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 Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 2:45 pm
 The Shadow Herd had changed so much since Feral had been a foal. He remembered a time when neither of his parents were great faces in the herd, just two more mooks in the crowd with lofty dreams of someday mattering in the grand scheme of things. He remembered when they were ruled by Moloch, the black stallion with a mask of bone. He remembered his older sisters--Ambrosia, Calypso--how much their mother doted on them and how much he himself was ignored. He remembered his other older sister, the one that no one had liked but him, Rafaella. And he remembered Hemlock. He remembered the way the shadows had played across the other stallion's pelt, the way black and white leaves scattered across his body, the way his muscles looked under those bone bands, and the warm, golden glow of his eyes.
They were all gone now. Moloch and almost the entire rest of his family was gone, taking Hemlock with them to that grave abyss. Rafaella was gone, too, his favorite sibling--to this day, the only one he ever liked. She had left the forest one day and never come back. How strange the world seemed now, how empty it felt, how pointless it was with nothing good in it.
The hollow nostalgia of the past was back, in a way--old emotions that Feral had thought died with Hemlock were back, although not nearly the same as they had been for that arcturus stallion. Now these ghosts of emotion had latched onto the newcomer, Tepey R'Pat. He was gorgeous. He was beautiful, with elegant, dark mane and shining silver horns. Feral liked Tepey quite a lot, but once again fate conspired against the cold lyra--Tepey was to be Blodeuwedd's consort, out of reach of the Chaos Duke of Ice...
So what were the other options? Well, Tepey had brought along his younger brother, for one thing. They had similar purplish pelts, and both had horns that shone silver, but somehow the beauty that was Tepey was...diluted in the younger brother. Perhaps it was the lack of pale butterflies across his flank, or perhaps it was the pallor of this other stallion's mane. Maybe he just looked almost like an inverse of his desire, or perhaps merely a pale twin.
Beggars can't be choosers, and in cases such as these, dukes are beggars, too. If Feral wanted companionship, he would have to settle for third best. He sought out the newcomer known as Cometary.
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 3:03 pm
Cometary traveled where his brother traveled--he always had. He followed in Tepey's hoofsteps. It wasn't all that bad, really--being with Tepey meant that you could pretend that you were important, as whatever leftover luxury they gave Tepey would spill over to Cometary. Recently, however, he'd begun to doubt the wisdom of such practices. Tepey had ingratiated his way into a herd that called itself the Shadow Herd. There were several ways a person could interpret this, of course--perhaps it referred to the shadowy woods in which they lived? This was possible. The name certainly had nothing to do with the colors of their coats. While a few members of the herd sported dark or black coats, most of them came in eye-shocking colors. Oranges, blues, and reds were common, and fuchsias and purples were not far behind them in prominence. So far as Cometary had been able to figure out, he and Tepey were among the most sober-colored stars in the entire herd.
Not that this was a problem for either of them, of course. While each of them proud of their own modest coloration (although "modest" and "Tepey" went together as well as cream and cockroaches), both brothers had a fondness for the brighter colors. Tepey had found himself quickly offered the position of royal consort to the magenta queen Blodeuwedd, while Cometary had found himself attracted to the orange lyra they had both seen on their arrival at the herd. Honestly, that handsome work of art--and the repugnancy of the idea of leaving his brother behind in this...den of fiends--was about all that was keeping Cometary from running out of this forest and never looking back.
So to distract himself from the terror of the herd, he had gone to work investigating this lyra. His name was Feral der Martertodd, apparently. Cometary wasn't sure what that title meant. It didn't sound good, but--well, it would be impolite to make assumptions, right? It could just mean "very bright," or "exceptionally good-looking." There was nothing necessarily sinister about the name. Feral was the eldest child of the Death General, Retinadeath, and the Chaos Duke of Fire, Plamen von Hoelle. (See, it was titles like this that could make a stallion nervous!) Feral was also a Chaos Duke, but of Ice. Cometary liked the sound of that--ice was not only easier to handle than fire, but it was prettier. And he liked the way the title contrasted with his crush's appearance.
So far as he had been able to find out, Feral had no mate.
The trick, then, was to attract the other stallion's attention. The trouble was that Feral had not yet shown any sort of interest in Cometary. Instead, his attention had been solely devoted to Tepey. Cometary sighed whenever he remembered that first sighting. Typical. He found someone he wanted very much, then found out that they only liked his brother. Different singer, same song...
Not that he was going to give up. Cometary had volunteered for a position as a spy under the command of the Fire Duke (a thoroughly creepy individual, in Cometary's opinion), which gave him a few advantages: first of all, his position allowed him to spend time outside of this disturbing forest, and second of all, Feral had apparently been raised by Plamen. By interacting with the father, he hoped to get an opportunity to meet the son.
Hey, it was worth a try, right? It was certainly better than mooning over him for the rest of his life, and wondering when the lyra was ever going to notice him...
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Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 9:07 pm
Cometary had taken a position as a spy under the command of Plamen. Well, what do you know. The old troublemaker finally had someone to boss around. It was all well and good claiming that the Chaos Dukes and Duchesses had any power, but the plain fact was, most of them had no one working under them. Plamen had only one minion, and to this day, he and Tonestue had no one working for them. Well, okay, Anopticyte was working for Plamen these days, but as a messenger and not as a spy, and anyway, Anopticyte worked for Feral as well. The point was, Plamen's so-called power had always been a bluff, like the story about the emperor's new clothes. It didn't exist--not really--but everyone pretended it did because it kept Plamen out of their way.
But then Cometary had come along and gone looking for an actual job as a courtier and not just as a decorative object. He now spent most of his time on Sunflare territory spying on the Stars there, but sometimes he would return to the forest to spend time with his brother or otherwise touch bases. Feral had timed things well; this was one of those days. He waited until the other stallion had finished his meeting with Tepey and intercepted him on his way out. "Cometary," he murmured, "I would like to take a walk with you, if you have the time."
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Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 9:15 pm
Well, you couldn't stay out of the creepy forest forever, not if you wanted to still have an association with your favorite relative and a chance at that handsome stallion who brooded so prettily. So every so often, about once a month or so, Cometary slipped off into the Shadow Forest under the pretense of a day off. There he caught up with the local gossip and spent time with his brother. At first he had gossiped on instinct; you spent time with people, you gossiped. But then, as he got to know the herd better, he realized that the gossip could be very helpful. It helped him get to know other members of the herd better, understand what was going on, the history, they politics. It let him gather information on people too--who to avoid, who to suck up to, and who, if anyone, was close to Feral.
The answer to that question turned out to be...precious little. There had been a raid on the herd many years ago that resulted in most of the herd getting wiped out. The surviving Stars reproduced enough to refill the herd (hence why almost everyone was related to the Death General or to Plamen), but the people that Feral had cared about had gone. There was a rumor that he had been in love with Blod's brother, and that he had once had siblings older than him, but they were all long gone. Cometary felt sorry for him--he couldn't imagine what he would do if he lost Tepey and all his friends, as well as...well, as well as his lover...who could very well be Feral, if he played his cards right.
He stepped outside of the private area reserved for the consort and almost ran into the object of his desire. He looked up into the blue eyes and blinked, startled. "Um, yes, yes, of course, my lord," he said. "I would--I will walk with you, if it is your desire." If he had read the stallion right, Feral would not be impressed by sucking up, or any attempt to impress. If he wanted a chance, he would have to take a leaf from Feral's own book and play it cool. "It is a pleasant evening for a walk, after all."
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:04 pm
Feral nodded. "Indeed it is," he murmured. "A fine and pleasant evening." So it was. The temperature was pleasant, and there was a breeze that rustled the leaves just enough for a soft susurration to mingle with the chirping of crickets. Feral set a leisurely pace along the overgrown paths of the Shadow Forest with Cometary at his side. In spite of his being overshadowed by his brother, Cometary was not a bad looking stallion. Not to Feral's taste, perhaps, but then again, so few were.
Well, he was what was available, and Feral had long since learned to settle for that. He couldn't exactly fight his queen, and everyone else in the herd was too invested in their own futures for Feral to have anything like a chance fighting for what he wanted. But if he was going to be "with" Cometary, then he wanted to know what his...lover? (No. Mate? I suppose. Partner? Perhaps...hard to say.) He had to know what Cometary was like, to at least keep up appearances of Cometary truly being his favorite. "What do you think of the Shadow so far?" he said. "Are you settling in well? Your brother--he seems to be settling in quite nicely."
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:17 pm
Cometary settled in beside Feral. Like his title's namesake, he was slow and deliberate, like a glacier that wore down rocks. Kind of attractive, in a weird way? A little creepy, but maybe that was just because he didn't know Feral very well. Well, he would. This walk would be a good chance to learn about him, figure out his weaknesses, how to catch him, and good Signs, he was starting to sound like a real jerk! No, Feral was a person. A person he'd like to know better, that was all. And maybe earn some affection from. He could see that Feral was one of those people who hid his emotions deep beneath the surface, but had some affection deep down there. The sort of person to be stonefaced and stoic in public, but shower his mate with affection behind woven walls.
A chance to walk, and to talk, would be a perfect opportunity for him. Cometary thought about the question he had been posed, and how to answer it both honestly and diplomatically. Feral would not appreciate lies, but barefaced truth might be a bit too much. He was, after all, a powerful Star well invested in the politics of the herd. Saying what he really thought of the Shadow would be a bad place to start. "I think," he said slowly, "that the Shadow herd is not what I would have expected from a herd with such a name." Before Feral could ask him to elaborate, he did. "I would have thought it would be full of serious, quiet people who moved through the shadows and had no lives outside of...of conflict. But instead, I find that it is full of people. Quite colorful people, with strong emotions and passions." He smiled without thinking about it. "I think it would make for a very good setting for a play."
He shook his head at his own momentary--indiscretion? Was that what it was? He'd sounded...patronizing? Condescending? He'd sounded like a scholar studying the herd instead of a member of that herd itself. "I find the people here very interesting," he said quickly. "And I find them to be more...relatable than I had first expected? I mean, I hadn't thought I'd be able to settle in when we first joined, but here I am, I'm in the herd." Now he was babbling. Usually Cometary would apologize for that, but in this case, he didn't think that was a good idea. Some people would think it was cute, but he didn't think Feral would be one of those people.
"I think I'm settling in just fine," he said, before he could embarrass himself more. This was true--technically. He personally thought the only reason he'd retained any semblance of sanity so far was that he was spending most of his time in Sunflare. The people there were normal. The Burning Sun was paranoid, but most members of the Sunflare were just Stars, members of a family, just trying to live their daily lives without problem and without issue. They weren't ambitious, and when they were, they were open with it, and honest, and usually asking their herdmates for help. And those herdmates? They would give that help, without worry, because they knew that they could rely on each other and that they weren't being stabbed in the back.
He wondered what the Shadow would be like if they were more like Sunflare than they were like...well, like Blod... "I have a job to do, I have something to keep me occupied," Cometary added. "If I was sitting around with nothing to do, I'd be going crazy right now."
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:24 pm
Feral listened to what Cometary had to say. He felt like he could sense an undercurrent under all of the calm and analytical speech. It didn't sound forced, exactly, just that he was trying to keep things calm when really he wanted to let his emotions out a little more. That was good--showed that Cometary had observational skills. He was well-suited to his work as a spy, then. Being a spy meant always keeping an eye out for everything, and being able to fit in. Cometary seemed to be fitting in pretty nicely from what he said, but Feral thought he could see cracks between the pieces of the puzzle, cracks that Cometary was carefully hiding but were there nonetheless.
He wondered suddenly how long that would last. How long would those cracks be there? They were going to either expand or contract, they couldn't stay the way they were forever. Something was going to change, and he couldn't help but wonder what the result would be. Catastrophic, certainly--but for whom? For Cometary alone, for his family? Or for something deeper--for the herd itself? Tepey was very fond of his little brother, and while Tepey had no power, he still had a high rank in the court. Feral decided he would just have to wait and see. It would all play out in time.
He was distracted, though, by what Cometary had to say next. "A play?" he said softly. "I suppose we have more than enough drama for a tragedy, but..." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Do you write plays, then?" He didn't know anyone who wrote plays. He didn't know anyone who told stories, really. Storytelling was not a high priority in the Shadow Herd, unless you counted coming up with fibs to hide your indiscretions and rulebreaking. A storyteller was actually a little exciting...he wondered if he could convince Cometary to tell him a story or two.
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:31 pm
It seemed as if he had intrigued Feral, at least a little. "Yes, I do," he said. "Or at least, I used to. We had a pageant every year, in our old herd. Telling stories for the spring time, to welcome in the new seasons, for the harvest...anyway." He shook his head. He didn't really want to tell Feral about his practically peasant upbringing. It would bring up uncomfortable things, like the fact that Cometary was unused to violence and interherd warfare, and that he hated things like that. No, he wanted to look like a good fit for a high-ranking member of the Shadow Court, and revealing his pacifist inclinations was sure to alienate the Chaos Duke.
But his control was starting to ebb away. He couldn't help it, he just had to explain it to someone. He smiled as he thought of the ideas that had been playing out in his head for a little while. "Oh, no, not just a tragedy, m'lord. This herd is ripe for a tragedic cycle. A tragedy in three parts, with each part making the tragedy even deeper, and even harder for the characters to overcome. I don't know how it ends," he added. "Although I think I have something of an idea." It all fell back to the pageants he had written as a younger stallion. They had been about mythology or the history of the herd, and he felt like this herd, and its history, including those bits few, if any, liked to hear, could easily feed into a cycle of tragedies. In his head, he'd been calling it the Skotadic Cycle, from an old word for darkness. Yes, he could see it all in his head...
And he had a feeling he knew who his protagonist would be, or at least, the protagonist of the third part. He looked at Feral out of the corner of his eye. "It's a work in progress," he said lamely. "But something to think about when I have a spare moment."
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:33 pm
A thinker and an artist....what a strange combination for the Shadow Herd. They had a few thinkers, but precious few artists, and to find someone with the qualities of both... Feral was starting to warm up to this stranger. "I'm not sure such a play should be played here," he said softly. "Too many thin skins to be insulted by characters based on them. But I still think you should write that cycle." He smiled at Cometary. "If for no other reason than I think I would very much like to see that play. I, too, wonder how it ends."
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