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 Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:57 am
This is a private RP for my Lorenna and the twins Fletcher and Thatcher. No posting please. ((Lorenna | Fletcher | Thatcher))
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 9:39 am
Snow clung to everything on the cold winter morning, trees, bushes, the ground, and even to the legs of soquili. Lorenna found herself standing on a smooth-topped rock that she had just cleared so she wouldn't have to stand in the chest deep snow in the western forest clearing. For most soquili the snow here would only reach just over the knee, but not for Lorenna, she was a purebred flutter and with that bloodline came certain downfalls. The biggest of those always seemed to be that she was very small. She made up for her tiny stature with a quick wit and a sharp mind that she was currently putting to use by directing the small army of crows that had arrived for her at first light.
These crows were part of her network, an attempt to connect as many soquili in the region as possible to put a stop to major threats before they happened. Lorenna could only assume that there were so many reports today because the snow storm had kept many of them from flying. Scanning the branches she spotted many familiar beaked faces, the usual messengers from the hot springs, jungle, the Padmapani herd, the UG and the village. There were also new birds among those. Either these were secondary reports or word had reached new groups that wanted to join in the information circle.
Lorenna sighed, this would take her a few hours to sort out in the very least, and then she got to work. "Padmapani messengers, please come forward, we'll start with you." She was closest to the herd so it seemed logical to start with them. At her command not one crow but four took positions on branch a bit closer to the black mare. "Please report one at a time."
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:01 am
Barely a quarter of a mile away from Lorenna two young, twin, foals were waking to find that their world had gone from the grey of yesterday to bright white. The oldest of the two had been the first to awaken and move from the curled pile that he and his brother slept in at the base of the large pine tree. It wouldn't be long until his little brother awoke, it was too cold for him to sleep without the comfort of his twin's warmth at his side. Still, the elder brother took a few moments to himself to observe the change in their surroundings. The sky was still a thick, grey blanket of winter clouds but the ground that had been earthy and mostly flat was now fluffy and white. Slowly he leaned forward and poked at it with his nose. It was cold and it melted quickly. He identified it as the substance known as snow. He and his brother had encountered this once before but that had just been a dusting, this came up to his chest. He was about to take a mouthful of snow to drink when he heard the telltale signs of his brother awakening.
The younger of the two shivered and tried to press into his brother only to find that the only thing beside him was the roots of the tree. His bright green eyes opened slowly as he grumbled his displeasure at being awake. The first thing his eyes focused on was the form of his brother standing by a white backdrop. Moving sluggishly the younger twin got to his feet and made his way over to his brother. Standing side by side it was almost like a mirror image though it was not reversed like a reflection would be. "What is it?" He asked looking at the white covering the forest.
"Snow." The elder brother replied.
"Huh..." The younger twin pawed at the edge of the snow slope that lead down to them. It crumbled in and crunched pleasantly. Slowly a grin spread across his face and he suddenly felt more awake. "Come on!" He cried before bouncing into the snow. He sunk straight into it sending a small cloud of snow crystals into the air and as soon as his hooves hit the ground he bounced again and landed three feet away creating another snow crater when he landed. Shortly after his brother joined him and the twins leaped and bounced their way through the new snow laughing all the while.
This was how the two had always spent most of their days. Older soquili might have scolded their parents for letting them wander alone in such a way but no one could ever find the twins' parents. Not even the twins could find their parents and to be honest they weren't quite sure what a "parent" even was. They had never known their parents, the older of the two, who had been born and left his basket first, had briefly seen their mother when she had concealed them in the bushes but he had never known who she was. Similarly the two did not really know what a name was having never been named during all their months of living. They understood that some had them but they didn't know why or how they had gotten such a thing.
For many this would seem a strange and unfortunate life but for the twins it was amazing, full of wonder and never lonely. What they didn't know was that things were about to change.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:37 am
Thankfully, for all the reports she had received, that day proved to be a light one in terms of information going out. There was one report from the jungle that the kalona that had attacked Padmapani recently had returned and they seemed to be up to something but nothing solid that could be reported on. Lorenna had sent back orders to place bird scouts around the jungle to try and collect more information safely. The village had reported a suspicious fire that had just occurred but had no real leads on what had caused it as the witness was still coping with the loss of her home. Lorenna sent back a request to pursue as much as they could and to keep her posted on any updates. In the end Lorenna hadn't needed to send out her own birds that day. All the information that needed to get around, including her current location and intended destination so that she could be located, could be carried by the ones that brought messages to her. By the time the birds had flown off to rest before their journeys home the sun was already able to be seen over the tops of trees.
She would need to look into faster ways to get all the information sorted or there would come a time when she would find herself answering crows from dawn until dusk and still never see the end of them. Lorenna stretched her neck and hopped down from her rock, it was time she sought out food. Lorenna wandered around the clearing digging down in the snow as best as she could to get at the dry grasses underneath. Food in the winter was often tasteless but it was better than nothing. For water, she was in luck, there was frozen water all around her and all she needed to do reach out and take a mouthful. As Lorenna filled her belly and quenched her thirst she slowly became aware of the distant sound of laughter. She lifted her head as she chewed a mouthful of grass and looked towards the sound, it seemed to be growing louder the longer she stood there.
Curiosity got the best of the mare and she slowly made her way through the snow stopping only when she located the source of the laughter. Out in the snow there was a pair of cerynei foals playing in the snow, or was it just one foal? Lorenna looked closer, no it was two they just looked exactly like one another. Twins. For a moment she watched them playing quietly and then something began to bother her, where were their parents? She scanned the trees but couldn't see anyone else about. Lorenna frowned, it wasn't entirely unusual for foals to wander off but it was her responsibility as an adult to check on them at the very least.
"Good morning." She called to the foals. "I'm Lorenna. Are your parents nearby?" There wasn't really a good way to go about asking, no matter how she ran the phrasing through her head it still managed to sound shady.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:02 pm
The two had been playing for hours and had traveled a great distance but they were having so much fun they had scarcely noticed the passing of time or the changing scenery. It wasn't until an unfamiliar voice called out to them that they realized how far they had wandered from their tree. They didn't give the change in location more than a second's thought, however, as instead they focused on protecting each other. Like opposing magnets the two raced towards each other and didn't stop until they were right next to each other. Once together they continued to shift over and over again as both fought to act as a shield for the other. They only stopped when the older stomped his foot into the ground like he had seen grown stallions on riverbanks doing when facing a threat. He didn't like this strange mare, she was as dark as midnight and she had no business being there. The twins were not used to encountering other horses when they weren't near streams or ponds and this change from the norm put them on edge. They seemed to have an advantage though, this mare was not much bigger than they were.
"Go away!" The elder shouted tossing his head to show off his stubs of antlers. He was quite proud of them even though they were small. Most of the soquili they had encountered had nothing like his antler nubs.
It didn't take the younger of the two long to join his brother's antics. He drew himself up beside his brother so that their chests were in line and began tossing his head around like his twin. He also decided to add snorting and scraping at the ground in uneven intervals to his little show. If his brother wanted her gone then the younger trusted his judgment.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:20 pm
Lorenna's face twitched at the aggressive display. Whoever their parent's were it was clear they hadn't done a good job teaching them manners. That or they had just done an especially good job at teaching them to avoid strangers. Lorenna did what she could to wipe the traces of annoyance off of her face before stepping closer to the foals. "I just want to make sure that you're not out here alone." She explained as calmly as she could. Dealing with foals was always so complicated, they didn't understand enough for communication to go smoothly. Her love of words was useless against a foal who understand little of what she was saying.
She stopped her approach several yards short of the foals and looked around the area again hoping to see something she had missed from her new perspective. She still saw nothing. "Are they still at your home?" She asked warming her voice and, inadvertently, speaking down to them. "Did you wander off without telling them?" If they had Lorenna hoped that their parents gave them a good scolding.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:32 pm
The younger was the first to stop trying to scare the mare off but only because she had confused him. She had asked if they were alone. He understood that to mean without anyone else but unless the mare was blind she had to see his brother standing beside him. As he worked on puzzling it over he became aware that mare was getting closer. His entire body grew tense. What did she want from them? She kept asking about strange things like parents, home and telling someone where they were going. He hardly understood what she was getting at but he did know that she was too close.
Letting out a vicious shout, that could only be described as comical coming out of such a small body, he lowered his head and charged at the mare. He felt his head connect with something soft and yet firm and he could only assume it was the mare. He didn't get a chance to really look at what he had struck.
The younger didn't get to see because his brother had pushed him out of the way to launch his own attack. Just like his brother he hit the mare in the chest before backing off. He made his way back to stand by his little brother and once he was there he began glaring at the mare with his ears pinned back. "What's parents?" He demanded pressing his side against his brother's.
"And what's home?" The other demanded just as fiercely copying his brother's expression.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:58 pm
Whatever Lorenna had been expecting to happen getting rammed by a pair of foals had not been it. She stumbled backward awkwardly in the snow and worked on regaining her breath. The way the two could leap clean out of the snow seemed to put them at a clear advantage in a fight, the chest deep snow didn't slow them at all and the jumps put power into their attacks that shouldn't have been there. Lorenna was hardly pleased at being attacked in such a way but she found she couldn't muster up the anger to yell at the pair when they started shouting some unusual questions at her. Her brain slowly ground to a halt. They didn't know what parents were? Not know what a home was was somewhat understandable as some soquili were prone to traveling but not knowing what parents were, that was truly strange.
Hoping that it was only the words that were strange Lorenna tried a few more. "Parents, you know, your mother and father? Mom and dad? Mama and Papa?" The only word that seemed to spark any recognition in the two was the phrase 'mama' so she tried that, there were plenty of single mothers out there, she had lived with one for a while though Carmine just barely qualified in a loose sense. "Your mama? Where is she?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:07 pm
The twins dropped their angry demeanor and exchanged looks as the mare started talking to them again. Or at least they were pretty sure that she was trying to speak to them though they barely understood what she was saying. She kept naming things, or at least they sounded like things, but the only word they knew was a name they had heard many times while lingering around streams: mama. She seemed to catch on that they knew the word because the next thing she asked was where their Mama was. The older of the two frowned, he didn't understand what she was asking. Mama wasn't their anything though it seemed an awful lot of foals their age knew her.
"We don't know." He grumbled clearly annoyed. "We don't know who Mama is. Ask someone else."
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:24 pm
At first things made sense, they didn't know where their mother was. Barely three seconds later everything began to make less sense and then less still by the time he had finished. She tried to figure out what he meant and she wanted to believe that they didn't know where she was because they didn't know who their mother was, like she had run off. That didn't answer everything though. They knew that word and not the other and they told her to ask someone else like someone else would really know. Lorenna's head was beginning to hurt.
"Do...you...do you think 'mama' is the name of a person?" She asked sounding surprised by the idea herself. She wasn't certain how she had come up with the idea but it did seem to fit the situation though that didn't answer everything. These two were turning out to be more of a mystery than she had expected. "How old are you two?" If they were very young that could explain some of it as well.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:37 pm
The younger snorted at her first question and stomped his foot. "We aren't dumb!" He shouted taking offense. "We know she's a person and we know everyone knows her!" He gave his head a nod and puffed out his chest proudly hoping for praise before remembering that Lorenna was a threat. He immediately dropped his head and resumed looking daggers at her so she would stay at bay.
"Why do you care?" The older brother raised his eyebrow suspiciously at the mare's second question. He didn't really know the answer but he'd never heard anyone asking that question casually. Mostly it seemed to be an older soquili thing. They all seemed to obsess over how many years or seasons they had been around for. Mostly they used summer or winter to define age but the only season he knew was this one, winter, where it was cold. He and his brother hadn't really experienced any others to his knowledge. He'd only ever heard people commenting on 'the cold of winter' or saying 'that's winter for you' idly.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 4:19 pm
Lorenna's inner monologue instantly contested the young foals boasting but she kept that safely inside her head. It wasn't his fault he was young and, very clearly, uneducated. He had just confirmed her worst fears, they had no idea what a mother even was and by the looks of things a father was just as much of a mystery. She chose not to grace the second foal with an answer and instead settled herself like she was preparing to receive reports, this was going to be a long discussion.
"I know that you two do not trust or like me but I must ask you to listen for a while." Lorenna took a deep breath wondering how she could even begin to explain this to them. Or should she start with the other questions she had. Lorenna shook her head softly, no, an explanation of the basics was the first thing in order. "Mama is another word for a person's mother. So 'mama' is not any one person's name but a sort of shared title for all mother's. Now, a mother is the word for a mare that has children, it is what the children, like yourselves, call her. Do you understand?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 4:39 pm
The twins were confused. They were being told something that went completely over their heads but it still made sense. The older was the firs to try and speak after the sudden flood of information. "So...Mama...is not one...but lots?" He looked from Lorenna to his brother looking almost like he was in pain. This was the first time they had ever really learned in such a direct way and he didn't really like it. It felt like a bit too much and so suddenly and a lot of this lesson was telling him that everything he knew was wrong. "So then...we just don't have a mama?"
His brother grinned at this. "Are we special then? We don't have a mother." He laughed and nudged at his older brother before prancing around in the snow looking like the cat that caught the canary.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 4:51 pm
Lorenna clenched her jaw, this is what she had been afraid of. They really didn't have a mother. Perhaps they had just gotten separated, if she were to be hopeful. That was easy enough to fix, she already had the means to get a search started for their mother.
"Everyone has a mother." She said absently as she looked at the trees for her borrowed crow, Khaa. He could get the message circulating through the birds for her. It wouldn't take long, someone would surely know something about two missing, twin foals. Twins were rare after all, especially ones that looked exactly alike. She could look after them until a relative came to claim them, it couldn't be that hard, after all Carmine's child was still alive and Lorenna had known rocks more responsible than her friend. Finally she spotted her skull-capped bird roosting in the branches of a bare aspen tree.
"Now, if you two will give me your names I will start a search to locate your mother and I'm certain she'll be thrilled to know you are safe and sound." Or at least Lorenna hoped that was the case, she didn't want to think that the two had been abandoned.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 4:55 pm
The twins traded perplexed looks and a long silence settled between them. It was strange learning that there was something out there for them that they had never known about before. It was also odd that this mare wanted to locate this mystery mare for them so much. The real reason the were silent, however, was that they weren't sure what to tell the mare.
"We don't have names." The older of the two said finally. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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