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 Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:12 am
The going was steep and rough, but she hesitated to fly for fear that she might miss something. Her back legs dug into the ground, sliding on piles of shale, while her fronts worked quickly to keep her just in enough balance not to fall. How the hell had that pink-haired girl made it up this far, anyway? No wings, too. She was nuts.
Her right leg gave a twang and she hissed, but was determined not to let it get her. Old complaints were none of her concern. She'd just do her best to stay off of it for a while. Her best, hah.
Finally the nasty siding gave way and she was forced to spread her wings or go tumoulting down the hill. This mountain was made of dastardly stuff.
She landed not too far away, a pleasant tree offering her shade. She eyed it warily, as if its ability to grow on the mountain made her upset. Several others had begun to grow around it. Yisi was close at hand.
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:22 am
Always late, he was. She'd heard the rush of wings and the thud of four hooves before Betel even spoke. There was a strange feeling in the air that the paint Aeri couldn't quite place. Her hide twitched to get rid of an unwelcome fly that had settled there, and it was such an absent-minded action the mare didn't even notice; she was too busy concentrating on and trying to pinpoint just why it felt so strange all of a sudden.
Of course.
This other -- whatever it was -- had to have some sort of magic. It just had to; this feeling hadn't surfaced until the instant Bellatrix heard the soft sound of feathered wings.
"There's a tree just three feet ahead of you and slightly to the left, Mistress."
She continued her slow walk, slower now than before, her mind busy checking off the possibilities. This nequus was not, of course, a ghost; she'd heard the wings, for one, and if that wasn't proof enough she knew what the presence of ghosts felt like, and this was no ghost. Angling around the tree that her blind eyes could not detect, the tall mare halted, blinking sightlessly. "Who're you?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:10 am
Storm was always scanning the area with her mind, looking for pertinent people, so when the ugly old Speaker came in her direction, she was quite startled at the fact she hadn't noticed her sooner. A quick dive into the other's mind told her why.
Having minor magic probably subconsciously strengthened her ability to keep out the magic of others. Goodness knows that Storm's magic was invasive. Concentration was necessary to hold this one's thoughts against her own, and Storm was not yet experienced enough to keep it going for very long.
Past histories, loves, events, they were all gone with the wind of the ghosts this one tormented.
Speaking of ghosts . . . Storm felt a presence off to her right. No, it wasn't her right, it was Bella's.
"That," Storm answered. "Is none of your business." How hypocritical it was, then, that she was digging deep into this one's mind. Unfortunately, there was business even she could not touch there.
"Besides, you'd rather know what, wouldn't you?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:33 am
The old mare blinked, flicking an ear in an idle shrug. "That'd be nice too, I suppose. It'd be nice to place a voice with a name."
"Mistress, what are you doing?! She's going to find out you're a Speaker!" He chirped in his annoyingly high-pitched screech of a voice. "You don't want that, do you?"
"Frankly, Betel, I couldn't care less," the irritated Speaker said bluntly, pinning her ears back against her head and glaring off to her right. When would he ever figure it out? "You need to learn when to shut up."
"Fine!" He huffed, flitting to her left. "Don't blame me if she starts pestering you about things!"
Obviously, he wasn't able to sense her magic as she could. Of course, the owner of this new voice knew she had magic, too; she wasn't experienced enough to cover it, and as it was the other mare's words seemed.. Well, rather strange. Off. Even though she hadn't said much. "I'm going to take a wild guess," she said after a short pause, her more private thoughts, memories, and few images already locked away deeper in her mind. Her most prevalent though at the moment was what type of magic this being had been blessed -- or cursed -- with. "Seer?"
The other's last statement had struck Bella as quite odd; most people didn't go around saying things like that to others. Besides, who knew? The other mare might not be a Seer at all, she could be something else. Illusionist, maybe.
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:31 am
Storm didn't like quipping familiars. She didn't like the creatures as a general rule, but this one was exceptionally annoying.
For a moment, she felt like lying. "Very good, little Speaker, very good." Of course, Bella wasn't very little at all, she could probably sit on Storm and crush he all way through, but it really didn't matter to her. She had a horn, and she was liable to notice any attack before it came, at which point she'd make a run for it, because no one tusled with a Nequus that size unless they were stupid or extremely good at fighting.
In her current lameness, she was neither.
She pinned her ears at little Betel. "I have no intentions of speaking to anyone. Dead or alive." It was more for the little git than Bella, but either could assume the phrase was directed at them.
"Now, if you'll excsue me, I have no time for useless dribble."
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:01 pm
"Little?" She snorted, more amused than anything else. She knew for a fact she was taller than damn near every other nequus; she hadn't met one taller yet since she'd grown (Betel would have said something if she had), and was waiting to find one at least her height. "I haven't the time for it either, but I find myself subjected to it anyway," said irritably as the annoying voice suddenly chirped a little ways away.
"You can hear me?!" He stuttered, flitting over in front of Storm. "Does that mean you can see me, too? Oh this is wonderful, magnificent! What's your name? My name is Betelgeuse, and this is my Mistress, Speaker Bellatrix! Who are you? Oh please, tell us your name! What's it like being a Seer? Is it fun? Does it--no, it doesn't make you blind, that's just Speakers... Can you read other's minds?"
Bella merely smirked; she quite enjoyed the fact that Betel was harassing, with good intentions of course, someone else. It was like some sort of gods-given miracle.
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:09 pm
Storm didn't bother to answer the 'little'. The meaning spoke for itself, and if it didn't, well, it wasn't her issue now was it?
Storm had been making her way down past Bella, with full intention of leaving them in the dust when she ran into the irratable little creature with her nose. The cold chill that went shuddering down her spine told here more than Bella's head.
"Some seers are blind," Storm answered matter-of-factly. Compared to this one, she loved Aku. In fact, stick around this bloke for a while and she'd be begging for the Rit's company.
"No, I predict the future," Storm answered with a roll of her eyes. Honestly.
But the bumpling idiot had managed to get her to stop. Ears pinned, and wishing she could terrorize ghosts, she turned back to Bella.
"Can't you get rid of him?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:20 pm
"Really? Some of them are blind?!" He didn't know that! He'd thought only Speakers were blind, but others could be, too? The new bit of information seemed amazing to him. And... she could predict the future? "Really?! You can... wait.... Can you really predict the future, or were you just joking?" He asked suspiciously, eyes narrowing.
Bella chuckled, taking a few steps towards the stranger whose name she still didn't know. "Betel, shut up before you make yourself look any more stupid than you already are. If that's even possible," she added pointedly, flicking her tail.
"Humph!" He huffed, glaring at his Mistress angrily. "Fine! If you don't want me talking to someone who can actually hear me--"
"You're a curse I wouldn't wish on anyone else, now shut up until I need you."
"But--"
"Shut up."
"But--!!!"
"Am I about to fall off a cliff or run into a tree or something?"
"..n....no?"
"Then why are you talking?"
He huffed, glaring off at nothing. "Fine.." He muttered, flitting back to mumble and grumble to himself silently.
"Better?" The Speaker asked of the other mare with a snort.
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:46 pm
For such an old, and dead, Shrila, he wasn't very bright. Then again, Storm didn't know how many seers had existed in her lifetime if any at all. She knew not of the magic, and had thought Mordre was the only one.
That was, until she developed the skill. Now, there was a Speaker who clearly had been around for quite some time, though if her powers had Storm wouldn't say. She'd grown tired of trying to scan the other's mind. Not because it was difficult, but for the fact it reminded her too much of an upset version of herself.
"You are very rough on him," she noted. It wasn't a scolding remark, merely an observation she spoke aloud.
"Much," she answered.
Well, it wasn't going to hurt, and they bothed seemed oddly fascinated with learning her name. There didn't appear to be any reason for it either.
"It is Storm. Add it to your evergrowing collection." There was a brief pause where she decided whether to continue or not.
"Is that all?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:28 pm
"Rough?" She mused, flicking an ear and peering upwards with her sightless white eyes. "Well, I have to be. If you couldn't already tell, which I'm sure you could, he's a few branches short of a tree."
"Hey!!"
"So if I'm not rough with him, I'll never get a single moment of peace, and good. I'd hope you thought it was better after he shut up, otherwise I'd ask him to speak up," she said with an amused snort.
"So does that me--"
"No, shut up."
The Shrila huffed again, grumbling silently to himself.
"Storm?" Bella repeated thoughtfully, clicking her tongue. "Suits you. And if you don't care to say anything else, then sure," the Speaker said with a shrug. "I'm always interested in meeting another magic user -- ghosts, too -- but plain old regular nequus and familiars alike, I can't stand them. Well, the vast majority of them, anyway," she added as an afterthought; some of them were much better than others, and the image of a pale Ichsa flitted across her mind for just an instant before she quickly stuffed it away with an irritated snort.
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:36 pm
Storm grinned. "I've been told." Yes, her name did suit her, a little too well in some cases.
The Ichsa mare didn't go unnoticed. It screamed to be looked at, and Storm wasn't trying very hard not to read minds. What was she to say if she 'overheard' things that people let slip.
"That's a rather prejudiced philosophy," Storm said with her mute tone.
Melantho came to mind. She was neither magic nor death, and yet, she wasn't the exact opposite of boring. Was it because she'd been born into a lifestyle that excited her? Or was it some other reason. In either case, it really didn't matter.
Still. . . she had something to pry about, if only to get her mind off of events at hand.
"That Ichsa, did you know it, or is it one of the dead you spoke to?" Perhaps a dream? Some people thought in that way.
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:47 pm
The elder mare shifted her weight uncomfortably then, flicking her ears back and casting a blind glance to the side. "Both," she said bitterly. She'd temporarily forgot of this Storm's magic abilities, and had been brutally reminded when she commented on the image she happened to catch, even if it was a fleeting glance. Time for a subject change.
"Prejudiced, perhaps; but I've dealt with way too many idiots and I've come to find that the idiotic assholes far outweigh the handful of good nequus in our world. Which is why I used the phrase, vast majority. Didn't say all," she said lightly, flicking her tail and forcing her ears forward. Storm probably would've noticed how the comment had upset her, but she didn't need to say or do anything for the other mare to notice. She was a Seer, after all. She didn't need to say anything.
And Betel, of course, had fallen completely silent. That was to be expected, of course, as Storm had pinpointed and dragged into the light one of Bella's most hidden thoughts. Or, rather, had pulled at a part of it.
"Have you had similar experiences," the tan paint quizzed with a shuffling of her leathery wings, "or have you met smarter nequus than I have?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:53 pm
Storm watched Bella with heated eyes, for a moment saying nothing, merely flicking her tail.
"Suit yourself," she answered, keeping her explanations short. This meeting seemed far too civil. Magic users, pah.
"Maybe my thoughts just aren't as sharp as yours," she answered to the final question, and decided that she wished no longer to stay. This was going to turn into a discussion of the nature of Nequus. She was tired of discussion. She was sick of discussion.
Without another word she began her descent back down the shambles. If the Aeri wanted to follow and pester her, so be it. If not, the same.
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:59 pm
At hearing the other turn and begin to walk away, the Speaker merely shrugged her wings and turned, herself, and began walking. It was rather hard, of course, but nothing she couldn't do. Betel would pipe up if she was about to walk off a cliff or something, of course, or walk into a tree.
"Good luck with those few you have faith in," she called to the Seer Storm. Let her make of it what she will.
"Where are we headed now, Mistress?"
The elder mare clicked her tongue thoughtfully as her tail swished over her hocks. "Further into Yisi, away from these accursed mountains. I still don't know why I came here in the first place. I want to get back to the valley as soon as possible."
"Yes, Mistress Bella."
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