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 Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:51 am
Of course, the Master Tactician snorted to himself, every so often something decided to go and be so very different to normal. A river changing its course, a star shooting across the sky... A tough dappled stallion slipping into one’s affections. The question was, the tall crossbreed decided as he continued to look up at the sky, was whether this change was a fairly permanent thing like a shifting river, or just one brief brilliant flash across the sky, soon to be gone and forgotten.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:55 am
There he is. Meleager caught sight of the slender silhouette of the stallion he’d been looking for, and paused to admire the picture he made against the early evening sky. Castor was looking up, hadn’t seen him approach, and Meleager took advantage of that to study him for several moments. The pale stallion really was beautiful. The herdleader sighed and dragged his eyes away. He should not be caught staring. Instead, he trotted quietly up the rise to stand beside the tactician. “Castor,” he greeted him simply, gazing up at the sky in search of what his companion saw there that was so interesting. “I was hoping to find you around here.” Truthfully, he’d been looking for Castor for a while. He was relieved to find him – where didn’t really matter. The grey stallion turned his head to smile at his companion. He couldn’t see what there was to look at in the sky, but the sunset promised to be spectacular. Hopefully, he thought, they could watch it together.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:08 am
As the familiar voice reached his ears, the blue stallion lowered his gaze and offered a smile in return. “Well,” he said with a nod, “you did find me... Well done.” That had probably been an awkward, silly thing to say but nothing else had come to mind. Conversation was not something that came naturally to him, but he did like to think that he was improving slowly. “I’m glad you found me as well,” the crossbreed said after a few moments, “I feel like we haven’t had a chance to talk in a while. I have been rather busy; as I expect you know we’ve had a few new tacticians join up of late; they’ve needed teaching the way of doing things. I can only imagine that you’ve been busy as well with everything you have to do... It’s nice to be busy, but it’s nice to be able to stop too, and to still feel more awake than asleep when you finish work for the day.”
Stop there; conversations required two participants, and if he said much more he would probably start either boring Meleager or making him feel awkward. Ignatius had been telling him things like that of late, now that they knew one another a bit. These things other people could do without thinking about were a lot easier to emulate now that he was beginning to know what all of them were. Certainly he was still making mistakes, and Ignatius told him he would always be weird, but he was doing better, and progress was always something to be pleased about.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:21 am
Meleager grinned. Listening to the tactician's thoughts on work, he nodded in agreement. He hadn't been that busy, not with official things, but he'd known about the influx of new tacticians, and he'd thought it best to leave Castor to his work. "I expect you deserve a break now," he said with a smile. "Were you planning to watch the sunset from here? It looks like a good spot."
The dappled stallion paused, shifting position restlessly. Damn this. Why did plans make him nervous? "I was wondering, though, if I could borrow you. There's something I'd like to show you." He watched Castor with his head tilted a little to one side in question. If this all worked out as he wanted it to, there would still be time to watch the sun set. And he hoped it did; if it went wrong, he'd be to blame for spoiling Castor's night off, and that would be bad. He didn't want that to happen - but then, obviously, he wanted it to go as planned. The grey stallion sighed to himself. He was being stupid about this, he knew.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:30 am
Humm... Castor frowned thoughtfully. Now he hadn’t really planned to watch the sun set, he’d just happened to be here with nowhere else to be for a little while. This was ‘freeform’ downtime in which he could do whatever came up without worrying about it. “Of course,” the pale-hued stallion said with a nod. “I had no particular intention of doing anything, so I would be happy to... to do whatever it is you have in mind.” It would be nice to know what Meleager wished to show him, but doubtless he would soon find out, would find out when he got to wherever the thing Meleager wanted to show him was if not before. It might be a surprise or something, telling what it was in advance might spoil it. He wanted to know what was going on as soon as possible, though.
“Shall we go then?” the lanky Nequus asked with a twitch of a smile; they couldn’t get going any sooner than now, after all and he would find out what was going on very soon.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:44 am
"Mm, yes." Meleager swung round, looking out at the land around them. Good; he knew where he was going from here. "It's not far from here," he explained, "Just the edge of Yisi." Now he knew that from almost any mare of his acquaintance - and likely stallions, too - that would prompt a torrent of questions, a sudden hatred of surprises that made it necessary for her to know what was going on at once... but not Castor. He was relieved to know that the pale-blue stallion would not try to wheedle the answer out of him. He was so different from anyone Meleager had felt this way about before; it surprised him, sometimes, and sometimes seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
"Follow me," Meleager suggested, and began to lead the way down the rise. At the bottom he stopped, turning to face Castor, and added with a hint of a grin, "It's a surprise." His eyes flashed with flirtatious humour. He was only telling Castor that it was a surprise in order to pique his interest.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 2:52 pm
Castor nodded his head in assent and set off at the well-muscled Reya’s side. “I look forward to seeing what it is,” he said with a nod, “surprises always intrigue me.” Provided they weren’t surprises like having his routines interrupted, or to have a battle turn against him in an unforeseen way. This, however, would surely be a nice surprise; Meleager liked him and had smiled besides, so there was nothing to worry about...
Humm, Meleager liked him. Why was that? Why, for that matter did he like, more than like, the dappled heardleader himself? Meleager was strong, he respected that. Meleager was intelligent, he respected that too. Meleager was kind to him, he appreciated that. Ignatius was all of those things too, but he didn’t feel for the scaled stallion the way he did about his heardleader. Affection, it seemed, refused to be logical in such cases. Perhaps that was a good thing; if everything happened exactly the way he expected he would soon find himself getting lazy and lax, and that was the last thing he wanted.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:30 am
"Sort of the point of surprises, isn't it?" Meleager looked sidelong at the blue stallion walking alongside him, smiling. The attempt at humour was only partly forced. He was starting to relax now that things seemed to be going smoothly. After all, this first bit was the easy part. There could be no confusion over the 'surprise' itself. The dappled stallion sighed and turned away. Not for the first time, he regretted trying to plan this. It made it so much more complicated, in his mind. But this was Castor, and it seemed fitting. He thought - he hoped - that the younger stallion would appreciate the thought he'd put into making it right.
"Shall we speed up a little?" he asked after a pause, turning back to Castor. "I don't want to leave you in suspense for too long." He grinned, then, without warning, segued into a rapid trot and then a canter. The muscled Reya glanced back over his shoulder at his companion briefly. There was no point making this a race - he knew Castor was faster than him - and so he held his pace steady. He didn't want to get too far ahead before the tactician had a chance to catch up. He probably should have waited, but he was restless, and he wanted to burn off his remaining nerves.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:13 pm
The long legged stallion nodded slightly to himself; he had missed the joke but agreed with the sentiment, of course surprises were intriguing. As Meleager increased his pace, the crossbreed nodded again and took off after the dappled Reya, swiftly drawing level with the other stallion. Perhaps, Castor considered as he cantered along at Meleager’s side, he should invite the herdleader along on one of his morning runs. It was a semi-private thing, his morning run, but he wanted to share it with Meleager nevertheless. Doubtless the warrior would appreciate the need to keep one’s body in trim, the Reya might even have a similar routine himself, so he could think of no reason why he would refuse. Something to ponder for the future, certainly; first he wanted to know what this surprise was.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:04 pm
Meleager was content to canter the remaining distance in silence. It wasn't far, and he spent the few minutes it took to reach the more thickly wooded area that marked the border of Yisi attempting to forget that he had a plan. He slowed as they entered the trees, but didn't halt, only checked that Castor was still with him and then continued.
It was quiet under the trees; quiet and dim. With the sun low in the sky, the light that passed through gaps in the canopy of leaves was red-tinted. Meleager picked his way through the network of trees and interconnecting clearings with care; he knew this area by heart. They were skirting around the edge of a small lake. This was one of the most prized areas of the Hellene territories in terms of where to live. His home - though he spent relatively little time there - was situated on the southern side of the lake, and he was currently leading Castor to the east side. They crossed a narrow stream, and the herdleader smiled to himself. This, then, was it.
He stepped around a deceptively thick screen of branches, beckoning with one wing for Castor to follow him. The clearing that lay on the otherside was modestly sized, but sheltered, screened by trees and bushes, and, on the far side, a selection of juicy fruits were spread out, just as he had arranged. Meleager glanced sideways at his companion, smiling, to watch his expression.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:14 pm
As he came to a halt, Castor considered the scene before him. Okay, so seen as they had stopped, this was the surprise; a tasty collection of fruits which, presumably, Meleager intended either for him or for them to share. It was quite an aesthetic setting too; naturally he had seldom come to this area of the herdlands, in fact he had never been so far into the prime lands of Yisi but he now hoped he could come here often. Peace, quiet, food and clean water in plentiful supply... Quite a perfect place to reside really.
Giving a slight smile, the tall stallion turned to his companion. “If this is the surprise,” he said, “it is a pleasant one. I haven’t had much to eat so far today...” So now what? He should probably wait for Meleager to make another move; he wasn’t used to having people do things like this for him and, as such, found himself unsure of the proper procedure. “Thank you.” there, that was always a good start.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:34 pm
Meleager smiled. He hadn't been sure if Castor would realise or not. Then again, he wasn't sure he would have. But he liked it, at least. "Um," he started, and then mentally berated himself for allowing those nerves to get the better of him again. "You know, the Commadante has her home near here, when she's around, and two of the captains live on the other side of the lake, and I have my home to the south. Don't you think it's fitting the Master Tactician should join them?"
The dappled stallion paused, a smile hovering uncertainly on his face. "You can bring your father, too," he added after a moment, and then he stopped talking. Going on about it would just make him seem a fool. The bulky herdleader subconsciously shifted his feet restlessly as he watched Castor.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:46 pm
The blue and white stallion searched his friend’s face for any sign of jest. He was terrible at spotting such things, but if it was really really obvious then he tended to notice. Still, this didn’t seem like the sort of thing people kidded about; there was nothing funny that he could think of about making an offer such as this that you had no intention of following through on, and it did indeed make sense. “Yes,” Castor sad eventually with another smile and a nod, “I do believe that would be fitting, and pleasant. Thank you, I should be glad to accept. I don’t know if trie will wish to accompany me here, but I suspect he might. I think there are few people in the herd who would refuse an offer such as this.”
He would get to live near to Meleager, would probably get to see more of him thinking of it. Had he seemed enthusiastic enough? He hoped he had, because he was becoming more exited by the idea with each moment that passed but... Well he didn’t really know how to express it beyond what he’d already done. “I would be delighted to live near to you Meleager.” Was that too much, or in the wrong direction? Perhaps he should be bouncing about and squealing like fillies did when they got something they really liked. No, no that lacked dignity. Grinning like an idiot was generally accepted so far as he was aware, but he had yet to master a grin that didn’t look stiff and feigned. Perhaps leaving it at what he had already said was for the best after all.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 2:20 pm
Grining like an idiot was exactly what Meleager did when Castor finally answered, and his grin only widened as his friend continued. "Good," he said, and then, "Me too," his grin softening into a smile. "It'll be nice to live closer together, see more of each other..." He paused. Well, now was the time, if he was to do this properly.
"Actually..." The dappled Reya took a couple of steps out into the clearing, then turned to face Castor, looking slightly more serious. "I must admit I have another reason... well, no, but I had something else to say, as well." Gods, it felt weird being formal about this. "You know we get on well, and, ah..." Oh, sod it. Taking a deep breath and forcing his avoidant gaze back to his companion's eyes, the Reya stallion said, phrasing it still more formally than he would have liked, but then he wasn't used to having to ask outright, "Castor, may I court you?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 2:31 pm
Castor blinked. For some time after that, he did nothing else. Okay. Right. So. Logic time? It was a comforting fall back, certainly, and might help him deal with this sudden development. Meleager sought him out quite a lot these days, therefore he liked him and liked spending time with him. Meleager had brought him here, prepared that delicious looking pile of fruit for him and offered him a prime living space which was, incidentally, very close to the herdleader’s own home patch. Meleager was now asking to court him. Did this all add up? What about the factor or Iris, of that Kallisto girl he’d mentioned? Well... actually the dappled stallion hadn’t mentioned wither of them recently. Humm... Meleager had once asked him if he thought it was appropriate for council members to court one another. He had assumed the Reya had been thinking of Iris. Perhaps he had been incorrect.
Eventually, the slim crossbreed focused back on the confusing world outside the nice, safe, logical confines of his own mind and studied the dark-eyed stallion before him. “Yes,” he said eventually, “I would like that very much.” It was possible that he had come to the wrong conclusion, that Meleager was jesting with him and didn’t want anything of the sort, but the very greatest battles of all could only be won by taking great risks. If he had said no or asked too many questions and turned the Reya aside from asking, he would doubtless regret such an action for a very long time. Now he just had to wait and see if he had come to the right conclusion or not. He hoped he had.
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