|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:27 am
Kumarajiva stood at the edge of the small pond and looked inward. In the dim light filtered through trees, he could make out tiny little fish swimming in the water. There were some larger tadpoles as well. A few fully developed frogs sat nestled within plants or nearly invisible in camouflage on the water's edge. Kuma had come so often to this place that the frogs had grown used to his presence. They used to dive into the water at the first sound of approach, but now they eyed each other with curiosity rather than trepidation.
Kumarajiva had seen other soquili come to this place from time to time, but few lingered. He liked to think of this as his place, his little nook away from the bustle of the rest of the herd. It calmed and soothed his spirit, and he shut his eyes happily, listening to the songs of birds high up in the trees.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:36 am
Freyja's hooves danced lightly over the mossy earth. She took a few steps and then bounded into the air. Using the motion of her jump, she fluttered her wings and glided. She drifted along like a dandelion seed on the air, before her hooves reached the ground again. From there she bounded again, her motion a pattern of bounding and floating. It looked beautifully graceful and made her feel like a faery riding the winds. She continued like this for some time, paying little attention to where she was or where she was going. It was like this that she found herself on the edge of a pond that was somehow very familiar.
Her hooves alighted softly, but the frogs still scattered at her presence. She laughed in delight at this, only then noticing that she was not alone. A unicorn stood across the little pond, watching her with green eyes that were somehow familiar. Blinking, Freyja dropped her head to one side. Did she know this young stallion?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:40 am
Unlike Freyja, Kuma noticed her right away. She drifted in like some magical creature out of a fairy tale. The dim light caught on her coat somehow and made it look like she was glowing. It was very beautiful, and he found himself somewhat captivated by the sight. When she landed and noticed him, he found himself temporarily unable to speak. Only after a moment of staring did he recover his tongue.
"Hello, there," he said awkwardly. "Do you have business with the Padmapani herd?" He instantly regretted the words. They sounded overly business-like, which wasn't at all his intention.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:43 am
She definitely recognized him. A distant memory was coming back to her, one from her foalhood. She thought she had been here before, a time when she had slipped away from her mother's watchful gaze. She'd come and met a foal. Was that foal this stallion that now was gaping at her? Suddenly it seemed very likely. What an odd twist of fate it was, to meet again after all this time.
"Don't you remember me?" she asked, lightly teasing. "This isn't the first time we've met."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 7:30 pm
"I..." He trailed off. In truth, he couldn't remember her. He felt that he would have remembered meeting such a beautiful mare. Had she been at some Padmapani function? He could imagine possibly meeting her in passing and then forgetting, but even that seemed a little far-fetched.
Then suddenly, it was coming to him. A day much earlier, when he was just a foal. He'd been at this very pond and talking to a fey like filly with little horns and delicate flutter wings. "You're that same filly!" he gasped, eyes widened with surprise. "Not a filly now, of course," he awkwardly and swiftly added. She certainly was no foal now!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 7:44 pm
"It's been a long time since anyone has called me a filly," said Freyja, though that wasn't exactly true. With her small size from her flutter heritage, many had mistaken her for younger than she actually was. In truth, she was just barely out of adolescence as it was.
"Now," she took another playful bound closer to the stallion, fluttering her eyelashes at him a little. "The real important question is... do you remember my name?" She wondered how flustered she could make him with such a simple question. As far as she could remember based on their single encounter, they hadn't actually exchanged names. Would he remember that too, or would he hopelessly flounder even more, trying not to offend her? Youthful as she was, she was already used to the young stallions fumbling their words around her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 7:50 pm
"I... do not," admitted Kuma, deflated. There was no use even trying to remember. If he couldn't even remember meeting her at first, he definitely wasn't going to catch a name. He just remembered a graceful filly teasing him, then disappearing back off into the forest. It hadn't even been a very long encounter at that.
"Wait..." he paused, catching on to her game. "I don't think you introduced yourself the last time we met." He tilted his head at her, smiling a little at the revelation. "Maybe it's time to change that?" He shook out his mane. "My name is Kumarajiva, of the Padmapani herd." He wondered if she even realized she was so close to another herd's territory. What was she doing out in this area? It was surprising to think they might have neighbors that no one in Padmapani had met.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 7:57 pm
"Oh, very good!" Delighted, Frejya laughed. Her voice rang musically off the trees and still water, her eyes lit up with mirth. "Very well, Kumarajiva. You can call me Freyja." He'd dodged her trick, so he deserved to know her name.
"And Padmapani herd, you say?" She glanced around and flicked her tail, as if bored. "Big herds aren't as fun as the smaller ones. Big ones have too many rules, too many soquili. Smaller ones are more exciting." The big herds were the ones dull and set in their ways. She'd never had fun in a big herd. Sometimes she even felt uncomfortable with all those personalities crowding in around her. She wasn't too surprised this was someone's herdlands, though. It was a lovely area, as far as environments went.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 6:09 pm
"I've always lived in a big herd," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "There aren't so many rules as you might think, though..." Thinking about it, he smiled with a note of wryness. "It is nice to be able to be alone sometimes." Immediately after saying it, he wondered if she might misconstrue his words. Hastily, he corrected himself.
"Or with smaller groups of friends. Your company is not... not burdensome." Not burdensome? He sounded like he had been born in another century, saying things like that. He normally was good with words, but they seemed to run about and escape him when he was near Freyja. He just hoped he wouldn't put his hoof in his mouth any more than he already had.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 6:52 pm
"Not burdensome..." She mimicked a pout, her eyes going large with feigned hurt. "If I bore you that much, you could have just asked me to leave." She fluttered her wings playfully at that. This was a funny unicorn. She was enjoying what brief company they'd shared so far, even if he was being awkward about it. Him being awkward was what made it so entertaining, after all. Smiling like a cat, she looked at him. Suddenly she noticed something, the way his mane was all bound up in fancy loops along the arc of his neck.
"How did you do that?" she asked, staring at it in fascination. "How do you tie those little knots? With your tail?" She looked at his tail, but suddenly realized the foolishness of that suggestion. His tail was a blob of hair itself. There wasn't any way that he could tie his hair using only hair as a tool.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 7:01 pm
Finally, a topic that seemed more neutral to him! Kumarajiva smiled at the question, and shook his head bemusedly. "No, I don't tie them myself. Some of the familiars of the herd specialize in working with manes. Mostly raccoons, a few squirrels." He preferred the raccoons, himself. The raccoons were only really useful at night, which could be a bother, but the squirrels always seemed to lack attention span. He worried that they'd get bored halfway through and run off to collect nuts or something.
"Sometimes we interact with the humans that live in the area. They can do even more beautiful things with manes, but it's hard to make them understand what you want." That was a real pity, the lack of ability to communicate with their human neighbors.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 7:04 pm
"Hm," said Freyja thoughtfully, more serious now that she had moved past teasing him. "That makes sense." She looked at his mane, then back at her own tail. Her tail was curly and shone with a beautiful blue sheen, but other than that it hung plainly. She looked over to Kuma, temptation glittering in her eyes.
"Do you think your familiar friends could do my mane too?" She flicked her tail, hopeful. "I want a braid. Or maybe lots of little ones." She had seen a mare with many little braids in her tail once. They had been strung with beads and feathers, and Freyja was jealous just thinking about it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 4:32 pm
Verity flew. Through the trees, it was hard to make out anything on the ground. She was up here looking for a herd, but she couldn't find anything other than trees. All around her mountains rose up in rounded mounds. They looked nothing like the craggy towering mountains she was more used to. Her injured wing was still bandaged, though that was more out of habit than anything else now. Her wound had healed, only a few lone scabs and dull aches left to remind her of the grievous injury. Her pregnancy was far more pressing.
She knew she'd have to land soon. The heaviness of her belly seemed to pull her towards the ground, or maybe that was just the experience with flying with half a wing less than she was used to. Every once in a while she could feel stirring within her, reminding her of her precious load. Just as she was about to land she noticed something, a glint of sunlight off water... and something else. Soquili!
She angled her descent so she would land near them. If what she had heard about the locals was correct, they were a gentle herd and would do her no harm. She landed with a flourish of her wings, and saw that there were two before her, a flutter mare and a unicorn stallion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 4:37 pm
"I think they..." Kuma trailed off. A shadow passed overhead, one too big to be a bird. He blinked upwards and saw that it was a soquili, one flying rather low at that. He immediately recognized her as an angeni, and one not from the area. They had a few angeni-blooded members of Padmapani and more nearby in their sister herd, the Miakoda. He didn't know all of the Miakoda members well, but this mare didn't seem to be one of them. Once she landed he was able to see her vibrant colors and glinting armor. No, there was no one like that in either herd.
To his surprise, he also noticed she was pregnant. It was an odd softness that contrasted against her warlike attire. He looked to one side, glancing at Freyja. She didn't seem to recognize the stranger any more than he did.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 4:41 pm
Freyja almost jumped when she noticed the angeni circling down for a landing. Someone else from the local herd? Kuma's expression wasn't one of greeting, it was of confusion. It was a strange coincidence that collected two outsiders from the herd into this one area at the same time. She squinted warily at the landing mare. She didn't like that sort of coincidence, and she had no special fondness for angeni. The ones she had met were the least fun of all. They were all too serious and too focused on the 'right thing.' Her defensiveness wasn't improved at all when she was able to see the armor on this one. Freyja internally betted that this was some sort of self-righteous warrior type.
"What do you want?" she asked, bright and cheery but at the same time slightly biting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
