Post by avalikia on Jun 14, 2010 15:57:47 GMT -5
Characters:
Virgil - Male Horse
Nukpana - Female Horse
Setting:
Grassy Plains
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Since being accepted and yet in a way still rejected by the local ferals, Virgil has wasted quite a bit of time indulging in what their favored pastime for the times that he'd seen them seemed to be: grazing. At least that was a plus out here. The grass tasted much more flavorful, unlike that dry dusty stuff that he'd been used to from being on the worn down trails for the majority of his life. With his tail flicking at a few lingering bugs near his sides, the grulla stallion's ears tilt back and forth with the various noises, aware of his surroundings but yet still focused on the grazing. Every now and then, he lifts his head and takes a look around, wanting to explore the area, but knowing better to just take off on his own. If he was to explore, he'd need a guide of sorts. For that, he'd have to ask as he was certain any of the mares he'd met so far wouldn't just offer, and Sirocco didn't seem like the trail-buddy sort. Not in the least.
After taking Orion closer to the safety of the other mares Nukpana has been grazing as well. Perhaps the value of it is lost on the stallion, but spending much of the day grazing is vital; at the moment the herd is still regaining strength lost over the winter, and soon they'll be grazing to build up strength for the next one. Though in her eagerness to put some distance again between herself and Virgil she'd started grazing near the others, the closer you are to your herdmates the less likely you're in grass that hasn't been nibbled at already, and so she eventually wanders back out to the fringe of the herd without really thinking about it. She lifts her head frequently as well, though in her case she's looking for predators.
It was quite clear to Virgil that no one here really wanted to be friendly with him. That shouldn't suggest though, that he didn't have to be friendly back. Actually, if he was to really join them, to stick with them until whatever happened and he departed for one reason or another, then he had to be kind regardless. Seeing Nukpana begin to graze near the area he was grazing in, he blinks, and stares at her much like he did before, though this time it's a borderline glare for whatever reason. Like her, he can't really decide how he feels about this mare. She's a moody one, that's for sure. He's grateful to her for helping him, and he finds her attitude amusing, but can also get sick of it with relative ease. "'Lo there, miss." He calls out in a conversational tone of voice, just loud enough to get her attention.
When she hears Virgil's voice, Nukpana's head lifts suddenly as if slightly startled. She tends to ignore other horses as not a threat as a matter of course if they're simply grazing and she hadn't realized that Virgil was so close. She takes her time chewing her last mouthful of grass to give her a chance to decide how to respond, but she eventually gives a very neutral "Hello?" in return that sounds more like she's asking 'what do you want now?' Though her manner is casual, it's a poorly-hidden forced casualness.
Giving a good humored sort of snort, Virgil rolls his eyes at the neutral tone of Nukpana's, and repeats her in a sense. "Yeah. Hello." Bending his neck down, Virgil takes another bite of the grass into his mouth and begins to chew it up, all the while lifting his head and giving her another look. "Where's that boy'a yours? What was his name again? O.. O'Riley?" Usually he was good with names, but at meeting the colt he was so focused on his talk with Sirocco that he'd hardly given the young foal much attention at all.
"Orion," Nukpana corrects impatiently, "And he likes to run off and play with the younger members of the herd." Probably because Nukpana doesn't really 'play' and the bond between the two of them has never been all that strong. "Why do you care?" she adds with slightly narrowed eyes. Clearly, 'overprotective' is a bit of an understatement when it comes to her colt's safety despite her other failings as a mother in other areas - she gives him food and keeps dangerous things away from him, but that's about it.
"Oh, 'scuse me. Orion. Much better than O'Riley, anyway." Virgil says, grinning pleasantly enough so that it's kind of a pseudo apology. "I'unno. Just curious I guess. You seemed so protective of 'im before that it's kinda surprising that he's not right at your side 'er somethin'." Again, he lowers his head and takes another bite of the grass, chewing it up and swallowing it rather quickly. "Seems like a good kid, so you must be doin' somethin' right with 'im."
Nukpana's ears don't seem to quite know what to do for a moment. Is he or is he not questioning her mothering style? "He's as safe with the other mares as he is with me," she says finally, deciding not to be offended, "And he's strong, healthy, and he minds, and that's what's important." Still, there's a bit of an undercurrent to her tone that seems to be wondering why they're talking about him. She's most certainly not one of those mothers who likes to gush endlessly about her foals - Luna enjoys talking about her foals more than Nukpana does and hers are all grown up and elsewhere.
Nodding once more, Virgil looks off into the direction of the rest of the mares, and Orion, apparently. "Like I said; seems like a good kid." Just as Nukpana didn't care to gush about her foal, Virgil didn't care to hear about it either. In this department, they were just about equal. Though, he did have one question yet lingering about the colt. "Sirocco.. he's not his pa, is he?" He didn't /think/ so, but.. the question was just one he had to ask.
Ah, so that's why he brought up Orion! Seems like a silly question to her: Orion looks very little like either Nukpana or Sirocco. "No," she answers easily, though her face darkens more than a little when she adds, "His father was the stallion of my old herd." Which Virgil might recall that she said she had a 'falling out' with. Clearly, whoever that stallion is, she really, really does not like him at all - perhaps to the point where one would be glad they weren't him.
It takes him a minute, but ultimately Virgil does recall what she'd said about her former herd stallion, and how they had indeed had a falling out with one another. His curiosity urges him to ask just what happened, and eventually he gives in. It does take him a moment though. A moment of looking off into the distance, then around, his ears flicking this way and that as different sounds come from different areas. "If you don't mind my asking miss, what exactly happened with that no good stallion you used ta' know?"
A little surprised that he would just come out and ask that question, Nukpana nevertheless answers it with. "After my mother died, he decided to kick me out of the herd and nobody else really cared to stop him. However, just before that I happened to go into heat, so he told me he loved me instead. Then he kicked me out of the herd," she explains quickly, seeming to gloss over the details so that she doesn't have to really think about what she's saying. Even so, by the time she's finished her tail is twisting at the memory and at the end she looks at Virgil, expecting him to be taken aback by her very open answer to that very personal question.
Virgil is in fact very surprised that she was so open about the question, but is also happy that she was as well. And from the sound of that stallion, he could imagine how upset and angry she would've been afterward. Had he been in her hooves, he would've gone back and killed that sorry excuse for a stallion. Shaking his head at her short story, he sighs and tilts his ears backward. "I'm very sorry you had to go through with such a thing, miss. Don't seem like you've done nothin' to deserve that kinda treatment." Scuffing at the ground, again he grins and continues on. "You didn't happen to go back and give that pile'a manure what for, have ya?"
The thought of finding him again and giving him what he deserved /had/ crossed Nukpana's mind, but, "Unfortunately, at the time I was too upset about my mother, and I'd wandered so far by the time I wasn't that I don't think I could find my way back. Which is just as well, because otherwise I have no reason to go back there." She flicks her tail again, but her anger already seems very reduced: she'd been prepared for Virgil to blame her for the whole thing - he wouldn't be the first stallion to do that.
There was nothing about her story that made Virgil feel as if /any/ of it were her fault, aside from the biological standpoint. In which case, it was still not her fault. That stallion was a real creep, and it it were at all possible he'd find him himself and give him a swift kick to the head. Maybe. At least, he'd feel like it. "Really is a shame that happened to ya, miss Nukpana. But on the bright side, it seems to've made you a strong mare?"
Well, it definitely did something to Nukpana, though 'strong' is probably not the right word for it. However, she seems vaguely pleased by Virgil's words, even though she merely snorts and says, "At the very least, that won't happen again." Quite possibly because she plans on never letting a stallion that close to her again, but regardless she is older and wiser for it. Her tail continues to twist because of her troubled thoughts, but at least they're not directed towards Virgil now, which must be refreshing. "Orion looks just like him," she suddenly comments, before falling silent again.
Angry was another word he could've used. Or moody. But neither of those were very good qualities. Strong was. So, strong was the word he chose. Simple, diplomatic and smart thinking on his part, if he did say so himself. "I'd certainly hope not." Virgil says, turning to his side and taking a few steps in another direction, wandering closer to some fresher grass and taking a bite of it. Clearly, he was still focused on grazing. At the mention of Orion again, he glances up at her and flits one ear back, again, because of a noise he'd heard. "Handsome fella then, I'll bet." He jokes, but turns serious again shortly thereafter. "Not little Orion's fault. He might look like 'im, don't mean he has ta act like 'im. The way I figure it, it's your job ta make sure that don't happen."
Nukpana glances in the general direction of her son and snorts at Virgil's joke; apparently she doesn't think much of either her son's or his father's appearance. She still wishes that he had inherited /something/ from her, appearance-wise; it would have helped, at least in what she finds attractive. The rest of what Virgil says seems to irritate her and she says, "Now you're sounding like Luna." Which she doesn't think that Luna really needed to say either: she knows that they're right, but putting that idea into practice just doesn't seem to be working for Nukpana.
Virgil has no problem speaking frankly with Nukpana. Whether or not Luna did, he had no idea. But, he went along with his gut anyway. Raising a brow, he shook his head and again rolled his eyes. "Then Luna's right too. You treat him like that stallion, then who's to say he won't end up like that stallion?" The logic there was simple enough, he felt. He could understand why she'd be upset with the innocent colt, though. A living reminder of those days and whatnot. Yeah, he understood, but Nukpana struck him as the sort strong enough to get over it eventually and just raise her son the proper way.
That question causes an uncertain tilt to Nukpana's ears as she tries to figure out just what Virgil meant by it. "I am, of course, making sure he learns a proper respect for mares," she answers finally, "If he does turn out like his father, at least he'll know it's wrong." Troubled, she starts to graze, both as a reason to not say more and as a neutral, everyday activity to calm herself; this conversation is bothering her in multiple ways.
"He seems like a bright little spitfire, I reckon he'll learn just fine." Ending his little shpeal there, he yet again continues to graze, through with the conversation about that stallion from Nukpana's previous herd. Virgil could tell that she was uncomfortable talking about it, to an extent. The last thing he wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable. So, for the time being, the grulla stallion stays quiet.
The discomfort that Nukpana feels on this subject isn't about her worries for how her colt will turn out as much as it is that she knows she ought to be treating him differently, but doesn't seem possible given how she feels about him and she hasn't been able to get past those feelings. It's also partially because she's a little disconcerted by how easy it is to talk to a stallion, of all things, about this sort of thing. o.O After a moment of being able to recollect her thoughts, Nukpana finally comments, "Well, it's just as well that I was driven out of that herd. I wouldn't have put it past them to have treated him the same way they treated me - this herd is much better for both of us." There, that ought to completely change the subject!
"Seems like a good herd to stick with, that's fer sure." He says boredly, still paying attention to her obviously, but quite intent on getting his fill of grass as well. Everyone else sure cared to get their fill, it seemed. Keeping his head low to the ground, Virgil pushes his ears forward, glancing up even as he continues to just graze. "Glad that you've seemed to find a comfortable spot here then, miss. Hate to see someone like you all stuck and melancholy-like in a herd that wasn't for her. Wouldn't suit ya in the least."
"I suppose so," Nukpana says, suddenly sounding just a little uncertain. She can't say one way or the other how much she likes being a part of this herd. The only thing she's certain about is that this is better than her birth herd, but... She shakes off that line of thought, grazing as she listens to the rest of what Virgil has to say, which causes her to snort, "No, that's not how it was at all..." She pauses as she considers ways she could more properly describe it. "I was a pariah in that herd," she says eventually, seeming to be satisfied with that description.
"A pa-what?" He asks, flicking his tail and giving her quite an odd look. The word itself was very perplexing, as he'd never heard it before. Must be an eastern thing, he figured. "Seems ta' me like you're keeping too much focus on the past, if you don't mind my sayin' so, miss." Or, even if she did mind him saying so. It was just the take he had on the situation, that's all. "Can't be good if you're thinkin' about it all the time. You don't seem like no pear-eye-ah here, whatever that is.."
"A pariah," Nukpana repeats before defining it, "An outcast, an undesirable, an outsider." She explains this with remarkably little emotion; simply stating a fact. "I grew to accept it, actually, though I'm glad my colt doesn't have to," she adds dispassionately. The comment regarding her living in the past gets an odd look from the large bay. "Perhaps I am," she admits pretty easily, "But I can't ignore my past either." She lowers her head to graze again, but seems far less troubled now. Apparently talking about her past herd isn't nearly as upsetting as talking about her son.
These wild horses seemed stranger to him by the day. A herd shouldn't have outcasts, he felt. Especially not one that one was born into. He didn't really care to know why she was an outcast though, not at the moment. His attention was placed mostly in his grazing, and he figured it was his turn to give her the cold shoulder for once. Raising his head and taking in a deep breath as a breeze slipped by, he swallowed his last bit of grass and then looked to her with a final bit of advice. "Can't live in the past, miss. Gotta move on at some point." Virgil's tone was still kind, but his look didn't much match it. He looked bored, tired, and somewhat frustrated. "Speakin' of movin' on, I've gotta stick to the edge of the herd and I'm afraid you're impedin' on that. Tryin' to get me kicked out?" He teases, but turns his back on her and begins to walk off anyway.
For whatever reason, the looks that Virgil has been giving her seem to amuse Nukpana a little. With a proud toss of her head, she says, "Well, I've /mostly/ moved on, at least. I'm a lead mare of a different herd now - one with no outcasts." She pauses for a moment and a smirk crosses her face before she adds, "Except for you, I suppose." Because the rules that Sirocco laid out for Virgil seem vaguely similar to the ones that she'd abided by during that time. She moves along herself, deciding to see if she can't find some good grazing that's closer to the other mares.
Virgil - Male Horse
Nukpana - Female Horse
Setting:
Grassy Plains
----------------------------------------
Since being accepted and yet in a way still rejected by the local ferals, Virgil has wasted quite a bit of time indulging in what their favored pastime for the times that he'd seen them seemed to be: grazing. At least that was a plus out here. The grass tasted much more flavorful, unlike that dry dusty stuff that he'd been used to from being on the worn down trails for the majority of his life. With his tail flicking at a few lingering bugs near his sides, the grulla stallion's ears tilt back and forth with the various noises, aware of his surroundings but yet still focused on the grazing. Every now and then, he lifts his head and takes a look around, wanting to explore the area, but knowing better to just take off on his own. If he was to explore, he'd need a guide of sorts. For that, he'd have to ask as he was certain any of the mares he'd met so far wouldn't just offer, and Sirocco didn't seem like the trail-buddy sort. Not in the least.
After taking Orion closer to the safety of the other mares Nukpana has been grazing as well. Perhaps the value of it is lost on the stallion, but spending much of the day grazing is vital; at the moment the herd is still regaining strength lost over the winter, and soon they'll be grazing to build up strength for the next one. Though in her eagerness to put some distance again between herself and Virgil she'd started grazing near the others, the closer you are to your herdmates the less likely you're in grass that hasn't been nibbled at already, and so she eventually wanders back out to the fringe of the herd without really thinking about it. She lifts her head frequently as well, though in her case she's looking for predators.
It was quite clear to Virgil that no one here really wanted to be friendly with him. That shouldn't suggest though, that he didn't have to be friendly back. Actually, if he was to really join them, to stick with them until whatever happened and he departed for one reason or another, then he had to be kind regardless. Seeing Nukpana begin to graze near the area he was grazing in, he blinks, and stares at her much like he did before, though this time it's a borderline glare for whatever reason. Like her, he can't really decide how he feels about this mare. She's a moody one, that's for sure. He's grateful to her for helping him, and he finds her attitude amusing, but can also get sick of it with relative ease. "'Lo there, miss." He calls out in a conversational tone of voice, just loud enough to get her attention.
When she hears Virgil's voice, Nukpana's head lifts suddenly as if slightly startled. She tends to ignore other horses as not a threat as a matter of course if they're simply grazing and she hadn't realized that Virgil was so close. She takes her time chewing her last mouthful of grass to give her a chance to decide how to respond, but she eventually gives a very neutral "Hello?" in return that sounds more like she's asking 'what do you want now?' Though her manner is casual, it's a poorly-hidden forced casualness.
Giving a good humored sort of snort, Virgil rolls his eyes at the neutral tone of Nukpana's, and repeats her in a sense. "Yeah. Hello." Bending his neck down, Virgil takes another bite of the grass into his mouth and begins to chew it up, all the while lifting his head and giving her another look. "Where's that boy'a yours? What was his name again? O.. O'Riley?" Usually he was good with names, but at meeting the colt he was so focused on his talk with Sirocco that he'd hardly given the young foal much attention at all.
"Orion," Nukpana corrects impatiently, "And he likes to run off and play with the younger members of the herd." Probably because Nukpana doesn't really 'play' and the bond between the two of them has never been all that strong. "Why do you care?" she adds with slightly narrowed eyes. Clearly, 'overprotective' is a bit of an understatement when it comes to her colt's safety despite her other failings as a mother in other areas - she gives him food and keeps dangerous things away from him, but that's about it.
"Oh, 'scuse me. Orion. Much better than O'Riley, anyway." Virgil says, grinning pleasantly enough so that it's kind of a pseudo apology. "I'unno. Just curious I guess. You seemed so protective of 'im before that it's kinda surprising that he's not right at your side 'er somethin'." Again, he lowers his head and takes another bite of the grass, chewing it up and swallowing it rather quickly. "Seems like a good kid, so you must be doin' somethin' right with 'im."
Nukpana's ears don't seem to quite know what to do for a moment. Is he or is he not questioning her mothering style? "He's as safe with the other mares as he is with me," she says finally, deciding not to be offended, "And he's strong, healthy, and he minds, and that's what's important." Still, there's a bit of an undercurrent to her tone that seems to be wondering why they're talking about him. She's most certainly not one of those mothers who likes to gush endlessly about her foals - Luna enjoys talking about her foals more than Nukpana does and hers are all grown up and elsewhere.
Nodding once more, Virgil looks off into the direction of the rest of the mares, and Orion, apparently. "Like I said; seems like a good kid." Just as Nukpana didn't care to gush about her foal, Virgil didn't care to hear about it either. In this department, they were just about equal. Though, he did have one question yet lingering about the colt. "Sirocco.. he's not his pa, is he?" He didn't /think/ so, but.. the question was just one he had to ask.
Ah, so that's why he brought up Orion! Seems like a silly question to her: Orion looks very little like either Nukpana or Sirocco. "No," she answers easily, though her face darkens more than a little when she adds, "His father was the stallion of my old herd." Which Virgil might recall that she said she had a 'falling out' with. Clearly, whoever that stallion is, she really, really does not like him at all - perhaps to the point where one would be glad they weren't him.
It takes him a minute, but ultimately Virgil does recall what she'd said about her former herd stallion, and how they had indeed had a falling out with one another. His curiosity urges him to ask just what happened, and eventually he gives in. It does take him a moment though. A moment of looking off into the distance, then around, his ears flicking this way and that as different sounds come from different areas. "If you don't mind my asking miss, what exactly happened with that no good stallion you used ta' know?"
A little surprised that he would just come out and ask that question, Nukpana nevertheless answers it with. "After my mother died, he decided to kick me out of the herd and nobody else really cared to stop him. However, just before that I happened to go into heat, so he told me he loved me instead. Then he kicked me out of the herd," she explains quickly, seeming to gloss over the details so that she doesn't have to really think about what she's saying. Even so, by the time she's finished her tail is twisting at the memory and at the end she looks at Virgil, expecting him to be taken aback by her very open answer to that very personal question.
Virgil is in fact very surprised that she was so open about the question, but is also happy that she was as well. And from the sound of that stallion, he could imagine how upset and angry she would've been afterward. Had he been in her hooves, he would've gone back and killed that sorry excuse for a stallion. Shaking his head at her short story, he sighs and tilts his ears backward. "I'm very sorry you had to go through with such a thing, miss. Don't seem like you've done nothin' to deserve that kinda treatment." Scuffing at the ground, again he grins and continues on. "You didn't happen to go back and give that pile'a manure what for, have ya?"
The thought of finding him again and giving him what he deserved /had/ crossed Nukpana's mind, but, "Unfortunately, at the time I was too upset about my mother, and I'd wandered so far by the time I wasn't that I don't think I could find my way back. Which is just as well, because otherwise I have no reason to go back there." She flicks her tail again, but her anger already seems very reduced: she'd been prepared for Virgil to blame her for the whole thing - he wouldn't be the first stallion to do that.
There was nothing about her story that made Virgil feel as if /any/ of it were her fault, aside from the biological standpoint. In which case, it was still not her fault. That stallion was a real creep, and it it were at all possible he'd find him himself and give him a swift kick to the head. Maybe. At least, he'd feel like it. "Really is a shame that happened to ya, miss Nukpana. But on the bright side, it seems to've made you a strong mare?"
Well, it definitely did something to Nukpana, though 'strong' is probably not the right word for it. However, she seems vaguely pleased by Virgil's words, even though she merely snorts and says, "At the very least, that won't happen again." Quite possibly because she plans on never letting a stallion that close to her again, but regardless she is older and wiser for it. Her tail continues to twist because of her troubled thoughts, but at least they're not directed towards Virgil now, which must be refreshing. "Orion looks just like him," she suddenly comments, before falling silent again.
Angry was another word he could've used. Or moody. But neither of those were very good qualities. Strong was. So, strong was the word he chose. Simple, diplomatic and smart thinking on his part, if he did say so himself. "I'd certainly hope not." Virgil says, turning to his side and taking a few steps in another direction, wandering closer to some fresher grass and taking a bite of it. Clearly, he was still focused on grazing. At the mention of Orion again, he glances up at her and flits one ear back, again, because of a noise he'd heard. "Handsome fella then, I'll bet." He jokes, but turns serious again shortly thereafter. "Not little Orion's fault. He might look like 'im, don't mean he has ta act like 'im. The way I figure it, it's your job ta make sure that don't happen."
Nukpana glances in the general direction of her son and snorts at Virgil's joke; apparently she doesn't think much of either her son's or his father's appearance. She still wishes that he had inherited /something/ from her, appearance-wise; it would have helped, at least in what she finds attractive. The rest of what Virgil says seems to irritate her and she says, "Now you're sounding like Luna." Which she doesn't think that Luna really needed to say either: she knows that they're right, but putting that idea into practice just doesn't seem to be working for Nukpana.
Virgil has no problem speaking frankly with Nukpana. Whether or not Luna did, he had no idea. But, he went along with his gut anyway. Raising a brow, he shook his head and again rolled his eyes. "Then Luna's right too. You treat him like that stallion, then who's to say he won't end up like that stallion?" The logic there was simple enough, he felt. He could understand why she'd be upset with the innocent colt, though. A living reminder of those days and whatnot. Yeah, he understood, but Nukpana struck him as the sort strong enough to get over it eventually and just raise her son the proper way.
That question causes an uncertain tilt to Nukpana's ears as she tries to figure out just what Virgil meant by it. "I am, of course, making sure he learns a proper respect for mares," she answers finally, "If he does turn out like his father, at least he'll know it's wrong." Troubled, she starts to graze, both as a reason to not say more and as a neutral, everyday activity to calm herself; this conversation is bothering her in multiple ways.
"He seems like a bright little spitfire, I reckon he'll learn just fine." Ending his little shpeal there, he yet again continues to graze, through with the conversation about that stallion from Nukpana's previous herd. Virgil could tell that she was uncomfortable talking about it, to an extent. The last thing he wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable. So, for the time being, the grulla stallion stays quiet.
The discomfort that Nukpana feels on this subject isn't about her worries for how her colt will turn out as much as it is that she knows she ought to be treating him differently, but doesn't seem possible given how she feels about him and she hasn't been able to get past those feelings. It's also partially because she's a little disconcerted by how easy it is to talk to a stallion, of all things, about this sort of thing. o.O After a moment of being able to recollect her thoughts, Nukpana finally comments, "Well, it's just as well that I was driven out of that herd. I wouldn't have put it past them to have treated him the same way they treated me - this herd is much better for both of us." There, that ought to completely change the subject!
"Seems like a good herd to stick with, that's fer sure." He says boredly, still paying attention to her obviously, but quite intent on getting his fill of grass as well. Everyone else sure cared to get their fill, it seemed. Keeping his head low to the ground, Virgil pushes his ears forward, glancing up even as he continues to just graze. "Glad that you've seemed to find a comfortable spot here then, miss. Hate to see someone like you all stuck and melancholy-like in a herd that wasn't for her. Wouldn't suit ya in the least."
"I suppose so," Nukpana says, suddenly sounding just a little uncertain. She can't say one way or the other how much she likes being a part of this herd. The only thing she's certain about is that this is better than her birth herd, but... She shakes off that line of thought, grazing as she listens to the rest of what Virgil has to say, which causes her to snort, "No, that's not how it was at all..." She pauses as she considers ways she could more properly describe it. "I was a pariah in that herd," she says eventually, seeming to be satisfied with that description.
"A pa-what?" He asks, flicking his tail and giving her quite an odd look. The word itself was very perplexing, as he'd never heard it before. Must be an eastern thing, he figured. "Seems ta' me like you're keeping too much focus on the past, if you don't mind my sayin' so, miss." Or, even if she did mind him saying so. It was just the take he had on the situation, that's all. "Can't be good if you're thinkin' about it all the time. You don't seem like no pear-eye-ah here, whatever that is.."
"A pariah," Nukpana repeats before defining it, "An outcast, an undesirable, an outsider." She explains this with remarkably little emotion; simply stating a fact. "I grew to accept it, actually, though I'm glad my colt doesn't have to," she adds dispassionately. The comment regarding her living in the past gets an odd look from the large bay. "Perhaps I am," she admits pretty easily, "But I can't ignore my past either." She lowers her head to graze again, but seems far less troubled now. Apparently talking about her past herd isn't nearly as upsetting as talking about her son.
These wild horses seemed stranger to him by the day. A herd shouldn't have outcasts, he felt. Especially not one that one was born into. He didn't really care to know why she was an outcast though, not at the moment. His attention was placed mostly in his grazing, and he figured it was his turn to give her the cold shoulder for once. Raising his head and taking in a deep breath as a breeze slipped by, he swallowed his last bit of grass and then looked to her with a final bit of advice. "Can't live in the past, miss. Gotta move on at some point." Virgil's tone was still kind, but his look didn't much match it. He looked bored, tired, and somewhat frustrated. "Speakin' of movin' on, I've gotta stick to the edge of the herd and I'm afraid you're impedin' on that. Tryin' to get me kicked out?" He teases, but turns his back on her and begins to walk off anyway.
For whatever reason, the looks that Virgil has been giving her seem to amuse Nukpana a little. With a proud toss of her head, she says, "Well, I've /mostly/ moved on, at least. I'm a lead mare of a different herd now - one with no outcasts." She pauses for a moment and a smirk crosses her face before she adds, "Except for you, I suppose." Because the rules that Sirocco laid out for Virgil seem vaguely similar to the ones that she'd abided by during that time. She moves along herself, deciding to see if she can't find some good grazing that's closer to the other mares.