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 Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:28 pm
//.[[R a n s o m]] notes
keep falling out your m.o.u.t.h. ; ;
Mid-sweet talk ; ;
n e w s p a p e r word cut-outs ; ;  Amalthia is one of the Dreamwalkers - an ancient race that many thought them to be extinct. She is of a noble and queenly sort; always aiding others in their conflicts and plights, and it is impossible by just her very nature to ignore someone in their pain. On meeting Mirage, she senses that the young [by her standards] stallion has a lot of growing to do, and it seems that he may well indeed have a bigger part to play in the history of the Herds of Azreth than even he expects...  .speak no feeling ; ;
no i don't believe you
you don't care a b.i.t.
you don't care a b.i.t.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:54 pm
Mirage is a young Stallion who just recently experienced the strange growth of a set of wings. He's very new to the area and is usually far more of a wanderer, but he's finding that he actually rather likes being a little more settled, at least for the moment. He's certainly very fond of spending time with some of the new friends he's making...
Amalthia, a mare that he's not known for very long already gives him a strange sensation of happiness when he spends time around her.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:07 pm
Amalthia stood on the edge of a rocky precipice, overlooking the lands of the Herds that she watched over unknowingly. Oh, how she missed the days of old;
Azrein used to spot the valley near and far, all different colors, all different breeds, and yet now...now, there were so few.
With a sigh, the mare directed her gaze upwards toward the dark, billowing clouds that were gathering above the lands. The sound of thunder could be heard off in the distant, and, towards the east, arcs and lines of lightning weaved an intricate dance within the darkening skies.
An unexpected gust came from the east as well, sending the mare's long azure mane and tail to sail behind her. The feathers on her wings ruffled in the breeze, their shafts threatening to break.
How uncanny it was that the weather seemed to match her mood.
Lost in her thoughts, the mare scarcely heard the near-silent hoof steps winding up the narrow mountain path behind her due to the fast-approaching storm.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:33 pm
 Mirage was picking his way slowly up the rather precarious path... he wouldn't have gone up had he not really wanted to see the ble mare... he could have waited until she'd come back down, but he'd worried when he'd seen the weather worsening... she was a friend he was rather fond of after all... and he didn't want anything to happen to her.
He knew she could look after herself, so he was worrying foolishly, but he wanted to make sure regardless.
"Amalthia..?" He shied slightly to the side as a large gust of wind tore at him, his wings tugging at his shoulders for a moment, he was getting used to them, but he wasn't quite there yet... he could see her up ahead, the winged mare he was question and he pushed himself forward a little quicker, pushing against the wings a little more forcibly.
He wanted to speak with her... he was fond of her, very fond of her, though he really didn't know why.
By the time he had reached her, his nose level with her back legs he'd had to lower his head and half close his eyes against the force of the storm... he'd have preferred to have been hidden in the woods right now... he'd never been such a big fan of thunder storms.. they scared him a little... or a lot... yes.. a lot... but he wanted to see her again, this strangely motherly mare..
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:40 pm
Without turning her head from watching the storm near at hand, the mare cocked an ear back towards her companion.
"Greetings, Mirage. What brings you up to this place?"
She figured that the stallion didn't know that it was here she called home - where she could watch over her kin, and where there was always a wind to lift her wings.
And, she could not forget how especially fond of these mountainous gales she was. Allowing her eyes to search the foothills below her, she stifled a sigh. How she wished that she could see those hills filled once more...
Turning aside from the depressing sight of the nigh-empty knolls, the mare shifted so she faces Mirage, and gave him a gentle nicker. She figured the storm bothered him, as he was not quite yet used to his wings.
Still, once he embarked on First Flight, he would come to love the mighty gale winds just as much as she did.
How freedom soared in your heart when you flew! She smiled at just the thought of it, and the shafts of her feathers were itching in anticipation in her coming flight. Everything just melted away, and you lost yourself in the air currents, the joy, the exhilaration, the adrenaline.
Why, she'd been flying for over 5oo years, and it never seemed to grow old, and she doubted it ever would, at that.
Tilting her head to the side, the wind sending her mane flying in tendrils to her left, she awaited the stallion's response.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:53 pm
"I wished to find you.." He stated quietly, feeling almost embarrassed at the reason now... there was no real purpose behind his actions, he'd just wanted to be close to her once again. "I... suppose I don't really have a real reason. I just hadn't seen you and... I wanted to..." he winced as a strong breeze caught his mane and lashed the long pale strands across his face.
The approaching storm was making him tremble.
He struggled the last few steps to reach the mare's side, standing beside her once again as he had done the first time he had met her. She made him feel calmer almost right away as he stood there by her, but he was still shaking very slightly.
It was one of the feelings that had lessened him in his fathers eyes... he wasn't the strong brave creature that he had hoped he'd be. He was somewhat more... delicate... apparently... "Why are you up here...? It's... terrifying..."
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:59 pm
She nickered softly, touching her nose to his in a gesture of welcome. "And anytime you wish to seek me out, please do so. That's what I am here for, little one."
Startled at his question, the mare laughed after a moment's hesitation.
"Terrifying, darling?" She pondered that for a moment. "No. No, I don't believe so, dear one."
Feeling his discomfort which seemed to border on sheer terror, the mare cautiously raised a wing to lay across the stallion's back, as she had done on their first meeting, to give him the comfort he seemed to crave so desperately. Her heart ached to see him so shaken up, and she knew that his discomfort went deeper than just the storm.
Ah, how she wished she could take all of his uncertainty and disappointment away.
"Soon, when you are ready for your wings, Young One, I shall show you the joy of the wild storms."
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:52 pm
"I don't think I can control them yet.. unless I think about holding then still they sometimes just flop off my back.." he sounded slightly amused ta his own expense as he nosed gently at her side, happy to be so close to her again. "And... I do not think it would fill me with such fear, great lady, if it were not for the thunder... I have never been good with storms... there was a great one when I was young.. I was scared.. I fell and hurt my leg and was lost for a time.. it left me somewhat skittish, and slower than I should be when it's very cold.." He nosed her again, really pleased he had here there... he didn't like to be alone when storms drew close.
"I would like to learn with you though... I think it would make things far less unsettling..." the idea of leaving the ground below him was unsettling as well, it was new, it was unusual, but with Amalthia there it would be easier. Another rumble in the distance set him trembling again, a moment later however.
"I can see how this place would be beautiful.. I'm afraid my appreciation is blurred by my nerves... I will... have to bring myself up here once again when the weather is kinder to my sensitivities.."
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:04 pm
"Indeed," she mused, "I suppose it would take quite a while to get used to their weight so late in life." She smiled at the stallion, and breathed warm air into his locks just behind his ear. "But, fear not, my friend, for you'll get used to them."
Once more she craned her head around to gaze at the plains laid bare before the mountain. "If only your wings were just a touch stronger, darling, we could have such a grand adventure in this gale."
As the mare spoke, the first hard droplets of rain came falling from the heavens, and the dark, billowing clouds, being pushed by the wind, were already atop them. Raising her wings to entomb her body from the rain, the mare trotted gracefully to a large overhang, motioning for Mirage to join her in the improvised shelter.
Calling out from the several yards between them, the mare raised her voice. "The storm should pass within several minutes; once the rain starts, the gales move on quickly, dear."
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:10 pm
Mirage scrambled along after the mare towards the outcrop, his footfalls for a moment clumsy, a little like a foal for a moment as he scrabbled to get out of the rain. His wings were heavy enough without being drenched by the rain that promised to fall.
e was trembling again as he stopped, though it was hard to tell how much of it came from fear of the storm, and how much came from the excited promise of learning to use the wings that he had so recently acquired. "I do not mind rain.." he stated quietly, once more placing himself close to Amalthia. "It is the lightning that fills me with fear, and the thunder that startles me so..."
He lifted his head a moment later, looking back towards the edge where they had been standing. "Do you... do you suppose Kion is okay..?" He felt rather silly for asking about the dark male again, he seemed to bring him up rather frequently... but he was concerned. "I've not seen him again since he brought me to meet you and... I don't know.." He wasn't sad.. that wasn't it... but it was something similar. It was a silly notion. He really hardly knew the other at all.
It shouldn't matter...
But he wanted to know.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:16 pm
Amalthia chuckled under her breath.
It seems as if this young stallion had taken a liking to her herd-mate, hmm?
"Yes, darling, Kion can handle himself expertly in any situation. The rain would do him some good. He doesn't bathe nearly enough as it is."
Her scoffing was light-hearted and in jest; she wanted to relax Mirage until the storm had passed.
Deciding that him focusing on something that he so clearly wanted to talk about rather than fear the storm, the care prodded cautiously. "How did you two meet, if you don't mind my prying, darling?"
Laying her left wing over the male, he immediately seemed to be offered a cocoon of comfort and warmth, and Amalthia prayed he would take it, get comfortable, and ease her curiosity.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:31 pm
There was no risk of Mirage ever refusing the comfort this wonderful mare offered him, he had already developed a complete trust for her, and was probably happier to be around her than he ever had his own family and the herd they had been connected to.
He stayed quiet for a moment as he thought, a roll of thunder made him shake once again, and a startling flash of lightening made him jump, but they seemed to bother him for somewhat less time than they had been.. she was such a comfort, it was hard to believe...
"I only met him a very short while ago... it was out in the fields, I'd been grazing and I heard him by the water so we talked..." he shifted his wings slightly to settle them against his back. "He was fun, very fun indeed.. he has a lot of spirit.." he was thinking of course of Kion's frolicking in the water.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:54 pm
The mare listened with her head tilted to the side, her attention focused on the stallion's body language. When he was finished, she nodded silently, and lifted her wing from the stallion's back.
It seemed that the rain had moved on, and the mare motioned for Mirage to follow her.
As they emerged from under the overhang and back out onto the overhang, the sun was just peeking through the dark clouds, sending piercing rays of light to spot the valley floor below. The wind was still strong, though not in the dangerous, gusting way as it was not ten minutes past.
The whole world seemed renewed in the mare's eyes; the green grasses and weeds, and the few trees that dotted the fields seemed somehow greener than before. On the air was a scent only the delicate noses of Azrein could pick up; that of renewed life, of hope from the very earth itself.
The mare planted her hooves firmly on the rock below her, and, arching her wings above her, let out a whinny so loud, so whole, that it seemed to have come from the very Gods themselves. Her call echoed throughout the meadows below them, and the faint cry of other Azrein answering her could be heard. She raised her head, and, pawing at the ground beneath those golden hooves, shook her mane from her eyes.
She sincerely hoped that Mirage could sense the new life that the rain had brought. And, if he could, perhaps she could teach him the ways of the old Azrein. That is, if he could learn. Most found her ways much too outdated; but how many of them could say that they could feel every breath that every Azrein from here to the ends of the earth took? And could they say, with truth in their eyes, that they could feel the emotions of the lands, could feel the tides of war and the deepest desires of the hearts of their kind?
Not many, that was for sure.
"My darling Mirage, can you feel the pulse of the earth beneath your hooves?"
Her voice sounded almost haunted by memories long past.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:25 pm
The noise that came from the mare beside him set Mirage shaking more than any of the rumbles of thunder had as he walked out into the growing sunshine with her... it was loud,it was full and felt... well... it felt almost like the roll of thunder itself, yet without the deafening crash... just a thrill of noise, of feeling of... something... that he couldn't quite manage to place. He found himself whickering back at her despite the fact he was standing right beside her.
It wasn't nervous shaking, it would have died out if it were, instead he felt instead a massive thrill of excitement rushing through him, he flicked his ears right foreward, stepping a little away from Amalthia to look right over the edge at the plains below them. He could hear the others replying as he had, and for a moment he wished to rush down and find them! The excitement building in him didn't seem to have a logical source! He just felt so alive! He found himself dancing slightly to the left as he looked over the edge.
It took him a moment to break through his excitement to actually realise that he had been questioned, he turned to look at Amalthia, his ears both flicked towards her as he looked thoughtful, the life of the plains below making his desperately wish to go down, to run, to roll in the grass, to lip at the raindrops clinging to the long blades... he found himself dancing on the spot once again...
"Feel it's pulse..?" He queried, pushing himself to calm down as he placed all four of his hooves on the floor, lowered his head and actually nosed the ground. "I don't know..." He sniffed at it, snuffling and snorting the air back out of his nose as he nosed it again... "The air feels alive... the storm is gone and it seems happy.." he turned his head to look at Amalthia, "Is that a weird thing to say..?" he nudged a small stone with his nose, his eyes going to back to the plain... shifting his feet again... "You can almost believe it does have a pulse right now.." Life was amazing..
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Herds of Azreth Mule Captain
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:02 pm
"Come now, my dear Mirage," the Lady's voice was intriguing, enticing, willing him to take a step nearer to the very precipice he feared. "The land is clean, the skies have wept, and all but you have cast the fear from their hearts."
Amalthia arched a delicate eyebrow, peering into his magenta eyes with an intensity he had not yet seen. She seemed to be searching, grasping for...something. What it was he wouldn't be able to tell, no, not yet.
But in time...
Clearing the thoughts from her head, the mare gave him a soft, encouraging nicker.
Although her next words were liquid; calming and quite assuring just as her protective and sheltering presence was, she knew they struck fear into the deepest corners of his mind.
"Do you think yourself ready to try your wings, my beloved?"
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