Easy Virtue (Open)

[Ann]

Today was a good day to explore. Well, not really, clouds hung heavily in the sky, blocking out the sunlight and making the day rather overcast. Every so often thunder would rumble in the distance, indicating that when the heavens did open and it started to rain it was going to be a storm of spectacular proportions. But Spock did not care, he was bored and so he was going to explore, weather permitting or not.

He liked food as much as the next stallion, loved it in fact, and the grass where he was currently standing tasted nice enough. Spock bent his head, teeth pulling at a clump of grass as if to prove his point to some invisible observer. The company, however, was terrible. Not a single mare around for him to admire and woo his way into her favour or impress with his studly good looks, because really who could resist a horse as handsome as Spock.

The point was his imagination just wasn’t cutting it any more. Picturing her long mane whipping in the wind as she tossed her head, the smooth curve of her back and legs tapering to delicate little hooves and… Where exactly had that train of thought been going again? Spock gave his head a little shake, shifting on his hooves as he tried to recollect his thoughts. Oh yes, imagining a mare just wasn’t enough for him any more.

So Spock would have to go out into the world and find himself the real thing. Preferably a pretty one, as he didn’t want her to feel inadequate next to him, but at this point he was just about desperate enough to make do with one of the ugly ones. He set off, covering a fair distance before he decided (a little breathlessly) that he’d done quite enough running for one day and that any mares could just as easily be discovered at a walking pace.

(OOC: There we go, Spock’s first outing into the world. Before Illu kindly points out that horseys can run for ages Spock is lazy and he only has little legs bless him.)

[Ehetere]

Allirea was wandering through the bush, as she had been for much of the winter and spring. Her stallion Boolee had decided that she was not worth apologising to, so she had simply left him. Let him have his run-of-the-mill mares that did everything he wanted to! There was going to be no adventure for him the; he would be trapped protecting all the sons and daughters that he sired. Speaking of which; Allirea could tell that she was getting close to foaling. Her stomach had started bulging slightly just after spring had arrived to the mountains, and Allirea had mixed feelings about the foal. She had expected to have her first foal when she was with a kind, caring stallion. Well; that idea went out the back door a while ago. Still, maybe if he saw her trotting up the valley with a beautiful colt at her side he would realise the error of his ways.

Allirea had spent a lot of the winter and spring thinking long and hard about the argument between her and Boolee. The more she thought about it, the more Allirea thought that they both had overreacted. She knew that she had been jealous of the attention that Boolee had been paying to the other mares. She still resented the creamy more than the paint, she did not know why but she had gotten the distinct impression at the time that the creamy had been luring Boolee to her deliberately. Boolee had also overreacted too; she had been in no danger in that valley and he knew this. Allirea was also beginning to think that he way have reacted the way he did out of concern for her as opposed to a cruel personality.

Allirea had been so caught up in her thoughts that she did not register another horse’s scent until much later than she should have. She was still downwind from the stallion, so she crept forward until she got a clear view of him.

He was a stocky blue roan, and fairly good looking if you liked that sort of thing. Allirea personally preferred the more lithe and elegant stallions to ones with muscles and brawn. The lithe ones were usually more cunning and intelligent too. But never mind that, she was incredibly bored and if worst came to worse and she had to leave Boolee; she wanted to leave her mark on him in one way or another so that he never forgot the fierce little grey mare he had met in the snow.

Allirea trotted out into the clearing as elegantly as her swelling belly would allow; tossing her mane to make it shimmer. Although the snow in winter time added to her beauty, Allirea’s coat was like shining silver in the spring summer and autumn, and since she had long since rolled off her winter coat; she shone like an insubstantial mist. She could have looked like a smoky diamond were it not for the ugly grey clouds in the sky and she had to resist the urge to glare up at them for lessening her looks.

She then stood still; a perfect grey figure of grace, throwing her head up. She suspected that she had some Arabian blood in her; but refused to admit to anyone that she was anything but pure brumby. “Greetings to you, blue stallion, and what brings you sniffing around the valley of an ancient King?” asked Allirea respectfully; wondering why he had no mare with him. She had never seen him before; but then again brumbies could hide anywhere, and more were being born every spring. The two stallions vying for the rulership of the high country sired enough sons and daughters every year to populate whole mountain ranges. Allirea snorted at this idea; thinking that both seemed very arrogant to do so. Then again, maybe all stallions were like that.

[Ann]

Looking around Spock decided this exploring malarkey wasn’t all it had cracked up to be. As if he was having to go looking for mares, they should be throwing themselves at him and, like, fawning over how much of stud he was. Looking around and seeing no mares, or even any other horses, for him to talk to, he decided he would stand around here for a while and try to look like he was doing something important until one came along. Then they could ask him what important thing he was doing, by that point he was sure he’d have a story sorted, and they could be suitably impressed by his answer.

Spock shifted from one hoof to the other, lifting his head to stare into the middle-distance in a way that was meant to be wistful and not just make him look slightly retarded. And he succeeded. Mostly. Then somebody spoke to him and his ears shot back as he tossed his head, looking around wildly for the source of the voice. Holy horse manure! How had the mare got so close without him noticing? He turned, composing himself as he moved, couldn’t go around looking flustered in front of a mare.

For a moment Spock entertained the notion that she might be a ghost, the way her grey coat shone even in such poor lighting made it a distinct possibility and it would also go some way to explaining how she’d managed to sneak up on him. In the ended he decided it didn’t really matter, ghost or not she was smokin’ and he could even forgive her for almost making him soil himself with fear because she was just what he’d been looking for.

He hadn’t really expected his standing still plan to work, especially not so quickly and he hadn’t really had a chance to make up what interesting thing he’d been doing yet. ”Um…” He trotted towards her, catching a waft of her scent now he was paying proper attention, probably not a ghost then. ”Exploring. Tell me, are you tired?” Spock’s ears pricked forwards looking perhaps a little to eager. ”Because you’ve been running through my dreams all night.” Oh yeah, he was one smooth dude.

[Ehetere]

“You’ve been running through my dreams all night”? Allirea snorted indignantly. She liked compliments, but just not usually such blunt or suggestive ones. Were it not for the fact that she wanted this stallion to follow her when she went looking for Boolee, she would have turned tail and left that minute. She absolutely hated stallions like this, who tried to collect every mare in sight and sire fifty million foals. And for some mares smooth talking as such certainly worked, but not for Allirea. Was he so blind to not see that she was very clearly pregnant? And for her to be pregnant she would need a stallion. She was rather surprised to see that the blue roan stallion did not look around for any other stallions in the area. Either he was an escaped horse or he was very, very gullible. Allirea thought that she could put this to good use. It occurred to her as well that she was obsessing a lot over Boolee since she had vowed to forget him. Maybe he did mean something to her after all.

“No, I am not tired, thank you,” replied Allirea in a sarcastic voice; if she’d had eyebrows one of them would have been raised sharply. This stallion was obviously rather vain. Allirea wondered whether he would actually care about any mares that he collected or whether he would simply continue to act like he was the most important being in the world. One thing was for sure Allirea knew that she could not stand this stallion for long. That and she decided that this stallion was probably as inexperienced I life as a colt. Maybe she should not be so hard on him… maybe.

[Ann]

Spock was entirely clueless about Allirea’s indignance at his remark or even her general contempt at the way he was behaving. Of course he’d heard her snort her derision, but had just assumed it was general speechlessness at his smooth talking skills. In his defence he wasn’t really the stallion Allirea thought him to be. He didn’t want to sire any foals and he definitely didn’t want the responsibility of fatherhood resting on his shoulders. However, baby horses were an unfortunate side effect of what he wanted to do with just about every mare he laid eyes on.

Actually now that he looked a little closer she did look kind of… fat. Not in a few too many hours spent grazing way, but in a different stallion getting in there first way. Did Spock really want to tangle with another stallion’s mare? Well, she was an exceptionally pretty mare, with all the qualities he was looking for. She was female, and she hadn’t tried to bite him yet. They were a match made in heaven really.

“Good,” He responded, not missing a beat and deciding her frosty tone was just a way of showing she was interested. It was a little unorthodox sure, but why wouldn’t she be interested. Whoever her stallion was clearly wasn’t as impressive as him or she wouldn’t have approached him in the first place. “Stamina, I like that in a mare.” Spock swished his tail moving a little closer. “Care to share your name?”

[Ehetere]

“Allirea,” she replied, still keeping the frostiness in her voice. She decided not to mention her name’s meaning, since really she didn’t intend on joining this stallion’s herd. Sure she could wrap him around her hoof, but he could so easily lose her to some dolt. Allirea was beginning to think that this stallion was rather thick; considering that he had still not picked up on her clear displeasure. Her bad mood was not improved by her sore feet; which were made tender by carrying all the extra weight from her foal. She hoped it was a colt; since then surely Boolee would want her back more than any other mare.

Deciding that she at least needed to be polite, Allirea asked the stallion, “And what is the name that you go by?” She looked warily up that the oppressive clouds that seemed very heavy. Allirea did not particularly want to end up soaking wet, and knew of a little overhang of rock that she could shelter in if worst came to worse. Still, that meant having to share it with this stallion probably. A march fly bit her rump and she flicker it with her tail angrily and tried to scratch at it with her teeth, but couldn’t quite reach. She shook her coat and stamped a foot in annoyance; temper flaring. Damn flies! They had been following her like her own personal cloud for a while now and she was sick of them. This coupled with anger at Boolee and concern for her unborn foal made her exceptionally irritable. If it weren’t for her current temper, she probably could have put up with the arrogant stallion in good humour. So long as he didn’t try to herd her or boss her or anything like that. If he did, he was going to find himself at the wrong end of her hooves and teeth.

[Ann]

“A pretty name for a pretty horse.” Spock was nothing if not persistent. It was a nice name though so it wasn’t like he was lying, not a patch on Spock of course, but not everybody could be as blessed as him. He was beginning to get the impression that she wasn’t nearly as enthused about this meeting as him. Perhaps she was just nervous that he wouldn’t like her name, in which case his comment should have put her at ease. Or maybe it was a pregnancy thing, he’d heard it could make mares kind of grouchy.

“I’m Spock.” He said with a certain amount of pride. His ears pricked forwards, eyes on Allirea looking out for how impressed she would undoubtedly be by his name. Spock’s tail was slightly raised and his neck was arched towards her. Effectively letting her know in every way he could that he was interested, that or he was just trying to make himself look a little taller so she wouldn’t notice his slight stature. Now that the pleasantries were out of the way it was time to get down to business, none of this playing hard to get malarkey was going to put him off.

Spock leaned forwards to sniff at her, trying to catch a waft of the stallion who had impregnated her. Not that it really mattered what he smelled like, Spock undoubtedly smelled better. He backed off again, though, as she seemed to throw a temper tantrum. No need to get moody just when they were getting along, he gave his own snort of annoyance in response. ”Where’s the stallion that knocked you up?” He asked with more than a little curiosity in his voice, no point beating around the bush.

[Ehetere]

Well at least he had some sense in his head to know that her name was pretty. Some mares were rather cruel to their foals in naming them boring or ugly names that no one could pronounce. Allirea snorted in surprise when he delivered his, name and then tried to disguise it as a cough. Spock. What sort of a name was that? Not only was it weird, it was clearly out of place in her opinion. She had always liked the way the bush creatures named their young using the language of the bush. Perhaps this stallion’s name was one that she had not heard before. But she really did doubt it. It was just too unusual. He might be an escaped horse, Allirea mused.

Allirea made no move to get any closer to him than she was when he extended his nose to her. There was a way that he stood that was a little funny, like he was trying to stretch himself. When he tried to sniff at her, Allirea moved deftly out of the way. She was not going to tolerate such behaviour. She already had a stallion, even if she was angry at him at the moment. Showing some intelligence, the stallion backed off again, looking annoyed for the first time. Maybe he wasn’t all happy -go-lucky after all. ”Where’s the stallion that knocked you up?” asked Spock, his voice filled with curiosity and any annoyance that he had displayed a moment ago had disappeared. Allirea was shocked. It was such a blunt question; blunt and rude. She sniffed disparagingly, “My stallion is Boolee, and he is…away, for the moment. He has claimed me, but no stallion shall ever own me fully. That is why I am wandering… that and I have no wish to be disturbed when my foal is to be born.”

[Ann]

Allirea wasn’t nearly so complimentary about Spock’s name in return, in fact she rather rudely failed to make any comment on it whatsoever. Perhaps her mother and stallion had never taught her proper manners, or maybe she was just so awed by the sheer beauty of his name she was speechless. He knew as names went his was rather unusual, so what was not to like about it. He was unique, not like the other creatures all named after rocks and trees or whatever. He was special, his mother told him so.

Still, he couldn’t stay annoyed with her for too long, he was more interested in finding out where her stallion was and being rude and grouchy about it wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Which was why he asked, using rather a lot of tact he thought. Boolee. Now that was a stupid name, no wonder Allirea had wandered away from him. She’d probably been looking out for somebody better and more studly. Like Spock. Which was undoubtedly why she’d approached him in the first place.

”Were you my mare I would not leave your side.” He said with a little shake of his head, tone judgemental. ”Perhaps you just haven’t found the right stallion to be owned by yet.” Spock added, as if mares wanted to go wandering around without a stallion. They wouldn’t if it was Spock, this Boolee was clearly rubbish. Especially considering Allirea was pregnant. Not that Spock wanted anything to do with that birth part. Gross.

(OOC: Eep, I feel bad insulting Boolee. I’m sure he’s awesome, Spock is just an arse.)

[tingara]

Tingara made his way slowly into the valley that he’d spent most of his adult life in. His movements as he jogged were still stiff but were a vast improvement to what they had been a few weeks ago. The wounds that Nevada had inflicted on him were well on their way to healing and were mostly covered by newly grown black fur. He was almost back to full health after the fight of his life. His coat shone ebony in the sun and now that he was alone he felt as light-hearted as he had when he’d first galloped into this valley all those years ago as a naive young colt.

Here there were no stroppy and nervous mares to deal with or white stallions lurking. Although greatly tempted Tingara resisted the urge to call joyously to the sky. Testing out his limbs the black stallion broke into a gallop, his tail and mane flowing out behind him. It was slightly painful but he was too happy at the fact that he could once again run to really care. The black King raced into the valley alone and skidded to a half as he spotted the shapes of other horses a little further away. For a moment he thought about avoiding them but then he thought why not go up and say hello? He was King afterall.

Tingara trumpeted a greeting as he cantered closer to what he could now see was a stallion and a mare. “Greetings,” he called cheerily, especially to the mare. She was obviously pregnant and the blue roan could very well be her stallion but the black shrugged it off. He needed some new faces that weren’t mopey mares.