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 Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:38 am
The blue stallion sighed, shook himself and nodded. "Sure, tha's fine. ...Thanks." He was probably being really miserable company for the black-designed Shrila but he couldn't summon the energy to make small-talk; he was bad at that to begin with. Snorting softly, the Ichsa shifted himself until the tree root was no longer digging into his person and offered Milo a half smile. "Sorry, 'm not goin' t' be very interestin' company for y'... 'opefully the darn thing'll 'atch soon an then y' can get on after Sonata."
Hopefully he could be off not long after the Shrila; he didn't fancy hanging around where the crossbreed could find him easily. He'd just have to hope the foal learned to run quickly, he supposed. Perhaps, the silver-marked stallion considered darkly, it was at times like this that being a part of a herd paid off. Oh well, there wasn't any help for it and in all honesty he wouldn't make the trade if if he had the choice. Too many costs associated with it, far too many.
"I'll be leavin' 'ere as soon as I can too," the blue-eyed creature went on with a nod, "heading to Qurine... If y' like I can give y' directions t' my cave in case y' don' find Sonata, I might've 'erd from 'er if you don', yea?" It was hardly equal repayment for what Milo was doing for him, but it was the best he could offer right now so it would have to suffice.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:50 am
The little Shrila offered a soft smile, stretching out his wings a bit to get rid of the stiffness in them. Maurice didn't seem overjoyed, he didn't seem all that happy, but he wasn't angry and that was what mattered. Milo could understand the unhappiness, knowing it wasn't caused by his staying but by things he hadn't witnessed, things he had nothing to do with. He could only imagine the sheer, indescribable horror at returning to find your new mate dead. The thought made him shiver a bit. "You're welcome, Maurice," he said with a warm smile. He knew he probably wouldn't be able to do terribly much if the crossbreed returned; he wasn't big enough to knock him over, his kicks weren't powerful enough to knock off his balance, but... He made due with what abilities he had. Namely his claws, wings, and speed in the air.
"Sounds like a good plan," he said with a nod as he listened to the blue stallion's ideas to leave as soon as possible. "I think I'll head to Quirne, either alone or with you, if your foal learns fairly quickly. If I can't find her there, I'll head on up to Ryuten, and if I still can't find her I'll probably make a little trip to her tree in Shrilal then come back here." He reached up and itched at an annoying spot on the top of his head as he thought. "If, by any chance, Sonata comes your way while I'm gone - would you mind having her stay? I'll return to the ocean to visit every so often, anyway, so if she were to stay there it would hasten our reunion," he suggested, the latter thought bringing a smile to his face.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:55 pm
The blue-eyed stallion made an effort to return the smile and more or less managed it. “Sure, I offered t’ ‘elp ‘er find a cave of ‘er own after I got back from takin’ Bastet t’ ‘er herd anyways but... Well, I kinda got distracted hangin’ out with Lessie.” He gave a real smile this time, albeit a lopsided one. “She was a very diverting person,” he said with a snort and a shake of his head, “mad as y’ please an with more energy than a Caris pup.” Odd though it felt to think it, the blue stallion had a feeling that, before long, he would almost always smile like that when he remembered her rather than feeling sad that she was gone. Nobody he cared about had ever died before so he didn’t know, but the black-horned creature had a feeling that this was the way things were supposed to be.
“Still,” the tendril-winged creature went on with a nod, “as I say, I’ll be ‘eaded t’ my cave. It’s closer to Yisi than t’ the red mountains an it’s jus’ a bit west of this stack of rock split off from the cliffs. First cave y’ come to after that. With luck, if this thing hurrys up an-”
It was at this point that the blue and brown fruit parted company from the branch and landed heavily on its sire causing the skinny stallion to give a whinny of surprise and to leap to his hooves. Once his heart had slowed a little, he prodded the plumed thing uncertainly with a hoof and muttered; “smart-arse,” in a distracted manner.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:15 pm
Ah, there we go, a real smile. Lessie, her name was? "Such a pretty name," he commented with a nod and a grin, flicking his black tufted tail. He couldn't help but chuckle at Maurice's description of the mare, though nodded at his words of the cave. He opened his beak to comment once more, but at that instant his eyes flitted to the fruit as it fell. It was mildly surprising, but he nearly had a heart attack when Maurice whinnied and jumped up. As it was, he had leapt back and had clambered into the nearest tree in an instant.
Looks like he wouldn't need to go back to Ryuten for more food. Oh well; perhaps they'd share what he'd brought for Maurice, and then the foal would be ready to head to Quirne?
The foal; the thought was rather exciting. He hadn't seen an actual birth in so long, not since Sonata's, and after the initial wave of surprise passed he beamed down at the fruit and its sire. He couldn't help but chuckle at Maurice's muttered comment. "It must have gotten sick of being told to hurry up," he chirped, clambering easily onto a lower branch of someone's tree -- no one he knew -- to get a better look.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:54 pm
“Somethin’ like that,” the blue stallion muttered reflexively, lowering his muzzle to peer more closely at the fallen fruit. Were you supposed to do something or-? The side of the fruit distended somewhat and the skinny Ichsa jerked his nose back to a safe distance. It seemed as though his offspring was determined to beat him up before he or she had even got around to hatching. After that sudden burst of movement, the surface to the fruit began to twist and bulge as, presumably, its occupant looked for a way out. Some moments later, a silvery-white horn pierced the skin of the fruit at one end. For a couple of heartbeats there was stillness again but then the foal within the fruit twisted itself about and the cocoon split down the center.
It was a colt, predominately a sort of brindled brown with with a thick blue patch from its shoulders to its rump and mane and tail of the same hue. The small creature blinked bright blue eyes at the face of his sire and promptly head butted the stallion square in the face.
Maurice yelped and pulled backwards, giving the tiwggy-limbed foal a disapproving look. “Well love you too, y’ little ‘orror,” he said with a snort of amusement. “Lesson one; that thing on y’ ‘ead there, that’s sharp.” He poked the colt in the flank with his own horn to prove the point, extracting a high whinny of what sounded distinctly like amusement from the foal. “Yea, haha I’m sure,” Maurice sighed, “y’ve y’ mother’s sense of humor already there, haven’t y’ Spyke?” Spyke. Well it seemed like a fitting name to him after that little display and it was probably the sort of name every colt wanted and most stallions secretly wanted so that was fine too.
Still, little horror or not he had to admit that the colt was perfect. His eyes were bright, all limbs were present and the colt, Spyke, was clearly very alert, sharp in more ways than one and showed no signs of weakness from a lack of nutrients. He didn’t think he’d ever loved anything so much in his life, even Lestra, even the ocean. The colt was perfect, his perfect son no matter how much of a little terror he was already.
“Well?” the tendril-winged Ichsa gave his son another prod after a few moments of stillness on both their parts, “y’ got anything t’ say f’ y’self?” When were foals meant to start talking? He thought he remembered doing it right away, but his memory was so bad that far back that he couldn’t be entirely sure.
Spyke grinned, whinnied again and, scrambling to his hooves, butted his father in the shoulder. Apparently he didn’t have anything much to say for himself as yet, but he was certainly taking a perverse pleasure in poking his father as much as possible.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:08 pm
Milo watched with bated breath as the foal freed himself from his fruit, and thereafter offered Maurice a broad grin. "He's a gorgeous little thing, Maurice," he offered, studying the colors and features of the--
Oh dear.
Not even a full minute, and already the colt had taken quite a liking to prodding his father with his little horn. Little or not, it was a sharp thing. Thankfully, he'd waited to hop down, so he instead made himself a bit more comfortable in whoever's birth place he was currently inhabiting. "Little bundle of energy, he is," he couldn't help but snort as the colt headbutted his sire's shoulder. "It takes 'em a bit to speak, though. Sometimes they catch a few words within the first hour or so, but others, like Sonata, don't speak much at all for days." Hopefully that was helpful but, if not, oh well. He was quite sure that the little horror, as Maurice had nicknamed his first son, would begin speaking soon. Well, perhaps not; he just seemed like the type who had so much energy, they needed to rid themselves of it in any way possible. Apparently, one of those ways was prodding one's sire as many times as possible.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:35 pm
Having apparently investigated his father enough for the time being the colt trot-stumbled over to Milo, keeping on his hooves without too much trouble but lacking real coordination as yet. As he reached the Shrila, Spyke grinned and sniffed at the predominately white creature. He did not however attempt to head butt him. This, the young creature fuzzily decided, was a treatment reserved for the stallion called Maurice who was... father wasn’t the right word. Dad, that was it.
Giving another whinny, the small colt gamboled back over to the creature now labeled Dad and nipped at his left hock before darting away to escape retribution. This was fun... and he was hungry. Spotting a pair of baskets of round things that his brain told him were called apples, he trotted over and pulled one out of the basket before proceeding to munch away at it. It was very tasty indeed, a good first meal for sure.
Maurice, remembering Milo was there only when the Shrila spoke, sent the other adult creature a huge grin. “He is, isn’ ‘e? Evil little thing though,” he added as his hock was nipped. Snorting to himself, he mock-kicked in the colt's general direction which sent the boy skittering off again. “I can see this bein’ kinda exhausting,” the silver marked Ichsa commented as his son set about devouring an apple. Deciding that he’d left it long enough to have something else to eat himself, the thin Ichsa plodded over to stand next to his excitable offspring and picked out and apple for himself. Spyke promptly decided that the apple his father had was better than his own and Maurice allowed him to swap without fuss.
“Twit,” Maurice commented without rancor as the colt shoved him out of the way to switch back again.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:50 pm
The Shrila couldn't help but grin as he laughed at the little thing, and once he was sure he wouldn't be Spyke's next head-butting target, allowed himself to drop down to the ground below the trees. He trotted closer and plopped down beside the baskets, offering Spyke a tentative pat on the whithers. "He's a rambunctious little thing," he noted with amusement. Of course, any apple Maurice had would be better than Spyke's and was therefore worth pilfering.
"He'll calm down a bit and you can rest while he's sleeping. Hopefully," he added as an afterthought with a chuckle. "Some of them don't like to sleep, and sometimes they won't be asleep for long. I don't know how much you know about foals, though, but that's the majority of what I can recall." Hopefully it was helpful.
"D'you think my apple would be better than his, if I were to try and have one?" He asked curiously with an amused grin, reaching over and picking up an apple to see what the colt would do about it. Perhaps he'd ignore it, or perhaps he'd deem Milo's apple better and try to take it, as he'd done to Maurice. Such a silly thing, this boy was.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:10 pm
Spyke, who was becoming more and more aware of himself as time passed, was not entirely sure he liked being discussed. As such, he stuck his tongue out at Milo and nipped the nearest portion of Maurice’s anatomy, which happened to be his neck. This done he beat the little strands which stuck out from his flanks a few times and went back to his apple with a snort of affronted pride.
The blue stallion winced slightly at the nipping; he had a feeling he was going to have to get used to this rough treatment and probably to respond in kind. After watching the colt for a moment or two, the stallion deuced that he was a bit peeved and after a moment or two more he figured out why this might be. Grinning sheepishly, he nipped at his son’s withers. “Sorry, we’re talkin’ over y’ are we?” Bright boy, probably brighter than he’d been at that stage; he’d looked up from his apple again with a distinctly calculating air about him before giving a snort and a nod and going back to his food.
Maurice chuckled to himself and looked back at Milo. “Honestly, I know nothin’ about foals at all but ‘m sure I’ll pick it up as I go, hu Spyke?”
The colt whickered in a friendly manner and brushed a wing over the skinny blue stallion’s foreleg.
“So then,” Maurice went on with a smile, “before you decided t’ join us, Milo an’ I were talkin’ about goin’ t’ Qurine. Y’ think y’ ready t’ travel?” He hoped so, the sooner they were away from here the better even if it did mean leaving the apples. They could always pass them on to another new family, he supposed.
This however was a bridge too far for the colt’s shaky understanding but he nodded confidently anyway. Something about going somewhere. Maybe to find different food? There were apples here, but if Dad wanted something else he didn’t mind too much. Perhaps it was to get something different for the thing called Milo. Still, whatever the reason for going wherever they were going he was sure he’d be just fine with it so long as Dad didn’t go away. Grinning again, the small colt rubbed the side of his face against Maurice’s shoulder and whinnied affectionately as the tall creature lent down to nibble a knot out of his short mane.
They were going on an adventure together with the Milo creature. Adventure. He wasn’t quite sure where the word had come from or what it meant but he was going on one and something in the back of his mind told him that whatever adventures were they were good things, things he wanted to go on. Maybe they involved more apples or something, he was sure he’d find out soon enough.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:55 pm
Milo yelped unexpectedly as his neck was nipped at; it wasn't exactly painful, more like surprising and a bit uncomfortable. Still, he couldn't help but smile at the foal once he realized the boy's displeasure at being talked of. "You're certainly a smart one, aren't you?" He noted, reaching up to lightly scratch the foal behind the ears. "You're catching on very quickly, faster than most foals." He wasn't sure if this was true or not, but he figured that the boy would like the compliment. Hopefully.
"Ah, yes, Quirne; the ocean. It's a lovely place, Spyke. I think you'll like it. I'm going, too, so I can find my friend Sonata," he explained with a smile. Doubtless the colt would have no idea at all who or what Sonata was, but at least he'd know that she existed and they were looking for her. Plus, he'd probably feel better that they were including him in the conversation now. Lively little creature, he was, the Shrila thought with an amused grin. "When would you like to set off?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:33 am
He’d had enough apple for now, so after a few moments of deciphering as much of Milo’s meaning as he could, he nodded and nipped at Maurice’s neck; the blue stallion was still eating when it was time to go! Quirne. Ocean. Sonata. He didn’t know what any of the things were save that the first two were probably places and the last a person like Dad and Milo. Still, he’d find out and Milo said he would like them. Snorting, the spindly-limbed colt gave his father another n** as the first one didn’t seem to have got the message across.
Maurice snorted in return at the second n** and, finishing the last of his apple, turned his pupiless eyes onto Spyke. “Well, you’re a patient one, aren’t y’?” he said, wondering even as he spoke if sarcasm was a bit unfair this early in the game. Ah well, in his opinion biting a guy trying to eat was unfair as well, so there.
“Shall we get movin’ then?” the silver marked stallion asked, turning his attention to Milo. “ ‘m sure we can find somebody t’ give the rest of these apples too.” Doubtless they wouldn’t get very far today. Steady on his hooves though Spyke was he was fairly sure that foals this young needed to rest more often than adults and besides, he himself wasn’t feeling up to going far or fast. Still, any distance was better than no distance at all and if Milo was in a hurry he could always go on ahead.
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Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:51 pm
Milo beamed at the pair before hopping over, offering Spyke a soft pat on the neck. "You're such an energetic little thing," he chuckled, flicking his black tufted tail. As the blue-coated stallion spoke, the little Shrila turned his gaze onto the Ichsa with a smile. "Yes, I think so."
The apples? The predominantly white creature returned his attention to these, setting the one in his claws down in one of the baskets. Yes, they probably wouldn't have much trouble finding someone to give them to. Perhaps they'd still be good by the time they got to the ocean? He hoped so; Sonata did love apples.
The little bare-armed creatures jumped into the air and glided over before hovering over the baskets. Grabbing the heavier of the two in both foreclaws, he gave his wings a few extra hard flaps to gain altitude, and figured Maurice could carry the other basket. He hoped so, anyway; carrying both by himself was quite a chore. Turning towards Maurice and Spyke he grinned, flicking his tail a bit. "Ready?" Even if he was in a bit of a hurry, he'd stay and travel with them. They were headed to the same place, after all. Why not go together?
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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:35 am
Good, they were finally getting a move on. The Milo creature had one basket, and Dad was bending to grasp the other in his mouth. ...He didn’t have anything to carry. Spyke frowned at this. Everyone else had something to carry. Snorting to himself the young creature cast around himself. After a few moments, his bright blue eyes caught on a large stick and, gamboling over to it, he grasped it somewhere near the middle before turning back to the pair of grown-ups with a proud whinny. Now they were all carrying something, and it was time to go and see Qurine, the Ocean and Sonata.
As Spyke trotted over to and gathered up the stick Maurice gave as good a smile as he could around the basket handle. Well, at least the kid was a helpful sort as well as a somewhat sadistic little fiend. Nodding to Milo and making a beckoning gesture to Spyke with one wing, the skinny Ichsa set off at an easy trot that he hoped his young son would be able to keep up with. The foal was loping along at his side soon enough fortunately, and the dark-coated Nequus smiled to himself again as they began to move away from the brownish-blue tree. It felt good to be heading home again.
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Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 5:29 pm
Milo beamed at the young foal's enthusiasm, unable to keep from chuckling a bit. At least he was trying to be helpful, that's what mattered, even if what he was carrying... didn't matter much at all. Oh well. With a flick of his tail and a few flaps of his wings, he swiftly caught up with the pair, chocolate eyes set on the horizon. Finally, finally, he knew where Sonata was, granted that she hadn't already left, and he was heading that way right then. Even though he wanted to get there as soon as possible, he wouldn't mind stopping if either, or both, of the pair near him got tired.
With a rather broad grin, he tightened his hold on the basket's handle, and beat his wings a few times eagerly. He could hardly wait!
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