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Post by ~♥adverb on Feb 11, 2011 17:32:32 GMT -8
ADZEMARCUS It was the closest someone could get, down on the ground like this. It didn't take much imagination to imagine those wild, charging turns and brief moments of weightlessness as his hooves soared past fallen twigs and dead roots to tell himself he was airborne, soaring on giant outspread wings. Adzemarcus was many things; a winged horse was not one of them. And there was always that parting moment of sadness as he found the ground, time and again, but the sorrow was snatched away abruptly as he kept up in his wild play. He did this; it was a frequent practice, back in the fine days when the countryside was safe and the machine war was something that people could deny if they wanted, ignore, despite the front creeping closer every day. But things like politics and wars have no place in horse logic; in his eyes, he was all the same. The same hooves tore up soil as they always had in the wind of his passing, the same mane flapped in the semblance of a cheerful banner, despite changing from thin, bristly strands to great ropes of yarn that didn't grow or need cutting. There were no more competitions, no more judges to please, but Adze kept on. Slowing to a sophisticated trot, turning just so and tossing his mane at the right point as he did to show off what a lovely, good horse he was, a cultured movement towards the tangle of roots that his mind turned into the starched white table at which judges sat. Then a bow, kneeling to his forehooves, one tucked, one extended, just the way his master had taught him. Good horse, good horse. And abruptly, his imaginary field shattered. The reality of the world crashed down on him, the white table vanishing like fog in the sun; it was really just roots after all. No one to impress, no one applauding or petting or telling him he was a good horse. No nice reins or saddle to show off, for people to pin medals on. Adze's ears, before tucked back in concentration, now drooped as though they'd lost all will to live. He stared at the roots as though they had betrayed him somehow, with only the sound of the wind to his ears. Profoundly, coldly, alone. Or so he thought...
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Post by Schnikeys on Feb 12, 2011 22:10:59 GMT -8
Athneyn was completely and utterly lost. Unfortunately, that fact hadn't quite sunk into her childish mind yet. The fact that she was completely terrified, however, had. She'd been wandering around the strange, scary forest for days. She had wandered in, and hadn't quite been able to figure out how to wander her way out. That did seem to be her modus operandi. The huge, dead, stately trees towered over her measly 5 inches of height. The branches seemed to reach towards her. She cowered, shivering, and kept walking.
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Post by ~♥adverb on Feb 13, 2011 13:58:01 GMT -8
ADZEMARCUS Footfalls. Adze's ears jumped to attention like a pair of soldiers, flitting first right, then left, pinpointing the sounds. They were faint, faint and quiet, as if the person making the steps didn't have quite so much substance to them as he was used to. Once, he would have run to make friends, but now he held back, moving at a cautious trot and peering around the corner of a tree, a quiet click issuing from his optics as they blinked. There was... something there. Someone? Something. He wasn't sure. There was a something there at least, and that mattered. Maybe they were a nice something. He gave a tentative whinny, the quiet noise seeming to echo about in the vastness of the Forest.
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Post by Schnikeys on Feb 22, 2011 22:52:34 GMT -8
(Sorry about the delay -_-)
Athneyn froze. A sound. A...squeak? No, a whinny. Like, a horse - that was what you called them, right? Horses? Yeah. That's right. But the horses died along with the rest of the living things. Unless...it was a horse like her? Made of cloth and metal? That would be really cool.
Wait. What if it was a mean horse? Like...a beast, or a machine. That wouldn't be cool. She wasn't a good fighter - all she could really do was run away quickly. She looked around swiftly for a hiding spot, or maybe something to use as a weapon. She spotted a rock and trotted over to kneel behind it. She tentatively called out from behind it. "Hello? Is-is someone there?"
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Post by ~♥adverb on Feb 23, 2011 4:50:22 GMT -8
((OOC: Hey, don't sweat it. Sometimes it takes a while for people to reply... -edit- CASE IN POINT: me, four posts later. orz)) ADZEMARCUS There! A voice; a girl's voice, sounding kind of scared. Adze cantered around a few roots, slowing to a trot when he got near. A rock? Rocks don't talk, or sound like girls. His ears turned down and then back up again, puzzled. Was it...? Slowly, hooves placed meticulously one after another, the horse paced around the stone, catching sight of the person behind it. He let out a giddy sort of sound, almost more of a happy squeak than a whinny. Then, wasting no time whatsoever, he reached down with his head to nuzzle Athneyn, simultaneously presenting himself for petting and appreciation. Because, of course, Adzemarcus was a good horse.
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Post by Schnikeys on Feb 27, 2011 22:02:57 GMT -8
Athneyn jumped a little as she saw the strange stitchhorse round the corner, and she shrank behind her meager hiding place. Once upon a time, she would have immediately rushed out with no thought as to whether the stranger would hurt her. In those days, it wasn't that she thought she was invincible; she simply didn't think that anything would have cause to hurt her. But those days were long gone, and new, cold, lifeless days had come to take their place. Days when beings of metal would attack without provocation. Days without her sisters.
The being seemed a little...odd? It didn't look exactly like most beasts did. For one thing, she didn't see a skull. And the being had cloth skin, like her. It looked like those horses from the storybooks she used to read. Brave, tall, strong, majestic. Then again, skull beasts had a certain majestic quality too. It didn't seem to have sharp teeth...though those hooves (hooves, right?) looked pretty heavy...
Oh gosh. The thingy was coming around the corner! WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo- She frantically thought. Wait. Maybe it was friendly. It peered around the corner, its body language conveying cautious curiosity. When it got a good look at her, it gave an excited squeak-whinny-sound and nuzzled her gently with its head. It was nuzzling her. Like...a puppy. Or something like that.
The burlap around her mouth stretched into a smile. She shifted so that she was facing the horse thingy and petted it gently, a little bit cautiously, as it nuzzled her.
"Good horse." She said. It was very nice to meet someone nice after all this time alone.
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Post by ~♥adverb on Feb 28, 2011 14:11:46 GMT -8
ADZEMARCUS Oh, yes, this was definitely a nice person. Adze put up no more resistance than a pillow might, allowing Athneyn's timid petting to move his head whichever way her hands pushed. Glassy blue eyes slid closed in ecstacy, but he didn't make any sudden moves or starts. Make a good impression, be a good horse; people didn't pet bad horses. And there- those were those words he'd been craving for the longest time, the confirmation that he was good, not bad. Good horse, good horse. He could almost hear his old master whispering it in his ear, overlapping with Athneyn's young voice. It occured to Adze that she might like a ride; he'd given people that little rides before, but none of these new people who looked a little funny and smelled a little drier than usual. Maybe, maybe she would like that. For now, just petting.
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Post by Schnikeys on Mar 5, 2011 6:37:33 GMT -8
Athneyn kept petting the beautiful horse thing. This was definitely a nice person.
"What's your name? Mine's Athneyn. It means 2 in Egyptian. Of course, you probably wouldn't know that, but then, not most people would." And there she went, rambling off again.
She looked into his (was it a he? She'd just go with that for now) beautiful blue eyes.
"Y'know, I've never seen eyes like yours before. They're really blue. And pretty." She said, as she stroked his ears. "Where'd you get them? Who made you?" Uh oh, maybe that was a nosy question. Come to think of it, could the horse thing even talk? Horses didn't talk, right?
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Post by ~♥adverb on Mar 5, 2011 18:51:56 GMT -8
ADZEMARCUS Adze whuffed a bit, sniffing Athneyn as her fingers found his ears and the beginning of his mane. He didn't get most of those words, but she had a name. It was a pretty name. And it sounded like his, in that it was long and had that letter in front of it. A. Did he always know what a letter was? Did it matter? He stopped, listening to Athneyn again. With more than a little hesitation, he pulled away from Athneyn, trotting over to an empty patch of dirt. He made marks, when he put his hoof in places, and an old memory came to mind... symbols. Letters. On reins, fastened around a roan-hued stallion... His name. On his reins. It had been on his reins. Maybe he could make them here? In the dirt. He didn't have reins. The first letter was easy. He made one hoofprint, and then drew a line with the front of his hoof. The others were harder, and by the time he'd finished, his shoulders hurt. But there was his name, there on the ground. ADZEMARCUS
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Post by Schnikeys on Mar 5, 2011 23:43:31 GMT -8
Athenyn reluctantly let go of the horse thing when it trotted away.
"Hey! Where're ya going?" she said as she jogged after him. He trotted to an empty stretch of dirt, where he paused, seeming to think about something. She waited, bouncing with impatience. She wondered...had he heard her? Was he trying to figure out how to tell her his name? That would be really cool.
The horse started scraping his hoof on the ground. It took her a few moments to realize that he was writing letters. Letters! He was really smart. She watched carefully as he outlined one letter after another - he had an even longer name than her.
She squinted at the word. "Ad...ad-zee...adzeemarch...Adzemarchus? Is that your name?" She stroked his mane. "That's a really pretty name. It's even fancier than mine."
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Post by ~♥adverb on Mar 12, 2011 9:38:36 GMT -8
ADZEMARCUS There. He'd done it. He'd made letters and she understood them. It was a very empowering sort of feeling; he'd never talked to Masters before... was she a Master? He had his master, just not here with him... Adze's ears twitched a bit, swerving dangerously close to their before dejected stance before they sprang back to attentiveness. His head was down so her hands could reach it, but he moved his hooves carefully, spelling out a different word now. This one was shorter, but it had less round letters; he used the front of his hoof now. LOST Adze's head cocked like a curious bird, his ears flicking one way and then the other. Something... something was missing. He needed something more there. A mark of some kind. Slowly, purposefully, he worked, the shape half-lingering in his mind like an afterimage. LOST? He turned, looked expectantly at Athneyn. She was one of the littler ones. And he knew that where there were the little ones, they weren't supposed to be alone; there was always a bigger one with them. But there wasn't one for Athneyn...
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Post by Schnikeys on Mar 22, 2011 20:59:32 GMT -8
The horse-thing's ears swiveled around. She wondered momentarily how they did that, but her attention was quickly diverted as the horse-thing started scratching something else in the dirt. She continued scratching behind his ears as she watched intently.
LOST. LOST?
Was she lost?
Yes. Yes she was, in more ways than one. First, the most obvious one - she had no idea where she was. She had a vague idea that she was in the midst of a forest, but not much else. Second, she had no idea what she was going to do.
"Yeah," She said quietly, almost mournfully. "I'm lost."
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Post by ~♥adverb on Apr 6, 2011 4:09:02 GMT -8
((OOC: KWFLIBB sorry for not posting for... like FOREVER.)) ADZEMARCUS Adze's ears drooped visibly, this time not in self-pity, but sympathy. Being lost was horrible. He should know. He scooted back a bit, finding more room to write with. He was getting the hang of this, but he was a bit tentative to erase any of his carefully made lines. They were pretty nice lines, after all. HELP FIND? The horse's blue eyes flitted over the writing, checking as if to ascertain that they made sense. After a pause, he exhaled softly, satisfied. His message had been delivered.
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Post by Schnikeys on Apr 12, 2011 15:07:06 GMT -8
OOC: Is no prob. Athneyn sat there for a moment, lost in her thoughts. She didn't notice at first when the horse-thing -- Adzemarchus (she needed to think of something shorter...) -- moved back and away from her scratching arm, which dropped carelessly to her side. She looked up as she realized that he (was it a "he"?) was writing something else in the dirt. HELP FIND? Help find what? Was he asking her to help her find something? It suddenly dawned on her that he was asking about her lost thing -- herself. He was offering to help her. She jumped up. "You'd really do that?" She threw herself over the horse -- Adzemarchus's -- neck and hugged him. "You're so nice!"
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Post by ~♥adverb on Apr 17, 2011 17:09:26 GMT -8
ADZEMARCUS Adze was taken a bit by surprise at the hug, but didn't mind, and returned it as best he could using his head, though in his case it was more of a very affectionate nuzzle. Once he was done with the hug, Adze knelt to the ground- Athneyn was a small one; if he had stood, she wouldn't be able to get onto his back. He didn't have reins to hold or a saddle to sit on, but if he was gentle and didn't go too fast, she would stay on, and she could tell him where to go. The forest wasn't good for her, that much was sure, but once they got out, she could direct him. It had been a while since anybody had ridden Adzemarcus; he was almost worried he'd be out of practice.
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