The striking alien creature gazed over the surface of the water as she swam, loving the feeling of the water over her aquatic body. It was a rare moment of peace as she worked through learning how to be the best medic that she could be. She owed that much to the mare that had saved her. Snorting softly, she dove deep into the water and swam with eel like motions back toward the shore. She smiled at the fish that swam around her and the peaceful life around her under the water.
Reaching the shallows, Pol paced up and out of the cool water. The warmth of summer beat on her, warming the beads of water that were resting on her back. Shaking her frame, she sent the water droplets flying away. Her scarred half tail shuddered slightly as the temperature changes danced over the hyper sensitive nerves and she turned to frown at the damaged limb.
"Damn sharks..." Polar North mumbled as she glared at the damage. That was part of the reason that she preferred lakes to swim in. No sharks... It gave her a feeling of security that she desperately needed. The thoughts of sharks made her mind drifted toward the past and she wondered if she should meet with her sister to actually discuss it. Later... Once she had had time to figure out how she felt about the whole thing. It was still a painful thing to think of the sister that had abandoned her. No matter what Bel had said... it still felt like abandoned.
Shaking her head to force her brain to change paths, Pol began wandering the shores around the lake to look for plants that were useful for medics.
"Speaking"
@ Notes: <3
CREDIT to Akatsukislilwolf (offsite)
01-07-2021, 01:53 PM - This post was last modified: 01-20-2021, 08:00 PM by Polar North
to stubborn to see i've been mentally unable to find, serenity, i'm living in this faded reality
It was nearing late summer and the lake was a haven for flies, mosquitos, and other pests, but Kassandra hated the heat more than she feared their incessant buzzing. The soaking, sucking mud swallowing up against her hocks was so soothing she considered flopping on her side and coating herself in the stuff. She felt much like the lilies, floating on top of the water, their pads great and green, seven inches around or larger, but they themselves darkening and wilting with the looming, heavy temperatures. The bulrushes were thick and devoid of their spring fuzzies; the bullfrogs and dryophytes long gone silent with the heat of the afternoon.
Kassandra dipped her lips to the water, disturbing the mirror-like, blue surface, and caught her reflection in the eye. She looked haggard, and old, but it was the heat, mostly. She had not been sleeping well ever since Caligo appeared in the capital and left her bed of dreams empty; Kas spent long nights wandering star-dusted expanses in search of her goddess, in search of Her word, and woke restless and sore, as though she had walked the same distance in the physical realm, as well. Add onto her exhaustion the ever-present heat and Kass was in a constant state of praying for fall.
A few feet off the shore, Oculos cut a streamlined shape through the water. He was far enough out that the lily stems and choking duckweed didn’t catch or entangle his feet, but close enough for Kas to keep an eye on. She envied him his freedom and, mostly, his compact form-- she would do nothing but splash gracelessly into the muck and mire should she attempt to go for a swim. Still, she was heavily considering it-- until she saw something that made her freeze.
A strange, white form was sluicing through the water; it was serpentine, but not, and also piscine, but not. Kas opened her mouth to call a warning to Oculos but he was already at her side, their bond tighter than ever through this stressful time. A silent nod passed between them as Kas picked her way through the rush fronds and buckthorn tangles, coming along the shore towards the strange creature in the water.
Kas couldn’t really tell if it was horse or fish or snake. She oogled, curious and with such force that it was probably rude.
“Pardon me,” she said, sounding childlike and full of wonder, and only a little bit insensitive, “but what are you?”
Pol jumped at the voice, turning her reptilian head toward the other being. Her dual lavender eyes drifted between the striking and taller mare and her companion. The canine had her a bit anxious. Something about the teeth on canines reminded her of the teeth of sharks in the ocean. "Caligo keep me safe..." She whispered to herself as she forced her focus back to the mare.
"I am a Vapor Treader... A northern, aquatic, reptilian, alien species." She tried to explain, her ruined tail dropping down into the grasses to hide the vulnerability that had cost her so much. Flicking back her ears, she pulled herself up to stand tall and proud. She was not the common horse, she was so much more.
"My name is Polar North, and I am a medic of the court. And you are?" She asked, her voice cool and aloof, though not unfriendly. Her eyes were soft, though wary as she found her gaze drifting between the pair. In the back of her mind, she wished that her sister would appear to help explain it to the other mare.
to stubborn to see i've been mentally unable to find, serenity, i'm living in this faded reality
Kas had spent her first five years locked in a silverite fishbowl, so there was a lot in the world she had not experienced. It was part of the reason why her social skills were so lacking; her uncle had forbidden any of the servants from speaking to her, and though she was educated in formal graces by tutors, she had not the chance to practice any theories of courtesy. It also meant it was not super surprising that she did not know what Polar North was.
The creature’s head reminded her of some sort of snake, or lizard, but large and spattered with lavender. Their horns were somewhat iridescent and caught the sunlight. Wisteria eyes took in Kas, then Oculos, and paused there, face growing taut and seeming a bit nervous. Oculos squinted, then reached his back leg up to scratch behind his ears, the smell of wet fur heavy on the hot air.
I am a vapor treader, the strange creature said, and Kas was surprised at the willingness this being had for explaining themselves. Maybe it was Novus (or populations as a whole) but people tended to be… cagey. Secretive.
The Vapor Treader stood to their full height and was just a bit smaller than Kas. The star-painted mare smiled, genuine and all heart. “A vapor treader! I’ve never heard of such a thing. How fascinating.”
A medic of the court. Kassandra froze, then, and the smile fell from her face. She stood with her front legs knee-deep in the muck and the lake was rising up slightly to meet her. And you are?
A loaded question. “My name is Kassandra and I… I am nothing to the Court.”
Pol smiled and laughed softly at the comment regarding her species. "I cannot say that I am surprised you havent heard of one... As far as I know, myself and my sister are the only ones in the entire realm. We came from a place far north from here, though through much different routes." The young reptilian mare responded kindly. "Though I will say that Below Zero explains what we are better than I. I spent very little time with our people before leaving with more traditional horses." She explained further.
The smile that had faded from the other mare's face made Pol pause. "Did... did i say something wrong?" She asked, worry coloring her words as she listened to the other mare introduce herself. Pol found that she was a regular fish out of water when it came to social moments, prone to saying things that could easily be taken wrong. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Kassandra... And I promise I meant no offense with my words. I find that I am terribly good at sticking my tail in my mouth when getting to know others." She sighed, feeling a bit dazed and confused.
"I suppose that I havent been much of a member of the Court... Too stuck on trying to learn what to do rather than trying to get to know members. That is something I want to work on. Hard to feel like you belong somewhere when you dont know anyone." She shook her head at her own inadequacies, offering a smile to the other mare again.
to stubborn to see i've been mentally unable to find, serenity, i'm living in this faded reality
Kassandra tilted her head on a deep angle, questions running up and down her throat, her neck. “Do you remember your homeland?” she asked, thinking of her own (her own?). Nigh on four years now, Furae was beginning to be a blur in her brain… not that it was ever anything else. An exploding smudge of color and heat, the smell of blood and sulfur, the crackle of the magic portal, and then it was gone forever.
She continued, prodding a bit-- but the questions were genuine and less out of interrogation than a childlike wonder at discovering something completely new. “Did you leave on purpose? Or was it an accident?”
jeez, Kas, let the girl breathe, Oculos said, followed by an adorable sneeze. agh, I got duckweed in my nose.
“Hush, you,” Kas scolded, loving, their repartee snapping her out of her gloom. What followed then was the endearing, but awkward, occurrence when two very nice people who have no idea what to do in a social situation find themselves in a social situation: lots of apologizing, stumbling, and fumbling.
Pol’s face fell because she thought she upset Kassandra, which was absolutely not the case; Kassandra, then, found herself on a scrambling downward path to reassure Pol of this, and also feeling bad because she had upset Pol. “No, no, it was nothing you said, it’s just my own… silly self, I think. Apologies.” Kass wanted to hearten her new friend so much that she took a step forward and sank up to her chest in riverbank much. “Oh. Whoops.”
HA! Oculos snapped, teeth a flash of white.
“Hush, you!” Kassandra whispered back, a bit louder this time. She frowned and tried to unstick herself. It was difficult going. “Oh, well, at least it’s cooler in here.” She flipped her frown and smiled up, now, at Polar North. “Sticking your tail in your mouth! That’s funny. I quite like that saying.” Her ears titled forward as Pol explained her own relation to the court; after which, Kassandra nodded. “I know what you mean. First we feel like we must have a purpose, right? A purpose to feel useful?”
your purpose is standing in mud, apparently, Oculos snickered, tongue lolling with good humor.
“If the first thing I do when I get unstuck is punch him,” Kassandra told Polar North through a forced smile “please do not think less of me.”
Pol shook her head slowly at her question, frowning slightly. "Not really. The memories I do have are colored by youth and fear. I left when I was 4 months old, took in my a traveling healer after an accident with a shark." She explained, not really wanting to get too deep into the story. The fear that had followed her since that day with the shark. The trauma of being left behind by her family. Being left on the ice floe to die. Taking a deep breath, she shook away the memories and smiled up at her softly. "My leaving wasnt my choice... rather one that had been made for me by our triton... our leader. It was decided for the safety of the pod and I had no room to argue." She murmured, lifting her head.
Pol watched the canine and mare as they spoke, wondering how the other was so at ease around those teeth. It was mind blowing to her that one would choose to be near such an obvious predator. But Pol had never had a reason to not fear. Outside of Trey. That bull was something completely different. Something that put her at ease while still being something dangerous.
When the other mare sank into the riverbank, Pol jumped toward her. "Are you alright? What can I do to help?" She asked, smiling in answer to the apology from the other mare. The flash of white teeth from the canine made her wince slightly.
At her remark about sticking a tail in ones mouth, Pol chuckled. "I suppose it is more common among beings that have a less equine tail." She said, presenting her damaged tail to her view. It wasnt as beautiful as her sister's or the rest of the species, but it was hers and she was proud that she was different and strong enough to survive when things go badly.
"A purpose can be a strong drive. After being saved as a pup, I wanted nothing more than to be able to do the same for others. A passion to become the best healer that I can be. It has driven me to the point that the world slips by around me while I am focused on learning. It is nice to get out and actually see others, to remember why I want to be a healer." She nodded, laughing softly at Kassandra's next words. "I cant say that I would blame you, he seems like he has a sassy streak." Not that she could understand the canine. She had learned to take in the words from one side of a conversation and try to understand the other side.
"Lets see if we can get you out of the muck." She laughed softly, moving to try to help her however she could.
to stubborn to see i've been mentally unable to find, serenity, i'm living in this faded reality
Would Kassandra be happier if she had no recollection of Furae? No memories of the awful trances and horrid dreams, prophetic spectres of its future, and its end? Her phantasmic visions were tinged with the very real smell of sulfur, of burning flesh, flecks of red and shards of bone being thrown and tossed; the great, vibrating feeling of the whole world rending and upending in one burst; Oculos screaming to not look back, do not look back.
Why did she keep looking back?
“That’s horrible,” Kassandra murmured, her tone apologetic for forcing Polar North to relive her traumatic memories. In a way, Kas herself was numb to such a thing, for she spent so much time there. So much time looking back. “I’m so sorry.”
It was a comical attempt at an amende, with Kas stuck in mud near up to her shoulders. Still, she was much cooler down here. “Oh, I’m quite alright, I think.” She wiggled a bit from side to side, feeling the muck squelch and suck at her legs and chest, and the front curve of her stomach. “This is a nice way to beat the heat, even if by accident.”
Pol slipped her tail forward and Kassandra found herself taken with the bodily structure; alabaster and painted in lavender swirls, shining, slightly damp. It was fascinating and entirely un-equine. “I still think it’s lovely,” she assured. She jerked her head in Oculos’ direction. “He can bite his tail, as well. Sometimes he chases it.”
i do not! Oculos whined, coming a bit closer to inspect the situation his companion had gotten herself into, and blissfully unaware of the discomfort he instilled in their new friend. His own tail, as long as his body, tubular and muscular, acted like a directional rudder when he ran, much like Pol’s would when she swam. It had a little white tuft of fur on the end of it that was turning brown with muck.
The Vapor Treader moved to help Kas get herself unstuck, and Kas welcomed the assistance, bracing herself on her hind legs to try and pull as Pol pushed. Her back hooves dug long, muddy divots in the river bank as she scrabbled for purchase, cursing herself, not for the first time, for being so bulky. There was a loud squelching noise, and Kas gave one violet toss of her head and chest, and she wrenched herself free, tumbling sideways along the steadier ground, lungs heaving. She was free, though her front third was covered in black much.
A bit exerted, she lifted her head, smiling through her gasping breaths. “Well, if you are as good at healing as you are from rescuing people from mud, I’d say you are doing a wonderful job.”
Oculos, who had dodged out of the way of her flailing form, came up to her now, nuzzling his long snout into the mane at the junction of her head and neck. you’re embarrassing, he growled, affectionate.
"SPEECH"oculos speech ! @Polar North
sorry for the wee bit of pp (pol helping push kas out the mud) i will change it if u want me 2 <3
Pol smiled at the other mare, dipping her head. "It is all right. I find that speaking of it is less painful than it used to be. Since coming to Novus, I have found purpose and even somehow found my sister again." She explained as she smiled. Her entire being was soothed as she realized that she was no longer haunted by her past like she had been once before.
Pol chuckled softly. "I can completely understand that, though I find it is easier when it is planned." she remarked as she gazed at the other mare.
Her response to Pol's damaged tail made the young mare smile. "You should see my sister's. Hers is whole and powerful, much more accurate to how it should be." She laughed softly. The idea of the canine chasing his tail was comical, helping to dispel the anxiety that being near a predator tended to bring.
After the other mare was free, Pol laughed again. "I dont know if I am as good yet, but I am definitely working on it." Pol chuckled. Glancing at the mare as she caught her breath, she flicked an ear. "Are you ok? Nothing seriously injured?" She asked, hoping that the mare wasnt in dire need of a healer that was truly trained.
"Speaking"
@Kassandra Notes: No worries love <3 It is totally fine
to stubborn to see i've been mentally unable to find, serenity, i'm living in this faded reality
It warmed Kas that there were still such wonders in the world, ones that seemed so small but were, in fact, large. Here were two creatures from a completely different land-- she couldn’t really grasp the concept of ‘aliens’, as everything, to her, was just a different continent (she had no idea how big the world was!)-- who had found each other again in this new one. An amazing feat in the scope of the size of everything. It made her heart feel less hard even if she felt smaller than a speck of stardust. “That’s incredible,” she said, earnest and breathy, sounding for all the world like the little lost girl again, a bird with crooked wings freshly freed from her tower cage. “That you found your sister again.”
Pol seemed quite unsettled by the state of her tail, which Kas found wholly incredible, even with a giant chunk taken out of it. Her own rear had a normal tail, short cropped and prone to tangling, white hair stained with muck. Plain, banal, and ugly, even.
“No, I believe I’m fine, thank you,” Kas said, checking herself over for injuries. She was fine, save for the muck that was slowly encrusting itself to her bulk. It felt fine now but soon it would itch and smell. She winced. “Perhaps a bath is in order. Short order.”
"SPEECH"oculos speech ! @Polar North
sorry this is poo!
