Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a gorgeous day in the forest, Laureat thought as he zipped along through the underbrush. The sun was shining, the birds in the canopy were singing; the ground underfoot was soft and spongy, a testament to the return of rain and moisture to the previously dried-up region. Last year had been difficult for the forest...and beyond, for that matter; yet another year of drought had brought hardship to plant and animal alike, culminating in a horrific fire that had swept across the plains and the far eastern edges of Laureat's beloved forest. He and his family had been lucky; the fire had died out long before it got near the clearing that still served as 'home;' however, it had been hard for Laureat to take solace in that fact when he surveyed the destruction beyond.

Then again, Laureat had always felt very in tune with the forest. Born with a deep, abiding love of plants, particularly flowers, he'd started ranging far and wide in search of new specimens at a very young age. Time and responsibility had done nothing to dim his ardor, nor had...

A slight, secret smile curved a corner of Laureat's mouth as he ducked through a maze of low hanging tree branches. Just thinking about Loth was enough to make him smile; Laureat might not really know what their situation was at this point, but he was happy; while he was often happy, this was a new and exciting kind of happiness. Who knew where things might go from here?

Perhaps it was because he was daydreaming that Laureat stopped paying attention to his surroundings...

Laureat was snapped out of his reverie by the cheery tone and stopped, surprised and a little embarrassed at having skipped right past someone without even noticing they were there. That wasn't like him at all, normally; obviously this was a sign that he needed to save his daydreaming for a time when he wasn't on the move! "Well, hello to you, too," Laureat began, turning around to greet the speaker...then stopped, startled, in his tracks.

It was the color; the color, bolstered by a very recent experience. But for a moment, he was surprised into thinking that he was viewing his wayward sister, Amary! The partially concealing trees and branches were largely to blame; he couldn't clearly see the mare who was speaking, but he could see magenta...

"Amary? What in the world are you doing-" Frowning slightly, Laureat ducked back under some of the branches towards the pinkish figure; for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what Amary would be doing here! Their last encounter had gone poorly; very poorly, he judged, given the fact she'd vanished. He hadn't mentioned the visit to their father, wanting to wait and see what Amary would do first, but the days had stretched into weeks, with nothing happening. Now she turned up out here?

...Or not. Making his way under another branch, Laureat got his first good look at the mare. Magenta she might be, but the similarities ended there; no wings, no mask, not even a rose in her hair. Whoever she was, it wasn't Amary, and he finished off his statement with a chuckle and a lame "-never mind, because you're not Amary. Hello, I'm Laureat, owner of the world's largest foot in the world's largest mouth!"

Wow, so many questions! At least it was nice to know she wasn't put off by his awkward introduction, Laureat thought with a grin. Never one to hold back on a conversation, he was quick to jump right in himself. "Likewise, Berry, and to answer your question...your first question, that is," he added with a chuckle, "I guess you could say I'm sort of from around here? I spend a lot of time in this part of the woods, though my actual home where I sleep is several miles away. And thank you, my family is quite fond of our cardinal resemblance! My father and oldest brother look the most birdlike, but there are lots of us who have the color, the mask, the markings, or what have you."

As he spoke, Laureat was nonchalantly looking over the mare once again, making note of her appearance beyond the color. Really, it was amazing how similar the color was, he couldn't help thinking; if there was ANY other resemblance, he might be inclined to wonder...well, honestly, he was already wondering. Stranger things had happened, after all!

"Are you from around here yourself? I don't think I've seen you before, but that doesn't mean I haven't just missed you!"

"Others like you and I?" Laureat wasn't totally sure what to make of that comment, but he'd always found that asking clarifying questions could be a great way to start understanding something. Did she mean Soquili? Reddish? Having four hooves? There was definitely some room for greater understanding there, and Laureat was anxious to learn!

At her comment about the rose, he broke into a wide, beaming smile, patting the rose he wore tucked into his neck chain. "You're right, it's a rose; a pure black one," he added with a proud smile. "They all are, actually, which can sometimes make them hard to see!" Grinning, Laureat leaned a little closer so Berry could see the additional roses tucked into his dark mane, then turned a bit and shook his equally flowery tail. "You might say they're a bit of a family hallmark; I think as many of us wear roses as sport the mask," he said with another laugh. "I should know; I grow them!" This was true; ever since he'd been an adolescent, he been fascinated with flowers and had, with his father's blessing, taken over care of the family flower garden.

Laureat wasn't exactly a vain Soquili, but he'd been raised with a firm belief that there was nothing wrong with justifiable pride. When it came to his flowers, he felt that his pride was justified and then some. He'd spent years of his life working on bringing the best out of his garden, so when Berry praised his roses he couldn't help but beam. "Well, thank you; I can't take any credit for the initial plants, but they've definitely been thriving. I had a good teacher, and great starting materials." As he spoke, he leaned closer to Berry, examining her circlet with the eye of a stallion who knew what he was looking at. "Old as that thing is, the flowers have held up beautifully. Clearly they are a very hardy stock!"

As Berry went on to explain the circumstances of her herd life, Laureat listened with a somewhat thoughtful expression. Even before she said she'd been a foundling, he'd started to put the pieces together; there were few explanations for a vibrant Soquili, especially a vibrant winged Soquili, in a herd like the one she described. It was a pity that she'd been alone so young, but fortunate for her that she had been found by a herd so hospitable.

Although...

Wings. Vibrant colors. A very familiar vibrant color, and a past she didn't know...

Once again, Laureat found himself staring at Berry, this time searching even deeper for the resemblance he thought he'd seen earlier. She didn't seem very old; younger than Laureat, for certain, which meant what he was wondering was a definite possibility. Hrm...

"Really? I might take you up on that, thank you, though I wonder if those little springs are capable of taking root," Laureat said thoughtfully. He knew there were some plants who could root from any part; maybe holly was one? It was definitely worth a try..."As long as you don't mind me taking some, of course; your circlet isn't very large, and I wouldn't want to leave you with something unbalanced!" He could always just keep his eyes open for the plant; if she'd been found in these parts, then it stood to reason the plant must be lurking around somewhere!

Mulling over the possibilities of the holly plant, he almost missed the fact that he'd been flat-out staring at the mare. But her adverse reaction, both physically and verbally, brought him back to himself and a sharp recollection of his proper manners. "Well, I'd say that being found is a great thing; being left alone in the first place is the problem, though it's hardly your fault if your parents were either that careless, that neglectful, or that...indisposed," he added as a charitable afterthought. It may have been outside of her parents' control, the circumstances of her abandonment; he really couldn't judge them.

It was just so eerily similar to what he knew of his sister, though, that he couldn't help but assume the worst. And he was a fellow who'd always given voice to his curiosities...when he could figure out how to phrase them! "Were you alone when you were found, Berry? Or were there any siblings with you?"

Soquili were often born as twins or triplets, after all; that had been the case with his nephews.

Seeds...of course! He was so used to thinking in terms of flowers, bulbs and transplanting, that he'd totally spaced on the fact that berries tended to hold seeds! Chuckling at his own stupidity, he gave Berry a bright nod. "Yes, the berries are probably a good way to test it out, and might be easier for you to lose. I'll just slip a few into my basket here, whenever you want, and we'll see if they actually take root! It'll be an experiment for me, for sure."

Laureat couldn't help but wince at her description of 'pieces' of baskets blowing around. It didn't necessarily mean there had been other foals, but it definitely strengthened the argument that there had been. He hoped their baskets were in tatters because they'd already emerged and were on their way in life, not because something untoward had happened to them. Shaking off that negative thought, he gave Berry what he hoped was an untroubled smile. "Actually, it can be pretty common in some lines. I actually have a twin sister myself; she's a couple minutes younger than me. And we have an older brother and sister who are also twins," he said with a slight twitch of distaste. "Plus two sets who are triplets; non-identical, but born together," he added with a grin. "Multiples definitely run in our family. I think I have...one sibling who isn't a twin or triplet? One that I know of, anyway."

That he knew of, indeed; there were definite complications to the lifestyle his parents lived!