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 Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2024 4:21 pm
'It' was a tree. It had been tantalizingly out of reach, up there on a lonely cliff, with what looked like the prettiest, juiciest, most delicious apples - or some kind of fruit, she thought - and for years now, she had watched them grow, ripen, rot and fall. For years. She might be the only Soquili who even knew about this tree, which was equal parts disappointing and exhilarating.
It was exhilarating because Splendida loved a secret - she loved for things to be hers and hers alone.
It was disappointing because the tree was up a cliff that was fairly easily climbed... for someone who had four legs, instead of two. For someone who could breathe air regularly. For someone who was a land- based creature.
That is, someone who was not Splendida herself.
So she was being taunted. By a tree. And she was staring at it, quite intently, and that was why she noticed the flutter of a wing, just over the crest of the cliff. Within spitting distance of the tree.
"Hey! Hey, you up there! Hey! Hey!!!" Splendida shouted, perhaps the loudest she had ever yelled in her life. If she had half a chance of not being tormented by the dream of perfect fruit, she was going to take it, and take it with a quickness.
Cirro Strata was taking what she was calling a 'Mama's Minute', wherein her children were not allowed to bother her, and would instead bother Sol'Lunier, their father, for any concerns. She was entitled to a break every now and then, and she was taking it.
It was so quiet, without the children. Most of her life had been quiet, before the children were born, and she had no idea how much she had missed the silence - it felt like she had room to think, for basically the first time since her beautiful, most precious children had tumbled out of their basket.
It lasted about eighteen seconds, and then someone was shouting.
Cirro Strata looked around, the breeze ruffling her hair and her wings. She didn't see any source of the noise, but here it came again, someone yelling. She had come all the way out to this cliff to avoid shouting, but it appeared that shouting wasn't planning on avoiding her.
Cautiously, Cirro Strata moved toward the edge of the cliff, under the tree that clung to the ground with strong, twisted roots. Cirro peered over the edge and noticed someone in the ocean below. She could only assume that this was the source of the yelling.
"Are you okay?" Cirro called down, unsure if the person was calling for help - were they drowning? - or just yelling to get her attention. It didn't really look like the creature was drowning - she was moving back and forth, seemingly of her own volition, against the waves of the ocean. "What are you saying?"
((Splendida WC: 265
Cirro Strata WC: 261))
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Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2024 1:07 pm
"No I am not okay!" Splendida yelled back, hoping her little voice would continue to reach all the way up there - she'd never yelled so loud in her life, probably. Every fish in the ocean and bird in the sky could probably hear her, and she just had to hope that her mysterious new - hopefully helpful - friend was included in that number.
"Can you bring me one of those apples?" Slendida called. "The apples! Bring me one! Please!" Splendida called, doing her best to make her words as brief and direct as possible. She wasn't trying to be rude, but there was only so much she could do from so far away.
The other horse said something, but Splendida couldn't make it out. That did not bode well.
"Come down here!" Splendida shouted. "Come! Down! Here! So we can! Talk!!" Splendida ducked beneath the water briefly to wet herself, then quickly re-emerged above the crest of the ocean. "Hello! Come down! Please!!" Splendida swam back and forth impatiently, squinting into the sky to see if her new friend had finally heard her.
Silence. Waiting. Maybe her new friend was taking the long way down...?
Splendida didn't even know if there was a 'long way down' from the top of that cliff to the beach before her. She didn't know for sure that they connected at all.
Just when Splendida was about to give up hope, a shadow leapt from the edge of the cliff, hovering for a moment before great wings spread. This could only be her new friend, bringer-of-apples!
Splendida swam in an excited circle, keeping her eyes on the horse above her as it slowly - agonizingly slowly - approached the beach.
"Thank you thank you! Did you bring me the apple?"
((WC: 293))
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2025 7:20 pm
Her new friend - if such a person who saw apples and then did not bring any down with them could be considered a friend - had not, in fact, brought any apples. Splendida tried very hard to mask her irritation - bordering on anger - and was only moderately successful. The other Soquili was a mare, pale blue with gray wings and long blue hair. Her hair was probably as long as Splendida was tall. Land horses had the strangest fashion sense.
"Would you be so kind as to bring me a few of those apples?" Splendida asked, doing her best to make her voice sound sweet and not at all expectant or entitled, even though she was entitled to sweet, good, fresh, healthy, wonderful apples that were far, far out of her reach.
"I would get them myself, but..." Splendida flapped her tail pointedly. "I'm a bit water-bound. I've never had fresh apples before," she added, looking back at her new maybe-friend. Her friend if she brought her apples. She widened her eyes imploringly, all but begging.
"If you want to make a trade, I have..." Splendida trailed off. What did she have to trade? Crap. "I'm sure we could make a deal of some kind." Probably. She was sure she had something that would interest the mare. Plus, the mare looked nice. Maybe she would bring her apples for free and not require payment. Maybe they could share the apples together - since it wasn't like Splendida could take them back underwater with her for later.
(Could she?)
((WC: 256))
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Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2025 2:45 pm
Cirro Strata had only heard noises - shouting recognizable as words, but not much beyond that. So she'd made her way down, taking the long way, just in case the shouting was angry or aggressive shouting and the person needed a moment to calm down.
It turned out that it was upset shouting, but not angry, per se - upset in the sense that she was distraught, not that she was fighting or angry at Cirro. Instead, the little sea-Soquili was actually asking for a favor.
"Oh," Cirro said, raising her eyebrows. "You've never had an apple?" Cirro blinked - she had never thought about that before, that apples (and so many other green and growing things) were restricted to land-dwellers only. It seemed very unfair, all of a sudden, and Cirro could understand why the sea-Soquili was as upset as she was.
"Okay. Sure. That's no problem, sure," Cirro said after a moment's thought, glancing back at the tree at the top of the cliff briefly; she'd just come down, and now she had to go all the way up? Cirro resisted the urge to sigh about it; she'd agreed to do the favor, so the favor she would do.
Besides, she had wings. She didn't need to climb.
Instead, she took off at a run and flapped her wings, giving a final leap to become airborne. She made her way back up to the top of the cliff, and began knocking apples from the tree, mostly aiming for the ground beneath the tree, not the beach far below. Then, she landed, picked up as many apples by their stems as she could fit gingerly in her mouth, and took off again, swooping back toward the beach below. Down was so much easier than up.
Cirro Strata landed, and deposited the small pile on the beach, just where the ocean's waves would lap against them, but not quite so close that they'd be carried away by a swell.
"Is this good, or should I throw them to you?" Cirro asked, tilting her head curiously. How far inland could a sea-Soquili go, anyway?
((WC: 350))
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Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2025 2:59 pm
Splendida was surprised - she expected more pushback, or at least an agreement to some kind of exchange or payment, but the land-dweller was taking off at a gallop and then leaping into the air before Splendida could even say thank you.
She couldn't help but stare - she'd actually never seen a land-dweller with wings take off before. Splendida loved being a water-dweller and thought it was the superior species of Soquili to be born as, but she did think that being able to fly must be a close second. It must be just like being underwater, but less...wet. And admittedly, slightly less limited - eventually you would run out of ocean and run into land, but the sky? The sky went on forever and ever. There was nothing to stop you or hold you back in the sky.
Splendida shook these thoughts from her head as her new friend (yes, definitely a friend) landed once more, a bundle of apples clutched delicately between her teeth.
"Maybe just give them a nudge?" Splendida said - truly she hadn't gotten this far in her planning. Maybe her friend could fly them out, if that didn't work? There was only so far she could go before she'd run out of water and begin to dry out.
Her new friend did as she was asked and gave one apple a strong nudge, enough to catapult it into the water and send it bobbing toward Splendida, who caught it deftly.
Her mouth was beginning to water. She took a big bite, momentarily forgetting her manners, and couldn't help the exclamation that emanated from her - it was incredible.
"Thank you so much," Splendida said, covering her mouth with one pawed foot. "I--you can have one too, if you like." She felt a bit silly, offering something to the mare that the mare herself had given to Splendida, but she also felt awkward eating such a special treat all by herself. "Please, have one--ah, what's your name?" Splendida gave a soft chuckle. "I apologize for my rudeness, I should have asked sooner, but I was...focused on other things at the time."
((WC: 352))
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2025 9:51 am
Cirro Strata was suddenly, powerfully reminded of her children; specifically, how crabby they could get when they got even just a few minutes past their feeding time as foals. It made her smile, and it endeared her toward the sea-mare in spite of herself. It seemed that the mare was recovering herself, now that she actually had the apples in her grasp.
"My name is Cirro Strata," Cirro said, inclining her head slightly. "And thank you," she said. She briefly considered declining the offer, if only because it seemed like the other mare would enjoy the apples far more than Cirro, but she understood the attempt at patching over the social awkwardness enough to cut her some slack.
And anyway, who turned down apples as red and delicious as these? Not Cirro Strata, that was for sure. Cirro took a bite and made a happy little noise in spite of herself, her wings flapping excitedly. She'd had apples before, of course, but there was something special about these, Cirro thought. She glanced back up at the tree, wondering if there was something special about the tree itself, or if perhaps what made the apples taste good was the curious, circuitous method by which she had acquired them.
"You have good taste," Cirro said with a chuckle, looking back to the mare. "I don't know that I would have bothered to try these if you hadn't asked. So thank you, for sharing this with me." Cirro nosed the remaining apples into the ocean, carefully and gently, so they wouldn't overshoot their mark. "I would eat them soon, don't let them get soggy. They're best when they're crisp."
((WC: 276))
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2025 9:42 am
Splendida wiggled with pleasure as more apples floated her way, further pleased by the mare's kindness - it felt especially undeserved considering how cranky Splendida had been to her, but all the more gracious for it.
Splendida began to eat the apples, actually flapping her fins in excitement as the taste exploded over her tongue. Land food could be so good sometimes! So explosive and--yes, and crisp. Splendida had never heard the word 'soggy' before, but it sounded unpleasant, and she knew instinctively that it was the opposite of how crunchy and delicious these apples were.
"Do all apples taste this good?" Splendida asked, a little shyly - she felt...uncultured, compared to the beautiful winged mare that stood on the shore. She'd never even had apples before, and probably this mare had them all the time, and she was probably just humoring Splendida by enjoying them as much as she seemed to.
"I wish apples grew underwater," Splendida sighed. Stupid plants needing stupid oxygen and drowning in too much stupid water. Had she tried before? No. But she was pretty sure it would not work out...unless she got them growing and put a bubble or something around it to keep the water out...
Well, that probably wouldn't work. Bubbles popped too easily. And didn't plants require fresh air, not just the same stagnant air? So not a bubble. But maybe Splendida could construct a tube of some kind...something that got fresh air in and kept water out, just around her little plant...
But it wouldn't be little for long. If she wanted to grow a tree, she'd need a lot of space. The ocean was huge, it was true, she was sure she could find somewhere unclaimed, but...
...Splendida was getting ahead of herself. She sighed and shook her head, the images in her brain wild flights of fancy. There was no way.
But at least she could eat them now - and that wasn't nothing.
((WC: 323))
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