[PRP] An Unguarded Moment (Rahu and Delphia)

[Talencia]

It was a fine night, and the aunts were watching over the filly who still remained in her basket. The wolf pup, exhausted from a day of play, also slept, curled into a rippling ball of fur against the basket's smooth weave.

Delphia inhaled a deep breath of the cooler summer night air. It wasn't perfectly cool, but definitely better than the warm winds that blew dust and sucked the moisture out of the air. Night, beneath the cool light of the near-full moon was much more pleasant. It bathed the landscape in dream colors, pale blues and silvers with deep dark blues and blacks. Not a warm color was to be seen.

With a sigh the reaccoon mare paused at the top of a cliff to look out over the now quiet village. Most had gone to sleep, and only a teepee here and there was still lit within from some industrious soul still hard at work at their chosen trade. For a time, it could almost seem as if these humans did not exist, and the land belonged only to those who walked on four legs, or flew on two wings.

This was a strange train of thought, and Delphia snorted at herself. Such foolishness! What would her life have been like without the human who cared for and looked after her? It certainly would have been less pleasant. But regardless, tonight was a night for the wild things. She heard the hunters gathering in the distance, calling to each other in song. She heard the runners dashing through the leafy forest, seeking out the safety of their herd. And there, the rustling of the hoppers and the climbers, out to forage for their midnight snacks.

Yes, the night was a time for those of wilder blood than most humans possessed. She turned her eyes upward to stare at the stars and muse further on these most unusual thoughts.  

[samus x]

Rahu let out a low growl as he walked liking over pat things that happened. he always seemed to at night when he was alone but thats why he liked to wander alone at night. though it caused him to be off guard, he rarely meet anyone during the night. hardly caring where he went, he wandered with no desination in deep thought.  

[Talencia]

A sound from below drew her eyes from the sparkling arch above. Turning her gaze downwards, she spotted a dark stallion, a shadow among shadows, pacing along, growling to himsel in a most un-soquili-like manner. She frowned faintly and continued to watch him as he came out into the moonlight. Even under the moon's pale glow, the horse seemed more shadow than substance. Was she seeing things?

But another growl drifted up to her. Not unless that was a very unhappy apparition! Intrigued, she decided she would go investigate. If it was a distressed spirit, perhaps she could ease it on it's path to the distant Great Hunting Grounds. And if it truly was another soquili, he sounded like he could use a friend at the very least.

So it was she turned away from the cliff's edge and began a swift but quiet descent from the rise in the land and around in the direction that the dark horse had been heading. If she timed it right, and he didn't speed up or change direction, she would appear ahead of his path. Judging herself to be in the right spot, she stopped in the dappled shadows of a juniper tree and waited for him to appear around the trunk of a very large tree.  

[samus x]

Rahu contiuned on his way at the same pace he had been at. as he growled again while walking, it was no wonder he was named Rahu which ment demon,as sometimes he seemed more a demon then a soquili. lashing he tail as he walked, his was thinking of what happened back when he was a colt. tossing his mane, he never knew there was someone planning to cut him off soon once he passed the next large tree.  

[Talencia]

Seeing him round the tree, she spoke softly. "Troubled soul, why do you growl?" She quite honestly wasn't put off by his snarling to himself. Perhaps he had a perfectly valid reason for feeling so very nasty inside. How could she know if she didn't ask?

And at that point all she could do was wait. And watch as he reacted first to her voice, then to her presence, and lastly to the words she actually spoke. She hadn't intended on startling him, nor on ambushing him. She simply had come to be where she wsa sure to find him.

Anyone who was that growly needed someone to look after them, she was sure.  

[samus x]

Rahu snapped out of his deep thought when he heard someone speak to him in a soft voice. looking at who spoke to him, he saw a racoon colored mare. " what is it to you a mare who very well does not know me and i certianly dont remeber knowing you." he said in a snappy voice at her and snorted. eyeing her with a cold stare,he awaited a responce from her.  

[Talencia]

Delphia didn't bat an eye at the rude greeting she had recieved. She merely arched one brow thoughtfully. "I see. It sounds like things are worse than I'd have thought from just listening to your growls." There was only the faintest trace of humor in that. "You are right, we haven't been properly introduced. I am Delphia."

She did not bow, nor bob her head. Instinct told her that this stallion was sensitive to such gestures, interpreting them as weak and foolish. So she merely continued to look him in the eyes. Something about him pulled at her heartstrings. Could he really be as unhappy as this? It made her ache inside that any such young thing could suffer so. Only a kalona could possible be pleased with this level of unhapiness, surely.

So she stood and regarded him calmly. He was younger than she'd first thought, his dark coat giving him the air of one older. But now that she could get a good look at him, she saw he probably was only as old as her own colts. Inwardly she softened further. Yes... he needed someone who cared. Even if he didn't appear to.  

[samus x]

Rahu raises a brow and still had the cold eyes but was taken back at how Delphia seemed to care even though she did not know him. he was certainly younger than her but always seemed older than he truely was. " well Delphia it seems i have a problem with someone ranomly walking up to me and saying i have a problem." eyeing Delphia again, he still did not have his guard all the way back up.  

[Talencia]

Delphia paced closer to him, completely at ease. "It might not be such a problem, I'd think, if you didn't snarl to yourself as you walked along and look like the darkest stormcloud come to stalk the earth." She smiled with wry amusement at him and paced a bit further, to the side of him.

"I do apologize if I have intruded. However, I can't imagine many other soquili would come and ask you what was wrong. You definitely give off an aura that discourages it." Again she flashed a grin at him, this time more amused. "I would have bothered you if I didn't think that you needed someone to talk to." She shrugged her shoulders and flicked her tail and took a few more steps, coming around behind him.

"Of course, if you insist on wallowing alone in your misery, I suppose you could do that. But that wouldn't stop me from hopping into the muck beside you, just to keep you company." She took a few more steps and now was shoulder to shoulder with him. She craned her neck and eyed him with her head tipped sideways. "Everyone needs someone safe to talk to," she stated, holding his eyes with her own. "Even if it's an old married mare."  

[samus x]

Rahu was taken back by Delphia in how she seemed to almost be motherly to him of all soquili. He had no clue what to do as he was defiantly caught off guard by this and never in his life had someone done this too him. Now looking eye to eye with her, just from that he could tell she was being truthfully. “Fair enough but still why go out of your way for a stranger you don’t know anything about?” waiting for a response, he was still caught off guard as he never had anyone come up to him like this.  

[Talencia]

Delphia snorted and pawed the earth with one forehoof. "Why not? It seemed to me that you didn't have anyone to talk to that you trusted... so perhaps a stranger was exactly what you needed." She smiled gently at him then.

"I have two sons, both of whom are all grown now." She paused for a soft sigh. "While I see one occasionally, the other seems to have run away." She returned her gaze to his eyes. "But that doesn't mean I don't love him. It doesn't even mean I love him any less than the one I see more often. I will always love him, regardless of the situation."

She continued to gaze at him steadly. "And I have the feeling that you do not have one of our kind who loves you that way. Am I right?" Softly she added, before he could answer. "It can be hard, living without knowing someone loves you, no matter what." Her eyes spoke volumes, and her heart opened up to this unhappy young stallion.  

[samus x]

Rahu really was not likely how he flet she was being all motherly to him. even when he was younger he had been on his own abandond with no trust. " i dont as i trust no one, not even a stranger who just so happens to want to help." he then raised a brow at how she talked of her kids. continuing to have the cold stare, to keep his emotions from being known as she started to talk about an even more touchy subject atlest for him as he had only once came close to being with someone and the only one he had loved but lost. " your walking into a subject you should not with me. i may have had no one my whole life, but i have learned to deal even if only once there was someone who cared but i pushed them away." looking away, he felt he had said to much to Delphia and snorted while trying to bring his guard back up. but as she talked more. it made him want to let them down.  

[Talencia]

Delphia nodded her head, causing her shortened mane to bob as well, emphasizing her gesture. "That's fair enough. You have no reason to trust even an old grey mare such as I." Her eyes sparkled for a moment at her subtle jest at herself. Being old didn't bother her, save perhaps in that it meant no more foals for her. But with the struggling black stallion beside her, the thought didn't enter her mind right now.

"And shame on whoever allowed you to push them away. Love is about being unselfish, and loving no matter what the circumstances." She paused, tipping her head up to gaze at the sky thoughtfully. "You know someone truly loves you when they listen with their heart instead of their ego. When they remain at your side even when you can't seem to love yourself." She returned her calm and even gaze back to him. He needed soemone, and he knew it, even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone, himself most of all. And she decided right then and there that he would be part of her family, even if he resented it. Oh, she wouldn't bug him about ACTING like part of it.... but she would treat him as her own.

"All I can say is that my heart aches that you haven't experienced that kind of love yet. And that I hope you will realize it when it is given to you." She nuzzled his neck in a very gentle and matronly manner, mentally hoping with amusement that he didn't mistake this as some sort of desperate old-lady flirt.  

[samus x]

Rahu tensed a bit as she gently nuzzled his neck in a motherly way in his veiw and only gave a low growl and nothing more. still tensed up with flicked back ears, he knew that Delphia was most likely right in what she had said to him. ofcourse Rahu would never admit any thing even to himself that he need someone. " it was never her fault it was mine and i highly doubt im capable of such a feeling." looking at the sy also, if he had known she had decided right then that he was part of her family, well he might have gone off the deep end and refused to allow her to do that.  

[Talencia]

Delphia shook her head and chortled softly, a deep whicker that rolled richly upon the ears. "I can see you never have known real love, poor boy. The very fact that you are willing to blame yourself rather than her tells me your heart is good, and wants to love." She hurried on to forestall the vehemant response she knew was coming. "Oh, I know you aren't ready for that yet... love may just be the furthest thing from your mind. Even so, it shows me you do in fact have the capacity to be unselfish and devoted." She sighed softly and pawed the earth again, moved by his predicatment. "It can be tough to find real love in these jaded times, though." She spoke softly, almost as if to herself. Her heart was secure in Sora's love, but her sensitive nature saw so much unhappiness and emotional need all about her, it made her sorrowful.

Her ears pricked then and she chose to change the subject. "Feelings aside, what does a strapping boy like you do to take his mind off of weird old mares who torture them by discussing mushy stuff?" She started forward at a slow pace, her genuinely casual manner naturally drawing him to follow her, or at least move in the same direction.