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Post by Ehetere on Jun 22, 2009 9:28:57 GMT
OOC: Only for Ebony (Waragaal) and Mundula. This thread is specifically for these two to get their names
Ivory walked slowly but determinedly up a hillside. She looked as thought she had purpose; but in reality, she had no idea where she was or where she was going. Ebony was following her on her left; as usual, and Ivory knew that her friend was relying on her to take them… wherever they were going.
She and Ebony were originally from a travelling circus; performing as vaulting horses in a popular act. Ebony had been content, and Ivory had been too, to a certain extent. But when the opportunity presented itself to escape; Ivory had grasped it with both hooves and taken Ebony with her. The huge ‘elephant’ that had smashed their cage had caused such a distraction, that she knew none of the human’s would have noticed their absence for quite some time afterwards.
Ivory had been determined to take herself and her friend up into the mountains where she had heard wild horses roamed, but as yet, there had been neither sight nor sound of any other horses. Ivory was actually beginning to worry that she had been told wrong, and that they would starve up here. Or at least be very lonely, since there was a bit of sweet grass to snack on here and there. It hadn’t even occurred to her that the other horses might be hiding from them, and that they were strange and unusual.
The welcome sound of running water met Ivory’s ears, and nudging Ebony enthusiastically, she made her way towards the promise of a cooling drink. Ivory was slighter than Ebony, and went more cautiously and slower so her heavier friend could keep up and so that neither of them would trip on some concealed object and break their necks.
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Post by Tiggs on Jun 22, 2009 9:56:21 GMT
Ebony of course was happy to follow wherever Ivory led her. This place was certainly no circus, but it had the same tint of chaos about it. The whoops and whistles of the native creatures hardly worried the rotund mare who was used to such strangeness. The only problem with this high country was the lack of food. She and Ivory stopped often to graze, not used to having to forage for grass. Usually their food was brought to them in large piles; it was not spread about like this.
Ivory gave her a nudge, and Ebony surfaced from her thoughts to see a creeping river full of water! Glad for the chance to quench her first, she quick-stepped with Ivory to the bank and lowered her head in tandem. The water was cool and refreshing, and tasted much better than any water she had ever drunk! At least the water here was better then the food.
Ebony did not really miss the hubbub of the circus. There were so many strange smells but out here, the air was fresh and clear. There were no men, no giant creatures, just her and Ivory. While they had yet to find any other horses, the large mare was content to be with her friend to explore such a wondrous place.
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Post by Illu on Jun 22, 2009 11:03:18 GMT
Oh good grief it was hot. Why was it that every Summer the sun was never content until it turned the world into an inferno?
Mundula beat her tired wings again, swerving left in order to make use of a large updraft of hot air that would keep her flying without any effort on her part. She had been travelling for the better part of the last few hours and the sun was beating down on her back, wings, and eyes until her feathers felt like they could scald someone. Her beak was hanging open, rasping in the air and drying out her tongue while she scanned the ground, sharp eyes fixed on a snaking trail of water slicing through the countryside.
Just what she needed.
Mundula quickly altered her trajectory and angled down towards the river, anticipating a little bit of relief from the sun.
The world beneath her was relatively quiet, as it always was on days like this. Strolling out into the blazing weather wasn’t exactly on the to-do list of many creatures today and all around on the ground there were pinpricks of red and orange light, which meant numerous small animals were trying to hide in the coolest parts of the terrain. Well, save for two very large animals working their way over to the same spot of the creek. Even at the obscene altitude she was flying at Mundula could recognise the steady gait characteristic of brumbies and she took a second to readjust her vision, and the two shapes became larger and more detailed like someone zooming in with a camera.
Huh. Those were some fatass horses.
As she came closer to the ground Mundula was grateful to see the air was somewhat cooler near the river. With relief she allowed herself to land near the creek in the shade of a large snowgum on the opposite side of the river to the two horses. The ground in the shade was delightfully cool and the eagle quickly flattened her feathers as close to her body as possible, wings still half outstretched to let the heat dissipate faster from her body. Still panting, she quickly stepped closer to the bank without taking her eyes off the horses.
Huh. They didn’t look any more like brumbies than they had before. Too bulky. Too much hair on their legs. It was unusual to see.
“Bit outta place, aren’tcha?” she found herself calling over the water.
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Post by Ehetere on Jun 22, 2009 11:28:22 GMT
Ivory shivered with pleasure as the cool, refreshing water slid down her throat. And it was so tasty too! Possibly one of the nicest things she had ever tasted. The oppressive heat in the middle of the day seemed to intensify; and Ivory was sorely tempted to jump into the river right then and there. The water didn’t look very deep though and there were a heap of rocks… Oh well; stuff it. Ivory was so covered in sweat it wasn’t funny, and jumping in the water seemed like a perfectly sensible idea all of a sudden.
Whinnying with delight she leapt into the cool water, encouraging Ebony to follow her, and was immediately cooled. Water splashed everywhere; and Ivory laughed. And then stopped. There was a bird on the other bank. And it looked none too pleased by her cooling shower. It f winged its way up to a branch and out of the line of fire.
Ivory thought it looked like some sort of eagle; since the circus had trained one to participate in one of their acts. This one was much larger, and she called up to it, in a slow voice in case it was stupid, “Hello there! I do apologize if I wet you! We’re not from around here! I’m sorry but I didn’t catch what you were saying before; could you perhaps repeat it?”
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Post by Tiggs on Jun 22, 2009 16:32:41 GMT
Stepping into deep water was not something Ebony had ever done, but she blindly trusted her friend and followed her in at a more sedate pace. The cool water rushed around her legs, and the paint mare stopped when it lapped at her stomach. She whinnied in amusement, the water tickling her long feathers. “It’s wet!” She told Ivory, dunking her nose in the water to noisily slurp up the water.
It was delightfully cooling, and the sensation of a cool lower body and with the heat of the sun on her back was refreshing. When Ivory started talking, Ebony looked up. Her friend seemed to be talking to a bird perched in a tree. The darker mare pricked her ears and peered up at the bird. “Don’t be silly, Ivory. It’s just a bird. I wonder if it can dance. Like those parrots. Remember?” She stared at the bird, wondering where it had come from. It looked a little fierce, but everyone knew birds were quite dumb.
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Post by Illu on Jun 26, 2009 9:32:43 GMT
As the wave of water crashed down on her head and front, Mundula gave a piercing shriek and winged it as fast as possible to one of the low-lying snowgum branches. A lot of sounds were escaping out of her beak which was mostly unintelligible, although from what could be heard it was nothing no one would ever repeat to their mother if they wanted to live to see the end of the week.
“Whatd’ya think yer doin’ you bloody pair o’ mongrels?” Mundula finally hissed savagely once she actually regained the ability to form coherent sentences again. The glare she was giving them from underneath her eyebrow ridge was nothing short of furious. Yes, she was overheated. No, being splashed with water by a dill of a mare was NOT how she wanted to cool down. She was perfectly capable of bathing herself, thank you.
“Should’a seen it comin’ from you lot. Most grass-eaters aren’t quite the full quid. Bloody drongos,” she muttered, extending her wings to try and make herself appear larger. “Rack off already!”
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Post by Ehetere on Jun 26, 2009 10:42:28 GMT
“Don’t be silly, Ivory. It’s just a bird. I wonder if it can dance. Like those parrots. Remember?” said Ebony, but Ivory was looking at the bird curiously. She thought it was speaking - she had heard some of the men at the circus say some of the things it was saying when one of the elephants (or they) stepped on one of their toes or something similar.
Finally; it burst out rather violently, “Whatd’ya think yer doin’ you bloody pair o’ mongrels? Should’a seen it comin’ from you lot. Most grass-eaters aren’t quite the full quid. Bloody drongos… Rack off already!” Ivory snorted in distaste; how rude of it. She and Ebony were clearly the superior beings here, and she had already tried to be polite to it! Ungrateful little so and so…
“It’s a pleasure to meet you also!” called out Ivory sourly to the indignant bird, and whispered to Ebony, “It is clearly insane… But all the same; we might learn something of this place from it, if it isn’t stupid after all.”
So; ignoring the bird’s ranting, Ivory again dropped her muzzle into the water and drank deeply again. She then shook her coat out a little; and thousands of tiny water droplets filled the air, creating the most beautiful rainbow in the sunshine.
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Post by Tiggs on Jul 16, 2009 8:44:02 GMT
Ebony gave a snort and tossed her head at the bird’s cursing. “Dear me, no need for that!” She turned to her friend and gave a nod. “Well, it does have a bird-brain.” She giggled at her own wit. “But you’re right, maybe it lives her. It might know where other horses are.” The pied mare, still up to her chest in water, called again to the bird.
“Hello there, birdy. Can you tell us where we are? Have you seen any other animals that look like us? We’re called horses.” She added helpfully, trimmed mane undecided as to whether to stick up or fall between her ears. “My name is Ebony, and this is Ivory.”
Perhaps the bird didn’t have a large brain, but hopefully it knew a little bit about where they were and where the other horses were, if there even were any. Ebony hoped there were, she dreaded to think how they were going to find their way out of this place and back to the circus if there weren’t.
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Post by Illu on Jul 26, 2009 17:23:38 GMT
Mundula really wasn’t sure exactly what she was hearing. Well, scratch that, she knew what she was hearing, she just didn’t want to believe it. If her ears weren’t lying to her, then she was going to need to proclaim that she had officially lost faith in all herbivorous mammals. She shouldn’t be surprised. 90% of their brains were probably instinct, which didn’t leave much room for being clever. You hardly needed brains to stalk grass.
“We’re called horses,” explained one them in a tone like she was talking to someone particularly dense. What, did they think she was blind?
“Good, fer a moment there I thoughtcha was a dingo,” the eagle replied sarcastically, taking a few steps sideways closer to the trunk and folding her wings back up before muttering to herself. “Ya’ve got ta be jokin’. Of all tha critters on this here side of Kossie, and I fly inter the only two cockeyed nongs that dunt know Christmas from Bourke Street. What ELSE would’ja be?” she shouted at them. “Ya got one thing right anyhow, dead cert ya ain’t brumbies. Which weatherboard did you two spring from?”
The clipped manes and shiny coats... they were men’s horses, that was for sure. Eesh, how much trouble were they going to give the locals if the humans went after them? Not good.
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