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 Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:49 am
Meeki stifled a giggle. She thought his awkwardness was adorable. He wasn't like the other stallions she had watched. The others worried her, intimidated her, or worse, frightened her. And she wasn't referring to their size but their mannerisms. Some seemed so sure, so cocky.. so in control that they would probably go off on even a female that came in the way of that or made them feel embarassed or belitted in some way.
Indawo reminded Meeki of herself. Perhaps that was why it was easier to try to talk to him, play with him and attempt to get him to open up. She didn't know him well and there had been a couple awkward moments but for the most part, she didn't feel afraid of being around him.
She wanted to get to know him better. Know what he liked, what he didn't like, what he did in his spare time for fun. She wasn't sure why she was so curious and fascinated about the stallion but she was. Perhaps it was because he was a flutter like herself. Perhaps it was because she wanted a friend. Perhaps it was something else that hadn't been placed yet. Meeki didn't really care about the details or reasoning behind it.
"Sometimes, when I visit the clearing, I see you with another stallion or two. Are they your friends? Family?," Meeki asked curiously. "If I ever ask something you don't want to answer, just let me know. I will respect your privacy."
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Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:00 am
Had Indawo realized how patently obvious his awkwardness was, that knowledge could very well have caused him to completely close up, turn crimson, flee, or some combination of the above. As it was, he was able to convince himself that it wasn't quite that bad and that he'd somehow managed to scrape through a potentially difficult situation with, if not flying colors, at least visible ones.
Still, this wasn't quite the way that he'd planned for this afternoon to go. True, he'd hoped that Meeki would be here and she was, but...she was supposed to flit about like a childish filly and he was supposed to be amused and somewhat patronizing, feel better about the world, and go on his merry way. Instead....he was being challenged, almost. And yet...while it was different, it wasn't bad. Meeki wasn't taunting, intimidating, macho, or in-your-face, so he didn't want to lash out at her prescence. All he knew was that nothing was as it should be, and it confused him.
At Meeki's question, he at first gave her a querying look...then a look of realization crossed his face once she realized what she must be talking about. "Yes and no to both, actually...those two stallions are sort of hard to classify." That was certainly putting it mildly. "One of them grew up with me...we were both 'gifted' as baskets to a two-legger who took care of us, so in that sense you might say we're related. We didn't see eye to eye growing up, though, and now that we're adults it's not often we spend time together. The polite way to phrase it would be that we're different."
Without noticing, the stallion had begun to pace about the small grassy area, his focus on the ground. Opening up wasn't his thing, so even sharing such mundane details as these was hard for him. But he could try. "The other just showed up in our home place earlier this summer...all I can figure is that he liked it enough to hang around. He's a good sort, Zaphiro...not big on ego, and perhaps the only such stallion I've ever met."
And now here he was, blabbing on. "What about you, Meeki? Do you ever spend time with anyone else?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 6:50 pm
Meeki's eyes went wide at the question she was now faced with. How could she answer that without coming off as extremely unusual? Would he think less of her if he knew what a strange soquili she was? He was honest with her though, so she should be honest back.
"I.. have only ever really spent time with you," she didn't know what he would think about that and it wasn't intentional, really! "I think I might have talked to a stallion once, when I was a little foal but I don't remember who that was or even what he looked like. I've never met anyone else and probably would never have approached you.. if.. I hadn't noticed your wings." Oh how she hated bringing up those wings. She wished he could see their loveliness in her eyes but Indawo was stubborn. She learned that early on.
"I'm not weird or anything," she blurted out rather awkwardly. But that wasn't true, was it? Here she was, antisocial yet playful. Reserved yet curious. An adult yet perhaps a little childish. And her socks certainly didn't make things any better. She simply was an oddity. A part of her wanted to flee but another part wanted her to stay. She was afraid to meet Indawo's eyes. Afraid of what she might find there. What if he thought her to be a freak?
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Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:16 pm
At Meeki's 'confession', Indawo found himself staring with perhaps a little more surprise than he ought to have. After all...her isolation sort of made sense, given his past experience with others. Maybe the only way that one could hope to reach adulthood unscathed, unpredjudiced, and uncynical was to completely bypass those so-called 'wholesome aging experiences'. Perhaps she too would have been one of those eyebrow-raising mares, had she spent time among them growing up...or perhaps she would have evolved into an anti-thesis of them, subjected to the same short end of the stick that he had been.
But after merely thinking those thoughts, even Indawo's cynicism couldn't sustain them. Meeki was just not like that...she didn't seem to have it in her to as much as sneer, regardless of what she went through. It must be nice to have such a carefree look on life; and yet things obviously got to her.
At Meeki's wing comment, he twitched out of reflex; some things just couldn't be dismissed, even when he knew that there was no spite intended. Honestly, he doubted he was even capable of thinking of them as anything other than something to be loathed, a symbol of time best left forgotten. All these things flickered through his consciousness briefly, only to be dismissed in the end by her curious statement.
"I wouldn't call you weird, Meeki...not in a negative sense. If everyone else I've ever met was normal, then I think I'm happy to finally encounter weirdness." Glancing over her way, Indawo's guarded expression dropped; the look he gave her was a sheepish smile at best. A little stiff, perhaps...but honest.
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:01 am
Meeki relaxed visibly. "Thank you, Indawo." She really never questioned her past before. To her, being alone, or with the two legger she cared for, was all she required. She had always been content playing and talking to the animals in the woods. That changed a little when she became an adult, as a natural curiousity overtook her when it came to others of her kind.
Perhaps that's what guided her along the day she first met this stallion. She saw in him, everything she had wanted to see. Someone like her.. someone a male, someone smaller than normal, someone with wings, someone beautiful. Perhaps she became a little too obsessive because of it. Perhaps she was still a little too obsessive, when it came to him.
"I hope we can be friends," Meeki stated a bit shyly. She wondered if it was too soon to make such a comment but she already considered him a friend, didn't she?
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Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 10:07 am
"Friends..." Tilting his head backwards and looking up slightly, Indawo softly repeated the word, rolling it around in his mouth experimentally. It wasn't that the word itself was novel; on the contrary, he'd heard it bandied around enough to have almost completely disregarded it as something of meaning. But the way Meeki said it was different, like the word actually carried weight.
Friendship...it seemed like an awfully tall order. He wasn't exactly sure on the specifics, but as far as he was aware it involved liking another and spending time with them and being available if you were needed...a sort of a commitment, really. Commitment wasn't something that he'd ever really been big on, unless you counted the way he kept going back to visit his two-legger...but maybe now was a chance to change that, albeit slightly.
He definitly enjoyed the company of Meeki; she was strange and a bit erratic, childish and completely lacking in seriousness...yet simply spending time with her made him want to laugh and forget everything else that living entailed. Really, would it be hard to commit to that?
"I think that we can indeed manage to be friends, Meeki; not really sure how good at it I'll be, but I can at least try."
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Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:02 pm
"Great!", she exclaimed excitedly. "My first friend!" A sheepish smile came over her and before admitting, "I don't know how good I'll be at it either. This is new to me. But what better way of knowing than by trying?"
She jumped happily and fluttered her wings so that she hovered just slightly off the ground. Since her wings were small, she couldn't do any real 'flying' with them, but she could hover for a few minutes at a time. She couldn't help it, she was happy to make progress with the stubborn stallion.
She dropped back to the ground and ran around him in a circle. "I hope you don't regret having me as a friend," she teased while playfully snapping her jaws at the him. "Didn't I tell you? I'm vicious!" Of course, that statement couldn't be further from the truth.
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Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:06 pm
"I suppose so..." Somehow, hearing the statement of friendship come from Meeki brought a new feeling to the fore in Indawo's heart: panic. What on earth had he gotten himself into, making what basiclly amounted to a pledge to her? What if he messed up or did something...unfriendly? There really ought to be a written set of guidelines or something for this, there really should be...
Still, as he watched Meeki's almost childlike joy at the situation even Indawo's cynicism couldn't hold up. She was certainly enthusiastic, wasn't she? And in a positive way, at that. It sort of reminded him of his herdmate Safi, but in a less annoying and in-your face way; consequently, there was nothing fake or forced in the smile her antics provoked.
"Well, you might be vicious Meeki, but I've been told I'm a bit ferocious myself. So hopefully I'll be able to defend myself against you." Twitching back from her snapping jaws, he lowered himself into a defensive crouch and bared his own teeth in what he hoped was a suitably vicious snarl. "You'd better hope I don't change my mind about the whole 'friend' thing" Just like he'd be hoping she didn't.
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Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:46 pm
"Well, you wouldn't be much fun if you were as docile as a newborn fawn! At least, I don't think you would be. Prey are supposed to be a challenge, right?", she teased. At least the animals she had seen seemed to like the chase of the hunt, not that she was actually going to hunt her new friend. That was absurd!
She took a step forward and tried to peer into his mouth but his teeth were closed. "You don't look that ferocious to me," she noted. "Though you do make a sound like this old bear I once knew. He sure was a grumpy sort. Indawo, ferocious as a grumpy bear!" She brought out in laughter and bolted to one side and around in a circle before turning back around at him.
"If you change your mind about us being friends.. I'll just have to unchange it right back!," she threatened. She tried to look serious but couldn't resist sticking her tongue out at him in the end. There was no going back now. Even if he didn't want her as a friend, she wouldn't give up.
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Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:26 pm
Bear? A bear, indeed! "I'd think that I'd be more of a big cat or something than a bear; my markings are all wrong for bears. Last time I checked, bears were supposed to be solid, not spotted!" Not that Indawo had ever seen that many bears, or it really mattered one way or another. It was just...well, she seemed like she needed to be jibbed at. "And are you saying I'm grumpy?" If she was, she'd probably be correct...but he knew that, and had accepted the fact. Being grumpy suited him, after all.
"I'll keep your threat in mind; you look like the type of Soquili who could make things rough on former friends who double crossed you." His face still turned towards her, Indawo's smile faded to a frown as he suddenly took note of the darkness spreading across the sky. Turning his head the other way, his frown deepened as he observed the deep red of the sunset behind him; he'd had no idea that so much time had passed. By the look of things, it would be full darkness before too much longer...
"Huh. Funny how time flies." Shaking his head, he turned back to Meeki, his frown becoming a slightly wistful smile. He wasn't really sure what she did with her nights, but he doubted that she spent them gadding about the woods. She most likely went back to her two-legger's, or some other safe place...which meant that it must be good bye once again. "It appears that night is almost upon us once again...so I suppose you have someplace you should be?" It was both a question and a statement, really; and he couldn't help but keep the slight hint of wistfulness out of his voice. Funny how fond of her he was...particularly given how little time he'd known her. Well, obviously it was easy to tell when someone didn't piss you off!
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Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 9:52 pm
Meeki giggled. "You are a bit grumpy," she admitted, "but not terribly so. I like it." It was true. She didn't find there was much, if anything, that she didn't like about Indawo. All the little traits made him unique.
Instinctively she turned her own head up at the coming night and grew disappointed. All good things must come to an end, eh? She wished she could make the day last longer. If she could, she'd never let it end and just spend her time with Indawo for as long as possible.
"I should get back to my two-legger though.. I don't really want to leave. I'll just have to find you again tomorrow and bug you more, I guess." She smiled as she stepped forward and playfully nipped at his ear. She then turned and started walking off, deciding to take a slow trip home so that she can weigh her thoughts. It already felt like she had known Indawo for a long time yet.. it's only really been one day. It was all so strange to her.
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Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:24 pm
"Good thing you like grumpy, because I strongly doubt I could do anything about it." And that much was true; Indawo had been a grouch for so long, he seriously doubted he could change that, at least on a permanent thing. Though it always seemed like things were a little less irritating when Meeki was around; funny how things could be influenced by one person.
As she nipped at him and started off, Indawo found himself simply watching her leave, a strange feeling in his heart as he saw her already small form get littler. He didn't exactly know what to think of it; the closest thing he could think of was regret, but something wasn't quite the same as with regret. Maybe all that energy from earlier had decided to crash and burn at once, throwing him into a state of whatever-this-was.
Or maybe he was just tired. As he lost sight of the gray form in the trees, Indawo sighed and shook his head. He was a cynic, and he knew it...but not when she was around. So why?
He needed to go lie down, obviously. Things were always clearer after sleep.
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