[PRP] Tiny meets Muscle ( Pocket Lint & Amarant )

[Leez0rz]

Daylight was fading and the earth was cooling down. Under an old, gnarled tree, an usdia mare laid underneath it trying to stay cool as well as trying tp stay hidden from any danger. The mare was starting to nod off. Her eyes her drooping closed, her head was constantly trying to keep itself upright. She was just exhausted without any reasons behind it. But, she wasn't ready to sleep yet. She pulled herself up, looking around the densely forested area. She needed to find something that would keep her awake.  

[Lady_Ourania]

As a particularly large specimen of his kind, Amarant had never experienced any trouble making his presence known. Thick-legged and broad-chested, his very appearance was an unvoiced threat, a reason to freeze up or flee in terror. But there were times when he purposefully chose the silent route, sliding his gargantuan bulk along as steadily and silently as a salamander-branded phantom, belying the immensity of his hooves and the abnormality of his features. He had selected a lighter tread with the oncoming night, carefully avoiding the low-hanging branches and protruding roots with steps that were deliberate as a choreographed scene. He was aware of the things around him, sensitive to potential obstacles and changes in the environment. Alert, he managed to take in a great deal without any outward indication, his jaws set like bars of steel and his eyes concealed by the crimson tangle he'd inherited from whichever absentee parent would take the blame.

It was due in part to such trenchant measures that he knew the Usdia was near before his vision settled on the fatigued figure, sutured markings around snout and socks hardly making an impression with distance still between them. He paused, planting the foot he had raised and gazing with disinclined feeling at the slip of a Soquili inadvertently blocking his path. It might have verged on a territorial impulse, had he cared enough to follow through and shove the tiny example of horseflesh aside. Instead, he began to stroll quietly around it, his plan to keep the twilit hours strictly to himself.

As though to challenge his decision to move past unseen, the setting sun filtered through the trees and caused his monstrous mane to spark with fiery hints, thickened tendrils reflecting like pipes of glass dyed with lifeblood. Amarant muttered darkly to himself when he caught a sliver of the show out of his periphery, annoyed at such a dead giveaway. So much for stealth.  

[Leez0rz]

Princess Pocket Lint was oblivious to the gargantuous example of the male specimen. Even though she was trying to stay well alert to her surroundings, the mare was still unaware of the most of the presences around her. With the added layer of being nervous, it caused a huge distraction from her realizing the simplest things that might be in front of her face.

The usdia mare caught sight of reflection of blood red near her. She was frightened by it at first, trying to get away from the reflections of light. Her pale blue eyes searched looked at it curiously, wondering where it came from and what it was. The mare searched the area for the source of light, and seeing it filter through the leaves she cautiously walked toward the source of light, not knowing what to expect out of the foliage.  

[Lady_Ourania]

There was no way to evade contact completely after that disconcerting slip-up, not when the pocket-sized pony had already adapted a careful gait in his general direction, searching eyes looking to reciprocate their slate-colored view upon finding another pair. His pale flank twitched irritably, the concealment provided by his mane spare comfort when compared to what he would have to endure in terms of conversation. Amarant had never been a fluent speaker, preferring grunts and flippant, often crude gestures to the headache inducing thought-vomit that so many others shoved out of their mouths on a daily basis. It was an easy enough task for him to outlast any topic with cool silence, eventually unnerving even the most chirpy examples of company until they made an excuse and slipped off to recover lost bearings.

No, being unavailable for witless banter was not an issue, neither in the past nor in the present. It was the smell coming off of the smaller Soquili that made him wary, something fearful that lifted up into his nostrils and flapped around like an errant insect seeking rare flesh. She was afraid, though he could sense nothing malignant nearby, honed instincts coiling around a hushed inner core only to find further trees and tiny fragments of life that he would sooner ignore than flood his mind with. The exhaustion infecting her spoke volumes as well, though he would suppose nothing yet, not brilliant enough to have the answer and definitely not brainless enough to think he did.

When she broke through the last bit of underbrush to see him, the massive stallion had already augmented his unfriendly appearance with a slight slouch, the salamander-seeming mark on his shoulder nearly level with his muzzle as he stared dispassionately through a red barrier that made him seem eyeless and hostile. Maybe the mere sight of him would send her fumbling off into the growing dark like a skittish filly and he had done all that thinking for nothing. He would settle for decent luck at this point, since the good had run screaming from him ages ago.  

[Leez0rz]

After breaking through the last bit of underbrush, her eyes widened at the sight. Never would she have expected such a massive specimen of a stallion, or whatever it was before her. Her ears perked up and swerved forward at the immediate danger. The whites of her eyes were probably visible from where the stallion was standing. He was so large in both height and body bulk. His skin was similar to her own skin but many shades lighter. His hair was twisted and shaped differently from her own, and acted like very large strands of hair. A strange, yet frightening sight.

She felt the air escape her, and quickly she tried to breathe. It was the quick breaths that triggered hyperventilating. Now, why did she ever want to go venture out her relatively safe hiding spot and decide against sleep? She would have preferred sleeping than possibly get tramped, killed, or mutilated by the stallion before her. Keeping her mouth shut and trying to keep her breathing at a normal pace, she tried not to anger him in any way that might trigger him to attack her.  

[Lady_Ourania]

The mare was smaller than he'd thought with her legs fully unfurled beneath her, the tips of her ears barely skimming his chest once she found herself drawn close enough for any such comparison. Not a foal, he was quick to note, her structure different, fuller, not gangly with growth but in a completely different cycle of adulthood. Midget was the easiest to surmise, not about to wrack his brain to remember some more polite and politically correct terminology, supposing he had it stored somewhere accessible in the first place. Ponies of her size and bearing weren't fit for the mountainous areas of his origin, hence his experience with them being somewhat limited. Amarant was about as familiar with the finned beasts that were said to scour the ocean's bottom and subsist on oyster shells as he was with whatever diminutive line this trembling mite hailed from. He had to give her credit for not bolting immediately in the direction from which she'd come, even if that would have been a preferred response to finding him so near. Still, the way she froze up like a doe left him distinctly unimpressed with her survival instincts, her blatant terror half-tempting the stallion to bare his teeth and see if that spurred a reaction. The monk wasn't much for cannibalism, even if his race was so far removed from hers that it probably wouldn't count against him, but he doubted it would take much more than a glinting display to send her crashing backwards.

When minutes of stony silence showed no improvement, his gaze lifted musingly from where she was stuck, ignoring her plight to survey the area and pick out his next destination. The mare could have been slow, or enduring some other mental handicap, the spill of stitching across her muzzle and down the crisscrossed lanes of her legs speaking more to the possibility of some escaped crazy than anything else. Or maybe they were intended as a tribal decoration? Did she have some cavalry holed up somewhere, waiting to strike out at the first sign of trouble? The idea of being overrun by similar-minded pygmies didn't appeal to him, and even though he was reasonably certain he could win in a fight, the indignity of it would sting for a while. Beyond her bed-wetting discomfort, he couldn't sense anyone else lurking around, grudging stare falling back down to her. She looked likely to pass out if she kept up with that shallow breathing, his own sides heaving even and unbothered. "Can see you even when you're not movin', runt." He grunted without any real malice, not about to pretend blindness to ease her suspicions.  

[Leez0rz]

As time went on, the small mare felt the tension within her build. Should she run? Should she stay still? Was he truly dangerous? Would he eat her? She was certain his sturdy body could easily break every bone in her body without even trying. All he had to do was step on her and she knew she was as good as dead! Her body shook with nervousness, and could not stop her tiny body from shaking. Her breathing had picked up again, as if trying to calm her tense body down. It helped very little

She tried something else. Ripping her gaze from him, she looked down on the ground. Now she would not have to face such a frightening stallion. Her mind kept wandering to the stallion, wonder if he was looking at her. Was he angry? Was he happy? Was he upset? She wouldn’t know now that she was not even looking at him! What to do! What to do! The building nerves had her heart pounding quickly in her chest.

His voice cut through her panicking mind and slowly the tiny mare looked at him. He did see her! Her heart plummeted down her chest. She did not know what to do! Well, she did, but did not know if that’s what he wanted. Testing the stallion’s patience, the mare started to retreat slowly, albeit a little robotic in movements.  

[Lady_Ourania]

The tactic of averting her gaze from him was laughable, his lip twitching with something between a smirk and a scowl. Perhaps the reason he'd never met another filly of her stature had less to do with the breed being particular to the lowlands, and more with their being endangered as a result of rampant stupidity. What cognizant creature reacted to a threat by not reacting at all? She didn't even have the sense to keel over and play dead, not that it would have deterred anything with half a brain. Even supposing he wasn't susceptible to such a ploy, at least it would have been more effective than standing stock still and breathing like an asthmatic. Under normal circumstances, he would have taken her clear discomfort and suddenly rooted stance as a sign to continue on his way. Bullying the tight-lipped into talking occasionally had its virtues, but he saw no evidence of it being useful in this case. He didn't need to hear some sordid confessions about terrorizing the local chipmunk population to feel better about having stubby legs and no discernable personality. His time was better spent elsewhere.

The stallion moved to leave, body shifting sideways to avoid stepping directly on her. He paused when she finally reacted by whipping her trembling face back up toward him once more, and his massive hoof thumped down perilously close to her own. Apparently they did speak the same language, pygmy tribes be damned. The amended thought wavered slightly when she failed to respond verbally, her only answer to his blitheness to begin walking jerkily backwards. He watched her withdrawal with faint incredulousness, dreadlocked tail flicking idly. "Can see you when you're movin', too." He rumbled, voice emphatically unamused. "If you're gonna run, you better mean it. No sense in half-assing it."