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 Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:30 am
 The morning sun just peering over the horizon washed the land in a soft, gentle glow, and the valley was quiet. The grasses, while as fertile as ever, were for now silent: this early no foals cantered across the meadow in play, and if they were there at all they were hidden and resting.
But even this early, the plains were not entirely devoid of movement. One dark shape stood out against the green. A Nequus. A little mare. Had her colouring been paler, the Ichsa - for Ichsa she was, by those thin, feathery wings held flat against her back - might have been able to better conceal herself. The stripes that formed her coat would provide perfect camouflage in another place (where, she was not exactly sure, but the fact that she had been born so coloured could not have been coincidental), though here, moving slowly through the lush grass, the lurid purple streaks could not have made her more conspicuous.
It didn't seem to put her off - if she was self-conscious she did not show it. In fact, beautiful as it was, her dark eyes barely touched the sun-bathed landscape around her. And, perhaps somewhat carelessly, she did not even watch her step. Her gaze drifted steadily among the clouds above as she walked, tentatively, across the meadow.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:41 am
Nyx blinked sleepily to herself as her eyes opened and the world slid into focus around her. What could have awoken her? She'd been planning to sleep through until late in the morning in order to spend time with those in her herd who preferred the day to the night.
The Aeri sighed internally and heaved her bulk upright; she wouldn't get back to sleep now. As she rose, the spotted mare's blue eyes fixed upon a slim shape coming nearer to her. An Ichsa mare of even brighter hue than the spotted mare herself. Perhaps it had been hoofbeats that had stirred her then, or there again mere chance was always possible.
Well, perhaps this was a chance to make another friend and ally, the bat-winged Nequus thought as she set off towards the horned creature. "Hello there, you're up early," she commented to the other she with a smile.
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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:33 am
Dark eyes came slowly to rest upon the owner of the voice that had called across to her.
"...I am," agreed the mare, tone serious. "I am indeed up early."
A soft breeze swept over the meadow. She watched the other Nequus intently for a moment, taking in the strange pattern and colours that adorned the Aeri's coat. She hadn't seen her approach, but then she hadn't seen much for the last few minutes other than the clouds above her head and the patches of sky that escaped their shroud. She hadn't seen too many Aeri up close. As her eyes scanned the figure, a flicker of green out of the corner of her eye commanded her attention. Grass. Quickly she drew her gaze back to the blue eyes of the other mare. Couldn't look at the grass. Couldn't.
"...and... so are you," she observed slowly, taking care not to mention anything that might worsen the situation. "Are you - are you here to graze?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:42 am
Well this one seemed... odd. Still, some of the Nequus she'd thought oddest on first acquaintance had come out to be her greatest friends. Perhaps this one would too, one never knew. Heck, she herself probably seemed rather odd to some folk, it was just a matter of what you were used to really, wasn't it?
"No, not here to graze," Nyx said with a slight smile. "I only just woke up so I'm not that hungry yet." Besides, the berries she'd found and scoffed the previous night would probably keep her full for a while longer regardless of the slowly receding sleepiness. The Aeri mare gave herself a good shake and smiled at the other mare again.
"Are you new to these parts?" she quizzed. "I don't think I've seen you around before." She'd definitely have remembered a coat as distinctive as this one possessed, especially as it was on an Ichsa. So seldom where the tendril-winged creatures seen any that she did meet tended to stick out in her mind, along with their curving horned cousins the Reya.
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Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:11 am
For a moment the Ichsa looked almost puzzled. "New?" she asked, a slight tilting and bowing of her head accompanying the word. "New? Of course I am. Of course you haven't seen me around before. I haven't been here before." There was a pause while her dark gaze struggled to find the source of the other mare's curiosity. After a few unsuccessful seconds, and finding her attention straying increasingly to the stranger's strange markings, she shook her head and gave up.
Careful hooves carried her forwards and a little way past the Aeri, her tread soft upon the grass.
"But you shouldn't be just standing around, you know," she called back in a somewhat anxious tone. "Not if you aren't planning to graze." ...But the Nequus' words seemed to suggest she'd been sleeping here, or at the very least somewhere nearby. Frowning, the Ichsa closed her eyes and lowered her head to nibble lightly at the grass.
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Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:53 am
The splotched mare tilted her head in question. "Why not? What’s wrong?" Blue eyes canned the immediate area for some threat or other. "There's nothing dangerous around here, I've lived in these lands all my life and managed this particular area for a good portion of it. The worst I ever have to deal with is a couple of rowdy stallions scrapping over a filly who can't decide which of them she likes best."
The Aeri shook her head internally; something was very strange about this mare. She seemed nervous and almost detached from reality. Nyx glanced around once more but still couldn’t see anything that might put the brightly coloured Ichsa on edge.
"Welcome to D'ob by the way, should have said that before. My name is Nyx. What's yours?" the tall Aeri asked with a smile, flicking her short tail idly before stretching out her broad sleep-stiffened wings.
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:07 pm
She answered almost without thinking.
"Oh. ...Name. Of... course. Amphi...tri..." And then she trailed off. Her eyes had snapped open, and in what seemed an exact opposite of her behaviour of the previous few minutes, the Ichsa stared, almost in horror, at the grass beneath. Hoof tracks. Little imprints where a Nequus had rested. Now that she looked, now that she saw, the sheer number of marks upon the meadow frightened her. The mare jerked her head away from the grass with an abruptness that seemed to fit her thin body all too well.
"Amphitrite," she repeated sharply. "My name. Amphitrite."
Falling into silence almost as fast as she had fallen out of it, she stood, for a few seconds, utterly still, her gaze still caught by the meadow below. Then, with a flicker of her tail, she turned, and regarded Nyx with wide eyes.
"You've lived in these lands," she echoed quietly into the still morning air, "all your life? You've lived on this meadow, on this grass? And what do you mean, it isn't dangerous?" Still she stared. "...How can you think even for a second that it's not?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 1:50 pm
"Umm... yes, all my life," Nyx confirmed, a frown of confusion spreading across her face. What death traps did the Ichsa think awaited Nequus in these lands? Provided one didn't eat too much at once it was one of the safest, gentlest climes anywhere that the Aeri had ever heard of.
"It's nice to meet you Amphitrite," the splotched Nequus went on, trying to think of some way to assuage the stripy Ichsa's apparent fears. "I swear there's nothing deadly about this valley; so long as your sensible with how much you eat and don't go throwing yourself into the river during snowmelt upstream then there isn't much that can go wrong here."
Maybe somebody had told her horror stories about this place when she was a foal, or maybe somebody was following her. Well, whatever the cause of her worry, Nyx intended to remove it. For a creature in apparent need she could do no less than her best.
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:01 pm
...Well, someone was confused. Still staring at the strangely-coloured Aeri, Amphitrite gave her a few slow, steady shakes of the head. "What are you talking about?" she demanded quietly, her tone oddly fearful. "...You've lived here all your life and you don't know - oh. ...Oh no. I see what's happened: it's - it's got you..."
Her eyes grew wider, and then, whether though some ingrained manners or the urge to look about her, turned to glance across at the meadows that stretched in all directions. It looked peaceful. Deceptively so, in her opinion. The sun touched faintly upon the grasses, gentle and shining, and the Ichsa mare, catching the flickers of gold in the corners of her eyes, felt realisation creep over her and was overcome by a sudden sickness.
She turned back to Nyx with a start, stared for a second, and abruptly lowered her eyes to the grass beneath her own hooves.
"...You need to leave this place," she said seriously, voice small. "You need to leave before it gets any worse."
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Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:44 am
Nyx blinked.
What the hell was going on here? The Aeri mare didn't often curse, internally or externally but she felt the profanity was deserved given the level of confusion she was currently experiencing. The Ichsa mare looked so very scared and the splotched Nequus hadn't the faintest idea why. Usually there was something around to explain a person's fears; maybe a wasp or a lighting storm but the morning was calm and very few insects, that one might be phobic of, were awake.
"I'm sorry," the blue-eyed creature said eventually with an apologetic smile. "You've utterly lost me. What's got me and what's to get worse about it?" This Amphirite was the single most perplexing creature she had ever come across.
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:21 am
Dark hooves shifted awkwardly beneath her. Amphitrite, anxiety rising, did not notice the outward sign of her unease, and instead took a long, steady look at the shifting shadows of the meadows and the soft breeze lifting the blades of grass in the sunlight. It was like a cloak of gold placed over a festering wound. The veil of peace and harmony that surrounded her was but a cover for the sickness and death that lurked below, and she would not be taken in by it.
Perhaps that was why she was so thin. Most Nequus that met her thought her to be just a dreamer, too preoccupied with chasing shapes and dodging invisible foes to find the time to stop and eat. In a way it was partly true, but upon a closer inspection of the issue the reality want far deeper.
"Can you not see?" she asked, slowly drawing back from the sight that so frightened her. Once again her eyes found Nyx's, and she stared at the Aeri in an attempt to get beneath her skin. Understanding how her companion could hold such strange views, she thought, might allow her to better communicate the truth. A pause, a blink, a little flicker of an idea (she almost winced away from it, but summoned resolve to continue) and Amphitrite continued with a question, "...What does all this look like to you? The - the meadow, I mean. The sunshine. Does it look good to you?" She knew the answer. It did. To those who could not see past the illusion, it looked like the best place in the world. And this is why she needs to leave - before she eats any more, and before the poison seeps any further into her veins...
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:33 am
Nyx gave the other vivid mare a puzzled smile. “Yes, it does look nice. It looks like my home where I and generations of my family have lived out our lives. It’s peaceful, plentiful, never really gets cold… What’s not to like about it? I promise you nothing awful has ever happened to us because of living here. Most only die when their natural time comes; exceptions to that are generations between.”
The splotched mare found her eyes wandering involuntarily to the mound that covered the bodies of those killed in the clash between her own faction and that of her brother. It was green with grass now; the land had forgotten it even if its inhabitants hadn’t. …But that conflict had been Nequus made, forged of greed pride and ambition; no fault of the lush land they happened to live in.
Nyx turned away from the burial site and back to the slender Ichsa, still trying to fathom what the horned creature feared. Surely in all of the world D’ob was the safest place to be; no harsh weather, no dangerous terrain and yet something was terrifying the purple-green creature before her. The Aeri mare twitched her short tail and waited for the other Nequus to speak again.
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