Miss independant (open)

[KAREE]

The day wasn't entirely nice. It was cloudy, cold and wet. The soft drizzle of rain continued, never getting into a heavy pour, but never entirely stopping either. The normal critters of the day where no where to be seen, apart from a muddy white brumby that wandered carelessly through the dreary weather. The stocky mare didn't seem bothered by the cool weather, actually it was almost like she welcomed it. Her head was high, held on by a thick neck and a musculer torso. She neighed out in joy, feeling energised and quite safe from man, as it would have been too cold for them to be out and about. Her body trembled as she picked her way through some salt bush and over a rocky out crop.

Snowy knew she'd be the only creature out today, it was probably why she decided today to go out and explore a bit. Other brumbies would probably stay within their herds, huddled under some huge tree or rock over hang or something. Snowy didn't envy them. She liked being a lone. She got things done and didn't have to rely on anyone else. She was independant. Probably a horrible trait for a brumby to have, but what else could she do? She wasn't going to have some pathetic ego-maniac stallion ruling over her and that was that.

Snowy strode confidently out over the soggy grass, her long tangled mane stuck to her neck; but it didn't seem to bother her, apart from a flick of her head occasionally. The dirty white mare reached the lake that spread out over most of this side of the country. Her head lowered as she reached the edge. To think that she had been thirsty all this time in the rain. She smiled, but continued to gulp down the water.


OOC|| Open to anyone.

[Ehetere]

OOC: Almurta can hang around for as long as you like. If a stallion comes to claim her, she can simply hop off again if you want her to

Almurta hopped silently across the top of the ridge; her pelt actually blending in for a change with both the grey sky and the snow daisies on the ground that were beginning to look less like snow and more like mud. There were tiny water droplets hanging on her fur, and mud splattered her feet and tail. Not that it mattered much for her tail; but she didn’t particularly appreciate getting her feet dirty. She wouldn’t even be out in such dismal weather were it not for the fact that she was overbearingly thirsty. She had been traveling a lot at night to avoid being seen, but that meant she had very little time for grazing, or drinking. Had it been a sunny day; she would have come to the lake to wash all the filth off her from her wanderings, but since it was not she would have to wait until the weather improved.

Surprisingly, there was another creature out on a day like this. A grubby brumby mare; looking similar in colouring to herself, was drinking deeply from the lake, although Almurta suspected that the brown patches on the mare’s coat were far less permanent than her own. Had the brumby been a stallion, Almurta would have simply hopped in the other direction and simply collected any dripping water off leaves and rocks. She did not care at all for stallions in general; they tended to be loud and bossy and rather over-bearing. Mares at least seemed to be civil enough. Almurta didn’t make a habit out of talking to strangers; let alone brumbies, so she simply hopped up to the water’s edge some distance from the muddy mare and dipped her delicate little nose into the frigid water; lapping up it’s goodness and replenishing her thirst.

One of her faded brown ears was always on the mare while she drank, all of her senses alert for danger. It was very risky being out in the open like this, during the day as well! Her unusual colouring made her an obvious target for predators, and humans sometimes laid traps to catch her once they spotted her. Horses could be hostile too, for some unknown reason, especially those who were arrogant and refused to respect the bush and it’s inhabitants.

[yaruka]

Despite the dismal weather, the white brumby mare and patched wallaby were not the only creatures about. A stormy coloured pinto mare and her foal were also wandering along by the lake. The mare was actually quite enjoying the feeling of the rain dripping softly on her back, having been named after the mist perhaps it was in her nature. Despite her loud pinto colouring she was well concealed in the half-light, fading into the murky background of the sky and water. Her foal wasn't even visible through the gloom at first glance. A smoky brown/black colour, Imber dutifully shadowed Boorrang, fading right into the landscape about her. Of course, it didn't help that mare paid absolutely no heed to her little filly. Perhaps if she had then the filly would have been more noticeable. But no flick of the ear or turn of the head belied the little smoky black's prescense.

Finally the mare stopped to drink, dipping her grey muzzle into the cool water of the lake. Her little filly foal wobbled to her flank and began sucking thirstily. Imber never managed to get a drink unless her mother was standing still for some reason, which wasn't often. The pinto mare had no idea how to care for a foal. It wasn't that she disliked her little baby, no, no one could possibly dislike the sweet filly. It was just that she was so far into her own world that thought of her foal's needs didn't even cross her thoughts. Suddenly the pinto mare raised her head, muzzle still dripping water. She thought she had seen movement across the lake. Yes, there was another brumby, and, could it be a wallaby? The other horse was a mare so Boorrang felt no threat, but equally was uninterested. She hadn't seen any stallions about lately, rather depressing actually. Boorang lived to tease stallions and lead them on tantalizingly spirited dances the the half-light of the storm.

[{ Opal }]

Out from the hazy treeline, a shadowy figure drifted toward the lake; it was a mare, her silvery grulla coat blending seamlessly into the gloomy backdrop. She was stocky, with a thick neck and sturdy legs, which blended together to create a rather immovable appearance. But Aruna was not alone; stumbling by her side was a leggy young colt, brushed with brown and black. He was born just the night before, and so his timely arrival gave him the name Tokai, meaning "night."

As Aruna approached the lake, one could tell she was especially nervous; her ears kept flicking back and forth, her steps coming with caution. For she was protective of her newly-born colt, and lived to defend him. Aruna could tell that Tokai was strong, a fighter, but he was vulnerable as all foals may be, and he had much to learn about this dangerous world. Aruna paused to test the breeze, and allow Tokai some nourishment. The colt had since learned to take every opportunity to feed, and ducked under his dam's belly to nurse hastily.

Drawing in deep breaths of the damp air, Aruna identified several foreign scents, and stiffened on instant. There were brumbies up ahead, but with further calculation, Aruna discovered they were only mares. A strange stallion might actually kill Tokai, in order to eliminate alien blood, but fellow mares posed little to no threat. Still, Aruna was hesitant. These were brumbies that she didn't know, and she was reluctant to show her colt to anyone but her stallion, Waiirri. On the other hand, Aruna was aware that numbers were safety, and it was that fact that convinced her to move forward.
With a stiff gait that belied her prudence, Aruna urged her colt forward, and on toward the water that glinted in the half-light. She made sure to give the mares a wide berth as she wandered toward the edge of the lake, which rippled under the light drizzling. Aruna glanced at Tokai, who was making a move toward the water, and gave him a sharp nip. He uttered a surprised squeal, but afterward he stayed away from the dark depths. While keeping an eye on the dark colt, Aruna dipped her muzzle into the lake, and slurped thirstily at the water.

[KAREE]

Snowy lifted her muzzle from the icy water, letting some of the remains dribble from her lips. Swallowing the rest, Snowy looked around when she heard a faint thudding a little way from her. A small wallaby had wandered out to also take a sip at the water. Snowy nickered in greetings, keeping her head lowered as to not pose a threat to the nervous looking creature. "Greetings O' Wallaby." She called. Shaking her mattered mane about, Snowy backed away from the muddy shore of the lake. Her hooves making sucking and sqwelching noises every time she lifted them from the mud. The rain was pattering a little harder than before, but it was not enough to clean the mud off the mares once white coat.

She travelled at a placid pace, closing the distance between her and the wallaby a bit more. "What is the news of the High Country?" She asked when she was little more than a few metres away from the bush creature. She watched the wallaby through her kind, dark brown eyes. Snowy did hear of the King being challenged recently, but she didn't know what had happened. Had he lost his title? Had the challenger acomplished what he wanted? Or had the King just beaten the challenger? Not that Snowy really cared to know, it would just mean another old stallion telling all his pretty mares what to do. But knowing would make Snowy that little bit wiser. Her head whipped around as the faint breeze brought along another scent. She tensed, waiting for a bachelor stallion to appear out of the trees - they always seemed to have a good sense of where all the mares where.

She watched, unmovingly as the horse appeared. The horse was a pinto, Snowy had seen them before amoung the man, and something else was there just on the other side...a foal! This horse was a mare! Snowy sighed, smiling lightly. And obviously the mare had no interest in Snowy or the wallaby, but Snowy was interested. She had a particular interest in mares with foals. It must have been a motherly instinct or something, she had no idea, but she was always attracted to them.

Snowy looked at the wallaby, nodded, then forgetting her questions, moved away. Her nostrils quivered slightly, a soft nicker escaping them. She replayed the motions she had just done with the wallaby, walking placidly around. "Greetings O' Patched mare, and young foal." She greeted them when she came into proper hearing range. Keeping her distance, she siddled around to take a better look at the youngster, who seemed very hungry. "Don't worry, I mean no harm." She quickerly added, just incase the mare thought Snowy was about to steal her foal. "My name is Snowy." She waited patiently as the mare drank her fill.

Snowy looked up again as yet another mare and foal came into view, keeping their distance just as the wallaby and the pinto had. It must be that time of year again. Snowy let out a soft, inviting neigh. Even though Snowy would have liked her 'alone' time, Snowy didn't mind hanging around a couple of mares with their young ones. It sort of made her feel important, sort of like a nanny. "That is a beautiful filly you have there." She told the pinto after she'd finished inviting the other mare over for a conversation.

OOC|| blah its really sloppy and all over the place lol. xD Sorry guys!

[Ehetere]

Almurta looked up with wide eyes as the mare greeted her politely. Curtesy and manners was another thing that stallions regularly lacked; and Almurta was pleased to see that she at least had some sense of the bush creatures. She was a little disapproving when she was simply called nothing more than a plain wallaby; but perhaps she was so covered in mud that she looked that way. Concerned; Almurta balanced herself on her tail and turned her upper body so that she could peer at her back. No; she was still white. Did this mare think every creature in the world was white? Surely not. Still, Almurta replied wryly, “Greetings to you also; O’ Wet One.”

Almurta was a little more alarmed as the mare began to sidle over; large heavy hooves making squelching noises and splashing mud every which way. She was rather worried about getting squashed, trampled or covered in mud, when the mare stopped a few metres away and looked down at her. "What is the news of the High Country?" asked the muddy white mare, and just when Almurta was about to launch into a reply; another brumby emerged over the hill.

Immediately she stiffened as the white and grey mare came forward; a leggy dark coloured foal at her side. Already Almurta was beginning to fell rather crowded; she had never really been one for groups, but since it was a mare, she remained; in more curiosity than anything else. She did not know why; but the brumbies’ little offspring always intrigued her; with their oddly proportioned bodies and funny foal colours. That coupled with the fact that she felt far less fear of being trampled while around them, since they were rather short themselves. Almurta especially liked the really, really small ones; the runts, as she was a runt herself and was tiny, even among other wallabies.

The muddy white mare nodded to her once, and then moved away; forgetting her. Clearly conversation with another brumby was more valued than a conversation with her. Almurta was not really surprised; most brumbies thought themselves higher creatures than wallabies or other bush creatures, and in some aspects they were. For example; they were all taller than she. But clearly not wise enough to want to share wisdom with one of the bush’s inherently most wise creatures.

Almurta sat up on her tail; trying to at least seem a little larger than she was. She doubted whether the mother brumby had even noticed her. All the same; she watched the little joey foal with interest; wondering if he would come over is she beckoned him. And then another mare emerged from the bush with her joey foal; that was also a dark colour. The mare herself had a similar pelt to that of normal wallabies; which Almurta thought was a wise choice of colouring to live in the bush. Almurta cocked her head in the joey foal’s direction; lifting a paw and waving in its direction in greeting. Usually young animals were curious about anything, and Almurta was sufficiently bored and curious to want to investigate these two tiny brumbies further.

[yaruka]

A soft nicker drew Boorang's attention back to the white mare. The pinto stood unmoving, watching the other approach. "Greetings O' Patched mare, and young foal." said the other and Boorrang flicked her ears in surprise. She was unused to this sort of politeness, even though it was true that the mares she had stayed with for sometime over the winter had also been unfailingly polite. She had thought it was just those mares though, they had all been a little queer to her mind any way.

"Greetings," she replied back, though unsure of what else to say. O' muddy one didn't sound that all flattering. She decided to keep it safe and not say anything else, an unusual amount of consideration on her part. Perhaps it was because she had been alone for so long and did not want to drive away this new source of company. Or maybe Boorrang was finally becoming a little more sensitive. Probably the first option though, the only way the second could have been true would have been if her little daughter was finally rubbing off on her.

"Don't worry, I mean no harm. I am Snowy" The mare's next words surprised Boorrang anew. She wasn't worried. What threat could possibly come from another brumby mare? "Nice to meet you," she replied in anycase, "I am Boorrang." Movement out of the corner of her eyes caught the pinto mare's attention for a split second, but she quickly became uninterested as she realised it was just another mare and her foal.

"That is a beautiful filly you have there." said the white mare after greeting the others. The pinto's ears flickered to her young daughter,the other mare's words almost seeming to remind her of the fact that she had a daughter. "Oh, thank you." she said a little late.
---------------------------------
Imber watched with wide eyes as the white mare made her way slowly around the lake, moving ever closer to them. She had noticed the other's approach way before her mother did, and when her dam finally looked up the leggy foal still didn't relax. Imber was used to keeping a second watch- Boorang tended to miss things, Imber had learnt that by now. Her unusual amber eyes widened as the strange mare came even closer but the smoky black relaxed slightly at the white mare's gentle nicker. Still regarding her curiously, Imber remained her mother's shadow. That was until another mare and foal appeared from the brush. At first frightened, Imber was soon delighted to see that the other was about her age. Having never met another foal, Imber was compelled to leave the relative safety of her mother's side and go investiage, creeping slowly but surely towards the other foal. IBoorang, of course, noticed nothing. Reaching out with her tiny velvet nose, she nickered sweetly to the dark foal, so alike her own colour. "Hello," she said "I am Imber-who are you?" A strange movement from out of the corner of her eye startled the little filly before the colt could reply. Spinning about she peered across the lake at the light coloured wallaby who now appeared to beckoning to them. Standing with legs braced wide apart, tail flagged excitedly and nostrils flaring, Imber's inquisitive gaze swept the wallaby's small form as she debated whether to go closer.

OOC: ugh, sorry I don't know what's up with me tonight. I just CAN. NOT. write good posts. fail. sorry.

[{ Opal }]

Hearing a soft neigh, Aruna angled her ears toward the noise, and cast her gaze over to the white mare. She lifted her streaming muzzle out of the lake, and gave the brumby a certain scornful look, which included a hard glare. The truth was, Aruna had heard the mare's compliment on the other's filly, and felt a bit put off in the fact that her gorgeous colt had gotten no response. So, with her mood sent awry, the grulla turned her back to both mares in an effort to show just how angry she was. Aruna was being dramatic, as usual, and so she had not even noticed the odd-colored wallaby motioning (something curious in itself) by one corner of the lake.

Now Tokai, on the hand, was much more vigilant than his dam. He was quite interested in the few brumbies around him, and peeked under Aruna's mud-splattered legs to get a better look. He was drawn particularly to the little smoky filly, and it appeared she felt the same. So they both crept slowly toward each other, and as the filly stretched out her head, he did the same, until their soft muzzle barely touched. Tokai perked up his long, ungainly ears as he heard the foal's light voice, saying, "I am Imber-who are you?" He was about to answer with his own name when the filly suddenly reacted to something, causing him to turn and look. As Tokai spotted the wallaby, he started to size it up; it was about the same height as him, but has much more size and strength, making it a threat if it decided to attack. But Aruna, his mother, seemed unconcerned, and Tokai couldn't help but be drawn to a new and fascinating creature.

[KAREE]

Her ears pricked forward as the other mare began to reply. Snowy's eyes drifted to the mares foal a few times, watching curiously as the gangly creature toddled over to the other. Snowy couldn't help but smile as the two met up. It was so cute. Turning her roman nosed face back to the other mare, who said her name was Imbrium. "It is a pleasure to meet you also." Snowy hadn't noticed the other mares disgust, infact she wasn't even looking in her direction any more. She watched as the dark coloured filly greeted the colt, who was quite hansome in his own way. Her ears pricked forward as the foal introduced herself to the other. "Thats ok." She answered Imbrium's delayed thanks to compliementing her foal.

Snowy then seemed to remember the other mare, and looked over to where she stood, back towards them. Rolling her eyes, she looked away. She would not waste her time with snooty mares.

[Ehetere]

OOC: So I have changed my mind and written something... I was bored ok! I had nothing to reply to!

Almurta promptly ignored the large brumbies’ conversation; after all it did not concern her in the slightest. The small joey foals on the other hand; were intriguing. They had the funniest proportions, especially compared to their mothers, and were really quite intriguing to look at. But it seemed that they had not been in the world long enough to gain every small animal’s boldness; everything must be new and unnerving to them at the moment. So Almurta took the initiative and hopped over to them herself; keeping a wary eye on their mothers should they decide that she was a threat, for some silly reason.

Almurta stopped within reaching distance of the two joey foals and balanced herself on her tail so that she could see eye to eye with the young things. Afraid she would scare them, she patted each one on the nose in greeting. “You younglings are very wet; do you like all the water? I don’t particularly like it. Anyways, what have your mothers named you then?” Almurta waited for them to pluck up the courage to reply by trying in vain to remove all of the dirt from her white pelt.