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It was funny, just how different the outlook could be between two Soquili that at first glance seemed so similar. They could be in similar circumstances, ostensibly even identical circumstances, but peel back the outward appearances and you could find two very different sets of reasons. Saffron herself had never considered herself an onion; her response to the description of Soquili as layered and multi-faceted would, on a good day, be a snort. But she would also admit that one could never truly judge another's motivations based on outward appearances or actions.

The existence of a Soquili underworld, of a herd run with force and violence and populated with evil-natured Soquili...this was something she had never heard of, and never considered. Though Saffron herself had long ago left home behind, it had not been a permanent departure, nor one that would leave her looking over her shoulder. No; if Saffron were to decide to return home and live with her parents permanently, they would be ecstatic; it was Saffron herself who kept them at arm's length.

It wasn't that Safi and Duo were cruel parents, or cruel Soquili. It was quite the opposite, in fact; one would be hard-pressed to find two more gentle, loving souls in the whole of the Kawani lands. It was only fitting that they'd found each other, and ended up together. However, they were both stallions, and as such, they were sadly resigned to the reality that they would have never have children of their own. That changed when Saffron's basket appeared one morning in the entrance to their cavern home.

Naturally, her parents were thrilled at this gift from the spirits, and they immediately wrapped their new daughter into their hearts. They doted on her, wanting her to feel the most beloved child in the world. They wanted her to be happy, cherished...and safe.

It was in that desire for safety that the problems arose. Safi had previously raised an adopted daughter, long before he met Duo; but for Duo, parenthood was new and novel. He worried greatly about the numerous dangers the world possessed; skinwalkers and Kalona, abusers, murderers, liars, Soquili and creatures who would take advantage of or even hurt their sweet, innocent little girl. Rather than risk this happening, he convinced Safi that the best course for Saffron was to be kept close to home, chaperoned constantly, and allowed to socialize only with other Soquili who had first been met and approved of by her fathers.

This might have been alright, for a more introverted and malleable child. But since her earliest days, Saffron had displayed an adventurous nature; she wanted to see, to do, to touch! There was so much out there, and she wanted to experience it all. Her fathers' worries made no sense to her, and as she aged she began to chafe more and more against their restrictions. By the time she was an adolescent, relations had escalated to the near-boiling point. Safi and Duo had begin to realize the error of their ways, but felt that it would only be worse for Saffron to be given her head.

How wrong they were...

One day, Saffron couldn't take it any more. Sick of the cloying nature of home life, she stormed out, took wing, and never looked back.

~~~

The world had been every bit as grand as she'd imagined, and each day was a new joy for Saffron's adventurous spirit. Thanks to her wings, she could go anywhere she thought looked interesting; her only limitations were her muscles and her imagination.

And, sometimes, air hogs.

~~~

Narrowing her eyes with pronounced distaste, Saffron surveyed the circling buzzards up ahead. She hated buzzards; they were sneaks, in her opinion, and mean to boot. They might be useful in their own way, but they'd never be companions of hers. In fact...

A devious smile curled Saffron's lips as she surveyed the circling buzzards from a slightly higher elevation. They didn't even notice her, seemingly intent on something on the ground below. Well, they'd have to wait for it a bit longer, because she wanted to play a game to them! Drawing back her wings, Saffron suddenly dove downward, right into the midst of the circling birds. Squawking, they broke their circle, veering up and away as Saffron wheeled and flew back up through the group. By the time she turned to dive back down into the buzzard circle a third time, they had completely disbursed.

"Good riddance, you carrion feeders!" She yelled the words after the retreating wings, feeling oddly accomplished and deflated at the same time. That had been exhilarating, but all too brief; now what was she supposed to do?

Well, take a rest, for one thing. The meadow below looked pleasant enough, if a little barren, and with another pull of her wings, she coasted down to alight gracefully on the ground. There wasn't much to be seen there, just grass, grass, more grass...and a stallion, standing and staring about. Perhaps he was looking for the dead thing that was attracting the buzzards? "I think if there was a corpse around, you'd smell it by now," she said before biting off a mouthful of grass.

Note to self; using dead bodies as an introductory conversation topic could lead to some weird initial conversations.

Saffron hadn't meant much by her opening salvo; she had merely been prompted to speak on the subject by the combination of the buzzards and the stallion's somewhat staring pose. She hadn't meant anything beyond that, and had honestly been expecting to get either a blank stare or a disproving look in response; either that, or to just be ignored. That was what usually happened when she ran into strangers, and it was all par for the course.

Apparently, no one had given this stallion the memo.

At his comment about 'hiding the body', Saffron lifted her head up from the ground, still chewing what she'd already ripped out but regarding the stallion with a new curiosity. Novelty, how very...novel. Quirking one eyebrow at the stallion in response, she regarded him with equal curiosity as he stepped closer, finally allowing herself a most unlady-like snort of mirthless amusement. "Fair enough. Though it's all academic unless you're hoping to find a body, isn't it? Personally, the lack of smell is enough for me." Weird opener aside, perhaps she would like this stallion. He was...different.

Then again, perhaps she wouldn't.

Saffron had never been 'girly.' She never cared for flirting, or for romance; she kept her dark mane cropped close on top for ease of care, and the remainder braided into a long, simple braid for the same reason. Granted, it was a challenge to keep her hair in that braid; having no hands, she had to rely on raccoons to keep it in order; since she didn't often keep company with raccoons, it was common for her braid to start coming undone like it was now. She'd never cared about her appearance beyond that, and while she liked stallions as friends, she'd never been one to encourage anything beyond that. And that went for smooth talk!

As the stallion began his little commentary about angels and went on to call her a 'little angel,' Saffron's eyes narrowed and her lip curled in obvious distaste. She knew she wasn't the type to provoke such endearments on her own, so obviously this fellow was used to smooth-talking his way through things. The fact he looked so pleased with himself and was so quick to invade her space did nothing to squelch that distaste, either.

Finishing her mouthful of grass, Saffron dismissed both the stallion's words and the stallion's proximity with a swift snap of one wing. "Geez, spare me the flowery language, Stallion; if you want to know something, then just ask like a rational person. Of course there's a way out of this clearing, it's not like it's walled in or anything." She was strongly inclined to end it there, but in spite of her bluntess, she didn't like to be purposely mean-spirited. "Just keep heading east; you'll encounter a stream, then a river, and then there's a forest beyond."

It had only been a few minutes, but Saffron had already decided a few things about this stallion: he was given to weirdly flowery language, and he was as creepy as anything! Never mind the stallion walking away, Saffron was tempted to spread her wings and take off, give him the personal space he so obviously needed. After all, what was she supposed to say to a fellow like him, who talked about magical worlds and rabbit holes and mouths speaking filth.

She had no idea what he meant by a 'princely type,' but based on his body language, the expression on his face, and the unpleasant tone of his voice, she doubted it was complimentary. As though she wanted to be a prince, or a princess, or a priss, or whatever it was he was accusing her of being. Weird, rude, creepy stallion that he was; darned if she wasn't tempted to kick him in that bizarrely speaking mouth of his! Still, something in his manner made her stifle that impulse; more than her basic understanding of common courtesy (which did NOT include kicking anyone anywhere, no matter how provoking she found them), there was something about this stallion that made her think attacking him would not be in her best interest.

Though she would certainly defend herself, if he decided to cross that line!

Without bothering to disguise the skeptical expression on her face, she listened to his apparent ramblings on his magical world, sprinkled with a few insults to herself. Those, she understood well enough, and she let out another snort at the 'Foul-Mouthed-Man-Angel' crack. "Well, I would say if I'm a foul mouthed man angel, we must be about even, seeing as how you appear to be a Nattering Pretty Boy. Hopefully you don't fall into any of those rabbit holes of yours on the walk." Goodness knows she wasn't going to pull him out if he did!

She had just dismissed him as bad rubbish when his sudden, equally random comment caught her up short. Non-birthday? What the hell was a non-birthday? "Didn't you have somewhere you needed to be, Natter?" He'd certainly seemed eager to know the way out a few minutes ago...

Forget thinking the stallion was weird, she was starting to think he was downright unhinged. What other explanation could there be for the nonsense he was speaking and the weird way he was behaving? There could be no other reason, especially when he had the nerve to once again get far too close and actually sniff her hair. The audacity of the stallion, mad or no! No one was allowed to smell her; just because it never had come up before to be expressly forbidden didn't mean it was ok! Once again her lip curled into a snarl, but she held off lashing out at the stallion. This time.

Creeper that he was, maybe he'd actually enjoy getting kicked! Talk about your disturbing scenarios...

Flattening her ears, she gave the stallion a baleful stare before once more shrugging off his weird words. "And I never said you needed to be somewhere via the exit. I'd say you ought to watch the conclusions yourself, or you might wind up tripping into one of those rabbit holes you seem so fond of. Though props for being observant," she added in a somewhat sarcastic tone. She hadn't answered his question, and she didn't intend to, either; one didn't exchange personal information with creepers! "I didn't answer your question, very astute of you. Any other obvious observations you'd like to make?"

Really, she ought to just end this nonsense and fly away. There wasn't really any reason to stay here talking to this creeper...

Well, she'd obviously walked into that one; still, that didn't make the stallion's outrageous comment any more palatable. She'd originally suspected he was one of those 'flirts' or 'ladies' stallions,' used to wrapping mares around their hooves by using charm and silky words. His subsequent behavior, the weird facial expressions, the strange turns of phrase, had made her doubt that initial belief, but now she wasn't so sure. It was almost like he was two different Soquili, the rake and the unhinged. And Saffron had no idea which was preferable; neither one was leaping out at the moment!

"I'd call that an opinion, rather than an obvious observation, but whatever. Apparently making obvious observations is harder than I'd thought, since you're managing to be zero for two in as many comments," She said wryly. After all, she was NOT from this land; while she was probably from a closer region than he, this wide, dry meadowland was as much her home as the bottom of the sea! But she'd give him props for trying; no doubt his mixture of compliments and guilt would have an effect on many other mares.

She didn't know whether to snort or laugh at that thought, and settled for a quick shake of her head. "Since I'm not in the habit of scrutinizing holes or rabbits either, I can't say I know much about either. But a horse-sized rabbit hole makes about as much sense as some other things, so I have no reason to doubt the idea right off the bat. Besides, do you think a 'Wonderland' accessed via a giant hole is any less strange an idea than a giant rabbit to begin with?" Saffron certainly didn't think so, but she was now a trifle curious. Was he actually unhinged, did he just enjoy talking in riddles, or what? What was the story with this weird creeper?

At the 'petty' comment, Saffron couldn't help but give Dante a wide, toothy smile. Perhaps she was being petty, but considering how provoked she felt, it seemed pettiness was a fair trade. Goodness knew the stallion himself was hardly behaving like a rational or above-board fellow himself, and Saffron was no angel (man or otherwise!) when it came to certain situations. There were no doubt other Soquili who would feel sorry for this poor, mentally unbalanced stallion, or who would appreciate his creepy personal space violations; Saffron was not one of them. She had always been guilty of wearing her sentiments on her sleeve...and those sentiments were rarely soft!

However, much as certain things the stallion said and did annoyed her, she did have to say one thing; this was not proving to be a 'normal' encounter!

And she was quick to point when he went down that path once again. "See, there you go again, with your broad generalizations. I don't know what this 'you' you're talking about, with routines and escaping reality and panicking and whatnot, but it really doesn't sound like something up my alley. Not the 'you', not the 'Wonderland,' and certainly not the strange fellows like you." She cocked her head to one side, raking her gaze over Dante with undisguised curiosity, then looked back at his face with an amused expression. "I suppose the proper thing to do is preface this kind of statement with a polite lie like 'no offense,' but I've never claimed to be proper. You're used to having mares act a certain way around you, aren't you Natter?" He certainly seemed like the type, what with his weird behavior and all. If she was a nicer kind of mare, perhaps she'd feel sorry that he'd met up with her and not someone more up his alley, whatever that was.

But once again, that wasn't the kind of mare SHE was!