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Home » Search » Roster » Whitepages » Records » FAQ » Guidebook
I don't play by the rules
Private Ultima 
Gwyn
Currently championing:
#1


GWYN
uh-oh, running out of breath, but I
oh, I, I got stamina


Now, Gwyn was not lost: she had simply forgotten where she had come out onto the beach from.

Don’t go too far, daddy had told her, grazing in a clearing not far into the jungle. She, of course, had not been content to stay in one place, and, for once, didn’t have an appetite for more food. Pleading and begging, giving her sweetest eyes and most fluttering lashes, she had, at last, succeeded in winning her way into a small adventure. An adventure which had rules, which she had intended to follow.

Don’t leave the jungle, he had also warned her. She now understood why. It was very difficult to tell one plant from the other, one tree from the next. They all looked the same. The beach was no help, either; the rain had washed each hoof print and divot into a similar shape and size, each cupping a tiny puddle of drinkable water that gave absolutely no clues as to where she had begun her delightful romp on the beach.

Stay with Duir, he had also said, but that was boring. The buck was tentative and shy, and preferred to stay near to her father, if at all possible. Her adventure would have gone no where with him in tow, and so she had given him the slip. While he’d tucked his face against a tree and counted while she “hid,” Gwyn had done just that. Hid.

After galloping as far as she could in those thirty seconds the cerndyr was blind, of course. The buck was probably still wandering around the jungle looking for her, too worried about what her dad would do when he found out that he’d lost her.

The final rule had been to be quiet, or the beasties will get you, which would be the only rule she was going to follow (it was the only one which had been given with a consequence, and a dire one at that). It was difficult to contrive a way back, however, because the only thing she could think of, over and over, was to start calling for her father and Duir. Who knew if they would even hear her, though? The rain beating on the leaves was awful loud, and, besides…

The beasties.


Image by Jody Roberts@Flickr
I'm just wild
so sit the f#@k down

please tag gwyn for opening posts & mentions in group threads only
Ki'irha
Currently championing:
#2



Fucking. Rain.

Ever since they had been thrust into the portal, the rain had been nearly relentless. It soaked her to the bone. She shifts her shoulders, thankful for the pelt that hands around her, as it provides a small bit of protection. But as if that wasn’t enough, as if all she was forced to endure since her entry to the rift wasn’t sufficient, she found herself deaf. She had been wandering through the forest, unable to find her daughter, and had been wishing for wings. Perhaps if she could take flight, could find herself airborne, it would make it easier to spot the daughter of moon and stars. As if the forces had been cherry picking prayers, she found herself suddenly consumed by pain and unsettling sensations, and then was suddenly deaf. The last thing she heard was a whisper, telling her what she needed to do to get her most favored sense back.

She snorts, shaking her head, as she pushes her way through the forest. It is dizzying constantly turning her head to cast vigilant glances over her shoulder, but she doesn’t trust this land enough to leave her guard down whatsoever. Her ears continue to pivot and swivel in vain, but her silver gaze is keen as ever, and she is trusting her sense of smell to lead her some of the way.

She is finally able to capture a whiff of a smell, something that stood stark against the wet mildew smell of the rainforest. She had been traveling along the dust of the forest, remaining hidden from the ocean seascape, and had yet to see anybody, friend or foe. She turns her body to follow the smell, slipping carefully through the brush. Soon enough a form appears through the trees. She remains hidden, watching the filly, and it isn’t remarkably hard to assume who she may be related to. Certainly, the star swept mare could be wrong, but how common was that deep chocolate pelt, stained with veins of gold? Sure, she could be wrong, but chances are the guilded prince has been busy.

She releases a soft nicker, announcing her presence, before her galaxy form slips into view. She doesn’t want to startle the girl, but it certainly isn’t smart for someone so young to be so alone during this treacherous time. Leave it to Rikyn to allow his children to just wander about in a dangerous new world? And even then, that was giving him a lot of credit, that he didn’t just find a warm hole for his goods and then leave to never be seen again. With that boy, anything was possible.

“Hello,” she begins, voice a little louder than appropriate. To be fair, she can’t hear a thing, and on that same hand, why was she trying to hold a conversation with someone who she couldn’t listen to? “It’s dangerous out here. You should return to your parents, where it is safe.” Again, a little louder than appropriate.

A scowl mars her previously friendly face, and she flicks an ear. She doesn’t to charades, but she should at least warm the child that she won’t understand any speech. “You’ll have to excuse me, and my tone, I’ve recently come down with some hearing issues. I don’t mean to yell.”

If stealth was on the filly’s side, it isn’t any more. The mare had been loud enough to wake up every soul between here an the portal. At least the presence of the rift hadn’t stolen her horn, as well as her sense of sound.
- when a shooting star streaks through the blackness - - turning night into day- - make a wish and think of me -

image || table


@Gwyn
Gwyn
Currently championing:
#3


GWYN
uh-oh, running out of breath, but I
oh, I, I got stamina


A loud nicker from nearby draws the girl’s eyes from their searching of the jungle. Turning her head with wariness writ on every inch of her expression, her ears are back-turned; not aggressive, aware that she is too small to pose a threat to the larger, faster, stronger mare, but instead the sort of stance that suggests she can and will run, if she feels its necessary. That she would rather not have to, at all.

Something about the way the woman is looking at her suggests there is a familiarity between the two of them; one that does not register with Gwyn, who knows she does not know this woman. Though the stranger is pretty, the filly lets this peculiarity hold her gaze rigidly on the approach of the blue and starry woman, her nostrils quivering as she breathes in her smell, a single ear lifting to catch her somewhat shouted words.

I’m little, not deaf… she thinks to herself, a frown fleetingly crossing her mouth at the thought, that lingers, when the woman suggests she return to her parents. It softens only slightly when the girl is told that the as-yet nameless stranger is deaf, explaining, at least, why she was pretty much yelling, though it didn’t excuse her telling Gwyn to do things she was trying and incapable of doing.

I can’t remember how to go back,” states the snow and gold rumped maiden, making sure her face is angled towards the deaf woman so she can at least see her lips, even if she can’t hear anything. Wondering how communication is going to work if she can’t be heard, Gwyn tries a secondary approach. Miming out her words, next, she points at the forest with her horn, then sweeps across where it meets with the beach; looking back at the stranger and dramatically shrugging her shoulders, she bitterly adds one word: “Lost.



Image by Jody Roberts@Flickr
I'm just wild
so sit the f#@k down

please tag gwyn for opening posts & mentions in group threads only
Ki'irha
Currently championing:
#4



For a minute the girl appears ready to bolt, and Ki’irha would understand the reaction. She tips her head, brows furrowing for a moment. Something about remembering a throwback? A how pack? What is a how pack? She is thankful for the dramatic sweep of the child’s horn, gesturing to where the forest meets the sea, and it clicks that she says something along the lines of remember, back, and she took the shrug to mean unknowing. Maybe.

But the final word, annunciated and clear, is enough to confirm the suspicion. ’Aren’t we all?’ she wants to say, understanding how lost they all were in this new world. Her silver eyes scan the expanse, and there is no evidence or obvious trail that would indicate which direction was the right direction. “Hm,” she muses quietly under her breath. But before she can say more, her attention is drawn by the softest fluttering of leaves. She has found her eye sight the slightest bit more keen since her hearing had vanished.

“Wait here,” she says, but whether or not the child listens will be another story all together. Sure, she has no control over the stranger filly, and the movement could have been caused by a raccoon or something similar (were there even raccoons here?), but she wasn’t willing to place her bets on something friendly lurking within the forest. As her eyes peered through the trees, searching through the brush at what could be causing the disturbance, she sees a glance of brown, a flash of gold.

Was that the handsome companion she had met so recently in the frostbreathe steppe? And that only meant one thing.

That bastard made it through.

A light laugh escapes her. As much turbulence that existed between the starlit mare and the gilded stallion, her heart vibrated with happiness that he had made it through. How many more from the Basin had survived, and made it through the portal? The tiny cerndyr was gone nearly as fast as she had seen him, dashing through the woods as if being chased. She lets out a whistle, calling to the buck, hoping he will come back. If she has to take on the responsibility of making sure the filly isn’t eaten, she can at least protect the deer from whatever is pursuing him. Typically she would have chased after him, but she couldn’t just leave the girl to her solitary wanderings again. She thinks of Vesper, then. Was anyone protecting her? Was she safe? A pang of guilt rips through her stomach.

She steps back towards the filly, attempting to shift the attention back to the situation at hand. “Sorry, I thought I saw someone I recognized.” She shrugs, wishing the best of luck for the buck should he have not circled back towards them. “Is there anyone else out here with you? A friend, a parent?”


- when a shooting star streaks through the blackness - - turning night into day- - make a wish and think of me -

image || table
Gwyn
Currently championing:
#5


GWYN
uh-oh, running out of breath, but I
oh, I, I got stamina


Wait here, Gwyn is told, and the filly waits until the older mare turns her back and moves into the jungle to roll her eyes. Where was she going to go? Going places had got her in this predicament. She was going to stay exactly where she was, and hope for the best – surely her father would come looking for her, soon, and Duir had to be on the hunt, as well.

Sighing, the rain slipping down her small body, she hopes that they are reunited soon. She’s never spent so long without one of her parents, and the loneliness has begun to ache, though she steadfastly ignores it.

Looking up at Ki’irha’s return with her ears lifted, they quickly shoot back at the too loud words. Glad that she has the volume of the vocalizations to blame, rather than the angry tightening in her chest at having been left here for some social outing, Gwyn tries to maintain a collected exterior. She reminds herself that they’re both stressed; she’s homesick, and this stranger has to pantomime with a child.

It’s not a winning situation, for either of them.

My dad,” answers the girl, unsure how to mime out either of these things; instead, she says them slowly, forms each syllable distinctly, hopes and prays to whatever Rift spirits will allow the stranger to understand, “and Duir.


Image by Jody Roberts@Flickr
I'm just wild
so sit the f#@k down

please tag gwyn for opening posts & mentions in group threads only
Rikyn
Currently championing:
#6
R I K Y N & D U I R
Luckily for them both, the sound of his name met his sensitive, deer ears with a sharp acuity.

Having been lured back by Ki’irha’s whistle, the buck was still unfortunately unlucky in finding Gwyn. Perhaps due to his panic and fear for both himself and her, the cerndyr had not thought to search outside the jungle, still quite stuck on the thought that the girl was eluding him, finding stealth a game. Her father had taught her it was such, after all…

But, the whistle was a good clue. Even more of a clue was his own calling, spoken in a familiar tone, and with a heady sigh of relief, he bounds out of the jungle, appearing not far from the filly and star-strewn mare. Gwyn! he thinks, with so much enthusiasm and force that it trickles through the soul bond, into my mind, where I’m distantly grazing. Suddenly aware that my idiot companion has lost my child, I am promptly galloping through the woodland, prepared to shout at him until his ears fall off, and maybe worse.

Still blissfully unaware I’m aware, Duir is instead making his way down the beach, believing he has found my daughter in time enough to not face my wrath.

Glad to see a familiar face tending to Gwyn, Duir smiles at Ki’irha, bleats a cheerful deer’s thank you, and arrives alongside Gwyn with a glower of frustration cast in her direction that she’d run off in the first place.



this is not destruction
this is your birth



image credits
just want one thing - just to play the king
but the castle’s crumbled & you’re left with just a name



please tag rikyn for opening posts & mentions in group threads only
Ki'irha
Currently championing:
#7



’My dad.’

Ki’irha nods. She is able to understand that much. But before she needs to try to do more investigative work and bother the child into performing more charades, a deer steps out of the forest and is bounding towards us. Her crowned head is suddenly held high, watching the buck, and her eyes glitter and a smile dances across her face.  He runs along the beach, and never before did she think she would be happy that the stallion was close by. But after their last fateful day in the steppe, with their unresolved feelings and the confusion that had flushed red hot beneath her pelt, she still found reservations knowing that they were probably going to have to come face to face sooner than she had wanted. But still, this meant she was one step closer to returning the child to safety. 

“Handsome boy,” she croons, smiling down as she sees his mouth move. Eyes fall back towards the filly, and the smile lingers. 

Oh, could she have fun with this.

Sure, she hadn’t actually done anything to protect the child or deliver her home, but Ki’irha can only imagine the badgering she could subject Rikyn to. Yet, knowing that her own daughter is still missing, her heart aches again. She knew what it was like being a mother, and she had never known pain as when she realized that she had been separated from her own daughter. How could she find any joy in mocking the fact that there was a good chance the once lord of the north was breaking, having no idea where his child was in this cruel new world?

“I think I know your father, if this is his companion.” Her voice is beginning to even out, as if used to the idea that yelling wasn’t quite the answer. “He’s probably worried sick.” She catches a sharpness when the stag looks to the girl, and though the starlit has no idea that the girl has slipped his watchful eye, she could at least tell that they were familiar with each other. 

“Can you bring us back to Rikyn?” she asks the buck, smile upon her lips again. Sure, the fun solitary exploration that the girl had been participating in was being dragged to a screeching halt, and if she had known the girl had slipped her father and his bonded purposefully, Ki’irha would have wondered when she had become such a boring old woman that she needed to be the buzzkill. But beyond that, she would have had a stern conversation with the girl about the risks of running off in these woods when none had really figured out what lurked in there. 

For all they know, there could be beasties running amok.
- when a shooting star streaks through the blackness - - turning night into day- - make a wish and think of me -

image || table
Gwyn
Currently championing:
#8


GWYN
uh-oh, running out of breath, but I
oh, I, I got stamina


The nod means she understands, Gwyn hopes; returning the gesture, the dark coated child wonders what the next step from here is. Having never been lost, she’s unsure how to become un-so.

Thankfully, the sound of someone coming through the jungle nearby draws her gaze, which lights up immediately upon seeing Duir. Grinning, her downy tail suddenly alive with movement, she forgets the adult nearby for a moment, and, will cheerful abandon, she trots out to meet him. The sight of his stern gaze does little to diminish her happy grin, however, and, even when they both rejoin Ki’irha, she’s still quite pleased with today.

Duir had found her! And the beasties hadn’t!

The starry mare’s greeting to Duir lessens the severity of his grumpiness with Gwyn, the filly notes with amusement, not all that surprised that the star-flecked woman knows her dad, if she knows his companion. It was unlikely that the deer knew anyone her father didn’t, he was so timid.

It was part of why she’d snuck away, after all; to have real adventure, without Duir dragging her back out of fear. Of course, she’d also learned in the venture that real adventure was not much fun all alone, and that being alone was, in truth (though one would have to dig to get her to admit it), kind of scary.

He doesn’t know I left,” says the girl, dramatically shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head to try and mime her words; its clear she’s proud of her stealth skills, before a thought hits her, and she looks somewhat accusingly at the buck alongside her, “unless Duir told him.

Giggling at the look of surprise that crosses the cerndyr’s face, her attention returns to the mare, as she asks if Duir can take them back to her father. Its strange hearing his name; though it hadn’t been long since they’d tumbled through the portal, life had become much more private for their family than it had been. Without a familiar stead to stomp about in, those who seemed to endlessly find her daddy for words back home, now seemed to be endlessly searching for answers to questions about this new one. It suited her just fine, despite being boring, and the jungle being a somewhat scary place to live in; she was flourishing beneath the attention of both parents. Perhaps too much so, if she was skilled enough at this age to slip this far out on her own.

I guess we can go back,” glumly mutters the once-princess to the gold-struck buck alongside her, not looking forward to finding her dad, and having to explain to him where she’d been to be coming back with one of his friends.

[ OOC: Lirl yes Gwyn, friends. Ki and your dad are def. bffs ]



Image by Jody Roberts@Flickr
I'm just wild
so sit the f#@k down

please tag gwyn for opening posts & mentions in group threads only
Rikyn
Currently championing:
#9
R I K Y N & D U I R
The buck bleats a happy hello and even manages to appear to smile, delighted to be greeted so warmly (and in similar fashion) by the pretty woman he had met not long before Helovia had become shadow. Glad, also, to be reunited with Gwyn, his scowl is short lived, soon replaced by the pleasant expression of one who believes all is going right, for once.

The commentary about me is let to pass, mostly because Duir can’t talk, but also because, if he could, he probably wouldn’t have voiced that I hadn’t a clue she was gone at all himself. When Gwyn does, an ear flicks over to her, and he spares a swift glance, wondering if it’s particularly smart to tell adults that your parents don’t know where you are to defend you (of course, it should be noted that Duir is also a dire pessimist when it comes to potential outcomes, especially those that might involve being chased and killed; must be a deer complex).

Truth is, I am worried, but not exactly sick. More like worried enraged. Worried pissed off. Worried gonna punt my companion across a jungle.

Back alongside the sea, however, Duir meets Gwyn’s accusation with a bleat of denial, his green eyes wide. Of course he hadn’t told me! He didn’t like being threatened.

When Ki’irha suggests he return all three of them into my company, then, Duir looks again to Gwyn, half hoping she’ll deny the request. Instead, she affirms it, and the deer looks rather horrified for only a split second, before he is again regal and composed. Bobbing his muzzle with the gesture of a yes, he steps off towards the jungle, his mind tentatively reaching out towards mine, to get an estimate on where I am.

The steam billowing freight train that greets him is much nearer than expected. His ears fall back and his head lowers, his speed slacking to allow himself to cleave near to the unicorn mares in his company. Hopefully, their figures are enough to shield him from the wrath of me, swiftly making my way to reclaim my daughter from the worst baby sitter ever.


this is not destruction
this is your birth



image credits
just want one thing - just to play the king
but the castle’s crumbled & you’re left with just a name



please tag rikyn for opening posts & mentions in group threads only
Gwyn
Currently championing:
#10


GWYN
uh-oh, running out of breath, but I
oh, I, I got stamina


She hears her father arriving before she sees him.

Daddy!” cheerfully greets the maiden as he breaks through the jungle, his face contorted with displeasure, and sand scattering from beneath his hooves. Smiling despite his aggressive posture, the filly canters out to meet him, passing Duir with breathless delight to have found her father again.

The deer’s quiet sigh of relief to not be the first thing Rikyn greets is audible over the ebb and flow of the sea, and the steady pitter patter of the endless rain.

Butting her head towards him (as surely he will slow down to say hello!) the girl eagerly awaits the sensation of his warm, rain slaked shoulder against her ear. When he blows passed her, however, her frown is immediate, as is the bleat of terror from Duir, who promptly turns tail and scampers back towards Ki’irha.

Daddy!” calls the filly again, this time exasperatedly, a fore-hoof stamping down onto the sand in frustration, “leave Duir alone!

Image by Jody Roberts@Flickr
I'm just wild
so sit the f#@k down

please tag gwyn for opening posts & mentions in group threads only