender thingy that eventually snatched itself somewhere within the tangle of my cropped mane.

“Hey—yikes—” I muttered, jerking away just a little bit from the seconds of discomfort—but the feather held tight. I knew it was a feather after glancing at her wing and seeing the gap in the gold of her primaries—and seeing that gave me even more courage to look her in the eye again, since all the awkward sort of melted off at that point. I dunno, it felt like an unequal trade; I had wrestled a mofo for the ring, true, but she was actually giving me a piece of herself, maybe to remind me to suck a little less every now and again. A breath of a chuckle escaped my lips, and I gave her an appreciative glance, brow kind of cocked in faint amazement. “Well, alright,” I whispered, and that was my thanks. She’d understand.

So it’s all tender n’ junk and the awk-ice had just been broken, right? Which seemed to be the right moment for some great giant jack-ass to emerge from the mists all ominous ‘n shit, his chest puffed up and cocky and all the great things about dudes. Except obviously it wasn’t great, for me. The placid look on my face, that small little smirk that Jiji had plastered there—all of it slid right off, onto the ground, deep, deep down through the crusts of the planet and all the way straight to hell. My eyes were electric as I stepped towards him, my mane almost bristling with it, stepping closer to Jiji as though my short ass was about to play shield-hero. Yeah. I was immediately pissed.

*"Ladies, is it customary in Helovia to exchange gifts on a stranger’s door--"*

“Is it customary to stomp around like a nosy bastard?” I asked, damn near shouting, angry at this jerk-wad for walking in on my moment with Jiji, for witnessing whatever vulnerabilities I had—in short, for seeing something he shouldn’t have. Which wasn’t his fault, really, but dammit you aren’t gonna come steppin’ up on me and my Ji like you’re some hot bro with an opinion. I’ll break your opinions, man.

But then his words caught up with me, the bit about being on a “stranger’s door…step”? Yeah, I think it was “step”. Anyway, the insinuation was that we were in a place that we shouldn’t been, someone else’s territory I’m guessing. Whatever. This place smelled of horses, sure, but everywhere smelled like horses; I didn’t remember crossing a scent divide around this place, and anyway, it was too damn hard to see in any direction anyway. I didn’t deflate; I kept my eyes on the dude, waiting on his explanation, a piece of me hoping Jiji could use her powers of “social etiquette” to maybe lighten the mood before shit broke loose. ‘Cause oh, hell.





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