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 Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 3:46 pm
And that smart one just happened to walk over at that moment with a fish and the small basket. They tried to put as much in as they could, but as he wasn't a nequus, he couldn't carry much, and half the time had to drag it. Oh well.
He purred while the strange filly scratched him behind the ears and gratefully ate the offered fish, then took the basket in his teeth and tried to pick it up. Nope, nothing doing. With a small sigh, he backed up a bit and then turned himself sideways, dragging it along through the thin coating of snow towards Niz's tree, grumbling to himself. Why couldn't he have been born bigger, or stronger? It'd make this a lot easier... At least it wasn't snowing anymore.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 2:58 am
Finishing off his treat, Maurice whinnied a farewell to the pair of two-leggers and turned to canter off. Just as he was bunching his muscles to spring away however, he spotted the Rit. It really was making an effort to be off with that basket... but what did it want with fruit and things? Frowning bemusedly, the dark-coated Ichsa clopped over to the small creature and smile down at it.
“Hello there. You look like you could use some ‘elp with that basket. Where y’ goin’ to?” It wasn’t as if he had anything else to do with himself right now; he might as well help the poor little sod out... And there was something familiar about the small furry thing. He’d never seen it before, he was sure of that, but... but there was something about it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:34 am
He'd seen Maurice with the two-leggers and he hoped he'd stay there; for the time being, he thoroughly distrusted any male nequus that he hadn't met before, especially Ichsa. At least he had good reason. But, the thing came over anyway, probably because he looked funny. A Rit, trying to carry a basket nearly half his size, if not larger. If he was a nequus, he'd probably find it entertaining.
He continued dragging the basket, studying Maurice very carefully. "'elin' m' hwen'," he managed to mumble around the handle of the basket. Finding that probably no one would understand that, he gave it another pull then let go for a minute. "Helping," drag, "my friend," pull, "Nizhoni." And with that, he began dragging it full-force, intending on getting back as soon as possible. He always had envied nequus, but especially now. It was so much easier for them to get food and carry the damn heavy baskets, he didn't know how they managed.
He paused when he realized that Maurice had offered his help. That would be very good; he wouldn't spend another half a sun dragging the damn thing all the way back, but.. He'd be leading this male right back to Niz, and he didn't trust him quite yet. "Hmm.. Maybe," he said thoughtfully, turning over the options in his mind. If this stallion did help, then they'd get Niz her food a lot faster, and gods knew she needed it, poor thing. At least he was there to help, although, he had to admit he wasn't much help. It took him a day or so to actually get the food and bring it back, but... He still wasn't sure.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:02 pm
Maurice stared down at the Rit for a few moments in silence. Well now he knew why the Rit was familiar; Niz had told him about her little furry friend. “You must be Skittles then,” the blue Ichsa said eventually with a grin, “Niz told me about you; I’m Maurice... Err... So you’re fetchin’ food for ‘er?” Why would she need food brought to her? Was she ill? Hurt?... Oh... “Is she... is she in the fruitlands?”
Funny, he’d never really considered that she might have got a mate since he last saw her... but then again, if she did have a mate, where was he? Had he left? Could he have died? Maurice couldn’t help but remember the bloodstained ground around Spyke’s tree, and the grinning face of that evil crossbreed. He couldn’t stand to think of Niz all alone by a tree with only a Rit to provide for her. He wanted more than ever to insist Skittles accepted his aid, he wouldn’t take no for an answer in fact, but for the time being, he was too caught up in the memory of his loss to speak again.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:10 pm
This fellow knew his name? He paused and sat on his haunches, letting go of the basket for now. "Yes, I'm Skittles. Who're you, and how do you know Niz?" Oh, wait. He already gave him his name. No matter, he wanted to know how this stallion knew the red-creme mare, and why he wanted to help so much. But... If this creature knew his name, then he must know Niz somehow and she must think of him as a friend. It'd do her good to see him, he figured.
He couldn't help but snort at the last question. "She is." He said quite bluntly, flattening his ears as he remembered the disgusting stallion, the cause for his distrust of other males, including Maurice at first. "Stupid b*****d played a trick on her when I wasn't around, 'n got her a tree. She didn't even know what'd happened or anythin' 'til I explained it to her after I ran him off." The Rit couldn't help but snicker to himself, recalling the few good scratches he'd given the Ichsa. If only he'd gotten to his eyes; that would've taught him never to mess with his friend again, and that he couldn't get away with doing it at all. Stupid b*****d.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:22 pm
Maurice pinned his ears back against his skull and said a very rude word. “You’ll have t’ describe him to me on the way t’ the tree,” the blue stallion said firmly, “so if I ever see ‘im, I can kill ‘im.” How did he know Niz?... Well they were friends, they’d met and they were friends, nothing more complex than that. Still, he couldn’t expect Skittles to be instantly trusting after what had happened already.
“I met ‘er in D’ob a few winters back,” Maurice said eventually, “we became friends an’ then I moved to Quirne. She came to see me one time, which is when she tol’ me about you. She said you hadn’ come along because you were small, an’ you thought the sea might wash you away... Look, let me help you, okay? I can see y’ need it, it’d be much better f’ Niz if he got more food more often. Once y’ve shown me where the tree is, y’ could even stay with ‘er in case the drekhallah comes back.” If Skittles didn’t agree, then he’d damn well just get a basket of food of his own and follow the brightly-patterned little creature. All he needed to do was meet Niz in Skittles’ presence and everything would be alright.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:31 pm
Well, that was all Skittles needed. With a grin, he patted the stallion's leg with a paw. "Okay, I appreciate the help, and Niz will too, I'm sure. I don't think she'll want to talk 'bout him though, but she's excited about having a little foal to play with. Just one," he informed the stallion, trying to let him know what Niz would be upset to talk about, and what she'd enjoy so he didn't accidentally upset her. That was the last thing she needed; she would be fine as long as they didn't remind her of the drekhallah or anything. At least, with Maurice's help, she'd get better physically. Poor thing was getting ragged-looking; she insisted on not going more than three feet from the tree, and as such couldn't really graze that well. Not that there was much to graze on in the middle of Shrilal during winter, but still.
"And yeah, I don't like the ocean much.. Too much water," he admitted, wondering how he'd describe the jerk if he was pulling the basket. Maybe Maurice was going to carry it? Hopefully; they'd get there a lot faster if he did. "And the b*****d's mostly black, but he's got some white on him. Called himself Vulo, but I'm sure that's not his real name. I didn't get much of a good look at him before I jumped on him, though," he said with a toothy grin. "He didn't stand a chance."
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:40 pm
Maurice cackled and nodded his head. “Well, I certainly wouldn’ like to come on the wrong side of anyone with teeth like you got, no matter how small you are... An’ I won’t mention the stallion; thanks f' the warning.” Just one fruit, that was a mercy at least. “Well, we should get goin’ then,” the blue stallion said with another nod. “Jump up on my back, an’ I’ll take the basket. Y’ can give me directions.” So saying, he bent his neck, grabbed the basket’s handle between his teeth and waited for Skittles to settle on his back.
He remembered coming here those few times for Lestra. The two-leggers had been so kind, so exited whenever he arrived and indicated that he needed food from them. He had shared their elation. Everything had been looking so perfect.
Snorting to himself, Maurice pushed the memory away. What was past was past; there was no changing it, no sense tormenting himself over it and and no time to do so in any case. Right now, he needed to focus all his energy on helping Niz, not on self-pity trips.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:48 pm
Skittles grinned; he much preferred riding to walking, and he knew the trees whereabouts enough to not have to do the walking himself. It was a plus being used to jumping onto the mare's back, it made it much easier for him to leap gracefully onto the smaller stallion, being careful of his claws. "My size is my advantage," he said, and in some ways it was. He could do many things that nequus couldn't, and he'd done as much of that as possible when he'd attacked the pile of drek. He'd still gouge his eyes out if he ever saw him again.
Settling himself comfortably on the blue stallion's back, he peered around his head and between his ears. "Alright, Maurice; we gotta go straight for a while, but then you turn right at the big twisted black tree, hard to miss, it hasn't got any leaves on it at all, looks like it got burned or something, not sure why. Then you gotta go that way for a bit, then turn left a little bit at the tall orange and brown tree and it's right past there, on the edge," he instructed, hoping that that wasn't too much at once for him. At least it was simple, thankfully.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:21 pm
Maurice nodded slowly, settling the information in his mind. “O-ay en,” he mumbled indistinctly, “e’ts o.” With these probably incomprehensible words, the muscled stallion set off at a trot, which he slowly eased up to a smooth but ground eating canter. He hoped Niz was alright. He really did.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:31 pm
After being forced to talk through the basket handle on several occasions, Skittles had no trouble understanding the blue stallion. Not that he said much of importance, anyway. Oh yes, this certainly was going much faster, and he was grateful. It'd take him ages to get back to Niz with the basket, poor thing. He really hoped that the stallion would stay to help. "Thanks for your help, Maurice, and I think Niz will be glad to see you."
Speaking of which, they were almost there now; in fact, he could see a blur of reddish-creme that could only be the now-skinny mare. He pointed, instructing Maurice to go in that direction, and leaned up on his neck a little to get a better look. "Hey, Niz! Look who I found!" Well, really, Maurice had found him, but it didn't matter.
The groggy mare jolted her head up and blinked wearily, trying to rid the sleep from her eyes. She shook her head and cast her ever-bright emerald eyes around. She'd decided on a nap, figuring Skittles wouldn't be back until much later, but she could've sworn that she'd heard him. Maybe she was dreaming? She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.
She did hear the sound of approaching hoofbeats though, and turned to look in the direction the nequus was coming from and nearly gasped in surprise. "Maurice!" She called, grinning, metaphorically speaking, from ear to ear. She hoisted herself up, not caring much for how she looked for the time being, not that she ever really paid much attention to that in the first place. She hadn't seen the blue Ichsa in ages, not really since she'd found him in Quirne. "Maurice! It's so good to see you," she beamed when the pair got closer, ears perked. This certainly was most unexpected, but she was infinitely glad to see another friendly face who could help. Skittles really did try, but it took him forever to get her anything, poor thing. It wasn't his fault he was small.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:45 pm
Ditching the basket on the ground at his friend’s hooves, Maurice smiled. She looked pretty bad, poor thing, but she could have looked a lot worse. “Good t’ see you too Niz,” the blue Ichsa said after he’d finished looking her over. “I see congratulations are in order,” he added with a grin and a nod up to the fruit, “it looks good.”
It seemed like both forever ago and only yesterday when Spyke had been just a fruit. Now he was an adult... well more or less an adult. He couldn’t wait to tell Niz about his son, and come to that he couldn’t wait until spring when he’d see the smaller stallion again. Now at least he had a useful way to occupy himself until then; perhaps Niz would even bring her foal along to meet Spyke if it was big enough to go to the ocean by the time the seasons turned. How long did fruits take to develop? Having had one himself he supposed he ought to know but in fairness to himself, he had been rather out of it for most of the time.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 2:41 pm
She was almost dancing with glee at seeing her old friend, very glad that Skittles had found him. She really hoped he would help her out, although she wasn't sure if that would be okay to ask of him or not. She hoped he'd bring it up, maybe. "Thanks," she beamed excitedly, turning to examine the fruit. "I don't know if it's supposed to be so small but it's so pretty anyway." She loved the colors on it. How it came about still bothered her, but she wasn't going to mention it if no one asked. She didn't like to think about him, or talk about him. Her stomach grumbled then and she offered a sheepish grin before leaning down to take a bite out of an elppa in the basket, very glad that Skittles had brought Maurice here. She really did hope he'd stay.
Skittles hopped down and examined Niz; nothing out of place, she seemed.. just like she did before he'd left, which was good. The once-over done, he turned to grin at her. "Maurice offered to help us!" He told her, happy that the blue stallion had done so. Things would be so much easier now, and Niz would hopefully start to look a little better, like she did before the tree, poor thing. At least she was taking it well.
"Really?" She asked brightly, looking from Skittles to Maurice then grinned. "Oh, thank you so much!" She didn't really know what else to say, except she felt a lot better knowing that the other Ichsa would be helping them out. But, that's what friends were for, right? She'd have done the same thing in a heartbeat, if Maurice needed help.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:02 pm
Maurice grinned and bobbed his head. “It’s my pleasure; I know if I was in your place and you were in mine you’d ‘elp me out. As f’ size... I dunno,” Maurice frowned thoughtfully up at the fruit and flicked his wings in a shrug. “D’pends on how old it is really; I’m sure I remember Spyke bein’ that size at one point.” Looking back down again, the blue stallion grinned at his friend. “Spyke would be my son by the way; y’ll have t’ meet him sometime, I’m sure you guys would get on.”
Where was Spyke right now, he wondered. Standing here under a fruit tree it was hard not to remember his son as a vulnerable little colt... Actually, even thinking of him as an adult it was hard not to worry. The twit was so good at getting himself into trouble. Still; he’d been traveling with that Sekhmet girl, so perhaps he was being vaguely sane in the hopes of impressing her... Or maybe he was being dafter than ever in the hopes of impressing her. Oh well.
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:49 am
"Really? Hmm..." Well, she had no idea how old it was, how long it'd been; not too long, there was still snow on the ground and in the air, it was still the winter season. It had been winter when she... well, yeah. And it was still winter when she found the tree, and it was still winter now. How long could winter be, anyway? But, it was getting bigger every day - or, at least, she liked to think so; bigger meant healthier, right? - and every day it was getting older and closer to hatching. Oh, she hoped it would hatch soon. At least with Maurice here to help, she'd do better than she had been. She'd have been a lot worse if she didn't have Skittles with her; heck, she'd probably be a lot worse, the more she thought of it.
At the mention of Maurice's son her mind completely dropped that train of thought, and she almost instantly forgot about it. "Spyke?" She repeated, then grinned. "I didn't know you had a foal!" Well, if he was still a foal, he would be with Maurice now, right? Right, of course. "What's he like?"
Skittles was intrigued by the mention of Spyke, as well. "And why'd you call him Spyke?"
"Ooh, you named him that?" She asked, her emerald eyes flitting from Maurice to Skittles and back.
"...yeah, Niz. You're gonna have to give the foal a name when it hatches. It doesn't just come with a name," he explained to her. It was amazing how daft she was sometimes, he almost couldn't believe it. But then he remembered who he was talking to, and he wasn't quite as surprised. That was why he was there with her, though. She was a sweet thing, despite her foolishness, and just needed someone to make sure she didn't do anything too stupid. Or fall into any traps. Damn. He'd still gouge his eyes out if he ever saw him again.
"Ooh, yay! I wonder if it'll be a girl or a boy.. Hmm..." With that train of thought firmly in her head, she set off trying to decide on good names for either gender.
The rainbow-patterned Rit rolled his eyes. He would have to help make sure she didn't pick a rather.. Niz-esque name. Like Flower or Sunshine or something.
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