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 Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 1:05 pm
It had only been a couple weeks since their arrival in the lush area of Yisi, but Cassius already knew the best places for water or grass, or even special tasty reeds he'd found. Just as he had in Shrilal, the white colt spent most of his time exploring, rather than socializing with his siblings or parents. Games were fun, of course; tag and hide-and-seek were his favorites, especially in the dark. Riruy could never play in the dark though, which was a bit disappointing. He had a few things to talk to the albino about.
His gaze shifted back down to the pool he was half standing in, and he swiftly lifted then stomped his black hoof into the water, splashing large droplets of water everywhere, mostly onto himself. He squealed in surprise and amusement, a grin alighting his features, and he pranced into the shallow water with his stubby dual-colored tail wiggling.
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 1:37 pm
The shallows of the lake were sheltered by trees, and for this reason the curve-horned stallion found himself gliding down towards the surface of the lake and sending up a wave of spray as his hooves touched and then broke the surface. A few moments laster, he was folding his wings against his flanks and striking out for the bank, thanking whatever power controlled such things that he’d learned to swim as a colt; it made life so much more convenient at times like this. Humming a vague tune under his breath, the pale-eyed Nequus paddled onward until he could stand, whereupon he waded out of the water and gave himself a good shake.
This done, he gave a contented sigh and looked about himself; Yisi was definitely a better place for a family than his old territories off to the east. Food in plentiful supply, water always free flowing and unfrozen, relative warmth in all seasons, plenty of places to hide from those who might wish to injure crossbreeds; it was perfect. A perfect morning, too, glowing sun, growing trees, Cassius playing in the water... Cassius! The sight registered in the Reya’s brain, and he whickered a greeting to his son, trotting over to join the colt as he did so.
“Morning mimila,” he said with a smile, “beautiful day, isn’t it?” At first when the tendril-winged colt had gone off alone like this he’d been worried every moment until the brown-maned lad returned. Now though he’d rather got used to it, and had come to accept that fact that Cassius wasn’t about to get himself lost or drowned or beaten up by big scary Nequus of evil temper. Nevertheless, he was always glad when he saw the colt again; a small degree of worry when one’s child is absent was all part of being a parent so far as he was concerned.
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 10:04 pm
Cassius paused in mid-prance, one black hoof held high above the rippling water as droplets of liquid rolled lazily off the appendage, and watched his father's watery landing. He'd noticed such a landing whenever his father flew, and it always intrigued him. Did all other nequus land like that? He didn't think so; not all of them had lakes to land in like they did.
As Morthan seemed to be a bit preoccupied with sight-seeing, the snowy colt with the black horn returned to his business of prancing around in the shallow pool of water, causing it to become a swirling mass of ripples. He didn't really expect the stallion to notice him, although he wasn't that startled when he heard his sire address him, so he paused in the middle of the small pool of water, turning his icy blue eyes onto the stallion. "Morning riruy," he offered with a smile, bobbing his head a bit. He didn't normally come to this particular pool to play; perhaps that was why Morthan had seen him. Did the albino stallion come here often? ....he didn't think so, but that didn't much matter. "How was flying, riruy? When can I learn?" He didn't know how well he'd do, however, with his spindly, tendril wings.
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 6:29 am
The pale-eyed stallion smiled and settled his wings more comfortably against his flanks. “My flight was wonderful thank you; don’t get to do it nearly enough...” When had he taught his daughters to fly? Well, actually it had been his mate that had done most of the teaching but he’d got to help out a bit, in the early morning and late afternoon. Had they been about the age his four crossbreed children were now? He wasn’t quite sure, but he thought so.
Aware that he’d been silent for some moments, the albino shook himself and gave his son a smile. “Soon I think, very soon; I’ll have to talk to your mother though, she’ll be teaching you seen as she shares your type of wing. I expect she’ll agree with me though; it’ll probably be a while before you get off the ground but I don’t see why you shouldn’t get learning the basics and such.”
It would in all likelihood take his tendril-winged children longer than the pair who shared his leathery pinions to get into the air; Ichsa definitely hadn’t been designed to be masters of the sky. Hopefully the difference in flight ability wouldn’t cause any bitterness and rivalries; last thing he wanted was his children not getting on. He and Eira, he supposed, would have to set a good example, he supposed, and he’d have to hope that the pair who had taken after her would come out to be better runners or something to make up for it.
Well, even if that didn’t happen maybe it would be alright; from having him and his weaknesses around all their lives, maybe they wouldn’t be as hung up on the differences in their skills as other foals were. At least, Morthan considered with an internal snort, they were all on level footing so far as vision and being able to go out in the sun went; his failings might be enough to make the four of them feel whatever differences did turn out in their flight skill or their agility or whatever else less keenly. He didn’t mind being the weak one if it meant his children got on better.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:44 pm
Soon, riruy had said, but as the colt had predicted, it would probably take him and his tendril-winged sister a bit longer to learn than their leathery-winged sisters. That was alright; as long as he was able to learn, that was fine with him. He probably would need a good breeze to fly, really; that would probably help quite a bit, yes. The snowy colt shuffled his tendril wings a bit in anticipation.
After a few moments' contemplation, his icy eyes flitted to the reddish colored mountains. Once again he found himself wondering what was up there, and who. He'd heard some random nequus talking about the red mountains, and the... the... cat-ih-leh-nuck, whatever that was. Maybe....
The brown-maned colt pranced out of the pool, ignoring the water that splashed onto his legs as he did so, and trotted closer to his sire. "Riruy, I.. What's that?" He asked, turning to look at the red mountains again. Perhaps his sire had told his siblings about the red-colored mountains, but since Cassius was always wandering by himself, he'd missed it. He seemed to miss a lot of things by wandering, but then again, they missed a lot of things by not wandering. "What lives there?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:18 am
The stallion’s lips curled back at the red giants and his ears pinned themselves back somewhat. Probably best for the lad to know now, unpleasant though the matter was. At least he looked like an Ichsa; nobody would ever guess that he was a mixed blood let alone a Reya blend. “That is Fyhi tel Oren,” Morthan said after a moment with a nod, his ears turning forwards once more as he turned his head down to fix his son with a very serious look. “The Katilenuck live there, they are a herd of Jala who believe that they are holy, touched by the Goddess Jala. They also believe that Reya killed their Goddess in a jealous rage, and thus hate all of my kind and believe we are nothing but evil.”
He’d been fortunate enough never to encounter the pompous fools having lived so much of his life near Casa Tiner, but now that he and his family wandered Yisi it was a different matter, and whenever the red mountains were within sight he found himself a little less relaxed than usual. The chances of their meeting a long patrol were incredibly slim, but that didn’t make him feel much better about the situation.
“You can tell a Katilenuck if you see it by their brindle and the line markings they have under their eyes,” the pale-eyed stallion went on. “If you ever see one of them, run and hide; find the rest of us if you can to warn us. They take most other breeds as slaves wherever they can, but they are... intolerant of Reya blood, as I’ve said. They destroy my kind and any with obvious Reya blood wherever they can.” Maybe it wasn’t right to give Cassius such things to worry about at his age, but on balance the albino felt it was for the best. Fond of wandering around as he was, the colt might get unlucky and meet some of the feather-headed idiots. If he didn’t know to flee, he would almost certainly be taken; Ichsa (or apparent Ichsa) were prized slaves for their rarity from what he knew, and foals were prized as they were easier to break and train. An (apparent) Ichsa foal therefore would not be something any Katilenuck would pass up.
Perhaps, Morthan considered grimly, they ought to stick to more eastern lands rather than get so close to the land of the brindled ones. He knew that his family was fond of their wanderings, and that not being too settled kept them safe from those who might seek to harm his crossbreed offspring, but surely there was plenty of room for them to do that away from Fyhi. He’d have to mention it to Eira, the albino decided with another glance up at the ruddy peaks of the mountains of fire.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:42 am
Cassius studied his father's facial expressions, and occasionally turned his head to look at the red mountains. He listened intently, ears perked, and pawed at the ground nervously. Katilenuck, was it? Goddesses and Jala and Reya, it was all so strange. "But, did Reya really kill Jala, riruy? Why do they hate the breed reya for something none of them did? Do they hate reya crosses too?" Even if they don't look like them...? He was suddenly very glad he didn't share his siblings' type of wing. But, all of this was so confusing, it didn't make much sense to him really. Apparently, if they destroyed those with Reya blood, then they hated them, obviously. Of course.
He didn't know what brindle was, but if they had lines under their eyes and they were a jala, that was a good enough description for him. Suddenly, he found himself not wanting to live in Yisi anymore. He'd already explored all of it that he could, basically; he'd even caught sight of a Dhirn or two, interesting things. He was too scared to go close to them though, so he just turned and ran back to somewhere more familiar.
But, wait -- did he just say they took other breeds? As slaves? Slaves? That was... was... Frightening, to say the least. "Riruy," he began, pale eyes focused on his sire, "are we, um, going to go visit other places? Away from the red mountains?" There, that ought to do it. He hoped.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:30 pm
Morthan sighed and nodded his head. “Yes, we will be. I didn’t realize how far west we’d come until now; we’ll head back east as soon as possible. I don’t know for sure about what they think of Reya crosses, people don’t talk about that so much as people in the general population don’t like crosses all that much, but I assume they’d deal with them in the same way they deal with any other Reya blooded Nequus.” Kill without mercy.
“Still,” the white stallion gave his son a smile and lowered his head to nudge at his shoulder, “I’ll talk to your mother today, both about flying lessons and about heading east again. I don’t think we’re in danger were we are, but I myself would feel happier closer to Casa Tiner than to Fyhi. I used to live very close to the ice mountains before I met Eira, but I doubt we’ll go back there. Eastern Yisi, I think, will do just fine for us.”
Places for a small foal of mixed blood to hide from angry purists, places a small body could slip easily through that a larger one would have to dodge around taking more time. Yes. Yisi with its trees was the place to be. Perhaps, Morthan considered with a thoughtful frown, it was time he taught his children how to fight, too. Couldn’t do any harm, and might do a whole lot of good.
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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:13 am
The pale-eyed colt nodded a bit at his father's confirmation, his mouth going a bit dry at the thought. Deal with them as reya, yes, of course. Kill them. Unless of course, they couldn't tell they were reya.
Then take them as slaves. Yes, of course. Yes.
He managed to perk up a bit at the mention of flying lessons, moreso when his sire mentioned moving farther from the mountains, and the slender colt pranced around his father. "Riruy," he began, stopping at his father's side and peering up at him with pale, glass-like eyes, "wanna play a game? Like tag, or hide-and-seek, or something?"
He certainly hoped his sire would agree; he wanted to get the red mountains out of his sight as soon as possible. The sooner, the better. He couldn't very well up and run off on his sire though, and he didn't want to seem too cowardly about it. The best excuse he could come up with, then, was a game. Riruy liked games, he knew. Yes, it was a good excuse. Plus, it would help get his mind off the red mountain. The Katilenuck. Reya, Jala; goddesses, murder, slaves. A game would be good, yes.
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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:23 am
Morthan grinned down at Cassius, glad that the youth was turning his mind from the unpleasantness of the Katilenuck. He couldn’t have lied about them, but he didn’t want his son to worry too much about the feathered zealots. They’d be off east again soon enough, and then they wouldn’t be a consideration anymore. The sooner that was the case the better; he didn’t fancy trying to fight a long patrol of their soldiers in the least. He was pretty good at dueling, yes, but several well trained soldiers to take on at once was definitely too much to ask of himself. Running would serve him better, far better.
“Yes,” he said after a moment with a nod, “sounds like fun to me; which did you have in mind?” He was terrible at hide and seek due to being rather too large to really hide anywhere and so very white that he stuck out like a sore wing, but he didn’t mind that; it was always interesting to see just how many heartbeats it took for him to be discovered by the seeker.
Learning to hide better might actually do Cassius and indeed his sisters some good while they were still too small to outrun adult Nequus, thinking of it. Their bright white coats gave them the same troubles he had, but at least they were small enough to be somewhat better off.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:19 pm
Finally, the chance the small colt had been waiting for. He lent over and prodded the reya's shoulder with his muzzle. "Tag!" He said excitedly, before whipping about and dashing off towards where he vaguely thought his mother and siblings were. Anything to get further from the red mountain, the slaves, Katilenuck, brindle, goddesses, murder. It was all almost too much for him to take in at once. Almost. He could take it in, just neither understand it nor accept it. The thoughts scared him, scared him more than anything else ever had, and there was only one way to feel better in a short amount of time.
Run away as fast as possible.
So he did. He ran from the mountain, from the Katilenuck; he ran from his trie, knowing full well the elder nequus would give chase. He felt safer knowing that his riruy was following and would protect him from any Katilenuck that happened by. The chances of that encounter happening were slim to none, despite how close to the mountain they were, but long patrols didn't come this far out. The small colt didn't know that, but he didn't care to stop and think about it. Adrenaline laced with a bit of panic and fear had gripped him, and would not let go until he was safe and sound, away from the mountain and among his whole family.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:36 pm
Morthan gave the colt a few moments head start before taking off after him at a canter that was swift enough to keep him close behind the boy, but not fast enough to allow him to quite catch up. The sooner they found the rest of their family group and moved on the happier he would be, although doubtless he would remain annoyed with himself for letting them get this close in the first place. He’d gone soft and careless of late, which was the last thing he should be doing when there were four foals to be protected.
Still, it wasn’t as though he could go back in time and keep himself from being a prat, so he’d just have to make sure that nothing too awful came of said prattieness. It wasn’t like they’d be here much longer anyway; they’d find the others and then move off straight away. Even with this comforting thought in mind however, he couldn’t help but feel as though the mountains behind him were somehow watching him and plotting to harm his family. Snorting to himself and tossing his head in an attempt to shake the feeling, Morthan cantered onward.
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