[PRP] Big Personalities (Aleda and Patches)

[Cajmera]

 

[Cajmera]

How many months had it been since she'd set off on this journey, Aleda mused with a thoughtful expression. How long had it been since she'd made the monumental decision to break out of her comfortable little rut, propelling her father along with her? Longer than she could easily recollect, that was for certain, and what all did she have to show for it? Nothing concrete, of course; nothing of what she'd originally set out to discover, namely a mate and children of her own. But in spite of that lack, she felt pretty content with the way things had gone so far!

Sure, there had been a few setbacks. For starters, she hadn't seen a single solitary stallion in all her journeying! She'd seen a couple of the giant stallions, Soquili, but while pleasant and not bad to look at, Soquili were clearly not her type. No, what she wanted was a nice little male of her own size, someone she could be truly compatible with. And though she had yet to find any such stallions, she knew they were out there. After all, she'd met a few other Usdia mares; clearly they'd had to come from somewhere!

Meeting the other little mares had been a refreshing experience for Aleda. Growing up, she'd had little in the way of female companionship; her mother had left when she was still relatively young, and she'd grown up with a father and two brothers. She had always been content being the sole female influence; it had made her feel downright important sometimes, being the 'voice of the feminine.' As she and her brothers had grown up and her brothers had gone off on their separate ways, her value to her father had only increased. But loving as the father/daughter relationship was, it was no substitute for a mated relationship; her father Foleigh had voluntarily given up the idea of finding another mate, but Aleda didn't want to write off the experience without ever once trying it!

And she hadn't wanted her father to remain alone either, which is why not only Aleda but Foleigh as well had left their home and set out into 'the world.' Foleigh didn't have as direct a goal as his daughter, but he had agreed to make an effort to mingle and socialize. It was Aleda's second most cherished dream (after finding a mate and having children of her own) for her father to find actual lasting happiness with a mare who he truly related to.

Hopefully she would cross paths with him again in the not too distant future, her daddy, to compare notes and see what kind of progress he'd made. She might not have much to share herself, but maybe she already had a new stepmother!

It was a lot to think about, she mused as she trotted along through the tall, waving meadow grass. But it wasn't like she had anything else going on to distract her!

mistalina13

 

[mistalina13]

Aleda would probably hear him before she saw him, as Patches wasn't making any real effort to be quiet. He was singing a tune that sounded good, but made no real sense - just gibberish notes made up as he went along. The stitched stallion wasn't paying attention to much except what was directly in front of him, clomping his way through the grass at a fair for one with such short legs. Right now his only goal was to get out of the high grass and back to somewhere a little easier to traverse. This was supposed to have been a shortcut, but it had been looking less and less like one as time went on. Needless to say it was a pleasant change of pace to nearly barrel into another of his own size and a mare at that!

"Woah!" Her natural coloring had unintentionally aided in her camouflage. "So sorry! Any damage done?" Hopefully not. That would be a dreadful way to start a conversation. Though literally running into someone was not much better.

Like her he had set off on his own, though for completely different reasons. Patches journey had started off as one of independence, and attempting to make a name for himself. He fancied himself a bit of a bard, though he had virtually no training as such. His 'mentor' was another he had met when he was small. After that he got the idea in his head to become a bard himself. Rather than discourage him as some parents might have Diejuste and Syipher had been happy to see that their son had found a path for himself and had encouraged him to go for it.

Cajmera

 

[Cajmera]

As a matter of fact, Aleda HAD heard the singing, though she hadn't been able to identify it as such. She had been wondering what sort of animal had a song like that; the lack of intelligible words made the idea of the singer being either Soquili or Usdia completely pass her by! Instead, she had been thinking she'd be encountering some sort of bird, not the small stallion who suddenly emerged from the grass out of nowhere, knocking into her with enough force to send the small mare tumbling. "Whoa!"

Fortunately, she'd grown up with brothers and was a bit of a tomboy to boot; nothing was injured, not even her pride. Still, it was a bit of a shock to go from walking to rolling, and for a moment she simply lay where she'd fallen, blinking owlishly around her while she tried to figure out what had happened. But after a few moments, she had settled herself and realized an important thing: it was a stallion! An unrelated, small, honest-to-goodness STALLION! Talk about your amazing opportunities!

Immediately, her expression of shock was replaced by one of happiness, and she rolled herself back up onto her feet. "Oh, I'm fine, thanks all the same; it would take a much harder knock than that to do some damage to a girl like me!" Though she did take a moment to dust herself off a bit, poking at her limbs with her hooves and dusting her flank a bit with her tail. After all, this was a stallion; she ought to look her best! "Are you ok yourself? That was a bit of a collision we had, even if I'm the only one who went flying!"

mistalina13

 

[mistalina13]

Uh... Patches took a moment to take stock of his limbs. Everything appeared to be where it should as far as he could tell and nothing was unduly painful. At worst he had a bump on the head, but he would live. He had managed far worse when he was small and trying to investigate the world around him. Right now he did not have much care for himself, just the mare he'd barreled into. At least she was up on her hooves again.

"Well that's good. I'm not much for helping hurts." He was no grand unicorn after all! The small stallion made a bit of thoughtful a face at that idea. Perhaps it might make for a good song once there was the time for it...Ballad of the Grand Unicorn he could call it. Dedicate it to the little mare he barreled into and everything! Although....

Priorities, Patches! Honestly!

His ears went up and his expression went a bit sheepish when he realized he was unintentionally ignoring her. The diversion of attention caused him to miss her preening almost entirely, though he would have dismissed it as simple cleaning up after her tumble down and nothing more."Yeah, I'm alright." He could get a little spacey sometimes once he started getting into his creative pursuits. "Seems I went a little out of order, probably should have asked your name first before bowling you over." He titled his head, sending the beads in his mane rustling and cracked a smile.

"My name is Patches." A simple name to some but it suited him just fine, with his patchwork coat and all.

Cajmera

I know I originally said Patches may not be able to handle her, but given enough time he might change his mind. (If you've made no other plans for Aleda of course.) He just isn't very clear on what he wants with his life. Silly ponies.

 

[Cajmera]

Well, he was a bit of a scatterbrain, wasn't he? Still, there was nothing wrong with that, Aleda thought with a somewhat roguish grin. Whatever it was that caused him to trail off like that, she wasn't unhappy to have the opportunity to study the stallion a little more. After all, this was a momentous occasion, and she wanted to be sure to remember it later! Not only was this the first stallion she'd met since setting off on her mission, he was the first unrelated stallion she'd ever met, period!

And he was very interesting fellow, to be sure; unlike her father and brothers, who, like Aleda herself, sported an animalistic pattern, the stallion seemed to be made up of two completely different horsey-coats. His front half was white and spotty, his back half a softer buckskin color with light flecking. His mane and tail were likewise different; it was as though the stallion had been made by combining the front and back halves of two totally different Usdia! How very interesting...and it only got better when he told her his name. Patches, indeed!

Grinning, she bobbed her head in acknowledgement of his introduction. "Well, even if it was a rough meeting, it's nice to meet you all the same, Patches! And I think we went about this the right way; it would be ackward to crash into someone once you'd made introductions, don't you think? Either way, I'm Aleda; Aleda the rough and tumble, ready to go mare of action," she said, striking what she felt was a suitably dramatic pose.

mistalina13

Sorry for the lag on the response, June was a crazy month for me >>; And I'm ok with seeing what happens; Aleda has a lot of things to sort out, so...if it works, it works!

 

[mistalina13]

Patches had his good days and his bad days when it came to being scatterbrained. All things considered this was one of the good ones.

Aleda might understand his mixed up coat a little bit if she ever met other members of his family. Such patchwork and other strange coats came from his parents. He had come out somewhat simply compared to his siblings who had literal pins and such. Probably a good thing too, Patches would have ended up bending them or accidentally breaking them off long ago with his clumsiness! He honestly had no clue that he was being appraised but smiled brighter all the same, glad to have the attention of a pleasant natured mare.

"Aleda...that's a pretty name." The stallion would certainly try his best not to forget it, nor what she looked like. Her coloration was a lot more tame in comparison to his own. All browns, golds, black and white like he had seen on other animals. And wing markings on her back!? Was she related to some manner of winged usdia then? He had never seen such a thing and was certainly curious enough to want to...

And there he was getting distracted again. Oops!

"I've seen some goats bonk heads when they meet. Seems a little painful for an intentional greeting though." He chuckled when she struck a dramatic pose. "I really like you!" Okay, perhaps that wasn't quite the thing to blurt out after just meeting someone, but he did! At least in a potential friend way. She was really nice and pretty spunky. "Uhm...that is to say. If you weren't headed anywhere in particular, would you be interested in traveling with me for a while?"

Cajmera

 

[Cajmera]

"Well, thank you, Patches! i like it well enough; it goes with my brothers Altan and Arun," Aleda said with a giggle. "Don't know why my parents decided to go the 'all names starting with the same letter' route, but they did, so here we are." With that, she gave Patches a little bow, wishing she had wings of some kind to give the gesture a suitably dramatic flourish as a finish. Oh well; she was never going to be more visually intriguing than she was now, without wings and without vibrancy. She was the perfect blend of her parents; reddish orange like her mother, with her father's bird patterning and two-tone hair. On the plus side, if she wasn't exciting to look at, at least she was unique! To her knowledge, there was no one else out there who looked like her...

No one except for her twin brother, that is!

"And I've never seen a goat; that sounds like a rough way to say hellow, hopefully they have hard heads," She said with a toss of her mane. Aleda was used to being called hard headed, but she was pretty sure the metaphorical sense was NOT what Patches was talking about! That said, she heartily approved of what he WAS talking about, and at his blurted out 'confession' she couldn't help but beam in return. Only a few minutes into her first encounter with a real, honest-to-goodness unrelated stallion and he'd already told her he liked her! Brilliant!

"I like you so far too, Patches; you're nice, even if we did bump heads. Manners are important, after all," Aleda said sagely, "and it's good manners to apologize after you accidentally run into someone. So, you have good manners, and I like that! And I'm not going anywhere, not really, so I'd be happy to go along with you for a while," she finished with another bright smile and bob of her head. Who knew, maybe this would be The Moment, the one she'd look back on later with fondness and misty eyes!

"Are you going anywhere special, Patches? Or just walking and singing?"

mistalina13