Welcome to Gaia! ::

He was home. It had been so long, so long since he’d greeted his daughter with warm whinnies and nickers, ages since they’d run together, side by side, father and daughter. Because both of them shared the same traits--Lani had been born the only daughter without wings and when their family grew old enough to take flight, it had been just Tavarii and Lani on their own. Alone. And it was okay, it truly was…for awhile. He loved his daughter, but her free spirit couldn’t be caged and she set off on her own. He told himself she’d be back, reminded himself of her promise.

She did return, indeed. But not alone. With a boyfriend, a stallion with wings that Tav feared would leave his daughter, take flight and leave her behind and heartbroken once again. He had proven Tav wrong and Lani and Basil were happily mated. With foals on the horizon, Tav felt a distance grow between him and his small family. It had felt natural to strike out on his own, to go where the winds would guide him.

They’d guided him to heartbreak, gotten him utterly lost inside himself, and now, look where he was. Near home…and now it was his fault for being distant. Pressing his eyes shut, Tavarii stood at the edge of the field, the long grasses swaying with the coming storm. Clouds overhead grew blackened and rumbled out an ominous sound, reverberating through his very bones. The scent of the storm was electric, sending jolts racing through him, making him feel like a colt again.

As lightning struck, a flash of brilliant white, he kicked up his heels and took off at a gallop across the plains.

The rain came pelting down, cold and hard and fast and it tingled across his skin and despite the n** to the air, he cherished the feeling. The feeling of being free--even if it was only momentary. His legs pumped, hooves thundering across the earth in rhythmic beats, mane and tail trailing behind him, snapping against his neck wetly.

He saw something--something high and dark, a smudge in the greyness around him, illuminated only by the arcs of energy through the air, energizing and terrifying in all of their glory. Tavarii tossed his head and let rip a whinny so shrill, kicking up mud and grass behind him as the ground grew soft from the onslaught. As the figure flew on wings as dark as a fallen angel’s he followed her with intent. He watched her--for it could only be female--twist and arc through the sky as if she was made of and from the storm itself, before she landed on a hill.

For a moment a trickle of fear slashed through him--but it was fleeting and then gone, followed by an insane curiosity. Ears pricked despite the rain soaking him, trailing in streaks down his pelt, Tavarii slowed and approached the wind mare. He halted several feet back, ears like radars, his heart suddenly pounding.

“Beautiful landing,” he murmured, though realized that was probably a stupid first line, but oh well. Rolling his eyes at himself, he eased a little closer, trying to gauge her reaction, than said what was on his mind. “She was birthed of storms, the daughter of thunder and lightning, cast from the sky like an angel falling to the depths of Earth…” A pause, a smile lit up by lightning. “Hello.”

Tavarii was impressed by the blatant beauty the mare seemed to exude, a powerfulness that rendered him inept and incapable of words for a moment's time. For a long while he just stared at her, ears pulled back against his skull as the rain pounded around them. And then she spoke--her voice sharp, biting like fangs of a wolf--and it startled him. Grounder?

"Well you're welcome then," he said, sarcasm leaping to his lips, a wry smile in place. She wanted to be sassy? He was far from a useless colt. "And what if I do?" he asked, head tipped to one side.

He shifted his weight, eyes never leaving her as she circled him, circled him like predator would prey, something that should've been kin for a kalona...but she bore no horns and no leathered wings, no winding serpentine tail. His nostrils flared; no, she smelled of the skies and of downy feathers. Pure wind-blood.

She was ethereral...but something about her struck him in a bad way, a warning at the back of his mind. That maybe she bore no fangs...but a silver tongue would kill the soul just as fast. Yet... Magnetic attraction, perhaps?

He held himself high, purple gaze locking into her eerie red eyes. "I'm Tavarii, Ms. I Just Flew Through A Damn Electrical Storm. Tav, to you."

The winds ripped at his mane, tugging the beads from their braids, his hair curling from the rain and the wind. He flicked his ears back, listening to the grumble of thunder all around them, echoing like they were in a cave when in fact they were in the wide open. No trees around thankfully--that meant no accidental electrocution...though it seemed like this mare was living, breathing thunder, calling the lightning to her with just her essence. She was sharp and slick and damn beautiful--not that he was looking for anyone. When she spoke her name--Thundara--he smiled.

"Suits you," he said with a firm nod. "And fine, Thundara you shall be." He snapped his wet tail, the crack soft against the storm around them. He watched her with keen eyes, taking in her sleek form and long, powerful legs right up to the sour yet sassy look on her face--and she almost smiled, or smirked...almost. And then she seemed to catch herself mid-smile and change it back to a frown. "You shouldn't scowl--didn't your mother ever teach you that your face might freeze permanently that way if you do it too long?"

Tavarii shrugged his shoulders, nonchalant as he shook his head. "Shame," he said, about the scowl staying stuck on her face. She really WAS pretty--not that she'd accept that from a, what was it? Grounder? When she mentioned that he was a colt, he laughed, a soft sound. "Nah, I'm probably older than you. But...maybe I'm tired of acting my age?" He smiled, teasing. "Maybe we need to embrace our inner foals. Zen and all that jazz." At that he rolled his eyes; he didn't believe a word he said, so why should she? Ah well.

"Wellll. You're in a field in the middle of a thunderstorm, getting drenched as the two of us chat like old friends while looking like drowned rats." He stamped a hoof for emphasis. "Technically? I have no idea. I'm near home." Back to the place where he belonged... Why did it feel so different, then?

"Where are you from, Thundara?"