the Rift


[PRIVATE] Faithful, to Thee

Roskuld the Sparklight Posts: 424
World's Edge General atk: 7.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
Mare :: Tribrid :: 15.3 :: 6 HP: 82 | Buff: ENDURE
Zchiraxicon :: Royal Rougarou :: Electric Smithers
#1


I’d come here a while before—I remember that. Auntie had come and we had discussed some things and they were all hard to bear, painful to face, but important to voice out loud. It hadn’t been a good night, honestly—and even though Chico had found himself a new friend that time, it was still something I looked back on with apprehension.

But I hadn’t come there to talk to Auntie in the first place, though. I had come to look in the pool—to look in the mirror—and here I was again, doing the same thing. I don’t know why I had the compulsion to come back, to look at myself again, but yeah, here I was. And maybe it had something to do with what was going on in the Edge and all the people there but the urge to look at myself—to look at myself, to gage myself again, to see how much I had grown—captured my attention and drove out everything else.

Don’t jump in the water, dude, I told Chico from where I was standing by the bank, I wanna keep it as still as possible, don’t fuck it up.

Yeah, yeah, whatever B, Chico replied, trundling off somewhere in the thicket to take a hearty shit, lemme know if you have weird lump somewhere.

Heard.

I don’t know what I was looking for, though. Before I had just been assessing my body as a body I guess, wondering to myself what kind of a body a girl like me was supposed to have (I was still having trouble thinking myself as a woman and I didn’t know why. Before it didn’t bother me, and technically it still doesn’t, I guess, but I didn’t know what that meant. Was there a question I wasn’t asking myself somewhere?). I still didn’t know how to feel about my thick neck, or my broad shoulders, which were only accented by the thick leather straps of Sparkmarrow’s sheath and the glimmer of the blades resting against my side. It only looked like I had gotten thicker since I’ve looked at myself. I didn’t know what that meant, either (well, obviously it just meant I was older and had a little more muscle to show for it, but like. I was thinking about gender implications or some shit. I was still feeling my way in the dark).

I turned my head, reaching for Sparkmarrow’s hilt—but I kept my eye on my reflection and how it moved and flexed in the calm water, watching as some things bulged and other things were pulled taut with my motion. Was this the body of a warrior? But I had seen other warriors, female warriors, with all kinds of shapes and sizes that weren’t this. This was just me. And somehow I still didn’t know what that was.

…I need to talk to Ma, I thought suddenly, something powerful in me welling up as the idea flashed through my mind. It was a weird longing—cuz it had been an excuse for seasons now, allowing me houseroom in the World’s Edge and time to deal with shit I still didn’t know how to deal with. But here it was now, the urge flashing through my bones as I looked myself in the eye for the first time in forever.







talk
Chico

Like stars burning holes right through the dark
Flicking fire like saltwater into my eyes</style>


@Ophelia



Please tag ROSKULD in every reply!
Ascended Helovian

Ophelia the Amaranthine Posts: 701
Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 7
Mare :: Hybrid :: 16.0 hh :: 6 Years HP: 77 | Buff: BULK
Tinek :: Royal Silver Dragon :: Frost Breath & Shock Breath Tamme
#2

Ophelia the Forsaken

Ophelia and Torleik were moving south from the safety of the mountains into the body of Helovia. Though the rocky peaks were shields from danger, the seasons would turn too fast to prepare a young child to face the wrath of Frostfall at such an altitude. Her argument for having her child in the Dragon's Throat had fallen on stubborn ears, but Tor had finally seen reason. What better place to birth a child than in the middle of an island guarded by a pegasus who was mildly obsessed with her? Not that she knew Gaucho was obsessed, exactly. But she knew they had been allies for long enough that her safety would be given a reasonable priority.

Unable to fight that logic, Torleik had submit to her will, and together they moved toward the sandy shores. The journey was long and her body was growing round with every day - like the moon itself filling toward an orangemoon harvest. Fortunately, she had plenty of time to make it south given how long she was pregnant with Roskuld. She remembered that time perfectly - the fear of it, and not known what she was doing. Now, she was better prepared and no longer afraid. Ophelia was in love. She no longer had fear.

They stopped for the night, and she wandered to a familiar lake - a place that held so many memories and now even more. She did not relish the day when her mind became so full that she went insane, and she prayed she had a few more years remaining. Ophelia exhaled softly and wandered with heavier steps toward the organic smell of the water nearby. Thirst was a powerful need in pregnancy. In the Foothills, the stream had been readily available, but on their journey now, she often found her mouth dry.

As she wandered into the clearing, her gaze settled on a familiar, heart wrenching sight. She felt her chest tighten and turn with emotion, strange gaze twisted to one of furrowed brows and sadness. Roskuld....

She loved her, truly. There was a place of her heart reserved for her daughter, but she had been shit at explaining it and even more ignorant in her youth of raising the half-goddess. There were no excuses, but she tried - honestly, she did. One day, she hoped Roskuld could see that her trying meant something. She hoped that she would be seen in her mind as a good mother and not an utter failure.

Ophelia hesitated and then approached in a much less elegant manner given her size. The normal bounce and bend of her spine was gone, weighed down, and the fit muscles had been leeched by the growing life in her belly. "Roskuld," she said, her voice wavering with so many emotions, but most of all was hope. "Roskuld, how are you? It's so nice to see you." It was honest. She was glad to see Roskuld. Concerned, yes. Worried, yes. But still glad.

"I ah... you are going to have a sibling soon, though I wish not to pressure you. Should you have need of me, I will be in the Dragon's Throat where I will be safe." The words were rushed, but she needed to get them all out.






put a quote here
Image Credits



@Ophelia @Roskuld




Undertow has come to take me. Guided by the blazing sun. Look at everything around us. Look at everything we've done.
Please. Anyone. I don't think I can save myself. I'm drowning.


Please tag me in every response!

Roskuld the Sparklight Posts: 424
World's Edge General atk: 7.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
Mare :: Tribrid :: 15.3 :: 6 HP: 82 | Buff: ENDURE
Zchiraxicon :: Royal Rougarou :: Electric Smithers
#3

Whether it was fate, or magic, or a ghost listening to my thoughts, or some fucking reason I don’t know she was there. I thought Ma and then she was there, a specter in the night, and I tore my eyes away from my reflection just to see how fat she was.  

Dimly, in the back of my head, I could feel Chico struggling to get the shit out of him as fast as he could, cuz my gut was already twistin’ around and around. At the sound of Ma’s voice, at her scent in the air catching up to me just as I was seeing her pale form for the first time in seasons, and noticing in the same instant the way her sides swelled well outside the silhouette I’d always known her to have.

She asked me a question and I didn’t answer cuz all of me was frozen to the spot, and I was able to move but scared to do it, just in case it turned out this was an illusion that would scare off if I even gave off the tiniest intention of an embrace. But of course that didn’t make any sense, cuz I don’t think I’d ever imagine Ma this swollen,  her body all wrong shaped, or maybe just different shaped, I dunno, maybe there’s a fear prejudice in there that I wasn’t acknowledging.  

She…she looked well, though. Fine. Like she was happy.

I still couldn’t say nothin’ though, stuck like I was with her sudden appearance, and she was talking again anyway, her words rushing forward like she was trying to spit them out before she got too scared to do it. Like she was getting the worst of it out of the way. And…like…I can’t say she was wrong.

*I ah... you are going to have a sibling soon, though I wish not to pressure you.*

Chico was still furiously trying to take his shit and I was standing there with my insides not entirely twisted enough, just in time for a bomb to drop on them, shatter them with the shrapnel and choke me with the mushroom cloud. I think I actually stopped breathing for a second, for the tiniest instant, and I’m not sure if my heart was beating like it was supposed to, either. Vertigo gripped me and the world spun for a second as my head tried and failed and tried harder and still failed and tried a third time and finally kinda sorta got a grasp on the idea of

another sibling.

No pressure tho.

“Oh,” I said, cuz that’s all I was capable of saying. Oh. That age-old fear of mine was dancing right in front of me: Ma settling herself into a new family, a family she chose, a family she wanted, and glowing from the opportunity. And maybe that’s why Chico was trying so hard to get back to me, because something was gonna break in me any moment now and he needed to be there to break my fall.

But…nothing…broke. Nothing shattered and split like it was supposed to. Wasn’t this a nightmare? Wasn’t this something I was dreading?

And yet it wasn’t that absolute. Because Ma was building a new family but she was extending a hand, inviting me into it. And I was gonna be a big sister.

I was gonna be someone’s Big Sis.

And I’m not sure how to spit that feeling out.

“Oh,” I said again, but this was a lot more soft and it trembled a lot more and I was still scared of making any sudden movements cuz part of me still expected Ma to flee from the sight of me, a memory she didn’t have. “I…thanks for telling me,” I said, still in that soft voice, and maybe they were warm words too, I dunno—I just hoped they weren’t too simple. I just hope she knew that the thanks was very, very real.

I was shocked I guess, more than anything, that she would tell me where she’d be, if I ever needed her. That she was letting me know I was gonna be a Big Sis, that she was giving me that kind of gift after the awful, awful shit I had spit in her face the last time I looked her in the eye. It’d been years but that kind of heaviness wasn’t something I wanted to sweep under the rug. I could look her in the eyes now—it was now or never, before something happened to my Mama, before I would lose track of my—my family again.

“I’m…sorry,” I said, spitting it just like she had spit her own words. I’m sorry, Ma. I’m sorry it hurts when you look at me sometimes. I’m sorry I said all that bullshit to you. I’m sorry I cause too much pain. I never meant to hurt you. I’m sorry, Ma.







talk
Chico

Like stars burning holes right through the dark
Flicking fire like saltwater into my eyes</style>


@Ophelia



Please tag ROSKULD in every reply!
Ascended Helovian

Ophelia the Amaranthine Posts: 701
Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 7
Mare :: Hybrid :: 16.0 hh :: 6 Years HP: 77 | Buff: BULK
Tinek :: Royal Silver Dragon :: Frost Breath & Shock Breath Tamme
#4

Ophelia the Forsaken

Ophelia paused, her heart pounding in her chest as she waited for her daughter's response. More than any other creature, this individual who held a piece of her so tightly, she could destroy her with a single word or look. Perhaps she was mad to do so, but Ophelia continued extending herself to her daughter, knowing that is what she would have wanted from her father. She did not want to be the strong, emotionless shell of a parent, there to protect and discipline without true love or affection. Even if Roskuld were to chop off every limb extended, she would keep crawling her direction.

Because that's just want you did with your children. No matter what hate or anger they threw your way, you were still the one who gave them life. They were still yours. Nothing changed that - ever.

The "oh" she received was less then comforting, but Ophelia held fast, knowing that she found the news of her twin brothers' birth challenging as well. Granted, one of them turned out to be a psychotic devil and the other was just... well... strange. Still, she remembered what that moment had been like, and how she feared being replaced as a focus of her mother's love and attention.

So, she waited. Ophelia stood patient until Roskuld spoke again and thanked her for the information. Despite herself, a smile curled up the sides of her mousy lips. Even if the girl was uncomfortable with the idea, at least she was growing more accustomed to it by the moment. "You are welcome," she said quietly. Slowly, she took a hesitant step closer, her weight spreading the toes of her cloven hooves more than before.

Very carefully, Phi moved toward the edge of the pond to drink while Roskuld continued to work through whatever she was thinking. The Amaranthine was patient. She would wait however long it took to earn her daughter back. Finally, she lifted her head, brows furrowing when Ros apologized. Ophelia shook her head, sighing and feeling hope bloom like a wildflower in summer.

"Thank you," she said, immediately. "And you were forgiven from the moment you spoke those words to me. I hold no grudges against you, no matter what emotion come my way. You are entitled to every one, and I know I was not as good to you as I should have been." Ophelia admitted these faults freely, unfettered by pride in the face of her child.

"I just... I hope... that we can be a family, Roskuld. You will make a great sibling - unlike I was." The smile on her lips persisted and she took another deep breath, preparing for the long journey south. "I hope I see you soon. Hopefully you will see me with a child. Until then, Rokuld. I love you."




put a quote here
Image Credits



@Roskuld




Undertow has come to take me. Guided by the blazing sun. Look at everything around us. Look at everything we've done.
Please. Anyone. I don't think I can save myself. I'm drowning.


Please tag me in every response!


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