Lykke looked at the reflection that gazed back from the crystal clear water. It showed her face perfectly. The brown face that looked like the sister she had run away from. She splashed her hoof in the water and the reflection quickly turned back to the small pebbles covering the pond bottom. Lykke took a quick drink and turned away from the water. It was a hot day, and unfortunately the water was a little warm.
It had only been a few weeks since she had run away from the orphanage she had agreed to work at. Run away from under the hoof of her sister. Sure, at first she had seemed like she had cared for the younger sister that she had just met. But as the days turned, Paavai seemed to try and control her life more and more. Until finally it became suffocating and she had to leave.
Lykke returned to the shade and tried to relax. To just...be. For a long time now it had been rare that she was given time to relax and be herself. Not since she was a foal back at the breeding ranch. Running free with the wind and the other foals.
Small tears swelled as she gave a little chuckle. Devastatingly sad at the innocence that had been lost along with her parents. And yet the memory always left a smile on her face, even through the tears. She quickly tried to brush them away on a leg and looked around at the surrounding area she had wandered into.
Marrow's eagle-like eyes spotted the stream below and he began to circle his descent slowly. He landed in the grass and lowered his head to the water, taking a drink. He was massive, but moved about in near silence thanks to his feathers and soft canine like paws. However, his presence was generally heralded not by noise, but by stench. He had a repugnant order - a sweetly-sour rank of death that wafted off him and carried on the breeze.
He could barely smell it himself anymore. Indeed, the old permeating order that hung on this face and feathers barely registered anymore. He lifted his beak to the wing and inhaled deeply, looking for the scent of death. No, he didn't smell any dead flesh around, only the scent of a living mare that was somewhere near by.
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:49 pm
Lykke was looking at a clump of flowers she had found in the open area. As she bent to take a whiff of their sweet scent, she caught the scent of something else. She didn't know what it was, but it almost made her retch on the flowers she had bent over. She quickly lifted her head and tried to bury her muzzle in her wings. She couldn't quite manage it, but maybe she could convince herself it was making a difference.
She looked around, trying to find the source of the smell. There was nothing. The only thing she really noticed different then when she had first arrived, was a new stallion in the area. Though, he couldn't possibly have been the one with such smell coming from him…. Could he? Lykke wanted to get away. He looked eerily like a skinwalker and she wanted nothing to do with him.
As her muscles tensed to turn and run, a thought lashed through her mind. This is exactly what Paavai would tell me to do. Her face turning hard and defensive, shoulders squaring as they tensed for a different reason. She would tell me to run and never look back at a monster who could only cause harm.
Lykke turned slowly to face the stallion again. She took shallow breaths, as that seemed to help with the smell. She took a closer look at him, trying to access any part of him that could harm her. And now that she took a closer look, she saw he didn't quite look like a skinwalker. ‘If I am wrong, and he attacks me, then at least I will be with mama and papa.’ She thought. She took a deep breath, or tried as much as she could of the air that was slightly fresh before inching her way over to him. Maybe he would see her and make first contact.
Marrow was surprised that the mare seemed to be approaching him. He lifted and eyebrow and rustled his wings, inadvertently sending a fresh waft of odorous dust and rank from his feathers. Upon getting closer, the mare could see that his face and beak was caked with dried blood and offal... crusting up and black and flaking almost like scales.
His massive, owl-like talons flexed, digging into the rock and dirt. His thick feline tail began to twitch as she got closer. His posture was tense, but not aggressive. While he did definitely resembled a skinwalker, there was something about him that just didn't fit. He didn't seem to have a pelt, just a thick mane of stiff, pinlike feathers. His expression was blank but his eyes shone with a sharp, intense intelligence; not the madness of most skinwalkers.
Yes ma'am nwn<3<3. This month has just been a little difficult so far nwn;;.
Lykke had to pause momentarily, the fresh wave of smell coming from the large male was something she was not used to. All she had to do was keep reminding herself that she was her own being now, and that Vai was no longer here to tell her to stop. That this was too dangerous. After blinking the water back from her eyes she continued forward, finally reaching close enough be able to talk.
She didn't exactly know what to say know that she had come this far. What did one talk about when they looked like they had little in common with you? Lykke went the easy route and decided to comment on the one thing she knew; wings.
"......" "You Fly very well. Does your tail help?"
She blinked, not from the smell or tears this time. She just hoped she didn't come off as stupid to this new male.
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 2:24 pm
ladyfirefox89
No worries, I understand *fluffs&
Marrow's eyes narrowed as the mare came closer. He was wholly unused to anyone giving him the time of day. Those that did, well, were usually looking for trouble of some kind. But this mare seemed ... unoffensive enough. She didn't look dangerous, and her tone was pleasant and non-confrontational.
He licked his beak, flexing his talons again. As she mentioned his wings, he fluffed them subconsciously, the stretched them out, looking at their impressive wingspan. He also twitched his thick, feline tail. "No," he said simply, his voice low and gravely. "I don't think so, at least," he said, folding his wings back next to him. He let the silence build to awkwardness, not at all versed on daily small talk. "Does yours?" he asked lamely, watching her carefully. She seemed so small as he got close...
Lykke's eyes grew wide as he stretched his wings. The sheer volume of them amazed her. Enough for her jaw to drop before she could stop it. She was able to force herself into not coughing when the smell hit the back of her throat, but it was unlikely she would get the taste out before the week was up. Quickly closing her mouth, her eyes remained wide as she stared in awe. They looked like such good gliding wings. Wings that would allow you to soar for hours. By this time, her eyes had gone from wide to dreamy. Half in her own world of imagining what it would be like to fly like that.
When his wings folded back against his body, the mare snapped out of her daydream and looked him back in the eye. Another one of Paavai's 'proper etiquette' lessons that would take some work to forget. Lykke felt like he wanted to say something, but all he was was quiet. Her head tilted slightly as she waited for him to speak. And when he finally did, she couldn't help but give a little toothy smile. So simple a question for the pause he had taken. It took her mind off him coming closer enough that she forgot to be afraid of him. He didn't really give off a vibe that made her think run either.
She looked back at her tail and gave it a little swish. "Hmmm, I don't believe so." She looked back to him, a little startled at first how much she had to lift her head to look him in the muzzle. "I think air flows through it too easily for it to make much of an impact."
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 12:45 pm
ladyfirefox89
Marrow had never felt more awkward and lost as he did right now in a very long while. Ever since he escaped that dark pit that was his childhood....
..he thought about that time often. It was hard not to. It defined every other waking moment of his life. His diet. His constant, self-imposed lonliness. His stench. His obsession, love-hate relationship with death and his pure dedication to survival. Though he had escaped the great black bit of his childhood, there were times he still questioned if he did the right thing. Was there a right thing? What would his death have accomplished had he given up like his siblings? He would be there, laying in the bottom of the canyon... rotting. Feeding no one. Meeting no one. Being nothing.
Just rotting.
The wind rustled his feathers and Bonebreaker shook his head, releasing him from his own thoughts. His mind was like the deep pit he feared so much - he felt like he was constantly climbing out of some strangling darkness. Sometimes, he just wanted to let go and fall back into the inky depths.
"I'm no expert on flying," he said, looking down at the very small mare. At least, she seemed so very small compared to his monstrous form. "I taught myself," he said, thinking hard about what else to say. This was already bordering on the longest conversation he had ever had.
By now, Lykke's taste and smell senses had given up all hope and lay between clogged and just plain shut down. This made the mare able to relax a bit more, now at least she didn't have to pretend like she wasn't about to faint from his smell. She could have a regular, normal conversation with him. Well, as normal as he seemed to be able to have.
She tilted her head in slight confusion. "You didn't have no one to teach you how to fly? Though.... I guess not everyone has a family...." She paused a little longer as her eyes became stormy with memories. "Or, I suppose, the opportunity to have one." Lykke had once had a family, a family she cherished greatly. But after that had been taken away, all she had was the hard handed master that had inherited her. Even after that, with the sister who claimed to be family, it wasn't the same. She knew it never could be, but someday, maybe she would find something close to it again. She looked up into his eyes and wondered if his past was as tangled and snarled as hers.
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 12:56 pm
ladyfirefox89
"No," he said in answer to her question. He was alone, without anyone to help with anything. He didn't care to elaborate - if she new the true circumstances of this horrible birth, then the conversation would be over and she would surely run away.
The concept of a loving 'family' was alien to him... it's hard to miss something you've never had. But he tilted his head at her, the feather's in the thick, musty mane shifting and releasing hidden wafts of foul odor from their depths. "Everyone has a mother and a father," he said, matter-of-factly. "You cannot come from nothing."
Lykke could feel a slight tingling in her nose as she felt a cloud of smell drift down from the large male. Though she could no longer smell, the thickness hitting the back of her throat sent her into a little coughing fit. She tried to hid it by turning her head and only having half coughs. But it wouldn't stop till she gave one laage cough. Rubbing her muzzle on her foreleg, she looked back up at Marrow and gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry....." She looked around, trying to come u with an excuse. "Must have been some pollen in the air...." Trying to give a convincing sheepish smile again. This male had done nothing to try and harm her. And she would do all in her power not to hurt him, even if it was just his feelings.
After hoping she had convincingly fibbed about the pollen, though in all truth, she knew she wasn't very good at fibbing, she answered to his past quarry. "I.....guuuueess." The word drew on as she thought about it. "My parents were sold when our old master died. After that, I had to live in a barn most of the time." It was hard for the words to come out. The past still hurt her, but she didn't feel the need to hide anything from this odd stallion. "Did you come from a mother and father than?"
Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 6:54 am
ladyfirefox89
A frown tugged at his mouth - it wasn't uncommon for others to be sick around him. Coughing, gagging... he was used to it. In a way, he appreciated the fact that they were sticking around long enough to even get that far. But when she mentioned the pollen, a tiny - very tiny - glimmer of something of relief flashed in his eyes.
It faded quickly, especially at the mention of his mother and father. He was silent for a moment, thinking about her question. "Everyone comes from a mother and a father," he said lamely, knowing even as he said that that that's not what she meant. He tried to re-articulate his thoughts. "I didn't know them," he finally said.
Lykke tilted her head at the flash of light in the big stallions eyes. At least, thats what she thought it might have been. It happened so fast, and it was a little hard to see his eyes fully with the difference in their height. She would have liked to see some sign that this large stallion was having a nice time chatting with her. She scuffed her hoof a little as what seemed like a dodge to her question. "Yeah, I guess everyone does." She mumbled. Maybe he didn't really want to talk with her. She had pretty much forced him to talk with her so far.
That was when she heard him continue on with his statement. It was just a little snippet of his life, but it was still something he had been willing to share. She grinned up at him, happy that he was willing to share something with her. And that maybe this was a sign he still didn't mind talking with her. She tried to think of something else to ask him quickly, before he got bored and flew off.
"But, you must have friends, don't you? Sometimes friends become family." Her doe eyes looking up at him, waiting eagerly to see what he would do.
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