|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:08 pm
 Atrum sulked under the tree far away from her pasture. She couldn't let any of the other ponies on her pasture see her like this, it just wasn't proper. She was raised never to let anyone see you sulk, or cry, or yell or get annoyed. From the day she was born she had to show little to now emotion, and because of that no one loved her or cared about her. They all thought she was stiff and unfriendly.
Not that she really wants to be close with anyone she lives with. Sure, Evigilo is her friend, but he has been so busy. She hardly exists to anyone else.
Atrum let out a sigh, and scratched at the ground.
"hmm.....what a life."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:19 pm
 But the pretty black and white pony was not alone in her misery. Reitten was, unfortunately, in the same boat she was... but to a lesser extent.
Showing emotion was what Reitten did best. There was always something bothering him. It never took much for him to upset himself, the smallest and most insignificant things could wreak havoc on his emotions.
Most of the time, though, it was loneliness that caught up with him. The other ponies in his pasture seemed to cast him aside, either ignoring him outright or making him feel as though they'd rather be ignoring him. He was alone the great majority of his time awake, and when he slept.. he often preferred to do so outside of his pasture. Just to be away even more.
His hooves carried him slowly across the grass and past the gate at the entrance to his home pasture. He kept his lead low and sighed, heavily, as he walked a very well-trodden path. But when the tree, with it's thick shade and soft underbrush beneath it came into view...
There's someone else there? He squinted and stepped carefully forward, until he could see the pony quite clearly. She was lovely, but. She was also in his spot.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:25 pm
Atrum heard something snap in the distance, she looked over and thought she could see a shadow of another pony. She thought to herself, no way they could have come looking for me....
Upon closer examination she saw it was a different pony, one she had never seen before. Quickly she got out of her funk and started over to greet the pony. Just then she noticed the sullen look on his face, was he here to sulk? Did she do something wrong? She couldn't have, she was just sitting there.
*clears her throat* I am Atrum, very pleased to meet you. You must be from a neighboring pasture.
Atrum did a little curtsy, like she was taught to when introducing yourself. She looked at the pony more closely, waiting for a response, he was very regal looking. She liked regal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:08 pm
In the waning sunlight, Reitten probably did look quite regal. The golden markings on his pelt tended to shine in the sunlight, but glint like a jewel in moonlight. In twilight, indeed, his coat's decoration would have looked rather nice.
He never noticed it, though. And if anything, his coloration annoyed him. Was very hard to try and sulk alone if you keep shining everywhere, alerting every other pony of your whereabouts!
Standing still as the mare approached, Reitten lifted his head enough to peer at her evenly. His mane shaded most of his gaze, but he could see she was nicely adorned as well. Regal in her own right.
"I am," he replied, in a gruff voice. Clearing his throat too, he shifted awkwardly as the female bowed. Reitten fluttered his small wings and nodded his head at her a little bit, to.. acknowledge her. Wait, was he meant to bow, too?
Since she offered her name, he figured he could as well. "Reitten," he stated simply. Then.. "Am I... interrupting you?" At my tree..
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:28 pm
Atrum sensed that Reitten wasn't to happy with her being there. What did she do? She supposed nothing, she always acted in the proper manner.
"No, you are not interrupting anything." She was trying to think up a lie to get out of talking about emotions. "I was just wondering by. Do you come here often"
Atrum moved closer, to be in acceptable conversation distance. There was something awkward about Reitten, and she was worried he would be like all the others. Think she was miserable and stuffy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:52 pm
Atrum wouldn't have known, really, that she was invading on Reitten's personal tree. He hadn't marked it with his name or anything (though that idea was slowly occurring to him!), she was free to do as she liked. But it definitely made him think...
The tree was quite a ways away from his own pasture. And because he'd never seen this mare before, anywhere near or around his home, he figured she'd probably had to have traveled a bit of a distance to flop down under the branches. Why go out of your way so much for just a tree?
"Only wandering," he repeated. Well that made sense, in a way. Wandering by, needing a place to rest. But. "I do come by here often," he went on, his head cocking to the side to try and get a better look through his mane at the mare. "I come here to think. That tree is where I go to get away." And he figured that perhaps if he thought that tree was a good enough place as any to (brood!) be by himself, maybe Atrum thought the same.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:07 pm
Atrum suddenly realized that this must have been Reitten's regular spot to think. She felt bad, but then decided not to care because it was just a tree after all. I mean he didn't mark it.
"Ah get away. I think I know what you mean." Atrum contemplated opening up to Reitten, but she just met him. He did seem a bit down. Although that wasn't much of her business if he didn't want to talk about it. "I am new to the area, I live in a pasture to the north. Actually I've been a bit lonely ever since my sister and I split up."
Atrum didn't understand why all of a sudden she confessed that, she never talks about things like emotions. There was just something about Reitten's brooding that made her feel like he would understand.
"Honestly, I just came here to get away. We can share the area if you like."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:20 pm
Lonely.
That struck a chord with Reitten.
Was she really lonely? Did Atrum know how it felt to be surrounded by other ponies and to still feel lonely? His brow ridge furrowed into a tight enough knot for his mane to shift on his forehead with the movement. The expression pulling at his muzzle was sad, but restrained. There was no need to burst into tears in front of the lady, after all! He hesitated, at first, but slid a hoof across the grass to inch very slowly in one step closer to her.
"I know how that feels," he responded, though his voice was a touch quieter than it had been before. There was meaning there in his words, if Atrum listened hard enough to find it -- emotion bubbling just under the surface, just barely leaking into his speech.
Making small talk wasn't a strong point of his, however. And while he really would have liked to ask her about the sister she mentioned, or even about her loneliness too, for the moment he opted instead to bobble his head in a short nod. "Alright," was his actual reply, before he edged a step in closer still. "I've not had company under the tree before."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:39 pm
Atrum realized that she must have effected Reitten, he started to draw closer, and his voice was different then before. Atrum thought that she must have hit the right cord to make friends.
He told her he didn't mind the company, so she lay back down. The sun was setting, and it was getting late. The night wasn't too cold, so she didn't have to worry about staying out too long.
"Company is nice, I can promise you I won't get in your way. I was raised better than that" Atrum scoffed a little bit at the mention of her upbringing. There was a sense of resentment there.
"Its such a nice night, I think I might stay here. No one will miss me" She was getting a bit drowsy and for some reason completely trusted this new pony. She liked the way his hair was always in his face, his small wings, and his pattern. All very desirable. She was wondering how he wasn't making babies with all the others that seem to be popping ponies.
Her head started to droop, and before she drifted off she whispered
"yes, very desirable"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:50 pm
Moving over and sliding down to lay next to the monochrome mare, Reitten settled into the grass comfortably. Certainly, he was not used to having another pony there with him... but.... it felt rather nice. He wasn't the most talkative pony, and when he did seem to open up his words were shot down or interrupted, but he felt comfortable with this pony. Like he could rattle off why, tonight, he was feeling exceptionally alone... and that wasn't something that happened often. If ever! But she was the first pony to really talk to him, to pay him any attention.. perhaps that was why.
His head turned to peer at her, watching her with one golden eye as she spoke. Very proper, wasn't she? "I don't mind." At least, not too much now. She was already technically in the way, under his tree and all, but now that she was there it didn't bother him as much as he thought it could.
But before he could get up the nerve to try and start a more decent conversation, Atrum was nodding off. He blinked several times when she muttered something almost unintelligible and then promptly went to sleep. Desirable? What did she think was desirable?
Still, he didn't dare wake her to ask. And instead wriggled on the grass enough to just barely lean against her side. His wings were too short to offer her much cover, but he moved them all the same, draping one gold-tipped wing across the mare's back as she drifted off.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:02 pm
Atrum woke up with a jolt when she realized the sun was rising. Had she slept here all night? It was then that she noticed Reitten beside her, he had tried to drape his wings over her. That was nice, she didn't understand why though. This will have to take some contemplation, she thought to herself.
She slowly stood up, trying not to alert Reitten. She wasn't sure if he had fallen sleep, or just stayed there to keep her company. This was a very improper thing to do when your first meet someone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:25 pm
Reitten had actually fallen asleep on the grass. Not as quickly as Atrum did, but it eventually happened. He laid there, very still, for a long while. Thinking, mostly, though he watched a few ponies in the darkness moving around by the thicker woods behind him.
He stirred a bit when he felt the other pony move and he let out a loud grunt, his short wings lifting and then fluttering above his back. In another moment, he was slowly rousing from his sleep, pulling his legs up underneath himself to push and stand groggily.
Bending his front legs in a bow-like movement, he stretched languidly. And he then peered sleepily through his slightly disheveled mane at the black and white mare. "You fell asleep," he stated, a bit slowly. Uh, well... stating the obvious, but she had! "Did... you rest... well?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:41 pm
While getting up, Atrum realized that Reitten was waking as well. She stumbled back a little as he rose. This was embarrassing for her, to fall sleep with another pony with out even really knowing him. Her sister would be ashamed of her to see her acting like this, it wasn't the way they were raised.
The fact that she had opened up to Reitten was completely over, she was back to being her stiff and proper self. She has to say all the right things, and do all the right things. No one must find out that she spent the night with this pony. Where ever he was from.
"Yes I slept very well, I didn't think you would stay. It was very improper for me to have stayed the whole night with you. We must tell no one."
She hoped she didn't offend the golden pony, but she knew she made a mistake when she said the words. She tried to scan his face, but his hair always got in the way.
She thought to herself, I've done it again. Pushed someone away with my upbringing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 6:01 pm
Hnngh, that was the way it always went.. wasn't it? Except this time, Atrum actually paid attention to him first before edging a barrier in between them. Reitten couldn't quite figure if it stung more that way, or to simply be ignored from the get-go. Either way, it made his head lower a little bit.
"Of course I stayed." And why wouldn't he? True, Reitten had no clue about anything regarding Atrum -- other than her pasture was to the north and that she missed her sister. He had no real obligation to stay, but. "You're the first pony that's spoken to me in a long time." And even further, he went on. "You already said you were lonely. Why would I leave so you're even more alone?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 6:21 pm
She could instantly feel the pain in his voice, she knew she hurt him. But she didn't mean to, she was only doing what she was told.
The things he said to her, they were...well...nice. She had never had anyone care that much. Usually they just scoffed and ran away, feeling offended.
"I..uh...didn't mean to offend you. I mean..I can't...its just that" She was shifting her weight back and forth. Unsure and unsteady, which was odd for her. She usually knew exactly what to say.
Suddenly she felt like she needed to cry. Not here! Not now! She actually really liked Reitten. Yeah, that was it.
"Its not that I minded, and its not that I don't like you." She was very frantic and shaky now. "I was...I mean where I grew up, people were very strict. I was taught to be a certain way. I had to live like that before I left. I left home, my sister, everything. All I wanted to do was feel. Feel happy, feel sad, feel angry. But I couldn't, I can't. Its just stuck that way now."
She was very close to tears, but she would never cry in front of anyone. She felt very stupid, like she was being silly. This pony must think she is silly now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
