|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 1:49 am
Darkspine frowned a bit, watching the stallion with concern. Gingerly reaching out with her tail, she poked him with the tip of it. "Are you alright? I didn't mean to distress you. My herd believed in conformity, too. Now all that is left are individuals. I can't help but be independent." The mare shrugged slightly, her fins moving along her back. "But I still try to follow my herd's rules and teachings, so I guess I'm a sucker for traditions after all."
She inclined her head to the side, indicating a stretch of sand, the clear waters of the sea lapping at it. "The beach is just over this way if you are still interested in seeing if it has anything useful to your herd."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 1:57 am
The stallion's ears snapped forward, his eyes re-focusing on the mare before him immediately. "I'm fine. It was nothing. No one was talking to me." He started, quite defensively before finally relaxing once more and falling into line at her side. "Tradition...is best. It seems anyway. It's all I know due to Mama. Anything else and we're nothing."
Atal'ai looked towards the sandy area, watching the waves of the ocean with fascination once more. Water that moved in such a way was so unusual compared to his swamp home. There it only got disturbed when something or someone moved through it. "It would be nice to harness the power of the water here..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:08 am
The mare nodded, deciding not to address his quirky nature and focus on his awe of the sea. "My herd had some that could exert some control over water. I don't know that any survived the invasion or relocation." Darkspine turned her head to look at her new companion. "The water here is not too different from your swamp. More salty, but some of the creatures here could survive there if you cultivated them right." She walked toward the water, tail leaving a line in the sand behind her. "I think there might be some starfish around here."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:17 am
"It's more powerful, I can already see that much of a difference." He murmured, eventually following after her to test the boundaries of the water. The stallion watched as the water lapped as his hooves, coming a good length up his legs a few times in the process. "The water of the swamp is nothing like this. You only see it move if something disturbs it in any way, even the deeper spots."
After a short time he brought his attention to a set of tide pools and wandered off away from his companion to explore what secrets were held within.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:33 am
"My mother told me once that the waters move because the moon pulls on them. She never explained how she knew this or how the moon did it," Darkspine remarked softly, giving a faint smile to old memories. She moved her head, watching the stallion wander to the tide pools. He was strange and it was certainly easy to tell something was off, but it seemed all the Soquili she knew were not normal (despite what the stallion had claimed of his people earlier).
Slowly she strolled over to stand beside him, curious to see what he had discovered that might be worthy enough to take home to his mama. She was aware of magics, and members of her herd had certainly used it, and was familiar with close-knit families, but the stallion's family and their rituals sounded strange to her. She was curious about what this voodoo was, but worried of upsetting him. After all, she was starting to enjoy his company. She looked down at the tide pool closest to her finned hooves. "Ah, here's a starfish." She gestured with the tip of her tail to the small marine creature clinging to a rock in the pool.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:04 am
"Mmn...seems the moon has plenty magic all it's own..." He lowered his head to investigate the starfish. The creature was unique in his eyes, and he had to wonder if anyone had ever used it for any purposes at all.
"What does this do?" Atal'ai asked after a moment before grabbing hold of the fragile star to try and pull it off the rock it seemed so firmly attached to. With a light sucking pop sound and a light splash of water one arm of the star tore free and hung limply in the stallion's mouth. He dropped it after a moment and leaned back down to examine the damage, seemingly unphased by damaging a living creature. "Interesting....yes I think so too...yes Mama would love something so easily destroyed. Yes. Yes. Of course..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:14 am
"Mostly they just eat and cling to rocks," the mare answered, watching him lean down to retrieve the creature. "Oh, careful. You might..." She sighed. "Pull its arm off. No worries. It will grow a new arm." She cast about on the ground near the pool, then pointed to a small object on the sand. "There's one that dried up. They don't do well out of water, but you can take that one. It's delicate, but should travel alright."
She frowned a bit at his mentioning of destroying creatures. "Does she only seek to hurt others? I would think the regenerative properties of this creature would be of more interest."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:32 am
Once more his attention snapped back to Darkspine, coming back to reality with her words. "I wasn't talking to anyone! There's no one here but us!" He growled, quickly backing off after a moment and going to fetch the dried up starfish instead.
"She doesn't hurt them on purpose. No. Mama seeks to hurt those who cause the family harm...or anything similar. If she can't trust them, she prefers to be rid of them." Settling the dried starfish in his little pouch of treasures, Atal'ai looked once more to the mare. "Mama helps quite a bit...she's very good at healing. All the females in our family are very talented healers..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:43 am
The small outburst settled it more in the naga's mind that this stallion was damaged somehow. He's seemed a very nice sort, and thought that he was slightly mad made her sad for him. She nodded at his words. "Your herd must not be too different from the way my herd was set up. Our females were very strong as well. True, the males were the warriors, but mares ruled the herd." She shrugged a bit. "I do not believe there are any males of our kind left, now."
Darkspine moved cautiously closer to the stallion, not wanting to incite another outburst. "I do understand a bit about wanting to do away with those that you cannot trust. That's why I came to live here by the sea, to be away from judgement and deceit." She gave him a small smile. "It is nice to have visitors from time to time, though."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:57 am
"Mama runs the herd...everything about us. Mar'li is next in line. She gets everything if anything happens....and so on. Only females from the family are allowed to run the herd. We can only step up if anything happens and for only as long as it takes to get another female to retake the role."
Atal'ai tensed up slightly as she got closer to him. That was the last thing he was expecting. Why would a mare so willingly get that close to him? "I do not want to leave the swamp...living here is not what I came for." He stated, matter of factly, seemingly misunderstanding her as wanting him to retreat from home to live elsewhere in silence and safety.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:06 am
Darkspine gave a small snort of incredulous laughter. "And i would not want you to stay, either. I've come to enjoy my solitude. Only... it does get lonely sometimes and it's nice to have someone to talk with, if only for a little while as they pass through."
She looked down at the sand, using her tail tip to dig small shells out in case the stallion wanted to take them, too. "As a curious question, what would happen if there were no females to take the role of leadership for your herd? Would the males lead, or would they find a new female from elsewhere?" The naga glanced up at Atal'ai. "It's not that I want the females of your herd to go away, of course, I'm just interested in your herd since they're so similar to my own before it was destroyed and scattered to the far corners."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:20 am
He snorted slightly as he thought about the idea. It was insane too think the family could never or would never produce another female heir for any reason. That was impossible, wasn't it? Females were a necessary part of life.
"I...don't know. Perhaps we would lead until we could find another...perhaps...we would just fall apart." He shook his head quickly to clear his mind of the thoughts and looked, instead, towards the shells she was digging up. "I'm not going to think of that. It's impossible! Females have to exist in our family, they can't just stop--what are those anyway. What do they do?" Atal'ai asked eventually, gathering several of the shells in his pouch.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:30 am
Darkspine smiled a bit at the stallion's ability to be easily distracted. "They're shells. Some of the creatures of the sea make them to use as portable homes or protection. When the creatures die and decay, this is all that is left."
She looked the stallion over thoughtfully. "I don't think that losing all of one gender of your herd is impossible, just highly improbable. Since there are other females, there will always be females for your herd, so long as they follow the rules of your herd, right?" Turning her gaze back to the sea, she sighed softly. "Your herd and mine differ on that point, I think. Since the invasion and end of our herd, the only survivors I've found were all female. Without males, what is left of us will fade away. Males can sometimes be just as important as females in that respect."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:37 am
With a nod and upon storing the shells away, Atal'ai snorted at her again. She was just as crazy in her thinking as he was about the loss of herd leaders. "There's no way all of them are gone. None. You have males. Plenty. Pick one." He stated, leaning down to nose around in the sand a bit.
"There are far more than rules we have to obey. You have to learn and know how to do everything. It's easier to teach young ones than it is elders. ....though I would not put it past Amani to steal a young one..." He murmured, thinking back on his nephew.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:47 am
Darkspine blinked. That stallion must've had the thickest skull of anyone she'd ever met. "I think you misunderstood what I meant." She thought about his words, though. Could it really be so easy to just pick a male and hope for the best that there might be naga children again? True, eventually the bloodline would fade, but not for several generations. The strange stallion was right. Why not simply find someone and be happy with what is and not worry about what will be.
She grinned slyly and sidled up to Atal'ai, letting her serpentine tail wrap around one of his legs. "And what if I choose you? After all, is that not your suggestion to simply... pick someone?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
