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 Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:16 pm
 "Clear ahead, captain," Flint saluted his friend with one tiny orange wing, excited to begin the day. They had both been restless after having to stop over night. They both knew that was safest for them, but they hated it. He peered down into her eager orange eyes just moments before she took off running and he zoomed after her in a matter of seconds. "Race you to that big tree up there!" he challenged.
There were lots of big trees up ahead, but she would race to any of them. She would race past the trees and into the desert, into the jungle for all she cared.She wanted to see the world and there was no pausing while getting to new locations. But she found that even her fast legs could not carry her quickly enough. If only she weren't so little and young. If only her wings worked so that she would be able to fly around the world nonstop. Falling Rock grinned daringly at her hummingbird friend and pushed herself forward more, running harder, faster, closer to her dreams.
She had so much to see, so many places to explore, so many friends to meet, damsels in distress to save, dreams to chase...but so much to learn. She wouldn't admit the last part. She didn't want to admit that after finally escaping the confinements of her father, she needed someone still. She wanted more than anything to be able to move at night as well as during the day. To move whenever and wherever she pleased. She still needed someone besides Flint. He did all he could, and he didn't want to admit it either, but they needed help.
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 3:26 pm
The wind felt good under his wings. It felt good to be traveling again, felt good to move and go wherever he pleased. It did. Really. He liked being up here, with no company but the sparse clouds and the wind whispering through his feathers. Just because he had no place in particular to go didn't mean he had to stop going there. Wherever it was. And what was behind him could stay behind him. All of it. He was sick of family catching up to him. He didn't need his parent anymore, he was an adult thanks, and he didn't need pesky little half-sisters that didn't remind mother of the stallion who loved and left her. And he certainly didn't need a brother who thought just because they were family that meant something. Because it didn't. They were strangers, regardless of whether or not their father was the same dirtbag.
He could, and would, and definitely was leaving it all behind. Forever. Permanently. He wasn't even going to think about it anymore. So there.
Unfortunately, he could not be sure he was leaving his problems behind so easily. And, in keeping half an eye on the ground below, he spotted the young foal bolting through the trees. Without a clear veiw, trees did that, Korev certainly couldn't be sure why. But if he knew his luck, it would not be in a game of tag with a sibling. And if it were trouble... well he couldn't just keep flying if some monster was trying to eat a little foal. His irritating, awful, pointless conscience wouldn't allow him to.
Angling his wings, the dark hybrid dropped and, with a little maneuvering and only one clipped branch, managed to find his way to solid earth not too far ahead of where he thought the foal might be heading. Cut it off, and get between the gray foal and whatever was after it. That seemed like a decent plan. And not showing up behind it would be good, because parents tended to freak out if someone came up behind their babies. Korev didn't see any parents, or dangerous creatures now that he was down though. Just the foal, and a zipping little bird. “You okay?” he called, now thoroughly irritated. There was probably no problem here, he was probably just wasting his time and getting suckered into some sort of annoying conversation.
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:15 pm
She dug her hooves into the ground, stopping hard and watching her hummingbird friend go zipping past the dark colored stallion and the tree they had been racing to. She frowned up at him, pouting because he had interrupted her running. Why on Earth would he do that? Did he want to get run over?
"Of course I'm ok....Although I just lost a race," she grumbled, still pouting and panting slightly. She stared up at the other, ruffling her wings slightly and straightening herself. And then she realized that he might be a danger to her. Perhaps he was one of her father's scouts, come to take her back. She backed away from him just a little, preparing her muscles to take off running again. "What do you want?" she asked and raised her wings to make herself look bigger, not so snotty now that she knew he could hurt her or capture her. She heard Flint's tiny wings whizzing back to her and was comforted. He wouldn't let her be taken without a fight, that was for sure.
After looking back and realizing he had left her behind and left her with a stranger no less, Flint doubled back and flew with all his might to the aid of his friend. "Tally ho!" he yelled and zoomed past the stallion's head. "I will not let you take her!" he shouted without really knowing the situation. He was in the stallion's face faster than Falling Rock could have said his name. He was only convinced to back off a little when he heard Falling Rock tell him to calm down from behind. He did what she said, he was just as curious as she was to know what this stallion wanted. After calming down and thinking, Flint wondered if this other might be of use to them if he were not here to kidnap her. Either way, this wasn't a very nice first impression. Still, Flint stayed in between the young filly and the stallion, fully intending to poke a couple eyes out if he had to so that she would be safe.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 2:09 pm
A race. Of course it was. Just a silly game. He'd gotten involved over a silly game. Well, no matter. He would uninvolve himself as quickly as possible, and then be on his way to wherever he wanted to be going again. Korev frowned faintly as he down at the filly while she pouted at him, then a bit more deeply as she backed away and raised her wings. Well at least she wasn't totally stupid, she knew better than to simply trust a stranger. That was something in her favor. Had something happened to her, something that made her wary?
Well, whatever it was, it wasn't his problem. So he wasn't going to worry about it. It was her parents' job to do that. Parents. Right.
“So where're your-” Korev began to ask, ignoring her question of what he wanted. But he was quickly interrupted by what might have almost passed as a tiny battle cry, and then some even tinier orange blue was whisking around his head. He flinched back on reflex, shutting his eyes to protect them as his ears flattened to lay irritably back. The hum of wings in his face faded when the filly called to her small friend, and he opened one eye a crack to double check before opening the other to scowl down at the foal and her friend. “Where are your parents?” he demanded, looking around as though he might spot them. Most parents didn't let such young children wander off on their own. Surely they were looking for her already, and once he returned her he could be on his way without having to wonder if something found and ate her while she wandered about lost in the middle of nowhere.
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:45 am
Did he know? Did he know that her adoptive father was searching for her and that he intended to keep her locked away from the world forever? She wondered if her father would have been the same cold and controlling stallion if her mother had survived the rockslide. Her father had told her that she had come from the rockslide. It was almost as if she had been a part of it. She admitted that she felt comfortable around rocks, they gave her an odd sense of safety and yet freedom. So was it her fault that her mother was dead? Sometimes she thought so...
She blinked and looked back up at him. "I don't have any parents," she said, sticking her tongue out at him and pushing those horrible thoughts from her mind. Why did he care anyways? Why did she secretly want him to? She eyed him up and down, her guards still up. "What do you want, tell me now or I'll have Flint n** you in the behind until you're raw," she threatened, her nostrils flaring.
Flint was not particularly fond of the idea of nipping someone in the rump. But he would do it for her if it was necessary. He had seen the wheels in her mind turning and knew what she was thinking. She hadn't ever really voiced her feelings to him, she was too prideful for that. He wished she would confide in him, but he knew it was a sore spot and he always stayed quiet about it.
He motioned as if he were going to poke at the stallion and then backed off again, hoping to scare him off and trying to give an appearance of pure terror. "I'll be your worst nightmare!" he peeped, his voice coming out higher than what he had wanted. All the same, he kept an angry scowl on his tiny face, flitting side to side between the two of them.
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Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:59 am
No parents. No parents. Oh great. Oh this was just fantastic. Now he really couldn't just leave her behind! “Seriously?” Korev sighed, glancing hopelessly around again. She was old enough that it was unlikely she'd just freed herself from the basket, she'd definitely been out and about for a while. So that was plenty of time for any parents who wanted her to have found her. Which meant they really weren't around, unless she was lying to him. But that was a seriously dumb thing to tell a stranger. What if he'd wanted to eat her or something? A runty little bird like that one sure wouldn't stop him.
“I will bite you back,” Korev warned the humming bird flitting between them. His courage was probably commendable, but it was also not likely to do much good at all. “And you,” he said, turning his attention to the filly once more. “You can't just wander around without anyone to look after you. Anyone big,” he amended, glancing at the orange bird. “It's very dangerous. Are you sure you haven't got any parents?” Korev chose to ignore the faint note of pleading that had entered his voice. He didn't want to have to babysit!
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:22 am
"No parents," she repeated, "and I don't need anyone big. I take care of myself." She puffed out her chest pridefully and grinned, ignoring the fact that she was slightly skewing the truth. She did need someone big. She glanced at her hovering friend and sighed inwardly. He could n** all the butts in the world and she still wouldn't be safe. It was dangerous being on her own like this, but something inside her always warned against affiliating herself with adults.
"Even if I did need someone big, they'd slow me down. I have things to do," she said in a matter-of-fact tone and snorted at him. It was true. She refused to have a repeat of the situation with her father. She would not be tied down again. She would rather be eaten or killed all on her own than be bored and contained with someone big. Why did others who were big think they could just tell her where to go and what to think? Why should someone be able to own another soul just because they are bigger? She spat at the word and the stallion and then turned to go.
Flint glared at the stallion, not afraid of his counter threat. His little heart broke a little at the thought that he was not large enough to truly take care of Fall. He knew this. He had always known. He was a scout, a distraction for enemies, not a bodyguard. Though he would gladly sacrifice himself for her, it would only ever give her enough time to run. He frowned at the stallion and zipped back into Falling Rock's mane as she turned to go. Even he knew that they needed someone.
"Captain...maybe we could use his help...maybe he knows the world," he whispered in her ear, adding the last bit to perk her interest. She wanted adventure and fun, and he knew that if someone knew how to travel she would jump at such an opportunity. He felt her come to a stop and he peeked over at the stallion. After a bit of thought he burst forward from her mane and back to him. "You are big...are you an adventurer?" he inquired in a gruff, yet still high-pitched, tone.
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Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:04 pm
Oh this was just grand. She wanted to be left alone about as badly as he wanted to be able to leave her alone. Except he very much doubted that the little filly could take care of herself, nevermind that she seemed to insist as much. And if that little humming bird was her guardian, well, it just didn't seem likely that she'd survive. Or if she did, she'd have had scars from too many close calls. He had some idea of what it must be like to grow up all alone, it was an experience he was lucky to have missed out on but Korev did have enough of an imagination to guess what could happen. He'd had a few scrapes on his own, and he was an adult who knew how to hold his own. She was just a little filly with a loyal bite-size bird trying to protect her. That they'd managed as long as they had was likely some sort of miracle considering how much trouble he'd stomped into in the time he'd been on his own.
His ears laid back as she spat at him, and for a second he was tempted to spit back and take his leave. But no. No he couldn't really do that. It would haunt him forever if he found her little corpse somewhere. Curse his conscience, it never did him a lick of good! All it did was give him headache after headache after headache, and he still could never quite bring himself to ignore it!
So now it was somehow suddenly his job to figure out how to persuade this little nuisance that yes she did need someone to look after her for a while when he really, really didn't want to. It was difficult to argue a point he didn't actually feel inclined to back up! Korev watched her start to go in irritable silence. Why him? Why was it always him? What was wrong with finding someone sensible and competent that he could have a brief, decent exchange of conversation before the pair of them split ways? If only he could just let her wander off. She wasn't his filly! It wasn't supposed to be his responsibility to make sure she didn't get killed or something. But he didn't actually know whose it was. He couldn't dump her on someone who was supposed to do this sort of thing if he didn't know where to find them.
The humming bird received a snort when it flew back to ask him its gruff, squeaky question. “Of course not,” he huffed, “I'm not some fool looking for trouble, there's enough of that finds me as it is! I'm a... a traveler. I've got places to go, things to do, and I don't appreciate some little lost foal slowing me down.” Not that he had anywhere in particular to go, what mattered was that he was going. “So I guess we're just going to have to find some herd that doesn't mind an extra pest underhoof so I can leave you somewhere uneaten and get on with my life,” Korev snapped at the filly, “Because I have things to do.”
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:53 pm
A traveler. Her heart stopped with a pang of jealousy. He had seen the world, had seen so much more than she had. Oh if she could just convince him to bring her along...But she had been so rude that it was no wonder that he wanted to drop her off at the nearest safe place. But she couldn't...wouldn't go back to living with a herd. There were rules in herds, and boundaries that she couldn't bare to conform to. She wanted to fall to his feet and beg him to take her along on his travels, she would do anything. But her pride held her in place, and she remained standing rigid and facing away from him. Besides, what if he was lying?
She turned to look at him, her eyes narrowed and suspicious of him still. "A traveler. Where have you traveled to?" she asked, trying to stifle the excitement in her voice. If he was what he claimed to be, she would have to go with him. What could she do to make herself more worthwhile to bring along? She wanted so badly to learn, to be taught and then to teach others someday. If only he knew...if only he could understand.
He knew she was hooked now. "She won't slow you down. She's fast and strong...she's made it this far, hasn't she?" Flint whispered in the stranger's ear, glancing back at Fall. He knew she would never admit what he was saying, but she needed this big stranger. She needed to learn, needed to see. There was only so much that he could do for her, but he could at least find her a teacher. This poor stallion happened to be the lucky soul to have to take her on. If he was up to it, he would have a fantastic apprentice. He could watch her grow from a spoiled runaway to a strong and free heroine, he would see her views of the world change, he could observe as she blossomed into a leader. If he gave her the chance...
Flint looked back at the irritated and disrespected stallion, hoping that he would see the potential in the snotty filly that stood before him, just as he did.
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