Half Truth rose on her hind legs, looking over the crowd. Acha, mostly. Satisfied with her brief overlook, she dropped back to her hooves and turned to Rose. "Loads of Acha here," she said. "Shame Changes couldn't come with us, he would have loved this." She flicked her ears and shuddered, shaking loose some of the tension she was carrying. She knew what had called them here. Somewhere out there in the desert was another obelisk, and they were going to find it and wake it up, just like they had woken the one on the plains. She was stewing in that same sense of dread- but this time it was different. She had Rose at her side and they were going to do this together. She simply adored traveling with her lady-love; there was something about seeing the world together that was just right. "I don't see anybody I know; how about you?"
Moonstone Dazzle
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 5:26 pm
Would he see them? He had no idea if they went to the swamp or not. If they hadn't, and weren't stuck, then perhaps he would see them while out, but it was unlikely. But if they'd gone in and got stuck... well he supposed he'd find them, eventually. He shrugged, excitedly, and then concluded it wasn't anything important at the moment. Outcry merely eyeballed himsideways as the doe left, and huffed at him at his seeming lack of intelligence, but he only puckered a lip and stared down at him, cartoonishly. "Yeah, yeah, I'm no good with ladies," he mocked the wolf. Instead, he siddled up obnoxiously to the beautiful pink buck and his little fennec with the widest, cheesiest grin he could muster. He'd been hunkered off alone on the side, and looked pretty uncomfortable, so what better way to make a friend than to annoy someone? The best ones to irritate were the ones who happened to be quiet, and aloof. Most of the reason was because they were just awkward and needed a friend. The other reason was sometimes causing trouble was just... fun. He hoped he could find someone to tag along with, however, given Mirewood had seemed verily upset about this whole ordeal about "obelisks" and some such. Better make friends than make people angry. At least for today. "Hello there," he pitched. "What's your name?"
CascadingRayn
anemosagkelos
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 5:36 pm
With Speedy, his right hoof friend, Unforgotten merged with crowd. He had heard someone calling a friendly hello to him and he relax a bit. 'I guess they aren't so bad' he thought. He turned around and saw a pink Kiokote nodding a hello at him.
He trotted over and said "Hello, how are you?" Unforgotten wondered it that was too formal, but dismissed that thought.
Unforgotten had another problem to deal with now. A very interesting blue/ back acha had came over and started talking to him asking for his name. The acha had a really cheesy grin on his face, and Unforgotten wasn't sure if he was just messing with him. Speedy had started getting uneasy with this new acha. Maybe the acha just wanted to make fun of him... Unforgotten didn't like that. He did heed Speedy's warning but what could the harm of telling another kin his name be?
"Unforgotten, what's your name?" was all he said to the acha.
Jun D
Pigxels
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 5:47 pm
That.... was when he realized perhaps he'd come on a little too strong. The weird look from the corner of someone's eye was usually enough for him to notice when he'd overstepped a boundary. Sometimes being extroverted was a curse. He backed up a bit, straightened himself a little more, and softened his smile to more of an awkward, apologetic mess. "Oh, I'm Jester," he said a little more calmly. Outcry only watched between the two disinterestedly, and instead focused on the rest of the crowd, taking in the distinct smell of acha with a bit of interest now. Mirewood had never left the swamp; none of them ever did, which until now hadn't struck him as strange. He sniffed the ground, taking in the smell of leaves and mud while he could, before the smell of hot and dry, and sand between his toes would take over. "I uh," Jester started awkwardly, trying to find conversation. "I really like your eyes and fuzzy feet. I have fuzzy feet too," he said, shaking a front foot. "If you wanna walk and talk at all, let me know... I'm new here and don't have many friends so far... Maybe I can see why now, oops."
CascadingRayn
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 6:00 pm
Unforgotten hadn't meant for Jester to get all sad. He really did look like someone without anyone to hang out with. 'Maybe I was a bit rough on judging him' he thought. He'd better fix this mess now before it caused trouble big time. He never wanted to hurt the acha's feelings. He was just being cautious. There was no way he wanted to the remember as "the kin who hurt Jester's feelings". That would be terrible!
Speedy just watched and didn't offer much advise. What would he say? But Speedy did seem to relax when Jester look so apologetic.
Unforgotten guessed it was his duty to now be Jester's first friend. The thought of helping someone out made him feel proud and accomplished. Then he realized he shouldn't be proud about anything...because his only friend was Speedy, and well Speedy wasn't a kin."Of course you can walk with us! This is Speedy by the way, very nice until you get him mad. I love your fuzzy feet too! Oh, we could be the fuzzy feet squad."
Pigxels
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 6:10 pm
"Ah, I'm sorry that was rude of me. I'm Ochre, yes. And your name?" Ochre isn't at all sure what to think about being an aunt, happy for sure, but also very conscious of how very long it has been. So much time wasted, surely it wouldn't have taken that long to find her friend before this?
Pulling her thoughts back to now, before they can take the bounce out of her step, Ochre sees the doe has greeted someone else, and decides to talk to the buck she'd called Papa. At least, Ochre thinks that's who the colorful Kiokote buck is, she hadn't exactly been paying full attention.
Giving Tender a friendly nod, Ochre sets off toward Watch me. "Hello, I'm Ochre. I think your daughter wanted me to come over and say hi." she says.
Jun D
Yes! Now I remeber, that's why they went together?
As the new arrivals slow to a lone straggler or two, the pink sand dog barks her last instructions and prances beyond the Swamp green - abruptly spinning into an Acha mare, the dog ears that somehow remain fluffing out as she tosses her head. Red-stained Blossom remembers every step of that first journey, from the desert to the Swamp. Every sprint of sand, every blade of grass. It had been long, so very long, and it had been hard. It had been unthinkable then, but they had dreamt it, and then done it. And now they will do it again.
Her eyes gleam gold, her teeth gleam white. Rouge could not be more excited.
"Welcome, welcome!" she calls across the motley crew, bouncing high with unnecessary vigor, "so good of you to join us! I am Red-stained Blossom, but you can call me Rouge, and I'll be taking you to the desert today! And tomorrow. And then some. I won't lie to you - this journey is not going to be easy. It will be long, it will be hard, and it will probably hurt quite a lot. But you probably won't die. I'm pretty sure you won't die. Some of us came here from the desert" - enthusiastic nodding at her once-and-current comrades - "and we didn't die then. You'll be fine."
She is doing so well, she is sure.
"Unless you stray too far, then you might die. The Ache won't get you if you stay with me - so stay with me!" she pauses to scan the shifting crowd, then continues with a little jig and a dazzling smile, "I promise we won't lose you, my pack has your scent. They will wait if you stumble, they will herd you back. It will be hard, but we can do this. Are you with me?!"
She does not quite wait for a response before prancing in a little circle and scarpering out into the clear, "Then it's time to follow the rabbit - to the Obelisk!"
Somewhere behind her, Tender's sweet voice pipes up, "Wonderful, Mama!" Rouge laughs, and throws out a last, high bark. Her pack scatters into formation, and the group is off into the West.
Quote:
OOC NOTE: We're off on our journey and will be traveling till the Meta proper starts on the 23rd (Fri); feel free to interact with each other, Red-stained Blossom, Tender, and/or any of the pack! New participants may join in at any point of time, even after the Meta has begun - just assume that your Kin has been with us all this time!
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 7:13 pm
It was very sweet of his daughter to send him someone to talk to, not that he wasn’t eyeing off all the beautiful Acha that seemed to be joining the group already (there was one particular one that looked extra cuddly and there would be plenty of time for cuddles on this trip) but he appreciated the gesture.
He nodded enthusiastically back at her and then turned his attention upon Ochre. Ah, he’d heard of this one before, if only because he was as was delightfully interested in everything Acha and puppies. "Welcome, Ochre," he boomed in delight. "I see you have your own menagerie. Rouge will be pleased to see you." Whenever she stopped scampering around.
"It is a shame my own darling could not be here." He sighed heavily. "My Perfect Star is in no shape for such a trip." His own fault. Too many treats.
Then it was time to begin.
A thrilled quiver rolled through Watch Me as Rouge stepped forward to make the grand announcement for the start of their journey. Magnificent, beautiful, sublime. Every word perfection.
"Bravo!" He applauded loudly and then dipped his head towards Ochre to add a slightly quieter but not by much, "Is she not marvelous? Now come along. You are welcome to stick by me."
sheepcakes
Jun D
Maxx D
just the very briefest of mention that Watch Me has noticed Beauty and wants a piece of dat action
Ochre smiles at Watch Me, only now realizing that her pack had grouped back up and were once again playing their endless game of tag. She'd grown accustomed to dogs under hoof so long ago that Ochre couldn't imagine what it'd be like without them. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Perhaps when we get back your darling could have puppies?" she says, not even trying to be subtle. She grins, almost ready to prance with her dogs. "I'm very excited, seeing Red-stained Blossom again is, well better than just about anything."
Ochre gives a small peep of surprise when the very pink sand dog turns into her friend, although a bit altered. She'd had no idea Red-stained Blossom had been chosen, a fact that gave her great joy and pride, and another reason to feel guilty. She shoves the feeling aside, nothing to do for it now except not let it happen again, and listens to Red-stained Blossom speak.
"She's spectacular!" Ochre answers, falling into step as they set off. "This whole trip is wonderful. The only thing that could make it better was if Mirage were here." Ochre adds, a wishful tone in her voice as she looks around, hoping to catch a glimpse of caramel Acha scales.
Ruriska
Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 6:35 am
"It's too close to the cold months," Stalker said for what was probably the hundredth time, wary after the hardships of the last venture.
"If the leaders of the expedition abandon us again, the desert is much further North. There's no one else that can go? Not that...I'm concerned for my own welfare, Sire, but it's a lot for the Queen to ask of you..."
Fair herself had many reservations. If the leaves had turned, she would have gone in King's stead rather than sending the acha out with even the slimmest possibility that he would be lost at such a crucial time. But the leaves had not turned. The command was still hers, and the delegation must fall to one of them or the other, in order to see how the tribes they had left behind fared, to tell them what had become of them, to warn them of the ache but to extend welcome if they ever ventured too close to the swamp's borders. Fair preferred the swamp's lush plants and animals, thick with the soup of life and death. Fair and King had built the tribe together, and while it was slowly recovering its numbers still only the shell of it was left, barely enough for gathering and patrols. To send King out again...
Stalker bristled, fur up and his tail curled tightly around him.
"And the foals, sire," he protested further, although they were hardly foals now. In barely a month, they had grown, still gangly and juvenile but closer to their full heights and weight, all strange creatures of the underdark and as magnificent as their mare and sire. Different from Fair's long-ago choice of brood, warm and robust foals of the spring and summer, strong and pretty and fertile. King's foals had been lean and secretive, but clever, and they would need all of it for the winter ahead. It would be their first.
For Stalker, it was the first winter in a long while they'd had any chance at preparing for and surviving in some comfort, with King at last at the helm. If it weren't for these damnable and (he felt) pointless ventures. What did he care? What did strangers have to do with the health of the Tribe?
He did not understand all of Fair's directives, and this was one of those times.
Toshihiko Two
Sugary Marshmallow
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Baneful Crew
Dramatic Hunter
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 6:43 am
King agreed with Stalker, at least inwardly. He didn't tell him this as vehemently as he would have liked, having agreed to Fair's task previously and this being more or less an extension of it.
He knew winter was coming on, he could feel it in his bones and in the way the trees slowly had the verdant life sapped out of them, turning crisp and dead as they braced themselves for the hardships to come. Or they would, they would soon. Everything on the air, spoke of change. "The foals will be all right." he said. They would need to learn to be, though King was an attentive father he believed always in harsh lessons, in order to survive as creatures of the darker places the foals would need to learn independence in his stead and to gather and hoard and keep for the winter.
See had already shown a real affinity for subtle theft and coercion for the good of the tribe, stowing important resources in places the airy and brainless ones wouldn't think to look.
"And we'll be back soon enough." he said.
Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 8:04 am
Jester brightened, glad that he'd righted his awkward demeanor. He really needed to work on his boisterous attitude and occasional insanity. He smiled, and then hooked a foot through his, leaning in close to his chest and shuffling his back feet excitedly in the mud. "Yay! Look at them, we're a nice contrast, too," he chirped, noting the blue and pink accented with black and pale silver. "Fuzzy Feet Squad indeed!" Outcry watched around and flicked his ears forward at all the sound and conversation. There were so many kin here, he'd never smelled so many in one place. And then of course the group began to move. He ducked his head and laid his ears back, uncertain, and wandered slowly behind the troupe, careful where he stepped and to be certain he was not underfoot. It was like walking with a pack, but the other pack members were either large kimeti and acha, or a group of smaller and leaner dogs than him.
Jester watched him, and tried to keep close while walking with Unforgotten and Speedy. Keeping together was, as Rouge had said, absolutely 100% vital. He serioused himself for a moment to chew on what she'd told them. They could die, but they probably wouldn't. He was new to the whole concept of the Ache, though he'd felt it trying to leave. It hadn't perturbed him much, but now he began to see why this was such a dangerous venture, and why Mirewood had seemed so uncertain on his eager willingness to go. He shook himself nervously. "We'll, uh, we'll be okay. We just stick together. It's as she said, the dogs all have our scent, and looking around, there's quite a lot of them, including Outcry. We'll be okay. Oh! I didn't introduce Outcry! That's... well Outcry. He belongs to one of the first kin I met, and so far, a very sweet friend," he said, gesturing to the wolf.
The wolf pricked his ear and turned his head at the mention and whined a little at him from his ducked position near his shoulder. "Come on old fellow, we'll be fine! If she's excited to go, then I am. It can't be that serious an expedition if she's so excited to go," he tried.
CascadingRayn
Jun D
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CascadingRayn
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 2:47 pm
Unforgotten was glad Jester seemed to be way happier now. He had adopted the idea of the "Fuzzy Feet Squad" immediately, making Unforgotten feel happy. No one had said many words to him before, but now here he was talking to Jester, and not getting ignored. The first problem of his no friend crisis was probably the fact that he never went out to talk to anyone, rather he liked to walk alone in the woods.
Speedy was running along happily with the moving group. As his name implied he was quite fast and left the "Fuzzy Feet Squad" in the dust. He then had to go back and find them in the growing group. That really annoyed Speedy. He had to stay close to Unforgotten and keep him safe, but at the same time, he wanted to wander around. Unlike Unforgotten, who was scared, Speedy was thrilled and excited. Living with Unforgotten was kind of hard, since well, Unforgotten could be kind of dull at times.
When they started moving, Unforgotten was unsure he was ready for this. He was really nervous and scared. They had a chance of dying, why wouldn't he be scared? He glanced at Speedy and noticed he was missing, and started freaking out in his head. They had barely started walking and Speedy had already died. Oh no his precious friend was gone! Will he was freaking out and mourning Speedy, the little fennec had reappeared from the crowd. Unforgotten was overjoyed to see his friend and nugged Speedy gently on the head and said "Don't wander off again...please. That freaked me out." Speedy just nodded his head knowingly.
Unforgotten had heard Jester talking about a she to Outcry, and while he didn't want to pry, he really wanted to know who they were talking about. He shyly turned toward Jester and asked "Who are you guys talkingabout? I didn't mean to overhear your conversation or pry but...I just want to know."
Pigxels
Jun D
Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 4:00 pm
Rouge only hummed as they traveled through the borderlands, save the occasional bark at her corraling hounds - but as the first rows of tall grass heralded them to the plains, her attempt at decorum dissolved. It had been years since that first, fateful journey, but every step still felt like yesterday.
"Imagine," she cried, her spirits high and her voice raised even higher as she scampered ahead, "how we felt when we first saw these plains! Children of the desert, who had known little not sand - such trees, such rivers, and this grass that could swallow you whole!"
She laughed, free and wild, "Was it not a sight, Ochre?" she called to her old friends, "everywhere we looked, it was green. Was it not the sweetest thing we'd ever tasted, before we reached the Swamp's bounty, Mirage?"
"Is it not," she continued, turning to beam at the crowd - the Kimeti, the half-breed Acha, all the Swamp's children - as she bounded backwards, "astounding, that we may now be here? How good the Motherfather is!"
And as she turned to run ahead once more, she trilled to herself, "And just wait till you see the desert!"
EDITsheepcakes
EDITMika_Yumi
I'm assuming that Mirage is here 'cos Rouge definitely wouldn't mention their expedition without addressing him as well as Ochre, ahaha, I hope that's alright!
Quote:
OOC NOTE: Thanks for all the RPing going on! The Meta proper will start tomorrow (Fri), so we should reach the desert Obelisk by then. Enjoy the journey there in the meantime! wink
Jun D Crew
Shoujo Shounen
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Shoujo Shounen
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 5:01 pm
It took some time before common sense caught up and reminded her that running the whole way was not going to make for a sensible trip back to the desert, persuading Rouge to slow to a more acceptable canter, darting about the edges of the flock.
"Cheer up, pretty lady," she trotted up to a beautiful, albeit particularly glum-looking, Kimeti doe, "isn't this a fine adventure!"
EDITanemosagkelos
On the other side, Tender ambled next to a rather quiet buck. "Isn't it exciting?" she tried. She hadn't heard a peep out of him, and it worried her a little.
Half Truth rose on her hind legs, looking over the crowd. Acha, mostly. Satisfied with her brief overlook, she dropped back to her hooves and turned to Rose. "Loads of Acha here," she said. "Shame Changes couldn't come with us, he would have loved this." She flicked her ears and shuddered, shaking loose some of the tension she was carrying. She knew what had called them here. Somewhere out there in the desert was another obelisk, and they were going to find it and wake it up, just like they had woken the one on the plains. She was stewing in that same sense of dread- but this time it was different. She had Rose at her side and they were going to do this together. She simply adored traveling with her lady-love; there was something about seeing the world together that was just right. "I don't see anybody I know; how about you?"
