[Finished]Returning Home[Danari and Janus]

[Ishtanballa]

Having escaped the watchful eye of her little squirrel friend, Danari milled about in a field of tall wheat. Against he sea of gold, her black and white pelt stood out like a beacon. On such a fine day, by her standards, she should be happy.

Gray cloud covered the sky, blocking out most of the sun's harsh light. As they tracked across the sky, they brought with them the promise of a nasty storm in the future. Rain was something that Danari loved. She loved the feel of it pelting against her body. And when it came time to turn in for the night, she loved to listen to the sound of it pounding against the ground echoing through the cave that she called home.

When storms turned nasty, like the approaching one promised to be, she'd stand in the mouth of her cave and watch as bolts of lightning raced across the sky. Thrilled by the flashing of the lights or those brief glimpses of such a powerful force striking from the heavens. The only thing she didn't care for, was the thunder.

As if in response to her thoughts, thunder echoes in the distance. Her ears pinned back at the unwelcome sound. Soon she would need to take cover, and would have to deal with the incessant chattering of Iccarus. The stubborn mare nipped at a particularly tall stalk of what and stared off at the approaching dark clouds, standing her ground for now.  

[Ririka]

How long had he been wondering aimlessly looking for things unknown to him? He did not know for he had lost count of the days long ago. All those memories and thoughts, they were all lost in the days that seem to wind together in to one giant chain that all felt taunting and strained.

However, what he did know was that what felt like forever must have at least been a year or so by now.

He knew what he had left behind when he decided to leave. He knew what could have possibly happend during those months. He knew if he were ever to face her again what could explode out. He knew he was now on lost and familiar grounds once more. He knew he had returned to what he left all those days ago.

Slowly, Janus made his way through the walls of trees that created a whistling cage around him like some sort of endless prison of bark and leaves. The sound of the rustling branches created by the storming winds, the sound of the grasses rubbing up against each other, then the boom of the thunder, it was all signs that it would be a long long night, especially if he could not find shelter.

It wouldn't be anything new though, sleeping out in the rain. The task would just be part of another day of survival to make it to a new day.

Giving a snort, the stallion stopped when he felt the wheat brustle up against his legs, and the wind whip against his face and through his mane, a sign that he was now out of the forest and in the open.

 

[Ishtanballa]

Unaware that another had entered the area, the mare mercilessly gnawed at the top of the wheat stock. Though her gaze was fixed on the rolling dark clouds, she no longer saw them. Instead she was gazing back at the day he had left. The day that she had been left alone.

He'd said he was leaving, that he needed to do some traveling. Such deceptively simple words. Made it sound as if may be gone for a couple of weeks, a couple of months at most. Not a year.

At first, she'd pretended that his absence didn't effect her, that she didn't care. It wasn't until month three that she could admit to herself that she missed his present, and at month six that she began to wonder if he would ever return. b***h, beast, hard headed, violent, all words that had been used to describe the mare. Perhaps during his wanderings, he'd decided she wasn't worth coming back to. Or, maybe he'd never intended to come back in the first place...

Death was something that never crossed her mind. Janus was far to strong to succumb to something such as a sickness, or to be taken out by another. She knew that he was still alive.  

[Ririka]

The black and red stallion kept to his spot for a moment, the wind feeling cool and calming against his face. Such a simple feature of the weather brought him a feeling of relaxation and sweet abondment of worries for a moment before his mind brought him back to the problem at hand.

Her, the one he was trying to avoid a run in with at the moment. He knew her. Their reunion would be far from loving and tears, more like yelling and rips at each other, and he couldn't blame her for it. To be gone for a whole year was like a slap in the face and saying that he had no care for her anymore.

Janus let the thought slips from his mind as he shook his head and entered his way in to the new terrain. By now the sky had grown darker like his irritation and the lightning painted splatters of light across the sky while the thunder shouted and let out its screams. Every now and then he would feel the wind pick up and release light drips of rain, but it was not yet ready to bring on the real deal.

He stopped for a moment and looked around to see which direction he should head in, which direction would bring him some kind of refuge, and then, there is was...his slap in the face...

 

[Ishtanballa]

The breeze shifted, and it carried with it a scent that had not been in the meadow when the mare entered. The mare's nostril's flared, taking in the scent of wheat, and his scent. Muscles tensed within her body, the top of the stalk of wheat breaking off in her mouth.

Was it a trick of the mind? If she turned to check, would he be there? Or would she find herself as alone as she was when she stepped into the meadow?

With tense movements, she slowly shift, just enough so that she could glance back. And there he was, the darkness in a sea of gold. Breath sucked in through clenched teeth as her orange eyes widened in surprise. Her heart felt as it if it had clenched within her chest as her mind simply froze.  

[Ririka]

The air turned silent and tense when the two caught site of each other. After all this time would exactly could be said and done? He had run the senario through his mind many times, but now that the time had finally come to reality his mind was blank and no words could escape his lips.

All he could do was stand stiff and let his eyes glance over the female. Though a year had passed he could say she didn't look much different as the day he left, except maybe a tad more annoyed and angry.

The stallion shifted a bit, unsure of if he should walk up to her or keep his distance. Instead, he just flicked his tail and continued to stare. "I suppose nothing I say is really going to help this moment, now is it?"

 

[Ishtanballa]

For a moment, Danari imagined herself running to the male and burying her face in the warm fur to take in the scent that had once held such comfort for her. He would wrap his head around to nuzzle at her and all would be right in the world.

The imagery made her want to wretch.

Even before he'd left, things never went that way. Such sappy scenes didn't suit either of them. They much preferred to snipe at each other.

"No, it wouldn't." Tears threatened to fill the mare's eyes, but she forced them back down. Instead, her orange burned with the inner flames of a subdued rage. "Finally found you way back I see. What, you get bored of the wild?"  

[Ririka]

Though he could not see her eyes he could still feel the explosion of mixed feelings swirling around behind them. They were like a volcano ready to erupt and burn everything in their path, and he would be their main target, which in a way, he wasn't too worried about at the moment.

However calm things may seem at the moment he knew though still had their chance to go down hill since all word and expressions were being held back, for now. It still didn't hold back the surprise he held about her calmness though. Anyone else would have been screaming and exploding by now, but as they say, silence and calm are to be far more feared than the loud and expected.

"I never left to become "one with the wild" or anything along those lines. What I left for I did not completely find, so I've returned." He shrugged and turned his gaze up to the monotone sky. "I could explain more, but I know whatever I say won't be any excuse for being gone for so long, which I know you are far passed pissed about."

 

[Ishtanballa]

"Didn't completely find?" murmured the mare, the words echoing within the confines of her mind. He didn't find what he was looking for? All that time, and it was for nothing?! If he didn't find it, didn't that mean that he would just be leaving again?!

Unconsciously, her lips pulled back to reveal her teeth as a growl rumbled within her chest. The rage boiled inside her, and she could no longer contain it. She wanted to cause pain, to something, to destroy something. So she attacked the only victim within range, the wheat.

"Pissed? Me? Now why would I be pissed?!" With each word the pounded on the poor wheat with her hoofs. Pounding it into the ground as her voice rose with her anger. "I'm fine, just freakin' peachy! Never better!"  

[Ririka]

"You can think of it as personal stuff. Just answers to stuff that have always wracked my brain, and a need to chase after them, but as I said, I never found what I was looking for, so I guess I'm not meant to go looking for them." He gave another shrug and tilts his head as the new sounds filling his perked ears.

Sometimes he just had to wonder if the mare was just a temper tantrumed foal in an adults body when it came to moments like this, but what could he do, it was just another reason he became attracted to her. The normal peachy little soft spoken and soft mares just weren't his thing. Too boring. Too predictable. It just didn't work out for him. Though, the unpredictable sex festive mares also weren't his thing too. He found them too...'dirty'.

"We both know why you're pissed, and from you're doing it is pretty clear you have built up anger that I really can't blame you for. If you have something to say to me you might as well come right out and say it before it kills you mentally since you seem close to falling off whatever cliff you're sat upon."

He held back a smirk as he risked taking a few steps closer to the mare. "What is it that you want? We know no amount of "sorry" is going to help you. You want to hit me, kill me, want me to leave again?"

 

[Ishtanballa]

"A cliff that you put me on!" The words lashed from the mouth like a fiery whip. Lightning flashed in the distance, followed by the rumble of thunder. Soon the storm would be upon them.

She gave the poor flattened wheat a final stomp before whipping around to turn her anger upon the stallion it was directed at. Hit him? Oh, she wanted to. She wanted to lash out with all her might, to cause him pain similar to what she was feeling. And she wanted to hurt him for being able to make her feel this pain in the first place.

"You...." Unable to conjure the words to get her point across, she let out an odd snarl. Her nostrils flaring from anger. "You mattered! You weren't supposed to matter, but you did! And then you left!"  

[Ririka]

Janus' ears lightly flicked at the words spilling out of Danari's anger driven mouth. If she wasn’t truly angry before, it was surely starting to show bit by bit now since she seemed to be calming down for a split second, but no, there it went, she just dumped herself back in to a fit of rage. It surely was like the on coming storm, it sat still, then thundered, then went quiet again, and you would see a flash of lighting, and so on and so forth. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes behind his fold and wonder when the storm would just hit, if he ever wanted to see the full strength of it.

Though it could not be seen since he kept a straight and calm face, he was slight struck my a pinch of surprise. Mattered? He never really thought he meant much to the mare as far as their relationship went. To him, he always guessed that their relationship was built more upon simple convenience. He was there, she was there, they amused each other and could stand each other’s company, so why not?

He never thought about if either of them would grow to matter about the other, though he should have guessed it would be a possibility to be seen, especially after being separated. He could not deny his mind would wander to her from time to time and get lost in random thoughts.

Seemed like now would be the time everything could possibly come out in to the open.

“So I was some kind of convenience that grew in to some that just that for you, huh?” He shook his head and held back a chuckle. “If I really matter that much to you, then let it be. I may have been gone then, but I came back, didn’t I? I could have just stayed out there and started a new life, but I didn’t, I remembered you, I found my way back, but like I said, I could always leave if that’s what you really want out of this.”

 

[Ishtanballa]

"How flattering, you remembered me. And after a year, even came back to find me." The mare sneered before biting out, "After. A. Year."

Tears once again began to burn at Danari's eyes, so she glanced away. This was why she'd always told herself to not get involved with males, it brought nothing but pain. It'd have been so much easier if she felt nothing for the dark stallion. If his absence had meant nothing. But it had, and that terrified her.

She opened her mouth to unleash yet another tired, but the words were extinguished by a fat rain drop that fell right onto her nose. More followed the first, signaling the start of the storm. Her ears pinned back as she that it was time to head for shelter. "If you want to stay..." she trailed off, and then reluctantly added, "with me, then come on. If not..."

Words died off in her throat as she turned to walk into the woods and towards the cave she called home.  

[Ririka]

The stallion blinked behind his blindfold, which had soaked up all the fallen rain along with his white locks. If there was one thing Janus didn’t like besides annoying idiots, it was being wet and in the rain. It must have been the chill it sent through his body, and the lack of warmth his body could produce, or just the fact that since his body was naturally at a high body temperature, such a rush of cold was like a stab in the chest. Who knew.

With his attention turned back to Danari, his ears flicked lightly at her words. In all reality he expected her to go stomping off and leave him out in the rain to fend for himself out of pure anger, but it seemed that wouldn’t be the case right now. “You really want to invite me over even though you are mad as hell at me?”

He shook his head to move his sticking hair from his face as he followed after her. “You still live in the same place, or have you moved on?”

 

[Ishtanballa]

"I moved." The answer was short and clipped as the mare wound her way through the woods. After he'd left, and she'd begun to doubt his return, she found herself unable to stay in a place that did nothing but conjure memories. Memories that would fill her with a burning rage, and then a cold and lonely sorrow.

As the cool rain pelted her body, Danari found her rage cooling to a simmering anger. A question swirled about within the confines of her mind as the rage lifted. What should I do now? She could turn him away one the storm had passed, he'd already said that he'd leave if she told him to. Or she could let him back into her life and try to pick up where they had left off.

But to let him back in opened the door to the risk of being hurt yet again. She could wake up one day, and find him gone yet again. Would she be able to recover a second time?

Up ahead, cloaked by overgrown foliage, rested the mouth of a cave. Her home.