Excuse me? [Joining]

Excuse me? [Joining]

Rishima Posts: 137

World's Edge Moon Advocate

Mare :: Equine :: 16.2 :: 15 Buff: NOVICE

Kali :: Common Griffin :: Draining Clutch Charks

01-05-2013, 06:01 AM (This post was last modified: 01-05-2013, 06:04 AM by Rishima.)

She flutters with all the grace of a giant moth caught within a spider's silk, her thick haunches leading the charge as the body bends and curves towards me. I notice that she has brown eyes, deeply expressive; they expose some hesitancy, some fear, and an innocuous smidgen of innocent kindness that seems an unfitting decor for so ambivalent a creature. Past her eyes I do not look, though I itch to find some motivation within the dark recess of her flustered mind; for no doubt she is flustered, faced the with meaningless accusation of droll lips. The dim space between us becomes alight with words; senseless and rollicking they dive off the pink of her thumb and land in the black of my ears, where they nestle against downy warmth and are regarded languidly, to be deciphered and decided upon as whimsy takes me.

Silence falls between us like a curtain, muting the ambient calls of insect and avian into a dull and empty husk. It is brief, but poignant, a break for me to cast some judgment on this two-toned creature before breaching the topic of her desires. For of course she desires something; everybody does. To speak to one of the Edge- why? So she might intrude further into our woods, learning our secrets and joining our family? Or is she merely a tourist biding time; a diplomat sent to treat with us; a ghost of the past lingering within the familiar, seeking some degree of resolution before departing this realm for good?

The voice that breaks against spring's brisk grasp is dark and even. "I am one of the Edge." Blandly I reflect on the wording here, the declaration that I am one of the Edge, as though my being is a slice of some land rather than a soul unbound. It is not true, strictly speaking. If anything, I am one of the Qian. But, alas, this is not the time for such reflection. "You may speak to me." Something about her sets me on edge. The way she ogled Lace before slinking away, or the way she weaves a tiptoed path around our border, as though afraid she'll see rejection the instant she crosses, or certain that any moment her mind might change. She does not smell like one without family, I realize. She smells like others, others I cannot place but dimly recollect. Where are they now, is the question that slips through the spaces in my mind, followed by a languid, why are you here?

Kali chooses this moment to reappear from whatever adventures have kept her occupied. Silent and deadly, a gold-edged spear of ivory and ebony, she dives down from the cloudy sky. Corkscrews and dips; she is a show off and a child, but I look at her with fondness, gaze torn from the bulky mare by the insistent desires of my frolicking companion. A flicker of a smile dances across my face now, an unwilling softness overtaking me as the elegant beast that is my soulmate at last settles upon the ground to my left, inquisitive blue eyes fixed upon the draft. Friend? she asks in silence, turning the deadly beak my way. I can see now that it is messy with the residue of whatever she ate for breakfast, dried blood crusted against deft talons and the feathers of her breast. My nose crinkles. I don't know yet. You're filthy. She yawns widely and arches her back, spreading wide wings in an unconcerned fashion, then settles in to preen. Her demeanor screams I'm doing this because I want to, not because you said to. Pale mane dances across the wave of my neck.

I look back to the mare.

"Tell me: if you were not yourself that day, then what are you?" Color drips from the velvet words, if not warmth; still, I let my indifference melt somewhat, and look upon the mare with a curious eye. The relaxation of one cocked hoof is offset by a consistent authority in the carriage of my back, the arc of my neck. The sentence was not butchered, the wording intentional- I do not care who she is so much as what. Where did she come from, what does she want. Why should I let her continue on her little foray into my home.

[Image: RishiRef.jpg]