The friesian blooded stallion danced through the plain, eyes alert and happy as he moved through the realm that he had called home. His sister was still off and doing what she wanted, having taken her companion and left in a fit of emotions. Uzi was a big part of his heart, a part that would always have a place with him should she decide to return. Though for now, she was far from the borders of Novus.
Flicking his tail, the apothecary stallion kept his eyes alert, both for herbs or flowers that were of use to him and for beings that he could speak to. The vain stallion missed those that he had met and bonded with. A deep part of him was hoping that Cally would show back up in the area as well, or come out of the forest where she might be hiding within the magic that she had unlocked once again.
Sliding to a stop, Coy began to gather a few various plants so that he could start to dry them for use in his elixirs. He kept various ones in his satchel that was tied to his left rear leg. That was the same place where he kept excess dried elements to add to teas and liquids that would work for others if needed.
by whose dear light the nightingale does sit so late,
And studying all the summer night her matchless songs does meditate;
When last (first) they met, she had been a wide-eyed, star-brained bird lost on the breeze, with wings mis-shapen from her silver-barred cage. She had trembled, knock-kneed, in the sand, and sweated under heavy jungle canopies, as astray as the rest of them, all tossed up and churned on a mysterious island of changing time under the brutal flame of an unsleeping day. She was new to Novus just as she was new to the world, just barely back on her feet from nearly dying in the Mors when she was swept up in a god-made cyclone and swept off to distant lands.
When first (last) they met, he had been a whirling stranger, a shadow in the trees. An acid-green flash in the dark, sharp teeth and a deep voice and terrifying and confusing in the way that new neighbors with shadowy, upstairs rooms were: mysterious and spellbinding, with an endless, unknown story stretching out behind them. He’d winked and smiled and growled, and Kas had couched her rear and skittered away, clueless and afraid.
But he was hard to forget and she was not one to do so. She watched him float here and there like some horribly bright butterfly, poison peridot on the wind, flashing teeth and daggers of lime as his hair moved in the crisp autumn wind.
Around them, the plains, long since passed their zenith, began to fade from amber to the different coffee-hues of whipgrass and bunches of bluestem in their death throws. With their seeds long spread to the winds, soon the tender stalks would wither and bow their heads in deference to winter’s icy chill.
Kassandra’s star-painted form parted the umber sea like a celestial herald. She stood over him, now, taller and broader and more confident, her white hair cloud-like tendrils in the cooling wind.
“Hello, Coyote,” she said, a calm smile etched upon her serene face, silver eyes bunched up at the corner. Tired, shadowed, older.
An air of familiarity surged through him as he caught the voice. Turning to see the approaching mare, he dipped his head and smiled. The name danced along his mind as he remembered the chaos of their last meeting. "Hello Kassandra. It has been far too long." He greeted the starkissed mare warmly. Shaking his multi-hued mane, he stepped closer and stretched.
The mare seemed taller and more serene than she had before, more mature and grown up. But he supposed he could say the same about himself. He had calmed a bit in the time that he had been away. He was no longer constantly harassing those around him.
"How have you been? And dont you have the canine companion?" He asked, vivid eyes glancing through the drying grasses as he searched for the borzoi male that he had met with her. There was a new air to the mare that was soothing to him, a balm to his chaotic mind as he settled back into the world that he called home.
@Kassandra - I am so excited to throw them together again! "Coy Sass"
by whose dear light the nightingale does sit so late,
And studying all the summer night her matchless songs does meditate;
She knew at once he recognized her, and it heartened her to think she was not quite as forgettable as she imagined herself to be. He was a busy guy, and definitely had a plethora of irons in the fire, so being recalled by him from a chance meeting many, many moons ago spread a warmth through her.
Hello, Kassandra. It has been far too long.
“Hasn’t it, just?” she asked, watching him posture. He still moved with that same predatory silk, like he would multiply at any moment, or burst into a murder of crows and dive and pick at you before zooming off again only to be attacked from another angle. The difference being this time she was not scared.
He had not been altogether intimidating in a true formal sense their first meeting. His luxury was being the first stranger outside of her Folly Tower Kas had ever encountered. Of course therein he would take on some warped mythos, become a figurehead of the new and strange; not that he wasn’t strange, of course. The thought made her giggle quietly before she could stop herself.
She furrowed her brow at his question. “There’s no easy answer for that one, I’m afraid. I’ve been many things in many ways in the last many years.” What words could thoroughly explain and encompass the status of a being across the lengths of time, especially when it constantly rolls clockwise.
Coyote mentioned Oculos and Kas flicked her tail with affection. “Yes, he’s around somewhere. Scaring the last of the autumn rabbits, I’d imagine.” She grinned. “But you seemed to drop entirely off the face of the earth! Where did you go?”
When first they met, Oculos was not a fan of Coyote; he, too, had been inundated with the fear of truly meeting people, and not slinking around in the shadows as had been his lot in Furae. Over the years, he had mellowed, though Kas imagined he still wouldn’t like Coyote much.
He would not be at the bottom of Oculos’ list, however; that spot was cemented in and specially reserved for a particular antlered gentleman.
Coy smiled at the mare, enjoying the presence of one that he had once spoken to. It had been a while, their previous meeting happening on the island when it had been part of their realm. Stretching his neck, he flicked his tail and relaxed into his own skin more.
"Our previous meeting was another lifetime it seems. A time when I was young and dumb and more full of myself than I probably needed to be." He remarked. Thoughts and memories from the island and the past swept through him.
"I left to figure out more about the magic that spawned after playing on the island. I have a harder time holding the magic in Novus, but I can shift to a raven for a bit of time. Definitely makes it easier to travel distances faster. I had to come back. I missed everyone here and have found that I feel so much more at home when I am in the borders of the realm." He laughed, glad that his sporadic feather eruptions have been less lately.
"I am glad that you have him. He seems to be a good companion and someone that can keep you safe." He had debated a companion for a time, though he wasnt sure if he was really ready for it.
@Kassandra
Notes: Sorry for crappy post. brain is not clicking today XD "Coy Sass"
by whose dear light the nightingale does sit so late,
And studying all the summer night her matchless songs does meditate;
The evening canted warm, promising a sultry night, perhaps the beginning-- end-- of a short, false summer. Locusts, fluttering through the grasses, were a rustling percussion; night peepers chirped a beautiful choir, and crickets played the strings. The moon was small and dim in the reddening sunset, slivers off from full wax.
“One and many,” Kassandra agreed, coming closer to him, scattering coffee bluestem pods like petals in her wake. His honesty made her giggle, again. “Forgive my effrontery,” she ventured, cheeky, “but I suspect some of that hasn’t changed.” She flashed playful teeth at his shoulder, then silenced herself to listen as he spoke. He spoke of his magic and she felt something thrum deep in her heart; a flash of something intangible in the distance made her gaze jump there-- but it was only Oculos, tongue lolling, ears a-bounce, pressing through the prairie sea. His black coat was patterned in white and brown brindle and struck through with prickers that would be a nightmare to brush out.
Kassandra lashed her tail in false irritation. “If by keep me safe, you mean be a constant pain in my rear, then yes.”
Oculos, who had clearly not been paying attention, lifted his head now. what? oh. you. His eyes narrowed.
Kassandra tsked at him. “Ignore him. If he was a smarter creature he would be running to avoid the wrath of my brush.”
‘m fine, Oculos insisted, stopping to scratch roughly at his right ear.
“For now,” Kass promised, tone only lightly threatening. She turned her attention back to Coyote. “Did you find the answers you were seeking? About the magic?”
"Speech." @Huehuecoyotl | Oculos speech | is this flirting
