A boy who looks like a volcano, a boy who is named after a volcano, finding a volcano to explore seems rather fortuitous in the grand scheme of things. Save for the Veins, a volcano is the one terrain that Helovia seemed to lack, so imagine the large yearling's surprise and intrigue when he finds one amidst the mists of the newly-discovered West, albeit one that looks like its lava-spitting days are long over. He circles it on powerful feathered wings, his small sense of self-preservation telling him that it's best to stay far away....but that side is at war with his desire to adventure upon its sides, and eventually it's that part of him that emerges victorious from his savage internal battle.
He angles himself down, down, down until he's landing in the depths of the pine forest, and a quick examination of the nearest tree tells him that this forest is deceptively young. That is extremely interesting, as it implies that this land is newer than some of the others within the Rift, a fact which is not lost in Vulkán's vast intelligence. The yearling folds his wings to his sides and wanders through the trees, his tail trailing like a snake on the ground behind him. The pain in his head has ebbed slightly since he began to make headway on his trial, so it's now possible for him to move around without being crippled by the white-hot agony. He knows the relief doesn't tend to last long, though, so it is of vital importance that he explores swiftly, before the torture returns. A vast black mass rises in front of him, and the colt stops to stare at it. It's a great obsidian pillar, its sides etched with runes of the sort that he's never seen before. "Hmmm..." The boy leans closer, sniffing at the stone as though it is something edible. |
in my thoughts i have seen rings of smoke through the trees, & the voices of those who stand looking.
Although Otem is much more socially conscious and capable than her twin or her mother, she is also excellent at manipulating herself to suit those around her. And so, as she lands near her twin, she doesn't offer a hello or really any sort of greeting. She doesn't try and disguise her landing to make it seem more graceful or elegant (not that Vulkán would notice if she did), nor did she offer any pleasantries. Instead she exhaled a puff of breath, folded her wings against her flanks, and tried to see what it was her twin had found so interesting. "I wonder if the ruins carved on the side have the same meaning as the others.." Otems burgundy and gold gaze narrowed slightly as she looked up. The ruins were unreadable to her, just as the other set had been to her mother. It was in hebrew, she remember Isopia telling her, a language that her mother did not speak. Another mare had - Yael she was called. Silently Otem wondered if this Yael had made it through the rift, and if she had, if she could read the nearly-faded symbols on the side of this monument as she had with the last. |
He knows immediately who it is; everybody else insists on a pointless greeting or small talk when they approach him, or, worse, hide their true emotions behind a queer veil of body language that the inept colt can never hope to penetrate. Not Otem, who skips straight to the point. She understands him, and despite his stunted feels, he appreciates her all the more for it. "I thought the same thing." He'd visited the altar only a handful of times in his short life, but the inscriptions in this slab of onyx look much the same as the ones in the Spectral Marsh. "There was a mare who could decipher them, didn't Mot....Isopia say?" The mention of one's dead mother would send flashes of sorrow through most children, but not Vulkán. He feels nothing but a small hum of sadness as he says the word, and that's more because Isopia would probably have known more about these runes than he could ever hope to. All that lost knowledge is a terrible tragedy.
He is not alone with his sister for long. A call echoes through the forest, and the volcano-boy lifts his head from where he'd been closely eyeballing the runes. He feels a small stab of irritation at having his studies disturbed, but the unfamiliar sensation quickly subsides. In bounces another colt, younger and smaller than the two yearlings but who quickly moves towards Otem with the familiarity of one who has met her before. A more possessive brother might shift to dissuade this stranger from going near his twin, but thankfully Vulkán does not seem to have inherited his father's deep jealousy and so simply scrutinises the interaction with interest. He likes to watch the interactions of others as though they're zoo exhibits - how they always seem to find the perfect line between holding eye contact too long or not long enough, whereas poor Vulkán hates eye contact with a passion and avoids it when possible...or, worse, tries his best to look normal by staring relentlessly and creepily because he thinks that's what he's supposed to do. He looks at how each flick of an ear or twitch of a muscle sends a small unspoken cue between everyone else, whilst he relies soley on the spoken word to procure a meaning. All other horses, including Otem and this other boy, make social interaction look so easy, so natural. Vulkán wonders if they have to second guess every movement they make, like he does, or if it is just instinct to them. It frustrates him that he's not the same way, that he either stands out like a sore thumb by ignoring social cues or tries his best to impersonate them only to fail miserably. This internal musing is momentary. He hears the colt say another word - sister - and this makes him cock his head with evident interest. Another sibling? He has plenty, but each one is a welcome addition. The other boy introduces himself as Mauna, and Vulkán realises with a great swell of dread that he's going to have to offer the same courtesy back - always tricky, as he never knows how much information to reveal. "My name is Vulkán." This seems too abrupt, so he quickly searches for something else to add. He focuses on the colt's introduction, calling Otem sister. This is where the bulky yearling makes the massive, but completely understandable, mistake of assuming that Mauna is a sibling on his father's side. Most of the Rift's current population is a relation of Volterra, and it doesn't cross the lava-boy's mind for a second that Mauna could be a brother on Isopia's side. Why would it? "You are our brother? I am surprised I did not see you during our family gathering in the Portal - I thought Father had ushered through the majority of us." It's said in his usual emotioness monotone, unaware of the grievous assumption he's just made. Mauna observes that the massive onyx creations are neat, and the yearling automatically shakes his head, taking the words literally. "They are not neat - they are quite untidy, really, but I suppose that is to be expected if they are natural phenomena." He makes the remark in his usual unwavering, unshifting voice, utterly unaware that Mauna was only using a figure of speech and not actually saying that the stones were neat in the proper sense of the word. |
in my thoughts i have seen rings of smoke through the trees, & the voices of those who stand looking.
"I wondered the same." Otem replies instantly, her mind a whirl of complex dedications and assumptions. That Vulkan calls her a mare (while techinically correct), leads her to believe that all her twin knows about the ruin-interpreter is her gender. "Her name is - or was - Yael. She studied under mother. I do not know whether she is alive or not. But it would be interesting to hear her thoughts on these particular ruins and their possible connections with the one erected back in Helovia." |
He is the son of mother and Zekle. The yearling blinks once, twice. "Oh." For one as usually eloquent as he is, it's quite a surprise to see him left speechless. He doesn't really have any emotions on the subject save for being slightly taken aback at the notion his mother had gone through an entire pregnancy without him noticing, but he supposes that he can be prone to missing the obvious details in his hunt for the bigger picture. Deep inside him, in the part that tries its best to feel the emotions that he knows he should feel, there's a small stab of jealousy. He'd thought he and Otem were special in the fact they were the only children to be born of the Mountain's womb - now, it turns out they're not special at all, that they weren't even her last ever offspring. They're just....numbers.
Thankfully, the stab is just fleeting. The colt is soon back to his usual unflappable self, gazing benignly between Mauna and Otem. The younger foal declares his good fortune in having such a large family, and Vulkán is close to pointing out that he and Otem are even luckier, then, given how many paternal siblings they possess, but for once he manages to bite his tongue. Not because he wants to be polite, but because he's not sure if having many brothers and sisters should be considered lucky. That is a debate for a different day, however, and he continues his stone-faced stare between his sister and his new brother. Otem asks Mauna's reasons for being here, and Vulkán listens with half an ear. He only interjects when the younger colt states that he wants Isopia to be proud of him. "I do not think the dead are able to feel pride, so that is not possible." Again, he's being far too literal - he does not stop to consider that his words may hurt his siblings, because he's simply not capable of putting together actions with consequences. He does not mean to be callous, yet his inability to stop himself from correcting what he thinks is an erroneous statement means that he often hurts without meaning to. Finally, the subject turns to something that he can truly join in with, as Mauna muses over why the stones are here. "That is an interesting question. At first I was inclined to believe that they were placed here on purpose, however their haphazard nature makes me conclude that I may have been hasty in assuming that. I am now leaning more towards thinking that they are natural phenomena, and that the symbols have simply been etched into them after their creation. What do you both think?" He's almost excited at the notion of getting into a good debate about the background and meaning behind these stones. |
in my thoughts i have seen rings of smoke through the trees, & the voices of those who stand looking.
[YOU'RE BOTH MONSTERS FOR MAKING ME BE THE ONE TO DO THIS :||||| ] |