[PRP] Little Treasures (Chimalsi and Blaithin)

[Melodine Cantus]

The sun was hidden behind the clouds today and the little usidia was a tad bit worried as to if it would rain. A few hours passed and nothing happened, the weather remained cool and breezy, fine weather for a walk. What harm would it be then, she decided, if she went on a short stroll around?

A smile upon her face, she began to do so, the wind ruffling her short mane. Dainty hooves trod, and she stopped for a while to give the grass a little nibble or to sniff at a nearby flower, but still continued on her way.

It was unfortunate however, when a sudden rumble made her look up at the sky, which was turning a gloomy shade of gray. Oh dear. Blaithin glanced about, panicking, knowing that she wouldn't be able to make it back anytime soon with her short legs. Was there any shelter nearby? She wondered, frantic with worry as gray eyes darted to search for one.  

[Lady_Ourania]

Oblivious to what was occurring overhead and instead studying underfoot, the Kirin had spent the greater deal of an hour snout-deep in dirt, his elegant neck craned down, body contorting uselessly while he flipped clods up into the air before plunging once more. He had seen the metallic sliver in passing, the gold luster of it forcing him to stop in his tracks and immediately start to dig down with his hooves, laying out the guidelines for where the potential treasure had burrowed. Once the preliminary mining was finished, he had started with the more precise instruments, using teeth marbled with bronze and the protruding bone situated upon his brow for the delicate work. If there was anything that the bearded stallion excelled at, it was coaxing out the remnants of civilization, claiming the castoffs for his own and making them worthwhile again by presenting the finds to his beloved.

But no matter how he angled his head or clicked his jaws shut, the small, brooch-like object was never quite within reach. The hole he had made refused to be widened more without caving in, and he was reluctant to turn to his feet again in case he accidentally smashed the precious bauble in trying to extract it. The Soquili backed away to examine the situation, a snort banishing the dust that had become encrusted along his nostrils even as he directed his bright gaze to the cloud-strewn sky. The crack of thunder alerted him of the weather's intention, his striped face taking on another dimension as it wrinkled with annoyance. If the rain started down, then he would drown himself trying to reach the additional piece. The brightly flecked creature circled around it musingly, trying to determine a solution even as he spotted a purple miniature appear further down the path, her gait speaking of nervousness.

Chimalsi paused in his shark-like imitation, shaking his cropped mane out curiously while carefully sticking close to the hazard he'd opened up in the earth. He had seen Usdia only once or twice before, and very rarely did they brave traveling alone. This one seemed to have recognized her own vulnerability, though he was unsure what may have triggered it, barely feeling the first drops of water free-falling to land on his armored back. Interest did not necessarily denote distraction, however, and he returned to his task, snapping at the pendant with renewed vigor to accept the newly instated time limit.  

[Melodine Cantus]

A few drops plopped onto her back, and some landed on her snout. Fortunately, they were not heavy, it meant this would merely be a drizzle. At least it wouldn't be a storm, but still...Being caught in the rain wasn't exactly the most pleasant of things. "Oh dear." She whispered to herself as she took a few steps forward, eyes darting about.

Grey eyes flickered about, and landed on a golden, shiny...creature of sorts. At first she thought it was just a trick of the eye, but when she dared to venture closer, it was, after all, just another Soquili albeit a large one. He was somewhat different from the others she had met. Big sized, yes, but he had a horn protruding out of his head and strange hair growing from his face.

"Ex...Excuse me, sir." She stammered, peering at him curiously. "Shouldn't you be heading for shelter?"  

[Lady_Ourania]

A timid voice bade him to reluctantly glance up from his work, scrutinizing the tinier creature and her words before tilting his head to consider the sky once more. He seemed to muse over the grey cast of it, a few drops landing in his vibrant eye to slide down his long, dirty muzzle, making markings out of muck before he arrived at a conclusion. "Little rain never killed anyone," He commented with somewhat forced amiability, a light shrug of his broad shoulders emphasizing the point in spite of his earlier thoughts. Feeling it was a sufficient response, he once again returned to his digging attempts with limited success. The bearded stallion supposed he could understand the female's jittery nature, being closer to the ground and all on her short, sturdy legs. Still, Chimalsi was a little too busy with a task to which he had awarded greater importance, frustrated when he managed to hook his horn just under the brooch only to have the collected water and earth act as oil and make it slide right off.

The Kirin stood and stretched out his neck, beginning to feel the ache of primary muscles after standing for so long with his head lowered and thrashing, the drop in temperature hardly helping matters. He glanced again to the Usdia, wondering if he was supposed to offer the underside of his belly as a shelter of some kind, seeing as he was easily double her height. "It won't come out," He offered after a quiet moment, as though that explained everything about the situation, including the way his beard was starting to drip in a highly undignified manner. He was considering abandoning it until he could come back on a brighter morning, but even the slim chance of the item being washed away set his teeth on edge. He wanted it, needed it. He'd gone home too many times with nothing to show but a hide dappled with dust.

"Stuck in there pretty good," He went on, finding it easy to phrase his thoughts aloud when no questions were asked, even though he couldn't know if the unnamed mare brimmed with them or not. Really, he was mostly talking to himself, weighing his options while the storm began to wet down his lion-like mane and the fur that stood up along his flank. "I'm afraid I'll crush it if I keep trying."  

[Melodine Cantus]

She only shuffled about awkwardly in response, mulling over the truth of his words. He didn't seem to want to budge from his position, and she wondered if she should head back to her...how should she call them? Friends? They weren't exactly that close on terms; they were more of...ah yes, companions. Although she had somehow stuck together with two bigger stallions, her shy nature forbade her to try and make conversation, even though the horned one constantly tried. He was a nice chap, despite his fearsome appearance. She debated about leaving this stallion when curiosity stirred within her as her eyes alighted upon the little object he had been intent on getting out.

She had thought he wouldn't notice her continued presence and simply stood there, the rain drenching her mane and plastering it to her neck, when he suddenly addressed her. Blaithin jumped in shock, then feeling horribly embarrassed, gave him a small smile.

True, it would certainly be hard for him to get it out, what with his hooves being so large. As he said, he could easily break it; his hooves were a few times bigger than hers...oh!

The Usdia glanced down at her tiny hooves before her eyes flickered back to the object again, a thoughtful frown upon her face. "I...could try?" She murmured timidly. "I-if you don't mind me helping."  

[Lady_Ourania]

He was pacing around the modest ditch he'd made again, the stalking motion maintaining a predatory edge through its intensity as a possible plan was devised. In truth, he very well might have forgotten her continued presence if he hadn't kept snatching hints of amethyst in his periphery. An internal reminder was required every time he came around again, seeking out what he was missing while politely stepping around her rather than shoving his chest against her petite skeletal structure. Still, the kirin had not expected anything to pop out of the purple creature standing at uncertain attention, not unless the rain hammered her harshly enough for her previous inquiry to bear repeating. Whatever it was that had bobbed to the surface, Chimalsi found himself stepping closer to her rather than questioning motives, snout dropping down to give him a look at the proffered hooves. Seemingly unafraid of a kick, he appraised the tiny ankles with a critical eye, ignoring the way that the water half-blinded him as it ran down from behind his ears. Her hooves were slick and shiny-black, lacking any cleft where mud could ooze between, thin legs just barely wider than his tail.

"Go on." He finally gave his approval, stepping back and around to give her room to work. There was not much time left before the thing was lost to the downpour anyway, and she was neither heavy enough to break it nor was she suitably long-legged if the idea of running off with it occurred to her. Even in giving her permission to root it out, the stallion felt an electric tingle zipping down his spine, convinced that the item was his already. He did not want her to touch it, naturally, but neither did he wish to watch its glimmer growing distant and cloudy beneath deepening puddles. It was a compromise, and he was not a strong supporter of anything that meant he might give up rights to a piece that would soon be integrated into his beloved.

Had he analyzed his own thoughts, he might have judged her colt-small stature to be why he was less suspicious than he might have normally been, and that was possibly the only reason why he had accepted the help. Yet nothing of that variety was voiced aloud, only his heavy, metallic gaze resting on her while he waited to see if she could make good on her offer.  

[Melodine Cantus]

She continued to stand there while waiting for his answer, not exactly bothering the rain drenching her coat, but staring as he gazed at her after she had spoken, hardly daring to blink and wondering how he would react.

Eyes lit up as he spoke and she smiled, bending her head in a gentle nod. Blaithin peeked down at where the object was again to confirm it's position before she dug her hooves into the dirt, not even pausing to wince at the dirt that was getting to stuck to her. She had offered to help after all, and she should keep her promise. Even if his large hulking frame still made her rather intimidated in his presence.

She dug into a corner and lifted the brooch up slightly with a hoof, pondering what to do next. It wouldn't do for him to use his horn, however useful it might seem, she had seem him use it, to no avail. Inhaling a deep breath as she decided what to do, the Usdia bent her muzzle down to clench the brooch in between her teeth and gently tugged it out. Lifting her head, she offered it to the Kirin with a quizzical gaze, wondering what was it he wanted with such a strange object.  

[Lady_Ourania]

Monitoring her progress took a kind of stillness that he was unable to devote, the scales around his back and sides itching like they were threatening to rust. The mare wasn't taking particularly long, but he felt faintly anxious regardless, his shadow thrown over her work to trick his mind into thinking itself involved. The extra shade was barely noticeable in the cloudy atmosphere, its gold-trimmed edges jumping into sharp relief only when lightning zigzagged somewhere behind him, calling on its loud brother thunder to make the world shiver. He ignored all of it in favor of the object she was digging up, admiring her feet's work as they acted with capable motions.

When she leaned down to pluck it up with her teeth, he felt a jolt of displeasure seize him, eyes narrowing even as she raised her small snout up. Quashing the violated sensation, he pressed forward to peek at it, running his soft lip over the surface to clear away the mud. The retrieved item was a small, concave disc with intricate squiggles around the lip, tawny in color and imprecisely inlaid with a gem of yellow, silky luster. Confirming it to be a brooch as he had suspected, he parted his jaws and touched his incisors to it, testing the integrity of the metal while his breath began to fog against her muzzle, waiting until some inner curiosity was satisfied before finally accepting it. Chimalsi took the smaller object completely into his mouth, letting his saliva clean off the remainder of the wet dirt, tongue running absently over the stone in the middle to feel the crack along one side. It would do, once he spit it out and rubbed it dry with the tuft of his tail, it would serve well to please his cherished one.

To the Usdia, he bowed his head graciously for her help, damp ears giving a light flick as he started off toward home at a sensible canter. His hooves sloshed through mud, finding his hovering technique difficult to achieve when he'd been planted in water-risen soil for so long. At the crest of the rolling hill, he paused and looked back, realizing a little late that perhaps he should have thought to give her some opportunity for shelter. He wasn't an uncivil example of his species, and she had done him a favor. He could at least find her some sort of temporary hideout until the storm let up.  

[Melodine Cantus]

In normal circumstances, she would have jumped at the rumble of thunder and the sharp flash of lightning, but she had been too engrossed in digging the object up to notice. Now, as she handed the brooch to him, releasing her hold on it, her concentration was broken, and she was aware of how wet the two of them were.

Another roar of thunder caused her to leap slightly in surprise, shivering slightly. The job was done and she dipped her head slightly in return and watched him leave. It was then that she realized she didn't exactly know how to return. The surroundings had seemed different when the sun was shining brightly.

"Ex...excuse me, sir?" She called out as he turned. "Do you know of any shelter nearby?"  

[Melodine Cantus]

ignore this; double post  

[Lady_Ourania]

He watched her hop in-place like a startled hare, the lightning above casting jagged shadows and bleaching even the modest range of darkness' color palette from both of their hides. She was small, very foal-like in that sense, and although he didn't have much experience with children, he could at least assume that it was some buried hint of primitive instinct that made him aware of her shortcomings. Or responsive to them, as it stood. Chimalsi picked up a hoof and stamped it delicately down, his shoulder rolling while his head nudged the air in the direction he'd been headed before, telling her to follow. Whether or not she understood his mystical-seeming commands wasn't something that he stopped to doubt as he started off immediately afterward, complacently flipping the brooch around in his mouth with a manipulating tongue as he thought. The cavern that served as his home was one of many, some of them interconnected by tunnels that breathed or whistled depending on the narrowness of the throat. He had taken care to select one with no secret passages, making the only way in or out that much easier to monitor. For her, he would have to find something far enough away that it wouldn't make him feel the urge to tiptoe to his abode, but still deep enough that it would screen the fall of water.

The system rose up out of the hills, turning into the bases of far off peaks that he navigated through with familiarity, able to find his way even through the pouring darkness. Gaping, hungry stone mouths presented as they passed, his honey-colored gaze peering intently, trying to find one that seemed to fit. A number were already inhabited, and he silently picked his way by the ones where eyes stared out like chips of light, darting and nervous or steady and threatening. When he finally found one that wasn't occupied, he had to duck his head to look inside, stretching forward and holding the disc between tongue and cheek so that he didn't accidentally swallow it. The interior was dry, if somewhat lacking in ceiling height, which didn't seem to be much of an issue when its temporary tenant barely came up to his chest.

Once he deemed it acceptable, the kirin backed out and shook his mane, feeling the impression of cobwebs and stalactite drippings as they lashed his neck. Hesitantly, he slid the bauble out of his mouth and onto a small rock shelf, staring at it to make sure it didn't vanish while he addressed the purple mare. "Keep in here. It slopes up enough that you won't drown." A thoughtful pause ensued before he added. "I will come to check on you. Do not go out unless you must."  

[Melodine Cantus]

She watched him, hoping he had heard her; she did speak rather softly at times, and hoping that if he did, he would not ignore her. His head jerked, prompting her to follow, and she did, trotting after him, all the while making sure she did not step into a puddle. It would be rather messy if her hooves sunk into the mud. The usdia was not worried about being dirty; she was about being slowed down and losing sight of the stallion.

Luckily, she managed to keep him in her sight, trailing behind him quietly.

"Thank you sir." She bowed her head slightly, a gesture she had seen Houndoom do when greeting others.  

[Lady_Ourania]

The usdia seemed to have kept pace with him, though she was more spattered than he in far-reaching places, the muck a substantial rival to one that remained close to the earth in a literal sense. The rain was at least washing off some of it, simultaneously making the ground that much less reliable, a trade off he wasn't quite sure was worth the result. The stallion watched through his periphery as she bobbed her head, his ears flicking a little uncertainly, mostly surprised by the elegance of the motion coming from so squat an entity. He inclined his own head vaguely, the gesture serving a dual purpose as he was near enough to nudge the brooch before urging it back into the safety of his mouth. It tasted saltier than before, as though it was an ocean the sky was pouring, though he guessed it had more to do with the rock he'd set it on. He waited until she had vanished into the cave before turning away himself, hooves cutting sodden clips that were soon sucked back into undulating uniformity. Everything smelled diluted, and shapes were liable to shift in the growing dark, though he never placed a foot where it wasn't meant to drop.

He nearly wandered in by accident, shaking off the excess and leaving glowing little prints in the drier soil. His cave, his home, with his beloved awaiting not far away. Chimalsi stepped deeper in, having to scrape his horns much as he'd done while searching the other mountainous rooms. The wavering gold cast its own kind of heavy light, redirecting and spilling out to greet him, the occasional flicker of bright red or pale jade rippling over his coat as he made his way to the main chamber. There she was, her rich figure sprawled wide to accept him as he stumbled in, wet and somewhat bedraggled, to lay his offering at her feet. He felt the familiar pulse of consideration, a fine layer of warm sweat budding up to combat the chill from an uncaring outdoors. He sensed her attention fall across the gem, trying not to flinch when some of the dust in the room caressed the crack that had cut his tongue more than once. In the end, however, she seemed satisfied, and he carefully retrieved it to alight the prize atop one precarious pile, tenderly adjusting like he would a flower in a lover's mane. Her purring gratitude lulled him to lay closer, and he felt the cruel tips of her fingers gently raking his legs and underbelly in flinty desire.

He woke a while later, eyelids drowsily lifting to examine his surroundings, hearing the patter of rain above and feeling the lovebites that riddled his body from sleeping with hard edges and sharp points. His head moved from where it had been pillowed on old, polished bones, neck stretching while he surveyed the area. She rested, he thought, and gently moved a few items, staring at one tiny purple bead that seemed to have dropped from its necklace. The kirin suddenly remembered the usdia, likely still trapped in her little allotment, perhaps expecting him to show and further rally her spirits. He sat up gingerly, reluctant to rouse his cherished as he slipped back outdoors, eyeing the sky speculatively. It was more grey than black now with slowly dispelling clouds, but it made the ground no less treacherous as he set out to find the spot he'd abandoned her to, wondering if she hadn't already managed to drown. Was it worth it to check? He had said he would, and it seemed rude to go back on his word.  

[Melodine Cantus]

Blaithin's lips lifted in a smile as he returned the gesture then turned to trot into the cave, nosing at the ground to ensure that it wasn't damp before she consented to rest her legs. Purple eyes regarded the kirin as he retreated, all the while wondering why his tail was sleek, long, and was not at all hairy like his spiky gold mane. As she thought, the usdia slowly drifted off into sleep, resting her head gently on the floor, her legs sprawled out.

When she awoke, she was, for a moment, panicked, wondering where she was. Dimly, she remembered the storm, the stallion and the brooch; the memory slowly flooded back into her mind as she got up and had a nice trot around. She peered out the mouth of her temporary abode, wondering if the other would come to check on her like he said he would.  

[Lady_Ourania]

His tongue flipped against the healing slices in his mouth as he trotted, tasting the mixed metal of blood and old brass while he placed his nose low and sniffed. The rain had pummeled all the smells closer to the earth, leaving vague trails that were difficult to follow for a beast unused to tracking that way. So it was no surprise that it took him a while before he could retrace his previous steps, most of the caves similarly shaped and filled with shadows that looked like live things when the sun shifted. Chimalsi couldn't even be certain that she would still be there when he found his way, the time lost while he'd slept an unknown factor with the clouds and his own inattentiveness. But none of the excuses stuck enough for him to turn back and go home, his tail held patiently aloft to keep the tuft from dragging. Just as he was beginning to doubt that he was going in the right direction, he saw a slender muzzle poking out from around a rock wall, the familiar, purple sheen of it assuring him that he hadn't overlooked her.

The stallion came around so that he could gaze in and judge her condition, idly noting the filth that still matted her tiny shape. His own coat was shining from where the mud had dried and cracked off from rubbing to leave silky highlights, light dancing off the constellation-spray of dew in his coppery crop of hair. She certainly didn't look too badly waterlogged, anyway, and he absently decided that he had selected a prime location. With all the rain that had fallen, she only bore the marks of being out in the storm that first time. A bath with some scrubbing against low bushes seemed a less severe option than being at the bottom of a new lake somewhere. "You're well?" He inquired after her opinion anyway, more well-bred than consciously gallant as he took a step back from the cave's one-way door, leaving enough room for her to stumble out into the open again.