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 Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 11:55 am
Kingston slunk through the thick woods, his slender form broken up by the jagged stripes across his back. He moved quietly, careful to step only on the many large roots that buckled up out of the ground and avoiding the accumulated leaf litter and dried twigs that built up between them.
The forest was black as pitch despite the the time of day, but it was light enough for Kingston to pick his path, not only did the stallion have excellent night vision but the many oyster shaped mushrooms stemming from the bark of the twisted trees cast a glowing blue nimbus of light that was eerie but quite useful. Leaning in, King sniffed one of the mushroom caps delicately, a thoughtful look in his eyes, but one never knew with mushrooms. Even quite ordinary looking varieties could cause all sorts of harmful effects, could even prove fatal, and these certainly were not ordinary.
He tilted his head and peered ahead, there were chips in the tree trunks winding deeper into the forest. He had met a stallion that called himself the 'frumious snapper' only that morning, quite the delightful fellow really if you didn't mind subtle threats, which Kingston didn't. His perpetual grin twitched wider, Vorpal had proposed a game of hide and seek, which had been quite fun really until it had been his turn to seek.King had left his axe buried in the ground for safekeeping and the sneaky stallion had nipped off with it instead of hiding and was now playing 'least in sight.'
Kingston wasn't worried, it wasn't in his nature to fret, he wasn't angry either, but he did plan on getting his axe back, however long that would take. Taking a step foreword, Kingston let out a strangled gasp as his hoof slipped off the mossy root and he toppled foreword. It wouldn't have been all that big of a problem except the ground had given way beneath him, he crashed down into a pit that had clearly been dug for just this purpose. King coughed and spat out leaves, checking himself over, a few scratches bled sluggishly, he was a little banged up and foreleg was sore, but nothing was broken or permanently damaged. Kingston glanced up, there was no way he would be able to climb out on his own, he was well and truly trapped until someone came across him. He was off the well worn path following Vorpal's trail so he really didn't know if that would ever happen.
Puffing out a loud breath Kingston began to chuckle, and then to guffaw. He imagined he was quite a sight right now and his instinct was that the Frumious Snapper was responsible for his current predicament. Clever, he must have led him here intentionally, but why?? Was he trying to dispose of King so the axe was free for the taking? He hadn't seemed like a covetous stallion, but it was certainly plausible. Regardless, there was only one course of action.
"Hellloooooo??" Kingston bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Is anyone there?"
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 11:53 pm
 It was ridiculous, really. Her decision to return to this insufferable forest again. The crimson mare wasn't even sure how she had managed to retain the information as to where it was located. Perhaps it was some instinct? Or the smell. Or many other factors that she wasn't considering. Any of the above were possible. And yet, even after her last experience with that aggravating nitwit, the Frumious Snapper... Veri was back again. Looking for that monstrous idiot. Oh she had not been able to get him off her mind. Nor had she forgiven the stallion. And for that, she had a score to settle.
Or just needed to go kick a few more of his precious trees. That would feel invigorating, right?
Veri snorted, wings itching to catch the wind and carry her out of there. But her mind was set and she was determined to find him. The only question was... how? He'd drugged her. Stalked her. And had his mysterious ways. All the more detestable.
"I am sensing distress." Ritual floated above his lady's head, tilting his head to glance down at her. "The air here reeks of it. And my feathers quiver with... unease."
"Well, it certainly isn't my distress." Veri muttered at her familiar, slowing her pace to glance around slowly. "Perhaps I should just get lost. On purpose." Her gaze shot back up to the raven. "You stay in the sky. Keep your eye on the path. So I can find my way back out of this place." She waited for his nod before trotting off into the dark depths of the trees. A brilliant idea, she thought. Until the eeriness was shattered by a loud bellow. Veri's ears flattened instantly and her movements halted. Could that be him?
Curiously, the mare started towards the noise. What she found was not quite what she had been hoping for. Veri huffed out an annoyed breath, peeking into the... "Why are you in a pit?" She asked casually of the stallion making all the noise. He was not, unfortunately, the Frumious Snapper.
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 11:34 am
Kingston was generally a good sport, he liked to play games, he didn't mind a few jokes, but he did not like being trapped at the bottom of a pit, as it turned out. He tried jumping, but he was no where near tall enough, he stood on his hind legs and was able to just see over the edge of the hole, his luminous green eyes sweeping back and forth in search for someone who could assist him. He dug his hooves in the soft earth but only managed to make himself completely filthy, his coat covered in damp black earth. He thought he might have something there, if he could dig enough of the side dirt out he might be able to make a ramp, or at least fill the bottom of the hole in enough that he could jump out. He worked at that for a while, but it was tough going. There were many roots, both the thin and fibrous kind that hindered his progress by sheer numbers and by holding fast to each clump of earth in a threadlike death grip, and the thick tap roots that forced him to change the direction of his digging all together.
After quite some time, Kingston lay down to rest, thoroughly filthy, you could barely tell he was a striped horse of the Cheshire variety which made him feel rather sulky. He tried licking a patch of his coat clean but grimaced at the taste and feel of the dirt against his tongue and spat it out again immediately, hacking and spitting for a few minutes. Great, now he had dirt stuck between his teeth to top off this wonderful evening.
The worst part was that he no longer had his axe. He was quite sure by this point that the frumious snapper had no intention of ever returning it, he would have to track the bugger down and teach him some manners. Kingston's eyes went flat for a moment as he considered how he would go about that.
No, no, no, he would simply ask politely for the snapper to return his property. Surely this was a misunderstanding, he was a friendly fellow, he would allow the little thief to explain himself.
Kingston was lost in his thoughts for quite some time, every so often, when the mood struck, he would holler for a few moments, but the stallion had resigned himself the the fact that a rescue was more than unlikely this far into the tum tum tree forest. It simply wasn't done.
Thus he was surprised to hear the snap of twigs and the crunch of leaves somewhere above him, his ears swivelled to catch the sound. He could just make out murmured voices, and then the footsteps drew closer. Trembling with excitement, he stood on his hind legs again, bracing his forelegs against the pitted side of the hole with care and poked the top of his head out of the ground. His eyes, ears, and nostrils were just visible, bobbing slightly as though floating on water due to the grace of the strange gap between his neck and shoulders. Kingston was already smiling, but it grew even wider at the sight of the mare, his pinprick pupils were fixed unblinkingly on the mare, his gruesome toothy grin was far too wide and predatory. He took a deep breath...
"Hi!!"
He chirped, his muscles tensed with excitement. His tail was actually flicking around in celebration. "My name is Kingston, I wandered into this forest because I've heard a lot of interesting stories about it, I was thinking about settling in. I wasn't walking for too long before I met a Snapper, a frumious one to be precise, he offered to show me around and I accepted. We wandered for a while, but stopped for a snack when I grew hungry. I ate some fish and some mushrooms, and then I must have fallen asleep. When I woke up, my axe was gone, HE STOLE MY AXE, HE TOOK IT." The stallion paused, breathing deeply to calm himself, still smiling, he squeezed his eyes shut and then continued, "I followed his trail, and was gaining on him, but then I fell into this pit and found myself quite trapped. I've been working on escaping but its quite tiring work digging, and I haven't had much luck yet, so I was resting for a bit and then I heard you, and then you asked me what happened, and then I told you, and now I'm done telling you. Oh, look, you have a bird!" He leaned back and smiled expectantly.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 8:09 pm
 Her tail lashed at her side like some annoying insect was chewing on her hide. Ears falling flat, the mare did not seem to be too impressed with the stallion. Especially with how loud he was. And gracious, but how did he end up in a... hole? Was he that daft? Or had it been an accident? All these thoughts and more kept flying through Veri's mind as the crimson mare regarded the stallion and his predicament. Not to mention the strange way he kept bobbing his head...
He talks too much, was her initial first thought. Along with 'loud'. But as he unveiled the tale of how he wound up in the hole, Veri felt a tiny bit of sympathy as she pieced together what he said and had a fairly good idea Who this Kingston was referring too.
Veri couldn't help the small laugh that bubbled up. "That Frumious Snapper!" She moved closer, though still kept her distance just in case he tried to pull her in too. "I am familiar with this creature. And if you fell asleep, it certainly had to be him. He's played these vile tricks on me." And was almost as equally obnoxious. "But forgive my rudeness, Kingston. I am Vermillion, though you can just call me Veri." For now, at any rate. She had this inkling that there was another name they called her. When she blacked out and the 'other' took over.
The mare's gaze flickered up towards the dark figure flying slow circles around them. "Yes, that is my familiar. I'm afraid he won't be of much help getting you out." Unless the sack of feathers could find a thick enough vine Kingston could hoist himself out with. "He'll at least be able to keep an eye out for that blasted stallion." She muttered, turning back to the problem at hand.
Wings fluttering, Veri moved to the edge of the pit to look down inside. It was an impressive thing. And Kingston was no small stallion either. "Do you have any brilliant ideas for how to get you out of this pit?" She asked, keeping one eye on him while attempting to look around for anything she could drag over for him to use.
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 2:10 pm
Kingston was pleased with how this meeting was going. He stood straighter and his expression brightened. He stared at the bird, humming a little ditty to himself.
"Lovely bird," he commented with a friendly nod, "But no, I should think not, there's a rather lot of me and well... Not very much of him."
"I rather thought it was a game until I realized he intended to leave me here, the wretch." His large green eyes adopted a woeful look, "Aaah, he took your axe too, Veri? He's a scoundrel, a thief, a flibbertigibbet." Kingston giggled a bit at the last word, "Pardon me, that was rude."
He thought on that for a moment, "Is there anything you could push down here for me to stand on or climb up?" He eyed her wings, "Or... you could fly down here and give me a boost?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 9:30 pm
Took her axe? Veri refrained from rolling her eyes at this stallion. He was, at the very least, better company then that Snapper! Perhaps she could assist this Kingston in finding his axe? And in the process find that idiot stallion at the same time? The mare considered this, and decided it was worth a shot.
And if things went well, she could sit back and watch Kingston retrieve his axe. Maybe make the other pay for stealing such a precious item.
In theory, anyways.
"Flibbertigibbet?" Was that even a real word? Veri wasn't so sure. But it was oddly fitting. "No need to apologize. And I guess I could come give you a boost. But you're a wee bit bigger than I am." She pointed out, glancing over her shoulder to spot a rather decent sized tangle of vines. "Let us try this first. And then, we shall see if I need to 'boost' you up." Without waiting for his response - not that she wouldn't hear it, the stallion was loud - the mare walked over to grab one of the vines in the tangle in her mouth. Tugging to test its strength, Veri dragged it over to drop down at the hole.
"That should hold you. Why not give it a shot?" She took a couple steps back to give him space for climbing out.
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 11:19 am
"True, very true," he agreed amiably, happily oblivious to the small indications of annoyance the mare portrayed. "Speaking of birds, where did you happen across that fine specimen?" he smacked his lips and eyed the crow with a glint in his eye.
Kingston had a momentary surge of anger as she walked out of view, was she tricking him? His fury was quickly replaced by excitement as the tangle of woody vines were tossed into his view. He watched them lower slowly, "Gallymongers!" he exclaimed, laughing, "brilliant madame, thats quite a brain you have there!" He paced back and forth, gazing at the vines, the gears churning in his brain as he tried to decide the best use for them. He gave one a few hard jerks experimentally with his teeth, but they seems sound enough to hold his weight. He stood on his hind legs, his forelegs braced against the crumbling earth at the side of the hole where he had been digging. "Right," he muttered, "nothing to it," he assured himself. Biting the vines with his teeth he pulled, and jumped up. His forelegs cleared the edge and began scrabbling and digging into the ground. His breathing was labored, sweat trickled from his brow, and his muscles strained as he tried to pull the rest of himself up.
For a moment it seemed as though he would do it, he had only a few feet to go, his back hooves had found purchase on a thick root he had dug free in his escape attempt. King had released his grip on the vine momentarily to move his teeth up a bit when the root snapped beneath his weight and he went tumbling back into the hole, his sudden inertia snapping the sturdy vines and taking them with him. Most unfortunately, unable to control his direction, Kingston knocked his head sharply against a rock as he went down. Stars exploded across his vision before it narrowed to a pinprick and then when completely black. Kingston lay on his side at the bottom of the pit, nothing was visibly broken but his legs were splayed about crazily, and his tongue stuck out the side of his mouth. All in all the sight would have been rather humorous if not for the fact that his black hair was sticky and slick with blood where he had hit the rock and he had quite clearly been knocked unconscious by the force of the blow. The broken vines lay over his prone body like a tangled blanket. On the positive side, snapping the root seemed to have undermined the entire structure of the pit, the dirt wall collapsed on that side, half burying Kingston, but creating a clear, albeit steep and unstable, path down to where the stallion lay. His soft breathing stirring up clouds of dust.
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Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 2:17 pm
Veri followed Kingston's gaze to look up at her familiar that was still making slow circles above them. "Him? He's always been with me." She shrugged, a faint frown forming. "He was there when I emerged from my basket. Mother says he 'divined' finding me and just showed up, deciding to bond with me." An eye roll was added her as she glanced back at the stallion. "I think the feather brain is full of it." The lips smacking did not go unnoticed and a small curl of her lips betrayed her amusement.
"Why do you ask? In the market for a feather brain yourself?"
She was pretty sure that at this rate, her eyes would be permanently stuck in the back of her head with how often she was rolling them. Veri snorted but accepted the compliment for what it was. It really hadn't seemed like that difficult of an idea to come up with. So maybe her initial thoughts on this stallion were correct and he was a bit slow in the head?
Or just easily distracted by everyone and thing. The crimson mare sighed, stepping back as he attempted to get out of the pit. Her ears perked forward and a look of excitement flickered across her features as it seemed he was going to get out.
And then he fell back into the pit and even the proud Veri cringed at the sound of it. There may have been some laughing too. "I say, that was a valiant attempt!"
Nothing. No response. The mare's ears lowered a little as she stepped closer. "Kingston?" She called, getting close enough to extend her neck out and look down. His body was sprawled out in a way that made the mare chuckle for a breath before a frown formed. There was blood. She could see it and smell it. But he was still breathing. The fool had cracked his head and knocked himself out!
At least he can get out easier now, she thought as the blood scent made her feel dizzy - which was strange - and her vision started to blur before going black.
Perhaps for only a moment the mare stood almost lifeless before her eyes snapped open and a gasp escaped. "O-Oh my gosh are you okay?!"
The crimson mare immediately started sliding down the slope, a very concerned expression on her face. She wasn't sure why the stallion looked familiar, but that didn't matter. He was in trouble!
"H-Hello? Sir? Can you hear me?" Milli nudged at him very gently, afraid to move his body too much. Faithofthefallen Hi King, have a Milli now :'D
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:36 pm
H-Hello?
"Ugh," the voice tickled his ears from miles away, and it was accompanied by a strange ringing that made him want to grit his teeth to stop his head from jangling like a struck bell.
Sir? Can you hear me?
The voice again, "Ughn," he groaned, yes, yes, of course he could hear her, why would she ask a silly question like that. He peered around himself, to his tremendous surprise he was surrounded by darkness, he looked down at himself and could see nothing, he was disembodied, floating in the shadows of his mind, alone and undisturbed...
He giggled.
But where was that voice coming from?
He squinted, or at least, he thought he squinted, it was rather hard to tell what your body was doing when you didn't actually have a body.
He felt a gentle nudge. Well, now that certainly felt odd, here he was, floating in the darkness of... himself? That was the only way to explain how he now felt. Far off, toward the voice, a pinprick of light. It was faint, a dreary glow, but it seemed like brightest day at the moment. Whistling jauntily, Kingston's awareness skipped towards the light...
And opened his eyes to meet the concerned pale blue gaze of the mare standing over him. He smiled, baring his teeth in a gruesome display, his eyes sweeping over the scene. He was on the ground. His body was weighed down by a tangled tumble of dirt, rocks, and woody vines, his head ached fiercely. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, fighting a wave of nausea.
"Ooof, oh my, that is unpleasant" he grated, his voice rough from either yelling or inhaling too much dust from the collapsed pit. Ah, now he remembered, he had been trapped in a pit. He glanced at the rubble and detritus half burying his striped body and grinned again, looked like the pit was not going to be an issue anymore.
He looked back up at the mare, "Hello Veri," he grunted, "Perhaps not such a brilliant idea after all but it did get the job done." He took a deep breath and heaved himself to all fours, swaying perilously and having to swallow down another surge of bile as his head protested. "I've a splitting headache now, I'd say take the blasted thing off and be done with it, but I still don't have my axe and the thing is practically disembodied as it is. He swung his head about in a frightful circle as if to demonstrate, stopping just before it had gone 180 degrees and then swinging back again. He chuckled.
"NOW!" he declared suddenly at the top of his lungs, "I will find that traitorous scum and retrieve MY axe. MINE. and THEN, oh yes, then, I will toss -him- into one of these filthy pits and see how HE likes it!!" His bright green eyes burned with a merciless malevolence for a minute before returning to Vermillion.
"You can help if you want to," he offered, his voice quite calm and friendly. " He's pretty big, and pretty tricksy, I might need help to toss him in the pit. You were saying you know him too, right? Did he steal something from you as well?"Kyrieko xD He's going to be so confused!!!
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 3:42 pm
Milli stepped back a little anxiously, still watching the poor stallion with a concerned gaze. "A-Are you okay?" She asked again, a confused look crossing her face as she looked around for someone else he might be talking to. Was there another that was supposed to be here? She hadn't seen anyone else! Oh heavens, what if they were trapped under the landslide of dirt?!
"Are you alone out here?" She asked, and grew concerned yet again. "Maybe you should take it slower for now. I bet you knocked your head terribly bad when falling." Milli paused. "You did fall, right?"
His... axe? By the stars, she was growing more and more confused! Like why she was out here again? She remembered wanting to go looking through these woods again, seeking Vorpal. But actually heading off to the woods? She did not remember that. Looking around again, she sought out her familiar who had to be close by. Or at least she was until the stallion before her turned his head almost all the way around. The mare gasped.
Jumping slightly, the mare backed up a little more. "Wait, someone took your axe?" She blinked in even more confusion. "I can help you search for it. And the one that took it." Her eyes widened. "Oh no! He didn't steal anything from me. At least, I don't think so?" He who? Why was this stallion so confusing?
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 10:49 am
Kingston felt foggy and his bright green eyes were glazed with pain and confusion, he stared at the mare for a long moment before realizing she was waiting for a response.
"Alone? Why, no,of course not! You are right here aren't you?" his words slurred a bit, something that would have been alarming if he was anyone else, as it was, he found it tremendously funny that his voice was behaving so oddly. Oh yes, there was definitely something more off than usual in his skull, his brains had been rattled a bit to much he expected, so Veri might have a good point, taking it slow was for the best. His head felt heavy and there was an incessant ringing in his ears that would not go away no matter how many times he shook his head, and shake it he did. Feeling a surge of nausea, King stopped tossing his head about, but the nausea didn't go away. Swallowing hard, he stared at Veri for a long while to try to make things stop wobbling so much. Despite his earnest announcement the moment before, he was rather partial to the idea of finding some comfortable corner somewhere and curling up to sleep until his headache went away or he could slip back into that interesting darkness. "Oh yes, yes indeed. I remember the falling, not so much the landing, just a burst of stars and then.... Nothing. But you've been here this whole time, you silly thing. This fall was at least half your fault after all, you being the one who didn't want to climb in here with me to give me a boost up... And half The Snapper's fault" he muttered this last under his breath, "For trapping me here in the first place."
"Yes, yes, my axe" he replied testily, all this chattering was making his brain ache, "We covered this earlier I thought? Or not, who knows these days? The Frumious snapper flounced off with my axe and then led me into this trap, I mean to track him down, and slice his head clean off." He made a little popping sound with his mouth as if to illustrate and gave the mare a bloodthirsty grin. "Or maybe not so clean, my head aches so, I wouldn't be opposed to returning the favor. You could hold him down for me Veri, if you really want to come." his voice held a child's eagerness, indifferent to the violence of the words pouring from his mouth, and innocently unaware to the effect they might have on his companion.
He staggered past the mare, and climbed the loose mess of rubble and root and dirt, losing his footing more than once, but with a bit of effort he was out of the hated pit and once more standing on solid ground. “Now,” he began in a business like tone, “Now. Which direction did that fiend head off in after waylaying me?” He scrutinized the dirt for signs of Vorpal’s passing.
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