the Rift


[OPEN] that silver lining

Erthë Posts: 440
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.5
Filly :: Hybrid :: 14,2 hh :: 3 years HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Chan
#1
Eventide is softly casting o'er the earth a magic spell,
And a love-song, everlasting, on the night wind seems to swell.

There's a reason for the world. For you, for I, for the wilting flower whose petals curl brown and lifeless and tear away at a tug of ruthless wind. A reason for sorrow, a reason for joy, a reason why Erthë couldn't run and tumble with the twins even though the sight of them caused her blood to thaw and made her remember what it was to be a child. Oh, surely there was a reason, and if she bothered to think about it for a while the filly might even be able to figure out what it was. But right now she wasn't in the mood for philosophical monologues. She felt grumpy, clumsy, slow and old, life was unfair and she couldn't stand listening to the sound of laughing children anymore.

Snorting angrily to herself she stomped away from the happy little family, wreaking havoc where she bustled through shrubs and thickets. For once she found no comfort in the kaleidoscope of butterflies she startled into the air, nor in the swarming fireflies that drifted on the balmy evening air. Pain was, as always, eating on her good mood and to make matters worse her whole body crawled and itched with a new kind of discomfort, caused by none other than the very remedy she used to stave off that same pain. It had become an evil circle, a spiraling black tunnel where her problems only seemed to grow, in number and severity until no light could guide her towards the end anymore.

It wasn't in her nature to whine, but tonight the milky hybrid didn't feel like being mature, wise, strong or brave. She wanted to feel small and helpless, wanted to huddle in the shadow of someone wiser, stronger and more capable than herself. Someone who could take all her worries and thoughts and deal with them, so she wouldn't have to.

With a patience rarely seen she searched through the Edge for the one person she could entrust all this to. He was hard to find at the best of times, but unless he'd left again after the meeting Erthë knew he had to be around somewhere. Every glade, every clearing and grove, every nook and cranny of every cliff and dale was searched, until finally her father's gleaming figure could be found parting the gloom beneath the trees.

"Hi daddy" she trilled as she made her way over to him, pleased to have found him at last. "What are you doing?" In a somewhat unusual display of affection she slithered in beneath Vadim's neck and wrapped her wings around him, aggressively unconcerned as to whether she was disrupting anything. Nothing should be more important to him than her anyway, and if it was then she'd have to sort out his priorities for him right away.

It was the hug that brought certain things to light for the girl. First of all she didn't have to reach as much as before to embrace the tall stallion. Unnoticed by herself, time had worked its steady magic on her body; stretched the legs and the wings, filled out rump and shoulders and neck until she no longer looked fragile enough to break with a careless glance. Though still short and lithe of built, there was something decidedly willowy about her now, clues whispering of approaching puberty. It was in the locks of moon-bright hair that curled down the arch of neck, in the smooth porcelain horns that cupped blue-tinted cheeks and extended the line of a finely chiseled face into something almost elegant, expressive, sultry, coiling with the long lioness tail and rustling over silky wings.

Though teetering on the brink of adulthood however, though no longer entirely a child, Erthë wasn't so mature that she understood where all these signs pointed. She was just glad to have inched a little closer to her father's impressive height, and there was a certain smugness about her as she smiled up at him, hoping he would notice too.




@Vadim

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Vadim Posts: 106
Outcast atk: 4.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 6
Stallion :: Hybrid :: 17.1 :: 5 HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Vlasi :: Common Rougarou :: Water ali
#2




The meeting ends and Vadim lingers for only a moment, but when his daughter seems to be preoccupied with others he turns and he walks away. He is confident that she will find him when she is finished with whatever it is she is doing, so he and Vlasi move through the forest. The pair are silent, their minds both moving in a thousand different directions at once as the pair try to figure out a way to heal the filly's legs. Neither of them can think of a solution and the pair of them grow frustrated with their incompetence. Vadim begins to wonder why it was Shadow that died and not him. Surely she would do a better job at raising their daughter than he is. Surely, she would not have allowed the girl to be injured further. Surely she would know what to do, where to turn, and how to work impossible miracles.

But she is gone and he is left to care for their child to the best of his limited abilities.

"Hi daddy..."

He doesn't realize that he's stopped and is standing staring at the ground until he hears her voice. It makes him lift his head and he turns toward her and as he watches her it is like a knife in his heart. How could he not have protected her better? How could he have let so much harm come to her in such a short amount of time? How could she not hate him for not being better for her? For the both of them? His head lifts as she comes closer and she tucks herself against his chest. Her wings, so delicate and pristine, wrap around his silver hide and he sighs softly. He lowers his head, pulls his daughter tighter against his chest and he closes his eyes as he holds her right where she is.

He wishes she would stay this small for longer. He wishes that she would stop growing so fast because he knows he's missed so much in his absence and its something that he cannot forgive himself for, but how could he not search for a way to make her better? His perfect, beautiful baby girl was broken and he wanted to fix her and he couldn't and he was missing her growing up and she didn't hate him for it. How he loved her.

"What are you doing?"

"Wishing you wouldn't grow up so fast." He murmurs his answer against the stark whiteness of his daughter's hair. Wishing your mother was still here to watch you. But he bites it back and sighs again, his hold on his baby girl tightening. "I missed you."

"."


Credits

@Erthë

Icon by Tay

Erthë Posts: 440
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.5
Filly :: Hybrid :: 14,2 hh :: 3 years HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Chan
#3
Eventide is softly casting o'er the earth a magic spell,
And a love-song, everlasting, on the night wind seems to swell.

The filly smiled happily against his neck, a small curving of the lips that might have looked mischievous if it had been visible. "I missed you too" she said, and meant it. She'd missed him, and Vlasi, had missed comments just like these that meant he'd actually looked at her and remembered what she used to be like. Most of all, however, she had missed the steady comfort of his presence as she tossed and turned during the long, restless nights.

"Where were you?" she asked and looked up at her father's face with a slight frown. "I was worried, I thought maybe you'd left me here and gone off somewhere." She kept the tone light, but there was no mistaking the bite of hurt within the words themselves, or the accusatory gleam in the pale, two-toned eyes.

She shifted where she stood, but made no attempt to pull out of the embrace. The contrast in temperature between them was startling as always; to her icy skin his chest felt searing hot, early painful in its insistent warmth. She, on the other hand, must be nearly uncomfortably cold, quite possibly numbing to remain in contact with for long. Erthë knew she could withdraw and spare Vadim the moral dilemma of whether to keep hugging his daughter or save himself from possible frost bites. But she didn't want to. Being brave and strong and mature was exhausting, and he was the only one before whom she felt no need to keep up appearances. Here under his watchful eyes she could cry and whine and sigh morosely if she felt like it, here she could frolic like a newborn, tumble and make mistakes and not feel the slightest bit embarrassed.

Though her heart was vast and generous and had room for anyone that crossed her path, he alone held a special place within it, for the benefit of being her dad, the one who had known her mother best, the only one as far as she knew who mourned the loss of the Blackbird as much as she did.

If not more.



@Vadim

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Vadim Posts: 106
Outcast atk: 4.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 6
Stallion :: Hybrid :: 17.1 :: 5 HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Vlasi :: Common Rougarou :: Water ali
#4




He shouldn't feel like his life matters less than her mother's had, or that she loves her mother more than she loves him, but he does. He feels it every time he sees her grief-stricken face in his nightmares or sees the lingering sadness in her eyes when he does stand face to face with her. He shouldn't feel like she would be better off with Badger, that she would be happier with him, that she would be better taken care of, that she wouldn't even miss him, but he does. So when she tells him that she's missed him and hugs him he feels as though he's been dunked in frigid water and he sucks in a sharp breath. His body remains still as he takes in what she's told him, but he cannot help but wonder why or how she could miss him when no one else has.

"Where were?" She asks and follows up with "I was worried, I thought maybe you'd left me here and gone off somewhere." Vadim feels the hurt and the accusation in her words and it makes his mouth dry because it is the truth. He had left her. He had gone off somewhere. But how could he have taken her with him if it hurt her so badly to move? She could not have traveled the distance he had on such painful legs, and that is what he's told himself time and again as he's traveled from and back to the Edge.

"I did leave." He admits and he expects his child to pull away from him as he speaks. He is expects her to look at him with eyes that reflect betrayal and he expects her to spit angry, venomous words at him before he continues. "I was looking for someone to heal your legs." He presses on and he hopes that his goal is enough to quell whatever betrayal or anger she might be feeling only for him to follow it up with another betrayal. "...but I couldn't find anyone, I'm sorry."


"."


Credits

@Erthë

Icon by Tay

Erthë Posts: 440
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.5
Filly :: Hybrid :: 14,2 hh :: 3 years HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Chan
#5
Eventide is softly casting o'er the earth a magic spell,
And a love-song, everlasting, on the night wind seems to swell.

She did pull away, but just enough so that she were able to look at his face. Her eyes were steady, direct and scrutinizing as though she wanted to penetrate beneath flesh and blood to see the soul beneath, the cogs and wheels that kept the complex machinery of his being running. If Erthë had been able to read minds and realized what her father was thinking, what his fears and worries were, she would probably have kicked him. Like her mother before her, she had no patience for self pity - not her own, nor anyone else's.

Nor would she have been very impressed with how little trust her sire had in her. Did he really think that Badger, however loved or favored he might be, could ever replace the stallion whose blood ran in her veins? Had she not inherited his pallor, his lean physique and his ivory crown? They were different, yes, but in much they were oh, so similar. Like how they kept their hearts locked in a chest of glass; easily fractured, bruised, prone to breaking.

It was only the resilience of youth that made her bounce back so quickly.

But Erthë couldn't read minds, nor did she know what her father was thinking. When she gazed into his eyes she saw only the visage of her beloved parent, and what little steel there had been in her eyes before melted like ice under a summer sun.

"Oh, I see" she said simply, a small smile touching upon the lips before she returned her head to his shoulder, where it rested quite comfortably. "Just let me know you're leaving next time, please? Please don't be like mom, it was bad enough that she got all secretive and went off on her own."

Said the girl who spent more time away from their shared home than in it, especially now that she was on the verge of mastering her wings.

"I talked to miss Evangeline, the head healer here" she continued, on the subject of her legs. "She tried to mend it too, but for some reason her magic didn't work. I don't know, pa, maybe it takes a god to undo what another god did..."

Frowning slightly Erthë recalled the words of the Goddess after the battle against the wolf. Her invitation to come see her for explanations, and the mention of a location the child had heard mentioned in passing but never visited herself.

"Dad, what is the Veins? How do you get there?"

The filly shifted in the embrace so she could look at him better again, but remained pressed against Vadim's lean frame - determined to stay there until he withdrew himself or collapsed from the cold. Or, even more amusing - protested and called her out on her teasing behavior.




@Vadim

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Vadim Posts: 106
Outcast atk: 4.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 6
Stallion :: Hybrid :: 17.1 :: 5 HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Vlasi :: Common Rougarou :: Water ali
#6




Honestly, Vadim expects Erthë to be angry with him for leaving and not telling her, but when she looks at him he sees no anger on her face or in her pale eyes. It does give him some relief, but it does not chase away the gnawing guilt that chewed and clawed at his insides because he had left her without telling her. How could he do that, even if his intentions were honorable? She is all he has left of a mare that he cared for. One that he could have fallen in love with, made a life with, and had a bigger family with. How can he jeopardize what is left of Shadow and not feel guilt?

"I promise." He says when she asks him to tell her when he leaves again. He cannot promise that he'll keep her safe because he's already proven that he is unable to do that. The only promises that he knows he'll be able to keep is to tell her when he leaves and to love her until his dying breath.

His ears tilt forward and he listens to his daughter as she tells him that the Edge's healer was unable to heal her legs. This frustrates him and leaves him with even more of a sense of hopelessness because it is now multiple healers that have been unable to heal his daughter. Her suggestion that maybe a god could heal her legs holds some weight to it, but it also frustrates him because the Earth God had been there at the fight and his daughter still had two broken legs.

"Dad, what is the Veins? How do you get there?"

"Its the place where the gods are." He answers. "Their shrines, at least. Its where I met the Moon Goddess with my brother. Its where I got my magic." He knows, though, that she's asking the questions because she wants to go there. "Its a long walk," He warns. "Up a mountain. There's lava on both sides of the path."

"."


Credits

Icon by Tay

Erthë Posts: 440
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.5
Filly :: Hybrid :: 14,2 hh :: 3 years HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Chan
#7
Eventide is softly casting o'er the earth a magic spell,
And a love-song, everlasting, on the night wind seems to swell.

She considered this for a while, pursing her lips as though the father's words were a sugared lump, a succulent treat to savor before devouring. He was right, Erthë did want to go to the Veins, but he was also correct in that it was a long journey. If he was thinking of the same place as she was, it was way down south, near the coast where land fell into the sea and they sky were cloudy with ash and steam. She had seen it from far away like a hazy blur or a faint blue glow in the night.

But Shadow had never been interested in the gods and she had rarely set foot by the shrines herself and so she left this piece of knowledge aside when she taught her child the essentials of life.

The place of the gods. Their shrines...

"But I thought the herd lands were protected by the Gods. There was a painting in a cave that made it seem so." The young snowdrop frowned absently, wrinkles forming between the nostrils as she went over the imagery of the relief she'd seen earlier in the summer. "Why don't they have shrines in the herds?"

Though even as she asked, the girl found an answer for herself. Maybe not all who lived in the herds loved the same god. Maybe some were like lady Ophelia, who had been blessed by the Sun God but lived in this shadowed forest.

This too made her frown, but in dislike rather than thought. Why would you choose to live in a herd if you didn't like the god that ruled there? Gazing at her father, she suddenly wondered why it was that he had chosen this land, after they left the Basin. Why the Moon's protectorate, instead of the Time's, and why not the Sun's, or the Earth's?

"Do you like our lady Moon?" she asked him curiously, tilting the head to the side. "Was it she who gave you your magic? Can I get magic too, if I go to the Veins?"

It was a thrilling thought indeed. What should she choose, if she could? Maybe magic to make the earth tremble and shake, like Volterra. Or magic that sent fires sizzling through the air, or howling winds... though Vadim's magic was amazing too, to change the whole landscape around someone.

Imagine how many pranks you could pull on people with that!





@Vadim

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Vadim Posts: 106
Outcast atk: 4.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 6
Stallion :: Hybrid :: 17.1 :: 5 HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Vlasi :: Common Rougarou :: Water ali
#8




"But I thought the herd lands were protected by the gods."

"They are." Vadim murmurs in response to Erthë. "That's why each herd has a seer." Of course he is unsure of what that particular rank in other herds is called, but he knows enough. He nudges his nose against his daughter's shoulder because she should know that, being the Seer's helper. "And I remember hearing that the Gods usually choose who will lead their herds." Which had to be true if he made his assumption based upon the Goddess' appearance at their herd meeting. She'd made her opinion on leadership quiet clear, in Vadim's opinion.

Erthë asked yet another question and Vadim sighs softly. "I don't know." He admits. "Perhaps they wanted their shrines to be accessible to everyone. If you were not a member of the Edge or if we were not allowed to live here you would not be able to visit the Moon Goddess' shrine." He points out and he feels as if he's making a decent point. "Up there," He says and he nods his head in the direction of the Veins, "Anyone can visit any of the gods."

"Do you like our Lady Moon?"

"I am... indifferent." He says because he has never seen the point of worshiping any god. "I suppose I am more appreciative of her than the other gods because, yes, she did grant me my magic." He'd only had to isolate himself from his mother and father and spend his isolation attached to his brother's side. The task she'd given to him, however, had made him come to realize how different he was from his brother. Rather than following blindly behind Varath into a pit of hatred he was able to rise above and go off on his own. He's able to appreciate others for who and what they are. He is able to love more than just  himself.

"I... suppose I do like her." He finally says as he thinks over the task she'd asked of him and the results. "If it were not for her I don't believe I would have you."

"."


Credits

Icon by Tay

Erthë Posts: 440
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.5
Filly :: Hybrid :: 14,2 hh :: 3 years HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Chan
#9
Eventide is softly casting o'er the earth a magic spell,
And a love-song, everlasting, on the night wind seems to swell.

She hummed thoughtfully and lipped absently at blue-tipped strands when they tickled her nose, considering everything he had said. It would indeed be sad if she were unable to pray to the goddess whenever she wished, the very thought was unsettling to the point where heat of anger began to rise within. If anyone tried to do that to her, to her home... But at the same time, shouldn't the herds be home to the believers and the followers, and no one else?

This would quickly separate her from her father however. His appreciation for the Lady seemed lukewarm at best, gratitude rather than loyalty, and as much as she regretted this Erthë would be just as quick to chide the person that tried to separate her from the solemn vagabond as she she would if they tried to separate her from the Edge. More, probably, because she could take her love for the Moon with her but it was painful to be separated from her sole remaining parent for too long.

"I'll make sure to thank Her for that next time" she said, grinning slightly as she parted from the close embrace and made to settle down in the grass. It was a relief to take the weight off her legs after standing for so long. From the weak leg came a dull throbbing sensation, eased by the circulation of painkilling substances in her veins but still ever present. She would pay for moving about so much, Erthë knew it - another sleepless night no doubt, when she could take no more herbs and the swelling returned full strength. Right now it wasn't too bad however, she could still smile and breathe easy - oddly comforted by having the pale stallion loom over her.

Something about their exchange just now was bugging her. Something had been said that surprised her, but it took a while before she had thought her way back through the conversation and remembered what it was. When she finally did, the recollection painted a look of amazement onto her delicate features as she looked up at Vadim, eyes wide in shock.

"Wait, dad... You have a brother? Why have you never said anything? Where is he, what's his name? Have I met him?"

This was a bigger surprise than learning that the man had magical abilities, the kind of secret that sent her thoughts reeling with possibility. Her first thoughts went to a stallion they had once encountered out on the Frostbreath Steppe, one who had been so similar to the father that she nearly mistook one for the other... But just as soon Erthë recalled the anger and look of mistrust Vadim had given the man. It must be a mistake after all, how could they be related and not even know about it themselves.

"Do you have any other hidden relatives I should know about?" she asked, just to make sure; the glance she shot his way was narrowed and scrutinizing, as though hoping she might detect if he purposely hid something from her.



@Vadim

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~


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