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 Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 7:33 pm
Treasure dug furiously. Her hooves were chipped and her legs were muddy. The rest of her was pretty muddy too, not that she cared. This was the fourth hole that she'd worked on, and it was starting to seem like the fourth disappointment. Sweat shimmered on her fur and she had to admit it, she was getting discouraged. And tired.
With a small scowl, she clambered out of the pit. She collapsed unceremoniously on the side, legs hanging over the edge of that useless waste of energy. Where had she gone wrong? She'd found the chest hidden in the captain's quarters of the sunken ship. Inside the chest was a map, but not just any map. It was a treasure map that she'd been looking for for the better part of a year. The map was tucked into a plait of her braid. She'd memorized it by heart, she'd poured over it so long. It had taken her a long time to understand that the map led to this location and now she wondered if she'd misinterpreted it somehow. She'd dug and dug and still had no sign of even a doubloon. What was going on?
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 7:39 pm
It was a fairly normal day for Venticello. He'd woken up and shared a lovely breakfast of oats with his mate. The oats hadn't been easy to come by, not at a time when the human tribe was on the other side of the mountains. He'd had to ask a songbird friend to ask a soquili trader who knew a nomadic band of humans that were passing through the area. He'd parted with a few of his favorite trinkets but he had enough oats to last the whole winter in return. He hated having to live off of dry grass and tasteless scrub over winter. The oats would help him until the soft spring sprouts appeared.
He was taking a refreshing walk when he heard it, a strange stomping sound. It was a little ways away, but he let curiosity bring him closer. The sound stopped, but he continued. Was it a bear perhaps, digging a new entrance to its den? He blinked widely when he realized that it was no bear, but a mare that had been causing the ruckus. The mare had obviously been recently digging and now lay sprawled in the mud beside the hole that he could only assume she had just created.
"What on earth are you doing?" he asked skeptically.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 7:42 pm
Treasure twisted her head around to look at the new arrival. She looked at him with just as much surprise as he was staring at her with. He was so... shiny! His coat was brushed to a fine sheen and his hooves weren't even dirty. How could he keep them so clean without giving up walking?
"Uhhhhh, what?" she asked, having missed what he said while trying to figure him out.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 7:44 pm
Venticello's skepticism deepened. He wondered if she might be sick and disoriented. That might make a mare behave so strangely.
"I asked what you are doing," he asked again. "Are you quite all right?" He hoped she wasn't sick. He wasn't very good with sick people but nonetheless felt obligated to stay and help if she needed.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 6:12 pm
Treasure heaved a big sigh. Here she was, looking for gold, and a landlubber had to come and bother her about it. She could tell by his expression that he was thinking snobby thoughts about how much better he was than her. Instead of making her angry, she smirked a little. He wouldn't be nearly so smug if he knew how rich she was going to be as soon as she found the chest.
"Not doing anything," she said loudly, feigning innocence. "Just digging for... for exercise." She smiled like a cat as she looked up at him. It was obviously a lie, but it was just as obvious that she wouldn't be telling him the truth either.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 6:15 pm
Curiouser and curiouser. He wasn't even quite sure what to say about that. She was making a right mess of things for reasons she wasn't going to divulge. Unfortunately for her, he wasn't going to be shaken off that easily.
"Well I'm afraid I have to ask you to please do it somewhere else," he said with prim disapproval. "I don't know if you realize this, but I, my mate, and several other soquili make this area their home. Holes are dangerous, you see. If someone takes a wrong turn in the dark they might fall down into it and break a leg." A broken leg didn't always mean death to a soquili but it often did. He could easily imagine the hole getting partially filled with dry leaves and then someone taking a tumble.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 6:20 pm
Treasure rolled her eyes and laughed a little. "Come on, mate. They're just holes!" She stood up then, heaving her legs underneath her and planting her hooves firmly in the muck. "If you're so worried about them, fill them in yourself." She gave him an obnoxious wink. "That is, if you don't mind getting your pretty little hooves dirty."
She laughed again, as if this was the best joke she'd ever heard. She'd like to see the pretty boy doing some hard labor. It might give that pretty bird marking of his some muscle. She would have been much more impressed if he'd had something like a kraken marking his back instead.
"But I'm not done here yet," she said. "So you're going to have to get out of me way so I can dig another hole over here."
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 6:24 pm
"What did I just tell you?" snapped Venticello. "Stop digging holes!" Something about this mare just rubbed him completely the wrong way. She came this close to his home and then disrespected him? It was nothing but rude, and he hated rudeness. He stomped a hoof into the ground, heedless of the mud it flung up.
"I'm going to have to insist. Stop digging holes, or I'm going to find the local authorities." It... was an empty threat. The closest thing to a local authority that they had was an old spirit-touched bear that would get angry if any one person ate too many berries at any one time. The bear definitely wouldn't care if a crazy mare was out here digging holes, even if a dozen soquili fell into them.
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 4:52 pm
"Authorities, y'say?" A twinkle found its way into Treasure's eye. She was frustrated and tired, and spotted a way to make things a little better. She patted the mud with her tail, almost thoughtfully. Then in an instant she scooped up a lump of the damp dirt and flung it at the stallion.
"Ha!" she crowed when the dirt ball met its mark. "If you're going to be calling on the authorities, Il'l give ya something to tell them!" She chortled at her own humor. She didn't have even the slightest bit of worry for her course of action. He didn't look like he could so much as stomp a bug, let alone her. She prided herself in knowing how to scrap when she needed to... or was bored.
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 5:18 pm
Venticello drew in one long and horrified gasp. The mud splattered across him in a wide spray. Much of it ended up on his shoulder, right on the wing of his phoenix. He let out a strained hiss as he struggled to process what had just happened. He had just been minding his own business, hadn't he? He just wanted to make sure that everything was in order and soquili didn't break their legs in random holes. He didn't understand what had happened to him.
He bristled, anger now building. "Excuse me?" he snapped, voice a good degree higher than it was a moment ago. "Do you have a reason for this, or are you just reveling in being uncivilized?" Even to himself, it sounded silly. Of course this mare didn't care about rules of polite society.
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 5:22 pm
"Come on!" challenged Treasure. She bounded playfully to the other side of one of her treasure pits. "Is that the best y'can do? I'm a scurvy knave digging up yer lovely grass!" Where Venticello spoke with a lofty and precise diction, Treasure's accent could be considered base at best.
She kicked another clod of dirt in his direction, but this one didn't hit its mark. She wanted to see him cut loose a little! She wanted to provoke some sort of reaction other than his prim stammering. He had potential, he just needed to let himself go. "Maybe I'll be going if you make me get going!" She began to gather another mud ball in her tail, watching him with a promise and a threat. She'd wage this mud war, even if it was one-sided.
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 5:25 pm
"I will NOT lower myself to your level!" Venticello was shouting now, almost bellowing. He never shouted. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd raised his voice. It made his heart race in a definitely not pleasant way. He felt like biting her, like ripping a chunk of hair out of her braid and seeing if she was just as cocky then. His breath huffed heavily and he found himself momentarily overwhelmed.
"Just. Leave." These word were barely grated out past straining muscles. Somehow he felt that if he moved another step that he would lose control entirely and attack the mare. Even if she deserved it, he didn't want to stoop that low. She wasn't worth compromising his own integrity for.
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