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 Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:11 am
How many times had he made this trip now? He wasn’t sure, but certainly enough times for him to have a familiar route now, to be able to step almost in his own hoofprints in both directions. He was sure that he was getting faster with each journey too; he was getting used to the weight of the basket, getting the knack of not spilling the contents everywhere on the way back. Sometimes he arrived back by the tree having been hardly aware of most of the trip; it was easy to zone out when all you had to do was keep going.
As his destination came into clear sight, Maurice whinnied a greeting around the handle of the basket and slowed from his canter to a trot, then a walk and finally a halt at the base of the growing tree, where he placed the basket. “Everything alright ‘ere?” he asked as he stepped back to let Niz get at the food.
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:36 pm
"Gack!" The rainbow-spotted rit tumbled off the mare's back when she suddenly stood, and he landed - as always - on his paws. He stumbled a bit, looking groggily at the blue stallion before blinking a few times. "Oh, there you are," he mumbled sleepily before yawning. Thankfully, now he could sleep.. Niz had wanted to play a few games - one really, over and over and.. over again - and he, of course, had to comply and play them with her. He couldn't help but yawn again before curling up under the tree.
"Lazy," Niz scolded teasingly before sticking her tongue out at the furry creature, then giggled. She leaned down to take a bite out of an elppa in the basket, flicking her tail. She wasn't too hungry at the moment, and she was doing much better thanks to Maurice, but she felt better eating something. He'd gone through all the trouble of bringing it to her, so she might as well have a bite, at least. Her emerald eyes flitted to the fruit on the tree as she raised her head, and she blinked once or twice before turning to the short stallion after swallowing. "When d'you think it'll hatch, Maurice?" It had certainly been a lot longer than she had expected it would take.
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:08 am
Maurice peered up at the fruit and frowned thoughtfully before saying; “Erm...” intelligently. “Soon I think,” he went on eventually, looking back down at Niz with a smile and a nod. “I think Spyke was about that size when the fruit fell. Ha, fell on top of me,” he recalled with a snort, “scared the life out’a me that did, but I suppose I ‘ad it comin’ f’ lying right under the branch.”
He hoped it did hatch soon; being tied down to this place worried him. That evil crossbreed might be hanging around, and alright it was about one chance in a million but that was still too high a chance for him. The b*****d stallion who’d sired Niz’s fruit might come back too, that was more likely and equally worrying. Maybe Skittles and Niz would be able to see him off, maybe not. Maybe he’d bring friends. Yes. All in all, the sooner it hatched the better, and the sooner the resulting foal was ready to travel the better too. Spyke had been ready to go right away, but he gathered these things varied. Besides, Niz might not want to take off right away, which would be understandable. There were far too many worries for his taste, alright there really weren’t many but those that there were, were large ones. He wished Spyke was here; one of them could stay here at all times; if the perverted git did reappear, he wouldn’t stand a chance against two Ichsa and a furious ball of sharp claws and teeth. Nothing had happened yet though; he was probably worried for no reason.
“So,” Maurice stretched out his tired muscles a little before sinking comfortably to the ground, pushing his concerns to the back of his mind, “you ‘ad any ideas f’ possible names yet?” He hadn’t been that organized, probably why Spyke had ended up with such an impulsive name, but perhaps Niz was more organized, or had been encouraged to be by her furry little guardian.
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Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:00 pm
"Hmm.." The red creme mare furrowed her brows as she looked up at the swollen fruit, wondering just when it would hatch. She was growing rather impatient, she wanted to see her new little friend! Why didn't it want to come out yet? Didn't it want to play? Didn't--
Names?
"Ooh, yes!" She said with a grin, emerald eyes focusing on Maurice. "I was thinking of naming it Butterfly--" she ignored the snort from Skittles "--but Skittles said it should have a different name," she pouted. She could still hardly believe she got to pick out the foal's name. "I--"
Snap.
"Ack!!" The furry Rit cried in surprise as the fruit ungraciously landed squarely on his back. He scurried to his feet and ran around behind the slender tree, peering at the fruit with ears back, miffed that it had fallen on top of him. He was trying to nap. Didn't it understand that?
The fruit wobbled a bit and rolled over onto its other side, and the foal within it squirmed a bit. What had just happened? What was going on? What were those strange, muffled sounds? It was new, it was different, and he was going to find out just what it was.
He started wiggling about in the fruit, pushing and shoving with everything he could - hooves, head, wings, although the last wasn't effective in the slightest - and managed to tear a hole with his pale horn. Light filtered in through the hole and he blinked several times, merely staying there for a moment to process what this strange thing was.
But just a moment.
He squirmed more, pushing with his hooves and he drew his head back, tearing a greater hole in the fruit and all at once he tumbled out, landing upside down and staring up at two large things and a small thing that looked completely different. Hu. Odd. He stayed like that though, staring up at them upside-down before grinning broadly at his success, and wiggling his stump of a tail.
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Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:07 pm
Apparently fruits really loved to drop on top of people; the only two he'd ever seen fall had done that. It was a lot funnier when it happened to somebody else; he'd jumped out of his skin when it had happened to him, looked like Skittles had done the same. Maurice got back to his hooves as the fruit started to wriggle but held back a little so that Niz was closer to it. So this was it then. Hopefully she would be able to think of a name other than Butterfly in short order.
After a few moments, the foal emerged, only to end up flat on its back. The colt looked healthy, a lovely black colour with Niz's white wings, and a huge grin on his tiny face. Better to remain silent for now, the blue stallion decided, Niz should be the first to speak to her child after all.
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Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 6:30 pm
Niz couldn't help but giggle insanely when the fruit fell on Skittles, and she ignored his hurt, pitiful look - not because she was trying, but because she was watching the fruit hatch. She'd never seen one hatch before, and it was fascinating - until the colt fell out onto his back, to which she promptly began giggling again. "He's so funny!" She said, prancing a few steps closer and shoving her nose into his face. "Hi there! What's--oh, right, you need a name, umm.. Any ideas, Skittles?"
Any other foal might have squealed or wriggled away, but not him. He grinned, rolling over and squirmed up into a better, partially sitting position before whinnying again. So many new things were assaulting all of his senses, but he didn't seem to care much. Ears perked, his eyes flitted to every single thing he could see, watching each for a mere second or two before looking at something else.
Noticing that he was the only one not doing... whatever they were doing, he snorted and tilted his head. What were they doing? Well, whatever it was, they weren't doing the same thing he was. Resolving to change this, he pushed himself onto his forehooves, then onto his hindhooves. Finding himself standing as they were, albeit rather wobbly, his grin widened and he whinnied once more.
Skittles couldn't help but grin. He was rather cute, despite landing directly on him, but it was partially his fault for being under the tree. Partially. Oh, but, a name? Uhh.. "Jupiter?" He suggested, voicing the first thing he could think of. Seeing the confused expression on her face, he shrugged. "You could call him, err.. Jo? As a nickname?"
"Ooh!" Yes, she liked that. Jupiter, it sounded so.. so neat, and cool. And Jo was just adorable. "That's neat! What do you think, Maurice?" After all, he had helped her greatly with the fruit and tree; his opinion on a name mattered a lot to her. Although, she still thought Butterfly was a good name..
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:52 am
Maurice nodded his approval as the foal got to his hooves, and then again at the suggested name. "Jupiter, I like it, and Jo's a good nickname I think. Nice and easy t' remember, nice and short when y' want t' get his attention quick. And cute of course." It looked as though the colt, Jupiter, was going to deal alright with Niz; that was something to be glad of. A foal of nervous disposition might have had a hard time with the creme mare's excitability.
"Y' gonna try walking then?" the blue stallion said after a moment, now addressing Jupiter. He had no idea if the foal understood him or not; he'd asked Spyke once what he remembered of the early days of his life but the answer had been 'sod all,' which rather left him in the dark. In case the foal hadn't understood his words, Maurice walked in a circle around him, taking the chance to give the foal another good look over as he did so. Yes, Jupiter certainly seemed healthy. That was good; the fitter the colt was, the sooner they could all leave this place.
It still gave him the creeps, not being able to leave a place whenever he fancied, especially this place. It was hard not to feel that the boy's sire might be watching them, of that the crossbreed might somehow have spotted him and be planning to do something horrible as soon as the chance arose.
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Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 7:31 pm
Skittles grinned broadly, glad that both had liked the name he'd chosen. The colt would thank him later for not being named Butterfly. Ech. Maybe a filly, but a colt? Niz was dafter than he thoughts sometimes but he loved her all the same, the silly thing.
Jupiter? Jupiter! Jo! That was what they were calling him, supposedly, and.. what was that one thing doing? Bright eyes widened as Jupiter watched the blue stallion walk around him in a circle. He'd been proud to just stand, but this thing was... was... well he wasn't sure what he was doing, but Jo knew he wanted to do it too. With a confident air, he lifted a foreleg up and propelled himself forward, like Maurice had --
-- and landed in a heap on the grass. He made a noise between a snort and a squeal, and forced himself to stand again, albeit rather wobbly. He glared at his hooves and concentrated, managing to place one hoof maybe two inches forward and with a broad grin, turned to whinny at the two big things. He did it, too! But... not nearly as much as the blue one did. Frowning, he turned to glare at his hooves again and set about trying to actually walk.
Niz beamed, dancing in place a bit. "Isn't he adorable? Do you think he'll want to play? Maybe not yet," she added after a moment, watching him try to walk. He couldn't really play if he couldn't walk, after all. That was one thing she knew, at least. Well, hopefully he'd hurry up and get walking down so they could play! She had so many games to teach him!
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 6:59 am
Well, it was a good start at least! Maurice grinned at the colt and gave a nod. "Well done, y'll get better at it soon, no worries." How long before he could walk competently? Maybe a couple of suns? He'd need more time than that to build up endurance for proper travel though... He and Spyke had left right away, but Spyke had got the hang of walking pretty well right away. Weird how much foals seemed to vary, some running around right away, some talking, some even doing both. Why was that, he wondered? Eh, well, it didn't matter, there were more important things to think about right now.
"I'm sure he'll want t' play once he's a bit better at the whole walkin' thing," Maurice affirmed with a grin. "Doubt it'll take him long t' get it down." Then maybe they could play the going far far away from here game. D'ob, open, huge, safe. You could see people coming from ages away in D'ob, nothing much for sneaks to hide behind. He was sure Niz would be happy to go there, and Skittles would see the sense of it. They'd be going in no time. He hoped.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 4:46 pm
After another fall or two, the bright-eyed colt had managed to accomplish walking in a circle as Maurice had done, although much more wobbly than the stallion. Very proud of his success, he whinnied at them all again with a broad grin. See? He did it, too!
Oh, but they were doing more of that now, and he didn't know how to do that. Well, if they were doing it, he wanted to do it, too! "P.. pl..ay?" He said uncertainly, but that didn't sound quite right! "Play?" Again, and it sounded much better! That was something they had said, and he'd said it too! At least, he felt himself say it; he didn't recognize his own voice yet but surely that was him. But, just to make sure... "Play! Play, play!" He grinned proudly, walking in a circle again while saying that one word over and over. He could do it too!
Nizhoni beamed, dancing in place before prancing around the colt in a circle. "Ohh, he's walking and did you hear? He does want to play! He even said it!" This was wonderful! At this rate, they might even be able to play today!
The rit had to admit it, the little foal was rather cute, although the repetitiveness was getting.. less cute the longer it continued, and Jo certainly was continuing. Quite a bit. "I'm not sure he knows what it means, Niz; I think he was just copying you cuz you both said it. But he'll certainly learn what it means soon, and you can teach him all sorts of games!" He added hastily, seeing the slightly crestfallen look the naive mare had given him. "But not yet, he needs to get used to walking and running first, then we can teach him some games."
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 4:27 am
Maurice nodded his agreement, and gave Niz a nudge. “Right! I think right now jus’ walkin’ is a game t’ him; fun at any rate. I know I enjoy doing new things.” Yea, teach him to walk and run far, far away from here. The blue stallion stole a covert glance at Skittles, wondering if the Rit shared his concerns. If he did, he probably didn’t share them to such a great degree; he was paranoid and he knew it. Couldn’t help it though, once bitten twice extremely shy. They needed to leave this place, and soon. Very soon.
“I reckon at the rate he’s learnin’ he’ll be ready to leave Shrilal soon,” Maurice commented casually. “Then y’ could take him back t’ D’ob and show him where y’ live, Niz. Introduce him to that Aeri friend of yours... Nyx weren’t it?” They’d be safe back with a herd, he didn’t enjoy being part of one himself but it was good that Niz was, that she and Jupiter would have protection should the colt’s father ever return.
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Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:03 pm
"Ohh.." So, walking and talking was a game? Well, a really simple game, but.. but if Jo thought it was a game, then she'd play too! "Ohh, okay! Then let's teach him more things! Umm, ummm.. Oh!" She pranced the few steps over to Skittles, and pointed at him with a forehoof. "Skittles," she said slowly to the dark-coated foal, trying to pronounce it so he'd understand how to make the sounds. "Skittles."
The colt paused mid-step and turned when Niz began talking, and, intrigued, he pranced over and watched. When she pointed, he looked at the odd thing on the ground. He was the only one that looked like that, the others looked like him -- or, at least, he thought they did -- and, oh, what was that word? Was that what they called him, like he was Jupiter? Jo? Yes, that must be what they called him! He looked back at the feline and stared intently, brows furrowed as he tried to figure out how to say it. It was a much harder thing to say than play. "Ski... ski..ls? Ski'ls?" No, that didn't sound right.. This one was much harder. "Skill'ls?" Wrong again. Hum, this one could take a while..
The rit couldn't help but chuckle as the foal tried to pronounce his name, and he couldn't blame him for struggling with it. "Maybe you should've started with something easier for him, like your name, Niz," Skittles offered, listening to Jo continue to try and stumble through it.
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 7:06 am
Skittles was a bit of a big ask to begin with for this foal it seemed. Still, no harm setting challenges he supposed, you never got anywhere by only trying to do stuff that was easy. "Yea," Maurice nodded and pointed at his dappy friend with one hoof, "Niz: she's y' mother." A bit much information, but again the foal would work through it all in the end, and he seemed keen to try which was promising. Maybe he'd try to get good at running so they could leave soon. He hoped so. He really did.
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:36 pm
Now how in the world was he supposed to say that? They'd said it easily, and --
Niz? Mother? Niz! So the orange thing was called Niz! And the little thing was called.. called... that thing he couldn't say. What was the other one called? No matter! "N..iz?" He started hesitantly, unsure if he could pronounce this one or not. That last one was hard! "Niz? Niz!" A wide grin spread across his face and he pranced around the mare in a circle, repeating her name over and over.
The airheaded mare beamed excitedly, prancing in place as he circled her and kept saying her name. "Oh, he's so smart! And he's so cute, too! I wonder how long it'll take him to learn how to say Skittles? Or your name, Maurice! And.. hey, what's he doing?" She asked suddenly, peering down at the foal who had stopped and was in the middle of a rather large yawn, before the dark-coated foal curled up on the grass. "Aww, is he tired now?" But she wanted to play some more!
Skittles chuckled at the mare's crestfallen look, and he stood up and stretched. "He's tired Niz, he probably needs a nap now but he'll be up and ready to play later, I think." Hopefully she'd take a nap too, but that was unlikely. At the very least, he hoped she'd calm down long enough for Jo to take a proper nap. Knowing her, she might try to wake him in perhaps ten minutes. Well, at least Jo wouldn't ever have to worry about having a friend to play with...
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