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 Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:42 am
They were learning, the black stallion considered as the two-legged creatures scurried off to gather fruits and vegetables for the empty basket he had brought back. He'd come here several times now; when he had been unable to gather enough food to sustain his mate and growing child. He had somewhat resented having to get help from these creatures at first no matter how clever their hands might be.
He'd got over that now though; his foolish pride wasn't worth risking not getting enough food to Lydia to keep her relatively healthy. Besides, teamwork had historically produced more results than any one Nequus could alone, no matter how strong, clever or stubborn.
The Aeri gave himself a shake and, with a satisfied sigh, lowered his head to crop at the grass.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:59 am
 Flight seemed to the be the only thing that gave him relative speed at the moment, but that did little to settle his shaken mind. Normally flooded with the thoughts of whimsical fantasy, and hardly in need to think heavily on a single subject, much less little things that went a stray to the very depths of his concious. It was rare for him to journey away from Cressida and the fruit without needing to be pushed along to do so, but he was cluttered to the point of not knowing what was going on for the most part. Gather food? Is that what he was suppose to do? Or had his orders been to get fresh air? The blood bay blinked heavily, shaking such thoughts, any thoughts from his saturated mind.
Aitumn hadn't realized just where he had traveled too, but his wings were stiff and ready to fold back onto his body, even without his consent to do so. Perhaps it would be a good idea to land; he just hoped his hip wasn't as stiff as he had found it earlier.
Spilling the eager wind from beneath his feathered flight, he Jala made his way down the ground below, hollow eyes hardly noticing the lands he had taken to.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 12:07 pm
A thud. Lucius raised his head and turned about unhurriedly. It had only been one Nequus landing and there were few he'd ever been unable to deal with when pressed. This being the case, he saw no reason to rush in finding out who or was the owner of the thud was. Besides; if it did turn out be a hostile Nequus, an air of calm would go a long way to helping him win whatever battle, be it physical or of wits, was to come.
The figure was a familiar one as it turned out and the dark stallion found a smile coming to his face. "Aitumn," he called to the Jala, "I didn't expect to run into you here, how've you been?" ...Actually he didn't look all that good. Well the blood bay would either tell him about it or he wouldn't; he had no right or inclination to go poking his nose in if it wasn't wanted.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 12:22 pm
Hardened ground gave more of a jolt then the soft cushion of air in take off had, and the stallion felt the twinge as his hind hooves touched down. He had always considered himself to be quick and hardy, but now he was feeling sluggish and delicate. Was that from his injury, or from something much more, from the depths of his guilt and confusion? Before he had noticed anything else he tested the ground some, lifting a hind leg to see how stiff it really was, and if the twinge had just been his landing. It seemed terribly injured, he could move, though probably not for very long without discomfort.
Though it was the sound of a voice that his head jerking up with a sharp shutter from his taunt hide. It was a very rare occurance when someone actually had the luck to surprise him, for most of the time the blood bay perfered to keep a good eye on his surroundings. Turning his head to the side, ears twitching to catch the sounds around him, he spotted the bone-clad Aeri not too far off. It was a relieve and yet another distraction for his mind to add onto the rest of his thoughts. Already, the Jala had tried prioring into his own memory, to try and get the answers he now so desperatly wanted to receive; but had gotten nothing but a splitting headache in the end.
"... Living", it was the only answer he could bring himself to say, but it hardly described him right now. Now Aitumn would have walked over to his friend, but with a stiff hip he didn't quite want to give away any sort of hobble he might have acquired from the brute a few days ago. Though, he hadn't meant to sound to blunt either, so he gave a dip of his muzzle in apology, though an awkward one. Everything felt awkward. "Didn't expect to see anyone... here, either." Here? Where was here? For the first time he took a glance around himself, noticing the structures that of course, no Nequus could have build. Wonderful, not exactly where he wanted to be at the moment. "How are you?" Perhaps he should have told Lucius of his encounter, and how it had gone, but right now that just didn't seem physically possible to talk about. Not with the sorrow that ate the soul he no longer knew.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 12:36 pm
Humm, well fair enough; the bay had a right to his privacy. It was slightly jarring to see somebody he considered a friend, at least of a kind, looking so... so.. Well so whatever it was Aitumn looked; he'd never been that good with putting names to emotions. Probably too much logic in his head to leave room for things like that.
"I'm wonderful, thank you," the Aeri said after a moment with a slight smile. "I'm here getting some food from the two legs to bring back to my mate in Shrilal." It was still subtly thrilling to refer to the Bae as his mate. Until the very moment she'd said yes, he had thought he wouldn't ever find a mare who wanted to share his life. Sometimes it was good to be wrong.
"It's not been easy for me to find enough to keep both her and the tree sustained so I decided to recruit some helpers." Lucius smiled, peering in the direction that the odd creatures had scurried off in. "They're very helpful creatures once they know what you want are two legs," the stallion said with a bob of his head as he turned back to face the other Nequus.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 12:53 pm
A mate? Well that was good news for the bone-clad, finding someone to settle down with. Aitumn had always had a dream of doing so, but now how could he? He did give a smile though at such news, despite himself. "Sounds wonderful. I have a growing fruit myself, just came from there in fact", a hollow conversation never did him good, least of all now, but he felt like sharring the news to at least someone. He was proud of that part of his life, at least.
Though, as the stallion's head was turned off in the direction of the two-leggers, Aitumn had gotten the gumpsure to attempt walking closer, it would be easier to speak if he did so anyways. A twinge, that's what he felt as he moved himself forward slowly, and surely not with the grace he usually carried himself with. However, when Lucius returned his gaze Aitumn figured he was close enough, and his gait came to a halt.
"I've never really seen the creatures up close, how long do you think they'll be?" He was curious sure, but he was always wary. He didn't want them figuring out about his injury, and he didn't want them to try and help, no telling what they might do. Maybe he should tell Lucius, certainly he was curious to know about the encounter, after all that's how the blood bay had found out about the grudge holding Aeri. Aitumn gave a heafty shake of his sleek head, thinking too much gave him headaches, and trying to remember had made it worse ten-fold. He did give a slight sigh though, off-handedly speaking. Lucius could pick it up if he wanted to, but for Aitumn there were things he would keep to himself. "I did find out what that brute had a grudge for." Problem was, as much as he didn't want to believe it, his blank memory of his past made it frighteningly possible.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:05 pm
The red-boned Aeri frowned thoughtfully. Well it varied how long they took really, depending on how full their stocks of roots, fruits and vegetables were. They had taken quite a while last time but when she'd brought the basket one of their females had told him that a gathering party was due to go out soon.
If the party was abck, it probably wouldn't take long. Unless they spent forever trying to decide what to give him. He really ought to give the other stallio an asnwer or...
The brute? That green Aeri. Oh dear. Did this have something to do with the Jala's oddness? Well there was only one way to find out. "Oh? What was it?" He didn't like how that had sounded; the words themselves hadn't been great but there had been too much worry in it. He shouldn't have mentioned the green to Aituim, shouldn't have mentioned to the big brute that he knew Aitumn. Bugger. If something had happened to teh blood bay becuase of the large Aeri, it was partially his fault.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:19 pm
He pricked his ears slightly as his gaze went back in the direction of the two-leggers, he wasn't sure when they would return, but he would have to keep a good eye out for them. Or perhaps it was a good idea to leave before they came back? Hmm, it was difficult to say really.
Returning his hollow gaze back to the Aeri he gave a bit of a, equine shrug from his shoulders. "A few things I would have rather not heard. Though I still can't recall such a thing", sure he was masking the doubt he had, but he couldn't bring evidence up to disprove the theory of it either. Heck, such a thing could be fixed easily if he could only remember, but so far his mind was highly unruly and uncoperative in the matter. The physical injury though, as much he favored his hip now, didn't really bother him. His foe from this encounter, was the confusion left in his mind, not the soreness he felt in his bones.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:28 pm
Well damn it all; he wasn't going to elaborate. Still, nothing he could do about it and he'd do best not to concern himself too much. The blood bay would probably cope with whatever it was and it wasn't as though in telling the green Aeri about Aitumn he'd meant this to happen. It didn't change the fact that it was partially his fault, but it did make him feel somewhat better about it. Nobody could see the future after all.
"I see... Well I'm sorry to hear that," Lucius said with a dip of his head, wondering quietly why the Jala would not remember something that could cause such a grudge.
"Would you like me to get the two legs to give you some food to take back to your tree?" the boned Aeri asked after a few heartbeats of silence. "They're a smart lot; I expect the gestures I need to ask them would be simple enough to work out."
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:37 pm
And that was all he cared to share about the encounter, though deep down he did hope that bite to the nose had caused the Aeri at least some discomfort, to balance out hiw own injury of course. Perhaps if Aitumn were more of a mean spirit, he would have jumped straight to malice rather then worry about his own past; but that wasn't the case. Unfortunatly, to get his answers, it might call for another encounter, and this time, he would be more ready for the brute's hatred. Certainly he wouldn't be as agile in the sky as the blood bay.
At the temtation of fruit though, Aitumn did return himself to the present conversation. "If it wouldn't be a bother, I think Cressida would like that." Well, he didn't know the mare very well, but he hoped it would at least be a nice gesture. "I am quite curious to know, exactly what kind of gestures you would use with two-leggers. I'd think it to be rather difficult to come up with." At least for Aitumn it would be, after all he was a nequus of very few words to begin with.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:52 pm
Lucius shrugged slightly. "Not sure yet, give me a moment..." A moment passed. "Well it ought to be quite easy," the orange-eyed Aeri decided. "Since they're bringing a basket for me, if I either put that in front of you and look expectant or gesture at it and then at you they ought to cotton on quite quickly."
He certainly hoped so at any rate; the first time he'd come it had taken forever to get his message across. To be fair though, that time he had been going for something a bit more complex that 'some for him too'. It had been rewarding when he finally got what he’d been asking for but the process had been interesting to say the least. Working out a way to let the two-legged creatures know that he wanted not only food but quite a lot and in a basket had taken half a morning, or so it had seemed to him.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:03 pm
It was interesting to say the least, such gestures might even look funny to on-lookers. Though, he might as well take notes on it if he ever needed to come here again, but he hoped that wasn't quite the case, for asking for help had never really been something he enjoyed doing. "It would be easier if they actually understood us speak", but of course that was a pipe dream, for he didn't think two-leggers would ever become that talented. And had that been a joke? The blood bay wasn't quite sure what had slipped his lips, but now that his mind was on a different subject he opted to keep it there.
He had a life time to ponder over it after all. Quite eager now, for the show promised to at least be interesting, the Jala returned his hollow gaze back in that direction. If he leaved now he would miss it, and would return back to the tree empty hooved. Which probably wouldn't be a good idea, considering he hadn't quite paid attention to what it is he was suppose to do when he was sent off.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:13 pm
The red-maned stallion gave a soft snort of amusement. "Indeed it would; if only life were that convenient, hum?"
A willowy girl appeared out of one of the nearby structures and, on spotting the pair of Nequus smiled and hurried over. In her hands she held a basket, heavily laden with various vegetation and a small heap of ready cracked nuts.
When she placed it on the ground before Lucius, the boned creature gave a soft whicker of thanks and then tapped the basket with a forehoof before nodding his head at Aitumn. "I think that ought to do it," he commented to the other stallion with a smile.
Indeed, the tall gril grinned broadly. "I understand; I'll be right back with a basket for your friend." So saying, she turned about and hurried back towards the building she had just left, calling out to another of her kind for a second basket of supplies.
"Well, that went rather well, didn't it?" Lucius commented with a smile as she vanished inside.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:24 pm
The blood bay had gave a musing bob of his head at that, certainly it would have been alot easier if two-legs and Nequus could speak together. If so, maybe then he could begin to fathom stories which included them, but as it was, he found them to be very unpredictable and as such not greatly realistic characters. Or perhaps, he could create a one of kind, unique tale. Yes, that sounded good. A tale of the day a nequus speaking two-legger appeared. It promised to be quite interesting to work on, and he hadn't even created the nequus yet. Such thoughts were a haven to the cluttered mind, and as such the blood bay relaxed considerably.
Which reminded him of his last tale he had created. The one of the sea. He had said he would and now he had done so. He had been quite fond of it as well, though he did struggle to recall most it at the moment.
At the appearance of the girl though, he pricked his ears in interest, watching the movements of both stallion and two-legger. Shifting his head to follow her until her figure vanished. They were odd creatures in deed, and surprisingly quick when he expected her to fall flat over when her speed increased. "Quite better then what I had expected", he mused.
As he thought about it though, it was shame he couldn't share his tales of fantasy with the two-leggers, certainly then he would have a willing audience whenever need be. Oh well, he fathomed over the impossible more then he should have.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:08 pm
"Indeed," Lucius agreed with a nod. "I like that one," he said with a nod at the building the girl had gone into. "She was one of the first ones to come out of hiding when I came here the first time. It seems that two-legs aren't any fonder of bones than most Nequus are." Most of the time he couldn't really give a toss about the ones that ran screaming but that particular time it had been really annoying. Part of the reason it had seemed to take so long to get what he wanted was the time it had taken for him to get any of them to approach him in the first place.
"Ah," the stallion smiled, pulling himself from his thoughts, "here she comes now."
Indeed, the willowy girl had just stepped out of the hut once more and was jogging over with another basket of food. "For you," she said to Aitumn with a smile, stepping back from the gift to allow the equine to pick it up and leave right away if he so wished.
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