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 Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 1:56 am
Setting
The edge of an island. The tide is low, the ground is rock, tide pools are everywhere containing life - colourful starfish, hermit crabs, sea anemones: a vibrant display for anyone who cares to look. The problem is, there is currently nobody who can look.
Somewhere in the midst of all this are two Kirin eggs, nestled between bright slippery rocks and carefully wrapped in seaweed to secure them in place. It's a wonder there's life in them still - surely high tide would have put them underwater, and the cold would kill - but inexplicably, both begin to tremble and crack lines appear. These are abandoned eggs, nurtured by the sea; what would the temperaments of the contents be?
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Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:46 am
When your mother is the sea, the gentle lapping of waves is her steady heartbeat; the storms, her turbulent thoughts; the cries of gulls, her raucous laughter. Sometimes she is gentle, benevolent; at other times, malicious. She gives and takes lives on a whim.
The darker of the two eggs was the first to break open, revealing a foal the colour of deep water at night, of poison. Even without the birth-slime it was easy to tell that most of her skin was smooth, furless, glistening like a frog's.
The sister lay there, stunned for a moment, the world revealed to be much larger than the inside of her egg. And then, instinctively, she rose on wobbly legs and poked at the other egg with her budding horn. She could not begin life proper unless she was with her other half, and he was yet to emerge.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:56 am
It wasn’t long before the completely green egg began to crack open, the sea green foal breaking his way out as best he could. Once he was mostly free of the shell, he rolled onto his side and tried to stand up, it took a few tries but pretty soon he was balancing shakily on his weak legs. Happy with himself for accomplishing this, he lay back down to rest them before attempting the difficult task of walking. Looking around curiously, he blinked at the foal standing next to him and tilted his head to the side.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:36 pm
The dark sister nuzzled her twin affectionately, short tail wagging behind her.
"Hello, little brother! Well, not exactly little, but I did get here first," she smirked, evidently pleased with herself. "Why are you lying down? There's so much to see, so much to do. Or are you a weakling?"
She cocked an eyebrow sardonically at him then, an open challenge.
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:02 am
The green foal frowned at his twin, a determined look on his face, “I’m not a weakling, I was merely resting” he climbed to his feet, and was evidently still very shaky on his legs as he showed her that he could walk around, “See?” Feeling rather pleased with himself, he attempted a leap and tripped over his own feet, falling flat on his face.
He grumbled quietly to himself, before looking up at his twin and offering her a sheepish grin.
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:46 am
"Silly," She giggled. Her own legs not quite steady either, she picked her way carefully around the rocks, only to flop right on top of him as she reached him. "Oof! We've got a lot to learn."
Something occurred to her, just then; she stretched her neck forward and chewed his baby mane pensievely. "You know, I'll get tired of calling you 'brother' all the time.. and if we meet anyone else they need something to call us by."
Yellow eyes gazed out to the sea, and the young foal felt a connection to the churning waters as strong as the one with her sibling. She blinked as a breeze picked up, ears swivelling to the front; and between the sound of the wind and waves she heard her name.
"You can call me Nerissa, if you want to," she said quietly.
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:00 am
"Oof!" he said in unison to her as she fell on him, and giggled as she chewed his mane, “Are names so important?” he didn’t really understand the concept of names just yet, “Hmm Nerissa? How’d you come up with that?” Already his sister was amazing him, she seemed very intelligent for her age and quiet confident too, and the green foal found himself admiring her for that.
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:09 am
Nerissa leaned against her brother, her neck laid against his. She marvelled at the lovely colouration of his skin, then cast a worried look at her own - why was she so horribly mottled, where he was clear and unmarked?
"I... I don't know. The sea just seemed to tell me. Maybe if you listen, she'll tell you yours too?" While her voice stayed resolutely cheerful, a frowned creased the filly's face - maybe something had gone wrong while she was hatching.
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:23 am
The green foal nuzzled his sister as she leaned against him. The sea told her? What was she talking about? “Alright, I’ll see if she’ll tell me anything” he looked out at the ocean; the water seemed peaceful and friendly somehow, and yet at the same time very strong and somewhat aggressive. The foal shook his head, “She mustn’t like me…I’m not getting anything”
He wondered if maybe his sister possessed some sort of gift that enabled her to speak with the ocean, or if maybe he was just strange and something was wrong with him. He admired his sister’s colouring, it seemed almost magical the way her skin shimmered, while his colouring was rather ordinary in comparison, maybe that meant something?
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:31 am
Grinning, Nerissa nudged her brother to face the sea. "You gotta listen carefully. Maybe closing your eyes might help you focus on your hearing better." Her previous anxiousness over her skin was gone - she had been born with it and it seemed pretty firmly attached to her. Even if it was a defect... the way he had looked at her, she could tell he was perfectly alright with it. And that was all that mattered.
"Anyway, if you don't hear your name being given to you, you can always pick your own.
... Or I could help you come up with one."
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:41 am
The green foal sighed, and closed his eyes, focusing as best he could on the sounds the ocean made, after a time he opened them again and shook his head, “Nope, still nothing…what’s in a name anyway? I wouldn’t mind if you simply called me rock or seaweed for the rest of my life” he smiled, “Either way, I’d still be me right?” he could tell the name thing meant something to his sister and he sighed again, “I don’t know, perhaps you should name me, after all you would be the using it all the time”
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:00 am
"But rocks and seaweed don't count as having names," she complained. "They don't talk back! Besides..."
Nerissa took a delicate bite of pale green seaweed; it was tough, and bland.
"Nope, definitely not as tasty!" She announced cheerfully after swallowing, nibbling his neck in as tickly a way as she knew how.
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:10 am
He watched as she ate some seaweed, wondering if he should try some too, he was a tad hungry but wasn’t sure if he was that hungry, “Let’s forget this silly name nonsense and just have some fun, what you say?” he attempted to stand up with her still leaning on him. This proved to be exceedingly difficult but after a few tries he managed to get to his feet, “Perhaps while we are exploring a name will just come to us?” He wandered unsteadily over to a colourful looking shell and poked at it with his horn, “This place is really interesting don’t you think?”
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:09 am
Nerissa was a little miffed that her own brother would dismiss her name as "nonsense", but quickly distracted by the next thing he spotted. As she watched, a pair of beady black eyes peeked out, followed by...
"Watch out!" She exclaimed, as the claws snapped in their direction. Whatever this creature was, it sure was cranky! The foal jumped up and away from the crab, her fear comical in the face of something so much smaller than herself.
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:20 pm
The green foal stepped back, not overly afraid of the creature in front of him, “Why hullo there!” he said cheerfully stepping closer again to poke at the angry crab with his horn, “You’re a curious little fellow now aren’t you” the crab latched onto his horn and the foal giggled, looking back at his sister with the crab dangling off his head, “Look, I think he likes me! Don't be afraid, I'm sure he wont attack you”
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