the Rift


[OPEN] I'm only human - I crash and I break down

Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#1
Will you still love me
When I'm no longer young and beautiful
I know you will


She had been hiding. She hadn't run, but she hid. Only Gaucho and Mesec had managed to find the phantom that Ampere had become. If only she could have hidden from herself.

Her original purpose for staying away had been for the bird. The parrotlet that had taken her soul, and his own, that fateful day. That she continued hiding was due in part to that still - her depression over the enormity of sharing her soul with him a constant struggle - but it was also because of the swelling of her sides. She had loved Gaucho furiously and fastidiously following the event, and here was the result. Not the relief or the compassion she needed to give herself, but more foals.

"Fuck!"

Ampere swore loudly as she tromped up and down the coast of the Throat. She had gone south again once she started to feel that all too familiar urgency, but this time she went on the opposite end of the herd land, still wary of the beast that stole Zero's sibling when it was still an egg. Alone again, preferring her privacy in these moments where she was at her weakest.

RRAWK!

A sharp, splitting sound from above drew Ampere's ears to her neck. Her eyes rolled as her head lurched, thrust up into the sky with snapping teeth. Kygo, in all his recently acquired glory of flight and finished growth (yet hardly describable as mature) was too clever to get so close for that though, but the meaning was taken. He tried not to impose on the blue mare, but the excitement of birth was so strong it poured over the bond and energized him with a certain frenzy he was unfamiliar with. Most of his life with the blue mare had involved a sorrow so poignant it made the world seem dull, but this, this was something else. This was anger, this was fire, this was "DAMNIT!"

Ampere knelt suddenly, her nape darkened with sweat as she hit the sand. She'd been looking for a better spot, something safer, but this would have to do, the foals had decided they could no longer wait. Nearby Kygo landed on a sparse weed, dancing back and forth in a frenzy as Ampere continued to curse and grunt, delivering two, pale eggs into the world. 



A M P E R E
PRETTY FACE AND ELECTRIC SOUL

ellsouille.deviantart.com with permission


@Gaucho

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.
Ascended Helovian

Gaucho The Wildfire Posts: 1,004
Deceased atk: 8.5 | def: 11.5 | dam: 8
Stallion :: Pegasus :: 17.2 :: 12 HP: 85 | Buff: PINNACLE
Mara :: Black Mamba Snake :: Paralyze & Vorsa :: Plain Zephyr :: Phoenix Odd
#2

GAUCHO
Shake your mind from slowly sinking under
Warily he had watched her.

He saw the swelling of her sides, he knew what it meant. In the back of his mind he had wondered if she hadn't been on the root that mares used - the root that prevented such swelling. He had wondered, but never had he asked. That her sides did indeed swell was not in anyway a disappointment to him - if anything it was more of a blessing than he could have hoped for, aside from her continued existence. It was evidence, of a sort. Hard and cold fact, as opposed to Zero's ambiguous permanence in his life. He had not been there when the boy was born, and his paternity had never been, explicitly speaking, truly confirmed.

But this? This was them. Whatever was in Ampere was proof of those hot and fevered moments that had littered their path. Gaucho leaned on the idea that he would have a way of remembering the two of them together, in the face of whatever grew inside of the blue.



And so, he had watched her.

As she broke from the herd, moving down the coastline, Gaucho followed. He knew what was coming - he had been through it enough now, and yet ... yet with Ampere, it was so totally foreign. So wholly indistinct from any experience he had had with Sohalia. He knew not what Ampere wanted from him in these tender moments, and for once, that proved more disheartening than frustrating. He wanted to know what she wanted, but the intuitions were not there. Inside of himself was only the ever-burning fire he held for her, their untainted although imperfect love. But it did not come with instructions.

He heard her curse to the bird as she searched presumably for an optimal place to stop. However as soon as she dropped to her knees, Gaucho knew that his time for indecision was over. Although he hadn't yet thought of what Ampere needed from him, he knew that he needed to act.

Fire - the healing kind - rained down from the skies. The flames licked the parts of Ampere which were being violently appropriated by the life (no wait, lives) she was ushering into the world. Gaucho landed quickly, though ensured that the sand thrown from his hooves were cast away from mother and children.

Twins.

They really did run in his blood, apparently. Other than Zenobia, all of his offspring had come into the world with a partner in crime. Should either Ampere or Gaucho meditate on that thought, they might have wondered more about Hertz...

But for now, only Ampere invaded his thoughts. Her labored breathing, the sweat and strain on her body. She was a marvel, a true warrior, even in this. Gaucho's wings spread from his flanks to shield Ampere from any prying eyes who might have followed him - or her - here.



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Tae Posts: 133
Dragon's Throat Alchemist atk: 7.0 | def: 10 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 2 HP: 72.5 |
Mal :: Timber Wolf :: Terrorize & Hel :: Royal Hellhound :: Hellfire Odd
#3
tae

I had to leave my life behind; I dug graves you'll never find
Tae had never been under the impression the soft blueish-tan walls of the circular world she found herself in, would be where she forever stayed. She knew, in the marrow of her bones, that there was more. For a while, she had been alert. She had not stirred often - she found quickly that pressing herself against the smooth curve of the eggshell was not effective, and so she kept her limbs and wings folded tightly around herself, and just waited.

Sometimes she listened to the rustle of her sister - and the sounds that were made when she exhaled, or when their eggs pressed against one another. How did she know the creature was her sister? She didn’t, exactly. At least not in the way that you and I know things. No. This was an older kind of knowing, an archaic sort of bond, that she simply felt, just as surely as she felt her own wings. The association was wordless and nameless - nothing more than a hostile light in her mind that rang true. But it did ring true. For the very first moments of her consciousness, the girl knew that she wasn’t alone.

Nor would she ever be.

As the muscles of Ampere contracted around her and her eggshell-ship began to move, Tae readied herself. She knew not what would happen next, only that it was happening. This was the thing that her body had been preparing itself for.

Suddenly light bled around her, and her pale eyes shut instinctively against this new sensation. The walls of the egg were thin enough that the difference between being in the womb, and being in the world, was completely different. She felt the shift in temperature, felt the way the egg freely rolled on the ground. But mostly importantly, she felt the egg’s weakness. Was it weaker? Or was she merely stronger?

It didn’t matter.

Her tiny hooves kicked against the eggshell prison, causing small cracks to form. Her wings pressed outwards, and instinctively her tiny mind urged her to put as much pressure on as many sides of the walls as she could. She was not planning on coming gently into this world.

As the egg splintered and cracked around her, and she eventually made her way into the light of life, immediately her jaw-marked skull twisted to find her sister.

Seeeestra her mind whispered, forming and making up a word to denote the thing she was bonded to. She didn't acknowledge her mother or her need for food. Instead, she looked for her life-buddy, and was pleased to see that she too had stumbled into the world.


@Grusha


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Grusha Posts: 56
Outcast atk: 4.5 | def: 8 | dam: 6.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 17 :: 2 HP: 65.5 |
Nashoba :: Timber Wolf :: Paralyze ali
#4
grusha

It doesn't matter, doesn't matter if I scare you
I only wanted, only wanted someone else's skin

The egg was small and Grusha was uncomfortable in it. Time and again she'd pressed her small body against the shell with the hopes that it would give way and she would have more room to stretch her long legs. She never got far. She always knocked against her sister's egg and eventually settled back into stillness and listened and waited for the time to come that she would no longer be crammed into an egg that was far too small for her growing body.

Her 'entrance' into the world was far from glamorous. Grusha's egg slid free of Ampere's body and rolled. The girl grunted her protest as her egg rolled across the sand, sending her head over heels time and again until it was finally still. She pressed her hooves against the egg shell and she pushed. The egg rocked, but there was no knock against her sister's egg to tell her that she was still there. She pushed harder and the egg shell cracked, but there was still no knock to comfort her into stillness.

Where was it?

Portions of the shell began to fall away and light, bright and blinding light, shined in through the holes. A high pitched, keening cry escaped the girl's mouth as she voiced her displeasure at being blinded so soon after entering a new world. She kicked her legs and pressed her head against her prison until it finally gave way and she tumbled onto the warm sand. "What this?" She blinked and pushed at the sand with her tiny hooves, but just as quickly as she wondered about the sand, she forgot about it. Her head turned, her blue eyes scanning over the two big horses that were there, the blue one and the brown one, but they were of no concern to her.

Where was the other one? Where was the one she knocked against?

When her eyes finally found her sister she began the struggle of climbing to her hooves so she could get to her. It was a series of rises and falls and stumbled, fumbling steps that brought her to her sister's side. When she finally made it over to her, falling down once more she stayed still because she was finally close enough. She prodded her muzzle against her sister's flank, and she squished instead of knocked, but it was enough for Grusha to know this was the one that she was searching for. She was the only one that mattered. Seestra.

"."

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Zèklè Posts: 166
Outcast atk: 8.0 | def: 10 | dam: 3.5
Colt :: Pegasus :: 14.1 :: Three HP: 67 | Buff: NOVICE
charks
#5
Making Mama so proud,

But your voice is too loud.
For Zèklè, it was going to be a stressful day.

Zero had missed, like, a lot. He hadn't been home a lot recently, though, to be fair, things at home were a little bit strained since he'd tried to fight the tiger and wound up messing up his wing. He'd tried to be more independent since then, to get stronger and braver and smarter, though he'd quickly learned that that was hard to do alone. Zero liked having friends and spending time with others, which made his new desire to prove himself all by himself something of a struggle- so he'd finally come home, looking for Ma (who had been mysteriously and notedly absent of late. But so had he) because he had a lot of questions for her.

Little did he know, he was about to have a lot more.

He found Gaucho first, because Gaucho was a giant ball of fire who made his presence blatantly apparent wherever he went. Mild aggravation flickered across the lightning boy's face - he wanted to see Ma alone - and he considered turning back, trying his luck another day, but something kept him going. He was Ma's kid, after all, and not even Gaucho could keep him from his mother's side. Nothing could do that!

(Boy, was he in for a surprise)

Zero strode up confidently, his single wing pulled tight against his side, but as he neared the pair he paused. A frown crept across his face, confusion pushing down on his brow. Something was going on, something weird, because Ma was on the ground but Gaucho was standing so he could barely see her. Bewilderment filled his mind, followed by a terrible, sinking fear- "Ma?" he whispered, and his heart was in his throat and his blood was in his voice and his chest was suddenly hollow and pulsing in horrible terror. Was Ma sick? Was she dying? Was that why he hadn't seen her? Was it because of the tiger? Frozen, the child could only stare-

-and then he was running, stumbling toward her on shaking legs, pushing past Gaucho and yelling for her ("Ma!") only to find that- that-

-(oh, shit.)

Zero knew eggs. He knew all about eggs. He'd spent a significant portion of life in one, after all, and though that time he'd been on the inside looking out, he felt a sinking familiarity now as he watched spiderweb cracks form on the outside of those small, small houses for even smaller bodies. How...? But he knew how. He knew what this meant. He just didn't want to.

His sunbeam and silver gaze flickered between his mothers and her eggs, and in a single word he voiced a million, billion questions that drummed around his head.

"Ma?"

He stared, transfixed, as his sisters broke free into the world, mouth hanging slack with confused disbelief. They were so tiny, so delicate, and the boy felt a sudden, bewildering surge of jealous protectiveness, a need to scoop them up and take them away coupled with a desire to push them out of the picture and talk to his Ma because why hadn't she told him? Wasn't he her son? Shouldn't they have at least talked about this?

Silent and dumbfounded and angry and hurt and lost and betrayed and bewildered and a slew of other things, the older child (brother, now) stood among his makeshift family, completely at a loss for what to do or say, shocked into silence for once in his life.

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Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#6
Will you still love me
When I'm no longer young and beautiful
I know you will

Although Ampere was one that preferred to suffer these moments alone, where her weakness was not so obvious or well known. It didn't matter that he had already seen her in those moments plenty of times before, or that he was too often the one that picked her up and put her back on her feet. Those were times in the past, and like any moments where one was sunken low, it was best not to remember them, best not to build your image on them. Ampere needed to seem strong, even if she was anything but in most scenarios.

Yet for all her talents at sneaking, it was not her career, and the Wildfire that burned the desert touched everything. That he saw her, found here, was here did not surprise her, but it did annoy her. At least, until she felt that warm embrace that was his presence and more. She never would have thought it, but she appreciated his new penchant for healing.
Still breathing heavily and doused in as much sand as sweat, Ampere nonetheless felt the strength slowly ebbing into her as the fire seemed to consume her weariness rather than her flesh. She tilted her head to let a tired eye locate his feet, even though she didn't need the reassurance that it was him. When the effort was too much she settled it back to the ground, watching the eggs struggle for freedom, recognizing in a sickening memory how much it resembled Kygo's release (from one jail to another). The parrot, catching her thoughts, trilled in excitement. Unlike Ampere, hatching continued to be a thrilling event for the bird.

Abruptly Zero was there, rushing in as headlong as ever, his hooves scattering sand while his wing caught the wind for balance. Without hesitation her body rocked to her sternum, allowing her better access to view her son, even if laying in the swaddle of flames felt so much better. "Zero," she answered, breathy with exertion and a touch of surprise, possibly even fear. In one tumultuous moment Ampere realized that this entire time she'd been nursing her own wounds and sheltering herself from everyone, that had included her son. Her son, who had actual injuries to be bothered by. her son, who she needed to spend time training given his recent behavior and affection for battle. Her son, who was no longer the baby after today.

How utterly selfish she had been.

The dawning recognition of her own greed was just another log on the fire of her self-hatred that burned circles in her veins ever since the trip to same place. Dread crept like ice wherever the self-loathing didn't touch, leaving behind freckles of doubt and fear that hurt worse than frostbite. How in the fuck was she supposed to raise two foals!? She had barely managed with the one, was still managing him, and already she felt run ragged. Would these two even survive their first season at this rate?

Reeling, Ampere almost didn't hear the crack of the eggs, almost didn't see the bodies plopping out one at a time. Duty calls some vindictive part of her hissed, and ruefully she remained laying, wondering for a sparse moment if she could refute the responsibility of these two kids. For all the fucking Gaucho had given her, she'd rather have wallowed in misery than gotten pregnant.

I'm still wallowing she thought mournfully, because then the screwing hadn't cured anything. Damnit!

Still, she could not resist the instincts of her body, the same instincts that got her in this trouble. With Gaucho's healing she wasn't nearly as weak, so she had no reason to stay down, no need to struggle. Still, it'd be nice if he could nurse the twins. The thought drew a partial grin, one that became a grunt as she heaved herself back to her feet. Her wings steadied her for balance, and remained held out as she shook the debris from her coat. "Thank you" she muttered to Gaucho, and her tone didn't reveal if it was sarcasm for the foals, for the twins, or if it was gratitude for the healing, for his continued support.

She held her son before her, heaving a lofty sigh before putting on a smile for him. "Zero, my little lightning... only not so little any more. Can you help me check on your sisters for the first time?" She reached out to lip gently at his mane before passing by onto the girls, the girls whom seemed more concerned with each other than anyone else present. It would be a completely different relationship she'd soon come to find, than the one she shared with her boy, and certainly a different one from the neglected Aithniel (and the unknown Hertz). Where Zero had been born clearly lacking, where he had been alone save for her, where he had needed her and she him - these two seemed for all the world as if only each other mattered. Bonded already.

As she neared, Ampere gently drew her muzzle over them, inspecting, coaxing, cleaning and drying and taking them all in. Her's.

Theirs.


A M P E R E
PRETTY FACE AND ELECTRIC SOUL

ellsouille.deviantart.com with permission

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.
Ascended Helovian

Gaucho The Wildfire Posts: 1,004
Deceased atk: 8.5 | def: 11.5 | dam: 8
Stallion :: Pegasus :: 17.2 :: 12 HP: 85 | Buff: PINNACLE
Mara :: Black Mamba Snake :: Paralyze & Vorsa :: Plain Zephyr :: Phoenix Odd
#7

GAUCHO
Shake your mind from slowly sinking under
Gaucho was tempted to shield Ampere further from Zero. He knew that the boy had a weird over-protective streak when it came to his Mother, and the dun feared that Zero would try and hurt the eggs as they fell from Ampere's heavy flanks. Gaucho also wanted to give Ampere whatever solidarity and privacy he could afford her - he knew that likely she would both resent and desire his presence here - but would her son be equally as welcomed?

Quickly his question was answered. The dun stepped back a step, focusing his magic solely on Ampere .

As the eggs fell onto the sands, Gaucho inhaled slowly. He knew nothing of aid in this regard - Sohalia had given birth to live foals. However given that Ampere made no movements to try and help the eggs or to remove their contents, Gaucho too remained where he was. Thank you; the Wildfire found no words with which to respond. Instead his bone-pierced muzzle dropped once to Ampere's wither, gently dusting the dark hair there with his breath, before standing straight once more.

As the twins forced and fought their way into the world, Gaucho couldn't help but smile. They were theirs - theirs in a way that he wanted Zero to be, but feared never would. Watching the lightning marked child investigate his new sisters, Gaucho vowed to always be in their lives - all of them. If only to compensate for all of the lost moments between he and Zero.

Sohalia had always named their children, and so with expectant silence Gaucho waited




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Please tag me in every post! Magic/Force is allowed on Gaucho at any time.


Tae Posts: 133
Dragon's Throat Alchemist atk: 7.0 | def: 10 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 2 HP: 72.5 |
Mal :: Timber Wolf :: Terrorize & Hel :: Royal Hellhound :: Hellfire Odd
#8
tae

I had to leave my life behind; I dug graves you'll never find
As the warmth of Ampere's muzzle touched Tae for the first time, the girl jumped. As she did so, her body seemed to burst and evaporate into ghostly swirls. She remained physically solid, but became translucent, and then nearly transparent. The entirety of her conscious mind had been spent pressed up against the wall of her shell. She had felt warmth from Ampere's body before, but never in this way. Slowly as she realized the sensation was pleasurable, her body seemingly solidified, losing its ghostly aspect.

Tae's pale white eyes searched for Ampere's own. It took a moment, for she was not used to having to focus on anything. Her gaze jerkily moved up Ampere's flank, and the feeling of drowning in a sea of blue and black made her stumble forward into Ampere's side. Her wings splayed helplessly from her side, instinctively trying to help her balance. It was then that she noticed Zero, and her gaze shifted to Grusha, looking obviously confused.

Why were there so many here. Why wasn't the world just her, and Grusha, and her shell?

All of a sudden she was consumed by hunger, and now that she knew that her Seestra had made it out into the world with her, she allowed her attention to shift. Roughly she bumped her tiny velvety muzzle against Ampere's flank. Instincts shifted her stance, and quickly her lips found what she was looking for. Her wings hung limply from her sides - bearing banding on the edges: the only real indication that Ampere had assisted in her conception at all.



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Grusha Posts: 56
Outcast atk: 4.5 | def: 8 | dam: 6.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 17 :: 2 HP: 65.5 |
Nashoba :: Timber Wolf :: Paralyze ali
#9
grusha

It doesn't matter, doesn't matter if I scare you
I only wanted, only wanted someone else's skin


It took Grusha several moments before she even began to realize that there were more present than just her and her sister. The girl lifted her head from Tae's flank and she blinked as she looked from Ampere, to Zero, then to the stallion with the bone in his nose and the flaming wings. Her attention was drawn back to Ampere, Ma she had heard faintly as she'd escaped her shell. The blue and black mare dipped her head down and Grusha stretched her neck out, her muzzle reaching to touch her mother's only to pull away abruptly as soon as she was touched.


Tae began to move and the larger twin took that as a sign that she also needed to stand. Her legs wobbled under once she finally stood and for a short time she half expected to fall back into the sand. Her sister moved to their mother's side and Grusha watched as her head disappeared beneath the black and blue mare's flank. She knew, instinctively, what Tae sought and her stomach growled its own hunger, but Grusha could wait until Tae was finished. Besides, she was curious about the stallion with the bone nose and fire wings.

Slowly, Grusha turned toward Gaucho and she looked up at him, her blue eyes blinking as she focused on his face. She lurched toward him on still unsteady legs and only stopped when she was close enough to touch him, but did she dare?

Yes.

Grusha reached her muzzle toward Gaucho's foreleg and she sniffed at him then snorted. His scent wasn't entirely pleasant and when she grew older she would know that what she had smelled was sweat and that it was commonplace among warriors (and anyone that lived in the Throat). It wasn't unpleasant enough for Grusha to turn and wobble away, so she pressed her face against her father's leg.

"."

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Zèklè Posts: 166
Outcast atk: 8.0 | def: 10 | dam: 3.5
Colt :: Pegasus :: 14.1 :: Three HP: 67 | Buff: NOVICE
charks
#10
Making Mama so proud,

But your voice is too loud.
A lot of things were happening, really fast, and Zero was a bit bewildered. Bewildered, hurt, shocked, excited... lots of things, really, but none of them particularly helpful. Your sisters, Ma said, Your sisters- his sisters, two of 'em, just lying there in the fragments of their eggs, and him and Gaucho standing over them looking dumbfounded and unhelpful, as men are wont to do.

Even now the boy was learning about manhood from his father, even if he didn't realize it. Today's lesson: childbirth is weird. He glanced at Gaucho, wondering if the stallion shared his confusion and surprise, but much to Zero's surprise the massive stallion appeared to be sharing a tender moment with Ma. Ugh, gross.

Whatever. He, Zèklè, the not-so-little-Lightning, had been asked to help with the babies. Not Gaucho. Him. Which was a frightening prospect, to be sure, but one he was prepared for. Probably.

He swallowed, uncertain, looking between the twins before turning his hopeless gaze back to Ma. Help how? They looked fine. What was he supposed to even do? But Ma was busy grooming them, and offered no guidance. Zero had gotten his first taste of being an older sibling, and so far it really wasn't that great. He cleared his throat uncertainly, frowning, and shuffled toward the smaller twin.

"Uh, hey, baby sisters..." Zero faltered. They were so small, even to him, so wobbly and uncertain and delicate. Had he really been like that when he was born? No wonder Ma worried about him all the time! As Zero watched them test their legs something else began to swell within him, something warm and fierce and primal. A smile stretched across his face, and he lowered his head, trying to duck around his parents and get the attention of his new baby sisters. "I'm your big brother Zero, an' I'mma protect you, an' take you on adventures, an' teach you all about the world, k?"

Something struck him then and he pulled himself up, eyes widening as he spun to face his mom. "Ma! Ma! What're their names?"

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