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
Under the Sea
Open Ultima 
Aurelia the Hopebringer
Currently championing: None
#1
Aurelia
The golden mare wasn't sure where she was, but she liked it. The whole set up was... brilliant. She'd walked into the crystal cave not expecting to much- afterall, she had been in a few caves in her lifetime- but was pleasantly surprised when her she was suddenly under water, but not wet. The cave had dipped underwater, but the crystal walls kept the water out while also letting her gaze into the depths of the ocean from the viewpoint of a fish. The light from the soon-setting sun was beautiful as it played with the surface of the water, it's rays glittering down to the crystal walls of the cave ad to Aurelia, allowing her own coat to sparkle brilliantly (thanks to her enchanted locket). She could see an abundance of fish and other sea life playing just on the other side of the crystal. She was thoroughly entranced, but only stopped for a moment before her slow saunter through the crystal path continued, her eyes watching the ocean, spotting new breeds of fish and foreign sea animals. Aurelia had never actually seen the underneath of the ocean's surface. She'd been afraid of water for much of her life and when she eventually got over that fear, she never got in the habit of plunging her head underwater completely to look around for fish. The pegasus could easily tell you about the wide and inexhaustible variety of birds and other flying creatures, but fish wasn't really in her realm.

Eventually, the clacking of her hooves on the crystal ceased. She'd reached the exit of the tunnel. She peered down at the ground, horrified to see it was covered in rocks. Well.. whatever that is. The whole shore was littered with smooth, round pebble-like rocks. They were all different colors and different opacities but mostly maintained the same frosty look and shape. Aurelia was tragically unaware of what exactly sea glass is, afraid that if she stepped onto the marble resembling rocks that they will shatter under her weight and cut up her frog and possibly even her lower legs. Instead of testing it out, she simply just stood at the entrance of the crystal cave, her gaze never leaving the abundance of sea glass before her.

After a few minutes of just awkwardly watching the sea glass, her hooves start moving again, carrying her back into the tunnel. The exit that leads to the sea-glass beach stood nearby, but the pegasus was much more content to watch the sea life than stare at some glass. A subtle hum left her lips as she watched the ocean, her mind still focused on the glass. It could easily be said that Aurelia wasn't well versed in many of the world's beauties (sea life and glass just being two examples).

Open to all! just aurelia doing some derpy exploring :p
oh, tell me, what's the matter?

image credits
{Image: 1zxwow6.jpg}
Taivas the Hopebringer
Currently championing: Reszo
#2
Taivas loved Ultima from the first moment she stumbled across the bejeweled crystal walls of the caverns and the spectacular vantage of the ocean.  She had seen the ocean before, but never quite as close and personal as it existed within the land leading under the sea.

Normally, caverns had the undeniable property to make you feel clostraphobic and frightened, yet within this glistening cave those feelings were a faded, distant memory.  Instead, you felt as though the sky had been replaced by the ocean itself, the birds transformed into fish to swim about your head, and the sun dazzled its way through the waves above.  Even when returning down the same, familiar path she had once traveled, Taivas could not help but to admire the majestic oddity of nature this place represented.

The light from the dying sun painted the cavern in brilliantly deep colors as she traveled, knowing that soon the path would become dark and rely upon the gentle light of the stars.  However, due to the glow afforded by her mother's lineage, the shaman had never feared the descent of the dark.  She welcomed the embrace of the stars' gazes, the milky white of the moon, and the contrast of their pale figures on the black canvas they sat upon.  In fact, if she knew the welcoming hymn of the stars, which her father had been in the process of teaching her, she may have sung it for them.

Instead, she steps carefully along the path, hooves clacking quietly and echoing off the walls.  She almost does not hear the soft hum of another until the girl is plainly visible before her.

The voice is gentle, with a softly glimmering mare of alabaster and golden sunlight being its owner.  Taivas pauses, listening to the melody for a moment and swaying her head quietly in time with it before approaching.  She makes no attempt to hide her approach (how could she with the echoes of her hooves announcing her arrival long before she actually came close?).

"Hello," she says meekly to the mare before her, looking over her with soft, starlit eyes and a neutral expression.  Like usual, it does not occur to the girl to introduce herself to her company, and she settles for a quiet gaze and appreciation of the beautiful surroundings encasing them.
So seize the day 'Cause you have come so far
Watched a million frowns turn into smiles
Lost all track of time Felt the energy of a million stars
You'll feel love again after the rain
Taivas
Aurelia the Hopebringer
Currently championing: None
#3
Aurelia
The noisy slap of hooves against the tunnel a ways down ricochetted off the walls, softly echoing. As the sound reaches her pearly ears, she figures she will have company soon. When a single word is uttered to Aurelia, the mare's eyes move to the figure that had joined her. It was a glowing tovero. The mare was young, not a child, but definitely younger than Aurelia who's body featured a myriad of small nicks and scars and who simply seemed more worn out. She watches the stranger only for a moment before turning her gaze back the the ocean thata appeared to expand over miles and miles and miles. "G'day," she offered in response, her voice far less tepid than the mare's.

Aurelia quietly remembers the throb within her mind conjured by the desire to know more about this land. Perhaps this stranger could enlighten her about the happenings of the Rift. She wondered how she would bring it up without the conversation turning extremely boring. When the pegasus had asked Rixen about his knowledge it came to light that he knew less than she did which as surprising because Aurelia knew hardly anything. "I'm Aurelia," she states plainly, her voice calm despite the itch within to just sass and scold and argue. The mare hadn't rubbed Aurelia the wrong way, it was just simply how Aurelia was. She's in one of those moods. She'd given birth a few weeks ago (had no idea where her daughter was but assumed she was around here somewhere) so she wouldn't be irrationally moody, but Aurelia at her corse was a grump a lot of times, now would be no different.

Aurelia has no idea if her name would carry weight with this stranger. Though she had never met this mare before, there was still a chance her name would be recognized. She had never met Otem until entering the Rift, but the mare had still known her name from Kahlua. If this stranger did recognize Aurelia, then everything would depend on how she reacts. Otem had been calm about it, slightly prying, but for the most part pleasant. If the god's granddaughter had been foul about it, they would not be friends now. The same went for the silver tovero. Kindness would be met with sanity, rudeness would be met with chaos.

Gently pushing their introduction further, Aurelia begins with a simple question. "Do you know anything about the Rift?" Her gaze had moved back onto the mare. "I, myself, don't know anything. I've been asking around, but most are in the same boat as I." It was true. Basically, everyone she had spoken to had no fucking clue about anything. Otem had been fairly knowledgeable, but it wasn't enough to understand the land. The Rift is a sick, twisted place, and Aurelia just desperatly wanted to know why.


oh, tell me, what's the matter?

image credits
{Image: 1zxwow6.jpg}
Taivas the Hopebringer
Currently championing: Reszo
#4
I'm Aurelia.

Taivas nods in reply, taking a moment to look out across the glimmering surface of the crystals and beyond, deep into the ocean.  After a few long seconds, the mare's face snaps back toward her company, as if just struck by an idea.  "I am Taivas," she says, a soft voice but void of any personality or emotion.

If Aurelia expected her to recognize her name due to Helovian history, she would be disappointed.  While her mother had been born in Isilme and lived long in Helovia, Taivas had no knowledge such as names to match with her mother's old acquaintances.  The Illuminant shared stories without names, mostly descriptions, focusing mainly upon her home in the Dragon's Throat and losing and learning within the confines of her home.  Even then, the shaman's memory of her mother's tales were fractured by time and self-embellishment - altering the very fabric upon which the stories were roughly painted.

Thus, there is no recognition in the young mare's face, no curiosity, no hope of seeking more personal details from Aurelia.  Only a soft, rather unreadable gaze and emotionless face to match.

Of course, the healer is not simply looking at her company with a vacant stare devoid of thought, but carefully picking up on the physical differences of the mare in front of her.  Aurelia has a ball of hope, though Taivas clearly remembers she had not been present when Kisamoa called a meeting; perhaps, someone else who attended shared the light with her.  She notes the strangely distended barrel and posture of her hips, determining silently and without much judgment that this lady had recently given birth.  The painted girl decides not to inquire about the foal that does not appear to be near, for usually the vacancy of a recently born foal means one thing: stillborn.

Taivas knows little of social niceties, but she knows enough not to bring up such a morbid topic for discussion.

Do you know anything about the Rift? the golden lady asks, her voice sounding slightly exasperated in Taivas's ears, causing one to cock back slightly.  "Not much," she admits, without any hint of embarrassment for being just another clueless idiot this mare had inquired details from.  "Most areas here, the earth feels ill, and the energy is that of a ravenous wolf.  I think it is trying to heal some sort of wound it suffered by pulling new life into itself.  Even the god of this land seems to have suffered grave and permanent injuries."

She thinks back to Kisamoa, with his disfigured body and oozing, acidic blood landing upon the grass in Solanis.  His expression was sorrowful, and thinking back to his hollow explanation that she could not help dampens her heart.

"I have not met many who hail from this land originally."
So seize the day 'Cause you have come so far
Watched a million frowns turn into smiles
Lost all track of time Felt the energy of a million stars
You'll feel love again after the rain
Taivas
Aurelia the Hopebringer
Currently championing: None
#5
Aurelia
After a short pause, the mare introduces herself as Taivas. It wasn't a very common name and Aurelia found herself tossing it back and forth in her head. Taivas. Aurelia had never heard the name before and certainly did not recognize the mare. It seemed the mare did not recognize Aurelia either. Not being recognized was a pleasant thing for the golden mare. She didn't have to worry about all her despicable actions being drudged up and getting interogated in the process.

Asking the mare about the Rift brings up an answer Aurelia mostly already knew. The land is sick. The land is trying to heal itself. The god is even inju- wait... a god? The pegasus's brows furrow as she tries to remember ever being told about a god. She'd been told about a Kisa-something, but never assumed the name was that of a god. "A god? There's a god here?" The land seemed horrifically godless (after all, what god would ever let their land sink into such somber tragedy?). If Kisa-whatever was this land's god, why had he hardly been mentioned to the pegasus? Taivus had to, at least, be the third or fourth horse she'd asked about the Rift, but this was only the first mention of the word god. In Helovia, the gods had all been so vital in everyday life. Horses visited the Veins of the Gods and prayed to the patrons. Herds had storytellers and oracles and the like whose sole purpose was to communicate with the gods. Horses held festivals in their deities' names. Horses had children with the gods. Was the Riftian god the same? Why did it seem all the horses here were simply less obsessed with this god?

"Besides the orbs," she began curiously, her gaze flickering momentarily to the orb that lazily bumbled around her. "Is there any other way to heal the lands?" If there was any other way to get the land back on track quickly, Aurelia wanted to know. The pegasus was capable of working hard towards something without randomly cheating and lying along the way, despite what many of the horses she knew assumed of her. Aurelia wasn't as simple as many thought. There were delicate intricacies woven into her very essence that made her so unpredictable. The mare was far more complicated than most around her were. Despite not having done many shenanigans in the Rift yet (a pregnancy could slow one down like that), Aurelia hadn't changed. The thrill of doing something she shouldn't be doing and the rush of adrenaline that accompanied it was something she craved so deeply. In many ways, Aurelia is hooked on the rush of adrenaline- a junky of sorts.

Taivas speaks up once more, claiming she has not met an abundance of natives. Aurelia wasn't sure if she'd met any natives or not. She wasn't in the habit of randomly asking about one's birthplace. For the most part, it was easy to tell if someone was a native or not, but then horses like Watcher slip in. He'd witnessed the birth of her daughter Aei'ith. He had guided her easily to a little pond where they could relax and talk. He hadn't necessarily been stingy with information, yet Aurelia could not place where he was from at all. He smelt like the Rift, but at this point everyone did. Even Aurelia, who had only come from Helovia a few weeks ago already stunk of the Rift's strange moss and bright flowers. The only true scent that was distinguishable on Aurelia that wasn't a common Rift scent was the lingering aroma of smoke that clung to Aurelia's pelt like dew drops on the grass in the morning. Everyone could be from the Rift. There was no one feature that indicated whether someone was foreign or native. If Taivas had told Aurelia she was born here, the ochroid pegasus would've wholeheartedly believed it. "I believe I haven't either," she responded casually.

After only a few seconds, the mare's mind refocuses on the topic at hand: the Rift. She remembers the tall spire and its crumbled counterparts that she had come upon in the company of Rixen. She wonders if Taivus would be interested in them at all. Aurelia had been enamored by them. She instantly wanted to rebuild the structures when she saw them in disarray, broken and shattered, on the ground. Would Taivus share the same inclination to fix them as Aurelia had? "Have you seen the spires? They are in the eastern part of the Rift."  
oh, tell me, what's the matter?

image credits
{Image: 1zxwow6.jpg}
Taivas the Hopebringer
Currently championing: Reszo
#6
There is a god here?

She sounds shocked, and Taivas does not understand why.  Back home in the Fields, there had been no gods, only the spirits of various strength and the stars above.  The Forest clan prayed to the trees and held them sacred.  Here, in the Rift, the spirits were dimmer, but one such fellow had radiated a lot of energy - ugly and disfigured and injured though he may be.  She remembers the tales her mother told her of the God of the Sun and think Kisamoa does not match the description of such a wondrous being.  Maybe that is why so many did not see him for what he truly was.

"That is what I would call him," she says plainly.  She had no inclination to force the mare before her into believing in the existence of a god with embellished speech; either she would believe her or not.  "He appears almost like an equine but not, a conglomeration of shadow and bone and fur and blood."  She nods along with her description of the creature, thinking it fitting and accurate without being overly graphic.  "He is powerful, though, and can touch the mind of all those within the Rift whether or not we have met, so if not a god, what else would he be?"

Of course, Taivas knows nothing of Kisamoa being an accident this land had to create when the original gods were slain.  Even if she had, it likely would not have changed her opinion.  Regardless of his origins, his appearance, or his intent, he certainly fit her definition of what a god would be.

Is there any other way to heal the lands?

As she stands looking into the ocean, an idea occurs to her.  If he truly were a god, would he be able to make last changes here?  She thinks back to Uwaritace, and the Matrons sadly admitting that the magic bestowed upon her was temporary.  Could Kisamoa alter and fix the mother tree permanently?  Was there another way to restore the life to many of these lands without such a powerful entity?

"We are supposed to bring light to the darkness with these orbs," the mare thinks aloud, eyes still watching the fish sail by in the dying sunlight.  "If you take it less at face value, I think he wanted us to live here as we would anywhere else.  From each of us, by our own skill and ability, we will restore it naturally by living."  She hoped the mare beside her would understand, but it was possible that she would not.  Taivas had an inkling for how she would be restoring life to the land in the weeks to come, but she would someone much stronger than herself.

Aurelia notes that she has not met many natives, and Taivas thinks back to the strange dingo hybrid she met below the great tree.  He looked mutated and altered by the Rift, and she wondered how common that was.

She asks about Spires in the east, and Taivas shakes her head no.  If she were more attuned to reading others, she may have noticed that Aurelia wished to speak more about them - perhaps to ask her for aid.  She is not, however, and remains silent, thinking she has nothing to add to that branch of the conversation.
So seize the day 'Cause you have come so far
Watched a million frowns turn into smiles
Lost all track of time Felt the energy of a million stars
You'll feel love again after the rain
Taivas
Aurelia the Hopebringer
Currently championing: None
#7
Aurelia
Every exchange the pair had was because of Aurelia's prying for information. Taivus wasn't saying much, only articulating her thoughts on some of the things Aurelia had said or asked. The conversation didn't feel smooth and effortless. It felt forced an awkward. Maybe it was just Aurelia who thought this, but her patience was on steadily declining with this mare. It seemed most horses here didn't have a lot to say about anything. Even when she had first met Otem, Aurelia had to practically beg for more from the woman.

Taivus states, rather plainly, that she would refer to the god as a god. Aurelia hadn't even questioned that it was a god here and not something else, she just didn't know there was a god at all. It wasn't a question of if the specimen she referred to as a god was a god. It'd been the desire to know more about the god. She felt as if there had been some sort of misunderstanding, but held her tongue as Taivus went on to describe the god. The conglomeration of shadow and bone and fur and blood. Taivus spoke with such eloquence that Aurelia felt inferior to her. The pegasus hardly even knew what conglomeration meant, but was sort of able to use context clues to figure it out for the most part. It seemed her company was simply on a higher level of sophistication than she was. "I see." It was such a short response, but she truly didn't know what to say. The description the mare gave her was that of a god, but Aurelia had never doubted that in the first place. Perhaps Taivus hadn't understood Aurelia's questions as doubting that the god she spoke of was a god, but something just felt kind of.. off, but Aurelia couldn't quite put her hoof on it.

The aurelian babe notices Taivus only speaks of a singular god. In Helovia, there had been three-and-a-half gods (ol' sparky was rather small and was often absent when the moon, earth, and sun were present), each had an important role in Helovia. Did the Rift's god just do all of the work? Maybe that was why the Rift was in such horrible condition. It just seemed like ruling over a land like the Rift was a task for more than one god.

Taivus answers Aurelia's question with a guess as to what they should be doing, but it didn't seem she was 100% certain. After briefly mentioning the orbs, even after Aurelia had said besides, she claims that perhaps just being here would heal the land. It was kind of a romantic idea. As we settle into the Rift, the Rift will settle for us. There was a cloud of doubt in her mind at this proposition though. How could just living here heal the land? Did Taivus know about the magic-munching monsters by the portal? Did she know about the crumbled spires? Did she know about the mutated horses? Did she know anything? Aurelia wholeheartedly disagreed with simply living here to heal the land. She snorts. "How will doing that fix the land?" The aggressive tone isn't directed at Taivus, but perhaps the god she speaks of. "If I am going to live here like anywhere else, that involves much, much more than simply surviving. Helovians never gave up. We built walls, restored monuments, dealt with problems instead of just letting them fester. It feels like most have just lost the fire in the bellies to restore and fix and heal and grow." Had living here for several months already altered the culture of many Helovians? Was their way to survive simply tolerating things instead of actually fixing them now?

She simply shakes her head no when Aurelia asks about the spires. Aurelia decides to not push the subject of the spires quite yet. If Taivus's way of living here was solely surviving, she would not share the same interest as Aurelia did in the spires. Aurelia wanted to fix and restore. She wanted to make a change. She did not just want to sit back and hope things got fixed.

The possibility that the pegasus had completely misunderstood Taivus was very plausible. If she had, there was a chance that Taivus would simply tell the mare she had misunderstood. If Aurelia hadn't understood correctly, she would be pleasantly surprised to know that another thought similarly to her. However, if her interpretation of Taivus's words had been correct, she disagreed with the mare and would make it known.
oh, tell me, what's the matter?

image credits
{Image: 1zxwow6.jpg}
Taivas the Hopebringer
Currently championing: Reszo
#8
She does not understand.

Taivas listens with ears turned toward the mare, but eyes looking into the distant ocean, miles away. The rant goes on for an impressive amount of time, but if the shaman was upset by the biting tone, there was no outward sign. Her face is that of a placid lake, unmoved and glassy, not even a ripple to be seen as the words thrown in her face are absorbed without much effort.

One word eventually does draw her immediate attention, however, forcing her face to turn and look at Aurelia with the most urgency that had been shown since their meeting a few minutes before. Helovians. Still, she politely waits for the miniature rant of the other to finish. "You are Helovian?" she asks, her voice tight but otherwise neutral. The implications of her words, putting Helovians in the past tense of their actions, suggested the land no longer existed. She wondered if the world fell to the same fate as her mother's first home in Isilme, being usurped by the shades of the vengeful dead. "What befell the land? Why are you here?"

She does not ask how to get back there, for the reason for Aurelia's leaving might prevent her from returning, even if the shaman had a hope of exiting this place. The Rift seemed to spin you in circles if you tried to pass its borders, landing you back in the direction you came with no explicable reason.

"You misunderstand, anyway," the shaman replies after allowing a few moments for the haughty mare to explain what happened to the former home of her own mother. "I never said to simply survive." Her voice is soft but heavy, carrying the best she could the important tone of her mentors back home, trying to emulate their authority. "From each of us, by our own skill and ability." She looks at her with strangely sharp eyes for the almost always emotionless and peaceful mare. Something about this golden pegasus made her want to light a fire in her heart, for maybe then she would not have to repeat herself.

"My skill is to heal wounded flesh, not to repair sickly trees and rampant weather," her voice returns to being monotone and quiet, eyes returning back to watch the glittering patterns of the waves above their heads as the sun dances upon them. "Yet, we all have different strengths. If we live and prosper here in this world, we will change it. Bringing life into the face of certain death - to bring light into the darkness."

She smiles then, a tiny pull of her lips.

"If you find a light in the darkness, it is the warmest and brightest light there is, they say."
So seize the day 'Cause you have come so far
Watched a million frowns turn into smiles
Lost all track of time Felt the energy of a million stars
You'll feel love again after the rain
Taivas
Aurelia the Hopebringer
Currently championing: None
#9
Aurelia
Aurelia's mention of Helovia garners the largest response from the mare yet. Her demeaner shifts from distant and unemotional to eager. Oh, how the tables have turned. Aurelia had been the one scrambling for more information, asking the questions, but now Taivus was. Hm. Her initial question is to ask Aurelia if she is Helovian. Was that not what she had just basically said? She had done what Aurelia had almost seconds before. The mention of a god had sparked the question there's a god? and Taivus had basically said if it acts like a god and looks like a god, it's probably a god. "Yes. I said we. That includes me." Her speech was choppy, not due to the fact that she was foreign, not due to complicated words, but due to the fact that she wanted it to come across in a sharp sort of listen better way.

When Taivus asks what happened to the land, Aurelia's harsh features soften slightly. Aurelia could only assume that from the mare's prompt reaction to the mention of Helovia, the minute trail of questions that followed, and her previous claim of not knowing many natives that she was a Helovian, too. In all honestly, Aurelia kind of just assumed most of the horses here were Helovian. She knew that there were natives somewhere around here, but there were so few that they were mostly negligible to her. She'd never really thought about horses coming here from places besides Helovia. "Helovia.. uh..it.. well," She wasn't at all certain how to word this and stuttered for a moment, searching for the correct words to tell Taivus what accurately happened to Helovia. "Helovia is dead." It was possibly one of the harshest ways she could've put it, but the words had already left her lips and she couldn't retract and alter them. "When this land's portal revealed itself on Helovia, war broke out. It was powerful Rift beings versus Helovians and the Earth, Fire, Moon, and Time gods." She figured going into detail would be more beneficial to the mare than leaving her with numerous searing questions. "Many horses died, conceivably some of my own children included," she stated evenly. She hadn't seen her kids in years (except Aei'ith). They easily could've died and she would have no knowledge of it. "The land is corrupt. There is no moon, but also no sun. Nothing there is alive. Time itself stands still." Aurelia had told Otem that the gods were slain, and she was fairly certain they were. She had no proof to back this up, but the land had died so dramatically and suddenly that the gods couldn't have possibly lived. The portal had sucked all the animals in, barely anything avoided it. Aurelia had simply eluded it because she wasn't technically in Helovia at the time, but wandering its outskirts amidst her own bout of insanity and mental chaos.

Eventually, Taivus explains herself further, telling Aurelia she simply misunderstood, but something the stranger says doesn't settle well in Aurelia's mind. My skill is to heal wounded flesh, not to repair sickly trees and rampant weather. Her brows furrow once more but she allows the mare to finish correcting her. She offers a beautiful sentiment and Aurelia shakes her head disappointedly. "Your words are flowery and pretty, they inspire hope, but there is still a gaping hole in what you are saying." Aurelia had not met a single soul whose purpose was to heal the land and cure its sickness.

Briefly, she remembers her conversation with Otem. Aurelia had sort of always known the Helovian gods had children with mortals to keep the peace. If anyone would be tasked with the actual healing process of the land, it was certainly them, but they were dead. Hototo (the only child of a god Aurelia knew personally) was killed by his aunt, according to Otem. Isopia, the Earth's second child who doubled as Otem's mother, had only been referred to in past tense, so Aurelia could only assume she was dead or unavailable. And what had come of the Sun's child or the progeny of time? Aurelia had never bumped into them and therefore automatically assumed they no longer were relevant, dead or gone. These horses were the ones that would be tasked with fixing the land, but where are they now? Not here. Who did that leave? "I understand your duty in life is tending.. wounded flesh," she offered, using the mare's own words. "And I understand everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, but do you truly believe that there is not more you should- or could- be doing? You have an orb for fuck's sake." She shoved her snout in the direction of the mare's orb as the words left her lips. "You would not have an orb if you are only supposed to deal with matters of the flesh. There is more to do here than just live as you have in the past." The pegasus was passionate as she spoke, her voice strong and definite. "If living according to our strengths and weaknesses is what we should do, I shouldn't be here right now. I should be out there" she gestured with her snout again towards the exit of the tunnel. "causing copious amounts of chaos and destruction." A slow back-and-forth shake of her head was the only thing the mare did before she said one last thing. "But if I do that, how the absolute fuck will that get the land closer to being healed- to finding this warm and bright light?"

ooc; sorry aurelia is very argumentative, she completely took over here x:
oh, tell me, what's the matter?

image credits
{Image: 1zxwow6.jpg}
Taivas the Hopebringer
Currently championing: Reszo
#10
The harsh look in the mare's face fades, and the shaman knows before she answers that the land was doomed.  However, the girl's expression does not seem to change, even as the graceless phrase confirming her suspicions slips from the velevt mouth of her company.  The answer is absolute and leaves no room for hope.  At least this explains why she never found the familiar home from the stories her mother had carefully woven.  She would never see the red sands and waves, nor the massive tree.  Deep in her chest, she feels a dampened sadness swell in her heart for her mother, but only nods along to the description and story of the fate.

"I see," is all she responds with, an equally flat tone to match her expression.  Aurelia needn't have softened the blow to her company, for Taivas had no personal connection with the land she pronounces as dead.  Even now, she has no way of telling her mother that all she remembered was lost to the Rift.

Even more than before, Taivas accepts her fate.  She cannot go home to the Fields, and now she understands that the land she sought was gone.
The Rift was her home now, for better or ill.

Aurelia goes on another rant, which she seems wont to do.  The shaman simply listens, still looking out at the ocean, absorbing the indirect ways her current companion tries to paint her the fool.  For all the energy the mare before her puts forth into looking for a solution to the Rift's predicament, Taivas cannot seem to make her understand the fundamentals of what she is saying.  Perhaps, the pegasus is a lost cause; it happens, from time to time, where a trainee cannot grasp the connection to the spirits.  They simply cannot learn the art, and they become artisans or starsingers solely.  Frankly, the girl grows weary of repeating herself to no effect.  She decides that maybe, she had been raised with a far different image of the world's inner workings.

So, she settles into another blank stare, the kind you might find on a mannequin, and looks at the salty tongued mare with a poor attitude and even poorer social skill set than the gentle-hearted shaman herself.  "I would tell you that you are wrong, but I fear that we simply disagree on our understanding of the world and shall never concur," she says as the last cursing demand is spat from the lips of a supposed lady.  "Perhaps, you would instead humor me for a bit longer without throwing venom in my face."

"This world brought life within it for a purpose," she says.  "Originally, I thought the Rift a hungry wolf supping on the energy and magic native within us all.  My connection to this world was dim, a flicker of my former strength."  She thinks back to the exhaustion she felt after healing minor wounds upon Waker's flesh, something that would have been effortless for her back home in the Fields.  "Yet, the more I attuned myself, grew to appreciate the world, to learn of its heartbeat and soul, the more it began to resonate within my soul."

Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath.  "I feel the pulse of spirits beneath my hooves now, and while they are still meek, they grow stronger every day.  Begging the question, why would the realm steal away my power only to return it, if not to slowly heal its grievous wound?"  Opening them, she looks back to the girl before her.  "As we adjust, as we grow, as we learn, as we heal, as we create, so too does the Rift.  We are all one in the same.  If you do not believe that, you will never come to agree with me."

The mare turns, as if to leave, but turns her face to glance back at the golden pegasus.

Then, giving her a soft look to contrast the expression the golden mare wore as she was chastising her, Taivas attempts to inspire her one last time.  "You seem to believe that agents of chaos are evil forces in this world only capable of destruction.  Fire, the element of chaos, is capable of nurturing life and destroying it in equal parts, so which path would you choose?"

With that, the shaman begins plodding back along the path whence she came, not bothering to say goodbye or look back to see what sort of fit Aurelia would twist into next.  The attitude of the mare was exhausting, and frankly, Taivas did not have the patience to deal with such a purposefully difficult mare.  Besides, she was quite tired from speaking so much in such a small time frame.  The mare rarely used so many words in one day before.
So seize the day 'Cause you have come so far
Watched a million frowns turn into smiles
Lost all track of time Felt the energy of a million stars
You'll feel love again after the rain
Taivas

[ ooc - Taivas is out, rather abruptly.  LOL ]