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 Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:46 pm
This is a private, solo-RP between my Dita and Gwendolen. Posting without permission is an invitation for one of my kalona to maul your pony~ ^^  
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:18 pm
Gwendolen stood at the boundary between two, very distinct, types of land. Behind her stood a forest of bare branched trees with a carpet of dried leaves and grasses. Before her, almost as far as she could see, there lay nothing but scorched land. Around the edges she could see where plants had started to burn but had managed to avoid being consumed completely. It felt strange to look out upon this desolate place since a little over a week ago this had been her home.
Gathering herself up, Gwendolen took a shaky step out into the burned land. No one knew exactly what had caused the blaze but she had her suspicions. The timing had been too perfect and the kalona had been nowhere to be found. She had been tricked, he had set her home on fire, and she didn't even know his name. Even knowing this didn't help her, Gwendolen had expected to feel some sort of anger towards the culprit but she only felt hollow. She made her way into the center of the area not noticing how the soot was beginning to cling to the ends of her mane and tail.
Gwendolen stopped and nudged at a place with a pale green hoof. Here she had kept the piles of blankets that provided some comfort to the sick and wounded as they recovered. She turned her head to the right, over there she had kept jugs full of water and next to that there had been stores of food for those that couldn't move to graze. If she closed her eyes, Gwendolen could picture everything as it had been before the fire. She could even almost smell the herbs that they ground up to help with illness. When she opened her eyes none of it was there.
Gwendolen took a deep, shuddering breath and continued her tour around the destroyed clearing.
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:54 pm
What had happened could be described as nothing but terrible. One day she had been patrolling around the village with her mother when a human had come running out of the forest screaming in panic. Dita had had no idea what the human had been saying but screaming was never a good sign. A group of her own kind had joined a group of men from the village and headed into the forest. Dita had stayed behind just in case whatever danger made it to her home. Before too long she had noticed the smoke hanging over the trees and had managed to guess what the woman had been screaming about, the forest was on fire. Dita had wanted to go and help but her mother convinced her to stay, what good would she be against flames?
It wasn't until late in the night that the group returned, some were burned, others were only singed, but nearly all of them were coughing. At the edge of the group Dita had spotted a face she hadn't expected to see, her friend, Gwendolen. Dita had tried asking Gwendolen what had happened but her friend had been in shock and Dita was able to get nothing out of her. One of the wind stallions that had ventured out relayed to story to Dita instead.
A fire had started in the woods and spread quickly due to the dryness of all the foliage. When they had arrived, the humans and soquili had done what they could but things hadn't been going well. They had returned only because a miracle had occurred; it had begun to rain over the area. The stallion had claimed that it had been either the work of the spirits or else one of their chosen ones, the angeni. Dita had no idea whether what the stallion held truth or not but she thanked the spirits either. In her time spent with humans she had learned that fire was every bit as helpful as it was harmful. Out of control as it had been was nothing but harmful. The usefulness of his information had stopped there as all he could tell Dita about her friend was that they had found her staring at the flames shaking her head.
Watching Gwendolen now, Dita understood perfectly why her friend had been in shock; they were standing in her home. Dita had been here several times before and it had always been so full of life before now. People went there to get better and in most cases that was exactly what happened. To see it now, to see Gwendolen now, was heartbreaking.
Treading softly, Dita approached her friend with a somber expression and a weight in her heart. “At least, no one had been here. When it happened.” She offered quietly nodding around. Her words wouldn’t be much help, Dita knew, but Gwendolen was first and foremost a healer. Knowing that no one had died would at least soften the blow of what had happened.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 12:02 pm
Gwendolen was dully aware of the sound of Dita's approaching footsteps, yet, when her friend spoke, Gwendolen still felt her body jolt with a start as though surprised. She turned her head slowly to get Dita's face fully in view but offered no answer. Instead she was locked within her own thoughts. No one had been there, that she knew of. It was a small blessing and despite Dita's intentions it didn't really help Gwendolen at all. Her home was gone. Her work was destroyed. Once her mother returned with Scarlet they would have to move. That meant spending weeks finding a convenient location that wasn't already claimed. They needed access to clean, fresh water, lots of food, and plenty of healing herbs. After that they would have to work on rebuilding a reputation so people would actually know who and what and where they were. Healers were nothing without people to heal. The steps sounded easier when she thought of them in a straightforward manner but the truth was she didn't have the slightest clue how to go about doing anything. She had been trained as a healer almost since the day she came out of her basket. She could heal but she knew little of anything else.
She came out of her thoughts slowly and focused on Dita's eyes. "What am I supposed to do?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:44 pm
Dita heaved a sigh. It was painful to see Gwendolen like this. Gwendolen who always seemed to know exactly what to do. Clever Gwendolen who was always happy to help. Now she looked like a foal fresh from it's basket, lost. No, that was hardly an accurate comparison, newly hatched foals always looked amazed by the world around them. Gwendolen looked horrified. The world had scarred her or at least one of its most deadly inhabitants did, fire. Fire had stolen everything Gwendolen knew and if Dita had been able to read he friend's mind she would know that all of this could be chalked up to another deadly inhabitant, a kalona.
Shaking her head sadly she crossed to her friend and lay her head upon Gwendolen's back near the base of her neck. After a short moment Dita lifted her head and lipped at Gwendolen's cheek trying to comfort her friend. Now it was Dita's turn to be Gwen's stone. "Now, you need to take care of yourself. You need to eat and rest and...come to terms with everything that has happened. I'll have my cousins come by here every day to check for your mother. When she comes back then you can plan your next move." She looked directly into Gwen's bright, green, bloodshot eyes and gave her head a not. "Just worry about yourself Gwen...everything else will settle in time...you'll see, Gwen, you will."
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:53 pm
Gwendolen flinched when Dita suddenly felt the need to touch her. It was such unusual behavior from her friend that it seemed to snap her back to her senses enough to comprehend Dita's answer. Take care of herself, that was Dita's solution to all of this? It didn't make sense to Gwendolen's shaky mind but at the same time she could find no fault in her friend's logic. She opened her mouth to protest but something in Dita's silver eyes told her not to. Dita was serious.
Gwendolen repeated that thought to herself over and over again and slowly she began to nod her head. She would go along with Dita's suggestion until a better one could be found if a better one could be found. "Okay...so...then...do we just go back...to the village?" It felt strange to ask such a question. She had wanted to ask if they were going to her home but she was already standing there. The village was the only place left to return to for them.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:59 pm
Dita was relieved, Gwendolen had heard her and better yet she had understood. She hadn't put up as much of a fight as Dita had expected. She could only imagine that that was because Gwen had had much of the fight knocked out of her. Time would set things right, in that Dita was completely confident. The spirits had their reasons for doing things, all the horses in the village said so, and while this was a cruel thing to do there had to be some point in it.
"Yes, we go back to the village and get you settled in." She gave a firm nod of her head and then nudged Gwendolen's shoulder to get her moving. "You can stay with my family, my parents and cousins are a bit weird but I think you'll enjoy the company. Everything's going to be fine, Gwen. Absolutely everything." Or at least Dita hoped it would be.
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