[Job Thread: Auldwin] This Horse is Possessed

[Caoin]

Location: The Gifted Horse Shoe
Date: Fall, Day 20, 511 AV

Rothos had been pleased enough with Caoin’s performance to allow her to continue to work for him, and so they had set up a schedule of sorts for the days and times that she would work. It was a schedule that would work her hard, but not so hard that she didn’t have some time to help out her own family or have some free time to pursue other activities. This particularly cool and breezy day found Caoin working for Rothos again. Many of the pavilions had been hit hard by the fire that had swept across the grasslands, and Rothos was no exception. Caoin was pleased that the horses she had been caring for had made it through the fire with almost no problem. They had suffered from a little smoke inhalation, but had otherwise come out healthy and made a quick recovery. For the most part, it hadn’t had any effect on Caoin’s job, as she was still in charge of the cleaning of their stalls and changing out their water and food. Today was the first day that she was going to be working with one of the horses, since its usual trainer was still nursing an injury from the fire.

Caoin had finished cleaning out the stalls and changing out the water and food, so she lead the young mare from her stall to give her a quick check to ensure that she was ready for some light work. The Drykas woman ran her hands up and down each of the horse’s legs, checking that her legs were in good condition. As she performed this task, she picked up the horse’s hooves as well, taking that opportunity to make sure they were picked clean so that there were no rocks or anything stuck in the hooves while she worked the horse. Once she had examined the legs and hooves of the horse and made sure that they were all picked clean, Caoin lead her in a small circle, carefully watching her gait and movement to see that she was moving properly. Not noticing any problems, Caoin retrieved the animal’s yvas and slid it into place, properly fastening it. She vaulted onto the mare’s back, and with the yvas soundly in her grip, she clicked her tongue and nudged the mare’s sides gently with her heels to get her moving.

The pair made their way out of the tent and into the bright sunlight of the corral where the horses were worked. It was empty for the time being, most of the horses being either in the stable, the grazing pastures, or out with their riders. To begin the mare’s workout, Caoin urged her around the outside of the circular corral. Every other pass that the two made around the circle, Caoin urged the horse to increase her speed, working her way through the various gaits as a warm up. As she rode, Caoin paid close attention to the mare’s breathing and her stride; she listened carefully to the horse and paid attention to the way the horse felt between her legs, the way the mare moved and how it affected Caoin’s own movement. The Drykas was looking for any signs of the horse growing tired or picking up rocks or debris in her hooves that might affect her movement. She was also making sure that the horse moved the way she needed to and responded to commands properly. Of course, Caoin was also making sure that she paid attention to the horse’s own temperament and comfort; it wouldn’t be good if Caoin didn’t ease up when the horse indicated that she was being too forceful.

MizNo Word Count609

[Auldwin]

Auldwin had learned, you got away with a lot when you were a Ghost. Being a Ghost wasn’t easy, but keeping a low profile was far from difficult. Most people, when they say a Ghost, simply rationalized it away. Auldwin never stayed in plain sight for any extended periods of time, unless he was willingly conversing with a person of the Drykas community. Even then it didn’t take much for him to blink away in order to continue their conversation at a later time, when less people were present. Materializing would have worked excellently for him in order to blend into the population, if only he wasn’t so dreadfully terrible at it. His materialized form was more like a child’s painting, rough and unpolished. He tried to focus on particular accents and details, but he could never manage one without losing another. In the end the entire materialization process looked like a big mess, it was just easier to stick with the stuff he understood. Stuff like Possession.

There was a certain freedom in Possession. It allowed several experiences that the Ghost would have never normally had. It didn’t enable him to feel the same physical sensations he had when he was alive, but some of the views he had gotten while beneath the sea in the body of a fish were quite stunning. One day he would work on perfecting his ability to take to the sky as a bird, but another important creature to work with was a horse. Horses were quite plentiful out in the Sea of Grass, and moved swiftly across the land. They also didn’t look out of place, and thus he could gain knowledge and information without giving away his Ghostly presence.

The fire had put a real damper on things recently. Everyone was heightened in their awareness, and it was difficult to find a horse without a rider close by. Luckily, Auldwin had been working with one in particular, a mare, due to the rider being out of commission from an injury. He floated toward the stables in order to retrieve that mare and do a bit of possessive research when he suddenly noticed that some new Drykas was riding atop of her. Of all the luck. Auldwin moved toward the ground, floating along like a fine most amongst the grass, closing the distance between him and this new Drykas rider.

Rider or not, it didn’t change anything, he could still get his research into Possessing horses done. How hard could it be to control a body with a rider, after all? It wasn’t like he was carrying the weight after all; he was just pulling the strings on the muscles. He waited patiently until Caoin passed near him with the mare and then, when the time was right, he blinked into the mare and looked to seize control of its physical body. The creature was being particularly stubborn today, and Auldwin found himself having a bit more difficulty than normal. This less than finesse driven bout of Possession caused the horse to suddenly stop with Caoin atop it and begin moving in strange patterns. First it moved sideways, then to the rear. Shortly afterward the agitated equine backed up before shaking out its legs, one at a time while making a strange grunting noise. ”Back off you stubborn beast, I’m just borrowing it!” he echoed mentally, slowly overcoming the animal with his Possession skill, though not without tossing the female riding atop all about uncomfortably.

[Caoin]

Caoin was experiencing no trouble and didn’t anticipate that the horse would give her any. The work out was going splendidly as she moved the horse around the corral to warm her up. At least, it was going well until the horse came to a complete and sudden stop, throwing the rider forward into the yvas. Caoin barely managed to keep herself on the mare’s back and had only just righted herself when the mare began to move strangely. The horse moved to the side and then backwards with awkward jolts. “Woah there girl…” Caoin called out, “easy now,” she continued to try and calm the horse as she found herself being thrown this way and that. It was all Caoin could do to remain atop the mare’s back as the beast moved wildly about. Eventually, the horse seemed to begin to settle down, to shake out its legs, almost as if it wasn’t sure how to properly work them, or they had fallen asleep. While this strange behavior was going on, the horse made an unusual grunting noise that alarmed the rider.

When the strider was done tossing her rider about and appeared to have regained control of herself, Caoin reached forward to stroke her neck gently, her features pulling inward in a concerned and puzzled look. “Are you ok there, girl? What was that?” The groom’s eyes searched the ground around the mare, looking for any sign of a snake or something that may have spooked the animal, anything that would explain why the horse had suddenly started to act so strange. The young woman could find nothing, nothing at all that would have spooked the beast. She shook her head before once again looking to the animal and running her hand along the horse’s neck in a soothing manner. “You alright now,” Caoin crooned, as she waited for any sign as to whether the horse had calmed down and returned to normal.

Perhaps some sudden movement had startled the creature. She could see no other signs that anything was wrong with the horse, so maybe it had just been the movement of some small creature such as a mouse or a rabbit. Perhaps the other young stable hand had run by and she hadn’t noticed him. Caoin pressed her heels gently against the horse’s side again, urging her forward to see if she would move and how she moved; if anything was off with the mare’s gait, Caoin would have to dismount and check her for injuries. The young woman didn’t believe that the horse had injured herself, but one could never be positive until they had checked.

MizNo Word Count441

[Auldwin]

Finally through dedication and his experience with Possession, Auldwin was able to wrestle his way inside of the creature. Inside, unknown to any Human eye, his shadowy Soulmist was latching onto every muscle within the horse, from it's legs to it's head to it's tail to it's eyelids. Everything that made the creature up had to come under the control of Auldwin in order to achieve a total and controllable Possession. Getting animals while they slept was a bit easier, but Auldwin had done so much animal Possession during his years as a Ghost that trial and error mixed with a certain technique had enabled him to Possession even alerted creatures.

Wearing the horse atop his Soulmist, he took a moment to orient himself with the way the creature's bulk worked. Horses were the largest creature Auldwin had Possessed, as before them he mostly stuck with fish, humanoids, and had attempted birds. The larger body meant being prepared to deal with all that additional weight, and the effort to keep it all balanced. He also had to compensate for the rider on it's back, of which he had never dealt with before during any other Possession, as well as the strange harness the Drykas used when riding.

Slowly the horses neck craned around to look at Caoin. "Do I recognize her?" Auldwin thought to himself, viewing the girl through the large, dark eyes of the horse. They had begun to blur slightly, until Auldwin finally remembered to blink them. Possession was a bit more difficult than simply having a creature use it's own body. Auldwin couldn't feel any physical sensations while inside of the creature, such as the burning of the eyes from forgetting to blink them. The only sensation he did have was the strain on his Soulmist, which gave him some idea of the amount of time the body could be kept under his control.

Being unable to feel his hosts sense of touch meant that he also didn't feel Caoin's heels squeezing inward, or any other directions that she gave him that weren't verbal, he had to physically see them. After a moment of looking at her, the horses head swept back around to the front, and Auldwin began to move forward, trying to get a feel of the long and graceful legs of a horse. "It's something like this..." he thought, trying to remember watching all the different equines around Endrykas move about. He had to visualize their gait, which foot moved and in which order. There was no question, Possessing a Human was much easier. With only two legs to worry about and a lifetime of experience working his own body, suddenly taking control of anything with four legs was a chore, but one he had to master none the less.

"One two three four, one two three four..." he counted out the beats as he moved. Auldwin was accomplishing forward motion, but it was no where near as fluid as the horse had been on it's own. The movement was a bit jerky and sluggish, almost like the animal had just woken up from a long sleep, or was unusually drowsy. After a while traveling in a straight line, Auldwin tried to turn by raising both front legs up and pulling them off to the left, which had the unfortunate side effect of tossing Caoin back a bit. When they came back down, Auldwin felt the flex in the horses legs. "Ok...that's not the way to do it..." He tried again, this time turning to his right, he widened the legs and tried to turn them, but simply ended up partly losing the balance of the horse and having to take a moment to regain it. "...damn, their hips don't turn like a Humans. This is more difficult than I thought."

[Caoin]

One eyebrow rose as Caoin watched the horse crane its neck around to look at its rider with one large eye. The horse seemed to simply stare at her for what seemed like forever, without even blinking for so long that Caoin was sure the horse’s eye had begun to sting when it finally did blink. It was somewhat odd and creepy to the rider, the length of time that the horse had stared at her. When the horse did turn her head away and begin to move again, her movements still seemed erratic to Caoin, sluggish and without the smooth easiness that she had displayed before. The mare’s movement was even more strange and alarming when she attempted to turn. Lifting both front legs from the ground and pulling them to the left, the horse reared back slightly, throwing Caoin backwards. The woman’s grip on the yvas tightened, and her legs squeezed gently around the animal’s side as she tried to hold herself in place and keep from sliding around on the mare’s back.

Throwing her weight forward to counter the motion of the horse, Caoin just barely managed to keep herself mounted. Moments later, the horse lost its own balance, once again jolting its rider. Caoin could only stare at the animal in confusion. “What the... What is wrong with you, girl? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say someone slipped some drink into your water bucket.” Indeed, it was like the horse was drunk, stumbling about with an unusual lack of control. There was definitely something wrong and Caoin couldn’t risk continuing to work the mare from her back without checking her first to find out what just what it was. “Woah there, girl,” she called, trying to ease the horse to a gentle stop so that she could dismount and give the horse a closer inspection.

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[Auldwin]

The entire time Caoin was trying to ease the creature, an internal dialog was going on inside of Auldwin's head. Certainly he heard the concerned gestures given by the rider, but mainly he was attempting to decode the appropriate way to work four legs. "Maybe if I go like this..." he mentioned to himself as he began to try to move the legs independently, picking up the rear legs one at a time and shuffling them to the side while lifted the front slightly and trying to move opposite the rear. It was like trying to rub your stomach and pat your head at the same time, that was to say, it was going to take some getting used to.

At the very least he was turning now without breaking anything important and without nearly stumbling to the ground. Not having any arms to stabilize your balance was a real pain. Worse yet, if he did fall in a Humanoid form he could at least catch himself on something, or use the arms to break the fall. Not so with a horse. His movements must have seemed somewhat comical compared to the directions of the rider, as they had absolutely no bearing upon what she was trying to do or say, it was like the horse was attempting to show some kind of equine dominance, when really Auldwin was simply concentrating too much to really have too much interaction with the Drykas on the creature's back.

Finally he felt stable enough to the point where he could start moving forward faster. If there was one thing he learned inside of the body of a fish, you had to take risks to learn anything new. Slowly he started moving those legs forward, trying to remember how he had seen them work as they moved across the Sea of Grass in the hands of the masterful Drykas. Not bad, he thought, he was going at a decent trot, which was certainly better than a walk. Once he got the rhythm of the hoof beats it wasn't so hard. As he went to chuckle slightly out-loud, not confining his gesture of success to just his thoughts, the horse body he wielded attempted to replicate the sound of a man chuckling, which ended up sounding more like, "Huurh hurrh hurrh." in the voice of a horse. It was less of a laugh and more like a grunt.

"Hold on up there, let's try to turn now." he decided, suddenly trying to push off his hooves at angles. The angles created a rather wide arc, nothing like a sharp turn a real animal might be capable of, but at least he was able to understand changing trajectory now. Caoin was in for a rather bumpy ride, but what better way to really master the saddle than to have every potential awkward horse movement thrown at you in one go?

[Caoin]

Well, Caoin had intended to dismount and check the mare, but it seemed that the horse had other plans for her. The mare appeared to be completely ignoring Caoin’s commands, both her physical and verbal cues. The Drykas looked down, watching the mare move her legs in an awkward manner. The animal was acting as if it were drunk and being completely stubborn, ignoring her commands and cues. This worried the rider, who found herself stuck on the back of the out-of- control beast.

Rather than stopping, the beast began to speed up, moving at a trot, though she at least seemed to be moving in a more normal manner. The rider was further worried though when the mare made an odd sort of grunting laugh. Caoin, by this point, was completely baffled by the horse’s actions and had no clue how to respond to its unusual behavior. The horse attempted to turn once more and managed to make a wide one, nothing close to the smooth, quick turns the horse normally made.

As the horse continued to regain more control of its movements, Caoin suddenly felt a sort of chill run down her spine. There was something wrong with the animal, but she was unable to get the creature to stop long enough for her to dismount so that she could check it. “Woah now, I said,” Caoin called again as she tried to physically cue the horse to stop as well, applying a gentle pressure with the yvas by pulling back slightly on the tack. “Come on, girl, let me down,” she crooned to the horse, “Why won’t you listen?” The rider was definitely starting to move from confusion to uneasiness, which was never a good thing when dealing with an animal. Caoin knew she needed to regain control and remain calm.

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[Auldwin]

With each passing moment that Auldwin had possession over the horses bodily functions he grew to understand them more and more. It wasn't like watching a newborn child trying to walk for the first time, Auldwin was at the very least an adult with cognitive skills. He could learn from his mistakes quickly and do his best to try a variety of maneuvers in order to gain the result he desired. The more time he would spend inside of the body of a horse, the better an understanding he would have of it. Eventually, after a strong enough grasp of such a body as well as a better understanding of Possession, he imagined it would come much like a second nature, and then he could focus a greater deal of his attention toward everything that was going on outside of the body.

"I can do this...this body was made for it..." he tried to mentally reassure himself. He could hear the rider upon his back struggling to maintain some sense of control over the beast, but with no positive result. Auldwin felt for the girl, he understood what it was like to be afraid, but at least he wasn't trying to kill her. That was more than could be said for the Ghost that Possessed him. "Ok...there's a pattern. I can move them correctly, I've got the idea of the weight. I just need to control the speed. I think...if I keep the beat moving, rears and forwards it can move like a real animal."

He worked those legs, faster and faster. Slowly, like a band full of strangers coming together to form one coherent beat he picked up speed with Caoin upon the equine's back. Before long, Auldwin seemed to be attempting a semi-stable gallop. "Alright, yeah!" he called out, which echoed from the horse as a loud whinny. Auldwin took Caoin through the fields, moving as fast as he could push the horse. Turning wasn't so easy, but at the very least he was getting the 'straight forward' part of Possession movement. Slowly he came to a stop and felt his strength in keeping hold of the horse's body start to wane. Faint wisps of black smoke began to flutter from the beast's nostrils as it breathed out, some of Auldwin's Soulmist being visibly expelled.

[Caoin]

Caoin started to panic as the horse began to pick up speed, completely ignoring her commands. “Rothos is going to kill me. Rothos is going to kill me. Rothos is going to kill me…” she started to chant the phrase as she held tightly to the yvas, her body bouncing and jostling around as she tried to move with the horse as any good rider would. But how do you move with a horse that isn’t moving the way it should? More importantly, the most prominent thoughts running through Caoin’s head were about what Rothos would do to her if something had happened to his horse while she was in Caoin’s care. Caoin was the one riding her when she began to act strangely and Caoin was the one responsible for her if anything happened. She could lose her job, her reputation; she could bring shame to her entire family. There was nothing Caoin could do though, she had no choice but to go along for a bumpy ride as the runaway mare galloped across the fields, unless she wanted to roll off the horse’s back and risk injuring herself and letting the horse run wild. That didn’t seem like a better option.

When the horse finally began to slow down again, Caoin let out a sigh of relief. At that point though, relief quickly turned into a debate. Should she dismount and risk the horse taking off again, or should stay mounted, just in case it did take off. In the end, she decided she would rather not risk the horse taking off with her still mounted and she slid off of the mare’s back, her feet hitting the ground with a soft thud and a small cloud of dust, as one hand remained firmly on the yvas, while the other was pressed against the side of the horse’s neck. Caoin craned her neck back, turning her head to look at the horse’s back end and then her head, already beginning to look for any sign as to what had made the horse go berserk.

“What the…” Caoin began as she turned to look at the horse’s head. The Drykas woman was looking very close for even the faintest clue as to what was off with the horse and when she looked at the mare’s head, she thought she noticed something. Caoin moved around to the front of the horse, one hand remaining on the beast at all times to try and keep it from moving. Standing in front of the horse’s face, she moved her own face closer to the horse’s nose. She had not been hallucinating, there were indeed fine wisps of black smoke coming from the animal’s nostrils. Caoin was baffled by this, it was not something that she had ever encountered in her training. Her face moved closer to the horse’s, her own nostrils flaring as she sniffed cautiously at the black smoke to see if it gave off any familiar scent. Did the horse have something in its lungs, or nasal passages, some sort of fungus or something? Surely this strange smoke was tied to the horse’s unusual behavior.

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[Auldwin]

"No! No no no!" Auldwin cursed as he could feel his grip slipping. It was like holding onto the edge of a cliff, his fingers losing their strength. Below him lie the valley that he would fall into, and although he clawed and gripped with everything he had there were limits. Those limits reared their ugly heads to the Ghost, making him remember the boundaries of his own abilities. Eventually Auldwin couldn't concentrate on moving the horse's body about anymore, the creature came to a stop and allowed Caoin to do some in depth examination. Even the closest examination wouldn't have revealed anything out of the ordinary. Physically, nothing was wrong with the creature. The ailment was spiritual. Supernatural. That was until Auldwin's hold came undone.

Being so close to the horse's nostrils Caoin could see that breath. More importantly she could feel that breath. Instead of the hot air of a large animal being pushed out, it was cold. Icy even. The frigidity was the kind of cold only seen in the harsh winters that came to the region the Endrykas resided within. It was colder than hypothermia. It wasn't normal by any means, and no amount of medicinal knowledge could explain it. No, only a very special healer could detect the reason for breath that cold. A healer of the spirit and the soul. A mender of that which made up the unseen portion of everything.

Suddenly that black cold made it self more apparent in a most fantastical way. It spewed out from the horse, causing the creature to wrench it's neck back and forth. Black miasma streamed onto the ground like a fog, obscuring everything around it, but still not being completely opaque. That fog billowed and continued to grow in size and width, but oddly it also began to move upward. This fog seemed to rise up from the ground, instead of falling down upon it. It formed an unbalanced cylinder, with two wisps jutting out from it's main bulk. Something began to come into view, almost like looking at a mirage. The mirage of a man.

Much of Auldwin's Soulmist had been utilized in the Possession, but he still had enough to be seen. That mist flexed and pulsed as it formed the Ghost's body, appearing now before Caoin. He could see the woman from his own eyes now, instead of through the gaze of the horse. The horse, on the other hand, was exhausted from the act of the Possession. Should he flee, he wondered? If he left now, she might chalk it up to some hallucination. Or, he could stay, and try to communicate with this woman of flesh and blood. He could make no assumptions on how she would act, but she was young, and thus there was potential. "Hello, girl." he said in accented but understandable Pavi.