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 Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 10:08 am
For the first time in years, the dusty paint mare was completely alone. The small trickle of magic she allowed to flow into his skull to keep his presence there had ceased, and Betel was merely a tattered soul on the winds, waiting for her to call him back. But she would not; not yet. She would not listen to him tell her 'I told you so.'
WHACK.
He hadn't, of course, but she hadn't even given him the chance to say anything at all, anyway. She hadn't said anything afterwards either. At least, she didn't think she did. She probably had; a string of curses perhaps, a yell, a scream, anything. Probably curses.
CRACK.
With a hiss, the old mare yanked her hindleg away from the now splintered elppa tree; long dead like her ancestors, and beginning to rot. In her blind wanderings she'd slammed into it by accident, and the brunt mark on her soft muzzle was proof. She glared off into the black void, in the tree's general direction, and snorted. She'd been angry before, and she thought that kicking it until it fell over would be better than beating the living drek out of the next nequus to wander by, but it seems that trees can bite back. With another snort, she lifted her still-sore muzzle and backed up a pace or two, trying to ignore the scent of the dead tree to figure out the closest source of water. She couldn't see the new wound on her hind leg, but she could very well feel it, as well as the small stream of blood that trickled down the limb. She snorted again, pinning her ears to her skull, and half-turned. As if she wasn't angry enough before, she was thoroughly pissed now.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 11:42 am
Snorting to himself and swishing his tail contemptuously in the direction he’d come from, the one-winged Bae gave himself a shake and set off in search of water. The land off to his left sloped down slightly, and as this seemed to be his best bet the bright-maned Bae turned his head in that direction.
At least it wasn’t far now, not far at all to Yisi. The edges of the crystal lands were his favorite place to spend the summer months, but he usually found himself further south than he currently was; he still recalled his promise to the strange stallion Lucius, and thus had decided to wander away from his usual haunts and at least have a cursory look for this Vox he was suppose to find.
He hadn’t gone very far when he came to the broken tree. Coming to a halt, Karasu inspected first the dead plant and then the towering mare moving away from it. She was easily the tallest Nequus he’d ever seen, and by the looks of things she was the one who’d just beaten the elppa tree to the ground. She’d hurt herself in the process, too. So. Crazy b***h then. Should he try to slip away?...
No, no he’d had enough of backing down for the day; despite the length of her legs he was fairly confident that he could get away from her if she did decided to attack and... and she was moving quite slowly. Well, might as well announce himself in any case.
“So then,” the black-coated stallion called, “what did the tree do to deserve that?”
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 8:56 pm
If she was in any other mood, she would have heard his galloping, his quick halt, perhaps caught his scent on the wind - but as it stood, she was not in any other mood, and therefore quite preoccupied with her own thoughts. As his unexpected voice reached her ears, the tall mare balked to the side a bit, her milky eyes rolling unnoticeably as her ears swiveled towards the source of the voice. She forced herself to stop and calm down, her anger worsening at her own stupid reaction, and glared where she thought the voice had come from. "It decided to give me a nice whack on the nose," she retorted, snorting in the stallion's general direction. She couldn't see him, of course, and Betel wasn't there to tell her how big he was or anything, or if he had a horn or if she should run. She would not call him back yet, no; she refused.
Pulling herself back to basics, she perked her ears forward a bit. She could only hear the breathing of two nequus, both accounted for. Knowing she couldn't always trust just her hearing, she was glad her nose was just as keen. It, too, told her there was just one other nequus there; she'd never met two nequus who smelled exactly the same, unless of course they'd been rolling around in questionable substances. As it stood there was only the scent of one nequus that flowed to her nostrils, and it was the stallion before her, the scent of which she easily plucked from amidst the smells of flowers, grass, and the faint scent of water. She tilted her head to the side a bit and raised it slightly, flicking her coarse tail. "So then, what did I do to make you come bother me?" Her leg still stung a bit, but the sudden appearance of this other nequus had all but pushed the slightly bleeding limb out of her mind.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:36 am
Her eyes looked a lot like his did, and that gave Karasu a pause for a moment. He hadn’t seen anyone else with eyes like his ever before but... but there was a slightly different quality to hers. Where his were bright white with an almost silvery sheen to them, hers were almost milky. So, blind then? Quite possibly, she certainly didn’t seem to be looking directly at him and it would explain how she’d managed to whack her nose on the elppa tree.
At the Aeri’s question, Karasu gave a snort of amusement. “Nothing specific,” he retorted, “I just thought I’d brighten your day with my sunny disposition.” Damn. He really wanted a drink now, but he’d got himself stuck in a conversation. He should have just ignored her and gone on by, but no, no Karasu clever-d**k had to decide to talk to the big bint. Just wonderful. Well maybe he’d be able to extract himself from the situation soon, and without looking like he was intimidated by her or anything equally stupid in the process...
Hold on. What was that?
“My turn to ask a question,” Karasu said, his eyes fixed on the thing around the big Nequus’ neck. “Why do you have a skull around your neck?” Grumpy blind mare with a skull necklace. Just his lovely dreckkie luck.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 10:28 am
"Wonderful," the taller nequus said in a flat, monotone voice as her ears pricked backwards a bit in irritation. "My day feels brighter already." Sarcasm, she just loved sarcasm.
And a question, how lovely. She couldn't help but snort, allowing a small smirk to form on her muzzle at his inquiry. "Oh, do you like it?" She fake-teased, tossing her head so the morbid decoration thumped lightly against her chest. "It was a gift from my oh-so pleasant grandmother. She was a Speaker, blind as a bat and twice as stupid. That's why she gave it to me; I'm a Speaker as well." There, let him chew on that one a while. "My name is Bellatrix, by the way, if you care anything for names."
"My turn!" She chimed sarcastically after a short pause, as she turned towards the delicate scent of water and began walking. "Where's a sunny delight like you heading to now?" There, that should send him packing; she wanted this conversation less than he did, although his reaction to her Speaker status would be quite amusing to see. Or hear, as well. Either way, she was heading towards the nearest source of water for a drink and to wash off her leg, which she'd only just remembered when she started walking again. Damn tree...
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 1:25 pm
A Speaker? What was?... Oh yea, now he remembered. “So, you talk to dead people. Bet that’s a real blast,” the Bae commented with a roll of his eyes. He briefly considered asking her to talk to her great grandparents to ask them if the realized what a stupid b***h they had indirectly unleashed on the world, but given the size of her hooves he thought better of it. Blind she might be, but that didn’t mean she had no way of knowing where he was; for all he knew she was getting a running commentary for some invisible minion or other.
“Seen as you asked so nicely,” the one-winged stallion went on with a distinct hint of sneer in his voice, “I was just going off to find myself a drink; lovely hot days like this are lovely and everything but they do work up a thirst, wouldn’t you agree?” Yes, good, the conversation would come to a natural close and he could go and get his drink and get away from the proud b***h.
Hu, the Speaker thing probably explained her apparent ego and attitude; she had magic so she thought she was a cut above the rest, and she was blind and probably only got to talk to dead people due to her repellant personality so she was grouchy. Well fine by him, let other people fall at her hooves and beg a favor; all he’d want to say to anyone that might possibly be dead was ‘get stuffed’ or something along those lines, and he didn’t consider that message worth indebting himself to the b***h over. The sooner he was gone from her, the happier he’d be.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 1:51 pm
"Ugh. You don't know the half of it," she scowled, ears flicking back to her skull. "Some of them are more lively than the living seem to be." A certain dead Shrila came to mind and she snorted, stalking off towards the nearest source of water -- until he said he was heading towards the same thing. Lovely, just perfect. "Of course," she said through gritted teeth, not changing her course in the slightest and hoping that there were no rocks or anything else in her path. "In fact, that's where I'm headed now. A drink, and to wash my leg off."
She snorted at the ground, hating to walk so awkwardly, but it was needed if she didn't want to trip on things. She kept her hooves low to the ground, preferring to sweep them across it than actually pick them up and place them down on something potentially harmful, like a rock she'd slip on. She'd kicked a few away, thankfully; one or two were big enough that she'd stumble and trip on them, and she flicked her coarse tail and shuffled her wings a bit to bring them more comfortably against her sides. She should walk like this more often; it wasn't like Betel told her where the rocks were, anyway.
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 8:00 am
Karasu sighed internally; just great, she was coming with him, a perfect addition to an already perfect day. Shaking his head and continuing on down the slope, the one-winged Bae peered ahead in search of the water that he was certain was nearby. Sure enough, a moment later, his eyes were caught by a gleam off to his left, which he identified as a wide lazy river wending its way through D’ob.
“Left to water,” the stallion said conversationally as he turned in that direction, not really sure why he was bothering to offer any assistance to the mare. Maybe because he hoped somebody would do the same for him if he was ever without sight or whatever. Well, that was probably a bit of wishful thinking but it was done now and no sense wishing he’d left her to wander off into the distance. She probably would have turned to follow him anyway, knowing that they were after the same thing and that he had functioning eyes.
“Bet it makes you really popular, too,” the white-eyed Bae went on eventually more for the sake of something to say than out of interest. “Loads of people wanting to talk to a long lost love, or a parent or whatever? Must be great fun having people hanging around your hooves all day wanting you to help them out as though it was your duty or some s**t. Do they at least repay you, or just trot off on their merry way once they get what they want out of you? If you even assent to help them in the first place that is; I know I damn well wouldn’t be keen to.”
Perhaps he’d get a bit more respect if he had such powers though; he never got any of that. It was either hate of his black coat, distaste at his imperfectly formed body or pity; pity was in fact the most prevalent response, and his least favorite. Anything was better than pity, anything in the world. Bastards.
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 10:24 am
She caught a little off-guard at his sudden directional hint, but turned leftward all the same. "Thanks," she murmured warily, flicking one ear forward towards him and keeping the other free to swivel at any other suspicious sounds. He hadn't needed to tell her where water was; she could follow him or the sound and smell of the liquid herself, but either way it was quite helpful.
"Tch," she spat, and despite herself she pinned both ears back against her skull. It took a bit of an effort to raise them after a pause to their previous placement. "Oh, you don't even know the joy it brings me," she said sarcastically, with a bit of acid dripping off a few choice words. "Disgusting fleabitten bags of drek don't know when to quit asking. I used to agree to help when I was younger; it got me into a lot of trouble then too. I could only talk to one dead spirit at a time and it took a lot out of me back then, so I had to wait a few days before I could do it again. The stupid gits didn't like waiting, so they'd try to pressure me into Speaking again. They hardly ever thanked me, either, and I never got anything back from anyone. Except one, of course," she grunted, flicking her coarse tail after a short pause, "but she's dead now."
She kicked another rock out of the way after feeling it thud lightly against her hoof, and heard it land not too far away with a splash. She snorted lightly and paced forwards slowly, as she didn't need to trip and fall face-first into the river, before stopping just in front of the water. Lowering her head quickly, she paused it a few inches above the water before inhaling its scent to find the surface. She hated getting a noseful of water, it always sucked. Succeeding in preventing another irritating occurrence, she eagerly drank from the river for several moments. That done she lifted her head again and stretched the hind leg where the cut was, but refrained from entering the water quite yet. She'd wait until after he'd finished drinking first. She didn't like the taste of blood in the water, however faint, and she figured he didn't either. "I've since learned not to Speak for many at all; last time I did really was in the herd I used to live in. Spoke to a dead stallion to see if the one convicted for his murder really did it. I only agreed to get him and the other idiot to shut the hell up, though, but apparently doing that meant I was helping a convicted murderer, so I left the herd before the other gits could do anything. Bastards, the whole lot of them," she snorted, flicking her ears back. "I've gotten some requests since then, but haven't done any; I know I won't get anything back at all except maybe a thank you. I hate it when the stupid idiots ask for favors, and I hate it even more if they ask for favors after pitying me for my blindness. Guess they think if they do that'll make me more inclined to agree," she snorted; as if. "Idiots."
She paused then, flicking an ear in his direction. She hated talking about herself, so, subject change. "So what about you? Do any of the drek heads bother you? I assume they must, from how bitterly you speak of them."
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 6:16 am
Karasu snorted and rolled his eyes, raising his head from the water at the mare’s question. “Yea, that sounds pretty much like people. Slimy two-faced bastards, glad I don’t have anything they want. You guessed right though,” the vivid-maned stallion went on, ears flicking back in annoyance, “people in general aren’t my favorite thing. You might’ve heard the fuss there’s been on and off about black coats after those black Bae went around killing foals and destroying fruits? Well I’m a Bae with a black coat, so one segment of the population hates me right there; I was actually running away from a bunch of people that way inclined just before I saw you. Would’ve loved to show them a monster just like they wanted to see, but I was outnumbered so I figured it was better to preserve my hide than to try to give them what they had coming.”
The white-eyed stallion paused to take another drink before moving up the bank a little in order to give the big Aeri space to sort out her leg. “Then there’s the other stuff,” he went on, “I’ve only got one wing see; born like that, no idea why, it’s annyoing but there’s drek-all I can do about it so I pretty much just ignore it. Some people though, they cringe when they look at me, like me being incomplete is an affront to their sensibilities or whatever, so another group of people I dislike there. They’re not the worst ones, the worst ones are the ones that pity me, and you’ve already said you get that. It’s just sickening how they go on; ‘Aww, you poor thing, you’ll never know the joy of flight’, bla-die-dreking-dar, ‘here why don’t you have this last elppa, I bet you need it more than me you poor dear’.” Karasu gave another snort and stomped a hoof in agitation. “Damn stupid bastards,” he growled with a shake of his head, “I swear, only people I ever get on with are other ‘freaks’. Rest of the world is just so far up its own a*****e; it’s not worth bothering with.”
How many people had he had a civilized conversation with over the last cycle or so? The bone-wearing Aeri Lucius, and now this mare... whatever her name was. “Name’s Karasu by the way,” the one-winged stallion added in the hopes of getting a name in return. Hu, anyway, so the only two people he’d managed to be neither hated nor pitied by, and in addition who hadn’t annoyed the drek out of, him were Aeri.
Perhaps he should try talking to the leather-winged giants more often, or perhaps it was just coincidence that Lucius and whoever-she-was were of the same kin. Well, it didn’t matter all that much anyway, what mattered was that for now at least he was getting on with somebody, and he had a few things in common with said person as well. It was an alien feeling, but a good one; maybe this was what other people got out of being in a herd or something.
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 3:15 pm
She snorted a bit as one ear flicked towards him, and she knew he'd stepped away from the water. Good, she could finally wash the cut off. The massive Aeri stepped as gingerly as possible into the water, knowing from past experiences that the bottom of such water sources could be quite slippery and weren't very fun to fall into. Luckily the pebbles at the bottom were fine, and it took only a few more careful steps until the water was just above the cut. The current was fair, as well, which was good. Stagnant water didn't do as well. "Yea, I heard about those. It's a heap of Rit drek honestly; the thought that coat color has anything to do with personalities, I swear. The populace must be getting stupider or something," she noted as she lifted her injured leg and twisted her head around, nibbling at the area around the cut a bit before dropping the leg back into the rushing water. "Ech," she scowled with her ears pinned back, sticking her tongue out. She quickly lowered her head and managed to not soak her nose as she got a drink of water. "I hate that taste."
She raised her head again and flicked her ears. That down, she'd let the cool water wash over the cut for a bit longer, wash it out. Couldn't let it close up until it was clean, otherwise she wouldn't have let the taste into her mouth. Ick, blood. "I can't stand pity," she grunted with a flick of her coarse tail, "so excuse me when I say that that really sucks. I can't imagine having only one wing, though. I'd give you mine if I could, you could get a lot more use out of them than I can," she snorted a bit, half in amusement. "I've only flown one or two times in my whole life, and let me tell you I get more use out of these wings by scratching itches than flying. The last time I flew -- well, let's just say I nearly became intimitely acquainted with the ground." Damn Betel and his failure at giving directions. "Bellatrix," she offered and chuckled a bit, despite herself. "Fellow freak, at your service. You're lucky you didn't catch me having a conversation with Betelgeuse."
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 3:41 pm
Karasu grinned at the offer, picturing himself with one wing his own and one of the Speaker’s massive leathery appendages. “Thanks for the offer,” he said with a chuckle, “bet I’d go like lightning with wings like those.” He almost asked what it felt like to fly, he’d never put the question to anyone, but when he played it through in his head it sounded like a pathetic, whiny thing to say and so he held his tongue on that score.
“Ha, I’ve nearly met the ground a couple of times too,” he said instead, “in future, I think I might avoid Quirne when it’s windy. Or when there are clouds, actually; I got stuck down on the beach in the middle a of a storm a while ago. Not great fun but I learned a new life lesson; if the wind gets up even a bit get the hell off the beach before the waves come in and try to pound you to pieces.”
Normally, of course, he would worry about being pitied for that little experience, but his fellow freak Bellatrix wouldn’t; Gods knew she’d probably been stuck in a few nasty situations like that thanks to non-functioning eyes.
“Not that I know how you’d need me,” the white-eyed Bae said after a brief pause with a grin, “but I’m at yours too. Not often I meet somebody worth talking to, you know?” Speaking of talking to... “Whose Betelgeuse?” Karasu asked with a reflexive questioning tilt of his head in the massive mare’s direction. Lucky he hadn’t caught her talking to him... a ghost perhaps? Hu, that was kind of cool.
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 7:13 pm
Bella had the same mental image, unable to help herself. Just because she was blind now didn't mean she always had been; she knew what Aeri and Bae looked like, and all sorts of colors. She couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. "'Like lightning' isn't the phrase I'd pick," she snorted in amusement, shuffling her wings a bit and flicking her coarse tail.
"In Quirne? Good gods," she said, rolling her milky white eyes before tossing her mane to the other side of her neck. "I hate going there, it's way too salty and gross. Betel made me fly down from the cliffs to the beach and I nearly killed myself because of it, ugh. I'm never flying ever again, I shouldn't have even done it in the first place," she snorted, chuckling at herself for it anyway. "It's not fun if you can't see."
She snorted again, offering a half-grin to the source of the voice. "Yea, I know what you mean. Most of the people I've met have been downright drek heads, the lot of them. Thanks for the offer, though I'm not sure what you can do for me either," she chuckled, stepping carefully out of the water for now. She'd wash it later, perhaps. "Betelgeuse," she began thoughtfully, flicking an ear idly, "was a Shrila at one point. He died years and years ago, and its his skull around my neck that you pointed out earlier. Gift from my grandmother, another Speaker. She died shortly after I went blind, thank all gods. Betel normally hangs off me every second of every day, talking in my ear all the time in his annoyingly high-pitched voice. He's supposed to tell me if there's trees or bushes or rocks in my way so I don't trip and fall, though he does a bad job with the rocks. I dropped his soul about half a sun ago because of... certain reasons, and I haven't bothered to call him back yet." He didn't need to know why she'd dropped him, of course, so she wouldn't tell him even if he asked. She wouldn't kick his face in for asking, though; no, he was a nice sort, a lot better than anyone she'd met in a long time.
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 1:31 pm
Karasu snorted and gave a lopsided grin. “Well, good to know I’m not missing much then.” A Shrila spirit hu? So she usually did have a little spirit guide then; he felt oddly pleased about guessing that even though it was generally said that Speakers had such things. You had to take pleasure in small triumphs, the black Bae considered grimly. Still, a spirit guide, her eyes on the world and she’d let him go. Why would she do that? Wasn’t his place to ask of course and he didn’t plan to risk pissing the mare off just as he was getting along with her so well by attempting to sate his curiosity.
“Hu, this Betel thing sounds like a right pain in the a**,” the white-eyed stallion commented; maybe she’d ditched him just to get a bit of peace or something, “or maybe I should say the ear...” ...That was an interesting question. Could she always hear the voices of the dead? Did they hang around her as much as the living did, wanting messages passed on to loved ones? “So, are dead people as annoying as live people?” There, that might get him a bit of an answer, he might even find out something about the afterlife if there even was one. Presumably there was something if spirits were around to be called upon by Speaker but ‘something’ wasn’t really saying much.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:56 am
She couldn't help but chuckle a bit again. She did feel bad for Karasu; how must he feel with one wing, and to never know what it meant to fly? It probably royally sucked. She contemplated for a moment of how he could somehow know what it's like to fly, but nothing came to her, so she gave up fairly quickly. Not much she could do, anyway.
"Ugh," she wrinkled her nose, chuckling again. "You can say that again. He's so annoying, how can I explain..." She frowned a moment, trying to think of how to explain just how annoying the creature was. "Imagine having a younger sibling attached to your shoulder permanently somehow, like conjoined twins, and they never shut up about anything, even when you're trying to sleep. Kind of like that." There, hopefully he'd get that. Except she could drop Betel at any time if she really wanted to, she just usually didn't bother. She'd call him back later.
"Dead people as annoying as live ones? Hu, I've thought about it a couple times," she admitted, absent-mindedly reaching up with her wing to rid herself of an itch on her neck with her thumbclaw. "Actually no, live ones are a hell of a lot more annoying. For one thing, the only dead people that can bother me are ghosts, they can come find me and such. I can sense where they are though, but I've only met one really. They can come find me and pester me as much as they want to, until the wind comes and tears them to shreds. Not sure why that happens, though," she added thoughtfully. "But the dead ones that aren't ghosts are just spirits, and they can't bother me at all. Hell, I only talk to them if I put their shredded soul back together, and if they annoy me too much I can drop them like I did Betel, and then they can't pester me. Wish I could do that with the living too, it'd make things so much easier." If only.
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