Dun Deceive Me [Alinga]

[Tiggs]

OOC: Carrying on from The Frost of Summer

She was coming to him! The dun colt could barely keep himself quiet in the excitement. The leaves touching his pelt quivered as he did, and he watched – breathless – as the creamy scented the air. She glanced back to her stallion, and for a moment the colt thought she might return to him. Then she turned back, a lingering contempt in her eye from seeing the other mares clustered around the grey stallion.

Kolya smirked. He knew he had her now. With a whispering nicker, the colt gestured to her to come closer again. He could not step out of the trees, she had to come to him. As soon as they both were hidden, he could steal her away. “I am Kolya, for the winter. Winter fears nothing,” he said, quiet but full of conviction. He flushed with pride at her compliment, feeling it all the more strongly when he craved the admiration so much.

“If you like it, come away with me. I am always brave; is your stallion always so boring?” He smirked, glancing up the hill toward him. Of course, another stallion chose that moment to come trumpeting and challenging out of the bush. It distracted the grey, at least, but it also distracted the mare.

Taking the chance that the stallion would not be looking his way for a while, Kolya came out of his cover and circled the mare. “One of them seeks to win you, or keep you. Which of them would you rather? Or would you rather me?” He asked, arching his neck proudly. After all, he was the one giving her attention.

[sooty]

Inside she was a little wound up and annoyed that this was not going to go her way now but on the outside she still look calm and collected though the young stallions words were blurring inside her head which was now packed with this words and the cries of the other stallions and then a mare. She shakes her head and looks at the young stallion snapping her focus back onto him trying to forget about the others and forget about how her stallion was currently too occupied to notice that one was trying to sneak her away. She snorts in frustration and then tries to wipe away that look; she didn’t want the young stallion to think she was frustrated at him.

Now he had spoken to her, twice she was sure but she wasn’t exactly sure on what he had said and she did not want him to realise she had not been listening to him the whole time. She thinks she had his name and something about coming with him and her stallion being boring. She snorts again at that thought and then shakes her head. ”Boring now that he had those other mares to hang himself over.” She mutters more to herself but loud enough to be heard by the young stallion. She needed to say something back to the young stallion though before he thought she was ignoring him but he was coming out of his hiding spot and now showing off as he moved around her.

She kept her eyes on him, her head turning to follow his movement. He really did look young, it was cute he was trying to hard but dear she was a bit out of his league right now but she wouldn’t break his little heart and tell him that. She shakes her head at his next words. ”I am not sure either of them could care less that I was over here with you.” She rolls her eyes a little at the thought.

She pauses for a moment and glances back trying to work out which one of the mares it was that had cried out when the other stallion had sent out his call. She was not sure but both were and quiet and as boring as each other, or so that is what she had seen. ”They are more focused on that boring mare over there.” She wasn’t sure why when there was such a beautiful mare like her right here but each to their own. ”I could probably walk away and they wouldn’t even notice for some time.” She sighs and brings her attention back to the young stallion who actually knew what a decent mare was and if her Mr Gray was not carful might just do a better job at stealing her away than she had planned on and this thought makes her stomp her for hoof, she did not like being the forgotten mare.

[Tiggs]

Kolya liked the way her expression changed just looking from her grey stallion back to him. How frustrated must she be with him? Kolya had not expected to find a mare so disenchanted with their stallion; it was like finding fruits on the trees up by the man’s hut, sweet and ripe for the picking. It would make it so easy to tempt her away.

The colt nickered, coming to stand beside her so that should a stallion glance over, he was mostly hidden behind her. Her words were like birdsong to his ears, and he reached his dark freckled muzzle out to hers again. “I think that you have found yourself with a stallion who does not truly appreciate you. What stallion who did would let you out of his sight? I think that your grey doesn’t realise what he has, and I think that you could find a better stallion – a younger more clever stallion – to drape himself all over you,” he nickered huskily.

“Those stallions are stupid, those mares are not as lovely as you! Try it, walk away with me and see if they would even notice, come away with me. I’ll keep you by my side, I would notice if a stallion had come to woo you away, I would not hang myself across another mare when there was a crystal gem like you before me,” he lipped at her nose and chin, slowly leaving her side and letting their flanks brush.

“Come with me, lovely filly, come away from your ugly stallion and follow me,” he strafed to the bush, gesturing her to follow, desperate now to have her come with him. What a pair they would make, creamy and brown, darkness and light. What strong healthy foals she would bear him, dark colts and pale fillies. He could barely contain his excitement, and he nickered throatily to her again, such desire in his eyes that made his every word the perfect truth. To him she was a prize of limitless value, how could a stallion stand to look away from her for even a second?

[sooty]

She watches him forcing herself not to turn around and look at the action behind them. As soon as that annoying bay was gone her stallion must realise she is gone and come looking he cant be that blind now can he? She shakes her head and lowers it a little and keeps an eye on the young stallion who was now rather close to her. She felt her body stiffen up a little as she was not so sure if she liked him being so close, she was normally the one to go close to stallions not one to let them close to her but she didn’t move for the sake of her little thing where she was trying to get the attention she so deserved.

She ears flicked slightly to the side to listen to his words. The creamy mare was starting to wonder if the young stallion was right, if in that moment where she had let her normal thinking drop and acted a bit like a filly again she had found herself following the wrong stallion, one who does not realise who he has with him. She turns her head away from the young stallion to think it over, it was not like she wanted to go with the young stallion yet for he was too young in her eyes but he did treat her much more like the princess she was, well more queen she was a little too old to be a princess and it made her think of a spoilt brat.

As he speaks again she turns her pretty head around to look back and see the other two stallions sizing each other up and she sighs, shaking her head, messing up her long silver mane and forelock. Then back to the young stallion she looks, he was doing such a good job at making her feel special though she knew she was. She was beautiful, cream and dappled, almost in every way a silver until next summer when she would be her beautiful gold. She is the sort of mare that a stallion should be doing exactly what the young stallion is saying he would.

She is quickly pulled back from her thoughts as she feels his touch against her. With a snort she steps to the side and looks around to see where he had touched her. With another snort she lifts her head back up high and proud she had to be in control of this situation and for a moment there it felt like she had almost lost it. She begins to walk, she needed to be in control of herself. She walks along in front of the bushes the young stallion was moving to. Her neck was slightly arched and her tail just lifted as she liked to look like she had pride in herself. As she speaks his last words she tosses her head a little and lets out a little laugh at the filly comment.

”Young stallion you flatter me with such kind words. You truly know what mares to value and how to make them feel important. “ She pauses then turns around and walks back the other way still keeping her eyes on the young stallion she would just forget about her gray, who she did not think as ugly as this young stallion did, for now. ”Your offer is tempting as your words say what is it I am looking for but you are young and though you want to hold a mare like me and protect her from everything you have not reached your prime and you might not be a match for all the stallions out there and I would not like to end up with just any old mutt.”

She snorts and shakes her head, this was why she had stayed on her own for so long and tried not to be owned by a stallion. The slight fear of any old nasty stallion taking her from the one of her choosing or just an ugly stallion. She needed to know the one she chose to be with could hold her, as long as she wished to be held that is. She pauses her pacing for now and just looks into the bush and at him. ”A mare must be sure before making choices like this; I have seen far too many seasons to make decisions without much thought. You will go far and you hold a lot of potential but I am old enough to be your granddam, I know I don’t look it. But it makes me wonder if you need to mature and experience life just a little bit more before I can trust my protection in you.” She wasn’t trying to be mean, just be smart. If he was a year or two older right now with this mood she most likely would not have given it a second thought.

[Tiggs]

She was thinking too much, talking too much time. How hard could this decision be? Stay with a stallion who would ignore her or come with him so he could shower her in the attention she desired; if their roles were reversed, he knew which one he would choose. But she was a clever mare, and she soon looked back to him from the duelling stallions to him. Tossing his dark head up regally, the colt knew that he had won.

The silver mare was beautiful, perfect and lovely and his. He nickered to her as she came to him, unable to take his eyes off of her. The other stallions could be bearing down on him and he wouldn’t notice through his obsessive need for this mare. She teased him, pacing along the bush’s edge but never once setting foot inside the cover. The dun colt was ready to come around her and drive her inside, so great was his longing for her that he would risk a commotion just to have her.

Her voice was like honey, and the colt was entranced. The way she spoke about him, the way she described him was... ‘young’? Shaking his head as if clearing his ears of water, Kolya looked at her sternly. What was she saying? He was too weak? He was a mutt? He had potential?! His eyes began to show a little white, and his nostrils flared as he spoke, “You do not appreciate my daring? My cunning? My fearlessness? I step out here, in front of two stallions – who have forgotten you, by the way – and you call me immature? In all your many years have you seen a young stallion so brave? Willing to risk his hide for you?”

Snorting, the colt pawed the ground irritably, “You tease me, you follow me this far, you clearly want me but I think it is you that is the inexperienced one. You won’t leave the confines of this herd to run with a stallion that truly wants you. You would rather support a stallion that ignores you, that prefers all his other mares over you!” Shuddering, the angry colt’s eyes blazed, and he curled his lip, “You put your trust in him over me? Pray tell me, old silver, which one of us here with you, and which is the one who would let an ‘inexperienced colt’ lure you this far?”

Stamping his hoof, Kolya was ready to go out there and push her into the trees. Just like he had pushed Dulloora, but this mare was too old and fat to outrun him. The hot-headed colt would have her, one way or another.

[sooty]

She began to see the demeanour of the colt change. Where he had once seemed so bright and happy he was now turning that bit sour. In turn her face began to turn from his more happy and flirty stance to that of what she was, an older mare. Her eyes went from bright to a little narrower and her pricked up ears sunk back slightly. She was not liking where this was going, she was in charge here and now he was getting himself all wound up.

When the words start spilling from her mouth she rolls her eyes a little, snorts and shakes her head. When he pauses for a moment she takes it to add some quick words. ”I did not say you were not brave, you work yourself up to much colt!” She snorts again. See this is what she had been talking about. He takes one little thing far too close to hart and starts going a little crazy over it.

She sighs and tilts her head back a little while she listens to the next lot of words fall from his mouth. He had been so good at being charming before but this little explosion was just undoing the whole lot of it. She felt a little bad for the colt in there somewhere but really she looked after herself, one had to or they would be destroyed. She listens and listens and holds back a chuckle at how mad at her he is. If only her idiot stallion could leave his battle for one moment to notice her, that was the only point out of this the colt had and she hated that. She had not let herself get tied down in any way for so many years because of this and she does it again and look where it lands her?

She shakes her head. She wasn’t going anywhere that one romp through the high country had ended in her growing around the girth and she was not about to give up on the silly gray stallion to soon she did not like being up the young of one stallion in the band of another. Once the colt was done she waited for a little just to make sure he had stopped his talking then she speaks in a rather calm and collected voice. ”You done with your rant now? You need to get a control of that anger it will get you nowhere.” Such a silver thing to say, the blind anger of others had always been an advantage to most silvers.

She nods her head a little then continues. ”Yes you are brave because doing this could have your butt kicked hard or killed. Yes that gray over there is an idiot right now. Ok? BUT if he was to come over here I wouldn’t have to guess who would win. Your heart is in the right place but your body needs to catch up and I know I used the word inexperienced, well tell me have you held a mare before? Defended her from larger, older stallions in battle? I suspect not.”

She snorts again at the end of her talk. She was not going to get mad and she was not going to ramble on a whole heap of words like this colt here was. She watches him stamp his hoof and tilts her head a little. Did he want a challenge? Was he wanting to push her? She ran with who she choose and it was more like the stallion was running with her. She would come and go as she wished and if she wanted she could disappear with the wind to not be seen again. So really what could he do to make her come with him? In her mind not much but one never truly knows, and she just wishes a little more that her stallion would turn up and end all of this for now because she had a feeling as this colt grows and matures this moment would not be the end of this.

[Tiggs]

Her calm words only served to infuriate him more, and the colt pinned his ears back angrily, “What does it matter if I have no other mares?! Your grey has plenty, yet still you are here. He is ignoring you. He isn’t fighting for you. In fact, it makes me wondered if you are even worth my effort! If he doesn’t want you, why should I?” Tossing up his head, teeth slightly bared, Kolya regarded the mare critically. Oh she was beautiful and he wanted her, but just like Dulloora, she mocked him. She insulted him. She made it seem like she was doing him the favour!

Well Kolya had had enough. No mare was telling him what he could and couldn’t do! Forgetting the other stallions, he strode confidently out and got between the silver and her herd. “We’re leaving now; if he doesn’t want you, then I may as well take you,” snaking his head, seemingly unaware of how close he was to her powerful hooves, he reached out to nip the mare’s rump. She was just a mare, she thought she had all these grand ideas about her independence but it was the stallion that chose his mares. The stallion fought for his mares. The stallion kept his mares safe. The stallion that provided her with foals to coo over and coddle. Without a stallion she was nothing, and she needed reminding of that.

By the time that stallion was done fighting, Kolya would have driven this insolent golden mare far away. No doubt the grey stallion would be glad for it, this mare was clearly not loyal to him, and her attitude was frustrating. “Move, mare, don’t make me make you.”

[sooty]

Her eyes narrow a little bit as she watches the young stallion. She did not really like how this was going she had not through the young stallion to have such a blind temper on him. She hoped that she could still pull that into her favour and outsmart him seem she was thinking rationally and he was being so angry he was hopefully not thinking very well. As he shows his teeth at her she flattens her ears back against her head and straightens out her neck and head her lips quivering. She was an older and hormonal mare thanks to her growing tummy and she was not about to get messed with.

She did not like the way he was talking to her or talking about her handsome gray man. He didn’t not want her, he wanted her, that day of passion in the high country showed her how much he wanted her. He was just distracted by a fight he couldn’t exactly turn his back and expose himself to the other stallion that would be silly. If things had gone her way and that other stupid stallion had not turned up then he would be here right now and things would go to plan. She snorts loudly and lifts up a foreleg to stomp firmly on the ground. She was through talking with this, this horse. He had no reason left in that head of his.

As he stepped out she realised she was right he had forgotten reason. She shakes her head and keeps it low as it follows him around her, eyes never leaving him. As he makes his way down to her hind end she flicks her tail in annoyance, just once. Oh she will show him what will happen if she tries to take her. With her ears still back she brings her lowered head back around in front of her and just before her forelegs and then weights. As soon as she feels him touch her rump her head goes between her front legs, she grunts with effort and both of her hind legs are picked up off of the ground and thrust out hard towards the young stallion. Once they are back on the hard ground she quickly swings her hind end away from the stallion so that she is facing him again.

She still remains quiet, eyeing him up waiting for his next move. This looked like it was not going to be knight in shining armour saving her but her getting her own butt out of the mess she put it in. Fantastic, maybe she should have thought this idea through just a little bit more. She snorts art his next words, she tries not to say anything back but she can’t help it even though talking to this thing was just a waste of time now. ”You are going to have to make me after that performance.” She snorts again and stomps her hoof once more. Come on buddy make my day! She thinks as her pulls up her lips a little, don’t mess with the hormonal mare! With that thought she just stands her ground and waits, she was not going anywhere until he got the message and left her alone.