the Rift


[PRIVATE] & we'll be giants, one day.

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
#1

 
It's amazing what history does to you. Is it a golden pathway to walk upon? Or a signpost? Is it a spotlight, or a shadow? Certainly its different things for different people. For Tae? It was all of the above.

A golden path, heralded in fire and electricity, for she was the first (known to all) child of Gaucho and Ampere. Of course she didn't know that fact, but later it would certainly shape her. And those two left a pre-paved path for her to tred, should she follow it. All along her life's short journey were shadows and highlites of her parents. Of what they had done, what they stood and fell for, what they had accomplished. It made Tae's mouth water in its all encompassing brilliance and ability to drown her. Could she live up to them? Would she? Was she capable? Would she fail? Succeed? Triumph? Oh no; but what she would do, was surpass them.

Everyone dreams to be greater than their parents were. To match their worth and magnify their greatness. But Tae's dreams where not so common. She meant to leave Ampere and Gaucho in the dust, for she had something that neither of them did. She had a sister, a twin. A partner in crime, and a compass pointed towards success.

She would not be stunted by her lineage, instead, she would sheer it away so that only her name (and Grusha's of course) were remembered.



 "Silently-" She whispered to the black wolf pup who ran ahead. Mal was tired of hunting for today, and yet Tae convinced him to work even harder and longer. He was exhausted, beat, done, yet her mind said that they should go on and on and on. He didn't want to until--

--do you hear that? She asked silently in his mind. He nodded readily, and both silently stalked forward. Simultaneously, wolf and filly burst into the clearing, hoping that whatever they had stalked this far, was something they could kill.

@Sjal <3

tae
i'm a cold day in august, i'm a stream too shallow
i'm a heart shaped box with no letter inside
Image Credits

Själ Posts: 112
Outcast atk: 5.0 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.0
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.0 hh :: 4 (ages in Orangemoon) HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Ansgar :: Plain Griffin :: Draining Clutch ChaoticMelodies
#2
Själ
When the princess had left Helovia, she hadn't had the slightest intention of coming back. Why should she, when all that she had in the world had been vanquished there? Her mother was dead, her father was still unknown, and her half-sister had made her opinion of their mother's second daughter quite clear. And yet, the further she roamed from the wooded borders of the land, the more she found herself wishing that she could have found peace there. The girl was many things, but a wanderer was not one of them; she may not have been social in the least, but she still wanted a home. The Aurora Basin, whatever legacy her mother had left there, had not filled the void in the filly's heart... but what would? The only creature who had ever cared for her was dead.

A disgruntled sound interrupted the girl's musings. Okay, I'm sorry. I know you care, Ansgar. The griffin huffed loudly, swooping from the air above the princess to land in front of her. She had not grown to be a particularly large griffin, only the size of a small cat; but she was fierce nonetheless. Long, slitted pupils glared into the brush from within golden irises, a bright hue that matched the color of her bonded's. Within moments, the creature was slinking away, no doubt off to hunt. Själ was glad that she had finally learned to hunt for herself. The girl had no qualms about killing, but she had gotten a bit tired of trying to chase down every stray rabbit that the griffin pointed out.

She had come across the border of Helovia several hours prior and began to work her way north. She had no real intentions of reaching the Aurora Basin, but it was the only part of Helovia that she even vaguely knew. The sky above her began to darken and she frowned - she hadn't thought that it was late enough for that yet. Still, she pressed on, and when she heard the sound of running water, she decided that water might signify a good place to stop for the time being.

-Wings.- The word came through the bond, accompanied by an image of a young pegasus filly, covered in varying shades of brown and black. Ansgar had come across what appeared to be to the pegasus what the griffin was to the unicorn; immediately on alert, Ansgar had leaped from the bushes, tail lashing as she held herself low to the ground, as though ready to attack. Or perhaps she meant to play. The princess doubted that Ansgar even knew yet. With a sigh, she trotted her way around the bushes and went to find her companion and their newfound company.

"You're quite young to be alone, aren't you?" she asked by way of greeting as she stepped out from the cover of bloodied foliage. She hadn't thought much of the color, given the season, but upon seeing the ruby-red waters of the waterfall, she began to truly look at her surroundings. There was something both beautiful and eerie about the darkened reds that tinted everything around her; she had definitely not come across this place before. She turned her attention back to the filly before her - what kind of place was this for a young girl to be alone in?

She knew what it was to be alone. She knew what it was to be abandoned. She wouldn't wish it upon anyone else.
"Speech."
Själ

Pixel by Reli <3

Please tag Själ in all replies.
Use of force and/or magic (with the exception of death) is allowed at all times.

Want to plot with Själ?  Visit her plot page here!

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

 

As Tae and Mal pounced through the clearing, both were equally surprised to see a small .. winged ... cat/bird thing, and a unicorn. This was certainly not the prey that they had expected or that they had hoped for. The surprise of this girl and her companion? (for Tae had never seen a griffen before) was enough to cause her passive magic to take hold. Her body seemingly burst apart into whispers of ghostly smoke. It looked like a strong wind might remove all traces of her body completely. Quickly however, Tae got her nerves under control, and her body solidified.

 "I'm not alone." She replied with a distinct wariness in her voice. Was it odd that the first thing this unicorn said to her, was an observation about how young and alone she was? It certainly seemed odd to Tae.  "He's with me-" She concluded, nosing towards the black wolf pup, who was trotting back towards Tae's side. All the while his pale eyes were focused upon Ansgar, wondering just what it was, and whether or not it was edible.

The young pegasus folded her wings against her flanks and turned to squarely face the other girl, no hint of fear or intimidation in her eyes. It wasn't often that Tae saw unicorns; the Throat was mostly inhabited by those with wings. Only a little jealousy lingered in Tae's small stripped chest - she could only imagine how useful horns would be in battle. Then again, she still thought that wings would always be more useful. Even so...

 "Why are you out here?" She asked after a moment of inspecting Sjal's horns.

@Sjal

tae
i'm a cold day in august, i'm a stream too shallow
i'm a heart shaped box with no letter inside
Image Credits

Själ Posts: 112
Outcast atk: 5.0 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.0
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.0 hh :: 4 (ages in Orangemoon) HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Ansgar :: Plain Griffin :: Draining Clutch ChaoticMelodies
#4
Själ
Själ remembered the first time she had seen her griffin. She had been carrying around the egg for weeks, waiting, watching, praying for it to hatch. It had been the dead of winter and bitterly cold, and she had worried that she had been too late to save the orb from its icy demise. But it had called to her, that day on the ice, and she had known that it would need her (though Ansgar might argue that it was Själ that needed her), and so she had harbored it in a makeshift sling, snuggled against her breast to weather the blizzard that came after. And then, after weeks of waiting, the fledgling griffin had hatched.

Ansgar had been fierce from the beginning - ever silent, ever glaring. Her bond with the unicorn princess had been strong from within her egg, and from the moment she rolled from the orb into the world, it had grown only stronger. Now, she knew the girl nearly as well as she knew herself. Själ's embrace was all she had ever known, and as she had grown older, she had begun to harbor a deep adoration of and loyalty to the girl that had saved her. She had seen the memories play in the girl's mind, knew what peril she had escaped at the hooves of her bonded. She loved the girl, and the girl loved her, and for months now, they had only had each other to depend on.

It had become easy, their relationship, one where half a thought conveyed an hour's worth of communication. The princess, young as she was, cherished it; it was a bond that she hadn't shared with anyone else in her short life, not even her mother. Forever lonely and estranged, it was Ansgar that she valued most highly of all. Still, when she had first seen the little cat-bird, she had hardly known what to think. And that was the look on the little pegasus's face as she exploded into smoke, taking on a ghost-like appearance for a moment. The princess cocked her head to the side, curious and impressed in spite of herself. What manner of creature had she stumbled across? Was the girl a spirit, alone in death? Was she an inhabitant of the bloodied waters here, there to warn travelers away?

The filly raised an eyebrow at the girl's tone. If she was a spirit, she certainly didn't appear to be a friendly one. "I suppose even a pup is better than nothing," she conceded hesitantly, eying the little black wolf with a vague hint of derision. "I'm just passing through. I was on my way..." she trailed off, frowning. On her way where, exactly? She had meant to come back to Helovia, and she had done that - but the second part of her plan, finding a home... well, that wasn't so easy. "I am returning to Helovia. I don't know exactly where I'm going now that I'm here, though. Who are you?"

"Speech."

@Tae

Själ

Pixel by Reli <3

Please tag Själ in all replies.
Use of force and/or magic (with the exception of death) is allowed at all times.

Want to plot with Själ?  Visit her plot page here!

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
#5

 

Tae visibly hardened somewhat at the older girl's response. Better than nothing? Her pale eyes moved to the black pup at her side. Mal wasn't .... she couldn't wrap her head around what was wrong with the comparison. But he wasn't just better than nothing. He was better than a lot of things. Tae couldn't quite parse out whether or not the unicorn had meant her comment condescendingly, or as some sort of companion-slur. The mandible-marked filly knew nothing of Griffons, and while it wasn't much of a leap to assume that the cat/bird hybrid was 'above' a regular timber wolf on the companion hierarchy, she wasn't clear if what was being insinuated was that he was so far down on the totem pole, so as to be just above nothing.

Not liking to appear ignorant, Tae snorted and instead focused on the rest of what the older girl was saying.

Understandably, the pegasus filly had never left Helovia. Not only was she far too young for such things, but already her superstitious nature kept her curiosity firmly within the borders of Helovia. To leave was simply absurd. If the Riftian wars proved anything, it was that the lands outside of their vast expanses were infused with death. 

"I am Tae. Daughter of Ampere the Mother of Companions and Gaucho the Wildfire. And you?" She responded confidently, her tail raising slightly and her chest puffing out a touch as the words left her lips. She was not ashamed of her heritage, nor did she see any point in denying it. Sniffing slightly as Själ frowned, Tae rolled her tongue inside of her mouth as she thought. "Do you have family here? Why did you leave?"

@Sjal

tae
i'm a cold day in august, i'm a stream too shallow
i'm a heart shaped box with no letter inside
Image Credits

Själ Posts: 112
Outcast atk: 5.0 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.0
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.0 hh :: 4 (ages in Orangemoon) HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Ansgar :: Plain Griffin :: Draining Clutch ChaoticMelodies
#6
Själ
The princess really didn't try to be abrasive to the younger filly, but alas - with her parentage, it was somewhat difficult to avoid at times.

Of course, she was also blissfully unaware of this fact.

Instead, she regarded the little girl (spirit?) shrewdly, noting the visible tensing of Tae's body in response to her words. She wondered vaguely if perhaps she should simply leave and allow the pegasus to inhabit the bloody falls on her bloody own. If the girl was a spirit, and Själ unintentionally angered it, then the princess had no interest in sticking around to see what would happen next. But nothing of note happened in the next moment, nor the following, and so she remained standing near the girl and her wolf, waiting.

Tae introduced herself, leaving the unicorn to ponder her lineage. Of course, it meant nothing to her, nor did she particularly care - rather, she was more intrigued by the fact that the girl defined herself based on her parentage. It was not unlike Själ, when she had been Tae's age. She would have introduced herself the same way then, but now... perhaps it was more important to simply find oneself, rather than desperately try to follow in one's parents' steps. But that would be a lesson for another day.

"I am Själ," she informed Tae, daughter of Ampere the Mother of Something and Gaucho the Wild Whosit. "I came to Helovia some time ago in search of my mother. After I found out that she died here, I left. There wasn't anything for me to stay for. As it turns out, there wasn't anything for me outside Helovia, either." She paused, contemplating. Tae was younger than she; surely she would know little or nothing of Psyche. Was it even worth asking?

She sighed. "My mother was Psyche the DarkEmpress. Unfortunately for me, she was... a bit cracked in the mind by the time I was born. I don't know much about her, save that she ruled the Aurora Basin for a time. Have you ever heard anything about her?" She did not mention her absentee father. As far as she was concerned, he did not exist. For all the good he had done her, he may as well not have.

"Speech."

@Tae

Själ

Pixel by Reli <3

Please tag Själ in all replies.
Use of force and/or magic (with the exception of death) is allowed at all times.

Want to plot with Själ?  Visit her plot page here!

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
#7

 

"You don't look that old.." Tae remarked, her pale gaze scrutinizing the mare (girl?) before her. "So your Mother had you ... here? Out of Helovia? Left you to come here, and you followed? Only to find her dead?" Her dark tail flickered as she spoke. "Seems like a lot of work ... all that back and forth, did your Mother not try to keep you with you with her?" The thought seemed entirely ... implausible to Tae. After all, she couldn't even fathom a world where Ampere or Gaucho would leave her.

Maybe not everyone was so lucky.

Tae tried to recall the name. She thought she had heard it somewhere ... not the full title of course, or if she had, she didn't remember it but somewhere...

it seemed familiar -

-ah!

"Wasn't she one of the ... you know, ones taken by the Moon Goddess?" Tae had certainly heard those stories. It was her Father after-all, who had been the Moon Goddess' pawn in all of that. The mandible-marked filly was not alive at the time of the darkness, but she knew of it well. That's definitely where she heard the name Psyche before. She was sure of it.

"The Goddess possessed my Father. He killed ... oh ... 8 or 9 under her influence. I believe your mother was one of those."

Tae blinked her pale eyes a few times, trying to piece together how this all fit.

"If my Father killed your Mother ... does that make us enemies?" It couldn't be the first time. Gaucho had told her many stories of those who held him unjustifiably accountable for what had happened. Archibald was the worst for it, but even he seemed to have gotten rid of the chip on his shoulder. 

But maybe this Sjal didn't know what had happened to her mother .. .if the truth was still too raw and fresh, perhaps she would hold Tae accountable for the actions of her Father.

The skin on Tae's body grew even lighter as it began to wisp away further, making her look nearly see-through, as if a strong breeze might completely blow her form away. She was quite solid though, despite how she might appear.

@Sjal

tae
i'm a cold day in august, i'm a stream too shallow
i'm a heart shaped box with no letter inside
Image Credits

Själ Posts: 112
Outcast atk: 5.0 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.0
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.0 hh :: 4 (ages in Orangemoon) HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Ansgar :: Plain Griffin :: Draining Clutch ChaoticMelodies
#8
Själ
One day, Själ would wonder if she had been this annoyingly inquisitive as a filly - but for now, she merely found it annoying.  Particularly as the topic turned to her life.  She had managed to recover (somewhat) from the pain of losing her mother and the hurt that had come with her abandonment - but hearing the roller coaster that was her life summed up so simply and with so little concern was disconcerting, to say the least.  "Yes," she said, her voice a few degrees colder than it had been before.  "My mother had me outside of Helovia, and then left me to come back.  I don't know why.  I thought that she would return in a few days, maybe a week.  When she never came back, I came looking for her, and learned that she had been killed."  Is that what you wanted to hear, you little spirit brat?

The filly swallowed her resentment and took a breath.  Logically, it wasn't Tae's fault - she was merely asking about Själ's life, presumably so that she understood the older girl's story.  That didn't make it any easier, and it didn't make the girl look upon Tae any more kindly at the moment.  Ansgar, feeling her bonded's displeasure, began to puff out her feathers, grumbling her distaste for the entire topic.  Who needed a mother, anyway, when they could have a bonded?  What use had a mother ever been to her darling Själ?  (Let's forget, for a moment, that without Psyche, Själ would have never existed.)  All her mother had brought Själ was pain and anger.  No, she was much better off without that.

Själ's interest returned to the younger girl when Tae began to tell her about how her father had been possessed and had carried out a string of murders.  That Själ's mother had been one of his victims.  She stared at the filly, emotions warring for her attention beneath the surface.  An instant, blinding hatred encompassed her, but she shoved it aside.  Acting on impulse had never been a good thing, in her experience, and she certainly wasn't going to start now.  Suspicion appeared next - what if this Tae was here to finish the job that her father had started, and wipe out Psyche's lineage?  But no, the girl was far too small and young to be given such a task.

Gods, Själ had never even known how Mother had died. She hadn't had the slightest idea that Psyche had been murdered. She was suddenly, for the first time in her life, grateful to have been left behind, and the realization filled her with guilt. Why had she been deserted, been spared, when her mother had clearly come here for a reason that she never got to carry out? Why had Psyche come back in the first place?

The feelings ebbed and flowed; finally, Själ sighed.

"You weren't even born yet, were you?" Själ pointed out gruffly.  "Why would you be my enemy?  If anyone was going to be, I guess it would be your father, but - why do you keep fading?" she demanded suddenly, fed up and overwhelmed with the little girl-spirit.

"Speech."

@Tae

Själ

Pixel by Reli <3

Please tag Själ in all replies.
Use of force and/or magic (with the exception of death) is allowed at all times.

Want to plot with Själ?  Visit her plot page here!

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
#9

 

Impassively Tae listened. She wasn't overly empathetic at the best of times, and so to hear a complete stranger describe a harrowing start to life, didn't exactly start the waterworks for her. Her large, pale eyes blinked and her forward tilted ears indicated that she was indeed listening, but the neutral expression on her face clearly showed a lack of sadness from one girl to another. It wasn't that Tae was cruel, just that the reach of her concern for others did not extend past those immediately related to her. At least, not yet.

"I see." She offered, softly, chewing her lip slightly.

Tae bristled slightly during the pause (or at least, it felt very like a long pause to Tae) between the end of her words, and the beginning of Själ's. Tae wasn't afraid to fight - and in her mind, Mal silently growled and hungrily thought of the cat-bird, suggesting that he could probably eat it, so long as it didn't fly away.

"No I wasn't born yet ..." Her voice trailed off, pale eyes narrowing as her slender shoulders shrugged. "Family rivalries? Those typically extend past those directly involved, don't they? So if you were to blame my Father, you might as well blame me. We were equally not-responsible. He, because he was under the control of a Goddess, and I, because I didn't even exist."

why do you keep fading?

... that wasn't what Tae had expected her to ask. Confusedly, Tae's nose tilted to the side slightly as her mind wondered if this wasn't some sort of ... trap?

"Magic, of course." She replied slowly, as her answer was quite obvious. "I can create spirits. I think it is so deep inside of my bones that sometimes I turn into one." Tae concluded, almost warily. Though, given that (at least she thought) her magic was fairly impressive, she didn't mind having an excuse to mention it.

@Sjal

tae
i'm a cold day in august, i'm a stream too shallow
i'm a heart shaped box with no letter inside
Image Credits

Själ Posts: 112
Outcast atk: 5.0 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.0
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.0 hh :: 4 (ages in Orangemoon) HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Ansgar :: Plain Griffin :: Draining Clutch ChaoticMelodies
#10
Själ
Själ had no interest in fighting the little spirit-child, nor would she grow to harbor any resentment towards Tae's family for their role in Psyche's death.  Of course, she hadn't done very much to explain that, which became quite obvious as Tae bristled.  "No, I'm not -" she started heatedly, then stopped herself, pulled herself back into a controlled facade.  "I realize that's how family rivalries work, Tae.  It just... seems a bit silly, if you ask me.  Why should I hate you for something your father did before you were even born, presumably without his consent?  I'm certainly not your enemy, and I hope you aren't mine."  There.  That should do it.  Right?  Right.

The girl went on to explain her magic, a topic that Själ had not had much reason to discuss before.  Her ears pricked forward with interest.  She knew of magic, of course, but she hadn't really gotten to see it in practice - much less seen a magic that ran so deep that it affected someone's physical self.  "Really?" she asked, obviously impressed in spite of herself.  "Did you get it from your mother or your father?" she asked.  Surely it came from one of them, right?  Or did it just crop up unexpectedly? "What kind of spirits can you make? What do they do?"

Ansgar sighed at Själ's feet, bored.  What use was all this talk?  So what, the spirit-girl was magic, not spirit - whoop-de-do.  The griffin eyed the pegasus girl's wolf, then rose to stalk forward.  She crouched low to the ground, her rear in the air, wiggling as she honed in on her "prey."  Her body language suggested play, not fight, but she watched for any angry movement by Mal all the same.  If he reacted well to her attempts at play, she would pounce at him; otherwise, she would retreat with a withering look to her bonded's side.

"Speech."

@Tae

Själ

Pixel by Reli <3

Please tag Själ in all replies.
Use of force and/or magic (with the exception of death) is allowed at all times.

Want to plot with Själ?  Visit her plot page here!


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