Here we are. Muzzle came close to the edge of this creek, nostrils flaring as he admired what scent it produced. It was refreshing, but hardly did it do much to suppress a feeling of nausea. The smell of greenery was starting to get to him, his body not use to such lush greens. Although the showing of active life should at least content Kauri, he held a more dissatisfied look. Where was his sand and blazing hot days? Fall hinted at itself as a cool breeze went past him. Shivering in response, a sigh left him with hooves entering the water one after another. He would find a spot to lay in, so the water may flow over him. Almost was it rejuvenating, like a certain energy enveloping his core. Dried on tar was beginning to loosen from his coat, his skin slowly gaining the ability to breathe again. Mind was empty for the moment, but soon thoughts flooded in. Everything grew quiet, scenery became darker.
He wondered of his companion, his home, those that left their families to go search for him. They had no blessing to look for no more and clueless would those seeking souls continue to be for likely centuries. How long would it take for words to spread of his disappearance? How many would succumb to the desert before enough forewarnings told them to not risk it any longer? Guilt rained on him at the realization of abandonment seekers would face. Disbelief would be sure to come, then a growing mistrust for the deities of his home. Their link into the mortal world, their means of gratitude to their adherents—gone. Oh, his head was sure to be taken should he find his way back. You dare forsake us, our believers! You're pitiful. He didn't want to leave, not at all. Though would his demise truly be so bad? What a sweet release of death that could be. I'm sorry Naiosé, but such would be true.
You ass.
Kauri staggered back onto his legs, head shaking away what has clouded his mind. The creek seemed to do well with cleaning his left side, only his face and skull mask left with the mark of that bastard. Letting the water run off his body, he noticed a dark substance encircling him. It won't leave... A sort of rumble left his throat, muzzle dipping into the matter. He'd try to push it away with the water, but it seem to do nothing. A kick and a splash, a hop here and a stomp there. Even with exiting the water, it still followed. Growing frustrated, all he could really do was continuously beat the ground with his hooves. He neighed and grumbled, certainly becoming quite rowdy. The moon looked on at his silly antics—how could he be so afraid of his own shadow?
Hydra and water always seemed to find each other. It held an irresistible magnetism that was always pulling, pulling, pulling at her, playfully, temptingly. Today had been no exception, and she had found herself near the Amare Creek by twilight. There had been whispers in the woods, pairs of hoofprints following each other into the secretive embrace that they offered. It made young Hydra a bit uncomfortable, and she had hurried her pace with a flare of her raven nostrils.
Darkness had settled, the nighttime canopy above her head unfolded it’s nearly ageless blanket of stars until finally the bright, luminous autumn moon captured the limelight. It assumed its role at center stage naturally as the calm night held no room for grandiosity. The golden mare stepped quietly into the cool water, her black hooves finding purchase in the sediment lining the shallow water.
She closed her deep brown eyes and raised her face to the sky, bathing in the moonlit tranquility that the night offered. It had been so long since she had felt truly at peace. A rare smile twitched at the corners of her lips as she breathed in the night air deeply, though it faded when the faint scent of another seeped in. Her right ear flicked to the side as a light splash was heard, followed in quick succession by more aggravated floundering.
“What the bloody hell…” she grumbled, her voice low and gravely in this late hour. Her expressive eyes opened wide in the low light, their amber flecks like burning embers in dying fire. They quickly caught sight of a clearly distressed figure (whether he was plagued by real monsters or those in his head, she could not discern), and she watched for a moment as he thundered his hooves against the ground, punctuating his irritation with neighs and grumbles.
She slowly began to walk nearer, closing the gap between the intricately colored stallion whose markings danced excitedly along his hide. The water submerged her dark knees, with the tip of her loosely braided tail lazily leaving a fading trail as she waltzed in the bubbling liquid silver.
“Did you kill it?” she inquired, her low voice soft yet strong on this crystalline night. Her head tilted to the right, the moonlight playing off of her geometric angles as she watched Kauri from the water, it’s rushing melody filling the silence.
H Y D R A *if you could only see the beast you've made of me...
This illusion became increasingly aggressive, the pool of tar conjuring into a monster that hissed. His mind remained within the dark, swimming through the depths of his subconscious. Frustration soon took panic as its form, the stallion focused on escaping this growing deception. He backed away to see the substance simply follow him. Grief and vice were surely the things before him, finally wishing to destroy what fed them for so long. Throat managed a growl, legs circling him back near the creek's edge. If it wanted him, he'd let it have him.
Parallel to the water that flowed next to him, he watched this beast pulsate and whisper complete nothingness. For a moment, anxiety-fueled heart was the one noise he could hear throughout. Beating against his chest, willing to explode from the utter distress. Take it, take it all. His mind snarled as he bared his teeth. Should this be his deities’ doing, they wouldn't have to worry about resistance. The stallion was ready—he has been for the longest time.
Before his inner demons could snap his neck, the surrounding area became visible again. The dark hadn't heavily painted the place no more, the trees blanketed by the moonlight that graced them. There was bafflement. He stared at his shadow, expecting it to be up to some trickery. Ears then heard the sound of water parting in the way of another form. Had that pulled him out of his subconscious? Kauri would start to take a step back, forgetting he was right next to the creek. As a voice intruded his ears, he fell under.
The sudden embrace of cold water was the last waking force he needed. Having fell in onto his side, there was some struggling to keep himself from drowning. Once he flipped himself over, he lay on the creek’s floor, his head atop the water while his body remained submerged. Liquid burst from his nostrils, dead eyes shifting to the one behind the voice he caught earlier. A certain anger appeared to seethe from him, but it was directed at himself and not the stranger. However, her question on whether he killed "it" did insult him.
Dormant he lay with his sight never leaving the mare. He was quiet as he let himself calm down. Come a minute and his lips would part. "Did it kill me?" he batted back a different question. Gaze now shifted to the moon, absorbing its soft light to replace what his eyes have lost. Kauri wondered why the other was here, but soon recalled how much of a maniac he had been. "What do you want?" he bluntly asked while brows furrowed underneath his mask, the stallion going on to examine the looks of the stranger.
Hydra craned her neck, eying the loose bank beneath Kauri’s hooves. Was there something there? She almost convinced herself that she had seen something dart from view, melt back into the shadows, but there was no way that she could see what he saw. His demons had been yoked to him alone tonight. Hers were still growing, festering low and out of sight. She had dared to take a step towards the stranger, toeing lightly through slick river rocks beneath her, when suddenly the tiger-striped stallion lost his footing. Without thinking, she bounded forward, deftly dodging the creek’s snares. Her foalhood had been spent dancing in the waves, springing merrily along the rocks and crags of her ocean home. The dangerous currents were always just out of sight, invisible sharks waiting to drag down victims who were not so sure of foot.
Of course, there were always real sharks, too.
He righted himself before she could reach him, twilight violet eyes staring at her from beneath the borrowed (stolen? taken?) skull of something vulturine. Her dark eyes beheld it curiously for a moment when the spray exuded from his nostrils dusted her face. She snorted, ears flicking sideways as she realized – no, felt - his anger and took tentative steps back to respect his personal space.
Did it kill me? he shot back at her, trailed by a pregnant pause filled only with quiet moonlight. It didn’t feel like she was the true audience for that question. She stood stoic against the ire emanating from the tiger before her, conflicted. What do you want? the stallion asked from the cool waters and she noticed his eyes had once again found hers, guilt playing the ivory of her spine.
“I just… wanted to help,” she forced out, barely bridling her natural standoffishness. The two-year-old filly often wished it had a switch. She got the impression that offering now would only fan the flames that Kauri kept inside, so she refrained.
“I couldn’t see what was going on, but I didn’t exactly want to storm headlong into whatever it was you were doing,” she shrugged broadly. “Sorry for interrupting you,” fell from her lips bluntly as she idly pawed at the stones beneath the surface.
Another pause.
“Are you alright?” These words were softer, spoken as she gently extended her muzzle forward in a genuine gesture of concern. An olive branch after the thorns had a moment to settle.
@Kauri
ooc. still wrestling with html - it always seems to win! Naked posts for now.
Kauri held a look of disbelief, shaking his head at the young equine. Olden soul and aching bones, the returning disarray of his mind was the frosting upon the cake. He could only imagine that with the absence of the celestial touch body once had, in which subtly fixed at his crumbling essence, would this be the start of an uphill battle. Perhaps he didn't care for the corruption seemingly devouring his core, but a fool he would be for not preserving what he had now. Just that small speck of hope for someone he loved to rescue him one day, but with the way things have been rolling through the decades he has encountered, such a longing was ludicrous.
Staggering onto his legs, he stood and watched the water run off his body once more. Honestly, he was waiting for a pool of black to return beneath him, but all to be seen was the faintness of his shadow. He looked on to the filly, a weird expression forming as he heard her apologize. What was he thinking or, more so, willing to do at that time? Although he wouldn’t admit it, she certainly saved him from making any fatal decision. What he thought was real, would have became just that through his own subconscious actions. A body lifeless within the creek along death spreading about the area. This place would be thankful that its charm can remain another night.
Now composed by his gloom, he moved close to his company. The chain of his earring clinked as one ear drew back at her concern. Guilt came flooding in, the stallion wishing not to have incite worry from the filly. To worry over him can only bring exhaustion. Don’t, don’t. He’d bring his muzzle close to hers, accepting her little gesture. “That’s a question long overdue, but don’t you worry,” he murmured with a snort. Withdrawing his nose, violets were curious as they aligned with dark browns. “Why is a young one like you alone at this hour? Sneaking about, waiting on your love?” he asked with a tilt of his head. Deeply was he jealous, the dame having a lot of room to grow from her youth. If he could return to such days, mayhaps he could turn back the pages and save himself and the ones he dragged with him.
"Speaks" | Thinks @Hydra html is a finicky little bugger that’s for sure, haha
HER DARK EYES drank up each expression that played across Kauri’s face, and for a moment she was afraid at what could have been. That she had interrupted neither reverie nor play was obvious, though the gravity of the damage that his internal demons were capable of doing – even hungered to unleash – had not sunken in. The stallion cloaked in dusky evening had been engulfed in something that Hydra could not understand, set on some jagged path that her experiences generously ushered her away from.
For now, darling. The beasts of Novus dance to a mischievous drum.
She wanted to press against him, to offer a warm shoulder on this autumn night. She wanted to show that he was not alone, though the strangeness of it all was too new and Hydra too frigid in her youthful awkwardness.
The metallic tinkling of his chain danced in her ears, and she tilted her head in curiosity as if just noticing the glinting adornments. She smiled, soft and genuine, as he extended his muzzle towards hers. Briefly she admired the angular planes of the ghostly white buzzard’s beak that had risen to greet her, pondering why it was that others wore bits and pieces of the dead. She shook her head as she withdrew her nose, the shark’s teeth that were nestled in her thick mid-length mane clinking lightly, hollowly.
Blinking, she frowned slightly at his end remark and flicked her long forelock aside. Hydra was too naïve, too new to the realm of Novus, and too outcast from her community to have known love that was not between parent and child. Even friendship had evaded her like a dipping swallow, hovering just out of reach before dodging back to the sky in a flash of glittering navy.
“I find that this time of night is the best time to think, to just be,” she spoke as a smile flit across her black lips. “No, no… boys are gross and full of cooties, remember? I’d hate to catch those!” She jested. “Speaking of catching things, I’d hate to catch cold. Shall we?” she invited as she began to leave the cool water, hauling her muscular figure from the creek in languid strides. “I’m Hydra, by the way.”
It felt like ages since she had shared her name with a stranger.
H Y D R A
How the heavens they opened up
Like arms of dazzling gold
With our rain-washed histories well, we do not need to be told
Ah, certainly the calmness of night paved way for the mind to think, to reflect. He recalled the clear, midnight sky of his arid home; the stars folded within dusky clouds, almost creating a nebular effect. Splash the warm hues of a rising sun—he already wished for such a view to dominate the skies here. Kauri waded in thought, nodding his head in agreement. Although he had the favor (curse) of just being, the reign of the moon always called for self-awareness with him.
A moment of confusion came to the stallion when the dame mentioned cooties. Memory struck him not long after, a soft "oh" leaving his lips. Mother, how has it been so long? He chuckled, shaking his head at his company. Such a childish concept, Kauri could hardly recall playing the game during his foalhood. It was more about the excitement of adventure! Oh, and how the adventure continued. And continued... into anything but that.
Attention flipped back into the present; his ears having caught the invitation she spoke. With that, the coldness of the water began to cool his skin. He shivered, briefly exhaling. Body appeared stuck. Kauri taking a minute before finally pulling himself out of the creek. Water flicked from his tail, but his mane remained drenched. He stood with his skull down as hair heavily draped his neck and face. At the telling of her name, he forced away creamy locks from his left eye. "Kauri," he simply said. He wanted to add something along his name, but void would it be upon this world.
Despite the weight on his neck, he lifted his head above his spine. A small tune left his cords, walking near and past Hydra before halting himself at the opposite side of where he once stood before her. "What be festering within your mind? Come along should you wish to speak your thoughts," he offered his ear. If she rather stay put than walk and talk, either was fine by him. He only assumed something pestered her mind; she did speak of night being the best time to think.
Finally shaking out his mane, he looked back at Hydra before giving the babbling creek his eyes.
SHE MOVED FORWARD briskly in order to fall into stride with Kauri, allowing her actions to serve as silent consent to his invitation. The stallion reminded her so much of a twilight sky promising a storm, writhing with pulses of lightening as demons stirred inside. Hydra grew silent in contemplation as her dark eyes sank to the ground beneath the lightly wooded creek side. The moonlight dappled their path, painting it in silver and shadows.
There was a pause as she gathered her thoughts, reminiscing on the times when she was a foal trying to skip rocks fruitlessly off the surface of the turbulent ocean. Her father had laughed without fail every time, deep and hearty and with every fiber of his being. It was her favorite sound. All she could do was cast him a pout and glare in indignation, but her stubbornness was always quick to crack against the face of his love.
“Thanks, Kauri,” she began with a faint smile that was hardly traceable in the moonlight, though anyone could hear it in her voice. “I hate to bother you with trivial ramblings of a filly, but since you asked…,” she jested lightly before turning a more serious leaf.
“It’s just been… an adjustment, leaving home, especially to find myself in this place with its gods and tumult. I was welcome in my homeland only by the mountain peaks, beaches, and waves, but never by the tribe." Her non-use of the word 'my' was subtle yet profound in how it portrayed her self-image with relation to her birthplace. She cast a sideways glance at him, an invitation to insert input at any time if he felt compelled. "Being with my parents was the only time I felt content, but even that only lasted so long. Most of the time I can do without a sense of belonging, of needing a community, but lately it’s just been gnawing at me, you know? And after what I've seen thus far, I'm not so sure this place is a fit for such a plainly clad filly from the shores of nowhere.”
Oh Hydra, you're bordering on throwing yourself a pity party.
H Y D R A
How the heavens they opened up
Like arms of dazzling gold
With our rain-washed histories well, we do not need to be told
His chest rattled. Here come another ache from the past, seeking eyes aligning onto the path they took. Although light softly showed the area, his mind could only see the world darken again. Slowly he blinked, letting the short silence embrace his form. He thought back to a different place but blanketed under the same time of night. Lying down upon soft sands with a burning flame there to entertain a slipping conscious. Against his chest, a little ball of fur already on the path to its dreams. How was that little fox doing without him? The vultures, the snakes, all the dangers it would be left to face alone. But, what was he to think that it did not sustain injury from the encounter that forced them apart? It would be a waiting game. In come the agonizing seed ready to sprout into more than just worry.
Nearly consumed by overthought, sight glided to his musing company. Kauri wandered what leeched her attention into the plane of thought; his ears perked once seeing the dame open her mouth. Immediately, he dismissed her word of gratitude and jesting with a snort. In this time, at this increasing age, the best thing he could do was listen. As one's youth dies, there grow envy or regret. May she say it to be trivial things, but the former warden would think of her words significant until all has been spoken.
Pacing his steps along with Hydra's, he listened to her concerns and problems. For a moment, as much as it sadden him, he recalled his years as a colt. Although loved and supported by family and friends, he left such comfort to gain the independence he once lacked. Then flashed a certain group in his mind, and did his body shake and breathing rasped. He sought to only peek through memories, but easily did he get pulled in and drowned. Kauri stopped walking. Nostrils contracted in forced breaths. Why was he upon a world of overbearing realms? Back within the fray, Mother forbid he go astray. "Different, an outcast from that tribe? And so, you want to mingle, to see what it could have been," he speculated. Though still distressed, his voice remained calm. "But I can see, whatever that may be."
Legs began moving once more, taking back up the path they followed. "I'm sure you'll make your mark whether on your own or within a group. You have potential, while I'm simply a lost cause amongst these people," he admitted. Honestly, he stood glad he could no longer shape himself to fit in. The masked equine was tired, done falling for the trap of wanting to be accepted by others. He's gone lengths and strides to soon discover that he has fallen back instead of going forward. Turning his gaze to Hydra, he hummed. "However, don't get twisted up on trying to blend in. Do you call from anywhere here, currently?" he asked for what court she may associate with. If anything like he, no court does he speak for despite the hatchet over his head stating otherwise..
HYDRA WASN’T TOO wrapped up in herself for Kauri’s hastened breathing and missed footfall to go unnoticed. She paused then, matching her stride with his while furrowing her brow and widening her eyes in concern. The dun mare had decided that she liked Kauri, and thus her vein of loyalty had been tapped. It is deep and hard to find, but once struck, nearly impossible to cauterize.
“Hey,” she spoke low, gentle but firm, eying him with a sideways stare. His voice gave no sign of distress as he forged on with the conversation, though Hydra’s eyes were trained on his body language like a herding dog. She nodded in agreement at his speculation, running her tongue over her teeth behind pursed lips. Only when he resumed walking did she turn away from him, keeping pace on their midnight stroll.
“Thanks, Kauri, though I have a hard time believing half of that sentence,” she smiled, almost saddened by his comments, though pity had no place here tonight. “Mmm… It was never something that I could do, so I can’t really miss it, right?” Her smile cracked just a bit more, the moonlight glinting off of the sliver of exposed teeth.
“I’m new to Denocte, the Night Court, though I haven’t spent much time there yet so I would hesitate to call it home,” she offered, a weak shrug rolling off of her shoulders as she nimbly stepped over a fallen branch. “I originally came from a place called Seasna. Quite far from here, though it was a surprisingly uneventful journey. I lived with my parents in a village nestled against the mountainside of the Ivory Ridge. My father was a woodworker while my mother was part of the foraging party. It was a simple place, really, free of war and that ilk.” She reminisced briefly on the one time that she could recall a fight had broken out. It had been over a case of infidelity, something she had found stupid – something that a young foal would not understand.
“Gods were not part of that world. The natural world and a greater force that was omnipresent yet had no physical form was what we studied and what was taught. Something akin to paganism, or druidism, I suppose.” A brief pause enveloped her as she recalled the past year for a moment, though no mist clouded her eyes.
Her gaze moved abruptly back to her companion, the shadows dancing with his stripes. “What about you, Kauri?”
H Y D R A
How the heavens they opened up
Like arms of dazzling gold
With our rain-washed histories well, we do not need to be told
Here we are. Muzzle came close to the edge of this creek, nostrils flaring as he admired what scent it produced. It was refreshing, but hardly did it do much to suppress a feeling of nausea. The smell of greenery was starting to get to him, his body not use to such lush greens. Although the showing of active life should at least content Kauri, he held a more dissatisfied look. Where was his sand and blazing hot days? Fall hinted at itself as a cool breeze went past him. Shivering in response, a sigh left him with hooves entering the water one after another. He would find a spot to lay in, so the water may flow over him. Almost was it rejuvenating, like a certain energy enveloping his core. Dried on tar was beginning to loosen from his coat, his skin slowly gaining the ability to breathe again. Mind was empty for the moment, but soon thoughts flooded in. Everything grew quiet, scenery became darker.