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 Posted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 12:12 pm
 Water babbled over rocks to the east, following one of the streams that cut through Homewood. Over that sprang the voices of a half dozen foals enjoying the warmth of the afternoon away from their parents. Emmerich kept an ear twisted in their direction. He couldn’t see them through the trees, but there had to be at least four of them. Probably fine, probably safe. Homewood was almost always safe, barring the occasional rough storm or the introduction of a newly revived species that messed up the wood’s carefully crafted disorder. It wasn’t like the bog or the barrens where losing your footing could mean a broken leg and a slow death of starvation.
Homewood was fine. The foals were fine. Everyone was fine.
Emmerich was bored. He shouldn’t have been, everything neat and tidy and taken care of was good. He should be happy for it. He was happy for it. He didn’t want anything to happen to his home or the other noulicorns that lived there. He just wanted…
Wanted to find something more. Something else beyond the borders of the forest and the barrens stretching forever into the horizon. What was after the barrens? Or was that the whole world except this small green patch the nouls managed to heal. Was it just barrens until the far corners of Vykeli, desert and death forever and ever.
Well. That was a depressing notion. Probably true, but not at all what Emmerich needed to worry about now. He shoved the thought down with a shake of his mane and rose to his feet.
“Don’t play around the river!” Emmerich snapped in the direction of the foals. Their giggling died down for a half a breath, then started up again with renewed vigor, tingling deeper into the wood.
Away from the water, at least. Emmerich snorted.
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 12:04 pm
It was still early in the day but Krima watched as a soft rain descended on a tiny little flower. She’d been practising her new gift from the Great Grandfather tree and she felt she was doing well now. When she’d first been given the gift she felt like it needed all of her attention just to get the barest of water to drizzle on anything. However, she’d kept at it, spending almost full days just working herself to exhaustion so that she could get some good results. She wanted to heal the ruins and it wasn’t by just barely watering a few plants that she was going to be able to do so.
Now that she was getting some satisfactory results, it was time to take a rest. She could hear some foals playing loudly in the distance and she was curious to see what they were up to. Krima pushed herself up on all fours and began to make her way towards the noise which only grew in volume as she drew closer. She was looking forward to the little ones being able to play in the ruins again once they were properly taken care of. This Krima had made her secret life’s mission. If she could heal more she would, but she’d start with the ruins first.
Quietly moving through the trees, Krima kept low so the foals would not spot her. Granted considering the coloring of her coat it was a little hard not to miss her moving through the greenery. Still, she made sure to hide behind the bushes when she could finally see them playing about. There were a couple of them and Krima was very tempted to give them a fun scare.
When one drew closer and closer to her, she finally sprang from her hiding spot with a roar. The foal closest to her sprang away fearfully with quite a yell of its own and the others soon followed suit running away with screams until they realized there was no danger, only an adult. Krima laughed loudly, nipping one gently on the rump as they drew closer to her again. They ran all around her now, laughing and making a larger ruckus than before. She herself was headed to the water for a gulp but if they kept tangling themselves in her legs she would never make it.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:31 pm
Just as Emmerich thought the ruckus around the river died down, another roar of laughter erupted from behind the bushes. Emmerich swished his tail in annoyance. He wasn’t a babysitter, but he couldn’t stand idle while a flock of foals was causing mischief apparently without supervision. Foal watching hadn’t been his plan for the afternoon, but he’d go where duty took him. He pawed the ground half-heartedly then stomped toward the peels of laughter.
The stones were slick where the little river tumbled over them, but Emmerich kept his footing. He’d dealt with worse surfaces than this roaming the ruins for dangers. Foals though, with their spindly legs, complete lack of coordination, and habit for running about without thought for where they were going, could break something so easily out here. He shoved his way through the bushes to the open stream.
His ears perked immediately.
There weren’t just foals out here, there was also a doe. An adult doe. The children seemed enamored with her, frolicking around her legs attempting to entice her into play.
Emmerich cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Are these all… yours?”
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 2:27 pm
Krima had almost lost herself to playing with the foals when her ears picked up a noise through the trees and flicked towards the noise, immediately her head followed the same direction. It wasn’t long before a stag emerged from the greenery. Krima observed him, his coat could almost perfectly blend with the bark of the trees of Homewood. The foals too noticed him once they found that Krima was no longer playing with them. A few of them curiously went to approach him. For her part, Krima straightened herself out now that the foals were gone and gave a flick of her tail.
“Oh no,” she said with a soft laugh before approaching him as well with her small gaggle of foals. “None of these are mine, but there’s just something so...” she sighed dreamily. “Tempting about foals just playing about. Makes you want to come out and play with them too. Their energy is infectious.” Krima stopped herself from speaking further, slightly embarrassed by all her talking. These foals were obviously not his, so she couldn’t ask him which one was his.
“Do you have kids?” She perked her head to the side a bit. “Or maybe just babysitting these ones?” There didn’t seem to be any other adults in the area from what she could tell at least. Surely someone who spent time with the foals would know what she was talking about.
Now that the adults were talking, the foals were bored that their entertainment was gone. Instead, they turned their attention on each other again and ran off a little ways while chasing each other, still as loud as before without a care in the world.
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 7:56 pm
Emmerich shifted his weight, lifting his legs awkwardly as the foals dashed around him and further into the forest. They seemed so tiny, so frail, legs as thin as twigs and ears large enough for a songbird’s nest. Not one care for caution in any of their young brains. Emmerich snorted as their laughter carried on raucously down the path.
“No kids,” Emmerich replied. “Starting to think these ones don’t have any parents.” They’d been out here unsupervised for long enough. He knew most nouls thought Homewood was without any danger at all, but that wasn’t entirely true. Predators would encroach the green edges of the forest and even one of those overgrown rat creatures could take down a foolhardy foal.
He’d hated leaving Elsie on her own when they’d been young, but the nouls of Homewood had always been kind to them. He’d never had to leave her entirely without protection. The thought of having his own foals was…
Bitter-sweet. He shouldn’t have wanted to bring one into this world at all, full of death and dangers, as much as Vykeli needed more noulicorns to heal it. Watching the group of foals play didn’t infect him with the urge to join their bounding, as it did for this doe, but it did make an uncomfortable warmth pitter-patter in his chest. He liked foals.
But more importantly, he liked to keep them safe.
“Not a babysitter, but I think we’ve both been thrown into the job now.” He could just walk away from the children, after all. “I’m Emmerich.”
He didn’t recognize this doe, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t met in passing.
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:16 pm
Krima snickered, Emmerich seemed like an old soul. Krima regarded the little foals playing about adoringly. She wanted to join them, to be free and run around and chase them about before they chased her. While Krima hadn’t exactly lost the energy of her younger days, she was a little more adult about it. She loved the freedom of being a foal brought and yet she would not go back in time or stay a foal forever. One had to grow up and take up responsibilities to ensure that the next generations prospered. Krima was all grown up now, so she used her energy on more important things.
“It does seem so,” she said with amusement in her tone. “I don’t mind too much, it’s a role my family often asks me to fill so they can get a bit of rest from their little ones.” And that was quite the rowdy bunch. “I’m Krima,” she slowly started trotting after them looking back at the darker buck. “If we don’t hurry we’ll lose them!” their laughter was getting further and further away from them as she spoke.
“Do you think Homewood is safe enough to have foals running about like this?” Personally, Krima didn’t believe it was totally safe, but it was certainly quite safe, but was it safe enough? However, as safe as some might think it was, there wasn’t really anything keeping the evil’s of the world from creeping in, so really anything could happen at any point. That was a scary thought, wasn’t it? There was also the danger of a foal getting lost and ending up somewhere they weren’t supposed to wander. Hopefully, they could restore places soon enough and the world would be just a touch safer.
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Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2020 7:56 pm
“Safer than anywhere else,” Emmerich replied. As safe as it got in Vykeli. No place like home, right? Even with the silent threat of predators, Homewood flourished with food, water, and shelter. Everything a young noul needed to survive. These foals - scampering between skipping stones in the river and laughing, carefree, wild - couldn’t comprehend how well they had it. Not all families lived in Homewood, not all foals grew up surrounded by its vibrant greens.
Seemed like he was getting shuffled to nanny duties. With a stifled grunt, he followed the doe, marching just quick enough to keep the foals within earshot. They didn’t seem perturbed by their adult entourage. Emmerich assumed they were young, born this season maybe. He’d dealt with older children scoffing at his advice or trying to lose his tail. As if Emmerich didn’t know how to follow the tracks of a messy youngster, bursting reckless through the foliage.
“More likely to break their legs than run into a predator.” He scented the air anyway, nostrils flared. Fresh water bubbled around them, the rich green smell of new plants and edible roots, the earthy undertones of moss and dirt pregnant with moisture from the last rain. No predators. Nothing obvious, anyway.
“Used to watch my family too.” Krima must have younger siblings still growing into their legs. “She’s all grown up now and likes to remind me of that as often as possible.”
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