[open] been burned for the last time; any

[Leokadia]

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Leokadia

Spring had arrived, first with mud and now slowly with green newness. A cremello filly, a little smudgy as she shed her foal fuzz and winter wear was bounding through the spring damp in the playground. She was brown to her knees and splashed all over her belly, chest,  and flanks with mud. An occasional wicked squeal rang out now and then when she made a particularly large splash. She'd never known a world that wasn't frozen ground and snow and the new warmer season filled her body with a bursting energy.

At 5 months old, Leokadia had grown sturdier and more substantial but was still smaller than she ought to have been. There was a reason babes didn't come in winter, and she would spend the next 3 years a little out of step with her peers. Her wings had finally feathered fully and while she still carried them awkwardly, she displayed signs of increasing coordination. She might use them to catch her balance, or flare them when she dashed up a hill...little movements indicating that her brain and her flight limbs had established a solid link. 

Lo had come to the playground looking for other foals to play with but had not found anyone when she had first entered the special place that had been set aside for the youngsters. She did seem to arrive in the wrong place at the wrong time quite consistently. Someday that might be a source of dark humor for her but as a child she only thought that the world was a very empty place where no one ever stayed or came back. Another youth would have been sad, but Lo saw the sharp edges of the world and called them home.

Neck arched, the girl flared her wings like a sunning condor and reared to stomp down again in the mud repeatedly. She was all over skipping stripes of dark wet earth. Her face blackened with it, her light eyes glittering like moonstones. 

she's an arsonist in her pastime
and i've been burned for the last time

[Lichen]

The brambles were in bloom.

Small white flowers that weren’t much to look at but they signaled the arrival of raspberries. Yummy yummy raspberries. The kind that were deep and dark in color meaning they’d be the ripest and sweetest. Nutkin was currently gorging herself on these berries, and happily so!

Raspberries meant Spring had come at last. Nutkin ate as much as she could, as if she’d never eat again. Which was untrue and quite unlikely since she foraged a lot with her mom as they trailed a herd of deer. Eventually mama said it was time to go and she pouted the entire way there because she wanted to stay in the forest and play with the fawns. 

So she ended up here. 

She’s been here before. Is dropped off here quite a bit actually. Just not when it was all green and muddy... but that was exciting! Especially as she was shedding fur and her antlers were growing their first tine. 

Other fillies might have picked their way through the mud, lifting each delicate hoof to avoid getting dirty. Not Nutkin! She splashed and stomped before realizing there was someone else doing the same. “Hey!” she called out in a friendly tone before slogging her way over to the other. 

It was a girl! At least she thought so given the other was streaked in layers of mud and grime much like she was. Nutkin was all smiles as she looked her over from head to toe. She offered her muzzle in quick greeting before snorting and stomping her cloven feet in the mud. “Can I play too?” She wasn’t sure what game was being played but supposed that didn’t matter.

@[Leokadia]

[Leokadia]

;

Leokadia

Leokadia stomped down into the muck one last time before someone calling out made her snap to attention. Her now brown face turned quickly toward the cervine filly and she blinked her fair-lashed eyes once, staring. The dark girl made her way toward Lo, smiling and friendly and for a moment she wasn’t sure what to do. Her little tail swished and she dropped her head to peer at the approaching youth in the feline way that seemed to be her practice. But the eager friendliness of the other girl was infectious and she relaxed, extending her dirty muzzle to exchange a curious sniff of greeting. ” Hi. I’m Lo.”

Could she play too? Well Leokadia had never played with another youngster and she was a little surprised to be asked, her ears--still almost white--strained forward anew. ”Yes!” Then she half-reared again and came down in the big puddle the splash arching around the pair of them. A rare grin alighted on her lips and she crow hopped once before springing into the thicker muck and squishing through it in a circle. ”I love this mud! It’s much better than snow.”

she's an arsonist in her pastime
and i've been burned for the last time

@[Nutkin]