Constant

[Kauri]

It never missed a beat- the memories that rewind within him. Nothing was lost, it was clear and mind grabbing. Like a tack, it stuck with him and there was no force in removing it. Though he began drawing into a better light; how all of this was a tell tale of something that lay greater in his core. Of course, he stood the non-believer out of all that delivered praise and comfort. Family and friends always spoke for what they considered a jewel, how they saw the clarity within that matter in which they held out to have a grab at. Eyes were blind, happily so to such a thing. Call him a fool, a doubter. This all was only under a rug, so perhaps a wonderer?

Light beamed heavily on his skin, baking it as per usual. An everyday occurrence that would have anyone burning if they never turned to bask in it perpetually. It had become a welcoming embrace to the young male, never hesitating to remain in it. Lids fluttered as he gazed down at the liquid before him. A small nicker grew out of his throat, having forgotten his place for a moment before finally getting his thoughts in order. Ah, yes, he had downed himself here once giving up on trying to assess whether this was an illusion or reality. Rest had helped rule out which it was certainly not. Although... what else was he missing? Times like these ate at him greatly- the event of knowing something had gone missing from one's memory. Putting a hoof forward, he pushed himself up into a sit, stretching his neck before shaking out his mane.

Kauri remained in his position, his head going along as he took in the scenery with a hopeful gaze. It felt far too long since a sense of stability waved over him during his leave and journey for the lands beyond his original home. That breath of fresh air he needed, that is this sector. Stretching out both his forelegs, he finally got up, capering forward to exercise his entire body. What to do, where to begin? Ambling over to a tree not far from where he once laid, he peered up at it as if he were looking for something or simply expecting a certain thing from it. Rearing up, folded legs pressed against the tree as he attempted to reach, snapping at whatever he was getting at. How nonsensical.

Speaks | Thoughts

[Seraphina]

Sometimes Seraphina tried to think about her firsts.

“Tried” was, naturally, the key word. Memories, she thought, were supposed to be somewhere - even if you didn’t think about the first time that you say something, or heard something, or felt something every time you saw it or heard it or felt it, you still knew about it, and some part of you would probably always associate whatever it was with that first experience, regardless of how familiar or different that something became. Standing in a sheltered alcove on the far side of the Vitae Oasis, belly-deep in cold blue water, Seraphina tried to remember the first time that she had seen the Oasis. For a fraction of a second, she recalled a brush of sunlight on rippling waves, but nothing else that she’d think that she would associate with it. She didn’t remember the color of the water, the brush of sandy air, the sudden coolness when she stepped into cool blue waves – something that she never would have felt before. She didn’t remember seeing green that she’d never seen before, lingering beneath these verdant trees with a quiet reverence. The image she could recall wasn’t a memory so much as it was a line of text that she could read; it was a thought, rather than a picture. She didn’t know why she was at the Oasis the first time. She remembered that she came. She remembered this place, called the Vitae Oasis, and she understood it in a scientific sense, like she was hearing it secondhand from a story told by someone else entirely. When she thought about it, tried to grasp for something that simply wasn’t there, Seraphina was overcome with a sense of dull, throbbing pain that she couldn’t quite place. (The past three months had been the clearest of her life.)

Closing her eyes, she dipped her muzzle in the cold, clear waves, but she didn’t drink the water.

The sound of motion from the opposite shore pulled her from her thoughts and reverie, and she peered around the rocky edge of her small cove, mismatched eyes running along the tree-covered sandbank; a moment of searching revealed the shape of a youth. He didn’t seem to have completely grown into himself, but, from her rudimentary – and distant – observations, he was well-built and compact for his small stature, athletic and muscular. His coat was a mix of black and pale roan; darkest along his legs and the sea of tiger-like stripes that ran down his back, but light in its base. His mane and tail were distinctly wavy, and cut sharp, a mixture of creamy off-white and black. Seraphina couldn’t see his eyes, as his back was turned to her, but she thought that she saw the glint of something around his throat; it put her in mind of her own collar. He was currently leaned up against one of the trees, forelegs hiked up on its trunk, head inclined to stare into the branches. Was he looking for something? She supposed it didn’t matter. She didn’t recognize him, so she imagined that she should figure out if he should be here in the first place.

The water parted around her lean frame as she sloshed her way across the Oasis; it brushed up only a few inches further up her chest at its deepest, to her relief. She emerged dripping on the other bank, coat sleek and shiny in the bright light of day. With a decent gap still between herself and the youth, Seraphina stared him down, and, her curiosity getting the better of her desire to interrogate him on his intent, for the moment, asked, “Is something up there?”



@Kauri - sorry this took so long, lovely <3

[Kauri]

Slipping away at the nothingness to whatever he sought. Back into a dream that came riddled with regret and that lost ambition. Skull aligned downward to have its bridge press against this tree. Feathers tickled him but also did their due in working as a prompter. Not one thing he could make of it, its intentions dull despite that sharp hit to the nerve. He had no idea as to why it did such thing. A piece to that passed equine, a reminder to their final breath. Sighing aloud, he peered up at the tree's foliage once more. Every detail he could see upon it yet it felt to be a figment of his imagination. With those images in which speckled the horizon of the desert, he sat in a hole as he could no longer give reality its due. No, it was real but the likelihood of it not is what tore him deep inside. The longer he soaked in the mess that was his thoughts, the deeper he would find himself in uncertainty.

Before even taking the thought to bring a foreleg back down to earth a voice reached his ear, causing the young male to get on the defensive for a moment. All that time wallowing in the depths of his mind to only now realize another was present upon this oasis. He drew out more distance between by just a meter, violet eyes examining their form. Striped: the same as he, however, the stranger's wrapped around legs versus his taking torso. Of course, their eyes were what caught his attention but not simply because of the different hues happening, self was searching for something within them. 

Quietness overtook the area for a minute but it certainly gave the sense of drawing out much more than that. Finally his scanning ceased, blinking and shaking his head. The male almost lost what the dame had said to him, snorting as he viewed up at the tree he previously pressed against. There was something up there; a sorcery he had no warning of that could easily take the reins of his thoughts. Though he would not say such as it was nothing but pure silliness. "Yes, I'm sure you can see the leaves reaching out." Kauri stated, tempted to try and grab one. Let's not immediately run dry words into the ground. Sighing at his first response, words were rearranged into a statement that flowed a bit better. "Sadly, no, there is nothing to give interest on. Perhaps you know of a better tree worth the look?" he chuckled, moving around the stranger to return close to the water's edge. It was still here, giving life to this place. Gazing back at the other, he now noticed the state of their appearance, glossier than what was usual.

"I hadn't disturbed anything of yours, have I?"

Speaks | Thoughts

@Seraphina, terribly sorry for the late response! Unusual for me to take this long. -kicks self-