Post by Ashen on Nov 26, 2008 1:09:19 GMT -5
Location: Grassy Plains
Characters:
Ayita - Young Sagebrush mare
Clay - Lone stallion
Starlight - Lead mare of Sagebrush
Season: Early Spring
The air has a fresh, misty feel to it. A spring drizzle has not long ago showered the plains, and the grasses are slick and dotted with puddles of varying sizes. It all makes skulking around undetected much more difficult, yet someone is trying nonetheless. A young stallion steps quietly from the north, his ears perched forward, and his nose flared to catch the varying scents. Is this the place Ooljee had told him about? He hoped so. Clay stops not far from the river he'd just wandered past, taking this moment to regather his senses and search for any sign of life; of his kind, or otherwise. Unfortunately for the young stallion, the faint glimmer of his coat in the moonlight is something of a hindrance to his trying to remain hidden.
The sly stallion is not the only creature awake this night. A mare stands in the plains, protective of her two foals that sleep at her hooves. She snorts softly and shakes her head, her tail giving a flick. She has a strange feeling that she is being watched, but the moon yields no answers to her. Her mane twitches and she finally lowers her head to tug at some grass, hunger almost overcoming caution.
Ayita is lying down on her belly near the herd mare, resting quietly, tail flicking away the nocturnal insects that seem particularly hungry for her splotched pelt. Her ears flick about, also on alert while out in the open, listening to the various sounds that the night has to offer. As Starlight lowers her head to eat, Ayita takes a wary look around, soon sighting the pale-coated stallion approaching in the near distance. She whinnies softly, getting the other mare's attention before gesturing over towards the stranger with a nod of her long head.
It isn't long before the stallion locates the mare, standing with two young ones. They haven't noticed him; good. Clay moves to circle closer, placing his hooves carefully on the slick terrain. He doesn't hear the whinny and doesn't realize the second mare has noticed him. He hasn't even noticed that she's there yet. Right now he's only focused on approaching the older mare from behind, hoping not to wake her foals in the process.
Starlight immediately lifts her head and spots the stallion. She stands where she is, but she pulls her ears back just a hair, snorting softly. She remains wary of the stallion and shifts slightly so that her foals are mostly hidden from view and so that she may watch the stranger. She ceases movement and continues to watch him, lifting her head to give a neigh warning him that he has entered into her herd's territory.
Ayita just watches the unfamiliar stallion, leaving the diplomacy up to her superior, though she watches him closely. He's not -entirely- in the wrong...Darkstar's frequent wanderings have left the herd lands mostly devoid of his scent, so if this other male has missed the old markings, he can't fully be blamed. But maybe Ayita just finds the differently-colored stallion cute, in her playfully feminine way. ^^
Clay stiffens. What happened? He'd been doing so well for a moment there. The young stallion straightens up, a quick glance over reveal a second mare not far from the one he'd been watching. Clay snorts, defeated for the moment. He makes a mental note to work on his stealth. However, in something like adolescent defiance, the stallion returns the neigh with one of his own. And what's this? Now he's approaching.
Starlight snorts in quiet amusement as the stallion realizes that he can't sneak around quite as well as a wolf might. Starlight paws at the ground with a bit of mixed nervousness. She thought something like this might happen. Her scent marks were much more easily overlooked than her mate's, who hadn't renewed his lately. She stiffens as well, but says nothing.
However, once he's within a polite distance, the stallion stops. His amber eyes look at each of the foals, and the mares, one at a time, studying what condition of health each one is in. Finally, he dips his head in a satisfied nod. "So it's true." Is the first, simple thing he says.
Starlight hmms. "So what is true?" she inquires, moving further in front of her foals. "And might I ask why you have chosen to trespass onto my herd lands?" she asks him, arching her neck and looking straight at him, trying to appear more in charge.
Ayita's blue-eyed glance switches back and forth between the unfamiliar stallion and the lead mare, staying quiet for the most part. After a moment, she decides it might be best to be prepared for the worst, so she pushes herself up back onto her gangly filly legs, taking a couple of steps closer to Starlight for added support.
"That a herd lives here. I had hoped." The stallion lowers his head, trying to look docile. His legs, however, are tensed. "I wanted to see for myself." He turns to scan the area, quickly but carefully. "Do you have a stallion around?" Even if Clay tries to not act like it, he's just a little intimidated by the older mare. She has children to protect; if he did anything foolish, it could end badly for him.
Starlight hmms again, very wary, and her ears prick. She answers with a measure of caution. "Yes...more than one." Sort of...she admits in her head, but she won't tell him that. "If you're looking to conquer a herd, you've come to the wrong place." she warns him.
Multiple stallions? Clay does nearly visibly balk at this. Shaking his mane, the intruding stallion takes a step back. "Perhaps." He murmurs, but there's a bold glint in his eye. "Thank you for the chat." He sweeps his tail, turning around as if to leave the way he'd come.
Starlight almost laughs at his reaction, but controls her reaction. "However, if you seek shelter for the night, I would be willing to grant such a thing." she tells him, and then grins. "The stallions won't bite--much." she jokes.
Ayita continues glancing back and forth throughout the exchange, turning finally from the stallion to Starlight again when he turns to leave, a confused look on her face. He's just going to leave...like that? She opens her mouth to say something to the older mare, but is surprised to hear when she actually offers the stranger a place to stay. She blinks, eyes flitting back to the champagne stallion.
Clay hitches his steps, ears swiveling back to acknowledge Starlight's offer. "Hmm." He does seriously consider it; he has much disdain for the night, more so now that he's had to endure it alone. The opportunity to rid himself of that for at least one night... it's a tempting offer. "I thank you, yet..." He doesn't even look back as he speaks. "How can you offer such a thing, not knowing what my intentions are?"
Starlight regards him more seriously now, and she hmms. "Because I am confident enough in my experience and the strength of my herd to offer one night of shelter to a wanderer." she answers simply, her tail giving a flick.
Clay is silent for a long time. After some internal debating, the stallion tilts his head to the side, looking back with a smile; mannered, pleasant, obviously fake. "Then I accept your offer. Just for tonight." What can he find out of the herd in this short of a time span? That remains to be seen, but he certainly intends to take advantage of this.
Starlight notes the fake smile, but does not make it obvious that she does as she cooly returns her own smile. She nods. "Just for tonight..." she repeats, lowering her head for a moment to gently nudge her sleeping foals. "May I ask your name?"
"Clay." He answers obligingly, his head lowering again. "Excuse my lack of manners." He apologizes. "And now that you know mine, might I know your names?" The stallion glances to both of them curiously.
Starlight nods, and dips her head just slightly. "I am Starlight, lead mare of the herd. Ayita is the older filly behind me." she informs him, and hmms. "I'm curious, did you ever live with humans?" she asks him.
Ayita whinnies, as though backing up Starlight's introduction, her sky blue eyes continuing to watch the stallion curiously - she, too, wonders about his response to that question.
Clay nickers softly. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you." Starlight's question surprised him. "Hm? No. But my mother did, and talked about them so much I may as well have." He shifts around, his side to them now. "Why do you ask?"
Starlight hmms. "I've just never seen a horse with the sort of look you have about you before. Not quite the build of a wild horse." she answers.
Clay glances down at himself, then shifts his eyes over to the mares for a rough comparison. He doesn't need to, of course. He's very aware how his appearance differs from the ancestrally wild horses, and he's heard all of the jokes. "Oh, is that it." He nods. "Well, as I said; my mother was born to the humans, I was born free." Yet, at times, he still finds himself alienated from both worlds in some ways.
Starlight nods. "And a bit in the way you walk as well." she comments. "Well, many of the horses in this herd were born among humans, with only a few such as myself born wild."
Clay is fascinated to learn this fact. "The herd I came from was all wild." With the exception of his mother and himself. "Never thought I'd see an actual mix of the two." He's found that the ways of the wild and the domestic horse were the same in certain aspects, yet worlds apart in others.
Starlight hmms and nods. "My old herd was all wild as well, but I've found that horses born domestic can do just as well in the wild if they have the will to survive."
"Point." Clay looks away, squinting thoughtfully into the distance. Finally he starts to wander off. "I'll leave you to your grazing, now. If it won't bother you, I'd like to look around." He's eager to get a map out of the land in the territory. Such knowledge will likely be very useful for the future.
Starlight nods, and watches him with mild suspicion as she lowers her head to graze, her tail flicking. "Go ahead." is all she replies.
Characters:
Ayita - Young Sagebrush mare
Clay - Lone stallion
Starlight - Lead mare of Sagebrush
Season: Early Spring
The air has a fresh, misty feel to it. A spring drizzle has not long ago showered the plains, and the grasses are slick and dotted with puddles of varying sizes. It all makes skulking around undetected much more difficult, yet someone is trying nonetheless. A young stallion steps quietly from the north, his ears perched forward, and his nose flared to catch the varying scents. Is this the place Ooljee had told him about? He hoped so. Clay stops not far from the river he'd just wandered past, taking this moment to regather his senses and search for any sign of life; of his kind, or otherwise. Unfortunately for the young stallion, the faint glimmer of his coat in the moonlight is something of a hindrance to his trying to remain hidden.
The sly stallion is not the only creature awake this night. A mare stands in the plains, protective of her two foals that sleep at her hooves. She snorts softly and shakes her head, her tail giving a flick. She has a strange feeling that she is being watched, but the moon yields no answers to her. Her mane twitches and she finally lowers her head to tug at some grass, hunger almost overcoming caution.
Ayita is lying down on her belly near the herd mare, resting quietly, tail flicking away the nocturnal insects that seem particularly hungry for her splotched pelt. Her ears flick about, also on alert while out in the open, listening to the various sounds that the night has to offer. As Starlight lowers her head to eat, Ayita takes a wary look around, soon sighting the pale-coated stallion approaching in the near distance. She whinnies softly, getting the other mare's attention before gesturing over towards the stranger with a nod of her long head.
It isn't long before the stallion locates the mare, standing with two young ones. They haven't noticed him; good. Clay moves to circle closer, placing his hooves carefully on the slick terrain. He doesn't hear the whinny and doesn't realize the second mare has noticed him. He hasn't even noticed that she's there yet. Right now he's only focused on approaching the older mare from behind, hoping not to wake her foals in the process.
Starlight immediately lifts her head and spots the stallion. She stands where she is, but she pulls her ears back just a hair, snorting softly. She remains wary of the stallion and shifts slightly so that her foals are mostly hidden from view and so that she may watch the stranger. She ceases movement and continues to watch him, lifting her head to give a neigh warning him that he has entered into her herd's territory.
Ayita just watches the unfamiliar stallion, leaving the diplomacy up to her superior, though she watches him closely. He's not -entirely- in the wrong...Darkstar's frequent wanderings have left the herd lands mostly devoid of his scent, so if this other male has missed the old markings, he can't fully be blamed. But maybe Ayita just finds the differently-colored stallion cute, in her playfully feminine way. ^^
Clay stiffens. What happened? He'd been doing so well for a moment there. The young stallion straightens up, a quick glance over reveal a second mare not far from the one he'd been watching. Clay snorts, defeated for the moment. He makes a mental note to work on his stealth. However, in something like adolescent defiance, the stallion returns the neigh with one of his own. And what's this? Now he's approaching.
Starlight snorts in quiet amusement as the stallion realizes that he can't sneak around quite as well as a wolf might. Starlight paws at the ground with a bit of mixed nervousness. She thought something like this might happen. Her scent marks were much more easily overlooked than her mate's, who hadn't renewed his lately. She stiffens as well, but says nothing.
However, once he's within a polite distance, the stallion stops. His amber eyes look at each of the foals, and the mares, one at a time, studying what condition of health each one is in. Finally, he dips his head in a satisfied nod. "So it's true." Is the first, simple thing he says.
Starlight hmms. "So what is true?" she inquires, moving further in front of her foals. "And might I ask why you have chosen to trespass onto my herd lands?" she asks him, arching her neck and looking straight at him, trying to appear more in charge.
Ayita's blue-eyed glance switches back and forth between the unfamiliar stallion and the lead mare, staying quiet for the most part. After a moment, she decides it might be best to be prepared for the worst, so she pushes herself up back onto her gangly filly legs, taking a couple of steps closer to Starlight for added support.
"That a herd lives here. I had hoped." The stallion lowers his head, trying to look docile. His legs, however, are tensed. "I wanted to see for myself." He turns to scan the area, quickly but carefully. "Do you have a stallion around?" Even if Clay tries to not act like it, he's just a little intimidated by the older mare. She has children to protect; if he did anything foolish, it could end badly for him.
Starlight hmms again, very wary, and her ears prick. She answers with a measure of caution. "Yes...more than one." Sort of...she admits in her head, but she won't tell him that. "If you're looking to conquer a herd, you've come to the wrong place." she warns him.
Multiple stallions? Clay does nearly visibly balk at this. Shaking his mane, the intruding stallion takes a step back. "Perhaps." He murmurs, but there's a bold glint in his eye. "Thank you for the chat." He sweeps his tail, turning around as if to leave the way he'd come.
Starlight almost laughs at his reaction, but controls her reaction. "However, if you seek shelter for the night, I would be willing to grant such a thing." she tells him, and then grins. "The stallions won't bite--much." she jokes.
Ayita continues glancing back and forth throughout the exchange, turning finally from the stallion to Starlight again when he turns to leave, a confused look on her face. He's just going to leave...like that? She opens her mouth to say something to the older mare, but is surprised to hear when she actually offers the stranger a place to stay. She blinks, eyes flitting back to the champagne stallion.
Clay hitches his steps, ears swiveling back to acknowledge Starlight's offer. "Hmm." He does seriously consider it; he has much disdain for the night, more so now that he's had to endure it alone. The opportunity to rid himself of that for at least one night... it's a tempting offer. "I thank you, yet..." He doesn't even look back as he speaks. "How can you offer such a thing, not knowing what my intentions are?"
Starlight regards him more seriously now, and she hmms. "Because I am confident enough in my experience and the strength of my herd to offer one night of shelter to a wanderer." she answers simply, her tail giving a flick.
Clay is silent for a long time. After some internal debating, the stallion tilts his head to the side, looking back with a smile; mannered, pleasant, obviously fake. "Then I accept your offer. Just for tonight." What can he find out of the herd in this short of a time span? That remains to be seen, but he certainly intends to take advantage of this.
Starlight notes the fake smile, but does not make it obvious that she does as she cooly returns her own smile. She nods. "Just for tonight..." she repeats, lowering her head for a moment to gently nudge her sleeping foals. "May I ask your name?"
"Clay." He answers obligingly, his head lowering again. "Excuse my lack of manners." He apologizes. "And now that you know mine, might I know your names?" The stallion glances to both of them curiously.
Starlight nods, and dips her head just slightly. "I am Starlight, lead mare of the herd. Ayita is the older filly behind me." she informs him, and hmms. "I'm curious, did you ever live with humans?" she asks him.
Ayita whinnies, as though backing up Starlight's introduction, her sky blue eyes continuing to watch the stallion curiously - she, too, wonders about his response to that question.
Clay nickers softly. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you." Starlight's question surprised him. "Hm? No. But my mother did, and talked about them so much I may as well have." He shifts around, his side to them now. "Why do you ask?"
Starlight hmms. "I've just never seen a horse with the sort of look you have about you before. Not quite the build of a wild horse." she answers.
Clay glances down at himself, then shifts his eyes over to the mares for a rough comparison. He doesn't need to, of course. He's very aware how his appearance differs from the ancestrally wild horses, and he's heard all of the jokes. "Oh, is that it." He nods. "Well, as I said; my mother was born to the humans, I was born free." Yet, at times, he still finds himself alienated from both worlds in some ways.
Starlight nods. "And a bit in the way you walk as well." she comments. "Well, many of the horses in this herd were born among humans, with only a few such as myself born wild."
Clay is fascinated to learn this fact. "The herd I came from was all wild." With the exception of his mother and himself. "Never thought I'd see an actual mix of the two." He's found that the ways of the wild and the domestic horse were the same in certain aspects, yet worlds apart in others.
Starlight hmms and nods. "My old herd was all wild as well, but I've found that horses born domestic can do just as well in the wild if they have the will to survive."
"Point." Clay looks away, squinting thoughtfully into the distance. Finally he starts to wander off. "I'll leave you to your grazing, now. If it won't bother you, I'd like to look around." He's eager to get a map out of the land in the territory. Such knowledge will likely be very useful for the future.
Starlight nods, and watches him with mild suspicion as she lowers her head to graze, her tail flicking. "Go ahead." is all she replies.