the Rift


[OPEN] It's enough to make kings and vagabonds believe the very best

Lace the Silverthorn Posts: 459
Deceased atk: 5 | def: 9 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 15.3 hh :: 14 HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Fajira :: Plain White Dragon :: Fire Breath Chan
#1


LACE</style>
before the sun sets
GLORY
</style>


It happened so suddenly. One moment he was walking along, thinking about ways to attract souls into his fledgling project. The next, a sharp stab of pain shot through his side, the sensation like being pierced by lightning or a unicorn's horn. Bewildered, the stallion staggered sideways and crumpled against a nearby tree, his ears ringing from the thundering heart and the frightened scream of his dragon. She felt it too, the uneven beat of his heart and the shortness of breath that made light and shadow dance before his eyes.

The sensation was sudden, without warning - though, to be frank, not entirely unexpected.

Again the pain coursed through him, and this time he was no longer able to keep to his feet. Slowly, straining to breathe and more confused than frightened, Lace met the eyes of the beloved companion. In her eyes and heart he found the answer to his question, an answer that left him saddened.

So, it was time then.

He was an old stallion. He might not look it, but the years had been creeping up on him lately. The youthful vigor and endless energy that had kept him going in his youth had waned as of late, and though the body remained functioning his soul had felt tired. Now, as his heart fluttered and strained to keep beating, Lace was given a short, quiet moment to look back upon his life, and what he saw made him want to smile sadly.

A life of violence. Of repeated mistakes. Of loss and regret and guilt, and flight from responsibilities he had never wanted to carry.

But it had also been a life of love and loyalty. Never had he regretted his pledges, not to Aera, not to Mirage or anyone else. Though he had struggled, his oaths had always been sworn with a truthful heart, and though many had been broken along the way, the only thing he could say was that he had tried.

Now his time had come to an end. Immortality was but an illusion, and for him, the show was coming to a close.

There were things he still had left to do. The tasks the gods had given him lay unfinished, his quest to save his only son placed entirely on the inexperienced shoulders of the boy. Tandavi's and Amaris' fates were no longer his to care for; too much time had passed with him absent from their lives, and the only thing he could do was wish them well.

As he lay there on the ground, surrounded by the trees of the forest and with the small dragon curled up next to him, his thoughts wandered one last time to the one mare that had managed to capture his heart. He wondered where she was now, whether she was alive or dead. It pained him that he had never been able to confess his feelings to her properly, that he had never been allowed to apologize for causing her pain.

He missed her, but he also had faith that they would meet again. Someday, in some way, shape or form, their paths would cross once more, and when it happened he would stay with her. No more excuses, no more regret.

One final time the heart of the Silverthorn quivered, and then it stopped. The small, pearly white dragon gave up a single, heart-rendering cry of deepest sorrow, before she too became still, numb and unmoving.

Together they lay in the clearing, still amidst the blossoms and the swaying trees. Quiet, as though merely asleep. Few remained that knew their names, and fewer still that would shed tears over their passing. A bird fluttered down from the sky and landed next to the silver-shimmering stallion. It chirped softly and jerked the head to the side, watching the pair with beady black eyes. Then it picked up a blue talisman that had fallen from the silky mane and flew off, leaving the fallen ones to rest in peace.

At last, their wandering days were over.



CREDITS: Schwartze | venomxbaby | 116802


Lace and Fajira have died.
BronzeHalo.deviantart.com
♦ Permission granted to use magic and violence on Lace and Fajira
♦ Only tag in new threads, spars and if it's urgent
The Store | The Warden

Nyx Posts: 292
Deceased atk: 7.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6.0
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16hh :: 11 HP: 72 | Buff: SWIFT
Dominus :: White Lion :: None Snow
#2

No.

No!

The sound that comes from the mare's gullet is one of utter and complete anguish; a gargled, twisted wreck of a noise that bubbles like a curse from her throat. It's the sound of misery, the sound of loss, the sound of a friend, gone.

The body on the floor has the cobwebbed face of Lace, and the white dragon by his side is surely his, but it can't be him. Because there is no fucking way that he is dead, gone, lost to her. He is eternal, he is stone, he is forever; outside her family, he is the man she has known the longest, and the man she is most loathe to lose. The body can't be his. It just can't.

Except it is.

Her forelegs fold, crumble, and she falls to her knees. Her expanded, pregnant sides weigh her down, and the impact makes her legs pulse with pain. But she doesn't care. She doesn't give a shit, because Lace is dead. How? He isn't injured - he's so perfect he could be sleeping, except he isn't. Neither he, nor the beautiful white dragon nestled like a babe at his side, have breath in their lungs. He is gone; to paradise or to the abyss, whatever comes after.

For someone with a self-proclaimed iron heart, it tears her up inside to feel it breaking. She manages to rise, with difficulty thanks to the multiple added weights of her child and her misery, and stands sentinel by him with her head hung in woe and her ears dejectedly flopped forwards. "They took you too soon, old friend," she murmurs, extending her muzzle to softly touch the still-warm body. It's the last time, and she savours it - her own weakness sickens her as a single tear flees her eye and trickles down the contours of her cheek. Fuck, she lives like she does so she never has to worry about losing a lover, about having her heart yearn for someone she can never have. She doesn't love, because she can't stand to lose.

But her foolproof, fantastic lifestyle didn't bargain on growing so close to a man platonically. It didn't bargain on friendship. It didn't bargain on a different type of love, one perhaps even stronger than that which holds together partners.

And it's the most agonising thing she's ever felt.

[ SOMEDAY WE MAY SEE A WOMAN KING, SWORD IN HAND, SWING AT SOME EVIL AND BLEED ]

Other characters have permission to use magic/violence against Nyx at any time.


Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#3

 
At first death had been a concept that drew no interest from the earthen-child. She assumed that her body would be absorbed back into the earth, and that in death, she would likely continue the work that she was doing in life. Bringing balance. She might achieve it more quickly while her body functioned actively, but death was merely another way to contribute to the overall functioning of their planet.

However, as she was confronted with lifelessness on a more regular basis, her contemplation of the deaths of others was more often on her mind. Existentially she didn’t worry about what would happen, but metaphysically there were more questions than she had answers to. Like, how quickly did decomposition occur? Were there more or less ideal circumstances to die under? Should one find an appropriate place to die, so that their body could better decompose and aid the growth of other species? And so on.

And so when the earthen child saw the crumpled form of Nyx bending low to embrace the pale stallion, Iso’s thoughts immediately flew towards the state of his lifeless corpse, rather than to offer consolation to the robust mare, who was seemingly upset by his death. Why be upset? She wondered idly, hesitating in the thick shadows of the trees. She wanted to investigate his body, but the rough and ready understanding she had of social policy  suggested that if the mare thought he was ‘there enough’ to embrace, that she likely wouldn’t think he was ‘gone enough’ for what she had planned. Iso had no idea how long grief normally took, but she was already growing impatient. 

All this considered, the girl sighed softly to herself. She didn’t feel like waiting - she didn’t want to know how what she had planned would affect a body which was  a few hours old - she wanted to know the immediate results. 

"It will be better this way." The quad-horned giantess mumbled, moving from her shadowy hideaway and into the dappled sunlight.

Magic rushed from her core, plucking and holding the earth around her, moulding the stones to fit the unmoving form of the pale stallion and the dragon. The rocks were heated from her magic - Tallsun was warm, but the extra heat would hasten the decomposition, more easily allowing his body to be absorbed back into the womb of the earth. She fitted the stones carefully around the body, her magic moving each diligently and carefully. On top, she placed a large flat stone, that she used her magic to etch a spiderweb pattern into, with a robust tree (like the one she saw on his shoulder) engraved into it. Iso was not sentimental in the least, but she thought the perceived horror of her actions might be mitigated if she left a sentimental engraving behind. 

"Back to the Earth." The Earthen-child whispered softly, prophetically. Although she persisted in a state of emotional detachment from all that occurred around her, something about this seemed right.

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
Image Credits

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Tandavi The Fire Dancer Posts: 245
World's Edge Nurse atk: 6.5 | def: 9 | dam: 4
Mare :: Equine :: 16.1 :: 5 HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Natraj :: Plain Kitsune :: Fire Charks
#4
Give me one good reason,
Why I should never make a change


They come across the corpse of their family in the woods.

No.

Blood never mattered beneath the whispering mist. Amaris was their sister, Kaj and the twins their uncle. Family is built on love and respect, and the girl never had a father to cast her eyes upon, so all her life she had chosen him. It was an unspoken truth, a question in her heart she dared not ask, one that would never be answered now. Lace. Friend. Mentor. Protector. Father is whispered between the pair, a silent exhalation of a long-forgotten word.

Their father is dead.

No.

The girl falls further into her own mind, swallowed by the darkness which creeps around her sight. This is wrong. Everything about it, every moment, everything is wrong. She stares at it all through dry, black eyes, her mind unable to comprehend, to accept it at all. They should be in the Edge. They should be beneath the glow of a crescent moon, a mourning moon. Dragons should be here. Her family.

The last of her family lies dead upon the ground.

Her heart thrums with the word, a heavy beat in her chest, a fierce and slow denial, a rage.

No!

Trees loom around her, casting suffocating shadows. They whisper and jeer; they watch in judgmental silence and she is swallowed, unable to move or speak. Bodies shift around her, and her brother lets out a mournful wail, throwing himself onto the figure of the small white dragon, nudging her gently with a delicate nose. She watches in silence, motionless, her mouth full of ash. He'll wake up any moment. He'll stand. It's fine.

But he doesn't stand, and it isn't fine. A roar of magic begins to fill her ears. It grows louder and the girl blinks, reality suddenly striking her with violent imperative, murderous force. Fire dancer leaps into action, embers rising from her coat in waves. "What are you doing?!" she demands of the girl with wings, of the buckskin unicorn, of herself. "Don't touch him! How dare you touch him!" Endless eyes are wild now, full of a flaming, powerful rage. She throws herself forward but it is too late; her body strikes stone instead of flesh, right shoulder blooming into a powerful bruise as she shoves it pointlessly against the rock, again and again until the boils on her sides shatter and bleed.

NO!

Fire girl turns to the daughter of the earth, ire casting shadows in the sunlight of her face. "What did you do?" she demands again, deep voice resonant in the silent woods. She does not care that the mare is larger, or has wings, or is completely unknown. She is angry now, furious, and this stranger makes an easy target for the emotions Tandavi cannot express. Ears pin back against gold and sliver mane, lip rises angrily above bared teeth; she advances on the stranger, slim body pulled into tight aggression, ready to burst at a trigger's pull.

She does feel the tears pouring down her face. Her anger builds a mask for the breaking of her heart.


@Random Event for BFB

o. pixel pony credit to tamme
o. permission granted to use force and magic on Tavi
o. only tag me in opening posts, please!


Nyx Posts: 292
Deceased atk: 7.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6.0
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16hh :: 11 HP: 72 | Buff: SWIFT
Dominus :: White Lion :: None Snow
#5

It will be better this way.

The voice bids the silver to turn, eyes flashing. Who can possibly think death is better? It's a massive winged and horned young mare, who dwarfs the ironheart by a good two hands. Suddenly stones blossom from the ground, encasing the fallen stallion within them; with a strangled cry Nyx lunges forwards, but she's too slow, too fat and cumbersome. He's hidden from her, absorbed behind the filly's magical stone barrier.

Fury breaks upwards in a volcanic burst, because anger is something far more familiar to her than sorrow. It's safer than misery, more easily controlled, and better. "What the hell?" Her ears slick flat to her skull, head now flung high and imperious as she lets the rage flood over her in great, comforting waves. Rage she can control. Rage she can channel. Rage will fade, when loss never will. The giant filly might be bigger than her, but that doesn't stop Nyx from squaring up to her with storm-eyes and a defiant set of her jaw. Better this way. In what world? "Oh yes, you're right, this is so much better. Now I can't see him, I magically don't fucking miss him any more!" Sarcasm bursts from the silver in an explosion of vitriol. It is quite unlike the storm queen, usually so controlled and as hard as steel, to be so animated, but when sorrow combines with rage and an ample dose of pregnancy hormones, it creates a potent mix of impulsiveness.

She is not the only one. A fiery palomino arrives, shouting, furious; she slams against the stone barricade with admirable force, and Nyx wonders who she was to Lace. Friend? Sister? Lover? The thought sends a small, unbidden stab of jealousy through her, momentarily dispelling her roiling fury. The fire-mare rounds on the earthen hybrid as well, storm and flame combining to stand up to the woman who had taken their Lace away from them. The girl's heart is probably in the right place, and Nyx doubts she has done what she's done to meaningfully hurt the two other mares, yet she has done a foolish thing to tamper with grief.

[ SOMEDAY WE MAY SEE A WOMAN KING, SWORD IN HAND, SWING AT SOME EVIL AND BLEED ]

Other characters have permission to use magic/violence against Nyx at any time.


Kaj The Aurelight Posts: 381
Hidden Falls Conscript atk: 4.0 | def: 9.0 | dam: 7.5
Stallion :: Pegasus :: 17.2hh :: 8 Years 9 Months HP: 69.5 | Buff: ENDURE
Arabella :: Common Zephyr :: Wakiya Brit
#6
                                                                          

For all he loved her, Kaj had known that someday Isopia's intricacies would land her in trouble. Not everyone saw with the philosophical detachment that she did, and though he'd accept her any way she was packaged, there were violent beasts in the world that would sooner squander her uniqueness than try to understand her. He hadn't intentionally followed the dame, though his wandering steps had tread the path he'd seen her form take. A part of him desired only to protect her, though she held no blood of his and was gifted with magic far beyond his own capabilities. That, and the blood of a God to aid her. Though his aim had been the Throat's borders, it seemed he'd been put in the right place at the right time. Or so he hoped. 

It was the sound of stone that attracted him first, turning and watching as Isopia covered a form that lay prostrate upon the ground. Dead, then. Isopia would never do something without reason, after all. And only when he turned, heading towards her, did Kaj truly recognize the body that she was burying beneath her talents. Oh, Lace... it sighed wearily inside his head, inside his heart, coming out on a soundless but emphatic exhale. He'd had quite a few disastrous meetings with the stallion, but they'd been family once, and Kaj had respected him nonetheless. Yet another soul I cannot repair my wrongs with...

There is another there, though his eyes don't find her until snide remarks start ripping through her throat at Isopia. And dear Gods, was that Nyx? It had been ages since he'd last laid eyes upon the mare, but she was undeniably returned to Helovia. Not that this was an appropriate reunion event. Far more inappropriate when - good Gods is this a gathering of all the souls Kaj has ever let down? - Tandavi bursts screaming onto the scene, ferocious in her grief, not understanding. Display absolutely none of her mother's general levelheadedness, burning bright with her own fires, a true child of the sun and sand. 

His heart is torn four-fold.

Tandavi, the child of his past, his niece in so many ways. Nyx and Lace, old friends and, once upon a time, family. And Isopia, the girl he did not always understand but whose ideals were respectable to him, and she dear to his heart in other ways. He moves to intercede as quickly as he can, heart thundering loudly in his ears, hoping he can find the words to fix this event.

He steps between them, and though Isopia is a hair taller than him, it is the motion that speaks for itself. Wings loosen, not quite spreading wide in intimidation or warning, but preparing for it. 

"Stop," he bids quietly, but with unwavering strength. "Your anger does not quell your grief, don't hide behind it to try and cope." A mortal, insistent flaw. Ktulu over Hototo, Archibald over Circe, Aurelia over her companion. Kaj has seen enough hatred and anger be born into the world over misplaced grief, and he won't allow Isopia to become another casualty in that unfair war. "It honors him," he pointed out quietly, muzzle moving towards the beautiful inscription Isopia had placed upon the center stone. "There is no better alternative to bury him, and he would not want you to weep upon his corpse, because it does not do justice to who he was as a stallion while he was alive."

His heart is pounding, wondering if they're even listening to him, if they'll even care. If they'll attack him like they were Isopia, only because he sides with her. Their grief is fresh, and at its strongest, but he hopes his voice can peel back the barrier that shields their eyes. Body deflating he moves towards Tandavi, wing opening in tentative gesture, inviting her to hide against his body, away from this reality that he cannot spare her from. "I am so sorry, my child," he murmured, because there was nothing else to say. Nyx was too faded and removed a memory, a friend, for him to offer her the same condolences. And regardless of Tandavi's choice, Kaj's eyes moved towards Isopia. "Naamloos," he murmured, trying to pull her attention, her name still lost and unknown to him. "I know your heart was in the right place, but perhaps you should try to explain." Would she even be able to adequately enough for the grief-stricken mares beside him?

       

credit bronzehalo
Please only tag starting posts, spars, and threads collecting dust!
Plot with me here!

Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#7

 
Isopia, who had never felt fear in her life, stood impassively as voices were immediately raised. That some might be upset about what she did had never - and would never - factor into what she decided to do. Emotions should never set agendas or determine proper courses of action. Reason should.

"I never said you wouldn't miss him." Isopia responded, as if speaking to a slow-to-understand child. Her large golden eyes blinked a few times as Nyx's words physically caused air to rush past her face and eyes.

"I didn't touch him. Not even the stones did - he isn't there to be touched anymore." She responded with the same distinctly distant yet somehow academically disengaged tone, in response to Tavi's demands. The girl registered little about the mares before her - neither of them interested her, although those who resorted to raising their voices rather than having a rational conversation, rarely did.

Her lips opened, but before she could say anything Kaj danced into the scene - wings splayed from his flanks seemingly in an effort to dispel any physical confrontation. Was that what this was coming to? Nostrils flared in an attempt to take a deep breath, Isopia let her gaze scan the two mares with slightly more depth. One seemed fat (or possibly pregnant), and the other seemed ... well. Just loud. Isopia towered over both, and was even taller than Kaj. Surely he didn't think she needed his help?

Stupefied into silence, she listened as her Czar addressed the two. As he bayed her describe her actions, the girl felt like simply remaining silent. Her intentions should have been clear, if anyone around here was doing more than simply thinking about themselves, through their own sadness. But, social customs dictated that she ought to respond, especially since her Czar had asked it of her. 

"He is gone. He does not inhabit that dying flesh - and no one can benefit from having him be eaten by insects. Seeing his body and touching his frigid and cooling frame will not ease your grief. Your memories of him are surely more vivid than a decaying corpse. However the earth can and will benefit. It will soak up his nutrients and give life anew. This process has merely been expedited and made more efficient by the positioning of the rocks as well as their heat. And-" The girl shrugged her massive shoulders, looking to Kaj with an expression that said, At least I tried. It's stupid - but I tried. "-I etched those markings on top so that you would know what was below them. It is not an arbitrary pile of rubble, but is unique and was consciously constructed." 

Falling silent, the demi-God contemplated merely turning into a raven and flying away. But custom kept her hooves on the ground (even though they were slowly blending into her surroundings). 

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
Image Credits

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Tandavi The Fire Dancer Posts: 245
World's Edge Nurse atk: 6.5 | def: 9 | dam: 4
Mare :: Equine :: 16.1 :: 5 HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Natraj :: Plain Kitsune :: Fire Charks
#8
Give me one good reason,
Why I should never make a change


They're all shouting, but the girl can't hear them above the roaring in her ears, the heavy sound of grief which crashes like a tidal wave against the floodgates of her mind. She is aware of the stalwart body of Nyx, her companion in rage, but takes no comfort in the camaraderie. She is alone. She can only see her anger, a bright pinpoint of fire surrounded by so much dark, darkness that grabs at her with greedy hands, darkness that threatens to throw her into the abyss and leave her there to burn, darkness that devoured her family once and now returns, hungry and greedy, for what little remains.

Copper figure shivers, ripples of movement vibrating the child from head to hoof. No.

But before she can speak, further voice her rage in pointless cries, a body descends from the silent sky and familiar tones break through the roar.

The girl is frozen.

Kaj?

"What do you know of grief?" she wants to shout, but the words are strangled by the tightening of her throat. Slowly the Fire Dancer shifts her weight and gaze, attention and anger leaping to the new fuel offered by this familiar but distant piece of her past. It honors him? A grave, a pile of rubble surrounding an empty corpse, unmarked and abandoned in the towering woods? She wants to laugh in the stallion's face. Lace's body ought to have been burned in dragon fire, his ashes spread across the loam of the Edge. He ought to have a procession, a memorial. Being home would honor him, being with his family!

What does Kaj know of honor? she feels herself think. I know what you did. Invading the Falls. Where is the honor in that?

She thinks it, but she does not speak it. At her hooves, Natraj softly whines.

Kaj steps toward her and the girl jerks back, a cruel motion, a rejection of one who only ever offered her care, who stood by her mother, her cousins, her aunt. Tandavi is blind to history, lost in her loss- he was never there for her. None of them were. They all left her behind, ran away in the dark, abandoned her with nothing but her fear. They all left, all of them, all except Lace.

She owes him her life. It is a debt she will never be able to repay.

She listens in silence, seething, endless eyes fixed on Kaj, the only thing she knows. She refuses to look at it, the monstrosity now being justified by this behemoth of a girl. Insects will benefit she wants to say. What about their feelings? Their lives? Did you think of that? The woman speaks in a dispassionate voice, and Fire Dancer finds herself more and more enraged. How dare she discuss him like so much dust on a highway! Treat him as a wave, a passing storm. How dare she make the choice of what is to be done with his body, his memory. His family should have made the choice. It should have been an act of love, not one of... whatever the hell this stranger feels. She calls her creation unique, as though it were alive, as though her rocks were to be defended.

Lace was unique, and strong, and brave. These rocks are just debris.

She chokes out words through gritted teeth. "You had no right." It's low, quiet, dangerous blue fire flickering in the coals of her eyes. Her gaze remains on Kaj. He's the only thing she knows.

"You aren't his family. You did not love him. What right had you to decide what should or should not become of him?" She is shaking now, trembling, anger rising until it can rise no more, ascending and steaming and streaming and all at once, gone.

Until all that is left is emptiness, and pain.

She stares at Kaj, and the tears in her eyes beg him to understand. "He was all we have left. The only one who stayed. He saved our lives. And now he's gone, and we can never repay that. We can't even save his body."

At her hooves, her brother howls.


I'm sorry this took so long, I kept re-writing it and couldn't get it right T___T
@Nyx

o. pixel pony credit to tamme
o. permission granted to use force and magic on Tavi
o. only tag me in opening posts, please!


Kaj The Aurelight Posts: 381
Hidden Falls Conscript atk: 4.0 | def: 9.0 | dam: 7.5
Stallion :: Pegasus :: 17.2hh :: 8 Years 9 Months HP: 69.5 | Buff: ENDURE
Arabella :: Common Zephyr :: Wakiya Brit
#9

Kaj

comets fell from the sky,
I took your breath, you took my sorrow



Her tone cuts, deep into his heart where all his barriers crumble to her familiarity. For a moment he is frozen in time, in space, cradled in a zone where he feels no pain just before the strike cuts him down. At first, he's merely left breathless. Why? And he could rationalize it, could patiently weather her storm as he has everything in his god forsaken life. It is what he does. He is the rock, the Aurelight, guiding others out of their storms while weathering his own in crippled silence. A quiet part of him tells him to, because he cannot do this to her, not when she is already so burdened by grief. But what of my own? What of me? Where is her patience, god damn it? And he breathes out.

Everything goes fucked up after that. 

It's laughable that Isopia ever found even a molecule of kinship in him for his more worldly view, and he would laugh at himself too for how he breaks upon this one last stone. Too heavy a burden at last for him to carry. Years upon years of silence and servitude, caring for those who did nothing but lash out at him, and he finally breaks. Whirls upon the girl of flame and cinder for how she burns him - you fucking burn everything, this is all your fault - and he is a monster cradled unfairly in the flesh of the gentle man he used to be. Useless, broken, and he CAN'T FUCKING TAKE IT ANYMORE. 

"You know nothing of grief, you insolent child," he spat, and static begins to build in his feathers and on his skin. He's off the rails, completely unburdened by logic, resorting to nothing but primordial anger and disappointment. Wings raise up near his nape, bristling as he draws himself to his full height. A generally unused, happily comfortable pose that rises to tower in his fury. "You've lived barely a fraction the time I have, and you ask me what I know of grief?" His voice is like thunder, and clouds stir overhead as the static storm rises, pressuring humidity down upon them as it begins to crackle against his hide. A worn veteran pushed too far, valiant heart too weary to be gold any longer. Tarnished and rusted. 

"I held my sister while she suffered a slow end over countless seasons, I killed my own traitorous family without flinching because I was told to, because I was nothing more than a body, a vehicle of death." He forces himself to move away from her, if only because he's too terrified of what he'll do if he doesn't. What have you turned into? It echoes in his head only to be swallowed by the demon that has lived inside him all his life, dormant through force of will alone. You've finally become what you always lied to yourself about being. A monster. "I lost my best friend on a raid coming back from the Throat with your mother, who I also lost! I lost Mirage, I lost Lace, I lost SO MUCH MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER KNOW!" His pride, his heritage, his land, his people, his friends and family. 

His storm is violent but he keeps it, in some locked delirium, against his skin. Already causing enough damage? the voice inside him cackles. "I was here," he snarled, and he means that with his entire force both soul and body. Teeth are bared and face scrunched into something animalistic, so far from 'Kaj' that it shouldn't even be called by the same name. "I was here, you ungrateful brat," is hissed like poison, because he had devoted himself to her, had helped her through her stumbling steps as a child and as a Sultana. She had only ever needed to ask for him and he would be there, but he wasn't enough for her high standards. "Mourn over his cold corpse if you want!" And the sound of the lightning goes dead all at once. "That's all he is now, and apparently all I am to you as well." It's cold, but inside he feels no regret, if only because he is so far numbed to his own reactions that he can't quite formulate a proper response to his own downward spiral. 


I wish you'd had your mother's tongue, he thinks vilely inside his head, but even that is too cruel a blow to place even after all the devastation he is sure to have caused. 

He whirls to face Isopia, a behemoth with an ice of stone. Toil too close to stone and you become stone yourself, the voice cackles gleefully. "You did the right thing." Surely she would never look at him the same again, either. And then he turns and marches away, a receding storm, broken down into nothing by those who had always taken his love and patience and kindness for granted.

Where was that kindness now?

Credits


So Kaj decided to snap on me today, in other news how's the weather?

credit bronzehalo
Please only tag starting posts, spars, and threads collecting dust!
Plot with me here!

Nyx Posts: 292
Deceased atk: 7.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6.0
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16hh :: 11 HP: 72 | Buff: SWIFT
Dominus :: White Lion :: None Snow
#10

There is sudden familiarity as Kaj emerges, and the silver's tearstained eyes linger on the form of a man who once ruled her. He speaks, the voice of reason in a sea of rage, but Nyx cannot agree with him. How does he know what Lace would want? Lace is dead. Only he knows whether he would want grief, or whether he would want to be entombed for eternity beneath cold stone.

The filly who buried him speaks, and how the hell can she be so devoid of emotion? How can she speak of death in such simplistic, such barbaric terms? Yes, Nyx is a warrior - she sees death regularly, and brings it when necessary. But she does not see her foes as sacks of meat to be returned to the worms. She knows they have families, loved ones, thoughts and hopes and dreams. But the hybrid could well be remarking on the weather, not the death of a living creature. Jesus, is she made of stone? The silver soldier tries to force calm into her voice, inhaling sharp breaths of misery-heavy air. "Our quarrel is with the fact you took that choice away from us. So what if we want to stand by his body until the flies descend on it, then watch him fade to bones? So what if that isn't what is best for the earth? If it is best for us, we are entitled to it. The earth could have waited for his body - we will never have the option to see him again. You decided what you wanted to do, what you saw as best, without realising the implications on everybody else." Her voice is forced calm, shoving the storm deep, deep down into the pit of sorrow that expands by the second. This argument is just delaying the inevitable - when she moves away from this chaos and stands alone, with only her memories and her grief to consume her.

Suddenly, the sickly peace is torn. She likes Kaj, respects him, but what he says to Tandavi is out of order. The storm queen's ears pin and she hisses, lashing her tail dangerously behind her. "That isn't fair, Kaj. Grief isn't a competition - just because this girl hasn't lost as much as you does not mean that she doesn't feel the pain of loss as acutely as you. That doesn't mean she hurts less than you do, or that her grief is less worthy than yours." Grief varies from man to man. Some can lose entire families and never bat an eyelid. Some crumble to dust at the first death they suffer. Some great warriors fall at the sudden death of a friend. Kaj's words imply that his grief is somehow greater, more worthy, than Tandavi's, just because he is older and has lost more. That isn't fair, and Nyx will not take it - the filly does not need the abuse of an old veteran who should know better, and the move strikes her as cowardly on the stallion's behalf. Kaj has let her down, and disappointment wedges itself into the mourning hole of her heart. She has already lost one friend - now the memory of another has been tainted.

He walks away, and Nyx makes no move to follow. She sighs deeply, painfully, and looks to the golden filly with sympathetic eyes. The poor girl has lost a friend and has just been roared at for no reason whilst she is likely weak and shocked - she is too young to have to suffer that. "You may come with me if you wish, girl. We can discuss our happy memories of him, instead of tainting his deathbed with this bickering." She wants away from this place, now. All she has left of her oldest, best friend is a pile of stones.

All that is left of her heart is a pile of stones.

[ SOMEDAY WE MAY SEE A WOMAN KING, SWORD IN HAND, SWING AT SOME EVIL AND BLEED ]


@Isopia @Tandavi @Kaj

Other characters have permission to use magic/violence against Nyx at any time.


Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#11

 
Isopia was mesmerized by Kaj's sudden (or at least, it appeared to her sudden. Weren't they all, just a moment prior, talking? How quickly voices raised, when emotions ran hot), outburst. Her quad-horned skull turned towards her Czar with something near wide-eyed astonishment - at least, as astonished as Isopia could look. He seems so angry, she thought, as words and emotional venom poured from his lips. And why? Does his hurt run so deep that this bronzey child can illicit such a response? Unblinking, the girl watched the exchange between man and woman - elder and child - leader and no-one.

The girl didn't feel compelled to respond to Tandavi - the words were partially directed towards her - and yet most of her ire was diverted to Kaj. If nothing else, it was much easier to allow Kaj to bear the brunt of the response anyway - he seemed to have a vested interest in this conversation, that the earthen girl did not. Not only that, Tandavi's annoying emotional tyrade was boring. That's offensive, she reminded herself, and so kept her thoughts silent.

Until..

As Nyx addressed her, the girl's ears perked forward, genuinely interested. It seemed as though the pale mare was actually offering some sort of argument, and that was something that Isopia could focus on.

"Bestness has nothing to do with entitlement." She interrupted, her academic cadence bordering on being condescending - though that was entirely unintentional. "What I saw as best was in fact best. And just because I did not cater to the implications on the two of you, does not mean that I did not realize that they existed. You are the one being selfish here - the both of you. You are entitled to nothing. It is happenstance that you were related, and mere happenstance that you chanced upon his body. Luck does not give way to obligation. This was never your choice. The Earth gave him life, and to it he has returned. Perhaps it is merely your world view that is so narrow, that you cannot see that.  You act as though this pile of skin and bones has meaning. It does not. Whatever made this stallion worthy of your misplaced anger, no longer in habits this world. "

You did the right thing.

Had anyone ever said those words to her before? Isopia's ears twitched, as heat rose swiftly to her face. She didn't understand the emotion that flooded her system, but it immediately diminished her perceived need to continue replying to this conversation.

"Your anger is misplaced." She finished, her voice now sounding distracted. "Don't fool yourself into thinking that looking upon his remains would have soothed you."

Turning to Kaj, the girl nodded. Just once, but it was enough. Enough to convey an appreciation that she didn't think she would ever feel warrant to give. But she had, and Kaj had deserved it.

Her golden gaze force for a moment, as her body twisted and shrunk. Black overtook her cream and maroon form, and soon her raven-wings carried her towards the canopy of trees and out of the clearing.



Iso OUT.

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here


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