This forum uses cookies
This forum makes use of cookies to store your login information if you are registered, and your last visit if you are not. Cookies are small text documents stored on your computer; the cookies set by this forum can only be used on this website and pose no security risk. Cookies on this forum also track the specific topics you have read and when you last read them. Please confirm whether you accept or reject these cookies being set.

A cookie will be stored in your browser regardless of choice to prevent you being asked this question again. You will be able to change your cookie settings at any time using the link in the footer.

Hello There, Guest!

| Register
Home » Search » Roster » Whitepages » Records » FAQ » Guidebook
all these countless nights
Open Rainforest Cliffs  anybody welcome!
Volterra
Currently championing:
#1


V O L T E R R A
HE SAYS "OH BABY GIRL, DON'T GET CUT ON MY EDGES
I'M THE KING OF EVERYTHING AND MY TONGUE IS A WEAPON"

"Vérzés!"

His voice is a roar that shakes the eerie forest, causing alien birds to erupt from the trees and fly away screaming. None of the flying creatures is his dragon, though. None of the queer birds or hideously twisted beasts are his beloved red companion, his first, his favourite. The Indomitable refuses to accept that Vérzés is gone; ever since he was spat through the portal he has searched tirelessly for the ruby war-dragon, barely finding time to sleep or eat thanks to the determination that runs through his veins.

Focusing on finding his dragon allows him to stay in this blessed state of distraction, because the minute he finds himself at rest, his thoughts will begin to rampage through his mind. He'll start to think of Helovia, of Kaos and Isopia, and he's still not ready to face everything he's lost. The warlord must keep himself busy, and there is no more important task than hunting down his precious lost companion.

Vadir flies above him, circling back every so often to stare at a new, bizarre type of forest prey. "He gone," she sighs. "He wild. No point searching." Volterra feels his temper rise dangerously. He loves Vadir, his glorious golden queen of dragons with her tempestous attitude and her overbearing arrogance, but she is really, really pissing him off with her snide comments and her evident reluctance to search for Vérzés. She follows her bonded's commands and looks for her red brother, of course, but her searching is perfunctory and half-arsed. It is quite obvious that she likes having Volterra all to herself, and that she's thriving on her crimson sibling's absence.

This infuriates the onyx leviathan. How can she not care? How can she not want to find the spunky red who once saved her life, who has fought alongside her in countless battles, who gives as good as he gets despite her size and strength advantage? The stallion huffs his disgust and looks away from the golden queen, unable to help the traitorous thoughts that cross his mind - why wasn't it her who went wild? Why did it have to be Vérzés? Vadir has always been close to the wild dragons; she'd recently bedded one, as much as she tried to keep this secret from Volterra. Surely it should have been her who went rabid instead of the red?

He knows these thoughts are unhealthy, though, so he forces them aside. He cannot have favourites, but he knows if roles were reversed, Vérzés would stop at nothing to find Vadir despite his dislike of her. He'd put Volterra first, because that's just who he is - Vadir, in contrast, only cares about herself and her own status. Her innate selfishness is admirable in some ways, but right now the beast dearly wishes that he could change her.

He resumes his path through the forest, glancing under every rock and into every patch of undergrowth for any sign of his dragon.

image credits

Otem the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#2
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold

Unlike her mother, Otem feels lots of things. She feels them intensely, but because of how her mother used to be and how her twin is, she stifles them, and the one thing that makes her actually normal, in fact makes her feel isolated. So she swallows her emotions, creating a chasm inside of herself for all those squishy feelings to live.

And so as she hears her Father call out, Vérzés, she quickly grabs hold of the betrayal and anguish she feels and throws them into the pit. True, it was she who panicked and ran from the entrance of the portal, away from her family into this jungle, but shouldn't her father be the least little bit worried about her? Dragons had teeth and claws and fire and magic. She had magic too, but claws? The wound on her chest seemed to ignite with pain as her thoughts turned towards it. She hadn't tried all that hard to clean up her spilled blood, and so patches of maroon still dotted her shoulder where the unicorn's horn had sliced through it. It looked more dramatic that way.

Steeling herself and swallowing hard, Otem painted a look of innocence on her face as she stepped out from the thick jungle underbrush into her Father's path. "Father!" She cried happily, her voice betraying none of the contempt she had felt towards him only moments again. Her wings spread from her chest as she ran forward to embrace him - the movement appeared casual, but it was entirely calculated. Her Father the warrior would notice her wounds in an instant, and part of her wanted him to feel guilt over letting her run off. Maybe it had to do with what the pale tribrid had said, but Otem was now firmly of the opinion that her Father had too many children.

"I've found you!" She cooed into his strong chest, wings wrapping around his shoulders.

Pandora who had been flying close to Otem, now rose up to perch in a tree, eyeing the golden dragon warily.

Image Credits

You may always use magic/force on/against Otem.
Volterra
Currently championing:
#3


V O L T E R R A
HE SAYS "OH BABY GIRL, DON'T GET CUT ON MY EDGES
I'M THE KING OF EVERYTHING AND MY TONGUE IS A WEAPON"

For the first time, Vadir perks up, her interest piqued. Volterra's heart soars, thinking she's located her red brother - although his senses tell him she'd be far from overjoyed if so - but she quickly smothers his ray of hope with two simple words. "Smell blood." She moves silently through the forest, a glimmering harbinger of golden death as she looks for the source of the aroma, until her disappointment throbs into the warlord's mind. "Oh. One of your hatchlings." Her tone is dismissive, and she returns to her idle observations of the forest's fauna with a contemptous swing of her scythed tail.

Exactly which member of his army of offspring it is quickly becomes apparent. "Otem!" For a moment, the sight of her knocks the breath straight out of his body. She looks so much like her mother, and that reminds him that he'll never see Isopia again. His heart constricts, his head bows, and his expression clouds like an oncoming storm, until he manages to compose himself and force the emotions aside. Grief is not something that can be scheduled, penned in when it's deemed acceptable by the unfortunate recipient, but Volterra's iron-willed determination means that he simply refuses to think about what he's lost until he's good and ready to deal with it. That moment is not now. That moment won't be until he's got his family settled here, and until his errant dragon is back by his side. Until that moment he's going to live in a firm state of denial, focusing completely on staying busy and making sure he keeps strong for the sake of his loved ones. They cannot see him when he's weak. They cannot be there when the truth of Isopia's death finally hits him, because he cannot stomach the idea of them seeing the Indomitable reduced to naught more than rubble.

So he schools his face into neutrality, although an observant girl like Otem will probably notice that the smile he plasters onto himself doesn't quite reach his eyes, which remain as empty as pits. She comes closer, wrapping around him like a vine, and he returns the gesture with gusto. He notices her wound immediately, and the sight of it bids him to break their embrace so he can stare at it in horror. "What happened to you?" Deep, deep down, in that most selfish black depth of his soul, he hopes it's a living creature that has wounded his daughter. He needs somebody tangible to hate, because Kaos is not here to suffer the consequences of his actions. Volterra needs an enemy, and he needs to feel his hooves pulverizing soft flesh into mulch. He needs to feel his teeth hooked in skin, he needs blood on his tongue - he needs a distraction, some poor unfortunate soul that he can unleash every ounce of his hatred, misery and anger onto until they're pulp on the ground and he's finally sated.

So he looks at her, and prays that she will give him an enemy.

image credits

Otem the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#4
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold

Unlike Volterra, Otem never really has to look upon ehr own appeareance and be reminded of her mother. Of course there are more than enough things even in this strange world that hearken back to Isopia, but her own appearance isn't one of them.

As her Father's attention immediately turns to her wound - something that fills the filly with delight at having guessed her Father's state of mind correctly - Otem shrugs her narrow shoulders against his body and then retreats a few steps. Her eyes look forward as if to try and inspect the wound as her wings spread to give her Father's gaze more room. Thoughtfully she tilts her head slightly, dark eyelashes falling. "This?" She asks almost coquettishly, although she isn't trying to be alluring - she's trying to portray the pantomime of an innocent child.

"We came through with so many others-" She begins, softly trying to emphasize all the brothers and sisters she apparently has (a number that she only recently understood upon seeing them all tumble through the portal with her), "so I went off a bit. You know to give everyone room.." Her voice trails and her shoulders rise and fall guiltlessly. "I met a stallion in the jungle. He was asleep, and I was just trying to tell him that he should be careful-" Again, her words were meant to imply that she was not anything but the victim here."And he stabbed me for some sort of blood ritual."

Her lower lip juts out slightly and she winces as she raises the leg attached to the garish wound. "I think he said his name was Tamlin?" She offered, again her voice casual and childish. Though inside, she hoped her Father was already plotting the stallion's demise.

Image Credits

You may always use magic/force on/against Otem.
Volterra
Currently championing:
#5


V O L T E R R A
HE SAYS "OH BABY GIRL, DON'T GET CUT ON MY EDGES
I'M THE KING OF EVERYTHING AND MY TONGUE IS A WEAPON"

He stiffens; he might be prone to being oblivious to certain subtleties, but he doesn't miss the emphasis in Otem's voice when she says so many others. "You didn't need to do that," he rumbles in response, and he's quite proud that his voice doesn't sound in the least bit cross. He's had all this before with Kid, criticising him for the amount of offspring he has - it's disappointing to hear the same old line trotted out by Otem, but alas, even Volterra's great strength doesn't lend him the ability to control his children's thoughts. As with Kid and his numerous snarky comments over the years, it takes a great element of self-control for the beast to not rise to the bait and retort.

He wants to be a good father, and that involves not allowing himself to be drawn into arguments despite the constant barbing of his progeny. Now, more than ever, it's so important that he keeps every child close, especially Otem, one of only two pieces of Isopia left upon this earth (that Volterra knows of - he's mercifully unaware of Mauna's existence). As much as he wants to point out that he does a better damn job of looking after his children than the vast majority of their mothers have managed, as much as he wants to point out that at least Otem's father deigned to remain in her life and raise her, a commodity that Volterra himself never had....he doesn't. He remains calm, a pillar of black stone, unmoved and unaffected, at least externally.

It is much easier to focus upon the girl's tale, and now the stallion does allow his face to cloud over and his muscles to tense with a frisson of anger. "Tamlin," he growls, repeating the word and tasting it upon his tongue. How dare this man approach his daughter in the forest and steal her blood for his own end? "He is a dead man." The vow is said quite simply, as though he's remarking on the weather - it is matter of fact, because it is known and it is true. "Describe him to me." He's ready to place a face onto this new, unknown enemy, a description to give him something to work on, something to hate. Something to destroy.

image credits

Otem the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#6
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold

I don't have to do anything, Otem wanted to say, but didn't. That was not the point of this conversation, and given that her Father had declined to respond to her mention of his large brood, she thought it wiser to drop the subject. What did she know, after all? Of course she thought that her mother had been the ideal choice for Volterra - for anyone if given the chance - but surely all little girls thought that? What did the pale mare know, anyways? She hadn't even been aware of all of Volterra's children. At least Isopia had.

More or less.

"A bit scrawny and not very tall. A black appaloosa, with a black horn that had a pale tip. When he made me bleed, a blue flower sprouted from it.." Otem paused at this. It had been so strange. "He said something about having to find his mother, even though he definitely looked full grown."

Now Otem turned her eyes down, trying to look upon her wound in earnest this time. It stung and itched every time she moved, and now that it had incited her Father's anger she just wanted it to go away. Did any of their sun physicians make it through? And if they did, had they retained any of their magic?

"Why would he tell me his name and then attack?" Otem asked after a moment of silent contemplation."That doesn't seem very clever."


Image Credits

You may always use magic/force on/against Otem.
Moä Te
Currently championing:
#7











you lose yourself

trying to hold on to nothing




She could hear the whispering about the strangers.  Different voices of those born here analyzing and judging those who fell from a portal. She herself was quick to judge as she watched all sorts of being tumble from the sky, and for that she kicked herself.  She could feel her lonely upbringing bubbling forth, a need to find out more about who they are, where they came from.  What do they want?  But there were some that she spotted with less-then-good looks about them, like they were hungry and ready to devour her and her home.  So she dimmed her lights and backed away from the fallen bodies, grimacing at their cries. She ached to step in and help, but they might've turned against her. She is part of the Rift after all, a native to this land full of glowing trees and terrible monsters.  What if they thought she was a monster?

Her footfalls through the brush were silent, save for a crack of a branch every now and again. A sigh can be heard escaping her lips as she swayed between the trees, pondering about the past events. Maybe she could convince them that not everything here is out to eat them? But would they believe her? She could help them.  The glowing orbs hanging from her gave her the ability of a healing magic, although she couldn't heal their physical wounds.  Her abilities could help sooth their minds though, maybe bring them some peace with their situation,  Her light eyes rolled in their sockets.  Even if they could accept her help, they have all scattered.  It seems that panic and chaos makes them lose their sanity.  Here in the Rift, the mare has experienced her fair share of chaos and danger, even with her young age.

Her ears pricked, catching a loud bellow in the distance,  She was too far away to make out the word that echoed off of the trees, but the noise sounded desperate, almost lost.  Who was in the woods?  Certainly it had to be one of those who came through the portal.  Anyone who lived here couldn't be so urgent in their cry, right?  Either way, she moved towards the sound, treading with caution.  It could be a trap. Twisting her way between the trunks, she noticed two figures in the distance, one large and dark, the other winged and the color of soil.  She pondered for a moment, wondering if she should hide and wait for a possible attack.  But it only took a moment for her to shake her head, knowing that the orbs that provided her with her healing magic also glowed brightly, inhibiting her from staying out of sight for long.  She instead positioned herself a safe distance away, ready to bolt, and let out a small nicker in greeting.  

"Hello?  I'm sorry, but do you need help?  Are you lost?"

She let her eyes quickly take in the two strangers, noticing the two flying creatures above them first.  She has never seen something quite like them, particularly the scaled one that shone a deep gold.  Her mouth twinged into a frown for a moment, a strange feeling coming over her when she looked at the thing.  She couldn't quite put the feeling into words, but she knew she had no desire to learn more of it.  It isn't like her to immediately dislike something, but there is a first time for everything.  Returning her attention to the ones she could actually interact with, she spotted the obvious splatter of blood on the winged one.  Again her maw turned downwards, but in concern rather then distaste.  With one tentative step forward, she motioned towards the wound.

"You're injured.  Are you in need of a healer?"




words: 630 . notes:




Volterra
Currently championing:
#8


V O L T E R R A
HE SAYS "OH BABY GIRL, DON'T GET CUT ON MY EDGES
I'M THE KING OF EVERYTHING AND MY TONGUE IS A WEAPON"

He wonders what sort of sick man would proposition a young girl in the forest. The thought makes him deeply, uncontrollably angry, because he doesn't think for a second that there could be more to the story than Otem is letting on. No, his little girl can only be telling the truth, and the picture she paints is enough to incite the warlord's unholy wrath. Her question bids him to shake his head, as confused as she is. "Perhaps he did not think that telling you his name would result in any unpleasant consequences for him, given your age. It probably didn't cross his mind that you might have family who will destroy anybody that hurts you."

He glances at her wound as she does, concerned. It's not serious enough to usually warrant attention, but the beast's worries are twofold - first, she is young, and the effects of such an injury might cause more damage than a similar wound would cause on himself, for example. Secondly, it concerns him that the Rift's corruption could turn a usually innocuous cut into something far more terrifying, and his mind is filled with pictures of fetid green pus, of gangrene, of infection. "We need to find somebody who can look at your wound for you. Astarot, maybe." His son is the only healer he can think of, and indeed the only one he'd trust to look at Otem and tend to her the way she deserves to be tended to.

Suddenly, there is a nicker in the background. The monolith immediately turns, his great bulk automatically placing itself between the stranger and his daughter, and his muscles slip subconsciously into battle mode. He's lost everything else, but at least he has not lost his ability to protect his family. When the newcomer ventures into his vision field, it causes him to drag in a sharp intake of breath. It is a mare, but like no mare he has ever seen before - her body is ruined by long spines, each one tipped with a glowing orb. She is....bizarre. She is of the Rift. And she is offering healing.

Volterra's first instinct is to tell her to get the hell away from his daughter, not trusting for a minute that she won't do something dastardly to the tribrid yearling. But he tries to see sense, and allow Otem to choose for herself whether she will trust the mutated stranger - he steps aside, although his crimson gaze never leaves the spiked mare. "You are a healer?" he rumbles in question, his voice wary and his body tense.

image credits

Otem the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#9
otem
You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
Hearing her Father reiterate precisely the sentiment she wanted to hear made Otem beam with pride and the shiny feeling of success. She supposed it wasn't really manipulation given her Father's penchant for violence and protecting his kin, but even so, the first few seeds of the wordsmith and emotional-manipulator that Otem would become, had been planted and watered by this early success.

That he was equally concerned about her wounds also stroked the girl's ego. Otem feigned a shrug as her Father mentioned her older brother as her eyes darted down to the crusty and painful cut on her shoulder. "I don't want to bother him .. he's probably so busy." Otem cooed, wanting to sound as though she was more interested in the wellfare of others over herself. Quickly however her guise of selflessness disappeared as a figure appeared through the trees. With a start Otem's body tensed and she moved to hide behind the bulk of Volterra's rocky shoulder. She felt childish and embarrassed for being spooked so easily, but it was clear from the mare's appearance and her Father's reaction to her that she was not from Helovia. The autumn-coloured girl felt a shaky sense of relief come over her as her Father took charge. What would she have done if he wasn't present? Would she let herself be healed (or possibly maimed again)? Would she have died out in this forest, trying to prove that she was more than just a moody and troubled child?

Pressing herself close to Volterra, Otem peaked around his shoulder. She wanted to appear confident if not for herself, but to continue Volterra's reputation of being fearless (which implied that his offspring should be fearless as well), but her shoulder really did hurt, and the tribrid was not up for being autonomous right this second.

Right now she was more than happy to be a daddy's girl, and let Volterra dictate what they should do.

Image Credits

You may always use magic/force on/against Otem.
Moä Te
Currently championing:
#10











you lose yourself

trying to hold on to nothing



She wasn't really surprised with the stallion's reaction. She is obviously a monster.  With pricking spikes and a perpetual glow about here, what else could she be.  Still, she couldn't help the slight downturn of her lips and the roll of her eyes.  Really, there wasn't anyone who was weird looking where they are from?  Her skin shivered with the stare from the protective creature, his red eyes seemingly boring into her.  She quickly shook it off, raising her skull in faux strength, returning his gaze.

"Did they not teach manners in the other realm? I understand that your...I assume child?...is injured but it takes just a second to return a greeting."

What the actual hell is she doing?! Inwardly, her mind went in overload.  Complete panic from just having chastised this giant.  She couldn't help it though. With a sigh she dropped her eyes, relaxing her face until she could offer a small grin. "I apologize.  It's been a hell of a day and I shouldn't take it out on you.  No, and yes to your question.  While I can't heal her physical wound, I can ease the pain.  It's a different kind of healing magic, and it could offer her some relief until it becomes more stable. Or until you find a healer.  Maybe you can bargain for fugaxia? Nah..." She stopped herself before rambling on for too long.  She took another tenative step forward.

"Well? Not that I have anything else planned today, but I would need a moment to gather the power.  And I doubt you will find anyone else to help right now.  Unless she is up to walking out of the forest?"  This time, her eyes flickered to the pegasus, waiting to see if she would step out from his shadow and decide.






 . @Volterra @Otem  . notes: