B e l o w Z e r o
that feels like tragedy's at hand
and though i'd like to stand by him
can't shake this feeling that I have
the worst is just around the bend
If Bel's mental state hadn't been so wild, she'd have had manners.
She'd have knocked on the door, asked them if they had time to help her with a . . . problem. And would have been a gracious guest. As it was, there were a many issues with this. One, Bel still wasn't fully sure what a house was. She didn't understand the walls, roof and door. It was a miracle at all she understood that doors were for WALKING through (she had thankfully never tried to enter through a window). So the idea of intruding, of it being rude to just storm in could be . . . hard to accept, understand. A missing bit of cultural information. A part of the being of two different worlds where there was no cross over.
Back home, living in water, the pod slept together in caves or on ice blocks for warmth.
So she'd strolled in, she'd collapsed in a mess of movement, that was at least cautious to not DESTROY anything in their home - she was aware enough to make sure she behaved herself. The question, her named uttered in confusion and concern prompts her explanation, and she misses the dumbfounded look, even as she keeps speaking, the words falling like a waterfall from her mouth, only half coherently put togehter.
Movement catches her eye, Ard and his expression.
She blinks, winces "I've made a cultural error, haven't I?" She asked suddenly, flopping her head back to her arms, her fin folding so flat, it hangs against her neck and back like a webbed mane, "Seems I can't do anything right lately. Like I'm trying to swim south in a northbound current." But Erd lowers next to her, and at his reassuring words, she offers a grateful smile to the smaller stallion, her shoulders, the tension visibly relaxing as she conveniently ignores the disbelief from the other in the room. "You . . You are? A professional! I knew I had come the right way."
Of course, she did ask how they were.
It was only polite after all, and she'd already made a mess of that anyway. She smiled at his words, nodding brightly, "That's brilliant. I'm so happy for you, but I can understand Ard's decision not to sell, as well. I've finally figured out ice sculptures with my magic, and I don't believe I'd ever be willing to just sell anything I make away either." She admitted, welcoming the distraction from the mess of thoughts her mind was made up in.
And then the conversation was back to the start.
Bel sighed, and sat up a little bit more, "Know him? I'm uncertain, but it is unlikely . . . He's a Dawn Court Merchant. Tall Stallion, Black and Gold, with double wings . . . Goes by Sol, short for Sol Bestiam." The image of her best friend sprung to her mind, his easy smile, his caution with her, always looking out for her. His next words had Bel pausing, "Hurt me? No he would nev-" She flinches, remembering the anger, the coldness on Sol's face. Remember his words trying to send her away on the mountain as she begged him to not do so. Their heated, angry exchange in the plains before she'd fallen apart.
She hesitated, she frowned, she looked up.
"Not physically no . . . but our most recent fight had been . . . rough." Her gaze lowered, still remembering that cold stare, the warrior mask Sol had worn, how cold and unfeeling it had been, how it had shaken her to the core. "He would never intentionally hurt me, but . . . words, expressions can be painful too." She sighed, "From the beginning you say? We met two years ago, you know. Exploring the island when it was around, I think? Or maybe somewhere in Ruris, it was so long ago, and we've done so much together . . . we were friends. Best Friends." She explained quietly, her finned ears flat, half curving around the ridge of her horns.
Her gaze lowered once more, hesitant.
Bel sighed softly, her gaze far away, lost to somewhere in her mind, "Sol and I recently went exploring up the Mountain, probably a month or two ago. He said something was calling him there, and in the end he got blessed with magic . . but it was . . . it was terrifying. He was like charged with something, a heat, that burnt out. And he was worried about me, as I'm susceptible to significant health issues if dried out. I tried to reassure, to explain it would be fine, there was nothing to worry about, my own water vapors will rehydrate me. But it didn't matter. He was determined, and we fought, until I walked away and he flew away himself."
She paused, remembered how alone she felt.
It had taken him so long to search her out. "When he finally . . . finally returned, to apologize, I was still angry, afraid. I'd thought he'd abandoned me, that I had lost my best friend. That it was someone else choosing what would be best for me . . . and I said some horrible things. Compared him to people I shouldn't have . . . and he returned every word thrown with his own sharp one ... Erd, I attacked him with my magic, I was so angry - I used my own magic against him. I didn't hurt him of course, I could never, but I did it to purposely make a point, a threat . . . I had threatened my best friend." And his foal . . . The little girl she hadn't realized he had with him.
And he'd been just as angry, so angry.
"We fought, verbally. Back and forth, as he accused me of letting my feelings for the pod, for my past cloud my actions, and he was right of course. It's hard to ignore a broken mate bond, even if it was never completed, and I remember shouting that of course it was going to affect me still, that Shard had been my mate . . . and he . . . Sol, . . . he, he said that he wanted me to be his . . . ." She stared up at her friend, her expression so lost and confused, "We've been friends for years. Sure there were moments that almost seemed flirtatious, but nothing was ever done, no moves made . . . I thought it was just how good of a friend he was to me. That we just clicked well . . . and now . . . now this? He . . ."
She took a deep breath, steadying herself.
"He's devoted to Oriens, extremely so . . . but . . . but he told me that he loves me, that he'd leave Dawn Court for me, that . . . that it would always be me first . . ." She shook her head, "Not even Shard was ever willing to put me first, why would Sol say that? Offer that? For me?" She sighed, "And then . . . then I find out about this foal! A little filly that he's simply taken in, having found her at the base of Oriens' statue. And . . . I . . . I just . . . it's all so new, so different. It's not what I remember, what I'm used to of our friendship. And . . . It's so much all at once, and I don't even know where my feelings are, where I stand."
She sighed, shaking her head.
"All I know, is in that month, thinking that our friendship was over, it was one of the hardest months since I'd been to Novus. I found things to distract myself. I practiced my magic, learning new battle tactics with it. I explored new areas . . . but . . . then, him coming back, him changing the dynamic we had like this. Erd . . . Ard . . . I just don't know what to even think, how to respond. And then I make some sort of social mishap by storming into your room too! And, Oh Starfish! Maybe I'm just not really cut out for this land thing. I feel like a beached whale who can just barely feel the tide on my fluke, but going nowhere fast! I've faced down sharks and krakens, and I get scared by a love confession?
"I'm such a hopeless guppy, aren't I?"
"Bel"
Yukime
@Ard @Erd
Notes:: Is she a mess? Yes, yes she is.
She'd have knocked on the door, asked them if they had time to help her with a . . . problem. And would have been a gracious guest. As it was, there were a many issues with this. One, Bel still wasn't fully sure what a house was. She didn't understand the walls, roof and door. It was a miracle at all she understood that doors were for WALKING through (she had thankfully never tried to enter through a window). So the idea of intruding, of it being rude to just storm in could be . . . hard to accept, understand. A missing bit of cultural information. A part of the being of two different worlds where there was no cross over.
Back home, living in water, the pod slept together in caves or on ice blocks for warmth.
So she'd strolled in, she'd collapsed in a mess of movement, that was at least cautious to not DESTROY anything in their home - she was aware enough to make sure she behaved herself. The question, her named uttered in confusion and concern prompts her explanation, and she misses the dumbfounded look, even as she keeps speaking, the words falling like a waterfall from her mouth, only half coherently put togehter.
Movement catches her eye, Ard and his expression.
She blinks, winces "I've made a cultural error, haven't I?" She asked suddenly, flopping her head back to her arms, her fin folding so flat, it hangs against her neck and back like a webbed mane, "Seems I can't do anything right lately. Like I'm trying to swim south in a northbound current." But Erd lowers next to her, and at his reassuring words, she offers a grateful smile to the smaller stallion, her shoulders, the tension visibly relaxing as she conveniently ignores the disbelief from the other in the room. "You . . You are? A professional! I knew I had come the right way."
Of course, she did ask how they were.
It was only polite after all, and she'd already made a mess of that anyway. She smiled at his words, nodding brightly, "That's brilliant. I'm so happy for you, but I can understand Ard's decision not to sell, as well. I've finally figured out ice sculptures with my magic, and I don't believe I'd ever be willing to just sell anything I make away either." She admitted, welcoming the distraction from the mess of thoughts her mind was made up in.
And then the conversation was back to the start.
Bel sighed, and sat up a little bit more, "Know him? I'm uncertain, but it is unlikely . . . He's a Dawn Court Merchant. Tall Stallion, Black and Gold, with double wings . . . Goes by Sol, short for Sol Bestiam." The image of her best friend sprung to her mind, his easy smile, his caution with her, always looking out for her. His next words had Bel pausing, "Hurt me? No he would nev-" She flinches, remembering the anger, the coldness on Sol's face. Remember his words trying to send her away on the mountain as she begged him to not do so. Their heated, angry exchange in the plains before she'd fallen apart.
She hesitated, she frowned, she looked up.
"Not physically no . . . but our most recent fight had been . . . rough." Her gaze lowered, still remembering that cold stare, the warrior mask Sol had worn, how cold and unfeeling it had been, how it had shaken her to the core. "He would never intentionally hurt me, but . . . words, expressions can be painful too." She sighed, "From the beginning you say? We met two years ago, you know. Exploring the island when it was around, I think? Or maybe somewhere in Ruris, it was so long ago, and we've done so much together . . . we were friends. Best Friends." She explained quietly, her finned ears flat, half curving around the ridge of her horns.
Her gaze lowered once more, hesitant.
Bel sighed softly, her gaze far away, lost to somewhere in her mind, "Sol and I recently went exploring up the Mountain, probably a month or two ago. He said something was calling him there, and in the end he got blessed with magic . . but it was . . . it was terrifying. He was like charged with something, a heat, that burnt out. And he was worried about me, as I'm susceptible to significant health issues if dried out. I tried to reassure, to explain it would be fine, there was nothing to worry about, my own water vapors will rehydrate me. But it didn't matter. He was determined, and we fought, until I walked away and he flew away himself."
She paused, remembered how alone she felt.
It had taken him so long to search her out. "When he finally . . . finally returned, to apologize, I was still angry, afraid. I'd thought he'd abandoned me, that I had lost my best friend. That it was someone else choosing what would be best for me . . . and I said some horrible things. Compared him to people I shouldn't have . . . and he returned every word thrown with his own sharp one ... Erd, I attacked him with my magic, I was so angry - I used my own magic against him. I didn't hurt him of course, I could never, but I did it to purposely make a point, a threat . . . I had threatened my best friend." And his foal . . . The little girl she hadn't realized he had with him.
And he'd been just as angry, so angry.
"We fought, verbally. Back and forth, as he accused me of letting my feelings for the pod, for my past cloud my actions, and he was right of course. It's hard to ignore a broken mate bond, even if it was never completed, and I remember shouting that of course it was going to affect me still, that Shard had been my mate . . . and he . . . Sol, . . . he, he said that he wanted me to be his . . . ." She stared up at her friend, her expression so lost and confused, "We've been friends for years. Sure there were moments that almost seemed flirtatious, but nothing was ever done, no moves made . . . I thought it was just how good of a friend he was to me. That we just clicked well . . . and now . . . now this? He . . ."
She took a deep breath, steadying herself.
"He's devoted to Oriens, extremely so . . . but . . . but he told me that he loves me, that he'd leave Dawn Court for me, that . . . that it would always be me first . . ." She shook her head, "Not even Shard was ever willing to put me first, why would Sol say that? Offer that? For me?" She sighed, "And then . . . then I find out about this foal! A little filly that he's simply taken in, having found her at the base of Oriens' statue. And . . . I . . . I just . . . it's all so new, so different. It's not what I remember, what I'm used to of our friendship. And . . . It's so much all at once, and I don't even know where my feelings are, where I stand."
She sighed, shaking her head.
"All I know, is in that month, thinking that our friendship was over, it was one of the hardest months since I'd been to Novus. I found things to distract myself. I practiced my magic, learning new battle tactics with it. I explored new areas . . . but . . . then, him coming back, him changing the dynamic we had like this. Erd . . . Ard . . . I just don't know what to even think, how to respond. And then I make some sort of social mishap by storming into your room too! And, Oh Starfish! Maybe I'm just not really cut out for this land thing. I feel like a beached whale who can just barely feel the tide on my fluke, but going nowhere fast! I've faced down sharks and krakens, and I get scared by a love confession?
"I'm such a hopeless guppy, aren't I?"
"Bel"
Yukime
@Ard @Erd
Notes:: Is she a mess? Yes, yes she is.
![[Image: i-jTNwWx8.png]](https://photos.smugmug.com/BelowZeroNovus/n-X9d9fZ/i-jTNwWx8/1/e09fb6c3/O/i-jTNwWx8.png)
