the Rift


[OPEN] Pulling Petals, One By One

Dragomir Posts: 275
World's Edge Glazier atk: 6 | def: 9 | dam: 5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17" :: 7 HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Bunnie
#1

D R A G O M I R
oceans arise, washing over me; cold company, dark shades of harmony.
chasing the lies that no one believes...
It was mostly finished, lying on grass in the middle of the clearing where he took his daily rests, the glass gleaming cheerfully in the slips of light that broke through the overhead trees and dappled the chocolate and ivory patterning of his coat with golden kisses. The final pieces, small amethysts that twinkle purple light along the patches of the harness not decorated in flowers, are already embedded in the glass along the side that faces the ground, and the others balance against the object as he puts his focus into sealing them into place.

It takes around an hour, sweat accumulating in the folds of his flesh as the cold bite of Frostfall beckons to break into the warmer months and tired from the mental excursion it has taken to place the amethysts in permanent holds. Over all, he estimates his time on the floral harness for Kahlua to have taken him around a day and a half of total work, and while he has been exhausted for nearly a week from gathering materials and the actual crafting, he finds that it was well worth the effort, even before he can see it on the girl it was made for.

It should fit her perfectly, bringing to mind the image of the dual toned leader that he has used to craft its size, having imagined it resting along her frame the entire time he’d composed the harness itself. Looking down at it, he knows there is only one thing left to do; face his fears, grow a pair, and bring it to her.

It takes longer to make the first steps out of his clearing than it should, all the while the young man arguing with himself in muttered, jumbled phrases that only voiced half of what was actually being said (the rest, you see, remained silent in his mind). After finally composing enough boldness to venture out to find Kahlua, he is still silently berating himself while attempting to compose words to explain why he had made it for her, plodding along towards her clearing with hopes of catching her hanging out in one of her usual locations, the gleaming harness nestled along the muscular curves of his shoulders.

@[Kahlua]
[OOC: I know you are on absent but hopefully this will help cheer you up!]
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Any violence/magic is allowed to be used upon Dragomir at anytime, permitting it doesn't kill or seriously maim him without my permission <3

Kahlua the Sunshower Posts: 662
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Equine :: 15.3hh :: 9 [Orangemoon] HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Khan :: Common Blue Dragon :: Frost Breath Sevin
#2
Kahlua
How long had it been since she had actually been back to the little hovel she tended to hide out in? Too long, perhaps. The queen, so busy with returning the herd to normal function, had not been there since before the darkness. Finally finding a moment of alone time- though she really would have preferred the company of another- Kahlua headed back towards the little copse of trees. On the ground, there were still scattered the various remains of a few gems she had picked up on her several trips through the Heart, their colors sparkling in the spring sun against the soft nettles that lined the floor. Though they were now more or less useless to her, as her ability to craft had been replaced with a new gift from the Lady Moon, she found that she liked the way they decorated the place and decided not to gather them together into a pile, but rather to leave them in a chaotic mess scattered about.

In the place where her basket should have rested, the queen noted a very conspicuous absence of glass, shaking her head that she had forgotten it in the caves in all her merriment. She was not in any way excited to go back there, but the basket was all she had left of her crafting days and it meant a great deal to her. She would have to find it. At least the Dragon Statue still stood, not so far off where Mirage used to call their meetings, a glorious reminder of the leaders of the past. Kahlua was no dragon queen, she never would be one, but perhaps she could bring her own glory to this herd. She would try, at the very least.

What was still here and had managed to keep itself out of trouble was the small scorpion that had been crafted for her and Kahlua quickly lowered her nose to it, letting it climb atop her skull to rest between her ears where it belonged. It's creaking and whining no longer confused her, instead she took them as the pleasantries of a friend, a gentle one-sided conversation that she did not understand at all.

Looking up, the queen was not surprised to find Dragomir wandering the wood, his own little slice of heaven somewhere near here. “Dragomir,” she called while he was still some way off, oblivious to the glass that rested on his back as of yet. “Come to the cliff with me!” she cried out, not waiting for his response before talking off at a gentle canter towards the steep drop that marked the northern border of the land. Breaking through the tree line, the queen slowed to a walk, mindful of the steep drop that had claimed Antheia's life and the fact that she did not yet wish to join the mare in whatever heaven she resided in. Looking back with a laugh, the queen tried to spot the stallion, her eyes bright and her heart happy.
Image Credit


Permission granted to use magic or physical force with Kahlua at any time
for any reason to any degree, with the exception of killing her.

Please do not tag Kahlua unless it is in an opening post

Dragomir Posts: 275
World's Edge Glazier atk: 6 | def: 9 | dam: 5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17" :: 7 HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Bunnie
#3

D R A G O M I R
oceans arise, washing over me; cold company, dark shades of harmony.
chasing the lies that no one believes...

’Dragomir!’ he hears, pulling his head quite suddenly towards the sound of the familiar and playful voice, berating himself for having looked away from her seemingly empty clearing in just enough time for her to arrive and spot him. He has paused as soon as his name hits him and discovers that perhaps he should not have, for the boundlessly playful queen of the Edge has invited him into a game.

It takes a split second watching her recede away from him, towards the region that the land had been named for (he could only assume, as it did very well appear to be the end of the world in the northern stretch of World’s Edge, a great stone face dropping directly down into an ocean that spanned out as far as his eyes could see), for the stallion to react. He is tired, surely, but the sight of his beautiful Kahlua loping so joyfully beneath the sunlight is too alluring a temptation to avoid; his dark lips quickly reach back to his shoulder to grab the harness gently between straight, white teeth, muscular limbs driving into motion with a playful buck that sends him sprinting at full speed to close the gap that has already grown between them.

For a moment, he is but a boy again, with no worries and no life to shape, only an island to explore and dragons to share the wonder of his innocence with. But this is not an island, not really, anyway, no matter how much of an island of peace and fortitude it had been to him during his stay here, and instead of dragons pulling him along with a heart bursting outwards with enthusiasm, it is a black and white mare, gleaming and pristine. He loves her, like he loved his wild hearted friends, the nameless wyverns who had shared the hours of his youth, and it is that love that so quickly has him discarding his stoic exterior to frolic and play in the meadows of his home.

Had it become this? On what day, in which hour had he ceased to find home where his father was, and instead where his heart took each heavy beat?

When… when had he come to feel this way about her?

He feels the smooth pressure of the beads press against his tongue as he chases her, heart exploding with a thousand tiny bursts that propel his frame through the tree line and out into the flower dappled field overlooking the sea.

She waits for him there, his anxiety forgotten in the chase, the gleaming glass treasure dangling from his lips as he arrives smiling and alive from the brief run, his heart pounding in exhilaration rather than fear, for once. There is something about her that is captured so perfectly in this scene that he will replay many times in his life, the jovial rippling of her mane and tail behind her perfect body in playful flight, the way she stands as if the first breath of a meaningful laugh given a physical form with the sun shining above her. The sea is a whisper, a sounding of notes that rhyme with the name of her heart, and he is breathless and charmed as he comes to a halt alongside her.

Gently, he lowers her present to the ground between them, pausing to look into her face for a moment before he finds the words he’d searched so hard for while wandering in the woods, words that came so easily now that they stood here, overlooking the endless possibilities of the sea. "I made this for you," he says, a faint and brief flash of worry crossing his blue eyes that she will dislike the gift he worked so hard on, words wispy with his deeply drawn breath, "to say thank you, for all you have done for me."

Even if I cannot tell you how much it truly is, he thinks, smiling at her with a burning hope in his heart that she will find it as pretty as he’d hoped she would while making it. He owes her much more than this material object; she has given him a reason to be better than he thought he might have been, unconsciously driven him forward in life where he might have given up or fallen into dark places. Sure, she was not alone in the tethers that had pulled him, but he always returned to her smiling face when he thought of those that would make Helovia hard to leave behind.
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Any violence/magic is allowed to be used upon Dragomir at anytime, permitting it doesn't kill or seriously maim him without my permission <3

Kahlua the Sunshower Posts: 662
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Equine :: 15.3hh :: 9 [Orangemoon] HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Khan :: Common Blue Dragon :: Frost Breath Sevin
#4
Kahlua
His beautiful Kahlua. If only she knew. And yet, though she had unknown love in her heart for one in particular, the painted queen really only belonged to the wind. Her emotions too fleeting, her mind to shallow, her heart too ready to run off to the next grand idea or beautiful place. Even the mists, the Edge, her wall could only hold her for so long. She was meant to be free, to run wildly amongst friends and through unknown lands. Would there ever be a day where she was truly content to settle down and live more simply? Perhaps, but she had not found that day yet, could not even see it in the future. Still, maybe that day waited for her, still beyond the horizon, knowing that it could only have the queen when she was ready.

As he galloped up behind her, the queen burst into chortling laughter, the sound audible above the crashing of the waves, a soprano's aria backed by the water's chorus. She was reminded of the day the Earth God had gathered them all on the beach, had bent nature to his will and created a song out of the waves, the birds, the trees and the wind. In memory of the time, she began to hum the gentle chorus that Father Earth had created for them, watching as the Glazier lowered his class creation to the ground, eyes wide at the beauty of the thing. And then...

“For me?” she gasped before he was done, lowering her nose to the thing, touching it, admiring it, loving the way that the sun played upon it's many angles. “But I've done so little,” she added when he was done, looking up to him with a curious smile, believing her words, never imagining what changes she had helped to incite in the painted stud.

“Thank you,” she said as she lifted her head, stepping forward carefully, extending her nose to touch that place on his neck that had become so familiar to her. How many times had she been indebted to him? It was really him that had helped to shape her, in many ways. Yet, the girl hardly noticed it and never thought of it.

Stepping back, the girl again lowered her head and began to slide the harness over her neck, stepping through where was appropriate and letting it slide down upon her withers. Shaking herself to help it settle into place, the girl felt the cool touch of the glass upon her shoulder and smiled. “You're too kind to me. It's gorgeous.” The talent of the maker was evident in the form-fitting, but not uncomfortable, fit of the harness. She had done little to teach him, but it was obvious he had a natural gift for the art of making. For once, the queen was awed into silence, blue eyes upon Dragomir, letting him lead the conversation this time.
Image Credit


Permission granted to use magic or physical force with Kahlua at any time
for any reason to any degree, with the exception of killing her.

Please do not tag Kahlua unless it is in an opening post

Dragomir Posts: 275
World's Edge Glazier atk: 6 | def: 9 | dam: 5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17" :: 7 HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Bunnie
#5

D R A G O M I R
oceans arise, washing over me; cold company, dark shades of harmony.
chasing the lies that no one believes...
Her laughter welcomes him, a blanket that wraps itself about his ears and warms his soul as he stands beneath the wind and sky with the Queen, easing into a hum that mimics a song he has never heard. It reminds him of trees and soil, the rippling course of the river, and it seeps into him as he lays the harness in the swaying grass, eager blue eyes glistening as he searches her features for a reaction.

She is surprised, ever the modest lady, her happiness overridden only by her confusion at his statement, her thanks paired with a gentle touch so common to her; it still rapes his nerves, leaves him nearly trembling beneath the electric kiss of her lips, and for a moment he is left smiling stupidly in reply to her enjoyment of his gift. That she doesn’t have an immediate gleam of recognition of what she has done for him is mildly worrying; he forgets that he shares so little with those he has come to need so desperately, but it eases as she gathers the harness from the ground and slips herself into it.

A sigh of relief breaks from his mouth as it rests perfectly against her curves, the electric kiss of her lips still sending thrills and rushes through him that leaves him unable to reply to anything she says for a good while, the simple man smiling foolishly at the ruler of the mists and the woman who had done so much to soften his heart. He nods as she concludes her words, realizing after a few seconds that she expects him to lead the conversation, for once.

Oh, dear.

Heart rate, please cue speed increase of 20 beats per minute. Heart… don’t explode.

"I’m glad you like it," he says, smile soft and revealing of just how true that statement truly is, eyes sparkling as he admires how perfectly it rests against her, a mirror image of that which he had created the object with in the first place. The sunlight catches in the beads and refract light across her pelt, illuminating the white of her flesh to such a degree that she almost glows there, alongside the sea. He can smell the brine against the earthy scent of their home, the feminine and delightful radiance that is Kahlua; it is filed away, with every second of every time he had ever been near her, this alabaster and ebonite damsel who had stolen his composure piece by piece with each bat of her dark lashes.

"It’s the least I can do for you, and not enough," he says quietly, looking back out towards the Edge, his resolve weakening beneath the frantic pace of his heart, "Kahlua… I…" The trembling of his knees stops only when he forces the joints to lock, a sharp pinch of the lining of his cheek from flat molars stiffening his tongue. "When Mirage brought me here the first time, I was afraid. I thought I would never fit in, that nothing could be as Mirage had said it would, that our pasts and our paths were set in stone and immovable. All peace and friendship, happy endings and compassion, forgiveness and selflessness, things I thought were unattainable." He weaves his words carefully, trying to explain how much the woman has helped him grow within himself without revealing the dark secrets he has worked so long to hide from her, the very reasons he had strove so hard to improve the inner workings of his heart.
"But I was wrong. The World’s Edge is truly a place as magical as she said, and you…" he looks back at her, crystal blue eyes twinkling faintly with tears that refuse to fall, drops that burn and scald his sight in memory of the Queen that Kahlua had replaced, "no one helped me see it as clearly as you, not even the Queen of Dragons. No one else shines so brightly in this dark world as you."

He smiles, his emotions a murky lake that he bobs adrift on, the sea breeze tossing his hair about playfully despite the pained way his eyes gleam. ”Not a single soul."
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Any violence/magic is allowed to be used upon Dragomir at anytime, permitting it doesn't kill or seriously maim him without my permission <3

Kahlua the Sunshower Posts: 662
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Equine :: 15.3hh :: 9 [Orangemoon] HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Khan :: Common Blue Dragon :: Frost Breath Sevin
#6
Kahlua
For a moment he was silent, smiling towards her, but the queen did not find the action foolish or unwelcome. Being in his presence was calming, refreshing... it took the burden off her shoulders and gave her peace from the hectic life that had been pushed upon her shoulders, that she had begged for, from the Lady Moon herself. Knowing now what she didn't know then, the queen was not sure she would have taken the job upon her shoulder but she could not back down now. She could not disappoint the Lady Moon when the goddess had put so much faith in her. She had to toil on, to trudge through difficulty and strife to come out better on the other side. The queen just wished it didn't have to be so hard.

Finally the Glazier realizes that he is meant to speak, to take the conversation where he wants to instead of following the Sunshower where she dances off to, and the queen listens eagerly to what he has to say. Each word of Mirage rings in her head, each syllable betraying his disbelief in fairytale endings, and the queen tries to process it all. A smarter woman, the philosopher Dragomir expects, might ask what his past was if it did not include happy endings and friendship, but the queen was not the philosopher he had mistaken her for and had no capacity to make the connection between those statements. Perhaps it was better for Dragomir, though- he did not have to worry (yet) about her poking and prying, digging up a history he did not want to share.

But to call her the magic of the woods? Even the self-centered queen could not fathom that because she knew who made the woods magical, and it was certainly not her. “It's the Lady Moon that gives us our magic,” she murmured, but her head was far away, meandering through all the words that he had said, the way he had said them, the pause and the look in his eyes as he placed her on a pedestal far above the Edge's towering trees.

The queen was not shy to compliments, not afraid to take them and place them on herself, and before the wait was too long she added, “I can't help but shine while I wear this.” Still, there was a question in her words that she could not help but hide- a question she did not know she was asking. What exactly had he meant? Surely, they called her the Sunshower for a reason, but the girl did not see the reason for the tears, the odd tone, the melancholy memories. Had she thought of Kaj in that moment she might have known what secrets the paint held within him, might have figured out what secrets her own mind kept from herself. But she did not think of her king, did not think of her feelings for the pegasus, and Dragomir's secret was safe. “Smile, my friend. You should be happy, right?”
Image Credit


Permission granted to use magic or physical force with Kahlua at any time
for any reason to any degree, with the exception of killing her.

Please do not tag Kahlua unless it is in an opening post

Dragomir Posts: 275
World's Edge Glazier atk: 6 | def: 9 | dam: 5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17" :: 7 HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Bunnie
#7

D R A G O M I R
oceans arise, washing over me; cold company, dark shades of harmony.
chasing the lies that no one believes...
All his intricately woven words of romance drift towards her, his hope suspending his heart high in the air above them as she listens and he waits for her response; if he had known the sort of mind he was working with, he would of course been more obvious about his feelings towards her, but there was also the question if he would have felt them as deeply had he known she was not the sort to hear love stitched into poetic words on his past and present, the broad expansion of the future rising before him. He clings to her face, his eyes searching her for reactions that he cannot read, as if a foreigner trying to decipher directions from his native speaking host.

It’s the Lady Moon… she says, and his smile slips, his hopes crumble and fray, his heart descends fifty feet and nearly strikes him dumb. She doesn’t understand what he means, she cannot hear the song of his heart, and while he knows very little of how to admit love or how to share it openly with others, he does know that if she cannot hear it now she never will. She continues, but he barely hears her, his face turned to stare out over the waters below.

The wind runs his tears across his chocolate face, his mind fights with his chest to still the collapse of his dream for long enough to conclude this conversation, to get somewhere quiet were he might drain the rest of this sorrow from himself and she will not be able to see him.

It’s not her fault.

He’s not worthy of her. He’s known this ever since they first met.

As soon as he’s sure they’re mostly gone and only a few damp lines might remain on his face, he tries to do as she asks of him. But the motion hurts, his muscles protest as if he’s never allowed to smile again, and while it looks as if he is okay with all that has come to pass, perhaps even happy as she wants him to be, his soul is flat-lining.

He is glad, at least, that she likes the halter.

He can stay with her that way, a shining memory writ across her skin. Maybe then she will not forget him, possibly even love him in her own fanciful ways.

Happiness.

It is a myth, a thing they invented to call the days one didn’t drown in figurative oceans.

It’s why she was so special; she still believed in it, so deeply that it had become everything that she was, a butterfly spreading light with each beat of her wings that denied the currents her vivacity. Even he knows that she cannot always be happy, that life is not always sunshine and that it is, in fact, most often rain… but she looks for the rainbow while he wallows in puddles.

"No one is ever truly happy, Kahlua," he says, looking at her and wrestling with his emotions all the while, trying to decide if he should go now or try and linger in her aura for a while longer, "at least no one like me."

Smile, my friend.

"I… I’m sorry," he manages, looking to his front limbs, "I have to go."

And he is leaving, though he doesn’t remember asking his hooves to go, those blue eyes shorn from the Queen he loved and the hope he’d once had that she might love him, too, large hooves digging into the earth with each slow step. He doesn’t cry, not yet, the dam building pressure the further away he gets from the edge of the sea, and he hopes that they won’t ever come; it’s not a man’s way to let others see him so weak and broken, sniveling like a foal with a bruised hock over a heart he’d never even owned to begin with.
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Any violence/magic is allowed to be used upon Dragomir at anytime, permitting it doesn't kill or seriously maim him without my permission <3


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