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 Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:54 am
Aku had pounced on her at once, of course. She always surprised herself with how much she missed her little brother when she was away - seeing him again was a delight. It didn't take long, though for him to get down to business.
"Did Saint Jackie have your info?"
Melantho sighed and shook her head. "No - he hasn't heard of anyone seeing her around. I told him to send her after me if he saw her, but...well, you know Storm."
"The day she listened to anyone, there'd be daffodils on Casa Tiner," Aku said, rolling his eyes. Melantho bristled a little at the exaggeration, but she had to admit it was based on truth. "You're set on getting back with her, then?"
"I'm set on talking it out with her, at least," Melantho clarified, stepping into the stream and letting the water wash the mud from her hooves. "She left in anger. I can't just let it go."
Aku settled down on the bank with a sigh. "Storm does most things in anger, Mel," he pointed out. "Even if you do work it out, what makes you so sure she won't just...blow up in your face again?"
Melantho watched her wavering reflection in the water. "...I'm not sure," she said. "I can't be, until I talk to her. I have to make my position clear - if she's too much like Father I can't stay, no matter how attractive her other qualities may be."
"And what about the jealousy?"
"The fact that she can't stand you being with me all the time?" Melantho shook her head. "...I don't know, Aku. I...I have such a good feeling about her, even now. I know there's good in her. If there's even the slightest chance it could work, I want to chase it. ...Besides, you know how we both travel. We'd hardly be together all the time. More than anything else I want to...not be her enemy. That's the main thing. I just want us to be on good terms, not stuck with this loose end. ...And if there's anything more, it'll come in time."
Aku rose again and padded over to his sister, nuzzling her leg. "I just want you to be happy, Mel," he said quietly. "If that means you going off and spending some time with Storm, so be it. I've got things I can do, friends I can go look up."
"So long as you'll be all right. I want you around people who'll have your back in a crisis."
"O'course you do. You're my sister. Siblings worry. We want each other to be safe and not get hurt." Melantho sighed at that - Storm had hurt her, it was true, but the pain would be worse if she just gave up. But Aku seemed to be brightening, and when he spoke again she took the opportunity to change the subject. "...Speaking of friends, while you were away I met a very interesting guy."
Melantho turned to look at him. "Oh?"
He grinned. "Yeah. A Reya. But he's...sorta different-looking. Unusual."
"Now that does sound interesting," Melantho allowed, beginning to smile. "Do go on."
"Glad you think so - I told him to come find us here, so he should be turning up soon. Figured you'd wanna meet him..."
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:07 am
He was approaching the dark-coated pair from behind and some way to the right, and some way off the brown stallion paused to look the mare before him over. At first glance, she was as good looking as he’d hoped. Still, he had yet to see her face. Well, might as well rectify that sate of affairs as soon as possible. The scaled Reya smirked briefly to himself before setting off towards them once more, giving a nicker of greeting as he drew closer.
“Morning Aku,” the spined creature said with a nod and a pointy smile to the rosette-marked feline. “And you,” he turned his amber gaze onto the black-as-midnight mare, “must be Melantho.” Niiiice.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:28 am
"Ignatius!" Aku called with a huge grin. "Great to see you!"
Melantho stood and stared at the newcomer with an open-mouthed expression of delight. She remained that way for several seconds before she finally found the voice to speak. "...Ye gods," she managed. "You've got...you've got scales!"
Aku snickered and leaned against her foreleg. "Told you he was interesting."
"I'll say!" Melantho laughed. "Yes, I'm Melantho - you're Ignatius - do I ask? There are any number of questions on the tip of my tongue, but I don't want to offend..." She had a feeling Aku was on to a winner here: Ignatius was fascinating. Not to mention he was handsome, despite (or perhaps due to) his glittering scales and sharp spines.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:42 am
The tall stallion gave an amused whicker at the mare’s reaction; Aku had been right, she did think he was cool. “That I have,” he chuckled. “Go ahead and ask whatever you like,” the scaled creature said with a nod, coming a few paces closer to the pair but not so close as to risk invading personal space. “Pretty much any question other than ‘how the hell do I get away from that thing?’ is perfectly fine by me. Don’t absolutely promise to answer, but I do promise not to get snappy.”
He gave another sharp grin, looking Melantho over more carefully. She did have a nice face as well as a trim well formed body, but it was her coat he liked best. The shining blackness was almost captivating in its flawlessness. The only thing that matched the beauty of her coat were her eyes; their amber brightness reminded him of his own, albite with different pupils, and they were so... alive, he supposed. Many Nequus looked at you through eyes which, though they shone with health, were docile or vapid. No such here. Yes, he was very glad he’d met Aku but not solely for the sake of his pretty sister. The spined Reya shot a smile down at the small soft creature; the more meat-eating friends the better so far as he was concerned and plus Aku was fun to be around, or had been thus far.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:27 pm
"Oh, I know that feeling," Melantho said, rolling her eyes. "Back where we came from, black creatures are supposedly all demons. It's amazing how daft people can be. ...I was going to ask if you ate grass, but I just got a look at your teeth and I'm guessing the answer's no...Aku, that's why you like him so much, isn't it?"
Aku endeavoured to look innocent. "What? I like him 'cuz he's a good guy, Mel, not just 'cuz he's sane and doesn't think fish is icky."
"I do not say "icky"! ...I don't say "icky", promise - he's just trying to make me look stupid..."
"You did say "eww" that time you trod on a slime-beetle - "
"So did you!"
"At least I didn't shriek like a filly - mmf!" A muscular black tail wrapped itself firmly around Aku's mouth, preventing him from speaking. "Mrr-mmf..."
With a sigh, Melantho turned her attention back to Ignatius. "I do apologise for my evil little brother..."
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:36 pm
Ignatius grinned down at the blue-eyed creature and then back up at Melantho. “No need to apologize,” he said with a smirk. “It wasn’t me he was attempting to embarrass.” Yes, Aku was definitely fun. He might feel differently were the teasing turned on him, he supposed, but probably not for very long.
“You’re right though,” the horntailed stallion went on with another grin, “I avoid eating grass wherever I can. I man, if I’m desperate I’ll eat the stuff but I much prefer flesh. Especially fish and sea birds, though the feathers do tend to be a bit of a pain and end up stuck to my face. Sometime I end up walking around all day with a feather or three stuck to me and nobody I happen to run into ever has the balls to tell me.” The scaled stallion gave a snort of amused to annoyed derision; people could be so stupid sometimes. Not this pair though, it seemed.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:56 pm
"How dreadful," Melantho chuckled, releasing her wriggling brother from her grasp and hoping he would behave himself. "If Aku gets scales stuck to his mouth I just call him Fishface once and he gets the picture. Or Fluffy if it's fur."
"Oh, if I could fly," Aku groaned, "the birds I would eat!"
Melantho laughed, nudging him with a tail. "There'd be no birds left, and you'd be bigger than me. I think it's a good job you can't fly!"
Aku rolled his eyes. "Yeah? I'll remind you of that next time I have to sink my claws into your back to stay on."
Briefly sticking her tongue out at Aku, Melantho organised her next question in her mind before speaking. "Were you the only fruit on your tree? Or do you have siblings like you?" She supposed it didn't much matter - Ignatius was enough of a rarity as it was - but still, it would be nice to know.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:11 pm
Ignatius shook his head to the question, smiling slightly at the banter between the mis-matched pair. “No, I’ve no siblings. There were six on my tree when we were forming, but the others died when my mother did.” Well it was true, just not quite accurate. “According to my father, it was after that my fruit started going weird,” the spined stallion added, which again was true but not the whole story.
“Must say I’m quite glad I did go odd,” the fierce-eyed Nequus commented after a moment with a grin, “it’s made life really rather interesting for me.” Would he trade it, though, for the lives of his could-have-been siblings? He didn’t think so, he liked this life by and large and for all he knew he could have hated the other lives who had grown beside him until his mother’s madness.
Still, looking at the camaraderie between Melantho and Aku he couldn’t help but wonder what it could be like to have a family beyond his now long gone sire. Still, perhaps one day he would find out; there was no use lamenting could-have-beens. Life was for living, and anything could happen in the future even finding a family for himself.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:44 pm
Melantho looked thoughtful. She remembered her own childhood, being the only daughter, being adored - until the beautiful children had come along, three fine sons and a pretty daughter, and the tales of the black devils had poisoned her life. "Sometimes I wonder if I would give up this life for a chance to be some other colour," she admitted. "Every time I decide that I wouldn't - if we hadn't both been black Aku and I would probably never have become friends. And I'd be stuck back there as my father's bargaining chip, most likely. If I hadn't suffered what I have I'd never have developed my will, I think."
"And I'd just be another Rit among Rit," Aku said with a grin, "which would suck. Mel is awesome. Flying is awesome. Even running away from the Commandante and her goonies is awesome - life is one big adventure with Mel."
Grinning, Melantho patted Aku's head with a tail. "One last question, Ignatius, if I may - do you have a nickname? You're welcome to call me Mel either way, of course."
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:56 pm
The brown-scaled stallion nodded slowly. “Right, Mel it is then...” What to tell her? He didn’t want a stranger calling him by that name it was... personal. His father had called him that, and Annalie had until he’d screwed up. Nobody else. “I did, once,” the spined creature said eventually, “but... it’s sort of private. Sorry.” He was, sort of. He didn’t want to slight this mare seen as tehy were getting on so well, but if she did take offense at not being told then she probably wasn’t worth his time in any case.
After a momentary pause, which Ingatius -Ignac- spent lost in the past, the amber-eyed Reya shook himself and quirked a half smile at the black mare and her brother. “Maybe if you hang around me long enough I’ll tell you some day, humm?” Damn he missed the people who had called him Ignac.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:30 pm
Melantho couldn't imagine why a nickname would be private at first, but she thought about it for a couple of seconds and wondered if there was someone special who'd called him by it. That was probably it. She smiled warmly. "That's fine by me," she assured Ignatius. "Anyway, I can hear Aku's stomach rumbling from here and I haven't had anything since sun-up - what do you say we see about some food?"
"Fooood," Aku said with a huge grin. "You wanna come fish, Ignatius? I think Mel's eyeing that tree over there..."
The black mare was indeed eyeing that tree, particularly the clusters of ripe fruit on the lower branches. They would be firm, sour little things nonetheless, but she liked them even if they were too sharp for most people's tastes.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:42 pm
The scaled stallion smiled back at Melantho, Mel that was. It wasn’t often he felt grateful to another creature, but he felt grateful now; she hadn’t pried, hadn’t sighed or sneered or sniffed. A good mare to be around, and a beautiful one too not that he would tell her that just yet. It didn’t seem to him that the black Reya would want that to be one of the first things said about her. Perhaps he was wrong, but still, he’d made his choice and was sticking to it. Later was easily soon enough to let her know he thought her attractive.
As Aku spoke, the horntail turned his fierce gaze downward and his smile became a grin. “That sounds like a good plan to me,” he said with a nod. Shooting the grin first up at Melantho and then back down at Aku, he added; “let’s go and get ourselves some lovely flopping fish.”
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:58 pm
Rolling her eyes with a chuckle, Melantho headed for the fruit tree on the other side of the stream. "Go on then, you pair of incorrigible carnivores..."
Aku laughed and bounded off along the bank. "Wahey! Fishiiing!" There was a good spot along here, he remembered that much - hopefully there would be enough fish for two, because he didn't fancy competing with Ignatius and his spear.
"I'm glad you two get along," he said quietly to the scaled Reya once they were out of earshot. "She's had a rough time of it lately, and meeting good people always cheers her up."
Not that he wanted to jinx them or anything, but things seemed to be looking up.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:11 pm
Ignatius chuckled at the darkly-coloured Rit's enthusiasm and, shooting another smile over at Melanto, set off after the small creature at an easy trot.
“I’m glad we get along too,” he said as he caught up, glancing briefly over his shoulder. “She seems like something special, your sister does,” the freakish stallion concluded with another smile. He’d have to continue to associate himself with this pair. Despite his natural cynicism the spined Reya had to admit that, right now, life was looking pretty good.
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