And how does that make you feel?

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Songhue
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Re: And how does that make you feel?

Post by Songhue »

It's surprising, what one can find out about themselves when all assumptions of their character are stripped away. Would she have normally allowed herself to lean just slightly, resting her shoulder against him as he murmured his comforts? Would she ever allow herself to drop a strong face and show such weakness to someone?

Rather she would have or not, she did now. As the last of the tears dripped away with a few trembling hiccups, Frolic found herself leaning against the chilly stallion as if her legs would fail her otherwise. It was with a strained sense of humor that she found this to be true - she felt utterly spent, in every way, her legs twitching unsteadily.

What was she supposed to say now that she'd allowed herself to break down in front of him, to lean on his strong shoulder? What would she have said before - no that was no use, she never would have allowed such a moment before her family had been lost to her. She was the strong one, the one that would turn anything into a game, make it all alright.. But not now. Now, she was simply wrung out.

Ach, so where did that leave her? Well that was the problem, wasn't it. She didn't know.

Forget it.

With a grunt she allowed her legs to fold under her, the tip of her muzzle grazing the top of the grass as she tried to catch her breath. Her eyes were squeezed closed, ears tilted warily as she breathed the scent of healthy earth, her head spinning.

"I don't know... Anything, any more."
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Vineda
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Re: And how does that make you feel?

Post by Vineda »

As her tears lessened he waited for it, sure a rebuff would come. She was a proud one, ,that he knew well. And it told him much about her when she simply gave in and laid in the lush grasses. No reproof, not even in her eyes. Only defeat.

He was rather at a loss. This was the depth of it, plain as can be. But he was not a people stallion, not social or over friendly. This whole thing was highly unusual. He peered around him, wondering what his companions would have done, had he let them.

He settled next to her, taking the liberty of resting his muzzle on her withers in a familiar and purely brotherly sort of way. He sighed with her before placing his chin instead on the grass next to hers. He went crosseyed, looking as close in front of him as his eyes would allow. Picking his head up again, he watched as a ladybug crawled up onto Frolic's nose. He grinned, something his bond-mates would say was rare. "My bond-brother would say that's a good omen, you know. Though it must tickle something fierce!"
And I don't know how To slow it down Oh, my mind's racing From chasing pirates.

Songhue
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Re: And how does that make you feel?

Post by Songhue »

It did tickle, enough to make her sneeze and flick her ears forward, her eyes crossing comically as she tried to see the little bug that had taken an interest in her snout. It was enough to get a weak little giggle from her - so weak as to barely even reach her own ears.

"A good omen. Gods know it's needed."

A wary smile and she reached over, letting the little beetle scramble onto the stallion's nose in turn. "Seems an omen worth sharing, as well."

Sighing, she lay her head down and watched the red speckled hide, more tired than she could ever remember being. What now?

A shake of her head and she closed her eyes in a grimace, rolling them open to look up at the sky as the same answer rang in her head once again.

I don't know.

"What do omens mean, any way?"

Maybe, if she didn't think about it, if she didn't choose.. If she just kept moving, maybe that would get her through. Or rip her apart. Either way, at least there was this one here to help her to keep moving. To guide her forward, passed the crossroads that splintered her poor mind.

For now, any way. After this moment... Well, she didn't know. Not knowing her own fate was starting to become slightly less frightening, but that may just be because she was so frightfully numb.

What was she going to do?
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Vineda
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Re: And how does that make you feel?

Post by Vineda »

"An omen." He murmured the word thoughtfully, carefully. "It can be nothing, if you don't believe in such things. It can be a big thing, a turning point even." He pointed his nose over in the direction of a bush. A dying tree, young still, had fallen into it. Who knew why the tree fell... perhaps it was diseased, eaten up by bugs, beavers or the like, a storm knocked it over, a god pushed it over, whatever. "That tree there has fallen right into that bush. I bet it hurt. I bet it knocked that bush so hard it nearly killed it. All manner of branches must've been broken, its new foliage cleaved and damaged."

"That bush grew right around the fallen tree. It surrounds it on both sides. The pain is a thing of its past. It is certainly part of the bush's story; it altered its path in life. The loss and the damage and the pain won't ever be erased... but the bush grew on. It put out tendrils of new growth wherever it could. 'Tis beautiful now."

He sat in silence a moment, thinking rather dryly, Oak would be beaming. "Much as the great waves of snow created in an avalanche wipe the ground clear and freeze living things over. Life grows on, first chance it gets."

"I know your pain, though I may know only a very little of it. Many of my bond-family are suffering as well, as am I. There is nothing left for you looking back and breaking over the memories. Where do you want to grow, lady?"

He gave her little chance to respond. He'd been caught up, inspired, and trying his utmost to give her some barest words of hope. "Do you not know? Neither did the bush in it's shock. It merely grew through the pain, until such time as it lessened." He knew no details, so that was the farthest he could get. He wished to the gods that she might gain some inkling of hope from it. He wished her comfort. He lowered his muzzle, feeling an unusual warmth in his cheeks as he cast furtive sidelong glances at her. Now he was giving speeches. Great.
Last edited by Vineda on Mon Aug 02, 2010 9:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
And I don't know how To slow it down Oh, my mind's racing From chasing pirates.

Songhue
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Re: And how does that make you feel?

Post by Songhue »

She stared at the little bush while the stallion spoke, remaining perfectly still even after he had finished. She felt something shifting, settling within her - it was no strange thing, to feel herself tumbling through her own head, almost as if her skin were merely a shell. This felt different, though, less of shifting and more.. Of something growing still.

It was a strange little bush, he had shown her. The leaves were thin and pointed, much like some strange thing her bonded had revealed but once or twice.. The dagger, is what it was called. The leaves reminded her of the tip of that. There was a spider's web to the side of it, gossamer threads reaching from the bush to the tree that damaged it down to the ground. And there, just around the fallen wood that had seemed to crush the plant at one time, the branches were bare and twisted. They were quite dead, but still managed to look painful.

And yet... Still, the bush itself lived. It would never be as it would have, had the tree not split it, but it was alive and well all the same. The branches reached up passed the wood that lay through the middle of it, straining upwards, spreading outwards in a great, shimmering plumage.

The time she sat and looked was well beyond her ability to recall. Perhaps a mere moment - perhaps an hour or longer. She didn't move as her gaze studied that which he'd spoken of, barely even breathed. Long moments passed within her; she felt a kinship with this, that was damaged. It could not turn back, could not pretend that the massive force had not rent it. The tree became a part of the plant as it grew up, grasping at the wood with the branches.. And feeding the plant, as the old wood wore away.

Then the ladybug flittered up and landed upon one of the thin, sharp leaves, and she smiled.

An omen, indeed.

She had an answer now, and from a simple bush.. And a chilled stallion. What would she do now, what would happen.. She would grow. Neither into this one she had begun to be, separate from what once was, nor returning to the mare she had been before all was torn asunder. Only by allowing all of it to be a true part of her could she make it - diving herself, attempting to force a choice of who she was, it merely drove her mad.

It would take time. It would require much healing, a great deal of patience. But if she could manage, the damage could be worked with.. And the rips in her soul could heal.

"To grow seems to be a very wise way to live," she admitted, glancing back at the stallion, at this Avalanche, finally. Her eyes were still bleak, haunted - but there was hope, now. A glimpse of life, hidden under the pain.

"It would be easy to wish, instead, that no tree had ever come to crash upon the little bush.. But that wouldn't have helped, would it? And it wouldn't have grown in such a unique way, had it not."

She liked this method, she found. It was quite comfortable, speaking of bushes, holding a conversation within a conversation. She could speak of things, this way.. Indirectly.
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Vineda
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Re: And how does that make you feel?

Post by Vineda »

Avalanche had waited, silently. Some might think coldly. His sharp eyes roved, reading her words and beyond. Once he had her answer he was satisfied. He nodded to himself very minutely and allowed the earnestness to fade.

It wasn't that it had been a show. It was just that he allowed the cold to numb him once more. He'd brought another back from the brink, given the hidden ember inside a tiny wisp of wind with which to live on. She was by no means cured, the stallion knew, but it was a start.

He preferred the cold , as though he was wrapped in a thick blanket of snow. But he could stay there much longer than most without falling over the edge, without freezing solid and losing the life-flame or the spirit to keep going. He was good at finding it again when he so chose.

He really didn't know what to say now, and honestly didn't concern himself with it too much. "Yes, wise is a good way. It certainly gives the bush something to do. There are those that would be bored without such troubles to keep them busy."

He'd become aware that he was out and about, being friendly. And awkward. He was out of his element again. More sidelong glances were directed at the green mare, though now they were looking for signals. Would she want to go and ponder on her own? Should he excuse himself?
And I don't know how To slow it down Oh, my mind's racing From chasing pirates.

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