[PRP]The Small Things In Life. (Ithillún and Retrieve)

[junglerunner]

The Small Things In Life.
Retrieve ventures far from home chasing a bug, and comes nose to nose with a strange filly.


Mahogany Sunset's Teepee


Junglerunner's Teepee

 

[junglerunner]

Mahogany Sunset

Life was good at the moment, Olearius was a contented mother who through all her ordeals with Recovery had now formed a lasting relationship, and together had an understanding of each other and took each day at a time, dealing with the complexities of Olearius' character as needed. Olearius' had inherited her fretfulness from father however, and often times stressed over the welfare and whereabouts of her foals. Retrieve caused her the most heartache for no matter how much she tired she could just not keep him pinned down in one place long enough for her to focus her attentions on anything else, if only he wasn't so easily distracted. Today was no different and with her back turned for only a split second Retrieve was gone.

His nose was less that a centimetre away from a bug, he was just about to touch it when the shell on it's back opened, causing Retrieve to jump a little, backing off from the bug; he'd been stung once to many times, though probably not enough for him to leave the poor creatures alone entirely. He closed the gap quickly, just in time to see the little creature spread it's delicate smoky black wings and take to the air. Retrieve followed in a transfixed state of wonderment as the bug flew from plant to plant. Retrieve was a single minded foal and easily fascinated but the wondrous little world of creepy crawlies, and would follow each one for hours without room for boredom, and thus it was he followed the little creature so far from home. It wasn't until the bug itself seemed to tired from it's epic journey, landing on a delicate flower, that Retrieve stopped also. He closed in on the tiny creature, nudging it with his nose, but the ladybird seemed to refused to go any further, closing it's hardened red and black spotted outer-shell upon it's delicate wings. Retrieve huffed in frustration, causing the ladybird and the flower it had settled upon to sway, following the ladybird his gaze extended just beyond the edge of the flowers petals, he noted a nose. Following the bridge of the nose upwards his gaze met with the soft glowing eyes of another foal.

 

[xo maho]

junglerunner

Ithillún had strayed a little bit farther from home than usual today, but she was still within her limits - just a ways out of sight of the main herdlands, but close enough to be within hearing distance of her mother and sisters. She wasn't quite in the "danger zone" of the forest, and so had left without a guardian, prancing from flower to flower. Studying each one, Lún had discovered a few that she had yet to see - a tiny, pink star-shaped blossom with minuscule thorns; little white ones all bunched together with five oval-shaped petals. Though winter was coming and it would surely bring enough cold to wither these plants, Lún was unconcerned. She had yet to see a winter, and merely brushed it off, using it as an excuse to spend more time examining each plant.

As she was scrutinizing yet another new find, however, Lún was startled to see a ladybug land lightly on its center. Insects landing on her flowers was rare, but not when she had been looking at one for hours, as she had been with this one. It had strange, cone-shaped petals that she didn't understand, spiraling out from the tiny center. The colors were the most vibrant of any flower she'd yet seen, and she wanted to engrave them in her mind - and she was in the middle of doing so when that ladybug landed on her flower, distracting her. Huffing, she drew closer to it, nearly growing cross-eyed. Maybe it would go away if she stared at it long enough.

That, though, was when she heard it - approaching hoof beats. They didn't belong to her mother or one of her sisters; the deliberate, soft-stepping quality wasn't there. Looking up, Lún's eyes widened, for there was a colt standing before her. She bit back a surprised yelp and stumbled back a few paces - he'd startled her enough to get a reaction from her, which was rare enough to warrant a glare. Putting her guard up, she looked him over. He wasn't a Cerynei, that was certain; he walked too loudly, and he had none of their characteristic traits. Snorting a little, she greeted him - intruder or not, she still had her etiquette. "Hello," she said, a bit wary; normally, she didn't talk to others, but foals were different. As she had yet to meet a foal that struck her as bad news, she assumed that her mother was right - that foals couldn't be corrupted completely until they had grown out of their innocence.

"How are you today?" Lún continued, automatically finishing her sentence with the question.
 

[junglerunner]

Mahogany Sunset

Retrieve dropped his gaze from those glowing eyes just to check on the ladybug, ensuring it was still there, then raised his eyes again. The filly stumbled back in surprise to see him standing there but Retrieve thought nothing of her glare of reproach, he almost automatically flicked out his golden tongue to test the air, of course he couldn't do such a thing but once he'd chanced upon a snake and they seemed to do it a lot, so he'd mimicked the creature to this day. She greeted him and Retrieve simply stared back at her until she added 'how are you today'. Now Retrieve was a rather odd creature and no matter how much his parents tried to tame his oddities 'normal' behaviour just didn't stick to him. He tilted his head slightly then righted it before staring back at the ladybug, it had gone! After all this time following the creature it'd flew off without him noticing. He span around looking this way and that, trying to see where the ting creature had flew too but he just couldn't see it. He stared hard at the filly accusingly, and then twisted his neck to almost plant his head into the ground to stare up underneath the flower he'd followed it too, and then let all his weight fall to the ground as he collapsed in a heap.

He wiggled closer to the flower and then lay shock still as his eyes focused back onto the shiny body of the creature he was spying on. He sighed happily and relaxed, then from his present position he announced up to the filly, 'It's okay, it's down here.' He watched the ladybug circle the underside of the large flower eating up the tiny aphids which were themselves eating the plant. Contented knowing the bug wouldn't go far on a full belly he carefully wiggled away from the flower as not to disturb it and the ladybug, he stood up once more and smiled at the filly. 'Were you looking at the ladybug too?'

 

[xo maho]

junglerunner

Lún's eyes widened a bit when she saw the colt's tongue flick out - that was something she had yet to see on a fellow soquili. She had seen snakes, of course, but she had never seen another foal taste the air, as this one did. Observing him carefully, Lún remained in the spot she had jumped back to, and almost bolted when he gave her an unwarranted glare. He was behaving rather strangely, and she decided it would be best to have her guard up, at least a little, until he gave her a reason to take it down. Plus, it seemed like he was pointedly ignoring her question about how he was.

When he laid down, she almost rolled her eyes, but she was curious. If he hadn't seemed to be looking for something, she would have thought he was trying to take a nap, right there next to her flower. When he started talking, though, Lún was so busy wondering about him that she was, yet again, startled. She waited for him to tell her exactly what was "down here," before realizing that the ladybug was no longer sitting on the deeply pink flower.

"No, actually," she replied, watching him get to his feet. His smile was disarming - after the glare she'd received, Lún had certainly not been expecting that. Maybe he was friendly after all. "I was looking at the flower. Why were you looking at the ladybug?" she asked, slightly aghast that he didn't seem to have noticed the flower in all the time he'd spent searching around it. Flowers were beautiful, and ladybugs were, well... bugs.
 

[junglerunner]

Mahogany Sunset

Retrieve stared blankly at her for a moment, he could easily come across as being 'simple' in the manner in which he was acting, but that was simply his way. Finally after simply staring at her for what may seem an uncomfortable amount of time without saying anything he mimicked, 'No...actually', with that he closed his eyes very tightly and his shook his head, not side to side, but just a tiny vigorous motion as if he was vibrating. He opened his eyes again, though far wider than they were the first time and he looked at her in the most demented manner. He eyes shone with a golden light and after a prolonged moment he blinked and the spectacle was gone, but his eyes remained wide in disbelief. He stuttered his words, 'Youuuu wwwere looooking at the, FLOWER? The flower? Really.......' He laughed then, a funny strange sort of laugh though once he regained himself he snorted and stared the the flower, a puzzled look crossed his face, and more calmly he now he addressed her, 'Why were you looking at the flower?' The fact that he'd not answered her question didn't matter to him, not doubt he'd get to that, but first the pressing matter was, why was someone more interested in a flower, which to him, seemed to do very little for anyone or thing, than a ladybug.

 

[xo maho]

[Flower - [x] ]

junglerunner

Lún stared blankly back at the foal as he repeated what she'd said. She almost couldn't believe it when his eyes glowed, almost like her own. As he closed them, though, Lún could have sworn she had imagined it, for the effulgence was gone... But she knew what she'd observed with an undeniable certainty. Lún had barely noticed that the look had been rather creepy, having been too focused on his eyes to interpret the expression. Nothing could describe her thoughts when the colt laughed at her, seemingly in disbelief. Why wouldn't I be looking at the flower? Lún thought, the closest to outrage she'd ever been. It wasn't quite anger, as she wasn't about to get mad about something so silly. It was just copious amounts of incredulity. "I was looking at the flower because it's beautiful," Lún said quietly, trying to keep the alarm out of her voice. Indicating the flower with a nod of her head, she continued with passion. "Look at it - the petals are like nothing I've ever seen, and the color's like a sunset. Don't you think that's beautiful?" she asked.

Realizing, at last, that the colt before her had never answered her question about the ladybug, Lún decided it was time he did - she'd answered all his questions. Now it was his turn. "So, why were you looking at the ladybug?" she asked again, rather nonchalantly. Lún still didn't understand why anyone would care about a ladybug; sure, they ate the bugs that ate flowers, and helped pollinate them, but they were still bugs. Ick.  

[junglerunner]

Mahogany Sunset

Retrieve stared at the filly, then down at the flower, then back to the filly. He blinked once, and then simply snorted; beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to Retrieve he saw no beauty in the flower, in fact the concept of beauty in a normal sense was something which perplexed the colt. He shook his head and simply stated, 'Sunsets are red, and orange... and pink,' He actually put some effort into thinking about it and listed off a few more colours, 'Gold, yellow, purple, blue...' He worked methodically thinking of the tones as the sun sunk down from the sky and the inky blue darkness blanketed the nights sky. 'It's not all those colours is it, so really, it doesn't look like a sunset does it?' it wasn't a question it was a conclusion and without really releasing he may of offended the filly in some way, he leapt at the opportunity this time to answer her question now that his own were satisfied.

'I don't often see a red ladybird you see, I'm from the swamp and well, the orange ladybirds live more easily there as they prefer the climate. So it's not often I get to see a red one.' But before he could go into greater detail of why he was hunting the red ladybird he actually took stock of his surroundings. He looked around himself, not being at all familiar with the area, he turned about in an almost comical matter thinking he might find a familiar sight behind him, little had he realised the extent of his travels whilst hunting down his target. He circled back on himself and then stared at the young filly and simply announce in a rather calm voice considering his situation that, 'I might be lost you know... where am I?'

 

[xo maho]

junglerunner

As the colt before her kept up a steady stream of speech, Lún felt her incredulity growing even more. He had, once again, failed to acknowledge her question, even if it had been a rhetorical one... But, maybe, he didn't think the flower was pretty enough to comment? That's ridiculous, she thought, but turned her head slightly to look under the flower anyway. There it was, all scarlet and black, taking its time as it ate the malicious little insects that liked to eat her flowers. Snorting, she lifted her head back up to stare at the colt, taking in what he was saying as she studied his form.

So, he came from the swamp, did he? Lún twitched up one corner of her mouth in an expression of thought, eyeing his coloring. He could be from the swamp - he had all the browns and blue-blacks that Lún associated with a place as dank as that. But his flamboyantly golden upper half struck her as something that almost seemed too cheery for... what even was a swamp, anyway? Lún's mother had always described them as muddy places, where one's feet got stuck every other step and there were frogs, and...

With a shake of her head, Lún brought herself back from the tangential train of thought. He did have a rather refined way of speaking, almost like her mother's; this, finally, made her seem him as less of some strange foal she'd happened to run into and more of a foal to whom she could relate. Even that single, simple trait seemed to make something click - and the wheels in her head began to turn again, readying to answer his question. Her instinct to trust the other foal was kicking in again, and this time, she allowed herself a little wiggle room with her own abundant caution. "That's interesting," Lún replied. A thought of just how much the colt before her might know about insects skated across her mind just before she opened her mouth again - "You're on the outskirts of the Vanaras' territory," she continued. "I'm one of them - Ithillún, or Lún, if you'd like to call me that." Grinning as she finally introduced herself, she asked, "What's your name?" It took her a moment to realize that, so far, the colt hadn't answered any of her other questions: if he would answer this most intrusive of them all, Lún could only guess.

 

[junglerunner]

Mahogany Sunset

Soooo sorry for the delay!!!

Olearius had been not expected to have travelled so far, it was some distance now that she began debating if she had the trail all wrong, that she'd gone to far and missed something but tracking her son was a skill of hers she had to master ever since the colt has escaped from his basket and she didn't doubt the little clues he left behind him. This was far further than normal however and the anger had left her some miles ago, now it was the slight emotion of fear rippling through her heart which pushed her onwards.

Meanwhile...

'Retrieve.' It was just a word, spoken simply and matter of factly, though of course little would the filly know this was of course his name, finally answering one of her questions directly. Retrieve was somewhat distracted from his jolted conversation with Lún, he repeated the word, 'Vanaras' mulling it over in his mind. He shook his head, dismissing the name and staring at Lún, this mare was truly odd he thought to himself, though of course that was a slightly hypocritical thought coming from the likes of him. 'Noooo... he strained slowly to the filly, 'Where am I?' Not awaiting an answer, for he now didn't trust her to give him an answer worthy of note, I mean how could a filly who liked flowers over bugs know anything! He looked around him and nodded to himself and though he looked at Lún he didn't really seem to be addressing her through his speech, 'I'm in a woods; am I in the forest just north of the swamp then?... Strange.'

Strange indeed as now the colt had stopped in his pursuit of the lady bug his exhaustion finally caught up with him. He'd explored much of the forest surrounding the swamplands in the east and never had he felt this tired before, perhaps, just perhaps he'd travelled a little further a field than usual. Retrieve bend his forelegs and knelt down, then lowered his hind legs and relaxed upon the ground, this was a far better level for keeping an eye on the lady bug and he felt he needed to rest. Attention back on the lady bug he smiled and continued lecturing the filly on the life of bugs, not looking at her for attention, just assuming she'd finally see sense and take an interest, 'Did you know aphids, those green fellows eating your sunset flower, are gathered together sometimes by ants. If you find a plant with loads on, watch em' for you'll generally find ants close by, you see the ants eat the sweet nectar the aphids deposit. They look after the aphids, and their eggs, carnying them off to the ants nest... I suppose so bugs like this lady here, doesn't eat them, that means more aphids and more sweet nectar for the ants. And well ants, they are just plan awesome in general!'

 

[xo maho]

Lún tilted her head to the side when the colt spit the word out. "Uh..." she let slip, before closing her mouth quickly enough that her teeth clicked. His name was Retrieve, then? Maybe? What an odd name. She was distracted from her confusion, however, when he tried to tell her he wasn't near the Vanaras. Or was that what he was trying to say? "I can't really tell you where you are other than that you're near the Vanaras," she said, trying to get him to see sense. "This is the farthest I've been from home, I think. Hey, how far are you away from home, anyway?" she asked, looking around. There didn't seem to be a frantic mother anywhere nearby, looking for her lost son. It was kind of strange, now that she thought about it - Lún was only allowed out of sight for a minute because she'd made a solemn promise to stay near the herd. Was it normal for foals to wander around by themselves? Of course not, she thought, shaking her head a little. This foal was generating a bunch of questions that she couldn't answer. Or Retrieve was, since that was probably how she should think of him now.

Her attention snapping back to Retrieve as he started talking again, Lún looked down at the golden-and-brown form now lying on the ground. "That's cool," she said quietly, wondering if she'd misjudged this foal's seemingly misplaced admiration for insects. Lún was sure that she'd probably never actually like insects - they were too creepy-crawly - but maybe she could admire them from afar, since she was learning about them. "So they take care of them?" she asked, curious. "Like our mamas take care of us? Do they do that with any other bugs, or is it just the ones that eat my plants?" She wasn't exactly a fan of aphids, but her mother had always told her that she wasn't allowed to squish them on purpose. They were a part of nature, too, and deserved as much of a chance to survive as everybody else. "What else do ants do?" Lún almost asked more questions, but shut her mouth again, realizing she'd asked him five or so already. He'd already been not-so-forthcoming or coherent when answering her other ones, so bombarding Retrieve with questions probably wasn't the best thing to do.

junglerunner

My turn to apologize. >.< I think I'll be slow until mid-June.  

[junglerunner]

Mahogany Sunset

Retrieve took his focus off the ladybug for a split second staring around the flower stem and straight into the softly glowing eyes of Lún, a cross hair shaped unnatural light flashed over his own eyes then vanished, a strange smile spread on his lips and then he simply looked back at the ladybug. 'I suppose they do, though my mother does a little more than an ant would for an aphid I guess. Ants look after themselves, they have massive colonies and work together to build the most amazing homes, all different shapes and sizes, and that depends on the types of ants too. They care for other bugs too, all generally ones that produce the honeydew they like eating...' He didn't seem to pause or take breath and continued his almost ranting like lecture, though it took a slight twist in direction, 'Ladybugs though, if they didn't come and eat the mealybugs ants also protect, which is generally pretty cool to see sometimes because the ants fight the ladybugs, protecting them from being eaten of course. If the ladybugs win, which is hard against lots of ants really, they eat the mealybugs, but generally they lose.' An evil grin spread across his face as he pictured a ladybug being torn apart by ants. 'Mealybugs like eating lots of good plants and they kill 'em off, so really then, depending on what your wanting, ants are the baddies for protecting the mealybugs... ants are cool though. Ya' know though, ladybugs hibernate in the winter, do you know what they call a group of ladybugs in hibernation?' He paused for a split second, just enough perhaps for Lún to inhale before replying but he simply carried on without waiting, 'A lovely of ladybugs... Your pretty lovely you know?!'

That stopped Retrieve in his tracks, usually he didn't talk this much, but then he was talking about bugs, and generally speaking there was no stopping him then. His mind worked quickly, and his mouth equally so but he generally didn't always have time to edit his thoughts before they reached his mouth and this was one of the moments, more than that, he himself was rather surprised at what he'd just said. He stared bemused at the ladybug and then around the flower stem to Lún. She'd bewitched him! There was no other explanation for it! He began to worry.


Her sons scent was becoming stronger and stronger, and the worry Olearius had felt was now beginning to fade she hurried her pace to a canter. Her thoughts flickered between wanting to simply to nuzzle and bring Retrieve close to her, to felt the warmth of his little body close to her and chastising him for this epic escapade he'd taken, further from home than he'd been before and farther than she'd even thought him capable of travelling.

She broke through a section of underground and there was her son laying on the ground, staring classically as she'd seen him many a time before, at the underside of some plant. Her eyes solely focused on her son she didn't even noticed the small green form of his newly antiquated friend.

'Retrieve!'

She stepped forwards to her son and then froze shock still, she heard Illudin stir in the dead shell of a tree attached as ever to her back. She would not let him poison her thoughts, she carried on forwards pushing all negative thoughts from her head and continued on closing the gap between her and her son. She rounded on Retrieve, bowing her head she nuzzled him into her and sighed contently. Whispering she gently told him off, not capable of anything stronger, 'Don't stray so far from my side, ever ever again.' For the first time since entering the area, now contented with finding her son she noted the small filly a pace away from her and her son. She smiled softly and the filly though a light entered her eyes that suggested she feared the little female, though the smile do not waver. Her voice quivered ever so slightly as she spoke to her son, keeping an ever fearful eye on the filly. 'You've made yourself a friend?'

Retireve was distracted from staring at Lún when the line of his sight was broken by the flight of the ladybug, which had been disturbed from the noise of his mother coming into the vicinity. 'Retireve', he heard her voice but didn't move, this almost individual form of hide a seek he and his mother had between them had a form of routine he was very familiar with, he waited for the comforting touch, (though he'd never admit it), of his mother nuzzling him to her. She had a tiredness he'd never noted in her voice before though, she spotted Lún then. He twisted then to whisper in his mother's ear, 'She's a witch, better not anger her, she's already cast a spell on me.'

Olearius' eyes widened as her son whispered in her ear and she starred at the young filly, frozen temporarily to the spot.

 

[xo maho]

Ithillún heard the hoofbeats crashing through the undergrowth long before their owner arrived, her impressively tuned ears catching on tens of yards before she even saw a sign of her. Retrieve had not moved, however, and she was not sure whether she should expect him to or not - he had already been staring at that lady bug for so long. Did he know the footsteps? Was that why he had not moved? Maybe that was it! If that was so, well... What did she have to fear?

But then again, if he did not know the footsteps and was simply too absorbed in his precious little ladybug - too absorbed even to answer her questions yet - maybe it would be best to move? She could not just leave him here, though. Even if he was weird, the weirdest of oddities (and that was saying something, given what she had already been exposed to, between her sisters and her mother), if she was in danger, then so was he. And his was a life, just like hers; she could not allow it to be wasted just because she had frozen in inaction. Just as she was about to get up, however, a big mare broke through the bushes right in front of her. It surprised Lún so much that her eyes widened and she froze, just like a fawn. Not good, not good, not good, she thought as the mare approached Retrieve, and it was then that Ithillún noticed the resemblance: she had the gold coloring, the swampy grey-brown, a similar mane and tail... What was different about her was that she had nature!

It was there, sitting on her back, a small tree. Little stones lined the mare's back around the tree. And so, when Retrieve quietly called her a witch, she ignored it at first; Lún's wide, glowing eyes were focused on the tree on the mare's back. It was missing leaves, like it was dormant... Odd, she thought, but then she caught on to Retrieve's words. "I am not a witch!" she exclaimed indignantly, getting to her feet and glaring down at the offending colt. Whatever that is, it sounds bad. "I'm a Cerynei, a soquili! My mother and father live over there," she said, indicating with a point and flick of her stubby tail, "and I don't know any spells, whatever those are." Huffing, she turned her gaze on the mare. "He was trying to tell me about these bugs he like, but he won't answer any of my questions. They're eating my plants. I want to know what's so good about them that he likes them so much!" Maybe the mare could answer her. She looked like his mom, after all - surely she knew him better than Lún did. Maybe she could decode his cryptic little responses.

junglerunner