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01-27-2015, 10:45 PM
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Gull
Trouble just grew wings... You notice the golden girl mutter something under her breath and dark ears tip forward, but she has already moved on. “Pleasure to meet you too, laddy,” she replies pointedly, as if she means to put you in your place. But you only grin broadly. Laddy? Now where could she have picked that one up? It reminds you of a grizzled old captain you knew once—he used to talk like that, before…well, before he couldn’t any more. Your smile fades at the rest of the memory, recalling the knotted flesh and twisted scar tissue that disfigured his throat at the place where a voice box had once been. You feel your stomach turn, and hurriedly you refocus on Aurelia. Memories like that can stay in the past where they belong. “If it makes you feel better,” she is saying, “My name is not truly Aurelia. I have many names, but my first was Kha. This weird lettering on my cheek means Kha, but that is not the weird part. Kha means ‘kill’,” she explains, turning her head in profile and showing you. Curiously, you peer closer and see that indeed, there is a mark there. You don’t know if she’s pulling your leg about the meaning though—she may claim that it is the mark of an assassin, but she doesn’t look all that dangerous to you. “And my name’s really Sassafras,” you counter with mock seriousness, biting back a laugh. When it comes to her analysis of your current plight, though, you shut up soon enough. “I think you’ve got this all wrong, Gully boy,” she tells you, making your mouth gape open in speechless indignation. “Mares here, we don't look for one night stands with a stallion that will vanish in the morning. Those are the dreams of children. Most mares want some sort of love, a relationship where both contribute. Love is laborless, yet hard, at the same time. Love is a lot of pretty things. It's something you can't fake with gentle words,” she continues. "Once you find the one you're willing to die for, you won't need to be on your game. You can mess up over and over again, but if you've truly found your other half, you'll always be able to mend wounds that are cut deeper than skin and fur." Well then. You blink at her, not having expected the conversation to take such a serious turn. It’s as if she’s one of those deep-rooted blades of grass, the kind that you bite into already anticipating your next mouthful…and then find yourself unearthing half the field as you tug it from the ground. Perhaps you underestimated ’Relie here. It’s just too bad that you don’t agree with her. “You think so?” you ask, the corner of your mouth twitching upward skeptically. “I agree that love is a lot of things, but I never thought of it as…pretty.” Your voice drops off on the last word, and you are silent for a moment, lost in thought. Where Aurelia might envision rainbows and butterflies, your only experiences with love are set against the backdrop of a harsh reality. Pretty, she says love is? Yet it wasn’t pretty when your mother’s ribs grew hollow to keep you alive. Laborless? The gray mare’s breathing was anything but as she laid beside you at night, wings extended to keep you warm. And as for second thoughts about mates that will vanish with the dawn? Where you’re from, anyone can vanish at any time—cause of disappearance: starvation or dismemberment. Has ’Relie seen the world? The only thing she has right is the part about death. “Love is dangerous,” you say finally, “And that’s exactly why I’m not looking for it.” @[Aurelia] "talk talk talk" |
Please do not tag Gull except for in opening posts or spars!
