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 Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 6:37 pm
She was just coming to all the wrong conclusions, wasn't she? She tipped an ear, a show of making fun of herself a little bit. "Four is better than eight," she agreed. "And three at once doesn't seem so unusual here."
Her smile when she listened to Imriel talk about his mother was warm and sincere, though. This was a stallion who really did love his family, and wasn't just all talk or show. That, she was fairly certain she could conclude from the way she acted. "She's very lucky to have a son who cares for her the way you do." She flicked an ear again. "Remind me to keep out of the way if I ever come upon you and your family playing," she said cheerfully.
Oh, and then the invitation. "I'd like that," she said after a little hesitation. With the season changing, the truly good patches of grass were getting harder to find, so there was no reason to turn him down. And no reason to blush. It was just grazing.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:58 am
"Oh, I think I'm just lucky that I was born into this family. Not every soquili can be as lucky as my siblings and I have been." Imriel reflected briefly on his words. No, no one was as lucky as he had been. There were families that had a parent missing, families were siblings fought bitterly, families where a foal had to raise himself. Imriel had truly, truly been lucky.
The rain had slowed down to the point where drops only fell now and then. The grass would be good with the water on it, and the entire earth smelled fresh and new. "Well, I think it's time to come out of this damp cave," Imriel said cheerfully. It wasn't as if it was less damp outside; he had just become keenly aware of the close confines of the cave, and it made his heart jump erratically once or twice. Hormones were so frustrating!
"I've talked your ear off now though. I'll shut up and eat. You can either tell me more about yourself, or you can enjoy the silence. Either way." Still cheerful, Imriel trotted out, bending his head to tear at the grass. This was one of the few spots that it was still juicy and thick, and soon even this grass would die. He knew winter would mean food would be more difficult to come upon, and he was determined to eat as much as he could while he still could, though when he thought about it it didn't seem like a terribly polite thing to do in front of a mare. Ack, he wish his mother had gone over this in more detail with him!
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 12:45 pm
"No, not every Soquili seems as happy as you do." Now she thought of the others she'd met with much sadder stories. Missing mothers or fathers, feuds between their relatives. It made her very glad for her little herd too, no matter the fact that none of them were related. Family didn't only rely on bloodlines, after all.
She followed Imriel out of the cave and stretched her wings, once she was in the clear. Though the cave had, yes, kept them dry while the rain fell, it was a little close in there. Besides, it felt good to be able to stretch where she wouldn't spatter anyone with water or bump them by accident. Stretching would help her feathers to dry too, but she didn't keep them extended. She tucked them neatly at her sides again, and eyed a particularly tempting patch of grass.
Imriel had a point though. He had shared a lot about himself and she hadn't done the same. Not that she had nearly as much to say. Still, she didn't lower her head quite yet. "I'm not certain that I have all that much to tell you, really. My home is far away, in the mountains. I doubt it would be nearly as interesting as here. We're all more or less the same there, after all. There aren't any unicorns or usdia or..."
Well, she was curious about his feathers and...whatever those tendrils of his were. "Do you mind," she asked cautiously, "if I ask where you came by your feathers and things? I haven't seen a Soquili like you and I know it's horribly rude to ask, so if you don't want to answer, I understand."
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 7:08 pm
Imriel grinned again. He had a lot more of a family experience compared to Yazmina, but he thought they both had a similar amount of world experience, which essentially amounted to not very much. Ah well. That just meant that they had plenty of time and things to look forward stretching before them.
"My feathers? Well, it's a complicated family feature." The tail feathers that made Imriel stick out so much were what most would consider a 'mutation', but the word has such negative connotations. It made him sound like a hideous freak of nature, when in reality the feathers just enhanced his beauty (in his opinion anyway). Plus, his father had the same feathers, though his were even longer and more magnificent.
"The tail feathers are a trait only myself and one older sister possess." That was it, wasn't it? "Oh yes, and my father. His are much longer than mine- they touch the ground. Mine are quite stubby in comparison, but neither his nor my sisters seem to produce the sparkles my do. A bit of magic, I suppose." Imriel shrugged his orange shoulders, passing it off as a trivial detail, though it often plagued him to know where it came from.
"The head feathers are slightly more common. Again, my father has the originals. I think some of my brothers and my two sisters both have the bobbles." He tried to recall how many of his siblings had it, but he couldn't recall quickly.
"As for the exact origin... You'd have to ask my father." Imriel grinned again. "Perhaps one day I can take you to meet him?" The question tailed off, hopeful, but not too much so.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 8:56 pm
Tailfeathers that touched the ground? Yazmina shouldn't really have looked at his again, but she couldn't help herself. She really was fascinated by them, and now by the notion that one of the Soquili could have tailfeathers that long. "They touch the ground? Like a. Like a bird?" A moment too late, she was aware of the irony of asking that question, given her own wings. No more blushing, she told herself. And it worked. At least a little. She didn't turn as pink.
Oh, magic. Magic she understood. She smiled at that. "They do seem a little magical, sparkling that way. I've never seen anything like them before. Or your ...bobbles, did you call them? They're very interesting." She liked them, but she thought that might be just a little much to say. Still, given all the Soquili who seemed interested by her appearance, it was somehow fitting.
"Your father?" Well, that made her a little nervous, for no good reason. "You don't think he'd mind if a stranger asked questions about his feathers?" She didn't mind questions, herself, but not every Soquili was the same. "That's not to say I wouldn't like to meet him," she amended, "but I wouldn't want to be rude."
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:17 am
"Much like a bird. He has wings too. And feathers on his head. You could say that my father is very bird-like, I suppose." And in turn, so was Imriel, though he lacked the crucial feature of wings that would lend credence to that notion.
"I've never seen anything like my sparkles before either. No one else in my family has them. I guess I'm just special like that." That same cocky grin flashed briefly, before Imriel pressed on. "You can tug on my bobbles if you like. They feel feathery. It won't taste very good, but many people seemed tempted anyway." And by many people, he mainly meant his siblings, for whom these all probably made an excellent target. Sigh. It was so hard to be in his family.
At her next words, Imriel couldn't mind giving a small bit of laughter out loud. He was sure that his father and mother wouldn't mind him bringing a friend to visit- after all, he was hardly inviting Yazmina into the herd, though that probably wouldn't be a terrible idea. No, he wouldn't subject her to Ambroise if he could avoid it, and the herd was large enough as it was. Unless she joined as... No. He didn't even want to think about that. It made him blush, though that was scarcely visible against his fur.
"My mother and father would probably be glad I brought a girl home, though I think they'd take it the wrong way." Gently teasing, Imriel still grinned, somewhat hoping that it would bring a blush back to Yazmina. She was rather cute when she blushed.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:43 am
Imriel didn't strike her as a bird, at all. No doubt it was because of the wings. Different. Unique, certainly, but not like any bird she'd ever seen, so she just didn't put those together. "Think of it this way," she offered. "In a family as large as yours, each of you has to find some way to stand out from the rest. Yours is your sparkle. It makes you memorable." She'd remember him, at least.
She looked startled then. "Tug on your...do others really pull on your bobbles? Doesn't that hurt?" She couldn't imagine, and she certainly wasn't going to do it. That was close to biting, as far as she was concerned, and she only did that with very good reason.
Oh, she blushed. Right on cue and vibrantly to boot. "Oh. Well. We wouldn't want to mislead them. You could explain that we'd just met."
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 10:16 am
"Why thank you Yazmina. I'd like to think we all stand out plenty on our own, but the truth is, we're sort of an orange-y mess when together." Chuckling, Imriel was seized with a desire to return home, at least for a little while. He needed to be back. He was getting to be far too serious and independent. Well, maybe after this adventure was through, he would get his opportunity.
At Yazmina's next question, Imriel shook his head emphatically. "You would have to be pulling fairly hard for it to hurt. Mostly I don't feel it at all." It was clear she wasn't going to try though. Her loss. Though Imriel had to admit the taste of feathers wasn't very pleasant. She probably knew that though, judging from her own feathery wings. Again, he had trouble imagining what a pain that must be, though perhaps the rewards outweighed the setbacks.
"I'll do that, if you do want to come some time." Again smiling, Imriel thought back to his home once more. Oh, he wanted so badly to be there again! But maybe taking home a girl would be nice. Some day, some day. He would see the smile on Yei's face, introduce the mare proudly to his father and to Ambroise, show what a good job he had done in picking her out. "I really should get going though... I want to go home. All this conversation has made me miss it dreadfully."
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 4:22 pm
Yazmina had images of sunsets in her mind when he mentioned being an orangey mess. It didn't look very messy to her, at all, but she could tell that he didn't mean it negatively, so she didn't trouble him with an arguement. It was an affectionate term, the way he said it, and that made her smile.
"Still, it seems... odd to just pull on bits of you," she said, color once more in her cheeks. "It's nice of you to offer, and they really are interesting looking, but I don't think I'll tug on them."
She should have been heading back to her own herd, she supposed. "I won't keep you then. It was nice to meet you, though, and nice to share the cave a while. If it wasn't for the storm, we might not have met. Safe trip home, Imriel. I hope we'll meet again."
She turned and paced away a few steps, looked back and lifted a wingtip as a sort of wave, then headed on her way, smiling to herself.
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