Running through sand was an entirely different feeling. The grains shifted underfoot, giving way immediately to the pounding of his hooves. They were warmed by the pumpkin sun, and then tempered with cold as he stepped into where the sand hid beneath the murky water. It wasn’t like the grassy meadows on campus, where the grown was hard and unrelenting, solidly holding against him when it was dry, and sucking him into the muck when it rained. Even wetted by the lapping waves, the sand held no purchase and he floated, gliding across the frothy shoreline. Efflo tossed his head, shaking his glowing mane as he cavorted about, spraying water everywhere.
The water was cool against his feet, refreshing yet strange. He wasn’t a water creature by any means but the sensation wasn’t altogether unpleasant. If he was honest with himself, as the skulled horse slowed to a halt, he actually found it quite fun. Lifting his front leg, he pawed at the rippling surface, digging into the sand for no reason other than pure silliness. Then with a raspy whinny, he was off again, galloping, surging with the waves, his sleek black hide wet and shining.
Smerdle
you asked for it >D
Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 2:54 pm
Mmur didn't feel anything under his hooves, mostly because he didn't have any yet. He just had a mount, and even though it was the most beautiful mount ever, he couldn't feel what its hooves could. Or could he? The famine horseman squeezed his eyes shut, letting the rotting pony he rode lead the way as he tried to touch the sand and water beneath him with his mind.
"Feeeeeel the sand," he muttered, pulling his shoulders up near his ears and balling his hands into fists. "Be one with the—"
He sputtered as the majestic undead boil galloped past, leaving him coated in a fine layer of seawater. His mount sped up with a thought and a short time later he was riding next to this somewhat familiar scareling.
"I... um... you're very fast!" he shouted, eyes widening as he was almost bucked off.
Efflo’s ears were flicked backward, having heard Mmur and his mount approaching far before they caught up with him. He eased his pace, slowing to something less furious, something more comfortable and suited to moving conversation. His bony face turned, the empty sockets of his skull peering eerily at the horseman. It was riding what seemed to be an equine not unlike himself, and it puzzled him; horsemen were very puzzling creatures.
As he’d found out, they also could be violent, and hot-tempered and Efflo wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about them. But Mmur’s scent was familiar, and he’d only ever shown pleasantness to Efflo, Efflo allowed himself to relax, stride becoming more rhythmic as the tension seeped from his body. Besides, the sight of mount soothed his worries, even if the horsemen were strange, their companions must certainly be his kin, right?
Efflo began to answer, but all that came out was a raspy wheeze rattling through his skull, the sound sickly and haunting. With a frustrated shake of his head, he slowed completely, halting in the water and waiting for Mmur to join him. While he waited, he was transforming, lost in a dark and glowing mist as he shrank into his two-legged form.
It wasn’t nearly impressive, the scrawny little boil standing in place of where the elegant horse had once been, the water washing up and over his boots.
Smerdle
oh gosh, that was hardly a wait at all! ;; <3
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:33 pm
As Efflo tried to reply, Mmur leaned in a little closer, listening for words in the boil's scratchy hiss. He was a little thankful when the other horse slowed to a stop and reformed into the student he had met briefly before. The horseman followed suit, dismounting and running a quick hand through his hair to make sure everything was still in its place as his mount faded away as well.
"Hello... young colt!" Mmur might have spent more than five minutes in the company of this scareling once, but that didn't mean he remembered his name. Time to fix that! "I am Mmur, soldier of Famine. It's a lovely day, isn't it?" So lovely that he had forgotten he wasn't really supposed to leave campus unaccompanied. Well, he was accompanied by this student, wasn't he? It would have to do.
"I haven't had much opportunity to ride since I arrived at your school," he continued, alternately raising and lowering his bare feet in the water. To think, he'd been living in Halloween for over a year and had never had occasion to call upon his mount! Disgraceful. It was time to stop lazing about and become more than he was. It was time to show the universe the glory of his people. It was time...
Mmur bent over suddenly, scooping a iridescent little shell out of the water and poking at it appreciatively. Pretty! "So, what brings you out here today?"
Efflo watched as the horseman followed his lead, dismounting from his corpse of a horse. The boil watched curiously as the mount faded away, almost sad to see it go. He barely knew the basics about horsemen, just that they were nearer now and he seemed to encounter them more and more often.
But he remembered Mmur from the brief introduction they’d had, he smiled, recalling that the horseman had seemed excited to meet him at the time, and certainly seemed so now. Efflo had had some misgivings about the horsemen now but Mmur preceded his new found prejudice and staring at the friendly face in front of him, Efflo smiled at Mmur, nodding his head.
“Hi, Mmur, I’m Efflo… It’s wonderful out,” he answered, before tilting his head at Mmur’s mention of riding. Not that he didn’t know what it was, of course, Efflo was a horse after all, and unlike some beasts he had no qualms about the art nor taking part in it. But as he found the idea of being the one riding a horse, or any mount, strange, he couldn’t help but stare at Mmur again with curiosity.
“That horse,” he brought up softly, “Is he yours?”
The boil smiled again, pleasantly, hoping his question wasn’t intrusive. “Oh,” he continued, remembering that Mmur had posed a question of his own. “Ah… Well, I was just enjoying the day… Nothing more really. It’s nice to get off campus sometimes.”
Smerdle
Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 5:36 pm
"Yes! He's my mount and his... well... he doesn't really have a name." Considering he could summon and dismiss the animal with a thought more often than not, Mmur had never felt it necessary to give him one. He had also never had the dubious pleasure of trying to introduce the creature. Obviously.
"This is nice though," the horseman agreed, instead turning to look at their surroundings as he stowed his shell somewhere in the folds of fabric at his waist. He would have been the first to admit that he preferred the desert to the beach, but any sandy location was better than the concrete prison that was Amityville.
"Do you come here a lot, Efflo? Are there things to see besides what is here now? Maybe... mermaids?" There were so few of them in the city. "Or raving, washed up humans driven mad by the sea? No. They wouldn't survive, I suppose." He shrugged. "I would like to see such things anyway." Mmur seemed to forcibly curb his babbling, looking at the boil expectantly. "But if we can't, I could call my mount again? We could see how far he could walk into the water before his head went under!"
sammpai
no, i didn't exactly forget about this, i had just convinced myself that it wasn't my tag this whole time awwww yeahhh
