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 Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 4:06 pm
 Dusk, the time when the sun met the mountains. It is the time when those of shadows begin to wake, this was the time that Damiana loved. Stretching hir wings to rid them of kinks, shi headed off hunting. Keeping hir hooves on the ground, seemed better than taking to the air ways, Damiana searched for something, lively. Hir travels brought hir close to the shadow lands, where the Shadow Herd was known to reside. Shaking out hir mane, shi didn't give a lick of who was there. Shi was hungry and this place was rich with very edible things.
Taking a look around the small grove Damiana lifted hir head to get a good whiff of the air. The scent of other stars was strong, this made things interesting. Stalking around the edge of the scent, Damiana watched the bushes and thickets for something to chase. Unbeknownst to hir that shi was going to be chased instead.
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Geyser Eelborn rolled 1 100-sided dice:
80
Total: 80 (1-100)
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 10:53 am
 This was Shadow land. That much everyone for several days' journey all around new. Everyone knew that the Shadow herd resided in thick, overgrown forest where the sun hardly ever penetrated the forest floor. Thickets were everywhere, clinging, threatening, thorny and wild, clawing at each other like starving cats. Some stars found it ominous; most, actually, and it was actively avoided at all costs. But some stars were rather more foolish; some ignored the danger and went into the woods anyway. That wasn't particularly common, though, so guarding the main settlement was, generally, a reward given to someone who'd done well lately and thus could use a night off.
Officially, there were no vacations for members of the army, but Saltic had earned this false-holiday. He'd been performing well lately in training exercises and his grandmother had decreed him enough of a kiss-arse to be allowed an easy job. He had, however...somewhat let himself get lulled into a false sense of security. Which is to say, he'd abandoned his post to go chasing after a little yellow mouse he'd seen scurrying in the undergrowth. This was Shadow land--no one would dare break borders! He could afford to go chasing some rodent somewhere.
Or...not. There was a sudden smell that engulfed Saltic, one of another stallion. Someone with wings. He suddenly stopped and looked around, scenting at the air. Around the other side of a thicket was some sort of arcturus/solara/starborn cross. Who was occupied with something else. Moving as stealthily as he could, he snuck up on the unsuspecting intruder.((Let's roll to see if he succeeds. 44 or below, he succeeds, anything above, he failed.))
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 1:58 pm
Damiana, busy with hir hunting almost didn't notice something behind hir. Turning hir head to one side to spot something bright blue and gold in color. Oh, wasn't this a sight! A grin passed over hir features as the lyra stallion tried to sneak up on hir. With a tail flick, Damiana opened hir wings and took to the starry skies over head. Up here it was easy to see the stallion and gave hir an idea of a small game to play.
"Going to have to do better than that." Damiana called in a light tone. "Catch me if you can."
With a wing beat or two, Damiana headed higher into the sky. Hir black and star studded coat almost blending in perfectly. This was going to be fun and Damiana was going to make the most of it. Shi loved prey that had energy in them.
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 3:58 pm
The intruder was a wisp of night soaring up back into the sky ahead of Saltic. Damn! He was fast, and he was agile, and he had quite good hearing. He's a fool, though--he's trespassing on our land! The idea that what he was about to do--what he had been doing--was foolish itself didn't cross his mind. Saltic was a ditz like that sometimes. Instead, he took to the sky himself, leaping into the air and beating at it with his brilliant orange feathers. His grandmother might not have appreciated his coloration, but he himself was exceedingly proud of his bright markings. True, it made it impossible to hide, but he hated hiding. He liked winning. He liked being on top of things.
There was no way he was going to let the other stallion go. If, in fact, a stallion it was. That caused momentary confusion on Saltic's part--the trespasser definitely smelled male, but there was something about the way he carried himself and the way he spoke that did not sound masculine. "No problem!" he shouted back. "You'll regret this!" It wasn't his best comeback, but he was still confused about the star-studded stallion and his brains weren't exactly running on high gear.
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Kesmi rolled 1 100-sided dice:
79
Total: 79 (1-100)
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 6:12 pm
Damiana grinned as the brightly colored stallion followed hir. Well, this one was into playing a game. "Going to have to be faster then that." Damiana called over hir shoulder with a bubble of laughter to follow. Adding a little power to hir wings, Damiana headed higher into the sky.
This was a fun game, shi was being chased by a stallion who said that shi would regret something. Well, shi would have to be caught to regret anything. With another bubble of laughter, Damiana swept low over the tree tops where hir hooves sometimes bouncing off the tops. This was great fun, shi was having the time of hir life. Looking back over hir shoulder, Damiana watched the stallion more than where shi was going.
Diving low, Damiana didn't see the tree that had poked up higher than the rest. Set to a glide, hir gaze over hir shoulder, Damiana was flying into impending doom. Looking forward at last second, Damiana tried putting on the breaks, but it seemed too late.
"eeeek!" came girlishly from the stallion.
[[ Rolling to see if Damiana crashes into the tree and become entangled, or misses. You can say which happens. ^^ 1D100 - anything 35 and under shi makes it around, anything higher and shi is entangled in branches. xD ]]
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Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:32 am
Saltic redoubled his efforts, flapping his wings harder and pumping his legs through the air. "I can be fast if I want to be!" he shouted back. "Maybe I'm just enjoying the chase!" He was going to catch that strange creature if it was the last thing he did! And how strange that creature was, too. The bubbly laughter, the coquetishness--and was this stallion flirting with him? Was he really flirting with him? Because this sounded like flirting. Not that Saltic would know anything about that, of course. At this point, about half of the Shadow herd was related to him. It was so hard to find new blood these days, and there were precious few mares to go around. He didn't think he'd ever been flirted with in his entire life. But he'd heard about flirting, of course, and this sounded a bit like that what was supposed to sound like. Wasn't there something about "chasing a girl" or something like that? And he was doing that. Except the girl was, in fact, a stallion. Probably. Possibly. It was confusing, and confusion is a terrible thing to have when you're a flier, especially when out near these tangled, uneven woods. The fact that the other star was not paying attention was proof enough of that. He shoved all those confusing thoughts in the back of his head and concentrated on flying.
That turned out to have been a very good idea. Saltic couldn't help himself. He let out a cackle as he saw the strange--stallion? Mare? Stallimare? Whatever--crash into a tree. The snarled branches of a tree that had lived all its life in the fierce competition of the Shadow Forest was a convenient snare for the flashy intruder. He swooped in close to the other star, just out of leg length and hovered above him. "Need any help?" There was a grin on his face, and not a very nice one.
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Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 8:45 am
Well... This was embarrassing! Trapped within a tangle of tree limbs, vines and gods knew what. Damiana could have sworn something was crawling up hir neck that she couldn't see. Flicking hir tail in restlessness, Damiana looked towards Saltic with the most pitiful of glances. Hir red eyes grew as wide as saucers, hir lower lip began to tremble as if shi were going to cry. Shi had seen the look on the stallion's face and it didn't look too much like a kind one.
"If you could, I would love you for it." Came a trembling voice, as hir features relaxed to match the whole show. Ears falling back against hir black and blue streaked mane, Damiana watched the brighter stallion to see what happened.
Turning her head away from the stallion, lowering it a great deal, hir legs pulled in as close as shi could get them in their tangled state. This was not the night shi had hoped for, shi had hoped to have him chase hir all over the starlit sky. No, a tree had to leap up and tangle hir in its limbs. Why couldn't it have been a stallion's warm embrace instead! Shi could have settled for that, no it was just a cold tree. With an inward sigh, Damiana turned an eye back to the hovering stallion, waiting.
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Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 2:57 pm
((I love you, Damiana.)) The other star was just totally trapped in the tree, and now it was waving its lower lip at him. Awwww. How precious. It wanted him to help it, like it was some damsel in distress and he a dashing knight. Well, technically, I am a knight. I am a dark knight, and quite proud of it! The idea that the creature might have been manipulating him flashed once in his mind, but was quickly dismissed. There was no room in Saltic's mind for the possibility that he was being duped. Instead, his mind was racing with ways that he could possibly manipulate this sod even further. With that in mind, he adopted a concerned look on his face and dipped in just a bit closer, as if to look at the damage. He tutted. "Looks like you really do need it," he said. "That's a nasty big tree. Looks like you're bleeding." He allowed his eyes to suddenly grow wide as he gazed at the back of the intruder's neck. A fern was growing to the side of the tree, just out of the intruder's range of vision. It looked to be tickling its neck. (Its? It was flirting with him. It had stuck its lip out. Its eyes were wide as hooveprints, it looked like it was going to cry. It might smell male, it might...well, the spread of its limbs in the tree gave no doubt that it had parts no mare would ever have, but the way it was acting...that was clearly a mare. He didn't understand at all, but this creature was surely a mare.)
But a fern is not dramatic. No, he could think of something far, far worse better. "Don't. Move," he hissed. "Stay very. Very. Still. There's a centipede on your neck." Keep a straight face, Saltic, keep a straight face...To his credit, he was able to keep his face locked in a serious expression, his eyes flickering over the neck as if following the movement of a creature over the mare's neck.
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Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 3:37 pm
Water had started to pool at the base of Damiana's eyes as shi watched the stallion as he watched hir. Wasn't he going to help hir? Sure, shi was in the body of a stallion, but shi was a female, damn it! Curse the gods that put hir in the wrong body! Crying pointlessly in the inside, Damiana watched the stallion still. Hir ear flicked as whatever it was scratched at hir neck, it was really starting to get annoying.
'Stay very, very still. There is a centipede on your neck'
Alarm bells rang loud and clear in hir head as the tears forged on to stream down hir cheeks.
A what!?
Centipede?
A BUG!!!
Hir body held still for a second, every nerve was a quiver as again hir eyes grew large. There was a BUG on hir neck?
EWWWWW!
After the aspect hit hir, though a false one, Damiana began to thrash against the vines and branches. Large bat like wings beating in uselessness, only to rustle the leaves and smaller branches around. Hir legs started swinging this way and that within the viney grip of the tree. What ever sad ploy shi had been doing was gone to be replaced by one of complete and utter panic. There was not denying it, Damiana was scared of bugs.
"Get it off, get it off, get it off!" Shi screeched, one that almost sounded like hooves scratched against stone. "Ew, ew, ew, GET IT OFF ME!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:11 pm
Neither crying nor thrashing were part of Saltic's original plan (in fact, thrashing arguably made it more difficult), but to be honest? This was better than Saltic had ever hoped. The intruder was desperate to leave the tree, and would surely be grateful to anyone who saved her from the (snerk!) dreadful beastie on her neck, right? He had no idea what favor he wanted from her, but a favor was nothing to sniff at. He could play the dashing savior. No sweat. "Whoa, whoa, lady, calm down, I won't let it hurt you!" he said in a way that he hoped sounded heroic. He rushed forward, trying to dodge the frantic flapping her enormous wings. "Ack, please! Stay--still--I can just reach it if I can--"
There was a branch just above the mare's head, an old, dead one that looked half-rotted. Perfect. It was even oozing sap. Eeeeexcellent. And it was out of her range of vision. Yes, Saltic knew what to do. He lunged at the tree, letting his chin brush the mare's neck. He grabbed the branch between his teeth and crunched it down. The half-rotted, oozing branch made a pleasing squish-crunch noise. It didn't sound exactly like a bug being squished, but in her panicky state? He didn't think she would notice. It also meant that bits of debris from the branch--scraps of bark, pieces of spongy wood, even a real beetle or three--fell down on her, but he brushed them away from her and out of her mane quickly. "There. Now let's get you out of this tree, Miss...?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:37 pm
Nope, Damiana wasn't going to stop or slow down for much of anything or anyone for that matter. Eyes rolling in their sockets to show the whites more then their classic red color was enough to know that shi was out of hir mind in panic. Hir wings caught on many sturdy branches, tearing at thin leather membrane between the slender fingers.
"Get it off" Shi muttered as hir even greater tangled legs now entangled with each other.
Hir left wing snagged on a branch off to one side, the branch torn through the webbing of hir wing locking it into place. The right wing had been pulled in close to stop further damage. Eyes closing tightly closed, shi felt the wind of the stallion coming closer. Heard the crunching of something and the brushing of something against hir neck. Nerve and muscles bound themselves tight as if expecting anything else to follow it.
Damiana's ears flicked as the stallion spoke to hir, spoke of getting hir out of the tree. That would be simply lovely, shi didn't want to be in that tree any longer. It was really mean and had icky bugs. Opening those red eyes shi watched the stallion for a moment as he called hir 'miss'.
"Damiana."
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 6:36 pm
Okay, now the thrashing was getting very dangerous. Not only because every other wing beat hit Saltic in the side or in his own wing, causing him to falter in the air, but because the thrashing caused Damiana's wings to hit against the tree. Saltic was, admittedly, a cad, and had never had much regard for other stars's feelings, but every time a tree branch grabbed the solara's wing webs and ripped them, he flinched. The delicate wings were now bleeding, sliced up from the tree. This was no longer funny--this was serious. This star was getting very badly injured. "It's off," he said. With that, he ducked underneath the wings and started to yank branches and vines off of the other star. He wasn't sure how well she would be able to get down out of this tree with her wings in this state--he might have to help her out in a controlled fall.
She was also going to need a healer. Tonestue was a healer, wasn't she? Or at least trying to be. It would be practice for her, anyway. He himself didn't know much more than field dressings, and if he wanted Damiana to be able to fly--
Wait, do I? She's an intruder. She shouldn't have been here in the first place. Maybe I want her grounded. Maybe I don't want her to fly away. But those wings looked bad. "It's okay, Miss Damiana. Let's get you out of the tree and find someone to make those wings better, okay?" He landed carefully on a branch next to Damiana, wings flapping a bit to keep his balance. Oh, man, this was going to be tricky. "I am Saltic, by the way. What brings you to our woods this evening?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 4:46 pm
Shi wasn't falling for what the stallion was saying until shi felt the vines being pulled away from hir body. Shi felt hirself falling, slipping downwards, it was only now that shi stopped moving. Once the branch beneath hir hooves was there, shi folded hir torn and tattered wings. The blood from them stained hir dark colored sides. This was truly not the night shi had wanted to have. Shaking hir head slightly, Damiana looked at Saltic as he mentioned getting out of the tree. That was a really good idea, just the question of how, shi didn't like the idea of a controlled glide.
"Shame you aren't bigger, you could have carried me out of this tree." shi said fluttering those long lashes.
Stretching hir wings out, shi looked at the tattered leather between the thin boned fingers. Hir wings, hir gorgeous wings were torn to just about shreds. This shi had to have fixed, perhaps this stallion knew of someone that could help.
"Um, well, the lands out there don't seem as fruitful. My father and brother have just about scared everything off and makes for hard hunting. Though I would try here. Didn't know I would run into someone handsome like you." Yes, shi was going the flirtatious way, but it was getting exhausting and shi was still hungry.
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 4:31 pm
Saltic let himself drop in an awkward controlled swerve into Damiana's side to stabilize her fall from the first branch. "Okay, doing well, just a few more tail lengths, and we'll be on the ground." He stared at the aforementioned surface and was chagrined to see that "a few more tail lengths" was a lot higher than he'd thought. Uh. Okay. Mm. Okay. Um. Right. Well. No guts...no glory. What glory he wanted, Saltic didn't have the faintest clue. But he was starting to get caught up in Damiana in spite of himself. Those fluttering lashes were surely flirting with her, and somewhere inside his body, his testosterone was screaming at him a war-chant as old as complex life itself.
"Well, lucky for you, I know a healer. She's my adopted aunt. She should have you right as rain, though it might take a little while for you to be flight worthy. Those vines and branches were not doing you any favors." Saltic wriggled his way under Damiana's front legs, peaking out from underneath her and wriggling to get her centered on his back. Oh, no. No, no, no, said the part of his brain Saltic rarely, if ever, listened to.
DO IT, DO IT NOW, went the primeval war-chant. "I'm a knight, m'lady," the testosterone said through his mouth. "And what kind of knight would I be if I couldn't rescue you from a tree?" And with that, he spread his wings and jumped.Kesmi "Scars heal, glory fades/ And all we're left with is the mem'ries made/ Pain hurts, but only for a minute/ Life is short, so go on and live it/ 'Cause the chicks dig it"
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 4:59 pm
Using her torn and tattered wings the best she could, leaning against Saltic whenever he came close enough to help hir control hir fall. Shi gave a small squeal and almost folded her wings up once again. But shi remained ever alert to the branches that came and went on their descent. Stopping on one of the branches, they weren't that far from the ground, that shi could tell. Damiana looked at the stallion whom she had lead on a chase with, flirted to get hirself out of the vines. Now this strong stallion was helping hir out of that nasty ol' tree. She hoped it would rot from the roots up. Stupid tree, curse on it. Turning hir head shi looked to Saltic as he started speaking of someone.
"Sounds delightful. I can't wait to see this aunt of yours." it was genuine delight, Damiana sure loved meeting others, unlike the rest of hir family that delighted in tormenting them. "Curse to the tree, its branches should just fall off."
Damiana frowned looking back at the tree, raising a hind hoof she struck at the trunk leaving a dent in the bark. Shi put the hoof back to the ground as shi blinked and looked down to see what Saltic was doing. Shi felt hirself being lifted off the branch a little as Saltic put himself beneath hir. Well, if this is what a Knight did for his Lady, Damiana approved! Rubbing her head in his mane, Damiana couldn't help hirself and giggled merrily.
"And a strong Knight you are. A hero among your herd." Little did shi know that the welcome wouldn't be so warm.
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