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KENREN
ADMIN
CAVALLO
ADMIN
STAFFER NAME
POSITION
STAFFER NAME
POSITION
the world
Season: Summer Year: One
Major Weather: The summer is starting to show signs of being one of the worst yet, with temperatures already climbing and the water beginning to dry up in the furthest reaches of the South.
She'd never seen the ocean. There'd been a time when she'd thought that the Valley Lake was large, giving her a sense of the vastness of the world - you could only see three sides at a time, after all. But she'd been naive, as she very rarely was. This was... something else. Something crushing, something beyond mortal, something that remind you that you were worth next to nothing on the grand scale of things. Hardly different than a single grain of sand in the sea's all-encompassing eyes.
Well, nothing new there. At least Ielae had a cynical view of her inferiority complex, much kept under wraps now that she'd moved away from her herd - from the kind, eternally perfect sisters who had overshadowed her her entire life. Which was fine - she wasn't the same, after all. She didn't begrudge them their skills and prowess and ability to charm any stranger or crowd. But she also refused to live beneath them any longer, and if she'd taken too large a step in making herself homeless to get away? Well, so be it. She was very aware of her value, if she could find someone to put up with her irritable moods long enough. It wasn't something she was proud of, but also nothing she was willing to change. She was done changing, done putting up a front. It was frankly exhausting. If they wanted her - her tactical mind, her strong body - then they also needed to put up with her eternally cranky mood.
The roan mare sighed heavily, the disturbance to the shore grasses infinitesimal compared to the swirling winds. She peered cautiously down the steep, rocky cliff - sure death, that way, and nothing she was interested in. But it was quite the sight, and filled her with a light-headed sense of vertigo. This was as good a place as any for her to pause and think up a plan. 'Travel South until you can travel no more' wasn't smart, especially not for someone who'd never even been South of The Flooplains before. One thing she knew for certain, though. She wouldn't make it down there alone, so she'd need a herd. Or at least a companion. Until she figured out the ropes, it would keep her alive.
Later, she'd think on it. For now she'd embrace her last chance for crisp winds and salty brine.
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Open to literally all and anyone! She's eventually looking to join a herd in the South.
The sun glistened high in the sky, content in warming the land that basked beneath her. That warmth crawled along his pale spine, warming his very bones. He, to describe the being, was tall, pale and glistening in one package. Confined to a willowy frame and designed for the desert, he was nearly bare of fur and what hairs did adorn his back were short and exposed his follicles for all to see. His blue eyes should have seemed frosty in such pale depths, yet they portrayed the warmth that seemed to make up the day. His long limbs drew slowly over the terrain, his hooves creating the slight indents that left a path behind him. His neck, bare of a mane, was sloped and well muscled despite the telling exposure. It seemed to foretell of his sculpted jaw and the straight line of his face. He was, to say the least, quite content with how the day was unfolding. It seemed that his disposition was being portrayed in the blue of the sky and the calm silence of the near empty expanse of land before him. He was a lighthearted creature, contented with the smallest things in life. He presented himself as he was, finding facades not so enjoyable as some did. He believed that his purpose was to show love and present warmth, despite his ability to cut one quick when it was needed.
His muscles twitched, an itch climbing his limbs and driving him to move a bit faster over the sands. He lowered his skull to adjust for the heightened gate and allowed his limbs to stretched to their limits. Curving them beneath his form, his hind limbs carried his weight for a moment, as he extended his forelimbs again and allowed glistening hooves to clutch at the ground. His head was tucked to his chest, blue eyes following the slope of the hill as he steadied his form just along the side where the hill sloped downward and ran into another one upward slope at the bottom. Inhaling a salty gust of air, he clicked his tongue within his lips. He didn't find much to enjoy about the ocean or how that salty oxygen filled the air around it. In fact, it was quite detestable to breath such thick gusts of it. In any case, he was enjoying himself far too much to allow such things to dampen his mood. His pale form seemed to chase the breeze as it curled over the land, as if he might step on that very wind and drift away. It was a fanciful thought that only occurred when one let themselves survive in the moment alone.
His design was to move south just as soon as he tired of running through the thick grasses that grew atop the rocky cliff that towered over the broiling ocean. The thought drew his pale gaze toward the ocean and that was when he spied a form peering down the steep incline that lead down to the beach. He found himself slowing as the distance between himself and what he now scented as the female closed in. He studied her for a moment as he approached, her darker form being perhaps the first he'd seen since his mother had passed. She looked nothing like anyone he'd ever seen. Then again, he was quite used to his mother and the few pale members of her family he had met. He wasn't exactly certain why he was bothering to approach her, but he felt drawn to the company of the first equine he'd seen in quite some time. As he settled a few feet from her, he let his own gaze trail down the cliff and for a moment he considered climbing down to the ocean below. Instead, he sucked in a breath and on an unsteady string of soft and deep vocals, offered, "Would you like to climb down?" He cast his pale gaze toward her blue tinted form and found himself eyeing her with unmitigated curiosity.
She smelled him before she heard him, in the swirling winds coming off of the water. And it had been such a nice day, too. Had she just been contemplating having a companion? Nevermind, she was already over it. Because it required talking and small-talk and words- "Would you like to climb down?"
Gods, this was horrible. She lifted her head and looked at him sidelong over her shoulder, scanning over his features with a quick swipe of eye and analytical mind - tall, pale, healthy - then flicked away again, weighing the merits of making conversation or just walking away. Damn it.
Might as well ask me if I'm interested in breaking a leg, she groused, glancing at the cliff and away again. She hadn't lived a healthy life by taking stupid risks, even if those like her sisters, and probably this stallion, found it dull. It was never her goal to be interesting. If it was, she'd let on that she was indeed aware that there was a path down about two hundred yards to their right. Or that he was attractive, or that she was looking for someone to be around, or that his constant curious look could be considered flattering. But she wasn't looking for flattery, so instead it just made her irritated. I'm assuming you've seen a mare before, so why the sudden interest? Of course, she assumed the normal motivations, and she was pretty ready to put his pretty ass down if he made any assumptions of her, but honestly he didn't seem the sort. Or, at least, if he was he was quiet about it.
And she was doing well too, wasn't she? She hadn't left. It might not be much as far as social convention went, but for her it was a step forward.
He arched a nonexistent brow when she spoke and felt the firm line of his lips waver somewhere between a smile and a soft smirk. Had she honestly thought he wanted to make the trek down there? Despite his youthful strength, there was no way he would have actually ambled down to the water. He wasn't exactly a fan of the ocean anyway, so traveling down to the beach held no perk for him. His blue eyes regarded her for a moment as he shifted in place, stepping back from the edge to alight his gaze more firmly on blue shades of her body. "I was not offering to escort you down." He spoke with amusement tinging the deep, yet soft tones of his voice. His pelt glistened at he moved in the sunlight, perhaps deliberately crowding her as he skirted her smaller frame and settled on the other side. Out of habit, his nostrils flared as he sucked in a breath of salty air mingled with their scents on the breeze. If anyone else approached he would know before they came into view.
Her next words caught his attention and his creamy ears twisted to snatch every syllable from the air. Why the sudden interest, indeed, he mused. He had never been the type to mingle with others. There had been a reason his mother hadn't taken up with a word. He was the ultimate wanderer with nowhere in mind, yet the strong desire to somehow be apart of the world he was constantly passing by. That wasn't why he had stopped though. He would have been lying if he'd said it was just for the companionship of a stranger. No, the color of her pelt and her scent on the breeze had awakened his curiosity. He was used to the slender and pale frames of his mothers family. While he had grown to be far bigger and more solid than them, he had maintained the monotony of their colors perhaps to a much higher degree. Where their pelts had creams, they had not entirely shined and gleamed in the sun like his own. He had grown bored of being surrounded by those same colors and wandering personalities when they occasionally met up on their travels.
"I find it loath to admit that I was quite intrigued." He offered with a lopsided grin on his pale lips. "I have seen gold, silver and all manner of browns on my travels." He spoke, his blue eyes clasped to her darker ones. "You have blessedly broken the monotony of color I'm so used to." He shifted away and found himself looking back down to the ocean. For a moment he stood there silent, as if lost in thought. When his eyes finally drew back up to her he spoke with a devilish twist, "However, if my presence is tedious to you, I can make myself scarce."
His goal was to continue south anyway. He wasn't made for the North. Lingering in conversation with her was perhaps a waste of time. Even so, he found himself content to wait for her to tell him to leave. He didn't know her and perhaps she wanted to keep it that way. A part of him laughed at the idea, but he was a strange male approaching her. He didn't know how many stallions had tried to force their attention on her or how she might have felt about him being so near. He had never been the kind to sit and talk with strangers when he had places to go. Still, he waited in silence with an almost humorous glint in his pale eyes, as if he'd challenged her to a game and was waiting for her to take him up on that challenge.
Ielae pinned her ears as the stallion moved closer, lashing her tail and moving her forehand away - a clear threat that if he moved in that close again, she'd stand her ground in an unpleasant way. But she turned to face him again, irritable but not incredibly bothered. It was a common response from her, and one triggered any time someone invaded her space. Stallion, mare - hell, a foal would probably get the same treatment.
But... he was interested in her color? That was new. And actually kind of refreshing, even if she found it... dumb. Or, not dumb, but simple? She'd hardly be bothered to approach someone even if she had a good reason, nevermind a simple whim based on coloring. Hell, she was only putting up with him now because she needed something. His offer was incredibly tempting, and she had to literally keep her mouth shut for a moment to keep the words of ire from bubbling out.
Honestly though, he didn't seem so bad. Talkative, but friendly enough. And that was what she'd been looking for, wasn't it? She hated to appear weak, ever, but she wasn't going to survive her move to the South without some help. No, you're... It's fine, she said instead, though it'd be pretty obvious there was no good will or cheer in her eyes. Look, I just... I'm not used to this. I don't really like... anyone, honestly, so don't take it personally. Not the friendliest thing to say, of course, but she wasn't going to put on a front even if she did need help. I want to head South, and soon. Are you going that way?