the Rift


[OPEN] five : forget them all

Cirrus Posts: 233
Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.1 :: 8 HP: 69 | Buff: SWIFT
Whit
#1

Water. There's water down here. Huh.

It surprised Cirrus to find the underground falls, though it probably shouldn't have. How long have these been here? she wasn't sure who she was asking, but still the thought tumbled around her head, as she looked with wide eyes at the many entrances and crevices, tunnels and paths these caves offered. Just like the Hidden Falls, she surmised that the change happened when.. When she changed as well. Sadness pulled at her features as she remembered, but it was not as all-consuming as it once had been; time had allowed a scar to form, though it was still pink and puckered and would never heal to be the same. The great abyss within her would never completely be fixed…

The roar of the waterfall was soothing to her ears, even if it was deafening. She was sure that when she left here she would surely have a ringing in her ears for days, but it didn't matter. It drowned out the voices, the memories, the reminder of the task she had been given. At least for a moment, she could simply stand before the spray of the waterfall, and feel its power cascading down the rocks and crystals. She could bathe in the eerie light it gave off, and forget that it was Frostfall on the surface of the land, for down here, in the depths of some ancient volcanic shell, lava warmed the caverns, and she could simply be, without worry, without memories or assignments weighing her down.

Nothing good ever lasted, though.


For @[Ranjiri] to NPC in C:
& open for any others!
with love, Cirrus
lunarblues & larfsalot @ deviantart
as changing as unforgiving as the wind, as bitter and chilling as the cold, as warm and deadly as the heat


  • I enjoy being tagged.


  • please do not feel pressured into mirroring the length of any of my posts
    I write what I feel at the time
    and hope everyone else does the same c:


    NPC Posts: 298
    User-based Random Event
    Stallion :: Equine :: ::
    #2

    His fur, once dark, has turned grey with his age and his eyes have begun to grow cloudy. He can barely see the pegasus from his position tucked away in the corner of the dark cavern, but he watches. He remains still, his old body and old bones cause him pain every time he moves, but he is still alive. Still breathing. Still thriving, but it is just barely. Each day that passes inches him closer and closer to the end and he knows that it is only a matter of time before death finally comes for him. Each horse that wanders into the caves, he assumes, is the reaper coming for his soul, but they leave and he is left to thrive for one more day.

    This one, he thinks, looks innocent. This one, he thinks, is nothing to worry about. So while she stands near the waterfall and enjoys the spray of water he rises. He groans, his joints pop, and his arthritis flares. It is a constant reminder of his age and he longs for the days when he ran with his pack as a mighty alpha. Now he is nothing more than a starving loner, an old man with a future that promises nothing but pain and his eventual death. Still, he wants to live.

    His long claws click against the stone floor as he hobbles toward the waterfall. His head turns and his cloudy blue eyes stare at the pegasus for a moment before he turns his head back to the water. If it were not for his thirst, and her innocent appearance, he would remain hidden in the shadows until the mare left. But now he settles his old, feeble body near the water and he begins to drink.

    @[Cirrus]


    Cirrus Posts: 233
    Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
    Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.1 :: 8 HP: 69 | Buff: SWIFT
    Whit
    #3

    It was almost as if she were in a dream, or a memory, and the motion to her side was familiar, its size and prowess a quiet comfort to her. Sitka, her soul wondered quietly, where have you been? But when her eyes lifted from their reverie, to behold the wizened old canine, she mentally winced, and her expression went from peaceful to sombre in a smooth, saddened motion. It wasn't Sitka, it never would be Sitka, and all she had done now was reawaken old hurts, looked into the great abyss that was her soul once more. Gone, it sung, echoing off the walls of the great chasm within her, gone, and never coming back.

    Sadly, the mare watches as the lupine moved, easily noticing the aged, arthritic motions as one who has lived a great many years of a hard, wild life. A low nicker gurgles in her throat, as the mare attempts to greet the predator - she fears not for her life, for she knew herself to be strong and capable, and armed nonetheless with a spear made for stabbing and killing. Unless this wolf has his entire pack hidden somewhere in the cavern around them, she would make to know him more.

    The thought that death might come to him in her presence hadn't arrived yet, innocent that she was.

    The mare lowered her tiara to the level of the canine's cloudy, cataract-filled eyes, wanting only to try and make a friend, maybe, or learn more about this mysterious, old creature who had surely seen and lived more than she could ever know.



    For @[Ranjiri] to NPC in C:
    with love, Cirrus
    lunarblues & larfsalot @ deviantart
    as changing as unforgiving as the wind, as bitter and chilling as the cold, as warm and deadly as the heat


  • I enjoy being tagged.


  • please do not feel pressured into mirroring the length of any of my posts
    I write what I feel at the time
    and hope everyone else does the same c:


    NPC Posts: 298
    User-based Random Event
    Stallion :: Equine :: ::
    #4

    Her hooves sound against the floor and he is aware that she is approaching him. He stops drinking and his lips pull back to reveal his yellowed teeth. A growl rumbles in his chest, a warning to the mare that he may be old, but he still has a lot of fight left in him. The growl stops as she does and he turns his head toward her and watches as she lowers her head to his level. Had he been a younger wolf he would have seized the opportunity to go for her throat. Prey of her size could last him for weeks, but in his old age he knows his limits and he knows that she would only go to waste. His appetite has waned in the passing weeks and it is apparent in the way his hip bones protrude. Surely his death will come in the form of starvation, but he does not see this.

    "What are you doing." He asks as he watches her, but as he questions her intentions he sniffs at her face. "Why are you not scared?" He remembers striking fear into the hearts of every horse he came across in his youth. His pack had taken down many of her kind in the forests and now this one approached him without an ounce of fear. What had happened to him?

    @[Cirrus]


    Official Posts: 847
    Administrator
    Stallion :: Equine :: ::
    Official
    #5
    unarchived per request

    Cirrus Posts: 233
    Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
    Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.1 :: 8 HP: 69 | Buff: SWIFT
    Whit
    #6

    It hurt, the likeness to Sitka, the memories just looking at this wizened old wolf brought up. Sitka was different, of course, but the old scent of canine, the thrill of being so near a predator (and yet not fearing for one's own safety), even just the fact that she was peering down to be at a similar level to the wolf, brought on the flood, the onslaught, the errant tornado of emotions and feelings. Cirrus had to wonder what the weather was doing outside even as she felt this way - she was too far undercover to see the skies for herself - ah, but then, her hide twisted and churned with the patterns of dark clouds in a most ominous way.

    The cloudmare always knew what the weather was doing outside. And any who bothered to look at her pelt could wager a safe bet on it too.

    Guttural, growling tones erupted from the maw of the great lupine, as the cloudmare accepts the investigating nostrils of the beast. A bit of pity shone through her gaze, as she realised the wound to his pride she must've caused in her sheer fearlessness - and yet, how could she honestly be afraid of something so old? With the knowledge she had of canines, the intimate knowledge, she knew not to take for granted the appearance of the beast, and yet -

    How could she be afraid of one already half dead?

    Probably the same way she was afraid of letting down the one already completely dead.

    "I had a friend once, who was like you," her tones are strong and clear, to combat the waterfall that crashed nearby. Idly, she realised that she wasn't sure whether she was talking about her father, or her lost companion. "He taught me a great many things," she added, as she straightened her posture up and squared herself before the wolf. "I had hoped to learn something from you."

    with love, Cirrus
    lunarblues & larfsalot @ deviantart


    @Ranjiri
    as changing as unforgiving as the wind, as bitter and chilling as the cold, as warm and deadly as the heat


  • I enjoy being tagged.


  • please do not feel pressured into mirroring the length of any of my posts
    I write what I feel at the time
    and hope everyone else does the same c:


    NPC Posts: 298
    User-based Random Event
    Stallion :: Equine :: ::
    #7

    It stings the old wolf's pride in a way that will be hard for him to recover from, that this girl does not fear him. It makes him wonder as he stands there staring at her through his cloudy eyes, what is left in this world for him. The mark he's made is fading as quickly as he is and soon his old pack won't even remember him. All of his pups will have grown into adults and will either leave to form their old packs or fight to take over what was once his. They will breed their own pups and he won't even be an afterthought. Life will keep moving on without him and he is selfish to want his family to think about and remember him. But why would they want to when it was them who cast him out? Them who cursed him to die alone, to starve in a cave out of sight and out of mind.

    "Learn something from me?" The old wolf rumbles and he laughs, but his laughs turn into coughs that make his whole body shake and tremble at the force of them. "Do yourself a favor." He says, his tone bitter as he stares at the young mare. "Enjoy the time you're useful. When you're no longer of any use kill yourself. The greatest travesty any warrior can suffer through is the degeneration of their body and the knowledge that there is nothing that can be done to reverse the hands of time."

    If he had been braver he would have killed himself long ago to keep from becoming exactly what he is now. Old and useless, riddled with arthritis and nearly blind. "When you get to be like me the only thing you can look forward to is death."


    @Cirrus

    Cirrus Posts: 233
    Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
    Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.1 :: 8 HP: 69 | Buff: SWIFT
    Whit
    #8
    The cloudmare wasn't sure what sort of reply she was expecting, hoping for, from the aged lupine. She watched and she waited, as the sickly old beast chewed over his words and began to growl and rumble something in reply. Maybe Cirrus longed for a bit of wisdom to drip from his snarling lips. Maybe she was hoping he would tell her of his life, of all the places he had been and all the great things he had done. Maybe she was praying for a solution to fill the emptiness inside her, a way to close the chasm, the abyss of misery and nothing that stretched within her soul since his departure.

    Cirrus did hope for all these things, and yet she was rewarded with death as her reply.

    The mare crinkled her nose at his response, disgust and pity transforming upon her façade as she snorted in rough rejection of his words.

    "Death? Death? You've lived this long and all you want now is death?" The mare was shaking from rage, for she felt that she had earned the right to decide when suicide was an appropriate answer to all life's problems, not this decrepit old wolf. She didn't care that she was probably wrong, that the wolf had every right to his feelings and emotions - but Cirrus was ever a stormy maiden, subject to continue on once the first raindrop of rage and despair fell.

    "You want death?" Cirrus boomed the question at him, shouting for all her lungs would allow in the echoey, damp cave. Abruptly, she grabbed her spear and held its point to the wolf. "Come get it," she growled around the wooden shaft in her mouth, flaring her wings and pawing her left foreleg at the stony ground, trying to incite the last bit of fight, of life out of this dead wolf.

    with love, Cirrus
    lunarblues & larfsalot @ deviantart


    @Ranjiri
    as changing as unforgiving as the wind, as bitter and chilling as the cold, as warm and deadly as the heat


  • I enjoy being tagged.


  • please do not feel pressured into mirroring the length of any of my posts
    I write what I feel at the time
    and hope everyone else does the same c:


    NPC Posts: 298
    User-based Random Event
    Stallion :: Equine :: ::
    #9

    The old wolf is not impressed by the young mare's outburst, nor is he frightened of her. He is disappointed that she would react in such a way when he spoke his opinion. Had she not asked to learn from him? Did learning not entail opinions from ones life experience? "Do you often react this way when you hear something you don't agree with?" He questions instead of attacking as she seems to want him to. "You really should learn to respect the opinions and beliefs of your elders even if you don't agree." He wishes now, for the thousandth time, that he were younger so he could attack the disrespectful girl and put her in her place, but he knows his limitations. No matter how badly he wants to attack the girl he knows its a fight that he cannot possibly win and he won't embarrass himself in his final moments by fighting a fight that is futile.

    The expression he wears is tinged with exhaustion and disappointment as his cloudy eyes stare in the direction of the girl. She really should be ashamed of herself, he thinks, challenging an old, nearly blind wolf. "If you came here to kill me then do it." He finally says because he welcomes it. He stands, unflinching, as he faces this reaper, this maiden of death that came into his home. "I won't fight you. I welcome it with open arms." He says, and there is the ghost of a grin on his face as he thinks of being released from the old body that causes him such pain. "And once you have take what meager possessions I have left... I won't need them once I'm free." Then he falls silent and stands there, and old soldier waiting for the only thing that is ever guaranteed. Death.

    "Be brave." He whispers just before everything goes dark



    ooc://
    if cirrus goes over to where the old wolf was laying she'll find the amulet that was gifted to you when this thread first started.



    @Cirrus

    Cirrus Posts: 233
    Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
    Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.1 :: 8 HP: 69 | Buff: SWIFT
    Whit
    #10
    The cloudmare saw the old wolf's face crumple into despair and disappointment at her reaction. She saw the lupine transform into sadness and scorn personified, she heard his quiet words even as she gritted her teeth about the shaft of her spear tighter, grumbling her own growl from the depths of her throat that was very un-pegasus-like in nature.

    I don't want to, she cried inside, blinking back the hot fast tears that tried to break free from her eyelids. You can't make me, she wanted to shout, scream, turn tail and run. But she held fast, knawing on the spear-shaft, quivering slightly with the focus she enforced upon herself.

    Be brave, the wolf said, and that was when she snapped, when she broke. It wasn't rage that filled her, but a severe, overwhelming sadness, a sense of helplessness tainted with a flash of frustration, but driven by a deeper determination. A hard thrust, and the wolf was down, unconscious. A harder shove, and his head was in the stream of water that fell down the walls. The water would take what was left of his life-source - and Cirrus would wallow in her self-loathing while it did.

    Tears streamed from the cerulean depths of her eyes, and rain moved across her pelt, an indicator of the weather beyond the reaches of the caves' infinite depths. As she stood over the fallen body of the wolf, she peered down, and saw an old canine tooth knocked loose from the ancient beast's mouth, and collected it up along with the rest of her belongings. She tucked it securely in the folds of feathers, her gaze catching on something else as she did so.

    It shone dully, the amulet the wolf left behind. It wasn't dissimilar to the one Cirrus had been given -a life time ago - she cut the thought off as she scooped it up and tied it to the base of her mane.




    Massive thanks ali!!!
    with love, Cirrus
    lunarblues & larfsalot @ deviantart
    as changing as unforgiving as the wind, as bitter and chilling as the cold, as warm and deadly as the heat


  • I enjoy being tagged.


  • please do not feel pressured into mirroring the length of any of my posts
    I write what I feel at the time
    and hope everyone else does the same c:



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