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 Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 11:47 pm
 Retinadeath had found Tonestue when she was just a tiny foal and brought her into the herd. She'd raised her, nurtured her, cared for her. The arcturus's memories of her birth mother were vague and unilluminating. So far as she was concerned, that mare that smelled of milk and afterbirth was not her real mother; her real mother was the one that smelled like sweat and blood, that lashed out with hooves, head, and wings, that shouted and hissed at the stallions and mares under her command, then folded those same wings across Tonestue at night or whenever she stood near. And to the little arcturus filly, that was right. That was the way the world was, and the way it should be. Only now, things were changing--now Retinadeath had children of her own, biological children. And now things were getting...complicated.
Retinadeath still cared about her, and Tonestue was grateful for that. She loved Retinadeath. Yes, she did--how could she not love her mother, after all? The one who raised and cared for her? And Retinadeath loved her, she was absolutely certain of it. But Retinadeath...well, there was no nice way to put it: she didn't seem to care about all of her children. Hypophosphotasia, the middle brother, she cared about him, but she seemed indifferent towards Anopticyte, and she'd openly scorned Cranium right from the beginning. Tonestue felt betrayed. The one who had taken her in when her birth mother had abandoned her had in turn abandoned another foal? How could she? How dare she?
The Death General was now trying to return to her duties, and that left Tonestue with babysitting duty. She didn't mind, not really. It gave her extra time to spend with her siblings. They were cute, in a foal-ish way. But more importantly, it gave her more time with Cranium. She had a soft spot for her littlest brother, even if he did sometimes get into trouble.
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:05 am
 Cranium had been off smashing his head against trees, or so he'd told them, instead however he'd been off trying to learn to fly, by himself in a secluded area he'd found nestled in the herds territory. He often slipped away from the care of his babysitter Tonestue when she was talking care of both Anopticyte and Hypophosphotasia. Though she always seemed to try and keep a better eye on him. It was annoying he found. Especially when he wanted to be alone with his thoughts.
He was just a colt, yet he realized he thought faster than the rest of his siblings. But the way his mother ignored him, hurt. He was clever! he began to realize, yet she ignored him like he was nothing. Then he would live to her expectations for a while until he could surprise her.
Wouldn't that be quite a big surprise? She'd be proud then certainly!
Crain tumbled having unfortunately slipped being deep in thought stumbling into a tree. He fluttered his young wings like mad trying to right himself before slamming into the tree. He sat there stunned for a moment before shaking his head trying to get his bearings again flicking his wings a pain surged through him and he winced. Ugh great, He'd have to let his wing rest now he fumed. Getting to his feet he wandered back toward the main part of the herd where Tony would probably find him. He'd managed to stick a branch through his feathers looking like he'd hit it missing a tree he'd been head butting.
That was what he was known for. It was still painful to walk He'd managed to scrape his knees too in his tumble. He must look like a mess. He would laugh if he hadn't been keeping up his mask.
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Ice_Dragon_Demon
Ice_Dragon_Demon
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Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:07 pm
A flash of white fur in the trees and Tonestue's head turned immediately towards it. There was only one star in all the herd with such pale hair. Yes, Cranium stood out in the shadows, and in the Shadow, as well. Sometimes, Tonestue had to work hard to remind herself that the founders of the herd had all been dark--it was only now that bright colors were beginning to dominate. She also had to very firmly silence the nagging voice at the back of her head that reminded her that the bright colors were mostly all Retinadeath's doing. So her mother had many children--so what? There was nothing wrong with that. She'd taken in Tonestue, after all, so that was hardly something to complain about. Tonestue started towards her little brother at a trot, then frowned. There was a twig stuck in Cranium's feathers, and he was walking like...
Oh dear. He'd bumped into a tree again. And this time, he'd bumped into it hard. Her trot turned into a canter to arrive at Cranium's side. With a cluck of dismay, she carefully prized the stick out of the little lyra's wing and began grooming his feathers back into place, laying them out from where they'd been ruffled. "Cranium, what happened? Are you alright? What's wrong?" He butted his head against trees all the time, but Tonestue always asked these questions when she found out it had happened. All the times it happened. Which was a lot. Cranium was very dim.
The thought made Tonestue's frown increase. This was the third time she'd had to take care of him this week. And he was rarely very badly hurt. Bruises weren't that common, and he was rarely scraped up. Luck? That...didn't seem so plausible on the face of it. No. Not luck at all. Was it.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 8:53 pm
Right on cue Tonestue had appeared. Just the way he'd wanted. Above all he enjoyed her company. She never let on but Crain as much as he tried to fool her he didn't think she quite believed his act. She never let on if she did or didn't though. Crain had no way to tell for sure. Among all the stars in the shadow herd she was the only one who actually paid attention to him. Real attention and actually cared for him.
Cranium looked at her nodding slowly. "Crash.." he said slowly "Into tree, Crain Head smash!" He said proudly as though he'd knocked over the tree in the process. His wing twitching in pain, it did hurt a little bit more than he let on. The Colt winced as Tony pulled the branches out. He regretted putting them in there but it made it look more convincing.
"Dizzy- Crain Sit down." The colt said in broken english. Yes it hurt to stand still while she tended to him. So he lay down at her hooves clumsily like a dim child would.
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Ice_Dragon_Demon
Ice_Dragon_Demon
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:59 am
Tonestue sighed. Poor Cranium, always getting in trouble. Would he ever learn? Or had he already, and he was hiding it from her? Tony loved Cranium dearly, all the more because her mother seemed not to, but there had to come a time in which she began to wonder if Cranium might be lying to her. It was an uncomfortable thing to suggest--the sibling she trusted most, abusing her trust? Trying to hurt her? Why did everyone in the Shadow have to hurt each other? Why did Crain have to act like everyone else? "Don't worry about crashing," she said softly. "You'll learn soon enough, you'll see. Pretty soon you'll have better coordination than anyone here." She laid down beside him and touched the tip of her stubby horn to his forehead. Now came the hard part. According to Retinadeath, it got easier as you got more practice at it. Well, if that was true, then Cranium would have her master of it before her horn had grown much longer!
She frowned and concentrated all of her power. It was like making a cramp in your head, then shoving it out through your horn. It took a lot of concentration, and a lot of imagination. Just, frown really hard, moosh those muscles together, harden them up, tighten the knot, position the knot under horn, and...release. Her horn glowed blue. The glow seeped into Cranium's skin, reaching for his skull and trying to mend all of those broken blood vessels together. The fact that Cranium was dizzy was a worry that she had to ignore until the healing was done. She'd never gotten dizzy running into trees. How had he? "Cranium, is there something you're not telling me?" she murmured.
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Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 6:27 pm
Off all the people in the shadow heard the only one he hated to deceive was Tonestune. She was the only one who cared for him. His mother didn't even give him a second look. it was something about his colors how they clashed. Tony however, she took extra care of him that her brothers didn't get, like she actually wanted him to succeed. Crain was determined from the beginning as such deception was necessary. He apologized within his mind to Tony. He couldn't tell her, one word and everything he'd begun to set up would fall apart. He was the smartest of his siblings after all but. Crain gave Tony a nod "Okey, I not worry." He waited for Tony to begin using her healing magic. Yeah All the trouble he got into, he was glad tony was always around. He could feel the pain subsiding. "I missed tree and Tumbled down small.. uhh thing..." There was a small depression behind a group of trees a small creek had eatten away at the soil. That would work for an explanation, but he had to pretend he didn't know what it was "and Crain fell but got back up and beat tree!" he gave her a dumb grin. Hopefully she would buy it.
"Not tell Tony?" he tilted his head "what I not tell tony?" he looked at her confused as she finished healing him.
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Ice_Dragon_Demon
Ice_Dragon_Demon
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 4:19 pm
Tonestue nodded. There was an old, dried-up creekbed from off in the direction that he had been traveling from--that was probably what he'd fallen into. It was certainly an easy thing to fall into if you weren't paying as much attention as you could be. Like, say, if you were crashing into a tree. Cranium did that a lot. She wasn't sure why. Boredom? Stupidity? No, it couldn't be that, she couldn't see why it could ever be that.
That wasn't it, though. She could see why it could be like that--she could see why it would be easy to assume that Crain was stupid. It wasn't that Tonestue didn't see that--it was that she didn't want to see that. She wanted Cranium to be smart, and clever and, yes, cunning, so that he could someday impress their mother and get all of the love and attention he'd never had from Retinadeath before. Sure, he had Tony's attention now, but everyone but grown-ups knew that only your real parent's love ever counted for anything.
"The old ravine, yes. Could you please not crash into trees over there, please? I don't want you to fall into anything and break a leg. Then it would take me a long time to find you and heal you." She walked slowly around him, pressing her horn gently to other places where he had been bruised. "I'm pleased to hear you beat up that tree, though. I hope you showed it who's boss!"
She stopped when she got to the front of him again and sighed. How to explain it? She didn't dare tell him that she thought he was lying to her. If it was true, then he would be disappointed that she'd figured it out, and if it wasn't, he'd be hurt that she thought he would lie. "Just..." she said lamely. "Let me know if anyone hurts you or bullies you, okay? I'll make 'em regret it." That was true, even if it wasn't the issue at her heart. She just couldn't voice that suspicion--it was too hard to. The stakes were too high.
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