[Solo] Tales from the Hinterlands

[Nisshou H]

Disappointed by the lack of spoils, Nashira gathered the pouch of nuts in her teeth and turned to leave. Set just before her there was a pile of stones and a single tiny flame blowing about in the winds of the high peaks. The stones protected it somewhat but the flame was too small to be used for warmth as the humans often used the reddish fire for. She could see no purpose for it but it seemed to be lighting a painting on a tanned peace of animal hide.

Nashira tilted her head to one side. Humans were rare in her lands but she had seen such paintings before. A way the humans expressed themselves. This picture seemed to depict one of their own kind: hairless and hopeless. She frowned not understanding what was so special about this picture that they would light a flame and build a house of rocks around it. She shook her head at the pointlessness of those creatures and left never to learn the true purpose of the shrine and its candle burning on.  

[Nisshou H]

"Book"

 

[Nisshou H]

He couldn’t read. Honestly he couldn’t understand the point in this gift. Some silly mare from a human settlement had given him a book saying that it reminded her of him. As he stared at the bland leather binding countless pages of dense paper he couldn’t see how. Had she quietly been trying to insult him? He certainly hoped not because she had seemed like a perfectly nice mare and he’d hate to feel any affection he felt towards her turn to loathing over an inane gift. He had accepted it, regardless of her meaning, so as to keep their relationship as positive as possible but now he was reconsidering his decision not to ask her. Honestly, mares were far too cute. It was too easy for Xerxes to find himself lead away from sensible decisions by their charms.  

[Nisshou H]

He sighed picking the book up off the ground and going to find some place to put it for safe keeping. If she ever asked about it, it would be a good idea to be able to produce the gift and show how much he valued it. Even if he didn’t care for it at all. It would have been far nicer to receive a bit of tea or something he could wear like a crystal. He quite liked crystals. Perhaps he should indicate his fondness for decoration the next time he saw the mare. He stopped and frowned.

No. No he couldn’t indicate what he would like to receive at their next meeting. It would be improper, as etiquette would dictate that he find a way to return the favor by giving her something in return. She liked blue right? Or was that the mare that lived by the sea? Or perhaps the one he had met in the woods? Xerxes grumbled. It was hard to keep them straight sometimes. He’d have to figure it out soon or he’d find himself short of a date.  

[Nisshou H]

"Waterfall"

 

[Nisshou H]

To jump or not to jump. Kittredge lay on her belly peering over the side of a cliff looking more like a large cat than the horse she was at her core. At the bottom of the cliff there was a pool: that meant fish. Water always meant there was fish. She glanced to her side. More water. It flowed out of a stream, down the side of the cliff and into the pool. Sadly there were no fish in the stream so obviously that meant they had to be down in the water below.

Her tail twitched behind her as her ears lay back. It was a long drop to the pool.
 

[Nisshou H]

Kittredge heaved a sigh as she got to her feet. It was a difficult decision to make but there was no way she could make that jump. Her ankles would likely snap from the impact and even the sweet lure of fish couldn’t take all of her sense from her. Kittredge was many things, kooky, selfish, boisterous, and just a bit unhinged but she was no fool. She’d endured too many years of training to not understand how frail a body truly was. She would be far better off searching for fish elsewhere.

Sadly Kittredge turned away from the edge of the cliff and began following the water upstream. Perhaps she could find another pond at the other end of the water that would be safer to reach. Then she could enjoy all the fish she wanted but she wouldn’t risk the waterfall. It simply wasn’t worth it.  

[Nisshou H]

Untitled Reflection from Kittredge

 

[Nisshou H]

Kittredge worked her claws into the dry bark of a fallen log over and over again. Some might claim that she was sharpening them but truthfully she was just bored. Ever since coming through the looking glass lake her life had gotten very strange. Where once she trained every day as a warrior, now she just spent them just lounging around looking for treats like a spoiled pet. She had always been well treated because she was, in fact, royalty, but this was something different and strange. It was like the purpose had gone out of her life. There had been little call for Kittredge to exercise her considerable skills and training others just didn’t hold much appeal for her. She knew that she should be glad for the relative peace and quiet but she was simply so bored.  

[Nisshou H]

Kittredge dug in a little too hard as she reminded herself just how bored she was and put a hole in the log. Kittredge sighed and pulled her foot out of the new hole. She needed to go talk to her sisters. They would know something. Maybe they could find something to do or at least remind Kittredge why they needed to stay away from home. It had seemed like such a good idea when they had left but now she was growing weary from it. Then it had been an adventure and a chance to protect her sisters like she was meant to do. She only wished that it still felt like that to her.

Life on the other side of the looking glass just wasn’t as nice as the bizarre ways of Underland.
 

[Nisshou H]

Content Warning: Cleto is disturbing (to read and write) especially when it comes to relationships. The things he says and does are not healthy and are generally abusive. They do not cross over the pg-13 line (and never will) but I understand that some of what he does could be triggering. The RP is spoilered just in case.

((RP staff please let me know if anything here concerns you immediately! I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable and it some point things will get worse between these two.))




Jhana and Cleto

 

[Nisshou H]

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Sorrow. It was a strange thing. It couldn’t be seen or touched in any tangible way but it could be felt all the same. Jhana could feel it now. It hung heavy in the air around her as she walked through the rusty soil of the badlands. Her father had told her that the red rocks were quite magnificent and worth seeing. He hadn’t been wrong, the rocks were breathtaking, but everything else tore at her heart like a starving coyote. She didn’t know what had happened. There were kalona and others scattered about. Some watched her warily as she slowly made her way through their numbers but most only hung their heads in misery.

She asked one that watched her progress what had happened. He snarled at her and barked at her to leave. His tone startled her but she couldn’t quite blame him. She was a stranger in this place. Anyone could see it. Her coat was clean and her mane was neat. It was clear she had never wanted for food, love, or safety in her life. Born into a family once torn apart by a monster more terrifying than nightmares; she had always been well treated within Padmapani. She was a blessing, her and her sisters, as were all the children in the herd.

She was not certain the same thing could be said for the miserable creatures she walked among now. They were thin and covered in dust and dirt. They were tired to their souls; she could see it deep in their eyes. Jhana wanted to help but couldn’t if no one would tell her what was wrong.

“The sick get picked off.”

Jhana jerked her head up to see who had spoken. There was a stallion laying on a large flat rock up above her. His head hung over the edge of the rock making it look somewhat like his neck had been snapped. Jhana shuddered at the thought. She had seen a deer in such a state once and would never wish such a fate on anyone.

“Did you hear me?” He questioned tilting his head to get a better look at her. He’d been watching her progression for some time. She stuck out with her sandy colors and blue hair. She didn’t belong in this wasteland, not when she looked like an oasis.

“Yes, I did hear you.” Jhana replied. “But what do you mean?” Her head tilted to the side and her hair shifted. The stallion smiled and rolled onto his belly.

“You asked what happened. The sick got picked off. And the tired, the weak, anyone really. The desert doesn’t care who it takes.”

 

[Nisshou H]

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“The desert?” Jhana was beginning to get a bad feeling.

“The kalona. They went into the desert with water and came back out with none.” He paused, glanced at the nearest kalona and grinned. “And less people.” The kalona growled at him but didn’t attack. “They let it get taken. You can’t survive without water.”

Jhana’s heart sank as the stallion’s words sunk in. They had died of dehydration in the desert. Her eyes started to fill with tears as she looked around at the shabby herd.

“They won’t like you crying for them.” The stallion said watching her intently. “They don’t like strangers and they don’t want sympathy.” He lowered his head to the rock, still grinning, and drew his tail to his side. “They’ll tear you apart if you aren’t careful. They’ll scatter your pretty feathers all over the ground.” His tail twitched. “It’s a nice thought.” If they ripped her feathers out, he could take them, put them in his cave with his other things and sleep on them. He bet he would dream of her if he had her feathers. He should let the kalona tear her apart. No, then she’d be gone. He didn’t want her to be gone. He’d have to kill the kalona if they tried. That would be better, and then he’d have dinner.

Jhana shifted uncomfortably. Something in the stallion’s eyes said that she shouldn’t listen to him. She glanced at the kalona, she didn’t remember them seeming so far away before. Had they moved?

“I think, perhaps I should go.” Jhana said taking a few steps back.

“No don’t do that.” The stallion said getting up. “You should stay, I know where there are fish… and water. It would be nice.”

Jhana could feel her skin starting to prickle beneath her coat. “No, that’s okay. They’re expecting me back home.” She didn’t waste any more time before taking off into the sky, where it was safe. Looking down she could see him standing there on his rock just watching her still. It sent chills down her spine and she knew better than to doubt her instincts.

 

[Nisshou H]

Origin Story: Velia

 

[Nisshou H]

Velia supposed she should feel honored, somehow, to be chosen. Her brother was jealous. He’d spent his entire life trying to better himself to be more appealing. She had always prayed that they never picked him. She spent hours sabotaging his carefully constructed projects: towers made from coral of the shallows, stone, and sand. He could spend all week setting them up and she could take them apart so efficiently that it was like they had never existed. She had even come to enjoy taking things apart and would practice her deconstruction techniques on other things around the village, anything she could get a hold of. She spent years trying to stop him from being chosen and was so focused on him that she had never considered that they would pick her instead.

“Beautiful and clever,” they had called her. Deceitful. Destructive. Thorough. She hadn’t considered destruction and sabotage skills and hadn’t been afraid of them. She hadn’t thought that there could be value in it but they had found it, the ones that chose her. What had drawn their eye had been how clever she had been and not what she was doing on its own. Knocking something over was easy, taking it apart in a way that left no trace took planning and cunning. That’s what they had told her, quite cheerfully, on the day they broke the “good news.” Her brother had cursed her and fled in shame. Everyone else kept congratulating her like she should be happy that she was going to be torn to shreds alone in a dark cave.

She was not happy nor was she sad. She was planning. She was putting that cleverness that drew them in the first place to good use. She was going to find a way out of this or die trying, literally.

On the day of the sacrifice she let them clean her up nicely. They had familiar attendants brush her coat and comb her mane until it flowed and shimmered like waves on the night of a full moon. She let them put flowers in her hair and behaved like a willing sacrifice would, all smiles and bubbly laughter. They sent her off to the cave in the depths on her own with cheers, words of praise and thanks, and she suspected tears would have been shed were they not currently underwater. As soon as she was clear from their sight she took a detour to a small cave away from the altar. She retrieved a sharpened rock she had stashed there days ago, it wasn’t much but it was something.

Finally armed Velia swam with purpose to the altar. Her village would get their peace one way or another.