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 Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 1:36 pm
 (Note: Still a foal IC, even though her adult form has been dropped in-thread and added to Teepee. :3)
Eleanor peeked around her, eyes bright as she made her way through the forest.
Mama was letting them explore more now, because they weren't so little and had proven to her that even when they wander off they return unharmed. Her family was not far off, so she was confident to explore, despite her tendency to stick closer to her siblings.
Glancing down at the ground, she stopped and drew in her breath at the uneven terrain before her. Little holes made by underground critters, tree roots bursting forth from the surface and creating tiny hills, rocks and other debris scattered throughout. She'd been walking across rather soft, fine dirt for quite some time, but this- this was a challenging forest floor!
Gathering her courage, she puffed herself up a bit as she prepared to trot.
She was not the most... graceful... of fillies, constantly throwing herself off balance or careening into this or that. Trotting was an Art, for her, not merely a gait that could be easily conquered. Oh, she'd learned to move her body with some semblance of the effortless grace of her mother, but she was still... growing. And her unique growing pains seemed to be a tendency to be a full-out klutz.
Sticking the tip of her little tongue out slightly to the left in concentration, she took a deep breath and picked her foreleg up, pushing off with a bounce and entering a spirited trot.
One, two, one two, keep going, with the, rhy-thm, do not, stop or- (Oop-ah-phew, she made it over a precariously placed tree-root), you will, fall!! Reciting the little self-encouragement in her head to the rhythm of her trot, the little filly stopped at the last syllable, a broad grin breaking over her features.
A whole 4 feet, and she'd only stumbled once!
Neck arching proudly, she looked around, hoping that someone- anyone!- had seen her success.
She wilted slightly when no one was immediately apparent; that was one of the draw backs of wandering off alone... sometimes, no one was around to see you succeed.
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:20 am
Rayleigh wandered through the forest, following a winding, bumpy path. Tree roots erupted from the ground in a way that seemed both haphazard and purposeful. She absentmindedly studied their patterns in the dirt as she traveled, finding them almost beautiful. And the trees grew so huge! She lifted her gaze from the gnarled roots to the rough, scaly bark, and then craned her neck to see the leafy canopy that towered overhead. I'll grow up and be big and strong one day, too, she thought, smiling. She was a bit impatient to be all grown up (adults have *all* the fun), but she was rather enjoying the process of discovering the world around her while she was still small. She could scoot into smaller caves, pick her way carefully along narrower ledges, and just generally go places that adults couldn't. Or maybe they just chose not to...the decisions of the adults were a mystery to her. Why they wouldn't just spend the whole day playing she couldn't figure out!
The sound of nearby hoofbeats interrupted her train of thought. Oooh, I wonder who it could be! she wondered. Her excitement at discovering someone, whether she knew them or not, drew her closer to the sound. She pushed her head through a bush, its branches and leaves framing her head as if she had a lion's mane, and looked around. She spied a grey filly with speckles across her coat trotting slowly down the path. The trot seemed awkward or stilted somehow, although she couldn't identify why she thought that. At the end of the trot, the filly pranced proudly, then appeared to deflate. A peal of giggles escaped Rayleigh's throat.
"You're funny!" she declared to the stranger. She attempted to push her shoulders through the bush, but got stuck partway through and decided to pull herself backwards and go around the plant instead. She wriggled and pushed with her front hooves. It seemed for a moment that she might really be stuck, and then with a crash, she tumbled backward onto the path behind her. She grunted involuntarily as the air got knocked out of her. She lay still for a short moment, then climbed quickly to her feet and shook herself. Smudges of dirt remained apparent on her lighter-colored parts, though on her back you had to look closer to tell that it, too, was dirty from the extrication. She followed the path around and stood in front of the strange filly. "Heya!" she said with a smile. "I'm Rayleigh." Her head tilted to the side as she wondered who the filly's parents were. "What's your name?" she asked. I hope they live nearby so we can play sometimes! she thought. Rayleigh loved her sister, but sometimes she wanted to have other friends, too.
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:57 pm
Eleanor's ears perked at the giggle and her eyes widened in surprise as the head popped through the bush, and then she grinned as the shape registered as the head of a fellow foal. She took a few steps closer, then her little brow furrowed and she frowned a bit at the other's comment.
Funny? She hadn't... done anything... other than succeed! Before she could puzzle out the other's response, the blue-and-purple-with-little-white-accents and a flopped purple and white mane near a tiiiiiiny pointed horn- Ooooo! A uni? She'd heard stories about them- poked back into the bush and ohhh, don't go!
Eleanor pouted, approaching and just starting to open her mouth to say something when the bush started to shake violently, wondering if she should help and then- oh! Oh my.
The other filly tumbled out from behind the bush backwards, and Eleanor gasped as she seemed to have the air knocked out of her- how did one heal and healer?- and... oh! She was okay.
Her breath coming in little excited starts, Eleanor stared with widened eyes at the whole debacle, moving a little forward and back as she wanted to help and then the next thing happened.
Peering at the very dirty yet smiling filly, Eleanor smiled a little uncertainty and then grinned as the other introduced herself. Oh, for this she knew exactly what to do! "Hello-there, it's-a-pleasure-to-meet-you-Rayleigh, my-name-is-Eleanor." she said with perfect dignity, speaking a little faster than may have been appropriate but the well-rehearsed lines flew off her tongue fluidly.
She may be a little physically awkward, but she was quite comfortable with Greetings and Etiquette!
She bounced up and down a little, in what was only supposed to be the feminine version of an equine bow.
Licking her lips a little, she stared at the other's dirt for a few moments before admiring the great yellow-and-orange tail with tiny little spikes. "Oooo, you have a horn and a tail?" she asked with a look of complete admiration.
Mother said it wasn't nice to point out when others were different, but that was because some ponies made fun of others- Eleanor had no idea why, when these little attributes of ones' breed looked so cool- and she wasn't making fun, she was admiring, so that made it alright, ... right?
Her head was spinning a little. She screwed up her nose and then smiled again, letting the little mental acrobatics go.
"I didn't know that was possible!"
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:13 am
The filly's polite and rehearsed greeting, followed by the impudent inquiry made Rayleigh giggle again. She wasn't laughing *at* her so much as just finding her mannerisms amusing. Eleanor was so matter-of-fact and clearly trying to mind her manners, but her curiosity was winning out. Rayleigh didn't mind one bit, as she was curious about just about everything, and found it a hassle NOT to ask the questions running through her mind. Plus, her excitement at meeting someone new just kept bubbling up and it was easy for it to turn into peals of laughter.
She wriggled her tail at the filly, making her spines move as well, hoping to evoke further reaction from her. Her tail *was* pretty magnificent, if she did say so herself. It looked a lot like Dad's tail, and that made her pretty proud of it. Her daddy had always taken care of her and her sister all by himself. Rayleigh tried not to make trouble, because she knew he worked very hard for them. She wanted to make sure he never had reason to leave them, because while no one knew where their mother had gone or why, Rayleigh sometimes wondered if their mother had decided that foals would be too much work and that she didn't want to stick around to help raise them. Daddy always said it wasn't true, so she tried to believe him. She couldn't help it if doubt wriggled its way back in every now and then.
Her thoughts appeared on her face in the guise of a slight frown, a crinkled brow, and a bit of sadness, but her cheeriness and grin returned almost instantly. "It is indeed possible," she said. "I got my super cool tail from my daddy, and he says my horn is from Mom." She paused. "I don't know what she looks like, though." She trotted in a circle around Eleanor a few times, examining her more closely. "What about you, what do your parents look like?" she pried. It really wasn't any of her business, but she figured if she asked too many questions, her new acquaintance would say so.
She'd never seen a Soquili with such a delicate patterning on their coat. It looked almost like snow falling softly on a stormy, grey day, sometime in the afternoon after the sun had begun falling toward the horizon but before its evening display of colors across the sky had begun. She decided it was stunning in its simplicity. She wasn't jealous or envious - she knew that each Soquili had its own appearance and traits, and that they couldn't be changed. It wouldn't do her or anyone any good to harbor ill feelings due to something unchangeable. She would just have to admire the filly, the same way that she was being admired for her unique features. "Your patterning is beautiful, by the way," she added with a smile.
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