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Post by Queerly on Aug 11, 2016 21:35:09 GMT -6
 quote Event Journal//
Premise Journal//
Hello Starborn, and welcome to Subplot 002: From the Shadows!
Team Leader: Osamu
Participants: Shiro, Amity, Nerium, Leonardo
Post Frequency: Frequent (3-4 times a week)
Please keep the following in mind!
- Posts must be a minimum of 175 words. There is no maximum!
- No strict order is enforced, but there must be at least two posts between your own character's posts.
- AP/CS/FVR Rewards are based on the post frequency you signed up for. Check the chapter journal for earnings!
- If the post frequency you signed up for is faster than the plot is designated, you can either revert to the lower amount, or commit to posting more than the others.
- If the post frequency you signed up for is slower than the plot is designated, you can bump up to the faster speed if you choose, but you're still only required to do the speed you signed up with.
- Your team is precious. Try to interact with everyone. <3
- Have fun! Even if your pony isn't. 8'D
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Post by Queerly on Aug 11, 2016 22:03:50 GMT -6
 The explosion has taken everyone by surprise but as you gain your bearings, you notice something or someone oddly suspicious sneaking around the area. As you begin to look around, you think something more sinister is going on in Breim. But will you catch the culprit or will the fire’s work against you? |
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Post by blackmetalvalkyrie on Aug 11, 2016 23:30:57 GMT -6
Amity | Breim | Maker
Amity heard another voice ringing out above all the cheering and turned her head to pick out who it was. The sound was youthful, pure and full of light. Her eyes rested on the short, pale winged kind of the fire herd and she listened intently as he spoke. In a way he sort of hypnotized her, with his beauty and voice but also with his words of kindness and friendship...Until he brought out the dragons with a gleaming grin on his face. It would've been infectious but she could sense the unease in the crowd around her...their worry made the empathetic mare anxious. Kili nestled close to her, his claws gripping the mane on her poll. Both pairs of crimson eyes were wide in anticipation, both hanging on every word. Were they to keep these wild fire starters here in Nariah? The thought made Amity's ears flick backwards. She knew the dangers of a fire, for she worked with it quite often crafting her smoking accessories and by smoking herself. Ventilation was key, and if Nariah lacked anything but forward thinking Makers, it was ventilation. She always warned her Nariahan customers about this, but this was significantly more dangerous. Judging from the boy king's face he meant well, but...even Amity couldn't defend that horrible idea even though she wanted the two herds to form a bond, perhaps even more so than most. But she didn't have time to think much more about it, for the earth shook and the air vibrated with explosion. The little mare was rather close to the building when it blew, and she was one of the first to get thrown to the stone beneath their hooves by the blast of heat. The basket of flowers she was carrying on her back crashed to the ground, spilling its contents all around her. Her ears were ringing and her vision was blurry. She could only make out blobs of color running and distant screams that sounded like they were coming from a whole different cave. It didn't take long for her faithful little owl to start pulling at her forelock, willing her to get up. And she did, with much coaxing. However as soon as the chimera was standing shakily on her hooves, the last few moments hit her. Everyone was running, screaming, crying...fire licked at the buildings around her and the dragons were free! Flying around with quite an aggressive look in their eyes. Flower pedals floated in the air from everyone running and disturbing them, twirling through the sweltering air as if the celebration were still going on. Instead they just made the sight of a burning Nariah all the more real as they disintegrated in the hot space above the crowd. Amity stood frozen, unable to move her limbs and run with everyone else. She just stood wide eyes, her crimson eyes reflecting the fiery destruction before her. Her expression was taut with horror as she held onto Kili, keeping him as close as she could to herself so that a dragon wouldn't see him as a feathery morsel and take a bite. Tears poked at her eyes as she watched her home city burn. But nearby...she picked up on a different presence...something was wrong. This one wasn't galloping away to safety like the others. Curious...she focused in that direction and observed for a moment before thinking about what action to take.
Word Count: 576
Post #: 3 |
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Post by moonlightwalk on Aug 13, 2016 3:48:54 GMT -6
Leonardo | Driven
Leonardo looked in amazement as the young Aodhian monarch spoke, presenting their herd with the legendary creatures of which he had only heard about in tales and books. He turned away from the food stand, trying to get a better look, thinking the stall keeper would surely hand over the food to Ciel. Their king spoke, accepting the gift, filling Leon with thrill. This. This was it, no doubt, the start of peace, a moment that would go down into history and he was privileged enough to attend it. But it all ended in a moment. Gone was the excitement, replaced by confusion and just the slightest bit of panic as an ear deafening boom resounded and a bright light blinded him. It took a couple of moments for both his sight and hearing to return and by the time it did, horses were already pushing and screaming, panic taking hold of the crowd in the explosions aftermath. Leon tried to keep his place, but was inadvertently swept away by the crowd, separating him from Ciel. He vehemently prayed the stallion would be all right in his current state. He took note of the pygmy dragons who had escaped in the commotion and the crumbled building, trying to make sense of what had just happened. A sense of panic again clawed at his heart, seeing the damage done by the explosion and he asked Argus to make sure that please no horse got hurt. He willed himself to stay calm, knowing panic would only make the situation worse. Looking around to see if he could find his old men, his eye fell on something else. A shadow between the nearby buildings, moving about in an awfully suspicious matter. His skin prickled as his eyes locked onto it, feeling himself moving forward. Something was off and as he steeled himself to push into it's direction, his curiosity whispered for him to find out what.
Post 3 | 323 words
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Post by Jennycallie on Aug 14, 2016 1:03:33 GMT -6
Shiro | Echo
“Oh, he’s so cute,” Shiro whispered in delight as the young Aodhian King began to speak, and she lifted her head, ivory ears straining forwards to catch every word. “Aren’t equines from Eithne supposed to be tall? Tall, and golden, and-” shushes rang out all around the somatic mare, and Shiro flicked her tail, looking over her shoulder to stick out her tongue at the shushers, but she fell silent and turned back to the Kings. She managed to remain quiet, too, until-
“Dragons? We’re getting dragons, real dragons that- oh, really, I’m not that loud!” Irritated at a new round of shushing her words elicited, Shiro turned around again to tell the old generation tight wads just exactly where she thought they could stick their shushing.
It was, perhaps, what saved her.
Certainly, it saved her eyes from the blinding flash, which so many other equines remembered later as the beginning of the madness. For Shiro though, the divide between normalcy and chaos started with the world shifting sideways. She was already slightly off balance, twisted to look over her own withers and deliver the scathing retort on her tongue. As light blasted and the earth heaved, Shiro remembered only a splintering sense of wrong. And then, the screaming.
So much screaming.
Gravel bit painfully into her cheek, and Shiro groaned, a piteous, scraping sound that she did not initially recognize as her own. She blinked grit from her eyes, and lifted her head from the ground (she was on the ground?) and tried to look around but her eyes weren’t working properly, and the world seemed to lurch awkwardly in and out of focus, at odds with the thick ringing in her ears.
“Wh… what?” she muttered, “what happened?” But her words were whisked away into the void of screams and pounding hooves, and Shiro was knocked heavily aside as someone failed to avoid her in their own mad scramble. Her hearing and vision painfully aligning, Shiro began to realize her precarious position, prostrate in the midst of what seemed a true and good stampede. Odd lights were flickering too, and shadows passed over head, eliciting fresh screams each time.
Fire, she realized. The light was fire.
Shiro was on her hooves without conscious thought, swaying drunkenly as her vision flickered and the world lurched around her, nausea bubbling in her stomach. Again, she was struck by a fleeing herdmate, and staggered, almost going down. But she had to stay up, she had to move, to get away from... from...
The light was stronger now, heat warming Shiro’s clammy body. She tried to turn, to move away, but her sense of up and down seemed skewed, somehow, and besides one of her hocks wasn’t bearing her weight properly.
She stumbled again, and the light grew ever brighter, the warmth almost painful now. In the corner of her swimming vision, Shiro could just make out the lurking shape of… another equine.
“Hel… hello?” she croaked, squinting painfully into the light. The shadow seemed to turn towards her, consider her through eyes that reflected the dancing flames and nothing more. Then the shape vanished, slinking around a corner, and Shiro was alone again, cast adrift in a sea of fire.
“No- wait, help-” she cried, and as something white hot licked at her fetlocks, the young Echo finally lent her own scream to the cacophony and leaped forwards after the shadow, while the world tilted around her.
Post 2 | 584 words
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Post by Queerly on Aug 15, 2016 1:25:46 GMT -6
The city was on fire.
It was with detached, surreal calm that Osamu mused on the single nugget of good fortune to be found: if he died, he would die in a literal blaze of glory, and there was something romantic about that. Exciting tragedies made for good stories, the kind that were sung by bards in high end taverns and written down in tomes. Nonetheless, he didn’t wish to die that day.
The average pegasus would take flight when sufficiently startled. Not so for Osamu, who had grown up in Nariah, where the sky was finite and the ground unforgiving. The stallion could fly, yes, but he did not particularly trust his navigation skills at the best of times, and certainly not when his life was at stake. Thus, he kept his wings tightly clamped to his sides as he slithered through the crowd like an artful snake, mulling over his options for escape, and the chances of survival therein.
There were the mining tunnels that he’d known as a boy, rarely trod by anything more than the gem-finders and rambunctious foals looking for a taste of adventure. They were likely to be less congested than the typical routes. Osamu hoped that his family had the same idea, and that where ever they were, they were safe - or getting there.
But he couldn’t waste time worrying, for it would distract from the task at hoof, and what good was he dead to anyone? No, he had to push those thoughts aside, had to keep pace, had to move before smoke engulfed the entire capitol--
“No- wait, help-”
Osamu froze. He knew the voice as well as he knew his own heartbeat. “Shiro?” He called, swinging his head in the direction he thought it had come from. But that couldn’t be right, for the only thing to be found in that direction were flames and blasted dragons. Surely she couldn’t be…
No. Of course she could. With his luck, how could she be anywhere else?
The Maker pivoted just as his follower loosed a scream, and his heart seized at the sound, and perhaps he let go a trill of his own. “Shiro!” He called, thrust amidst flame and smoke as he chased the sound of her distress. Everything was bathed in bright, white light, and he didn’t know if the scent of burned hair came from himself or something else- but it did not matter! Where was she? “Shiro! Damn it all, answer me!” He cried again, and in the corner of his eye he caught it, the flash of her tail.
He spun, reaching out with the telekinesis inherit to all children of the gods, and gripped the tresses before she could slip away. “It’s me!” He said, breathless, “It’s only me- Shiro, are you hurt?”
That goddamned scent of singed fur was the only thing he could smell.
“Follow me.” He ordered, his grip shifting from her tail to her mane. He could apologize for any undue yanking later; for now, they needed to move, preferably in a direction that wasn’t bathed in flames. As it was, Osamu could only see one path before them: an alleyway, the very one that Shiro’s shadow had slipped down, though of course such details were unknown to the Maker. All he saw and cared to see was an exit, and it was towards this escape route that he pulled his Follower.
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WC: 581
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Post by blackmetalvalkyrie on Aug 17, 2016 14:39:34 GMT -6
Amity | Breim | Maker
Screams and cries for help rang through the air from young and old as the city continued to burn. Amity finally came to her senses when she felt a tear running down her bowed face towards her nose. She was upset for sure, but the Maker didn't recall starting to cry. It was when the tear reached her lips that she realized that she realized that the liquid wasn't a tear at all! It was salty, but had an obviously more metallic taste. A small trail of blood was dripping from a cut on her forehead, likely from when she was bowled over by the blast. It didn't hurt, but it was a wound no less and now that she knew it was there, it stung. But the state of her scrape couldn't be her main point of focus for long, for the flames were drawing ever closer to where she had been standing. With the help of her telekinesis, Amity messily tied up her mane and tail a bit as to not have them catch flame like waiting kindling before loping down the seemingly only clear path away from the flames. No sooner had she started down this path that her mind began to wander again. Nefertiti, the Nobles, Casius, the Kings...she wasn't sure who she had seen run away. Her heart would break if any of them were injured, all everyone wanted to do was have a good time and become friends, but of course something had happened to ruin it. Then another crippling thought almost stopped the chimeric mare in her footsteps...her parents were inside her mother's Healer's Den when this all happened. Intense worry engulfed the young mare as she navigated through the clear path, trying to ignore all the thoughts from herself and that of others bouncing off the walls of her brain. They weren't her biological family, but they had taken her in and raised her from when she was a filly so she considered them her loved ones. If anything had happened to them...Amity didn't know what she would do with herself. Optimism was always the little mare's strong point, but it was beginning to think that way when each time she had hope in a positive outcome, something worse happened each time. This time tears really did prickle at her eyes (likely from irritation from the smoke as well as emotion) as she swerved to avoid a falling burning beam. She was almost out of the flames and in a more secure larger area without buildings...hopefully others would find their way there too. Kili clung close to Amity's mane as he too felt a nip of worry ebb at his heart.
Word Count: 449
Post #: 4 |
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Post by Nox-Sidus on Aug 19, 2016 13:34:40 GMT -6
| Nerium |
The explosion shook the delicate mare to her very core, her mind almost becoming completely silent for but a heartbeat as the world around her seemed to slow to a snail's pace. It was both relieving and terrifying when the world around Nerium sped up to an almost uncomfortable speed. Screams, screeches, could be heard echoing throughout the cavern, only adding to the chaos that seemed to consume Nariah. The vibrations from the blast had made the stone beneath the dark mare's hooves tremble. It was a minor detail that Nerium's racing mind had rapidly skipped across, but it was one that subconsciously troubled the mare, allowing fear to further grasp at her frame. It was the earth. It was always there, unmoving and stable, whether you wanted it or not. The only time it moved was in disastrous events, in catastrophes. Did such a turn of events deserve such a title? A catastrophe? As Nerium stood there, her hooves rooted to the stone, it would be near impossible for her to call it anything but that.
Nerium's gaze had fallen upon the building that spilled bright, hot flames and crumbled as it burned. Her eyes were wide, fearful as she watched, unable to move. Her mind couldn't help but go a mile a minute as she watched, bodies shoving around her, fleeing from the flames that ate at the city with a rabid hunger. Nerium's thoughts were abruptly halted as it landed upon the idea that there were horses caught in the fire. Tears stung at her eyes at the thought of those trapped in the flames, the feeling of being burnt alive, your screams heard but those who heard are caught just as well. A deep frown tugged upon her dark lips as she shut her eyes as tightly as she could, trying to chase away the tears that clouded her vision. A few stray drops fell down her face, but it did not stop her from taking a firm stance among those who panicked, scanning the crowd for those who might be trampled or shoved to the ground. She tried so desperately to raise her voice above the screams, "Please! Stay calm! Panic will not help!" Although, as soon as the worlds left her mouth she knew that they would be to no avail. Even if they were not consumed by the chaos that took place, no one in this mess would listen to her. She was but a maker, and explorer. While she held weight with her work, she was not a leader. She was not one who commanded respect and the attention of others, no matter how badly she wished for such a thing. As she continued to scan the crowd, watching for any to fall in the escape, a small whisper fled from her lips. Despite such a phrase going unheard by nearly ever creature in Breim, it was perhaps the one phrase that sung in everyone's mind. "Gods above, save us all."
words | 500
post | 2
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Post by moonlightwalk on Aug 19, 2016 15:41:37 GMT -6
Leonardo | Driven
Leonardo's thoughts swirled every which way as the events really started to settle in him. There was this huge explosion, spreading fire all over Nariah. This was bad news. Fires and enclosed spaces did not go well together and he prayed to Alya the air would not run out of them. Between the panicked screams of horses, his worries about his friends and family being alright and this impromptu... whatever it was he was doing, he felt a little overwhelmed. He stopped for a couple of second trying to clear his mind. Work he needed to think of this as work. Something was off and he was going to find out what. When he opened his eyes again, they watered. Smoke was carrying down the small lane he had walked into, prickling his eyes and making him cough. He'd better move forward. He hurried his steps, going in the direction he had seen the figure disappear. Two other horses came into sight and he squinted. He didn't know them. Well, not personally at least, of course he did know one of them from their creations. Who did not know the makers? Well, except his old man maybe. He walked up to them wondering if they were the ones that he saw earlier. But, no, they weren't very suspicious were they. "Did you by any chances just came from that direction? I thought I saw something pass." Something fishy looking he added mentally.
Post 4 | 246 words
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Post by Jennycallie on Aug 23, 2016 2:24:03 GMT -6
Shiro | Echo
Shiro had never had nightmares of fire, or of any nature at all, truly, but she knew that should she survive this day, she would. Breim was right, to fear and shun the fire horses of the east, Shiro thought despairingly, her cerulean eyes wide and flat with panic. She shared none of Osamu’s wry, detached appreciation in an artistic and dramatic death- no, she knew only fear and a fierce, animalistic desire to live. Flames were closing in around her hooves as she limped, hungrily snapping and hissing as they reached for her hooves, and she wasn’t going to make it, she wasn’t going to make it-
The Echo threw herself forward with a dry sob, but she was too slow, and even as she lunged she felt herself being captured, pulled back, back into the gaping maw of the flames and she was going to die, she was going to die-
“It’s me, it’s only me-” the words were all but lost on Shiro as she thrashed and kicked like a cornered rabbit, but as the pull on her tail lessoned, the mare dimly became aware that her face felt- cool, cold almost, and with a sudden lurch of comprehension she came to her senses.
“Os-Osamu,” she coughed on the word, eyes swimming with tears as the acrid air seared her delicate nostrils. She had, she realized, been pulled from the flames by her Maker. She had little time more to ponder this before the pegasus had shouted something at her and unceremoniously grabbed her mane, hauling her in a new direction. She stumbled awkwardly after him, but the throbbing in her hock was little concern to the disjointed, nauseating tilt of her vision, and after a moment she simply shut her eyes and allowed herself to bed led.
Blessed coolness washed over her body with each step they took, and as Osamu slowed, Shiro opened her eyes, blinking blearily at the wide tunnel ahead of them.
“I think-” she coughed, and felt her bile rise as the world tilted around her, “I think there are others- I saw someone, I was trying to follow them-” she broke off again as more coughing seized her body, and had no breath to spare for greeting Leonardo (a stallion she knew by reputation only) as he emerged from the shifting curtain of smoke and shadows, but she squinted at him, in an attempt to ascertain if he were the equine she’d followed.
“No… no wings,” she muttered, before her sides heaved in another bout of wracking coughs.
Post 3 | 427 words
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Post by Jennycallie on Aug 26, 2016 14:06:29 GMT -6
Osamu and Shiro
“Of course there are others,” Osamu muttered distractedly as he towed his follower into the (relative) safety of the larger tunnel. Every equine in Breim must have been there, but Osamu found himself not much caring. Fire had a way of narrowing one’s focus, like that. He loosed his hold on the mare’s mane, but did not immediately turn his attention to her as she wobbled and hacked. His own lungs seared and prickled uncomfortably, but he was more concerned with assessing that the fire was not on their heels.
A new voice suddenly interrupted Osamu’s musings, and he turned pale eyes onto Leonardo as the stallion emerged from the smoke.
“Pass? No, we came through there, but we haven’t moved on. We should, though,” he added, and the words were directed to the still coughing Shiro. She managed a glance at Leonardo, then gasped something.
“No, he has wings, Shiro” Osamu corrected patiently, but Shiro shook her head in frustration.
“No, I mean-” she coughed again, a painful, tearing sound that made Osamu wince, “he’s not who I saw-” but she was coughing once more. Osamu looked back at Leonardo.
“Do you think you saw someone go into the flames?” he asked, feeling slightly sick. What an awful way to die, even if it was rather dramatic. “Or did they-” but he broke off, as he thought he saw another form in the smoke. A form he recognized. “Amity?” Osamu called. It was her, he was sure of it. And behind her, as dark as a shadow- “Nerium? This way, we’re over here! It’s,” he glanced again to check, “safe, here.”
Shiro, however, was ignoring the approaching Makers and trying to talk to Leonardo.
“I did see someone pass!” she managed at last, a complete sentence, if a rather breathless one. “I was following them after the blast…” she hesitated, looking slightly confused.
“Shiro, you were running straight into the fires,” Osamu said, exasperation slightly tinging his mild voice. “How could-”
“I lost track of them, but I know I saw someone heading this way,” Shiro said stubbornly. Someone who tried very hard to lose her… and had no issues leaving her to the hungry fires. She shuddered, and coughed again, eyes watering with the effort of it.
Osamu/Shiro post 4 | 391 words
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Post by blackmetalvalkyrie on Aug 26, 2016 21:03:40 GMT -6
Amity | Breim | Maker
As the little mare managed to maneuver her way through what seemed to be the near end of burning wreckage, she tried to think of the positives. Her parents, although aging now, had many friends whom she was sure would help them escape. That and her brother likely was able to find them a lot easier what with his wings providing an easier way of transport, even with the dragons flying about the air. They were likely more safe than she was now. This calmed Amity, allowing her to focus on the thought of a shadowy figure she believed she saw earlier. How curious it was. There was no exit this way, so now that she was on this side of the city it would be most useful to attempt to look for this mysterious fellow. A sigh lifted and felled her shoulders followed by a violent whooping cough. Why is it always me chasing after these dangerous strangers? Why are we suddenly such a target... she thought to herself. Amity was more than welcoming to any friendly equine of any species or herd decent, but for some reason in the last three months she had been caught up in chasing seemingly malicious ones, which stressed her out quite a bit. If she ever got made it home, she was going to have a long smoke. Suddenly as she rounded a final corner, she heard her name and a familiar voice. "Osamu?" the chimeric mare called out as loud as she was able with more smoke than usual clouding in her lungs. She stepped closer and found herself standing alongside a coughing Echo of Osamu's Amity had come to know as Shiro, a dashing member of the Driven named Leonardo, Osamu himself and Nerium coming up behind her apparently by what Osamu had called out. She spoke not a word to them yet, for she was still trying to catch her breath, which seemed to be dancing right above all the smoke. For someone as experienced as she was with smoke, the Maker was having almost as much trouble breathing as Shiro and just listened to her speak. The Echo mentioned seeing someone and following, despite Osamu's attempted reasoning. When she had enough breath to speak, Amity stepped forward and said, "Shiro's right, Osamu. I saw someone come this way too. Getting through the fires distracted me from following them, but they most definitely did come this way. I mean...this is the only way out on this end of the city it would seem, so it only makes sense they would try and escape this way. They seemed...off though. Everyone else was rushing to get away from the fire, but this figure just seemed to calmly slip away..." finishing her little speech left her throat dry, but it needed to be said. The irritation of Shiro's eyes and the tears coming from them at the intense effort of coughing made Amity's heart ache. This is what they had become, a once proud herd brought low by flames and thick, choking smoke. She touched her black nose against the younger mare's neck gently as a means of comfort and murmured. "It's alright, Shiro...keep your head a little lower and try to regulate your breathing. Smoke rises, there will be more air closer to the ground." Amity's head was fairly close to the ground as it is, but she kept it a bit lower than usual regardless as her crimson eyes darted between the rest of them. "You all should keep your heads as low as you can as well. That's our best chance at staying conscious until we get to a clearer area." Her gaze then came to rest on Osamu's pale but slightly irritated eyes. "We should go after the mysterious equine, I suggest. They seemed like they knew they were going to a safer place. That place most definitely has more air. What do you all think?" she managed to finish speaking before her delicate frame was wracked with a few coughs, the jostling making the little owl on her poll almost lose his balance to which he responded with a weary hoot.
Word Count: 694
Post #: 5 |
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Post by moonlightwalk on Aug 28, 2016 15:02:59 GMT -6
Leonardo | Driven
Leon did his best to understand the other through the coughing, trying his hardest to not start coughing himself. The smell of fire and burning things was overwhelming, prickling his nose and throat. His eyes were watering as it were and he hoped the smoke would let up before they could run out of air. He started nodding encouragingly when the mare started saying something about seeing someone. Before he could ask for a description though another horse rounded the corner. For a second he thought it might have been the one he saw, but he soon recognised her as a maker and she herself confirmed seeing someone as well. Someone suspicious according to what she saw. "I saw the same thing. They were acting off. Not like any other horses caught up in a situation like this would act," he agreed, frown on his face. He looked between the horses present. "I agree with Miss Amity here, we should go after this mystery equine." He gave them a charming smile, trying to take down the seriousness of the situation a bit, his voice taking on a more playful tone. "After all I enjoy nothing more than investigating a good mystery and I think we are equipped with a nice set of minds at this time."
Post 5 | 222 words
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Post by Jennycallie on Sept 21, 2016 21:57:17 GMT -6
Osamu and Shiro | Maker and Follower
“Thank you,” Shiro mumbled, oddly comforted by Amity’s presence and concern. She’d had scant dealings with the little Maker, but knew of her quite well, and it was an equal parts thrilling and embarrassing moment for her, being addressed in such a state. So she merely ducked her head as she was bidden, stray strands of her mane tumbling haphazardly across her neck and face as she listened to the conversation flow around her.
“Fresher air sounds good,” Shiro muttered. Even if it did mean following in the hoofsteps of that creepy-
“You want to go after them?” Shiro squawked, head flying up to goggle at Leonardo. “What if- what if they-” she struggled to come up with adequate enough words to convey her dread, but the effect was successful enough.
“Hush, Shiro,” Osamu said, not unkindly. The Maker rustled his wings uncomfortably, aware that the air quality was worsening around them.
“Amity is right; let’s move in the direction of better air.” Just good sense, that. Shiro seemed to echo his unspoken sentiment, grunting and flicking her tail, but she did not actually say anything flippant. Quite unlike her; Osamu fixed his follower with a worried eye, but there was nothing that they could do now, and anyways she was good enough to walk. Time to do so.
“I’m not so sure we ought to seek out some shadow slipping through the tunnels,” Osamu said quietly to Leonardo, as he headed up the tunnel. “We won’t do ourselves any good if we asphyxiate in here chasing someone who may or may not need our help.” Or perhaps worse, be responsible for the attack. Was it their duty, to seek out such a villain, for the good of the herd? Osamu pondered the dilemma for about two strides, then pushed it out of his mind. Burn duty, he just wanted to get this group of artists to safety.
“Blood…?”
“What?” Osamu nearly tripped over his own hooves as Shiro suddenly piped up. “Shiro, what in the-”
“Blood,” Shiro repeated, and it wasn’t a question this time. She was staring at the floor, and sure enough… a trail of blood drops led further into the darkness ahead. Osamu stared for a long moment. Of course. He hesitated, and his wings rustled softly as they half lifted from his back, unconsciously shielding the small group behind him and even more unconsciously attempting to make himself look larger and more threatening and just generally less like the pale complacent artist he was.
“Hello?” he called cautiously into the darkness. “Is anyone there? Are you hurt?”
Silence, except-
“Do you hear that?” Shiro whispered anxiously.
“Hush,” Osamu repeated, because he had heard it. Raspy, labored breathing. Someone was down the tunnel indeed. He cast a wary eye at the others, then began walking forward. Turning a slight bend in the tunnel, Osamu glanced down at the increasing puddles of blood, and then looked up to-
“Ah!” the Maker exclaimed, a startling interjection from the normally mild sculptor.
A chestnut appaloosa stallion was leaning against a wall, blood seeping steadily from a nasty burn on his chest. But one look at the group of Makers (plus a Driven and Echo) and he lifted his lip in a rude sneer and lurched away into the darkness.
“That’s who I saw- that’s- it’s” Shiro was coughing in her agitation, but her meaning was clear.
Shiro/Osamu post 5 | 578 words
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Post by moonlightwalk on Sept 25, 2016 15:11:38 GMT -6
Leonardo | Driven
Leonardo nodded at the proposition of moving towards somewhere where the air was fresher -or at least to where they wouldn't suffocate on the spot. He was disappointed when Osamu addressed him, sounding less than eager to find out about the mystery horse. Where was their sense of adventure? Weren't they curious? Leonardo definitely was. It had been off, not right and he knew he'd just keep wondering if he didn't investigate. It would kill him, eat him. Slowly. The other was right though. It wasn't worth dying over, but still. He opened his mouth, not even sure what he was going to say, but Shiro interrupted them. His old man would probably have scolded her for being rude, but then again Osamu had been also rude shushing her. The one word she spoke quickly alerted him though and his eyes darted towards where she was looking. Blood. Curiously he followed it along and tensed as he saw the wounded horse. "Are you-?" He didn't get to finish his sentence as the horse sneered and took off.
Shiro's coughing startled him, wondering if she was alright. His own eyes were watering. "You okay?" he quickly asked her before looking at the rest. "What wounded herd member would ever run away from his own? What kind of horse would run from help at all?" he asked aloud. Of course non, not unless they had something fishy going on. He wished he was as schooled at faces as his old man. He definitely been able to tell if they were Breimian at all. Where they Aodhian? Did they perhaps have to do with the explosions? Or where they just lost and scared? The sneer didn't seem very fearful though... Leonardo frowned.
Post 6 | 295 words
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