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 Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:57 pm
 The last remnants of a late lunch were licked clean from Sanue's previously bloody beak, having already cleaned his talons before they set off again. Boar apparently weren't very common, but a rather pudgy creature with a short brown hide had done well enough, and his belly was thanking him for the filling meal. Sanue had saw fit to clean off any and all amounts of blood he had was able to get before they managed to press forward toward his companion's herdlands. It wouldn't do to make such a pecular enterance, as he was certain at least some of his prospective herdmates would have been unnerved at the discovery there was yet another flesh eating nequus opting to join their ranks. Despite Sanue's opinions on herd life and the nequus within them, he'd at least try his best to make himself some what presentable. After all if they could accept his fellow freak, what was to stop them from accepting another?
Still, he had to remain somewhat guarded. The prospect of getting his hopes up only to be crushed was not a very tasteful one, and he'd much rather avoid any mishaps. As was the hippogriff's nature to be somewhat considerate, even to himself. He had to admit, it was probably a good idea to be escorted in by the scaled reya, he didn't fancy getting into it with a whole herd if they happened to be paranoid about his appearance. Which usually happened to be the least of his worries. Down right fear and disgust being the worst of it. Selfish dreks thinking they were supperior because they were 'normal'.
This brief string of thought was interrupted by a single important word, one that made the hippogriff raise his head and erect the feathered crest that served the same purpose as 'pricking ears'. However his step did not faulter as he spoke up to ask something of his friend. "There aren't any titles I need to worry about, are there?" Titles. Ick. But if he must, than it'd be better to hear it from Ignatius now than a snippy superior later.
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:23 am
As his companion spoke up, Ignatius snorted and rolled his eyes. “Oh, yes, but luckily it’s not too complex; hellene is a good form of address to someone you’ve just met, using it as a suffix to the name of someone you don’t know well is also considered polite. The other one is just hallah, that’s for the captains, the herdleader, the master tactician and the chief ambassador. If I see any of them, I’ll point them out but there’s no big cause to worry; new people are given plenty of leniency until they’ve had time to work out who all the top people are.”
The scaled stallion smirked then, remembering his encounter with Meleager and the multitude of slip ups he’d made. “You can usually get away with 'forgetting' a few times a conversation,” he added, “just so long as it doesn’t look deliberate you’ll be fine.” Not that he’d deliberately ‘forgotten’ honorifics in the past or anything; not at all!
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:45 am
"Heh," the feathered stallion puffed with an equally bemused shake of his head. Titles seemed annoying, but at least he wasn't calling anyone master, or 'your honorable ray of sunshine and rainbows'. Gods, people got their heads filled with such stuff after awhile, and sometimes came up with the most ridiculous things to call each other. "I suppose I can remember that fairly well, at the very least it'll give me a chance to stare down someone who forgets my suffix. Sanue-fiercetalon." He shook his head again, pulling his stiff lips into a grin as he looked at his fellow freak. "And of course yours, Ignatius-sharptooth." It was all good and fun to make fun of titles, but that was only with his friend's company about. He couldn't imagine it'd help his chances getting in any if someone of power had overheard.
Truth be told it helped the hippogriff remember, titles were apparently polite with this herd, so it made sense to make fun of them in order to keep it on his mind. Yes. Hellene and hallah, easy enough. In a more serious manner the hippogriff bobbed his head and shuffled his wings, composing himself once more. "Yes I think I can remember them, though leniency is a great thing to have I must admit."
He was quite curious about the herd however, and how someone like him and Ignatius were treated, but honestly Sanue was more than relaxed at the moment. He imagined it made him every bit more fierce to be seen not only with his own mutations and striking talons, but to be walking comfortably with the draconic nequus must have given him quite a pecular look. Well, he imagined the same went for Ignatius. In truth they probably helped each other's reputations.
"How exactly do they treat ya around here anyway? I'm very curious about your herd mates, Ignatius-sharptooth", the hippogriff smirked, slightly chuckling to himself. Humor. What do ya know, he could be somewhat normal in coversation.
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 5:27 am
Ignatius gave his companion a pointy-toothed grin, and snorted in amusement; this was certainly going to be fun, he didn’t know anyone else willing to mock the taking of titles.
“My herd mates,” he said with a thoughtful scowl as Sanue posed the question. “They are... well they vary as any group of Nequus. Many of them are a bit afraid of me, but they’re not stupid about it like most people in the world seem to be. The ones that are afraid often go out of their way to watch me, or spar with me, or speak to me; they are proud and brave and work hard to overcome their fears. Those that aren’t afraid of me seem to respect me a good deal on the whole; as they’re a crowd of warriors they love people who are built for battle. There’s even a good few who seem a bit in awe of me,” the scaled stallion grinned over at his companion, “if I wanted a mare, I don’t think I’d have any trouble at all getting one, or a stallion actually if I swung that way.”
There was Salomé for starters; the mad girl seemed to adore him more and more of late. He could hardly have a proper relationship with such a deranged girl, but then he didn’t really want a relationship at the minute and the omega warrior would serve just fine for other purposes.
“Anyway,” the spined Reya snorted and shook his head, “that aside, I’ve never met a Hellene who reacted to me the way most of the world does. No hate, no running away screaming about monsters; nothing like that. It’s quite a nice change for people to be positively biased towards me because of what I am, I must say.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 7:27 am
The hippogriff's beaked muzzle clicked together a few times in thoughtful pondering, wondering if such reactions really did exist. It seemed too good to be true, but of course he didn't think Ignatius had any reason to lie to him. All in all, it was very tempting for Sanue to declare that at this very moment he had decided to join their ranks, but still he thought it best to keep looking around first. However, just because they reacted that way to Ignatius didn't mean they'd do the same for him. For one he imagined the scaled reya was a bit more fierce in appearance. Sharp teeth, spines along his neck and back, and in all around draconic look making him very intimitating. Of course, lets not forget that wicked tail either. As for Sanue, his upper half was covered in feathers; and they weren't exactly scales. Though for him his bird-like adaptions were more wicked than a shrila's, especially his taloned forelegs. He supposed he was a bit jealous of his companion, but the Jala knew he really shouldn't be. After all, it was good to be unique.
However the mention of mares had come to his attention and the hippogriff shuffled his feathered wings against his back. "Now that's a subject I've hardly explored." Then again, with everyone running away or cursing his name he's hardly met anyone brave or compassionate enough to get more than a two seconds glance at him. All in all, it wasn't a very attractive quality in a mare. He snorted slightly in amusement, "If anything that may be cause for my joining up." If he could find someone suitable anywhere, it sounded like here was the best place to look. Eventually, the hippogriff may want more from life, that was a fact he was well aware of. If not a relationship with a respectable mare, than possibly foals to give his weapons, it may very well improve their chances of survival.
He had to admit though, the thought of his own foals led to the thought of little scaled reyas, to which the hippogriff literally burst out into fit of laughter and chuckling. "I swear, if either of us happen to bring foals into this world it'll be cause for a celebration. Most assuredly I'd like to see any you'd happen to produce my friend." Imagine, little meat eaters running around. If a full grown nequus eating meat wasn't bad enough, imagine peoples reactions to foals doing the same. A very amusing thought indeed.
Sanue bobbed his head once more, quite pleased with the describtion of the Hellenes his friend had given him. "At the very least it'd be a welcomed change from the piece of dreks out there. I think I'm due for a more mature reaction from people anyway, and this sounds like the best place to find one." Well, he had practically decided anyway, and if it was too good to be true he could always change his mind later.
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:41 pm
The tall Reya laughed and bobbed his head in assent. “Of course; if I ever do have foals I would consider it a great shame if they didn’t come to know you well. I’d certainly like to know any you had as well.” Well now; he’d almost admitted affection for another living creatures; wasn’t that a change? A good change, he liked to think; wasn’t that where the Hellenes best strength lay? Wasn’t that how they had become so powerful? Bonds of loyalty and affection between warriors, friends who would fight side by side to the death to protect one another. That was what this herd, his herd, was about. There was no harm in becoming a little more like the rest of them and finding somebody he really cared about.
“It is nice to find a bit of maturity for a change,” Ignatius went on after a moment, “it seems to be another of their unspoken ideals. Pettiness is greatly looked down on here; even the foals seem to have a prouder, nobler bearing than elsewhere. Not to say they aren’t foals, of course, there’s just less...” the scaled stallion frowned as he searched for the word. Eventually he settled on; “stupidness. Well, unless a foal is born mostly black that is but I suppose we can’t expect perfection from anyone, even a herd that seems as ideal as this one.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:14 pm
"Indeed. I'd think I'd like you to meet any of mine. Or you know, meet each other if that comes and we both have foals around the same season." The more he thought about it, the more the idea seemed to grow on him. Heck, if something happened to him for some reason he'd be happier with the scaled reya taking over the raising of any foals he had more so than anyone else. Though he thought it best not to mention this, at least not until the situation changed and that cirumstance was upon him. Something like that between stallions was easily talked about aloud.
"Oh?" Humm, well it was good to know at least one herd wasn't filled with complete drekhole ideals. And he figured the last thing he'd have to do here was beat someone for looking down upon him in disgust, at least that's what it sounded like. Though Sanue did have to c**k his head slightly to the side, a fierce olive eye looking up toward the scaled stallion. "What's the deal with black coats?" That little tidbit seemed interesting, and he wasn't quite sure what Ignatius was getting at. After all, the hippogriff prefered seclusion, he didn't exactly talk gossip with passerbys.
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:30 am
Ignatius gave a short bark of laughter and shook his head. “It’s stupid really,” he said with a shrug of his wings. “A while back there were these black Bae killing fruits and foals in Shrilal. For a while there was a fad in the world at large to be suspicious of black Nequus, but the Hellenes have really latched onto the idea. They believe that black-coated Nequus are evil, corrupted, cursed or something and they’re not welcome in these territories... That said however,” the muscled Reya frowned, as bemused as ever by what he was about to say, “one of their captains has a lot of black on him, and I’ve seen a couple of mostly black people wandering around who are clearly herd members... So it seems that unless you’re pure black they won’t drive you out, you’ll just have a rougher time of it than most. Unless you’re captain Hades of course, but word is he got the post because he was the commandante’s lieutenant before the marks were formed and she gave the post of omega captain to him no matter what anyone else might have had to say about it. He doesn’t get any flack for his colour because most people seem to be afraid of him; a lot of them don't even use his proper name apparently.”
He had yet to meet Clytemnestra, or captain Hades come to that. It would be interesting to spar with them; he’d matched the herdleader in skill after all, so he might well be able to defeat either in a sparring match. If it came too real life battle of course, Ignatius smirked, he would probably have no trouble at all killing either of them, or even Meleager. He didn’t want to of course, but it was nice to feel confident that he could if he wanted to.
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:51 am
"Ah," the hippogriff huffed as his feathers ruffled slightly at his neck. Killing fruits and foals happened to be something even he had never been tempted to do, and he was a meat eater. On accident he had been able to taste the flesh of nequus, but that was during a battle and his beak was meant for tearing and ripping, not biting. So accidently, he had gotten a good chunk of some bloke, though the taste of fish was vastly prefered. Thus the thought of killing fruit and foals was rather disturbing. Not enough to deem all black coats evil however, so Sanue did give a snort of amusement at that. If anyone else, he should know judging one by their appearance was a rather stupid idea.
"It doesn't sound too bad then at least, if this Captain Hades can get a fairly respectable rank." Though it was a relief that Sanue himself wasn't black in coat, as if he didn't already have enough of an oddity to his being. "I must admit though, some of these people you've told me about, and rather anyone in general, sounds like they'd make a good sparring partner. Admittedly I had been looking for a fight earlier on my flight to Yisi, though I hadn't the oppertunity of finding one." And a shame that had been, he was still pretty fired up at the moment; his fierce talons gripping into the soil for a few steps as he thought about it.
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:24 am
Ignatius grinned over at his companion; sparring with this one would be excellent fun. “Well there’s never any shortage of partners; there’s lots of spaces dedicated to sparring throughout the herdlands. A few are reserved at given times for training the marks, and a couple are only for the marks but by and large you can just wander up and find someone to hone your skills on. If you do join one of the marks sparring is part of the daily schedule, you have to train against all sorts of different people; those who are good at the same things are you are, and those who excel in other ways. Yesterday for example I had to take on a mare in the alpha force, they specialize in aerial combat, and the day before I faced a member of the lambda, whose strength is great speed.” He’d managed to win both, though the match up with the lambda stallion had been a close call; it had been hard to land a solid hit on the speedy b*****d.
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:29 pm
"Perfect. A daily schedule does sound interesting though, considering I've mostly done what I wanted, when I wanted." Albeit it probably would take awhile to get use to. Could he do it though? At first he considered it'd be an annoyance, perhaps even get under his skin, but if the people here were as bearable as Ignatius had said they were then he could probably get over it fairly quickly. After all, finding a herd to accecpt him had been beyond his hopes for the future, even individuals were cutting it close. The feathered stallion snorted and shook his head in unbelieving amusement, unbelieving because he hadn't previously thought it would happen.
"I suppose I've decided to join up now, clean and simply." Acceptance, at least somewhat, his best friend and fellow freak, as well as endless partners to spar with. What else could a stallion in his position ask for? A loving partner maybe, but perhaps he'd be able to find a mare willing enough to try here. With a flick of his short tail Sanue stopped in his stride and gave a definative clack of his beaked muzzle. "Yes, I think I will join up." It was in D'ob, so it was fairly warm year round, and close enough to Yisi to where he wouldn't have to fly far for his meals. Plus, he'd like to try and perfect his hunting technique if Ignatius had found the team work enjoyable.
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:22 am
Ignatius grinned at his companion; “Excellent! I’m very glad to hear it; it’ll be wonderful to have another meat eater about the place, especially one who’s as good company as you are.” What a relief; he would have been really disappointed if Sanue hadn’t gone for it in the end. He could imagine a sort of future now, not just a continuation of life as it was. One or both of them would find a mare, either permanently or just for a fling and there would be foals to teach to hunt and to fight. He wasn’t quite sure about the rest of the parenting bit, he was rather too sharp tempered, but perhaps the mother would cover for him there, or perhaps it would be Sanue with foals and he’d just know them. Still, however all that turned out, he was pretty sure he’d be happy.
“Well then, we’d best pick up the pace a little if I’m to show you some of the major sights and introduce you to a few people before I have to go back on duty,” Ignatius said with a nod. “I’m sure you won’t regret this,” he added with a grin, “I certainly haven’t.” Now more so than ever. Sure he got on with many people here, maybe even counted one or two as real friends, but not friends like Sanue. Much as it was nice to be a freak, to be special and different, it was nicer to be special and different in the company of someone else who was special and different.
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:43 am
And of course it was good to know his friend was happy to have him here, it would have been fairly awkward had the scaled reya been uninterested in his decision. Still, he pulled his stiff lips into a smirk and bobbed his head, "Yeah, it'll be great to actually talk with someone about the splendors of my hunts, and I'm sure you have quite the tales to tell as well." He was rather curious at what Ignatius' biggest kill happened to be, hunting wise. Normally Sanue's diet consisted of fish, but sometime he stumbled upon the treat of a century. It'd be good to brag instead of hiding it from everyone.
"I'm sure I won't", the hippogriff assured, taking up the cue to swing back into stride with the draconic nequus. Admitedly it had been very boring at the beach without his friend, with only a few encounters with others; half of them which turned out to be rather unpleasant. Still, just as long as that black pelted, pumpkin marked reya mare wasn't here he was certain he'd have a good time of it all provided he didn't get under the skin of any of the officers. In rather high spirits, he realized that once in awhile life wasn't as bad as he had expected it to be. In fact, it could be quite nice, and meeting Ignatius had been one of the best things to happen to him. Just wait until one, the other, or both was having foals, they might even need to make up a faction just for the meat eaters. The thought made his feathers ruffle with excitement.
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:35 am
He didn’t really have any more to add to that, so Ignatius just grinned. This was great, this was excellent! Sanue couldn’t be officially accepted into the herd soon enough. They’d spar together, hunt together, just talk too. He wasn’t usually one for just talking, but that was because he had trouble talking to people he didn’t respect. It wasn’t that he disrespected his herd mates, he considered them a decent bunch, but a lot of them were thick-headed fools and of course the superstition marked them down in his eyes. There were a few he could talk to, but not many so the addition of Sanue - someone who he not only respected but who he also seemed to share a lot of his world view with - was most welcome indeed. Once in a while, the scaled stallion considered with another grin, life was pretty damn excellent.
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