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 Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:55 pm
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:56 pm
It had been Cordelia that had first found the basket. This bleak forest was her home because few dared tread its paths so when a basket had turned up she had been suspicious immediately. She had watched it quietly from the shadows of the night in case its parents returned for it but they never came. It had been left to die. They had chosen a good place for it, everything was either dead or dying here. It was only a matter of time.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:57 pm
The space in which the child was enclosed was a small one. It forced him to keep his legs tucked in tight to his body. Even contorted into such a position his sides still pressed against the wicker making the edges bulge. He could feel soft fur beneath his belly pressed up into him by his legs. He knew this fur was also part of him because it ached like the rest of his body. The child whimpered and strained against the woven bands that held him captive. He could not stay in this place any longer, it was hurting him.
He shifted so that he could push with his feet as well as his head and neck. The pads of his paws, still soft and new, ached as he tried to force them through the material. All the while he continued ramming his head against the top of the basket. He froze when he punctured a set of holes in the top and slowly curled back in on himself as cold, dry air began to drift in through the holes. He suddenly wasn’t sure that he wanted to be outside, but he simply couldn’t stay in here.
Grinding his teeth he gave another push using all of his strength and this time the lid opened with an audible snap. The change was so sudden that the child found himself on his feet and then almost as quickly he lost his balance and fell to his side. He lay on the ground with half of his feet still inside the now overturned basket breathing heavily. It was just as dark out here but it was also cold and empty. Somehow, the emptiness just felt wrong.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:58 pm
Alyse’s legs shook with every step that she took. To her they felt as though they were made of stone and not bone and flesh as she knew they must be. How many days had she been walking now? It was difficult to determine. She had once followed the sun, always walking toward it like they said to when finding yourself lost. There was no sun here though, only shadows that snatched at her when she started to doze off. The days went from dark to darker and there seemed to be no end to the place.
Alyse wobbled slightly and blinked her eyes a few times hoping to snap herself into a more aware state. It didn’t help any and only served to send a few more drops of the inky-black goo leaking down her cheeks. She was uncertain what the substance was, only that it came from her eyes like tears but was as thick as blood. She had often wondered if it was her eyes themselves leaking away slowly. Her eyes were, after all, the same color without a hint of any other shade or hue in them. Just deep, black, and full of despair.
A snapping sound caught her attention and she turned slowly fearing that something was coming for her. She started moving again to escape whatever had made the sound not realizing that she was heading directly towards it.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:59 pm
Cordelia had returned again to look upon the basket and check for its parents. It had been sitting out in the open for quite some time now, if the parents had planned to return surely now would be a good time. The foal inside would be ready to come forth any day now. As Cordelia came closer to the clearing it became obvious that ‘any day’ was, in fact, today. Cordelia observed the colt from afar and she understood now why the basket had been left for dead.
Either the parents had been monsters themselves or a malevolent spirit had taken hold of the child. He was a colt in structure but his ears and feet resembled that of a member of the canine persuasion. From his spine he grew not a single solitary tail but two tails each with a large bushy tip. If that wasn’t enough the child appeared to be disintegrating slowly. Parts of his legs and back were breaking apart and fading into the wind.
“Poor creature…your fate looks grim young one.” Cordelia said as she stepped forward. “At this rate you will not be here much longer.” Her voice was as cold and hard as a winter stone and her eyes held no warmth. She did not know this child. She would not mourn his loss but she could be there for his passing. His parents must have known his fate and wanted to spare themselves the grief of ever seeing his face before losing him.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 1:00 pm
The child lifted his head as a voice filled the emptiness, his purple and red eyes landed on a pale mare approaching him. He narrowed his eyes, this was not his mother. He could feel it and smell it but he wanted to go to her all the same. He didn’t know what she was saying, not really, he hadn’t heard words before now but it sounded cold and unfriendly. The colt started to tremble from the cold or fear he couldn’t tell. He couldn’t go to this mare and stand near her for her warmth even though he wanted to. She gave the distinct impression that she wanted nothing to do with him. He made a pitiful whining noise out of uncertainty.
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:44 am
Cordelia flicked an ear at the sound emitted by the foal but made no further motion to indicate that she had noticed. He would find no comfort in her. she had sought out this land of the dead of her own free will. She craved no companionship, not really, and the last thing she wanted was to get close to this fading foal. If Cordelia were to feel the need to waste her time in making personal attachments she wouldn't put the effort into a creature that would be gone in what amounted to the blink of an eye. He didn't seem to be disappearing as quickly as she would have guessed he would go. Perhaps it would not be in an hour or two, but in a day or a week he would certainly be gone leaving little more than a memory and a shredded wicker basket in his wake.
Cordelia couldn't stay with him for a week. She would stay for a few hours. If he hadn't faded by then he would be on his own. His passing would be too slow to bear otherwise. "I will stay for a short time, grim child, but no longer. Make your peace."
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 11:37 am
Grim. That had been the second time the mare had referred to him as "grim." Was he grim? What did that mean? His ears flattened against his head as he looked at the mare pleadingly. Why did she speak to him so coldly? Why did she stand so far from him with her eyes hidden behind hair? Were her eyes as icy as her voice? He know that he was meant to find comfort in mares, it was instinct, but not with this one. She was making that clear.
He lowered his head again with a sad huff of air. "Grim" seemed to be the only thing this mare would give him. A word with no meaning and no use to the foal.
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 12:42 pm
Alyse kept moving, thinking she was getting away from the snapping only to freeze. Now she heard voices or rather, a voice. It sounded like it was talking to itself. That...or, she realized in horror, it was talking to her. "My...my fate looks grim?" She asked quietly to the trees around her. Anyone could have seen that, she was surrounded by a dead wood without the slightest clue as to where she was. Still, the words made her tremble like a leaf in an autumn wind. Her steps slowed further until she was creeping along at a snails pace.
Even moving so slowly she didn't realize that she was coming closer until she could see the mare speaking such frigid words. "Grim child? I'm...I'm not a child." Alyse murmured not noticing the foal on the ground not far away.
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 1:35 pm
Cordelia's body tensed at the arrival of the other mare. She had been so focused on the child that she hadn't noticed the white doe creeping up on her. For a long moment Cordelia only stared at the stranger, she looked to be as cursed as the child and Cordelia herself. Her eyes were solid black and seemed to be producing an odd black liquid. Was this the child's mother? Cordelia looked at the foal and the mare. No. They looked nothing alike. Unless he only took after the father or really was possessed by some spirit the odds of this mare being his mother were improbable.
"Not you. The child, on the ground, he is grim. Any could see that just from looking at him." She took a step away from the newcomer and nodded her head at the wisps coming off of the foal's body. "He is fading."
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 1:49 pm
The child's ears perked up at the sound of a new voice. His head rose as he looked for the owner, it wasn't difficult to spot her. She was pale with strange bits of blue wrapped around her legs like the other mare. Her mane was auburn and her tail looked a bit like the ends of his own tails. She sounded different. Her voice trembled as she spoke but it didn't sound so brutal.
There was that word again. Grim. She hadn't looked at him when she said it, she didn't look at him at all, but he was learning. Grim meant him. The blue mare seemed certain of this at least and she had been the first he saw. She probably knew more about him than he knew about himself.
"Grrrr..." He paused after making the sound. It felt strange but right. He could do this. "Grrrrr...grrrriiiimmmmmm." He scrunched up his face and looked at the mares for confirmation that the sounds were right. If that was what he was he needed to know how to say it. So he could share.
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