Olde Plot 003 | The Exile's Curse

Turning to Freya, Alabaster's deamenor softened a little. "She is my niece." leaning a little closer so as not to disrupt Arabella's much needed moment of happiness next to the Queen, he whispered. "My sister and her husband passed away some years ago, I have been caring for her since." There was no need to go around reminding the filly her parents were dead so he spoke of the details of their relation little.

Then, of course, his time of sensitive confiding in a fellow, not to mention loyal, Olde horse ended in a rather unceremonious way.


"I disagree."


And there he went again, prattling off mutinous nonsense to rattle the nerves and shake the confidence of the horses on this rather important mission. Who did he think he was?


Alabaster had been trying with every bit of his mental being to keep his mouth shut, for he feared he would regret whatever angry, unfiltered words may fall out. His nerves were frayed and he could feel himself leaning precariously over the edge of his self-control.
For the sake of his niece's fragile state and his station of an advisor he felt the pressing need to keep a level-head. But between The Queen's imploring gaze and Taishen's persistent stream of rebellious criticism bordering blasphemy, he could keep his peace no longer.

The snowy stallion stopped in his tracks with the rest of the group, some ogling the troublesome mage while others couldn't seem to meet his gaze.
Alabaster stood rigid, his head held high and his eyes turned to ice as he stared at the other stallion with a trace of contempt.

"Arabella." He said,though he kept his icy gaze locked upon the mage, "Please, walk to the water's edge, we will join you in a moment."
He waited for his niece to comply. She had been through enough as it was and he needn't worry her with further troublesome thoughts. She deserved an untainted childhood as did any other youngling her age.

When the filly was out of earshot, Alabaster's restrained outrage voiced itself in a cool tenor matching his already frigid bearings. "You want the truth Taishen?" he asked before slowly turning his head to look at each of the other equine's, save for the queen, as she needn't convincing. He had helped to settle many a delicate matter in his service as an advisor, but in a time such as this, what with the herds torn amidst war and rekindled ties testing loyalties, this one seemed especially sensitive.


"Those hateful creatures harbor the blood of criminals in their veins and the blackness of sinners in their hearts. The Great Compromiser and Vasska know this to be true. Both of whom, mage, surpass you in rank, wisdom, and spiritual enlightenment. That is why they are our revered leaders, and not you." Alabaster allowed a pause, both for his words to sink in and to grope for any remaining self-control. "But if you are looking for more substantial proof of their vile nature, then here you have it. An Olde mare was recently raped by one of your so called innocent exiles, who in fact had pledged his allegiance to our side. The mare's identity is to remain anonymous, until further notice, as our rulers and myself are currently handling the situation. Furthermore, as I understand it, this exile has yet to be punished by his lawless herd for such an unspeakable crime." His attention had remained frozen on the troublesome stallion whilst he spoke, hoping that the respect demanded of his superior rank and the impact of his words might subdue the rebellious spirit of this unruly horse. Though he and the mare had spoken with Vasska, he was unsure if the king had told Bloom yet.
"Know your place, mage, and keep that indulgent tongue of yours in check." He turned away from the dark stallion, facing instead the healer Aralynne who had shown only timid reluctance throughout this heated turn of events. "And you." he chided, with a glance of reproach. "Vasska must have seen a jem amid coal when you plead your case. Have you no loyalty for your gracious King? Speak in defense of the Olde or risk being labeled a spy amid your brethren."

Finished at last with his orderly set of tongue lashings he faced the group as a whole. "Now, I do believe we have a mission to carry out. If we are quite finished addling away our time challenging our betters I suggest we get started."

There might have been a chance, a flickering glimmer wafting delicately on the elusive breeze of possibility, that given his word's cold reception, Tai might have bowed his head and stopped talking. He was, in general, an upstanding defender mage. Not the best the herd had ever seen, or at least not yet, but he did his duty, and he did it with pride. It went against everything he'd been raised with, to continue an argument with a superior.

But then Alabaster had snapped at Aralynne.

Ah yes, there it went, that chance of quiet, drifting away on the frigid breeze of Alabaster's reprimand. Perhaps if he'd been less irate, Tai would have bid it farewell as it blew away. Instead, however, his dark ears were flattened against his neck.

In another circumstance, almost any other, the disapproval of his herd and most importantly his Queen would have been enough to still Tai's tongue, or even keep it from wagging in the first place. But this, this from Alabaster... it was too much. Bad enough that the Adviser had made the mistake of including Aralynne in his wrath- it had to be Alabaster. Although none of Taishen's personal experiences with the stallion had been particularly negative, aside from him being an uptight and pompous windbag, Tai had discovered that Alabaster, on more than one occasion, had voiced his disapproval to Eden, over the healer's less than conventional situation. Eden had played it off casually, as he often did, with a derogatory comment and rude noise, but Tai knew his brother very well, and he could see how deep the barbs had hooked in to the healer's delicate psyche. 

Thus it was to undoubtedly the present assembled group's dismay that, as Alabaster finished speaking and Freya murmured her own words, Taishen did not bow his head in submission to his betters but instead tossed his head fiercely, physically stepping forward and deliberately placing himself in front of Aralynne, who had wilted further and further. 

If there was one way to ruffle the mage's feathers, it was to go after his friends, and at the moment he was angry enough that not even Bloom's placating, soft words were enough to quell the peacock. 

"How dare you malign her," Tai said in a low voice, ignoring the undoubtedly scandalized Freya and Bloom. "You speak to me of questioning my betters? Well then, I ask, how do you question our monarch's decisions by demanding such things of Aralynne? They have deemed her worthy, elevated her to her esteemed rank- do you deign to question their judgement?" Brown eyes flashed with the challenge as Tai glared at the handsome, snowy stallion. It had been many, many years since he'd been driven to such insubordination, but something about this day, this group, this mission, had set his every nerve on edge. 

"And how dare we presume to judge an entire herd based off of one individual's actions," he continued heatedly. "How would we feel if our entire herd's reputation was built on the misdeed of one member? Or of our distant past? The Exiles and Bachelors came from us." He snorted, aware he was on dangerous ground but also that he was speaking the truth. And of course, it was his duty to speak the truth. Right? 

He looked at the group, and angry as he was as he stood protectively in front of Aralynne, it hurt him, beneath the posturing, to receive such cold, unsympathetic looks in return. Was he truly the only one who found fault with the idea of attacking another herd, just for having unfortunate ancestors and for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? It stank, and almost as much as the realization that his beloved herd could be so naive, so blind in their acceptance of the world around them. 

ooc: I suppose this makes Tai the "volunteer" mentioned in our checkpoint! Sorry if his tongue-wagging his holding up the plot too much,  I hope you guys aren't getting tired of reading his ranting! 

[Post 4]

I stood there in awed silence of what the last few minutes have brought on, The tension between Alabaster and Taishen was sparking and I was not about to step into the water and touch the bolt of electric energy that had formed a noose around the two horses throats.

"This is not going to go well... "

I let my eyes drift to Bloom and with a pleading gesture asking what to do I backed up and then it happened.. that noose tightened and Alabaster launched towards Taishen yelling and teaching the grown stallion a lesson in speaking out of rule and against our king.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse Alabaster rose and struck Taishen I flattened my ears and held my tongue until that moment when Taishens dam broke and water went crashing down on the mission he then started charging Alabaster and that's when I knew it was time to let go of my tongue, I jumped between the two and snapped "ENOUGH OF THIS YOU TWO."

I snorted then shifting my direction looking at one then the other.

As it turned out, Taishen came perilously close to his own tumble into the sand, and only his life-long study of increased agility allowed the careening stallion to keep his hooves, albeit however ungracefully.

He hadn't expected his water missiles to be so effective; in truth, he hadn't thought of them at all, or what they were doing. He'd been barely aware of the water that mirrored his raging mood, only of the rising wave of power. And so as he leapt towards Alabaster with intent to hit and hit hard, Tai had not expected the water orbs to streak ahead of him, and do his work before he'd gotten there himself. He'd always been the "get in and get his hooves dirty" type, as an ungifted rook and mage. And until this moment, he’d had few opportunities to explore the limits of his fledgling gift. It was going to take some amount of re-learning how to handle himself, to accommodate this new power. If his herdmates didn’t kill him first.

Thus it was with a fair amount of shock that Tai watched, in a sort of surreal slow-motion, the twin arrows of water fly past him and collide with Alabaster and, regrettably, Freya. Thoroughly disconcerted, Tai’s concentration broke and he slid and scrambled and generally made a spectacle of himself.

Regaining his balance, Taishen took a dazed moment to stand still, sides heaving. With the break in concentration, the water that had attacked Alabaster had dropped to the sand, lifeless, seeping away. Tai was still rattled, still confused. Had he done that? And to have accidentally included Freya in his cross-fire-

Then his attention snapped to Alabaster as the pompous ivory windbag (admittedly with fabulous hair) began to stir and growl, heaving himself to his hooves and uttering threats.

Rage flared again, and Tai felt that power as it blossomed once more in his chest, running through his veins and setting every sense alight. He would have his satisfaction of Alabaster; the power demanded it.

Beneath Alabaster and Freya’s hooves, the damp sand began to bubble, as Tai took a step forward, and the water began to shape towards a purpose, just as the rage building in the mage’s chest likewise bloomed.

“The only traitor here is you,” he snarled, ears flattened as muscles tensed, and as the thrum of power rose in his ears and his very blood sang with the need for release, so did his voice rise. “How DARE you drag him in to this,” Tai shouted, another trembling stride taking him closer to the adviser. “If you ever, if you ever, threaten my brother in my presence again, I’ll, I’ll-” the stallion was shaking with the effort to keep his head, to keep the power in check, and he fairly choked on his suppressed rage.

[Post 6]

"a few hours"

CHOP CHOP JULIE

CHOP CHOP

Admin Edit: Taishen realized he was a TOTAL LOSER WITH UGLY HAIR and threw himself into the ocean. "OH ALABASTER, GOODBYE," He sobbed, "I'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU..."

ADMIN ABUSE

THIS IS BLATANT ABUSE BY AN ADMIN

//you don't want me for an enemy//

[USER BANNED]