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 Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:45 pm
 It had been a long, lonely day, yet there was no way Laures would be ready for sleep. So he would continue on his journey. To keep loneliness at bay, he decided to practice telling stories. There were the stories that he grew up listening to.
" Once upon a time... no, too cliche. It was a dark and stormy night. Again, no. Hmm... how should it begin?" If he couldn't have company on this journey, at least he could amuse himself.
The moon was full and bright, covering the land in a silvery glow. "At least it's a good night to travel."
Taking a short look around to make sure he hadn't been turned around, he noticed a small shape alone near the edge of the forest. This being was just a little shorter than he. Could this be another flutter? But no, it had no wings that Laures could make out from this distance. Curiosity drew him closer.
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Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:28 pm
 The young colt had stumbled away from his family nearly as soon as the buzz about his brothers and himself leaving their baskets died down. Dangerous? Maybe. Reckless? Definitely. But more than anything, Taigi was determined to scout every inch of his new surroundings. Well, at least those closest to home, at the moment. He trekked his way through the forest as twilight leered overhead and shadows spun into pools of darkness.
When the moon peeked out from it's cloudy blanket and it's silver rays glimmered across the soft grasses, they seemed to take an especial liking to a figure far off to the east. It was moving, too, and Taigi could've sworn the wind carried a voice from that particular direction. His curiosity picking up, the green-eyed unicorn carefully made his way to the rim of the forest, sitting down and staring. It seemed to be moving his way, anyways, it wouldn't take it long to approach.
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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:47 am
If Laures could have snapped fingers-at least, he thought that was what the two-leggers called them- he would have. Finally he'd come up with a way to start his story.
"The sun shone bright across the land." Yes, that sounded promising. Now, what to add...
The form he had noticed was much closer now. It appeared to be a youngling. Now what on earth was a foal doing out here on it's own? Curiosity piqued, Laures trotted over.
If nothing else, here was a potentially interested audience he could charm with his new story. Maintaining he current state- bigger than a butterfly, but smaller than your average horse, which was about the most efficient travelwise even if it was more difficult to fly- he continued his leisurely approach.
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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:17 am
Sure enough, the figure, now shaping into the form of a stallion, kept up its steady pace towards the forest. The foal was quite sure that this stallion was older than he but saw no verification to this assumption as the green and blue neared. The other was indeed taller, but not much so.
Just then Taigi noticed something that was quite strange indeed. The olive-green stallion had attached to his back two large, transparent, butterfly wings. Never before in his life --which wasn't at all that long-- had he seen such a thing. His bright eyes widened in anticipation, eagerly awaiting his encounter with this creature.
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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:01 pm
In his experience, most foals were rather skittish and/or dependant upon their family, and as this foal looked to be a unicorn, that meant that one or both of the parents had a very large sharp natural weapon which no sane being would want to be on the wrong side of, he had no desire to startle or scare the youngling and fall foul of the parents.
He looked around to see if there were any others nearby. He didn't see any, but that didn't mean they weren't there. He would continue on as he was, as the foal had already seen him, but his actions would be rather dependant upon the foal.
After all, his safety above all was the most important thing. He still needed to find the land of the flutters and to prove that even fairytales have some truth to them. He was itching to shrink and just fly away... maybe he would need to later- to escape a sticky situation if it occurred- but until then he would simply walk on.
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Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:28 am
At a point, Taigi watched as the stallion stopped and took a wary look around. 'What is he doing that for?' he thought, choosing to keep it in his head so he wouldn't have to shout in the middle of the night. If he knew one thing at this point in his life, it was that no one liked to be woken from a slumber so late in the evening.
Waiting seemed to take hours. The shimmering stallion walked a steady pace and Taigi was getting quite impatient, enthusiasm stirred. He took to shifting his weight from one side to the next ever so slightly. The practice got very tiring very fast, though, and the foal rose to his feet, taking several steps toward the butterfly winged Soquili.
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Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 11:41 am
Laures bobbed his head once as the young foal drew close enough. There was definately no way around it. Now, how to survive the encounter in one piece?
A little courtesy never hurt anyone, so he nodded once in greeting, trying to appear non-threatening.
"What is a young one like yourself doing awake and alone at this time of night? Don't you know it could be dangerous?"
Without thinking the questions just slipped out. A part of him really was curious, but the larger part grimaced. He should know better than to allow his mouth free rein. Ah well, in for a penny in for a pound.
"I am called Laures. Who might you be?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:17 pm
The glee of being acknowledged by this winged creature trilled throughout Tai's slight body. A beam breaking out on his face, he got hit with a surge of recklessness. He expressed this internal attack by bounding up and around the stallion, pausing when he was directly in front of him, head tilted up just a bit to achieve eye contact.
"My name's Taigi!" Only after the words left him did he realize that he talked to a stranger. A strange-looking stranger, at that. He thought on this "slip up" for a short moment before brightening his demeanor once more and picking up a conversation. "Why do you have those big, weird wings on your back?" It was most unmannered of him, but being young, almost every question rang out before he had time enough to realize just what it was.
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Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:40 am
The very bright grin that spread across the foal's- colt's? it sounded like- face started to put Laures at ease. This little one was obviously very friendly, and if his questioning was anything to go by, very curious. This was something he could easily relate to. After all, he had been much the same when he was younger.
Laures put on his story-tellers guise as he spread his wings out to draw the little foal -Taigi, he reminded himself- closer.
"Taigi is it? Well, long long ago there was a peaceful land. Called the Land of the Flutters- that is, other beings like me, horses that could change their size from that of the butterfly to that of a normal horse. The reason being that they were the gaurdians of this place, and they needed to be able to empathise with all the others who lived there with them. It was decided that we would be given wings in order to have an easy means of travel so that we could go from one end to the other in a short period of time.
That is why we flutters have wings."
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Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 12:26 pm
Black eyebrows crumpled together as the stallion rounded off his story. For some reason, it hadn't wound and twisted through his mind as all other stories he'd heard in his life had. There weren't enough details for Taigi. The inability to see himself in this land, among the wondrous creatures that lived there depressed the life out of him.
He didn't want to be rude and complain, as the flutter didn't have to tell him a story in the first place, so he decided to fill in the blurry spots on the "Land Of The Flutters map" inside his head by means of interrogation.
"What kind of flowers grow there?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 8:33 am
Laures flinched. He hated that story. It was bad enough when his sister had to tell it to him to explain why they had wings. There was so little detail, so little emotion or feeling. Once he made a promise to never tell THAT story, or at least to embellish it to make it more interesting, but the first chance that came along what did he do? He told the story exactly how it was told to him.
He couldn't blame Taigi for his reaction or his question- though it was a very unexpected one- after all, he had bugged the rest of the herd for days until he had been given an even remotely acceptable answer by one of the elders, and even then it was one single sentence. "That happened so long ago no one remembers anymore."
That answer hadn't satisfied his curiosity in the slightest, so how was he to expect another to accept the same as truth?
He took a deep breath. "Close your eyes tightly, wait until you can see the colors and shapes. The flowers of the Land Of Flutters are like those. One can't do them justice by trying to explain in words what they are to those who have never seen them before. They are beauty unlike you have ever seen or are likely to see. And the scent is pure heaven."
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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:49 am
A smile pulled at the corners of Taigi's mouth and he exclaimed with such sureness, "you bet I'm gonna see the most beautiful flowers! I'm going to go out and see the whole world!" As the aforementioned smile molded his face into one of an overly-enthusiastic foal once again, he followed the directions given to him, his lids sliding shut over his bright green-centered orbs.
He was soon squinting his lids together in concentration, for even the most intuitive of imaginations would have to focus hard to visualize the unknown. The commonplace flowers that surrounded his home appeared in his mind, then twisted unusually and flourished into something else entirely. They grew in size and beauty alike and stung his nose with their vibrant fragrances. So they were beautiful.
Taigi's eyes fluttered open and once again, he was grinning up at Laures the butterfly-winged horse. "It's really great, like you said, Laures! You'll love it when you see it, I swear you will!" Naive was his answer, yet he was quite sure of that statement as well. "Maybe you shouldn't think about it so much. Your heart'll tell you the way to go. Hearts are stubborn things, though, they only take you where you want when they feel it necessary."
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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:47 pm
Laures smiled at the colt's enthusiasm, a fond and gentle smile. He found another like himself. One who would adventure far and wide, who would love the world, just as he did. It was encouraging to see. He closed his eyes for a second and dreamed of his Garden.
"Maybe one day you'll find the Land of the Flutters and see these beautiful flowers. Maybe.
You see, long ago there was a division, a rift which formed in this peaceful place. Throwing the herds and the Land itself out of balance. No one knows when or how it started. Or what caused the rift to grow. One day, there was harmony and peace and then after what seemed like the blink of an eye, there was suspicion and mistrust. There was unity no more.
The Land grieved. How could her beloved children act this way? It was with a heavy heart that we were banished from her shores, forbidden to ever walk the fragrant gardens ever again. Unless we learned, once again, the value of peace.
Maybe there are some flutters who live there now. Maybe others, even some like yourself. All you have to do is look for it and believe in it with all your heart. Then the pathway to the Gardens may open to you."
He looked up into the night sky. The moon was making her way across the sky. It was getting late. He wanted to continue on with his journey, but he also wanted to stay a chat some more with this intriguing youngster. Perhaps he would give him the choice.
"May the Garden bless your willing heart."
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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:08 pm
Now the story got interesting. Confusing, as well. Were all flutters not alike? How could there be mistrust and suspicion within a community of such beautiful creatures. And the most curious question of all: How was one to go about getting there?
"No." The colt shook his head suddenly, " 'The Land of the Flutters', you call it. The land is for your people and yours only, because if us 'others' went over there and started living there an' all, it wouldn't be 'The Land of the Flutters'. It would be plain and boring, the grasses and flowers would be usual and discovered just like... Well, it would be just like this plot of land we're standing on right now." He gave Laures a slight nod and a small smile then. "When you find it, however, I want you to find me again and tell me about the flowers."
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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:19 pm
Laures laughed. A clear chiming sound that was considered at times infectious. He was greatful to be given the opening to stay longer and to talk with the inquisitive foal.
"It is called the Land of the Flutters, not because we are the only species there. No, not at all. It is so called because we were chosen to be the caretakers. It wouldn't be fair to others, to know of the existence of such beauty and to hide it for ourselves. No, we were merely the watchers, guardians and protectors of the land.
As this place, there were winds and unicorns and regulars. What there wasn't were the evil ones- the kalona or skinwalkers. So you see, there is always a chance for you to find your way there someday."
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