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 Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 1:18 pm
"Iris-Niriture!" came a call to her left. She paused and sighed, turning her head to look at the prancing filly that was headed in her direction. "Which way is the river?" Iris would have rolled her eyes had she the gumption.
"Which river, Mila?" The poor foal seemed to only be able to manage a confused expression. "Yisi Rishunesafarina, or one of the others?" There were a few that wound their way in that had other, more local names, even if the great river took on the name of the great marshy crystal waters before Casa and Fyhi.
"You know the river!" the child exclaimed in exhasperation.
"All the rivers I know of have names," Iris responded with a chuckle.
"You're no help at all, Iture!" the filly dismayed, trotting off to joing her friends and biting one of them on the back of his briches.
Iris sighed, and continued her walk. The day was still bright, and there was still the promise of something interesting on the horizon.
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 3:44 pm
 Meleager was taking advantage of a high point and the added benefit of shade underneath a small clump of trees, and he spotted Iris approaching from a distance. His first instinct was to pretend he hadn't; but she had seen him, too, and he knew that she knew he'd seen her. To leave now would be both obvious and rude. With a sigh to himself, he stayed put, watching her come nearer. This was probably going to be slightly awkward. He hadn't really spoken to Iris since he'd come to that conclusion about Castor, and he'd avoided thinking about exactly what it would mean. That, now he thought about it, probably hadn't been the best course of action. ...But damn, Iris was beautiful, he thought as he watched. Pale, slender, with delicate Ichsa wings and those intricate markings... and her eyes were lovely, too, such a bright green in her pale face. He sighed again, but he couldn't keep a smile from his face as she drew closer. Beauty, and a wonderful mind as well. The combination never failed to amaze him. "Good afternoon, Iris- hellene," he called once she was close enough, and turned to greet her. "How are you today?"
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 4:05 pm
Iris was thankful that she'd spotted Meleager first. If the stallion had come walking up to her, she'd be horribly ill prepared, and he was the one thing she often risked having her composure broken around. He seemed to know exactly what buttons to push just by being: It was not a conondrum she often fancied to place herself in.
If it was one thing that Iris enjoyed being apart from Meleager in, it was that she didn't come to conclusions. Conclusions were dangerous because they meant something was closed. She might stir, speculate, conspire, and be mostly convinced of something, but she was never, absolutely, sure. Perhaps it was this paranoia of never being correct that left her so adept in her position. Wit hardly did anyone anything unless there was a principle to back it with.
"Pleasant greetings, Meleager-hallah," she played once she was close enough to both be within ear-shot and mouth-shot.
She'd expected something so informal from him. The 'how are you's and 'lovely weather's and 'isn't the herd doing nice's. Then again, it was what she generally expected from the rest of the population, but from him it was just that much more nerve-pinching.
"I am well, as always," she paused to give him a slight smile. "Should I expect the same from the herd's leader?" she asked of him, cocking a brow in feigned interest that few to none could pick out as being a false emotion.
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 6:13 am
Formal as always, Iris. And he knew that she would not drop the 'hallah' suffix during the conversation, despite the times he'd asked her to. He was sure that they'd known each other long enough to dispense with such formalties, but Iris never did. Sometimes, he thought it was sweet the way she insisted on properness, and sometimes it just made him feel awkward.
Meleager shifted position almost nervously as she drew closer, returning her smile with a slightly larger one of his own. "Indeed," he replied, "I was just admiring the view... taking advantage of the peace and making myself some more free time, as a mare I met recently advised," he explained, remembering the sweet yellow-winged Bae he'd met at the border.
He was not sure how Iris felt about this continual peace-time. While most of the herd were content to relax, her occupation was like his in that there was little call for it in such times. Well - that was thinking of himself as a warrior. The herdleader was always needed, and the ambassadors always had minor conflicts to sort out. He had no idea if they practised, as the soldiers did by sparring, and no idea what they would do for practice in any case. He did know that she almost certainly wasn't as busy as she usually would be. Perhaps that was a good thing. This conversation could turn out to be much more fun that he expected.
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 10:45 am
Iris tried not to lap up Meleager's nervousness with an inner laugh and a smirk. It was all too tempting, but her morals kept her from anything but seething hatred for the creature with little more brain than he had wisdom.
She smiled lightly, turning her head to catch the view Meleager had just finished mentioning. It would have been rude not to look, and ruder still not to comment, but Iris was sure she could at least pass by the second. "I've been enjoying my free time myself." It wasn't a lie, she really had been, but she found that she missed the conflicts, a trait that put her right along the same cruel lines of Meleager.
"Oh?" Iris inquired carefully. "And what was she like?" She found herself irked at how quickly she jumped on the knowledge of 'another mare'. It was a display that could easily hint on jealousy, but Iris really just wanted to know were Meleager had been putting his snakey nose in the time he wasn't spending courting her very busy body.
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 11:53 am
He hadn't expected Iris to be interested in the other mare he'd met; but perhaps, Meleager thought with a smile to himself, she was jealous, since she knew of his feelings for her. Well, she had nothing to worry about on that front. If she was jealous, though, it would be the first real sign of encouragement he'd seen from her, and that was intriguing. Why now? he wondered. But he knew nothing for certain.
"Oh," the dappled stallion replied with a chuckle, watching Iris' face for a reaction as he spoke, "She wasn't a Hellene. Poor thing had managed to get herself lost in Yisi, and asked me for directions. She was sweet, though, if not the brightest... tiny, with a crazy accent. I have no idea where she must originally be from."
No, Elsie, sweet as she was, really wasn't his type. Although - and Meleager found himself feeling rather uncomfortable again - he wasn't sure quite was his type was anymore.
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:30 am
Iris watched him with interest, paying careful mind to how his face changed when he talked about this new mare. Secretly, Iris was impressed that Meleager was so welcoming with new members. Much of the herd had began to develop the slightness of pride once more, and it was a pride which could easily cripple them. Those who lacked humbleness were bound to fall.
"With a thick accent I would place her near the oceans. There's a small pocket of Bae that live quietly among the regions of the sea and Fyhi. They're quite adept at reading the tides." She shrugged and smiled. When you're job was hers you traveled and learned much.
Giving up on this shitty display of formalacy, Iris allowed herself to lay down a short distance from him and scan in the direction he had been surveying before her arrival.
"Quite the view you've found," she noted idly.
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:47 pm
"Oh?" Meleager nodded at Iris's assessment of Elsie, impressed by her knowledge. She was probabnly right - he had no way of knowing. "She was looking for D'ob, but I suppose she could be from near the sea." He shrugged. "She never said if she'd always lived there." He smiled, and added, "I'll remember that if I ever come across her again - or anyone with that accent."
The herdleader turned to gaze out across the land for a moment, and when he looked back he was somewhat surprised to see that Iris had seated herself on the grass nearby. He nodded absentmindedly to her comment about the view, not really taking it in. After a moment of hesitation he laid down beside her, a suitable distance away, long legs curled under with surprising grace for one of his size. Only then, when settled and sure that his companion was comfortable with his being there, did he turn his mind properly to her remark.
"Yes; it is rather nice, isn't it?" Meleager sighed faintly. "I'm surprised I've never noticed it before, it's not like I've not been here often enough. I suppose Elsie was right. I do need to spend more time doing - well, not doing anything." He paused, then added hurriedly, not wanting to get entangled in awkward questions, "Elsie - that was the mare I met. That Bae with the strange accent."
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 1:57 pm
"I can't say for certain, but it's my best educated guess," she silently corrected, and ventured to far as to give him her own weak smile shortly after. The gaze returned once more in the direction his wandered. It would not do her well to be staring at him. Heaven forbid she admit, or even hint, at any sort of attraction resting there.
It was only natural that Meleager started up his frugal attempts at being a courtier. Iris kept her expression mute, and pretended not to see his advance from the corner of her eye. Even if she had not been looking, his presence was easy to discern from the change of heat.
"Elsie?" she was about to say, and had even begun to say when he informed her. "Ah," she finished, nodding with an expression that could have been taken as 'knowing smirk'.
"We should always take time to look about us, Meleager-hallah," she quipped. It was a polite sound, but one might be able to find the scorn in her voice. "Lest we forget that we spend all this time fighting for the chance to look at the sunset for at least one more night." She gave him a sidelong glance. "Or do you prefer the sunrise?"
Creature of the night, or creature of the day; it said a lot of a Nequus, and Iris would admit she was intrigued to know.
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:54 pm
"I..." Well, honestly, he wasn't sure. It wasn't a question he'd ever been asked before, or had occasion to think about. With a frown and a tilt of his head, Meleager considered the question for a while before turning back to Iris to answer. "I think I prefer the sunrise," he said thoughtfully. "They're usually equally beautiful, of course, but I prefer the start of the day to the end."
He was probably unusual in that; he suspected most people would prefer the sunset for the promise of rest that it brought. Most, but he wasn't sure if Iris was one of them. Suddenly more enthusiastic about the the conversation, the herdleader asked, "What about you?" It made a change for Iris to seem this openly interested in him - not that he held it against her, of course. The muscled Reya smiled to himself. Possibly jealous, questioning him - these were all good signs.
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