[PRP] Little Terrors (Nashide Namae x Saffron)

[Ryuukishin]

((Ryuukishin's Teepee | ChaosTheories’ Teepee))

Bitey stamped upon a pile of berries, her hooves dark and sticky and reeking with the smell. She had only just begun to work with the plants, and it never occurred to her to collect them into a bowl. Most of the juice ended up staining the floor and her legs, but in the end, she was able to get enough to smear herself a set of normal, horizontal lips.

She trotted over a nearby pool, turning her head side to side while peering at her reflection. The resulting lips were skewed and awkward, but they were good enough, and the lingering smell could easily be passed off for a recent meal. Pleased with herself, she tightly closed her own vertical mouth while she washed the rest of the juice from her limbs.

“Bitey!”

Bitey froze, an ear pivoting back towards her father’s call. She couldn’t see him – not like this. Her family was perfectly accepting of her oddity, and they would be sad to know what she was doing. But she was not them. She couldn’t stand the sight of those who shrieked in terror or called her names or hated her because of what she was. And she couldn’t bear to see her parents sad for her, either.

Without a word, she stepped out of the pool and ran, headed away from the sound.  

[ChaosTheories]

Bitey wasn't the only foal dashing away from a family member. Saffron was doing very much the same thing, all legs and wings as she moved through the brush with all the grace of an angry buffalo.

"Angel is sooo easy to trick," She said to the air, then burst into giggles. Her sister never did realize that when Saffron wanted to play hide and seek, she didn't actually want to play hide and seek. Angel would hide for hours before she realized anything was amiss. Poor, clueless thing. Saffron almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

Suddenly Saffron heard a voice and she stopped so quickly, the momentum almost sent her tumbling into a tree. Had someone already discovered her plans? But wait, the voice wasn't familiar, and it wasn't calling her name. Odd, who else could be out here?

Saffron set her face into the most determined and intimidating expression the filly could muster. Well, she was gonna find out!

Ryuukishin

 

[Ryuukishin]

ChaosTheories

Bitey’s pace only quickened the farther she went. She was surprisingly agile for her age, but not very observant. What reason was there to be cautious, after all, when her parents and Uncle Goatee were always looking out for her? She grew careless as a result, and when she rounded a tree, she nearly crashed into another filly.

Her eyes widened, but she had the sense to hold back her cry of surprise, opting instead to lower her ears and gaze: an apology for the near-accident. She hadn’t really realized until then that she wouldn’t be able to talk, but was willing to keep up her disguise despite that, sure her true lips would only look like a jagged scar. Better a mute than a monster.

When she felt she had looked repentant long enough, she looked deliberately at the other and cocked her head quizzically. Whether she was asking for a name or an explanation or something else entirely was unclear, but she didn’t care: she was simply curious. Already she was excited with the prospect of getting to know another without her oddity being noticed, and she couldn’t help the eager wag of her tail.  

[ChaosTheories]

It turned out she didn't have to search very hard.

Saffron spotted the oncoming form out the corner of her eye and with a sharp shout, instinctively threw herself backwards to avoid it. But she didn't have much control of herself, and she ended up flipping herself almost right over with the force of her own wings. She landed with a thump.

"Oww..." Well, at least she had missed the shape, which turned out to be a fellow filly. A filly with something... off about her face. Saffron couldn't help but gape at Bitey, until she realized she was lying on one of her wings and it was starting to hurt.

Saffron finally broke the silence with a laugh. "That could have been worse!" she exclaimed, trying to wipe the the pitiful look off the other's face by brushing the incident away. She freed her trapped wing and slowly picked herself off the ground, ignoring the leafy debris that clung to her coat.

"No harm done, eh?" she continued, a huge grin on her face as she met the other's eye. The only other foal she knew was her brother, so she spoke with enthusiasm. A foal who wasn't family... and even better... a girl! It would be nice to have a female friend all her own, who wasn't her silly mother and sister!

"So what's your name? Are you from around here?" Curious, Saffron strode forward to circle Bitey, looking at her like one would look at an apple before deciding it was ripe enough to eat.

Ryuukishin

 

[Ryuukishin]

ChaosTheories

Bitey nodded her agreement, doing her best not to smile so that her “scar” wouldn’t move. She was already pleased with how the conversation was heading, the way the stranger spoke to her as if she was not someone to be afraid of. It was strange, she thought, that the wings of birds on a soquili would be considered beautiful, but the snapping mouth of a fly trap was not. A twinge of jealousy darkened her eyes, but it lasted only a moment, and she soon returned her attention to the brightly colored foal.

At the filly’s question, she nodded to signal that she did indeed live around these parts. She wished she could tell her more, of the trees and mushrooms and caves she’d seen and found around her home, and of her family who was so precious to her. But she couldn’t do so now, and she instead looked hard at the other’s mouth before shaking her head from side to side to show that she was mute.

Feeling awkward and ashamed with the deception, she immediately moved on to a truth: she stepped close to the other and rubbed against her shoulder, hoping to communicate that she was happy to be here with the filly, even if they had only just met.