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 Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 4:18 pm
 The pale shape under the waves dashed through river after river, not going anywhere in particular. Just escaping somewhere alone to gather in his thoughts. At home, he found it difficult to truly think about his desires. His sister kept him busy with her continued involvement with that scum of a stallion from Dreamer's Glass. All he could think about at home was when Hall would appear across the horizon. Deneb understood what the other male saw in Sadira, but not what Sadira saw in Hall. He had caught the white winged male with other mares. Just flirting with them, but flirting lead to other things. If he was comfortable showing his interest in other mares, what else was he alright with showing?
His sister was not someone he could leave permanently, not matter how irritating the matter was, however. He might be a silly stallion, more klutz then majestic, but there was one thing he was not and that was a coward. If she wouldn't see the truth of it, he would have to stay to protect her honor until she did.
For now, though, this was Deneb time. Hall watching was seriously exhausting work and he craved the open rivers. No matter how old he got, he still enjoyed speeding just beneath the waves, darting past fish in the way without hesitation. He had grown very good at it. Sometimes when he lifted his head, his horn would break the surface, no doubt startling whatever creature was hoping for a drink of water. So far, none had tried to disturb him.
As he neared a river he was unfamiliar with, the current started to change. Where it had been still or soft, now it was picking up. Poor Deneb had been going so fast, he had little time to catch himself and turn around. He was caught in it and carried out to where the water felt different. Warmer. Salter.
"The ocean. Damnit."
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 1:56 pm
 It had been several weeks since Ozean had last been with his herd. What had started off as an innocent exploratory mission to maybe get out a little, see a little, meet a few people, then go home, had gotten sidetracked by the strange encounter with the half-lyra, and he found himself hopelessly, horribly lost. There were also some feelings of guilt and worry about some of his, um, time with the mare from the cove, resulting in him breaking one of his cardinal rules of travel: never get so caught up in your emotions that you don't take a look at where you're going. Thus how he found himself at another river outlet in the warm tropical waters, this time a delta. The run-off from a cooler river that joined this one not long before the delta was a comforting caress across his neck and through his mane. Careful not to let his horn get caught in the seaweeds around the delta, he tried to get his bearings.
He tried every trick he new--scenting the runoff, tasting the runoff, noting the temperature, noting the animals, plants, and algae all around, observing the exact way the current ran through his mane, and...nothing. Obviously, this was some place he'd never been before. Apparently the world was a bigger place than he'd ever realized! But somewhere in all the mess, he picked up the faint smell of another star. Another? This seemed like his week for meeting strangers on the coast! He made his way towards the scent, careful in case this one turned out to not be as friendly as the last stranger had been (though she had been particularly, um, "friendly").
This one, however, was a stallion, and from his smell, he was probably a freshwater nova--a hypothesis confirmed when the stranger muttered under his breath a curse at the saline environment he found himself swimming through. That was only the first thing he noticed about the stranger, though. The other thing he noticed was the horn. An arcturus horn. An arcturus horn on a nova. And here, Ozean had been thinking he was the only one...
"Where were you intending to go, if I may be so bold as to ask?" Ozean asked the other politely. Novae, in his experience, tended to either love being loners, or hate it. If it was a love of being alone, he could be in a lot of trouble, assuming the other stallion was as inclined to use his horn as a weapon as he himself was.
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Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:40 pm
As for Deneb, the signs of which way to go were not as clear to him. He relied on a very good memory to track his way back home, remembering landmarks that stood out against the landscape. A log half buried in the sand and standing upright so it was hard to miss. A rock shaped like a heart at the bottom of the river. A territorial fish that kept following him around. He had encountered that one only once, finding it so odd he forgot to push himself forward and the fish had nipped at his tail to get him going. With rather sharp teeth.
Today's landmark had vanished, lost beyond the strong currents that had pushed him out to sea. Attempts to get back proved futile, so he would have to find a new path back to fresh water. The temperature of the water in the meantime he could handle. The salt was a desired taste. Not at all to his liking, but what was he to do? Hitch a ride on a traveling Star to colder waters? Not a bad idea, if one decided to trust a strange Star with a precious cargo as a Nova. He would be in deeper water if the Star decided to take longer than a hour or leave him stranded somewhere to dry out. Best to deal with the salty water for now. At least he could survive here, if not uncomfortably.
The white Nova's dilemma made him less aware of the other stallion until he spoke, causing Deneb to jump. He turned around quickly, horn not lowered despite his fright.
"Oh, um...I had no destination in mind. Unlike the current." He couldn't resist looking around once more, marveling in the beauty that was different from the water he was used to. "I appear to now be stuck." He quickly added, "I was not born in the ocean," to explain his situation, forgetting in his troubles that his scent wouldn't be salt water, anyway.
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Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 6:22 pm
"Ah, I see. Yes, the current is its own master, and it will have none of our silly trying to control our own fates." Ozean smiled. Apparently this stranger was not an aggressive one. Good. He hated dealing with aggressive stars, especially novae. Not just because novae could follow him wherever he went in the water, but he found that an aggressive nova was a different sort of aggressive star. Even more belligerent, if that were possible. And somewhat more personal about it, he'd found. There were enough troubles in the wide, dark sea without adding dodging people to it. Besides, an aggressive nova inevitably thought of themselves as a shark or a dolphin. What kind of animals did land aggressors have to compare themselves to that could in any way, shape, or form hold a light to a pod of dolphins?
"Are you having trouble swimming against the current?" he added. "Because I've lived my entire life in the ocean, maybe I could help you. I'm afraid I don't know where I am, but I think I can figure out where I am if I go north up the coast. I'm more familiar with northern waters, you see."
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