|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:28 pm
This is a private roleplay between Kararti, Herod, and Bracken & Oak (Mahogany Sunset).     Moon Phase for Kara: New Moon.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 3:48 pm
Her tail flicked. Something in her bones ached, deep down in them, but it was not a physical pain; it was something that kept her from moving them, made them feel like sodden logs. And so Kararti laid there, in the shadow of the tree she'd fallen asleep against the night before, the sunlight dappling her coat. Even the scent of rain in the air couldn't make her rise - she'd sit there and get drenched until the moon peeked out from the hole in the sky that swallowed it a few days a month. And when that happened, she would rejoice, for the moon was the light of her life.
The moon had entranced her since the day she'd come out of her basket. Her parents blamed it on her conception, on the night she'd been told was when the spirits played tricks on couples and twisted their offspring. Kara, however, couldn't see anything wrong with herself - she was more normal than her big brother, who was mean to her all the time... But that was beside the point. The moon had been full when she had emerged from her basket, round and glowing white in the night sky, and her first impression of beauty. And from that day, it had been her best friend, the one she told her troubles to, the one who kept her safe at night by lighting her way.
So, naturally, when it shrank and went away, so did she.
The lethargy was the first thing she always noticed. Tired and sedentary and not wanting to move were all apt words for her during this time of the month, but so were angry and short-tempered; when she grieved for the moon, she had no time for anyone else.
And so, when the rain came, she was still sitting in the shelter of that tree, waiting for the moon to return to her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:37 pm
The wind was warm on his wings - at least, until the rain began to come down. He'd been headed back to the place he'd stowed his armor before shrinking to find a meal. His belly was full of nectar and berries now, his favorite sugary meal. But when the rain began, there was no way for him to maintain his flight, and he had to shift back into his normal size; wet wings were worthless wings, despite how much pride he took in them. He couldn't flick the water off and fly at the same time, and the added weight made navigating nearly impossible.
Now he was walking again, flicking his wings every few second to interrupt the streams of water that flowed down their translucent membranes. He'd left his armor in a hollowed-out log around here somewhere... While he was looking, though, his eye caught on something orange and purple - and he thought he'd found it, but when he walked over to it, he found an orange and purple soquili. This did not dismay him, however; she was stationed beneath a tree, and he could take shelter beneath that tree, too... And maybe wait out the storm with her. She had a gorgeous bright coat, and he couldn't resist that.
"Hello there," he said, sidling over to her. It was then that he saw her headdress and cursed himself for not finding his own armor - perhaps she would find him more attractive, had he had it on...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:58 pm
She opened her eyes when she heard hoofbeats, and found something that offended her eyes so much that she closed them again and pretended she hadn't seen what she thought she had seen. Her tail flicked in irritation. Just what she needed - an intruder. An intruder. And it was raining. Today was just awesome.
But then it spoke to her, and she felt a presence looming far too close to her for comfort. Letting out a hiss of breath, she opened her eyes, and found a surprisingly short stallion standing over her. She thought it had just been the distance between them when she'd caught a glimpse of him earlier, but no; even from where she lay on the ground, she could tell that he was small of stature, and had some flimsy-looking pale wings attached to his shoulders... That were also partly pink. Something somewhere in her snorted, but the rest of her wanted to kick his legs out from under him. "What do you want?" she asked, glaring up at him. Her tail flicked harder, practically twitching with irritation. "You're under my tree. My tree." Hopefully that would shoo him off. If not, she'd take matters into her own hooves.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 9:53 pm
"I believe I meant to be under your tree," said Herod, one eyebrow raised. Someone had woken up on the wrong side of the nest. She didn't rise to greet him, barely even opened her eyes. This was far from an enthusiastic flirting partner, and he wondered if perhaps that this mare used her magical horn for more than just the unicorn's legendary healing powers - if, perhaps, there was some violence in this unicorn. He thought about taking a step back, but that would only make him seem weak... And she was on the ground, and he had wings. "I wanted to share the shelter with you and learn a little more about you," he said, leaning casually against the tree they stood beneath, bracing himself against it with one shoulder. "You're beautiful, you know. Like a fire, in that dangerous sort of way." He smirked, impressed with himself: he'd outdone himself with that last line.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:47 pm
Her tail flicked so violently at his compliment that her body swayed on the ground. "A mere fire is nothing compared to the beauty of the moon," Kara said, staring at his knees, his ankles. They were oddly bare; even she had leg warmers on. Her father had gloves that covered his hooves, and her mother's were clothed in wispy shadows. Just one sweep, and he could be brought to his knees before her, but it would only work if she rammed him from behind - and she was in front of him. Still, he needed to be taught a lesson. She did not want to share her tree with him, and she did not want his compliments. She wanted to sit here and wait for the moon to rise again, for its light to shine on her face.
But if she was going to teach him a lesson, that would mean she would have to get up.
"Get out from under my tree, and I'll let you leave here unscathed." Her voice was low, dangerous like the fire he'd named her as earlier. Part of her told herself it was not polite to threaten strangers, but she didn't care - her hooves had been itching to kick something all day, and this stallion would make the perfect target.
But - she had to be lenient. She had already told him that she would let him leave if he wanted to. To go back on that agreement now would be beyond bad manners, and she wouldn't do that, despite her dark mood.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 11:24 pm
Oak snuffled through the shadows, looking for the sugary, succulent grass that would grow there, even in the heat of the summer, but this forest seemed to have more moss and leaf cover than grass, which was nothing more than he'd expected. Grass was easier to find near the border of the plains, which was where he'd left Bracken this morning as the small mare went about her routine of scouring the earth of evidence of their camp, and then scouting to make sure that nothing unsavory had followed them or been watching them. In fact, that was what Oak was supposed to be doing, as well - but why should he do that when they had never found reason to fear a stalker and the berries were out in full swing?
And so he'd gone into the forest, searching for the tiny little blackberries that hid on the forest floor, and that was where he heard the argument.
One voice was very clearly male, and sounded as sleazy as Oak had ever heard a male sound. Just the thought of it made him laugh - whoever was out there was talking to a mare who wasn't having any of it. Creeping closer on silent feet (Bracken had made him learn to walk silently before he was allowed to go traveling anywhere with her), Oak peered through a bush and saw two bright pelts shining on the other side, even in the dimness that the rain brought to the forest.
Something about the situation struck Oak as odd, even at his first glimpse. The mare was on the ground, the stallion standing... And she was gazing at his legs, not his face. There's a girl readying herself for a fight if ever I saw one.
Readying his shoulders and horns for a charge, Oak did his best to listen over the pattering rain. As much as he would hate to butt into this little fight, he couldn't very well let a unicorn injure someone and be forced to live with that for the rest of her life, as rakish as this flutter might be.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 11:40 pm
Herod raised an eyebrow at the mare. Fire is nothing compared to the moon? Does she think of herself as the moon? He let out a little chuckle under his breath. More like the sun. She was radiant, power flowing from her in waves like the greatness of the ocean lapping at the shore, pulling it away little by little until only crumbles of sand remained. But she was threatening him, and he did not like threats. The only thing about her that scared him was that horn - he didn't want to be gored, but it wasn't all that long... And he was practiced at getting out of the danger. Without the encumbrance of his armor, he could even get away without having to come back for it later.
He decided to try his luck. "Come on, pretty lady, don't you think I could be worth your time?" He winked at her, but didn't venture any closer - another foot or so, and he'd be so close that even he wouldn't be able to get away cleanly. And the last thing he wanted was a scar; he couldn't see a dash of red or white doing anything but clashing with his coat. "I'm Herod. Care to share your name?" Something in him lit up, bright and blazing and fluttering in his heart, the way it always did when he flirted with danger. He was a thrill junkie if ever there was one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 12:06 am
She was about to give him a second - third, really - chance when he asked for her name. Somewhere within her, the claws came out, and she could feel venomous intent leaking into her blood the way it only did when the moon had disappeared from the sky, and her good nature with it. Huffing, she heaved herself to her feet, her nose just inches from his when she stood... But also considerably higher than his. She had to be at least a hand and a half taller than Herod, and that made her laugh out loud. The look on his face was of pleasant surprise, but she was about to ruin the pleasantness of it. "You're a tiny little thing, aren't you, Mister Herod?" She let out a snort, and aimed a hoof at one of his shoulders.
He leaped backward so nimbly that she stumbled toward him. When she looked up to find him, her eyes were wide with surprise of her own, but it was more from the momentary shock that she had stumbled and he'd dodged her than actually being enough to interrupt her train of thought, which was, "Fight like a coward, do you?" It was far from astonishing; she'd never seen a flutter fight before, and she'd heard they were rather flighty creatures...
...But what she'd never expected was that he would shrink right in front of her in the next moments, wearing a grin as he did so.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 12:29 am
The humiliation of the size of the mare when she stood up and the comment she made slid across his skin like oil, gliding over the top of him and sticking in strange places. He had, of course, met others bigger than him: nearly everyone was bigger than he was, and he was not all that large for a flutter... But he was not used to having his compliments being returned with insults.
And when she lashed out to kick him, he jumped backward without even thinking about it, and was shrinking before he knew it, grinning like a fool at the "coward" comment. He'd been told that he fought like a coward, yes... But he kept himself safe, too. And he did it very well.
The tree had afforded his wings some respite from the rain, and he was able to take off and float in the air before her for a moment - but was that a voice calling his name? Herod looked around. He didn't know anyone from around here, and that was a male voice. As a rule, he didn't usually get along with other males unless they were, well... The same as he was. And even then, they rarely got along, mostly because they thought all the same girls were pretty.
"Hello?" he called craning his now-tiny neck to look into the bushes. Was there something over there? He flittered out to where the canopy of this single tree ended, though still beneath it enough that the large drops of water couldn't land on him and wet his wings. "Is there someone out there?"
(( Note to self: Kara posts next, thinking he's faking it for a distraction, and then Oak comes out of the bushes (after thinking that maybe someone so like Bracken but with a... different personality might be good for her) and beckons him away from her. Oak leads him back to Bracken, who's not very happy that he's brought a "stalker" home with him. Herod warms up to her right away, but Bracken only wants to use him as a decoy. Oak stops the argument and tells them he wants to keep both of them and that they better get used to each other. ))
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 7:25 pm
Blinking hard still at his smaller form, Kara nearly jumped when his voice came out of it. Shaking her head to get the confusion out of it, her tail swayed dangerously. "You won't fool me that easily," she said, but then she heard it, too - an inexplicably deep voice calling Herod's name. Brows furrowing, Kara looked toward the bushes, too. Whoever was behind that bush had ruined her plans to give him a little chomp.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:21 pm
Oak had seen enough as soon as the mare lashed out at the flutter. But there was something that stopped him from going out and stopping the fight, and that was the fact that it seemed to have stopped itself: the flutter transformed, his white grin shining even through the bushes.
That was what changed Oak's mind about how to approach these two. The flutter was the only one who had introduced himself, so that was the name he called, in the deep, low voice that made him blink every time he heard it, even if it was his own; it had not always been so low, and after a time of silence, it never failed to startle him. "Herod!"
He stepped forward as he spoke, the rain dribbling down the leaves as he pushed through the bushes and running over his thick coat. Thoughts whirred through his mind, thoughts that he'd never thought he would think - that, perhaps, this stallion was just what he'd been looking for. That, perhaps, this was just the sort of ridiculous that could lighten the constant barrage of half-logic and half-panic that came his way whenever Bracken opened her mouth... Maybe it would give him some reprieve from her compulsions toward zealously overcautiousness... "You're needed elsewhere." Not only was his voice deep, but it had grown gruff. "Stop harassing this poor thing. Let's go." Now, Oak thought, if only he'll listen...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:06 pm
Bracken walked back to the place where she and Oak had settled down for the night last night, walking backward with a pine branch in her mouth. It was far from ideal; the sharp scent of it stung her nose and the bitter taste of the sap was heavy on her tongue, and the stupid needles left thin tracks in the dust of the trail where once there had been hoof prints. It was better than nothing, though - even if it was obvious that something had been there, it would not be immediately obvious what that something had been, and if nothing else, that was what she would aim for. Of course, even if something was tracking them, she could always make her tracks look like deer tracks and hopefully confuse their stalker. Oak's, on the other hand... Buffalo tracks were quite obviously buffalo tracks, and one traveling with a deer would be quite suspicious in and of itself.
Huffing out a sigh, Bracken dropped her stick. She'd made it back to their camp, which was basically little more than a pair of nests made out of beaten-down grass sheltered by the edge of the forest. The morning's scouting had already told her that there was only one other in the area - a unicorn, by the shape of her hooves and the light way she held herself, though she had, irregularly, been doing a lot of stomping about. Bracken wasn't sure what that meant, for it could be anything - an unconscious way of stepping, a tracking game, a foul mood... But whatever the reason, Bracken was not too worried about her. She could easily take a unicorn down if it came to a fight: she had two horns where they had one. And those two horns could easily break a single one between them if it came to butting heads.
Standing just away from the nests, Bracken used her antlers to fluff the grass up again. It wouldn't look the best, for the stalks would still be bent and darkened by sap where she and Oak had slept on them, but again, it would be better than nothing, and it might hide exactly what size and shape of creature had sought shelter and rest here. At best, it might look as though something had come barreling out of the woods, run into the grass, and run back into the woods, though Bracken thought that might be a little absurd. Whatever anyone thought, looking at the newly fluffed-up, albeit a bit jagged grass, all she could hope for was that they would not see anything wrong with it right away.
Her mouth twisted somewhere between a grin and a grimace at her work. She had to learn to do better, but for now, this would do. Looking around, Bracken searched for Oak - and didn't find him. She'd sent him out way earlier, hadn't she? He was supposed to scout in the other direction and then come back and cover his tracks. With a sniff, Bracken went to where the trail of his tracks began... And smelled rain.
Something in her smiled.
Rain was a blessing, just the thing she needed. It would erase their tracks, erase their nests, erase any trace that they'd been there at all.
Now all she needed to do was find her buffalo, and how hard could that be?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 11:59 pm
"Harassing her?" Herod asked, looking between the vibrant unicorn mare and the intruding buffalo with incredulity. Was this her familiar? Was he going to lure him off somewhere and beat him to a pulp? There had been threats and near-instances of that happening before, and he did not want a repeat of those adventures. Wary, he held his small form. If needed, he could flutter off in a moment, take shelter beneath the branches of these trees and search for his armor later. "I'm not harassing her! We were just -" What had they just been doing? She had been trying to land a hoof on him, hadn't she? Maybe they hadn't been just talking, as he had been about to say, after all. He hadn't done anything to her! And she'd lunged at him. Maybe she was the one harassing him. Spluttering, he said, "If anything, if anything she - she - she was harassing me. She lunged at me, you must have seen it!" Looking back between them, Herod backpedaled away from the mare a little bit; her glowering still seemed threatening to him. "You must have," he said with a little less certainty. The buffalo's face was as impassive as ever - it was a buffalo, after all, how expressive could it be? - and Herod had an inkling that maybe, just maybe, his bravado was starting to lose its charm.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:29 pm
Shaking his head, Oak glared up at the flutter who was still firmly aloft. It wasn't all that great a distance - if he'd felt the need, Oak probably could have swatted him down with his tail. So could the unicorn mare, if he thought about it. Better act quickly. "I don't care who was harassing who. Let's go, or I'm leaving you to her mercy, and something tells me she won't have any for you." Turning around, Oak shouldered through the bushes and started to walk back to where he'd left Bracken. He wanted to pause and wait for the stallion, but if he did that, Herod would know that his threat of leaving him behind was empty.
But it was very, very real, and should Herod fail to realize that, he'd probably be treed for days.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
