[AW] In the Dark of the Night

[Below Zero]

Below Zero

my frost philosophy will put no curse on me

The night was upon her, the moon hidden in the lunar cycle, the refracted light of the sun unable to highlight it into relief. With out the moon's glow to brighten the night, the stars were struggling to make up the difference, sparkling with a determination that continued to be swallowed up by the expanse of black. Even the galaxies, with their kaleidoscope of color were being eaten away by the darkness. It sucked in the light, suffocating it, so the night remained dark. Except it wasn't dark. Bel stood among the trees and foliage at the edge of the swamp, her head tilted to the sky as she stared into it's dark emptiness, eyes dancing from each pinpoint of light to the next. Despite the darkness stealing light from the surroundings, Bel glowed in defiance. Her eyes shone with a soft cyan, the two sets currently working in tangent, despite being capable of working independently from one another. The glows continued down her spine where small circles of color popped up along either side of her dorsal fin. Along her neck, her upper limbs and side, and down part of her aquatic tail, small squiggled lines of glow light was produced, keeping the area surrounding her glowing bright. The same glow surrounded the base of her tail, the edges of her hooves. Where the night was dark, Bel was bright.

It was once a protectiveness for the depths, glowing to draw in pray just as much as helping to see the herd around you when diving to the depths of the ocean where light failed to penetrate the waters. On land, it served a new purpose of providing the young mare light so she could travel safely. Tripping over roots - not a chance. Stumbling over a hole? The glow ensured she saw it. No matter the landscape, the terrain she was forced to  traverse, she wouldn't succumb to something silly like that . . . Though her lack of grace on land might contribute to a stumble . . . but she couldn't blame it on poor eyesight. The aquatic-equine moved forward, her hooves making soft slooping sounds as she stepped through the bogged down earth that tried to trap her limbs in thick mud. Her features twisted in distaste, but she didn't slow. The mud was a necessary obstacle for what she was properly searching for. She wanted the swamp waters, the waters that lay humid and stagnant, the land she was so curious about that was an odd mix of pond, or lake; and dry land. A swamp - a feature stuck between two places - much like she (although any look at the aquatic-appearing equine and it was easy to tell she was built more for the water than for the land).

The sloop slowly gave way to soft splashing, and as it did, water began to circle her limbs, slowly but growing higher as she turned her body towards the center of the location. She didn't spare a thought for any predators that might live in the area, her tail slapping the surface of the water delicately behind her. She didn't spare a thought for what she might look like, her body highlighted with cyan glow, her aquatic, finned features. She'd been mistaken for a kelpie, or hippocampus before. But as her limbs moved, her shoulders and hips shifting with muscles obviously connected to long limbs of earth-bound equine, she hoped no one would be alarmed stumbling upon her in the midst of the night. Though, who would be as wide awake as she was, and willing to transverse the dark swamp like she did. The possibility of discovering anyone on this new-moon night was slim in Bel's opinion. Mirror that with the fact that she wasn't well known in the Court yet - she did tend to keep to herself, being a solitary creature; she was hardly expecting company . . . although, Bel would be the first to admit, while seeming to fall into the path of a solitary being . . . company . . . friends based on land might not be too bad. Perhaps she should attempt to be more approachable, and meet new equine . . . . Starting maybe tomorrow - after all, in the dead of the night; who'd risk the darkness just to meet an aquatic-equine such as herself.

Thoughts
Speech

Notes: Open to anyone who wants to jump in. Figured with her odd cyan glow in the middle of an otherwise dark night, someone might notice it :3

i feel no cold, i feel no fear inside my mind
Now I'm full of energy

[Rhone]

The swamp had been a place that Rhone had only passed through once. It had been daylight and he had been able to easily navigate the boggy conditions with relative ease. The sun was able to penetrate through the canopy, leaving him with a lit path. While he had never spent much time here, he had found it fascinating and had told himself he would have to visit another time when he could really appreciate the beauty of the land. Unfortunately, that time was not tonight.

Tonight, Rhone had been wandering and had lost track of the time. Before he knew it, he was passing through the swamps with what he thought would be enough hours of daylight to make it back to Dusk Court proper. He had hoped to be home by the time the sun set so he might be able to finish off his day in silent reflection. Again, that was not going to happen tonight.

As the sun began to set, Rhone noticed the last rays of daylight were no longer able to penetrate through the tree line. The swamp, which he was trying to navigate through, was blanketed in darkness. His eyes struggles to see, his feet struggled to keep him on solid ground, and his mind struggled to maintain hope that he might make it home.

But through the darkness, the stallion walked. He walked slowly and carefully, putting one foot in front of the other. But at some point, he realized that just up ahead something was beginning to shine brightly in the night. Rhone followed the soft glow, hoping that it meant he was coming up on the edge of the swamp.

But when he got close enough, Rhone saw that it was not the edge of the swamp that had been glowing in the night, leading him. It had been a mare. The closer he got, the more he began to see that it was her that was glowing. And as he came upon her, he was able to see each of her features with a clarity he didn’t think was possible in this dense swamp.

She was beautiful, unique, and captivated his attention completely. She looked as though she should live in the swamp, that she was made to live within the water. He had known similar creatures before, but none looked quite as unique as she. And as he came up next to her, he was able to see the fins along her spine, the webbing of her face, the two sets of eyes. Even still, she was beautiful. "My apologies, I thought you were the edge of the swamp." His words were soft, his tone genuine. He did not mean to bother the mare, but only see if she knew the way out of the swamp. He needed to know how to return to his home. After all, he had a duty to perform.

[Atlas]

atlas,

between two lungs it was released

Throughout all his life's adventures, Atlas had banked too much experience with the harrowing and dangerous to be afraid of the dark. He was, after all, a scholar of the stars; most of his nights were spent in near-complete blackness, with only the glow of the heavens above radiating off the golden wheels and spokes of his father's intricate astrarium to light his surroundings. Even the desert, so vast and bleak to the untrained eye, was never completely dark; on the rarest nights when the clouds rolled in with the promise of rain and smothered the constellations, the atmosphere was alive and charged with flashes of lightning. Unhindered, these great, desert thunderbolts would cover the whole world in flashes of cyan light, illuminating the area for miles around.

Nashira, he remembered, could navigate the world without her eyes, using her other senses to direct her without running into obstacles or ending up in danger. It was a skill she practiced and mastered, at the behest of her mother, when she was young. Such techniques were necessary for survival as a brothel slave, to escape the dark rooms of ruthless 'clients';  but for Atlas, whose life at the top of the social and economical chain meant he never had to struggle, it was nigh-impossible to grasp. It was, apparently, something children learned quickly, or so Nashira told him, and adults often struggled with till well into their older years.

She had drilled him by walking the hallways of the Al-Tazarad estate blindfolded. Even traversing pathways he knew by heart was difficult without the use of his eyes, and his clumsiness had resulted in the destruction of a number of priceless vases or pieces of glasswork.

Still, his family was rich-- the third richest family in all the land-- so nothing was too priceless to replace.

Even now, long years after Nashira's disappearance from his life, he held everything she taught him, every word she'd ever said, close to his heart. And so, as he left the confines of his safe Terrastellan bunkhouse to delve out into the darkening night, the grey and torn remnants of Nashira's once-great cloak-- her last, and potentially most important, gift to him-- resting on his neck, he went not with a madness or illness, but with purpose. He went, quietly, and with intent to start training this 'blindsight' skill again, into that good night.

The night was thick with darkness and the heavy weight of summer heat. The closer he drew to the swamp, the less it felt like he was walking, and the more it seemed he was swimming through the dense, humid air. Screaming tree frogs, buzzing cicadas, and the incessant chirping of a chorus of crickets filled his ears; now and then the raucous hoo-hoo-hoo-AW of a Barred Owl would ring out, sending the larger insects and smaller rodents scurrying for safety.

Atlas picked his way along the very edge of the swamp; normally, Nashira would have preferred him blindfolded for such training, but Atlas hoped she would be okay with him simply using the night to dampen his visual senses. Still, she was never one to urge him into danger without proper preparation, and the swamp was a dangerous enough place to begin with.

He found a thin ridge of higher ground with sides that sloped down into thick much leading into the swamp proper between rows of dangling cypress and followed it, paying close attention to the sound his hooves made on the solid ground, and the way the air smelled and felt in his nose and lungs over earth versus over water.

His path led upwards to the trunk of a thick mangrove; on the opposite side, it sloughed downwards to a sludgy, slow-moving creek. He paused at the trunk of this tree, near blind in the lightless space, and was considering his next moves when out of the corner of his eye he spotted a flash. It reminded him so much of desert lightning he lifted his nose and scented the air, but there was only the claggy, hanging stench of stagnant water, and no smell of a fresh, rain-laden incoming storm.

It was also not a flash, he realized, as the light emerged from beyond a gnarled, dead tree trunk and continued onwards, but a static, horizontally shifting beacon of light. In his mind, his curiosity was waging a battle with his sense of self-preservation; it was an oft-repeated struggle his wondering mind always won.

Using the beacon-- which was fading in size but not in brightness-- as a guide, Atlas moved forward through the swamp.

It was slow-going. The ridge he was walking on frequently dipped into potholes of sinking, sucking sludge; rotten stumps and chunks of rock were invisible barriers in his path that he didn't know were there until he was clacking his hooves against them.

Eventually, he drew close to the light; he realized it was moving forward... through the water? He high-stepped through the reeds at the water's edge, peering close to the surface of the swamp so as to make out the shape. It seemed to him vaguely equine... he squinted, and in doing so, caught a brief motion out of the corner of his eye.

In a flash, he launched his golden body out of the way of the lunging caiman. His front legs slid in the mud and he splashed at the edge of the water, wrenching his back half to jump out of the way of the predator's attack. He crashed haphazardly in the water, back end pressing up against the muddy bank, front half completely submerged up to the lin where his chest met his neck.

The reptile paused with its mouth open, its eyes gleaming in the faint cyan glow. They eyed each other for a moment, the panicked stallion with his chest heaving and the hunting caiman with its teeth glimmering blue in the mysterious light. It only took a few moments for the reptile to realize it may have underestimated the size of his prey, and with a hissing gurgle, it pushed itself into the water and paddled slowly away.

Atlas, still gasping for air, pulled one stock-straight leg from the muck at the bottom of the water with a great effort and a horrendous sucking noise. He peered down at the water, cringing.

This may have been his worst idea yet, to date.

@Below Zero @Rhone | ahh i was too late and already a million words in so i hope u dnt mind me dropping this dumbass in | atlas wanders in the dark

[Below Zero]

Below Zero

my frost philosophy will put no curse on me

The female traveled the darkness with an ease usually reserved for daylight; but when you shine like a lantern of your own making - any time of day could be daylight. So was the way her fur was created, the chemical structure certain areas of fur grew with, so upon the darkening of her surroundings - the more those chemicals reacted and moved, creating enough energy that soon it became visible as those particles danced and pinged together on a molecular level, an atomic level. An evolution advancement brought from a place where a world glowed fully with neon vibrance beneath the dark of night. An alien aspect she'd never took much stalk in, until she came to Novus and learned that perhaps those origin stories the elders spoke of weren't stories at all. She'd yet to come to terms fully with her alien-ancestry, but she no longer shied from it either. It explained too much. The way her fur could glow in the absence of light. The fact she had two sets of eyes (not too many had that, certainly not those of this planet). The way she was a creature of both land and sea, and the oddities of the vapors that steamed from her dorsal fin, a hot water vapor, or at other times as cold as the icy waters she once called home. Too many oddities to truly be a creature of Earth, but not yet ready to admit her people came from the skies.

But that is neither here nor there, now she wasn't just in the waters of earth, she was learning her way through the lands, the islands of this planet. Tonight in particular, she was exploring more of her Dusk Court home, even if she wasn't familiar of most of the others who shared the territory with her. She really needed to work on her ability to be social, didn't she? The thought caused the aquatic mare to shake her head lightly, wrinkling her muzzle at the thought, her gills flaring faintly - a subconscious sign of discomfort. She used to be social, until her previous herd, her people, had ripped out her heart, and sentenced her sister to death upon that arctic iceberg. It had been the final straw that led the belle of the oceans from the comforting depths, had drawn her attentions to the surface world, of grass and trees; and other equine.

Still, despite removing herself from the waters, despite coming to land and finding a herd, despite acceptance into the herd where she could regal others with tales of the waters, of the stars; she kept to herself. How many truly knew of the silent mare who'd come from the waters, how many knew she lived with in the realm with them. How many even knew she walked the soils of Terrastella. She doubted the number was more than a handful. So why couldn't she change that fact. For how long would she live in the shadow, too shy to come forth and introduce herself. Too awkward to give cute greetings, and make friends . . . Too foreign to feel at home on the dry land.

She didn't have much longer to ponder such sad thoughts before the sounds of . . . something approaching touched her finned auds. She paused, head cocking to the side, as the two sets of eyes suddenly split into separate directions, one set focusing on the area before her, the smaller, farther back set glancing around her at the trees and vegetation, and water at her sides and behind her. The slooshing was familiar - she'd been making the sound herself earlier, someone was walking the swamp, this late at night . . . in a moonless night. Where they crazy?! Instantly worry sprung in the heart of the aquatic equine - not for herself - but for the one that was traveling. She had light to move by, perhaps they would too? Surely none would risk the predators of the swamp on a night they'd not be visible?

Glowing eyes peered through the darkness, and suddenly she caught a shadow moving just beyond the trees, and the mare stood still, watching - waiting. Her tail rested atop the edge of the water, the glow reflecting over the water's surface, reflecting it back into the air. Around her, the trees caught the cyan glow that came from her form, and as the other being came into the area she was in, that same glow was reflected off of his dark form. Instantly her dominant pair of eyes turned towards him, even as the second set continued to sweep the area, as if to see if he had friends approaching, as well as to keep aware of the swamp that she had only just realized could be dangerous when she'd worried over hearing a stranger making a dark way through the swamp.

Perhaps if Bel was more aware of the members of the herd she belonged to, she'd recognize the form of the individual in front of her. As it was, the scent of herd, her herd; was the only thing that kept her calm in the face of a stranger. Hopefully a friendly stranger if they came from the same court. Herd, Court, still such odd terms to the aquatic creature, but at least she'd stopped referring to the group of equine as the Dusk Pod, even in her own mind. Still couldn't use the term King, Triton was too ingrained. As the dark male continued to move closer, she watched his eyes sweep over her features, and she wondered if the slight scaling along her muzzle, just peaking out from beneath the short fur of her facade would be noted as easily as the webbing and fins - or the two eyes. She wondered what he'd think. Would he ask her if she was of the Kelpie Breed? When he did speak, however, it was not what she'd expected. In fact, she couldn't fail to hide the surprise that flirted with her features. The edge of the swamp. She glanced at her form, the glow reflecting from it, and she slowly dipped her head in understanding to the mistake, "Oh, uhm, there's really, uh, no need to apologize. I'm sure . . . you, uhm . . . weren't expecting . . ." Her words fumbled, fell from her mouth before halting in uncertainty. Expecting what, a glowing lighthouse of a horse? "Well, expecting a glowing horse." She stated, her words soft - light on land. They never sounded quite right to her, when not in the water. The odd drawn out vowels and sounds fit better to the oceans, where the sounds would catch on the water and carry, like a song similar to dolphins and whales. Above the water, that sound remained, light and song-like, just as one might hear the voice of dolphins or whales singing during the night - but to her, it wasn't the same as it was in water, where the soft song could be carried into a symphony of the deep. Perhaps greater proof that she was more aquatic than mammalian.

Like the gills, fins, and taste for oysters and clams weren't proof enough. Her eyes dropped awkward, suddenly realizing that she'd fallen quiet after dismissing his apology. Oh starfish, what if he thought she was dismissing him. Instantly that primary pair of eyes jumped up again - wide and startled, Uhm, I'm sorry for the confusion - the, uh, glow. I'd turn it off if I could, but I don't think any of my pod have ever discovered if that was possible - and not for the lack of trying, either! It used to be a game when I was just a pup - see who could keep the glow off the longest when night fell . . . uh, not that you asked or anything . . . I just mean . . . uh . . . sorry." Shut up you rambling damselfish! Good heavens, she thought when she'd come across Jay in the reef by the sea, she'd managed to break that rambling habit. Why couldn't she be as sure of herself above water as she was below?! Instead, her mouth comes unhinged and she can't stop the word vomit. The words could be as slippery as an eel - and the embarrassment after as painful as the eel's electricity too! "SI, uh, I can try and point you in the direction of the . . . the start, or, er, end of the swamp? I think? I wasn't paying too much attention to what way I was walking, but I think I could maybe remember where I started from. Uhm, I think it was . . . that way?" She nodded in one direction before pausing and glancing about 15 degrees to the south, "Or maybe it was that way?" Another pause, and this time her gaze moved another 15 degrees, her expression starting to fall, "Or was it . . . ."

She let the words falter again, turning a sheepish, shy smile towards the stallion, apologetically as her head ducked faintly, tucking slightly, "Maybe I can't be as useful as I had ho-" Her words were caught in her throat at the sudden motion of a few things. First was the disturbance in the water, eyes picking out the ridging of a crocodile . . no alligator . . . no . . . was this swamp fresh or salt water - she hadn't bothered to really pay attention. However, that wasn't priority of her notice. Instead her gaze jumped from creature's lunge to another creature - equine's arrival and further stumble into the water away from those snapping jaws. The female felt her hooves dance faintly, kicking up dirt and muck from the bottom of the swamp, causing the water's to shimmer and dance around her limbs as she watched the predator disperse, barely giving she and the darker stallion a second glance.

Her gaze turned back to the gold-touched stallion who'd stumbled into the waters of swamp, and in a moment of uncertainness the vapors protruding from her spine plunged into arctic temperatures in a sudden need for familiarity of home to relax the mare. Just as soon as she realized the temperature of the vapors had dropped, she'd quickly readjusted them to just a touch cooler than the humid air of the swamp, least anyone be freezed out from being near her. She glanced at the brighter stallion, her expression concerned, "Are you alright?" Her vocals carried oddly on land, she realized, the sound not travelling like she was used to when speaking over a distance - even a short one as the one currently present, and she almost wanted to dive off the cliffs into the ocean beyond just to embrace the way she aught to sound, remind herself that this land-based voice wasn't fully who she was. A mare of two worlds, she just needed to learn how to live above the water too.

The predator thankfully hadn't stayed to cause the already awkward mare to feel any additional negative emotions, and instead she tried to bury those feelings to avoid another case of wild word vomit from spewing forward from her muzzle, as she watched the golden stallion attempt to get his barrings, "You weren't bit or anything . . . oh, of course not; if you had, it wouldn't have left. Predators don't abandon a prey-fish after first bite." She muttered, and was quickly trying to cut herself off from saying anything else least it never stop, "Although, that doesn't mean you couldn't have twisted a hoof in the water - it's always difficult to see what is beneath the surface, or at least it is in this place. Everything's so mucky and gross, and . . . I'm rambling again." It was almost with great difficulty that she shut herself up again, half afraid to even apologize to either stallion about the rambling, least it start up again. Oh starfish, when would this land thing become easier? Ever time she got a little better at it, she'd miss flip her tail and go in a downward spin in an unforgiving current.


Thoughts
Speech
@'atlas' @Rhone
Notes: Forgive the precious little fishy, she gets so shy and awkward and then can't stop rambling, this was fairly contained thankfully.

i feel no cold, i feel no fear inside my mind
Now I'm full of energy

[Rhone]

Rhone had followed the light without any real expectation for what he would find. Sure, he had been hoping for the edge of the swamp, but he supposed the edge of the swamp wouldn’t really glow in the dense nighttime air. If he had to be honest with himself, he wasn’t sure what he was walking up on, but he had been pleasantly surprised to find that it was someone who resembled something equine and who smelled of Terrastella. At least he knew that she would not be dangerous towards him (or rather, she shouldn’t be). He fumbled with his words, probably the first time in a long time that he had truly not known what to say in the moment. Normally he was known for his ability to speak and give advice. Tonight he simply sounded like a blundering fool.

She, however, took his rambling and strange words in stride. At least she hadn’t downright laughed at him, which he supposed any other normal being would have done…especially if they knew Rhone personally. However, at her words that he probably wasn’t expecting a glowing horse, he couldn’t help but chuckle a little. "No, that was definitely not up on my list of things that I might run into in the forest. However, I am glad I stumbled onto you. The swamp is definitely not very fun to wander through after dark." It was his inability at time keeping that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. If he had left for home sooner, perhaps he wouldn’t have needed to stumble on her tonight.

He was about to ask her if she knew where the end of the swamp was, perhaps she might could give him some directions, she began to speak about not being able to turn off the glowing. She continued about it being a game when she was a pup (a pup? Not a foal? She certainly was interesting!). But then she was sounding rather embarrassed and he gave her a soft, friendly smile. "No, no. It’s quite alright. I rather like that you are glowing. At least I can see who I’m talking to. The color suits you, by the way." While he had always preferred the earthy tones, the blue was striking on her. The glow made her look radiant and happy.

She continues, trying to help him with directions without him ever asking. He was thankful for her help, though, because he wasn’t entirely sure if he was just wandering or going the right way. However, the more she tried to figure out where the end of the swamp was, the more she began to doubt herself. "It’s quite alright. I’m sure it’ll turn up somewhere." He would just wander until it ended. Then he would find himself a quiet place to turn in for the night and when the sun came up, he would gather his whits about him and find himself a way home.

But before he could bid her farewell, for he was intent on getting home, there was a commotion that seemed to catch both of them off guard. Rhone hardly even saw the caiman. By the time his attention turned onto the struggling horse, the caiman was already on his retreat. Without even thinking, Rhone used some of his magic to make the floor of the swamp less muddy and more like a bed of grass. It would provide the other with some traction and help him to get out of the water.

He listened quietly as she tried to ensure that he was alright. Already Rhone was stepping towards the stallion, intent on creating him a bank of solid ground so he could not only regain his footing but also join them up on dry land. As she was rambling on, he got a closer look at the other male and his lips curled into a smile. Atlas. He had met the man before on the cliff side. "Atlas, are you alright?" He looked once more to the other stallion and then back at the mare. "I used some magic…the ground should be easier for you to hoist yourself up with." His magic had always been his friend, even when he was lonely. His magic allowed so many things to happen, even if it was so limited. He wondered if the mare would appreciate his ability to build up solid ground when she looked as though she belonged in the waters. "I’m Rhone, by the way…and that is Atlas." He couldn’t say he had seen the mare before, but he had certainly met Atlas. Hopefully they could all work through this awkward situation together.

@Below Zero @Atlas

[Below Zero]

Below Zero

my frost philosophy will put no curse on me

There was a part of the mare that was always amused by the interactions of those who met her for the first time, their expressions at seeing her and her odd appearance. The amusement was usually amplified if she was met at night, when the unnatural cyan glow would light up the world around her. No one expected a glowing horse - at least no one outside of the Pod who relied on the glow to keep tabs on each other, to scare of predators. It was a defense mechanism, an evolutionary advancement of unknown origin (unless you were to believe the Elder tales that it was a skill that hadn't been bred out after their travel between planets).

So she couldn't judge him for his rambling words - especially when you added into the fact that Bel herself could ramble like an awkward clown fish. His chuckle when she'd casually commented he hadn't been expecting a glowing horse had her smile slightly, relaxing that he was at least taking her oddness in stride himself, even as he admitted that it hadn't even made his list of possibilities, before admitting that he was glad to have stumbled upon her. She tilted her head to the side faintly, curious and confused as to why. He explained it quickly, that a swamp wasn't fun to wander around in after dark. She thought about it for a moment before nodding slightly. "I guess I've never considered the concern that it could cause - the walking through the dark. But, then again, it's not ever actually dark around me." She mused.

Of course, she had to just ramble then, her frilled ears flicking nervously, her fin shifting down her spine in her nervousness as she tried to be friendly, to be welcoming and not create an awkward conversation with the land-horse she was speaking with. She must sound so silly - but his soft, friendly smile helped to relax her a touch more, before he reassured her, telling her that he liked the glowing - that the color suits her. She blinked in surprise, before she smiled brightly, dipping her head delicate, "Thank you . . . I'm rather fond of the hue myself. It carries better underwater too." She added, remembering some of the members of the pod who had complained about their colors not being bright enough. Shard himself had complained more than once that the red glow was extremely difficult to have to get used to. Arctic Flower had a black glow that she regularly huffed about being completely useless in the darker depths.

It was then she offered to give directions, though as she started to attempt to point out the direction, she could feel herself getting lost and confused - pointing awkwardly to one direction and then another before giving up. "I though I'd had paid better attention then that. I'm sorry I couldn't be of better assistance - but I'd be happy to help you look for a way out; three sets of eyes have to be better than two - right?" She asked, even as her primary set was focused on him, and the second set was glancing around for any variations in the shades and shadows of the swamp that might point to an exit. She could return to playing in the waters after if necessary.

And then a commotion startled her - she having not noticed another's approach in time, and her gaze watching the reptile retreat. Just as the other seemed to struggle with his footing, the ground of the swamp suddenly changed - almost like grass beneath the muddy waters, and the mare jumped with one hoof curling up towards her chest is surprise, the mud hardening and seeming to disappear and grass grew up the sides of the water's edge. The other gave name to the unknown stallion and Bel's attention turned back to them as the ground seemed to continue to shift around the first stallion - she realized she didn't know his name yet - introductions hadn't even been thought upon. He spoke of magic, the ground being easier to move and Bel felt surprise flair once more. Magic - she'd heard about it - knew even now there was some telekinetic abilities with in her that she didn't use, wasn't familiar enough to use, felt no reason to use. This magic was just as foreign as being on land to the aquatic equine.

It made as little sense as a Shark snacking on seaweed. And suddenly she had a name for him, Rhone, and he formally introduced the other as Atlas. Bel smilled slightly, dipping her head to both - Rhone first and Atlas second, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you both, although circumstances could have been better. My name is Below Zero, but I go by Bel for convenience. And it is less of a mouthful." She paused, glancing at Rhone, curious about this magic, "That was . . . you then? Making the earth reshape?" She asked curiously, eyes wide, "How does it work?" She immediately followed up before her features shifted in apology, "I'm sorry, that was a touch rude and demanding of me. Beneath the sea we don't exactly utilize magic where I come from . . . the idea of magic being normal on Novus . . . is still something to get used to. I forget about the telekinetic thing all of the time." She added in apology.

Thoughts
Speech
@'atlas' @Rhone
Notes: I was gonna try and hold off on a reply until Sunny could - I'm a stickler for posting orders usually - but I still want this thread continued so I figured I'd post again anyway. I hope no one minds <3

i feel no cold, i feel no fear inside my mind
Now I'm full of energy