The laughter of the water is calm and soothing. A gentle to and fro wash among the expanse of the beach. Cicatrix steps along, cloven hooves sinking down in the sands and tilting their head downward to watch as the gilded hooves are enveloped by at least an inch or two of watery grains. It's been a long time since they've been to a beach, especially in the bright light of a sunlit day. But Novus is warm, welcoming, much like the arms of summer that are enveloping them right now. They sink a little more upon taking another step, the gold of the dewclaws even touching the grains, before there's a swish of their long tail and sudden giddiness envelops them.
Laughter bubbles up and out, warm and soft as their head tosses and they frolic down the beach for a few meters, kicking up sands around them with their delighted motions until there's a swing of their wings and they hold them open. The sun beats down on them, warming the membranes of skin webbed between delicate bones, and for a moment, they tilt their head back as if closing their eyes and sighing. Warmth is all that matters at the moment, and they remain like that before finally dropping their wings.
Tilting their head down, they catch a gleam in the sand with their gaze, moving over and reaching down with a wing to gently swipe away wet grains of sand. Below them, the blue ooze drops from between their teeth, sinking into the sand, swallowed up, but Cica doesn't much mind. As of late, the dripping blue hasn't been as bad, only a delicate stream here and there from between their teeth and from their eyes.
Delighted, Cica uncovers a small shell, using the very weak telekinesis to pick it up and look it over. Spiraled, grooved. A conch shell, they know, but of a beautiful pink and white with tinges of gold on the edge. This is something they might keep for themselves, like a crow with any sort of shiny material. So they carefully carry it with them, moving on to see if they can find more of these underwater treasures.
ooc|| open for anyone wanting to hunt some shells with this bean !
12-02-2020, 11:44 PM - This post was last modified: 12-02-2020, 11:45 PM by Cicatrix
It stretched hours worth of walking in both directions, and as far as she could see into the distance ahead of her. The lakes and ponds she’d seen in her youth had sometimes been vast, but not so vast that she couldn’t see the shore on the other side. It was simply unfathomable to her that so much water could exist in one place.
And yet, here it was, lapping at her toes, taunting her. She glared back.
She stomped a hoof into the surf for good measure, dappling herself with cold salty water. Her belly clenched at the sensation. Io already knew not to drink the strange water, and that had been quite a memorable experience. She swore she could still taste the brine and fish poop on her tongue.
A great crashing to her side made her lose her staring contest with the oppressive waves. She would have won, no doubt. Ears flat against her neck, she spun to confront the intruder, snarl of go away already on her lips. She’s all full up on her social interactions, thank you very much. This day had been specifically set aside for sulking and moping. Try again tomorrow.
But as soon as she caught sight of the beast, she faltered, jaw dropping. She stared at the frolicking creature, and her eyes had to keep climbing up and up and up to meet its gaze. It was huge. Huge and blue and black and winged and no skin on its face.
She knew she was staring, but there was just so much to stare at, and it wasn't like the creature seemed to have noticed her yet. She was taking in the swirling nebulas and bright stars over the surface of its wings when those very wings swept over the sand and revealed… garbage.
But the creature seemed enraptured by it, drawing it close and turning it over this way and that. It even seemed to grow excessively emotional over the little flake of trash, blue tears spilling from its blank, empty sockets and dripping to the ground below. Io couldn’t begin to imagine becoming that attached to anything.
The tears seemed so at odds with the creature’s almost… jovial manner? Everything about them was so alien and strange that Io didn’t know where to begin deciphering and interpreting their actions.
“Hello,” She called, approaching cautiously. Some of those golden teeth looked awfully sharp. “What do you have there?”
They haven't noticed that they aren't alone, but that's perfectly fine with them, in all honesty. Cicatrix enjoys this much more than they would admit, for as old as they are. Centuries of living, and they still find delight in the simplest things such as a pretty seashell washed upon the shores of their new home. A giant of the stars and cosmos, finding giddiness in something so earthly. If they could smile, oh, they would be. The look of delight would be immeasurable on their features, but that's something they've learned to express with their body.
Their head lifts, and the blue shimmering liquid seeps from between sharp gilded teeth, gleaming a little and giving more frightening an appearance than they could ever actually be. But such was the curse inflicted on them with their birth. A tilt of their head is given, hearing the crunch of sand, and delicately, Cicatrix places the shell away in a pouch, delighted to see yet another new face. There seems to be many of those around here, though if they're honest . . . Cica knows that many of them view them as a potential threat just because of their looks. A shame, but something they've worked on overcoming over the years, and something they haven't allowed to bother them.
Tucking their wings at their sides, the celestial immortal immediately at least seems smaller, the membranes of skin holding close, as the feathers near the tops of the wings ruffle from the winds of the beach. Their cloak sways around their skeletal face, the glow of their halo visible even now in this light at the beach. A soft golden glow that seems to just trail them everywhere, a constant presence.
"Hello." Their voice is soft, despite their appearance, and the large being manages to keep themselves still from their frolicking, instead dipping their head a little low in greeting, only to lift it upward and tilt it to the side much like a curious ( and morbid ) puppy. "Oh! This?" The realization dawns on them when they put two and two together, gently pulling the shell from their satchel with their telekinesis. It glimmers in the light, dancing with a gold aura that's reflected off the light behind their head. "I found this shell, such a fascinating one. I've never seen a shell with gold." They seem delighted by it.
With their head in the clouds most of the time, always stargazing, it isn't a surprise that Cicatrix is easily fascinated by something so earthbound. Shells, flowers, the like. They enjoy each and every one of those items, always finding a novel sort of joy in discovering new things about them that they had never noticed ( or ever picked up on ) before.
A pause is given, and there's a sound like a gasp. "Oh! Pardon my rudeness, I am Cicatrix." A wing extends, folding in front of them as they dip their head again, much like a bow, before folding back against their side as they look up. If they could smile, they certainly would be. The joy and warmth at least leaks in to each and every word they speak.
“Hello,” Io said again, with a bit of awkwardness. She was half distracted with slow blinking and head tilting as she tried to wrap her mind around the sheer breadth of the creature before her. Her average frame could likely squeeze through the space between its belly and the sand beneath them.
They were haloed with golden light, caught between angelic and demonic, and somehow transcending both into something… else. And the kaleidoscope of colors and little star-like flecks were beautiful and fascinating. They were like a fragment of the night sky caught in a towering horse body, but then also shoved face-first into a blender.
She listened as they waxed poetic about the shell with a furrowed brow. It was strange to see something so… well. Strange, be so moved by something so commonplace. The opaque blue tears seemed so out of place, that Io had to consider the idea that they weren’t tears at all. Perhaps the creature was full of thick, sloshy blue fluid, much in the way that Io was full of sloshy red fluid. If she were missing skin on her face and really just everything up there, she would probably be dripping some secretions of her own.
Io eyed them over critically. This creature really did seem to be quite the sheep in wolf’s clothing.
“I’m Io,” she offered, slightly extending her nose in a casual greeting. As fascinated as she was, she still wasn’t sure she wanted them to touch her. “Here,” she said with a small smile. “Come look. I discovered this when I was out here yesterday.”
She extended one foreleg and drew it through the wet sand in a single stripe between them. Almost instantly, a dozen little brown toned crabs were brought to the surface, scrambling and foaming tiny angry bubbles as they dug back into the sand. She laughed a little, delighted by the weird little things despite herself. She looked up at her companion for their reaction. “Aren’t they curious?
”Have you been here long? I just got in a few days ago. I’ve lived in the mountains most of my life, so everything here is so new and strange.” She hesitated then, realizing she also included Cicatrix in that statement, whether or not they realized it.
The twitch of their head is given gently as they hear the name, and if they could have smiled, they truly would have. Cicatrix cannot help but tilt their head a little in greeting once more, calm as ever despite the ebb and flow of curiosity in their breast. The shells and trinkets scattered among the sands would have to wait, at least while they speak and give attention to the little mortal before them.
"It's nice to meet you." They do not reach with their own face, too shy to allow any sort of contact with their face in any manner. No one has touched their face since they were a foal, far too long ago, in a place that is nothing but ash and old hollow whispers in the wind. A shattered and cracked land that held nothing but ghosts.
They shake off the thoughts, carefully making their way closer toward their newfound companion, head tilting. Even as they step, they drag their tail, digging up sand with blue and gold strands of hair in their wake. They shift their weight on cloven hooves, delicately digging down into the sand with them as they lean forward, the cloak drifting around their front legs. The starwanderer watches as the sand is dug up, and immediately, crabs surface with tiny snapping claws and beady little eyes.
A delighted laugh falls from their mouth, a genuinely happy noise as they lean downward, head hovering above the sand and the cloak falling in a small heap around them as they get ever closer. "They don't seem to be very happy. But I suppose if I was brought up into the light from my home, I wouldn't be happy either." One comes close to getting a claw on their face, and they draw up and back, turning their gaze toward Io once more.
"Not very long, no. I came from a place far from Novus, where nothing exists anymore, I think. It's an old land." Their shoulders rise and then fall, head lifting up entirely to their towering height once more. "Do you like it here so far?" As they ask, they carefully tuck away their little shell, all too delighted to keep it at their side and to take it home with them to admire it.
![[Image: de9u07z-4f04f887-21ff-4105-a8ce-ef1f5e00...hqwHwl6qfI]](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/fbfd3dcd-71d0-46ab-866a-aa99fe76a594/de9u07z-4f04f887-21ff-4105-a8ce-ef1f5e00d6f3.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3sicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvZmJmZDNkY2QtNzFkMC00NmFiLTg2NmEtYWE5OWZlNzZhNTk0XC9kZTl1MDd6LTRmMDRmODg3LTIxZmYtNDEwNS1hOGNlLWVmMWY1ZTAwZDZmMy5wbmcifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6ZmlsZS5kb3dubG9hZCJdfQ.oZIl4zh1NHth49yqTFHhc9S7LcqRrh4VOhqwHwl6qfI)
