Novus
an equine & cervidae rpg
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Novus closed 10/31/2022, after The Gentle Exodus

All Welcome  - the least stupid smell in the world

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Played by Offline Rae [PM] Posts: 301 — Threads: 41
Signos: 15
Inactive Character
#1
Rainbow 

E I K
- - - - -

The tent stands leaning slightly to the West as though already cringing from the inevitable sunrise. A warm light seeps invitingly through the cracked entrance, and from outside the muffled sounds of gentle music can be heard- a harp, played rather primitively but somehow more charming for it, and husky singing in a foreign tongue. Despite the closed doors (not really doors but entryway, as the structure is a few massive cloths draped over a wooden skeleton) the tent is remarkably inviting. Horses seem at ease entering and leaving, and even the night itself has a different feel here. There is a drowsy peace settled over the entire area, and the stars seem close to the earth despite the orange glow and smoke of the bonfires.

After a few moments of uncertain observation, the scarred grey man's curiosity gets the better of him and he steps forward to nose the entry curtain aside. Within the tent, oil lanterns cast a heavy warm glow over everything. Incense of some sort (sage?) mingles with horseflesh and oily smoke. A hole is cut in the middle of the ceiling so that the heat and smell and smoke and sounds do not become unbearable- and also for what comfort the moon pay provide as she struggles to pierce the orange haze of the tent.

The floor is covered with thick pillows and horses lay sprawled about, some engaged in slow conversation, others passed out in a comical splaying of limbs. In the center of the room, tea is poured into small bonze cups and swallowed in quick, wincing gulps. A slender mare wearing a golden mask beckons him in and lifts a small cup to his lips.

His heart races uncertainly against the calm pluck of the harp, but the mare has a kind look in her eye and the whole room exudes a sense of peaceful calm. So he downs the cup, refusing his body's urge to spit the bitter liquid out. The matron gestures for him to make himself comfortable.

The tea's effects begin to wash over him in about fifteen minutes. The first wave rolls over his body, easing out the aches in his muscles so completely that he begins to forget what pain ever felt like. Or rather- it is not a forgetfulness but a complete indifference. Next his mind begins to slowly, slowly peel away from his tattered horse form, and a faraway smile stretches across his lips.

Here, in the heavy-lidded state between sleep and consciousness, a place that once seemed a dotted line on the map now becomes the map itself. It seems to him the secret of happiness is upon him, but it doesn't matter anyway. Eik giggles softly at the thought, but the sound of it makes him abruptly stop. He reaches out and places his head on the rump of the horse next to him, meeting their sleepy gaze with his gleaming black eyes.

-  -  -
Tagging @Soleil, @Florentine, @Sid, @Lysander 
but any and all are welcome and encouraged to join the opium den <3







Time makes fools of us all





Played by [PM] Posts: N/A — Threads:
Soleil
Guest
#2


S O L E I L


The fallen noble was no stranger to the effects of drugs, in fact she used them quite often to relax muscles that she did not even realize were tightly coiled. Her choices tended to be a little safer in the long term use, but she had no qualms with something a little stronger -- or something that could take her to a different level of ease.

She lounged amongst the bodies of strangers, sprawled out into a comfortable position between them and several of the floor pillows. The ivory blonde strands of her hair had been braided by a lazy hand, someone else inside the den of opium. The idea of someone touching her hair should have been enough to cause her to snap at the perpetrator, but given the circumstances and her current…state she could not have cared less.

Her eyes fell closed and opened again several times, some odd passage of time passing around her in the haze. She was aware that she had been in here far too long, but she could not think of another place to be -- and what establishment would kick out a well-paying customer. She stretched, her golden skin brushing against the bodies of other -- eliciting a collection of groans, murmurs and sighs. She can hear the shuffle of feet, the careful tread of others as they step over bodies.

Quiet murmurs of conversation roll through the space, a laugh, though she can not recount anything that interests her long enough to pay attention. She takes a slow and steady breath, just about to close her eyes once more and let the euphoria take her when she felt a gentle pressure on her hip. Her ear twitches in a mild annoyance, a sigh passing from her lips as she lifts her head to ensure that the stranger was not about to try anything stupid.

The stallion’s eyes were dark, meeting her sleepy gaze with one that she interpreted to mean that he’d only just arrived. She raised a brow at him, shifting herself just enough to sit up but not to disrupt his position there on her rump. In the shadow of the tent, she could not quite make him out completely but that did not matter too much.

”And just what is so funny?” She asked succulently. She reaches out to play with his hair absently, twirling a particularly long weft of ivory hair lazily.





ooc: -shrugs- i have no idea xD @Eik @Sid @Florentine @Lysander










Played by Offline Rae [PM] Posts: 301 — Threads: 41
Signos: 15
Inactive Character
#3

E I K
- - - - -

Euphoria is not a familiar feeling. Happiness yes, but it is always balanced with something else- the more joy he feels, the more afraid and uncomfortable he becomes, the more aware he is of all he has to lose. So, paradoxically, it is the awareness of happiness that inevitably makes him unhappy.

It is not the only strange loop he has encountered in this life. He's seen patterns since the day he was born. The unfolding of flowers, the shape of the mountains, the cyclical nature of time. As the opium settles like warm honey in his bones, his thoughts drift up and linger above their heads like the slow-burning incense. He feels vaguely connected to everything, as though his body does not end with his skin but spills over to the pillows beneath him and the ground beneath the pillows and even further- to everyone and thing which touches the great grand earth and even those that don't-- the birds and the wind and the sun and all the stars, the whole universe.

And he is connected to the woman next to him, too, who politely accepts his head on her flank when it would be so easy to shoo him away like a fly.

"And just what is so funny?" He blinks slow and cheerful. "The way I feel." The closest experience he's had to this would have to be at the Winter's End Festival, where a nymph in red had given him a little pastry that made him see things that (probably) were not there. That was a much different feeling though. It was the sort of experience where you don't feel like you have much control over anything at all, you're just along for some strange and wondrous ride. And his body had felt different, and his mind had felt blasted wide open.

He thinks he likes this feeling more, this hazy euphoria. Sleep is just a slow blink away but he fends it off, wanting to enjoy the soft music playing (the harp, once very quiet and basic, seems suddenly loud and beautifully intricate) and the feel of her skin under his... he realizes he's gently, thoughtfully lipping at the stranger's rump. He has the awareness of mind to feel embarrassed, but he quickly realizes that she's playing with a long strand of his mane and somehow the personal invasions seem to balance each other out. They're in the same boat, as the saying goes, floating down the same warm, mellow river.

Somewhere someone yawns, and a moment later Eik is yawning too. "Everything is fuzzy. Do you feel it too?" Fuzzy and perfect, his troubles far enough away that they might as well be gone entirely. "Have you been here before?... Is it always like this?" Many more questions come to mind but they all float away before he can get a hold of them. All he can do is stop lipping at her rump to offer a sleepy, crooked smile.

-  -  -
@Soleil <3







Time makes fools of us all





Played by Offline Obsidian [PM] Posts: 380 — Threads: 45
Signos: 25
Inactive Character
#4

FLORENTINE

always one decision away from a totally different life
-- ♕ --




Rather insistently the matron pushes the bowl before her. Curiosity abounds where wariness should, and Florentine peers down into the cup. The liquid is a tranquil pool of spilled gold and black. The girl is sure it is a stolen elixir of the gods, but she says nothing, for once.
 
The air rustles as her tail switches nervously. Another insistent push from the matron and Florentine is clasping the ivory bowl. The maid urges as she had with Eik and with an awkward chuckle Florentine forestalls with a bleat, ‘It’s not like, addictive is it? I am sure I already have an addictive personality and this would not-‘ With a scowl the mare thrusts the bowl at the Dusk Queen. Chastened and far too obediently, Flora hurriedly lifts the liquid to her lips.
 
Warm gold pours itself against her lips, passing like silk down her throat. All too swiftly Flora lowers the bowl and sidesteps the insistent mare. Hazy shadows swirl about her. Incense clings to her skin as the tent presses the air and the dark in upon the gilded girl.  The perfumed clouds swirl with the idleness of daydreams. They morph like nightmares and her world begins to tip.
 
Her heart is a slow thing within her chest, her breath lighter than air. To breathe now is nothing at all and to live is to fall into a thousand dreams. Each limb, each movement, is transcendent and bright. Florentine’s skin is gold, but her soul is sunfire.
 
The body that glides to a bench feels nothing like her own. It lowers her next to a boy and a girl she thinks she might know. Ah, what must she look like to them: with her skin of air and her limbs of liquid wonder? In silence she sits, feather light. Heavy lashed eyes hang low – what thoughts are pouring away from her mind like water through a statues fingers.
 
Dreamily her gaze peers out and, with the elvin grace of a girl freshly intoxicated, she leans in toward the gathered pair. An ear twists to catch their laughter, her own lips curling into a lazy, enchanting smile. “I think I might know you both…” Florentine sighs, slow and lazy. Slowly her eyes drift by them, her body humming, her skin a pleasant glow that warms even the air around her.
 
Euphoria and sedation rise like water within her and sanity clings to the fringes of her. Just before sense is lost, it has Florentine leaning into her cushions. Her eyes glitter as they peer into the dim mist. In the clouds of incense she is sure she sees shadows she recognizes. To the boy and girl reposing beside her she whispers, “I just wanted to see what this place was about but that lady is rather insistent, isn’t she?” She pauses, her breath slow, slow, slow.
 
A long moment passes as silence and bells fill the space between her words. For a long moment she peers at the boy’s face for familiarity creeps like a slow, slow spider through her mind. She smiles for him, to him, because of him. She smiles into her soul and the darkness that creeps in her every corner. Ah Florentine is floating. She blinks slowly and then she breathes the satin of her lungs back out. “Eik.” A lazy blink as her eyes carefully paint his name across his face. Slowly she turns her chiseled face to Soleil and again she looks long and deep and not at all. “Soleil.” Flora at last says with too much effort, but she is pleased with her remembering and turns to water beside them, her wings a blanket across their bodies, her hair a pillow of lavender and spun gold.









@Eik @Soleil |    | Oh I get high with a little help from my friends xDD
rallidae






She is clothed with strength and dignity, 
and she laughs without fear of the future 





Played by [PM] Posts: N/A — Threads:
Soleil
Guest
#5





Every muscle was liquid, her body floating in a warm, fragrant pool of bliss. It took far more of her usual drug of choice to give her such a feeling, but she had been no match against the opium. Perhaps she should have heeded the mistress who had tried to warn her against taking so much on her first dose. Her head rolled slowly, her senses hyper aware of the feeling of her hair brushing against golden skin -- feather light and tickling where it touches. She’s also aware of his touch against her rump, though it’s not too invasive that she might feel the need to intervene. She tugs gently on the small section of hair that she had managed to get a hold of, her response to his answer taking far longer than it should have.

”I guess.” She murmured, releasing him. Her eyes drifting shut, becoming a land of shadow and shapes. Her breath came slow and deep, threatening to send her down into the land of slumber if she was not careful. She loses her grip on his hair just as he speaks again, asking too many questions. He must be new. Her lids are heavy but she forces them open, adjusting her position to turn more in his direction. ”It’s a relaxant.” She says softly, thinking of the little she knew of this particular drug. ”Just something to make us feel good for a little while. Let go of all the bad things.” Her explanation is lazy at best, ad offers little personal information that he might use. At least she has the presence of mind not to spill her guts to a complete stranger.

She glances up briefly, her vision filed with cream and lavender instead of crisp steel. Florentine Her mind supplies a few moments later. She knows Florentine. It is a slow and languid process, she finds, trying to supply the information that she should know in the space of a breath. Instead it takes its time, like a trickling stream headed towards the ocean. Over the various rocks and rubble, through the valleys and trees, just taking it’s time know that eventually...it will get to where it has been headed all along.

”Flora.” She finally manages to say aloud, though apparently the Queen’s full name was far too hard a thing to say. ”I didn’t...expect you here.” She admits, pushing her nose closer to the dusk girl. ”Wow….” She murmurs, her eyes falling closed again as the heaviness of her particular dosage threatened to send her tumbling down. She began to hum softly, the notes long and straying, but she could not resist the urge.




@Eik
@Florentine
-shrug- idk what this is lmao









Played by Offline Rae [PM] Posts: 301 — Threads: 41
Signos: 15
Inactive Character
#6

A warm, golden relaxation eases through his body. There is a hint of something that is not quite right- is it nervousness? All other feelings drift above him, one by one- happiness, sorrow, anger, fear- and as each one leaves, the ones that remain grow more concentrated and more tight. They cling to muscle and tendon and blood, whirling in and out of his heart in a rhythm as old as life itself.

"Let go of all the bad things," her liquid amber voice soothes away an anxiety he did not quite realize was there, anxiety realized not mentally but physically, coiled in the space where muscle meets bone. There is a wave of nausea as he releases all the bad things, but it passes before he can hurl on the beautiful stranger... and up he goes... or down. or maybe just elsewhere.

(he always thought he had explored every hidden corner of his mind, or at least knew they were there. Laughter rings like bells in his head- you poor fool!)

Eik is taken back to a memory of being a colt, lifetimes ago, with the sun on his back and the smell of juniper and lichen and kindred flesh all around him. He breathes in deeply- Soleil is unmistakably different than the smell of mother and sister, but in this state of relaxation he can blur the lines and imagine he's there in the happiest memory he has, he's home, not yet old enough to feel even a lick of the aches of the world.

"Thank you," he murmurs to his guide of sorts, words thick with appreciation and heavy with the opium high. "You're nice." For a very long moment his eyes close, opening only when he hears his name from far far away- "Eik." He blinks. "Soleil." Soleil?

"Flora," he says at the same time as Lei, in his mind exuberantly declaring "Flora!!" but some of the enthusiasm is lost on the very long trip from brain to tongue. There is still much warmth in his voice (if not his intonation) as he greets the twilight queen with a broad, bleary smile. She is very much the vision of a golden fairy through the fuzz of his heavy eyelids. "How grand you're here too." He is aware of his inebriation, but in this moment he does not have the capacity to feel self conscious of his altered state.

With Flora's wings spread comfortably across him and Soleil's warm flank beneath, he closes his eyes and listens to the song hummed by the nice girl. The smell of Florentine's flowers drift over him and remind him of that long walk on that summer day, and all the worlds he'll never see. And despite how small and simple his existence seems in this moment, for the first time in as long as he can remember he feels free.

-  -  -  -  -
I am keeping quiet
E I K
But one day, the forest will talk about me

@Soleil @Florentine sorry for the lack of dialogue... he is REALLY enjoying the cuddles :3





Time makes fools of us all





Played by Offline Obsidian [PM] Posts: 380 — Threads: 45
Signos: 25
Inactive Character
#7

FLORENTINE

always one decision away from a totally different life
-- ♕ --




Oh the festival falls away in laughter and music. The jovial song of a violin, a trumpet (and others whose names linger just beyond her reach) fade into the quiet. All that consumed Florentine is soft skin and softer breaths. The spirits of the festival, bright and merry, twirl around Soleil’s voice as she hums music Florentine does not know – has never known.
 
The world shrinks, until this tent, with its intoxicating aroma, its enchanting smoke, is all Florentine knows. She breathes a ragged breath and opens her eyes wide, wide to the shadows that swirl. They move and they dance, they form shapes that shift and swirl and morph in eternal circles.
 
Beneath the blanket of her wing Florentine curls, the gold of a feather brushing along the curve of her cheek. It rouses her mind and it ascends, piercing the veil of drowsiness like fingers from the surface of a lake. Ah, Florentine is drowning, sinking into this pool of delirium and opium pulls her deeper, deeper.
 
Her name drifts, unaccompanied at first. Still, her amethyst eyes stray to Soleil, over the gold of her skin, the curve of her slender limbs. “I need to forget.” So many ghosts lie behind her lashes. They haunt her dreams, her waking hours, but here, here they are banished. Here they too are drowning, pulled from her mind like smoke pluming idly from an extinguished candle. Ah, if only they too would fade into nothingness.
 
Her lips tip into a smile as her name falls from Eik’s heavy tongue. The twinges of her heart are no more, the flutter of butterflies in her tummy are lost but she remembers and she clings to that memory now. Opium comes, with its sweeping fingers, to erase her thoughts but of she grips him tighter and, desperate to keep him from erasure she murmurs thoughtfully, “I like a boy.”
 
A final shred of rationality has her lips pressing tight, a whisper of regret stealing its way through her mind. In the darkness of the tent she frowns, the twist of her lips lost to the kiss of smoke and shadows. “Is there anyone you two like?” The girl asks, too slow, too lazy, too tardy a deflection for it to ever be effective, yet she tries, with her tongue as heavy as lead.



@Soleil @Eik |    | <3 what happens in The Tent stays in The Tent xDD
rallidae






She is clothed with strength and dignity, 
and she laughs without fear of the future 





Played by Offline Rae [PM] Posts: 301 — Threads: 41
Signos: 15
Inactive Character
#8

Finally he finds the word for this feeling. Peace, that's what this is.

"Oh." he smiles as the truth comes to him in a moment of lovely clarity. Soon after the world becomes bleary, like looking through a glass full of water. "Yes," his tongue is heavy, his eyes are heavy, his entire body is heavy but his soul soars high as a bird. "But you can't tell anyone."

(not even myself, if you should see me again)

"I..." His breathing grows deep and heavy. It seems to be retreating from the truth, denying it by physically withdrawing to the world of dreams. "like..." The next sound that escapes him is a snore, the littlest, politest snore. He almost looks like a child as he sleeps, surrounded by pillows and incense and beautiful women.

If he dreams of one blue eye and one yellow... some secrets are better left in the world of dreams.

-  -  -  -  -
I am keeping quiet
E I K
But one day, the forest will talk about me

@Soleil @Florentine Eik is out with the cutest snore <3





Time makes fools of us all





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