[ PRP ] Shatter Storm [ Echo x Last Night ]

[Blinded By My Silence]

On a dark and stormy night, a tired mother thanks the Swamp and bares her children in light of the moon on a dark, slick shore that cuts through the swamp like a claw. She left her eggs, for a moment or forever, no one knows, but it was the MotherFather's mind that she may never see those eggs again. Fast currents, tipped with white foam tugged at the water's edge as the river swelled with the weight of the rain that fell, tearing and stealing anything it could grasp and dragging it downstream. These eggs were only a few of the victims claimed that night.

But not all was lost. One egg in particular somehow, magically some would say, guided by the SwampMother would others, was swept by fast currents. Past sharp rocks and fallen trees, and the hungry mouths of the riverborn, the egg was carried until, at last, the river emptied into the deepest lake in Matope. The tide and the currents of the lake carried her gently now, sweeping her into the entrance of an underwater cave long since abandoned and depositing her small egg onto the smooth rocky shore of an air pocket deep inside.

It was there, on that calm, stony shore that her egg did split, spilling her into the world and awakening her from her dream or shifting waves and raging winds. Her tiny jaws gaped, she squeaked and cried for her mother, only to hear her sounds reverberate back to her.

A sad, lonely echo...

She did not live, only survived, not by what her parents taught her, no, but by basic instinct. Before her eyes were open, she sought out the tough, slinging water weeds that blanketed the rocks when she hungered, and licked at the cave walls when she thirst. When the swamp granted her sight, her home was almost as dark as before her eyes opened. The cave was large, with many crannies and nooks. The rock was dark and wet, lined with lichen and crawling with lizards and other critters. From over head, perhaps five tail lengths, sunlight shimmered down in shafts from the cracks that lead to the outside. She remembered words from her dreams and spoke them to the cave when the light faded, learning their taste, their texture, how they swamp around her fangs.

When she grew stronger, the little filly, if one could even call her that, began inspecting the waters that surrounded her embankment. Tentatively dipping a single hoof in and jumping back, eyeing the ripples in wonder and awe. During her watchings of the crystal clear waters, she glimpsed many little fishes, and some big ones too, many different shiny things, and rocks that mimicked the ones that hung from the ceiling. After much mental coaxing, and the tempting idea of chasing the fish, Echo finally let herself slip into the shallows and into a entirely different world. She was at home in the water, she loved everything about it, the way it flowed over her scales and fur, the clean taste in her mouth, and how fast she could move! Before long, she wasn't just chasing fish, but catching them and little Echo grew from puddle monster for terror of the deep. She collected the treasures she found, storing them in her little nooks.

Echo loved her home. She was content, ever thrilled by her findings in the water, and the satisfying burn in her tail and stomach when she went to sleep after a day of swimming. But nothing could prepare her for the night that the storm from her naming dream came back to haunt her.

Winds whistled and howled from the cracks in the rocks, water leaked inside in rivulets, pouring from the ceiling. Bright, frightening lights flashed through the holes and deafening rumbles shook her cave. At one point during the night, a terrifying CRACK shattered the air and something deep in the cave crumbled and shook. Echo took to the waters and found something that would change her life forever. A huge tree had uprooted from the storm, leaving a large, gaping hole. Rocks tumbled and fell, dust settled, and upon looking up, everything the doe thought was true had shattered. Terrified, Echo froze, her eyes gigantic with fear.

amorpheous

 

[Amorpheous]

The Swamp was not always so violent; in fact, the Swamp could most often be described as mild. Warm and muggy, always wet, but rarely did one have to be afraid of the weather. Though she was young, Last Night had seen her share of the types of weather that kin had to endure when the skies did darken and the winds blew harder than usually. Many kin sought shelter at times like this, but Last Night, untethered except for when she chose her own restraints, chose not to confine herself to safety. She did not recklessly disregard her own life, but if she were to die tonight, she would regret nothing.

It was like this that she walked quietly amongst the trees and empty brush, encountering only the stray animal that had yet to hide away or was braving the weather in need of something even more imperative than shelter. Her eyes glowed bright in the dark night, a pair of stars staring out into a night that was lit by the barest sliver of moonlight and frequent cracks of lightning. She walked on, uncaring of the dangers this night posed. A walk was a walk, under moonlight or sunlight, with rain or clear skies. She walked because that was what she did, traversing the Swamp as witness to many things.

She was an island of calm unto herself while the chaos of weather surrounded her. She watched with a detached curiosity when a bolt of lightning came striking down nearby. She didn't flinch when a huge crash resounded, following the top of a tree disappearing from view. She waited, another strike of lightning illuminating the sky farther away in the time, before approaching. In those moments she had weighed the appeal of walking on the way she had been headed against seeing the scene of natural destruction. In its own way, this storm was peaceful for Last Night who saw it as inevitable and beautiful.

She had not expected to find another kin at the site, especially not one surrounded by the rubble of the fallen tree, revealing a large pool that had collected underground. Softly glowing blue eyes met the the bright gold of fear and Last Night stopped. She could feel fear, see it in front of her, and she let it descend into her bones before she approached, slow and gentle, but deliberate. She did not try to speak above the storm. Instead, she stopped at the edge of the destruction and stared, not unkindly at the kin standing there, antlers looming into the night like a tree reaching with its branches to grasp the clouds and pull down the stars.

Blinded by Silence

Ahhh! Sorry for taking so long! Hopefully there aren't too many typos that you can't understand this post. I'm speed writing to get tags out today while I still have some time and my muse is around!

 

[Blinded By My Silence]

Echo stared in horror and awe as her world came crashing down upon her. Sound erupted in her ears, loud thunder claps left them ringing, and savage lightening shattered the sky above.

Was that what it was? Sky? She had never known anything but the damp, dark roof of her cave. But she had seen it in her dreams, screaming and crying as it was now. She rapidly blinked the water from her eyes, trying to make the blindness fade, and when it did, she saw her.

At least, she assumed it was a her. She herself was a female, and the kin who stood before her held a similar shape. Similar, but so, so different... Odd spines covered her from head to rump. And her tail... How did she swim, she wondered for a moment before another thunder crack tore the sky and made her let go a startled cry.

It was too much, the storm, the kin, the sky. Terror filled her veins like a sudden freeze. Squeezing her eyes shut she bolted for the water. With a splash, the kin sank to the bottom, cowering until her shivers subsided. Ages later, she rose again, her fins and nose just breaking the water. Her bright eyes widened as she saw the other one was still there.

Amorpheous

 

[Amorpheous]

Another time and Last Night might have walked away. It was not that she was unfeeling and could not feel sympathy frightened creature, but it was the way of the Swamp to storm and to anger, to light fear in the hearts of many. This would not be the last storm that a kin had to face and Last Night was too unfettered by this world, still too caught up in the higher consciousness of being to feel fear the same way others felt fear when their bodies were threatened. The storm, for all that it destroyed and shattered, was undeniably beautiful and if Last Night were to die by its great power, she would regret nothing. So if she was to walk, she would walk, and if she was to stay, she would say. It was mere chance that she stayed this time, no more an issue of gravity than it was an issue of empathy; it was purely where she was, perhaps, meant to be at that time.

While Last Night was not bound by the constraints of pity or sadness, fear or anger, she was not cursed to wander from place to place simply because she chose infrequently to anchor herself down in anyway. She could be as heavy and grounded as a rock while her mind spiraled away in swooping dips and turns, her eyes distant and pale, revealing nothing except the depth of her peace. When she had stared into that doe's eyes, she had seen everything while offering nothing in return. If the doe now hiding under the water had been the roiling, burning sun, her eyes were only a pale imitation of that, the cool, unconcerned, and distantly gentle, but only just.

When the doe resurfaced, Last Night approached, her steps noiseless against the storm, slow and non-threatening, expressing nothing except the intent to get closer. She stopped when she was close enough but not so close to strike, she did not wish to inspire more fear.

Blinded by Silence

We should play this out to the end of the scene and then probably do a time skip or something...

 

[Blinded By My Silence]

Moments dragged by like years, where the pounding of her heart was barely louder than the storm that raged around her, before slowly, warily, the sea born doe rose, creeping from the water. Not completely, but enough. Her mind swam with questions, about the doe who stood before her, about the world that seemed to be falling apart at the seams, and about herself. If nothing was as she believed it was, what was she? She parted her lips, words fell from her fanged jaws in a voice cracked by lack of use.

"What... Are you?"

Amorpheous

Dx

 

[Amorpheous]

Last Night stilled at the doe's words, became eerily static, a hush falling over her countenance. She regarded the other doe evenly, breath barely moving her sides, and turned the question over in her mind--there were many ways to answer that question, an infinite number of answers springing forth behind her eyes though it did not show. A slow tilt of her head, the tines of her antlers dipping to the side, and a blink, before, finally, she chose the easiest answer, "Kin--like you, but not you."

Her answer, short, was colored so differently from the other doe's. Hers was untouched, something simple because it was something that she saw clearly--whether it was truth was not for her to decide, but it was.

Blinded by Silence

meeeeep