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 Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:18 pm
It was a sunny day, with not a cloud in the sky. This made the endless white of the new-fallen snow all the more blinding as Dementia angled in for a landing. Her rapidly beating wings blew away the dry snow in a white cloud, revealing the withered grass beneath.
Upon the ground, Dementia shook snow crystals from her dark mane and tail. She then regarded the grass with a kind of bemused resignation.
"Grass, your persistence is remarkable, but I'm afraid I must eat you again." she told it, and lowered her head to crop at the patch. It was dry, but the remaining snow crystals melted in her mouth, providing some kind of moisture. As much as Dementia disliked the noise and revival of Spring, she did miss the tender new leaf buds, and the blooming flower trees.
Having finished the meager meal, she weighed the pros and cons of uncovering more grass and decided that the scrub wasn't worth it. Even if she was still hungry.
Instead she wandered on foot towards a stand of evergreens. The trees were tall, and had low hanging lower limbs, creating a kind of cave that experience had taught Dementia made a good place for a nap. She pushed her way through a small gap between the limbs, paused, and stared. There was someone here...
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:54 pm
((*note: for the purposes of actual IC rp, Haru doesn't have his clothes, since they'd make no sense being on a wild Soquili XD His body is the same color as his face))
Hatsuharu had retreated to the relative peace and quiet of the overhanging evergreens following his own lunch not too much earlier. He wasn't usually in the habit of napping after meals, but since he'd been awake for a great many hours already the idea had held a unique appeal to the pale stallion. And why should he not take advantage of the solitude? It appealled to him as few things did, these days; when he was alone, then he usually wasn't provoked.
And a Haru provoked was a Haru violent.
Consequently, he had reason to be wary when he heard the sound of hooves on snow, approaching his nook. That wariness didn't show in his expression, which was mild beyond reproach as he eyed the mare...
"Hey."
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:17 pm
((Makes perfect sense. XD))
"Would you happen to have any?" Dementia asked in reply, expression wistful. Hay would've been nice, though it was rather odd for the Stallion to simply bring up food. She looked around the nook, but no hay was visibly present. She gave the stallion a bit of a suspicious look. "Did you eat it all?"
She looked the stallion up and down. At first glance, he appeared to be old, thanks to the shock of white on mane and tail, but a closer look made it apparent that he was still young. He wasn't all that bad looking, actually, Dementia had to admit. She decided to forgive him for eating all the hay.
"Oh, it's all right. I'm Dementia, and my wings are getting cold. May I come in, please?" she asked, amiably, fluttering the snow dusted appendages briefly for emphasis.
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:04 pm
Haru eyed the mare for a moment, perplexed at the seemingly random topic of conversation. Did it look like he had any hay lying around? If he did, he'd probably have eaten it alreay, since-
No, scratch that. He wouldn't have eaten it, since he really hated hay; it always got caught in his throat for some reason, and it never had any flavor. No thanks, he'd make due with grass and the occassional piece of fruit.
That fact was neither here nor there, however, not when he was being rather bluntly interrogated. Interrogated and examined, actually; one eyebrow rising up to disapear beneath his shaggy forelock as he returned the mare's look. Bold chit, wasn't she?
And then it clicked. "Hay as in hey? As in hello? You've never heard that one before?" Strange. And not so strange at the same time; he supposed that not everyone spoke in the same dialect, same species or not. At least she'd hadn't pissed him off.
At her last question, he nodded his head, flicking aside his rather luxurious tail so that she could make her way in without stepping on it. "Make yourself at home, Dementia. There's enough tree for both of us, even if there's no hay. And I'm Haru; Hatsuharu Sohma."
One good introduction merited another, after all.
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Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:15 pm
Dementia bobbed her head gratefully, and moved into the protective shelter of the evergreen.
"Can't say I have heard it before. Though I have had the pleasure of being greeted with food." she said, in answer to his question. She carefully flicked her tail to remove the melting snow without spraying Haru, and made herself comfortable, tipping a hoof. "My stomach is connected to my ears at the moment."
"A pleasure to meet you, Haru. You have an interesting name." she commented. "I must really be far from home. I've never heard a name like that before. Ha-tsu-ha-ru."
She rolled the syllables around in her mouth like they were fruit she'd never tasted before. She swallowed them, looking pleased, then gave Haru a thoughtful look. He seemed nice enough, maybe she should ask him.
"Do many people have names like that around here?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:41 pm
Haru had kept his eyes on the mare as she settled herself, listening to the running chitchat as he did so. Considering how long he'd been out here in the wilderness by himself, hearing another voice was a rare occurance; even rarer was the fact that the mare kept up her commentary after the initial exchange of pleasantries.
He was used to being looked at in askance; his mane and tail were a deviation from the norm in terms of thickness and style; he kept his mane shaggy and spiked through the aid of casual grooming, but knew that to most he encountered he looked an oddity. That aside, he'd been told once or twice that he had a forboding aura about him, and that coupled with his unusual looks tended to make others nervous.
This mare must be used to oddities. Though that didn't seem to be much of a surprise, as she was rather unusual herself. He'd seen flutters before, but none with wings so unusually shaped or brightly colored; then there was the odd style to her own mane, and the strange markings around her eyes. All things considered, he could see why he might not be so much of a shock. And he'd never considered himself to be threatening...unless he was in one of his moods, of course. Then nothing was held back.
But he wasn't in a mood now, and the company was a nice change of pace. He'd listened silently as she chattered about her behavior and his name, then shrugged his shoulders when she made to draw him into the conversation.
"To be honest, I've never really thought about it. It's a long name, but I've known many Soqs to have long names; you do, don't you?" Dementia had a lot of syllables; the sort of name that one tended to shrink, or have others shrink for them. "But I tend to go by Haru. Makes it easier to remember who I am. Do you ever go by a shorthand, Dementia?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:31 pm
Dementia had to ponder that one. With a practiced flick, she brought one of her locks of hair to her mouth and chewed it a little. Her Dam had considered it a bad habit, but Dementia had never been one to care about what her Dam thought. Though her Dam had called her by a shortened name once. What was it again?
"Oh yes!" she exclaimed, as it suddenly came to her, the lock of mane falling out of her mouth. "My Dam used to call me Deedee, occasionally. I never really liked it because she only ever used it when she wanted me to do something. I like you, though, so you can call me DeeDee. If you want to."
Dementia realized she'd gotten off topic.
"Soooo. Um." she started, acting far too casual. "Have you ever heard of the Dark Flutters?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:45 pm
Damn but she spoke fast. Thought fast too, apparently, if the ease with which she jumped from topic to topic was any indication. Not that Haru really minded; it was simply a reminder that he had company. And it was nice to have company.
So he'd continued to listen, propping his head up on a hoof as he listened to the mare chatter on. "Deedee works; easier on the tongue, as it were. And only fair, since you get to call me by my nickname."
Not that he minded, of course; EVERYONE called him Haru.
"And no, I've never heard of the dark flutters. They supposed to be evil butterflies or something?"
That would make sense, after all.
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:47 pm
Dementia nodded, feeling that the exchange of nick names was indeed fair. So now she was Deedee. She could grow used to being called by that.
"Thanks, Haru!" she said, smiling as she said his nickname. He really was a very nice stallion. Dementia felt that whatever gods of Luck existed, they must've been smiling down on her when she entered this particular tree nook. Well, except for the hay.
She watched Haru talk, and smiled slightly as his forelock bobbed with his head movements. The somewhat shaggy mane was a nice departure from the elaborate coifs she'd seen all the time back home. She felt the style suited his personality, he seemed... carefree.
At Haru's question, she laughed a little.
"Yeah, something like that. I'm a Dark Flutter. Well, one of the Dark Flutter family. You can tell by this." she said, turning to face him head-on. She flared her wings out wide, so that the black and red symmetrical shapes on her wings formed a the eyes and mouth of a fearsome beast. Though the face was rather incongruous against the other rainbow spectrum on her wings. She let him have a good look, then folder her wings back against her back.
"Every member of the Dark Flutter family has a design like that on their wings." she told Haru. "Though my wings are a bit more colorful than most."
She threw them a fond glance.
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Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:49 pm
Haru blinked as he studied the eerily smiling face formed by her wings. That was just...odd. He knew that there were some types of owl and butterfly that had that sort of thing going on, but seeing a face in the wings of a Soquili was odd.
Then again, he'd always thought that Soquili having wings was odd on simple principle; it never made sense why some had them and others didn't. Not that it had ever bothered him to not be able to fly; he managed well enough with his four legs, thanks anyway.
But it had to be interesting to have a face on your back. Hell, the scare potential with something like that was almost infinite; he could just imagine the shock that someone would experience to encounter those wings fanned, particularly if it was dark outside. Which made him wonder...
"So, so those have any practical purpose? I mean, do you use them to scare people, or to keep strangers away, or anything like that? Or are they just an ornamental thing?"
He had to admit, he was intrigued. He'd never been able to REALLY see the wings of a flutter, after all, and those he'd seen in passing had no faces.
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Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:26 pm
Dementia couldn't help but smile a little at Haru's reaction. Though he was interested in her wings, he didn't seem jealous at all. Deedee was actually flattered that he wanted to know more about them, and was all too happy to inform him.
"Well, mine are mostly ornamental. I think." she started, the last bit added on with a slight frown. The frown dissapeared quickly as she continued and became enthusiastic about the subject. "But most other members of the Dark Flutter family have special powers associated with their wings. In fact, my Sire, DeMolish, could make whole crops wilt by just flying over a field, and my Great-Dam could freeze even the bravest warrior with her wings.
Usually, a Dark Flutter can use their power by either having the shadow of their wings cast onto the ground, or by 'hypnotizing' someone by flaring their wings out."
Deedee finished her explanation, and put on an expression not unlike a mope.
"I've never been able to get mine to work, though." she admitted, and gave Haru a hopeful look. " You didn't happen to feel overwhelming terror at the sight of my wings did you? Or maybe an urge to do whatever I told you to?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:58 pm
Weird...so with the wings came powers? That was something he hadn't heard of before.
Regardless, it was an intriguing concept. Shaking his head, an amused smile played on the stallion's lips. "Fraid not, Deedee. No terror, no sense of obedience, no desire to commit suicide, no nothing. Maybe a heightened sense of curiousity, but that's about it. Though my reactions might not be typical."
Then again, he doubted that she'd ever had any of the aforementioned affects on anyone; otherwise, she'd likely be more sure of the results on him. It had to suck losing out on the powers your family had, though...or would it?
Chuckling, Haru raised a brow queryingly at the mare. "Does it really bother you, not having powers?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:42 am
"Well, it's just not righ-" Deedee started, then paused. She had started to answer from habit. Ever since she'd emerged from the basket, she'd been told that the Dark Flutter family was superior to other families, thanks to the power of their wings. That a Dark Flutter would be born without powers was unthinkable.
The failure of Dementia's powers to manifest had been attributed to a fault of Dementia's character. She'd been admonished time and time again that she only needed to concentrate harder, or to be a bit more ruthless. The idea that she'd simply never have a power wasn't brought up. And while she had gradually come to the realization on her own, any questions she'd asked her elders to that end had been ignored or answered with the swift negative with which Deedee had almost answered Haru.
But she hadn't asked her elders if there was something wrong in not having the powers, only if there had ever been a Dark Flutter before her who hadn't had powers. She was expected to be upset by her lack of power. But that expectation had been placed upon her by her family. She was far away from them now, and there was no demand for the power except from long-ingrained habit. Did it really bother her, not having powers?
"I- I don't know. My family would say I'm supposed to be, but I ran away from them, so..." she finally answered, the last part trailing off as she sank into a stunned silence.
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Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:36 pm
Head tilted to one side, Haru merely watched as a conflict of emotions danced across Dementia's face. He wasn't exactly surprised at that reaction, but at the same time found it amazing that his simple question could have such a strong effect.
No, scratch that. If she was truly the only one of her family to be lacking these 'powers' she spoke of, then it was highly likely that having them was a matter of course and NOT having them was some severe sort of defect. Either that, or a great boon...but given the perplexed expression on her face, he was betting defect. Which was a damned shame; sometimes families could draw the lines of acceptability far too narrowly.
A slight smile played on the stallion's lips at that thought, but it was wry and introverted; reminding him of his own mother, who never had had any time for her son and hadn't thought the slightest about leaving him on his own as a mere foal; how she had reminded him how much he owed her, how much trouble he was for her...he doubted she'd cared when he left. And he certainly hadn't.
His voice was almost a drawl when he finally spoke; slowness of speech made each syllable stand out all the more clearly. "If you ran away, then there had to be a desire to seperate yourself from them. So why should you care what they have to say about the way you are? You're the one that's gotta deal with it, not them."
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 7:57 am
Dementia started slightly when Haru began to speak, being deep in reverie at the time, but listened to his words as a drowning sailor would hang onto a bit of wood.
He was right of course. She had run away. She no longer had to live by her family's rules. There was a part of her that spoke to her of family loyalty, she listened to it, then put it aside as she considered everything she'd just realized. Loyalty. Responsibility. Duty. Before, she had always assumed those to be cast from the same iron, but she had to question them now as she had questioned her response to Haru. She had run away from the family to escape the rules they'd laid upon her. Did it honestly make sense to self-impose them upon herself?
She knew the answer was no, but it only opened up further lines of thought that could take years to sift through. She calmly closed them off for the time being, and considered, trying hard to forget everything she'd been taught, whether or not having a power was important to her.
The only thing that came to her mind was the first time she'd flown. Feeling the earth fall away beneath her hooves, and how exciting it had been to know that she was keeping herself from plummeting downwards by her own strength and nothing else. She remembered looking down, and seeing how the sun made a stained-glass shadow of her wings. Her parents had called her down afterwards, disappointed at no immediate manifestation of a power, but Deedee could honestly say that she had been quite content to simply fly.
So, no. Having a power wasn't important. Her wings could still carry her aloft, and Deedee could honestly say that she was content having just that. It didn't answer all her problems. Emotional baggage can be tough, but Deedee had taken the first inkling of a vague movement in the general direction of a purpose, and could say that it was enough.
Feeling like a weight had been taken off her shoulders, she perked her ears up at Haru, and answered,
"You're right, Haru. And I've decided that it doesn't matter. Not having a power, that is. The rest... well, it can wait!"
She beamed at him, feeling an overwhelming fondness for the quiet stallion.
"Thank you!"
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