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 Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2022 12:08 pm
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Once more, Ozzie found herself in an unfamiliar area.
While she had meant to find her way to a field where she knew she could find a friendly herd of buffalo to be around for a while, before she resumed her search for the Stallion from her Dreams, she instead found herself lost in a forest. Although she had become more confident in the past month or so, right now she was anything but. She could have sworn she had woken up just before midday, and yet there was no sun shining through the branches of the trees. And there should be, seeing as the seasons were changing; there were fewer leaves to block out the light.
As her ears flattened, Ozzie did her best to keep walking, weaving between the trees as it seemed to get darker and darker. Chancing to look skywards, she narrowed her eyes to peer at...the sun. And something slowly sliding to cover the sun. She'd never, never seen anything like this before. And here she was, caught alone.
Breath quickening, she tried to walk as slowly and as carefully as she could, not only because it was getting harder to see, but because it seemed as though the sounds of the creatures of the forest were starting to rise. It was getting louder. She was scared, not only because of what was happening, but because it felt like chasing after a figment of her imagination was about to spell her doom.
[247] |
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:16 pm
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Kaldin looked up toward the sky, ears swiveling back in nervousness. The light was leaving, the sun vanishing. What kind of dark crafting was this?! Maybe he shouldn't have left his herd to fend for himself, but the wanderlust had him in its grip and could not be denied. Maybe if he had stayed a little longer the shamans would have known what this was though. Ah, but how was he to have known?!
All he could do was move forward. He was sure he'd seen a clearing ahead, and he wanted to be out in it rather than among the trees. Nature all around him seemed both too loud and far far too quiet. The day animals voicing their confusion. He gave a low nicker of his own and dug his blunt claws into the earth, stopping for a moment to ground himself before forcing himself to move again lest he remained pinned in his current spot. The clearing was just ahead!
He burst out into it suddenly and looked around in owl-eyed surprise at coming upon it so suddenly before slowly venturing out into it before changing his mind and opting to stay close to the treeline lest something preternatural happen and he find the need to plunge back into the foliage. Once he had settled on a spot to stand, he kept the vanishing sun in the corner of his vision, something telling him not to look directly at it...and now that he was calm, a dim memory tickled at his mind. Something in a childhood fable of the sun hiding its daytime face. He couldn't quite grasp at the full memory of it, but this dim remembrance soothed him slightly. This had happened before. Maybe everything would be alright.
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2022 9:27 pm
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Loud. Quiet. All at once. Dark. Light. Dark. Dark, dark, dark! It was getting to be dark the closer she got to the treeline, the closer she got to safety. But, was it *truly* safety? Bursting out into a field where she didn't know if there was something waiting for her would be foolish, but maybe...just maybe she'd be able to get to the buffalo herd before anything happened.
But that wasn't to be, as the sound of something moving that was larger than a squirrel - considerably larger - caused her to slow her pace once again. Ears swiveled around to see if there was more than one, and with the sky darkening more and more, Ozzie decided that a chance needed to be taken.
"He...hello...?" She called out, not a yell, but not a whisper either as she made her way towards the noise. It was truly a blessing at the moment that she was so small; She could easily duck and weave to run if she needed, and anything bigger would have much more of an issue. "Hello...hello...Hello...?" She continued to call out, though her volume lowered each time. On one hoof, she hoped...maybe it was a friend. On the other...well.
[202]
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2022 9:37 pm
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Kaldin's ears swiveled, thinking he heard someone calling. He listened, and then he was sure when it came again. No owl this, or crow, or raven. "Hello?" He called back, and stepped away from the trees toward the voice. "Hello, hello?" There was strength in numbers, and though there was but one voice calling, one was still better than none, and two was better than one.
His blunt claws dug into the ground shallowly as he moved toward the voice, body tense. It wasn't impossible to see, but without the moon to light the sky at all it was a bit more difficult. It could be a potential ally calling, or it could be a Shifter. One could never be sure, and in the dark he might not see the pelt until it was too late.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2022 8:01 pm
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His ears were so large and his tail so long, Ozzie felt like she might just be hallucinating. But, no, she'd seen others with similar traits, so there was nothing to be scared of. She was simply wary, as her time alone had taught her to be. But as he lay down, she felt her confidence surge a bit. If he had meant to hurt her, he wouldn't be laying down, would he?
"Ozzie." She whispered again, though she, too, walked towards his voice, into what little light remained. "Th-the sun is being eaten, I d-d-don't know why..." Was it a punishment? For leaving home? For trying to be her own self...?
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 4:14 am
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His closest ear swiveled toward her. No herd, only family. Family that wouldn't let her leave again? On the surface that didn't seem unreasonable, since anyone on their own stood to end up a meal, He could defend himself well enough, but even he wasn't immune to that danger and she was big for a Usidia, but small otherwise.
When she came to settle beside him, he lifted his tail to make room and curled it around her afterward, both as an offering of protection and to help her stay warm for however long the sun hid. "Well, if you're looking for someone, I'll just have to help you find him." He decided. "Since we're both on our own, we'd benefit more from traveling together than apart."
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 5:42 pm
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A stranger, but warm and safe. Offering to help her find the one from her Dreams. Yes, she could trust him, right? She could stay with him until she found who she was looking for. He would be able to fend off her overly-protective father if need be.
With the sky growing ever darker, she found it harder and harder to keep him in her vision. It was truly Darkness overtaking them, but unlike the anxiety before, she felt...like everything would be okay.
"T-together than apart." She repeated, deciding to curl up against him, since with the darkness came the cold. She didn't like the cold. "Kaldin. Kaldin...Kaldin..." She rolled his name around, speaking it for the first time. It, too, seemed familiar. Easy to speak. Easy to remember.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2022 6:01 pm
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Who...who was she looking for? In ever dream, he had been nothing but a shade, the closest she'd gotten was during the storm just before Spring. That was the dream that had stuck with her the most vividly, and as true darkness overtook them, she looked up at Kaldin, trying to see him.
"He left...a t-t-trail for me to follow. Always in the s-snow. Always the same path, to th-the same grove. I was always s-s-scared, but I followed him anyways. A-and he never led me anywhere d-d-dangerous." Letting out a breath, she let her head hang. "It's s-s-so stupid, to chase a d-d-dream, but he...he s-said he wanted me to be free. And s-safe. S-s-so I have to find him. M-maybe...Maybe where there's a lot of lavender..."
Perhaps that stallion would remain a spectre. Maybe her dream was impossible to catch.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2022 6:19 pm
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He tilted his head. She was chasing a dream, or...no, based on what she was saying she meant a literal dream. A trail in the snow to a grove. So maybe she would find him in the winter. Wanted her to be free and safe? Was the implication that she hadn't been before? She had left her herd to find him....so maybe not?
"Well once the sun comes back out we can begin looking for somewhere lavender grows." He said. "It at least gives us an objective, and once the snows fall maybe you'll find his tracks....though that'd mean you were separated from me first, I'm guessing." He flicked an ear. "If it's somewhere with lavender, then it might even be soon since I'm guessing you'd need to be able to find living plants, or at least ones that haven't gone into hibernation yet? A surprise storm the plants aren't expecting?"
He chuckled softly. "Well, either way, I'll stick with you for now. It wouldn't be responsible of me to leave you alone, though I do have to warn you I sometimes eat meat. Just animals, not those who speak. I'll never eat you, and I won't let anyone else try either."
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