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It was a day of freedom and wandering, and it was perfect for a mare and her chosen with energy to spare. They'd come upon a clump of apple trees in what seemed to be a relatively abandoned area. Sure, it probably belonged to someone, but it occurred to neither that their antics were anything to frown upon.

The pair were apparently in some form of race.

"You'll not catch me! You'll be left behind, and I shall get my pick!" Slightly quicker than the average horse, Nostalgia was certainly quicker than a human. She teased now, trotting then sprinting forward to gait sideways, then spin around and trot off again when the young woman came anywhere near. "I'll have as many as I like before you can catch up!" That was said with a laugh. She knew full well that Melody would be there before she was done picking and eating her first apple.

The human in question only seemed to be in a hurry to appease the mare. She slowed to a walk when Nostalgia wasn't looking, and never ran when she was. But there was a glint of the competition in her eye, and that was what made the competition so interesting to Nostalgia Clearly Melody had something up her sleeve. A sudden burst of speed, teleportation, or perhaps sprouting wings and proving her superiority in the sky... Ridiculous, all of it, but that look!

Nostalgia reached first, turned herself to watch Melody, and sniffed at the fallen apples and the few on the lower branches. Mmm, best pick, best pick, best pick.... Youch! Her human sprouted wings!

Nonsense. What Melody had done was to spring into the tree, climbing her way up to where the apples were untouched. "Best pick, best pick...Hmm, oh these are so much lovelier than those ant-chewed ones down there! Mmm...I sure wish you could enjoy these with me, Stalya!"

Nostalgia spit out what was in her mouth, eying it for ants, and looked upwards. "You wouldn't take them all for yourself, would you...? OOohhh!" The mare ducked her head as Melody was now the one to tease, showing off one particularly beautiful apple before taking a bite out of it.

"Mmm, but I thought you were the best? Surely you can get your own!"

"Oh, the fates! The fates are cruel, to lead me to this cruel, heartless land and this cruel, heartless human!" She'd complain, because that was in the fun, but she wouldn't say she lost. Nostalgia tried pawing her way up the tree and reeeaaaaacching for one of the higher lovelies.

Apple in mouth, Melody busied herself in picking more to down when Nostalgia admitted defeat.

It really wasn't long before Nostalgia found that the apples that would be best grabs were out of her reach even as she stood on her back legs. She thumped back down. When she did, Melody climbed to a lower branch, reaching down to offer a large apple she'd picked.

"It was a nice try! I think this tree has already been visited by best-apple seeking horses."

Nostalgia didn't answer, too busy taking care of the fruit in her mouth.

Melody spotted the unknown horse first. She waved from the tree. "Heelllooo!"

Nostalgia turned around, eyed the ground carefully for ant-invaders, then dropped what was left of her apple at her hooves. "Come join us! Melody picked the best!" Then she bent back down to take another bite from the apple. Too good to keep waiting!

"Well, if you change your mind, I'm sure there are plenty more." Stalya bent down to take the last bite from her apple so she could both finish that then properly speak. "My name is Nostalgia, or Stalya. This is Melody. What is yours?"

"Yes, of course I'll----" Melody's words started off as playfully sarcastic, meaning to thank Nostalgia for volunteering her. She was cut off as Nostalgia noticed the metal

"Oh! Oh, you poor thing! Melody, she's stepped into some metal! We can take it off for you!" Nostalgia was horrified. What an awful accident to get into...then have to endure it getting embedded into her skin like that... Terrible!

Nostalgia was wide eyed. If her mouth could have dropped in a large "O", it certainly would have. As it was, she pawed a foreleg on the ground. "Well, it looks very....it might not bother you, but what if it gets dirt in it, and then gets worse, and swollen and red and ugly-awful?"

"Shh, I don't think she minds." Melody was still up in the tree, and her voice had gotten thoughtful. Nostalgia wouldn't understand, and she knew it. As much as Melody didn't get it either, at least she knew enough to let it go. So she turned her attentions to Mistress to try to speak away Nostalgia's thoughts. "Do you come here often? I don't believe we've seen you around before."

"Well, it's like not minding a mosquito on your rump, you let it bite, then it bites many times, and more come, and pretty soon you'll have nothing but itchy blotches all over where you can not itch them! Your Chosen should really help you with that, if you don't want us to."

Melody wasn't sure if she was grateful she was up in the tree, or if she wanted to jump down to be near Nostalgia. She had a guess, and looked carefully at this Mistress for a reaction to that.

Melody let out a breath, so this Mistress wasn't going to be sore about not having a Chosen. It was too bad Nostalgia's eyes were transfixed on this strange mare, she sure would have liked to send her an advising look about then.

Nostalgia was caught between which of those to reply to, then decided for herself that she much would rather a kind talk and that she wouldn't want a stranger lecturing her. "You chose a very nice route! It's quite enjoyable here. Where are you from, then? Do you live in the city, or--"

"Town."

"--out in the wilds? Nostalgia ignored Melody's corrective input, and said the final of her sentence with some mystery. The wild! Was she talking to a wild horse? Was that why she didn't have the sense to know about infections? Is that where she got it? Wasn't the wild a horrible and wonderful place all at once? She was sure of it!

She tried tossing her head to make a curl bounce the same way, because now she was fascinated. Instead, her curls bounced upwards and sprung down again, some across her shoulder, but then falling back again.

Melody put her head on the branch. Nostalgia was not an idiot. She wasn't. She was just ignorant, and that was her fault. She put it in her mind to fix that. Soon.

The wilds! Now wasn't that just the most interesting thing ever? Oh, but it left the poor dear completely helpless, and probably didn't want to admit that she might need some help. Well, and who could blame her! Barbed wire didn't just come out from no where!

"Like I said, we're from the city. We were just walking today, and came this way, just to go somewhere different. Change of scenery and all. That's always a good thing, isn't it? I've never been very, very far out though. Is where you're from very different from here? How so?"

She really hoped that the first thing Mistress hadn't done was walk to an area where she might meet a human, and then get her foot stuck in human made wire. What a horrible first impression! What if she turned...against them?

Just noting that I made the foolish mistake of posting the wrong color in my last post and not naming who was speaking... Got caught up in Nostalgia's silly romanticism, I suppose! I meant it to be her and not Melody speaking. =) Sorry about that!

IC:

How far was very, very far? Mmm...Nostalgia hadn't really thought before she'd said that, and now she wasn't overly sure how to answer. She tossed her mane a bit, looked this way and that, then upwards to Melody, and back to Mistress. "Oh, more than about a three day's journey, with plenty of stops along the way. And we mostly stay on the paths. You know, can't get there and home again within the week kind of thing, if you needed to for some reason."

The mare was finally beginning to get a clue in some of the standoffishness that Melody had picked up on immediately. She couldn't figure out what it was. She'd offered the good apples, and had chatted about what seemed interesting at the time... Well, one didn't make friends without trying! "What do you enjoy doing?"

Find a subject, any subject, worthwhile!!