MORENTH

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Morenth could feel Brisa's gaze burn into his skin, tracing every inch and marking that was etched into his brown coat. He, too stared back, but there was not as much to Brisa as their was to himself. She was plain, pretty, but plain. He could've traced over her body twice, three times before she was finished studying him, dropping her eyes to the ground as if she finally realized what she was doing. A curved ear slid back and a soft but impatient sigh escaped his nostrils. That was something he did not miss. The looks, the open-mouthed stares. Eyes that were seemingly attracted to his body as if he were honey and they were flies. He was almost certain that others knew more of him and his own body, then he knew himself. An unsettling thought, he might add, his thoughts drifting back as Brisa stepped forward. Her words breaking their silence, though the world around them still wriggled with life and sound. She corrected him and he gave a small nod. "My mistake," though he wondered how far this Hidden Falls might be. He had traveled for a long time through the forest and he was finding it harder and harder to believe that it might end so soon. Though even as he spoke the words, thinking about the land beyond here, movement in the leaves past the small mare brought his eyes up. Ears catching the sounds of grunts and twigs breaking. Morenth, without thinking, stepped forward, his head falling down into a protective position that pointed his duo horns towards the thing that came crashing through the bush. 

Brisa noticed a second later and she side stepped away, setting her nearly beside Morenth. Both were tense as a very small, but oddly shaped horse emerged from the brush. Clad in black, with strange mounds along the sides of her body, a small mare emerged carelessly crashing through the undergrowth. She seemed disorientated and it took her a moment to recover. Even so, Morenth could not help but stare at the multitude of feathers that hung from the mare's shoulders - not realizing that she also gawked openly at him aswell - trying to determine what the hell they were. Within a few minutes of fighting his own disbelief, he began to realize that they looked like the wings of a bird, only they were larger. And then it was another few minutes before he was convinced that they were, in fact, attached.  

Morenth felt his breath catch in his throat. Unnerved, he took a step back, trying to process this information as best he could. With the familiar way they greeted each other, it quickly became apparent that they both knew each other and that the black horse bird hybrid...thing might not actually be harmful, but Morenth couldn't help but return his gaze to the feathery limbs hanging off the side of Imonda. "Are you some kind of bird?" He finally asked, speaking over the last of what Brisa was saying to the black bird-horse. A puzzled frown crossed his features, he'd most certainly never seen anything quite like her before. Morenth had grown up in a small tribe of unicorns who had hidden themselves away deep within mountains. You could say, they lived a rather sheltered, but fruitful life. Information such as bird-winged horses (amongst other things) were disregarded in training for a more focused, need-to-know learning system. He licked his lips, still on guard when yet another equine emerged from the depths of the forest. Morenth's head whipped up, but this time he did not step in front to guard as he had before. 

Unsettled by new revelations he found it was yet another mare that approached them. This one was different, already striking out against the soft but seemingly kind duo that hailed from the Hidden Falls. A calculating gaze took them all in in one swell swoop, but it was not this that caught Morenth's attention, but the long white horn that sprouted from her forehead. He dipped his head in return to the mare's greeting. She was as white as snow, similar to Brisa, but her mane and long boneless tail were dipped in red. If he did not know any better, might have believed it to be blood. She - Ophelia she called herself - addressed him, not tarrying as she stated her business. She got straight to the point, which he liked. Though it all was happening so fast, he'd barely managed to blink before Brisa was speaking up again. Fast as a flash to offer him a home as well as a prospect of work. He glanced between the three of them, a deep setted, serious look planted across his features. 

"You are so quick to offer a stranger a home," he said finally, a rueful smile gracing his lips. "And to think I was beginning to think this forest was endless, obviously it is not." He gazed at each of them, thoughtful. Brisa offered him a interesting prospect, though he wasn't sure he was comfortable around the winged horse yet (he was also curious to see if there were more no horns). As tiny as Imonda was, he had no idea of her capabilities. He didn't even know if she could actually fly with those things. Then Ophelia, straight to the point as she was, offered a sense of familiarity. It had been a long time since he had been around his own kind and it sent a wave of home sickness through him momentarily, though he was quick to push it back. Thinking for a little bit longer, he turned to Brisa and Imonda and dipped his head politely. "Thank you for your offer Brisa, but...I think I'd like to travel with one of my own kind for a while." He turned towards Ophelia, a look of expectation on his features. He was eager to get on the move once more, after being still for so long the day was waning on them. It would be dark before too long.

  


notes: yikes this is bad >///< sorry! Don't worry about trying to match the length, this is the longest post I've written in a loong time.
@Brisa @Ophelia @Imonda