For the first time in ... well, as long as she could remember, Eva was alone. Truly alone. The Rift had successfully severed the tie she'd had with Tallis and the dragon had disappeared somewhere in the Portal. She had caught sight of his brilliant orange hide as he darted between the trees. She had tried calling to him, but he didn't seem to hear her. Or maybe he ignored her. Whatever had happened it had left an emptiness in Eva's chest, one that she couldn't ignore or fill no matter how she tried to occupy herself. The orange mare kept finding herself looking to the sky for her friend. Kept expecting to feel his claws and weight settle on her back where he often chose to ride instead of fly.
A heavy sigh slipped past the mare's pale lips and she turned her emerald eyes up toward the sky once more. White, puffy clouds floated lazily in the blue expanse, a few birds flitted here an there, but there was no sign of any dragon. It really was pointless for her to keep looking, but she couldn't seem to help herself. She couldn't dispatch the hope that whatever had caused Tallis to go rogue would fade away and he would return to her as if nothing had happened.
A breeze made the knee-high meadow grass sway and ripple, beckoning her forth. She moved slowly, a solitary orange beacon in a sea of blue-green grass that felt strangely familiar. Her head dipped and she lipped gently at the grass, but had no desire to eat, so she abandoned it and moved further into the meadow. Her ears twitched at the sound of running water and she continued forward until the source -- a stream of clear, cool water that cut through the meadow. Her head lifted, brow furrowed, as she looked around the meadow. There was a part of her that swore she had been here before, but she knew she hadn't.
Still, there was something about the meadow that picked and dug at memories long since buried in the back of her mind.
With barely even a thought, Connor dismissed the notification from where it had popped up in the upper right corner of his vision. Good. This was good.
He had left the dark, misty forest behind in favor of finding a warmer climate before his biocomponents began to fail from prolonged exposure to the below freezing temperatures. A simple inquiry had given him a direction, and so that was where he had gone. There was little about this place that he understood, but that did not stop the bay from boldly pressing on, examining this new, strange world around him all the while.
Occasionally he would halt his progress to simply observe the world, watching, scanning, and analyzing almost obsessively. Nothing here made much sense. No results from his scans or analysis came back with any helpful information. The flora, the fauna, the individuals who called this place ‘home’ were all strange and new and foreign. They were living beings, mortal, yet… So vastly different from the living beings that Connor was used to. Still he catalogued every discovery, storing every moment within his memory for future consultation.
How had he gotten here? Why could he not remember? Questions that desperately needed answers, and yet he was unable to find them. Despite a few hours in stasis to attempt to recover and sort through his corrupted files, the missing 42.5 hours of missing memory would not come back to him. It was disconcerting, to say the least, but he could function nominally without them. Perhaps if he could find some sort of technician to test his systems and software, he may have better luck.
Without a name for the province that he found himself in now, Connor could only call it what it was; the red mountains. He wandered aimlessly without a directive in mind, and simply let himself absorb and catalogue the hidden intricacies of the red mountains and the lush, blue-green meadow that he found himself in now. The grass, surprisingly tall and lush despite the cold season, brushed against his legs as he ambled through the meadow. The arid temperature was a welcome reprieve upon his biocomponents, and he let himself relax.
It was… Nice. He supposed.
LED cycling a steady, calming blue, Connor arrived at a little stream that babbled merrily through the meadow. Head turning slowly, mahogany eyes surveyed his surroundings, optics landing on a sorrel and flaxen shape across the stream. Without meaning to, he scanned it, receiving a vague description just as he had with the black stallion in the mist-forest.
Female. Fifteen-point-two hands. Age estimation: Fourteen-to-sixteen years. Potential threat level: low. Unable to help it, Connor frowned. His scans were still so vague…
Stepping up to the river, the bay straightened his posture, expression as earnestly inquisitive as he could manage. “Hello.”
In a time before her worlds had come crashing down Evangeline would have known that she wasn't alone in the meadow. With Tallis to keep watch over her she never had to wonder about anything like that. He kept watch while she grazed and if anyone wandered close by she would know. She would see them before they saw her and would be prepared for any potential meeting and confrontation. Without Tallis there to keep watch she was grossly ignorant of her surroundings and it left the mare with a gnawing sense of anxiety.
"Hello."
Eva had been drinking, completely unaware of the stallion that had approached her. When he spoke her head jerked up and she stared at him, emerald eyes somewhat wider than usual and her ears back. As she looked him over her ears went from slicked back to tilted forward. He didn't look as though he were out to cause any trouble and, though he startled her, the tone of his voice had not been menacing in the slightest. He seemed more curious than anything else, and so, she allowed herself to relax just a little bit.
"Hello." The orange mare finally responded. "I didn't know there was anyone else here." She cast a quick glance around to see if there was anyone else around that she hadn't noticed, but found that it was just her and him. "I am Evangeline."
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ooc:// sorry about the length! posts will get longer once they get to chatting :)
The copper female seemed taken by surprise at the sound of his greeting, head jerking up from the river and turning bright, emerald eyes in his direction. Her alarm was apparent, given away by the widening of her eyes and the increase of her heartrate. Lips pursing, brows furrowing, Connor’s LED flickered to yellow for a brief moment before cycled once more to a calm, steady blue.
He held his tongue, allowing her to process his arrival. Naturally he kept his posture relaxed, artificial wings settled back calmly against his sides, mahogany eyes deep and honest. Ears forward, stance open, hooves and shoulders squared. Attempting to appear as unthreatening as possible. His design was, after all, meant for seamless integration among living creatures.
Eventually the copper coated woman seemed to deem him unthreatening, for the tension leaked from her slender shoulders and she visibly relaxed. Connor remained motionless, his expression just the same, but it shifted as he heard her words into a facsimile of apologetic.
“I’m sorry,” he started, his tone still earnest, yet rather monotonous due to his programming, “I didn’t mean to startle you.” The copper woman then glanced around them, as though searching for anyone else. The artificial bay did the same, head twisting and eyes observing, running scans through the vegetation around them. He picked up no other living heat signature in the immediate vicinity, and focused on the flaxen-haired mare ahead of him.
’I am Evangeline.’
Her name. Connor tilted his head slightly to the right, eyes squinting as he processed the information, LED flickering yellow, yellow, yellow, before once again settling on blue. He nodded.
“Hello, Evangeline. My name is Connor.” Then, to help put her mind at ease, the artificial Pegasus went on. “My scans have come back negative for any living heat signatures in the immediate area, aside from your own. You do not need to worry.”
Aldrnari Expanse
Connor
