|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 6:53 pm
 The ancient trunks of gnarled trees stretched up, disappearing into indistinguishable browns and greens where branches blended with foliage, and the canopy was so thick it blotted out the sun. Sending the dense wood into perpetual twilight, even at mid day. The trees were close, almost claustrophobic, and the desert uni found her anxiety level inching higher with every passing quarter hour of wandering. She wasn't used to seeing many trees, let alone anything close to a forest, and here she was now hopelessly lost.
A legend had inspired her to leave the familiar, safe arms of her family, to go off traveling. Rumor of a soquili with unique, magical gifts. A genie or jinn, fabled to have been the guardian of the desert before the betrayal of his only love drove him to wander the land aimlessly. It was said that any who found the traveler would have their wishes granted. So intrigued by the story, she decided on a journey herself. Not in search of the rumored genie, but in search of other fabulous stories. Rumors and legends held great interest to her, blurred line between fantasy and reality. What was real and what was merely the product of someone's rich imagination.
Needless to say her family had not been exactly pleased by her plans, and her mother had tried insisting on Habibi's brother accompany her on her foolhardy quest. She refused, and after promising to be careful, made her way beyond the sands of the desert and dry plains that boarder it, and into greener, more alive environments. The forest hadn't looked half so imposing from the outside, nor even a short walk within. Nothing to warn of the potential danger it could easily hide.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:37 pm
 Something had slipped through the thorny outskirts and into his present domain: bigger than a rodent, smaller than a menace, lost as everyone else who came to see what manner of beast the shadow lands housed. There were no birds, no sounds beyond the trees themselves moving in windless sections, scratching out a staccato conversation over the mare's head. The saplings closest to the earth had the most reliable information, and word traveled faster than the ancients could prevent, rumors spreading along roots that shared hair thin veins, melding until only clarity was an issue.
He listened with one ear cocked to the figurative echoes, made curious in his confidence, knowing there was a source for the muted uproar but not quite deciphering its shape. Breaches were becoming more frequent, he noticed, split hooves carrying him closer, warped silhouette sharing much with its environment. It seemed that bloodthirsty mongrel had opened the floodgates, inviting in others equipped with less than nature's share of common sense. Not that it was reason for complaint. Alyssum had left mere hours ago, a fact that made him doubt it was her come with his child already. That did not halt the hunger that tugged at him, a sensation so far removed from its original belly that he labeled it such out of habit alone. He had been certain that there was no chance, no remaining ties to the bargain he'd struck with Tempest and his ignorant bride, but recent revelations proved otherwise.
He was bitterly disappointed when the figure he came across was singular, though it ebbed slightly the longer he looked on from his patch of unlit obscurity. A mare, if he did not miss his mark; a unicorn, the delicate spiral on her forehead tapering to a wicked tip. Despite that regal killing instrument, she looked not the least bit capable, her steps stuttering, lapsing often in increasingly rough terrain. Her legs bore the ink of blossoms and devotions, dark against her blushing coat, but he dismissed the meaning behind them as unimportant. Even in a place where every other step was treacherous, her bearing was self-indulgent and poised, moving like she anticipated eyes to be on her at all times. A smile cut across the crags of his face like a scimitar, and he tailed her effortlessly, silently, the groans of his estranged kin masking any hint of his passage. The filly from before had provided him with much needed information, offered him things that justified releasing her with barely a scratch to show for it. This one would be for entertainment's sake.
His chuckle split the air when she went back over her own hoofprints, turned around in an unsettled forest. "Tell me," Mephistopheles began magisterially, his words reverberating off of trunks, thrown until it was not obvious where he stood in relation to his voice. "Was it the word 'forbidden' that drew you here, or something less challenging?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:06 pm
Now, she was not an authority on forests, not even close, but she was fairly certain there was supposed to be sound. There had been when she'd first ventured into the wood, and for quite some time during, but it was gone now. She couldn't say for sure when the sounds of birds and animals faded, but the realization of the absence of ambiance sent a persistent thread of fear through the uni. She'd been nervous before, but had since moved past that to distressed.
To make matters worse she was was having a beast of time simply trying to walking. It was as if the roots of trees kept popping up specifically to trip her, no matter how carefully she watched where she was going. The tip of one copper hoof caught the twisted length of an unseen vine, and she stumbled. Shoulder slamming into the trunk of a nearby tree in a bid to keep upright as she struggled to regain her footing. Her aimless wanderings had taken her to many place, but none half so treacherous to merely wander through. When she found her way back out she was sticking to plains and deserts, no more eerily quiet forests. The bruises she was collecting wasn't worth whatever story or tale she might find within.
That knotty trunk looks awfully familiar.. The mare gave a frustrated sigh as she wandered past a tree she swore she'd past fifteen minutes ago, stride going down right ridged in irritation with her environment and her own in ability to free herself from it.
The sudden presence of sound drew a startled yelp from the mare, ivory ears snapping back against the soft waves of multicolored mane. It took her a second to realize what the noise was, and the realization chased a shudder up the line of her spine, pale fur standing erect in it's wake. The voice that followed was disembodied and had Habibi reeling where she stood. Searching the shadows for the source while her mind raced for an answer. Forbidden? Had he said forbidden? She was definitely going to be steering clear of forests when she got out of this.. If she got out of this.
Her voice was high, tight with fear and quite breathy. "I didn't know this place was forbidden." The slight crack in her words made her pause, clear her throat. She might have been scared, but hearing herself sound so fragile was irritating. Some traits were harder to smoother then others, and the desert mare's vanity was a stubborn thing. "I don't want trouble. I was exploring and simply got lost." Another pause, copper eyes still searching the dark. "Could you maybe show me the way out of here?" Confidence and something close to surety was crawling back into her voice, steadying it. Whomever was speaking out of the shadows was male, and perhaps she could charm her way into a little assistance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:21 pm
The longer he watched, the more understanding he gained. All ownership of her feet was lost to this place, leading him to believe that it wasn't clumsiness alone contributing to the near-falls. Her hooves were better suited to softened environments, though what that landscape might have resembled, Mephistopheles could not say. Her body was lithe, fair, built for speed where she now needed thick protection, and it reminded him of hot days, of summers that scorched the pink buds brown at their tips. But her origin mattered little in the grand scheme of things. Wherever she hailed from, she would be lucky to limp back to it mostly intact. Fear radiated from her, more brilliant than any adornment she wore, and the wet uncertainty flashing in her eyes made him want to pluck them out, drink them down, taste what it was that his voice alone could create. He held motionless to listen, the hitch to her first denial washing sweetly over him. "No? Ignorance is such a flimsy defense." He circled her, shark-like, a view from all angles to see where her weaknesses lay. Beneath the prints, her ankles were slender, thin and well-formed. More comely than the last one, but that was not so great an accomplishment. Pretty, but young, spoiled.
He halted his stalking at her plea, disbelief warring with amusement in an otherwise empty chest cavity. Did she really think him to be of potential use to her? Had he any cockles of a heart to warm, her misplaced trust would have done the trick. "Show you out?" His voice gained a saccharine quality, almost sympathetic if not for the tang of mockery it masked. "My dear, you've only just arrived. Why should you want to leave so soon? Surely you ventured in for a reason: if rumor was not behind it, then perhaps a more compelling motive..."
It was not out of the realm of believability that she had stumbled in by accident. The small corpses of other such unfortunates littered the undersides of hedges as a testament to it. They could find their way in when the thorns shifted; it was getting back out that posed a problem. For a long moment afterward, he did not speak, allowing her to think she had been abandoned. He was in a generous mood since Alyssum left, carrying the promise of returning his daughter on her lips. He would be flesh, organs and bones with real, true blood to be spilled and preserved at his discretion. Considering the circumstances, their game could afford to run longer, a diversion of sorts until they arrived. The forest ran deeper than she could have known, a virtual maze that one could wander in for days, if not weeks, without a visible sky to gauge time lost. "But as you wish," He offered finally, sinking further into the dark, his whispers floating on the breeze while he carefully stepped loud enough to make audible noise. "Follow my footsteps if you are in such a hurry, but come no closer. I am guardian here, and can guarantee you safe passage." Whether or not he would was a separate issue. It depended on how well she played along.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 2:24 pm
stray wisps of multicolored silk floated in disarray around cheeks and brow. Her usual well kept, elegant curls looking rather worse for ware. Caught and tangled on gnarled branches that had seemed, to her, to reach out for her as she'd passed. Disheveled, but no less exotic or fair. A shake of her head helped to clear a few strands from her eyes, for what good it did her. She couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, let alone see anything aside from trees and shadows. As the silence stretched on the skin along her spine tingled, beads of sweat soaking into her ivory pelt, and when he did finally speak again it startled her. She pawed the ground nervously, craning her neck to glance along her back, for what good it would do. "Flimsy perhaps, but no less true. I wouldn't not have entered had I known." A close look would show a fine tremor along her legs, but her voice was solid now, and didn't waver.
The disembodied quality of his voice was unnerving, and she found herself backing up, turning slightly to press her side against the broad trunk of an old tree. It wasn't much of a defense, but she felt mildly better with one side reasonably protected, or at least less exposed. It may have been illusion only, but it helped to soothe the shaking of her knees. Her ears had tucked back along the line of her mane, but she forced something close to a smile. She couldn't see him, but she imagined he was watching, and a little charm couldn't hurt, could it? "It is more a matter of welcome, then want. If this place is forbidden, then I shouldn't be here." She'd caught that note of mockery, and it caused her stomach to do a rather worrying little flip. "Nothing so interesting. I've never really seen so many trees before, you see, and I fancied a peek." She swallowed. "There was nothing to warn against trespassers."
When he didn't answer as promptly as he had been she shifted, taking a few steps from the tree towards a pocket of shadows. Head dipping as copper gaze searched the dark, looking for the body the voice belonged to. She could hear the blood rushing through her ears, the pound of her heart against her ribs, but nothing else, and the beginning of a yell was boiling up her throat. Lips actually parted to call out to him when he finally answered, and despite her fear of him she was relieved that she hadn't been abandoned. More so when he appeared to have given into her request for aid. Pale ears perked, and she straightened, taking a few more steps forward, lead now by the audible falls of hooves somewhere beyond her. "Oh thank you, so much. " She gushed, trotting to a little to close part of the distance between them, but careful not to come closer then permitted. "I was starting to worry. Really I didn't mean to trespass." Rambling now, but she was just so relieved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 11:48 pm
There was a path that she strolled along, much overgrown and nearly invisible to the naked eye, where the tree branches hung higher and only the occasional twig plucked a rosy strand of her hair. Mephistopheles led her down it unhurriedly, his own hoofbeats half as heavy as usual while he strode past rotten logs and entangling foliage. A normal creature would have been making obvious racket, but he knew the dips and rises better than he did his own reflection, and it was a simple task to mentally call ahead to discover what had changed. The saplings were compliant as ever, but the damning silence from the elders remained, their collective back turned from him to create a fortress of fir and aspen against his demands. He ignored the latter to listen with divided attention to her happy babbling, the words of gratitude trailing slightly behind. This one was remarkably trusting, perhaps worse than his first visitor of the day. It might have been perceived invulnerability, the kind flaunted by those who had not shed a drop of blood, nor made to spill it. That she continually shot smiles at a monster she couldn't see raised the likelihood of his guess, like a quirked mouth might deliver her from such a predicament. Overhead, the canopy pitied her in soft, shushing murmurs, but did not dare to reach for her again.
"Few intend to intrude, or so they say. It is hazardous to their health, yet none expect to be caught. A gamble on their skills when pitted against the odds." And his abilities, but he did not want to reveal that so soon. He waited for a time before turning into more rugged territory, pulling her from the beaten path without warning if she wished to accompany him. There were hollows hidden beneath a layer of innocuous debris, trenches where she might twist those narrow ankles he'd admired earlier with an ill-placed step. "But I believe in mistakes, being that it is a good night for tolerance, and I am not an unfeeling stallion. Still, I must ask myself what variety of mare would be drawn to woods such as these." Accursed, populated by wilted new life and shriveling ancients, but grand in its own way; even his hatred could not overturn his previous pride for its scope, a skeleton with shreds of meat clinging to the ribs. "Are you led as easily by fancy as you are by strangers?"
The conversation was a distraction, and though he was too bulky to race ahead, he did increase their pace, loping with the saplings on his spine rattling a grotesque sequence that neared something musical. Even if his suggestions frightened her, there was nowhere else to go, dependent on his guiding echoes. The darkness was thickening the longer they walked, gaining texture, flavor, salty and crumbling to even his tongueless senses. This was close to the spot where he'd been resurrected, the peeled bark and lightning-cracked base still existing out beyond the foreboding black. Giving that location wide berth, he took her further, shifting so subtly that it was difficult to tell if they were traveling in the same direction as before.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:08 pm
It was quite the challenge maintaining the careful distance between them while being mindful of slender ankles. One false step, one careless roll could potentially cripple her. Worrying on any normal occasion, the possibility of it here, now, was nerve wracking. Thankfully she could easily watch her feet and the path she strode along, focus not split by having to watch the stallion leading her but rather only listen for him. If the route he led her along was an actual path, she couldn't tell it. Their bit of traveled wood looked like every other bit around her, and she could only marvel at his ability to navigate in the dense gathering of trees. It didn't sound like he was having any trouble at all with his footing, while she herself was having to pick a careful path. Metallic copper glinted in the diffused, fading light as she lifted a foot high to step over the rotting carcass of a log, giving a little half hop to clear it completely. She had to assume he was at home in the wood, but perhaps he was also bigger, and things that seemed hard to step over for her were nothing to him.
"Gambling was certainly not my intention." Her voice had gone a little softer, more conversational. She was close enough to him now that a raised voice was unnecessary. Denying her supposed guilt was getting a little redundant. Instead of proclaiming her supposed innocence again, she focused on what he went on to say. She might have commented, but his next question threw her, slowing her stride to a stop as a chill ran along her neck and shoulders. She didn't remain still for long though, and hurried to regain the short distance between them. "No," she began, voice losing the bubbly quality it had moments before. "I mean.." She frowned. She didn't usually put her trust in strangers, but she didn't exactly have much of a choice in this instance. "These are sort of special circumstances."
Unless she was very much mistaken, they were moving faster now then they had been. A sound had woven itself around the percussioned falls of his hooves that she couldn't place. Odd, slightly out of placed, though not. It wasn't unpleasant though. The growing silence, at least to Habi, begged to be filled. Or maybe that was just her own nerves talking. Regardless, she searched for something to say, anything to break the quiet, and finally settled a question she'd been meaning to ask since she started following him. It was one of a few, actually, but one at a time. It was more familiar ground for her, and the gentle curve of her smile was clear in her voice. "You're being so kind, showing me the way out, and I haven't even asked your name or introduced myself, how rude of me. My name is Habibi." She paused, catching her breath. They were definitely moving faster now, but she didn't dare tell him to slow his pace, afraid he may change his mind. "May I as your name?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 1:54 am
He heard it when she stopped, an absence that the demon did not acknowledge verbally as he continued without the tagalong reverberations. A crack in even the most practiced obedience was to be expected after his words shaped a wall between them, but he did not linger to watch her face, see it light up or darken with whichever rationalization she settled upon. It did not matter what she did now, whether she ran from him or haplessly followed. They were near the heart of his labyrinth, his prison and his palace, and only he knew how to navigate its lackluster halls with anything resembling skill. There existed no pattern, no obvious landmarks, only overlapping branches that resembled tangles of veins and sap-blistered tree trunks. It was old irony that he alone could pinpoint where the edges of this domain lay, yet he was incapable of stepping beyond them.
But there was no time to brood, not when his prey was trotting after him again, apparently satisfied with discarding most of his brief insinuation. She cited the complicated circumstances, and he could not contain the smirking edge that crept into his tone. "How right you are." Company of her caliber was indeed special, though he hoped young mares losing themselves in his domain would not become a trend. He could only afford so many disruptions before they began to stack up. This remained new and interesting enough to captivate him, something he did not wish to see demeaned by pointless repetition. It was, he imagined, not so different from hunting, the thrill of finding a target, hiding truth like teeth. Too much success meant the metallic taste would become permanent, reduced to nothing of value.
A mosquito hit his chest like a raindrop, taken unawares by his thereness, by the lack of heat, undetectable to a creature accustomed to locating its food source by signs of life. It spun out, was lost, but he wondered after it, nonetheless. Would it find the mare, bite her? How plump it might grow on her, frail body filling out and becoming as rose-tinted as she. It was beneath him to communicate with lesser vampires, live vicariously through their unnoticed violations, but he was not so dull as to miss the association. Blood had much to do with cycles, and he existed outside them all without it.
Her discomfort was a wavelength to itself when he cared to nose it out, the mare gradually losing the breath he drew strictly on ceremony. Even now, her attempts to engage him were growing stale, resorting to the basics. Names held tightly-wrapped cords of significance, assigned control through being spoken, but he did not fear a summoning from her; if she had gods to whisper down through the tawdry show her body made of faith, they would not hear her here. "Rudeness is less costly. But if you are so intent on familiarity, you may call me Mephistopheles."
His canter ended abruptly once more, keeping him locked in pooling shade and giving her leave to rest in a little niche of open space. There was still no end in sight, all four directions remaining indistinguishably the same. "This seems as good a place as any." He mused aloud, tilting his chin up far enough that the horned bough sprouting backwards from his ears brushed his seeded backbone. The thinnest tendrils of light fought their way through the canopy, more grey than green, and he could spy her even without it, but it would be pointless if she could not see in turn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 1:22 pm
Given any alternative to blindly following a mysterious stallion that could make her skin crawl with just the mere inflection of his voice, she would have put careful thought into taking it. Even now she couldn't help a soft touch of unease at the simplest change in his tone as he replayed back to her statement. There was no other foreseeable option, least none that held any promise of ending well. She could have continued to wander on her own, hopelessly lost and clueless as to what the thick wood may hold, but she had no experience for anything resembling such a thicket, and she suspected her chanced would have been less then appealing. Trailing after the heavy falls of the hooves before her was really the only hope she had, she intended to cling to it as long as she possibly could. She was, by nature, and optimistic mare, and giving up was just not an option.
She did have time, in their trek, to consider her surroundings. The impenetrable gathering of ancient trunks and the unreal quality that seemed to surround them. It seemed silly, even to her, but she'd have sworn the branches had been reaching for her before the stallion had shown up. Now, in his company, no branch touched her airy curls or slashed at her cheeks. even the under brush seemed to avoid her legs as she followed. Perhaps she was simply growing more accustomed to the trees and had learned to unconsciously avoid such bothersome obstacles, but perhaps it was more. She filed the thought away for later, one more thing to ask her guide, should she get the chance.
She didn't precisely understand his meaning when he spoke of rudeness as less costly, and it made dark brows furrow, disrupting the chocolate lines that swirled around the base the horn that graced her pretty head. She let it go, instead focusing on the remainder of his response, particularly his name. It was like nothing she'd ever head before, and without knowing it's meaning, or even if it had meaning, she found it suited that silken baritone rather well. She let the name roll over her tongue, repeating it softly on the tail end of a heavy breath. Reciting it mentally until she was sure she the pronunciation was accurate and she wouldn't forget it. It wouldn't do to offend him by butchering his name carelessly.
When the sound of his steps stopped a little ways before her, she too slowed to stop, silken ears peeking as she searched the shadows that separated them. "Mephistopheles?" She took an uncertain step forward, then another, the nerves that had seeped away as they walked crawling back to her, making long legs stiff with tension. He spoke, and devoid of any worrying inflections, she found his voice very pleasant to the ears. Slowly, she continued forward, ready to stop should he ask he to. "A good place fo-" She'd begun to ask, curious why they were stopping, when she met the edge of the clearing and the pale light seeping down through the branches allowed her to finally see the owner of that smooth voice. The rest of her question trailed off as copper eyes took in the stallion.
Having been concentrating on her feet and the ground immediately before them, her gaze raked up his body from hooves upward. Lingering on the twist and gnarl of wood grain and the miniature saplings that seemed to be growing from his very body. She froze as she gazed upon him, not even breathing as she took it all in. The roots at his hip and the trunk that coiled possessively around the fall of his tail, the line of small brush that trailed up the line of his spine to disappear in the fall of willow boughs that made up his mane, the curl and twist of the branches that marked his cheeks and climbed upward like no horns she had ever laid eyes on. Breath returned her suddenly, sharply drawn in the quietest of gasps. Soft lips parted in something very close to awe.
She couldn't take her eyes from him, entranced by his appearance. Intrigued, cautious, and a little afraid, but not horrified. She saw before her something otherworldly and amazing, and in that immediate moment she was happy with her choice to have followed. "Oh my." Not very intelligent, but all things considered..
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:35 pm
It was strange to hear his name on another's tongue for the second time in a handful of hours, pealing high and clear through his carven ears. He had gone centuries without any but his own imagined voice to repeat it, drawn out from the depths of his heartwood every few years to keep it from disintegrating. But in the past, it had never rang so deceitfully benign, made clean only by virtue of chaste lips. Briefly, he reconsidered the effects of an invocation, shaking them off as foolish an instant later, prickly and irreverent. His mind had strayed when he'd been imprisoned, personality more memorization than working aspect, but he was stronger than his second life, even if he remained dismally demoted from his first. There was no doubt that he could ignore whatever she said, regardless of phrasing. Besides, her request to be led out showed she wasted no time on pretended bravery, that begging did not hover above her sensibilities. Truly, any beast could be made to grovel with the right incentive. The difference here was that he wouldn't need to harm a hair on her before she started singing a tune to his liking.
The footsteps drew nearer, her bearing rigid, afraid, and that was a pleasure to witness, those long muscles in her legs clenched, chest constricted so that her breath stayed shallow. Then she saw him, and everything went still, the distorted sunlight painting them with streams devoid of any warmth. Her eyes were thrown wide to capture him, khol-markings almost lost in the metallic gleam of her irises. Her nostrils quivered while he bared a toothless maw in return, a grotesque grin that cracked his muzzle. He waited for her to reanimate from her stupor, scream and rear up, wheel around and tear a trail back the way she'd come. A broken ankle would be best, but he'd settle for a sprain, something that brought about tastefully intermittent whimpering.
There was a gasp that had his chin lifting, but the mouth opened wrong to release it, not as slack as it should have been, her entire expression melting into something like wonder instead of terror. He stared at her, the charming wrap of her exterior, and felt a seething bubble form low in his throat. She was not trembling, had in fact been more jittery from his words than she was of his appearance. At what end of the curve was she if that halfwit Alyssum had sensed the taint, the ugliness and the harshness that this other overlooked. Even after he'd enlisted her as an unknowing pawn, she had still chosen not to look upon him. But this one, this brainless, mud-raked cow spoke two words, a benediction of no use, and proceeded to gawk shamelessly.
The obstruction that blocked his airway began to leak, manifesting as disgust that surged strong, kicking through him like magma. "That," He began, voice rumbling and dangerously soft. "Is the least imaginative response I have heard in a great while. Do you know what I am, unicorn? Do you need that spelled out for you, as you must everything else?" The venom was seeping back into his tone, the coal depressions of his eyes flashing like beetle carapaces. He thought of the mosquito, the way it remorselessly pierced flesh to feed, how damp crimson was the only rich color he could afford to wear anymore. But he caught himself, tamped down on the irritation before he could lash out at her, the creaking anguish in his joints easing. He straightened out again, steadied by degrees. No, perhaps she did not know him or his ilk, could not envision the danger he presented. Very well. He could encourage her in other, more elaborate ways. Cooling thoughts assured him that there was no need to rush, not when she was in so deep that desperation failed to escape. There were tricksters who had come before him, clever coyotes that birthed skinwalkers as practical jokes, and though he would never consider himself below them, he could accept that his aims did not exceed theirs. A game on this scale was intended to amuse, even if a few moves were negated. Fear could be learned as easily as it came prepackaged.
"You are a disappointment." Mephistopheles advanced toward her, the branches overhead fluttering wildly, drowning them in darkness and letting the crunch of his hooves define him. "But that is easily forgiven. I suspect you will make it up to me."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:23 am
The flow of time had seemed to slow when she'd looked upon him, creeping by so seconds seemed eternal, and she'd have all the time in the world to gaze in wonder at his majesty. Not, he was not traditionally beautiful, not perfect, and she understood that, but Habibi's views of greatness were not so narrowly limited. He was a part of their world, marked by the earth itself and the trees that gave it life, and yet he was apart from it, other, more. Her voice had failed her, resulting in the dismal expression of awe, but her mind was reeling with all manner of more dignified riposte.
Time returned on the heels of that rumbling growl, the disgust snapping the pale mare free of the paralysis his appearance had inspired in her. Dark lashes fluttered as she blinked her surprise, and again the metallic shine overwhelmed the whites as eyes widened, finally reflecting the unease and fear he so longed to draw from her. That soft tone raised the fur at her spine, but it was the words themselves that drove the unicorn back, retreating to the assumed shelter of the ancient trunks that ringed the clearing. "Deity, elemental." Her voice shook, fragile after the rumbling baritone of his own, like the coo of some wounded dove. The previous wonder was there, but it was nearly lost under the pitch of fear.
She was fully willing to believe that she'd stumbled upon the dwelling of some divine guardian of nature, an elemental. Belief in the spirits that protected their world rang loud in the nomadic herd from which Habi had grown, they praised the guardians of nature, it was by their will that the herd continued to exist. The rain that fell, the wind that cooled their backs, all of it was by the whim of these spirits. And her actions had angered this one, her shameless gawking of his magnificent form. The realization of that fury made her shrink in upon herself, cringing at the venom in his tone.
She'd torn her gave from him, soft curls curling into her face as she lowered her head, wincing at the labeled disappointment and the loud rustle of branches over head that cast them in darkness. "I'm sorry," and truly she was, her pretty voice had picked up a note of pleading, all the sweeter to his ears. "Forgive me, please. I meant no disrespect." The crunch of approaching hooves pulled a quiet whimper from the mare, breath coming in quick, shallow pants. Expecting a blow that never fell. Instead his words promised forgiveness, a chance to repent.
Her chin lifted, and she turned toward the sound of that silk voice. "Yes, yes of course." She'd forgotten her original plight, forgotten she was lost in the labyrinth of his home. All that mattered in that moment was absolving herself of whatever ill will she'd brought upon herself. He only had to ask, and if it was within her power to grant his request, she would.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2010 11:58 pm
A few intimidating steps and he was given what he had been denied, so swift in its delivery that the previous admiration rang slightly superficial. But this response appeared genuine, ate the prettiness from her face and warped it into something riddled with fine twitches and alarm. She quailed at his approach, and he followed her withdrawal only close enough to lay his slivered maw into painted flesh if it became an indomitable craving. What a quick study she was, this dim little darling with her quivering chin and rapidly failing bravery. At least she knew not to continue on with some charade, terror instead laid bare and soothing to his forest-callused senses. There was still no sign of fleeing to find a safer location, however, her survival instincts leaving much to be desired. Any possibility of her fighting his dominance seemed distant: she no more knew how to utilize her horn as a weapon than he knew how to pardon past transgressions in the absence of bloodshed. It was a sentimental ornament, something that had softened with her hooves and her heart. The warrior unicorns that had existed during his guardianship were no more, only blanched corpse flowers left to weep upon their graves.
Mention of godhood drew a barking laugh, the tree she leaned against shuddering with it like a struck drum. She thought he was something transcendent, a creature that could shuck its shape, wear any clothes that appealed, mortal and immortal alike. His acquaintance with such beings was sorely limited, but it raised the question of what she worshipped when he was mistaken for their breed. Unforgiving, covetous, seeking some indication of self-worth through the prayer and oblation of a flock dwindled by atheism. An insult, if he stretched the definitions to their edges, thinking specifically of Angeni and their angelic practice. He might have corrected her, but she picked that moment to issue a low noise, a mixture of defeat and dread that earned a hum of satisfaction from deep within his empty stomach. So eager to rectify, for all that she was without choice in the matter, apologizing and scraping by turn. Titles had certain benefits, and he saw no reason to swipe away her ignorance.
Mephistopheles leaned toward the mare's uncertain posture after her agreement, head dipping to place his serrated muzzle beside one perked ear, an unbreathing rattle stirring the cords in his throat. He did not make contact, bare millimeters hovering between his nostrils and her bound hair. This near, he could imagine the smell of sweat mingling with her natural perfume, warm and crisp as an amber-frozen insect. It was not difficult to pick from his list of immediate desires. "Run, Habibi." He murmured, calm and smooth and unquestionably a command. "Run from me."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:31 pm
Fear hung around the painted mare like a fine perfume to tease the palette. Peppered by the trembling of thin legs where she crouched, cowering in the shadow of that falsy assumed deity. He'd wanted her afraid, well he'd certainly managed to inspire that. The sudden laugh made her jump, and she might have pressed further into the tree she'd huddled against, but that rumbling back of humor sent a tremor through the tree itself and she was torn in her effort to shy away from both, to touch neither. The flora itself was his, or so she assumed, and would bend to his command. The gnarled trunks could offer her no protection, and on the tail of that realization came the first true feelings of hopelessness. If she had angered him, truly angered him beyond repent, then there was little she could.
She could have charged, could have hoped beyond hope that the lethal point of her spiraled horn found purchase in that unnatural body, but there was no guarantee that a blow to his heart, if he even had one, would cause death, and you did piss off the powerful, the immortal. Habibi had many faults, but false pride or heroics were not among them. She could no more depend on her ability to strike accurately, then she could of the chance that the strike would hurt him enough for her to escape.
But did she want to escape? She'd been searching for the otherworldly, the mythic and amazing, and here it was. Did she truly want to miss this chance? If she could but appease that anger, redeem herself to this elemental guardian. Perhaps he would whisper his secrets to her, or at the very least allow her to simply share his company for a time. How often was one presented with such an amazing opportunity as to share time and attention with the divine? Of course that curiosity was doing little to squelch her fear of him, his temper. He was awesome in his anger, but he was still angry with her, and knowledge of it settled a chill like the run of ice along her spine.
She flinched as he leaned that serrated muzzle closer, stifling another squeaked whimper as pale ears pressed tight against the bundle of curls falling in disarray around her brow and along the length of her elegant neck. It was an effort to keep still, to let him come so close to her folded ear, to not simply jerk away. So easy t would have been for him to lash out, to strike her down for her insult. He'd spoken of forgiveness and redemption, but the whims of gods were fanciful things, and she didn't dare assume safety.
The soft murmur of his voice was sweet to her ear. He really had a regal tone, and it almost didn't match the calm command that was breathed against the curve of one delicate ear. The request made her blink in soft perplexity, brows pinched in the fleeting seconds that made up the pause that followed her name. Run? Copper gaze rolled up to meet the odd slits of his eyes, a question forming on her tongue like a wash of thick honey before she thought better of it, tension singing through her pretty frame before exploding in a burst of motion as she sprang up from her crouched position of the clearing floor. Bounded across that clear land and into the swallowing darkness between the surrounding trunks. She had no baring, no destination, no idea where she was going, but she ran. Ears training for the sounds of hooves thundering after her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 11:44 pm
The stare that met his was stricken, uncertain, perhaps having expected more from the order than a bid to move. But he was impassive in his silence, waiting to see whether her fear would be enough to propel her into action. One second filtered past, then two, and his jaws cracked open in preparation to seize the tender leaf of her nearest ear and pluck it from its root. If she wished to be dyed, she could do no worse than her own shade of red, and he had been patient enough. That was when the unicorn chose to obey, hooves flashing metallic panic until she hit the shadowy bank of the glen's edges, her swirled pelt blurred by haste. The young trees above paused, then gave a final shudder before ceasing to move, their participation no longer needed. Mephistopheles studied the whorls of bark where his quarry had leaned, musing with a hint of vindication lacing up his misshapen features. He did not give chase, not even after the mare had vanished; erased from his blunted faculties once the last of her crashing echoes no long reverberated. But he knew where she was, where she might end up after her mad dash through his home concluded, either in injury or utter exhaustion. He turned his concentration upward, nostrils creaking in their wooden settings. The sun was on its downward slope, the compromised light drifting away, finding places better suited to its touch. He stood as the darkness blanketed his land completely, and only then did he begin to walk, as leisurely as he'd been when leading the mare astray at their introduction.
His thoughts turned from their immediate engagement, falling back to considering how he might greet his daughter, Laurelin, whether or not she would succumb as easily as this Habibi had. Granted his old flesh, he would not be entirely ungodlike, his once formidable powers combining with the largely untested potion that sat coiled like a serpent near his heart. Given days, or mere hours, it would become reality, and he would no longer be forced to threaten his environment to tempt a response, nor rely exclusively on the sapling trees that knew no better than to relay information to him. Gods had followers that composed for them, did they not? Great, sprawling, convoluted verses that fell back in on themselves, insubstantial in meaning as an answerless riddle. Were he a deity as she believed, he would have settled for the honest pitch of someone's screaming.
--
It took a while before she stopped, longer still for the news to reach him, absorbed as he was in other things. With all peripheral tasks completed to his satisfaction, he set out to discover the damage she'd inflicted on herself, following the whispers beneath his feet. In truth, he might have discovered her path without the forest's bond to guide him, the broken twigs and hard-impressed prints on the ground enough to give an indication of her passage. When he found the area where she had fallen, it was hours after the fact, and he was devoid of anything resembling shame for the delay. If conscious, she would see him emerge from the blackness, a deformed outline distinguishable only by movement, familiarized by whatever image he'd left seared on her retina.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 10:16 am
The sound of her blood pumping frantically through her body, her ears, deafened the mare to anything but that solid pulse and the bite of her own metallic hooves hitting the packed earth. She couldn't hear him behind her, Not his voice, no sound of his chase, nothing, but that didn't slow Habibi's pace. She ran, blindly weaving her way through the unfamiliar terrain. Until her lungs burned with every breath and her legs no longer felt steady as she moved. It wasn't just the stallion she was running from, but the trees themselves. Every branch, every root seemed like it was reaching, stretching to tear at her sides or trip her up.
It was one of these gnarled, twisting roots that caught her foot. Pitched her forward to smash into the ground with a startled grunt and soft cry as she rolled and came to a stop against the base of a smaller tree, it's branches quaking above her at the impact, raining leaves and twigs down upon her head to catch in the chaos of her hair. The clip had slipped, and that pretty knot had come unbound, leaving bi-colored curls loose around her face and down her back.
The dense canopy above was unsteady in her upturned gaze, spinning and shaking at the edges of her peripheral. Dizzy from exhaustion, and possibly dehydration. She didn't move from where she'd fallen, too tired to even lift her head, let alone get back to her feet to keep running. Her limbs didn't answer to her, wouldn't move as she willed them to, only the tufted tip of her tail flicked at her whim, twitching, but nothing more. She was just too tired. If she had hurt herself when she fell, she couldn't tell. Not yet.
She lay there for some time, slipping in and out of consciousness. Sleep sucking her under for long handfuls of minutes before a noise or dream would wake her again. Without the sun it was hard to judge the passage of time, and she wasn't sure how long she remained lain on her side, only that it must have been a while. She was the verge of waking when he found her, and the sound of his steps fluttered pale lashes, drew that her copper gaze up the twisted outline of him as he moved through the shadows. The line of his nose and the sweep of branch that graced his crown. Barely visible, but most certainly there. She said nothing as she watched him, speech seemed like too much work, and as he hadn't yet spoken, able or not, it seemed wiser not to talk unless addressed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
