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 Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 pm
 There were sections of the swamps that most of the kimeti had learned not to venture in, handed the advice from elders who had strayed too far, or had heard it from others. Sometimes the warnings came in the form of a tale of some unfortunate foal who fell in a pit of mud and never came out, or got swallowed up by an alligator, or foolishly followed his songbird or moth into a dark tangle of brambles and was eaten by something Horrible and Bad and Scary.
These were the places that Longstride liked best; his parents had bemoaned his sense of adventure as a foal, but he'd managed to kick the alligator and crawl out of the pit of mud and find his way through the brambles. In short, he'd made it to adulthood, no matter how many sighs and sidelong glances had followed him there -- and he loved those places because he could survive them.
Except maybe he'd gotten in over his head just a little bit here... not that he'd ever mention it. And almost literally.
He was covered in thick greenish-brown mud from neck to hooves, having just pulled himself out of a patch of sucking mud that had looked quite a bit more shallow than it'd been in truth. Shaking himself had done nothing to get it off of him -- it was thick and full of dirt clods and smelled awful [not that was a deterrant, usually, but now it was just annoying]. Longstride made his way to a clear stream a little ways away, placing his steps a bit more carefully than he had before.
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 3:02 pm
    The day had started out early, as per usual. But what she hadn't been expecting was to be so sleepy! With her eyes half closed and her hooves practically dragging along in the mud, she didn't realise what she had stumbled into until it was far too late.
She had just seen her three snakes slither over the ground in front of her with perfect ease, but when she stepped on that very same ground... it began to pull her in. By the time she could feel herself sinking her front legs were already in to the knees and the hind ones were quickly following. Her eyes snapped open and her head jerked up to look around. Yup. She had managed to make her way straight into a pool of sinking mud. She groaned and began to pull at her legs, but finding no use to that, she instead began to make her way forwards, walking and half-swimming trying to find the other end of the damned thing. But before long, instead of finding her way out, she instead sank further and further in, and this was not acceptable. Not at all.
Down to her neck and making little to no progress to getting out herself and gave out one last angry groan before she swallowed her pride and called out, "Anyone else recently found this damned sinking mud pool?!"
Angry as she was, she could tell when she had dug herself in too deep -literally. There was no way she could make it out of here without something solid to hold onto or pull on, and everything of that sort was out of reach. Even her faithful snakes were at a loss at this point slithered away, looking for something or someone that could help. They made their way into the brush and hissed as loud as they could, searching, and should they find someone, they would quickly wind a circle around them and try to lead them back to Cold-Blood.
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:12 pm
The water in the pool was clear and warm -- and it was, to its credit, still warm when Longstride left it. How clear it was remained another story entirely, but the tan and cream of his coat was now just that, instead of being covered in thick greenish-brown mud.
Planting all four feet on the shore of the pool and giving himself a thorough shake, Longstride opens his eyes to see three snakes, two blue and a gold, winding a circle around him. Normal snakes don't do that. He's seen a fair few -- most of them slink off into the reeds when approached. They do not, in his estimation, seek people out. When they all turn as one and slither off into the swamp, and in the direction he just came from, he can't help but follow, and do so with an amused little smile curling his lips...
Until he finds the doe in thick, smelly mud up to her neck. He knows better than to approach the mud more than he has already, so he dances in place for a moment and calls out to her in a hoarse voice, "Stay right there -- don't move. Don't fight it, or you'll sink in!" He nods to her, meeting her eyes.
He makes a circuit of the mud pool until he figures out what to do; rising on his hind legs in front of one of the biggest mangroves, he balances on his back hooves and tears down one of the long vines that fall from the tree's tangled limbs. With some difficulty, he pulls it back over to the pool and manages to throw one end of it to her, where it lands with a plop. Hopefully it won't just snap, because he'd feel like an idiot.
"Grab onto that," he instructs, waiting with the other end in his mouth. "I'll pull you out."
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:58 pm
After several minutes of her barely moving at all, except for sinking a little further that is, Cold-Blood finally sees something - that is, someone - come out of the trees towards her, lead by her brilliant troupe of snakes. She would have to spoil them later with delicious treats, but for now, the current situation was a little more important. She looks at the buck as he dances on the spot and is about to roll her eyes when he tells her not to move or she would sink in but she manages to control that. Of course she knows not to flail about in these damned pools, but she figured it was good advice in any case, and she wasn't exactly in any position to get snarky at the kimeti that was trying to help save her.
When he caught her gaze, she looked back at him and very slightly gave a single nod, waiting for him to come up with something that could get her out of here.
When he flicked over the vine she quickly grabbed onto it, firmly grasping it in her mouth and waited for the male to pull before she began kicking her legs once more in an attempt to swim out with his help.
She was very angry at herself for having gotten herself in such a situation and on her face this was easy to see, as it was all furrowed with angry creases and her lips were almost curled, but she was obviously not angry at the buck, just at the situation and herself. Her stupid, stupid self.
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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 6:31 pm
 Longstride is stronger than he looks; the big buck plants his feet and then pulls her out with amazing efficiency, trying not to think about the acrid taste of the vine in his mouth.
When he pulls her safely to shore, he's silent as she clambers out -- falling into pools like that isn't fun when alone, and it's certainly less fun when someone happens to catch you at it. His expression is mild and a little concerned; he's succeeding in keeping his amusement under wraps, because that look on her face tells him it would be a very bad idea indeed to joke about her situation. He lashes his tail against his flanks, driving off the biting horseflies, and then takes a step closer, tossing his head off to the side. He doesn't look unconcerned, just -- calm. He is trying to be calm to avoid having this doe leap and take his head off.
"There's a pool of water about twenty feet off to your east," he says, "You could go wash the mud off. The same thing just happened to me." An odd thing to admit, perhaps, but it might soothe her bruised ego. "It got me clean. I can show you if you want?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:25 pm
She hardly had to do any work at all, as the buck easily manages to pull her out. Her expression softens a touch, eyebrows raising just a smidge as she looks him up and down. Now that she does so, she realises that he's taller, bigger, stronger than she had first thought. Intrigued, and grateful of the buck, when she manages to get all four hooves back on solid ground and cool her mind off a bit, she looks up at him and is about to open her mouth to speak when he tells her of the water close by, and then even more strangely, tells her that he had just been caught in the same scenario.
Her head tilts to one side slightly and her expression softens another touch. Honesty was something she could definitely admire. This time, she really does open her mouth to speak and speak she does, "I would love to get washed off. Lead the way."
With that, she walks over to stand next to him, if a pace behind his front hooves, indicating that she is ready and willing to follow. As she waits for his lead, Shadow, the black snake, slithers upto her and settles for wrapping around her right fore-leg, closest to the new buck, from where his black eyes look at the tan buck curiously. In the meantime, the other two snakes, golden Glint and blue Ice, wrap themselves around her left fore-leg, but all these two have eyes for is each other, as they feign strikes at one another and hiss softly, having a conversation of their own.
She turns to look at the tan buck and introduces herself politely, as by now she had calmed down mostly. "My name is Cold-Blood. Thanks for pulling me out of there. I hadn't planned on swimming in sinking mud today." She added a small sheepish grin to her confession, trying to make up some of that pride, but probably only ended up looking foolish.
At the very least, she was now well and thoroughly awake and she knew for a fact that she would not go falling into another one of those bloody things any time soon.
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Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:44 am
"I hadn't either," he says, with a hint of a laugh in his voice. It's hard to tell who he's laughing at, but the sound is pleasant. "I don't know how I pulled myself out -- lucky your snakes found me when they did," he adds, glancing back over his shoulder to look at the three reptiles. "I don't have any of my own -- maybe I should get some," he adds, and tips her a broad wink. "Might end up pulling my rear out of the fire one day."
The little pool that Longstride found is not far away; it's hidden by a stand of reeds and has been cleared of the muck that the buck had washed off of himself, hinting it's fed by a small stream or a spring. He waits politely at the shore, gesturing to the pool with his chin, indicating it's all hers. "Thankfully, it's the only mud pool I've found. Can't imagine what would happen if there was more than one -- I'm sure I'd have found it already." Walking along its edge, looking at the mud that borders it [thankfully not thick or deep enough to do anything but record their hoofprints], he adds, "I'm Longstride. It's nice to meet you." And it seems like it is.
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Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 8:29 pm
She notes his wink and offers him a smile in return, only responding with. "They can be good companions, I am thankful that mine are so loyal." But she leaves it at that, and follows him to the pool. Once there, she doesn't hesitate to move into the cooling water and begin washing away the covering muck. She begins on her legs, ducking her head down to nudge the hair to shift, as she listens to the buck speak. A slight grin finds her jaw when he hints at being rather... unlucky... or so it seemed to her. What other sort of luck would lead a kimeti into anything short of a sinking mud pool?
Having finished her legs, she swiftly moved on to dunk herself completely under the surface and shake slow-motion-like while under, before coming back up. Dripping wet, but now clean, Cold-Blood carefully stepped back onto land and took a few paces away from Longstride before shaking off. Having done so, she looks back over at him and smiles, genuinely. "It is nice to meet you too, Longstride."
Picking up a few blades of grass, she chews on them thoughtfully as she looks this buck over one more time, thoroughly. After a moment, she adds, "Do you make it a habit to find the most dangerous areas in the Swamp?" A slight grin plays on her features, teasing.
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:49 am
He stands on the edge of the pool to give the doe some privacy; he is, after all, a buck of manners. Beyond that he knows how to treat a lady. He will look off into the Swamp as if searching for more mudholes until she climbs out. When she asks the question about dangerous areas in the swamp, he looks genuinely surprised; not very many does are interested in that sort of thing, much less ask about it. If he wasn't such an old hoof at lady-killing, he might have blushed.
He grins at her, a rogueish sort of look. "I make it my business. I've been everywhere. Even out to the edges of the Swamp, where it turns into plains," and the thought still made his coat want to crawl down his back. "Life's no fun unless it's risky." He pauses, flicking an ear. "What do you do?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 7:24 pm
She approves of that smile, and might even think that it was handsome, but as far as admitting it aloud... well... he shouldn't hold his breath. He would have to earn a compliment from this doe, not just flash a grin or demand one.
His business he says, and he explains it even. Her eyebrow raises if just the slightest, but falls back down into a jovial smile when he describes his style of life. Risk. Oh, she knew that mistress well.
"I travel, also. I like to see the changes that flow through Mother Swamp. But I don't particularly search for the danger..." a tiny wink, could easily have been mistaken for a blink, "... No... I like the trail seeking... and climbing... I suppose I make it a habit to seek out our favorite dinner too: eggs." Her head tilts to the side and she adds in, "Have you ever been to the sands without water? The plains that are arid and bite when the wind stirs?" A memory of not so long ago comes to mind, but she keeps it in the back of her mind.
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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 11:24 am
Longstride looks shocked, and then pleased, when she admits to traveling the swamp for many of the same reasons he does. Most does simply flick an ear and try to seem interested for the sake of being polite around handsome bucks. Cold-blood actually does the thing as an activity, because she likes it. He keeps his expression casual, but she is racking up a great many points in his book. What a find!
And she's been to the plains. That makes him stop short and look at her with new respect.
"The plains? I've been there. Not far in, though -- there's something about them that makes my skin crawl." And as brave as Longstride seems to be, the plains are too open, too vast. He doesn't ever see himself crossing them no matter how hard he tries. "Just to their edge, and no further."
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 4:14 pm
He seemed surprised at first, but quickly replaced it with what she would assume was respect. But she didn't find this out of the ordinary, most kimeti do not travel out to the plains and for good reason. The Ache is usually too strong for any to stray even a single hoof into the sands. Only those foolish or brave enough seem to be able to tread those granules. She didn't consider herself either of those two, though.
She answered, "A wise avoidance, I would have to say. They can be dangerous, full of hidden dangers, and so dry one's soul is practically squeezed of all water out there." She shrugged and explained plainly, "I had only travelled there in search of Glint. He had been lost to me for some time, and I could not find him anywhere. I was worried, and foolish, but luckily I had not travelled there by myself. A buck that practically lives out there," She said the word with disgust, but her expression softened when she returned to speaking about her snake, "... had seen him, and helped me find and recover my silly golden snake. I'm not sure I would have ever found my way back without the help though. Those dunes seem to move.... as if they were trying to keep you there, keep you trapped...." and she trailed off, more rambling than anything really, about her memory of the plains. They had been a strange place, and not one that she wished to return to anytime soon.
She would never admit to another soul how beautiful that sunset was, however. Nor would she care to admit that she had foolishly fallen for that barely-buck that looked so much like the dunes he lived in, even named like.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:35 pm
"I went out there just to see. There isn't much out there." His tone gives off the effect of a shrug; wasn't much to see, indeed! Just a vast and endless plain of nothing.
Longstride switches his tail against his flanks, driving off some of the biting flies, watching Cold-blood with cool blue eyes. Not being a fan of the plains is not something he would admit to just anyone, much less a doe. He treats most does a certain way -- a way that is nearly always guaranteed to make him look charming, debonair and adventurous. For a moment he considers why he's acting this way, snorts quietly at his own behavior, and begins a dawdling sort of walk that invites her to follow.
"Now that we're not on the plains, or in sucking mud, how about a walk? I know some trees that are bearing fruit right now. It's sweet. I'm sick of berries. Or maybe some eggs?" He'd never had much of an appetite for eggs -- hardly considered them as food -- but to keep Cold-blood interested...
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:25 pm
His voice snaps her out of the dream-like state that she found herself falling into as her mind tumbled over her memories of that adventure. Her head jerks over so that her gaze settles on the buck and a gentle smile finds her features as her heart settles once more and she eases into the conversation again, this time for good. Past travels to the plain forgotten, she picks up a comfortable pace and follows the buck's lead.
"That sounds lovely!" Her ears perked up at the mention of a walk, and at the word 'egg' even the snakes seemed to perk up, all looking over at the buck with sudden interest. As she walked, the two wrapped around her left leg (Glint and Ice - Father and daughter), unwound themselves and made their way to the ground. Once there, they slithered along between the two kimeti, hissing softly at each other and sometimes even jumping (as much as a snake really can) over one another in their haste to keep up and even to stay if just the slightest bit in front of the male that was leading their party. Afterall, they wanted to be the first to get a crack at those promised eggs!
Meanwhile, Cold-Blood took a quick glance around and took note of their surroundings, more specifically of any significant marks that could tell her where she was, but this area was rather unfamiliar to her, so instead she spoke, "Sweet fruit, you say? I can't say I know this area all that well..." a small chuckle, "... and of course the snakes would be delighted to find an egg or two, but that shouldn't be too difficult for 'em. Show up like magic sometimes, they do." As she spoke, the two snakes upon the ground weaved furiously in and out and up and over and under to get where they were going first. So much so, that they found themselves dancing in and out of Longstride's steps, avoiding his heavy hooves as he walked.
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 11:32 pm
Longstride's strides do indeed eat up a lot of distance -- he has been walking, covering ground, ever since before he was born. The tall blonde buck shoots Cold-blood a smile over one shoulder, pressing on deeper into the swamp. Eventually it begins to give way; the cypresses and other trees thin out and thick sawgrass begins to come in, until they seem to swim through it, and it grows sunny. This is a funny section of swamp, all mixed environments -- one moment sucking mud, the next a small sawgrass plain dotted with pools of shallow water. All along the edges stand single trees with nests in them; the birds are drawn to the berry bushes, so there are eggs and berries aplenty. Longstride, satisfied, plants his feet and shakes himself, hopping in place afterwards.
He glances to Cold-blood and then to her snakes, and then gestures with his chin up to the trees. The nests are only about ten feet off the ground. "Think your snakes can reach those? If not, there are berries." And to prove his point, he grabs a mouthful, wearing a blissful expression: they are sweet tart and delicious. After asking that, he leans down and noses one of the snakes, careful not to startle it. "Eggs up there. You should get her some." It's spoken in a whisper, but if Cold-blood is careful, she'll hear it. All in a day's work for Longstride, normally, but -- he likes this one.
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