The moonlight streamed down from a quarter moon, the dark side blacker against the already black night sky. Stars peeked out, flickering and fading. Aleksei watched as a meteor shot through the sky. Her ear wings pinned back, alongside her ears as she dropped her head to the pool of water. For a moment, she gazed at her reflection, her pelt blood red, the crimson eyes of the devil, but with angel's wings.
Her own body was marred with various cuts and scrapes, both knees sore and her wings settled back against her body tiredly. Aleskei glanced down at the body, neck at a crooked angle. His leathered bat wings stretched out, veins running down them. Her lips twisted into a sneer. He was good and dead. Just the way she liked it. Her job here was done. Angel of Justice, indeed...
Aleksei turned and began to limp off, away from the lake, away from the mess she was tired of looking at. Usually, something like this wouldn't have bothered her. It was just a Demon, a Kalona, a killer. The words made her skin bristle. He had killed various others. He had had a thirst for blood. It had to've been stopped and she was the one to stop it.
"Enough of this," she barked to herself, voice a little hoarse. "You did what needed to be done. End of story." But it wasn't... She'd been clumsy. He'd had her, just for a moment. What happened when she didn't get back up? What happened when there was no one else to carry on the line? Aleksei dropped her head and shivered. In all reality, she was alone. All alone. It had never bothered her, but now... It was different. She needed someone.
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It was a perfect night for chasing fairies. The moon had given them just enough light to see, but enough darkness that those that were unaware would be confused as to what had hit them. His people were a naughty sort, prone to tricks in the night. Not mean though, never mean. Oberon flit about in his largest size. Roughly an over-sized pony… red-pink eyes looked from left to right quickly trying to spot his target. Oh! A lake was not far away, perhaps there would be something worth seeing there tonight.
Flying quickly towards the water, wings beating rapidly, mind racing just as fast as his body, there was no reason to show caution. None had been out and about at this time of night for quite a while now. He’d gotten used to being awake at night and tucking away somewhere when the sun shone brightly. Such sacrifices he made.. Ahh the life of royalty was not an easy one.
---
Aleksei paused, ears swiveling forwards, pricking there for just a moment. There was a sound... Her ears flattened again. She wore a scowl. Who was there? Whoever it was, they were gonna see the dead body of that Kalona. Crimson eyes watched from beside the forest as something small -- something...strange -- flitted towards the lake. She took a breath. He didn't smell too bad; just like another Soquili. A nightdweller. She grinned. Just like her.
Slowly, she crept forwards. She couldn't muffle her hoofsteps, so she figured she'd be given away immediately. She drew closer. It was definitely a Soquili, his coat a purple and orange mottled, mane and tail dark raven black. She took a breath. "Hello there..." Her voice came out smoothly, although it was a forced smooth. Surely he was seeing the Kalona's corpse now... Wonder what he'd think of her. A murderer... She bit back a growl and stayed quiet.
---
Oberon was not seeing anything in particular, he was still fully focused on his fairies and hoping that they would be coming out to see him soon. It took several long moments before he caught the scent of the other soquilis and perhaps even the scent of … blood? Nah, that couldn’t be, he was just crazy to think he smelled blood. Swinging his head around from left to right it took him a moment to take in the other’s appearance. Oh.. Oh my.. How unexpected.
He was taken aback for a few moments because he’d never met an angeni before. He had heard of them before, but never actually been this close before. Were they royalty like he was? They had to be something at least since they each had a domain that they ruled mightily over. “Hello there.. What brings you to this little lake, surely you aren’t out to sight fairies as well?“ He could hope, but none had ever wanted to do that with him before. None. Sometimes life was unfair, but he forced the thoughts back and squared his bulky shoulders, straightening up and gaining an inch or two from his efforts.
---
She watched him carefully. She took in the egyptian-like cut to his mane, bangs in his wide, pink eyes. And the wings... So delicate and beautiful, like stained glass. She'd never seen wings like that before. For a moment, she wondered if he could fly and then shot down the curiosity because hadn't she just seen him flutter down towards the lake?
He was smaller than her, just by a little. She herself was a petite mare, but size didn't have anything to do with the size of her heart. She puffed out her chest. "Fairies?" She gave a small chuckle, deep in her throat. "Looks like I found one in the flesh. Didn't know Fairies had hooves, though. Quite interesting." She flashed him a smile, relaxing surprisingly quickly for her. "I'm Aleksei..." She stopped herself as she wanted to tack on "Protector of the Innocent". No. He didn't need to know that.
She was alone... So was he. Perhaps he could use a friend and she didn't think, "Hey look pal, I kill baddies for a living. Hope you don't mind befriending a murderer," would pass on this Fairy's conscious.
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Oberon actually managed to focus on the mare for more than a few moments, usually he was too busy fidgetting to pay attention to others. She was lovely, with so much hair it had to be heavy, pairs of wings graced here and there like an artistic impression instead of function perhaps? He was being silly, she probably just needed a bit of help carrying that hair in flight.
“Oh no, I’m not a fairy, as much as I’d like to be.. Just their king and protector. You wouldn’t know it though from the way they behave some days. Playing pranks and not coming out to greet me. They never come out when I’m trying to show someone them. It’s why I travel alone, beyond my family others think that I’m quite insane… Can you imagine that? Just because they have to see something to believe… I mean.. I’ve seen them time and time again, but I have a few special privileges that others don’t.. Ugh!”
She was so striking to look at … Perhaps she was a fairy taken to soquilis form to keep him company. The idea lit his eyes and an easy grin formed, “So… what brings you here? Or have I asked you that? Oh hell.. I never know.. I never speak to other soqs or even “Soqs” if you know what I mean…” Which she totally did if she was a fairy..
----
Aleksei was surprised. He surely looked like a fairy to her. "A king..." She paused. And protector? Then...he knew what it was like? To protect something? She found herself grinning as he went on. In her head, she saw the fairies flitting around the forest, hiding from her and running from him in gleeful laughter. She chuckled, her body shaking. "Insane? Why would believing in fairies be insane?" Okay, so it was odd. She gave him that. And she wasn't totally convinced. He was probably as close to a fairy as she'd see... His wings, they were beautiful. She couldn't quit staring. Then, realizing she was staring, she met his gaze once more.
"Um." Blank. Her mind blanked. Why did it blank? She was Aleksei, granddaughter of Sikkitol, protector of the innocent and everyone who couldn't fight for themselves. She was a warrior queen, unabashed in battle, and she was blanking out for a little fairy king? She never flushed, but she was now. "The moon." What a lie. She glanced up, then over in the darkness where the Kalona lie. She heaved a heavy sigh. "You know what? No... That's a lie. Not the moon." She looked him in the eye, collecting herself. "Do you want to see what I do?" It was breathy, almost a warning among her tone. Hope lingered there too.
---
He had been told he had the looks of a fairy before, but that usually didn’t make him overly happy. It wasn’t something that a manly king was supposed to take pride in.. He was supposed to be a man and a man didn’t look like a fairy. Not to belittle his people. Ugh, all of this politic stuff was really getting hard to deal with. There was too much to figure out and too many different things to explain. The … moon? While it was lovely it didn’t make most folks stay up all night. His mind had wandered off and because of it he hadn’t caught much of what she had said beyond the What I do part… Well, the best thing to do in an awkward situation is usually to just say yes, right? He looked up at her with almost a guilty smile.
“Sure.. I mean unless it’s some kind of demonstration on myself that would hurt ’cuz otherwise I think I’d rather just pass for this evening.“ He didn’t want to seem like a coward but getting his a** whipped was not exactly what Obe considered to be a good time. “Also.. I don’t recall saying my name or you saying yours.. But I do get distracted more than just a little bit… I’m Oberon.. Or just Obe is good enough for me. As long as it’s easy enough to remember for you it’ll be fine for me.“ He wasn’t the sort of king that expected everyone to refer to him as “sire”
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Aleksei's grin was wry. "Alright, pal. I'm not gonna kick your a**, don't worry." What was his name, anyhow? She found herself wondering, when he piped back up. Oberon... "Oberon, king of the fairies... I like it. Has a ring to it, don't you think?" Another grin. Nervous, this time. She shifted her weight. It was going to end up one of two ways. Either he accepted it, or he ran away from her in fear. She frowned and began to walk towards the corpse, the moonlight showing just enough. "Come along, then, Obe. Let me show you something. This is what I came here tonight for." Knowing that wouldn't be much explanation, she added. "I am a Queen, you see... A protector, of all the soquili who can't protect themselves. All the lost little foals, I take them back home. And when it comes to someone who's killing for the fun or for the taste or for the thrill...I kill them, so they quit hurting. The world is filled with too much hurt. And that's what I did." She stiffened, growing cold. "Take me or leave me. I'll understand, either way."
---
Oberon was never serious, being serious meant that the sparkle of life had dimmed inside of him, and that was totally unacceptable. His life was spent around people that played pranks for a living and only chose to come out and be seen when they really felt like it. So she wasn’t going to kick his a** and she was a queen in her own right. His mind was wrapped around those two things while he walked with her. He hadn’t really listened after that and it just wasn’t going the way he wanted it to with his attention span. His eyes widened almost comically as he took in the dead form on the ground and his eyes swept to hers almost wild with a mix of surprise and shock. He was not disgusted and he was not angry at the death, but it was almost unbelievable that a petit mare, shining like a stone could kill, even in justice. Oberon knew too well that death was something that had to be handed out sometimes instead of letting it take it’s natural course. His eyes lowered down the form on the ground and his expression remained grave, “What was his crime?” It had to be severe.. This mare would not kill over the death of a bunny.. That unfortunately was life…
---
"Murder," she replied grimly, all traces of a smile gone. "I've been tracking him for awhile. He took out an entire village of Twolegs, along with any Soquili that was lingering around the teepees. I watched, with my own two eyes, as he tortured a young filly. He broke her legs and listened as she screamed. I followed him out here, got him alone, and we fought." Another deep breath. "And I was the winner..."
But not for long. She would find an adversary that was too strong one of these days. She would be killed and just, gone, dust in the wind, with no one to carry on the line. Certainly no one to mourn her death. She frowned and sighed a little. "Can you stand me, now that you know? I hate pain, but he deserved every wound I inflicted... And I certainly don't do what he did: torture. No. His death was swift. Tell me, Oberon, King of the fairies. Do you blame me? Do I digust you?" A rueful smile tugged at her lips.
---
His mind reeled with the imaginings that were going through it. To kill a whole village of innocent two-leggers.. A race of people that were completely weak and useless against other Soquilis. “We’re so much stronger than them.. And just a baby.“ His mind struggled to not imagine tortured screams and the wailing of family left behind. The b*****d had deserved to die even if others did not want to agree with that.
“How can you ask a question like that? Have others blamed you in the past for killing those that would kill without thought?” It was a strange situation, some did not believe that killing begot killing, but for him when innocent blood was spilled into the ground a call for action had just been thrown down… “No, I don’t blame you and no you don’t disgust me… Do I think I am made of the same material as you.. No, but that’s what makes me me I suppose.” Being a king of fairies was not an easy job to be sure, but he had never had to deal with anything that serious
---
She watched him, waiting for the anger to bloom on his handsome face, to turn those innocent pink eyes into flaming balls of hatred. She held her breath. It never came. In fact, his face crumpled a little bit. His words rang at her heart. "Thank you..." Her voice was breathless, her heart racing. He didn't hate her... He didn't want her to get lost. Was he truly the first? The first she'd told and the first to not shun her? King of the fairies... She smiled. "Thank you, Oberon. I don't...do it often. Only when the need arises, but I'm coming into a conundrum... What if the next one I fight, what if I die? It's a scary thought, even when I've been raised from birth, taught how to fight, schooled how to kill. If I did, there will be no one to miss me." She chuckled a little. "But that's life, I suppose."
---
He thought about her words, about not having anybody to miss her when she’s gone and the fear of fighting. Perhaps she needed to go out and live a little to make the idea of a possible death less frightening. Or perhaps she would do well to train others in her purpose. Whoah, why was this so serious, he was just a simple fairy king for god’s sake, not a fighter of any sort. He’d kill to protect the fairies, but they were a hearty sort that never asked for anything or needed for anything either. “You’re welcome my nameless Queen.” Understanding the motives behind someone like her wasn’t always easy, but it had to be figured out. Pricked ears and a canted neck was part of the picture he painted as he stared at her in curiosity. None would miss her? None would care? Did the families that she avenged not realize what she had done? No, probably not, most don’t ask for attention when the right thing is done. At least he could solve one problem. “Do not fear not being missed, I believe I would miss a fine person such as you.”
---
"Aleskei," she added, smiling again. She found herself extremely calm around him. A rarity for her, a mare usually so tense that her muscles ached by the end of the night. Aleksei and Oberon. Wait what? She blinked, surprised at herself. But it was fitting...almost. King and Queen. The fairies could be innocents, people worth protecting. She paused and smiled up at him, almost beaming, feeling much more like a filly with a heart full of innocence instead of the mare with the dark past. "You've only just met me," she teased, lightly. "Unless you want to get to know me a little better, King Oberon?" Look at her. She flicked her tail, settling into a small smirk and feeling quite coltish.
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“Aleskei..” He had a feeling that he would do well to remember that name. As a night-walking soquilis there were usually very few out to meet and those that did learned to be friends quite easily.. Or enemies just as quickly. He noticed the surprise that crossed her face and just kept quiet about it. This was the longest conversation he had had with another in a long long time and it was rather… enjoyable. Obe never thought about his lack of four-legged company because there were always fairies to talk to him and tell him stories, anything really to keep him amused. “Do you have to know someone from the inside out to want to miss them when they’re gone? I’ve met some folks for just a passing fancy in time and their disappearance has been a devastation to me. Perhaps that adds to my charm.” He thought of Fen, a fire-mane and tailed stallion, warning him not to play with fire.. But this didn’t seem to be the sort that he had met.. Or perhaps it was exactly that. “What did you have in mind?”
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"Mmmm..." She mused, tossing back her head, the gold adorning her thick hair glinting in the moonlight. She glanced back at the Kalona, another who wouldn't be missed, and began to walk away, fully expecting Oberon to follow. She, as well, hadn't had a conversation since young Alexiel. That had been a long time ago and he hadn't -gotten- her. Not like Oberon seemed to, even with a head full of fluff and fairies. "Why don't we start out by just talking and walking? We can advance to the sky later -- if you can keep up?" Her grin was teasing as she flexed her wings out, long and elegant. Her hooves scuffed the dirt a little. She was, for once in a long time, very happy. "Pick a topic. We've got all night..."
