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 Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:12 pm
Esta nodded ruefully. "A lot harder than I ever thought it would be!" she admitted before returning her focus to Grace's stallion. She was surprised to hear he was from so far away though.
"Wait, you can't even understand him?" The white mare was shocked. She'd never met anyone who she couldn't understand, except humans of course. "How on earth do you two manage?"
Quia was keeping one eye on her mother, noting that the conversation was veering off from the subject of parenting. Good. Her sister, Francesca, was clearly thinking along the same lines, for she finally joined the brown filly over by the tracks.
But damnit they were Quia's to investigate! She ground her teeth as Fran sauntered off, following them away from the adults. Such a choice. Investigate further and risk further punishment? Investigate here and risk not having all the information? And of course, telling on Francesca was an option quickly growing in appeal.
But...no. Quia knew her mother. If she told on her sister now, Esta would plow through the snow to find her, completely obscuring the tracks. So the brown filly kept her silence, leaning over the tracks until the warmth of her breath threatened to melt them out of existence, trying to solve the mystery written in the snow.
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Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:31 am
"Yeeeeaaaah. He can't speak or understand Kawani." Grace hesitated for a moment before replying, looking away from Esta, feeling a little embarrassed. It was true that them staying together despite not being able to communicate was out of the ordinary, but she enjoyed the company all the same! Sighing, she gave a small smile, "I guess its kind of hard to imagine, huh?"
At the question, she paused, as if to think, before opening her mouth to say something but quickly closing it again. How do they manage? Musing out loud, she smiled again, "We manage somehow... I know his name - Deus - so I just call him if I need him. We communicate mostly by using body language. If I need him to follow, I do..." Turning around, she walked a few steps before glancing backwards and nodding, gesturing for Esta to follow, "This. It was hard at first, but now we're able to communicate. Its just hard to... You know, strike up a conversation."
The female sighed, walking back to stand in front of Esta "You must think its really weird to invite someone I can't understand to live with me, right?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:16 am
Fran was completely oblivious to the machinations of her sibling and at present, was naive to her territorial ways. After all, how was a small child meant to realise that her sister intended to get her into trouble even though Quia was performing the same action. It would be a hard lesson for Fran to learn, but when it occured she'd learn it well and never let her sibling live it down. If Quia wanted her help after that she'd have another thing coming to her - Fran would toss her to the wolves and leave her there. She was aware her family wouldn't appreciate the sentiments of course, but there were just some lessons your siblings needed to learn and if Quia intended to betray her so horribly then Fran would make her life a living hell!
...There would be laxative berries in Quia's meal by bed time.
Provided she told on Fran of course, if she opted not to then she would get off Scot free. However if Quia could ponder over getting her sister into trouble, then it certainly wasn't against Fran's nature to get her own revenge! It may have been a touch cruel, but little Fran would have bet good money that her sibling thought twice about crossing her again. Even the wrath of her mother after she'd tortured her sister would be toally worth it. She'd be grounded for life, but at least she'd have gotten her sibling back for such a horrid betrayal!
Nevertheless she remained in the dark for the time being and pottered along quietly, inspecting the tracks here and there with remote interest. It was Quia who found them more intriguing than she did (she just wanted the walk), but she was a touch curious as to what and where they came from but not enough to dig her nose into the snow. Let Quia do that, she was certain her sibling would make a dramatic declaration as soon as she thougth she'd figured out what it was anyway, by then it was Fran's hope she would have drawn to the same conclusion (or a better one).
Mmm, sibling rivalry; it was always terribly entertaining to a bystander.
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Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:44 am
Esta shook her head in wonderment. "You are willing to put up with far more than I ever could," she replied. "If you really like him, I know there's many who would say that love can overcome all odds. At the very least it's a good way to learn another language!" the white mare laughed, though the sound was a bit strained, ready to stop immediately if Grace didn't find her joke to be very funny.
Even with Tregaran (and the children!), Esta found it hard to believe that people could and would give up so much for love. Perhaps she was biased - gods all knew she'd not seen much of that sort of thing as a child - or perhaps her experiences just made it difficult to accept that such a thing as pure love existed.
If it did, it would be her lot to know she was doomed, then to fall head over heels in love with the most wonderful stallion in the world, only to be cruelly ripped away from him when fate intervened-
-oh wait. Damn. There had to be someone somewhere laughing at her.
"I don't think you're weird at all," she told her friend. "I know I couldn't do what you've done, but if it works out, I'll be very happy for you both."
The filly was intelligent enough to realize that if she breathed on the tracks for much longer, she'd melt the object of her study, and so leaned back. A real master tracker wouldn't be so stumped by such a simple thing, she knew it! It was time to put the picture together.
The bird tracks were much larger than her own hoofprints. So the bird was pretty big. The bird was walking a lot farther than mosts birds would walk. And the dragging part was angle downward into the snow, as if the bird was dragging a stick...
Why would birds drag a stick? Why would a bird walk, when it could fly? Birds liked flying, right? That's why they had wings!
Quia's mind was churning, on the tip of a breakthrough as to the reason for the tracks. But the conclusion was just out of her reach for the moment. The filly sat in the snow, thinking hard, ignoring her frozen butt and the unimportant conversation of the grownups.
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Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:08 pm
"Love?" Grace echoed, blushing a little as she shifted her hoofs. It was a little embarrassing, but she had never been in love. Well, at least she thinks that she had never felt so strongly for anyone before; that's love right? She paused, deep in thought before continuing, "I don't know... I mean, I like him but I don't know if I love him. What... What does it even feel like anyway? Love?"
She blushed again; she never really had the chance, or luck, to bump into old friends so it was a little difficult to talk about something she had always thought was a deep subject - love.
"To be honest, yes, I would love to pick up a new language!" Grace laughed, relaxing a little. "It sounds so different from Kawani! And thank you." She smiled, "If it doesn't, I think we'll make good friends anyway. Its good to have company around!"
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:11 am
She was going to melt them and having slipped away from the range of her mother and her otherwise trivial conversation, the tiny filly was bored. She couldn't be distracted by footprints for as long as Quia could. Once she had drawn her own conclusions and had pondered over the anomalies she found little reason to discuss them further. Alas, she had remained with Quia a little while longer before succumbing to her boredom and with no warning whatsoever she left her sister's immediate vicinity and pottered off in the opposite direction. Why she had opted to potter off in the opposite direction was anyone's guess but it was safe to say that it beat listening to her mother chatter on endlessly about something mundance.
...Besides, stallions had cooties - she'd been informed of this from a very reliable source. It'd come straight from the mouth of a heavily pregnant raccoon who had been proclaiming her undying hatred for the male that had made her so fat. It had been an fascinating and unforgettable encounter, she had been stuck with it for the last few weeks and it had left a lasting impact. In short, Esta could be comforted in the knowledge that Fran wasn't going to be making sweet, sweet love to any stallions any time soon.
The down side was that she'd learnt quite a few swear words from her new acquaintance but she'd never use those in front of her mother. Words of wisdom and advice bestowed upon her by the esteemed raccoon once again.
Alas, her idle wandering proving to bring her to nowhere in particular she soon plonked herself down a fair distance away from her mother and stared over the horizon, her vision glazing over as she drifted into a more pleasant reality. She had a rather vivid imagination and it was significantly easier to enjoy her daydreams when she didn't have the broken conversation of either siblings or parents interrupting the conversations held within her head!
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Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 9:04 am
Esta was surprised by the question. What was love? Her mouth worked, but she couldn't quite articulate any words. The white mare swalloed and tried again.
"Love...is like a warm embrace. It's the comfort of knowing there's someone there who cares for you, who's willing to devote their time and energy to your happiness. And it's the warm and fuzzy feeling inside that makes you want to do that for someone else."
She had to laugh with her friend. "Well, maybe sometime you'll have to teach me a bit of his language, or let him teach me!" she said with a wink. It would be nice to meet Grace's friend...but only once he was able to speak some Kawani.
Quia stood up finally, using her tail to brush snow off of her frozen butt. There was nothing more to be gained through observation. She had all the pieces of the puzzle, she only had to reassemble them in the way that was correct.
Having gotten up, she looked around. Mom and Grace were still where she had left them. Fran's possible whereabouts didn't even cross her mind as the filly trotted back towards the adults, her tiny hooves obscuring the tracks she'd studied so diligently.
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Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:16 am
"That sounds lovely..." Grace replied wistfully; since she never had her parents' love nor had she ever met that 'special someone', she was a complete stranger to the concept of love... She could only count on what others tell her in order to identify that feeling when it does strike. She flicked her tail, pausing for a moment before smiling, "Maybe I'll find someone one day as well!"
"Maybe!" She giggled at her friend's wink before continuing with a nod, "Always good to increase your knowledge! And I'm personally curious about where he came from... Since I found him along the coast, you think he came on one of those, well, huge boats that the paler two leggers came from?" She frowned slightly at the thought.
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Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 6:29 am
"I'm sure you will," Esta told her friend warmly. She couldn't imagine why any stallion would give up the opportunity to be with someone as friendly as Grace, but stranger things had happened in life.
"Huh. That could be," the white mare mused. That would explain why the stranger stallion spoke no Kawani or variant of it, as Esta herself did. She didn't like those big boats though. Nor most of the people and creatures they'd brought.
"I suppose when he's got enough Kawani you'll just have to ask him!" she pointed out, trying to deflect the conversation from a potentially negative point.
The foal sat in the snow again, watching the adults converse. They were talking about mushy stuff and boats and all sorts of things that didn't matter to Quia. And she couldn't take it any more.
"Moooooom! I'm bored...and my butt's froze," the brown filly complained. "Can we go home now?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:25 pm
"Yes, yes I would," Grace smiled with a nod before turning to the filly. She stared at her before allowing a soft giggle to escape her lips; it was getting late and about time to head back home... The mare smiled to herself; time sure pass quickly when you're enjoying yourself! Then again, if the fillies were bored this whole time, it must had felt like hours to them!
She couldn't help but chuckle at the thought, "Well, she's right! We should probably head home before it gets dark out... Especially since its now winter." She turned towards the direction she had came from before she half-turned to look at Esta, "Maybe the next time we meet, I could show you Deus... And you could show me your mate! Maybe in spring..."
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:52 am
Esta smiled and shook her head at her offspring before turning back to Grace. "It sounds like a plan. It was great to see you again though," she told the other mare with a smile.
Then she looked around them before returning her attention to the filly at her feet. "Quia, say 'goodbye' to Grace. And where has your sister gotten to this time? Oh, never mind. Which way did she go?" the white mare asked, resigned to the fact that Francesca marched to the beat of her own drum, regardless of how concerned it made her parents when they couldn't find her.
Quia looked over to the red mare and grinned. "G'bye!" she called, bringing her attention back to peer at her mother as the white mare addressed her. The brown filly looked at the tracks she'd followed and made. "I dunno. That way?" The longer it took to find Fran, the more trouble she'd be in, right?
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Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:51 pm
"It is! I hope you don't give me more surprises the next time we meet... I don't know how much I can handle!" Grace joked with a giggle as she followed her friend's gaze to the previously rather bored looking filly. She smiled fondly at her before replying, "Goodbye to you too, Quia!" Then, as she turned to Esta to say goodbye to her as well, Grace couldn't help but giggle; being a mother was hard work! However, judging from the Esta now and the Esta she met in autumn, being a mother must also be somewhat life-changing.
"I'll see you again soon, Esta," She nodded before turning to head for home, a bemused smile on her lips.
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 2:58 am
She certainly marched to the beat of her own drum but she was intelligent enough not to go so far away that she was impossible to find. She hadn't moved since she'd sat down to admire what lay ahead of her. She had adopted a rather dazed expression after a while though, there was only so much to occupy her thoughts and while her mother was able to chitter away for hours at time, Fran really had no appreciation of the topics. She was bored beyond belief to be perfectly honest and a small part of her was disappointed at her mother for being so inconsiderate!
...Fran was simply too young to realise that adults desired mature conversation now and again.
Alas, she heaved a disgruntled sigh at the wait that she had been forced to endure. Eventually her mother would finish and they could go home - it would be warm, comfortable and suitably more interesting this way. Unfortunately, Francesca lacked the ability to mindread and couldn't even begin to estimate when her mother would finish.
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 7:41 pm
"Yes, see you soon!" Esta called out distractedly to the retreating mare as she looked around for her other daughter. Was that...? Yes. With another sigh, the white mare trotted over to her wayward filly.
"Time to go Francesca," she told the girl.
Quia had to run to keep up with her mother - not the easiest task in the snow, but easily a great deal of fun as the powdery stuff was easily launched into the air. The brown filly was easily entertained.
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 3:05 am
The response wasn't immediate and at first it might have seemed that Fran hadn't heard her mother. However, the clouds in her eyes didn't eventually clear and with a rather peculiar weeze that seemed to come from her nose, she looked round. She puzzled over her mother's words for a few moments before pulling herself to her hooves. It was quite staggering how expressive a child could be without uttering a word. After all, no child could master the art of hiding their facial expression until they'd experienced the world and frankly, Fran hadn't seen a damn thing.
Her expression would cloud, she would tut and in the long term?
...Well, everyone knew how she felt.
"Okay," she responded at last and gave her rump a little shake to shoo the snow away. Stretching a leg one by one, she then came to her mother's side and eyed her expectantly, if it was time to go home then she was obviously going to lead the way!
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