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 Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 6:49 am
 It was growing colder in the valley of D'ob now that the sun was setting. Scattered groups of Nequus grazed in quiet contentment, while others cantered around in carefree games. Apart from all the rest, a single Jala walked by herself. The shadow of the trees hid her from view, and the last of the warmth did not reach her.
She might have glanced over her shoulder, looking for another who was not there.
She was thin. Almost painfully so. Her coat was flecked with mud, and her feathers were dull and dusty with neglect. She might have been beautiful once, or at least handsome. Everything about her now, though, spoke of resignation - she had given up, perhaps on life itself. Though the grass around her was fresh and sweet, she paid it no heed: she simply wandered aimlessly on, barely holding her head up, wings drooping, empty eyes and silent steps.
It was cold in the valley of D'ob, walking alone.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:14 am
He had enjoyed the wider world; the sights and some of the Nequus had been quite beautiful. Although he had enjoyed the freedom, the Jala had to admit that returning home also appealed. He had missed his brother and his father in the long cold months.
A speck of interesting colour below caught the male's eye and he tucked his wings back, aiming groundward. Wind whipped through his short mane and streamed his well-kept tail out behind him. D'ob grew closer and closer each second and the blue-eyed Jala smiled to himself. He might as well meet one more interesting person before the restrictions of his comfortable life closed about him once more.
Wide wings swept out again a fair distance from the ground, he had no real desire for thrills today, and the golden creature's course curved smoothly. A few seconds later, dark hooves struck the ground and carried their owner on a few paces until the last of his momentum was dispelled.
Now that he was closer, the feather-winged Nequus could make out more about the creature he had dropped down to see. A Jala like he and a lovely rich shade of purple. Unkempt though, he noted as he watched her from a polite distance. Hum. Perhaps this wouldn’t be as much fun as he'd thought. Still it couldn't hurt to talk, he supposed.
"Greetings," the gold Jala called. "My name is Diego, I hope I am not intruding."
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:25 am
Absorbed as she was in her moping, the voice caught Iona completely by surprise. She gave a little squeal of fright, suddenly leaping into action and skittering behind a nearby tree. A moment later, she peeped out - doubtless her expression of abject terror would have looked amusing to a bystander, particularly as only half her face was visible.
...oh. Stallion. Gold. Jala. ...Gorgeous. She felt her foolish body begin to relax, and failed to goad it entirely back into its former state of tension. Even after all that had happened, she was still a sucker for a handsome face.
"...'Oo's 'an'sum?" she ventured, her voice trembling a little from the initial shock. "An' whass 'an'sum doin' 'ere, talkin' t' bad luck?"
It was worth asking, she supposed, even if only so she could call him by some name. And the warning was automatic by now. Couldn't have her ill fortune rubbing off on anyone else.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:37 am
'Oo's 'an'sum? Diego paused as he attempted to decipher the strange accent. Oo's... Who's? 'an'sum... handsome maybe? Well he certainly couldn't make any other word fit there quite right. The rest of her words were easier to make out but harder to understand. What did the frightened mare mean 'talking to bad luck'? Was she referring to herself, naming herself as ill fortune? By the look of her she'd had a fair bit of it so it was possible.
Well, it looked like the conversation would be interesting at the very least, though not perhaps in the way he had expected. Diego liked a challenge and keeping up with the gold-eyed she's outlandish accent, whilst trying to not scare her any further, might well prove to be just that.
"Diego, my lady," the blue-eyed stallion repeated, assuming she'd missed his name while she had been occupied with scurrying away from him. "I apologise if I startled you, I assure you I had no such intention in mind." A bow, placing one foreleg in front of the other and dipping both his body and his head, accompanied his words. Perhaps such deference would relax her a little. Whilst the fearful expression was somewhat endearing, the golden Jala had never desired to be an alarming figure.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:47 am
...Oh. He seemed almost...sweet. That she hadn't expected. But he didn't seem to have heeded her warning either. Cautiously, she stepped out from behind the tree. "Sorry," she offered sheepishly. "M'such a bleedin' coward. Y'only startled me - shouldn't'a run off like 'at."
Glancing both ways, she continued. "But...I'm bad luck, y'see. Might be good if 'an'sum din't stay long. Might...rub off on ya. 'Yona don't want 'at."
She hadn't always been bad luck. Just since she'd left Lee behind. With Lee gone, everything had fallen down around her.
"I weren't always bad luck," she added after a pause. "Just...fer a long time, s'all. Don' want 'an'sum t'be bad luck too."
She'd've called him Diego if she thought she could pronounce it. So much for names.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:02 am
...Well, alright then; she seemed fixed on calling him 'handsome'. Still, it was a flattering and accurate nickname, the golden Jala thought with a faint smile. Idiosyncratic or bust this mare. He did like the quirky ones. Cowardice however usually put his back up no end but the Jala was feeling tolerant today and the purple mare seemed to be getting over her fear in any case. It could slide.
The blue-eyed stallion smiled again. "It's alright; everybody reacts out of proportion when they're caught unawares." Why did she think she was bad luck to others just because she had her share of it herself? Well, he had no intention of leaving just yet, especially not because of the white-lined creature's apparent lack of fortune; he could easily make up for that himself.
His father had always called him 'the charmed boy'. As a foal, if he'd stumbled over something it had usually turned into a stylish slide or pirouette. Little things seemed to go his way like finding the last cluster of berries on a bush or stepping away just as a branch dropped from above. By the sound of it, the mare before him was the one who always bit into the rotten fruit and got smacked on the rump by falling debris
"You needn't worry about giving me bad luck," he told her, swishing his short tail at a fly. "I've always been very... well, fortunate in that department. Perhaps I'll be able to pass a little of my luck on to you though."
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:10 am
Her grin was slightly awkward, not very ladylike, but utterly genuine. "I'd be f'rever grateful if ya did," she said, gaining confidence with every passing moment. "Nuffin' seems t'go right fer me nowadays."
A closer look at the mud might reveal a pattern in it. A hoof-like pattern.
"Nequus aren't so nice t'me most o'th'time," she explained, as eloquently as she could. Much of what Lee had taught her was gone, fallen away from her mind through sheer lack of use. None of the stallions had wanted thought or reason. "They call me bad names. Lots'a bad names. ...Can't see 'ow anyone could call you bad names."
He was well-spoken, too, wasn't he? Just like Lee. Maybe if she spent long enough around him she'd be smarter again.
Or maybe she'd just give him bad luck, gain a few more bruises and move on.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:25 am
The stallion smiled and flicked his tail again. She was sweet and she was genuine. Nothing like the simpering idiots he was used to back home. None of the mares there would chance leaving their resting place until they were perfectly coiffed and such a grin would never be seen. It was all musical giggles and dainty twitches of the lip. Pretty, yes, but fake.
Diego ran his blue eyes over the skinny mare's body, freezing for a moment when his gaze caught on the marks in the dirt. "I... see," he said, wishing he didn't. Physical violence had never been one of his favourite things. Scathing words and public humiliation was how he liked to deal out punishment. Who would want to actually injure another Nequus? Not someone he'd like to encounter for sure.
"It seems like other Nequus are what causes your bad luck," he went on eventually. Somehow the golden Jala had a feeling that asking who 'they' were would be a bad idea right now. "No, people don't call me names but... I can't see why you would deserve being called bad things either," Diego said with a slight shake of his head. "I'm sorry that others have treated you this way. People can be cruel."
It was a slightly uncomfortable thing to think on, what happened after you'd called someone a name. How many times had he himself caused one of his father's herd to be shunned for weeks because he'd felt the need to quip them? When his approval returned to them they were far too grateful to be accepted once more to stay angry with him. Were they hurt though? Were they basically good people under the masks they wore to fit in? Were their hearts as battered by his tongue as this mare's body was by hooves?
...Well it didn't matter in any case. Most of the people he put down were probably idiots who'd had it coming and... and... Well, nothing to worry about in any case. Definitely not.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:33 am
Iona bit her lip. She didn't see why Diego should have to apologise for what everyone else had done. "S'okay," she said. "You ain't mean. You don't 'ave t'say sorry."
His mentioning of "why" had thrown her a little as well. There was usually a why. At the moment, the why was skinny and dirty and thick in the head. Sometimes it would let any stallion do what he liked with it. But what had it started out being? She'd been pretty, clean, maybe not as smart as Lee but still smart, never touched by any stallion. So what had "why" been then?
"...Lee always used t'say," she tried, staring fixedly at Diego's nearest hoof as she thought, "that Nequus are rotten when...when they see summat different fr'm them. When summat's not 'ow they reckon it oughtta be. 'Cause it scares 'em. I think."
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:50 am
Ouch. Yes, that had stung. She thought he was a nice person rather than the self-serving, privileged little git he knew he was in his heart of hearts. Beautiful, intelligent, witty, brave, strong, fast but not kind. Always out for what was the most fun at the time whether that be to string a mare along or to rip a stallion's reputation to shreds.
Her next words rang true, too. It was the different ones he tore down; the ones that weren't as attractive as he thought they ought to be and the ones that dared to break the mould. Not because he feared them but because it was so easy and because it seemed to make his followers like him all the more. Perhaps they were just pretending in order to avoid becoming a target themselves. Perhaps nobody really liked him at all and their compliments were as much a pretence as everything else.
…Well, what did it matter? He didn’t need real friends, cronies and hangers on were enough. Who needed meaningful when you had an easy life? Not him for sure. A few months ago the golden Jala wouldn’t have questioned that for a moment; he’d accepted his lot in life. Comfortable but a web of lies and the right to be his mate passed to the highest bidder. Now though, now that he’d tasted freedom and met people who he knew had no reason to suck up to him he wasn’t so sure he could stomach the sham anymore.
"Sounds like this Lee fellow had the right of it," the blue-eyed stallion said eventually. "I... I don't think I asked you your name." He'd been about to tell her, to admit that he was probably as nasty a piece of work as whoever had battered her. He hadn't been able to bring himself to it though; he didn't want her to fear him again or come to dislike him. It was best just to let it lie.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:02 am
Ah. And now came the part where she ought to have run away a long time ago. The first "why" was all too clear now - she remembered, bittersweetly, the clear-cut edges of a beloved voice calling her away.
Come away, my dove; they will never understand.
She remembered the aching sadness of being an outcast, how it had driven a wedge between them.
Are you afraid?
She had been afraid. She was always afraid - afraid of herself, what she felt, what she knew. It was easier to be stupid, to be anyone's, than to be aware of it all and belong to a creature of stone. The words had never reached Lee, or if they did it never showed.
She remembered leaving.
Say you jest. Say you say it not. Say you lie - lie now, even, say it is not as it is - but do not fly from me, my dove...
She remembered flying. Flying away.
Who will love me as you have loved me?
She didn't have to remember loving Lee.
"...M'name's 'Yona," she said softly. "Eye-oh-nah, they call it. 'Yona. An'...it's Libra, is Lee. Weren't no feller. ...Only my girl, tha's all."
She didn't know why she was afraid. Diego wasn't like the others.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:19 am
Iona. A lovely name. Diego smiled slightly. "I like it, suits you." Was he supposed to say something about the fact that 'Lee' was a she? Perhaps, he was sure he could come up with something if he thought a moment in any case.
...Yes - that might do.
"I don't meet many others that look at their own gender in that way," he said with a slight smile. "Forgive me for the assumption, Iona. If you guess off the hoof that somebody is with 'their own kind' you tend not to make yourself popular."
Beauty was beauty after all, what did plumbing matter?
"Love is love after all, I've never seen why plumbing should be such a big issue. Reya mares get away with it from what I've heard but for the rest of us a c**k-eyed look at the very least seems to be the norm."
The golden stallion found himself a little disappointed that the purple was already spoken for. True, her love didn't seem to be about right now but she was still claimed by another. That was typical; the good ones were always already taken leaving behind only the phoneys that he pretended to like.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:42 am
He understood. He knew. The relief was palpable - Iona's grin came creeping back. "I know what y'mean," she said, feeling strange for wanting to laugh at something so rotten. "We got us more than funny looks, we did. ...'At's why I up an' left 'er. I were too scared. She were like stone, she were - nuffin' ever 'urt er. I weren't brave enough to live with 'er like we wanted, so...so I left. An' ever since then I bin bad luck, bad luck all th'way. ...Guess I deserve it, right an' proper."
Still, she didn't feel as sad as she had before. It was amazing what good having someone to talk to had done her, and now that she knew Diego wasn't going to hit her it was better still.
"Anuvver thing she used t'say, Lee'd say..."not much fortune for too many hearts, and fortune favours the bold". An' that means you got t'be brave if you want t'be lucky."
The purple Jala didn't even notice that her voice had changed at the quote - the rough accent had dropped from the words entirely, replaced by perfect, clear-cut words in a polished, cultured tone. Anyone who had met Libra once would have called it familiar; anyone who knew the little Bae would have called it an almost perfect imitation.
"So I s'pose I got to be brave if I'm ever gonna get 'er back...ain't it so?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:57 am
The stallion smiled at the difference in the other Jala's voice as she quoted her former mate. "I wouldn't say you deserved it," Diego smiled. "We all make mistakes and everyone gets scared of things, too." True, not everyone ran away from them as Iona had but the golden male, for once, was willing to admit that everybody reached breaking point and bolted if pressured hard enough. Perhaps he didn't have as much right to lay judgement as he usually assumed his sleek body and quick mind were owed.
"As to getting her back, you're right. If she loved you I suspect she still does and would forgive you but there will be apologising to do and folk's opinions of you and she won't have altered."
Love. That would be a nice thing to have. What if he lost his looks somehow or his strength? His mind he was fairly sure he could keep sharp but all the rest could be lost easily in a fight or an accident. Would he still be adored if he were less shining? Maybe. Probably. Definitely.
If he had somebody who loved him for being him things would be different though. But that wouldn't happen. He had to remember that. Love wasn't for him; a good match was for him, intended since birth. Perhaps in his winter travels, his father had even found the mare to pair him with. Perhaps he would come back to find his freedom cut short forever.
The feather-winged Nequus sighed to himself. "Still. I've never had it myself but I've heard that love is worth being brave for." He'd heard it was worth dying for. He'd scoffed at that. Nothing was worth dying for, he'd known that as certain as day ever since he could remember. But what if he'd been wrong all his life?
This conversation certainly was leading him into some unpleasant thoughts. The blue-eyed stallion made to banish them and to conjure up all the advantages of his life as it was but, a few moments later, he gave up and let them run as they would. Perhaps it was high time he stopped pushing away the pieces of life he didn't like and looked at it as a whole.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:21 am
Iona nodded slowly. "Dunno if she still loves me," she said, biting her lip again. "But I got to try. She's worth anythin', Lee. Anythin' at all. Even...some'ow learnin' t'be brave."
Something occurred to her - she had never found out why Diego was here. Was he on his way somewhere, or...
"...Better get clean first, eh?" she went on, grinning again. It was not an expression that made its owner look particularly pretty, but it clearly showed that she was genuinely starting to feel happier. "M'all mud an' bits o' grass. Last 'un's hooves still all over th'place. Ain't no credit t'me or Lee lookin' like this. ...Maybe 'an'sum comin' too? Unless yer goin' summ'er else in an 'urry..."
Quietly she hoped Diego might travel with her, at least for a while. It would be good to feel a little less alone in the world.
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