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 Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 7:32 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:29 pm
Midagi patrolled his domain with his head held high and proud. His home was built and standing tall. It was a bit chilly, perhaps, but a lovely maiden would brighten it right up. Of course, he’d have to find a maiden first… that… might not be easy to do in this little out of the way valley. Ah, but that was something to be dealt with at some other time. He had a job to do, a border to patrol. Midagi was nothing if not dedicated to his duties. When something snapped in the brush, he froze and listened, keeping his eyes open for any possible movement that would indicate a threat.
Lori shook his head, still trying to regain his calm. That last mare he had met had gotten under his skin, unpleasantly enough. He had to work hard to maintain his cheerful attitude. Though, he was willing to admit that it had cracked a bit when that mare had interrogated him. She had brought up memories he had been working hard to bury… ah, but dwelling on it wasn’t helping at all. He shook his head, allowing his curls to bounce around his head, and stepped out of the brush, ignoring the stick that snapped beneath his hoof. He probably should have been paying closer attention to his surroundings. Kyad would have yelled at him if he knew how distracted his twin was behaving, but Lori WAS distracted. So much so that he didn’t notice the green stallion standing not too far from him.
Midagi watched the very, very pink stallion step out of the bushes and stared for a moment. He was shocked that such a vividly obvious soquili had managed to sneak past him. Though, he assured himself, technically this fellow hadn’t gotten past him just yet. He lifted his head a little higher and spoke, in his most foreboding tone, “Halt! Who goes there?” There. That was sure to stop the strange stallion in his tracks and reassert Midagi’s dominance.
Lori froze at the sound of the voice and swung his gaze around until he spotted the drab green stallion. It took him a few seconds longer than it probably should have. But in his defense, Midagi did blend in to the greenery quite well. Then the exact phrasing of the question sank in and Lori arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Who goes there?” he murmured more to himself, fighting the urge to grin. He did so love the pompous ones. They were especially fun to play with… er… match up. “Lorimer Encantador,” he introduced himself elegantly. He bowed his head with a flourish that somehow managed to make his actions seem both graceful and goofy at the same time. “And you, oh glorious green guardian? Who are you?”
“Glor….” Midagi choked on the description, thrown by Lori’s behavior. He shook his head a bit, trying to regain control over the conversation. “I am Midagi Royale, guardian of this border. What business do you have here?” he demanded, trying to keep his tone firm and forbidding. He didn’t want this stallion to feel welcomed. Not if Lori was some kind of invader. If he was no threat, then Midagi would call upon Zahavah and see what she wanted done with him. Midagi knew better, by now, than to make decisions for the little mare.
“MIdagi,” Lori repeated. “May I call you Midagi?” He didn’t wait for an answer as he tossed his head, causing his glorious curls to tumble artfully around his head. “I am naught but a mere traveler seeking out love in the far corners of the world. Is there a lady Royale? Or are you as lovelorn as you seem, my darling Midagi?”
Midagi’s jaw dropped to the ground as he stared at the stranger. He must have hit his head. Or maybe the pink stallion had. One of them certainly had hit something. Midagi couldn’t possibly be having this conversation with the stallion. Just to be certain, he asked, “Are you asking if I’m mated?”
“Indeed, I am,” Lori confirmed with a brilliant smile. He was rather accustomed the reaction he was receiving. Most found his offer of assistance breathtaking and were at a loss of words. Most people… Though not, apparently, a particular hard headed, vicious mare… Ah, but he wasn’t thinking about her. He was concentrating on this newest project in front of him. But first, he had to find out if Midagi was happily in love already. If the green stallion wasn’t in need of his services, Lori would do better to move on and find someone in need of his services.
“Why?” Midagi demanded, when he could find his voice again. What possible advantage could this stranger get from knowing if he had a mate or not? Was he looking for a weakness to exploit? If so, then he wouldn’t find one there. Midagi was grateful, for once, that he didn’t have a lady who might be put at risk. This was something he would have to consider before he found someone to settle down with. He was confident that he would be able to protect any lady under his care, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make preparations for such an eventuality.
“Why?” Lori asked, wide eyed and innocent. Well, giving his best innocent impression, anyway. It was rather good, if he did say so himself. And he often did say so himself. “Shouldn’t that be quite obvious? So I know if you require my services or not.”
“What services?” Midagi demanded, through his teeth. There was something about this stallion that was making Midagi hope that he was an enemy. If he was an enemy, then Midagi could attack him… even hurt him. Right now, he really, really wanted to kick the pink fluff head. He couldn’t put his hoof on why, exactly. Perhaps it was just because Lori was irritating… or maybe it was instinct warning him that this was someone who could not be trusted. He really, really hoped it was instinct and not just irritation.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 11:16 am
“Why, my matchmaking services, of course,” Lori explained, still smiling brightly. It wasn’t uncommon for people to misunderstand him. And, to be honest, he was playing up the airhead card a little at the moment. He couldn’t help himself, really. After the run in with that… mare… It was nice to be facing someone he could unsettle instead of being unsettled. It put his world back in order, in a way. He enjoyed annoying people… Being annoyed wasn’t nearly as much fun. Of course, he knew that eventually the green stallion was going to lose his temper and try to kick him or perhaps worse. One might think that it would be more reasonable to try to avoid such an outcome… but Lori had never been accused of being reasonable, or even logical.
“Matchmaking services,” Midagi repeated, the urge to hurt this pink stallion growing. Though he was beginning to realize it was indeed irritation, and not any sort of instinctual warning. Maybe he could claim he couldn’t tell the difference… No, he was too honorable to lie like that. Oh, but he could claim that he was defending the small orange mare and her family from a disruptive influence. Surely that would work… “I don’t require any matchmaking services.”
“No?” Lori tilted his head, the picture of curiosity. He had already decided that the other stallion had no mate to call his own. If he had, Midagi would have trotted out a name. That meant that he was either in denial about needing love in his life, or he didn’t think that Lori could be of any use. Or he was just being contrary because he had taken a disliking to Lori. That had happened on more than one occasion to the pink stallion. Usually, he sought to smooth out such wrinkles. Today, however, he was less interested in helping the stallion find love and more interested in making a few waves.
“No,” Midagi growled. Couldn’t this fellow understand plan speech? “I am perfectly capable of finding a lady myself.” Not that he had succeeded lately. But that was because he had been busy. First he had to build himself a home worthy of a proper lady. Now he had to fulfill his obligations to the tiny mare that had assisted him. And there weren’t exactly any local watering holes where the mares liked to hang out. In fact, he hadn’t really seen any available ladies since coming to this valley… but none of that was the point. He didn’t have his own lady because he wasn’t actively seeking one. That was all.
“Aha!” Lori grinned, feeling rather like the cat that caught the sparrow. “Then you don’t have a love all your own. And now, I know that your tastes run toward the fairer sex. That is all very good information. I can certainly work with it. Do you have your eye on a particular lovely lady? I can be an excellent wingman… so to speak,” he winked suggestively, somehow managing to come off as lewd rather than supportive. It was hard to tell if that as his intention or not.
“No!” Midgai snapped. There weren’t any mares for him to have an eye for. “All the mares in this valley are spoken for… ah… and I don’t want your help! I don’t NEED your help!” He added quickly, in case the pink stallion might misunderstand and think that he was trying to provide more information. He wasn’t, really he wasn’t. There was clearly something off about this stranger. He had some sort of mind tricks that were causing Midagi to speak out of turn. The green stallion lowered his head slightly, in preparation of a charge. “Leave this territory! Immediately!”
“Well, now, that’s a bit childish, don’t you think?” Lori pouted. Internally, he was delighted. This conversation was turning out to be quite a bit more fun than he had originally anticipated. “Just because you haven’t had any luck with the ladies thus far is no reason to chase me away. I’m certainly not looking for a mate for myself. I assure you, I’d be no competition for a handsome fellow like yourself. There’s absolutely no call for feeling insecure.”
“I’m not insecure!” Midagi yelled, his temper finally snapping. “I have no mate because I haven’t looked for one! That’s all! You… you… you are no threat to me, at all!” he ranted. When the words ran out, he stood there, panting a bit as he seethed. This idiot didn’t have a clue who he was speaking to, obviously! He needed to be taught a lesson! Midagi was so furious, and so distracted that he didn’t notice as the ferret that had been watching them argue took off.
Ivory scampered under the bushes, careful not to cause any noise as she fled the scene. As an unattached familiar, she had quite a bit a freedom, but all that meant was that she felt she had to look after all the soq in the valley. She had originally coordinated with the rabbit, Grimm, but lately she’d come to see that the real power in the valley was the orange mare, Zahavah. And it was her that Ivory was racing off to collect. Those two stallions were clearly going to come to blows, and someone needed to be there to witness the fight… possibly take bets… maybe she should tell the other woodland creatures she met on the way…
“If I’m not threat, then why are you insisting that I leave?” Lori asked, cheerfully. He could see that Midagi’s temper had snapped, and that the other stallion was ready to attack. Lori wasn’t a fighter, not really. That had always been Kyad’s role in the relationship. Leaving Kyad to his devices hadn’t diminished Lori’s tendency to irritate people, however. It had, however, taught Lori to be lighter on his hooves. He was already shifting his weight, watching the other stallion for any hint as to where he would attack first. Lori wasn’t a fighter, but he was a world class dodger.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 2:25 pm
“I’m insisting you leave because you don’t belong here!” Midagi snapped. He didn’t add that the pink stallion was irritating him. That much was likely obvious, and it would have only served to make him sound even more childish than he already did. Though, the idea of throwing a temper tantrum had a certain amount of appeal at that very moment. “You are trespassing in territory that does not belong to you!”
“Is it possible to trespass on territory that belongs to you?” Lori asked, temporarily distracted by what Midagi had said. It was a valid question, he thought. If the territory belonged to an individual, then they would belong wherever it was. You can’t trespass in a place where you belong, correct? Belatedly, he realized that he was about to get distracted from his true objective… annoying this stranger. Though, if the interesting shade of red the other stallion’s face was turning was any indication, then maybe it wasn’t too terribly far from his objective.
“You… You… You… UGH!” Midagi shouted in frustration. He’d had enough. The other stallion was making a fool of him, and he wouldn’t allow it to stand. He charged forward, intending on physically forcing the stranger out of his territory. One way or another, he was going to teach this infuriating stallion a lesson!
“Oops,” Lori chipped. He quickly jumped to one side, just narrowly missing being speared by the kirin’s horn. “That would be my cue.” Moving quickly and nimbly, he darted through the brush, pricking a random direction as he ran from the stallion attacking him.
“GET BACK HERE!” Midagi bellowed, chasing after him. There was no chance he was going to lose the vibrantly pink stallion. Not in this forest, and not even with the leaves turning colors for the autumn. Had he stopped to think for a moment, he would have realized that Lori was just leading him on a merry chase. He would have known that it would have been smarter to dart around Lori. The stranger didn’t know the forest or the paths. This was the perfect opportunity to trap him. However, Lori had gotten Midagi so riled up that he wasn’t thinking straight, not even close. All he saw in that moment was the stranger was running further into the territory, past the border that Midagi was supposed to protect. He let out another angry bellow and tried to move forward even faster, snapping at that ridiculously curly tail just inches out of his reach.
Lori jumped forward a couple of inches when he heard something snap behind him. This wasn’t fun, anymore. Belatedly, he realized that poking an angry guardian hadn’t been his brightest idea. Sadly, it wasn’t his worst either, but that was hardly the point. He tried darting between two trees, but he was a little bulkier than his pursuer. It didn’t slow Midagi down in the least. This would have been an ideal time to have been traveling with his twin brother… too bad he’d had the brilliant idea to leave Kyad behind and grow on his own. What idiot thought that personal growth was a good idea? Oh yeah… the same one who thought irritating a temperamental hothead would be fun… dummy…
Midagi chased Lori for several minutes longer before a flash of orange caught in the corner of his vision. That was the only warning he got before his front hoof caught on something and he went tumbling down.
Hearing a thud behind him, Lori glanced back. It was because he was looking back that he didn’t see the tangle of vines ahead of him until he had crashed right into it. Within seconds, he was so tangled up that he was amazed he wasn’t hanging upside down. He hung there for several minutes, catching his breath and trying to figure out what, exactly, had just happened.
“Now that we’re all settled,” Zahavah said, by way of announcing her presence. She kicked aside the branch she had used to trip Midagi and shot a frown at the pink stallion tangled up in the vines. It had been a little project of Grimm’s. Or maybe it had been Nova’s… stars, for all Zahavah knew, it was something Akis had set up when she was home visiting. A sort of prank to play on Wolf, maybe. Zahavah had just made a mental note of where it was and had guided Pavlov around it, then paid it no mind. Whatever it had been for, it had turned out to be useful now. She placed herself between her angry border guard and the apparent intruder that had gotten past him. “Who would like to tell me what’s going on?”
Little Ivory watched the spectacle from the same tree that housed the vine trapped. It was, in her opinion, the best seat in the house.
“This… heathen… broke past the border!” Midagi gasped. He didn’t bother trying to get back to his feet. If he stood now, before Zahavah was ready for him to stand, then she’d just find a way to knock him back down. He’d discovered that from experience. It was better to stay down until she was gone or told him to get up. He had his pride, after all, and being taken to the ground by a mare that wasn’t even half his size was a major blow to the ego.
“Walked,” Lori corrected, still a bit breathlessly. He was a sprinter, not a long term racer, and he had underestimated Midagi’s speed and endurance. That was something he would have to remember for the future. “I walked past and started talking to this gentleman. The next thing I know He’s threatening me and chasing me! I was running for my very life! Ah… who might you be?” He really hoped the little mare wasn’t a friend of Midagi’s. That could turn out poorly for Lori in his condition.
“You can call me Zahavah,” the little mare answered as she looked between the two. Midagi was still eyeing the pink stallion as if he’d like nothing more than to skin the stranger alive. Normally, Zahavah would have just left him to it, except Ivory had made it seem like this was less a defense of territory and more a loss of temper. Zahavah couldn’t let some innocent stranger get eviscerated just for being annoying. Probably.
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 12:03 pm
“He’s lying,” Midagi growled, glaring at Lori. “He snuck past me and when I challenged him, he ran. He’s a trespasser!” Midagi had to visibly force himself not to lurch to his hooves and attack the pink stallion. Only the knowledge that Zahavah wouldn’t appreciate the action, and the fact that Lori was incapable of fighting back stopped him. He refused to upset a lady, even one so vicious as Zahavah. His honor also wouldn’t allow him to attack a stallion that couldn’t defend himself. It was beneath one so noble as himself. But mostly, he didn’t want to upset Zahavah.
“I did no such sneaking,” Lori protested with a roll of his eyes. “It’s hardly my fault if you couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to what was going on. I was breaking twigs for crying out loud. I wasn’t the least bit quiet. How could I have possibly snuck past anything?” Really, Lori was amazed that Midagi was left in charge of guarding anything. Well… no, maybe not. He decided to give Midagi the benefit of the doubt and chalked this erratic behavior up to Lori’s own special talent for irritating people. He had often been told he could try the patience of a saint. He wasn’t certain about that, however, having never met a saint to test his gift against.
Zahavah sighed heavily. “Alright… you,” she addressed Lori, “What are you doing here? Are you traveling or looking for someone?” She would deal with Midagi’s accusations one she had a chance to gauge this stranger on her own. On first impulse, however, Zahavah was inclined to believe Midagi over the stranger. And, if she didn’t dislike Midagi on a personal level, she might have stuck with that impulse. However, she knew from experience how badly the green kirin could rub an individual the wrong way. It was possible that someone could rub Midagi the wrong way.
“Lorimer,” Lori supplied with a brilliant smile. “My name is Lorimer. Though you can call me Lori, if you like. I’m naught but a traveler passing through, following the spirits of love wherever they may go.” He made sure to inject as much cheer and energy into his voice and his expression as he possibly could, amping up the airhead act. Sometimes, he didn’t need to act. Just ask his brother. But at the moment, he was inclined to make sure the two strangers underestimated him. The mare was tiny, but he could tell, just from the way Midagi kept glancing at her, that she was a force to be reckoned with.
“Spirits of love?” Zahavah repeated, skeptically. She looked to Midagi, getting a sudden feeling she knew what had happened. “And he’s been talking like this since you stopped him?” she asked the green stallion. When Midagi continued to glare at Lori, she stepped directly into the green stallion’s line of sight. “Midagi,” she said, firmly, demanding an answer. If the kirin didn’t calm down, she’d have to find some way to send him off until his temper cooled.
“Nearly nonstop,” Midagi confirmed, crumbling. “He didn’t shut up. Kept rambling on and on about matchmaking and deliberately trying to provoke me to violence. And when he succeeded, he ran like a coward, rather than facing me like a stallion!” That only served to irritate him further, realizing that Lori had to have said and done what he did intentionally just to get a rise out of Midagi. And then, when he had refused to face the consequences of his actions… Midagi growled again, this time more to himself than to try and intimidate the pink fluff head.
“Were you trying to provoke him?” Zahavah asked Lori, expecting the captive stallion to deny it. What sane fellow would admit to trying to irritate another into attacking him? And then running away from what promised to be a good fight! It was lunacy, really. Not that she doubted Midagi, but two different people could view the same conversation in two different ways. It all depended on who was involved and how their day had been going, really. So, Zahavah was willing to entertain the possibility that both stallions were telling the truth as they believed it to be.
“Maybe just a little,” Lori admitted, much to Zahavah’s surprise. He could have denied it. He could even see that she expected him to deny it. But he had a policy of not lying to pretty mares, be they big or small. Young or old. Land based or sea dwellers. He had a similar policy toward handsome stallions, but that wasn’t the point at this very moment. “He was just so adorable, all puffed up and proud of himself,” Lori explained. “I may have enjoyed tweaking him just a little bit…” He considered adding that he hadn’t expected to be attacked, but that would have gone against his honesty policy.
Zahavah stared at him for a moment, her mouth hanging open. She blinked three times before she regained her balance. “Okay… so… you… ah… why did you run, then?” she asked, trying to wrap her head around the admission. She could believe that Lori had tried to provoke Midagi. She had been tempted to do so on many occasions in the past. But she had restrained herself in favor of keeping a professional relationship with Midagi. He was an annoying person, in her opinion, but he was an excellent guardian for her borders. What she couldn’t understand was why he didn’t stay for the brawl that should have followed the needling.
“Because he’s nothing but a coward,” Midagi grumbled. His words fell on deaf ears, though, as Zahavah chose to ignore him in favor of waiting for a response from Lori.
“Because he was going to attack me,” Lori answered when he realized that Midagi’s response wasn’t going to be good enough for Zahavah. “I am a worshipper of love in all its forms. Pain is something that I do not enjoy at all, though for those who enjoy it I do not judge. He was going to attack and hurt me, so I did the only sensible thing that was available to me. I ran away. Would you not do the same were you in my position?”
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 1:53 pm
“No,” Zahavah answered, without hesitation. “If I picked a fight… I’d fight.” That was the reasonable outcome, really. If one provoked another into a fight, they did so because they wanted a good brawl. Getting hurt was part and parcel of provoking. You poked at someone until they snapped then you got into a tussle with them. If you didn’t want to get hurt, you left them the blazes alone. She began to wonder if maybe she shouldn’t just let Midagi have the stranger. Ugh, maybe not. Clearly the pink idiot was too stupid to be left on his own. Some fellows needed to be taken care of.
Lori stared at her in surprise for a moment. He quickly changed his assessment of the tiny mare and tried a different tactic. If she was a little brawler, which her words seemed to indicate, she wouldn’t respond well to the idea of running from a fight. “Ah… well… I am not so… capable,” he admitted with a sheepish grin. “I am, however, a very quick runner. And I know the advantage of using the terrain against your opponent… Perhaps I was looking for a place where I could make a stand and defend myself.”
“Were you?” Midagi demanded, frowning a bit. The idea burst his little bubble of rage enough for him to consider it. If that had been the reason Lori had run, then he would have to accept that it was a reasonable tactical move. Clearly the pink stallion was severely outmatched. If he had run to seek out an advantage to even the scales, rather than running in fear like a coward, then perhaps Midagi could spare just the tiniest bit of respect for the stranger. Perhaps he wouldn’t kill the other stallion after all. Assuming, of course, that Lori wasn’t lying to them both.
“In a way,” Lori hedged. He hadn’t been looking for a place to make his stand so much as trying to shake Midagi off his tail. An escape had been much more in keeping with Lori’s usual tactics. If he’d had to, he would have defended himself. Having Kyad for a brother had left him with some basic self defense skills. Kyad would never have allowed Lori to wander off on his own if he hadn’t been at least mildly convincing when he said he would take care of himself. But fighting, for Lori, had always been a last resort of a desperate stallion.
“That was foolish,” Zahavah noted. “This is Midagi’s home. You’re a stranger… You can’t possibly have been here for too long. Not long enough to learn the land better than Midagi. How did you know he wasn’t chasing you into a trap of his own?” She pointedly eyed the vines that still held him captive. Not that Midagi was the sort to set up traps, or to even think of trying to deceive anyone. But that wasn’t something that Lori had any way of knowing. Not if he had just happened to wander into their valley.
“He’s not the sort,” Lori informed her, as if he had read her mind. “I could see within the first few moments of having met our darling Midagi that he is a very straight forward sort of fellow. He would no more try to deceive me than I would try to spit upon love. I knew that if he was chasing me then it was with the very clear and obvious intent of bringing me harm. He did not have any ulterior motives… though I will admit, I did not see this particular trap coming… was I wrong about him?”
“I would never stoop so low as to try and deceive my opponent,” Midagi grumbled, not really comprehending the fact that he was confirming what Lori had said. Had Midagi realized that he had said the other stallion was right, he would have choked on the words and kept them to himself. He was too busy defending his honor and pride, however, to pay attention to any other meaning behind his own words or those of the stranger tangled up before him. “I fight with honor and courage. I do not indulge in cowardice or trickery.”
“Trickery isn’t necessarily the worst thing ever,” Zahavah noted, wryly. “Sometimes trickery is the best way to defeat a larger or stronger opponent. If you’re smarter than your opponent, then you’ll win every time. Besides, there’s no rules in a good brawl. Or fighting to protect yourself or your life. But none of that is the point…” she returned her attention to Lori. “So you don’t mean any of us harm? You just wandered in here and decided to poke at Midagi then got in over your head?” It was plausible. She knew that some people were very much like that. But she wanted to hear him confirm it.
“That is precisely what happened,” Lori agreed with yet another bright smile. Perhaps he could get out of this mess without any fresh bruises after all. He sensed a reasonable soul in the tiny mare. He could work with reasonable. So long as he kept his mouth shut and just agreed with her. That, he had found, was often the best way of staying out of trouble. Unfortunately, it wasn’t something he could do often for very long. His mouth just took off on him, all the time.
“I see,” Zahavah sighed. She couldn’t very well let Midagi hurt someone who was just passing by, no matter how irritating they were. “Well, then… Midagi, help me get him down from there.”
“Wait, what?” Midagi stared at her in shock. “He’s an invader! A trespasser! If we let him leave alive, he’ll tell others! He’ll bring back a raiding party or… or something!”
“He’s not a threat,” Zahavah argued. “He’s just a stranger. We’re not exactly a stronghold, Midagi. We don’t have any real enemies. We just need to watch out for nasties that want to hurt us… that isn’t this guy. I refuse to let my family be part of anything even remotely judgmental or…. Or… or discrimination. That includes you, Midagi.”
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 3:29 pm
“Me?” Midagi stared at the little mare, incredulously. He knew of her family, of course. The two youngest, and supposedly two elder daughters. He also knew that she had a formable mate, though he had never met the fellow. Any stallion who could rein in Zahavah HAD to be formidable. No one, at any point in time, had mentioned that Midagi was related to the insane group. He was almost certain that he wasn’t, in fact.
“Yes, you,” Zahavah confirmed. “You’re helping me protect my family, that makes you family. Which means we don’t discriminate against people just because we like them.” Otherwise she wouldn’t be tolerating Midagi nearly as well as she does. But family was all about accepting one another, whether or not they actually like one another. “Why don’t you go back to your… palace, or whatever you’re calling it. I’ll take care of Lori for you.”
“Are you certain my lady?” Midagi asked. He decided not to worry too much about that family comment. It was likely just some sort of mare thing… females liked to nurture, didn’t they? She thought of him as family. That was all. Nothing to worry too much about. Still, he didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone with the stranger. He wasn’t so much worried for her safety as he didn’t want to miss it if she chose to rip into this stranger instead. “I can stay and bear witness if you need…”
“I don’t,” Zahavah assured him. “If I need you, I can send for you.” She didn’t want to give Lori another chance to irritate Midagi. Though, if Lori irritated her too much, or proved to be more of a threat than she thought he was, she could easily call for Midagi. It would hurt a little to ask the chauvinistic stallion for help, but she was used to it by now. She needed him, so she tolerated him. And because she tolerated him, she accepted him as family.
Midagi did not pout. He pushed himself regally to his hooves and, with great dignity, headed back to his aborted patrol. He did spare Lori one last glare, silently vowing that he’d teach the pink idiot a lesson the moment he got a chance. He was confident he would get an opportunity. Lori would irritate Zahavah soon enough, and she’d rescind her protection. So Midagi did NOT pout. That was beneath him. He left with his pride intact. More or less.
Lori watched the green stallion go and managed, barely, to keep his comments to himself. See? He could show something resembling intelligence, despite what most people seemed to believe. He was also smart enough to realize that Midagi wasn’t going to let this go. Lori would have to keep an eye on his tail. Or leave soon. Maybe not soon… Well, provided the little orange mare didn’t intend to kick him out of her territory. Once Midagi was out of sight, Lori turned his attention to Zahavah. “And so it’s down to just us, lovely lady,” he chirped. Hey, he could only keep his mouth for so long.
“So it is,” Zahavah said, dryly. She studied the vines around him for a moment before she found where they all tied together. From there, it was just a simple matter of slicing at it with her horn, and all the ropes binding him snapped free. She ignored his grunt of surprise as he landed and smiled, pleased with herself. “There… that’s better. So… what brings you to my part of the world?”
“That is a long and detailed tale,” Lori wheezed from a pile on the ground. He squirmed around and struggled for a few seconds before he was able to push himself back to his feet. A flick of his head allowed him to toss his tumbled curls back into a more artful fall, and to rid him of a leaf that had stuck to his ear. “I would not wish to bore you, my lady. Suffice it to say that I am on a quest to spread love in every corner of the world, such as this one. Are you in need of a mate, my dear? My services are free!”
“I have a mate,” Zahavah said, bluntly. “I’m assuming you’re offering?” She was about to add that Lori was hardly her type, but stomped on that urge. She was trying hard to follow the edict she’d just passed down to Midagi. It was harder when a strange stallion tried to hit on her, when she was obviously a happily mated mare. Well… maybe not obviously. Pavlov was back in the clearing they called home.
“I offer my services to any single mare or stallion,” Lori answered her with a bright smile. “My matchmaking services, that is. However, if you are happily mated, as I’m certain you are, then you have no need of such services. I would say that it was a disappointment, except that it always does my heart good to see a beautiful mare such as yourself in love.” One as confident and assertive as Zahavah could only be happily in love. She wasn’t the sort to tolerate a relationship that brought her anything but joy.
“Oh… well… yeah… no, I don’t need matchmaking services,” Zahavah said, stating the obvious. She was thrown, again, by Lori’s manner and words. He… certainly wasn’t what she was expecting. In any way. She shook her head slightly. “If you’re looking to play matchmaker, this isn’t really the best place. There’s not a lot of folk living in this valley.”
“And they are all happily mated such as yourself?” Lori asked. He already knew the answer to that. Midagi, for one, was a lonely stallion. If Zahavah had a mate, then the odds were good that she also had children, and it was possible those children were still here and grown enough to be seeking mates of their own. So, the answer to his question was obviously no. Not everyone in the valley was as happily mated as Zahavah.
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:03 pm
"Well... not so much," Zahavah admitted. "But those that aren't mated are either happier that way or off doing their own thing. No one here requires your services. You're welcomed to stay, of course, but... maybe try not to make too much trouble?" She realized, as soon as the words left her mouth, that she might be asking too much.
Lori smiled at her. "I think I will stay," he decided. Even if those in the valley weren't currently looking for love, that didn't mean they wouldn't eventually. And even if he didn't find any matches while he was here now, that didn't mean he wouldn't find soulmates for the locals once he left. He did so like to keep people in mind for the future.
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