Novus
an equine & cervidae rpg
Hello, Guest!
or Register




Thank you, everyone, for a wonderful 5 years!
Novus closed 10/31/2022, after The Gentle Exodus

Private  - still you stand, sturdy and smelling of smoke

Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)



Played by Offline bruiser [PM] Posts: 26 — Threads: 5
Signos: 30
Inactive Character
#1

you are haunted like every other holy thing;
what tried to destroy you didn't have the strength
The last thing he sees is the monster, Raum’s monster, turned towards him as bodies flee around him, as the great beast thrashes and roars and turns all in its wake into stone, and he does not have the chance to turn and flee. Not when it catches him in its gaze, mid-turn, his body contorted into the shape of a frightened, wild creature, tail lifted high as if to warn the others to run. Not when the stone ripples across his skin, freezing him in place, and he would scream if he could move his mouth, because it felt like fire licking over his skin, consuming him until suddenly he could feel nothing anymore.

When the chaos settles, he is one statue among many that rest among the streets of Solterra, the gems on his antlers gleaming from their setting of stone each time the light catches them; perpetually frozen as if ready to leap, ready to run, and yet never moving.

The sun rises. The sun sets. He is unaware of the passage of time.

Until.

Until?

He becomes aware of the beating of his own heart once more. How long has it been beating? How long has he been able to hear? He loses count of how many times it beats before he can move his ears again, just the faintest twitch, and the stone encasing them sloughs away from the movement.

Like a snake shedding its skin, he begins to stretch out cramped muscles beneath his prison, and cracks begin to spread across the stone surface, slowly at first and spiderwebbing into something larger until the first large piece falls off his shoulder with a sharp crack! The rest follow quickly, now, until nothing remains of his statue except the dust that is scattered across his back, and he blinks into the light like a man reborn, unable to see for how bright everything seems beneath the newfound sun.

@El Toro





you were only a boy,
when you were thrown into a war.





Played by Offline Muirgen [PM] Posts: 114 — Threads: 16
Signos: 0
Day Court Champion of Battle
Male [He/Him/His]  |  14 [Year 496 Summer]  |  17.2 hh  |  Hth: 15 — Atk: 25 — Exp: 40  |    Active Magic: N/A  |    Bonded: Hajduk (Mythical Lion)
#2



The people of Solterra stand as statues in the city. He wonders if there are corpses inside. Everyone wonders that, he thinks, except maybe the basilisk, who perhaps would know. Toro searches for anyone he recognizes, winding between frozen screams for the painful twist of familiarity in the most unfortunate circumstances.

There it is. 

”Anzhelo,” he chokes, ”No!” Toro charges through the statues, skittering to a stop before his only friend. Is it him? Gods, yes, it is. Who else has those gemstone antlers, those doe eyes, that- that scale around his neck? Anger blooms deep and sour within - what good was that talisman if it saved Toro from a battle that never happened, but let its owner be imprisoned in stone?

”I’m sorry,” he whispers. I should have been there.

El Toro is a man strangled by his own emotions.

But something in him begs to weep. 

There is not enough resistance left to tell it no, now that Anzhelo is gone there is no reason to deny that he was a friend to Toro, the first and only in this strange new land and…something else was there, something he would still stamp down even in death. Tears prickle at his shining opal eyes and Toro bows his white head. Hajduk curls around his legs, pressing his warm pale head to Toro, purring. The young lion had never met Anzhelo, no, but he could surely feel the pain coursing through their bond, electric and wailing. 

Toro does not hear the first bits of stone peel away, nor does he pay any heed to Hajduk’s prodding, not until a piece of stone hits him in the head. Toro jumps backward, stunned, and then - he sees. The buttermilk-and-blackberry hide of his - his friend - his Anzhelo. His face is still wet as he works his mouth, confusion and mourning and disbelief leaving him sputtering. The joy follows the final piece of stone, as Anzhelo blinks for the first time again. ”You’re alive.” His tone is marked by awe and mucus. 

@AnzheloDead Boy
I’ll keep on living
for the dead boy that I love
CREDITS





please always tag here and preferably discord for replies





Played by Offline bruiser [PM] Posts: 26 — Threads: 5
Signos: 30
Inactive Character
#3

you are haunted like every other holy thing;
what tried to destroy you didn't have the strength
He breathes in the scent of sun-scorched sand and breathes out statuary dust, his muzzle wrinkling up until he finally sneezes out the last of the remaining stone. A wisp of silky-fine hair brushes against his cheek, and he almost startles himself with it until he remembers: He had grown it out to blend in amongst the Solterrans. He had been spying for Moira. He had been pretending to be a storyteller. 

(He thinks, maybe, he has enough stories now that he could truly be one -- except his stories are mostly of survival, and trauma, and the hollow pit in his stomach that still remembered fear. He doesn’t think anyone would like those stories.)

For the first time since he was a young child, he had allowed his hair to grow out instead of shearing it down once it began to flop over on his neck. His father had disapproved of long hair, said it made him look too girlish and weak -- it had been a habit, like fingers running over a rosary, to trim it back every few weeks, the last remaining ghost of his father’s hold on him. Now it hangs around his face in delicate curls, and he remembers the strange curling thrill it had sent through his stomach when he had caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror the first time, that almost-stranger with the wispy curls and soft smile, and he remembers --

He remembers thinking he had looked pretty, and not shying away from the word in his mind. He had allowed it to sit there, occasionally poking at it like one might a bruise, only to discover that it didn’t hurt -- no, instead, it made him feel strangely giddy and light, as though another weight had been shrugged off his shoulders.

He blinks and then startles again at the sound of a voice, his rounded ears perking up and his head swinging towards Toro with wild eyes until he realizes that it’s only the bull-horned man who stands before him, not Raum or his terrible beast or any of the other villains he had rubbed shoulders with in the dark Solterran alleys. “Toro,” His voice is soft, trembling, almost disbelieving -- he had thought of the man, in those last few minutes before he had turned completely to stone, something inside him fervently hoping that Toro had been far away from the rampaging monster, had been safe from Raum’s grasping, hurting hands.

There is a feeling of pins and needles beginning to spread through his limbs, his muscles protesting having been locked in place for so long. Even so, he takes a trembling step forward, his head tilted to look upwards at the other male as though he might have half-believed he was a mirage pulled from the desert -- and his foreleg buckles slightly, sending him face-first into Toro’s solid shoulder.

Not a mirage, then.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” He breathes out against the skin of Toro’s shoulder, his own eyes growing watery in relief, and he presses his face closer into Toro’s shoulder like a man drowning might have clung to a lifeboat. “When I saw the monster, I was a-afraid…. I thought it would have gotten you too.”

@El Toro





you were only a boy,
when you were thrown into a war.





Played by Offline Muirgen [PM] Posts: 114 — Threads: 16
Signos: 0
Day Court Champion of Battle
Male [He/Him/His]  |  14 [Year 496 Summer]  |  17.2 hh  |  Hth: 15 — Atk: 25 — Exp: 40  |    Active Magic: N/A  |    Bonded: Hajduk (Mythical Lion)
#4



Toro.

To hear that voice - after so long - after - after death-

Anzhelo steps forward and his once-stone legs crumple beneath him. Toro catches him. The touch is shocking, unfamiliar, electric. He wants to back away and sink into it forever. 

What is this?

He shivers at the feeling of Anzhelo’s breath against his skin, the tears, the relief. Hajduk purrs.

The ache in his chest is banging on the bars of his heart. 

”No. I’m okay. Some people aren’t. But I’m okay. And you are? Are you okay? You’re not…stone anywhere else? Can you stand?” He nudges Anzhelo with his nose, chest clenching at the feel of skin on skin. He wants to hold on so hard, it hurts. He doesn’t want to know why. Not yet. 


@Anzhelo
CREDITS





please always tag here and preferably discord for replies





Forum Jump: