(Untitled)

[trytobegood]

It had been just over a month since I was displaced to this strange and mysterious island, and I found myself missing Terre d'Ange and my loved ones there more than ever. My time in Tiberium and Lucca had been somewhat different; even if I had at times despaired of ever seeing home again, I yet knew where that home was located in relation to my

Comments

[seeyousoonthen]

Savannah had found herself walking slowly to the beach nearly every day to stare at the waves longingly. Oh, how she wished she could get on her surf board for it was only then that she could truly let her mind go blank. Of late she had too many thoughts.

Today there was a surprise. A beautiful horse with a beautiful man on the beach. The horse took her breath away. It seemed so long since she'd ridden that she was jealous of the man in the saddle.

Fearlessly, Savannah approached, her gauzey sun dress clinging to her curves and the roundness of her belly, stirred by the wind.

"Oh, my, but he's beautiful," she said as she held out a hand. "I haven't seen him in the barn. You're so lucky, he's just lovely," she said as she turned her fresh, pretty face toward the man with dark hair.

[trytobegood]

I'd just managed to wrestle the Bastard back to a walk, then finally a stop, when I caught sight of the woman approaching. I'm quite certain he would have continued on as long as I'd let him, but it seemed it was fortunate I'd stopped him when I did. The young woman approaching was very clearly with child, and I would not have wanted to risk endangering her, though I knew my horse was agile.

"Be gentle," I murmured as she came near, and he reached around to nudge his nose against my leg, as if in chastisement. He was a temperamental horse, to be sure, and difficult to handle, but he was fully capable of gentleness when needed.

"He's only just arrived," I replied, as the only explanation I could find for his sudden presence was that he'd come to this place in much the same way as I had. "This is my horse from home."

The Bastard stood patiently with his head lowered slightly, as though he understood the need to be still.

[seeyousoonthen]

Oh how she wished she could be so lucky. She missed Midas so much.

"He's just beautiful," she exhaled, holding out her hand to the horse as she looked into the man's eyes. "I mean...he really is. Just beautiful."

He was beautiful, too. Such eyes and such hair. He was so beautiful it almost made her ache. It almost made her have an impure thought was what it did.

"I'm...I'm Savannah," she said. It was literally all she could think of to say as she looked at him.

[trytobegood]

I took a moment to dismount before replying to her, not wishing to have a conversation from atop the Bastard when she was on the ground. "Thank you," I replied, and inclined my head to her. "Well met, my lady Savannah. I'm Imriel. And this is the Bastard."

[girlsolo]

Ever since she and Magnus talked about it, that other world where she and Will were married and had a son, Kate hasn't been able to shake it. She wants to talk to Will about it, but it's weird. What's she going to do, ask the boss's boyfriend if he thinks he loved her? If he thinks they had a kid on purpose? In some other world, is she a good mother? Yeah, because that's going to go over well

[trytobegood]

I caught sight of Kate from the saddle, though not early enough to stop the Bastard. As we rocketed past I yanked on the reins, hard, wheeling him back around in the direction we'd came. It took a bit of doing, as he wanted to keep going, but after a short struggle I managed to get him walking, back to where Kate stood.

"Kate," I greeted with a faint smile before dismounting, keeping a firm hand on the reins as I patted the side of the Bastard's neck with the other. Gorgeous was far from the worst thing I'd been called in my time, so I let it pass without comment. "Well met. Thank you; this is the Bastard, my horse from home, though it seems he's here now."

[girlsolo]

Kate's not sure they're stopping, so she bends to pick up a small, whirled pink and brown conch shell. It's not like she's going to take it personally. They're not besties or anything and that horse doesn't look much like the stand and chit chat type. She sympathizes.

So it's nice, a little surprising, when Imriel comes back to talk to her and gets off the horse. She has to shove the shells into the pockets of her jacket and dust them off quickly before coming over. Her eyebrow lifts at the name of the horse. "Remind me to introduce you to Greg. He has a dog named Fucker." Kate sucks her cheeks in slightly to avoid the laugh at that but there's a wry light in her eyes. "So he's from home, huh? I've heard about that happening. Things just showing up. Usually it's a nastier surprise."

[trytobegood]

"I had not thought to see anyone or anything from Terre d'Ange in this place, so I am glad for his presence, however unexpected," I replied. To be sure, I was certain to ride him more often here than I had in Tiberium. "How have you been faring? Well, I hope?"

[loveofmasters]

Florence had, in her opinion at least, finally found something to do that could occupy her mind that didn't involve chess. Leaning against a rock at the beach's treeline, she held in her lap two books, identical save for the languages. Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, in English and Hungarian. She had no idea if she'd be able to teach herself the language of her birth, she'd forgotten it, pushed it away like so many other things in her youth but she wanted to try

[trytobegood]

I saw the figure at the treeline, and would have continued on, as the Bastard's endurance was strong and he'd yet to start showing any signs of fatigue. But then she raised a hand in greeting as we neared, which prompted me to take a closer look, and I realized it was someone I knew. Reining in hard, I managed to get my horse to a stop not far past where she was reclined, and I dismounted, walking the Bastard back over to her.

"Good day, my lady Florence," I greeted her, inclining my head slightly with a smile. After my ride, I was in high spirits. "How does the day find you?"

[loveofmasters]

"Well enough."

It was easy for Florence to smile, being called a lady was just rare enough that it flattered her, not to mention reassured her that there were people that were further out of time than she was. Not that it was a good thing, being so out of touch, but knowing she wasn't the only one who must look at some of the things on the island in wonder... reassuring.

And he certainly looked easier on that horse than she ever could. There was a grace to it she could admire."That's a beautiful horse, where did it come from?"

[trytobegood]

"I think the question may not be where, but how," I replied as I ran a hand along the Bastard's neck. "This is my horse from home, though I did not think to see him here. He was not with me when I arrived."

[a_real_viking]

Despite having been here quite a few months and having a dragon for a friend, Hiccup still couldn't get over how many horses were here. The only horses he saw with any regularity back on Berk were a scrubby little herd of wild ponies on the far edge of the land that plainly had no interest in humans. As most of the vikings had very little interest in peaceably integrating wild ponies into the community, the idea had been quickly struck off and the ponies dismissed as "great big rats."

Maybe if they'd seen horses like these, they might have changed their minds.

Hiccup thought he could understand that joyful whoop a little and he looked over at Toothless, grinning. "Think you could go that fast?" The dragon just rolled his eyes while Hiccup waved.

[trytobegood]

We were moving swiftly along the beach, the Bastard glad for such a space in which to run, the trees to one side and the water to the other both rushing by at a blur. But despite that, I daresay it would have been impossible for both myself and my horse to miss the boy - or rather, the large black creature that was with the boy. The Bastard let out a startled whinny, coming to a near halt so quickly I was nearly unseated, though I managed to hang on.

"Easy, easy," I said in as firm and soothing a voice as I could muster as he danced to and fro, his hooves kicking up little sprays of sand. The boy waved, and I would have returned the gesture, but both my hands were occupied with keeping a tight hold on the reins. I did not think the Bastard was truly spooked, merely startled, but he was difficult to control on the best of days.

[a_real_viking]

Toothless raised his head a little, ears back and eyes narrowed as he tried to decide what he felt about the other creature's alarm, but didn't move. It took Hiccup a little longer, though, to make the connection between his friend's stillness and the horse and then he groaned inwardly again. He probably should have thought of this and he dismounted, one hand at Toothless' shoulder.

"Hi. Uh. Look, he's..." Not harmless. "He's not gonna hurt your horse. We didn't mean to startle you."

[trytobegood]

"I appreciate the assurance," I replied, though I continued to keep the Bastard tightly reigned in. He seemed to be settling into a kind of wary unease, which was certainly better than him throwing me, but I kept a close eye on his movements. "What - manner of creature is your animal, if I may inquire? I have never seen anything like it."