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 Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:04 am
It had been an epicly hot day. Silarial didn't feel the heat (or anything else) very often, but this sunset her hide was dark with sweat - an unpleasant reminder that, unlike the boulders she resembled, she was living.
Most other nights she was slept standing up, but the water was so cool and inviting... The mare settled down in the shallows of the stream, letting the water run past her; and waited for the world of dreams to come.
With her glowing eyes shut, her head down and her tail wrapped around her, this Kirin very much resembled the various other rock formations nearby. The only real giveaway was the gentle rise and fall of her back as she took longer and deeper breaths.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:26 pm
Yanagi was miserable. He swore his leafy bits were wilting in this scorching heat. Frill had abandoned him, probably for a nice, cool cave somewhere. He could barely remember what cool even meant, yet alone felt like.
Walking a little further, his steps slowed and senses dulled by a heat-induced lethargy, Nagi's ears perked up at the sound of running water nearby. His nostrils flared and his steps quickened as he moved towards the promised relief from the oppressive heat.
He gave a small whinny of pleasure when the stream came into view, sighing when the cool waters touched his skin. The stream was shallow here, so when he lay down in a spot shaded by an ancient weeping willow, not far from an oddly shaped gray rock, the water came about midway up his sides. Lowering his head so his mane covered his face like a curtain, creating an extra layer of cooling shade, he soon fell asleep.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 2:19 am
When Silarial woke up again, it was nearly but not quite dawn - the air was silent and still. Nocturnal beasts were settling down to sleep, and the birds hadn't started their songs yet.
Something was definitely off about her surroundings. The mare rose quickly and cast about her, entirely prepared to encounter some kind of predator - then she spotted the willow trees. This was strange - had the smaller tree beside it sprung up overnight? And since when did trees grow from the middle of the water?
Either way, the new tree (or the one she hadn't spotted earlier) had some rather tasty-looking mushrooms growing on its trunk.
Making a note to try one of them later, Silarial waded deeper into the stream and, eyes closed, plunged her head underwater to clean the mud from her face and neck. Only her back and half her body was now above the water.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:44 am
Yanagi woke slowly, with a huge yawn and a languid stretch. The cool water had felt wonderful during the oppressive heat of the day before, but during the cooler night it had caused his muscles to stiffen slightly. He winced slightly. Maybe falling asleep in the water had not been the brightest of ideas, after all.
Blinking in the pre-dawn light, he dipped his head to take a drink but froze half way. He knew there had been a low, gray rock near the bank when he'd fallen asleep. He hadn't been so hot that he could have been hallucinating, right? Because now, the low rock near the bank was gone, and a tall, sloped rock of the same type was near the middle of the stream. He shook his head as if trying to clear it, causing droplets of water from his mane to fly out in all directions.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 8:02 pm
With a huge gasp, Silarial came up for air again. Her mane, unruly as ever, clung to her face. She shook her head as well, and it unplastered obligingly in green locks, scattering droplets. At the same time she sensed a few more hit her back.
Strange. She hadn't shaken her head the right way for the water to find its way to her scales. And, if the surface of the stream didn't lie... it wasn't raining right now, either.
Cautiously, she peered behind her to find that the small willow tree had moved again, and was no longer quite so small. Also, she could swear that it was now Kirin-shaped, breathing, and had just shaken its head (was that a horn?). Silarial cleared her throat.
"Uhh. Hello, willlow tree," she said, feeling rather daft. Maybe she'd spent too long wandering alone and had finally lost it.
Oh dear.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:15 pm
Yanagi reared up on his hind legs, making an undignified whinny of suprise. "You...rock! Rock's talking. Rocks shouldn't be talking. No, no. Or moving. Knew you had moved, rock. Why you moving?"
As he rambled, he realized that the rock looked a bit less rock-like now. The pattern was still there, but was now shaped rather like a Kirin mare, and the green he had taken to me moss resolved itself into scales, mane and tail. And it was breathing and talking to him. "Er, hello?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:51 pm
Silarial couldn't help it. She let out a peal of laughter, both out of relief and because she found the entire situation really funny. To think they'd both mistaken each other for the inanimate things they resembled!
"Oh, I'm not a rock... and I can move, see?"
The mare waded back towards the shore and this strange stallion - normally she'd go out of her way to avoid males, but she had a sense of fellow feeling with this one... possibly because they were both so good at disguising themselves.
To think she'd actually considered eating a part of him!
"Hmmm," Silarial murmured, putting her face very close to his and examining him with her glowing green eyes. He was definitely breathing, like her. "Well, I guess you really aren't a willow tree.
My name is Silarial. What's yours?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:43 am
Yanagi looked taken aback when the roc... er, mare started laughing. He had never seen another Kirin that was quite so natural-looking as himself, and it was quite a shock.
Nagi inched his face backwards as those oddly glowing eyes came closer. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about all this. Usually other Kirin avoided him, calling him a freak. Even that other Mare, Sunil, hadn't gotten so close to him after almost running into him before she knew he was there, and that had been over before he'd had a chance to register it.
"Yes, you can. I see. Not a willow tree, well not mostly. Maybe part? Dunno. Yanagi is my name." As he calmed down, his speech became a little clearer, though his sentences still tended to be short and sometimes a bit jumbled. "Nice to meet you. Never met one like me before."
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:57 am
"Same here, Yanagi... I don't know about you, but I think this ability to blend in with the forest around us is very useful," Silarial said, drawing back to return the stallion his personal space.
Judging by how nervous he was when she approached, and his speech, he was rather like her before she met Alucard and Khalidia - solitary, and thinking of himself as a freak. It had taken the short friendship she had enjoyed with those two and her tryst with Cadeyrn to realise that "freaks" to some could be perfectly acceptable, even attractive, to others.
Maybe she could be a friend to this one.
"I don't know about you, but I'm really hungry. Care to join me for breakfast?"
Her eyes strayed to the mushrooms on his flank again before she caught herself, turning away with a blush and a cough. The mare was embarrassed to find herself wondering if they were real mushrooms which had grown on Yanagi, or actually a part of his body.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:04 pm
He calmed once she backed away, nodding. "It is. Very good for hunting, speaking of breakfast. Is hunting good here?"
He noticed her odd look, but shrugged it off as a reaction to his unusual appearance.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:14 pm
"Hunting...?" Silarial had been all set to go when she caught the word, and she froze mid-step. She turned to glare at him, glowing eyes two small spotlights in the early morning semi-gloom.
"You would eat our forest friends?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:11 pm
Nagi paused as the implication hit him, blurting out without thinking, "You would eat me?!" He backed away as the way she had been eying him took on a whole new context. What if all this was a trick? What if he looked like a great big walking salad bar to her? "Maybe not so hungry. Maybe go now." He inched away further, getting ready to make a run for it if he had to.
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:54 am
The mare frowned, eyes dimming. She eyed Yanagi, finally understanding why he wouldn't want to eat plants - it would be uncomfortably close to cannibalism for him.
"N-no, I wouldn't eat you... I wouldn't eat anything that could think like me and speak in a language I can understand." She nickered reassuringly.
"It's almost autumn, but I'm sure I can find a few late summer berries. Maybe you can hunt while I'm munching on them, and if I don't like what I see I just... bury my head in the bush?"
It was a strange arrangement, but it beat eating alone... and she wanted to see how this stallion hunted. It wouldn't be too bad if he ended it quickly and (gulp) mercifully.
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 9:08 pm
Yanagi nodded, now very glad he had learned to speak, even if he still wasn't that good.
Nagi nodded again. He didn't actually mind other Kirin eating plants, he just couldn't bring himself to do so. He never did see how they could though, the few times he'd tried they just tasted so bad, especially compared to the rich taste of meat. "OK by me. We go find you berries, then I hunt, yes?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:12 am
"Er. Sure," replied Silarial, taking the lead... she assumed that while prey could move, berry bushes couldn't, so her berries had to determine where Yanagi would hunt.
Note to self: talk to him every day until he gets better at speaking!
Honestly, as a grown stallion he wasn't speaking much better than her own son at a month old.
***
They reached a small clearing framed by colourful berry bushes, and the Sylrin mare was glad to see late berries still on the branches.
"So... is this place alright for you to hunt in?" She asked, really eager to start munching. She needed to get as much food down as possible before he killed something. Chances were pretty high that she wouldn't feel like eating after he was done.
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