|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:39 pm
 It was warm... unseasonably warm. The leaves were in their fall colors and were the only thing convincing Hayagriva that it wasn't still summer. His long mane made the heat all the more unpleasant. About the time that his legs had grown his hair had grown too. The result was that he was tall, much taller than his mother, and had a rather long and flowing mane. That made him want to tear it out by the roots. For what seemed like the hundredth time on this one walk alone, he flipped his mane out of his face.
A gust of wind brought momentary relief and blew some of the leaves from their branches. In a burst of leftover coltish playfulness Haya chased after one, teeth snapping the air behind it. Not fast enough. He'd get one next time a breeze blew.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:00 pm
Fall was proving to be a fascinating time for Halia. Still looking coltish from her recent growth spurt, she was finding all sorts of pleasantly surprising bits of knowledge about herself. For one, she was still fast. In fact, she was even faster now, thanks to having longer legs. But there were surprises that weren't so pleasant, too. For instance, as she found while chasing a particularly agile leaf...she found she wasn't nearly as well adjusted to her new size as she'd thought she was.
"Ooomph!" She grunted as she stumbled, nose plowing into the dirt.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:14 pm
Haya chased after another leaf and barely avoided the low branch of a tree. It was because of this near miss that when he heard the "Ooomph!" he was half convinced that he had uttered the noise for a moment. After his moment of confusion passed it occurred to him that he was not alone in this part of the forest... and that the area seemed to inflict klutzishness.
Even as a colt, Haya had never been one to avoid strangers. For the moment, his sport with the leaves was forgotten and he walked towards the direction of the sound.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:50 pm
Sniffing and snorting, Halia staggered to her feet, shaking her head to try and rid her nose of the dirt that had found its way therein. "That hurt..." she whined to herself before realizing that she wasn't alone. Immediately feeling self-conscious, she smiled hesitantly. "Hello there...I'm sorry, was I ignoring you? I didn't mean to if I was."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:05 pm
She looked to be about his own age. After spending a lot of his childhood with a playmate far older than him, Haya sometimes didn't know what to make of company that was as old as he was. What was he supposed to say to her? She hadn't been ignoring him, for a start. He'd just gotten there. And...
A snort escaped before he could stop it. "Y-you have dirt all over your nose!" He laughed. What had she been doing? Rooting around for nuts like a squirrel?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:19 pm
Halia's ears cocked back in dismay as the stranger laughed at her, wilting. Her brothers made fun of her sometimes, but that was different...she knew they loved her, because they were family. "So what?" she answered defensively, pale eyes meeting his in challenge. "I just fell...you try falling on your face without getting dirt in your nose!" Gods...was momma wrong about boys getting less annoying as she got older?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:52 pm
A flash of pride raised Hayagriva's head high. "I don't fall when I chase leaves so never get dirt in my nose!" He hadn't since he was a colt, anyways, and being clumsy when you were a colt shouldn't count for anything. Through his internal dialog he couldn't help but remember one of his mother's old sayings, that you should treat every stranger like an old friend so that one day they might become one. It was easy enough to say that but in reality he didn't know this mare. He hadn't really meant to laugh at her, but she shouldn't have taken it so personally, either.
"Maybe there's not that much dirt," he belatedly added in an attempt for conciliation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:20 pm
"I didn't say that you did, just to try it without getting dirty," Halia muttered in a wounded tone, sneezing again as she rubbed her nose against her leg. Thankfully that one seemed to dislodge the last bit of the dirt up her nose, and she sighed in relief. Ugh, how that dirt had tickled! "Not anymore there isn't," she continued in a happier tone. Now that she wasn't worried about breathing without feeling horribly tickled, she was able to look over the stranger. Her eyes widened. "Is...is that tail...?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:37 pm
Haya had long known that his tail variety was an uncommon one but the reactions he got to it were usually a little more.... coherent. "Is that tail what?" He waved it over his head where the sun arced of it with a golden sheen. "Is it mine? Yeah. Is it useful, yeah." In a flash he swung it over his back and where the spade met a tree branch the branch fell away. He was especially proud of that. He had gotten much stronger and had been practicing his aim. He watched for the mare's expression. She couldn't do anything with her tail like that!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:55 pm
"It's...pointed. Like a kalona's." Halia had never seen a Kalona, but she'd heard about them. What parent didn't raise their foal without telling them about the dangerous kalona and skinwalkers, nowadays? "Are you part kalona? You're not going to try to eat me are you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:14 pm
Eat her? The smug smile faded off of Haya's face. Kalona was a word that he had heard infrequently throughout his childhood. His mother had described his father as one... but had never talked about him eating anyone. She had always said the word with neutrality, but he had caught more than one long look at his tail and heard more than one whisper of the word upon recognition of it.
"Not going to eat you if you don't be a pest," he replied with a little gruffness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:53 pm
Halia relaxed at seeming to catch the stallion off guard with her question. If he was surprised by that, it had to mean he wouldn't be trying to gnaw on her the minute she wasn't looking...right? Oh well. If he tried to do so, she had fast strong legs and wouldn't give up without a fight. She blinked at his comment, though. "Why would I be a pest? I just met you...I don't even know your name."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:31 pm
"Well why would I want to eat you? I don't know your name, either." quipped Haya back. She seemed fine with him now but the thought of someone he didn't even know assuming he was going to eat them still rankled.
"But my name is Hayagriva, so now I guess you can annoy me." A more mischievous glint came to his eye and the end of his tail twitched. "But I promise not to eat you even if you tell me your name, ok?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:28 pm
"Kalona eat other Soquili, so that's why I asked. I was taught about them so that I'd be safer when I was by myself...if you had wings and horns like them, I would have seen them earlier and probably already be running." Halia stuck out her tongue in a playful fashion. "Okay. I'm Halia."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:57 pm
Was she being serious? His father ate other soquili? Haya grappled with disbelief while she introduced herself. He didn't want to eat anyone. If kalona were that bad then their children ought to be at least half bad too, right?
"Weeeeell, it's nice t'meet you, Halia. You know some interesting things about kalona." Some of the skepticism crept into his voice at the "interesting" and he had the feeling it was in his expression as well. It sounded a little like a joke to him, even like some of them he used to try to play. She was either misinformed or trying to fool him. Haya refused to belief that she could be telling the truth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
