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 Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 8:00 am
Laika was well-aware of the coming storm. How could she not be? The air was silent, which never meant good things. The clouds were dark; heavy, black, and pendulous. The small animals had retreated to burrows, and Sputnik wouldn't shut up about the cold in his bones. Still, she had business to attend to at the top of this mountain, and she wasn't going to leave until she'd tended the trees. Or rather, stripped them of many of their needles and much of their bark because she was hungry. And, though he didn't want to admit it, Sputnik understood hunger. He grokked at her, his noise for when he wasn't entirely displeased but still pretty upset. It wasn't safe for her to be up here much longer; already a thick fog was settling in. If she was going to be up here when the storm hit, it was likely the two of them wouldn't survive.
The horse was well-aware of her avian friend's concerns, for she shared them herself. Once she was sufficiently not-hungry, she turned to leave, heading back down the way she came. If she squinted, she could just see her hoofprints from the way up here, soft indentations being eaten by the currently softly-falling flakes. But as she headed down, arrhythmic hoofbeats caught her ears. Turning around, she shook her head, marveling at the horse behind her. Why would he come up here now?
A stallion was trudging towards them. Although she couldn't see him well, his silhouette showed a skinny piece of business who looked wet, hungry, and tired. Immediately, Laika's heart went out to him. "Hey! Fella! What are you doing up here? It's to snow soon!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 8:15 am
Yuri was lost. Lost as hell. He'd never been this lost his entire life, not even the time when he got confused and ended up on an island with a number of human beings who were all affected by the strange, nigh-supernatural events that the island kept throwing at them. In particular, this one woman had been a little obsessed with him, but wasn't sure if he was real. That had been silly. Of course he'd been real. Certainly filthy- he'd appeared black by that point, almost- but certainly real. But now he was on a mountain and he had no idea how he'd gotten there. He'd been wandering aimlessly when he'd seen the outline of a mare in the fog, and he was never cautious with those. Trotting toward her as fast as he could in the snow, he heard her call at him. Ah, what a sweet voice of an angel of mercy in the snow! He picked up the pace a bit until he could see her. She was a tall kirin mare, though unlike most kirin, smooth-sided, with a big- really, really big- crow perched on her flank, glaring at him. Grinning at her, he shrugged. "Eh, got lost," he said simply, teeth chattering. "You know where you're going?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 8:25 am
Laika shook her head. How had this poor baby managed to get so lost that he ended up on top of a mountain? Stepping closer to him, she nodded. "Yes, I know exactly where I'm going. I'm not sure if you want to follow me all the way there, for it is my home and I am a rather private person, but I can certainly get you off the top of this mountain, then point you in a safe direction. We must hurry, though; there is a storm moving in." As if to prove her point, a gust of wind howled towards them, snarling her curly mane and knocking Sputnik off his perch on her flank. Cawing angrily into the wind with a few choice swears, he dug his claws into her sides. He didn't want to hurt her, but he also didn't want to be lost in the storm. "Iss bad day for windsock," he muttered to himself.
Laika winced a bit under the increased pressure from the crow's claws, but said nothing. He wouldn't have done that unless he needed to. "Come on; you see what the weather's doing. Let's go."
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Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:00 am
Yuri smiled and nodded. "Yes! Yes, down the mountain is where I need to be. Everywhere I go, it seems to only go up and up and up. But now you're here! Lead on, oh glorious mare," he said, exuberantly, garnering himself a pair of narrowed eyes and a good-natured head shake. "Oh, don't mind me, milady. I can't help it. I see a pretty mare, and I go all to pieces. I can't turn it off if I wanted to." He made his excuses as he followed the mare as she began to lead him downhill. He really was quite grateful and not meaning to tease. The snow was growing ever-deeper, and walking in it was rather hard. He noticed that the kirin wasn't having as much trouble; how was she doing it? Would it be rude to ask? Probably; he knew it was never good to ask a lady about her weight, no matter how slight it seemed to be. And that wasn't the most interesting thing about his savior; there were other things he really did need to ask. "So, ah, I'm Yuri. What's your name?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 7:27 pm
Laika wasn't sure how successful any conversation would be with the ever-increasing noise from the wind, but she could certainly try. "I'm Laika," she said. "Like a, well, like like a. It doesn't mean anything in this country. Like Yuri, I should think. That's of the mother tongue, ne? From across the sea you come?" She was eager to meet one like herself, but Yuri did sound rather local. Perhaps, though, a parent or friend or at least a story or two from the Old Country? That would be rather nice.
Although the wind was pretty bad, the cold itself wasn't really bothering her. She wondered if it bothered him.
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 7:38 pm
Yuri shook his head. "Nope, born and bred in these lands. My grandsires, though, they both came from elsewhere. The far East, they said. Come to think of it, one of 'em sounded quite a bit like you, only his accent was much thicker. But I never knew them well; they both died when I was very young. Only thing I really knew is that they both liked sugar beets and they both liked to argue." He squared his body against the wind as they went downhill, cropped mane blown back from his neck. It was times like this where he was so very grateful his hair didn't grow long; it'd be so tangled and he could never get it undone himself. "And that I'm named after one of 'em. So yeah, I guess my name is from... wherever y'all are from. Never really much thought about it. I don't even think I know what it means." He grinned and shrugged. "How 'bout you, what's Laika mean? Something to do with the sky, I'll bet." He'd certainly noticed the mare's pelt; it was unique. He'd never quite seen one like it, although her base silver was awfully similar to his own. But the marks on her flanks and belly... well, those were pretty far out, if you'd forgive the pun.
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 7:47 pm
Laika was a tetch disappointed that neither of the grandfathers was alive. She'd have liked to meet them. But that wasn't here nor there, just a side diversion. Yuri was who was here, and it was Yuri she was getting to know. "Heh, not so much. It means barker. Like... like little dog. That kind of barker. It doesn't make much sense; I suppose my mother found it cute. I certainly was never a puppy!" She shook herself, mane blown back behind her. Oh, this was going to be a mess in the morning! But Sputnik, after all, did have the uncanny ability to unsnarl it. "And then Sputnik here; I guess I didn't introduce you, did I? Sputnik, this is Yuri, Yuri, the crow here is Sputnik. Anyways, Sputnik means satellite, like the moon, or like something that goes around and around you. When he was little and learning to fly, he used to go around and around my leg because he wasn't too sure how to steer, so there you have it. Sputnik." She smiled at him, hoping that he didn't mind her storytelling. It was just her way of making friends, bridging the gap with stories. "It's always good to know where your name comes from, but if you don't know, it's no crime either. Maybe, who knows? One day you'll find somebody who knows the meaning of Yuri. I wish I could help, but I just don't know."
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 7:53 pm
"Heh, that's all right; I didn't expect you to know, don't apologize. Little barker, eh? That's gotta be the cutest skinwalker name of all time." He watched the crow for a while as it watched him with one beady eye. Somehow, he had a hard time seeing it as little. Right now, it looked a little like it wanted to kill him. Certainly a grumpy little bird, anyways.
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 8:06 pm
Laika shuddered. "Don't even say that! I've never seen one of those monsters, and I hope to keep it that way. When I was little, I never knew of such things. I do not believe that those monsters exist in the old country, although we did have the eretiches and the upir. But those were only creatures in tales, I thought... You know, tales to frighten naughty foals. Skinwalkers, as far as I can gather, are very real and very dangerous. That is correct, yes?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 2:23 pm
Yuri nodded, a bit somberly. He hadn't expected her to react that way- he'd been kidding, joking, not serious at all. But if the kirin mare was so disturbed by skinwalkers, well, then, he just wouldn't make light about them. "Mmhm. As real as you and me. But don't worry- if one lived in the area, we'd know. We'd know quickly. Anyways, I don't think they typically range up this far. Nobody typically ranges up this far..." He stared into the sky. The wind was roaring now, and he had to quickly shut his eyes as they were blasted with icy sharp flakes. "Hey, how far are we from being out of the wind? I'm gettin' worried..."
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Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:33 pm
Laika was quite glad to be off the topic of monsters. That conversation didn't make her comfortable in this forbidding climate. "Not far now, my friend! Soon we shall be down the mountain and in the forest. You can find your way back from there, I think. And if not..." She hesitated for a moment. The stallion was nice, but could he be trusted that intimately? Yes, he probably could. He was just a lost creature, wandering on the wrong mountain at the wrong time. "You may stay at my home. For the evening."
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:29 am
The stallion was taken somewhat aback by this; he had expected them to be a lot closer than it sounded like they were. But staying with the pretty mare didn't sound like an unpleasant prospect. "Sure thing," he said with a smile. "It'll be fun."
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:34 am
While Laika and Yuri might have thought that a sleepover was a fine idea, Sputnik most definitely did not. The crow tightened his grip in displeasure, cawing angrily. His Laika inviting some strange stallion home? The danger! The scandal!
The mare turned her head back to quiet the bird. "Hush now, crow!" she said, shaking her head in displeasure. "It'll be fine. You'll see." Then, turning back to Yuri, she gently tugged on his mane to change his course. "Come on. This way." She veered to the right, angling gently downwards on a less-steep path. "My home is a rock shelter and a copse of firs towards the bottom of this mountain. It's enough as far as being comfortable goes, though cold in this weather." She picked up the pace a bit, moving at a faster clip that was almost a trot. "How is it they say? Stir your stumps? We are very close!"
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 4:01 pm
Yuri tripped and trapped his way down the slope, following Laika closely. He wasn't too keen on the way she was using his hair as a guiderope; it was short enough already, and didn't need somebody pulling it out. Still, he knew that the mare was saving his life- or at least making it less miserable- and he quietly followed where she led. True to her words, the rock shelter was near; no more than a small above-ground cave in a rock face with a deep bed of dried pine needles, the place seemed palatial to the freezing stallion. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he took stock of his environment. A basket, provenance unknown, filled with last fall's apples. They'd be dried by now, but still edible. A small pile of bones in the far corner- from the crow's dinners, he was guessing, and this guess was backed up by the presence of a large tree branch. And pine needles- pine needles everywhere. They were at least a whole hoof deep in some places and made the entire rock shelter smell like the deep woods. "Nice place you have here," the stallion said as the mare nudged him further into the cave. "A bit dark, but really cozy. And- and warm!" he said with surprise. He was expecting it to be just as cold inside as it was outside, but the cave was actually not quite as bad.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 4:21 pm
Laika grinned, her face barely visible in the gloaming. "The fir needles make for fantastic insulation. I sweep them out in the summer and the cave is nice and cool; come fall, I sweep them back in to keep myself warm. They're a little prickly at first, but once you get yourself settled, they flatten out and are quite comfortable. And the smell reminds me of home. I mean, it is home, but my first home. It was full of lovely pine trees... and that's most of what I remember about it." She dropped to her knees, snuggling in the pine needles. "It's getting rather late, and I imagine you're tired. Why not lie down yourself? Here, near me- it's the most comfortable spot."
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