the Rift


[PRIVATE] How Can I Explain?

Knox Posts: 262
Outcast atk: 4 | def: 7.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17hh :: 7 Years [Tallsun] HP: 67.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Jen
#1
knox

Sunset.

Thin, a prickly sort of veil, but covering enough. Knox lurks, cloaking himself in shadow and seeking the target: that monstrous mare.

It is not good of Knox to spy on his son. This much, he knows. But how else is he to hear that child's voice, to witness the life of his son? Manhattan wants him to love Milo. She said it when she died, she says it in his dreams. Even now, sometimes, on the dying frostfall wind and in the corners of his ailing mind, he hears her:

{Manhattan:} Love them.

Truly, truly he wishes to. But Aylin is gone, Milo is shut away in silence. How can he love a boy like that, how can he take him into his shadow? Every encounter ignites rage in the father. When he tries to get Milo to speak and hears only silent fear, he can only feel anger.

So he has resorted to spying. Is it really such a crime? Maybe. But he has learned so many things, learned of so many new creatures walking in this land, just by listening to the things Milo whispers when he is alone. When his son sleeps Knox stands near, guarding. When he wakes and greets the day, tells the memory of Knox's own companion all that has happened as of late, Knox is ready to learn.

The most recent tale is that of that monstrous mare. The one with the teeth who marked his son's skin, the one that saved Milo's life. And as much as Knox would sometimes act as if he wouldn't care if Milo lived or died, in that moment he could not deny his relief or his thankfulness.

Whoever this creature was, Knox vowed to saved them. Now, as the sun sets, he finds her. He thinks it is her, anyway. He can't imagine there are too many in Helovia that match Milo's rather wide-eyed description.

Beneath his cloak he shifts, taking on the unflinching form of Cem, the white commander. He is massive, unafraid. He bears age with pride. What would be weakness on others is strength on him.

He snorts and rids himself of the cloak, approaching the mare from behind and sending forth his blinding magic, hoping to lead her home like the red stallion. The only problem is now he lacks the emotional detachment, the cold steel blade of duty. Now, he is messing with family.

{Cem:} Why are you hesitating?

It is true, he shouldn't be. He should be leaning on his eldest ancestor's experience, but no, he cannot... the blinding magic retreats just as it rests in the eyes of the mare in the wood, pulling back to Knox and leaving him standing dumb behind her, an ancient marble pillar.

Somewhere, in his troubled heart, he struggles to decide if Milo should be blamed for this mistake.

""
Heavy is the heart
that beats beneath the corpse of its love.
Heavy is the mind now abandoned by its crutches.
image | coding


@Aquila sorry I lost internet like 5 times while writing this post so it took forever and came out choppy :( But I hope it makes sense?

Permission to blind/find aquila in the woods

Aquila Posts: 95
Outcast atk: 5 | def: 9 | dam: 5.5
Mare :: Hybrid :: 16.2 :: 6 HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Craonos :: Common Narwhal Leviathan :: Boil smitty
#2
Blackness.

It was something the fierce mare detested. Feared, even. Along with those of the sky. She rarely blinked, so crucial was sight to her. Her overlarge eyes collected light even in the dimmest, deepest depths she dared to dive.

And so this sudden, inexplicable blackness left her immobile, rigid, and furious. Teeth peeled back, her tail barbs rattled ominously, fins flared (though the ripped one hung limply), and her ridges stood on end.

She had left her battle on the flats— left that demonic, skulled equine— and headed north, towards the Bloodfalls. Though she did not trust that water, it had been warm the last time she bathed in it. And, amid this frozen land, she needed warmth. But, in her travels, she had been lost amid a sea of tall, pole-like plants of the Green Labyrinth; and had ended in the cold, dark depths of this Forest.

This was so unlike anything beneath the sea. The trunks were thick; kelp was thin and spindly. The ground was hard few things grew beneath it; the kelp forests were abundant with life. Her ears laid back as she wandered, slowly the blue-bleeding wounds on her skin clotted. Though her shoulder bruise fiercely ached as she had not yet rested it.

And it was tin this injured, uneasy predicament that the blackness found her.

Sharp teeth snapped once, blindly, as her webbed hooves dug into the frozen earth. Though the canopy was too thick to allow much snow to reach the floor. A snort left her ridged nostrils, large eyes stretching even larger in her war-painted face. And then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone. Light blinded her eyes as her ears swiveled, trying to discern the above-water noises.

She felt more than heard the warm being behind her. Spinning, her ears went flush with her ridges, ringed irises constricting pupils to pinpoints. “Who are you?” her low growl fiercely rent the cold, muted air. Gaze rakes over the white giant that stands before her.

He is tall, he is strong, but he is old. Age lines the muscles that leap from his hide, just as it rings his light eyes. Briefly she notes the long, silken mane— a good handle for manhandling in battle. “Why—how do you take my sight?” Her guttural voice is punctuated by rattles of her tail; never has she felt so cautiously violent.
men have drowned
in seas such as these

Please tag Aquila in all posts.

Knox Posts: 262
Outcast atk: 4 | def: 7.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17hh :: 7 Years [Tallsun] HP: 67.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Jen
#3
knox

When the magic doesn't work, when the teeth snap, when the wide eyes stare and the words accuse--he feels the cold. It slams up against him, sudden, and Knox remembers that Birdsong is not yet over. The sinister Frostfall wind persists. He cannot escape the suffocation of ice's hard scent, of dawn's killing frosts.

He cannot escape, either, this situation.

Though it is not the Commander's mind that falters, it is Cem's face that appears flustered. She barks the question for his name so quickly that it spills out of him, entirely out of his control. Knox is shivering; Cem is utterly ashamed.

"I am Cem." He almost says "I am sorry." It is a miracle he does not say "I am Knox."

"Forgive the use of magic, it was one lent to me for this purpose alone. I only thought..." he pauses, appearing to consider how to go on but in actuality swallowing his shock, trying to overcome the appearance of the mare's teeth. Yes, she may have saved Milo, but... this mare closed her jaws over his son?

And he was comforted?

"I come from the Hidden Falls. I had hoped to lead you there, but did not expect you to follow willingly. Many run at the sight of a stranger, particularly in these woods." He tries to remember the name of this mare as his son pronounced it but fails, and isn't sure if Milo was right to begin with. How can a boy who barely uses his voice be trusted with the pronunciation of such a foreign set of sounds? "You saved a child belonging to our herd in the heart caves. I only hoped to offer thanks, and perhaps a place among our ranks, as a reward for your heroism."

Knox's hoof, cloaked in the white mask, scrapes along the earth but he otherwise stands quite still. He attempts to keep his expression plain, to hide the conflicting thoughts. Is it really heroism if Milo was simply a fool? Is it really wise to offer a monster a place in his herd, beside his son? Is he really caring about Milo, now of all times? And what the hell is the mare's name? How do you say it?

How is he meant to recover so quickly from such utter failure at the thing he does best?

""
Heavy is the heart
that beats beneath the corpse of its love.
Heavy is the mind now abandoned by its crutches.
image | coding


@Aquila sorry I just wanted to get something up for you sorry it is late ahhh

Aquila Posts: 95
Outcast atk: 5 | def: 9 | dam: 5.5
Mare :: Hybrid :: 16.2 :: 6 HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Craonos :: Common Narwhal Leviathan :: Boil smitty
#4
Ridges undulate as the pale giant speaks, a physical manifestation of how his voice rankles her ears. He tells her to ‘forgive the use of magic,’ and a disbelieving snort leaves her flared nostrils. Overlarge eyes flash, bright aqua and yellow nearly glowing with violence— lips that had closed over her teeth after she spoke peel back once again. Her tail flicks so sharply that an older barb comes free, spearing towards the frozen, snow-dusted ground. But it splinters as it hits the earth, fragile in its old age.

A scaled ear flicks towards the soft sound of cracking, Forgive me if I use weapons of my own, Cem.” Her growl is deep, harsh with anger as this old nag insults her. Rob her of sight to get her alone? If he wanted her alone for a fight, he succeeded— for the militant mare was bristling and shifting, preparing for battle—

But the cream stud continues, even as her haunches gather beneath her and her shoulders square; and she pauses. He comes from a herd? He wanted to lead her there? Many run from strangers? Many run from strangers in these woods? “I am not like many. Most run from me,” was her snarled reply— but she has not lunged, yet. She is listening to this sneaking, untrustworthy man.

“You saved a child.” He must be speaking of the child from the pit, the silent, deformed foal that was both scared and curious in the same moment. “Kahelo? He can speak?” He must have spoke to tell this man, or his herd, of her actions in the caves. Warily, her head lifts from its snaking, striking position while her pinned ears slowly sweep forward. An unblinking eye flicks towards Cem’s pale, scraping hoof, hide twitching uneasily at the sound.

“I am no hero,” she finally growls, tail-tip twitching agitatedly. She was a failed hero, a soldier sent to find salvation, but could not bring it to her people. “Does your Hidden Falls have a healer for my veleta?” her next question is abrupt, accompanied with a wince as she swings forward the limply-hanging fin from her face, indicating that is what she meant. She paused for a long moment, debating, before (finally) offering, “I am Aquila.”
men have drowned
in seas such as these

Please tag Aquila in all posts.

Knox Posts: 262
Outcast atk: 4 | def: 7.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17hh :: 7 Years [Tallsun] HP: 67.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Jen
#5
knox

The barbs on her tail are another threat--the moment that one flies, Knox's ears are thrown back in distinct unease. But he composes himself, does not lash out. He allows himself only a moment's hesitation, a soft grunt before nodding in agreement to her statement. She must use weapons of her own? Fine, so long as one of those needles doesn't find it embedded in his flesh.

Knox is good at his brother's command, but he doesn't know if he can be that good.

She proceeds to puff herself up, and given the evidence in her appearance and his task Knox is not one to deny her her bragging rights. Were he a little younger, a little less wed to his duty (for what else is he able to distract himself with now?) he might have run from her, too. But not today, not with all she's done for Milo and all he hopes to do for this herd. It isn't  much, but it's his foolish best.

When she says Kahelo, the hunter's heart lurches. Is that a name she has given his son, or a name he has given her? Is he following in his father's footsteps, or is she simply doing what he cannot and offering affection as simple as a moniker? But then she continues and confirms the second suspicion to be true. Knox at least does not have to be hurt by the idea that his son is confiding in others aside from himself, but the clear example of his poor part of playing the father cuts like a knife.

"We call him Milo," he answers, trying not to show his struggle. It is difficult to say the name that Aylin gave their child, and the one he so rarely says aloud. "The boy speaks rarely, and only to a few that he has known for some time. I'm not certain of a name for the condition," Knox says, hurt by the fact that he is not one that Milo speaks to. But does the boy really speak? Does talking only to a ghost count for anything?

The mention of his son flusters Knox (not visibly thanks to Cem) but seems to calm the mare. He notices the twitch of her hide as his hoof scrapes and ceases the motion abruptly, opting instead to toss his tail from side to side. When she motions with the broken fin on her side and gives her name, he nods curtly before speaking. He needs a moment, a chance to breathe in the night air, to forget all he has done wrong...

"Very well, Aquila." He pauses after he struggles with her name, now remembered but still beyond the grip of his tongue and the helovian language he has spoken his whole life. No matter, he does his best. "Yes, the Hidden Falls would be more than happy to heal you, regardless of whether or not you choose to follow me beyond our borders. But I should hope you will consider the offer, nontraditional as it might be," Knox adds, sure to remind her of why he has come. The Falls doesn't make a habit of capturing injured outcasts just to patch them up, after all.

"Regardless of whether or not you consider yourself a hero, you have done us a great service. We consider our fellow herd mates to be like family," Knox tells her with a soft nod of respect. The words mean more than either he can grasp or she can know.


""
Heavy is the heart
that beats beneath the corpse of its love.
Heavy is the mind now abandoned by its crutches.
image | coding


@Aquila

Aquila Posts: 95
Outcast atk: 5 | def: 9 | dam: 5.5
Mare :: Hybrid :: 16.2 :: 6 HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Craonos :: Common Narwhal Leviathan :: Boil smitty
#6
The tall, pale soldier reveals the child’s true name, and the seahorse cocks her finned (now slowly bleeding from her injury) head. “Milo?” her throaty voice repeats the child’s name, sounding it in her sharp teeth, thinking over it, before slightly shaking her head and continuing, “Kahelo is a better name.” He ridged face dips slightly, as if affirming her own judgment of names. The grey colt would remain Kahelo to her— he didn’t seem adverse to the name in the caves. In fact, he almost seemed to like it— the warm feeling that plagued her in the caves returns to her chest, and she shoves it aside to focus on whatever Cem is saying next.

"The boy speaks rarely, and only to a few that he has known for some time. I'm not certain of a name for the condition.” Again, the woman's head cocks, but this time to the other side. Ridged brows raise as unblinking eyes watch the man speak, “I call it ‘wisdom,’” her rough voice names Kahelo’s silence, “It is wise to hold your tongue if you do not know who you speak with.” Indeed, a soldier’s actions are worth much more than her words, and so she strongly feels her defense of the child’s silence. (But why is she defending him?)

Sharp, staring eyes watch his mouth struggle with her name before returning to stare at his age-lined eyes as he offers her a home in his ‘Hidden Falls.’ “We consider our fellow herd mates to be like family.” A visible flinch passes through her plated, brightly striped skin— a soft glow flaring once from her aqua, so great was her sudden shame. Akvo had been her family.

And now she was alone. She had failed them.

Scaled ears tilt backwards, shame strangely lining her alien, ridged face. But, despite the sudden guilt brought about by the man’s words, she speaks, “I’ll see your healers. If your ‘Hidden Falls’ is fitting for an Akvian, then I may stay.” Her throaty voice is hollow, deadened after so much anger had laced it before.
men have drowned
in seas such as these



@Knox we can start a thread in the Falls?

Please tag Aquila in all posts.


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