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 Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:13 am
Raven hopped off of Wolf and flapped his way over to Carmine. She didn't have the rough patches to guard her against his talons like Wolf did so he took care in landing. "Fine fine fine. We got the better half. They got the midget crow." He cackled clicking his beak at Khaa. "Listen to the nice fishy-horse, we're fine like this." He nodded his head firmly and started preening Carmine's hair. Somehow the length of her mane made the process more enjoyable than when he did Wolf's hair, she had so little of it.
Wolf maneuvered herself to stand directly beside Carmine after Raven started his work on her mane. "Slipsand's right. With fewer members it is less likely we will be noticed." It also meant their reach would be shorter. At some point she might have to talk to Carmine about mobility. Not right then though, this was clearly hard enough on her friend as it was. Once they were all settled into their new lives.
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:26 am
Lorenna fought herself to keep from rolling her eyes at Carmine's little emotional display. She lost. Her eyes rolled in an overly exaggerated fashion. Thankfully she had Beryl to distract her. "I'm glad to have you on my...team..." Lorenna said to the other flutter testing the word 'team' as though it was complete foreign to her. It wasn't the word itself that was so unusual, however, but rather the concept that this team was in fact her's. She had created the need for it and she would be in charge of it. It was only four members at the moment but it would grow and it would do so rapidly if she had anything to say about it. Really it would need to if she were to get all the information she needed about quickly.
After looking Beryl over once again she turned to look at Carmine, Slipsand, Wolf, Raven and Eka. Four and five. Now it was as even of a split as they would get. It seemed as though they had all settled into their decisions enough that no one would have to worry about sudden changes to the raster. Maybe at some point down the line positions would shift but for now...for now it was best like this.
"Very well then, we will be leaving in the morning. So let us all take care of any details that need polishing in that time. Beryl, Sio, please take a sack and fill it with things you want to keep personally and things that we can use as first payments then get to bed early. We have a long trip ahead of us."
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:32 am
Carmine repeated to herself that she wouldn't cry over and over again when Beryl picked her side of the operation. While no tears fell it didn't seem to be working as well as she would have liked and so she started nuzzling against Wolf and leaning down to do the same to Slipsand alternatively. When she felt more together she straightened herself up and cleared her throat. "You guys are right." She said finally to Slipsand, Raven and Wolf. "Thanks." She beamed at them only to find that shifting quickly into a deep frown as Lorenna's voice filled the cave.
"No! No no no!" She said scowling at the black mare. "We're not being all business right now. You guys can pack tomorrow but if this is gonna be our last night together then we're going to enjoy it! We've still got half a basket of apples left and most of them are still good. We are going to have ourselves a nice night and that's that. Who's with me?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:13 am
They would be leaving a lot faster than Beryl would have thought. So, she only had one night left with the bulk of the group she had now spent years with? She wasn't the nostalgic sort, but she supposed that a going away party would be appropriate. They could have their fun and all pretend like a big part of their lives wasn't ending.
"Let's have a little shindig, then," she said. So many things had changed in all of their lives lately. This was just one more. At least no one was pregnant and popping out kids or anything.
"I might just have a few things I've been saving for this sort of occasion." She cast a sneaky look to her pile in the cave. She had a secret stash of hard won sugar cubes. Now was as good a time as any to break them out.
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:22 am
Slipsand didn't know that Lorenna and Beryl really deserved a party when they were ditching the group. She almost scowled but controlled her expression in the last minute. If this is what Carmine wanted then she'd do it. If anyone was going to fuss and ruin things, it wasn't going to be her. Slipsand's tail flipped back and forth in her internal agitation but she stilled that too.
"I wouldn't mind eating some apples!" That much was true. To add emphasis, her stomach chose that moment to emit a loud growling noise. Surprised, Slipsand giggled embarrassedly and ducked her head. She wouldn't have skipped lunch if she had known they were going to get serious!
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 3:19 pm
Wolf said nothing, she simply moved to the nook where they kept the food stores and dragged the basket of fruit out to the rest of the group. She then straightened up and looked around. Parties weren't her thing but it seemed like an appropriate send off. "One last night together. I'll see you off in the morning." Her tail swayed gently from side to side as she spoke. She imagined at least Carmine would be doing the same. Slipsand she wasn't certain about she wasn't acting like her usual chipper self. "I can go as far as the stream." It seemed like a good parting point. "Now, eat." She lowered her head and pulled out an apple for herself and Raven if he wanted any.
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 3:30 pm
A parting party. How very like Carmine it was to throw a celebration even for such unusual circumstances. She considered telling Carmine that it was pointless but stopped herself. It would be better for all of them if they parted thinking of happy times rather than the misery they had been living in recently.
"Very well then but I would like to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. There is no point in wearing ourselves out before the journey." As if to prove that the idea of a miniature celebration was okay by her she followed Wolf's example and took an apple. After taking a bite she let the apple drop to the ground and fixed Beryl with a look. "And those things you've been saving better not be anything fuzzy."
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 3:39 pm
Carmine beamed at her friends. It looked like they were all on board for a night of fun. They also seemed to be at different levels of approval but she would take what she could get. "Bet we find out real quick." She said winking at Lorenna. "Beryl! Go get whatever special things you've got for us! I want to see! Is it boys?" She laughed at her own joke before prancing over to the apples like there was nothing bad in the world. It was just better to pretend that things were fine. Maybe if she pretended hard enough she'd be able to shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen to her friends entirely. At least three of the kalona knew their faces and for all any of them knew they'd been marked for a long time. She hoped Lorenna's idea worked because if it didn't...
Carmine shook her head and plunged her head into the basket of apples sending a few toppling out. She pulled one out with a triumphant grin. "Ohk hwaa hi uhst hiid!" She called out not caring that she was completely unintelligible.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:22 pm
"Tch tch. It's something much better than boys." Beryl retreated to her corner of the cave and lowered her head to root around in the pile of objects she'd collected over the years. The sugar cubes were in a bag stuffed at the very bottom of the pile. Up until now she had been determined to save them all for herself and guard them against the other Underground members. It was a little ironic that in the end she should be willingly sharing them out instead.
With a powerful yank, she freed the bag from the layers of debris. She brought it over to her friends and set it to one side of the apples. "Not fuzzy either. It's the good stuff. Pure undiluted sweetness." She took the first for herself and shut her eyes with pleasure as she crunched the cube between her back teeth. If this was her goodbye to the Underground, farewells were delicious.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:28 pm
It was hard to stay bitter at people when surrounded by so much good food. Slipsand practically inhaled her first apple and was on her second before Beryl even had time to return with the sugar cubes. It was only with a great force of will that she didn't gobble the whole bag. She made herself only eat one sugar cube and then go back to chewing on her second apple.
"You better come back and visit us a lot," she informed Beryl and Lorenna between bites. "I want to know what's going on!" She had a great deal of curiosity about their plan on thwarting the kalonas even if she wasn't going to be part of that portion of it.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:33 pm
Wolf had no interest in sugar cubes herself but she still pulled a couple from the sack to set aside for Raven. He could enjoy them at his leisure. She was fine to stick with apples. Pure sugar was too much for her palette. "Pure sugar doesn't rot unless you get it wet." She contributed having nothing else to add to the conversation. She was never going to be the life of the party and she was perfectly content to sit aside and watch.
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 12:36 pm
Sugar. Somehow Lorenna should have known that Beryl would have a stash of something like that lying around. Whether she said it was safe or not Lorenna was going to be avoiding the sugar. It wasn't to her taste or at least that was what she told herself. "We'll come back when we can spare a moment." She informed Slipsand before taking another bite from her apple. She could not promise frequency in visits but she would do what she could to find some time every now and then. It would be bad for morale if she, Beryl and the others just vanished off the face of the world.
"Now, enough of this. If we're going to celebrate we will need other subjects of discu- Carmine! Would you kindly chew your food before swallowing?" She demanded before marching over to make sure her friend didn't choke to death on a bit of apple.------------------------------------------------ The sun had been up for several hours already but Lorenna still stood within the Under Ground's cave. Before her sat a satchel loaded with all the goods she could comfortably carry. She had made a point to bring a variety of things but she still wasn't certain that she would have enough. Hopefully what Sio and Beryl would bring would make it more than enough.
Lorenna sighed, pulled the flap over the hold and secured it with her teeth. It was far later than she had expected to be leaving but the partying had only ceased as the sky began to show the first signs of lightening. It was time to go now. She looked over to Beryl and Sio. "Are you two prepared?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 12:44 pm
Carmine had woken up as Lorenna started pulling things out of baskets and piles. The whole time she hadn't moved from the spot where she had fallen asleep choosing to watch her friend in silence. Now it seemed like the time to change that.
"Leaving already?" She asked with a bit of weak laughter. "I thought you'd stay until lunch at least." Carmine smiled. It was a poor attempt at a joke. When Lorenna set a time for something she kept to it as though her life depended on it. She crossed the cave to stand in front of the black, flutter mare. "We get to see you off still...right?" Carmine asked quietly not liking how somber the morning felt already. It wasn't just going to be this morning though, Carmine reminded herself. It was going to be every morning until they all got used to being apart.
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:05 am
Slipsand woke suddenly out of a dream. She had no idea what the subject was of her dream, except that her hooves still seemed to be twitching around as if running to or from something. She gave her head a brisk shake and blinked quickly to clear her eyes. As the world came into focus she realized that there were people standing and moving around. She thought she could make out the silhouette of one of the flutters standing near the exit of the cave. Was she too late? Were they leaving already?
"I'm up!" she stammered, lurching to her feet. She immediately shut her mouth, chagrined at her loudness in the somber quiet of the cave.
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:10 am
Beryl rolled her eyes at Slipsand as she adjusted the straps on the bags Sio was laden with. She tightened one strap with her teeth and then let go. They would hold, and they already were clinking promisingly at the treasures within. That should keep them going for a while. She shrugged more comfortably under her own lighter burden and then replied to Lorenna's question.
"We're ready I think, yeah." She tried to give Carmine one of her usual snarky smiles, but in the given circumstances it felt a bit flat. "I don't mind if you want to escort us out. Go right ahead." She could have called it a goodbye, but preferred not to. For some reason, she wasn't too fond of that word presently.
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