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 Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:05 am
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All Breach could see was the obelisk at first. A brightness that was like staring into the sun and yet she couldn't look away. It sang silently, hooking into her heart and tugging, until one hoof was raised as if to take a step. And then--
"I," the doe blinked owlishly as she turned from the obelisk, taking in the acha and--she flushed. "I, I mean, t-thank you?" it came out as a question, head ducking down slightly. She'd never been complimented by a buck before; being a loner had certainly taken it's toll on her. "You're...well, I mean obviously you're attractive," and while her voice regained some of its common confidence, it was easy to tell she was still flustered.
And then seeming to realize what'd she said, she blanched, "I, I should get back to the swamp, my mother will be waiting for me. I'll see you later." The words came forth in a rush and then she darted forward towards the obelisk, her side touching the glowing stone with a glance back towards the buck. Motherfather, I'm such an idiot.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:43 am
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Tender started, wide-eyed and entranced, towards the glowing obelisk. It was calling to her, and it seemed the most natural thing to touch it, as the beautiful Kimeti doe had done. It was only then that she looked back, remembering what she had forgotten.
"Oh, but, Mama -" but it was too late, and she was gone.
"Well, that's one less thing to worry about," Rouge shrugged as her daughter vanished, unfussed. It was a safer way, she knew.
"I guess I'll be taking the long walk," she mused, looking about at the milling Swamp Kin left behind, "I got you here, so I should probably get you back. And besides...it looks like it'll be pretty hard to convince that big lug to leave."
Watch Me was already planning to woo half the desert before the Ache overtook him, she'd bet.
The dry sands, the high sun, the bright chattering of Acha voices...she hadn't missed it, but she'd missed it all the same, and it was with relish that she kicked her heels into the sand, dancing about the plumes.
"Ochre! Mirage!" she pranced excitedly over to her old friends, "isn't it a wonder that we're all here again!"
Her pack followed, touching noses with their kith and kin amongst Ochre and Mirage's own pups, off-duty now that the journey here was done.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 1:23 pm
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The owlcat stood. It stared at the Obelisk without blinking, completely still. And then it stepped forward and forward until it was standing in front of the Obelisk itself. There was a bright flash as flames flared out along its body and then, it was not an owlcat that stood in front of the Obelisk but a mare.
Burning Bush turned only to give Rouge a lazy smile. It was an acknowledgement of the other legendary. She did not wait for a response before she pressed her forehead against the smooth stone of the Obelisk.
The land beyond the Obelisk was foreign and unknown. Burning Bush had the oddest sensation of familiarity, faintly, like a whisper in the wind. There was no color here. She had wanted to stay in the Desert longer. It was the land of her naming dream, unreachable until now. And yet, she was beset by some urge to return. It was not time to go there yet.
Instead, she began to walk. Hours seemed to pass by but she felt no sensation of moving. Ah, she thought. This is not the Swamp, nor is it the Desert. This is somewhere else.
This knowing brought her no comfort. Instead, she became increasingly aware of the stench of decay, of the weight in her steps, of the faint desire to sleep.
What would happen to a kin that fell into sleep here?
She had no desire to find out. Burning Bush started running. Just as the edges of her vision were beginning to turn black, a pillar of light rose in the distance. She ran towards. For a moment all she was aware of was the beat of her heart, of the thrumming of her blood, of the breath heaving from her lungs. Would she make it? What if she didn't?
But she didn't get to find out, for in the next moment, she woke. She was in the swamp again. As she settled back into sleep, a familiar song seemed to echo through her dreams. Try as she might, Burning Bush could not place it.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 3:19 pm
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 EC6B04
Ochre hadn't thought to try and describe the game, or puzzle. She probably should have, but she hadn't even been able to keep up with it herself, and she could see what colors lit up where. The whole thing was simply beyond her, at first she had thought the white and red lights corresponded to their counterparts on the left side. But she'd discovered that was not right. Also wrong, was the thought that the right side lit up in the order the left was touched. All she could figure out was the left side needed to be lit in specific colors, and specific spots, and that the right side somehow told them what was right and what was wrong.
Ahh well, it gave her time to just sit and be with Mirage. She'd showed them that only one kin could play at a time, so at least she was able to help a bit, Ochre didn't need to be the center of everything going on. Just being here, with her friends back home, and having done a small thing is enough for her.
She watches Mirage, wondering at his thoughts. She'd very much like to ask him, but isn't sure if now is the time, they'd only just found each other again. And from the sound of it, Mirage had spent these years thinking she was dead, or at the least that something very horible had happened to her. Better to let the emotions settle, and have a talk about them first, before opening up a new set of emotional trials.
"I wonder if our ancestors played that game.. and if they ever felt the need to touch the obelisk after. Or maybe, what if they did play, but never won?" Ochre says, taking in the whole area around them. "Gran used to tell stories, but none of them ever mentioned a puzzle. I wish she were here so we could ask. It'd be nice to know if the stones were ever more than a landmark." her gran had still been alive when they'd left the desert to find the swamp. But that had been many, so very many, seasons ago. Ochre had the distinct feeling that if they tried to go find their tribes, the obelisk would not be able to return them safely back to the swamp. And while she'd endure the ache if Mirage really wanted to return that way, she herself would not suggest it.
Sitting there in the sand and heat, soaking up the sun and listening to Mirage breath, their dogs still close, Ochre hums, off key as always. Not any particular tune, just random notes as they come. After a while she sits up, it would not do to fall asleep, and that's exactly what would happen if she'd stayed like that. "So how will we do this? Touch it together? Should we go shoulder to shoulder, so we're also touching? I think I could get the dogs to line up as well, would Wanders with Roots go along with that?" Ochre asks, not sure at all how this would work. "I don't know if we actually need to be in contact when we touch it.. but I'd feel a lot better if we were. We don't know what it will do, or how it will get us back, or even how we know it will take us back.." she eyes the obelisk rather skeptically. She wished she could just blindly trust her gut feeling, but this is so far beyond her scope of real and ... well, not real, that Ochre has a tiny doubt in her mind.
Grinning at Red-stained Blossom as she comes over, laughing at the two dog packs meeting, much sniffing and tail wagging and invitations of tag going on. "We were just trying to figure the obelisk out, how to get us and the dogs all back safely." Ochre tells their friend, she'd noticed Tender go, and gave a sigh of relief. Surely Red-stained Blossom would not have let her child touch the obelisk if it wasn't absolutely and completely safe. One less worry to have.
"Will you be going with us, or taking the walk with Watch Me?" Ochre asks, not sure if she should mention the buck's offer. She still hadn't had a minute to ask her friend about him, so had no clue exactly what their rules were. And now was hardly the time, Red-stained Blossom had kin to deliver safely home, the journey still was not completed. After, they can all catch up after, she promises herself.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:55 pm
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Mirage tilted his head at Ochre’s considerations. He had never known there was a game to play here, and he hadn’t heard chatter of one either, but now his friend was making him wonder. “What if there wasn’t a game to play? Did they always glow?” He turned towards here as he wondered, “Or did they only start glowing recently, with all the exploration?” Mirage hummed and turned his head away. He didn’t really know if they had ever glowed before, but he had never heard stories of such.
At the mention of Ochre’s gran, he turned to nuzzle against her. He was afraid that she was worrying about her family, wishing they could stay in the desert for more than the short time available. He was sure that if they stayed the obelisk would not continue glowing as a gateway. Hadn’t they said that it stopped glowing eventually after stones were touched? At least dimmed… He imagined it would not continue glowing forever. And the journey back to the swamp would be long and painful if the ache set in again.
They stayed that way for a while. At some point, Figment of Imagination laid down to feel the sand along his sides and belly, soft and rumbly and nearly impossible to find in the swamp. Though he had never thought he would be back the last time he left, the thought occurred to him again – he would probably never return to the desert. So he soaked up the feeling of sand along his form, sun beating down, the dry air and the whistling wind. And Ochre’s humming was, off-key as it was, was the perfect addition.
When Ochre finally sat up and began asking about how to proceed, the anxiety that had loosened in Mirage’s chest immediately balled again. He was unsure of what would happen when they touched the obelisk. He wasn’t sure that he could trust it. Would it take them home, as he thought? Would they still be together on the other side? The question made him wonder if the journey on foot would be worth it – long, painful, but at least he would be with Ochre the whole way…
“I… don’t know.” She seemed so sure, with so many options. But when she finally admitted her own questions, he nodded to agree that he would, at least, feel better if they were somehow touching, unsure as they were that it would actually help. “It’s worth a try…” He would feel slightly better if they touched together, while touching each other, though he would still be anxious until they found out if they arrived together. Mirage shifted closer to Ochre and leaned his forehead against her, “If I lose you…” he was afraid even saying it out loud, but if anything would balance it, he hoped that the end of the statement would, “I will find you. I will never stop looking again.”
Another voice joined them, and a smile spread across his face as he recognized who it was. “Rouge! I’m so glad we are all back here together.” Mirage took a step towards her as Ochre asked after her own choice. He mused aloud, “It would be nice if we could all return together…” He seemed to have a feeling, however, that they would not all return together, though he wasn’t sure why.
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:02 pm
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"Ooh, I wouldn't recommend you take the long walk, no," she hummed at her friends, "I have a responsibility to the troops I marshalled here, and so I will take my duty as it comes!" - dramatic pose - "But from what we've heard from the last expedition, the Obelisk there is a much safer bet. Well. If you push all the puppies through first, perhaps." She looked thoughtful at that.
"But if any of your babies get left behind, I'll be sure to bring them home to you."
Speaking of babies...as oblivious as she might have been to all the ups and downs of her dear friends' lives since she'd gotten mixed up with the Royal Rainbow Troupe and this Legendary business, she couldn't help but feel as if the energy between Mirage and Ochre had changed somewhat from the last time they'd been all together. Somehow, it felt like a good change.
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:20 pm
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After watching the doe he'd taken to fade away like a mirage without so much as a name, Sea of Butterflies had lapsed into melancholic silence. He scuffed his way around the group, listening to their chatter, and raising his head as a question presented itself that he could answer.
"They didn't glow, and there was no game! Not since I can remember, or not that I've ever heard. It was just a landmark in the desert– always there, good for navigating because of the small stones. Even if they were covered by sand, it was easy to figure out which side had them, so even when it was cloudy, we had a good feature to track by." Invaluable thing, that. The buck looked at the remaining kin, and decided he'd try again, given that his would-be companion had abandoned him.
"I'd like to come with you. But first, I'd hope that you would come with me to meet my family, so I can explain where I'm leaving to– and to see if my twin wishes to come with me. Would that be welcome?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:55 pm
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thyPOPE generated a random number between
1 and 83 ...
78!
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:56 pm
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thyPOPE generated a random number between
1 and 77 ...
57!
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:58 pm
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thyPOPE generated a random number between
1 and 73 ...
12!
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 2:07 pm
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thyPOPE generated a random number between
1 and 67 ...
58!
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 2:45 pm
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