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 Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:16 am
FOR STATS: Gaspard & Dia de la Esperanza The winter would never end.
He knew that it was a false statement, but somehow the short, dark days inspired such thoughts regardless of the illogic of them. He didn't mind the cold, and in fact didn't feel it much; when others complained of wind chill, he wondered what had passed in their ancestry to burden them with such thin skin and coats. It was more the absence of color that bothered him, and the lack of bustling life.
It seemed everything went to sleep in the winter. The flowers, which he admired as a pretty sight as well as a snack, were all bundled underneath the snow, blooms closed against the harsh climate of winter. Birds had migrated, taking their morning songs and pretty eggshells with them, and they left the mornings barren and quiet. Gaspard was a stallion who could appreciate silence, and certainly required a decent amount of solitude in his own life, but such constants of nature were something that he enjoyed and came to miss as the winter months stretched on.
At least they would pass soon. The snow would melt away, revealing grasses and soft dirt once more. The little animals would come out again, and the flowers would stretch their petals toward the heavens, grasping for the sun. While he didn't frolic as some Soquili did, he would find a quiet pool and take a swim, perhaps go walking with his sister on one of the warmer days.
He very much looked forward to the spring.
Until then, he would have to deal with sinking his hooves into inches of snow whenever he chose to walk somewhere. It was still early in the day, and so the sun was high in the sky, casting a blinding glow over the surface of the snow. It sparkled, and while that was beautiful in its own way, he couldn't help the slight tinge of regret as he came upon a familiar pond, its surface still and covered with a light dusting of snow.
He could remember wading in this pond in the spring, and thinking then that it would likely be frozen over when the colder months came. Though he'd been correct, it was still disappointing.
Rapping a hoof lightly against the ice, he snorted, breath clouding around the end of his dark nose as he did so. He disliked being so aimless, but in winter, what else was there really to do?
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:33 am
 Dia was a water horse too, or at least that's how she'd heard herself described. It suited, she supposed. After all, she liked water. She liked to be near it and in it and to hear it, either babbling by in a stream or plunging from a waterfall. She would often stand chest deep in a lake or pond or river, just because she could. So winter was not particularly her favorite season either, especially once it had gotten cold enough that the ponds froze over and she had to chip through ice simply to get a drink. It didn't put her in a particularly bad mood, but if she'd been asked to name the season that most appealed to her, it wouldn't have been winter. She was out and away from the herd today, getting a little peace and quiet as well as peace of mind. She'd had enough of the babble about foals and stallions and that nonsense from Blossomforth and Yazmina. Yes, she was happy for her herdmate. Yes, she was curious about how the foals would turn out. No, she didn't want to rattle on about it for hours on end like the other two mares could manage. Maybe that would change if she had a foal of her own, but for now? She was better off wandering. The tok-tok-tok of a hoof against ice was a sound she knew well. Ears twitching toward it, she followed the sound until she found the stallion at the pond's edge. Drawing up beside him, she offered, "You're going to have to tap it harder than that if you want to break through."
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:44 am
Ears flicking toward his sudden company, Gaspard tensed a little, surprised that another had managed to come up beside him without him noticing. Usually he was much more observant, but he supposed he had been rather occupied in his thoughts - never a good thing when wandering alone in winter. Still, his rigid posture lasted only a moment, as the mare who had approached him seemed amiable enough. It was likely she simply wanted a drink of water, and as this was the only pond within easy walking distance, there was really no mystery about her presence.
Drawing his hoof back, a half-moon imprint in the snow from his feeble taps, he took in the features of her face with a quick sweep of his eyes. She had a strong face, elegant in its lines and framed by hair only shades darker than her coat, but he could see no threat of anger in her eyes or expression. Well, at least there was that.
Thought he didn't smile, as Gaspard wasn't a stallion prone to easy display of emotions around strangers, his look wasn't hostile in the least. Rather, it was calm, and his dark eyes settled on her face, unimposing but direct.
"I didn't intend to break it." His answer was short and could be interpreted as curt, but his tone was quiet, polite. He had a manner of speaking that was never loud but his voice somehow carried; even as a child, when he'd spoken, others had stopped to listen. "If you're thirsty, though..."
He raised his hoof questioningly, hovering over the surface of the ice as though offering to break through it. It wasn't that he thought her incapable, hardly that - he had a healthy respect for mares and their competence, considering Corine hardly needed to rely on him for day-to-day assistance.
It was just that, well, he thought it was better to be a gentleman than not. You were less likely to incur the bad humor of others, especially mares, if you were polite to them.
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:22 am
First impressions were the important ones, and Dia certainly appreciated at least a hint of manners, though hers sometimes slipped a bit. Patience was not her strong suit by any means. She tilted her head at him, eyebrows edging upward just a little at the curt note to his answer. Tail flicking, she asked, "If you didn't want to break through the ice, then what were you doing? Just banging your hoof against it for the sound?" The question might have come out sounding a little rude, but she didn't mean it that way either. It was just the way she spoke.
"I don't need a drink right now," she confessed. "But I don't like the water all frozen up and still, either. I break ice when I can. Water should flow, not just...sit there."
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:37 am
There it was. It seemed Gaspard started off on at least slightly the wrong hoof with everyone he met. He'd made a note to himself that he would try to make things different in this new place, but already he'd met two new faces - both female at that, his biggest weakness - and had managed to begin the exchange in his usual awkward manner. With the foal, he'd frightened her and possibly traumatized her with his abrupt and cold manner of speech. Really, he'd just been concerned about the young one traveling alone in the middle of the night, but it hadn't been perceived that way.
With this mare, whose name he didn't even know, he'd made himself look like a fool. Who rapped on the ice for the sake of making noise? Someone with a very idle mind, and though he wasn't that sort of Soquili, it apparently looked like it. How to get out of this one without firmly wedging his hoof in his mouth?
First things first, he could lower it back to the ground.
His own tail swishing lightly, he shifted his gaze to the pond, then back to her. "I was just thinking of spring, and remembering when I waded in this pool. I don't really like frozen water, either."
It still didn't really explain why he'd been tapping against the ice, but how did one explain that? It hadn't been an action he really thought about, just something he did. A simple touch as he remembered, a fleeting thought that crystallized with an action.
Dark eyes holding her own light ones, he said quietly, "Sorry, I haven't even introduced myself." Canting his head slightly, he added, "I'm Gaspard."
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:16 pm
Dia watched the stallion put his hoof down and let herself smile a little. It could have been entertaining to see how long he'd hold it up, and how long he could stand on only three legs as a result, but it was probably better that he lowered it. Who knew how long it took for a leg to cramp until he couldn't put it down, for real?
"...so, you still didn't have a reason, not really, for banging your hoof on the ice. You could just say so," she prompted. "Because you look smart enough to know better than to try to walk on it, or something like that. If you didn't slip and fall, you'd go right through. Hard water is cold water," she explained.
Then bobbed her head. "Dia de la Esperanza, but everyone just calls me Dia. You might as well, too."
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:24 pm
Gaspard blinked, not entirely certain how he wanted to react to Dia, much less how he should. Though not even treading close to socially adept, he was fairly good at reading others' emotions, and he didn't think that she was mocking him too terribly. Regardless, he stood rather still, chest barely rising and falling with each breath, poised at the edge of the frozen pool.
This was where he usually floundered. Once the initial greetings were past, he was hard pressed to come up with a topic that would be interesting to most. More, he wasn't all that inclined to spend endless hours chattering, and so he found it difficult to hold both a partner's attention and his own with one subject. His mother used to scold him, saying he would become a recluse like his father, but Gaspard honestly didn't know what would be so bad about that. Surely he would miss company, but he wouldn't go entirely the same route as his father; he would still speak to some others and remain on friendly terms with them.
It wasn't as though he disliked company, really. He just didn't know what to do with it most of the time.
Blinking his bangs out of his eyes, he waiting until he was certain the mare was finished speaking before flicking his eyes to the pond. It was true the water would be deathly cold, and he wouldn't think of attempting to walk on it. Why would he, when he could just as easily walk around it? He'd seen foals go skating, but he always stepped in to warn them of the dangers, and send them home before they hurt themselves. Those times, he had to wonder where their parents were, but he also realized the most he could do was send them on their way and hope for their safety.
Ah! He'd fallen into a silence again. Attention diverted to the mare once more, he hoped she hadn't noticed, and said a little hurriedly, "It's my pleasure, Dia." Dia. A pretty name. If he wasn't entirely incorrect, it meant day in Spanish.
And Esperanza, that was hope, wasn't it? His extensive travel had served to teach him something, anyhow.
Tracing a thin line in the snow with one hoof, he asked after another pause, "Do you live near here?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:08 am
She watched Gaspard stare at her and wondered if she had, yet again, managed to offend a stallion when she hadn't even tried. Honestly, sometimes they could be very touchy for creatures that prided themselves on being big and strong and protective of everyone else. She hadn't even been trying to upset him. She knew the difference. She felt certain that he would too.
Still, he did look a little stunned. She watched him, he watched her and then ...ah, finally, he spoke! That was better.
"I don't live far away," she offered. "By the edge of the trees." She turned her head and gestured in the right direction with her nose. "I just like to walk away sometimes, go and find something to eat or drink. Or company." Though the last was usually not the reason she originally left the teepee and the little makeshift herd.
"Do you live nearby or are you a wanderer?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 7:45 pm
Following her gesture, Gaspard glanced across the frozen landscape, doing his best to picture the area as it had been in the spring. It would be a nice place to live, he imagined, if one were inclined to settle. Though not exactly a restless spirit, he had done his share of travel, and had never felt the compelling pull of home that seemed to inspire so many others to forsake all new lands and build a community. It would be nice, he thought, when he finally discovered such a place.
Looking back toward her, he made a mental note to diminish the silences between his responses as much as he could. Despite his terrible track record with mares, it seemed things weren't going as utterly terribly with Dia as they tended to with others, and so he ought to do his best to make himself engaging and interesting. If only all mares could be like his sister; he was close to her and communicated easily with her.
Well, in retrospect, he probably didn't want them to all be like her. That might be a little awkward.
Ears flicking, he responded, "I've been wandering for some time." Casting back in his memory, he tried to recall a time he'd stayed in one place for longer than a few months, but couldn't.
Ducking his head a little, bangs falling over his brow as he did so, he added, "Though... I wouldn't mind settling somewhere."
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:49 am
Well. That might explain it, then. The silence and the stiffness about this stallion that seemed so out of place when compared to her little herd. Then again, her little herd could be a bit odd and she knew that well, so it wasn't entirely fair to compare him to flashy, flamboyant Diego. And then again, or on another hoof, it was hard not to compare everyone to someone she knew better.
"I can't imagine," she confessed. "Wandering for a long time? I know some Soquili like it, getting out into the world and seeing things that we just don't have around these lands, but they usually do it alone." Her hide twitched and she gave herself a little shake. "Much as I like my quiet and being able to get away for a little while, I want to be able to find the others when I need to or want to, too. I couldn't travel alone."
She paused. "This is a good place to settle," she offered. "Springtime storms aren't so bad. Summers are more or less mild. There's plenty of food and water," she added, though she cast another glance at the frozen pond. "You could even make a herd of your own if you wanted, probably."
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:19 pm
His travels had been extensive, but for the most part, he'd had Corine by his side. Though not exactly the most sociable of stallions in the entire world, Gaspard was by no means a truly solitary being; many a time he had been glad for the comfort of Corine's presence, even when they argued. There was something to be said for having someone beside you who knew you, even if it meant they were the one annoying you because they knew precisely what to say to get your temper up.
Traveling alone... he didn't think he could do it, either. As awkward as he could be with others, he did need company. Being alone with his own thoughts was fine for a while, and of course everyone needed solitude, but if he were to have no one to turn to at all...
Well, it would be depressing. And he'd likely be even more socially stunted than he already was.
"Travel has its benefits... but there are times I miss home." He said it quietly, surprised to be sharing that particular tidbit. Still, where instinct told him to stop, he decided to offer a little more. The mare was being friendly, after all, so it was the least he could do.
Tail swishing, the only visible sign of his slight discomfort, he continued, "I haven't been alone, however. My sister travels with me. She isn't nearby right now, but... I don't think I could travel as far as we have on my own."
To have no one to share the sunsets with? No one to marvel at new places, argue over new foods, discuss other cultures with? If he hadn't spent half of his time talking to Corine, he didn't think he would remember most of their journey at all. It was through discussing things and marveling over them that they were imprinted on his memory, and without a partner, that would be impossible.
Unaware that this was the most he'd spoken to Dia altogether, he glanced over the frozen pool again, then back to her. Each time he returned his gaze to the mare, he noticed something different about her appearance. This time, it was her mane, and the subtle darkening at the tips that caught his eye.
Posture relaxing a little, he mused, "This does seem an ideal place. I've been here for a little over a season..." Though the thought of starting his own herd was as distant to him as was one of starting a family, he still entertained it, for just a moment. "If I were to settle a herd anywhere, it would be in this place, or perhaps my homeland."
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:04 am
Being truly alone would terrify the palomino mare. Not that she'd ever confess that. Certainly not to a stallion she'd just met. Maybe not to anyone, under any circumstance, but definitely not now. The most she'd allow was, "No one should be alone. Not really alone." And the little shudder and twitch of her hide that she couldn't do anything to stop.
"Why isn't your sister with you now?" It seemed a reasonable question to her. If they'd done so much traveling, surely she'd have followed him or come here with him, right? It only made sense in Dia's mind. Maybe he'd meant she was dozing somewhere not that far away.
"Oh. Well then." So she'd told him things he already knew. Didn't make her look like the brightest Soquili ever, did it? She flicked an ear and looked down at the water, clopping her off against the ice once more. "I guess home's where it feels best to rest your hooves."
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:57 pm
As a listener, Gaspard tended to pay much more attention to physical cues than he did verbal ones. He found them to be much easier to interpret, for the most part, though they sometimes directly contradicted the spoken word. Still, what he saw in Dia seemed to match, and so he found it a little easier to follow the conversation; without the attempt at dual interpretation, he could have his head a little more in the game, so to speak.
He had to agree that no one should be alone. Though many would scoff that a sibling grown was hardly company into one's adult years, he would have to contradict them. Corine was his sister, true, but over the years he'd come to consider her almost more of a friend and companion than that. Gaspard had always felt the bonds of their family were never particularly strong, with their father being reclusive and often disengaged from his family, and their mother flighty and servant to her roving eye.
So, family ties had never really been their strong suit. Regardless, he'd always been there for Corine, and when all others turned their backs on him and left, she alone stood by him. At least in that her he knew he had a family, and always would.
Eyes soft with memories, he exhaled softly, shaking his head. "She is here, just... not presently with me. We're close, but we also both enjoy our independence." He frowned a little, wondering if that had come out the way he meant it to.
He loved Corine, and was unashamed to admit it. He enjoyed spending time with her, likely more than anyone else, but he didn't rely on her to be there for him always. He was secure enough and comfortable enough with the notion of her always being around if he needed her to be that he didn't actually need her at his side constantly. It had been weeks since he'd seen her, but he didn't feel abandoned... quite the contrary. He knew when they met up again, they would both have much to say to one another.
For example, he could tell her of meeting Dia. He thought Corine would like Dia.
A smile flirted with the edges of his mouth at the thought, and he cast his eyes to the pond again. He could remember the last time he'd thought Corine would like a mare, and it had blown up in his face when they two of them absolutely detested one another. At the time, it hadn't been comical, but he'd learned a lot about his sister from the encounter.
"Home is..." Glancing back to Dia, something like shyness creeping into his expression, he said slowly, "Home is where it feels best to rest your hooves... as long as they're resting beside the ones you truly care for."
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:34 pm
Oh how well Dia understood that, wanting to be independent and yet have company when she wanted or, even less infrequently, needed it. "Good," she said, and meant it. "That you can be together and apart." She flicked her tail absently. "I don't understand Soquili who just can't be pried off of one another. Sometime we all have to learn to stand on our own four hooves."
She was intrigued by this stallion. He was far less shallow than most of the ones she'd met, which made him far less irritating and gave her less of an urge to simply send him on his way as quickly as she could. It was new enough, different enough, that she was a little baffled by it as well.
"There aren't always others to care for so much that you'd settle," she argued lightly. "Sometimes home is just good enough for your own hooves."
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:00 am
Silent for a moment, he mulled the statement over. True, there were occasions where no other could bind you to a place - after all, he and Corine had gone wandering when they came of age, leaving their parents to roam their homeland without so much as a backward glance. While he couldn't exactly imagine settling somewhere without Corine, perhaps he had just become too comfortable in the idea that she was a permanent fixture in his life. As he had no mate, she was his anchor for companionship, infrequent though it might have been.
Still, he thought that no one could really settle somewhere alone. It was like apathy; he didn't believe such a thing really existed. If a being was alive, there was no way to really kill all emotions.
At least, he hoped that was true.
Expression shifting to a thoughtful one, he mused, "I don't think a place could be home for me unless I had someone to care for. Home is... more than a place, it's a feeling."
As always, it was a struggle for him to find the words he wanted. They were there, it was just that when confronted with a situation where he needed them, they seemed to flee to the corners of his mind. However, Dia hadn't snickered at him yet, so he didn't feel as pressured as he usually did.
Meeting her gaze, he added, "It's different for everyone, I'm sure, but... home is family for me. If Corine left, for me to not follow... would mean I would have to have another family in a place."
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