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 Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 11:21 am
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 12:34 pm
The sun had not yet peaked over the horizon when Ultima Canticum opened one eye just a smidge. An unnatural golden glow came spilling out in wisps as the colt peered around the area keeping as still as he could. He didn’t see any signs of movement from around him. All he could really see was the faintest blue glow just over the horizon and that was enough of a sign for him.
With a smirk Ultima stood and shook off the dead, dried bits of grass off his coat. This was his chance to slip away to enjoy himself and he wasn’t about to waste any more time. With a flick of his spaded tail he raced off into the trees to find a nice private place taking no heed of how much noise he was making. He made sure to loop around as much as he could to make it more difficult to track him, or so he hoped.
By the time Ultima found the perfect spot, both secluded and a fair distance away, the sun was up and the sky had turned a brilliant dusty pink and purple color. He stopped running and took a moment to watch the sky. Half of it was dotted with small fluffy clouds dyed pink and orange by the rising sun, but not far off to the west the clouds were varying shades of grey. He sniffed the air a few times. It was cold and he could smell the snow that was approaching. Ultima grinned. He liked the change in weather. It meant that his prey would be slow and stupid, getting ready to bed down for the winter. At least that’s what he had been told, but as this was his first winter he hadn’t had a chance to experience this first hand yet. That would change today.
Ultima spent the next few hours snuffling about the ground and pawing at holes with his hooves. Just when he was about to give up on finding anything living to chase down a trio of rabbits sprang out of their hole. He grinned and took off after them. They were fast but he was faster and before long he had caught up to one of the three. He kicked at it awkwardly with one leg as he ran past and sent it flying into the trunk of a tree already bare of its leaves. It didn’t get back up but he could still see it breathing.
“Gotcha.” Ultima grinned as he trotted over to the stunned rabbit. This would be his training tool for the rest of the day. If he wanted to get better at hunting he had to practice and it simply wouldn’t do him any good to practice on inanimate objects.
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 6:57 pm
Ars opened her eyes slowly, blinking at the light of dawn. Stretching her wings to the furthest point she could, she yawned, lazy in the brightness of a new day. She wasn't normally the first one awake, not the second. Hell, normally, she's the last one. Ars did enjoy her rest. There was something nice about lazing around in the morning sun, letting it warm her wings, her body. It was just... nice. Something disturbed her slumber though, just on the edge of her awareness. That wasn't something that she liked.
The rest of the family was still out. Or, most of the family, anyway. There was an empty space where her brother should be. Rolling orange eyes, she found her feet silently, careful not to disturb the rest of the family, and made her way out of the den. Ars didn't want to wake them and have them stop her, or go looking for Ultima. No, she wanted to do it on her own. It only took her a moment to find her brother's trail. He may have some time on her, off doing whatever it was he was doing so early, but he'd left a clear trail for her to follow.
For anyone, really. Tucking her tail closely behind her, she followed it slowly, almost leisurely. Ars was in no rush to find him, what she had planned. What she was planning. He disturbed her sleep, he was going to pay for that. In some way. She hadn't quite decided how yet. She would observe the situation first, then decide. That was best, as father said.
Besides, it was good practice. They were supposed to practice. And hunting rabbits was so boring. Hard, of course, when they got into bushes that caught on her wings. It was easier in open fields, where she could gain ground quickly, using her wings to her advantage. They were larger than her sisters, and caused more problems in the underbrush. It was frustrating, to say the least.
But, the larger her prey, the easier it was for her to catch. Given that what she was seeking today, her wings could hinder or help. If he was out in the open, maybe.
Ars folded her wings more tightly to her body and followed the trail. It wasn't much longer before she found her brother. With a rabbit. Oh, extra practice, huh? She smiled gleefully, knowing he would focus on that rather than her. He was better in the underbrush, of course, wingless and sleek. He would never fly, but he did have the advantage on the ground. Still, it would be rather fun to spook Ultima.
Keeping as quiet as she could, she snuck up behind her brother, reaching out to scratch his backside with a clawed wing, making a terribly loud growling sound.
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 5:37 pm
 Of the three siblings, Sonata Noturno was the most likely to stay up late and less-likely to awaken early. True enough she liked sleep well enough, but the nighttime was when she felt most alive, energized by the strange patterns wrought in the stars and eager to chase each glittering firefly trail. It was all well and good to wish on dandelions on a summer day, but autumn nights were even better in her opinion. With a late night behind her, the dark-coated filly curled into a tighter ball and pressed closer to Delrialto's side, ignoring the sound of her brother's departure.
Faint streaks of dawn began creeping into the shadowed corner she found herself, and Sona grumbled in protest as she burrowed further under the feathered expanse. She ignored the low sounds of the adults above and around her, making an attempt to slide back into sleep until she was distracted by the second rustling sound. Firmly squeezing her eyes shut with a low sound of protest, she counted to ten and then sighed again at another rustling noise. 'Awww come on, it's early. Do you both have to be up to something?'
At the sound of retreating hoof steps, Sona began wriggling out from under her Papa's wing, peering around blearily. There were shadowed shapes not too distant to her right, which appeared to be Mama and perhaps her father. Finding her feet the black and red filly sighed, pulling herself out from under the warm blanket of feathers and sullenly stalking to the tree line.
'I'm gonna find out what both of you are up to and then I'm going to kick you if it's not awesome.' She promised silently, red eyes still narrow. 'I hope you know that.'
If she were anymore awake, she would have guessed that her siblings were stalking off to practice their hunting. While not her forte, she had attended similar lessons with their Father, and knew that Ultima and Ars had thrived in it in a way she had not. Still, half-asleep, she stumbled and slunk through the forest, remembering her stalking training well enough to move relatively quiet through the woods. Hesitating beside a large oak, Sona planted her shoulder against the rough bark and watched as Ars crept up behind Ultima.
Her sister flared her wings menacingly and then gave a low snarl that sounded rather like an unhappy something that might lurk in the woods. And unable to help herself, Sonata dissolved into soft giggles. “Ooooh, so scary, Big Sister. This is what you guys want to do this early in the morning?”
Her question was delivered in a soft, amused tone and interrupted by no less than three yawns.
"Why?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2015 10:19 am
Ultima was so distracted by the rabbit and making plans for exactly how to get the most practice out of it that he didn’t immediately notice his sister creeping up behind him. In fact, it wasn’t until the claw of her wing scraped against his rear that he fully noticed that something was wrong. When the claw hit his rump Ultima grew tense and turned to look over his shoulder to see what was after him. The wound wasn’t a deep one, just a small scrape that would be more obnoxious than anything so he wasn’t terribly concerned. Besides that, now that he was focused he could smell his stupid sister. Ars growled at him and Ultima would have found her ferocious if he didn’t know her. Instead he just found her irritating.
Returning her growl with a low one of his own he swung the flat of his spaded tail out to slap Ars’s neck. Not to cut it, just to make her back off a bit. It just figured that Ars would have to come and ruin his practice. Ars with her perfect hunter’s body. As he was growling he heard someone giggling. It wasn’t Ars. Ultima turned his glowing gaze about the area until he spotted his fair maned sister standing there watching them and mocking Ars with her laughter. Ultima would have appreciated the support except that Sonata didn’t belong there either. This was his practice time and they were both interfering.
“Well I wanted to get away from all of you.” Ultima replied dryly. “But I guess that’s not going to happen.” He scowled at both of his sisters. Somehow they always managed to ruin everything. Technically he was the oldest so one would think that he would be the best of the three. In his mind that was true when up against Sonata, she wasn’t quite as dangerous as he was even though she had wings. Ars was a different story entirely. If any of the three were to succeed and become excellent hunters it would be Ars. She had received everything that she needed: wings, horns, fangs, cloven hooves, and a sharp spaded tail. She was lucky. Ultima had to make do with just his tail for the most part though his horns did offer excellent protection when it came to ramming things with his head. That was why he needed to practice, so he could learn enough tricks to beat Ars’s natural advantage.
“Now if you two would leave I could work again. I don’t have time for you.” He huffed in a self-important way that only a child could pull off. He wrapped his tail around the rabbit and pulled it towards him like a trophy. He wanted to make his sisters jealous of his hunting skill. He’d caught a rabbit without any help from anyone. They didn’t need to know how long it had taken him.
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Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2015 5:02 pm
Ars laughed at her brother, tilting her head to show that she was letting him hit her with his tail. Truth of it, she probably couldn't have gotten away from it if she tried, but by making it seem like she was allowing it, it would annoy Ultima even more. Ars hadn't thought she would really scare him, but this was just as good. Interrupting whatever it was he was doing. The slap didn't really hurt, but she took the message all the same and took a few steps back, still laughing at him until she heard another's laughter.
Pinning her ears, she looked over at her sister. "If you don't think it's fun, then maybe you should just go back to our parents and sleep some more." Rolling her eyes, she frowned as her sister yawned. "You obviously need it."
Ars really didn't get along all that well with her sister, jealous of the attentions of their fathers, really. She knew it wasn't fair of her to blame Sonata for the fact she was an easier child than Ars herself was. But she did anyway.
And she really wasn't sure if she felt close to her brother either. She hadn't spend enough alone time with him to be sure. At least they both had an obsession with getting better at hunting. But... Ars never really felt welcome around him when they were practicing. Maybe it was because she was good at it, save in underbrush and other places where her wings just got in the way.
Sometimes she wondered if she really belonged in the family. They were all so different, and while she looked most like her mother, Ars was nothing like the mare. She was not like her father, who despite what he professed, loved deeply and completely. One only had to look at their Dad to see that. And Dad... Yeah, no similarities there. Ars longed to meet other members of the family, to see if she was like them in anyway. Something that had not been allowed as of yet.
She mantled her wings, feeling a bit defensive now. "If you want to get away, then you should be quieter about it. You woke me up, ruining my rest, so I decided I wanted to ruin whatever it was you were doing. It seems fair to me."
Ars twitched her tail back and forth, she ignored her brother's dismissal and walked around him, looking at the rabbit with scorn. "Oh look, you caught something." Her eyes flicked between her brother and sister for a moment before she smiled at them. "Perhaps we should play a game before our parents awake. The one who catches the most animals before one of them comes looking wins?" Ars looked tauntingly at her brother, grin growing. "I'll even say that your little rabbit counts too."
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 3:01 pm
Sonata tilted her head, watching the interaction of her siblings. Ultima seemed absorbed in his hunting, focused and keen. His horns glinted in the low light while his dark coat seemed to vanish in the shadows of the woods, and then there were his burning eyes which were equally intimidating and impressive. He was always eager to practice such things, out of a need to prove himself to their father she supposed.
In Sona's mind, Avant seemed pleased with all of them, happy to take them hunting for small game and then let them find their way on their own. He probably spent more time with Ultima and Ars than Sona herself, but they were better hunters than she. Like Ultima, Ars was eager to prove herself, though Sona had a harder time seeing why. As far as eyes could see, her sister was a perfect Kalona. She had keen teeth and cold eyes, wings and curving horns, a spaded tail... Even her hooves were cloven and sharp in the style of their sire.
'A perfect menace.' She thought with a flick of her white tail.
Beside both of her siblings, Sona felt she was decidedly non-threatening. Which was why, if she had known for sure they were hunting she probably would have gone back to sleep as there was little for her to do in the matter.
"Why would you want to get away from us?" She asked Ultima with another yawn. "We're wonderful."
Eying her sister, the dark filly shrugged. "Well, maybe Ars isn't. But you got her up early with your noisy "sneaking", so really you sort of deserve whatever edge of her temper you get. The universe pays things forward like that."
She couldn't quite remember what it was called, but she'd heard her father speak of it before. Of course, then Ars was trying to shoo her off, and it didn't seem very important. Instead of replying, Sonata snorted softly at her sister's remark, unsurprised at the verbal brush-off. Ars seemed to regularly feel the need to shove Sona aside whenever she had the chance. Still, at the mention of their contest Sona rolled her eyes. This was quickly shaping up to be not a single thing she wanted to be involved in.
"You guys woke up early just to hunt bunnies?" She whined, sulking at both of them. "We could do that just as well in daylight or before bed? I thought you were doing something different... Maybe I should go back.. I don't want to play your dumb game anyway."
With another yawn she shoved herself off of the tree, shaking from nose to tail in a last-ditch effort to stay awake for another minute or two. "Just curious, is there a time limit on the game? And are you catching things alive and letting them go, or are you just going to kill a bunch? Should I go get Father so he can oversee things and pick a winner?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 11:33 am
“I’m surprised you heard me at all over your snoring.” Ultima bit back at Ars. She didn’t snore but that hardly mattered to the young colt. He was already sick of her presence and she’d only been around him for a few minutes.
Ultima snorted loudly at Sona’s suggestion of them being ‘wonderful.’ There was nothing wonderful about them. At best they were a nuisance. At worst they were Ars. Thankfully Sonata seemed to agree with him about how wonderful their sister really was, but she wasn’t exactly endearing herself to him by harping on his noisy sneaking too. He’d been in too much of a hurry to care about sneaking. He could be quiet if he wanted to he just hadn’t been bothering with it. His sisters were just being stupid about it. They usually were, but he had to admit that Ars’s suggestion of a capturing contest was a tantalizing one.
“That’s the only good idea I’ve ever heard from you.” Ultima said tightening his hold on the rabbit’s neck. It hadn’t woken yet and if he had his way it would never wake up again. He made a show of strangling it just for Sonata as she started making her own inquiries about the little challenge.
“Let’s kill them. No cheating and pretending to have caught more than you actually have then.” He looked pointedly at Ars even though he meant that comment for Sonata. Ars didn’t have to cheat but he just knew it would ruffle her feathers for Ultima to suggest that she would.
“And I don’t need this one to count. This was just for fun.” He added releasing the rabbit from his tail’s strangle hold. It fell limply to the ground breathing no longer. He smiled at Ars, “You can count it toward your total if you want.”
He was so caught up in taunting his kalona sister that he had almost missed Sona’s suggestion to bring their father in to judge. He gaped like a fish for a few minutes. Why would she ever suggest such a thing? He’d just pick Ars because she was the most accomplished even if she didn’t really win. Or maybe he’d pick Sonata because she was the favorite over all. Maybe that’s what she was hoping for.
“We don’t need another judge! We can do it ourselves!” He declared with a stomp of his hoof. “Or do you think you can’t count that high, Sona?” His lips curled into a mocking smirk. If there was one thing he knew how to do it was taunt his siblings. Ars was just as good at baiting them as he was but it was still something he could take pride in.
“So hunt to kill until someone comes to get us. Then we tally up. Whoever has the most wins. That about right Ars?”
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 10:56 am
Ars snarled at her brother. "I do NOT snore." She insisted with a glare. Of course, it's not like she knew if she did or not, if she did it would happen when she was asleep, but Ars was confident that there would have been much more teasing than one off hand comment from her brother in the heat of the moment if it were true. She'd probably never hear the end of it.
Glancing over at her sisters comments, she snorted softly. "What's so wonderful about you, then, sister dear that isn't about me? It as a sneer hiding a real inecurity that her sister was beloved while she was just.... Shaking her head sharply, she cut off the thought. She has her special training with Father and he would be disappointed if she allowed herself such childish feelings. Ars was trying really hard to do everything her Father wanted, even the silly stiff like not trying so hard to antagonize Sonata. Or her brother. Well. She was working on it. Sorta.
Right noe, though, with the challenge on the table, she shoved what her father was teaching her to the back of her mind and focused on the contest as Untima started laying out he ground rules. She scoffered when he implied that she would cheat. She could, easily, and totally not get caught at it, but that sort of defeated the purpose of riling Ultima up.
"I don't need your cast-offs, brother, I will catch plenty of things on my own." She boasted. And she would, too, especially with the super secret training that father had been giving her. Ars was getting stronger and faster and oh so very good at killing her prey. So much so, that Avant had asked her to pretend that she wasn't as good as she was when they all trained together. It let Ultima think he was almost, if not as, good as she. Ars really didn't understand why Father wanted her to hide what he was teaching her, but this wasn't training. She didn't have to hold back here.
Ars was glad that Ultima was protesting their father come and judge so strongly, because that meant she didn't have to. As fun as it would be to have a real judge, maybe even a prize or two for the winner, Ars knew she would have to hold back if Father was there.
So, for what felt like the first time ever, she agreed with her brother, turning on Sona with a snear. "Whar'a the matter, Sona? Can't handle a little unsupervised competition? Or do you just know you're gonna lose so you want to spoiler the fun for us?"
Turning her back on Sonata completely at that point, hoping that her sister didn't run straight back to their parents and spoil the contest, Ars hooked a grin at Ultima. "Right. No restriction on prey, though everything counts the same, from mice to birds to rabbits to whatever else is out here. It only matters that it is dead and you, or I, or Sona if she wants to play, has killed it. Soon as one of our parents shows up, the game is done. Unless you want to forefit now and save yourself the trouble of doing all that work and still losing, brother."
That wasn't what she wanted, but she couldn't help but tease. She was also very careful not to set a limit on where they were allowed to go. See, Ultima had the advantage here in the trees, or brambles, or any other place that was tight simply because of her wings. And she didn't want to fight a pitched battle, so if she didn't limit location, there was plenty of hunting ground nearby that she would excell in, with perhaps larger prey for her to take down quickly. It wouldn't count extra, per her own rules, but it might gain her bragging rights.
Smirking, she shifted her wings foward, blood singing in her veins much like the one singing in her head, and danced in place on her cloven hooves. This was it. Her first chance to show she was better, that Father had trained her to be better at killing things than anyone else.
"Whenever you are ready, brother."
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 3:00 pm
Sona rolled her eyes as Ultima started in on Ars, having no recollection of her sister snoring. Then again, the black and red filly slept heavily, perhaps more solidly than either of her siblings (but it was hard not to, tucked comfortably under a protective wing). Not enough to avoid all of this today, apparently, but usually she slept solidly. She’d prefer that to listening to them fight right now, but that decision was made and done with. And boy oh boy, did she wish she could take it back right about now.
“You’re mean.” Sona muttered petulantly as she eyed her sister. “Honestly, Ars, anyone who isn’t rude and snappish and pushy all the time is bound to seem wonderful when compared to you.”
Though Sona was supposed to be working at not letting every little expression flickering over her face, she couldn’t help the abrupt flattening of her ears as she listened to her siblings talk of hunting. She had no desire for the hunt, though tracking games amused her. But the lust to kill, to destroy just for the sake of it, that was where she varied sharply from both of her siblings. They wanted to have a killing contest for fun, and she just wanted to go back to sleep.
“What do I care if you guys go hunting?” She grumbled, pouting at both of them in turn. “I certainly don’t want to stand here and wait to count how many creatures you two kill. And least Father would be amused by your games, I’m just bored and tired.”
Making a soft whistling sound of fury at the suggestion she couldn’t count that high, Sona snapped a wing out to swat at her brother. “Take that back! I can so count! Neither of you are very good at hunting yet anyway, so this could take all day and I have better things to do.”
She wanted to shriek in fury when Ars started in on her as well. Of course the one thing that her two siblings would agree on –other than their desire to hunt and their mutual dislike of each other- was picking on her. It didn’t endear either of them to her, truth be told, and made her once again wish she’d just stayed back in their home glade rather than following her siblings out here to see what they were up to.
“I’m not playing. If you two idiots want to go on a killing spree, I’ll stand here and count for you to make sure no one cheats. Since I don’t want either of you to win, I’m technically an impartial party.” She eyed them, sullen and disapproving. “Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get to hunting so I can go home.”
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2016 1:20 pm
Ultima couldn’t stop himself from sniggering as Ars backed up his own desire to keep another judge out of the contest. He may have liked Sonata marginally better than Ars but there was just so much truth in what Ars was saying. Sonata would definitely lose without parental assistance especially with the rules Ars was presenting. She was setting the game up to favor her own skills with the inclusion of birds. They were all in their nests at this time of day, all she had to do was get somewhere high enough and knock the nests down.
Although, she did have to be able to fly in order to do that. The area they were in was too cramped for flight. She’d have to go away if she wanted to use her wings. Ultima couldn’t find a downside to it. She’d be out of his hair and he’d only have to deal with Sonata. Of course, if Sonata’s protests about the contest in general were anything to go off of Sona knew that she’d lose as well as her siblings did. He didn’t laugh at her or taunt her further, though. If she didn’t like the game she’d sit it out and he didn’t want her getting in the way of his hunt.
“Fine.” He conceded. “Everything counts as one but it has to be back here before anyone comes looking or it doesn’t count.” He added hoping that the addendum would limit the number of easy bird kills Ars could bring in. “No soquili though.” While Ultima suspected that both he and Ars could bring down other foals it wouldn’t be worth the trouble of killing them just for a little sport. One dead foal could bring an entire herd down upon them.
With that said he turned to Sonata. “You stay here and we’ll bring you lots of little dead things to play with. Just make sure you count them right Sona.” He growled a little to punctuate the sentence. He wasn’t really trying to threaten her but he wanted to make it perfectly clear that he meant business. If she counted wrong and Ars won because of it, then he’d start with the real threats even if his parents didn’t like it.
With the business out of the way Ultima went to line up with Ars. He kept his distance not wanting to get hit by her wings when she inevitably took off but if this was a race he was going to make it a proper one. Even if it was more hunting than it was a foot race, time was still of the essence.
“Sonata, give us a proper count to three and then we’ll go. Just to make sure you really can count.” He smirked at his own joke but no laughter sprang up. He could practically feel the air humming around him as eager as he was to get going. He knew that hearing a count would give him even more of an energy burst than just taking off. A few seconds of anticipation could make all the difference.
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