Cloven hooves sink easily into the wet sand, leaving two-leaved imprints in a neat line where they had stepped. Moments later, little white flowers spring in these cleft furrows, poking their fair faces through the sand in search of a sun that seemed to never come. Lothíriel eyes the skies uneasily, a queer feeling gripping her throat, a feeling like seeing the faces of strangers where friends used to be. Clouds obscured the skies, although their colors were all wrong—bright shade of greens and yellows where there should have been cool greys and blues. At least the sea was always constant; Huyana had taught her children to love the open water and so they did, though sadness filled their hearts when they saw the sea. She remembers spending half her childhood on some shore or another—her mother had loathed the frigidity of the Aurora Basin and sought the sea as much as she could, although she never would have told Deimos that—playing with gulls and digging up crabs.
The anthousai tries to sigh, compelled by a sensation of longing for better days, but her breath leaves labored lungs and strangles her instead. It had been several days that this queer feeling of drowning had begun. She remembers the command that had been whispered to her just as the curse had been cast as if it had been yesterday—in order to stop herself from drowning from the inside, she had to kidnap someone else's companion, but how would she go about doing so? Irritated, she kicks a shell with a forehoof, causing it to bounce and roll over the damp beach. Her own companion caws in the distance, making lazy circles over the sea. Although the strength of their bond has healed for the most part, she can still sense an interference in their connection. See anything? the raven asks, pale wings carrying him directly over the lilac girl. Lothíriel pauses, looking over the open water, wheezing slightly. Nope.
""
@Savera
sorry for the wait! I had a bunch of stuff come up :|
It is another day, another sky, another shift in the unnatural light, and still the filly has not slept. Her first night was marked by gnashing teeth and pungent breath; how strange, then, that today she should return to the sea, her steel frame a faint silhouette against the walls that keep out the creatures of the deep. She eyes them curiously as she journeys on, sterling gaze peering into murky depths. It fascinates her, entrances, the way the shadows dance and sway, the unfamiliarity kept at comfortable distance, a perfect scene for study. Neaera would like this, the morning star thinks, and immediately a pang of loneliness fills her, a desire for the sister who is not here, immediate, the shadow at her side. Every moment of her sister's absence is a moment Savera finds too long. Her hooves leave damp hearts on the bottom of the tunnel, a trail to follow back to civilization, a pathway to pursue back to her sister's side. She turns to follow it, yawning widely, tears stinging the corner of her eyes as her eyelids flutter against her cheeks. She's so, so tired - but she cannot sleep.
Her companion, however, can. Devi is absent, too, the griffin basking in the warm sand of the cove, utterly disinterested in staying awake for three days and dealing with icky goo. She is waking up leisurely from a blissful nap, stretching and yawning, her downy wings spreading as she arcs her back. She declined the journey back into the cavern, preferring this nap; she is a lazy creature, the owlet, her desires fueled more by hunger and superiority than curiosity and awe. Fish behind walls mean little to the chickling: she prefers her meals fresh and tangible, recently wriggling and now quite deceased. She licks and preens her delicate paws, waiting for Savera to return, to bring her a meal fit for a queen.
But the morning star is taking her time, and the little griffin is hungry now. She peers into the distance looking for any indication of Savera's return, her flawed eyesight reducing the world to little more than the shadows Savera watches through the walls of the sea. But there is movements, and Devi squints. In the distance- a figure, definitely equine, lithe and delicate. Neaera? the griffin thinks, and calls out, hooting, flapping, trying to gain the attention of a stranger she assumes will assist her, because like Savera, Devi is a child, still innocent, still entitled, still unable to accept that the world may not exist to serve her each and every whim.
"Talk."
and i am only as young as the minute is full of it
Something makes a racket close by; something with flapping feathers and a hooting mouth. Lothíriel snaps to attention, her violet eyes probing the sand around her looking for the source of the ruckus. The sound was almost mewling, although it was clearly made by something bearing a beak. She narrows her gaze, wondering what it could possibly be. It seems to be calling for something—a mother perhaps? Or (the sheer thought of it makes her heart flutter with excitement) a lost companion? A smile, both devious and charming at once graces her face when she considers the idea. If she could get a hold of it she'd be able to breathe again!
After a few moments of searching the sands for some anomalous for, the girl spots the originator of the noises, a young griffin who couldn't have been on the earth for more than a couple of months. Despite her waterlogged lungs, the lilac girl ambles towards it, dark ears pricked forwards with curiosity. She pauses several lengths away from it, as not to startle the creature. Her breaths come in raggedly, although that does not prevent her from studying the young creature, surveying ever stray feather, every wayward hair on its little body for a sign that it belonged to someone. In the Basin, many of her herdmates were bonded with such creatures, strange creatures who could stalk like cats as well as fly like birds. Their sharp beaks and merciless talons always held her at bay, but at this point, the nymph was willing to do anything if it meant that her affliction were eased.
With an effortless contortion of her velvet lips, the devious smile curls into a more sincere one, a concerned light sparkling in her florid eyes. "Are you in need of help?" she asks it, daring a step towards the griffin, half wondering if it would even understand her. Find it something nice, the girl commands her own companion, hoping that he would know what to bring it, seeing that the thing was half bird. And quickly!
Ultima
