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 Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 5:36 am
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 5:40 am
Nymph landed in the soft meadow, shaking out her mane and panting a bit. She wasn't the best, or most graceful, of fliers. Her form was large and awkward (for a Flutter at least) and her wings were small - but she made do. The summer sun felt good against her back as she she began to snuffle around the thread for summer dewberries. She hadn't hardly moved from her winter home, and was quite ready to go out and meet new friends in the colorful, warm, welcoming embrace of summer!
She wandered about the meadow, alternating between taking big mouthfuls of clover and berries and looking up for predators, or perhaps just a new face to talk to.
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:13 pm
It was a relatively established fact that Soquili in general, and Wind Soquili in particular, were graceful, elegant creatures, with flowing lines and charming forms. There were few things as attractive as a Soquili in the prime of life, and few things as graceful. Usually. Allarian lay on the ground in a most undignified and, to an observer, apparently painful way. It was not a natural pose for any Soquili, and one would certainly find it unnatural for a Wind. But for all the awkwardness of his pose, he was perfectly comfortable, and the reason was crawling around on the ground mere inches from his nose. A large anthill, nearly the size of his head, sat nestled in the tall grass just before Allarian, who was watching the comings and goings of the hill's denizens with rapt attention. He lay perfectly motionless, even when the ants crawled up along his forelegs and face. After all, why would he want to move when he could be witness to something so fascinating? The ants all moved with such purpose and determination, surmounting massive obstacles, hauling large loads, carrying many times their own weight for the good of the colony...ants were so very fascinating! Much more fascinating than anything else out there. Excepts bees, of course. Oh, and spiders! And he couldn't forget moths, or caterpillars...
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Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:14 am
Nymph was so busy looking around for other Soquili, she nearly tripped completely over the grey stallion laying in the grass! She felt her hoof make contact with his belly, and stumbled forward with a small cry of surprise. Her wings fluttered wildly, catching the air and keeping her from falling to the ground. She hovered above him for a second, as if she was trying to determine if the fellow was alive, and a visible look of relief when she realized she hadn't stumbled over some leftover skinwalker dinner. "Oh I am so sorry!" she said emphatically, landing back on the ground a few paces back. "Did I hurt you?" Her voice was melodic, high, and generally pleasant to listen to, though her cadence was a bit emphatic.
"Hey...what were you doin' down there anyway?" she asked with a c**k of her head.
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Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:10 pm
It was ironic that upon being tripped into, Al's first concern wasn't himself, but the safety of the ant nest. "Careful, careful," he cried out without even noticing what or who it was who had run into him, extending his wings on either side of the anthill in a somewhat pointless gesture of protection. The gesture was pointless both because A) feathered wings would do little to break the fall of anything truly caught by gravity, and B), the potential fallee had managed to avoid tumbling into the ant nest and causing a catastrophic of epic proportions. He had sighed in relief as the mare spoke, glad that nothing serious had happened and dismissive of any hurt he might be expected to be feeling. Since his ants were ok, he was ok! "No harm no foul, at least you managed to avoid hurting them. Any sort of creature larger than a fox falling into a hill that size could crush the whole structure, and it could take them ages to repair! To say nothing of the potential loss of life." All of this he said without taking his gaze away from the ants. But having determined that they seemed unruffled by the episode, the uncomfortable social realization kicked in that he ought to look at who he was talking with. Accordingly, he pulled back the shielding wings. "And I was watching the...ants..." He trailed off as he took in the mare, specifically, the bobbing little antenna and the wings. The wings! Without realizing he was doing it, he was staring at the mare, round-eyed in abject fascination for a few long seconds before he breathed, "Remarkable!" Socially well-rounded, he was not.
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Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:56 am
Nymph tilted her head, alarmed at how dangerous a situation she seemed to potentially have stumbled into. Loss of life! Destruction! Nymph knew she was a horrible klutz, but she never, ever meant to hurt nobody!
Now, Nymph was not one to usually judge, but when she followed his line of vision to the ant hill, she make a face. "Wait, are you talkin' about the ants?" she asked incredulously. But before she got her answer, he was staring at her- like he had seem something grand!
She looked over her shoulder, thinking at first he was looking at something behind her. "Wait, huh?" she exclaimed when she realized he was referring to her. She pawed the ground at the scrutiny, was he trying to flirt with her or something?
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Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 6:11 pm
Allarian's father, Allouette, had made a family legend out of his inability to be anything other than rude. A low tolerance for what he deemed ridiculous behavior and an even lower inclination to make himself agreeable meant that Louie was a less-than welcome guest at any family gathering, or any gathering of any kind! Allarian was quite a different creature from his father in many ways, but there were moments when the former's lack of social graces could be a close imitation of his father. Though he didn't consciously intend to be rude, Allarian's extreme fixation on the workings of the lower orders could sometimes make him appear as nothing else. Like right now, where he was staring at a strange mare to whom he hadn't even introduced himself! His mother would be appalled. "Of course I'm talking about the ants, who else could be so threatened by a falling Soquili?" His tone was a bit distracted as he studied the mare, his eyes flicking rapidly back and forth between her wings and antenna. He was beyond intrigued, and that fascination was apparent in his more interested tone as he asked her, "Excuse me, but are you actually able to fly with those wings?" They appeared rather filmy an insubstantial, but if they worked, what a remarkable chance to see the musculature of butterfly wings on a large scale!
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Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 12:11 pm
Nymph frowned, still confused why he would be so concerned with the ants, but her ears plastered against her head as she was scolded. "I don't know. Maybe one of those little mini Soquili...?" she offered, referring to the few Usdia had met before, and not realizing it was a rhetorical question.
She seemed to relax a bit when he started to talk about her wings. "Yeah I can fly!" she offered excitedly. Not very well...but that isn't what he asked technically. To illustrate she hopped into the air and began to flutter - her wings able to carry her weight as she bobbed above the grass for a moment.
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Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:22 pm
Fascinating, fascinating! Allarian's gaze never wavered as the mare lifted up off the ground, watching intently as the small gossamer wings fluttered and flapped. To say he was intrigued was putting it mildly; he had always found insects to be fascinating in any guise, and this was an opportunity he had never been graced with before. His trick of remaining motionless had allowed him to get closer to many insects than other Soquili, but it was a challenge to remain motionless and observe something in motion at the same time! The mare had presented him with a unique opportunity, and he was most grateful. Her brief fluttering allowed him to see how her wings rippled and contracted as she lifted herself up, and he nodded in appreciation. "That's very remarkable, thank you for showing me! Tell me, do your wings tire easily? Are you capable of long flight, or do you typically use your wings for short distances only?" Mannerly, it was not. But why would manners cross his mind when he had the chance for research?
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:26 pm
Nymph landed back on the grass. "You're welcome!" How strange this stallion was. After all, he had wings - feathered wings - so he obviously knew how to fly, right? She pawed at the ground as he continued his questions. She wasn't a good flier, and she knew it, and now they were getting personal. "Oh, uhm, yeah they do tend to get tired I guess," she said, hoping he wasn't judging her. "I can get from here to there, you know, but nothing like you I bet!" she said, motioning to his feathered wings.
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Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 7:52 am
At times like these, Allarian wished he had hands like the Kawani. Before he had found his true passion in the world of insects, he had gone through a phase where he was obsessed with the two-legged natives of the land, and had spent many, many hours watching their villages. They had been in possession of many wondrous skills, but he’d found their writing system the most remarkable. As far as he could tell, they had a way of using their hands to mark symbols on a surface, whether permanent like stone, or soft, like paper or hide. These markings represented information, and could be interpreted by the Kawani to unlock their meaning. He’d experimented with pawing symbols into the dirt, but hooves were just not suited to such work. That, and he didn’t know what the symbols meant anyway! But it would be nice to be able to note down new information as he learned it and be able to refer back to it later. As things stood now, everything had to be retained in his memory, and his memory was a rather crowded place these days! He nodded his head as the mare discussed her wings. It was completely logical for such small and slight wings to tire easily; he imagined that even if the muscles were fully trained and developed, their capacity would be too small for sustained flight. And butterflies were more ‘butterflitters’ anyway, flying in a somewhat haphazard manner with no directness of course. It was a pretty system, but not a very effective one, he’d always thought. He glanced at his own feathered wings with the disinterestedness of one who’d long since lost any real interest in the subject when she brought the conversation back around to his. “You’re probably right. In my experience and observation, feathered wings are particularly well-suited to swift and high flight, as the light bones add minimal weight while the musculature comfortably supports the weight of a Soquili. Perhaps the lack of bones or internal support in the butterfly wing leads it to be less suitable for such sustained flight activity…” He trailed off into meditative silence for a moment, then frowned as a nagging little bit of conscience pricked him. “By the by, have we been introduced yet?”
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Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:57 pm
Along with not being a very good flier, Nymph also wasn't, well... what one may call 'book smart' or the Soquili equivalent thereof. She really didn't follow his rambling about 'sustained flight' and 'musculature,' though, to be polite, she just smiled and nodded along as if she understood every word he was saying. Thankfully when the conversation drifted back over to pleasantries, she felt relevant again.
"Oh! No I don't believe we have," she said, looking less embarrassed by forgetting and more relieved in the shift of conversation. "How rude! Please forgive me, my name is Nymph!"
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:35 pm
If Nymph was a poor example of ‘book smart’, Allarian was a worse example of ‘socially savvy.’ He’d managed to upset more Soquili than he’d ever managed to have a civil conversation with, let alone make friends, and it never occurred to him to wonder why. After all, Soquili interaction was so uninteresting when compared to the fascinating world of insects, why would he ever want to seek it out, let alone miss it being gone? This interaction probably already counted as his longest-ever with an unrelated Soquili, and that was saying something! But even that fact didn’t occur to Allarian, he being too caught up in the novelty of the situation. His mother would be pleased that introductions had occurred to him at all! “Nymph,” he repeated in the same interested tone. “How semi-appropriate! Did you know that nymphs are the immature stage of many insects? Not butterflies or mother, unfortunately; I’d argue that the closest comparison would be a caterpillar. But that’s hardly an appropriate name for anything with wings, I’d say.” He was warming up to the subject of explaining, the only element of Soquili interaction which truly appealed to him, but managed to break off long enough to add, “I’m Allarian. I don’t believe there is any interesting correlation between my name and anything, but I don’t have anything particularly remarkable about me to inspire a name.” This was typical of Allarian; self-deprecation all the way.
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Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:48 am
"Oh....no I didn't know that," she said, listening to his explanation of a Nymph. Though, she didn't find the idea of being named after a baby bug to be all that flattering. "I think my dad told me it was a beautiful lady or something. Like a fairy or something that like dancing and singing, through I'm not particularly good at either."
She looked over at him with concern and pity at the remark about his name. "You seem just as remarkable as me," she said, pawing the ground. "You have big pretty feather wings! Feather wings are better, they can help you fly faster and higher. I can't fly all that high, as you saw. Sometimes I see ones like your kind just racing through the sky! It looks like so much fun!"
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:32 am
((I'm just getting back to things myself, and see you're on hiatus. No obligation to reply, but I want to at least put replies out there!)) Well, that was somewhat disappointing, to learn there was no beautifully biological correlation in Nypmh's name and her wings. Being the owner of a somewhat fanciful name himself, he had liked the idea of one with a sound, logical connection to the owner. Learning that a nymph was also fanciful mythological creature was, for lack of a better word, a downer. "Oh," he said with only a minimally disguised hint of disappointment. But after a moment of dwelling on that, he shook his head, saying in what he hoped was a kindly way, "Well, there are a lot of Soquili who find the idea of fairies as realistic as insects, perhaps even inspired by them." He smiled at this, pleased he had managed to be what he assumed was complimentary. It was rather nice to have a conversation, actually. At Nymph's comment about his wings, he gave his a ruffle and looked at them with the dispassion of an old man. "I suppose that feathered wings do have their advantages, but they're rather...well, common, wouldn't you say? They also require a great deal of maintenance, grooming, etc. And While fast flight does rarely have it's advantages, it's not conductive to study. I'm sure you can imagine how hard it is to monitor the migration patterns of a honeybee colony when you're slowest flight is five times their fastest!" He chuckled at this, as though it were a great joke. Of course, to him it was!
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