[PRP] Family? (Laureat and Berry)

[Cajmera]

Grinning at Berry's maneuver, Laureat leaned down and neatly swiped a trio of berries out from among the dark green leaves. "Hopefully three will be enough; if I can't make it work with them though, I don't think they're meant to be in my garden." With great care, he tucked them into his basket, nudging them into one of the many clods of sod he always seemed to have there. Gardener's hazards, those!

But as he drew his face back up from the basket, it once more adopted the thoughtful expression. Berry's question was a very interesting one to ask him, though she obviously had no idea just how much! She might not have come from a 'blood family,' but his 'blood family' was hardly a good example of typical! Still, she had asked! "Well, I guess it depends on your definition of 'family,' Berry; I don't have a 'normal family with a mom and dad, brothers and sisters. I mean," he added with a chuckle, "I DO have parents, and they're very nice parents. But they're not an exclusive couple, and they both...well, they get around," Laureat said with a mischievous grin. "I have three full blooded siblings, as I mentioned; my own twin sister, then we have an older twin brother and sister. Then on my dad's side, I have..." He cocked his head to one side, trying to do the math. How many siblings DID he have these days? "I want to say...seven half siblings? And I have five half siblings on my mom's side. Some I know really well, a couple of the oldest I've actually never met. But I'm really close to my parents, and a couple of my siblings in particular."

He grinned at Berry; it would be interesting to see her reaction to that bit of info!

Anabis

 

[Anabis]

Berry put the circlet back on her head once Laureat had the berries he wanted from it, listening as he explained his family. When he mentioned all his half-siblings, she started to laugh. "Sounds like my foster family." she told him, grinning. "My foster family... the whole herd, really. It's one main stallion, my Foster father, and all his Mates and their daughters and the young Stallion sons." she explained, shaking her head gently, so as not to upset the circlet.

"Once the sons reach a certiant age though he'd drive them out of the herd to go find their own group of mares, while the mothers and some of the daughters stayed with him. Sometimes though when the other herds and ours met up,Lead Stallions would sneak away with the daughters, take them into their own herds. it wasn't ideal but it kept a difference in the genetics of the fillies and colts born each year. I suppose it also let me be adopted, the tendancie of those herds to take females from other herds for their own. Your family will most likely have their own differences, though I'm not sure exactly which ones yet, but I think they'd get along with my foster herd as far as the family set-up and lots of kids all over the place."

Cajmera

 

[Cajmera]

At the description of Berry's foster father's 'arrangement', Laureat had to bite back a smile. Obviously, he wasn't so different from Laureat's own father Guilian in some ways! Though clearly, they weren't going to be best friends any time soon. "My father would likely appreciate the idea of the herd, but he's an old softy when it comes to family. He'd never drive any of us off, and he would never be comfortable having his lady friends around in a harem. Dad thinks free love go both ways," he added with a mischievious grin. "And since I actually still live with my parents, he obviously doesn't view me as any sort of masculine threat."

With that, Laureat flipped his curls with a laugh; from his mother, he'd inherited a small stature and was relatively short and fine-boned for a stallion. Add to that his dramatically colored wing, curled hair, and abundance flowers, and you had a stallion who definitely broke the normal 'manly' mold. Still, Laureat had never felt any desire to be anything more than what he was; whether he was 'manly' or not had never been an issue for him.

"My twin sister, Laurel, also lives at home, though she's a lot more secluded than I am. And several of my siblings come by from time to time. Still, there are a lot of us, and we all have different lifestyles, habits, and preferences. Some are lifemated, with kids of their own, some are not...with kids of their own...and some are just floating. Figuring things out, as it were. And sometimes, figuring each other out," he said with another thoughtful look at Berry's coat.

Anabis

 

[Anabis]

"It kept us protected from rogue stallions, and predators like wolves. My foster herd wasn't Soquili though. The same as us, but... different, somehow. Colors like yours and mine never showed up naturally far as I saw, in any of the herds. I was really the only one with a 'strange' color. Any others with 'red' were more of a bright brown with a red sun-gleam, y'know? like they'd look light brown until the sun hit their fur juuuust right and then it's be a reddish-brown. More brown then red but enough to tell the difference." She noticed him looking at her pelt, and tilted her head a bit. "Is something wrong?" she asked, curious why he was so interested in the color... was there a scratch from a branch she hadn't noticed, a bug? A thorny seed, the kind that sticks to every passing thing and makes knots of manes and tails?

Cajmera

 

[Cajmera]

Interesting, very interesting. The fact that Berry's adopted herd was less colorful than she but had still taken her in was, as far as Laureat was concerned, commendable; he'd never experienced discrimination based on his appearance before, but he knew there were several herds out there who could be downright cruel to those who didn't meet their aesthetic standards. Still, the fact that the herd had taken her in when she clearly didn't 'belong' to them was wonderful.

But at the end of the day, she wasn't a 'blood' member of that herd. She didn't match them in looks, she didn't match them in...well, honestly he didn't know what else she didn't match them in; he didn't know the herd well enough, and she hadn't given him a lot more information to go on. Still, being a known foundling and not matching that dramatically was a lot to start with.

At her query, he once more shook his head, treating her to another long look. "Nothing is wrong, Berry, just...interesting. Interesting, and perplexing." Obviously he wanted to bring up his thought, but at the same time, he was hesitant to broach such a delicate subject. She might be a relative, but at the same time, she might not. She could be his niece, or his great niece...hell, she might even be his sister!

And there was no way to know.

Anabis

 

[Anabis]

Berry looked down at herself, and turned in place, first to one side, then the other. She looked the same as she always did, to her at least. She looked at Laureat again. "What is? You keep looking like I'm some strange thing, surely you've seen more kinds of Soquili then I have, with many more colors. What's so interesting that you keep staring at me like that?" she asked, curious. Was she so different, even from Soquili? It'd make finding her family that much harder if that were the case. Even more so if Laureat wouldn't tell her what made her so different looking that made him stare like that. Was it odd not to have wings or horns or scales? Was it so odd to be her shade of red? Was it her spots, or her 'socks' where the red faded to cream on her legs? Or her curly mane and tail? Did something in all of that mark her as 'other', and was it a bad thing to be that 'other', whatever it was?

Cajmera

 

[Cajmera]

For a long moment after Berry asked her question, Laureat remained silent, continuing to study the mare's coat and debate with himself. But finally, he decided that it wasn't up to him to withhold his opinion. Berry wanted to know about her family; she had absolutely no idea. Laureat had no way of knowing if he was on the right track, if Berry's coat was an aberration, from an entirely unknown source, or what. But what he DID know was that it was eerily similar in shade, if not hue, to his sister; his sister, whose own coat was a unique combination of their father's red and their mother's purple. His sister, who had a habit of irresponsible parenting and had lost three foals.

His sister, who didn't know what happened to her foals, one of which was that same shade of red-violet and had never been seen since he was a week old.

It wasn't probable that Berry was his sister, but it was definitely possible that she was some other relation. So after mulling for a few moments longer, he decided he might as well speak. "Oh, I've seen Soquili in a wide array of colors. It's just your particular color," he said in a somewhat quiet voice. "Because you know, you're actually the third Soquili I've seen who's about that shade." He paused, considering his words careful before he just said outright, "One is my sister, and the other is her son."

Anabis

The drama!

 

[Anabis]

Berry stared at him, and then shook her head and blinked a few times. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked, thinking maybe she'd heard him wrong. She didn't have wings, If he had wings, then his sister and her son would too, right? But... if the colors were the same, or close enough at least. Well that'd be the first time Berry had heard of anyone matching her at all, and for these others, Laureat's Family... it sounded huge, almost as large, or Larger perhaps, then her foster herd. If she really was related to his sister, then she had a whoooole lot of family to get to know! First things first though, figuring out how it was possible, since She herself didn't have wings. She'd have to go meet this Mare and find out for sure, somehow. Once the shock of finding an actual clue to follow wore off at least.

Cajmera

Dun dun DUUUUN! *dramatic lightning and thunder!* X3

 

[Cajmera]

Now that the proverbial cat was out of the bag, Laureat felt a lot better about his decision to speak. It wasn't as though he was telling Berry anything that was a certainty, but he WAS giving her something to think about. Nothing he was saying was untrue, and the inferences were valid. Because she DID resemble Amary and Guirien, at least in color, and that was enough to justify this potentially explosive conversation. So when she asked 'what', it was easier for him to respond.

"That red-violet color," he said with a nod to her coat. "Your coat is a smidge darker, but my sister's coat is that same shade; in her case, it was a peculiar 'hybrid' of our parents' coats, which are bright red and purple respectively. Neither Mom or Dad has a coat that color," he said with a nod towards Berry. "And Amary has a son who is the same shade, and two more sons who might? Or who at least carry the gene. So even though I've only seen Amary and Guirien with that color, it's possible there are more out there."

Anabis

 

[Anabis]

Berry tilted her head a bit. Red and purple Soquili could give this color? Maybe she'd seen her parents already and hadn't known it. Or Maybe this Amary was her Mother? "Could... Do you think I could maybe Meet them, sometime?" Berry asked. "Just to find out if I might be related? Just to ask?" She asked, trying not to get her hopes up, but it was hard not to, this was the first real lead about possible family she'd had in a long time, she had to find out if Amary was her mother, if she belonged in Laureat's family somehow, despite the lack of wings. "Please?"

Cajmera

 

[Cajmera]

Berry's mind had gone exactly where Laureat's had, wondering if there was a connection between Berry and Amary. It was exactly that thought which had given Laureat pause; he didn't know of any daughters Amary had had, but he barely knew his sister and didn't know if she'd had any more children. She hadn't mentioned any when they'd met those few weeks previously, but she'd been so nonchalant about everything that he wouldn't put it past her.

No, in Laureat's mind it seemed far more plausible that Berry was a granddaughter of Amary, a child of one of her missing sons. Perhaps it was wishful thinking on Laureat's part, but he knew how happy his father would be if he had any iota of proof that those two missing boys were still alive, somewhere.

In light of this new information, Berry's question was logical. Why wouldn't she want to see for herself the similarities, especially if she had never had even a guess as to who her parents were? He wished it would be easy to tell her 'yes, of course!', but the truth was a lot more complicated. How could he tell Berry that Amary was a vapid, shallow mare who had complicitly abandoned her children due to vanity and selfishness? It would be far easier to introduce her to Guirien, if it wasn't for the minor detail that Guirien had abandonment issues of his own and was currently on a journey of some sort.

Though perhaps that wasn't a bad thing...

Tilting his head to one side, he considered her question. "Well...I'm sure you could meet them sometime, but it could be complicated. I only met my sister for the first time a few weeks ago, and I don't know where she was before that any more than I know where she is now," he said with a rueful sigh. "And I don't know where my nephew is right now either...but I can offer an alternative, if you're interested?" He had started down this path, so he might as well finish it. "My nephew Guirien, the one who's the same color as you mostly? He was raised by my half-brother Tony, who lives..." He paused, thinking of distance and relative location. It was over a day's walk from his own home, but he was quite a ways away right now and had done some flying, so..."An hour or so's walk from here? Maybe more, depending on pace? And he's very familiar with your particular color."

Perhaps it was a weird invitation, but why not? Tony was more Guirien's parent than their sister ever had been, and he had seen Guirien every day of his life, practically. Plus he'd seen a lot more of Amary than Laureat, and Laureat knew his brother, who had been so invested in hunting for the missing boys, would take the same solace in the possibility they'd lived.

Anabis

 

[Anabis]

Berry was a little disheartened when Laureat said Amary was a wanderer as well and who know where she or her son would be, but any lead would be helpful in figuring out if she did belong to Laureat's family somehow or not. "Could I meet Tony, then?" She asked. Maybe, since Tony raised Amary's son, maybe Tony would know more about a possible connection. It would be worth the trip either way.

Cajmera

 

[Cajmera]

Smiling, Laureat gave Berry a nod. "If you're willing to do a bit of walking, I'd be happy to take you down that way. Tony's a better resource than me in a lot of ways when it comes to the family, since he's a lot older; I'm a young pup in comparison," he said with a laugh. "And Tony is used to seeing connections, or denying them; either way, I'm sure it would be a good, informational visit. And at the very least, it should be fun; Tony is a great guy. And a great example of how varied my family can be," Laureat said with a mischievous grin.

She'd certainly come to see that, she definitely would!

Anabis

 

[Anabis]

Berry nodded a bit, worried about meeting Tony. What if she wasn't part of the family? What if she was? "Alright. When do you want to go?" she asked. She didn't know the way, so it's be up to Laureat on when to go see this other family member of his.

Cajmera

Do you want to change threads for the Meeting with Tony, continue this one? Up to you! :3

 

[Cajmera]

At the question, Laureat couldn't help but grin. She was very considerate to ask, but was there really any alternate answer he could give? "Well, since we're in the area, I think we really ought to go over now! I don't know about you, but my curiosity is officially piqued," he said in the same pleasant tone of voice. And the crazy thing was, it was true! He'd been mulling over the possibility for long enough that he looked forward to getting a second opinion; besides, it had been too long since he'd visited his big brother.

"Though I know it might not work for you as easily as it works for me, so I understand if you'd rather see about setting something up for another time. This is a lot of possibility to consider," Laureat added with an understanding nod. Just because HE was curious and, like a child, wanted to go NOW didn't mean she was ready for that.

Anabis

How about we continue with this one? Keeps the links tidy; I'll just edit Tony into the first post ^^