Post by avalikia on Jun 26, 2010 15:53:08 GMT -5
Characters:
Virgil - Male Horse
Nukpana - Female Horse
Setting:
Grassy Plains
----------------------------------------
It's been several days since Nukpana last bumped into Virgil, and during that time she's been very disturbed by just how often he's crept into her thoughts. Can she please go one day without wondering if he got himself killed? One day! But she's not thinking about him at the moment; instead she's simply enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping through her mane as she moves along at a quick canter. When she runs she feels almost as if she's putting that same amount of distance between herself and her problems. She does, of course, have to face them afterwards, but at least for awhile there she can feel as if they're too far away to worry about. The evening is getting old, and the stars are just coming out which means she'll probably want to head back soon; there's not going to be much of a moon tonight. But not just yet...
Even though he knew he shouldn't be here, Virgil's sense of urgency to head back west still hadn't kicked in. Instead, he decided to head back to the territory of the Dorado herd, for grazing or some other reason. He had a feeling that Sirocco wouldn't be around to kick him out or anything, so he felt pretty safe. The light grulla stallion makes his way through the grasses and taking bites at a few blades along the way. He hadn't grazed on /good/ grass in a few days. The stuff further south was far too dry for his taste, much like the stuff he was forced to eat on a daily basis back out west. He didn't miss that at all. Standing still for a moment, Virgil's amber eyes glance around, his ears catching sound of hoofbeats in the distance. But, given that he was on herd territory, that was par for the course, and he pretty much just ignored it.
While the sound of Virgil's presence are drowned out by her own hoofbeats, that doesn't make him any less visible when her feet carry her within sight of him. However, just before she would have spotted him, she instead sees something move in a clump of grass off to one side and suddenly sidesteps away from it almost purely by reflex. However, whatever spooked her must not have been dangerous because she just as abruptly turns back towards the clump of grass and gives it a few hard stomps. She pauses, sniffs, and then stomps at it again. Occupied with this, she fails to notice Virgil even though he's in full view of her now.
Now that Nukpana is basically right in front of him, he blinks in confusion when she starts to stomp at something. Letting out a soft sigh through his nostrils, he takes a few steps forward and bends his neck down to see what she was stomping at. "Somethin' buggin' ya miss?" He asks aloud, keeping his eyes on the grass instead of on her, not able to tell exactly what it was due to there being a great lack of light that particular evening.
It's also due to the small size of what's bothering her and the height of the grass it's in. She snorts angrily at it, as she gives it one last stomp for good measure before she suddenly whirls around when Virgil speaks. Having been caught off guard, she has to stop herself from attacking him too, but she quickly calms when she sees it's only him. Not that she's especially glad to see him, or anything. Snorting one more time, she answers him vaguely with, "Not any more." Rattled for multiple reasons, she turns and walks off a short ways, collecting herself. Within the clump of grass Virgil would find a very, very unfortunate snake. It's a small, harmless species that probably only needed to have been stomped once.
Looking mostly at the crushed snake in the grass, it takes a minute, but eventually Virgil smirks, and goes out of his way to step on it with a front hoof, and then a back hoof as well. With his back hoof, he grinds the now pulpy snake into the ground, and gives it a little scuff as well, probably flicking some of the remains into some surrounding grass. "Shame you weren't with me when I ran into a rattler. You stomped this thing into the ground, wonder what ya' woulda done with /that/." He says, and walks slowly behind her. The stallion didn't particularly mean to follow her around, it's just that he preferred talking as opposed to not talking.
Though her ears flick back for a moment when she's followed, Nukpana doesn't seem prepared to actually object to it. Instead she has the courtesy to actually respond to what he's talking about. "A rattler?" she says, with a little surprise, "If I ran into a rattler I'd have the good sense to leave the thing alone. Those things can kill you with just one bite, you know. I could probably kill it /before/ it bit me, but as you know I don't work on the basis of /probably/." She stops only after a few moments, just long enough for her double-startled heart to stop racing.
"Just a young'n, I think. Stayed it's distance, so did I." He says, nodding his head and remembering the odd little snake. "Saw one of them damned cougars, too. He weren't very big neither. Dunno what was with the youngsters hangin' out near there." Virgil muses with a little shake of his mane, and eventually looks back toward Nukpana. "So, miss. How ya been in the few days since I seen ya last? Stayin' outta trouble as usual, seems like. 'Cept fer talkin' to me, at least."
"You're lucky then," Nukpana's is all too quick to add, "The young ones are /worse/." And there were far too many of them living around the blood bay's birth herd for her to not know that much, especially since she was always on the fringes. "Went closer to the mountain, I'm guessing?" she adds, her tone clearly indicating that she thinks he's an idiot, if so. His question bring a snort that roughly translates into 'of course', though she has to add, "You? You're not any trouble. And what are you doing /here/ anyway?"
"Luck ain't got nothin' to do with it, miss." He says, bending down quickly and taking another bite of the comparatively much greener, much fresher and much tastier grass than further south or west combined. "I didn't bother it, it didn't bother me." A flick of his bi-colored tail, and Virgil looks up to the sky again, not bothering to suppress a yawn that'd been much overdue. He hadn't slept in a while, either. Here was safer to do that. Not all by himself, in the southern reaches of the land. "Yeah, just a bit closer. Glad I did, too. The view's really somethin' up there. I could see clear across this field right here from up there." Grinning at the thought of the nice panoramic view, Virgil takes a sidestep away from Nukpana, and turns away as well, focused for the moment on grazing. "Better grass down here."
Her expression is passive as she listens to his answers to her questions, waiting until he's finished before she gives a small smirk. "I don't know whether to call you bold or reckless," she mutters, just as unable to decide whether to be impressed or pity him. It would all depend on whether he's remaining unscathed due to skill or luck. "I /should/ be getting Sirocco to tell him you're here," she adds after a moment, "He /did/ officially kick you out, you know."
Tilting one ear back to listen to her, Virgil gives a short burst of laughter, and swishes his tail around boredly. "Guess a little bit'a both. Mostly reckless though, I reckon. Ain't got much of a reason to be goin' up there, much less after ya' told me what's up there. Did it anyway though." At the mention of Sirocco, the grulla gives a snort, and turns back around, chewing up a little bit of grass still. "So why don'tcha?" He asks, giving her a serious look. "Tell him of all the trouble I'm causin' by getting my belly full 'fore a bit of rest?"
At the first answer Nukpana's eyes narrow and a thoughtful expression crosses her face. Just what kind of a horse /is/ this stallion, anyway? But her thoughts are quickly distracted from that at his next response. Rolling her eyes, she shakes her head and says, "That's hardly something to be bothered about this time of year." After all, what he's eating now will surely grow back by late fall when the amount of grass left will matter. "Maybe I just don't want to see him bash your head in," she adds.
"Well then. I think I'll make myself at home for the night. I don't see him anywhere, and if I do, I'll just come back later." He says, completely casual about it. So what if he was given the boot? Rules and borders didn't really mean anything to Virgil. At least, not when he didn't care for the thing making the rules and borders. In this case, he definitely didn't. "I don't think I'd like that either miss. Which is why I'm glad he's not around, as usual." Taking another bite of grass, he lets out another sigh through his nostrils, and shifts his weight to a more comfortable position on the level ground. Something he's not so used to after traveling up and downhill for a few days. "So, why's a mare like you keep a big ol' brute like that around?"
Snorting and shaking her mane, Nukpana's ears twitch oddly as she dryly comments with no little sarcasm as she comments, "Yes, by all means, make yourself at home." To a point, Nukpana actually agrees with Virgil's view on rules and borders. She doesn't like them being applied to her, but she loves having them enforced on others so she follows them just enough to avoid being accused of hypocrisy. "You seem to expect him to be all places at once, huh?" she asks, with a shake of her mane, "But I'm guessing you have a low opinion of responsibility, so you're one to talk." That last question actually causes a thoughtful pause before she nods and answers, "Because the other mares like having a stallion around and he leaves me alone. If it was purely up to me he'd be gone. Even /if/ I cared to have a stallion around he's as boring as heck."
Grinning in his smart-aleck way, Virgil is obviously just amused by her sarcasm. "Don't mind if I do, then." He says, and takes a few more steps away from her, not wanting to intrude too much on her space. No, he'll just do like he was expected to before and stay at the fringes, but he'll graze to his heart's; or stomach's rather, content. "I don't expect him to be everywhere at once. Just expect him to be with the herd most'a the time. But whatta I know." He says half-heartedly. True, he didn't know much about the politics of the herd. The consequence of not being socially adept with feral horses. "Ain't his fault he's boring. Too big to do much, I'll bet. Can't keep up with anythin'." This little insult was more meant as a joke to himself, but finally Virgil lifts his head and looks back at Nukpana. "You're one of the lead mares, figure it's yer' call to decide if you want him around 'er not. But good on ya' for being a bit.. self sacrificial for the good of the little'ns. And that old one too."
Indeed it's true that Virgil doesn't know much; Nukpana, on the other hoof, can appreciate all the work that Sirocco does even though she doesn't think it's very necessary in her particular case. But the rest of the herd, especially the youngsters and Luna, definitely benefit and she sees that. Though Nukpana gives Virgil an odd look as he comments further on Sirocco's size, he's actually hitting the nail right on the head; Sirocco is far too quiet and mellow for a mare as highly strung as Nukpana. And she looks rather flattered as Virgil brings up her self-sacrifice; nobody quite appreciates how much she detests having Sirocco around, and how good of her it is to allow him to stick around. "Well, it's the price I pay for wanting my son to grow up in the safety of a herd," she says gruffly in her version of humility.
At the mention of her son, the colt he'd only met once, maybe twice; he can't even remember, Virgil flicks his ears forward and his smile fades just a bit, more focused on the grass than on anything else. "For what that other fella' did to ya; Orion's daddy. Lotta folks wouldn't blame ya for just leavin' 'im wherever he popped out. Snack for the coyotes and other critters." Again, he interrupts his speech to get another mouthful of grass. After a moment of chewing, he lifts his head, but looks out straight to the opposite direction of Nukpana. "Mighty decent of ya keepin' him around, 'specially in a herd with all these precautions and whatnot."
The large mare visibly goes tense at the mere thought of her son's father, but as Virgil continues she slowly relaxes again. That's right, this stallion is actually very understanding about that; she'd nearly forgotten that conversation among all that's happened since. "Hmm," is Nukpana's first response as she thinks about how Luna would /definitely/ have blamed her for doing that. But what does that old mare know? She's sure that even Luna would have at least considered abandoning him herself if it'd happened to her. The last part causes her to toss her head, however, "This herd isn't any different than my birth herd that way. If you'd ever been attacked by a pack of wolves, you'd see how it's all perfectly necessary. We don't count on luck to see us through, unlike some." At that last part her eyes flick over to Virgil because, yes, she's talking about him.
"What're ya suggestin', that luck's on my side?" He asks, finally turning around to look at her, though he doesn't look to pleased with that, what he considers to be, an accusation. "At times, I s'pose. Didn't get shot down with my owner. Didn't get chased by anythin' on my way here.. other'n that, luck ain't had nothin' to do with me." Virgil's tone is serious, and kind of rough sounding this time around. "I ain't got the survival skills that you ferals do, but I've done well so far and I'm learnin'." Tilting his ears back, his smirk finally returns. "Just you wait, miss. I'll have my own herd 'fore long."
Coming from Nukpana, saying that someone is lucky is definitely an accusation. In her mind those who are honestly skilled at something don't /need/ luck; lucky horses are those who manage to succeed despite the fact that they aren't very skilled. And, having seen no evidence that Virgil has any skills while assuming he probably doesn't have them thanks to his origins, the blood bay can only tilt her ears skeptically at his claims. The last part, in particular, causes a snort. "So are you going to find some elderly herd stallion to beat up, or do you think that mares will just be naturally drawn to your charm?" she asks with a raised eyebrow, assuming he's talking about a herd of mares. After all, she's never really met a stallion who didn't have mares as his main goal in some form or another.
"Well, I don't rightly know just yet. Whichever comes first, I guess." He says, grinning as usual. In fact, his goal was more to form a band of stallions. His owner's gang had been a bunch of men, and most of the horses were stallions or geldings. It was just more comfortable to him than to have to play nice all the time with a bunch of mares. It was just what he was more used to. "Thinkin' more along the lines of some other stallions ta maybe cause a fuss somewhere else. Something more excitin' than this, anyway." He says, and shrugs.
The first part, naturally, produces an extremely dramatic eyeroll from Nukpana. She's of the opinion that Virgil would have to find an unusually weak herd stallion in order to beat one since they are rarely bad fighters, and she's skeptical about this stallion's ability to charm mares. When he clarifies what he meant, however, her ears perk in interest. Well, that actually /does/ sound more plausible, she must admit. Seeming to consider the idea for a moment, she finally nods and says, "Well, at least you're finally starting to think like a horse." She has no idea how he'll take that, but at least to her it's a positive thing.
"That's a good thing, I reckon. Better'n thinkin' like a human out in these parts." The grulla takes a look back to the sky, and notes the absence of the moon. Or rather, the moonlight. "Hmm." He says, and gives his head a tilt, but otherwise doesn't say anything about it. Of course, he's got thoughts of the gang roaming through his mind still. It'd been a while since he'd talked about it, and he doesn't plan on it in front of Nukpana. Flicking his tail again, a few more steps are taken away from the mare.
It's probably best that Virgil doesn't bring up his humans again, given how deep Nukpana's bias against them runs. She'd take his talking about them as a sign that he's been thinking about them, and his thinking about them as a sign that he's planning on doing something involving them. None of which is good. "I wonder how a human would fare out here without all their... stuff," she says, not quite knowing how to sum up all their tools, equipment, and other... stuff. She, of course, is immune to the not-bringing up humans rule because she's a known human-hater. However, that's an idle thought and not an attempt to continue the conversation because she soon turns back towards the herd and notes, "If Sirocco finds you here... well, just because I'm not going to tattle on you doesn't mean I'd make him go easy on you."
Glancing to her again with ears tilted back, cautious of how she speaks about the humans, he blinks and chuckles. "They'd fare better'n any wild animal, that's for sure. They got somethin' for everythin'." Her next comment makes him turn all the way around to face her, and he gives her another amused look. "Well, he'd have to catch me first, miss. Given how huge he is, I doubt if he'd be able to. Thanks for the concern, though."
To say that Nukpana is skeptical about a human's chances in the wild without their stuff is actually putting it a bit lightly. Sure they're supposed to be amazingly clever, but she knows that cleverness only gets you so far. But she indicates her disagreement with a snort and a shake of her head. She chuckles a little at how he responded to the next part, adding only, "Just giving you fair warning," before she trots off. She actually believes that Virgil could evade an attack by Sirocco just as much as she believes that Sirocco would win if he tried to stand and fight, simply because of their respective builds. Trouble is, she doesn't admire the ability to evade very much.
Virgil - Male Horse
Nukpana - Female Horse
Setting:
Grassy Plains
----------------------------------------
It's been several days since Nukpana last bumped into Virgil, and during that time she's been very disturbed by just how often he's crept into her thoughts. Can she please go one day without wondering if he got himself killed? One day! But she's not thinking about him at the moment; instead she's simply enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping through her mane as she moves along at a quick canter. When she runs she feels almost as if she's putting that same amount of distance between herself and her problems. She does, of course, have to face them afterwards, but at least for awhile there she can feel as if they're too far away to worry about. The evening is getting old, and the stars are just coming out which means she'll probably want to head back soon; there's not going to be much of a moon tonight. But not just yet...
Even though he knew he shouldn't be here, Virgil's sense of urgency to head back west still hadn't kicked in. Instead, he decided to head back to the territory of the Dorado herd, for grazing or some other reason. He had a feeling that Sirocco wouldn't be around to kick him out or anything, so he felt pretty safe. The light grulla stallion makes his way through the grasses and taking bites at a few blades along the way. He hadn't grazed on /good/ grass in a few days. The stuff further south was far too dry for his taste, much like the stuff he was forced to eat on a daily basis back out west. He didn't miss that at all. Standing still for a moment, Virgil's amber eyes glance around, his ears catching sound of hoofbeats in the distance. But, given that he was on herd territory, that was par for the course, and he pretty much just ignored it.
While the sound of Virgil's presence are drowned out by her own hoofbeats, that doesn't make him any less visible when her feet carry her within sight of him. However, just before she would have spotted him, she instead sees something move in a clump of grass off to one side and suddenly sidesteps away from it almost purely by reflex. However, whatever spooked her must not have been dangerous because she just as abruptly turns back towards the clump of grass and gives it a few hard stomps. She pauses, sniffs, and then stomps at it again. Occupied with this, she fails to notice Virgil even though he's in full view of her now.
Now that Nukpana is basically right in front of him, he blinks in confusion when she starts to stomp at something. Letting out a soft sigh through his nostrils, he takes a few steps forward and bends his neck down to see what she was stomping at. "Somethin' buggin' ya miss?" He asks aloud, keeping his eyes on the grass instead of on her, not able to tell exactly what it was due to there being a great lack of light that particular evening.
It's also due to the small size of what's bothering her and the height of the grass it's in. She snorts angrily at it, as she gives it one last stomp for good measure before she suddenly whirls around when Virgil speaks. Having been caught off guard, she has to stop herself from attacking him too, but she quickly calms when she sees it's only him. Not that she's especially glad to see him, or anything. Snorting one more time, she answers him vaguely with, "Not any more." Rattled for multiple reasons, she turns and walks off a short ways, collecting herself. Within the clump of grass Virgil would find a very, very unfortunate snake. It's a small, harmless species that probably only needed to have been stomped once.
Looking mostly at the crushed snake in the grass, it takes a minute, but eventually Virgil smirks, and goes out of his way to step on it with a front hoof, and then a back hoof as well. With his back hoof, he grinds the now pulpy snake into the ground, and gives it a little scuff as well, probably flicking some of the remains into some surrounding grass. "Shame you weren't with me when I ran into a rattler. You stomped this thing into the ground, wonder what ya' woulda done with /that/." He says, and walks slowly behind her. The stallion didn't particularly mean to follow her around, it's just that he preferred talking as opposed to not talking.
Though her ears flick back for a moment when she's followed, Nukpana doesn't seem prepared to actually object to it. Instead she has the courtesy to actually respond to what he's talking about. "A rattler?" she says, with a little surprise, "If I ran into a rattler I'd have the good sense to leave the thing alone. Those things can kill you with just one bite, you know. I could probably kill it /before/ it bit me, but as you know I don't work on the basis of /probably/." She stops only after a few moments, just long enough for her double-startled heart to stop racing.
"Just a young'n, I think. Stayed it's distance, so did I." He says, nodding his head and remembering the odd little snake. "Saw one of them damned cougars, too. He weren't very big neither. Dunno what was with the youngsters hangin' out near there." Virgil muses with a little shake of his mane, and eventually looks back toward Nukpana. "So, miss. How ya been in the few days since I seen ya last? Stayin' outta trouble as usual, seems like. 'Cept fer talkin' to me, at least."
"You're lucky then," Nukpana's is all too quick to add, "The young ones are /worse/." And there were far too many of them living around the blood bay's birth herd for her to not know that much, especially since she was always on the fringes. "Went closer to the mountain, I'm guessing?" she adds, her tone clearly indicating that she thinks he's an idiot, if so. His question bring a snort that roughly translates into 'of course', though she has to add, "You? You're not any trouble. And what are you doing /here/ anyway?"
"Luck ain't got nothin' to do with it, miss." He says, bending down quickly and taking another bite of the comparatively much greener, much fresher and much tastier grass than further south or west combined. "I didn't bother it, it didn't bother me." A flick of his bi-colored tail, and Virgil looks up to the sky again, not bothering to suppress a yawn that'd been much overdue. He hadn't slept in a while, either. Here was safer to do that. Not all by himself, in the southern reaches of the land. "Yeah, just a bit closer. Glad I did, too. The view's really somethin' up there. I could see clear across this field right here from up there." Grinning at the thought of the nice panoramic view, Virgil takes a sidestep away from Nukpana, and turns away as well, focused for the moment on grazing. "Better grass down here."
Her expression is passive as she listens to his answers to her questions, waiting until he's finished before she gives a small smirk. "I don't know whether to call you bold or reckless," she mutters, just as unable to decide whether to be impressed or pity him. It would all depend on whether he's remaining unscathed due to skill or luck. "I /should/ be getting Sirocco to tell him you're here," she adds after a moment, "He /did/ officially kick you out, you know."
Tilting one ear back to listen to her, Virgil gives a short burst of laughter, and swishes his tail around boredly. "Guess a little bit'a both. Mostly reckless though, I reckon. Ain't got much of a reason to be goin' up there, much less after ya' told me what's up there. Did it anyway though." At the mention of Sirocco, the grulla gives a snort, and turns back around, chewing up a little bit of grass still. "So why don'tcha?" He asks, giving her a serious look. "Tell him of all the trouble I'm causin' by getting my belly full 'fore a bit of rest?"
At the first answer Nukpana's eyes narrow and a thoughtful expression crosses her face. Just what kind of a horse /is/ this stallion, anyway? But her thoughts are quickly distracted from that at his next response. Rolling her eyes, she shakes her head and says, "That's hardly something to be bothered about this time of year." After all, what he's eating now will surely grow back by late fall when the amount of grass left will matter. "Maybe I just don't want to see him bash your head in," she adds.
"Well then. I think I'll make myself at home for the night. I don't see him anywhere, and if I do, I'll just come back later." He says, completely casual about it. So what if he was given the boot? Rules and borders didn't really mean anything to Virgil. At least, not when he didn't care for the thing making the rules and borders. In this case, he definitely didn't. "I don't think I'd like that either miss. Which is why I'm glad he's not around, as usual." Taking another bite of grass, he lets out another sigh through his nostrils, and shifts his weight to a more comfortable position on the level ground. Something he's not so used to after traveling up and downhill for a few days. "So, why's a mare like you keep a big ol' brute like that around?"
Snorting and shaking her mane, Nukpana's ears twitch oddly as she dryly comments with no little sarcasm as she comments, "Yes, by all means, make yourself at home." To a point, Nukpana actually agrees with Virgil's view on rules and borders. She doesn't like them being applied to her, but she loves having them enforced on others so she follows them just enough to avoid being accused of hypocrisy. "You seem to expect him to be all places at once, huh?" she asks, with a shake of her mane, "But I'm guessing you have a low opinion of responsibility, so you're one to talk." That last question actually causes a thoughtful pause before she nods and answers, "Because the other mares like having a stallion around and he leaves me alone. If it was purely up to me he'd be gone. Even /if/ I cared to have a stallion around he's as boring as heck."
Grinning in his smart-aleck way, Virgil is obviously just amused by her sarcasm. "Don't mind if I do, then." He says, and takes a few more steps away from her, not wanting to intrude too much on her space. No, he'll just do like he was expected to before and stay at the fringes, but he'll graze to his heart's; or stomach's rather, content. "I don't expect him to be everywhere at once. Just expect him to be with the herd most'a the time. But whatta I know." He says half-heartedly. True, he didn't know much about the politics of the herd. The consequence of not being socially adept with feral horses. "Ain't his fault he's boring. Too big to do much, I'll bet. Can't keep up with anythin'." This little insult was more meant as a joke to himself, but finally Virgil lifts his head and looks back at Nukpana. "You're one of the lead mares, figure it's yer' call to decide if you want him around 'er not. But good on ya' for being a bit.. self sacrificial for the good of the little'ns. And that old one too."
Indeed it's true that Virgil doesn't know much; Nukpana, on the other hoof, can appreciate all the work that Sirocco does even though she doesn't think it's very necessary in her particular case. But the rest of the herd, especially the youngsters and Luna, definitely benefit and she sees that. Though Nukpana gives Virgil an odd look as he comments further on Sirocco's size, he's actually hitting the nail right on the head; Sirocco is far too quiet and mellow for a mare as highly strung as Nukpana. And she looks rather flattered as Virgil brings up her self-sacrifice; nobody quite appreciates how much she detests having Sirocco around, and how good of her it is to allow him to stick around. "Well, it's the price I pay for wanting my son to grow up in the safety of a herd," she says gruffly in her version of humility.
At the mention of her son, the colt he'd only met once, maybe twice; he can't even remember, Virgil flicks his ears forward and his smile fades just a bit, more focused on the grass than on anything else. "For what that other fella' did to ya; Orion's daddy. Lotta folks wouldn't blame ya for just leavin' 'im wherever he popped out. Snack for the coyotes and other critters." Again, he interrupts his speech to get another mouthful of grass. After a moment of chewing, he lifts his head, but looks out straight to the opposite direction of Nukpana. "Mighty decent of ya keepin' him around, 'specially in a herd with all these precautions and whatnot."
The large mare visibly goes tense at the mere thought of her son's father, but as Virgil continues she slowly relaxes again. That's right, this stallion is actually very understanding about that; she'd nearly forgotten that conversation among all that's happened since. "Hmm," is Nukpana's first response as she thinks about how Luna would /definitely/ have blamed her for doing that. But what does that old mare know? She's sure that even Luna would have at least considered abandoning him herself if it'd happened to her. The last part causes her to toss her head, however, "This herd isn't any different than my birth herd that way. If you'd ever been attacked by a pack of wolves, you'd see how it's all perfectly necessary. We don't count on luck to see us through, unlike some." At that last part her eyes flick over to Virgil because, yes, she's talking about him.
"What're ya suggestin', that luck's on my side?" He asks, finally turning around to look at her, though he doesn't look to pleased with that, what he considers to be, an accusation. "At times, I s'pose. Didn't get shot down with my owner. Didn't get chased by anythin' on my way here.. other'n that, luck ain't had nothin' to do with me." Virgil's tone is serious, and kind of rough sounding this time around. "I ain't got the survival skills that you ferals do, but I've done well so far and I'm learnin'." Tilting his ears back, his smirk finally returns. "Just you wait, miss. I'll have my own herd 'fore long."
Coming from Nukpana, saying that someone is lucky is definitely an accusation. In her mind those who are honestly skilled at something don't /need/ luck; lucky horses are those who manage to succeed despite the fact that they aren't very skilled. And, having seen no evidence that Virgil has any skills while assuming he probably doesn't have them thanks to his origins, the blood bay can only tilt her ears skeptically at his claims. The last part, in particular, causes a snort. "So are you going to find some elderly herd stallion to beat up, or do you think that mares will just be naturally drawn to your charm?" she asks with a raised eyebrow, assuming he's talking about a herd of mares. After all, she's never really met a stallion who didn't have mares as his main goal in some form or another.
"Well, I don't rightly know just yet. Whichever comes first, I guess." He says, grinning as usual. In fact, his goal was more to form a band of stallions. His owner's gang had been a bunch of men, and most of the horses were stallions or geldings. It was just more comfortable to him than to have to play nice all the time with a bunch of mares. It was just what he was more used to. "Thinkin' more along the lines of some other stallions ta maybe cause a fuss somewhere else. Something more excitin' than this, anyway." He says, and shrugs.
The first part, naturally, produces an extremely dramatic eyeroll from Nukpana. She's of the opinion that Virgil would have to find an unusually weak herd stallion in order to beat one since they are rarely bad fighters, and she's skeptical about this stallion's ability to charm mares. When he clarifies what he meant, however, her ears perk in interest. Well, that actually /does/ sound more plausible, she must admit. Seeming to consider the idea for a moment, she finally nods and says, "Well, at least you're finally starting to think like a horse." She has no idea how he'll take that, but at least to her it's a positive thing.
"That's a good thing, I reckon. Better'n thinkin' like a human out in these parts." The grulla takes a look back to the sky, and notes the absence of the moon. Or rather, the moonlight. "Hmm." He says, and gives his head a tilt, but otherwise doesn't say anything about it. Of course, he's got thoughts of the gang roaming through his mind still. It'd been a while since he'd talked about it, and he doesn't plan on it in front of Nukpana. Flicking his tail again, a few more steps are taken away from the mare.
It's probably best that Virgil doesn't bring up his humans again, given how deep Nukpana's bias against them runs. She'd take his talking about them as a sign that he's been thinking about them, and his thinking about them as a sign that he's planning on doing something involving them. None of which is good. "I wonder how a human would fare out here without all their... stuff," she says, not quite knowing how to sum up all their tools, equipment, and other... stuff. She, of course, is immune to the not-bringing up humans rule because she's a known human-hater. However, that's an idle thought and not an attempt to continue the conversation because she soon turns back towards the herd and notes, "If Sirocco finds you here... well, just because I'm not going to tattle on you doesn't mean I'd make him go easy on you."
Glancing to her again with ears tilted back, cautious of how she speaks about the humans, he blinks and chuckles. "They'd fare better'n any wild animal, that's for sure. They got somethin' for everythin'." Her next comment makes him turn all the way around to face her, and he gives her another amused look. "Well, he'd have to catch me first, miss. Given how huge he is, I doubt if he'd be able to. Thanks for the concern, though."
To say that Nukpana is skeptical about a human's chances in the wild without their stuff is actually putting it a bit lightly. Sure they're supposed to be amazingly clever, but she knows that cleverness only gets you so far. But she indicates her disagreement with a snort and a shake of her head. She chuckles a little at how he responded to the next part, adding only, "Just giving you fair warning," before she trots off. She actually believes that Virgil could evade an attack by Sirocco just as much as she believes that Sirocco would win if he tried to stand and fight, simply because of their respective builds. Trouble is, she doesn't admire the ability to evade very much.