[PRP] Foals at Play (DarkHeart x Cerridwen)

[Faithofthefallen]

Cerridwen's wings fluttered instinctively as she skipped along, adding an extra little hop to her jaunty step. Her fuzzy blue tail flicked excitedly, it was a beautiful spring day. The chill was finally fading from the air, although there was a chilly bite to to the breeze that flared up every so often. The mountain tops visible in the distance were still covered in snow, her mother had explained that it took much longer for the snow to melt in higher elevations, and it never would at the very tops. Cerridwen liked snow well enough, she had been born in the midst of winter, but the season had been long and gray and cold. She was more than willing to give up snow for a while to get to enjoy some nicer weather.

Cerridwen and her family lived in the mountains, she had never been this far away from home, and didn't plan on informing her parents that she had ventured this far today. She was rather lost, in that she had no idea where she was or where she was going, but she would have no problem finding her way home, the mountains were visible for miles in any direction. Cerridwen wished she had been able to bring one of her sisters along for company, but she didn't want to risk them tattling on her. She wasn't normally this rebellious, in fact, she was a model daughter most of the time, but today she had been bitten by the spark of adventure.

The filly smiled as she rounded a bend in the bath and beheld the lovely meadow scattered before her. She sniffed and closed her eyes to savor the heady scent of flowers in the air, she had never smelled this many flowers in the same place before. She was beginning to love spring! A large boulder nestled in the fragrant blossoms and long swaying grasses was just calling her name. She dove into the meadow, giggling as the long blades of grass tickled her belly as they parted before her, the farther in she moved, the taller they grew, until she felt as though she was swimming through an ocean of green when they became so tall they began tickling her nose as well. She came to the boulder abruptly and with a light step and a stroke of her wings she nimbly climbed its' jagged face and gazed across the meadow at her new kingdom, or at least thats what she intended to pretend for the day. A rustling disturbance in the distance caught her eye, a tuft of bright hair and a tan colored body, was there a monster in the grass? Cerridwen froze, every inch of her body rigid with fear as her young mind invented all sorts of horrible things that could be out hiding in the grass. She should run right now, but she would have to go back through the grass, and what if there were more of them? The filly hadn't fully mastered her wings yet, and while she could glide quite aptly, she couldn't fly out of the meadow and avoid the danger. She thought through her options and decided the best course would be to find out what it was she was facing. "You there," she called out imperiously, her sweet voice carrying across the field, "Hello? Are you a monster?" Her eyes were wide as dinner plates and her wings were spread to their full expanse to make herself seem bigger as she waited fearfully for the response.

AstoriaFallen

Aw! Awesome! Thanks for starting, I closed last night and my brain was just done by the time I got home xD

 

[Faithofthefallen]

Cerridwen hovered anxiously on the edge of flight as she waited for the answer to her question. When the other foal popped his head up, she visibly relaxed. Her vivid imagination had been conjuring up all sorts of horrors that could be creeping up on her, she pushed aside the unwanted images of ripping claws, dripping teeth, and oozing skin, glad to be rid of them. The foal stared at her for a few moments in silence, Cerridwen shifted awkwardly from hoof to hoof as she waited for him to say something. Finally, his mouth moved, but his words were so quiet she couldn't make out more than a low buzz. One brow cocked rather haughtily, she tilted her head and pursed her mouth. She was about to demand that he speak louder when he finally raised his voice. Her frustration ebbed away again, although not her confusion. "Wouldn't you know?" she asked pointedly. "-If you were a monster, I mean." She watched him warily, he certainly didn't look like a monster, but he was a little odd. Her daddy had warned her to be careful of strangers, he said sometimes bad people didn't look so bad, but the filly didn't really comprehend what that meant. As far as she was concerned, as long as the other foal didn't look scary, he probably wasn't. She suddenly smiled radiantly at him, if he wasn't a monster, than he could be a play mate! "My name is Cerridwen." She sounded it out carefully, "Care-ih-dwen." Her sisters and parents often just called her Ceri, but she was rather proper despite her young age and felt that nicknames were too familiar to give to strangers. His name sounded a little scary at first, but she reasoned that a name was simply a name.

Her wings twitched a little in response to his question, she turned her head to gaze at them, and then back to him. She realized she had never seen a soquili without wings like hers, her family all had them, although her papa had told his children that soquili came in all different shapes and sizes, it was one thing to hear, and another to see. "I'm an Angeni," she responded, "Or, I guess, a Uniangeni technically because of the horn" She shrugged a little self consciously, Cerridwen and her sisters were gifts from the wishing star, they had never actually been carried within their mother's body, her father had found them already in their baskets outside of his home one day. It wasn't something she talked about much, because she didn't really understand it. Neither of her parents had any Unicorn blood, but the star had seen fit to grace each of their daughters with one.

"What do you mean that isn't nice to say?" She asked, thoroughly confused and a little irritated at being reprimanded for no reason.

AstoriaFallen

 

[Faithofthefallen]

Cerridwen's eyes widened and a blush mantled her cheeks, "Oh! thank you!" Having four wings didn't seem different to her. In fact, in her opinion, soquili looked a little... Incomplete without wings, she tried to imagine for a moment how it would feel to be stuck on the ground all the time and shuddered silently at the thought. She wasn't particularly good at flying yet, but she could glide and hover short distances. Now that it was warming up, her father had informed the three girls that they would need to start building up their wind and strength for flying. He promised a treat once they mastered the skill. She couldn't help but preen a little at the complement though, she'd never had a compliment before, and found that she liked the warm glow it brought. She wanted to return the favor, "I like your markings," she offered shyly, it was true, the face on his chest was kind of scary looking but it seemed to glow with a lovely inner warmth that was really quite lovely.

Cerridwen's brow furrowed in worry, she peered around surreptitiously, was there someone else lurking in the grass? She shifted back a little. "You mean someone said something mean before you came out here?" She ventured hesitantly. She wasn't really sure how to respond to this odd development, her mother was training her to be a healer and she had a strong instinctual grasp for the art, but they hadn't talked much about things that could go wrong in your head, so the thought that Darkheart might be hearing things didn't really occur to her. She didn't see anyone else close enough for him to hear though, which to her seemed to indicate he was having a delayed reaction, that was certainly not normal. She drew in a deep breath, if this foal was sick, she felt it was her duty to help him. Cerridwen eyes him, checking for signs of fever, which could cause hallucination; sweating, shivering, exhaustion.

"I haven't tried any, I was just exploring to be honest, I'm not from this area and it was just too nice of a day to stay cooped up at home with my sisters."
Deciding she could examine him better if she was closer, she hopped off the rock, fluttering her wings a bit just before she hit the ground to ease her landing. She walked around him in a circle, her gaze scrutinizing. "I don't see anyone else nearby," she ventured cautiously, "So who else are you talking to?" She peered into his eyes, checking for dilation, "What did they say that wasn't nice?" She inquired, feeling curious despite her nerves, there was something odd going on here, and she was going to get to the bottom of it!

AstoriaFallen

 

[Faithofthefallen]

Cerridwen's eyes widened, "Spirit touched? How does that happen??" she leaned in in interest. She watched as his distress grew, her smooth brow furrowing in worry. She didn't want to make Darkheart feel bad, but truth be told she was a little afraid when she heard that there was a disembodied voice talking to him. She'd never heard of something like that before and part of her really wanted to jump back up on the rock. Her heart softened at the worry in his face though, she could tell he was expecting that response and she could understand how it felt to be lonely. She couldn't stop herself from scooting back a little bit reflexively but she stayed with him, feeling ashamed of her reaction and the distress it might cause him. Her eyes were wary, "I'm sorry." She said sadly, "I've just... Never heard of something like that before." Steeling herself she stepped back closer, her wings puffing out a little as she gazed at his marking. "It must be kind of scary hearing something you can't explain. Have you talked to your mama or papa about it?" Cerridwen was still at the age where she shared most everything with her parents, this trip was really the first tiny rebellion she had ever attempted. Her dad was her giant protector and her mom was comforting and easy to talk to. She thought about how she would feel in Darkheart's hooves and stepped even closer until she was once again right next to him, "Maybe... Maybe if you ignore it, it will get bored and go away?" She offered hesitantly.

AstoriaFallen

Ack, I took longer, I'm sorry! I think I looked at the notification while I was doing something else and totally forgot you were waiting for a response. Then I started a new job, we moved, and we got a new puppy and I kind of poofed x-x.

 

[Faithofthefallen]

"Ooooh," she sighed, musing about that for a bit. Cerridwen's tail flicked back and forth, "My papa told me my sisters and I were gifts from a star," she revealed in a hushed conspiratorial voice, her eyebrows wiggling up and down. She leaned away and shrugged, her voice returning to normal. "I thought he was just being silly for a long time, but my mom said it was true as well when we asked her, and she wouldn't lie about something like that... I suppose if we could come from a star, you could be spirit touched!"

Her brow creased in concern, "I'm afraid not," she said in a small voice, wishing she could hear Dearkheart's companion. "Whats it saying?" She wasn't a big fan of secrets and she didn't really like the idea of someone talking around her that she couldn't hear. A small part of her wondered if Darkheart could truly be hearing another voice or if he was just brain sick. She wondered if her healing would work on him if he was, she wasn't fully trained yet and thus not allowed to use her powers unless she had someone there with her, but what her family didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Cerridwen's heart did a big flop when she heard about Dark's mother, she just couldn't imagine life without her mom, her eyes immediately filled with tears, "I'm so sorry about your mom," she said in a wobbly voice, "Thats awful!" Cerridwen wanted to be as serene and calm as her mother was, but she was a sensitive creature with very big emotions. When those around her were hurting, she felt it, and wanted to make them better. "Maybe its just not something that can be fixed, if its always been there, maybe its one of those things you just have to learn to live with... If you want, when I get bigger, I can try to heal it out of you though. I've never done anything like that before, but I will try to learn... If you want me to." She shifted from hoof to hoof a little awkwardly, embarrassed at her declaration, and then suddenly darted foreword to touch him with her nose. "YOU'RE IT!" she crowed jubilantly and darted off before waiting for his answer. "

AstoriaFallen

 

[Faithofthefallen]

Cerridwen ran to escape the heavy emotions that had settled on the foals as much as she ran to avoid being caught by Darkheart. She thrilled at the feel of her muscles tensing and releasing, the exertion making her have to suck in a breath in between hysterical giggles. They traded tags a few times as the cavorted about the field and finally she collapsed in a heap of wings and legs and hair her legs felt like limp noodles but she was beaming from ear to ear.

"When I'm running, or flying, its easy to get distracted from the things that are bothering me." She confided to Darkheart with a warm smile, "I always feel happy as well as worn out. Maybe if you play and run and keep active enough you can make the voice be quiet while you do it? Or at least make yourself happy enough that it doesn't make you so sad with what it says. My mama says exercise keeps your brain healthy" She puffed herself up a little, her bright eyes filling with a fierce light. "You should try to never let bullies make you unhappy Darkheart, they only say mean things to you to make you sad, because they don't know how to feel good about themselves unless they suck it out of someone else! My daddy says bullies are cowards, and if the voice is mean to you, thats what it is!"

"You hear me voice, you're a big-mean-bullying-icky head and you need to leave Darkheart ALONE!" Her voice boomed and her horn flashed a little at this last bit and something delicate and unformed whooshed out of her, leaving her as exhausted as if she had ran around the field with Darkheart a second time. Her eyes fluttered closed for a second before she could peel back her eyelids again to gaze over at her friend. "Well that's never happened before." It was as if Dark's need had pulled the healing out of her without her guidance. It had been weak without structure or intent to guide it, she doubted it had done much of anything useful, but it had tired her the way normal healing spells never would have. She hoped she would be able to get home before dark or her parents would come looking for her and she would be in BIG trouble. "Are you okay Darkheart?" she worried she had hurt him somehow in her ignorance.

Cerridwen took a deep cleansing breath and rolled to get her feet back under her body. With some effort she managed to push herself up although her legs were visibly wobbly. She would be sore tomorrow from this exertion. She suddenly felt very young and helpless, she was far from home, exhausted, and scared of what had just happened. Her little rebellion no longer felt as fun as it had when she'd first wandered off on her own, especially since she wasn't completely certain which way home was. Tears welled in her eyes and she sniffled and hiccuped trying to hold back her sobs. Her lower lip trembled as she watched Darkheart, her eyes daring him to say something about her sudden change in demeanor. She was too proud to cry in front of anybody but her family.

AstoriaFallen

React to Cerri's little magic puff however you want, it was basically just a little surge of uncontrolled healing magic because she's not trained yet for fun and plots. It might not work against Dark's particular problem at all, but if you decide it does, it shouldn't have much of an effect, and whatever effect it did have wouldn't last very long at all n_n;