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 Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:39 am
It was very, very early morning. So early, in fact, that the sun had not yet risen. The world was cast in grey shadows, and a few birds were chirping half-heartedly in an attempt to wake the world. Their small noises were enough to wake one soquili, alone in her forest home. It had rained the previous night, and the pervasive dampness made it impossible for Inali to sleep comfortably for the entire night. Whenever she dozed off, damp would slowly soak through her coat to
her skin and eventually her bones, waking her. Now, Inali slept fitfully, until the bird song brought her into full (but groggy) consciousness.
Cursing the birds and their dratted singing, Inali hauled herself to her hooves, looking less than graceful in the process. She couldn't be bothered to look graceful right now. In a few minutes, maybe. First, however, the mare ran full tilt into a small pond that was near her forest home, letting the water rush over her. It somehow felt cleaner than the rainwater, and it did wonders to wake Inali fully up. Later, she would fell the repercussions of not sleeping, but for now she was ready to face the day, and hopefully manage to stay awake enough to hold up some conversation, should it be required.
Slogging out of her pond with a look of world-weary suffering, Inali trudged into a small meadow also by her home, waiting for pre-dawn to become real dawn. The sunlight would feel good on her skin, and her coat would quickly help to heat her up. For now, Inali could almost feel her blood moving sluggishly through her veins, not making any real effort to get her awake and moving. Drat and double drat. Was it too much to ask for the world to hurry up already? More birds were joining in the chorus now, leading the red mare to believe that very soon she would get her desired sunlight, but very soon was still not soon enough. There was always so much to accomplish in a day, and so little time to do it all. Hurry up world, Inali cried out mentally. I want to get warm and get going.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:24 pm
A drop of collected water ran down the edge of a leaf to splash down on what lay on the branch below. A single drop was all it took to bring the small creature in the trees into the world of the waking. Bright eyes opened and peered around at the still dark world. It was still early and still rather damp.
The small creature stood, he was no larger then a butterfly with the wings of one. However he had the proud body of a horse with the tail of a lion or other feline. He was a blue dark as the midnight sky with a small oval shaped sapphire set in the center of his forehead and he was damp from the rainwater that refused to dry from his coat. He gave his small body a shake in an attempt to rid himself of the rest of the water before unfolding his wings.
He fluttered the thin appendages a few times to test that they were dry. He would be going no where anytime soon if they weren’t. After a few moments he deemed them usable and took off from the tree.
Like a tiny black fairy he flew out of the forest dodging dripping water that would ground him again. As he made it safely out of what had been a prison he saw what appeared to be a half drowned mare. Rather curious about her he flew close enough to be heard. “Are you alright?” He asked, his voice a mixture of amusement and concern.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:24 pm
Inali had finally begun to fall asleep once again, with the small amount of sunlight managing to dry her coat to a point where she could drift uneasily off. Sadly, however, the mare found herself interrupted once again, though this time she could not begrudge the interruption. It was normally nice to meet new soquili, though they always seemed to pop up when Inali least expected (and wanted) the company. Ah well. At least she was used to these intrusions in her life by now.
Gathering herself up from her relaxed position, Inali blinked away errant drops of water from her long lashes before regarding the stallion before her. He was so small! Smaller than her, she rather thought, but it was hard to tell when he was in the air. That would make him a flutter then, yes? Yes, he was a flutter, in a lovely shade of dark blue, with a lion tail streaming behind him. He was interesting looking, Inali supposed, though that said little about his character.
His next words made it clear that there was humor to the little flutter. "Oh, I'm only half drowned, but I should be okay," Inali joked right back at the distant shape. "It's rained fair enough to drown anyone. I don't know how you fly with the water on your wings." In truth, Inali didn't understand flight at all, but that wasn't worth mentioning at the moment.
"What would your name be?" A momentary spasm of annoyance ran through the soquili mare. Although the flutter was concerned, he hadn't even bothered to give his name. Didn't he know how to be polite and function in society? Then again, Inali thought ruefully, she had done some rather rude things herself. It was just the lack of sleep that was putting her on a slight edge. This mystery stallion would just have to put up with it, as far as Inali was concerned. He could deal anywho. He looked like an adult.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:58 pm
He chuckled a bit at the mare’s response. It would seem that everything was fine with her if she was able to joke around. With a short nod of his head he flew a bit closer; she seemed like an interesting character and didn’t appear violent so he figured a bit of a chat would be nice.
“You are right. I would be unable to fly with wet wings, however, I was able to keep my wings mostly dry and out of the rain.” He was a bit surprised that she knew that. For one without wings to understand that you couldn’t take to the skies with wet wings was rather impressive.
He simply stared at her when she suddenly asked his name. It wasn’t a rude or bizarre request, it was just sudden. He was used to introductions coming into conversation fluidly or right at the beginning. He supposed it was his fault that they had been delayed but he had been mildly concerned about her. It would have been odd to go over to her and exchange how-do-you-does before asking how she was.
“My name is Spinel Sun.” He said bowing his head politely deciding that the random positioning of the question did not matter. Names were important and he couldn’t very well call her ‘red-mare’ or ‘half-drowned female’. That would be very rude. “And your name is?”
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:51 am
Well, the funny little flutter had given his name. That was something, at the very least. It didn't endear him anymore to Inali, but she was still trying her very best to be polite in the face of this bad weather and sudden intrusion. "I can't say it's a pleasure to meet you- not in this weather. It isn't a pleasure to do anything." Snorting, Inali pawed at the ground before offering her answer to Spinel's second question.
"My name is Inali. Just Inali. How on earth did you get such a long name?" The question came out bluntly, but Inali couldn't bring herself to care. It was a very unusual name, to her. It had two parts to it! She couldn't recall ever meeting a soquili who had a name like that. It seemed almost ridiculous, to have a name that long.
Fixated on the name, rather than the stallion, Inali jolted back into attention. Well, she had always been a bit spacey, prone to flights of fancy in the middle of actions that lead her to run into things or lead others to believe that she wasn't all the way there. And oftentimes, she wasn't.
"I don't suppose you know anywhere that I can get out of this weather?" The rain had started to fall again, putting clouds in front of the slowly rising sun and casting everything back into a strange world of twilight. So much for drying off and feeling clean. At this rate, it would rain for another day or two, which would only serve to make Inali more unhappy about her state of cleanliness. Bother and dash it all. How much she hated the weather right now!
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 12:28 pm
He didn't smile. It seemed as though she was trying to be polite but she was doing a miserable job. Perhaps she really hated the weather to such an extant that it affected her manners.
"I got my name the same way you were named Miss Inali, and the same way any other creature is named. Someone looked at me, decided upon it, and called me by it." He said sounding a bit irritated. He was. He was rather fond of his name even though it had not started that way.
His temptation to ask her why she was named the way she was died away at the first drop of water on his back. His gaze went skyward and another drop got him in the face. "Wonderful." He muttered slowing the beating of his wings to sink slowly to the ground. There was no flying in this weather and he had no intention of crashing to the earth.
The moment his tiny hooves settled on land he realized there would be no conversing from where he was. With a sigh he shook his head and focused his energy. Like magic he began to grow until he was the size of a small foal and as though it was nothing he began to speak again. "No, the only place I know of is in the trees but those do not serve well as shelter."
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:16 am
Inali's eyes grew comically wide as she watched the flutter increase in size, until he was near enough to that of a foal. She hadn't known that the flutters could do that! It did make it rather easier to talk to him, and it momentarily stashed away all her stress about the weather. "Can you get any bigger? How small can you get? Can you always do that? How many times in a row can you do that?" Questions poured from Inali's mouth, and she looked like a filly again, eyes still wide and whole body quivering with excitement.
All notions of being polite and doing what was proper gone, Inali stared at the flutter, reevaluating him. It appeared there was much more to flutters than she had ever guessed or supposed was possible. They were small and delicate, yes, but they had magic. Magic! The very idea made Inali smile so wide that her face was in pain.
Realizing that their need for shelter pre-dated her own need to hear answers to Spinel's questions, Inali snorted once. "There are some caves a short distance away. If we gallop, we could probably make them before the worst of the storm hits. Please, follow me." Not waiting to see if Spinel was following, Inali galloped with all speed, finally finding the first of the caves and taking quick shelter in it. It was big enough for several soquili, and best of all, it was perfectly dry. It was still cold, yes, but for her purposes it would have to do. Maybe after Spinel left she could finally find some sleep as well. The ground here wasn't terrifically comfortable, but she could always stand and sleep. It wouldn't be as deep of a sleep, but it would have to serve.
Attention turning back to the flutter, Inali turned to see if he had followed, and if he would answer her endless questions about his magic.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:44 am
His ears flicked back as he was assaulted by another barrage of sudden questions from the mare. It seemed she was full of them. He supposed it was better then dealing with others that were full of much less pleasant things and question answer sessions did tend to make for interesting conversation.
With a swish of his tail he straightened and ran over each of the questions she had asked again in his mind to assure that they made sense to him. Just as he was preparing to answer she snorted causing him to quirk a brow in question. He received an answer quickly, she had thought of a place for them to wait out the storm. “Very well then...” He said but found that she had already taken off.
He shook his head and followed behind as quickly as he could on small legs. It felt slower then flying but he knew he was actually covering more distance this way then he would be able to with the size of a butterfly. Still, he arrived a few minutes after Inali. A short moment after he entered she turned to hear his answers he assumed. He decided not to answer immediately to give himself a moment to examine his new surroundings. It was a typical cave, chilly inside, stone all around, not exactly pleasant but it would serve well enough as shelter.
Turning back to the mare he thought back on the questions before beginning. “Yes. I can grow to the size of a normal horse but it drains a great deal of energy and I can not keep that size for more then an hour or two at the most. You have seen me in my smallest form which is the easiest to maintain as it requires no extra energy from me. You could say that my smallest size is the norm for a flutter. Yes, I can always do it providing that I have sufficient energy and I can change as often as I wish provided, you may be able to guess this by now, that I have the energy for it.” He nodded his head to signal that he was finished and began to wait for another stream of questions.
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 10:35 am
Spinel didn't seem too pleased with Inali's sudden rain of questions. Well, fie on him. He didn't seem to be much fun, and though Inali would never describe herself as a fanciful mare, she needed some degree of humor and levity, both of which it seemed Spinel lacked. Such was her luck.
At least he had answered his questions. Flutters were so much more interesting than Inali had reckoned! They were still too small, and rather frothy looking, but they had flight and magic. Flight! Inali craved flight more than anything else (she thought). Even these twittery little things could fly, thus putting them far above Inali's grounded body.
"What is it like to fly?" The questions continued, as Inali turned earnest silver eyes back onto Spinel. It was probably a question he was unable to answer, but she would ask him nevertheless. She had asked other winged soquili the same, trying to live vicariously through their answer. If she could just get the slightest measure of what it was like... If she could just pretend...
It didn't seem like too much to ask, though Inali could well imagine this stallion grumbling and acting startled over her simple question. Well, Inali disliked being predictable anywho.
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 11:16 am
It seemed she was not so different from other groundeds that he knew. So many before her had asked him the same question about flight. He assumed it was only a natural curiosity to want to know what they couldn’t. He was the same way with many things but he grew tired of fabricating some pleasant explanation to how flying felt. He had been flying since he was very young, practically since he was born. Flying was almost mundane for him now.
He knew that wasn’t what anyone wanted to hear though so he took a breath and put on a small smile. “It’s like swimming through the air.” He said his voice not carrying the enthusiasm he had intended it too. Instead he sounded almost bored. Noticing this almost immediately he did his best to sound more thrilled with the subject. “You feel almost weightless and breezes ruffle your mane and blow it into your ears. It tickles.”
The small fluttercorn felt almost bad for her. For the life of him he could not explain flying in a way that would sound wondrous. It likely did not help that when he flew he had to be cautious with the changing winds and was often grounded when he did not wish to be. It took much of the enjoyment out of the experience getting blown off course by a gust of wind that the wind soquili could ride upon. That was likely how they got their names.
He sighed and bowed his head apologetically. “I am not the best to talk to about flying.” It did not sadden him to know this. It was simply the way he was, and he was logical not much of a dreamer.
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