"And take some of them green alligators and long-necked geese,
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees,
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born,
Don't you forget my Unicorn."
My barely-tolerable yet somehow endearing singing continues, ignorant of the desert wildlife that runs away in terror at the sound. I chuckle as I watch some desert lizards run away from me, then try to hiss in return at a snake that warns me away. I kick sand at it and it threatens to strike. I move away awkwardly, grunting with effort and I pin my ears against my skull. Maybe I shouldn't taunt snakes... I head south from the Day Court, wandering a little bit west as well. Hours I wander, having no real idea if I'm lost and going in circles, or I happen to be on the right course toward new lands and new adventures. Finally... I see ahead of me what looks like a goddamn oasis. I scoff -- of course it's an oasis, that's the hallucination everyone gets in the desert! But no matter how many times I blink my eyes, the oasis stays there. So.. I continue on, and the oasis nears. Finally I have arrived, and I find that it is no oasis such as can be conjured by mere imagination. No, it is surrounded by rock and stone formations, and the pool of water is surrounded by lush grasses, the source seeming to be a waterfall. But where that comes from, who knows? I traverse the grasses, enjoying the feel of the cool grass beneath my hooves. I stop when I reach the waterfall, and drink from the fresh water. It's deep there, enough to swim in, and I step into it, hoping that in enjoyment of this paradise that perhaps my hoof will knock a relic, or my lazy eyes see it on the bank.
And it only hurts when I'm breathing
My heart only breaks when it's beating
Let us see. She had this. She had reached the last possible area in the night court to try and find this relic. That didn't mean she had searched the four other lands which made up Novus, but at least she would know if this relic was here or not. Alas, even if she found it she didn't doubt that she would still truck herself toward the other locations in an attempt to see these lands to their fullest and perhaps find an extra relic which could be lying around?
She shrugged off the thought of the other lands for the moment, though. She didn't have the energy to think about them when she knew that these mountains were bound to be dangerous. Her hooves were quiet, carefully placing themselves and testing almost each and every rock that she dared to use as footing. Aye, she didn't want to fall and this one trail was still very sketchy in her eyes. She had made her way into the night court through this path - but even then she had not trusted how one would be able to move through with large groups. In fact, she praised the lords that she was such a small mare - believing that if she had been much heavier that the path might not have been able to support her bodice.
Noxia wanted to search - to peer for the relic in crevices, to actually force her mind to work and participate. Yet, the fear of tumbling to her death kept her strictly upon this path - especially as she began to see the velvet and copper hues of a sunset begin to form across the sky. It was almost night, and she was certain that for once she might actually have a clear sky to see the almost full moon and bask in its subtle glow. Yes. That sounded perfect... even if it lowered her chances even more of actually finding whatever this relic was supposed to be.
Posted by: Rostislav - 06-20-2017, 12:03 AM - Forum: Archives
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Rostislav
"Now God seen some sinnin' and it gave Him pain.
And He said, "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain."
He said, "Hey, brother Noah, I'll tell you what to do.
Build me a floating zoo.""
Okay so maybe that was a little hot. A bit. A lot. But I know that it still wasn't as bad as it will be when the true heat of summer comes. I wonder idly if it will be a dry heat or a humid heat. I hate the humidity. It makes my hair go ALL sorts of crazy. Curly, frizzy.... You get it. Emerging from the dunes, I see ahead of me basked in sun (for my crossing took quite a bit..) what appears to be another Court. Must be the Day Court.. After all, I've been to two of these so-called "Courts" already. I find myself entering a large atrium. A courtyard with a large pool of water surrounded by stones. It's almost like a well, how it has been built up, but clearly is not for it lacks no way to pull water up. Surrounding the courtyard is an open walkway with columns supporting its roof. There are clearly rooms through the walkways.. perhaps at the corners, if my silver eyes don't deceive me? Looking up I see open windows in the building's facade. I think perhaps there are rooms up there, too... but the building looks to have fallen apart, decayed over time... and there is no way through the crumbling rock that those areas are still accessible.
I glance around me and find not another soul here. The Day Court, empty? Huh. font color=88ee45>"You know, I think I'm going to live here. Relic or no." It seems like a good enough home and honestly, I just get good vibes being here. I can't really explain it. I start sniffing around the pool in the middle, and dip my nose in the water to push around and see if there is something hidden underneath.
"There was green alligators and long-necked geese,
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees,
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born,
The loveliest of all was the Unicorn."
Through the trees, through the plains that I recognized from when I first arrived here at Novus, I have emerged. OH JESUS BABY I HAVE EMERGED. (RIP the Russian Orthodox... I was a lost cause from the beginning, eh?) The sun beats down on my pelt, my scars taking up a light shimmer in the rays. I lift my head to the skies and drink in the sunlight. It's unforgiving, being in a land of sun. But the spring keeps the desert that I've entered cooler than it might be in the heat of the summer. My hooves kick up sand as I enter deeper into the desert, and I wonder if I'll find anyone here in this lost world. I think... I dunno. I don't expect to find the relic here, though. There's no way I can find it among the monstrous dunes that I see in the distance. I'll have to hope that it simply peeks out at me, or that somehow I can literally stumble upon it. Either way.. if I keep walking, I'll find some new place to explore. And so, I glance around me as I walk, but casually, not worrying about my search being too difficult. Why worry - hakuna matata! The sun blazes down but I keep on, keeping on, feeling more optimistic as I head east. Something just feels... good, here.
A long time ago, when the earth was still green,
There were more kinds of animals than you've ever seen;
They'd run around free while the earth was being born,
The loveliest of all was the Unicorn.
My voice is not the prettiest - it's rugged, male, and definitely accented in Russian, not Irish as the song might have intended. But it's not as bad as you might expect it to be. The song keeps me entertained as I make my way beyond the river, having found a safe and calm place to cross it. I continue to hum the song, thinking the lyrics in my head. Soon I find myself at the entrance to a forest, and I slow my pace as I approach the dense trees. I'm sure they space out a bit more at some point, but where I've chosen to enter is thick and requires active navigation. I step carefully, watching for snags, stumps, and critters as I weave my way between the trunks. Every now and then I see a little pocket of growth that looks like it might be hiding something, and I stop to sniff and ogle, wondering if the relic may be hidden there. I'm starting to think that this 'relic' is just some idea conjured up to drive the inhabitants of Novus completely mad. It's rather working, in my case. "Oh, relic? Where are you?" I stomp a hoof into the ground and scratch a horn on a nearby trunk tree. Maybe if I keep calling to it, it'll show up? Doubtful. Verrrrry doubtful.
And it only hurts when I'm breathing
My heart only breaks when it's beating
Perhaps one might say that it was a miracle she could even find a home. After all, she had been driven from so many in the past year that it would seem as if she was destined to be alone. Aye, she might not recall the fact that she was shunned from at least three different, possible homes, but that nagging feeling still t did not go away. Something about coming into a new place always put her on edge, made her feel like she would be shoved away the second that she did something wrong.
Nox had been happy traveling alone - the way the wind had brushed against her coat, played with the waves in her tresses, it almost comforted her. The sun warmed her back in the crisp air as she dared to move closer and closer to stone and brick which towered over the lands from the southeast. It seemed to be a constant reminder that there was someone to watch over them - to take care of those who had fallen into the hands of Caligo's care. It was probably the best that such a large structure was the reminder. It would allow Nox to continually remind herself that there would always be others here. There would always be others that she would end up worrying about in the long run. That was how she was wired. Someone hurt? How badly? Could she help? If that was the case then she would do whatever she was capable of in order to help them Someone feeling down? She could listen to what ailed them, try and be the shoulder to cry on that they needed.
Still, she had decided to move forward - closer and closer to the stone and brick that built up the Night Court. Aye, she had yet to hear of someone leading these lands - only seeing those who claimed to call this place their home. She was like those, though. She claimed that this land was her home but she had no strong ties to it. She had stumbled in, tried to make it her home, and here she was finally starting to get to the area that was the center of this land. Yet, all she could see was areas to hide - to start to hole away. She needed to reset. To try and deal with all of the new information which was being flooded toward her. Oh, it was crazy just how much she was trying to take in - to understand. This was all so new, and nothing truly seemed safe. Nothing seemed safe especially as the firelight flickered dully around her from the torches near her. Oh, it was eery. It was almost stressful. Something would jump out of every corner, from the shadows. So she tried her hardest in order to find the brightest spot. Twenty steps. Thirty. Forty. THERE! She collapsed up against the stone - feeling the cold from the brick sting against her hide. A reminder that she was alive - that she would have to move at some point. But for now, she would rest. She hadn't allowed her knees to buckle. No, she would rest on her hooves - just keeping most of her weight against the wall with the torchlight flickering above her. Eyes wide, ears at attention, waiting for someone to come closer - for something to jump out of the ever-moving shadows.
Damascus soon came to realise that while his search had taken him to even the furthest corners of the continent he was yet to check even his own back yard for signs or signals of any divinity, be it the relic or just some sort of clue to it's presence. It occurred to the child that perhaps he should have started with the lands closer to home (rather than starting so far away). Perhaps it was that too much travel had turned him sour and jaded, thus wished not to take flight on a day like today but instead slowly romp the fields of Denocte. Who he might stumble upon or what was of little concern, and truly he wasn't even looking for the relic as he bashfully baltered over the terrain with gangly legs absently kicking a the tufts of grass.
"Stop that" Dohv came to bellow telepathically, his teeth soon to dig into a root he'd dug up during the night to eat. "Yew shud be out trainin', not goofin' about the fields kickin' at th'grass!" "But Dohv, Bored I am!" Damascus wailed, stomping his hoof with great force into the earth below. Training? how? with who? Besides he wanted to find the relic... or rather, he did but he couldn't be bothered looking as hard as he ought to.
"Look we long for Dohv. Find we not!"
Damascus had despaired the whole trek along the riverbank, his gaze cast into its deathly white foam as he skated across the mud. There must be a reason they hadn't found anything relic-related yet - probably because it was at the bottom or an ocean or at the depths of the Rapax. Not a trace had been left upon the earth, not a single mark or divine sign lead them to any clues either - was it even true? Was there a relic or was is just a silly prank that started small and now devoured the minds of the greedy like Kaladin?
Wings flared and nose craning over the river, Damascus aimed ot keep himself steady as he remained perches upon the bank. Crooning his gaze over the floodwater, his brows increasingly furrowing, he knew there was no way to check under the waves for such an object unless they could ask a creature who lived below them.
As if Tempus himself had sent it, Damascus was soon to cast his gaze upon a small family of Otters. The tallest of which was smacking a fish upon a rock, clearly the father, while the mother lined up the three children in preparation for supper. "Speak them to Dohv? Ask we of relic to them?" Damascus asked the jerboa upon his wings.
Moving onward from the swamp - and I'm very happy to have left it behind - I cross the creek that I had once stumbled on before. I do not see the stallions that were there when I once visited it. I continue past the creek, leaving the low banks behind me and continue to what seems like a new land. As I've been traveling I've noticed that each place I go has a certain... feel to it. Like perhaps they are ruled by different lords? Gods? I'm not sure how Novus is put together, but I know that've seen a good portion of it. Cliffs, fields, creeks, peaks... there's a lot of exploring that I've done, for certain, and I wonder if I will be able to keep it all together in my mind. Rostislav the Explorer, I'll be!
I find myself confronted with a river, luckily calm in the afternoon's sun. Birds sing and I think I even see fish swimming below the surface. It's wider than the creek and certainly deeper, and I wonder if fording it is going to be a safe option. I glance downriver and find it narrows, enough perhaps that traversing it won't be so horrible. It's a crazy idea but I think perhaps that a running start might help... Maybe. I start up a canter, then break into a full gallop as I approach the bank. A better leap than I could have hoped for gets me over half-way across. I crash into the water with the grace of a hippo and immediately start swimming across. The water is deep, but the current slow, and I reach the other bank soaked but unharmed. Sturdy hooves and legs drag my carcass from the water and I shake out like a wet dog.
Continuing forward I reach something new and strange. Similar to the Dusk Court I had stumbled upon with Weir, I find what must be another Court. A circular area marked by tall columns, a pool of water encircled with stone in the middle of it all. Small, mostly roof-less buildings crop up within the marked area, but I don't bother just now to explore them. Instead I stop at the pool of water and stare at my reflection in the strangely clear water. Maybe my reflection will talk back and tell me what where I am or where the relic is.
I lead the way as we travel from the beautiful fields. Of course I've had to take a nap after all the searching. After all, a man can't go on forever! Though that's not what I tell the ladies... A rare chuckle slips out. I can feel my testosterone rise in the presence of the young female unicorn, but my heart isn't in it. So locked away that I can't even manage to get it up, no strings attached. I glance behind me at Weir, making sure she follows behind me.
I tread carefully through the swamp, or at least I'm trying... but my hooves still make a disgusting slurping sound overtime I pull them from the muck. "I hope it isn't here... I'm not a fan of becoming one with the mud." Mud. I like earth and rock, but I'm not a big fan of mud. I sniff at the wet, viscous substance and wonder how we would ever find a relic buried under all of this... I look back at Weir, stopping and waiting for her to catch up to me. "How are we supposed to even know when we've found it? Angels descend singing and trumpets blare?" I roll my eyes (though of course with their paleness you can't tell).
Walk. Talk.
OOC: Permission from Bonita to say they're traveling together. Also sorry it's so terrible
Tag: @Weir
