Tempest in the Storm

Splashing through the stream Tempest nickered as he ran. There was a nice storm gathering in the sky and it had been years since he'd been to this part of the fields and he relished being back. When he'd first been put with his new bonded he'd been quite bitter and hadn't felt like going out. Then he'd met another of his bonded's and had felt an instant kindship. For a while they'd been developing something he thought was beautiful but little did he know it was only on his side. Not long ago things had come to an end and he had needed an escape, unable to stand seeing her any longer.

So now, here he was, running through his favorite place and deciding that this was the only kind of life he needed. Coming to a grove of trees he had to slow and decided that even though this wasn't the path he had originally intended he was going to take a detour through the trees and see what was there while the storm around him continued gathering.

While the storm was welcome for some, it was certainly not good fortune for Leaf Fall, who was far from her bonded's realm. Hearing thunder rolling ever closer and feeling the first scarce droplets of rain, she glided gracefully out of the dark sky and into the shelter of trees. Her high speed flight meant that she came to a bit of a skidding stop, ripping up dry earth behind her. Well, at least the thirsty ground would welcome the coming rain. She wasn't familiar with this area, but she thought she'd seen some caves to the east. With lightning flashing closer by the second, she figured it was a safer option than trees.

Under the cover of the storm's noise, she'd barely heard the thundering of hooves coming almost directly at her. She turned her body just in time to see a blur of shimmerinig blue about to charge into her. With no time to react, she could only stand and stare like a deer caught in the headlights. This was probably going to hurt.

The rain began to come down harder and thunder and lightening crashed around him as he kept on towards the trees. He didn't mind the rain, in fact, he relished it, but the rain was making the ground turn to mud and he knew if he slipped he'd have some bruises to contend with and he just didn't feel like doing that right now.

As he reached the edge of the trees he began to slide forward, losing his footing. Very carefully as not to panic and over correct himself. Just as he was gaining his footing and starting to slow he glanced up to see another serian, who had apparently, appeared out of nowhere.

Veering off to the side he still braced for impact as his left side brushed against the newcomer. He wasn't sure the force he had hit with but it was enough to cause him to go rolling to the side.

Leaf Fall closed her eyes and winced as his flank made contact with her shoulder and knocked her off to the side, opposite from where he went tumbling down. The ground was just starting to get damp with much-needed moisture, but a few patches of mud were quickly brewing. She delicately lifted her head as she fell to avoid eating the earth, and in the process landed her rump into a mushy patch of mud. Looking at it disdainfully, she could only think 'well, at least it's raining... free bath?'.

Getting up to her feet fairly quickly, she noticed that the thing which had hit her- another Serian it seemed- had taken a worse tumble than she. Biting her lip, she decided to venture closer and hesitantly voice her concern. "Ah- Hello? Hnn... Are you alright?" She was wary since he might very well blame her for the accident, since she had been just standing in the open and directly in his way. Not that she'd anticipated this was a stampede path or anything. He also seemed to be smeared with dust and a bit of mud, but she didn't see any blood so that was good.

A crack of thunder made her jump, glancing up at the now almost-black sky (despite it being only late in the afternoon). Her eyes darted around in worry as she moved a bit closer. "Hey... can you move? I mean... the storm is basically on us and we should take shelter. I think I saw some caves to the east, but it'll take a bit of walking and we should go quickly..." Why had she just invited him in on her plan? Well, she couldn't just LEAVE him in the storm if he was hurt. Hopefully her guilt wouldn't get her into a bad situation...

As he was dazed it took a moment for this strangers questions to penetrate his mind. Jumping up quickly he gave himself a brisk shake and focused her... then sucked in a deep breath. Even covered in bits of mud and dust she was a beauty. With flowing wings and a golden mane and flecks in her coat.

"Ya, I'm alright, sorry I bumped in to you, I was still going a bit fast from recovering from slipping in the mud on the way in. Are you alright?"

He glanced up at the worsening storm, squinting as the rain started penetrating the leaves and falling on them. She was right, they needed to find cover soon. Most storms these trees would provide more than adequate shelter but this was a storm of the likes he hadn't seen for quite some time. Even in his home realm where there tended to be cloud bursts at the drop of a hat.

He didn't mind, he rather enjoyed playing in the rain, but this was the kind of rain you couldn't see through to pay and could quickly wash you away. Glancing back down at her he waited for her response.

He was suddenly moving and it seemed like he hadn't sprained anything or broken anything. PHEW. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to carry/drag him that far. Of course being injured would make him less dangerous, and with the impending typhoon she wasn't sure how she felt about being trapped in a cave with a stranger. Well, they didn't have much other choice, the droplets of rain were already starting to sting her body. The rain definitely wasn't going to start falling lighter.

His question caught her by surprise, and she turned left and right to examine herself, missing the way he stared at her (which was good because she probably would have misinterpreted it...). "Seems like it... A bit of dirt was the worst damage done. Don't worry about it." She shrugged and grimaced as thunder crashed not too far south of them. After shaking the mud out of his fur, the rain seemed to glimmer in his coat. In fact he seemed pretty at home in the watery atmosphere. Unfortunately, she wasn't so water-inclined...

"We should hurry, this is going to get ugly fast... Follow me." And without even so much as exchanging names or an introduction, she turned and began to carefully trot in the direction of the caves. After only a minute she could already see the outlines.