M A N I P U L A T I O N doesn't shape me {Open}

[愛 S I D D E H 愛]

[smear:405a77]M A B O R O S H I[/smear:C3E9E3]
The moon we love like a brother
Dancin' round the lies we tell
Dancin' round big eyes as well
Even the comatose don't dance and tell

The forest was a vast expanse of shadows, and silence. Not even the stirring of most nocturnal creatures chattered into this night. The soft ground muted the footfalls of a grayed creature beneath the night sky. The darkness enveloping the land, washing it with it's black colour. Hiding from the moon where it could, and as he cast long, eerie shadows across the ground. The air was cool, and damp beneath the canopy of trees stretching into the stars. The mossy ground enveloping each dagger of the vapor-eyed hessian. Soft fibers tickling the edges of his legs as he moved with abundant confidence in his stride. It was as if he had just returned home after a long journey, though this forest was foreign it invited travelers graciously. Nares flared delicately, taking in the damp smell of the earth. It would seem these trees had been sometime without proper company. A quiet smile crossed the ashy kissers of the hessian, though quickly faded into the anxious habit of his teeth tearing away at the flesh inside his mouth.

The feeling of this forest was inviting, but something felt off. Shi's daggers came to a halt, allowing his tail to fall to rest behind his hocks. The foggy eyes in his skull rotated slowly, drinking the land that was wrapped up in it's blanket of darkness. There was no fear in the peculiar beast, his auds twitched at any sound. Even the slightest rustle of the trees caught his gaze momentarily. Shi found himself craving company as well. Though the forest was inviting, and abundant, they were silent guardians. A sigh escaped the hessian's ashen kissers as he grew more at ease in his environment. Shi's daggers once again began their movements. Carrying him closer to the fleeting kingdom that tempted him from his home. Imperium. Though how would they react to a nomad from distant lands? Shi could feel his anxiety bubbling up his stomach, to his chest. Slowly creeping it's way up the back of his throat.

The beast bolted forward with sudden speed, at the creeping sensation in his spine. As though something had spooked him. A sort of habit he used a great many times to alleviate the sensations caused by anxiety. At least the sky beast was out, and guiding his way to his potential new home.

[Deleted]

.anti.gone.

    Black and white. White and black. That's all she was, a perfect balance of black and white. Ice-blue eyes blinked at the world with a childlike naïveté that would never be erased from her regardless of life experience or lessons or education or anything. The head trauma had seen to that very nicely. She snorted, her delicate ears poised to take in the world around her. The forest was a monstrous giant, sprouting up and up into the air on great, dark pillars that branched out with their mighty leaf-bearing limbs and swooped over her. And she a tiny little thing at best.

    She stared at the aged trees, pondering just how old they were because they looked as ancient as the earth itself. Her little figure dwarfed under a behemoth of an oak tree. Its leaves trimmed in a lighter, almost silver color, glittered in the light that filtered down onto them. From her vantage point, with her head tilted all the way back to simply look up at the lowest branch, even the underbrush was large. Easily large enough to hide her if she so chose to hide.

    With a sigh she turned, swishing her tail against her white hips as she moved, to walk away from the oak that had so thoroughly fascinated her a moment before. Her thoughts were simple, if a bit shallow, and lingered just long enough to be considered thoughts before moving on to the next flittering idea. Simple minded but far from stupid she was a quiet girl while alone- which was the problem. She was alone. Always alone. Since escaping that- what had she escaped from again? Had she escaped or was that just a bad dream she'd had last night? Her tummy rumbled- I'm hungry- was she really? The thoughts tangled together noisily drowning out the growling of her stomach as she pressed on, deftly ducking through the trees with the mirth of a child. Only she, one so tiny, could dart through this forest virtually unhindered!

    Oh look! A tiny wall of thorny hedges made just for her! Her black ears peeked over the top of the thorny bushes blocking her path as she approached them and she hefted herself into the air to leap them, just barely clearing them as a few thorns scraped her curled legs. Throom, throom, throom! Was that the sound of her own belly growing louder in its gurgling? She froze on the far side of the thorn bushes, ignoring the sting their prickling had produced, and listened.

    Something, something big, was thundering her way. Suddenly terrified she whinnied, whirled around and found herself trapped. Her ice-blue eyes rolled with fright and frustration as she snorted at the blockade and turned to dart the other direction- straight towards the thunderous stranger.

post - thoughts - "speech"

[templebar]

Ellaria

The golden toned mare stepped carefully through the fallen needles tainted red as if blood has spilled upon them some time ago; she lowered her nostrils to the ground and inhaled the scent of pine not a hint of the metallic blood smell around. As she raised her delicate head again she noticed once more that she was surrounded by tall straight pine trees, which reached up so high she could hardly see the tops. Occasionally she noted a shorter stouter tree amongst them, without pines these had broad leaves of a pale lime colour, they were small and only just sprouting, each one tried to fan out for maximum sunlight, although there was none of that available right now. For the light that shone down on her path was a pale white hue emitted from the chalky globe above, it was a cloudless night and therefore she could be guided all night without the worry of blackouts. She continued to walk through the forest, the sound of footsteps muffled by the carpet of needles below. Her finely carved golden head turned suspiciously as she looked around her nervously, she thought she felt someone watching her all the time but with every glance all she saw were long lines of trees.

She suddenly heard a muffled thudding sound and then a shrill sound split the air, the mare winced slightly as the sound was sudden and she did not expect such a noise to break the near silence of the forest. The ears now pricked had recognised the sound and the direction so turning to her left slightly she moved forward, interested in what was happening and wondering if she could help. Slender limbs carried her bodice lightly over the ground; she moved in a gait of three beats and sounded graceful in comparison to the scared whinny of another equine that she had heard moments ago. She finally saw figures coming into her view space, there were two. The first one moving at speed was a large, stud of a dark colour that it was almost black. The other was smaller than her but the comparison between the two made them tiny and the giant. The smaller painted creature, probably the owner of the mares whinny she had heard, was backing into a small hedge with a worried look upon her features.

Ellaria approached cautiously slowing her gait into a walk, taking the last few steps to stop between the two of them but to the side she looked from the large dark stallion to the tiny duo toned female. She carefully cleared her throat quietly and looked towards neither equine as she spoke slowly and carefully “Is everything alright?” Now she slowly turned her hazel eyes from one to the other taking the time to evaluate them and run through possible outcomes that might happen next.

Word Count; 478
Tagged; Marboroshi & Antigone
Notes; Sorry to add in here but i already started a reply before you posted fishtail. If you want me to leave just say and i will delete this.

[愛 S I D D E H 愛]

[smear:405a77]M A B O R O S H I[/smear:C3E9E3]
The moon we love like a brother
Dancin' round the lies we tell
Dancin' round big eyes as well
Even the comatose don't dance and tell

Shi's vapor hued orbs caught sight of a smaller vixen than himself, after the piercing cry that broke the silence. She appeared to be bolting in his direction, his eyes locked onto her blue hued visionaries as another equine appeared abruptly in his field of vision. Anxiety finally piquing, as he tore a large chunk out of his lip, the taste of iron flooding his mouth. Shi's pillars strained against the ground, though soft his joints protested the sudden stopping motion he exhibited. He propelled himself upwards onto his hind legs to narrowly avoid slamming his frame into the smaller equines. The dark hessian lost balance, and came down heavily upon his knees with an exasperated, wheezing laugh. The soft ground welcomed his aching legs, that protested against his weight in this position, with this force. The vapor eyed stag slowly rolled his eyes in their sockets, refraining from moving.

It may have appeared even creepy as his auds flicked to the voice of the other minx. A smirk slowly crossed the features of the muscular hessian, his front pillars pushing against the earth to bring him back into a standing postion. Shi thoughtfully tossed her question over in his mind, eyes wandering briefly to the trees, and his brother in the sky. His lips actively working at his lips, despite the already overpowering taste of iron. The vapor eyed hessian slowly rolled his eyes between the two of them, readjusting his frame so he faced them, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he pondered her question. Though it had a very blatant answer, he didn't like to rush with his time.

"Problem... None at all. Just an unfortunate timing." Shi uttered carefully, eyeing the pair up as if to gauge their level of threat to him. His legs ached, though he shifted his weight as much as possible to relieve the pressure. The stag exhaled a sigh, the anxiety crawling up his throat like a ghastly demon finally seemed to settle. Though he was far from home, the company of his family trees put him in the slightest ease. "You see... I am not from these lands, and something strange startled me.... Thankfully my brother has been able to guide my travels well in the past weeks. Winter has chilled the land, and made for night travel as convenient as day... Though predators seem to be wary of a lone creature traversing the muted hills of winter here.... Please allow for my introduction. My birth name is Maboroshi, however I go by Shi most often. And what do they call you... here?" The stag spoke in a curious way, staggering his phrases unusually as he spoke to the pair. Wondering how on earth two mares were to have left their home all alone.

[Deleted]

.anti.gone.

    The thundering stopped and a stallion, bigger than any she'd seen before, lurched up into the air further sending the tiny mare into a panic. What had she done to him to cause this assault? But it wasn't an assault and he was a good ten feet off when he reared, attempting to stop. She slid to a stop, watching his momentum out-maneuver the dark stallion to the ground, her ears pricked forward with intense, child-like curiosity.

    Is everything alright? Yeah, she supposed it was. Her tiny, delicate head swung up to stare at the mare that had spoken, ears twitching and a small smile splaying across her lips. "No, yes, I mean I'm alright. A small fright." she smiled weakly, as though that would explain everything and turned back to the stallion. His words were heavy and dark.

    "It's a pleasure to meet you Maboroshi. I'm Antigone, or, I guess Anti is fine." she said, putting a slight emphasis on 'an' so it wasn't mistaken for 'aun'. She twitched her ears, shifting her weight uncertainly before inching closer to the mare, and further from the stallion. Her mane, long and thick, fell over her face to hide her pale blue eyes. Adding emphasis on the child-like aura she exuded, she snorted hard, trying to chase her hair from her eyes before giving up to stair through the black strands.

    "I don't suppose either of you... knows where we are?" she asked, tilting her head between the two larger horses. A meek smile pulling at her lips. A faint twitch in her shoulder to dispell an invisible insect twitched, almost spasmodically. A cold breeze tickled at her furry body and she shivered, tempted to huddle closer, still, to the mare.

post - thoughts - "speech"


 Temp it's fine 8'D 

[templebar]

Ellaria

Hazel orbs opened wider as the stallion loomed closer and out of nervousness she took a single step back with a hind hoof, just enough for some extra room in front of her. He finally put on the breaks although this looked hard for him, he had to rear up with his fore limbs to avoid crashing into us but they did not hold him as he landed and he fell to his knees, the mare winced almost feeling his pain. She could now look at him straight on and although this didn't make him much shorter than myself, he was definitely not less than the small painted mare, after a moment he slowly picked himself up again from the ground to stand taller than us both once again, she noticed his eyes darting in all directions and his lips moved as he appeared to think things over, she was not sure if he was nervous or what but she grew cautious herself.

Ears flicked a top her skull as she took in each of his deep masculine words spoken slowly almost carefully. She let a puzzled look sweep across her features letting it sit there a moment before passing, his words were chosen deliberately and wisely she could not be sure what they meant and how they should be taken. Before speaking herself she noticed the smaller mare edging forwards though more toward her than in the stallions direction. The smaller mare now spoke her words very different from the studs, petite and friendly that would seem to match the rest of her and they seem to burst from her without much thought. Ellaria thought she would like this mare very much and despite her stature it would appear that her words were spoken as she thought with no tricks or mind games. It appeared it was not time for her to speak, silence had fallen among them and now she needed to react to what she saw. They had both given their names and so it would only be honourable to give her own but what else to add if anything?

“Very good.” She started noting their replies of no problems, before continuing to answer their questions “I am Ellaria and i don’t feel the need for shortening it at this stage.” The feminine tones spoke once more a sort of haughty tone that she did not mean; she just didn’t want to be on such friendly terms just yet. Now she lowered her head and turned to the smaller mare who asked if anyone knew of their location. She had heard a few days ago that a large forest of such description had a name, now just to recall it.... ah yes now it came to her. “I remember someone telling me it was the whispers forest or something like that, nowhere special i don’t think.” Her words were softer and friendlier this time. She noticed the mare shiver and felt the night chill try to penetrate her short but dense coat, in response she took a step sideways to put herself next to the smaller mare, letting them share each other’s warmth, though not skin to skin contact just being closer would keep them warmer.

Word Count; 539
Tagged; Marboroshi & Antigone
Notes; Sorry for the delay got a horrific cold and being rather foggy in my head, so my appologies if its not that well written.

[愛 S I D D E H 愛]

[smear:405a77]M A B O R O S H I[/smear:C3E9E3]
The moon we love like a brother
Dancin' round the lies we tell
Dancin' round big eyes as well
Even the comatose don't dance and tell

Shi listened patiently as the two spoke. Anti seemed to harbor one of those approachable personalities, as he noted the step towards her Ellaria made without hesitation. He couldn't help but feel her speculation as she watched the towering hessian. His masked face remained a bit stoic, although continuing to contort his lips in various ways. The pain that greeted him gave him the distraction he was craving. A stranger alone in some new land, and not to mention that he had no contact with any others since home. Shi could feel his anxieties bubbling up, something about the way Ellaria glanced at him made him uncomfortable. He noticed the shiver though, although his mind was already reeling towards hysterics. Anti asked if they knew where the group was. Shi shook his head very slowly, regarding the pair very cautiously with his vapor eyes. His ears twitched in all directions, as he looked over his shoulder once more. Half expecting to see the demon that cursed him.

"I hear no whispers. It seems it like it was inappropriately named...." Shi mused on carefully again. Pickings his words out as slowly as possible. His strange pattern of speech stood out in stark contrast to the two females in his presence. Shi inhaled slowly before trying to calm his nerves. If only the dead could be relieved of their worries. "I'm not sure what you mean by nothing special. A forest is an amazing place, especially at night. The life is entirely different... It's wondrous to think I could spent decades within it's embrace... Unfortunate that it will be alone in my  time..... Is there places that offer homes?" The stag spoke again in his peculiar way. Rambling on as if speaking in riddles was the way to go. Ellaria seemed more bold to him, though Anti seemed shy and friendly as well. Shi glanced down towards his knees, noticing now that they were staining the snow black. Panic surged through his body, as his face twisted into complete fear.


His breathing quickened though he was standing still. His eyes grew wide as he backed away a few steps. The smell was awful. Shi as unable to see that it was red, it appeared as black, oozing sludge from his body. Shi began to gnaw on his lips even more forcefully than before as he started to move his feet in place. "Ah, please don't touch it. I am so sorry for the terrible stench... I promise this isn't a frequent thing.... Ahh.... Can you see it too? The disgusting sludge that marred the snow... it was so clean before... SO CLEAN. I don't know what I'm supposed to.. Ah.... It isn't going to..." Shi sputtered on in a panicked tone of voice. Babbling incoherently, and making absolutely no sense.