By Day (Open)

[Nine|9]

The morning sun shown down on the grassy field, the colorful flowers reflected the sunlight quite beautifully. However, this beauty was lost on the dark stallion that made him way across the spring grass. His eyes were narrowed irritably while his fangs were bared in a grimace. The heat on his black pelt made it feel like a thousand tiny suns were burning in the skin. His markings flickered briefly into existence before fading into black again. Perhaps he should have waited until nightfall before going out to graze. At least at night it was easier to find prey and wouldn't have to just graze. His lips smacked together as he thought about a nice plump mouse, it had been a few days since he'd had meat. Oh well.... he'd just have to settle for the grass and flowers. Dandelions were half bad anyway.

With a snort the black stallion lowered his head to the ground and began to graze; eating the grass stalks quite low and devouring any flowers that he came across. It barely seemed to sate him though, no matter how much he tried to deny his nature and behave like a normal horse he couldn't. Tonight. He'd go hunt tonight for a nice mouse or squirrel... maybe a bird. Whatever he could catch would work really.

As he worked his way across the field his lion-like tail flicked behind him and his ears twitched. Was someone else showing up? A draft of wind blew of he thought he could catch the slight scent of another horse. However, the wind dropped off and the scent evaporated. Quickly he let his mind go back to his own problems of food, the scent was probably nothing to get excited about. Probably some silly mare walking with her silly foal...they were common in this area, weren't they?

[nessyo]

APHISSA

Whether or not they were common in this area, there certainly WAS a foal and mare about: Aphissa, picking her way carefully across the field alongside her days-old son, Kraken. Aphissa ordinarily would've been much more relaxed then she was-- but ordinarily, she would never set foot here, in these lands, the claiming grounds. Unfortunately, sometimes the shortest way from point A to point B was a strait line.. especially when you had a little foal with you who was clearly not as healthy as he should be. Thus, her goal was to get through here as quickly as was possible, with Kraken in tow.

Kraken didn't particularly notice anything wrong, however-- only that his mother was being alert, like she always was. She was such a good mother. He nuzzled her leg as they walked, and then bounced-- or attempted to bounce-- several feet forward. The bouncing was cut short- not by falling, as had been the case up until recently, but by wheezing.

The bouncing brought him unwittingly close to Nocturne, but the foal failed to notice the stranger, distracted as he was by lowering his head and wheezing hard, which soon gave way into a fit of sneezes. Distraught, Aphissa trotted up behind him (weren't foals supposed to be.. not like this? She didn't know, she'd never had one before, but she knew she'd been healthier than this..). "Kraken-"

Totally oblivious to his mother's concern, Kraken finally finished his sneezing fit and raised his green head to look his mother in the face, big grin on his little mouth. "Did you see, mom? I got far that time."

Aphissa sighed. "Yes dear. You've got a dribbly on your nose-" and indeed he did, a long string of snot fresh from the sneezing fit, but that wasn't what had stopped her speech: there was a stranger here, a stallion. Stiffening, she very carefully walked around her son and placed herself on Kraken's other side.

"Oh, okay." Kraken was still oblivious, and wiped his snot-string on his own shoulder-- certainly something that would've made his mother sigh and wipe it off herself. But she did not, and he made a little meep noise of concern, twisting his head around her chest to see what she was staring at: a male in front of her, but he saw no danger in that. Instead, he shyly ducked his head around his mother again, before once more peering around her to stare at Nocturne, and offer a very quiet, very sweet "Hello!" in his little voice.

[Nine|9]

It didn't take another draft of wind for Nocturne to notice the other horses nearby. What signaled him to their presence was the sound of wheezing and sneezing. Was someone dying or severely ill or both? He lifted his head in time to the form of a small green foal and a dark purple mare with blue markings. The foal was what caught his attention more as it had been awhile since he's seen one and to top if off he'd never seen one as sickly as this one. Back in his herd a foal that sickly would have been cast out or possibly even eaten. However, Nocturne felt no such feelings toward the young stallion... His own heart churned in sympathy for the weak child, perhaps it was feelings like that that made him feel like he'd done the right thing in leaving his herd.

He started to say something to the foal but the mother came around and placed herself protectively between them. Unlike her child this mare earned no sympathy from him. He nearly rolled his pupil-less eyes --if such a thing was possible-- because if he'd wanted the young horse dead he could have killed it already. The young foal sure seemed like it couldn't run very far in any case. So, he gave an annoyed flick of his tail and snorted at the mare as words came out of his mouth before he could check them, "Oh give it a rest, I'm not going to hurt anyone. If I wanted to don't you think I would have done something by now?"

[/color] His head lowered to take another bite of grass, dismissing the mare as he momentarily forgot about the hidden foal. The shy voice and head peeping around from behind the mare's legs made him remember. "Hello!"

His eyes blinked at the small foal and he couldn't help but allow the smallest twitch of a smile on his face before he checked it. "Hello there, little bit, nice day for roaming, isn't it?"[/color] Whether he liked to admit it or not he was a softie on the inside, especially when it came to foals and those that were shy. Sweet foals and shy horses were rare things back in his old herd so now he marveled at them whenever he came across such equines. He nibbled on a bit of clover as he gaze roamed up to the mare, wondering if she would get offended with him talking to her son.


((Did I mention Noct is just a big softie on the inside? X3))
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[nessyo]

APHISSA

OOC: He's adorable. XP but we'll keep it secret.

Perhaps having a foal-- particularly one so weak as Kraken-- made her more of a mysandrist then she was ordinarily given to be, but she narrowed her eyes at this male and his words.

Kraken made her life complicated. It wasn't a bad thing, not entirely, but whereas ordinarily, by now, she would've given as good as she got, or threatened this male with her hooves, or never taken a step into the claiming grounds at all, Kraken's presence required more finesse then Aphissa was normally given to use. Thus, her threatening actions were limited to putting her ears back and giving him a foul-tempered look.

There would be no flirting or twining or charming conversation from her today. "If you had, I would have reacted by now." She lifted her lips more then she needed to with those words, very slightly baring her teeth, but in general it was just a show of annoyance: she wasn't about to start a fight, not with Kraken here. The affect was to make her sound like a grumpy matron.

A grumpy watchful matron: she didn't stop Kraken from now shyly stepping out from behind her and taking a few steps out into the open, but she did watch Nocturne like a hawk.

Oblivious to his mother's discomfort, Kraken smiled a big crooked smile and said, enthusiastically, "Oh yes. I think that is why we are Going Somewhere now. Mom says there's a big city with cats that talk! I don't know what cats are, though." Nocturne was the first person that Kraken had met outside of his mother, and he was very happy to have someone else whose ears he could babble off, albeit temporarily.

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[Nine|9]

* * *

Nocturne noticed her baring her teeth at him and he felt about as threatened as he would if a rabbit had come by and bared its teeth at him. After living with sharp-fanged horses that would indeed bite if they felt the need a regular dull-toothed horse didn't scare him hardly at all, especially when he could tell the threats were only from a mother being grouchy. He had plenty of experience with grouchy since that was his main personality trait. So, in a voice dripping with sarcasm he said, "Noted."

[/color] And then proceeded to shift his attention down to the foal again.

His ears flicked as the words were heard in them then he lifted his head to a more comfortable position. So it seemed like this foal wasn't too shy, he had quite a lot to say. A warm light glowed in Nocturne's eyes as he peered down at the little green creature. "You don't say? That sounds like quite the fun adventure, little bit. But you say you've never seen a cat before?"[/color] The black stallion thought ruefully of a young mare that held the power of shapeshifting back in his old herd. If he had such a power he'd show the young foal just what a cat looked like but so far no such abilities had awakened in him so he would settle for a little explanation. "Perhaps that's a good thing, some wild cats are large and can be dangerous. They have sharp teeth, lashing tails, and make loud growling sounds!"[/color] His own tail lashed for emphasis but he didn't want to scare the foal too badly so he gave a smile and continued on, "But the cats that you're going to see aren't like that. They talk of course and are much nicer than that other variety. You'll have plenty of fun seeing them."[/color]

Another smile accompanied more words, "My name's Nocturne. What are you and your--"[/color] Here he paused briefly and gave a roguish wink to the mare. "Charming mother called?"[/color] This child was putting him in high spirits and it was a strange sensation. It conflicted with the heat of the day but with such a sweet foal it was welcome. Now he wondered if the mare would be nearly as welcoming as her child.


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Tags: Aphissa, Kraken, Open
Notes: X3
Muse: 5/10
Words: 413

[nessyo]

APHISSA

While she might ordinarily enjoy a rougish wink tossed at her by a stallion, from Nocturne she found it somewhat less then charming. She put her ears back at him, offended, but didn't do much else. There wasn't much else she could do; it wasn't like he was threatening her child or anything. Indeed, he was actually having a rather sweet conversation with Kraken, and it wouldn't due to set an example of smacking friendly strangers for her son, would it?

So instead she answered, "I am called Aphissa.", shortly, and considering making her excuses to drag Kraken away. It was tempting, if only to be through Amorrak sooner, and to remove herself from the minor plague of his company... but realistically, he wasn't being that bad, and was even doing her a favor by keeping her son occupied. As much as she loved the little foal, nobody had ever warned her about the massive capacity for conversation that was apparently inherent in days-old colts.

Kraken was enthusiastically demonstrating that capacity to Nocturne now, listening to him describing cats with wide eyes, the picture of a child at storytime, imagining great big things. "My name is Kraken!" he said enthusiastically, loving the feeling of introducing himself: that was the first time he'd done it, ever! But the thoughts of what Cats were was still on his mind, and his voice was slightly hushed when he continued, "They sound scary! They dont' talk if they live out in the wild? Why not? Mom says the ones we're going to meet are colorful and have big manes and tails with hair at the end like yours!" The thought was apparently so exciting that he felt the need to bound forward a few steps, as if his long spindle-legs were springs.

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[Nine|9]

* * *

The mare was being short with him, that much he could tell but it was fine. Many horses ended up being that way because of his personality so it didn't hurt his feelings at all. Especially not when he was having such a cute conversation with little Kraken. He nearly laughed at himself, who knew that kids could be so pleasant? He should go ahead and tell all the foals to call him Uncle Nocturne.

"Well then, little Kraken and Miss Aphissa; it's lovely to meet both of you."

[/color] He couldn't help it. Even with his mother probably plotting how best to stomp on his head the foal was putting him in a grand mood. Such a thing was quite rare for the grumpy stallion. Now as the young foal continued to speak he couldn't help a bright smile crossing his features, it was too late to hide this one from the pair so he just let it be. "Why don't the wild ones speak? Well, the reason for that is hidden deep in a story. A story that is said to hold the creation of all here though I can't recall all of it. Anyhow, I'm sure your mother has shared it with you, yes?."[/color] He wasn't sure if the story of the whole land was common knowledge, even his own mother was sketchy on her information about that story. So his own vague information was based on what she'd told him, which wasn't too much. "You shouldn't have to worry about the wild ones though, just stay close to your mother until you get to the city. The colorful cats there wouldn't dare eat a horse... especially not a cute little guy like you."[/color] Yes, the cats of the city they were going weren't anything like wild mountain lions or other cats like that.


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Tags: Aphissa, Kraken, Open
Notes: ---
Muse: 5/10
Words: 321