ruby red glow ; ygritte, any

[Ygritte]

Her features visibly lift, her heart soaring when he breaks the foliage and her small steps kick up higher excitedly. A large smile appearing on her lips as she nears her mate. The woman moves to brush against the bay but instead se feels the clip of his incisors on her hide and she gives a small squeak in response. Chiseled crown swings to look to Mandan. Perhaps they should be filled with anger and irritation but instead they are playful, mischievous. Perhaps it's was the hormones (perhaps not!) but the mare liked the feel of his claim upon her. She likes being his mate, his love and even so, Ygritte would do the same with him if she should happen upon him and another woman.

She moves to stand side by side with her, footfalls a bit more labored now as her pregnancy advanced further. But Ygritte can see the flash in Mandan's eyes and even the restraint as he remains polite for her. With a gentle touch, she lifts her neck over his to rest her weight lightly on his withers as gentle breath fluffs bits of stray hairs before she moves back to a neutral position, always touching her mate.

Dark pools watch as Farren emerges from the water towards the couple. He seems enthralled with Mandan's horns, just as Ygritte was when they had first met. Farren is younger than Mandan and the world is still interesting and new and it shows in his wonderment. Ygritte presses against her mate as she chuckles gently, guilty of asking a similar question. She says nothing though and looks to her mate with velvet soft eyes when he answers. The conversation would be interesting to listen to.

ygritte

texas&nativity

[mandan]

Mandan can feel the stallion’s stare and it should unnerve him but doesn’t, he is used to them staring at the oddity in their midst - the horned beast, him. He almost chuckles, still boyish but somehow not (his mating of Ygritte has aged him, changed him, made him older and somehow less a colt), and replies kindly, “They’re horns.” and he talks like he’s talking to a curious little brother, except Mandan was Scalped’s last foal (for now anyway, that he knows of, because he certainly doesn’t know that his mother has returned and grows thick with foal like Ygritte does) so he’s never really had a little brother. “No need to apologize,” he says, easing up his possessiveness of the bay mare at his side as he relaxes around Farran. His mate beside him is in a mischievous mood, he can feel it in the air between them; instead, she settles her head upon his back and the weight of it is a familiar anchor in this moment, he almost sighs happily but the sigh dies in his throat as he remembers their present company. “I’m Mandan,” he says as if by way of explanation. Ygritte’s breath blows warmly on his neck, stirring little stray hairs of black mane; he cranes his head around to lip at her breast lovingly, nibbling the crease between her forelegs before his head comes up and he looks at the stallion still there in their midst, “You seem to like it here very much.” Not that Mandan can say much about himself, but he likes the trees and the quiet roar of the Falls even if he’s not quite as waterlogged as the two of them.

[farren]

He is relieved when the other stallion dismisses his sudden excitement over the unusual things - horns, as they are apparently called, he doesn't know why a horse would have such things but he chooses to accept it - and dips his head in a shy acknowledgement. They seem close and he instinctively looks away when the other stallion, Mandan, nibbles at Ygritte's chest in a way that seems too intimate for him to watch, only lifting his eyes again after a peer through the forelock shows him that they are standing once more. The stallion asks him a question and he brightens, a smile tugging at his lips; "I really like it here," he is enthusiastic in a way that only adds to his youthful demeanor, "and Ygritte is a really good guide." He smiles at her before his eyes meet Mandan's once more, bobbing his head with a sheepish laugh. "She helped me figure out swimming, which was really fun!" He glances back at the water with a longing sigh; it looks inviting and warm in the snowy, chilled landscape, and although his coat is thicker he still isn't as warm as he wants to be.
He barely knows the other stallion yet he admires him, for it is clear enough to him that Ygritte admires him as well. He has no siblings that he knows  of, and he hasn't had much of a role model in terms of male adults. He is still unlearned of much of the world and he hopes, even if it may be subconscious, that the older stallion may be able to teach him things he knows nothing of. He is ignorant in the way of the innocent and has not been faced with much of the harshness of the world aside from its natural extremities - like snow. So he hopes, in a way, that Mandan can teach him something before he decides to wander off and maybe meet a mare of his own.

F A R R E N

i'll taste the sky and feel alive again

[Ygritte]

The young mare relaxes against her mate's side. Lashes falling slightly as she becomes dreamy. Within her the young life stirs slightly as it silently knows that it's birth was soon upon the Falls. It will be lovely to hear the sounds of more voices and the laughter of a child within the humid environment. Lips curl in a smile as contentment settles in when Mandan nuzzles and nibbles her. A soft inhale pulls his scent inward and she savors the intoxicating scent of wood and spice. Masculine and exotic to her feminine nostrils.

Lobes flicker to catch Farren's words. His youth is evident in his eyes and in his questions. He is not quite a stallion mentally but soon his mind would catch up with his body. Soon he would be hopefully brining new faces to the Falls too. Dark pools glance to her lover with nothing but warmth before returning to look upon Farren. The heavy mare moves from Mandan's side to give herself a good shake, laughter bubbling as little droplets of the sacred water catches against the objects and equines that were near the salmon tinted mare. Her large belly throwing her off balance momentarily but she soon found her feet.

"Perhaps you would care to try out recruiting a new face in the field Farren?" The suggestion is friendly enough, knowing the young male mare be apprehensive. Ygritte returns to Mandan's side, the bulging belly bumping his as she moves to try and get comfortable. Lately her joints ached and frequently Ygritte had to shift her weight as the foal's birth approached rapidly.

ygritte

texas&nativity

((so sorry this took so long to post! I have to use my phone's hot spot for internet to post. Thanks for being paitent guys. i love you both))

[mandan]

He has no explanation for the horns; his mother could not explain them either except that they came from a strange beast in a land she will likely never visit in her immortal lifetime, but that his father had been a shaman of sorts, shaped of magics far stranger than Scalped could ever hope to understand and some of that magic had taken shape in her womb in the form of a foal and he was that foal.

Farren’s voice pulls him back from the tantalizing thread of thought that he picks at - that being of his horns, as he had no idea why he was born different from the rest of them and it had never really bothered him, there were stranger things he supposed that lurked in these lands. He can hear the youth in the other stallion’s voice and realizes that he isn’t much older himself, but Farren’s bright-eyed enthusiasm is something that Mandan lacks, relying instead upon his boyish charm. He almost frowns, dwelling on his flaws but follows the goodnatured sidelong glance the other stallion gives his mate and smiles instead, chuckling a little at how happy Farran was to learn how to swim.

“It is rather fun,” he concedes, “Swimming that is.” Mandan remembers swimming the rivers that his mother easily walked across, wishing he was big enough to do the same because swimming was tiresome work for a big colt. He looks fondly upon his mate, nuzzling her cheek, “Sounds like she is a good teacher too.” It is easy to compliment his mate - she is the epitome of what a good mare should be: lovely and wise, generous and kind, and he is proud of her, prouder still that she has taught Farren a thing or two, for he knows she’ll teach their own foal well and he looks forward to that. His body shifts beside her so that he can trail his lips along her growing belly, knowing they don’t have much time to themselves for there will soon be a tagalong foal at their heels - well, mostly hers, he doesn’t remember stallions having much to do with raising their get, not to say he wouldn’t be involved or wasn’t excited, just that he doesn’t know the first thing about babies.

Mandan might even be a little afraid of raising his own son or daughter, what if he screws up somehow? He figures that must be a fear all parents have but his mother hid it well; briefly, he wonders if she has come back herself, if she knows her son is here in the Falls or that she’s about to a grandmother-mare again (he’s sure he’s not the first to give her grand-foals, but in Beqanna he is). Absently, he strokes Ygritte’s bulging barrel until she stirs and steps off from his side, giving herself a hearty shake that sent water flying everywhere though he didn’t mind the drops that splattered against his skin. Concern darkened his eyes further at her misstep but she righted herself quick enough, despite the strong urge to rush to her side and check her over - he knew she was fine, just more encumbered than she normally was and he knew he was mostly to blame for that.

In her own way, she circles back to his side and he doesn’t mind the belly-bump or the way she leans upon him. He noses her neck in a gesture meant to tell her to lean more heavily upon him because he could see how taxing this first (he’s sure there will be more, the thought is a tad arrogant but who could blame him?) pregnancy was on her. “That is an excellent idea,” he adds, trying to be encouraging as he smiles at Farren. The bay supposes he ought to do the same, to help his mate out since she was so easily tired these days and moving less. “Or maybe we could try the water again,” as it suddenly occurred to him that she could float between the two of them, if Farren was inclined to assist, and get a lot of that weight off her aching feet.

MANDAN
their altars were made of earth