the Rift


[PRIVATE] What you're destined to become

Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#1
The world felt heavy today, and yet the knowledge that Isopia had brought life into this world seemed to lessen the weight of it somewhat. Still, she felt too hot, too crowded, and yet somehow still so alone in the Throat. This was not her home, and despite the fact that she had come here with the understanding that she would know a good many who lived here, Isopia quickly realized that she only knew them in official capacities. Ampere, Sohalia, Maren ... And those she was closer with (Aithniel - gone, Zekle, gone), like Volterra were pulled away from her by duty. It wasn't that she necessarily minded, she did like being alone after all, but that she didn't have the option, that she felt like an intruder here, left an uncomfortable chill all across her spine despite the balmy temperature.

And so, not knowing where to go, Isopia moved towards the shoreline, taking in the vast expanses of the ocean and its dark mysteries, and letting her mind plunge into its chilly depths.  

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Otem Posts: 19
Dragon's Throat Filly
Filly :: Tribrid :: 17.2 ::
Pandora :: Melanistic Barn Owl :: None Odd
#2
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
"You never told me what to call you-" Otem's voice is confident, despite its youthful tenor. A pair of golden and burgandy eyes focused on the tall and lean form of Isopia, as the mare gazed out at the water. Even though the girl was young, if she quieted her thoughts and turned her mind inwards, she could feel all these different sorts of things. Though perhaps feel wasn't particularly the right word. It was more like her mind was the one feeling them. Like her mind was knowing them.

Like now, she felt oddly claustrophobic despite how wide open the throat seemed to be, and that she attributed to the mare before her.

Standing still and patient, the tribrid filly gazed at her mother's backside, waiting for her to turn around and respond to the accusation she had just offered. In the tangled auburn base of her mane, Pandora peaked her head out, watching the scene with large golden eyes. Even though she was just a chick, she could sense the dragons around, and although they were all predators, she could easily be a snack for them.
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Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#3
Motherhood did not come easily for Isopia. There was no maternal instinct that had swept hold of her heart making her see her children more tenderly or allowing her to love them more fully. Nothing had changed, save for the fact that her sides were beginning to deflate. And so, the demigoddess found herself having to force her face to remain free of any expressions that might give away how annoyed she felt at being interrupted, even though she was just considering how alone she felt here.

"I suppose you're right. I didn't even think of it." Turning, the Mountain eyed her daughter blandly. "My preference is to be called Isopia. Or The Mountain that Knows." Her slender shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, indicating that she didn't particularly care which. Her name had been spoken so freely from so many pairs of lips that she had lost track. It all started with her Father, but she supposed there was no real point in keeping up the pretence of secrecy anymore. The cat was out of the bag, as it were.

From the sand, Hubris looked up with a bright toothy grin. He waved happily at the child, bounding over and trilling a happy hello. Babel was out fishing; scouring the ocean waves and periodically diving down into the depths to try and catch fish.

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Otem Posts: 19
Dragon's Throat Filly
Filly :: Tribrid :: 17.2 ::
Pandora :: Melanistic Barn Owl :: None Odd
#4
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
"The other children call their parents mother and father, or some such variation." Otem observed, stepping closer and folding her small wings tightly around her equally small frame to protect against the chilly ocean breeze. As Hubris trilled a hello, the girl merely looked down at him with wide sombre eyes and nodded in response.

"Why are you different?" Otem asked suddenly, turning back to look at Isopia. The filly's expression was as meticulously masked as her mother's was, although there was a youthfulness that made her seem more open and less closed off and hardened the way Isopia often did. "I get the feeling I am meant to call Volterra Father, or Apa as one of his other children does. Why shall I call you Isopia and not Mother? What is the root of your preference?" Finally her rambling stopped. Unlike Isopia, Otem did not bother to fit her thoughts into succinct soundbites before speaking them. Instead, she merely opened her lips and let the words flow out.


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Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#5
Isopia nods in agreement with her daughter's observation. And although it makes some part inside of her grow cold as Otem mentions Volterra's other children, she nods in agreement with this as well. Very likely her sire will want to be called Father or something equally traditional.

For a moment Isopia's gaze narrows as her child asks why she is different. " That question has so many answers.." Isopia mumbles as Otem rightfully clarifies what she meant. With a sigh, Isopia looks out towards the ocean for a moment, fixing the colour of the water in her mind before turning back to her child.

"Mother is a term which denotes a certain type of relationship. Typically it is an adjective which describes a female who has given birth. It becomes a noun when applied correctly." Pausing to make sure Otem was listening, Isopia continued. "But I am more than that. Why shouldn't I be called Apostle, Native-Speaker, or Air-Breather, if adjectives are so important to who we are?" Her quad-horned head shook slightly. "I am Isopia the Mountain that Knows, and it is only that title that correctly captures all that I am.

Mother doesn't even begin to pick me out."


Spreading a wing, the mare indicated the rest of the Dragon's Throat. "How many mothers do you think are here? Why should I be called something so generic?"

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Otem Posts: 19
Dragon's Throat Filly
Filly :: Tribrid :: 17.2 ::
Pandora :: Melanistic Barn Owl :: None Odd
#6
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
Otem listens with rapt eagerness to this lesson in language and linguistics. Rather than being put-off at the slightly offended tone her mother used, she appreciated it. Something about the way her mother Isopia spoke made everything seem so much more clear and understandable.

"I see.." She begins, gold and burgundy eyes narrowing slightly as she allowed her mind a moment to digest the new information. "That doesn't seem that hard to understand..So why do so many of the others still allow themselves to be called something so mundane? Something so uninformative?"

There was another question on her lips, some sort of unspoken but felt assumption. It wasn't that there was something wrong with them, it was that there was something wrong with her. With Isopia.

And very likely with Otem as well. Possibly Vulkan too. How much of what made Isopia the strange creature that she was and had come to be known as, coloured Otem's blood? Was she destined to become the same sort of creature as her mother was?


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Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#7
The demigoddess allows a brief affirming smile to part her lips as her head nods. She approves and appreciates of the way Otem is summarizing what she has said. It shows that she has both understood what Isopia was trying to communicative, but also that she truly has internalized the words and the meanings. Although it hadn't occurred to the Mountain until just this moment that she might give birth to a stupid child, she is now incredibly relieved to know that she hasn't.

"I suspect it is because custom is ingrained into them. Even those who thinks themselves to be quite clever go along with the strangest of suggestions merely, citing custom and convention. It is easier not to think, and just to follow, and so the majority of them do. " Isopia's slender shoulders rise and fall. "Clearly I don't subscribe to that sort of mentality. I should hope that you will not either."

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Otem Posts: 19
Dragon's Throat Filly
Filly :: Tribrid :: 17.2 ::
Pandora :: Melanistic Barn Owl :: None Odd
#8
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
Otem doesn't have enough life-experience yet to know whether or not Isopia's characterization of others is true or not, but all of what her mother has said makes sense to her and seems to be true. Still, like a good budding academic, she reserves a bit of skeptisim, assuming that not even her apparently-very-clever mother is above bias.

"I will do my best. But .. Isopia.." Otem begins, pausing to chew her lip and think of how best to formulate the questions spinning in her mind. "I can see why it is that others are the way they are, especially if it is easier to be that way ... but then why are you this way? Is it something that you've done? Or simply something that you are?" Pausing to swallow, unsure if she wants to know the answer, Otem soldiers on. "Will I be the same? Will Vulkan?"

With the question finally lingering in the air between them, Otem grows quiet. From her mane, Pandora gives a small hoot of encouragement, before falling silent lest she attract the attention of the dragons.

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Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#9
Isopia can't quite remember if anyone has every asked her this particular question before. Implicitly she had just assumed that most thought it was because of her status as a demi-god that she was the way that she was. However neither Kahlua nor the God of the Earth were (or are) particularly philosophical. So the fact that her intellect came from either of her parents is perhaps not as understandable of an assumption as it might seem.

So where did it come from?

Truthfully, Isopia has no idea. She is of course thankful that she is the way she is, despite how difficult it can often make her life. But she can't with entire intellectual honesty ascribe all of it to herself. "I was born this way, I think." Isopia begins, her golden eyes meeting the bi-coloured gaze of her daughter. "I lack empathy I believe. I don't experience the world the way others do. I think that's what makes it easier for me to be analytic." As her child inquires as to whether or not she or her sibling might have inherited this trait, Isopia furrows her brows slightly, unsure.

"What do you think?" The Mountain asks studiously. "You've seen a bit of the herd now. Do you think you are the same as they are?"

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Otem Posts: 19
Dragon's Throat Filly
Filly :: Tribrid :: 17.2 ::
Pandora :: Melanistic Barn Owl :: None Odd
#10
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
Although Otem already knows the answer, she allows herself to fall silent as if she's contemplating Isopia's question. In actuality, precisely this has been in the forefront of the young filly's thoughts practically since she was born. As soon as she took her first stumbling steps away from her mother's side, both with and without Vulkan, she knew in her soul that there was something very different about both she and her twin.

She was perhaps not quite like Isopia, but she was far closer to her mother's mindset than she would ever be to the rest of the herd.

Otem was different.

"I don't think I'm the same. I...I think I can understand the things they are feeling. It's like I know what i'm supposed to be feeling, I just...I just don't." Otem's wings drooped slightly from her sides, as if she had done something wrong. Her ram-horned skull dropped closer to the ground as if gravity had exerted a stronger hold on her suddenly.

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Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#11
"Can you really?" Isopia sounded genuinely surprised, curious, and pleased all at once. Her eyes, bright with intrigue glistened as she took a step towards her daughter. Uncharacteristically Isopia extended a wing allowing one of her longer flight feathers to touch the bottom of Otem's chin and try to raise it. "That is a true gift." The demi-goddess breathed, retreating a step and letting out a low whistling sound from deep in the back of her throat.

"That is something I have never been able to do, and my life has been much more difficult because of it. I usually rely on Babel and Hubris to tell me the emotive states of those around me ... but if you can pick up on them all on your own..." Her quad-horned skull shook and Isopia allowed herself another brief smile. "It will make your life a great deal easier. There are many who find the intellect you and I possess, and our need to know to be annoying. I nearly started a war once between the herd I ruled and another simply because of differences in ideals. I proceeded based on what I took to be the routine way things were done in such situations, and all nearly fell apart...and all because I couldn't understand the emotional subtext of a conversation."

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Otem Posts: 19
Dragon's Throat Filly
Filly :: Tribrid :: 17.2 ::
Pandora :: Melanistic Barn Owl :: None Odd
#12
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
Isopia's reaction is definitely not one which Otem had been expecting. If anything, she thought that her mother might disapprove of the fact that she possessed any sort of emotional intuition at all. Surely it would make her more vulnerable to behaving irrationally and what not? but that it was not only something her Mother thought was valuable but that it was also a skill that not even Isopia possessed was... Well, staggering to the young girl's mind.

"Really?" Otem breathed, as if still not daring to believe that it was true, that these compliments were for her. A smile spread across her youthful features, and she grinned proudly up at her mother. Feeling this swell of emotion, Pandora hesitantly tried to poke her head through Otem's whirl of mane. Her wide golden eyes narrowed as they saw Isopia, immediately darting down to the ground where Hubris was still. With a hoot of fright, the young owlet disappeared back into Otem's tresses.

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Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#13
"Yes." Isopia agreed, silently wondering to herself what sort of life her young daughter might have. She wondered if Otem would grow quickly the way that she had. If she would find a friend like Zero, or if she would want for no one since she had been born with a twin.

"You will have to learn how to pretend." Isopia counselled. "If you don't feel what they feel, you will have to act as if you do. You will have to show the emotions and expressions that they expect from you. It will be hard, but it will make things easier. You'll gain information faster, gain trust faster. You won't need to explain yourself as much.." This sudden outpouring from Isopia was just as unexpected to the demigoddess as it likely was to her daughter. Swallowing, Isopia raised her head and turned back to the sea, wishing it would swallow her.



Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Otem Posts: 19
Dragon's Throat Filly
Filly :: Tribrid :: 17.2 ::
Pandora :: Melanistic Barn Owl :: None Odd
#14
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
Now was apparently the time for surprising statements from Isopia, because once again Otem had not anticipated the words which came from her mother's lips.

"What?" The girl demanded, even as her mother turned away. Otem's brows narrowed as she allowed confusion and frustration to colour her youthful features. "Why would I do that? You only just chastised everyone else for following the easy route, but now you tell me precisely that I should? What makes this so different?" Self-righteousness and her small understanding of the world fueled the small tribrid making her stand taller and more defiant against the sea breeze as it blew back her auburn hair. Otem's nostrils quivered slightly as she stood, head raised just a bit (Isopia was significantly taller than she), waiting for her mother to turn around so that she could defend herself against the error she believed her mother to have made.

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Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#15
"Yes." Isopia can hear something that sounds like anger in Otem's voice, and instead of pulling her eyes away from the ocean and turning to console her upset child, Isopia merely lets her stew in her own anger. Without emotion to push the mare towards comforting Otem, there is simply nothing in Isopia's body that suggests she should. The filly is wrong, and in time she will come to see that. For now, perhaps she simply needs to be angry. Isopia doesn't know - being angry isn't a state that the demigoddess finds herself in these days.

"You will see." Isopia responds, her voice an academically sterile melody on the ocean breeze. On the sand, Hubris trills softly. He agrees with Isopia, but for reasons that he cannot communicate to the filly. So instead he tries to pat her foreleg, trilling as reassuringly as he can. Isopia ignores this of course, thinking that her daughter needs experience and wisdom rather than reassurance, but says nothing.

Hubris is a better mother than she will ever be, and so she leaves him to it.

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Otem Posts: 19
Dragon's Throat Filly
Filly :: Tribrid :: 17.2 ::
Pandora :: Melanistic Barn Owl :: None Odd
#16
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold

"What?!"

More righteous indignation bubbled from the filly as not only did Isopia fail to turn around and actually respond to her, but all she did was give some grown-up answer. "You will see?!" Otem recited, stamping a small hoof upon the sand and sending Hubris skittering away suddenly. "Why wouldn't you just tell me. If all of this is to make my life easier in a way that yours wasn't, why bother with all of this wait and see? If there's something you know that one day I will too, then why shouldn't I know it now?"

Tears threatened to prick Otem's eyes, but she furiously blinked them back. She had no idea why she was having such a boisterous reaction to this exchange with her mother, but now that she was in it, the thought of just calmly walking away seemed impossible. With her nostrils continuing to flare with each angry childish breath, Otem's gaze bore into the back of her mother, mentally willing her to turn around and give her the answers that Otem so desperately wanted.

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Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#17
"Your anger is annoying." Isopia murmured, casting a dispassionate glance over her shoulder towards Otem's hostile face, before looking back to the serene ocean. "The fact that you're having this reaction now is precisely what shows that you are not ready." Isopia's voice was calm, despite the fact she'd just told her daughter that she was being annoying. "There are things in this world that take contextual understanding in order for you to comprehend them. Because you are so new to this world, while wait and see may just sound like a platitude, it really is the best advice I can give you at this point."

Isopia took a deep breath of salty ocean air before turning back to regarding Otem. "This world is not full of a prior truths Otem. There are lessons only experience can impart, and this is one of them." Not really knowing how to reassure her child but feeling obligated to, Isopia did finally turn directly towards her, regarding the ram-horned child who was such an odd mix of Isopia, Volterra, and the God of the Earth. "If there is knowledge that I have that you want, I will never withhold it from you. Understand that this is not that. You need to go and experience the world, and only then will you be able to understand this."

Isopia

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
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Otem Posts: 19
Dragon's Throat Filly
Filly :: Tribrid :: 17.2 ::
Pandora :: Melanistic Barn Owl :: None Odd
#18
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
Caught between the need to prove herself to be clever and the logic of her mother's words, Otem could do little else other than allow her lower lip to pucker as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. Dammit, she thought, exhaling and staring with a childish bitterness into Isopia's eyes.

Her mother was right (of course), and Otem was quickly learning how much she hated being wrong.

Exhaling loudly and dramatically, Otem popped her lip back into her mouth and shrugged. "Fine. Great. I'll just wait then." The words tumbled out of her mouth before she had a chance to think about them, and as their sounds hit her ears the girl realized just how childish and petulant they sounded. "Why are you out here anyways?" Otem asked, trying to change the subject and erase her mini-tantrum from the conversation. The ram-horned child looked out over Isopia's shoulder to where the waves were lapping against the shore. She felt a sense of magnitude and of calm wash over her, but those didn't seem like the sorts of things that would normally appeal to her mother. 

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Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780
Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0
Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB
Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd
#19
The Mountain didn't care for or about her daughter's sarcastic reply, though she was relieved that the girl was letting the issue drop. Hopefully Otem would grow out of whatever argumentative phase this was ... or at least, if she was going to continue to argue, better that she at least be right. Perhaps her brother would rub off on her. Vulkan rarely argued, he inquired frequently and then would fall silent to ponder what he had learned. Otem seemed more fond of hearing her own voice than considering the words she was using.

Or so it seemed to Isopia.

"Because I enjoy the sea." The demigoddess replied simply, turning to stand shoulder to shoulder with her child and allowing her eyes to be enveloped by the scenery once more. "So much of the desert stays the same, but the sea is always changing. I find that reassuring and pleasant to look at."

Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
Image Credits

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here


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