The swamp was familiar. Afterall, she’d once made it her home, and so when she finally took a good look at that last portal in the clearing… She recognized its borders right away, as they twisted and warped around an uneven shimmering opening. The bog behind it seemed haunting. Dark and foggy. Tinea always had an air of mystery around it but this… this was different.
It was the last of the five portals she had to explore, and for a moment she found herself hesitating, hovering just inches away. It was dark already. It had taken her longer to get here this time, her head starting to ache, and the rest of her starting to tire. She thought about turning back, cutting herself off while she still could. But it was just one more day, one more portal, one more adventure. So she’d swallowed the rest of the feverfew she’d gathered the day before and made her way back to that eerily dark pathway.
After a few moments she finally stepped through the portal, her hooves landing in a wet patch of sod. It was horribly unpleasant. It was darker here then it had been on the other side. The moon didn’t seem to pierce the fog, and it took a moment for Luvena’s eyes to adjust, and focus on the strange landscape that surrounded her and Picoro.
As they did she saw it. Just briefly, out of the corner of her eye, and she spun to face it, but it seemed nothing was there. “You shouldn’t have come today” Picoro growled. “You’re feverish. You’re going to get us stuck here”
She bit back a cruel retort. She wouldn’t stoop that low. Not again. Not like she had at the temple. Not again.
She saw it again, this time more clearly, a tall figure, drifting ahead in the distance. She stilled immediately, trying to quiet her breath, hoping maybe it wouldn't notice her. She feared that if she moved through the portal again, it would see, and follow her back.
So she waited, and waited, for it to leave her sight. It never did.
And then the cough crept up her throat, resisted only for a moment before she was taken by the loud fit.
Frantically she backed away, hoping that whatever it was would mistake her as just another noise in the bog.
For just the second time, Liam was visiting the swamp. Ironically, the first time he'd visited had also been the first time that he'd met the current Dusk Court Sovereign. Rhone had asked Yana -- if Liam could remember properly -- what she'd been building that required the death of a tree. They'd never received an answer, and so, they'd all gone their separate ways. Liam holed himself up, became a reclusive hermit, and had only recently pulled himself out of the depressive spiral that his life and mind had taken. His coat, once shimmering copper and shining like the sun at both the sunrise and sunset, was slowly regaining health, its copper-like gleam, and its vibrancy. His musculature was also slowly coming back, covering his frame in ways that he'd been missing.
The swamp, like before, was mysterious, but there was an air of change surrounding it. The ground sucked at his legs just like before, and for a moment, he debated on turning tail and running away. However, he didn't, and the soldier continued on, pushing through the hesitancy that he felt. After a long walk through the swamp, he arrived in a clearing, and in the center, there was an opening, the borders twisting and warping around a shimmering, uneven opening.
With a choked noise, Liam felt rooted in place. It was night, but the world on the other side of the opening was pitch black, and it wasn't something with which Liam wanted to mess. There was another here, and they were just inches away from the portal. Another strangled noise escaped the stallion and he moved forward, the squelching noise breaking the silence that surrounded them as he tried to rush in his need to get to the other equine.
"No!" Liam shouts, panic seizing his heart as he scrambled forward, nearly falling over hidden branches in the muck and mire beneath his hooves. It's with a trembling frame that he stops before the portal, his nostrils flaring as he inhales deep, shaky breaths, his sides heaving as he stands before the portal. Cautiously, he stepped forward, ears pricked fully and eyes alert as he followed the other equine into the unknown world.
It was darker here than it was before in Novus, and the fog gripped everything in its tight, wet grip. The moon above couldn't pierce through the thick cover of fog, and the stallion glanced at the other equine standing next to him, his uncertainty gripping his heart tightly. "Why are you here? We should really go back to Novus," he warned carefully, making sure not to sound forceful or to make his voice heard by anyone other than the mare next to him.
Out of the corner of his eye, movement caught his attention, and he moved quickly, carefully placing himself between the thin mare and the creature in the distance. His ears pinned against his skull, his frame dropping into a protective and defensive stance. He didn't want her to get hurt, and if he died protecting her, then at least he was doing his job. "Can you get back to Novus? I'll stay here, distract whatever that is up ahead," he murmured carefully, tracking the tall figure with his eyes while his attention was sliced in half.
The creature never left Liam's sight. It just glided along the ground, almost as if it wasn't affected by the deep muck and mire that the two horses stood in. There was a sense of amazement that trickled through Liam, but more than anything else, he felt protective of the mare behind him. Her coughing fit scared him, but he didn't say anything as he continued to watch the figure, hoping to whatever deity was overhead of them right now that they would protect them.
"Liam Speaks."
Notes;; He's a very protective boi <3
Tag;; @Luvena
Voice claim;; Chris Evans
Words;; 631
Her head sank towards the ground as she continued to cough rather violently, though she kept trying to pull her gaze back up, not wanting to let whatever creatures lurked out here out of her line of sight. She flinched as something bolted in front of her, all copper and brass. Tall enough that had she raised her head she could have just barely seen above his back. It became quickly apparent that he meant her no harm.
Finally the fit subsided, and she lifted her head, looking at the man with glassy eyes. Good gods what a state she was, sweat lathering her dull coat just from the slow walk here. She could feel Picoro seething in contempt on her back, biting back every “I told you so”.
“Exploring?” she wheezed, still trying to catch her breath. “I went through… all the other portals. I couldn’t just leave one.” She lowered her head again briefly, trying to blink away the haziness in her head. “Luvena, by the way”
She promptly lifted her head again as he said he’d stay and distract the creature. “Hang on now” she rasped. “We don’t know that it’s hostile. They weren’t in the other places. They just… lingered”she squinted through the darkness at the creature, tall, stacked almost? It wisped around on light feet, not squelching as they did through the muck. But it seemed to be paying them no mind. As if it too were lost in a world of its own.
The coughing fit continued, and Liam just gave the mare behind him the time to recover from it. He watched wordlessly as she continued to try and pull her head and gaze up, even though there was no chance that would happen. The stallion watched as she flinched as he managed to come to stand in front of her, and for a moment, he felt guilty about how she seemed to be startled. However, he made sure that he was quick to show that he meant her no harm.
After several long moments, the coughing fit subsided, and with a hesitancy that he'd never felt before, he turned his head to look at the mare. What he found shocked him. The mare's pelt was tightly stretched atop bones, and where there should be a well-rounded barrel, there was nothing but ribs. There was barely any musculature or weight on her, and Liam wasn't exactly sure how she was moving and living, let alone breathing and speaking to him. Only a couple of seconds had passed since he'd looked at her, and he offered an easy grin. "With a cough like that? Shouldn't you be in bed, warm? With fluids?" He murmured softly, trying like hell not to sound placating or like a jerk.
Luvena was still trying to catch her breath, and Liam felt bad for her. "Do you need assistance to get home, Luvena? I'm Liam. It's very nice to meet you. How long have you had that cough?" There was concern laced in his voice; he'd lived with his mother who'd had a cough that sounded similar and she ended up having tuberculosis.
As he went back to his protective stance to get ready to push her back through the portal, Luvena's raspy voice caught his attention. "Oh," he commented, cheeks heating as he looked back at her. "You bring up a good point," he responded, flicking his ears to rest against his head in conflicted feelings. On one hand, he wanted to shove Luvena back through the portal to go home, but on the other hand, he wanted to stay here and investigate whatever the creature was in the distance. "What do you think we should do, then? Get its attention? Bring it over here?" Liam questions carefully, moving so that he was standing next to Luvena instead of standing in front of her. He was, after all, a gentleman.
"Liam Speaks."
Notes;; Ack, sorry, it's so much shorter than before.
Tag;; @Luvena
Voice claim;; Chris Evans
Words;; 403
He gave her that look. That look that most everyone gave her upon first glance. Concern, horror, pity. She loathed that look.
Caligo above how she loathed that look.
White climbed up him like ivy, coating his legs and the bottom of his face. It was a stark contrast to the absolute darkness of the bog. He was right, she should be. Picoro had said just the same. But what if she had, and then - “By the time I was on my feet again this might have been gone, and I would have left just one path unexplored.”
She should say yes. Should accept the guide home, especially where Yara and Mithra weren’t by her side. But the way he’d looked at her, only for a moment, lit that stupid stubborn spark inside her. “I’m sure I’ll be quite alright” She replied.
She could feel Picoro stirring on her back. “Lu don’t turn him down. You’ve been so stupid lately!” She put a lot of effort into pointedly ignoring him
Luvena had to half laugh, half wheeze her next response. “Birth”. If she wanted to be particular, this one had stuck around all winter. But it wasn’t like that was unusual for her. Besides, she was reaching the end of what she had expected her lifespan would be anyways. This wasn’t unexpected.
“Well Liam" she started, before making a suggestion. “Keep moving on. See what there is to this place.” She was exhausted and hot, but she wanted to see more of what was within this portal. Were the creatures here too sentient as they had been in the others? She took a few steps further into the murk. “I’m sure if it meant us harm, it would have been over here the moment I gave myself away, rather spectacularly”
From the first moment, Liam knew that the mare had seen the look he'd given her. Innocent concern was clearly not something this mare appreciated, and Liam felt an immense wave of guilt wash over him.
At least he had the decency to look sorry as he dipped his head and laid his ears to the side as best he could.
Her base color was one that resembled mud as it dried on a horse's frame, and it stretched over those bones, with seemingly no fat or muscle to cushion her. Splotches of ink covered her in some spots, and Liam wondered what she may have looked like when she was healthy. It was evident to him that she was sick, possibly chronically. Took one to know one, and he knew that better than anyone else. "Possibly," he answered simply, arching a brow in quiet contemplation. "But you could collapse and not wake up, and then where would you be?" Liam inquired gently, his eyes holding that very same wisdom his own mother held when she posed this question to him all those years ago.
Liam wished the mare would just take his offer. But then the reply came, and he mentally groaned. Now he knew what Bucky felt like when they were younger and Liam refused to sit back and relax and recover from being sick. "Miss, I really must implore you to come back to Novus with me. Once you're feeling one hundred percent, we can come back. I'll be happy to personally escort you. But I have to ask you to come back with me," he answered, flattening his ears back against his head in discontent.
There was movement on her back, and Liam peered around her withers to watch a sloth stir around on her frame, his brow furrowing in curiosity.
The answer she gave him, though, over how sick she'd been startled him. Birth? Well, it took one to know one. Before the genetic experimentation, the genetic engineering project he'd taken part in, he was just as gangly, just as sickly, and just as thin as the mare he was protecting. "Believe it or not, I know what that's like," he murmurs softly, his expression turning soft and understanding.
Luvena wanted to keep moving on? This mare was the strangest thing he'd come across, and it didn't have anything to do with her appearance. "I-- If you're sure, Luvena. If you need a break, please don't hesitate to ask, okay?" Liam murmured, turning his attention back to the creature that was gliding along in the inky blackness. "I wasn't going to say anything, but..." he tried to joke, offering her a cautious grin; he wasn't sure how she would take the joking comment.
"Liam Speaks."
Notes;; Ack, sorry, it's so short
Tag;; @Luvena
Voice claim;; Chris Evans
Words;; 458
She wasn’t stupid. She knew what she should be doing. She was a medic, that was her job. But it didn’t matter right now. She needed to see everything there was to see through these windows. Maybe they held what she was looking for, even if she didn’t yet know what that was.
She huffed in response. “I promise you that won’t happen.” She did mean it. She’d only ever really collapsed out somewhere once. At least recently. And she’d been lucky enough to meet Gareth, yet another medic, on that journey. That one hadn’t been her fault. She’d been gathering herbs, and it had hit her quickly. The midsummer heat hadn’t helped much either. She didn’t expect him to know what she did for a living. “Perhaps you should leave the medical advice to the medic in your company” she offered, a bit more snarkily than she had meant for it to do.
Throughout the conversation Picoro had crawled off of her back onto an overhanging branch, and was pointedly ignoring her while climbing higher up into the mangrove of trees.
She nodded somewhat sympathetically at the man. “Seems you’ve overcome it at least” she replied.
She laughed in response, though it quickly turned into a cough again, and it took her a moment to catch her breath. “So” she finally started. “What brings you to these portals? It seems not many have been brave, or curious enough to seek them out.”
The protectiveness in the stallion was flaring open wide, and he couldn't figure out how to get this mare to go back with him. Sighing gently, Liam realized that the efforts were futile, and his energy would be of better use elsewhere. With that realization, the stallion relaxed his posture and stood up, though his gaze never left the creature in the distance as it continued to glide over the ground.
The huff in response to his words had him chuckling; it reminded him of the way Bucky would respond or react to his words. "Promises are made to be broken. No one can tell the future; are you saying that you can?" Liam inquired, grimacing when he realized that his words could be taken in an offensive manner. "I'm just surprised since you're so positive it wouldn't happen," he admits carefully, grimacing again when he hears her snarky response. Taking a few steps back, Liam flicks an ear back against his head, regret on his face. "My apologies, Miss Luvena. Won't happen again," he responds quietly.
Turning his attention to the sloth as it climbed higher and higher into the mangrove tree, Liam hummed in response to the mare's comment about how he overcame his sickness as a foal. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't natural. The genetic experimentation and everything that had happened to him was just that. Experimentation. Not only that, but he was the scientist's only success; the scientist was killed by an undercover agent from their enemy and they'd lost the formula to create more equines like him.
The question about portals has him looking back at Luvena and then searching the distance for the figure. Breathing a sigh of relief as he finds it again, the stallion hums for a moment at the question, tilting his head to the side in an inquisitive manner. "I'm not really sure. I was once a great explorer, traveling all over the world, visiting faraway places. Now, I'm not so sure what I want to do with my life, you know? What about you? What brings you here? I know you said that you wanted to keep moving on, find out what's here, but I'm guessing there's more to it than that?"
"Liam Speaks."
Notes;; I swear, they'll get longer eventually
Tag;; @Luvena
Voice claim;; Chris Evans
Words;; 374
She watched as he finally dropped that military like poise, and she was relieved. She used to do something similar herself. Pulling her feet square, lifting her head high, the royal pose that had been instilled in her. One that had caused her pain, and taken far too much effort. These days she rarely bothered.
“No” she replied. “But, one can draw conclusions from the past, and it’s been 11 years of this nonsense” She immediately felt guilty though for her previous comment, as he pushed an ear back. But what was done was done.
She followed his gaze to watch Picoro leave, and huffed slightly. Fine then. He could if he wanted. A weight off her back at least.
She shrugged gently. “It’s something new. Something different. And I don’t have to travel hundreds of miles to get to it. I could hardly make those journeys before, when I had too. I certainly can’t now” She had enjoyed the adventure, the seeing new places, but neither experience had been pleasant exactly. Both out of necessity. Out of leaving a fallen land. This was a chance to do it without the tragedy. Without the need to find a safe place to sleep every time a storm passed by.
She was coughing again now. Almost proving her point. She stopped for a moment catching her breath again. “Don’t you want to see the world in a way that doesn’t require you to leave the place you call home?”
The military-like poise that he carried was something that he automatically adopted these days. It was like second nature; he'd realized that people responded differently if he carried himself this way rather than any other way. It was an odd sensation, not carrying himself in his normal manner. He'd started practicing around the time he was six months old, having heard story after story from his mother about what his father was like, and how Maverick had been the military hero that he'd been. It was here that Liam decided to enter the military - outside of strongly disliking bullies - and it completely changed his life. Not only that, but it saved his life, too.
"You've been sick for 11 years now? Luvena, have you been seen by physicians?" Liam inquired, worry creeping into his voice as he spoke, ears flattening back against his head again. "I know that you don't like pity, but this isn't that," he quickly points out, frowning gently. "Instead, this is me worrying about you, hoping that you're okay, wanting to know that you're okay. I'd really like to not hear that my new friend has gone to Valhalla," he finished, nostrils flaring as he sighed gently. He figured that this would upset the mare, but how could he help himself? Liam's mother raised him to be compassionate and he was nothing if not that very thing. Hell, he'd been known to give up his blanket in the dead of winter to another in the middle of a war so that they wouldn't freeze to death.
The copper-burnished stallion's attention was on the sloth for a long moment, his ear quirking toward Luvena at her slight huff. Strange, he thought to himself, watching the sloth for a few more moments before looking at Luvena. There was animosity between the two of them, and it was icy, cold, a feeling that he was all too familiar with.
There seemed to be a sense of bitterness to Luvena's words, and Liam's heart panged deeply for the small mare. He knew all too well what she meant, the pain she was feeling about being unable to go very far. It was a hard fact to swallow, and he felt bad for practically trying to force her to go back to Novus. Awkwardly, he lowered his head a little and stared at his forelegs as he shifted his weight on his front hooves. When he did speak, his voice was a strangled mess of memories. "I know all too well what you mean, Miss Luvena," he carefully points out, lifting his head a little to gaze at the mare. "I was once like you. Small, sickly, outwardly frail-looking. But the insides didn't match the outsides. Tough as nails, spitting mad whenever a bully struck, refusing to give up even when the situation looked bleak. Maybe I don't know your exact situation, but I do understand where you're coming from and what you mean," Liam replied, inhaling shakily as he looked away from Luvena. It was the first time that he'd ever opened up to anyone about his past outside of Bucky. It was a strange feeling. He wasn't sure that he liked it.
The cough broke the momentary silence, and he looked at her with a gentle expression, one that wasn't pity but was, instead, a newfound understanding. "That depends," he responded, shrugging his shoulder as he relaxed back into his large frame. "Are you going to be exploring with me?"
"Liam Speaks."
Notes;; He's trying to be nice ;w;
Tag;; @Luvena
Voice claim;; Chris Evans
Words;; 581
