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 Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 7:25 pm
The desert drew her. It had drawn her since her father dragged her along the mountainous outskirts, never venturing into the dry, hot land. She had been younger, then, delight in the world very apparent.
It was still there, in the way she looked out in wonder, taking her first bounding, running leaps into the sand, sending it flying beneath her cloven hooves. Giddy laughter.
Already as she continued her journey across the desert, keeping her pace slow and easy in remembrance of the heat, Cris let her thoughts sway and swing with the snaking sand. Free of obligation, free to sate her wanderlust and itchy hooves, she stopped frequently whenever a watering hole popped up. The light lit the dunes, setting them aflame in dusty golds. She didn't have the markings her brother did, but, steeped in lore...
...this place felt like home.
"And how very peculiar is that!" She snorted to herself; the desert felt the same as the forests did, how strange!
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 3:05 pm
 For Zamyr the desert was home or at least part of it was. Perhaps it was all in his head but the sands nearly 375 miles west of the borders of his homeland seemed so different compared to the ones back home. They seemed to shift in a more pleasant way under his talons and hooves and was it just him or did the air smell sweeter? Granted it had taken him very near a full month to get this far away from home but it seemed well worth it.
The morning found him standing atop a tall dune squinting against the sun's light to make out the shapes in the east. The landscape was finally shifting into something. Exactly what that something was he didn't know, everything had been sand in his world until just now. Sand and water and small trees and cacti. What he was seeing now was something new and something red.
"And it isn't sand!" He exclaimed excitedly, the feathers the normally lay limp against his head perking up. Whatever it was he needed to investigate.
He turned away from the sun and was left blinking spots from his eyes. After several minutes his vision cleared except for one stubborn black dot. He blinked furiously for a few more moments before realizing that his spot was not moving. Something was out there.
"Hello!" He called moving closer wondering if it was friendly. Perhaps he was not the most hippogryph like of all the hippogryphs, but he simply could not contain a curious spirit long enough to be terribly cautious. "Lovely morning isn't it?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:17 pm
The distant call, carried by the dry desert 'breeze' reached gently curved and tipped ears. Pausing, Crisiant looked around for the source. This was, of course, much easier for the Cerynei-crossbreed, considering she hadn't been looking into the great sun as it rose and changed the landscape.
"Hum, you know...he could pretty much blend in here, if he wasn't plastered against that pretty blue sky. Wouldn't he, Cris~?" She uttered to herself, one of many habits she had picked up from her father, made all the more noticeable when she was alone as she was.
Hey, having yourself for company was better than letting silence deafen your ears!
...at least, in Crisiant's mind, it was.
And the free-wandering female had always enjoyed her own quirky quips on the open road.
So, head up and ears perked, she made her way across the sands. Oh, this one seemed quite like a wind!
'Those are wings, right? Right? They look pretty big. Are those feathers for a tail? I couldn't see from so far away, but maaaan! And LOOK! Oh my forests, are those claws? Am I dealing with a skinwalker? No, no, no. No pelt, fewf. Da' always did say the 'Walkers were nasty sorts. What is it, then? Or is it a him? Or her? I couldn't tell when the voice reached me, it was more windblown than anything--by the great plains, I can't get over how BIG the wings are! Ankh would be totally jealous, hahaha~!'
As she drew closer in her forward motion, she picked up the pace, bounding with light leaps across the sand, enjoying the kick of 'spray' she created.
"Hello there! It's gorgeous here! I...whoa!"
'He has feathers along his face, too! And...his muzzle's kinda pointy! And those ARE claws! Or talons, maybe? It's awesome, I wonder what he is and where he comes from and what he's doing and why he called out to me and why I'm answerin--I know that already, nevermind!'
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Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 2:29 pm
There was something not quite right about creature he was approaching. It was not the color. Zamyr had seen dark coated 'gryphs before and some of the few 'suti that he had glimpsed were dark as well. His brow wrinkled as he squinted at the dark creature. Then suddenly it dawned on him with a rather physical impact. His body tensed and his eyes widened for the briefest of moments.
This creature had no wings. What in the sands was it then? Everything had wings with the exceptions of the lizards and rabbits and other creatures that were little more than food. This wasn't one of those things nor was it 'gryph or 'suti.
The strangeness of the being put his mind on alert but it hadn't yet stopped his feet. Whatever it was it certainly seemed friendly enough the way it darted towards him calling out a greeting. What a relief! So long as it was friendly everything was fine no matter how bizarre it looked!
"Yes it is lovely here, but you should see what's over there!" He said excitedly turning about to face the east once more. Once again the sun temporarily blinded him and he was forced to turn back blinking away the same spots he had just rid himself of. "Well anyway, you can't see it, but there's something glorious just over those dunes! Glorious and red!"
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:14 am
The two oddities sized one another up, and Crisiant's mind kept buzzing with thoughts, from small and slight, to large. Overall, she was fascinated with him - yes, a him now that he spoke again - and her carefree ways meant that she didn't mind whatever different features he wore.
Oh, it interested her, yes. However, she didn't abhor him simply on first glance alone. Goodness knew, the way he first looked at her must have been similar to her own expression before it cleared. His words, his attention turning to the east, had her glancing quickly, too, squinting at just the hint of red.
How interesting!
Suddenly wary and aware that it could have been a trap, she shook her head and looked away. Her sudden stitch of nerves found no purchase, however, when he continued to almost chirp at her in an upbeat way.
"Oh, oh. Well I'm on an adventure anyway! I always wanted to see the desert, ever since I was a little filly. And now I'm here, haha, following my wandering hooves!" And a shift in direction wouldn't be bad. As far as she had seen it was still part of this wide open land of sun and sand. She had all the time in the world to explore this grand new place, and it seemed she had stumbled upon a fellow adventurer overcome by wanderlust.
How lucky was this little carefree-hippie-Cerynei?!
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 12:30 pm
He mistook the shaking of her head as an effort to clear spots from her eyes. He felt a touch of sympathy for her. The spots were a nuisance. At the very least they were enough to make him rethink looking in the sun's general direction. After all, without the blurring effect the swirling sand storm had, even catching it for a second created the accursed things.
"And you picked such a wonderful time to chose to explore!" He exclaimed with unbridled enthusiasm. It was always good to find a like-minded creature. Unfortunately it seemed that beings that loved to look just to see were quite rare particularly in his own people. Perhaps with these outside folks it was common. Inside the sand spiral it was hard just to get someone to speak to a stranger. Just imagining the act of trying to drag another 'gryph out of their home to see some unknown red land was enough to give Zamyr a headache.
He paced closer to the mare, his talons sinking slightly beneath the sand with each step. "Come! Let us be off and away! It shouldn't take too terribly long to make our way out of these sands, wonderful as they may be, and into the great red in the distance!"
He was making a couple assumptions; the first being that she actually had any intention of going with him at all and the second being that whatever the red was was actually tangible in some way.
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 7:30 pm
Had the little half-Cerynei been more closed-minded, she would have darted away as he stepped forwards. Heck, she would have ran off at first sight, screaming something absurd about him being cursed or evil or...or something.
But as it was, when his talons sank into the sand, his hooves seeming to be oddly mis-matched in comparison, she ducked her head to watch. It wasn't hard to tell she was fairly fascinated overall, but when he spoke, urging her to go explore with him, her head came back up.
"Of course! I follow my hooves where-ever they lead me, and it does look interesting! An adventure for the two of us sounds fantastic~"
With a light little hop to the side, she skittered through the sand, turning back East for the start of their journey together, her previous journey's path branching off easily and smoothly to mesh with his. It wasn't a matter of adjusting, really, there was nothing to adjust to.
Well, aside from her curiosity.
However, whether she was travelling alone or with another creature didn't bother her in the slightest, but some things were meant to be seen with company! Those red ridges definitely seemed like such a place.
As they started off, she couldn't help but ask questions. She wanted to know, and would 'pester' him endlessly in her curiosity.
Perhaps it was something both of them would have to adjust to.
"How'd you get talons for feet~? It looks...really odd with back hooves, why don't you have two sets? That'd be great, I kinda wish I had some, myself. But then, I wish I had wings, too, but they'd get caught up in a lot of the small spaces I can get into, so I guess it's a good thing I don't." A pause, just to pull a breath in, and..! "You know, your muzzle's pretty cute, too! I've never seen one that's a bit pointy like that. Is there a purpose for it?"
And, abruptly, she skid to a halt with a gasp.
"Oh! Hey, I forgot. I feel kinda dumb, but my name's Crisiant. Cris does just fine, though, I answer to a lot of names anyway."
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:01 am
"Of course it does!" He chirped picking up his feet to get a move on. If they kept a good pace they would be there before the sun reached its zenith. What luck; at least one of his assumptions had proven itself to be true. She wanted to travel with him as much as he wanted her to.
It was good to have company. He spent so much time alone, perhaps too much time.
Zamyr kept his gaze shifting from the sand in front of them, to the sea of red and to the mare beside him. He made it a point never to let his eyes drift to high and risk getting blinded by the sun again. While he had expected to mostly watch the path he actually found himself looking more and more over to the blonde mare. She had a plethora of questions that seemed to be scorching the inside of her skull.
He did his best to answer them as quickly as she thought them up.
"I was born with them, all of us are. Really? I'd think I would look rather ridiculous with two sets of claws. They are quite useful though, the wings can be as well, and yes they do get in the way on occasion." For half a second he had thought she was finished, but no, there were still more to follow and he had only just caught up.
"My muzzle's cute?" Was all he managed to get out before she came to a sudden stop. His first thought was that she had spotted some sort of danger and his feathers began to twitch and raise on every part of him. They settled moments after she revealed exactly what had her gasping and he couldn't help but grin.
"Crisiant, I'm Zamyr." He replied. "Just Zamyr, mind you, I don't have any other names." For a moment longer he watched her expecting some new outburst that would need his attention.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:17 pm
"Very!" She agreed, bobbing her head up and down to send her flaxen mane and forelock flying.The way his feathers puffed up and pouffed out delighted her, and she danced in place, not really minding that he seemed alarmed in the slightest.
Practical naivete at its finest!
When he quirked a grin, she hit him with one straight back.
"Zamyr? Well, it's nice to meet you, now~"
She bowed her head and blew an explosive breath at the sand after turning partially away, and then danced back at the spray, her doe-tail flickering for a few moments.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:28 am
Zamyr couldn't help but be pleased by his good fortunes. She was a lively one, energetic and, if he were to guess, he would say she was probably optimistic as well. As chance would have it he had run into the perfect traveling companion before anything else, not counting mice and cacti. "It's great meeting you too." He said with genuine sincerity. "Really, great."
He observed her for a few moments as she played for the sand. If he had a cute muzzle then she had a cute tail. With a cheerful sort of chirping sound he trotted a few paces away from Crisiant and spread his wings before beating them down at the sand to send grains flying up into the air in a golden colored dust. He held his breath and watched as some of the grains settled and others got caught on the wind to drift along. Playing with sand was something that normally only the young of his kind did. Doing it at this age was bringing back fond memories of those times when everything was new.
He looked around happily. Everything was new. It was like being a kid for a second time and he loved it. "Come along!" He called excitedly. "I'll race you to the red!" He was excited all over again now.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:37 pm
Crisiant's ears quirked towards her companion at the chirping sounds, and she turned bright blue eyes to watch before..!
"Gah--hee!"
Despite the fact the silly mare was spitting sand kicked up by Zamyr's powerful wings, she danced amidst the spray and laughed. ...this only served to get more sand in her mouth, so eventually she stopped laughing and simply giggled.
She was so caught up she nearly didn't hear him call out and race off.
If not for the flurry of sudden movement, she truly might not have.
"H-Hey, Zamyr!" And she promptly dashed off after him. Despite the desert sand being mostly foreign to her and different and...less packed and dense than beach sand, she quickly found her stride to catch up on her flighty Cerynei limbs.
"You're on!"
Fwoosh!
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:14 am
Zamyr glanced over his shoulder to see what sort of progress the non-native to the sands was making. His jaw dropped slightly to see just how well she was doing. 'They must have a lot of sand beyond the mountains,' he thought to himself as he returned his gaze to the front. It was the only explanation for being able to move so well over sand. It was a skill that had a need to be developed unless you were specifically designed for it. He glanced back at the dark doe once again. She didn't look like she'd been built for sand travel but looks could be deceiving.
All that aside he wasn't about to let her win.
At the crest of the next dune he spread his wings and beat them rapidly to jump across to the top of the next. It wasn't going to give him much of a lead but going down and then back up would take up precious time. Zamyr grinned and continued along his chosen path to reach the red. He had never known that he was this competitive before but he honestly didn't want to lose.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:48 pm
She did well to keep up; a fact that made her chest swell with pride. Ears were swept back to protect them from the bits of sand her new companion kicked up in his wake. Crisiant's bright eyes tailed after the fascinating Zamyr, and she pushed her shorter frame hard to keep up.
However, the spritely doe could see she wouldn't win. In fact, at his fantastic leap, she felt herself falter and stumble, but with the uncanny ability to find her footing, she didn't fall into the sand.
Her ears actually pinned, despite the look of delight on her face, and her eyes swerved ahead instead of focusing on him. Down and up the dune she went, momentarily wishing for wings like her brother but having it no other way than this. If Zamyr didn't want to lose, Crisiant would be sure to make him work for his victory.
She pushed on, reached further, and dug in harder. Her smaller size held an advantage in that she was a slight bit lighter, and already she was fairly quick on her feet. The sand was a bit disconcerting at times, but she was making the best of it.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:26 am
Zamyr had once heard it said that a creature should not look behind when racing away from something. This was probably to keep yourself from tripping over your own feet. While it was likely good advice Zamyr ignored it completely to see how Crisiant was faring.
Unusually well.
His little display seemed to have given her more of a desire to win then she had possessed before. That wouldn't do he wanted to win. He turned his head back to the front and realized in horror that he was about to run straight off the top of another dune. A sort of gurgling squawk came out of his throat as he haphazardly threw open his wings to try and leap the dune as he had before.
For a moment his wings caught the air and lifted him up but he didn't quite make the jump. He landed awkwardly in the middle and found himself clawing and scrambling madly against the sand to get back on course. Not looking behind you while running: definitely good advice. Definitely. He wouldn't be doing that again. He'd worry about Crisiant if she screamed or passed him.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 10:35 am
With her gaze turned forwards, and not focused on Zamyr himself, she only caught the edges of his movement to look back. She, instead, saw the dune that she was quickly approaching, and he was running up. The ungainly squawk that came from him a few moments later had her ears sweeping forwards, uncertain if she heard him right.
Still, they quickly swept back after being pelted with a sudden spray of sand from his scramble.
She couldn't help it.
Crisiant laughed as she ran, and daintily leaped down the edge of the dune to close the gap. She stretched out her neck as he regained his footing and his path, managing to just catch the tip of one of his feathers and give it a playful, firm, tug.
Distraction!
With a little snort of laughter, she released the feather and put on a new - albeit temporary - burst of speed, invigorated by catching up to him and wanting to pass him, if only for a little while.
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