Vadim

  hello teacher tell me whats my lesson
          look right through me
                                                                     look right through me
The pair have spent the better part of the day in the meadow, Vadim grazing lazily on the abundance of green grass that could be found there and Vlasi playing with whatever she could find. The changing of season from Tallsun to Orangemoon is apparent in the trees. Their leaves have begun to turn yellow, orange, and red before detaching and falling to the ground where they would be inevitably ground into the dirt under hooves and paws. It is not just the leaves, though, that tells Vadim that the seasons have changed. He can feel it on the cool breeze that blows from the north. The days have gotten shorter and there have been a few thunderstorms that have made the young stallion and his companion seek shelter beneath trees and in caves that are large enough to shelter them. He knows that the snow will be coming soon and once the snow came food would become scarce. He warned his companion of this, though she did not completely heed his warning.

He continues to graze while Vlasi plays. When he looks up he can see her bouncing through the tall grass. He's gotten used to seeing her in what he considers her strangest form - that of a three headed dog, but seeing what he would consider to be a fearsome creature bouncing through the tall grass is comical enough to elicit a chuckle. What is even more comical about it is that Vlasi's prey of choice is a butterfly. It floats above the grass just out of reach of the bouncing three headed pup. With each leap into the air Vlasi snaps her teeth at the insect, trying desperately to catch it and prove to her bonded that she is the fearsome hunter that she thinks she is. She would become known as Vlasi, the bane of all butterflies.

Vadim returns to grazing while his companion continues on her butterfly hunt. He knows that telling her that she is wasting her time won't stop her. She won't stop until she is completely out of energy and he hasto carry her. His ears rotate atop his head as he listens to the constant noise his companion is making. He pauses in his grazing when he hears her become silent then his head jerks upward when he hears her yelp. The stallion turns in time to see his companion in all of her fearsome glory running, yelping, screaming, from the very butterfly that she has been chasing. Laughter, deep and throaty, erupts from the stallion at the sight. Hearing his laughter, Vlasi turns and barrels toward her bonded and dives between his forelegs to take shelter beneath him. Apparently butterflies were very frightening creatures. This is confirmed when the butterfly drifts between his forelegs and lands on Vlasi's hind end. The shaking pup lifts her head and turns a head to peek at it. The sight of the butterfly sitting upon her makes the pup yelp again and take off running once more.

"."

@[Kahlua]

The crisp air in the Edge was growing even colder as the winter crept nearer and though the sun shined brightly overhead, its light was deceiving as it brought little warmth with it. So the queen’s body grew colder and her hair grew longer, but at least she had found some happiness to keep her spirits high during the winter. Today, she was taking a break from the Edge and the floating island to just have some time to herself and to do one of the things she used to enjoy so much- meeting strangers.

As she entered the land, she settled her basket on the ground long enough to press the button on her music box. With the basket resting back in her mouth, she began to trot in time with the music, reveling in the way the wind picked at and played with her mane and tail. Khan, too, seemed to be enjoying the weather, the feathered beast seemed to have come alive as the weather grew colder and he grew older and more confidant. Even now, as they moved across the field, Khan was flying far overhead.

Appropriately, then, it was Khan who first alerted Kahlua to the presence of another in the meadow. His draconian cry pierced the air and quite without warning he began to test the limits of his young wings. Diving through the air, the little blue took off after the strangest form that Kahlua had ever set eyes on before. A better mother, a better guardian to a young companion, might have dropped her basket and called out to the child to come back, to leave the three-headed dog alone, to retreat from his feigned attack, but Kahlua did none of these things. Truly, she was a terrible guardian, but she was happy and she filled the dragon’s head with nothing but happy thoughts, so at least he was growing strong and happy, not strong and vicious.

As Khan continued his chase towards Vlasi, his sharp cry turning to a happy chortle. As he slowed, the little blue attempted to do something he had never done before- a barrel roll. Of course, nobody gets anything right on the first time. The pressure of the wind against young wings sent him off course and he crashed into the ground- luckily the lush ground and padding of the grass saved him any major injury. But despite his mild panic, Kahlua only shook her head and then turned her attentions to the stallion standing nearby.

“Hello friend,” she said after settling her basket to the ground, the last notes of the song tinkling away with the wind. A happy bounce carried her closer to him as she sent a sidelong glance towards the dragon who was recovering from his blunder. “I hope Khan isn’t troubling your friend too much,” she offered. “I’m Kahlua, how are you doing today?” A new friend… just what she had been waiting for!

 Vadim

  hello teacher tell me whats my lesson
          look right through me
                                                                     look right through me
His laughter stops as something blue swoops from the sky toward his companion. He knows that there are many predators that lurk Helovia, but he finds it hard to believe that something would attack a creature as visually frightening as Vlasi's three headed form could be. Then he remembers that his companion is hiding from a butterfly and the young stallion snorts in amusement. As he steps forward to intercept the blue flash, that he soon realizes is a dragon, a mare approaches and she brings a song with her that he finds himself straining to hear every delicate note.

"Hello, friend."

Friend?

Vadim blinks and stares in surprise at the mare as the word falls so casually from her pretty lips. Friend? He thinks, wondering if anyone has ever said that word to him before or referred to him in such a way and he comes up empty. Vlasi, he thinks, could be considered a friend but then he shakes his head because the strange little creature is so much more than just a friend. He looks in her direction and sees the dragon crash to the ground. By this point Vlasi has stopped running and is stalking the dragon, intent on pouncing and declaring her dominance over all things."Except butterflies." He reminds, causing her to trip over her own paws and yelp at the indignation.

This makes Vadim smile and he finally turns his attention to the painted mare. He notices that her proximity is closer now as she speaks, referring to her companion and his antics. He shakes his head that the dragon was causing no trouble. He can feel Vlasi's excitement at having a possible playmate. It is not the first time that Valsi has met another companion, let alone a dragon, but it is the first time that she has met one as young as herself and willing to play. This is evident in the way she yaps and barks and bounces as she tries to goad the dragon into a game of tag.

"“I’m Kahlua, how are you doing today?”

His head turns and he soon finds himself staring as he tries to figure out if he should answer. Most of his life has been spent in a state of constant silence. When he was with his brother, Varath would do all of the talking because Vadim does not have a way with words as his brother does. He is not a charmer and after being told to be quiet so often as a colt it finally stuck. But Varath is not with him now and so he begins to wonder if there is even a reason for him to remain silent. "Go.." His voice cracks and he winces at the rough sound of it then clears his throat and tries again. "Good." His lips form the word and he sincerely hopes that the rough edge of his voice does not scare the mare away or make her think that he is lying and has ill intentions. He clears his throat again. "Vadim." Then he looks at his companion. "Vlasi."

"."

@[Kahlua]

Indignant in his own right, for having fallen like a fool in front of the strange creature he was trying so hard to show off in front of, Khan huffed and puffed and chortled and chirped and generally created a rather unnecessary scene. If he knew that his attempted playmate was hiding from a mere butterfly he might have spent less time trying to act big and bad. As it were, with his fall, he probably only succeeded in looking like a hot-headed fool. Regardless, it seemed his foolishness must have worked in some regards, for the Cerberus began stalking him (and tripping over her own feet for some unknown reason). Opening his mouth as if to breathe his frost breath (of which he has none), the dragon merely blew a small cloud of oh-so-menacing fog towards Vlasi before prancing off, remaining grounded since it seemed clear his tetrapod playmate could not leave the earth.

As for Kahlua, she watched the two play for a moment before returning her gaze to her latest friend. He seemed rather shy, she noted, but she did not mind. With her bubbly, effervescent personality, she could get along with anyone. Even Illynx. So when the stallion finally spoke and his rough voice managed to spit out only a few words, she did not at all. Instead, she bobbed her head jovially, contented to hear that his doing was going good. Honestly, it was the best thing she could have heard. Admittedly, she did find it a little disconcerting when he introduced both himself and his companion with just single words, but she was not in the mood to have a bad day today, so she decided to just accept it.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Vadmin… and Vlasi.” she added the last part hesitantly, but only because by the time she turned her head to address the three-headed dog, she and Khan seem to have been fully engrossed in their game. “I’m so happy to meet someone who’s having a good day finally,” she added with a dramatic flourish of her pretty soprano as the last notes of her song died off in the fall air. Since Vadmin seemed rather quiet anyways, she decided to just keep on rambling. “Things have just been so busy lately. Between the Edge and the Island, it’s like everywhere I go there’s something to do here or something to do there… Can’t a girl have any fun? Do you know what I mean?” And she sort of burst into a happy round of laughter at that point, welcoming Vadim to join her in her nonsense if he wanted.

“Have you had a chance to see the floating island yet? It’s kind of scary isn’t it, floating up on the clouds,” she rambled on, disregarding the fact that he might have no idea what she was talking about. Hadn’t everyone seen the island? “But at least it’s pretty up there,” she said with a dreamy sigh, finally drawing into silence, blue eyes looking happily towards Vadim for whatever answers he might have for her. Honestly, it didn’t matter what he said. Thus far, he was amiable company, and that was plenty enough for her.

 Vadim

  hello teacher tell me whats my lesson
          look right through me
                                                                     look right through me
Vadim blinks at the mare as she says his name wrong and for a moment he wonders if hesaid his name wrong. His brows furrow as he thinks and he realizes that he did not, in fact, mispronounce his own name. "No." He croaks, ears tilting back a bit because he is sure that at any moment the mare will tire of his harsh voice and run away. "Not Vadmin. Vadim." He wonders if she even hears him correct her pronunciation because she has already continued on, her words flying effortlessly from her lips in a way that leaves him envious of her. Part of him wishes that he could talk as effortlessly to just anyone that happens across his path, but he knows it is impossible for him. Words are not his forte. Nothing is.

She is babbling, Vadim realizes and his nose scrunches as he tries to latch onto every word that falls from her lips. Busy. The Edge. Island. Fun. Know what she means? Hesitantly, Vadim nods his head that he understands, though he has no clue as to what she is talking about. He cannot remember a time when he had fun, as his foalhood is behind him and forgotten. He cannot remember that he liked to play pranks when he was a child, and that he'd attempted to scare anyone that seemed scare-able. All he knows now is trying to survive and keeping the creature that he accidentally bonded to alive because he owed it to her.

“Have you had a chance to see the floating island yet? It’s kind of scary isn’t it, floating up on the clouds,”

"...yes?" He thinks she is crazy because islands cannot float on clouds. Surely she must have gotten into some plant that made her hallucinate? Or maybe she has very vivid daydreams. He flicks his tail and looks toward Vlasi when he hears her screech. 'Fly! Fly! Fly!' He blinks as he watches her body change, unphased by what is happening to her. The change is over in mere seconds and she lifts herself into the air, crying out to her playmate to join her. Vadim smiles at her excitement and glances at the mare. "She... has few friends." He rumbled, though the truth was that she had no friends. Saying few made them seem far less pathetic than they actually are. His gaze goes back to his now eagle companion, wondering if he had really heard someone screaming 'fly!' or if he might be as crazy as little miss floating island.

"."

Oh. Vadim. Somewhere in the back of her head, while she’s rambling on about, well… everything, it occurs to her that she has said his name wrong. Making a mental note to apologize later, she continued on with her current thought, voice happily bouncing up and down as she oohed and aahed over the mysteries of her life. Surely there was some grand explanation for the decision of the gods to create such a grand structure, but as of yet she was unaware of it. At least Vadmi- Vadim seemed to be agreeing with her, his head bobbing up and down. Yes, perhaps he had the weight of too many troubles on his shoulders as well, holding him down when all he wished to do was run and be free. A friend who understood her troubles at last- thank goodness!

And, he even understood the little tingles she got when the clouds would form around her feet and lift her high into the air, thrusting her ever skyward. She had dared to fly around on them once, with Nasreen, and though it had been amazingly fun, it had also given her heart a rush like she had galloped too far and too long. Would she do it again? Maybe… but she would still cry out in unnecessary fright. Maybe… Maybe he would like to go with her, she wondered. But was it really fair to ask him to go so far out of his way after just meeting him? Perhaps not.

As for Khan, he paid no wonder to the pair that were busy chatting. He was too busy chortling in amazement at the transformation that was taking place before his eyes. The three-headed dog was now… an eagle? His chortle rang out again, insistent and vibrant, crying out with surprise and excitement. At least he was young, and he was not halted for long. Instead, he spread his wings and lept into the air, chasing after the winged creature in the air with the same delight he had enjoyed on the ground. Games were games, after all.

Kahlua, on the other hand, was rather surprised. “Oh!” she chirped out after Vadim declared that she had few friends, the sound ambiguous as to whether she was surprised at the change or the declaration. Magic was prevalent in these lands, but she didn’t think she had ever known a creature to change from one type to another. “That’s quite a trick!” she decided on then, thoughts of the island all but drifted from her vapid mind. “Did you teach her that? Or do you have a different trick, Vadim?” Happy laughter fell again from her lips, a dramatic wink given to the reserved stallion as she teased him joyfully. She hoped he wouldn’t be too offended.

@[Vadim]