[SPRP] Hello, Stranger [Arctica & Cypress]

[Teh Cheryl]

This is a self-RP between Teh Cheryl's Arctica & Cypress. Please do not post without premission.

 

[Teh Cheryl]

Arctica sighed, stretching out her slim, feathered wings delicately as she set herself down on the ground. Spring had come, and the night air was warm and still. She had set herself up on the ledge that overlooked the small clearing that was their herd's home, and she gazed down the ridge idly, watching the small fire flicker at the center and the various bodies that wandered to and fro, some busy with the night's tasks and others languishing. She had spent much of the last few years up in the herd's territory, seldom wandering down the mountain except when requested by her father or Auri for supplies. The warm tropical air of the south did not suit her no more than it did any other member of her family. Her distaste for the heat mixed with her own natural introversion resulted in her spending more of her time wandering the deserted mountain top. She, and several of her siblings, had spent much of their youth high in the mountain where the snow never melted and the air had a brutal bite of chill to it. This ridge, however, was her favorite spot—clean and clear with a wonderful view of her family.

 

[Teh Cheryl]

Cypress hummed idly to himself as he wandered idly away from the bulk of the main herd. Night was falling rapidly and he hoped to scout out the best spot on the mountainside for star gazing. He had only joined the herd a few weeks past, having been found wondering into their territory by the brown-coated Avaru and the older mare Auri. He had only been looking to get a little closer to the star and the cold air of the mountain had seemed ideal of a spot to settle down for the night for. He had not intended to trespass, as silly as the notion of property and land owning may be to him.

The herd was kind though and had welcomed him to share their clearing. The pale blue mare with the many children had explained to him, tittering later that night and so eager to be helpful, that their leader did not care for things like boundary lines and territory. The mountain was theirs simply because they had been their the longest and no one had ever joined them. Orchu would have not begrudged more tribes joining them as long as they did no harm to his family. Cypress had stayed for the night and then simply...didn't leave.

Cypress hummed some more, idle and tuneless as he stared upward at the darkening sky. Yes, this was the ideal place for star gazing.  

[Teh Cheryl]

Arctica eyes perked up, alert as she heard the approaching steps. The soft grass crunched delicately beneath hooves, and she stood up, no longer able to relax when she did not know who was making the sound. No one came up to the mountaintop except those of their herd, but even then, she could not rely on that. No, it was better to be ready to fly off at any moment. She knew she was being unnecessarily skittish—she could see her father down below her, resting against the fireplace and her older sister not far from him, nipping at her nephew’s mane. In a heartbeat, she could cry out and every flier in the herd would rush up to help her.

Still though, she couldn’t help her heart race. “Hello?” she offered tentatively to the darkness, the narrow path up to the ridge shrouded with the shadows of the trees. It was seldom used—she herself often simply flew the quick minute up to the landing, reveling in the feeling of her wings in the air. She opened her wings, nervous as she waited for the response.
 

[Teh Cheryl]

Cypress brushed aside a stray branch from the path which his nose, heedless of the other minor scrapes and scratches that came upon him. He had almost missed this path, nestled carefully between two trees and a little ways off the main path the climbed even higher up the mountain. It was clearly seldom used and he could feel the overgrowth of weeds and brush against his knees. But it was a path nonetheless, and Cypress' curiosity had led him through the path less traveled once again.

He was quickly surrounded by darkness as he walked through the forested brush, the orange glow of the fading sunset being eclipsed completely in the shaded forest. He could feel the cold bite of ice against his ankles as he trekked onward, the unmelted snow from the winter being protected from the spring by the darkness. As he finally reached the end of the path, he heard a soft, almost timid voice pose a query. It was delicate, gentle, with a hint of a nervous shiver in it.

Cypress stepped forward, pushing aside the last of the branches to emerge, bits of twigs and leaves clinging to his mane and coat. He flicked his wings to brush off the most of it, but cared not for the ugly tangle that had become of his tail and mane. He met the turquoise eyes of the mare before looking upward at the fading light before he spoke. "Hello," he said, his voice airy and bland. "Fancy meeting you here," he mused. This mare was one of the leader's children, probably. She seemed vaguely familiar but names were flighty, difficult things. She shared some of her father's features though probably, and her markings were reminiscent of his.  

[Teh Cheryl]

Arctica relaxed slightly at the sight of the stallion, but could still feel the tight coil of muscles on her back tense. Cypress was new to the herd and she had admittedly not spent much time with him. Though, to be fair, no one really had spent much time with the stallion--he had, like a Moir, seem to prefer to spend much of his time alone. Arctica had only seen him speak to her father on occasion and Nixsi, the darling she was who really would mother hen everyone if given the option.

"Oh, hello," she finally said, realizing she had gotten lost in her head and was staring, quite rudely, in silence at the new addition. She licked her lips, unsure of what to do. The herd had gotten large over the years and it was getting harder and harder to spend time with everyone. She wasn't even sure if Cypress remembered her name.

"What are you doing up here?" she finally asked, nervously shuffling. She never did well around new people and even though he was, technically, family now, she still did not know much about him.
 

[Teh Cheryl]

"Ohhh," he said, murmuring. "I was simply exploring. The path less traveled by is usually quite fascinating." He hummed contemplatively, ignoring the mare for the moment as he took in the view. He swept his eyes upward to see if he could get a good look at the stars, ruffling his feathers in the wind. Better, he thought, than down in the small valley where the herd tends to congregate, he decided, but not the best.

He approached the edge, heedless of his company, and stared down at the herd, taking in the group in its entirety. Fascinating that so many of different background, breeds, colors, and abilities have all come together in some a remote area. His eyes picked out a few members that stood out--the light pink mare whose coloring matched no one else's and the two oddballs who wore human clothing. He closed his eyes in contentment--how very very fascinating.

A noise to his right reminded him of his company. His turned back around, slowly, in no rush, his mane and tail dragging against the ground as he moved. (He mentally frowned as the thought came to him--what a bother I really should just cut it.)

"Apologies," he said, his voice airy and a small smile on his lips. "I was just admiring the view from up here. It's not quite high enough for my tastes, but I can see its appeal."  

[Teh Cheryl]

Arctica tilted her head at his words. What an odd stallion, she thought before blushing fiercely at the rude though. I'm sure she came off as odd to many! But, she thought, giving Cypress a sneaky one over, he did seem a little...airheaded? No, that wasn't the word she was looking for. More like...absent-minded, as though there were a million other thoughts going on in his head and that paying attention to the real world was just a second priority.

She took a few steps back as Cypress moved forward, giving him some space as he took his time looking upward and then, reaching the ledge, downward at the herd. She saw the smile though that crossed over his lips as he looked down at the herd, so maybe he was like her--enjoyed watching everyone move to and fro, watching their skittering patterns against the small valley. Sometimes Arctica amused herself by trying to guess what everyone was up to. It wasn't actually hard, considering the herd was made up of some interesting and unique individuals, but it was always a fun past time.

"No, it's fine," she finally said, not exactly sure what he was apologizing for. She offered a shy smile. "The view is lovely. This is my favorite spot to watch everyone from." She snuck a quick look back to the hidden path he had come ambling through. "Though I didn't know that you could reach it on foot. I have always flown up here since I discovered it."
 

[Teh Cheryl]

"Oh yes, it is a wonderful spot for watching everyone," he acknowledged, tilting his head toward the bustling teepee. "Such an interesting herd you seemed to have gathered. What a curious bunch of misfits," he said with a mild smile. "It makes one wonder how it all came about. Most from the ocean. How she managed to get upstream to an iced mountaintop really wind herds do not share land with those land-bound and most curiously, you all have collected a seathi who I have herd rarely venture s a wonder." Maybe he would go talk to the little Seathi whose name he could not recall. She spent most her time paddling around the pond (which was really more of a section of the river that had been widened for her to create a makeshift pond) and watching everyone go by. What was it like, to go from the warm tropical oceans to the freshwater of a mountaintop? What made her join such a distant herd so far from her native lands? Pure companionship couldn't be the answer--not when she was limited in movement up here and the sea had no shortage of similar friends. But then again, companionship could be one of the strongest forces that exist.

Cypress hummed, lost in his own thoughts. Arctica's shuffling finally drew him out of his thoughts again and he looked up, having forgotten her presence in the midst of his musing. "Oh yes," he answered, distracted. "The path was quite a mess but often the messiest paths are the most fruitful, no?"

 

[Teh Cheryl]

Arctica waited patiently for an answer. And waited. And waited. The silence stretched awkwardly and Arctica watched Cypress from beneath her bangs. 'Maybe...he is thinking?' she wondered, tentatively, trying to keep herself from fidgeting as she waited for an answer. 'Or...did he forget I was here?' He was an odd character as she had suspected and the way his amber eyes just sorted...drifted off into space was slightly disconcerting. She wondered if she should make some sort of noise but that felt that might be a little rude. Maybe he really was just thinking.

Arctica let her own mind wander as she waited, and her eyes finally settled on the coat of her temporary companion. The swirl of colors on his back were almost intoxicating, and her eyes traced the dips and swirls of gold across his flank. The golden tips of his wings seemed to glow unnaturally in the darkening night, as though a beacon to the skies. The tangle of his braid, covered liberally in dirt and twigs caught in the length seemed at odds to the rest of his appearance.

She started when he finally spoke, having been lost in her own thoughts as she had waited, not noticing that she had stopped fidgeting as she though. "Oh," she said, unsure of what to say. What an odd fellow. "Yes. I have never noticed the path and I have been coming up here since I learned to fly. I wander where it came from." Not many of the herd preferred the view from above and she had never cross paths with anyone else in her many years of coming to this spot.  

[Teh Cheryl]

Cypress tilted his head a the the inquiry. Curious. "Perhaps one of the elders of the herd? No one with wings, of course," he said dismissively, somewhat intrigued by the mystery of the forgotten path. How curious of how things got lost in the passage of time. It was fascinating to consider. Perhaps the path had once been obvious to all, with the trees much smaller and underbrush constantly cleared. There weren't very man candidates though, with the current herd of who could have taken the trouble to make such a path up to essentially nowhere.

This mare wasn't particularly young either, he mused internally again, turning his head to glance back at the hidden path once again. The spotted one was much too lazy to both and the striped one did not seem to be the type. The pink one was too skittish and the red one too dim. "Perhaps the black and white mare, the one with the little wolf and the short mane," he considered, unaware that he was now speaking his thought aloud. She did not seem the type but Cypress could easily admit that he wasn't the best judge of character.
 

[Teh Cheryl]

'The white and black one with the wolf and short mane?' Arctica repeated to herself, tilting her head in confusion as she tried to follow the stallion's line of thought. White and black were the most common colors of the herd...and wolves were the most common familiar but the short mane...? "Oh!" she exclaimed, her voice still soft but the metaphorical light bulb going off. "You mean War?"

War wasn't that much older than her but had been a young adult by the time Arctica had crept out from her warm basket. War, like many of the heard, kept more to herself but Arctica liked to thing that they were friends. War had never mentioned coming up to this path before, though, Arctica considered and Admiral never really seemed interested in...well much of anything to be honest. "I can't imagine either War or Admiral coming up here though," she mused aloud. "Maybe once or twice out of curiosity, but War isn't quite the type to watch from afar like this." 'And,' she added to herself, 'Admiral would not appreciate the trek for nothing more than a good view.'
 

[Teh Cheryl]

"War?" Cypress repeated, testing the name on his tongue to see if it seemed familiar. It didn't, but that did not mean that he had not met her or that she wasn't the one he was thinking about. After all, how many black and white mares who shared an odd coloration pattern similar to the big sea cow could there be in one herd? Then again...their leader was similarly colored so maybe they were all related. Cypress himself did not remember his parents nor was he aware of any siblings so he couldn't say for sure how broad genetic coloration could be passed down among siblings from personal experience, but in his travels he had run across many family groups.

"Hmm, War. I guess that is her name. Curious name to be given as a foal. I wonder if her parents had some expectation of her future," he wandered, getting diverted from their original topic of conversation. "Names have such an interesting meaning. Did her parents name her as a hope or as a deterrent? Or did she choose the name herself as a reminder? Or a flight of fancy?"
 

[Teh Cheryl]

Arctica tilted her head as she watched Cypress muse to himself, still unsure how to interact with this odd character. "I have never given much thought to our names," she admitted when he paused, his ramblings slowly devolving into more mutterings to himself than actual coherent thoughts aloud to his audience. "I presume her parents simply liked how it sounded?" War had never spoke of her parents to her, but many of their herd did not see their birth parents much at all unless they lived with the group. "Grandfather brought War to us when she was grown, and she has never mentioned other birth parents before. Though..." she trailed off, wondering. "I guess it is not out of the question that she chose the name herself. It doesn't seem like her to choose such a name but..." Arctica trailed off again, not sure how to verbalize her thoughts. War had always been one of the more adventurous of the lot and had a habit of wandering off to satisfy her curiosity. Naming herself was not completely unreasonable.
 

[Teh Cheryl]

Cypress blinked, startled out of his thoughts again by the words of his temporary companion. He had forgotten again that he was not alone--company was such a bothersome thing but they were such social creatures by nature. Herds provided all sorts of benefits to the individual; the communal food source and protection in numbers was apparent enough to most. Emotional benefits, however, were a little harder to catalog. Cypress had spent so much of his life separated from society and being so new this to his herd, it was hard for him to catalog the benefits from his first hand knowledge. Even then, his first hand knowledge would be primarily biased of course but, then again, almost everything was. Emotions are bias in and of themselves, he mused to himself, already lost into a new train of thought.