R* [SRP]Heart is the Homewood(Russet Fawn + Talltale)

[Kesmi]

WC:1000

Crickets chirped in the early dusk as Russet Fawn, a strawberry roan doe, entered the more inner reaches of Homewood. Her head was low as she had been walking near non-stop, at times running. She hadn't stopped for more than a drink of water from small streams and maybe a bit to eat. She had to keep her hooves moving, ever further away from the past she was once again running from. Why had she gone back to that place to begin with? What had she hoped to find? Maybe evidence that her mother and sister had made it out some other exit of the collapse? Bones to know that they had indeed died in that deadly quake? She really didn't know, but what she had thought she wanted she didn't find.

Coming to a stop close to a small grove in Homewood, one she had shared at one time with her father. Fawn finally let legs fold in on themselves and herself collapse to the ground. The was the home she remembered, the green and sounds of the crickets. Even the small flash flies were out and winking now and again. Darkness had come to Homewood by the time she had made it here, the stars were exposed through the branches over head. Not even looking up, she didn't want to see the stars that night. She just wanted the world to go away, even with her father's words rolling through the recesses of her mind.

'Papa, I miss Mama.' she had said so long ago, her own voice loud in her ears.

'You can always find her in the stars. She is there, watching over you. And one day, so will I.' her father would reply nuzzling her as she wept. 'So never be sad my little Fawn, we'll never be too far away.'

But right now, stars weren't going to chase away what had come back. She had been a fool to go back to the Ruins. But what was done, was done there was no turning back now. Memories had resurfaced, ones that perhaps others of that age wouldn't have remembered. But trama seared things into her young mind to make them permanent. Closing her eyes against more tears welling up, she didn't hear the rustling of bushes off to her side.

"Finally." huffed a voice as a cream and sealpoint Jack Hop fell through the bushes and laid on hs belly. Paws out streatched as he looked at the mare, "Could you not slow down back there?" His question fell on deafs ears as he really wasn't talking to anyone, but it was loud enough to hear. "I think I lost half my fat stores trying not to lose you."

With another exasperated huff between pants did the the Jack Hope get the attention og the doe. He wasn't sure if it was her own exhaustion or what, but she only looked at him with a misty eye, tear streaks still dark against her coat. She had been crying, seems like she had never stopped since he had found her in the Ruins.

"So, what was with the fast flight? You ran as if something were after you." the Jack Hop asked, sides still moving as he panted.

Russet Fawn turned her head away from the critter as she wasn't in the mood to talk to any one at the moment. She had throught she had made that clear when she left the ruins. Shifting she put her back to the jack hop, her tail flicking slightly in a 'go away' motion.

"Why do I need to explain things to you? We only just met and I don't even know your name. And you certainly don't know mine."

The Jack Hop gave a laugh as he got up and went over to lean against her back. It seemed like an ok thing, she had rolled over and had it to him. And he needed something to prop up against. It was just the feel of his fur against her velvet coat that made the doe shift to try and get away from him. This brought another chuckle from the Jack Hop as he looked at the doe whom glared at him through tear leaking eyes.

"I'm Talltale." he said as Fawn continued to glare, "I would have told you back in the Ruins, but you rn off before I could."

Fawn gave an 'hmph' and looked away from Talltale, wanting to be as far away from everyone and everything at the moment. By now the moon was high over head and shown white down into the small grove. The crickets had long gone to bed and she too needed sleep. But with this little annoying Talltale so close, she didn't think she could.

"What kind of name is that?" Fawn asked as if it were an outlandish thing. "But I'm Russet Fawn. Now go away and let me sleep.

Talltale chuckled once again as she had asked what kind of name it was that he had. Well, he was one for a good story and liked telling stories of his own. He had such a nack for them sometimes that he gained the name when he was just a kit. Most his stories were tales that he made bigger then life.

"Whatever you say sweet cheeks." Talltale said with a yawn of his own, "But you have a story to tell and I want to hear it. That and... You look like you could use a friend."

If there had been a reply from Fawn, it wasn't heard as her ears just flicked back. Shifting again she curled up into what could have been presumed as a ball and fell asleep. Her tail wrapped up and around her head to block out everything. There was no talking to her tonight, maybe there will be a chance eventually for Talltale to get his story. He just had to be patient.

Just got to be patient...  

[Kesmi]

Wc: 2158

Two post total: 3158

The morning after the heated run from the ruins, Russet Fawn roused from her slumber and looked around. Her tail still laying over her muzzle before she shook her head and it fell to the ground. She yawned and gave the landscape a blurry, still sleepy look over. She didn't see the smaller cream and seal point Jack Hop that laid sprawled on his back near her. Fawn took her time to stand and shaking off what grass and moss had caked to her coat in the night. It was here she noticed the Jack Hop and jumped to one side as if he had leaped at her in attack. It was more in surprise though, she had thought he had left when she told him to the night before.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave me alone." Fawn had said as Talltale stretched and rolled over as if being spoken to in such a manner was a normal thing.

"I was as tired as you. It wasn't the best run for me as it was for you, you have the longer legs after all." He said having rolled over, sat up and jabbed a paw in her direction, "Besides you looked like you needed a friend, guess you didn't hear me last night."

Fawn just watched the Jack Hop, she hadn't really been paying too much attention to him after he had mentioned his name. A friend? What made him think that? She was fine on her own, she didn't know what kind of friend he would be. This was just absurd.

"A friend? What gave you that idea?" Fawn asked as she glared at Talltale. "All because I was in the Ruins alone?"

Talltale had his back to her as he groomed his ears, barely listening. It was only when he felt someone hovering over him, he looked up at Fawn. She was glaring down at him as he sat there, nose giving a small twitch he gives the slightest shrug and moves forward to put some distance between them.

"Well, the way you acted and I don't see anyone here to help you in this time. Clearly you need someone to talk to, to rant to and even spill thing to to get it off your chest." Talltale lays out simply that just makes the doe stare at him. "And the flight you took from the Ruins you had a lot balled up in there. I am just here to be someone you can spill everything to." This was a half truth. He wanted her story sure, but in the back of his mind he wanted something else to pass around with his plethora of other tales.

"And you thought to follow me? What if I don't want to tell you anything? I don't really know you, aside from your name if it is really Talltale." Fawn remarked as Talltale sat higher on his haunches to look at her better.

"Everyone needs someone to rant to, ya know." He put simply, "And by the looks of you don't have anyone and haven't in a long time."

Emotions started to well within Fawn as the Jack Hop was talking. For the first time in her solitude, after the passing of he father, anger filled her hollow. Fawn had been so detached from the world she almost seemed to live within her own. Her own little fantasy that this 'thing' walked right into and popped the bubble. The shield she had built up around herself started to crumble around her. Lowering her head and coming uncomfortably close to the Jack Hop she snorted.

"What do you know of it? What do you know of what I am going through?" Fawn shouts at Talltale as she stomped in his direction, "As far as I know you are here just to poke fun. Hear my story you say, so you can tell everyone else? Tear down my walls I have spent many seasons building and keeping to myself?"

Fawn was stomping at the places that Talltale had been sitting. She even made swipes at him with her horn, that he just nimbly leaped over. Sometimes adding a little spin to his leaps and bounds. Was this part of his plan? Nope, this was all her doing and it seemed that she had more welled up inside that he hadn't really considered. But he hoped that after she stopped trying to attack him that she would calm down slightly. Only thing was, it was still morning and the doe looked like she could go for a few hours.

"Well..." He had started before leaping out of the way as Fawn took another swipe at him. "Hearing your story was one thing, as I have said many times. And if you'd just calm down, maybe we can talk all this out?" Talltale asked as he gave a little of a lopsided smile moving out of the way of her hooves.

"Calm down? Calm DOWN!? Why should I? You invaded my personal space and followed me all for the intent on hearing something I don't want to tell. I should just tear you apart for just thinking that you could be anything more then a pest." Fawn said between sobs and sniffling.

Her walls were well and broken and everything she had held in was starting to seep out from the seams. Her movements were starting to get sloppy and rushed, she just wanted this little pest to get out of her mane and leave her the heck alone. Talltale was still dancing around her. Weaving through her hooves as she soon stopped panting, her legs shaking a little from the exertion she had put herself through in such a short time.

"What kind of tale did you think you could get from me? A sob story? Something you can run back home with and spew about?" Fawn sputtered as she stood shaking slightly. "So just save yourself the trouble and go home already. You are not needed here."

Talltale just sat there watching the doe as she stood shaking, her sides heaving from all the rapid movements. He was expecting her to take off again, but it seemed from the torn up ground around them, she was out of energy. Her shaking and panting was the downward crash that was to come. Talltale's ears flicked backwards some as he leveled his gaze at the doe.

"Had I known I was dealing with someone so unstable, I would have stayed home." he commented still sitting where he was planted. "But as it stands, I am far from the Ruins and really needed to leave the warren for more space." that and he was wanted away from his large family whom were starting to get on his own nerves. "Largest point is, I don't know where home is now. You went in so many directions that I lost track of where I had been. You crossed your own tracks multiple times, I almost thought you were lost like I was."

Talltale watched Fawn as she just looked at her. She had little recollection of the night before. She had ran blindly through the trees after leaving the Ruins. The night had come fast and yea, she had gotten herself turned around as night sounds spooked her and off her path. Shaking her head, legs giving out as they refused to hold her weight any longer. Why was all this happening to her now? What had she done to deserve such a pest to stick to her like a flea?

"Why did you follow me in the first place? Besides wanting to be a so called 'friend'. It was hopefully clear then that I didn't want anyone near." She said a little more calmly, it was probably more the exhaustion she had put herself through so early in the morning.

Around them the forest had come to life, other critters had come to see what all the shouting and noise had been. Most had moved on to minding their own business leaving Fawn with Talltale to deal with their problems. Really, Fawn would have liked it if even Talltale had left her alone too, but it seemed that no matter what happened, no matter what she did he wasn't going anywhere. With a groan of a sigh, she watched Talltale for a moment before asking.

"So what do you really want? What 'story' do you think I am holding onto?"

"Well, from what I had seen in the Ruins, when you had apparently lost all sense of the world around you. Something horrible had happened there. Something that caused you to flees as if a pack of hounds were on your hocks." Talltale laid out before them. And you were always muttering 'Mama' and 'Papa'. From your actions, those memories are painful ones. Pain that can easily be burdened by more then just yourself."

"And if I wanted to? What were you going to do about it? Pester until I kicked you away and perhaps injured you? Not everyone wants to burden others with their problems." Fawn said pointedly. "Also, my past is for myself. The struggles I had gone through since the loss of Family and long seasons with just my father. Not all stories are happy ones and mine is one I don't want others to know about."

Talltale listened to her as she spoke. He gathered what pieces she had spoken. From what she had said, she had lost family, he guessed her mother since she had spent the rest of her days with her father. What other family had she lost? Was it there in the ruins that she had lost them? Was that why she had mentioned that the ruins had been forbidden? There were so many questions piling up in his mind that he had to ask... Gently.

"So you lost your mother? In the ruins?" he asked tilting his head to one side, ears forward to listen more clearly. "Is that why you said that the Ruins were forbidden? Your father's rules I am assuming as our parents are always making rules in what they think are in our best interests. Most the time it is just their paranoia getting to them."

"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Fawn said in an accusing tone.

"With as big a family I have such rules go out with the winter bedding. Hardly anyone follows them and my parents gave up on making any rules for the kits. It's a large mess of heads, tails with a mix of limbs." Talltale gave a shrug as if wasn't a big thing. "So what did happen in the ruins that made your father's forbid you ever going back there?"

Fawn was getting agitated again as Talltale started needling her for answers. She showed this with a snort and turning her head to one side avoiding watching the Jack Hop. She really didn't have to answer to this, nor did she have any explaining to do. She was a grown doe, not a foal that had done something she wasn't supposed to. Forcing herself back to her hooves she turned and started walking away from the Jack Hop and towards another side of the clearing to leave.

"Hey, where are you going?" Talltale shouted as he bound to follow Fawn.

"To get something to eat. You upset my morning so much I am starving now." Fawn said, flicking her tail tro try and shoo him away. "And I don't need to listen to you any further. You aren't my father, he and my mother and twin sister rest in the stars above. So just shoo."

Well, there were more pieces of her past. Her story, Talltale stopped a moment to run his paws over his face with a little annoyance. This doe was a harder nut to crack. But it was a start. He might not be the one to completely shatter that shield she had built up, but it was thinning and starting to show signs of wear. This was going well, Talltale can only hope that in the future she will open up even more to him or maybe someone else of her own... Kind.

For now, he was going to tag along and keep close. Whether she liked it or not, he was going to stick to her like an ant to tree sap. 'Friendship trials, here we come' Talltale though as he followed the strawberry roan doe as she headed to find something to eat. A shadow right behind her..  

[ll Flourish ll]

REDEEMED


you found a hair tuft!