While she was still quite pleased about the cosmetic upgrades that this strange new world had somehow bestowed to her upon arrival, Sheba had quickly discovered that the good things never last long. To be fair, it was a vast improvement from her days as a crone. However, she had found (to her great disgust) that this place had given her some positively tacky mutations. Where her beloved moon amulet had once hung in her mane, a mark had been burned into the newly-supple flesh. Not only did the wound mar the perfect expanse of silky gray hair, but it had not shown any signs of healing. And, perhaps more concerningly, it had begun to smoke bright lavender—which not only made her look horrendously ill, but also served as quite a literal smoke signal for any predators wandering about.
Secondly, she’d gotten caught in some mud yesterday morning. As a rule, Sheba detested even mud of the ordinary variety—now that she once again had an appearance to maintain, stepping into it was already irksome. Imagine her displeasure when she had awoken this morning and realized that the mud had stained her beautiful hooves bright red. This simply wouldn’t do!
In desperate need of a bath, she had luckily stumbled out of the rainforest and onto sandy shores. Assured by the clear blue water, Sheba made a beeline for the waves and waded into the tide to soak her hooves. Crimson was not her color, and she didn’t intend to adopt it now.
OOC: Sheba's got to take someone for a swim in Akvo City as part of her trial to rid herself of these yucky mutations! Come hang with the slightly less grumpy version of her lol
Credits: Whit's tables were an inspiration | Coding by Schwartze | Image
there are no markings on her country roads
no signs that show the way back home
Like Sheba, Otem was not the only one to be dirtied by the Rift. A strange and hard blue goo had formed on Otem's back. It felt crusty and while it restricted some of her movements (the way dried mud might), it wasn't necessarily painful. Annoying? Yes. Ugly? Most certainly. Otem felt as though everyone must be looking at her, wondering what mess she had gotten herself into. Realistically though, it wasn't that noticeable. Not really. And because the autumn-coloured girl was still a filly, anyone who did notice the blue on her back likely just thought it was the remnants of some childish game.
Otem had already tried to wash it off once, but she was back here to try again.
The tribrid plunged herself into the waters before she even noticed that she wasn't alone on the shoreline. Slightly embarrassed by the way she had flung her body into the water, the girl straightened and tucked her wings against her back to try and hide the blue stains. "Oh hi." Otem called, her gold and burgundy eyes scanning the pale mare who seemed to possess a sort of ethereal beauty. On her wither, Pandora looked over Otem's shoulder towards Sheba, hooting her own hello.
Sheba had been so intent on ridding herself of the awfully tacky shade of red that she was surprised to look up and see a dark head looking up at her from the waves. “Oh hi,” it called, and after her initial shock and closer inspection, she saw that the head belonged to a girl bobbing in the water with an owl upon her back.
“Hello,” the older mare replied, in a voice that was not unfriendly, but not particularly warm either. She didn’t truly believe that the girl posed any threat, but with this place…well, one never really knew. Still, it offended her sense of self to even entertain the idea that a mere child could really do her any harm, and so she resolved to converse with it--her--if only to prove a point.
“How’s the water?” Sheba asked finally, deciding it pointless after a quick scan of the otherwise-empty shoreline to ask where the filly’s parents might be. A more maternal mare than herself might have been concerned, but to Sheba, it was all a formality anyway. What did she care if the girl was out here alone? She’d been the same way at about that age, grateful for any time she could get away from her overprotective mother.
there are no markings on her country roads
no signs that show the way back home
Silently Otem kicked herself for sounding like such a child. Oh hi? What sort of silly introduction was that? This mare wasn't here to talk to a kid. She was likely waiting for a date, or ... Well, Otem's mind couldn't really flesh out any more adult-like things that Sheba might be about to do, but she was sure that a mare as pretty as the pale unicorn before her had something better to do than make small talk.
And so, Otem did her very best to appear as old and mature as possible.
"The water is as weird as the rest of this place is." Otem began, trying to imply that she'd already been around the Rift, which was how she knew just how weird it was. Reaching back, the oak-leaf marked child let one of her wings fall and then rise, dumping water onto her back. Huffing as if exasperated (that was something adults did, right?) Otem looked back to Sheba. "It's like it doesn't want to help keep things clean. It won't wash anything off."
Casually, Otem tried to gauge how she was doing. Adults complained all the time, especially about the weather and their surroundings, so on a scale from 1 - adult, Otem thought she was probably doing pretty good.
Apparently, the girl had explored lots more than this beach—the implication in her response made that clear, along with the likelihood that she hadn’t been born in this place she considered “weird.” It was weird though; Sheba would give her that. The older mare had lived in many strange places in her life, Helovia amongst them, but this one was by far the strangest. Vaguely, she wondered if there was a way out and on to the next land, preferably one that didn’t mutate its inhabitants at so high a rate.
Anyhow, Sheba wasn’t thrilled at the girl’s assessment of the water there, for she wanted a nice bath just as badly. She frowned slightly and glanced down at her still-scarlet hooves, noticing that they didn’t seem to be growing fainter. Perhaps the wound, though…? She grunted slightly as she waded deeper, gauging the water safe to enter (the filly was bobbing around, after all), but nothing happened other than a faint hiss and the painful sting of saltwater on the burn. It was not pleasant, but at least it was an opportunity to rinse out her injury. The waves swelled around her, and the ivory mare tiptoed deeper, hooves leaving the sand as she pushed past their breaking point and turned to face the girl.
“Tell me what else you have seen…” her voice trailed off slightly and her expression rearranged into one of a sudden realization. “We never properly introduced ourselves, it seems. What are you called, mon enfant?”
there are no markings on her country roads
no signs that show the way back home
Otem watched impassively as Sheba moved deeper into the water. Although the girl couldn't see what it was the pearly mare was trying to wash off (or cleanse), the strained look on her features seemed to suggest that she had been about as successful as Otem had. The girl was filled with a momentarily flare of confidence and success; it would have been awfully embarrassing to say that the water did nothing, only to be shown that she was wrong. And Otem hated being wrong.
The sunlight and soil dappled child began to formulate an answer to Sheba's question until the mare noted that they hadn't been formally introduced. Unlike her mother, Otem had no problem offering up her name. What she did have a problem with, was how she had been referred to. Otem didn't know french, but she was no idiot and was pretty sure that the etymology of infant, and mon enfant were probably the same.
Otem couldn't wait to grow up.
"I am Otem. And that's Pandora-" Otem nodded her ram-horned skull towards where her owl was perched on the shoreline. "As for this place ... I've seen plants that let you breathe underwater..trees that glow, and moss that screams if you step on it. And those things of course-" Otem nosed out towards the ocean where a handful of Velella floated above the waves. "I hear if you touch them, they get HUGE." Otem had never tried this herself (at least not without a doctor present - she remembered how badly things went wrong last time), but she was still happy to pass along the information.
Akvo City
open to anyone!
