Quiet No More; Open

[Asimi]

The field was a vast place for one who had lived as quiet a life as Asimi had. In this one field were more horses than there had been in her entire herd. They were grouped in clusters; small bands of horses here and there, mingling among the winter grazing. It was beginning to darken now, the sun had started its descent from the sky some time ago, and was just edging above the horizon now, casting slight orange and red hues on the clouds.

The mare, whom you would be easily forgiven for thinking was white, made her way over to a quieter, undisturbed patch of land, where she lowered her grey muzzle to sort over the grass. Her right shoulder rolled forward, the large red mark spanning from the tip of her withers, widening across her shoulder, before narrowing down to gently brush the tip of her knee, breaking the white complexion of the rest of her coat. Asimi’s ears flicked like radars atop her skull, listening to the quiet chatter of the distant equines.

The brownish grass tickled the inside of her nostrils, making the mare snort and raise her head, sending a swirl of breath into the air where it quickly vaporized. She shook out her mane, the tendrils of her forelock neatly tucked behind her left ear, before moving forward a few paces to try and settle herself.

Winter had taken its toll on her this year. Her sire had passed late autumn, leaving the little band of mares to part ways - Asimi finding herself alone for the first time, and having to fend for herself. The light grey mare was quite unaccustomed to this, and had found the cold season quite a harsh time to be alone. Her ribs were visible, casting a shadow across her barrel where they ridged up and down, but she was not overly underweight. Her hip bones did not protrude in the same fashion, but her hindquarters were slightly more angular than they had been the previous seasons. Luckily for her, it was almost Spring.

Her dark brown eyes traced across the land, before she lowered her muzzle again to test the ground she was standing on, silently mourning the loss of her birth herd. 

[Clark]

The tobiano stallion had always loved spring. He loved the way the new blossoms began to peek through the melting snow, painting all the trees in gentle warm hues. He loved the way the streams began to babble again, and the sudden cracks as sheets of ice fell away. He loved the songs of the returning birds, and hearing the flutter of their wings as they took off and landed all around him. It was a season that reminded him of rebirth, and that life was good. Much better than the starkness of winter, in his eyes.

In all his travels, he had experienced spring in many a land. He had seen the cold springs of the north where snow still fell despite winter’s departure, and the non-existing springs of the south where there really existed no change year-round. But in all his voyages, no spring compared, in his mind, to the springs in the land of his birth – Beqanna. Here, the colors were just more vibrant and the sweet perfume of the new flowers were incomparable.

Yet, for all his love of the realm, he was very much a loner in his homeland. Despite quite a happy childhood with two loving parents, he had never achieved the same community as the majority of those around him. Perhaps it was that he had no inclination to involve himself in the game of thrones between the kingdoms. Nevertheless, he often found himself wandering in solitude through the shadows, furtively avoiding the more important discussions of the land that occurred around him.

It was in today’s such wanderings though the dense forest which surrounded the field that his gaze was attracted to the strange coloration of another loner, much like himself. He had seen horses of all sorts of natural (and very unnatural) colors in this land, but never with a mark like this one’s. Intrigued, he found himself slowing to a halt as his eyes traced the marking from her withers to her knee and back up. He knew it was rude to stare, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away. Besides, he was well hidden in the shadows – or so he hoped.

He then glanced around, expecting some kingdom recruiter to saunter forth and do what they do best. Yet, no such figure neared for the few minutes he waited. With a soft snort to himself, he pondered continuing on his way before deciding to approach instead. Gingerly he stepped out of the forest, his pace unhurried and with a slight trepidation in each step. He was not a fan of the field – too much commotion for his liking.

Luckily, she was in a relatively quiet area, he noted to himself. As he neared, he slowed himself down further, until he found himself standing motionless a couple yards away from the uniquely colored white mare. His ears pricked towards her in curiosity as he stretched his muzzle in her direction to let out a soft nicker. “Hey there...”

fate she hears me | fate stand near me | fate state clearly
whether there will be another card

[Asimi]

Asimi had just began to settle herself, her grey ears had ceased to flick back and forth, finally taking a mouthful of grass, before beginning to bend her knees to lay herself down in the grass when the other appeared. He was a stallion - that struck her first, making the mare straighten herself and hold her head higher. It was not a hostile position, more of a slightly surprised one.

Her dark eyes stared at him a moment, the white and brown splashes of paint across his body was something almost absurd to her - well, the sheer amount of white that covered his brown was. Of course, some of her half siblings had been paints. Her sire had been a stunning, near-white grey, so most foals of his faded out not long after birth. Asimi’s own brown-red shoulder was simply stubborn hairs that refused to change to white.

“H-heh-uh-heh-he-ahum! Hello,” She stammered around a moment before clearing her throat to force the word out. Each sound was clearly enunciated, spoken with precision and no weakness, but Asimi found it difficult to begin sentences. Her tongue often tied itself to the base of her mouth, refusing to form shapes needed to aid the sounds she was trying to make. Perhaps that was her problem? Perhaps her she was tongue-tied.

“Can I help you?” She continued, tilting her head to the side slightly. She was bewildered by him, of course, but curious. There was more warm curiosity than there was bewilderment etched onto her features. She’d not really met a stallion that was not her own kin. They were elusive, almost fantasy beings - although there was no doubting their existence in the world. So, what happened now?

[Clark]

For all his years of travel and for all his avoidance of interaction, he hadn’t much experience with girls. He knew very well how to play with them when he regressed into his child-like demeanor, but in terms of actual discussion and adult courtship, he was as green as the spring grass on which they stood. Thus, even though he predicted some sort of response to his greeting, his expectation did nothing to placate his hormones from kicking in as she gazed at him with those deep, dark, feminine eyes.

And what a suave, handsome prince with a voice of sweet honey those hormones turned him into!

Just kidding.

He was far more the nervous, brace-faced middle school boy shyly trekking to the girl’s wall to say hi and trying desperately not to trip over his own feet in the process. He had absolutely no control over himself, and it was with the utmost dedication that he managed to keep himself from grinning foolishly as she greeted him back.

But then she asked a question, and the tobiano felt his mind whirling as he debated his response. He had seen many times before how other stallions greeted herdless mares (less so here, in this land of his birth, with all the kingdoms), but he doubted whether he could mimic their suaveness. Rephrase that – he knew he couldn’t.

Instead, his gaze met hers for a moment as he contemplated, his deliberations made worse by seeing the tilt of her head. Oh no, he thought to himself… what if she was annoyed, or impatient? (He was a newbie with girls, and we all know how awkward those middle school boys were. Can you imagine what ran through their heads and we couldn’t see?). But then, with a sudden twinkle in his eye, he quickly turned his head back, willing a flower to appear for him to pluck.

(What a great use waste of his abilities, huh?)

Grasping the long stem of a red rose, he snatched it from where it randomly had risen in the ground and turned back to face her. “Just wanted to drop off a beautiful rose for a beautiful lady...” he managed to mumble awkwardly between his teeth, realizing too late that speaking with something in his mouth was possibly not the most eloquent way of delivering a cheesy pick-up line.

Gingerly, he reached forward to place the rose on the ground before her before pulling his muzzle back, a ridiculously silly smile on his lips. “I’m Clark. It’s nice to meet you.” he then added, his words a bit more enunciated than before.

fate she hears me | fate stand near me | fate state clearly
whether there will be another card

[Asimi]

Asimi dug her hoof into the ground a little, out of slight apprehension as she stood, her eye contact refusing to waver. Until his head swerved away from her. Asimi was completely lost for a moment - had she been staring too much? She moved her gaze away then, hoping he would feel a little more comfortable around her. She had not seen how the rose had sprouted from nowhere, so when it was thrust towards her the mare was understandably a little taken aback.

With the rose between his teeth still, his words were a tad lost amongst green stem. But, Asimi could still understand his words. Her hoof stopped digging into the ground, and placed itself next to the other, her hooves splayed outwards. She did not have the most elegant paces or stance, but she held her head fairly high to cover this up.

“Oh, well, I.. uhh… thank you,” She stammered around, flicking her head slightly to move the tiny tendrils of escaping forelock. This entire venture was new to Asimi, and to be spoken to in such a way by another made her heart flutter slightly. She dropped her head to nuzzle to rose, brushing the petals gently with her muzzle.

She raised her line of vision to see the smile spread across his face, and hearing the was he enunciated his words more to match her own precision of speech made the mare chuckle with a warm amusement. She was not laughing at him to be cruel, but because the stallion was being quite an oddity - compared to what she knew from her sire.

“Pleasure to meet you too, Clark. I am Asimi,” She replied to him, her head held back into the position it held earlier.

OOC: So sorry for the lateness! Life has been a little hectic.

[Clark]

(No worries! Take your time! Hope everything is ok? )

As she reached down to touch the rose petals, Clark found himself grinning even more foolishly. She didn’t seem to show distaste for his antics, at least not outwardly, and for that he was naively proud of himself. “They’re pretty to look at, but they don’t taste that good,” he offered, thinking back on the first time he chomped down on one. The rose bush had been so pretty, and the crimson petals called to him so seductively, reminiscent of juicy red apples. But what a guise they put on! Although, truth be told, the petals were merely lackluster in flavor. It had been the pesky thorns that had wreaked pure havoc on his digestive track. He didn’t want her to suffer the same misfortune. She’d no doubt hate him for that!

His memory of that brief stint as a food critic was thankfully cut short though by her chuckle. If his grin could physically widen, it would have, but he had utilized the extent of his smile by that point. “Asimi,” he repeated, tasting the way her name rolled off his tongue. “A pretty name!” Much more interesting than his boring name, he readily admitted to himself.

“So Asimi,” he continued after a moment’s pause. “Are you new here? What are you looking for in this field?” A little direct, he confessed to himself afterwards, but again, he definitely was not the most eloquent or experienced of guys.

fate she hears me | fate stand near me | fate state clearly
whether there will be another card

[Asimi]

Asimi mused a moment on the question. She was a little taken aback by the abruptness of the change in conversation, and the directness with which Clark has asked it. She scrunched her nostrils to the side in her thought, not entirely sure why she had actually come here. The orange and red hues of the late day sun were beginning to fade into a darker blue, removing the light.

Around them, the grass sank to a darker, greeny-blue shade, the light being sapped away, giving way to a blue sweep throughout the field. Horses seemed to be mooching their way to other places, to rest for the night.

“Well, I am indeed very new here,” Asimi replied, “And I, uhm, do not exactly know what I am looking for.” She glanced down at her hooves a moment, flicking her white ears back and forth individually, before lifting her head again to continue. “I haven’t actually been on my own before now, so, I, uhmm, don’t particularly know what to do.”

She looked to Clark now, for some sort of advice or assistance. Her mane fell gently down her neck, and her tail flickered slightly in the soft breeze. She had gone from relaxed to fairly serious quite quickly, not being as fluent in the transition as she would have liked to have been. Did this stallion have a herd? A small band of followers, maybe? Asimi felt quite relaxed and secure around Clark, so perhaps she could follow him too.

Internally, she was beginning to grow quite excited about the prospect of a new herd, meeting new horses, exploring new lands. Then again, the idea of travelling alone seemed almost rebellious to her - equally as alluring, even more dangerous. Perhaps Clark could enlighten her, and make the choice easier - if he’d let her chose.

OOC: All’s better now - Mum’s horse did his super-flexor tendon in, so he’s on box rest. Settling into the routine now he’s stopped being an ass, silly creature.

[Clark]

(so sorry for the delay!! I’m not very good about posting on weekends  I’m glad to hear about your mom’s horse settling down… that sounds like not a fun situation – for him or you and your mom! Hopefully he feels better soon!)

Having ventured to many lands far from Beqanna, the pinto stallion knew far too well the feeling of being new in a strange land. In fact, he often found himself cherishing that feeling – the ability to start anew and recreate himself. Granted, it often just found him recreating himself the way he’d always been (awkward, childish, alone), but it was the attempt that counted… right?

Regardless, he found himself smiling upon hearing her response, nodding sympathetically. “Well, welcome!” he chimed cheerfully, not that he had much ability to act as Beqanna’s greeter. Out of all the lands he had visited, he was probably most lonely here, in the land of his birth. “Where did you come from?” he curiously added after a moment.

Her next statement, however, surprised him. Having been on his own most of his life, he found the dichotomy in their situations quite intriguing. “Really?” he found himself asking as his ears pricked in inquisitiveness. Realizing suddenly the curtness of his statement, he offered another smile with further elaboration. “I’m usually alone… I’m actually hoping to find a buddy to wander with… or to settle down with…” He paused then, feeling a blush of embarrassment begin to grow. “I haven’t been very successful so far,” he admitted after a moment.

His eyes watched her as he dipped his head slightly in humiliation with the confession. He paused again as he studied her, so sweet and kind. She didn’t seem like the headstrong or defiant mares that was all too common around these lands, which he greatly appreciated. Perhaps spurred by that, or the tingly nervousness that radiated through his body, he took a deep breath in as he summoned his courage.

“I can’t offer you much besides my companionship… but maybe we could find a place together?” he paused again, an anxious smile lingering on his lips. “I mean… if you want to.” Timidly, he dug his fore hoof into the grass, anticipating the worst.

Yet, after a moment, his nervous smile grows into something a little braver, tinted with a juvenile sparkle. “I’ll try to make your dreams come through though… Think of something that you want. If you could have anything right now, or go anywhere, or do anything… what would it be?”

fate she hears me | fate stand near me | fate state clearly
whether there will be another card