[[ Crow ]] i'm in miami, bitch.

[[ Caity ]]

Gin & Corr

[/color]
Bring out the old guillotine;
We'll show them what we all mean[/i][/font][/color]
♦[/color][/center]

[[ CLOSED ; Crowy ]]
[[ AUTUMN ; Early evening ]]

Hoofprints marred the soft sand. The two siblings made their way to the border between beach and sea. The sun was setting. Truyly a remarkable sight ti behold. Gin loved watching the sun set. She loved the beautiful colours painted upon the sky as the sun had retired from the sky. To many it wasn't what you'd call "magnificent", to them it was just an ordinary, everyday thing. To Gin, it was the most miraculous, remarkable thing she'd ever set her eyes upon.

"Corr, come and see the sun setting," she called to her little brother in the distance. As expected, a lone figure began to trot closer, with his head held high and his mane dancing in the breeze. When Corr came to stand beside his sister, he stared towards the miracle she'd told him about. "Wow..." Corr said, "it really is beautiful. I wish mother and father could see it. Aliss too".

Ah, there he goes again. Though, she had to admit it was true; she too wished mother and father were still with them. As for Aliss, it was almsot as though her spirit had casted this beauty upon the sky just for them. All Gin could do was nod. It was almost as if they'd been under a spell.

Gin seemed to stare down to her reflection; as did Corr. Life was like a gift bestowed upon them, so they thought. What a life it was, being alone, going where you want, doing what you please. Sure, life without each other was okay, but two lives combined together to form one unbreakable bond? That felt more like something earned, rather than gained.[/blockquote]

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum, Triskelion,

“Follow your nose, horse!”

“Follow your nose!”

Strange the company we keep in the twilight hours when autumn slowly sinks into winter and the weather grows colder. Who else is there, really, but each other? Gypsum sang and Triskelion laughed, and were it not for the great schism between species they may have seemed like best friends. The wolf would nip at the stallion’s tail, the stallion would try to jump on its back, and the wolf would speed off and reappear nipping his tail again from the other side. On the rare encounter with other horses, this might appear as if this wolf were hunting. Gypsum wasn’t a large horse, but he was large enough for a little wolf, so while Triskelion might seem mad, both were happy enough to let others assume this was the case. Usually, that is.

As the two walked, the song that Gypsum sang was one of the past. He recounted a legend he had been told long ago, about a beautiful land that was prosperous and rich in food and family (the two things most important to horses, of course, and to wolves) but that had been struck asunder by most foul luck. Lady Fortune, he called her, an impetuous whore with a taste or disaster and chaos, she galloped around wearing the guise of a beautiful mare with bare willow branches for her mane. Of course, this is a polite retelling, you know. Even Triskelion, a wolf who’d spent his life in unappealing places, grimaced at the description the stallion gave of this loose creature.

When she decided to settle with Spirit, a stallion of the Shores, nothing but tragedy came to them. This was just her work now. The flood and the flies. For Fortune destroyed Spirit, and with him his son and the warlord who came to take their home. Each became a part of the sea, and now the sea was nothing but the dead.

Triskelion only barked. “You’re ridiculous. Look how pretty that sun is! Doesn’t look like any transformed horses to me.” He sniffed deeply. “I smell living ones. Not old dead ones.”

Since the sun was beautiful, with the orange and the pink reflecting off of the stallion’s white fur, giving him a radiant, glowing appearance, he could hardly disagree. “Well that’s what they tell me, I didn’t say I saw it myself.” He looked over the water but saw something more interesting across the sand. “Perhaps that’s her now, luring in another poor soul!”

Triskelion snorted. Nonetheless, he began to slink away, shouting as he went with his strange, harsh voice, “Come out, come out, where ever you are!” Among the marsh grasses that had begun to grow at the edge of the floodplain, the wolf growled. A terrible ferocious sound, too loud, too close, and too unnatural, that sent shivers down Gypsum’s back. Even he couldn’t kick that old instinct, that deep fear of the hunt.

For quick reference: Triskelion speaks in the light gray-yellow. Gypsum speaks in orange.

[[ Caity ]]

Gin & Corr

[/color]
Bring out the old guillotine;
We'll show them what we all mean[/i][/font][/color]
♦[/color][/center]

“I smell living ones. Not old dead ones.”

Gin thought she'd heard a voice. No. She was certain that they were alone. Corr seemed to turn in Gin's facing direction, curious as to what his sister was looking at. "What's the matter, Gin?" Corr seemed to ask. "Huh? Oh, nothing, brother. I must be hearing things," Gin seemed to shrug it off. She turned back to the sunset, as did Corr.

“Come out, come out, where ever you are!”

She definately heard that. Gin seemed disturbed by the loud voice. It was almost a growl, nothing that she'd ever heard before. It was almost unhorse-like. Perhaps another entity was upon them. "Corr, stay behind me," she said. The last thing she wanted was for Corr to be put in danger. If anything, she would be the one to defend him and put her life at stake to save his.

"Hello!" Gin seemed to yell. "Who goes there?" Her voice was shaky, almost as though you could hear the fear in ehr voice. She seemed to stay frozen in place, keeping Corr hidden behind her.[/blockquote]

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum, Triskelion,

Once Gypsum got over himself and his ridiculous fears (which he was sure he’d be laughed at for later) he followed the wolf into the marsh grass. It prickled and scratched his ankles, but unlike the little canine, the stallion was still visible. This was the problem with keeping the company of wolves, particularly a wolf like Triskelion who had strange ideas and strange appetites. Not only was he prone to disappearing, but it was possible that he might one day pop out at Gysum from the shadow instead, teeth bared, growling, horrifying. It didn’t really bother the stallion, he didn’t often entertain the idea. He did, unfortunately, entertain the idea of a larger stallion slaughtering them both. That would not be pleasant at all.

“Trisk! There are two! Don’t be stupid!” he hissed. The only response was a soft growl, farther and farther away. Gypsum shook his head, grumbling and continued along the grass, snuffling and feeling for the footsteps of a wolf.

He found the horses first. Two horses, in the sand, watching the sunset, newly aware of some strange danger. Gypsum watched them from the edge of the beach, certain they would spot him quickly. Both were young, young enough maybe to have family around (see, what did he say, eh? Giant, angry stallions could be anywhere!) and resembled each other in that way siblings do. Gypsum had had siblings once, long ago. He wondered what they were doing just this moment. What adventures they might be on.

The mare was older, though only just and obviously the bolder. She yelled. Evidently, you could hear that the young mare was scared. Not a good thing, since Gypsum wondered if wolves could smell fear as they were often told. Not that he worried for her. His nostrils flared, taking in the scent of salt and of horses, and of Triskelion close at hoof. There were only four creatures here. Once whose tail was brushing his foot.

Several things happened quickly then. Gypsum kicked out. Triskelion yelped and collapsed, winded, but likely uninjured. The stallion rushed forward from the grass, circling behind the pair.

“Why, it’s just me!” Gypsum sang, and like laughter, his voice was high and melodic.

[[ Caity ]]

Gin & Corr

[/color]
Bring out the old guillotine;
We'll show them what we all mean[/i][/font][/color]
♦[/color][/center]


“Trisk! There are two! Don’t be stupid!”

Trisk? Were there two wanderers lurking amoungst them? Oh joy, now she had to handle two strangers rather than one. Gin was not in the mood to deal with them. She'd simply give a short introduction, and politely excuse she and Corr, and leave the strangers to do what they initially planned on doing. Unless, of course, they wouldn't let them. She continued to keep Corr behind her. She could feel him cower and shake behind her. He wasn't going to let him die now; no sir.

“Why, it’s just me!”

Gin saw him. A ghostly white stallion. Great, a stallion. Just what she needed. She observed him, her attention going directly to his eyes. Gin had never seen eyes like his. They were the most vivid, vibrant blue colour she'd ever set her own plain, chocolate eyes on. And his coat. It was paler than even her's. He was thin, but hardly lacked in muscle. Obviously an older stallion. "Who are you, why are you here?" Gin seemed to ask, the shaking nature of her voice seemed to die down now that the stranger had revealed himself. Well, one of the strangers. "I heard a yelp, whom else walks with you?"[/blockquote]

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum, Triskelion,

Gypsum appraised the mare moment and the colt behind her. She looked him in the eyes, unnerving as that was, but there was something strange about her own. He wondered at her thoughts. On one side, a stranger, on the other, the sea. What horse would still be sensible? This one. She had guts, that was for sure. Gypsum fluttered his eyelids, tilted his head, thought for a second about her question.

Really, he was moving his head so that he could focus an eye on Triskelion. The wolf had recovered, and was crouching at the edge of the sand, his tail sliding back and forth. A cool breeze whipped up sand and the spray of the sea, and the manes of horses. Lucky for the wolf, it moved in a favourable direction. Gypsum hummed. “It is where my nose brought me,” he said. “To you.” The stallion lowered his head and thought a long while. He narrowed his eyes, almost as if he were struggling to pull something from the recesses of his mind. Then he chirped, “I have no name.”

He spun on the spot, dancing. “And who needs one! Do you have a name?”

It was then, at that moment, that a voice rolled across the sands, much like the quiet waves. The beach was surprisingly clean, perhaps the only place in the floodplain not still marred by debris and stagnant water. It should have been beautiful, except for that voice. “Horses don’t have names,” said the wolf. He sat on his haunches, calm, patient, with two fangs poking out over black lips. “Hello, little nameless ones.”

Gypsum took that moment to move, placing himself between horse and the safety of the grass, the forest, of freedom. Triskelion on one side, the stallion on the other, the beach at their backs. Woe is the horse whose passage to escape slowly shrinks.

The wolf snapped his jaws. “Well, then, why don’t you beg me for your lives?”

[[ Caity ]]

Gin & Corr

[/color]
Bring out the old guillotine;
We'll show them what we all mean[/i][/font][/color]
♦[/color][/center]

“It is where my nose brought me, to you.”

"Your nose?" Gin seemed to ask. "Why would your nose bring you to us?" She figured maybe the stallion was a little bit crazy; yet still sane enough to know what he was talking about.

“I have no name, and who needs one! Do you have a name?”

She seemed to observe his little dancing gesture. He was definately different. Though; she liked different. If everybody was made the same, the world would be quite boring, now wouldn't it? "Well, think of it as something someone would call out if they wished to aquire your attention," she said. Really, there wasn't much in a same. A simple calling which you respond to. "Gin," she said. She flicked her head to gesture at Corr. "This is Corr." She seemed to whip her head back to look to the stallion.

"Horses don’t have names, hello, little nameless ones.”

Gin seemed to stare down towards the wolf. "I've seen your kind before," she seemed to mumble. "Now do YOU have a name?" She'd seen his kind indeed. Way back when she was almost a year old, her herd was attacked by them. They'd attacked one foal; but the leader managed to battle him away before he could take one final blow to the foal.

“Well, then, why don’t you beg me for your lives?”

Gin seemed to notice the stallion take positio between her, Corr, and the wolf. Something told her that he wasn't like any other stallion. She couldn't explain exactly what it was, but it didn't matter to her. "I do not beg of my life to those who find satisfaction in it," she said, giving off a rather bold tone towards the wolf.[/blockquote]

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum, Triskelion,

Triskelion loved horses. They were so much more interesting than voles, and hares, and other quiet creatures who screamed, or cried, or said nothing. There was Gypsum, of course. But then there were pups like this one. Cut right to the bone, sharp, forward. He liked that. He liked her. He looked at her right on, straight in the eyes. With his kind, a challenge, for hers? Triskelion had never been sure. Gypsum was something different. He didn’t presume to judge others off the stallion’s behaviour.

“All wolves have names, or how else would we call each other? I will not give it to you.” He watched Gypsum. For a moment, he moved between them, and Triskelion wondered if he’d defend them. He did have instincts, after all. At any moment the horse might betray him. Yet as Triskelion spoke, the stallion moved off, taking a new position behind the pups. Gypsum sang softly, almost too soft to even hear, the tune from before. This time, however, there was a minor chord breaking into the epic saga of the Shores. Triskelion shivered. The stallion’s voice was so eerie, so lyrical and wrong, he sounded almost like a wolf. Almost. If a wolf could ever make such a perverse sound. Triskelion hoped to his feet.

"I do not beg of my life to those who find satisfaction in it.” Oh, she was bold! She had something to protect and she had pride. Not an easy game, certainly, but what fun would easy be? Not all her kind could say the same, although he was beginning to learn they were certainly a proud and difficult species.

“Quite sure? You know, once upon a time,” the hunter began, “there was a great and prosperous kingdom.”

His pink tongue flicked out to taste the salty air and he snapped his teeth again. His throat grumbled. Gypsum sang on.

“A kingdom by the sea. A kingdom watched by the sun.” The wolf arched his neck, indicating the brilliant star as it sun into the gold water. Only a sliver of light remained. “In this land, lived a great king. He was nameless, little Gin, and little Corr, but he was still great. But one day, the king was met by a strange creature. She was not what she seemed. Her hair was like seaweed. Her hooves like river stones. The king, you know, spurned her company. This was stupid of him, for the mare was actually the Sea, come to land once every hundred moons to honour the great kingdom. When he turned her away, do you know what happened?”

All the while, Triskelion drifted closer and closer. His lips were tight against his fangs and his tail he held straight behind his back. “She dragged his family into the water. And there they remain. Now they are the sea. Like you, Gin.”

And then he jumped at her.

[[ Caity ]]

Gin & Corr

[/color]
Bring out the old guillotine;
We'll show them what we all mean[/i][/font][/color]
♦[/color][/center]

“All wolves have names, or how else would we call each other? I will not give it to you.”

"I do not expect you to give me your name." Gin took on the same bold attitude. She knew it might not help her; but at least she had some pride. If the wolf chose to kill her right there, at least she could maybe save Corr. Just maybe. At least she would die proud, knowing that she had saved a life, and knowing that she was able to mentally stand up for herself.

“Quite sure? You know, once upon a time, there was a great and prosperous kingdom.”

Oh joy. Now he was telling her a story. Gin didn't much wish to hear it, though it was enlightening that the wolf was doing it. She found some entertainment in it. No matter; she just stood, and listened. If the wolf deicded to try to leap at her; she would be ready for that, too.

She noted his tongue flicking in and out, almost like that of a snake's, taking in the air. Gin seemed to also listen to the faint sound of the ghostly stallion's singing.

“A kingdom by the sea. A kingdom watched by the sun. In this land, lived a great king. He was nameless, little Gin, and little Corr, but he was still great. But one day, the king was met by a strange creature. She was not what she seemed. Her hair was like seaweed. Her hooves like river stones. The king, you know, spurned her company. This was stupid of him, for the mare was actually the Sea, come to land once every hundred moons to honour the great kingdom. When he turned her away, do you know what happened?”

"No, what happened?" Corr spoke up for the first time in a while since they'd run into the strangers. "Corr, keep quite, brother," Gin said to him. The last thing she needed was for him to say something wrong, or say something to provoke the wolf.

“She dragged his family into the water. And there they remain. Now they are the sea. Like you, Gin.”

And then he jumped at her.

Gin seemed to almost read his mind. She managed to run swiftly to the left of the wolf, before he could have a chance to dig his teeth, or claws into her. Corr read his sister's actions, running in the opposite direction. They both faced the wolf as they awaited his next maneuver.

[/blockquote][/center]

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum, Triskelion,

Too bad for the stallion on the other side.

Silence wrapped the beach in its cold embrace. No wind and no sun now and there existed a short space of calm where the world probably held its breath. Or something like that. The world being a voyeuristic sort of fellow. Then Gypsum exploded into a flurry of motion and sound. As each little horse split and Triskelion landed squared between them, the way was clear for the briefest of moments. But this was a dance the odd pair had preformed many times before, and as their quarry each chose a direction, so did the stallion. He disappeared into the grass, then into the dark, and reappeared on the other side where Triskelion had been only moments ago. He laughed.

“We can dance all night!”

“But soon you will tire, little ones,” Triskelion growled. He nipped at Corr’s feet a second, but quickly backed off. There was nothing quite like a hoof to the nose, after all. Nothing he wanted to avoid more. “You always do? Don’t you?”

Again Triskelion jumped, and this time Gypsum followed in suit. His hooves like talons slashed the air, trying to close any possible escape. All except one, were he lucky, for the young siblings were still quite small. And that was the sea.

[[ Caity ]]

Gin & Corr

[/color]
Bring out the old guillotine;
We'll show them what we all mean[/i][/font][/color]
♦[/color][/center]

“We can dance all night!”

Gin could care less about the stallion as of right now, considering what little h elp he was being. He, himself was a horse afterall; so why wouldn't he help his kin? Nonetheless, the stallion was the least of her problems. Right now, she was just focused on the wolf, focused on her next mode of attack.

“But soon you will tire, little ones, you always do? Don’t you?”

"I will never tire, nor will I blow down to violence. Get you gone, you've no reason to attack us." Well, maybe he did. Maybe he was hoping for a meal or two, and that's why he attacked. Pehaps it was out of anxiety. She noted his gesture of nipping at Corr's hooves, but backing off. A hoof in the face; now wouldn't that be painful? "Leave my little brother alone, you godforsaken creature!" Gin shouted at him.

She'd also noticed the stallion closing off all of her's, and Corr's possible escape routes. What a stag. Trying to get his own flesh and blood killed. Gin seemed to look around swiftly, trying to decipher another plan. She really didn't want to have to resort to violence, but she knew she'd eventually have to. Her thoughts went to her size. She was small, yes, but that wouldn't help her much, If she were to be pinned, it might just be the end of her. Corr stood, however, still frozen in fear. For once, Gin couldn't figure out an escape plan. The wolf and the stallion were already almost halfway down. Escape at this point would just be suicide. "I'm sorry, brother... I've failed you..." Gin mumbled this, enough for Corr to hear; and perhaps for the two inclosing impedments.

[/blockquote][/center]

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum, Triskelion,

“Why, little one, I have all the reason in the world!”

There is one thing that every wolf remembers when it comes to the hunt: the animal that runs, is the animal that dies. These two did not run, and although the young stallion didn’t look ready to defend himself, his sister did. This put Triskelion off. She was proud and she was determined. Curse her, curse her to the depths of the sea! Still, he laughed when she shouted, his response, to snap at the colt’s feet again, spinning away in a flurry of fur and tail.

Well, they are beginning to panic, he thought. Drawing closure together. He could take that to heart and be happy with it. Gypsum continued his same old song about the Shores and the sea only now the lyrics had changed. Instead of the epic of a king, the bard chanted about femurs in the trees. He switched this up with the word lemurs, which Triskelion thought was familiar but couldn’t put to anything.

“Come and see, come and see, come and see the way of things!" Gypsum called.

But Triskelion had ears for only one thing. The heartbroken sound of a mare who had failed, who was giving in. This was all he needed. Silently, he leapt. Sharp, wicked fangs closed on the front leg of the colt, and he gave a yank, hoping to force it over.

[[ Caity ]]

Gin & Corr

[/color]
Bring out the old guillotine;
We'll show them what we all mean[/i][/font][/color]
♦[/color][/center]

“Why, little one, I have all the reason in the world!”

"And what reason would that be?" Gin questioned him. She let her bold tone wear off a tad. This time she stared right into the wolf's eyes. It was almost as though she was looking right through him. She kept her gaze cold and hard. Until the stallion's singing had thrown her off.

“Come and see, come and see, come and see the way of things!"

Why was he like this? He seemed so mentally unstable. He truly was insane. But; what had driven him to become like this? She couldn't be sure. "Your singing is growing old, stallion," she said. The tone in her voice completely wore away. There was no good in talking to him, or even acnowledgeing his prescence.

Gin whipped her head around to the sound of Corr's painful cry. She observed this gesture that wolf had taken on. Sharp, white teeth had dug deeply and tightly into Corr's leg. She noted some slight blood leaking out. This was all the wolf needed to set her off. "Get your filthy teeth off of him!" She yelled.

Before she could do much she heard a loud thud as Corr hit the ground. The wolf had tipped him over. He seemed to become dazed. Gin galloped towards Corr's body, knocking the wolf aside. She leaned over him; casting a shadow over the colt. "Corr..." her words had trailed off as mental pain and greif had stricken her. Her breath had begun to come out unsteady and shaky.

His vision faded in and out. All he could see was a white blur above him. It was Gin. He'd reconize her anywhere. "Gin..." his words had trailed off as he allowed his eyes to fall shut. He had a concussion; no doubt. It was definately enough to weaken him enough to the point where he couldn't defend himself.

Gin turned towards the beast that had done this to him. She still stood over him, in a defensive stance. Again, she stared coldly at the wolf, straight into his eyes. "I don't want to hurt you," Gin began, "but if this continues, you will leave me with no choice. To hell I will send thee." Weather or not she would actually do it, even she didn't know. Gin certainly was upset enough; but would she really be willing to take another life? She seemed hesitant at doing so, which was very apparent.

[/blockquote]

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum, Triskelion,

This is where things got crazy.

Gypsum may have been questionably mad, but he had his uses. Trisk did not answer the mare’s question. Why? There were more pressing things at paw. Like his teeth sinking into the little beast’s leg. Blood exploded across his tongue, Triskelion growled, it was delightful, and then the two went down. They hit the sand hard. He heard the mare’s cry and he knew, in that moment, she hated him. This realization dawned on him slowly, his head felt rattled like a shaken hare and he lay beside the colt, utterly stunned. His wits returned bit by bit. As he climbed to his feet, something hard slammed into him, throwing the grey wolf across the damp sand. A whimper of pain left his throat. He felt like a beached fish, struggling to breath.

And even as he fell, Gypsum suddenly screamed. It overwhelmed the sad little sounds of the mare. A horrible, unearthly cry, a cry that became something of a snarl. The stallion threw his head up and dug at the sand. He nudged at Triskelion’s side. Rolling right side up, he motioned to the water. Gypsum nodded and moved away.

It was a bit sad, speaking to who you were planning to devour. A bit morbid. It might even be enough to ruin a wolf. He knew, deep down, that hunters were not meant to speak to those they chased. What he was doing was wrong and dangerous. And yet it didn’t feel that way. It felt natural. Much the way his relationship with the stallion seemed natural. As if he were part of a pack again.

He licked his lips, circling, snapping, testing the mare. He caught her case evenly and offered her a toothy grin. Still, his eyes, he knew, they were traitors, betraying some kind of sentimental sympathies. Had he not once lost a loved one himself? Someone he could rely on? Someone always at his side? He looked at Gypsum a second, his certainty wavering. The stallion shook his head.

“Hell,” Triskelion mused. There came a splash. Gypsum, soaring among the waves. Leaving him, abandoning him. “There is no hell. There is only here. There is only life. Some must eat and some must be eaten. I did not make the world this way.” Narrowed eyes. Nothing but upset. It upset Triskelion that Gypsum had left him, upset him that she was begging, really, in the worst of ways. In that desperate manner of someone with no other options. It upset him that she called what he did violence. How could his nature be violence? The wolf shook his head. How ridiculous these animals were! But after all this time with Gypsum, it rang rather true.

He watched the colt, bleeding, unconscious, defenseless but for this terrible, insane animal. “You are not his keeper. I will drive you off if you insist on it, girl.”

[[ Caity ]]

Gin & Corr

[/color]
Bring out the old guillotine;
We'll show them what we all mean[/i][/font][/color]
♦[/color]

She observed the wolf's further actions. He continued to pester her, test her. At one point he'd offered her a toothy grin. Ugh... she really wished he would just go away. She observed him as he fell into the sand, whimpering at the pain which may have stricken him. Such a sad, sad creature, picking on things weaker than he. How low could someone really get?

“Hell, there is no hell. There is only here. There is only life. Some must eat and some must be eaten. I did not make the world this way.”

"Well, the world doesn't have to be this way," Gin said. She knew that the wolf was right, but she didn't want to tell herself that. The world was cruel, she knew that. But; the way the wolf had put it, it made sense. Sure, she didn't like it, but it was the way the world worked, she couldn't change that. While thinking all of this, Gin continued to stand over her little brother. "How would you feel if somebody attacked you, or someone whom you held dear?" Gin looked down to her bloodied brother, her eyes seeming to become moist with tears. She lowered her head, nuzzleing into his cheek. She allowed her eyes to drift shut for the moment. The sound of a splash had madde her move her head to face the source; the stallion. He'd splashed around in the water, abandoning the land.

“You are not his keeper. I will drive you off if you insist on it, girl.”

Now the wolf had really gotten to her. She opened her eyes, lifting her head to him. "Not his keeper? You are wrong, wolf. Because we have nobody but each other, we stay together. We are each other's keepers. We haven't a family to return to, thus we are our own family." Gin couldn't stress it enough. "Killing us will not bring you anymore joy than you already have."[/blockquote][/center]