|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:07 pm
 |
|
|
|
In all her life, Sahaena never would have guessed there were so many shades of green, of brown, of grass and brush and tree and leaf. She boggled at the shades present in the wildflowers, admired how the same plants looked different in sunlight or in shadow. Though there were familiar colors, the shades were far different than the ones she knew under the ocean. She drank up the sights and scents eagerly, curious and delighted with each step and turn of the path she followed.
This was the first time Sahaena had adventured so far inland, and if she was honest with herself, the fact that she was so far away from the ocean was making her nervous. She hadn't given it much thought, at first... Leaving behind the sand dunes for the salt-grass fields, and even visiting the outer edges of the woods with their meadows had been interesting. But she had passed her 'inland most point' ages ago, and now the crowd of the trees was dangerous or oppressive, rather than merely unique and a novel change of scenery. Even the roar of the waves was long-lost, swallowed up by the enfolding arms of the forest.
"Why did you think this was a good idea, again?" She murmured to herself, both amused and exasperated. "You don't even know where your land-loving friends live, and you've passed all of your usual meeting places... So you're progressing toward lost at a rapid pace, my girl. Is there a backup plan?"
Coming to a halt, the Kelpi mare flared her fins and sighed, rueful as she gazed around her. Now what? |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 11:17 am
|
|
|
 |
Since leaving her mother's Cerynei herd several weeks prior, Toleca had been almost constantly on the move. She had seen meadows and woodlands, a bunch of streams and ponds, and one large, meandering river that had completely stymied any attempt to ford or cross it. She had seen her first non-Cerynei Soquili, including her first Wind Soquili, which had been incredibly exciting. She still didn't know where she was going to end up; she had yet to find any place where she felt like she truly 'belonged', or any Soquili she felt truly comfortable with. And perhaps most importantly, she had yet to find the Wind father she had heard so much about.
So she had kept on wandering, taking advantage of the nice weather and comfortable landscape. As ever, her wings hung useless against her sides; though she hoped to learn how to use them at some point, her previous encounter with a winged Soquili hadn't been the sort to lead to flight lessons. So it was up to her legs to carry her along, and she was definitely putting them through their paces!
The forest was her latest undertaking, but as she made her way through the trees she wondered if she wasn't maybe being a bit too ambitious. The branches were awfully close, catching at her long mane and tail, pulling at the feathers of her wings, and otherwise acting a real nuisance. This could be a problem.
As if cued by that thought, at the very next step she let out a cry as she felt her scalp pulled; her hair had gotten caught in yet another branch. "Ouch!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 4:00 pm
|
|
|
|
It was strangely invigorating, traveling so far outside the realm of all she had known. And a shame actually that she'd never done it sooner, the Kelpi mare had to admit. 'Still, no time like the present... and home is not all that far behind, should I begin to miss it so much.'
Sahaena meandered through the woods, her golden eyes wide with curiosity. She was somewhat on the lookout for a nearby river or lake, though there was no danger of her scales drying out just yet. For the moment she wandered in comfort, taking in her surroundings with an eager heart. There was much to see and to learn, and she almost wished she'd planned to meet some of her wandering friends for a tour or at least some sort of explanation to some of the things she was seeing.
Still, she'd manage well enough without it... And in the worst case she'd ask them a dozen questions the next time they got together. "Which in itself is not a bad plan, actually. It may annoy them a bit, but they had a dozen questions about the sea... Easily, maybe even twice that."
Jarred out of her musings by a sudden cry of pain, the Kelpi mare twined her through the next cluster of trees. "Umm, hello? It sounded like somewhat was hurt? Can I help you?"
She stumbled to a halt at the sight of the other Soquili, thinking for a moment that she'd crossed paths with Raikinti. Then again, the appearance of a flowing red tail and the wings that she noticed on the second glance proved that was not the case. The one that was captive was a mare, though she and Sahaena's friend did have some traits in common. A Cerynei cross, then?
"I mean you no harm."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:24 pm
|
|
|
|
Since she was a very young foal, Tokeca had simply let her mane and tail go. As a young filly, she had wanted to cut her hair short; the bold red color was so different from the browns and tans of the herd's Cerynei that there had been a time where she'd been deeply self-conscious about it. But her mother had refuses, doing her best to help Toki see how beautiful and unique her mane and tail truly were. At first Toki had resisted, wanting nothing to do with the dramatic mark of her impure blood. But in time, she'd come to love her hair, which, in addition to being a beautiful deep red, fell in large, waving curls. Eventually it had become too much to manage, but at that point she had enlisted the services of a nimble fingered raccoon to braid it, thinking it would be easier to manage in that state.
She'd been mostly right; the braid WAS a lot more manageable than loose hair pooling around her feet. But never, not once in all her dreams had she thought about the hazards of long hair in the woods. The more she pulled against the entwining branch, the more firmly she was caught, inspiring her to even higher levels of panic and firmer tugs. By the time the other voice broke in on Toki's panic, she was well and truly tangled, her head bent up and back at an awkward and painful angle by the surrounding branches. She knew she was vulnerable, and she had no idea what sort the stranger might be...but right now, she didn't really have a lot of options!
Because of the angle of her neck, she couldn't see the other mare; however, she WAS able to hear her approach, and her statement. Fervently hoping the other mare was telling the truth about not meaning any harm, Toki said in as steady a voice as she could manage, "I think I'll just have to trust you about wanting to help, but if you could help me get unstuck, I'd be super-grateful! Something's caught my hair, and it hurts...it hurts a LOT!" Not the most polite greeting, but this was hardly a typical situation!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 9:25 am
|
|
|
|
Considering how close and grabby the branches and trees appeared to be, the Kelpi mare was rather glad she was nothing but shimmering scales and fine fins. The fins themselves were easy to keep away from the grasping bark fingers, which could not be the same for a silken mane. Especially with the wind frisking about, plucking at loose leaves and everything else it could get its hands on.
Sahaena knew some Kelpi and Mers that had a flowing mane like the Soquili of the land and sky. She of course was not one of them, but they had been part of her home-herd and she had certainly seen them in the waters here. In fact, her friend Irridian had a flowing mane that was like a captive cloud, curling and whisping around his head whimsically. Hae had always thought it lovely, though she supposed without the beautiful, artistic hand of the sea hair could be very troublesome indeed. Seeing this mare caught in the wood, it seemed her suspicions had been correct.
"Oh dear." She mused softly, inching closer. "Do stop tugging on it, I am quite worried you'll harm yourself if you don't."
Sahaena might have been offended by the greeting -such as it was- if it wasn't very apparent the mare had gotten herself into quite a bind. As it was she merely gave a sad shake of her head, trotting forward. "I'd be happy to help, of course... But carefully. If you can, try and take a half-step back so you're not yanking everything so hard, and we'll see about getting you loose, hmmm?"
The thick braided length was pretty indeed, twined with flowers and such, but it was also speared quite securely by a stout branch or three, and would require some delicate work to be free. "Here now, how about this? My name is Sahaena, and I'm a stranger in this land. While I get started on getting you free, why you tell me a bit about yourself?"
Hopefully that would keep the mare from tugging or trying to get free, and let Sahaena work in peace. With a faint smile and a shake of her head the Kelpi mare inched closer, beginning to pluck some of the twigs out of the way so she could see what she was working with. Only three or so stout branches holding the stranger's mane, not bad at all.
"Tell me a story or something." Sahaena prompted. "Maybe something about this land? Anything that will get your mind off of this while I start to work."
With that last bit of instruction she broke the forked tip off of one of the branches and then took a mouthful of crimson hair, carefully lifting the braided section free of the tree. As she worked, she noticed there was some bramble just off to the right, and took a moment to be very grateful indeed that the stranger hadn't managed to get herself caught in that.
What a nightmare that would have been!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 12:02 pm
|
|
|
|
Not pulling against the entwining branches was a great theory, but it was a lot harder for Toki to DO than to THINK. The other mare seemed nice enough, she admitted; her tone was gentle, and she seemed genuinely interested in helping Toki out. She was even speaking sense, trying to help Toki calm down and help herself rather than make her situation worse. But the impulse to tug was so strong that it took almost everything she had just to follow that common sense admonishment; with the pain from her pulled hair and the awkward crick in her neck so intense she almost couldn't see, it seemed her only course of action was to buck and rear and otherwise try to break herself out!
But the part of her brain that wasn't yet blinded by pain knew the other mare was right, she Toki did her best to hold still, once she'd attempted the suggested half step back. She wasn't quite sure she'd managed, because at the movement she felt yet another sharp pain rip across her scalp and let out another yelp. "Ouch!"
It was a good thing the other mare...Sahaena, she'd called herself, had come along when she did; at this point, there was no way Toki could have extricated herself alone without some SEVERE hair loss! But since Sahaena was here and seemed intent on helping, it left to Toki to hope she knew what she was doing! And at least the conversation was a good distraction; realizing that the alternative was to focus on the pain, Toki was quick to latch onto the idea of socialization. After all, wasn't she out here, far away from her herd, to experience what the world had to offer? Just because the meeting was due to unpleasant circumstances didn't mean it had to stay that way.
"I'm Tokeca...Toki, that is," she said in response to the other mare's introduction, the words practically forcing their way out her mouth. "I would like to tell you a story, but I don't really have one to tell you, not about this place, anyway. I'm a traveller too, so I guess we have that in common." Toki wanted to smile then, but another tug to her mane, this time due to Saheana's removal of one of the binding branches, caused another yelp instead. "If I was a local, I think I'd have much shorter hair. I don't know how anyone can live out here with any sort of volume in their hair, or wings for that matter!"
With her head still bent around, she hadn't had a chance to see what her rescuer looked like yet. But as Sahaena worked, the painful crick in her neck was starting to go away as first one, then another of the branches was bent out of her hair. "Really, I'm very glad you came along, Sahaena. I don't know what I would have done without her help." At that, she felt the last branch released, and with a hearty sigh of relief Toki bent her neck back into its proper position...and looked at her rescuer for the first time.
What on earth?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
