|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:51 pm
This is a private roleplay between Amitola (Mahogany Sunset) and Aurora (Mewsings of an Angel). Please do not post without permission.  
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 11:22 pm
Ami blubbed along at a steadily slow pace just below the surface of the lake. It was shiny-searching day again - every third day was shiny-searching day. It just seemed like a nice whole number to the little seathi... And it let her feed her obsession and her collection on a frequent basis. The walls of her subterranean cave were encrusted with all sorts of trinkets: mother-of-pearl bits, all kinds of metal and fiber that had been dropped into the lake by passerby and birds overhead, and, of course, everything her daughter had ever brought home. That filly was a busy little girl.
The thought of her daughter made her smile, and Ami hummed the tune that she and Illy had learned while the baby was still locked safely away in her shell. Amitola could still hear the strange resonance the walls of that shell had made as Ilyrana's muted voice filtered through them.
Moving toward the more highly elevated part of the shoreline as she hummed, Ami looked around. The daylight sun was streaming almost blindingly through the shallow waters above her - she couldn't have been more than ten feet from where the water ended. The shore and the sun called to her... How long had it been since her head had been above water? Weeks, months? Days and nights seemed one and the same during winter, and she had had to shelter from the ice more than once already. The feeling of it scraping against her fins still made the mare shudder. If she hadn't been careful, she might have frozen along with the lake.
Inching even closer, Ami sunk her hooves into the mud of the shoreline. The tips of her ears were above the water now... Flicking them back and forth, she leaned forward, the better she might hear the world above her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:17 am
Today was a day of exploration, the young mare thought as she trotted through the meadow. It was warm today, warmer than it had been in months, and the young buds of bright green grass were beginning to push through the parch ground to greet the sun with their waving strands. Aurora could not help but breathe in the sweet smell of new life - it was comforting and familiar, reminding her half-heartedly of her youth. How long ago that seemed to be. She had long thought of the days gone by, the years that seemed to pass her by like a brief wind, taking with it short days of pain and discomfort.
Today was a new day, and with it would certainly come new memories to cover up the old.
The mare picked up the pace, her hooves breaking into a gallop, sending her long glowing hair back in a long stream behind her. Wings pinned to her side, she galloped faster and faster until her lungs burned and her sides heaved with the effort. It had been a long time since she had run. The year had blessed her doubly with two beautiful, intelligent daughters who took up every ounce of her free time. But now they were grown and off having their own adventures it seemed. And with Dante off being Mr. Protective Daddy with Moonsong, it left Aurora with a happy moment to breathe for herself.
She continue galloping, allowing her wings to spread outward to catch the warm breeze that she stirred up. And with a flourish, she flicked her wings outward, snapping them down toward the ground in a strong motion, kicking up dust and leaves. The movement sent her skyward into the open air.
Her figure spread a shadow on the ground below her, brilliantly dark compared to the brightness everywhere else. She watched it for a time, watching it shift as she beat her wings, carrying her further aloft. The expanse of the meadow spread around below her in a beautifully eerie tapestry of new greens and the occasional spurt of little flowers peeking out of the grass when the wind stirred. Beyond her gaze spread the darker strands of forests and lone trees that stood like sentinels on sloped hills that looked like a giant had plopped them down in random order. And in the middle of the meadow gleamed a ribbon of silvery water that shifted through the green as bright as fish scales, ending it's journey in the wide lake that from up high was like a dark pool into a monster's mouth. Beautiful and oddly unnerving.
Turning her wings slightly, she began her descent, allowing the warm wind to guide her in a slow stream, her wings locked in a glide that sent her over the lake, her hooves barely brushing the surface, sending up sprays of cool water. She couldn't help but laugh loudly at the freedom that flooded her veins.
This was what life should be.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 4:56 pm
A whooshing sound hurtled toward her, and Ami jerked out of the way just in time to avoid taking a hoof to the face. Disoriented and disgruntled, she flipped over backward to watch the hoof sail out of sight, cleaving the glassy surface of the lake. Small, orange, and, from what she could tell, cloven, the only thing it could have belonged to was a Wind - Or, gods forbid, a Kalona, she thought. The seathi stuck her head above the surface again, shaking her little body to get the water out of her eyes.
Gliding slowly away from her was, indeed, a Wind. Well, at least I won't get eaten today, she thought ruefully, tilting her head as though the angle would make it easier for her eyes to adjust to the sudden sunlight and to better make out the figure moving away from her. "Hey!" she called out, not quite sure what she was doing. Her voice was shrill from infrequent use and sounded strange to her above water... But it carried well across the open lake; there were no barriers to impede it. "Come back here!"
As she said it, Ami's vision finally seemed to adapt to the harsh sunlight. The mare - for it was a mare, small and slender, even for a giant, as Ami referred to the regulars - had a pelt of shiny black fur, gleaming in the sun. That was not, however, the only part of her that gleamed: Ami felt her eyes widen as she took in the Wind's glowing rainbow pinions and scales. Firebird, she thought, her mind taking her immediately back to her foalhood and the tales that her mother had once told her. Soquili heritage has long imitated the appearances of other animals, the story went, and one of those is the Firebird. They were creatures, now long extinct, that had once ruled the skies. Her mother had compared them to peacocks, but with plumage far more varied and brilliant - plumage that glowed with fire and the light of a hundred different rainbows. They had existed for only a little while, she'd been told; the reality of nature was that their feathers attracted predators.
But that didn't mean that the echoes of their species couldn't live on in Soquili, Ami had always thought... And so she had waited, for the day she might see a Firebird for herself.
And it had finally come so close that it had nearly kicked her in the face.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 7:54 pm
The dark mare spiraled, slowing herself, before landing with a soft clatter of hooves on the far bank. The dirt was soft and muddy and soiled the edge of her mane and tail, leaving them dirtier than she would have liked. But who cared? She, at the moment, definitely did not. Aurora smiled softly, the feathers on her mask softly caressing her cheeks as the soft breeze touched her. It smelled briny and slightly bitter, but in its own way spoke of the world around her with more accuracy than anything.
Allowing her wings to lazily droop and rest, the small mare walked to the edge of the water, her nose drifting to skim the surface, sniffing with curiosity - it was slightly salty, smelling of fish and the earthy undertone of stirred up silt.
Stepping back, she lifted her head and peered out over the water, watching the surface ripple and shimmer. Occasionally, the surface was disturbed by a fish or something else; she knew that there was undoubtedly other creatures lurking here. Hopefully whatever was possibly out there was not the carnivorous type....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 4:07 pm
Sighing in disappointment when the Firebird did not respond to her call, Ami ducked underwater to begin her struggle to the other end of the lake. While she could have swam with her head above water to make sure that the Wind mare didn't go anywhere unexpectedly, she couldn't afford the slowing force of the wind and air resistance, along with the difficulty that cutting through the surface would have made. She was far better off swimming underwater, lighter and swifter, her tail curling and uncurling rapidly to propel her through the water.
By the time Ami was halfway across the lake, she was exhausted. Pausing to stick her head above the surface and suck in more air, she looked around. The Firebird was still there, her head turned in the seathi's direction, peering across the surface of the lake. Ami's muscles, however, felt as though they were on fire. There was no way that she could go any further... But maybe the Firebird would see her if she tried to get her attention. The mare had wings, after all - maybe she would fly out to talk to her? Her body told her that it was her only choice.
"Hey!" Ami called again, raising her little blue hooves and shaking her head-fin from side to side, trying to garner attention. "Hey, Firebird! Come talk to me!" She hoped that the rainbow mare would see her or hear her or something... Though Ami could see her, she had no idea whether or not the Wind could discern her own little shape from the rest of the lake. She was no bigger than the stray cats that lapped up the lakewater from time to time, after all. What if the Firebird didn't see her? Just in case, Ami fought with her sore muscles, swimming with only her head and dorsal fin above the water. She thanked the gods that she had been born streamlined - she didn't know what she would have done with the weight of a mane pulling against her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 2:10 pm
A noise caught the young mare's attention, and though not quite discernible as words from so far away, she could tell it was her the voice was beckoning to. Black ears flicked back and forth before she snorted, staring out over the water, pinpointing the noise. Only when she saw the ripples and splashes a little ways offshore did she find who the noisemaker was: a fish?
This perplexed her to no end. Was there seriously a talking fish? She blinked her shimmery eyes in wonder, pricking her ears forward to listen. It was calling to her, it had to be - it was making a beeline toward her current location.
Her wings spread outward once more, the unfurled bright feathers catching the bright sun's rays in a sudden glare of multi-colored radiance.It was almost blinding to behold in the full light, for much of her glowed already with their own inner brilliance. The added effect made the faceted parts of her come alive, swimming with a sheen like a living rainbow.
With an almost lazy motion, the mare pushed her wings downward with all the force she could muster, pushing her frail body aloft into the air. A few more wingbeats sent her low across the surface of the water, the edges of her long hair brushing the murky water as she flew toward the strange little thing who was talking to her.
As she neared it, she noticed that it seemed to be making a slow process toward where she had been on land. Amused, Aurora turned with a small tilt of her wings to line her body up with the little creature, getting an eyeful of it.
No.
It wasn't an it, it was a she! A she-fish. Right? A fish. A talking fish.
"You called, little fishy?" The mare said in a dubious voice, slowing her wingbeats till she was in a hover, though it took much diligence and strength on her part to stay at a standstill without falling into the water.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:10 am
Amitola felt glee shoot through her as she watched the mare's prismatic wings glowing in sunlight. If she didn't know better, Ami would've thought she really was a Firebird, and the way the mare shot over the lake only proved her heritage. She was beautiful in a way Amitola had never seen before: all long legs and elegant feathers, with the horn that adorned her head curving just as gracefully as the rest of her. The seathi was so enraptured by the sight of her that she almost did not notice how the mare addressed her.
"I am not a fish!" she said, a bit insulted at the notion. If the mare honestly thought that she was a fish, then she did not know about seathi kind - and if that was true, how could she know about any of the other special breeds out there? Did the mare even know that she was a Soquili? Or did she think that she was just strange and different, as Ami had once felt – though Ami's exclusion had been from her own kind – did she feel like an outsider, unfit to roam in the herds of the horses? Judging by the mare's confidence however, Ami did not see that being a possibility, and so put it down to the fact that she must just not know of the seathi… Which meant she was in need of correction. "My name is Amitola. I am a seathi, a soquili. What are you?" she asked. If the mare did not know what a Firebird was, well, Ami would be more than happy to tell her legend. But that horn was almost curious, as well, and if this Firebird could teach the little seathi more about her actual species, Ami would be more than happy to hear her story.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:56 pm
Aurora flew a circle around the fish - no, seathi - as it was hard for her to keep still in one place without her wings tiring. Her rainbow eyes peered down into the dark water at the bright spill of color the Seathi created within it. "You are Amitola? I am Aurora, named for the rainbows in the Northern skies. I am called a Kirin, those harmonious creatures who dwell in the Eastern forests, but I also hold the blood of the gracious Winds, who dance in the skies over all the lands." A smile lit up the mare's face as she spun in the air above the water-bound Seathi.
"I've never met one of your kind, Amitola... Are there many of your kind in these waters? " She said, her hooves and hair brushing the water.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 5:30 pm
The way Aurora spoke was so beautiful that Ami was almost distracted by it. It seemed almost lyrical - almost musical - and so smooth and effortless that she sounded nearly otherworldly. So distracted was she by Aurora's pretty speech that she nearly forgot to answer the question she'd been asked. "There were Seathi here, but no longer," she replied, trying to mimic Aurora's speech. If she spoke regularly, she would have felt stupid and colloquial next to such an eloquent creature. "My family has moved on to the sea, and there are none but the occasional visitor now."
But now it was her turn to ask questions - and oh, did she have questions! "What is a Kirin?" she asked. She knew what Winds were: winged Soquili with the ability to fly. Kirin, though, those were a mystery to her. Aurora had said that they were harmonious; did that mean they were peaceful, or in tune with nature, or both? And wherever the Eastern Forests were, they must be far away, for Ami had never seen another of Aurora's kind. "Do they all have such vivid coloring as you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 5:52 pm
Aurora smiled softly, listening to the words Amitola spoke. As the small Seathi spoke of her being the only one around made a wave of sadness fall over the mare. Loneliness was a terrible thing. Aurora lowered her head to the little fish, glowing eyes rather mournful. "That must be a lonely existence.... Have you ever traveled anywhere but here? Did you know there are spring-fed waters as cold as ice and as clear as crystals? They're surrounded by trees called Pines that smell fresh and clean and crisp and new. There are things called waterfalls where the water seems to fall from the skies in rainbow curtains and it is beautiful to behold at sundown...." The mare trailed off and laughed. "Forgive me, I love to daydream of all the fantastical places I've seen or heard of."
At Amitola's question, Aurora smiled. "A Kirin? Well, at first they came from a distant land faaaaaar to the east. But they came across the seas and came to these lands. They're scaled and have horns upon their brow, just like me. We are found in all sorts of shapes and sizes, all colors of the rainbow as well!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 6:55 pm
"I have not traveled, no..." she said. "I'm afraid that when I get too far downriver, I simply freeze... I'm terrified to leave home. My parents meant for me to follow them to the sea, but I was too frightened to." Listening as Aurora told her of far off places - they must have been far to the north; they all sounded cold - Ami tilted her head. She did know what waterfalls were. She'd had to struggle up one of those when she'd failed to see it coming and tumbled over it, and then had to go back. But Aurora seemed far-traveled and eager to tell of the places she'd seen, and Ami loved to listen.
Craning her neck as Aurora spoke of the Kirin, Ami looked for Aurora's own scales. There they were, as rainbowy on her back as the rest of her, glowing faintly against the deep black of her coat. "And do they have cloven hooves, as well?" she asked. Aurora's seemed to be at least two different colors, glowing like her scales and eyes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 7:07 pm
Aurora nodded as she listened, solemn at the thought of someone being unnerved by the unknown. "There is a lot of things out there that deserve being found out. A world so strange and wondrous!" She said, an enthusiastic lilt to her voice. "Oh! Cloven hooves? Yes, they do! As do Kalona and Unicorns."
Sweeping her wings outward, the mare swung around toward the shore and flew toward it, touching down on the dark soil as she breathed, her wing muscles shivering. It took a lot of energy for the mare to keep in flight for prolonged periods of time. She folded her wings and stared out toward where the colorful Seathi was. "I'm sorry! My wings were aching something fierce! Come over here!" She called out across the water, shaking her head around in a beckoning fashion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
