This place had put her into another magical coma (it’s the only way I can describe my absence…sorry!) and when she awoke, she was still here, in this land. Her button eyes were wide, rimmed with fear and uncertainty, and she called out, desperately searching for Pan and Flora. They were the only ones she knew here, and she was terrified that something had happened to them, just like it happened to…him. She was frantic, long legs churning up the terrain behind her, throwing pebbles and little dirt clods as she ran headlong through the herd’s land, calling out desperately to find her friends. Certainly they were ok…they had to be. She had already lost one friend, and she would never forgive herself for it…she couldn’t bear to lose anyone else. Her sides were heaving, dripping with sweat when she finally stopped, feeling defeated. Her head was low, trying to force as much oxygen into her lungs as possible. She raised her head up and called out again, echoing through the nearby hills and valleys, around the trees and rocks. If Pan and Flora were nearby, they would hear her, and certainly they would come. ”Pan? Flora? Where are you?” She couldn’t hide the emotion in her voice as it wavered. And so, the silver girl stood, fur glistening in the sunlight, button eyes searching desperately for her two friends, praying against all fears that she hadn’t lost anyone else. The silver girl stood tall and proud, sides still heaving, appearing every bit a child, even though she was a grown three year old. ”Speech”
Pan stretched, yawning and rubbing the last remnants of sleep from his eyes. Blurry vision cleared as he blinked against the sunlight, listening to the distant sounds of the day. It was later than he usually woke, with dawn long faded into the bright sun of the afternoon, but Pan had simply had a lazy morning. He rolled in the emerald grass, lazily turning to watch a golden butterfly flutter from flower to flower, sliding along the grass to get closer to it and more into the sunny clearing. It was the perfect sort of day, and he smiled to himself, closing his eyes and willing himself to sleep once more.
This thought was broken though, by a familiar voice filled with a familiar panic. Turning toward it, Pan rose from the ground and began to make his way toward Coraline – slowly at first, as if his legs were pushing through quicksand (for remember, our boy had only just awoken)… but the panic in her voice spurred him to move faster until he was breathlessly running toward the silver girl. ”Coraline? Are you okay?” Panting as he reached her side, the scaled boy let his muzzle drape over her clammy and sweaty neck, pushing away some of her fear as he tried to reassure her.
”I thought you were gone… but I’m glad you didn’t get lost. Is everything alright?” Concern filled the boys eyes, and they brimmed with compassion as he made his way to the front of his button-eyed friend, looking at her head on to try and find some clue to why she was so upset. ”Are you hurt?”
The silver girl was a wreck. History had not been kind to her, so when she awoke again with no recollection of going to sleep, panic seized her heart and told her that someone she cared about was dead. The nightmare floated in front of her brain as she waited to see who was next on the ‘casualty’ list. But then she heard hooves moving nearer to her, and the sparkle of scales, the sound of words being spoken. She didn’t hear him…not really. She heard his voice, but not his words, and felt the touch of his muzzle. She couldn’t help it, and pressed her shoulder against his, trying to fight the fear that still made her want to run, to run until her lungs burst and she couldn’t move her legs. But she stood still, forcing herself to calm enough to have a rational thought in her mind.
He was still speaking to her, and she shook her head to clear the emotions so that she might understand what he was asking. Relief flooded through her, and in a moment, the world resumed its normalcy. He was asking if she was ok, what was wrong, was she hurt. Again, she shook her head, slower this time, a response to his questions. ”No…yes…I don’t know!” She was frustrated. She wasn’t hurt, no, but was she ok? She wasn’t sure. ”I think the magic put me away again…in a place where I don’t know what’s going on. The last time that happened….he died. I was afraid something happened to you and Flora.” She tried to fight the tears that were trying to spill down her cheeks (I imagine it must be a strange sight, for when do buttons cry?). She struggled to keep her voice and her heart steady, so she was less hysterical and more calm. Nobody wanted to deal with a woman in hysterics. ”I was afraid. And I haven’t seen Flora… is she ok?” The silver girl couldn’t help but let some of the worry back into her voice. She didn’t want to find out another of her friends was gone.
But the sun was shining, and Pan was here, and things were right. How could things be wrong when the sun was up, the sky was blue, the grass green, and her friend living and breathing right before her? She continued to calm further, until she was nearly at a normal state.
Pan was not the only one to heed the call. It was only by chance that Florentine had been close enough to Delumine to hear Coraline’s frantic shouts. The sound was as startling as a knife in the lazy sunlight of the early day. With her heart fluttering, Florentine slips through the wild woodland. At each desperate call her ears twitch, her twilight eyes peering through brush and branches to spy the button-eyed girl. That voice, shrill and panicked was one the Dusk girl remembered. It brought with it old memories of a land of snow and ice, of a childhood blissful and free. But now, all that lingers of Florentine in that winter land are the petals she once shed upon its white, white face. So much has changed for this girl of flowers and dusk-light since she once called Rift’s ever changing lands home. Her heart is no longer what it once was… it feels bruised and broken and yet so full. It is a heart that flutters, butterfly soft against her ribs as her eyes befall the pair before her. “I am.” The gold girl chirps, her lips curling into a smile, even as her heart twinges that no, no she is not okay. But that ache is smaller now, its pain eased by the balm of a letter secreted away in her room. Folding the thoughts (the love, the ache) into the corner of her mind, the Dusk girl joins them, the scent of lavender upon her flowers, pressing upon their skin. Florentine’s lips reach for Coraline’s silver skin, warm and soft and then to Pan. Her touch lingers upon his scales, a sigh escaping as her heart twinges again for Only’s scale-free skin. The flower girl wonders just when her heart might stop its sad, sad aching, for it never used to hurt – not like this. A soft blink hides the terrible thought that at last she might know the pain that put the darkness in her father’s haunted gaze. It is a struggle to bring her lips to smile, a struggle to wipe the strain from the taught strings of her heart. Yet she does, each step light, each step nimble as she turns to Coraline. “I am glad you are here with us, Coraline.”
Moments pass after the silver girl asks about Florentine, and it seemed almost instantly, the flower child appeared. Relief flooded through the silver girl, and she visibly calmed, forcing her breathing to come more naturally, slower, easier. The sweat began to dry on her fur, and the tears stopped flowing as they had been. She moved closer to Flora, nudging her mane with a velvet-soft black muzzle, as if to confirm that the girl was really there. She felt solid enough. The silver girl sighed softly, a hint of a smile creasing her lips as she stepped back to stare a moment at her two friends. How strange that through time and space, they all ended up here, together. Yet it would seem that none of them arrived unscathed. Flora and Pan both seemed different…less carefree than they were, and the silver girl had her nightmares. But they were together. Alive.
”I don’t mean to bother you. I’m sure you both have your own lives to live… I just… I was afraid something happened to you. And then I couldn’t find you.” She wasn’t sure how to explain the magic that claimed her; held her prisoner to where she could not escape, could not send a message, see her friends, move. She didn’t know what it was; but it took her; hid her away in the darkness, and wouldn’t tell her when she would be free, or how much time had passed. She wished she could explain it to them without sounding crazy…like her whole mind had unhinged.
”I don’t mean to bother you….” The silver girl felt stupid, like she was a burden on the only two people she had left in this world. She didn’t want to lose them. ”I hope you are doing well? Settling into a new home?” She lived in the dawn court, but hadn’t really settled in. She still had yet to meet the liege, but she was trying. She could hope that her friends were settling in fine. And maybe, one day, they could get together and be kids again, despite having moved on from those lives.
Pan had to think long and hard about whether or not he’d found his place here. It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t like Eirhelm, the first place he’d truly felt a belonging. It wasn’t like Neverland, the home he’d loved so long ago – lost – and found again. Here, he felt truly alone. Oliver was gone. Rook was gone. Fantome was gone. Commander Shepard was gone. Even Florentine was gone more than she was here. Perhaps in part, this was because she lived somewhere else… but she had almost always lived somewhere else. Even in the Rift, she’d lived in the Winter Court – the opposite of his Neverland. And yet they’d always found ways to connect for playfulness and mischief. Whether he understood it or not, it wasn’t that his friend was gone in this new land, it was that she was growing up. Soon, she would outgrow the child-stallion, drawn into the world of men and adulthood – like all the rest. Soon, Florentine would drift away from Pan – not because she chose to, but because life would happen around them. And the boy with green scales and a smiling face would be as he always was – a lost boy, never growing up.
These thoughts jumbled in his mind (except for the part about Florentine growing older… for Pan simply refused to think of it), and he sighed quietly as he thought of a way to respond to Coraline. You aren’t a bother… really… friends are never a bother. In truth, having her back was a pleasant distraction. Offering her a lopsided smile, he looked around them at the Dawn Court – his new home – and as he had a hundred times before, swallowed the idea that he would make this place better than it was. He would rise above the loneliness, one way or the other.
Kasil wants me to learn a skill He changed the subject suddenly, focusing on the task at hand. Instead of being bothered by the suggestion that he should be more productive in the herd, Pan took it as a personal quest to find his path. For all of us, really… he’s looking for us to step up and do something – be a sage, or a caretaker, or a warrior… I’m gonna try to be a caretaker. The swamp lady and Kaladin are gonna teach me.
Her heart had begun to slow from its wild pitter-patter. She began to feel the easing of her skin. No longer was it tight, no longer prickling with fitful nerves. The Dusk girl smiles as Coraline’s warm lips press against her neck and her own golden lips seek the button-girl’s stormy skin.
“The rift is a confusing place.” Florentine notes as her petite head bobs lightly with consideration. She was created in the threads between time, she was as made for time travel as a boat was to traverse the waves of an ocean.
Her lips curl into a smile as Coraline keeps speaking but oh it is fleeting. Was she well? Love had found her and set her trembling with its fierce and chaotic ways. “I am… well.” At the last word, despite its hesitancy, despite the way she adds it without conviction, the smile still creeps its way back along her lips.
“You are safe here now, Coraline.” Florentine whispers softly, her lips finding the curve of the girl’s cheek as her gaze flits to her closest friend, Pan. It is a truth that the girl chose to ignore the growing hostilities between Day and Night, and even more so that she did not know of Rostislav’s kidnapping. “There are no terrible magics here. If anything magic is quiet.”
Amethyst eyes gaze out through the forestry about them, “I live in the Dusk Court, I am the Emissary there.” Florentine chirps and, even now, after many months in the position the flower girl still sounds quite astounded and a little flummoxed.
“Pan is happy here… I think you will be to.” Her lips curl, “If not, there is always Dusk.” It is then that Flora’s mirth returns, blissful and precious, as it eases the ache of a heart that was once hers. Yet now it lies, so firmly within the grasp of the Night King and if the flower girl let herself think of it, for any longer than a moment, then oh how terrified she became.
What a horrid thought – to grow up and forget childhood and all its childish wonders. To forget the mermaids who splashed happily in the shallows, and the sirens who once tried to lure Coraline to her death. To forget the companions you once had, to include Oliver and Pandora. No, growing up was not an option. Growing old was mandatory…but not up. Never up. The filly was still mentally very young, though she was learning more and more by the day. She sought out her companions, desperate to make sure they hadn’t been killed in her absence. She couldn’t stand that thought.
The silver girl listened as Pan spoke of tasks and being active in the herd. Learning a skill. Doing something. She had wanted nothing more – to be someone that had responsibility. She wanted to take others under her broken wings and teach them…but she knew she couldn’t do that until she was old enough, or mature enough to not be afraid of everything. Maybe that was her new goal – to not be afraid anymore. Like a child who outgrows their nightlight. Maybe that’s what she needed…to find a teddy bear who could stay with her while she turned off her nightlight and proved to herself that she wasn’t a baby anymore. Yes, that sounded nice.
”What does a caretaker do? It sounds lovely.” She couldn’t imagine a better task for Pan, unless exploring was still an option that the leads wanted. He was good with people. She thought the word was “charismatic,” but she wasn’t certain.
Flora was there, then, and speaking, too. The magic here was quiet, and there were no bad things. That made the silver child feel better. She knew that there was no place truly safe from the evils of the world, but if they weren’t actively stalking the children, that was a good sign. She could possibly come out of her shell then, learn to walk on her own two…er…four feet, and not need to find someone to protect her. Not that she minded – it had been sweet how Mew wanted to protect her from the world…but she didn’t want anyone getting hurt for her again.
”What does an emissary do? It sounds very important!” Hard to believe that the girl who had Coraline wind flowers in her hair was so grown up to have such a big title. What was going on in the world? Were they being forced to grow up? Did they have to? Or was that the ‘magic’ of this place? They had no choice but to grow up or be left behind? Her mind began to worry then about Pan. He knew he needed a job, but was he ready to be the grown up? Would he be left behind? If that was the case, she decided, she would stay with him. Nobody should be alone!
As Flora sent him a sweet smile, Pan easily offered one in return, pushing away the thoughts that she would leave him and grow distant. For now, they were simply the same three they always had been (granted, both Coraline and Flora were getting older, but it was easy to relish in their friendship). When Coraline asks him about his new job as a caretaker, Pan stands a bit straighter, puffing out his chest with pride… for though he hadn’t gotten very far in his learning yet, he felt quite up to the task. And, to make him feel more important, Kasil had asked him personally to go and learn… so he knew he had to put his best foot forward to impress the leader of the Dawn Court.
”A caretaker is like a healer – we can make the sick feel better, or heal those who are wounded in battle. I’m not good yet, but I plan to be… and you could be a good caretaker too, if you want.” He liked the idea of helping more than hurting others, even though it could be said that the Dawn Court was severely lacking in warriors too. Still, Pan knew that if push came to shove, he could swallow his fears and fight for this place. For though he didn’t want to hurt anyone, it was more important to protect those he cared about. And he was growing to care for those in the Dawn Court, even if it was slower.
”That’s a good question… I don’t know what an emissary does either. I think Ipomoea is ours, but we haven’t really talked about what that means.” The boy looks expectantly at his flower-friend, grinning with pride at the thought that she was doing something important. Really, he could expect nothing less from the daughter of a de-facto king and his oldest friend Karou. And, the boy in him misses the slight flutter in her eyelashes, the slight glow to her cheeks when she pushes away her thoughts of the Night King that had captivated her with his affections… for Pan is oblivious to such things, even as he pushes a strange sensation of butterflies down in his stomach, wondering if maybe he ate something funny earlier in the day.
Since Rannveig appointed Florentine as her Emissary, the flower girl had been subject to quite a crash course in Court positions and responsibilities. Their old Winter Court had been smaller than any of the Courts here and despite the presence of the monarchy, it was safe to say Gabriel’s daughter had very much kept herself well clear of any political responsibility.
It was, therefore, quite a mystery how she found herself in such a position of political responsibility in Novus…
Her eyes dance between her friends, yet, for once, Florentine remains silent, instead allowing Pan his moment to explain the role of a caretaker. She had been one once, for all of a few weeks before Rannveig (really rather foolishly) made her Emissary.
“An emissary represents their Court in the other Courts and ensure the voices of their people are heard and addressed.” Florentine explains when her turn arises and Pan gazes at her expectantly. Stepping closer to the girl of storm clouds and rain and the boy of sea salt, Flora’s voice lowers, “It allows for lots of adventures to be had along the way too.” Maybe that was the only reason Florentine actually stuck with being an Emissary?
With a sigh the flower girl gazes towards the darkening sky. “I must go.” She says softly, “I am in need to an adventure that does not consist of political figures. Come and visit Terrastella – we are having a festival with Denocte soon, I shall let you join in the party.”
She presses her lips to each of their cheeks in turn before her wings flare and she rises through branches, up, up to the gloaming sky above.
@Pan @Coraline I am sorry but I really must reduce my post list! I would love for them to have a thread in Terrastella, just let me get my thread list down somewhat first!<3 <3
