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 Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 5:54 pm
The tall stallion slowed from his easy walk to a halt as he topped the small rise and his orange eyes scanned the familiar terrain below. They had been in D'ob, technically speaking, for some time now. He’d always felt however, that coming from the direction they had, this little hillock was the beginning of the grasslands. On a clear day like today, one could see for miles and miles; look down upon the abundant grass and the scattered groups of Nequus.
The ground was white now, covered in frost and snow but Lucius suspected that there would be grass underneath it for him and his companion to eat.
Speaking of companions...
The Aeri turned his head to look at the Bae mare that he had travelled this far with. "Well, this is D'ob. What do you think of it?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:01 pm
Lydia shrugged. "It looks nice enough..." she said slowly, smiling. "It's not the Den, but I think I could get used to this..." She was about to mention something about an Episode, but her eyes grew wide and she said something else.
"...Do you think there's sweetgrass in there? I haven't had sweetgrass in... whew, forever." She started slowly making her way down the hill, wriggling her bottom excitedly as if she were a foal going to her first birthday party.
Lydia danced about in the open grasslands, calling after any Nequus she bumped into, "Sorry, Lyddie's having fun!"
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:30 pm
Sweetgrass? What in the heck was?... Oh dear, she was off again. Lucius shook his head with a slight smile and thundered down the hill after her. Oddly enough, Nequus parted before the morbid looking pair quite readily.
"What's sweetgrass?" the Aeri asked as he drew level with Lydia. "Oh! And I don't live her all the time... I travel around see. So, we can go back and see your Den sometimes and I can show you other places too. If we stick together of course."
Humm, that was interesting. Making plans to stay around her for an extended period of time was he? Well, he wouldn't mind, she was good, friendly company and it wasn't as though her presence prevented him from his customary long periods of silent thinking or anything. She seemed capable of keeping up with his usual pace and Nequus were naturally drawn to live in groups. Staying around her probably wouldn’t be a bad thing at all, he was just rather surprised to find himself with the prospect of permanent company.
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:52 am
Lydia turned back and laughed heartily at her bone-clad companion; taking in the interesting stares was almost a drug for her, making her happier than a clam. And yes; she was happier than a clam.
She searched the ground thoroughly, finding only a few edible blades of the sweetgrass to quench her evergrowing-hunger.
"I don't feel an Episode coming on..." she said slowly, walking around as though she was on pins and needles. "I usually feel them a few minutes in advance."
She smiled happily at Lucius; something about him made her serene, almost sane. And she liked it.
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:04 am
The big stallion slowed to a halt at his friend's side, a smile tugging at his lips underneath the red skull. "That's good," he said, dipping his head to nibble at the frosty grass, aware of but not concerned by the nervous stares and disapproving mutters that surrounded them (at a safe distance.) It was strange, Lucius considered as he raised his head again to look around, they seemed to fear both the Bae mare and himself or dislike at the very least and yet they insisted on hanging around, just out of earshot.
"Looks like we have an audience, Lydia," the leathery-winged stallion smiled, nodded and the various small clusters of Nequus that observed them. "Funny lot you get around here I tend to find," he went on, "they stare at me every time I come here and I'd swear some of them have seen me more than once."
Funny, when he was on his own their stares and whispers were just annoying. Now they seemed rather more amusing than tiresome. The stallion smiled at his companion again and lowered his muzzle back to the ground in order to crop at the grass again.
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 10:37 am
Lydia quirked her brow playfully. An audience, eh? This would be fun.
She slowly trotted by Lucius, whispering slyly in his ear, "Just play along." She winked at him and trotted past, flicking her tail and tossing her head.
All of a sudden, she reared up, shouting out, "I swear, Lucius, if you don't do as I tell you, I'll kill something!" She spun around to face one of the particularly interested Nequus, snorting angrily and stomping at the earth. The rest gawked in fear; if this crazed bugger attacked, at least it wouldn't be them.
Lydia spun back around to face Lucius. "What say you?" she demanded, putting her face dreadfully close to his. She winked and almost smiled. So far, the gawkers had at least backed up. "Raconte!" she said, dipping into her French-speaking knowledge. "Tell me!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:35 am
The sudden change of situation caught the big Aeri off guard and for a moment after Lydia had finished her 'demands', silence held. Eventually the stallion caught up with himself and gave the mare a tiny smile, invisible to anyone far off due to his bone mask.
He wasn't entirely sure which response would be playing the game Lydia seemed to want to play so Lucius decided to leave her options open. "Well," he annunciate so that all the crowd would hear him, "that depends entirely on what you tell me to do, doesn't it?"
Lucius hoped that the query of how he was supposed to play this carried to the Bae mare in his eyes; he had no desire to spoil her fun.
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:48 am
This was more fun than she had imagined it would be. A single foal stood behind it's mother, unafraid, as the large mare weeped. Lydia didn't know why she was weeping... she hadn't even brought out the big guns yet!
"You know what I want you to do," she cried, slowly making her way around Lucius, keeping an eye on the crowd. "Les tue tout," She said coldly. "Kill them all." Then she stopped. She ignored the crowd now; she suddenly felt as though an Episode was coming on.
She glanced to Lucius, the pain and fear in her eyes obvious. She almost let out a cry as she made her way towards him. "I'm sorry for this, " she mouthed out. Then she turned and let the Episode come on by itself, sending her into a fit. She fell to the ground, crying, screaming, and writhing in pain. She occasionally lifted up her head and let out a 'roar,' scaring all of the audience out of the area. She had accomplished her task, but at the greatest price; she had injured herself, trying not to hold back the inevitable Episode.
Usually, she fought them as best she could. Today, though, she didn't fight it at all. She had injured her leg severly, slicing a huge gash in the right foreleg on a sharp thing in the grass. She slowly calmed herself and tried to get up, tears welling up in her eyes as the excruciating pain shot up her leg into her shoulder.
"Me tuer, s'il vous plaît!" she whispered to Lucius, slowly and painfully making her way over to him. "Kill me, please!" She wasn't really serious; this Episode was an unusually horrid one, and had made her mood swings much more prevalent. Thankfully, the crowd had departed, leaving her to be herself.
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 12:28 pm
The orange-eyed Nequus stared helplessly as his friend fell, writhing to the ground. It had been fun, a silly if slightly cruel game until now. Lucius drew in a breath sharply as he saw a cut appear on Lydia's leg from some hidden menace in the grass. The Nequus that had stared at them so avidly a few moments ago were fleeing now, screaming in horror of demons and possession. The Aeri stallion didn't have time for them, he was far too busy trying to work out what to do for the pained creature in the grass.
The words she spoke as the Episode faded made his stomach freeze; she couldn't mean it.
"Don't be silly," he muttered, lowering his head to be on a level with the gash. It really was a horrible wound. "Right, come with me," the stallion said gently, raising his head again. "We're going to that little stream just over there," he nodded to the glistening body of water, "and you're going to stand in it for a little while. The flow of the water will clean the cut out and the cold will make the blood flow less strongly. After that... I suppose I'll have you lie down on top of it in a clean patch of grass; that ought to help with the bleeding too."
The black-coated stallion gave the batter mare a very gentle nudge. "You'll be alright; I'll take care of you."
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 5:13 pm
Lydia bit her lip, creating a small mark on it that tasted of blood. She hesitated, then nodded slowly. Though the pain was so excruciating that every few moments she had to stop, she got up, supporting a little of her weight on Lucius, and stood upright, her injured leg curled up underneath her so as not to step on it.
She sniffled a little. "Let's go," she whispered quietly, becoming very pale at the sight of the pool of blood forming under her. She felt dizzy, as though the world was spinning around her, and she almost fell into Lucius twice.
"I'm sorry," she said after a few wobbly steps. She shook her head. "All of this is all my fault." She started hobbling away from Lucius, wincing with every step on her injured leg. "You shouldn't be caring for me."
Lydia started going a little faster, thick beads of sweat building up as she made her way towards the stream. It looked mighty inviting, though there were a few areas near it that made her uncertain; were there any more painful things in there that she could hurt herself on?
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Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:45 am
Lucius smiled at his small friend and shook his head slightly. "I don't mind in the least, if I did I wouldn't be here, I promise you that much." The tall stallion slowed as they approached the gently sloping bank, watching Lydia's faltering steps with concern.
There was quite a lot of blood but it was a steady flow rather than spurts; when blood started spurting you were in deep, deep trouble and probably dead within the day. Deeper wounds were more likely to do it, Lucius knew, but he wasn't exactly sure what the final deciding factor was in how a wound behaved.
Well, he could wonder about that another time. For the present he had a damaged friend to keep an eye on and, though the wound wasn't as bad as it could be, it was bad enough to worry him considerably.
"The bank isn't too slippery," the Aeri informed his bloodied companion, "the bed is all mud this far downstream, no rocks either sharp or slippery to worry about. I suspect that it is very, very cold though. Sorry, Lucius is stating the obvious." And talking about himself in the third person apparently, ah well.
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Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:13 am
Lydia, holding back more sobs of pain, almost jumped into the water, wincing as the icy grip enveloped her in a sudden burst. She lifted her injured leg in and out of the water, checking to see if the oozing blood stopped.
Eventually, it was so slow that she didn't notice it any longer, but she still stayed, submerging herself up to her belly in the icy water.
"Thank you so much," she said quietly to Lucius, keeping her gaze fixed on a rock under the water. "For caring for me. I really appreciate it... I hate feeling alone when I need help."
She looked at him now, a sudden softness in her eyes scanning the stallion closely. He hadn't changed at all, but she had felt that something had changed between them... what could it be?
She shook her head, laughing a little as she pointed her gaze at the rocks again. "You have no idea how much I appreciate this." Then she stopped. She looked up to him, mischeviously, quirking her eyebrow.
"I say we travel."
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Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:40 am
Lucius smiled back at the Bae mare feeling almost shy for reasons he couldn't place. "It is my pleasure to help, Lydia. Truly. You are one of the sweetest, most singular people I've ever met; I doubt there’s another like you in all the world. I am very glad firstly that I met you and secondly that I have been of help to you." Well, at least he wasn't the only one feeling a bit shy; she kept glancing at something under the surface of the stream. A rock, he noted on closer inspection.
"I like the sound of moving on," Lucius agreed. "I know we've only just arrived here but I like to be moving around in the winter. Where would you like to go? We could head northwards to the human lands and have a look around there or we could go south to the coast and I could introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is Vox he's my adopted son; I think you'd like him and he you."
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Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:54 am
Lydia winced at the sound of humans. Suddenly, a memory hit her as though she had been run into by a much larger being.
Lydia stood in the middle of the clearing, just a foal. She shook uncontrollably, her gangly legs almost too weak to hold her up. Her head hung low, a deep gash on her face trickling a thin stream of blood onto the ground. She looked up at the humans around her; they weren't fully grown yet, and if they were, they had stunted growth of some kind. Minihumans. They pointed, laughed, and tossed small objects at her. She tried to get away, but the ropes they had tied around her restricted her from running.
She smelled something and looked to her left. Another foal lay next to her, nothing but a rotting corpse. It sickened her. Then, all went black as a rock struck her face.
Lydia sniffled a little, then looked up to Lucius. He didn't know. He obviously didn't know; no reason to yell or have a fit. He didn't know.
She smiled weakly. "Let's go meet Vox. I want to make more friends."
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Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:15 pm
Lucius paused for a moment; something had made her uncomfortable. Well it didn't seem to have been the idea of travelling south... perhaps she had something against humans? The stallion could understand how the twolegs' constant subservience to all Nequus might annoy someone but... Oh it was probably nothing; perhaps linger effects of the Episode or the cut to her leg.
The orange-eyed Aeri smiled and nodded. "Southwards it is then. Do you want to take a day or so for your leg to recover a bit before we set off? We can move at an easy pace either way; there's no huge hurry to get there after all.” And Vox would like her, he was sure of it. It would be good to see the young Aeri again and he would probably be very popular for bringing a new friend along with him.
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