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 Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 5:49 pm
For many days now Samsara had been watching the family. It was an odd group of mostly dark colored soquili with an eerie air to them. She liked the way the shadows flickered and danced around them and was intrigued in the way that some were almost transparent. She liked the darkness that clung to them, both to their figures and to their hearts.
She had decided to stalk and watch them to better understand this darkness and know how to use it. By now it was easy for her to remain undetected, especially at night. She had visited them nightly in feline form, listening in on their chatter and secrets. Many were already in touch with heir inner darkness in one way or another. She didn't need to do anything with them. The one she was focused on was one of the younger sons of the family, a stallion by the name of Dean.
She was brimming with ideas of how to try to sway Dean. She considered this another great experiment. She had never tried to gather information on her subjects before approaching them. She hoped that would make this meeting all the more potent. She slunk through the shadows of early evening to one of the places she had spied on him most often. Tonight was the night to make contact.
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 6:36 pm
More and more in recent weeks, the young stallion had begun to wander from the grove that his family called home. He’d gone away for days sometimes, travelled several miles at a time and met many new faces, but he’d always returned. This time, Dean had the distinct feeling that he would not be walking down the familiar, clover coated hill for a very long time. As he crested the hill, he paused for a moment and looked back down at the small valley formed by the gentle hills, the stream he’d played in as a foal and the shady stand of oaks where he’d been born.
After that last, long look, Dean turned away and lifted his nose to the wind. These were the smells of home, but there was something else… It was a smell that he’d noticed recently in the area. It almost smelled like another Soquili, but it was something more… wild. Whatever it was covered it’s tracks well, and hadn’t bothered his family, so none of them had any cause to hunt it down.
Dean’s ears swiveled curiously, searching for any foreign sounds, but he found none. With a happy shake of his mane and a small smile to himself, he set off into the unknown.
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 7:16 am
There was such an innocent smile on the face of her prey. She would destroy that innocence soon enough. Quietly, she walked. She made a wide circle so she would appear from behind him. She didn't want to give him enough advanced warning of her to run away if he was frightened. She had found that if she appeared close enough to a soquili and wasn't immediately violent then their curiosity would often get the better of them. Why so many soquili attempted to talk to her even with knowledge of her breed was beyond her understanding.
It was easy to keep track of his bright white fur and she kept her eyes focused on it. When she finally did emerge it was slightly to one side and behind the stallion, ready to be there when he turned to look over his shoulder. "Hello there, Dean." Her voice was a low murmur but pitched so that it would carry to him. If she had judged his character right in the days of stalking his family then he wasn't going to run. It was time to see if she was correct.
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 9:08 am
As Dean walked, he began to get the feeling that he was being watched. The skin along his neck and back prickled uncomfortably and his plum colored ears swiveled involuntarily as though searching for something. The big stallion shook off the feeling with a shake of his mane and a few flicks of his long tail; he wasn't far from his family's territory, there was nothing out there but the eyes of the forest watching him, he was safe.
He didn't realize how wrong he was.
When the low, strange voice spoke his name, the prickling in his skin became a full blown electric charge racing up his spine. Dean's heart jumped in his chest and he swung around to meet the stranger, his hooves instinctively digging defensively into the earth.
She was small, with gossamer wings like a butterfly; a flutter. There were two white horns reaching up behind her ears; kalona? But these features were hardly the most surprising thing about her. A feline pelt as black as night, with shades of deep sapphire was draped across the female from nose to tail. Skinwalker.
Though Dean had never met one, his father, Terrance, has told him stories about skinwalkers. The tales varied wildly from evil monsters that spoke with the voices of foals to lure little colts to their deaths, to lonely, sad Soquili, cursed to wander the earth alone. Which of the stories were true? We're any of them? Dean didn't know how the female knew his name, but she hadn't attempted to attack him... so... perhaps she was safe? She was a Soquili after all and Dean had never met a Soquili that had tried to hurt him.
Despite the fear and instinctive warning that screamed through his bones, Dean's curiosity got the better of him. He relaxed, though his eyes never left the female, "Hello, Miss." he began cautiously, "You have me at a disadvantage; you seem to know me, but I have yet to know who you are."
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 1:47 pm
She had never gotten this close to him in the open, though she had seen him often in her secret stalkings. Now for the first time she was able to look into his strange eyes, pale purple in a field of black. The way they peered out from underneath dark bangs looked eerie and practically monstrous itself. It was obvious that he had been born to be dark. He just needed to live up to that potential.
"I am Samsara, once a member of the Padmapani herd." She saw no need to hide her identity. She was far enough away from her homelands that she doubted any would have heard of her or where she had come from. She added the information about Padmapani because she thought it would draw in his curiosity further.
"Your name isn't the only thing I know about you," she added, eying him. She could sense that she would be able to work her way into his spirit. He should have run when he had first seen her. Now that he showed willingness to talk to her, it was too late.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 8:47 am
The naive and trusting stallion relaxed further, shifting his weight on his hooves as she talked. Surely, why would she tell him about herself if she meant him harm? As she spoke, Dean's ears swiveled forward curiously; he'd never heard of the Padmapani herd and it sounded rather exotic. Little did he know he was falling perfectly into her trap.
The way she eyed him and seemed to know so much about him made his skin crawl, but his smile was friendly, though still a little cautious, "Oh, there's not very much that's interesting about me, Miss." He pawed slightly at the ground, but ignored the warnings his body screamed at him, his curiosity getting the better of him. "...What exactly do you know about me?"
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 8:38 am
Samsara let her flutter wings drift open. She let them tilt gently one way then another. A soft glittering covered their surface and shifted with each small movement. She considered them the one beautiful part of her that she had left. Her heart was black and twisted. A dead panther's pelt covered what used to be her soft mane. So many things had changed but she could still drift on the wind with her lovely wings. It was slightly surreal to think about at times.
"I know that you are the one that acts responsible for your family," she murmured, her eyes locked on his. "You try your hardest and at times it's very demanding, isn't it?" It hadn't been hard to discover this much about the way his family worked and she had a lot more material to work with after that.
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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:04 am
Dean’s eyes followed the almost hypnotic movement of her gossamer wings as they unfurled. The faint shimmer of light across their surface drew the stallion’s gaze and began to set him at ease. Those wings were sweetening the bait in the stranger’s trap; they disguised the dark and festering heart of the mare to those who didn’t understand a skinwalker’s true nature. Surely, how could something so beautiful be dangerous?
It was as though he was trapped in the gravitational pull of a black hole, no matter how feebly he struggled to break free, he was inevitably drawn in. His eerie eyes met her gold ones, shining from the clinging blackness of her pelt. Her words rung true, striking a deep, sensitive nerve in the young stallion. “How… how do you know all this?” His voice was quiet; apprehensive, surprised, a little hurt, but not denying a word.
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:34 am
She noticed the stallion's gaze on her wings and she continued their swaying movement. They sent soft puffs of air his way that undoubtedly smelled both of mare and feline. It was likely that he found her beautiful. It was odd that soquili could so easily overcome their natural fears to find beauty in things that should only bring them horror. Next time she saw Zulian she'd have to ask him if he ever caught mares staring in fascination at him.
If he did, he'd probably bite their heads off, she thought to herself. Zulian had all the self-control of a colt. Subtle manipulation was entirely beyond him.
"It's not that hard to learn things when you are such as I am," she said quietly. "I can float on the wind and disappear into the shadows." She cocked her head slightly and watched him closer. "And your family don't exactly make a secret out of what they feel for you. You do know that, don't you?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:38 am
The words stung as they hit their mark. Wings momentarily forgotten, Dean’s ears went back, not in anger, but in shame and embarrassment as he lowered his head meekly. Her words hit the proverbial nail on the head and, whether they were true or not, they had the desired effect. It was, perhaps too easy to read him and find his tender points.
The big stallion shuffled his hooves uncertainly, suitably cowed by the diminutive mare. After a long moment of pained silence on his part, he gave a weak shake of his head as though trying to deny it, but failing miserably, “Why?” He looked up at her slowly, “Why is my family of any interest to you?”
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:09 pm
He was hurt. Good. With her first strike she had sunk her claws in deep. She had chosen her target well, she realized. He was so fragile. So easily wounded. Once she had been the same and she scoffed at that mare she had been. Once she had let herself be ruled by what others thought of her and how they treated her. Not anymore.
"I'm only trying to help," she breathed. She subtly dodged his question, avoiding answering the 'why?.' She tilted her head and watched him plainly. "If it was my family saying those things about me, I would want to know." Again she didn't elaborate. It was better to be slightly vague, she had found. It allowed for the target to come to their own conclusions and they could often think of more hurtful things than she could.
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 12:07 pm
Dean winced, the thought of his family talking about him behind his back; saying hurtful things about the odd one among them, had occurred to him many times. It was one of those dark thoughts that we all have. The kind of thought that, true or not, takes root like a creeping weed and festers in the back of our minds like a cancer.
Despite being cowed by the mare, her vagueness was not lost on him. Even with his current, quite unwise course of action in speaking with a skinwalker, the big stallion did have a brain. Why? Why had she been watching his family? Why had she chosen to single him out? She had already slipped out of answering his direct question and another question like it would likely result in a similar fashion.
Beneath the hurt, curiosity took hold and Dean watched the mare with wounded eyes. “How are you helping me? I thought ignorance was bliss.” He said quietly as he peered at her from behind the thick curtain of his dark forelock.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 4:57 pm
So close.... she was so close. This one wasn't an idiot like Rosiotti the feline stallion had been. He wasn't going to accept blindly the things that she told him. So far she had said nothing completely untruthful and she decided to continue that strategy. If she lied he might sense the falseness, and then the game would be over.
"That is a common saying, but it is false." She watched Dean with a gaze that did not waver. "Saying so is the refuge for someone who does not like what they hear. You can either accept the truth that your family disdains you or you can live your life subtly wondering whether they do and never trusting them for it."
Real bitterness crept into her voice and she tucked her wings away to her sides. "I know this path and anger. It is why I tell you." She took only one step closer to him, but her intensity grew all the more. "Do you want to work and wear yourself thin for those who would turn their back on you? I would not."
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