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 Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 5:47 pm
Sekkei knew the day the stallion had out lasted his usefulness. It had come nearly two months after they had met. Everything that she had initially appreciated began to grate on her nerves. She knew that it was she that had evolved, not him. She had outgrown him and the vapid persona she had taken to keep him close. Flattery became harder to impart, at least without being repetitive. There were only so many things she could praise without flat out lying, and she had even exhausted her patience with those. He had grown tedious and boring. She could see little moments of doubt in his eyes, but even those moments didn’t require her attention. The fool was so desperate to believe in her that he convinced himself of her lies. A pity that. If he had been even a little more cynical, he might have presented her with a challenge. As it was, she was done with him. It was time to move on. She could have just left him in the night, but that didn’t seem worthwhile. No, after all the irritation he had caused her, she decided to have some fun with him. Finally.
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 5:49 pm
The morning dawned on a beautiful summer day. Spring was gone, and the heat of the season was upon them. But it was early enough yet that the air wasn’t too thick and the sun was merely soothing rather than overbearing. Rynga breathed deeply and quietly, not wishing to disturb his companion. Sekkei was not, he had learned, a morning person. These past few days in particular had had the mare in a foul temper. Well, what passed for foul for her, anyway. Small snaps, snide remarks. The occasional, disgusted snort. Rynga got the distinct feeling she was angry with him, but she couldn’t imagine WHY. What had he done to tumble out of her favor so suddenly? It was enough to goad him into asking her, breaking his self imposed rule against prying. In fact he decided, it was time to learn more about her that was the only way to avoid accidentally angering her in the future.
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 5:51 pm
For once, Sekkei woke early. She was looking forward to shedding the excess weight of Rynga, and seeing him, smiling so idiotically as he breathed in the morning air, only made her more eager to crush him. She stretched, making a point a groan as she spread her wings. She really hadn’t exercised them enough lately. Time to fix that, also.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 8:20 am
Rynga turned at the sound and smiled tentatively at the mare. He was surprised to see her awake when the sun had barely appeared over the horizon. However, he knew better than to say as much. Sekkei could be a bit snappish before she had ample time to wake up, and he was already in her poor graces. Better to tread carefully for the moment. “Good morning, sunshine,” he greeted playfully. As soon as the words were out, he regretted them. Perhaps holding his tongue until she initiated would have been wiser.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 8:23 am
She saw the regret flash across his face when the words hung between them, and she smirked. On any other day, she would have snapped at such a bright and alert tone so early in the morning. For the spirit’s sake, the sun was barely up! Who in their right minds would be HAPPY about being up with it? But today was a special day. She didn’t bother trying to turn that smirk into a proper smile, nor did she try to wipe it away. Let him see it, see her, at long last. Let the precious ideal he’d had of her crumble before his eyes. The pain and betrayal she would see would make the whole charade worth it. “Good morning?” she repeated, her voice a silky purr. “Yes, it is a good morning indeed.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 8:25 am
Alarm bells started clanging in his head. He could almost hear a monotone voice declaring, “Warning! Warning! Trap! It’s a Trap!” But he couldn’t imagine why his instincts had kicked into such overdrive. It was Sekkei! Okay, yes, there had always been that annoying feeling that there was something a little off about her. Yes, the smirk she was aiming at him was full of malicious glee. At least that was how it looked at the moment with the morning light hitting her just right to make her eyes seem almost to glow. And then there was her tone. Rynga couldn’t remember a single time he had heard her sound so… sultry, especially not in the morning. She hated that he woke full of energy, ready to go while it took her time to warm up. Something was wrong, he was certain of it. But his instincts were warning him, telling him that the source of danger was HER, Sekkei. That was what he was having trouble understanding. He saw the signs, yes, but there had to be an explanation. She was smiling. It was a trick of the light that made it seem like a smirk. The sultry purr was due to… a sore throat. Yes, that was it. She was hoarse, not purring. The good mood was… well, he had no handy excuse for that, so he addressed it. “You seem…happy this morning,” he ventured, cautiously, keeping a light smile on his face in an attempt to take away possible sting out of the comment.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 8:29 am
She watched as alarm flashed across his face. She could practically see the thoughts spinning around in his head. Something had finally clicked in that empty noggin. He finally started to comprehend just how dire the situation was, but still he tried to rationalize it away! She could see him scrambling for some excuse to explain her uncharacteristic behavior. But he was failing, and she could see that, too. So she let him silently panic, until his expression shut down and he gave her that easy, infuriating smile. Her usual disgust with that dopey smile was tempered by pleasure brought on by the caution and suspicion in his eyes. “I am happy,” she told him, “I’ll finally be rid of you today. Why wouldn’t I be happy?”
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 9:20 am
Finally rid… he stared at her, his smile fixed in place as he tried to make sense of her words. She was… leaving him? But why? What had he done? He knew she had been angry with him, but what had he done to irritate her so much that she would leave him like this? Oh, he had known the day may come where they went their separate ways. Not once had either of them suggested they make their traveling a permanent arraignment. But she had said she was HAPPY to leave him. He could see the malicious glee she was taking in his reaction. And he didn’t, couldn’t, understand WHY. “What did I do wrong?” he asked, softly. There was no tremor, no begging. Rynga Bel had never, not once in all his memory, tried to tie a mare to him that didn’t want him. He wouldn’t start now. Not when it was clear that Sekkei seemed to despise him so. But the deep ache in his chest, his heart, demanded SOMETHING on his part. He needed to know why.
“What did you do wrong?” she repeated, with a harsh laugh. “Perhaps it would be easier to say what you did right. I did learn quite a bit from you, I’ll grant you that. But the trade off hardly seemed worth it. For months I’ve had to listen to you prattle on about anything and everything that caught your eye. And you, with the attention span of a gnat! The pathetic attempts at flattery and flirting… ugh! I nearly gagged more times than I could count. And the things you forced me to do… that, I think, is the most unforgivable act of all. Did you not once, in the entire time we’ve traveled together, realize that you were talking to a mask? An act that I put on for your sake, to keep you with me. It was exhausting, really, and irritating. There were so many times I wanted to tell you to shut up, that your incessant babbling and stupid grins were irritating me. But no, I had to smile sweetly at you and murmur compliments. And you never noticed how I suffered, not once. You were too busy putting all your hopes, all your expectations on me…”
She paused for a moment to gage how her words had affected him. This was what she had been waiting for so long to say, this was the moment that she had been anticipating. And it did not disappoint. She knew him well enough to know exactly where the barbs would hurt the most. Just letting him see how cold blooded she could be wasn’t enough. No, she had to rub it in that he hadn’t noticed. Rynga prided himself on catering to her needs and desires. He thought he had known her so well, that he had been so attentative. And, in truth, he had been. It wasn’t a failing in him that led to her deception’s success, but rather it was a testament to her own skills as an actress. She could have taunted him with that fact, but the knowledge that she was superior to him in skill would only ease his pain. That defeated the entire purpose of this little speech she had practiced silently to herself. She wanted him to suffer, and that meant convincing him that he had failed, not that she had succeeded.
“But I’m done with you now,” she told him, coldly. It was time to drive the blade home. “I’m done pretending. I have learned all I can from you, and I am HAPPY to finally be myself, rather than what you want. It’s a relief to say this, Rynga. Good bye. May I never have the misfortune to see you again.”
With that parting word, she turned and launched herself up into the air. The look of horror and despair on his face would tide her over for a long, long time.
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 9:26 am
Rynga fell to his knees as she launched herself into the air. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, even as she turned into a small speck on the horizon. Her words played over and over in his mind as he felt his heart being crushed. He had known that she wasn’t going to stay with him forever. He had hoped… but how could he have missed her misery in all this time? Had he really been so blind? Of course he had… he had failed her, and that, more than anything else weighed on him. He had taken on the task to care for her and in the end had only caused her more misery. For a long time, he lay there, broken and ashamed of himself.
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