what have we now?

[aeolous]

maybe something's wrong with you.

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It seemed to Adelaide that she had a knack for stumbling upon places that she could never have imagined existed. This was one of them. As she had first come upon the plain, it had seemed welcoming - a wide expanse of grass and pleasing flowers, over which a mellow breeze blew. She had felt herself grow light with joy, in her regular naive and childish fashion. But could she help it? After traveling some time, she'd found that she continued to come across barren lands, all of which were devastated by some sort of natural calamity - it made her poor heart flutter to see it. And here she had come across a sort of comparative paradise - only to find that right, smack in the middle of this halcyon meadow, was a huge and gaping crevice, which seemed to continue down straight into the middle of the Earth.

It had scared the dickens out of the poor mare when she had first felt, or more, heard the ground rumbling beneath her, as she had been so excited about finding this place that seemed not to be struck by disaster. And then, steam had risen from the hole in the ground, and the curious mare had crept up to it in a shy, frightened way, believing there to be a living thing just underneath her hooves. In a way, you could say there was, but of course, it had simply been steam. She then had stood trance-like, staring down into the blackness for the first time, too horrified of its unending depth to move. She finally scrambled away, coming to her senses; of which she had little of, I must say; considering no horse in their right mind would chance going within a few yards of that hole.

She'd found that the grass which grew in the meadow was tender and sweet; as grass should be. The dun felt entranced by the meadow - seemingly untouched by calamity as the rest of the lands she'd been on were. She simply did not register what the fissure right in the center was - it scared her, yes, to death, but she could not figure out what it was, why it was, how it was. And so she did not mind it. Perhaps had she known a bit more logic, she wouldn't have walked straight up to it as she had. But she had yet to learn logic, as well as many things.

The dun had not been taught much in her life - she'd simply wandered about, lost, a result in which she had very often gotten herself in tight places. She couldn't remember much about either of her parents, and so, perhaps, that was one reason she knew so little. Adelaide had been left on her own to figure out the world, but she was not one to complete this task on her own. She'd needed help. At several points, she had found help, as well; more than once the mare had been brought into a herd, but she was a restless sort, and, these periods of time never proved productive.

But somehow, the mare had survived with her lack of sense, and well, too; she'd had no tragic experiences to change her life, she'd always made it through the winter well - but it was in a balance, for she had never had any joyful experiences for the better, either. There must be a reason so, correct? Of course, Adelaide never pondered this - she was too plain to think of such things. But she did find herself charmed by the seeming tranquility of the plains - quite different than the rest she had been to - and she thought perhaps she'd stay there for a time - perhaps meet a new face, she found herself lonely in many of her ramblings. Perhaps it would be good for her.



maybe i'm crazy too. [/color]


ooc;
Okay, I'm sorry it's so rambling. ;__; I'm very out of practice. You needn't read all of it, skimming will certainly suffice, ha.

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[..!INZ.z]

♥
hurry back we've all been waiting.

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His mind was roaring over his predicament. He had a relatively safe grasp on this wasted, broken land, and as of yet there was little competition - but his encounter with Atlas had set him to thinking once more. The stallion was young, inexperienced, sullen: as of yet he was of little interest or use. That may have been so, but Sanctis was no fool: he knew the skewbald had some sort of attachment to Frithen's Drift, and that, as he matured, he might decide to take what was 'his'. Well, he would have to deal with that eventuality when he came to it; in the meantime, it would be advisable just to keep an eye on the stallion.

And then there was the new upstart, the one who had seen to put himself forward as King of the Neutrals. Archer, his name was? Sanctis hadn't the pleasure of being acquainted, but his ears had cupped the rumors that circulated: he was young, not necessarily inexperienced, and not the type to charge head-on into a full out fight. Sanctis would be careful, but he was fairly confident he could get his way with his Overlord to be, if the position was indeed appointed to him.

He didn't exactly enjoy scheming like this. The chestnut would have been far more comfortable with fighting his way through things, uncaring of alliances or politics. But in his state he could do little. The grasses of Gwynfa were improving his condition, but beneath the all-exposing eye of the sun his protruding ribs were plain to see, the jut of his haunches and the slack roll of his wasted muscles apparent for any competitive eye to note. No, it would be best to take the unassuming approach, and wait for some opportunity to present itself.

For the moment, though, he appeared to have wandered into the free realms, the places where horses of all alliances were permitted to roam. The plains he found himself striding across were perhaps one of the more intact territories, with grass and water and ample shade - in reality it was only the dirty great hole in the ground which spoiled the view. This Sanctis peered into with uncurbed curiosity, throwing his head up and snorting profusely whenever a fresh belch of steam wafted into his nose and caused his eyes to water.

This new phenomenon rendered him completely unaware of any other equine presence; it was only when he turned to move on that he caught the scent of a mare, and his eyes snagged on her form some distance away. He watched her closely for a moment or so, more distrust than interest etched upon his features. He'd been steering clear of mares ever since the... incident. All except Kali, of course, but she didn't count because she'd flummoxed him completely.

Purposefully Sanctis turned his back, dropping his head to tug at the fresh spring roots that carpeted everything in vivid green. He didn't mind solitude. Slowly his mind had accustomed to it, and now he felt no need for company at all.

((Sorry it's long. And strange.))

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[aeolous]

The wide plains, though vast and filled with life, bored Adelaide. There was nothing in them. Although she was used to wandering on her own, she did get lonely - after all, it's a horse's instinct to stick with the herd. Any sane horse would not have rambled about as Adelaide did, for any sane horse would be in a herd, unless for some strange reason they, the herd and the horse, had been separated. Few horses traveled by themselves of their own free will. This place was pleasant, and awesome compared to the other lands surrounding it, but it was empty in its own way just as the others were.

And in fact sometimes the dun's sanity did slip away from her - not in a big way, of course, but subtly. She took to imagining things that did not exist, and scared herself in the process; as well as having spontaneous outbursts of childish joy or, the opposite, surges of depression; when absolutely nothing, at all had happened - in her imagination or in reality. It was true, Adelaide found herself more .. herself when she was accompanied by another horse, or horses, which was why she craved this company right now. Not so much for the particular reason, but simply because she was bored, and she'd admit, lonely.

As she lifted her head, however, the turning breeze brought to her the scent of another horse - imagine that! As she wished it, so it was. Eagerly (although some would say desperately), her eyes searched the plain for the form of another equine - and they soon alighted on a chestnut stallion, not far away. He certainly hadn't been there before, or Adelaide would have, without a doubt, noticed him during the time in which she had brainlessly been staring into the seeming abyss, the hole in the center of the plain. Unless, of course, she really was so ignorant to have walked right past. But she was somewhat aware of herself, and it did not seem likely.

She launched herself forward into a trot without thinking twice. Had she, she may have paused before moving forward. It wasn't the smartest thing to simply go up to a stallion, and although this one didn't seem intimidating, one can't really tell from the distance Adelaide had been. And then again, it didn't seem he was looking for a conversation, although that, too, was hard to tell. But Adelaide was too impatient, or rather simply not bright enough, to ponder this, and she trotted forward at a jaunty pace towards the other horse.

As she drew nearer, however, the thinking twice began to come to her. She had almost no experience with other horses, and although she felt she simply had to have another horse to talk to, the talking part was quite difficult for her. The dun slowed to a walk as she neared the stallion, and then finally, to a standstill. "Hello there," she said, her words cautious, although she was striving to mask it; striving to have her voice sound more.. neutral. She began to add to her statement, and then decided against it. It was perhaps not the best thing to say too much about one's self to another that she knew absolutely nothing about, and also, there was not much she could or wanted to say.




ooc.
It seemed fine to me! Haha. Sorry mine's so ..bleh. DD:
It's Adelaide's fault. >o

[..!INZ.z]

It was with little effort that Sanctis eradicated the mare's presence from his mind completely. He did not know who she was or where she had come from, and neither did it matter to him - she was simply an inanimate object, as interesting as the hunks of igneous rock which lay scattered about the chasm's lip. Well, perhaps that was a little harsh. If she were Neutral, she could at least be of some use to him: as much as he disregarded them, a herd was not a herd without its mares, and, frankly, it was a very boring place without them.

But now he was straying.

The stallion continued to tear at the grass, chewing rapidly and swallowing the nutritious cud. Here the pasture tasted somewhat strange: sharp, almost sulfurous, it stung Sanctis's mouth and throat as he ate it. Still, he wasn't complaining - grass was grass, and at that moment he needed his fair share of it. The sun frowned down upon his withers, catching in the wisps of brassy mane that lay there, stirred mildly by the breeze. The place was strangely quiet: the birds had abated briefly in their constant song, and now there were only the echoes of the two horses to be heard.

It was only then that he started thinking about Her. It came unbidden, unwanted, but suddenly he was wondering where she was, what she was doing, and whether she had yet overturned his 'successor'. It was only then that he realized, even after she had brought him up and thrown him down, after she had ripped him to pieces and tossed away what was left: he was still in love with her. Oh, of course he was. He was her pet, her slave, and if she had appeared that very moment he knew, self-loathingly, that he would do whatever she wished. It was this pitiful admission that kept him in the firm belief that mares, whether Light, Neutral, or Dark, were manipulative and not to be trusted.

But he had always been a beautiful hypocrite.

He heard the mare's footfalls first, drawing soft shudders out of the ground. Sanctis lifted his head fractionally, ears flicking, brows deep with irritation. It seemed he was going to have to talk to her, after all; some people just didn't get the message, did they? As she pronounced her greeting Sanctis turned, tail snapping about his hocks and catching great ribbons of sunlight in the process. His eyes rested on her figure, but he took little of her appearance in: the chestnut was contemplating how best to reply.

"Madam," at last the single word escaped his lips, accompanied by a perfectly civil drop of the head. He had always been apt at lying. And while his heart was telling him he wanted to shy away from this mare, to drive her off and return to solitude, his mind was telling him he might well need her in the future. It was all mechanics.

((Eheh, he sounds like a toff. xD))

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[aeolous]

She'd been right in the assumption that he hadn't been looking for conversation. If she wasn't imagining it, he seemed rather angry. Perhaps she hadn't picked the right horse to go up to. But she couldn't help it now, and she didn't find herself regretting it. All that the dun could hope for was that it would turn out fine. He hadn't seemed angry in a cruel way, more an irritated way; although Adelaide was apt at misreading horses, and could only hope she'd not gone astray this time.

Her head was tilted in a doglike manner: as if listening to it's owners commands, although she didn't find that the position made it any easier to hear the other horse; at any rate, it didn't take much to hear the one word he'd spoken. Her ears flicked back and forth, listening to the single word the chestnut had spoken. "Madam? What a silly title. No need to call me that. My name is Adelaide." She was trying her best to sound lighthearted, not out-of-place, as she felt she was. The land, although its features were horrifying, seemed enchanting; and she could tell that what they were now was only the faintest shadow of what they had been, however many years ago it would be.

It seemed that the chestnut stallion really wasn't the one, or rather, was not in the mood to talk. "And what should I call you?" she added onto her previous statement. Adelaide would try to make the conversation flow more easily, but she had no experience in doing so, and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to succeed in such a ponderous task. At any rate, she didn't have much else to say. She shook her head slightly, most likely a gesture to waste time, although she really had no intention of it.

She really hadn't anything else to say, at least until this other horse introduced himself. She was hoping that after that she'd feel more at ease, although she really couldn't be sure, and the dun knew that it was probably just wishful thinking. It wasn't really her fault, was it, that she had so little knowledge of anything? She turned her head to face the stallion again, hoping that he couldn't tell how awkward she was. It didn't really matter if he did; but she didn't want to seem so. Adelaide sighed before focusing her attention on the stallion. Just one thing at a time; she told herself, one thing at a time.



ooc.
ee, writer's block. ;__;
my muse is completely nonexistent!
i'msorry. D=

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