[PRP] And a Pony New Year~! (Iyari & Hushby)

[kuumeii]

It was a rarity for Iyari to go into Halloweentown. Despite her acquaintances here, there was a still the bitter aftertaste that stuck with her. However, due to recent events she felt compelled to come here for some reason or another. Perhaps it was due to her recent angry outburst, or a need to wander... Or maybe what this time of year reminded her of. For Horseman, the beginning of a new year was different, a celebratory time leading towards the next apocalypse. They would come together and have their celebrations... well, they had before everything went to ruin. Now they just wandered around and a few who felt festive would still come together.

Iyari wasn't feeling particularly festive, maybe that was what drew her here.

Ignoring the creatures here was easy enough as she walked along the streets to find that aspects of JOY were seeping into the nearby shops and decor, left up after Xmas and it confused her. The mare could feel eyes watching her, but when she moved to find where they were coming from, there was nothing to be found. A few days prior she'd left gifts under the tree in the town center, finding one there for herself which made her feel appreciated.

So if she wasn't feeling bloodthirsty, festive, lonely or under-appreciated, why come here? She'd jolted herself out of her deep thoughts from the past few days to come here, trying to leave the brooding bloodlust behind her. Maybe it was an attempt back to normalcy.

Somewhere, she felt those eyes on her again and stopped. Maybe another to add to my collection...

Black Magic Empress

HUSH HUSH BBY~

 

[Black Magic Empress]

Enrolling in the academy was defiantly a good decision. It broke pieces off the monotony that had solidified over his hourglass of time. Every year, Hushby made the resolution to talk to a person without driving them away. This year had been the same as last year, and the year before that. A colossal failure. All of the different voices spouting out from the school had become overwhelming. He needed to go somewhere a little more quiet. He wanted to regather his thoughts and maybe see things from a new perspective.

There’s a good spot. Looks cozy enough for me.

The mimic admired a hole in a burned tree that looked promising. His body softened so that he could squeeze into it. Once he was stuffed inside the tree, he sighed and stared at the streets. He stretched out his arms and hardened them to resemble the black tree’s bare branches. This feels easier. Being a tree might be a better way to live. Don’t have to worry about the little things. I should just stay here and forget who I was. He stayed there motionless and let his mind wander. He watched an assortment of different creatures pass. He wondered if anyone would notice him. They came and went and it irritated him. He shook as his body started to ache from being out of his natural state for too long.

Then his glowing, yellow pupils focused on a wandering horsewoman. She was far more alert than the last few creatures to walk by. He wondered why she would bother descending down from the tower to wander in Halloweentown. She perplexed him. She wore so many different items yet most of her body was exposed. I could never go around wearing something like that. Does she see me? He figured she would notice him eventually, but he didn’t want to bother waiting.

“You! You look lost. Don’t tell me you’re trying to find your tower. It’s kind of hard to miss,” called out the mimic’s small voice. His pupils narrowed as he assessed her. His breath sounded weak and strained.

kuumeii

Just a tree /whistle/

 

[kuumeii]

Shoom!

Her wings shot open at the speaking and she jumped on the nearest post, holding a small dagger, looking around but slowly she turned to stare at the nearby tree. "..." It was slow, but she put her dagger away and moved to the tree, peeking into the hole. "What an odd thing to say, lost." Iyari scoffed and furrowed her brow at the "tree".

"I am never lost... creature. Though it seems you're being eaten by a tree. Unless you are a tree. I can't keep up with you things." Bright green hues stared deeply into the crevice of the tree. "Tell me, have you been here long?" Her voice grew gruff and tight, glaring at him.

Black Magic Empress

 

[Black Magic Empress]

The mimic’s arms shook as Iyari’s wings opened. Every word of her voice intimidated him at first. He admired the certainty in her words. “Never lost? I wish I could be so sure of myself. Are all of your kind so certain?”

His claws, still disguised as tree branches, reached out towards her menacingly. “I’ve been hiding for as long as I’ve been alive. Which is probably just a blink of an eye to some one like you.” He looked at the war mare’s blazing green eyes with envy. Before his claws reached her, they began to tremble violently. The mimic had been holding his tree disguise for too long. He slid out off the burned tree and his arms became limp. Hushby looked up at Iyari, his body strained. “Guess I wasn’t meant to be a tree. It was fun while it lasted,” laughed the mimic before his head dropped. “If you aren’t lost, what are you here for?”

kuumeii

 

[kuumeii]

Iyari watched the shorter creature carefully, staring down at him and her wings slowly folded back into themselves, staring back down and back to the tree. "There's no use in standing still, small one." Iyari had a condescending air about her and she shook her head, looking around. "I don't know." Her voice trailed off cryptically, turning back to the strange creature again.

"What sort of beast are you?"

Black Magic Empress

 

[Black Magic Empress]

He stayed on shaking on his knees as he slowly regained control of his body. “It’s not how I want to live. The trees can have their way and keep it. I want to see more of the world.” He shut his eyes and smiled at Iyari before he tried to stand. He knew he could still barely feel his legs but he didn’t want to appear weak.

“I haven’t met a creature exactly like me yet. At the academy, they grouped me with the monsters and say I’m a mimic. I can change my body to hide or defend myself.” His eyes widened as he lost all of the feeling in his legs and dropped down at Iyari’s feet. “But if I stay out of my normal form too long… I get a little messed up. I’ve been practicing to get better.” He held his head down a moment before looking up again.

“What’s it like? In the tower? I’ve read about it, but never have seen it.”

kuumeii

 

[kuumeii]

What an odd creature. She thought, watching it change its form, though the voice seemed to indicate a male."Mimic, hm?" An eyebrow lifted and she looked down at him, reaching to grab an ear from his outer shell and lifting him back up. "...Hm?" Iyari hadn't been asked about the tower in... ever.

"Why?"

There was a scoffing noise that she made, wondering what purpose there was in asking. "There's nothing that one of Halloween needs to know about it. It exists." Clearly there was more distrust there that remained. "You are a very strange little thing."

Black Magic Empress

 

[Black Magic Empress]

The mimic twitched as he was lifted up. He wasn’t used to physical contact with others in any form. The war mare’s strength was apparent even with that simple movement. He squirmed and growled a little in frustration.

“What’s it like on the inside? Are the trees greener? Is there a pumpkin sun? What kind of creature’s jaw are you wearing?” His curiosity was genuine. “I’m not that strange. I mean, I’m not the first to wonder if there’s more outside of Halloween. And who better to ask than someone with more freedom?” His voice sounded strained since he wasn’t used to throwing out long strings of words. He was used to making small, angry growls at strangers. “I wish I could see it,” he sighed as he looked down while the ears on his clothes drooped.

kuumeii

 

[kuumeii]

From her memory it seemed akin to foals and their chatter, before they had given a weapon or training and she stared back at him, looking around the square at the other Halloween creatures and back. "There's no sun inside of the tower, we have floors for each clan." Her wings shifted and she glanced back at him. "It's a home, a place to rest and a place to train. Much like your school." Though not as useless The thought was loud in her head and she grunted.

"Freedom?" Her bright green eyes stared back to him. "It is by right, not a gift." It felt like she was reciting something, but looked back at the small creature.

"Do you have a name?"

Black Magic Empress

 

[Black Magic Empress]

“No sun? Better than the human murder sun,” grunted the mimic. “Like the school, but still different. We train for different things in school. And we don’t hunt, at least not like you.” He tried to picture it inside his mind. What he imagined was nowhere near the reality.

“A name? Of course I have name,” he snarled. He thought it was a strange insult at first. He quickly calmed down when he realized it was a legitimate question. He looked around awkwardly before softly answering, “Hushby… Just Hushby. What do others call you?” He tilted his head and his claws trembled a little from nervousness. This wasn’t a question he was used to asking.

kuumeii

 

[kuumeii]

She wasn't sure what to call it, glancing at him again and blinked at his reaction, scowling at him. "Husby?" It wasn't horsemanlike, that was for sure. Iyari looked back. "Iyari, of the War Clan. Though we are all a Lost Clan." She didn't like the term, but it was the easiest way to describe it, and what they had been come to be called. Granted she didn't know that much about it, she went on long hunting sabbaticals in the meantime and missed a lot of the new structuring.

But the small boy didn't seem to know anything about them.

"Isn't it the eve of the new October, or whatever you creatures call your year." Her wings fluttered. "Don't you have any festivities?"

Black Magic Empress

 

[Black Magic Empress]

“Never lost in a Lost Clan? Sounds complex. There’s some stuff to do to celebrate the end of Last October. I overheard someone saying something about watching a big guillotine drop. I usually just get some Eye Scream and watch the old trees migrate. Have you ever eaten any before? What do people from your clan do for the new year?”

His eyes darted around as he talked to her. He couldn’t stare at her face for too long. He felt like her eyes were looking into his skull. The off key noise of musicians could be heard from different spots.

kuumeii

 

[kuumeii]

"I don't partake of Halloween food." She didn't trust things that screamed while she ate them, after all, things needed to be dead before she ate them. "Hm? We don't do much. There used to be a large bonfire and we would come together, but now..." Iyari clamped up pretty quickly and shook her head. "Now it doesn't matter." There was a brief moment of solace in her eyes, but it was gone quickly enough when she began to hear the music.

"Creature Hushby..." The war mare stood tall over him, "What do you know about Horsemen?"

Black Magic Empress

 

[Black Magic Empress]

Hushby looked up at Iyari’s face. She wasn’t that much taller than him, but something about the way she stood made him feel like she was towering over him.

“Probably next to nothing. I don’t always pay attention in class. I know they came from somewhere else and they live in the tower. But not by their choice.” He knew a little more, but he wasn’t sure how much of it was true. He could only look her in the face for so long until his eyes started darting around again. He looked at the war mare’s wings with curiosity and envy. He imagined himself with wings connected to his back and cringed at the thought. Nothing seemed to make his form look any less disgusting or awkward in his mind. He swallowed and cleared his throat. “I always wondered how exactly they got there.”

kuumeii

 

[kuumeii]

The leftover anger from her recent violent explosion threatened to pour out at the others' ignorance, but she let out a terse exhale instead to ebb it. "Naturally it wasn't by choice." The words were bitter, the underlying bloodlust being contained through sheer willpower on her part. An awkward moment passed and she looked back.

"Our islands were plunged into the sea by the humans. As soon as we opened our borders to your kind." There was a slide of her eyes towards the smaller creature, though she didn't bear him ill will, she did still have her suspicions regarding it. Though those were mostly kept to herself, especially considering that her anger towards the humans, hunters, was so much greater than against anything else. "They tried to kill us all, but it only made our rage stronger."

Black Magic Empress