[PRP] A Secret Amongst Friends (Skylar and Michiko)

[Lunadriel]

A private rp between Aria and Luna, featuring this months rp prompt.




People do a lot of things in the name of love. Is it wrong to protect someone you love from a horrible truth or should they be given all the information even if it's terrible? That's for you to decide. But once you know, ...well you can't take it back

This RP is between platonic friends (no secret feelings here!). Think your best friend, your person, your ride or die.... They've kept something from you and you've just found out. Your friend says it was to protect you. It wasn't something you had to know, but once you know it changes things. It can be a secret as big or small as you want. But how do you feel about it? Are you glad they kept it from you? Did they do the right thing? Do you understand their intentions and does that make it okay? Or are you pissed?

And what happens next?  

[Lunadriel]

Skylar had been around Kawani for a couple years now. When she first arrived, she had been extremely shy. That didn't stop her from finding an everlasting friend, and significant other. Even though they were together, there wasn't really love their. Bellamy being the type to avoid feelings. It happened to be exactly what Skylar needed in a friend though. She still branched out to meet others, but never really connected with anyone. Perhaps because she was a little shy.

Then she met Michiko. And although they had only known each other for a brief while, Skylar felt they would be fast friends. A much needed "only friends" roll in her life. So when she wasn't with Bellamy, she had someone else she could meet with if she felt lonely.

Something about Michiko had drawn Skylar in. Normally shy and reserved, that shield hadn't been there when she met Michiko. There was a thread that pulled her, telling her that they needed a friend. Skylar realized, that supporting someone else, could add value to her life.

The shy bird found she wanted to find others who needed friends too. For now though, she set out to find Michiko, where she said she'd be today. One friend at a time.

Eager to find out how her friend was doing today, she scanned the area, tucking in her wings tight, one after the other.  

[Aria Starstone]

Michiko was settled in a waterside glade, cozy and comfortable for the moment. At least physically. Mentally? Well that might be another story. Her mind had decided that today was a trip down memory lane kind of day, one where she was lost in her own head thinking about the past, her childhood, her parents... The herd she had been born into. It had been such a different place, so far from these Kawani lands, that most of the time, she did not feel worried about reminders of her homelands.

Today, though, as she had been walking, she had noticed a tree that reminded her of home... It was a full blooming weeping cherry. She had heard of others from lands similar to, or possibly even the same as, hers, so it did not surprise her that such things were here as well. She just was not expecting it, and it had thrown her back to her first memories of seeing one in bloom, how beautiful it had been.

How different her life had been, back then.

All things she did not speak about, not in this stage of her life. She rarely felt it would do anyone any good to hear her stories of the past, least of all herself. She simply tried to be someone others could trust to hear, to listen without judgement, when others might judge.

Unless they were actually evil, or cruel. She would judge, and judge hard. She had no patience for such folk.  

[Lunadriel]

Skylar followed down the edge of a calm river, flocked with trees on one side. A bushel of pink stood out on the side she walked, casting a chandelier of pink into the gentle breeze. Below it, Skylar found her friend, Michiko. The scene of the two of them, breath taking, yet, Michiko seemed lost in thought. Approaching her, Skylar took note of the way the serene fountain of pink, did not reflect back in her eyes. Her greeting cut short in her throat, and she did not say a word.

Skylar looked out to where Michiko gazed, and stood there, silently. Something told her that words weren't needed right now. If they didn't say anything, she would still enjoy the peace the day had brought them. For now, she felt her presence was needed more than her words.

Closing her eyes, she let the cascade of dappled shade dance over her face. Presenting quietly, as if to say, I am here, and will remain here as long as needed. If Michiko spoke, she would then reply.  

[Aria Starstone]

Michiko noticed when Skylar joined her, glancing up and giving her friend a small nod. She then went back to staring out over the water, the thoughts in her head whispering around in circles, nothing showing on her face but quiet emotionlessness. They sat in silence for a good while, Michiko trying to push those thoughts out of her head as she sat, but eventually, she gave a soft sigh, as her eyes tracked a single petal falling from a tree, down into the water and even followed it's path until it was out of sight.

As she watched the petal, though, she finally spoke. "Do you ever spend time thinking of what came before? Before you arrived here, in the place you came from? Wonder what might have been, what has happened?"

Her tone was soft, gentle, but there was an undercurrent of sadness, of old grief, maybe even a hint of regrets. But it was all buried in her attempt to sound calm, unbothered.
 

[Lunadriel]

Skylar soaked in the serene silence. She too, watched as a petal fell from the tree, and floated across the lake. The petal seeming to flow in a set direction, as if destined to drift away. Yet unable to fight the current.

Adjusting, she continued to sit there, not being startled as Michiko finally spoke. She listened with her full attention, noting the melancholy she heard in her voice. .Questions of deep reflection. Skylar hummed, looking forward, then contemplating. Silent for another few moments.

The simple answer, was no. But perhaps she should reflect on such things. Her bangs over her eyes, she answered shyly. "Is it selfish, that I don't think about my before?" she said quietly. "I...probably should think of those things." she shifted again.

She looked to Michiko, making eye contact. "Is this something that weighs on your mind? Are there things you left behind, that are heavy to bear?" she said gently.  

[Aria Starstone]

Michiko tilted her head, the purple glow focused on Skylar, and she looked bemused at the initial response. "Selfish? I shouldn't think so. Why would it be?" She sighed again, shifting slightly so that she could see her companion a little more easily, the tip of her tail flickering up and down, almost like a cat's, as she considered this. "I am not sure there is a should or should not, when it comes to our choices to spend time reflecting on such things. After all, can we change anything that happened with such thoughts? At best, perhaps we might come more to terms with things, or find ways to make similar situations better in the future."

There was another, longer pause after Skylar asked the other question, and the tail went entirely still, her eyes closing. She was so still she almost seemed not to breath, even.

Finally she opened her eyes again, as she gave in to the melancholy, her expression almost tired in her memories of the past, though she focused on the younger mare. "Of course. I sometimes wonder if any who come here from far away come with an easy story... Mine certainly was not one of those." She shifted some, and then continued. "My home, the herd I was born into, it was extremely... Traditional, old fashioned, and did not have very accepting... Attitudes... Towards those that did not fit in with their views of how life was supposed to be lived. Mares were mares, stallions were stallions, there was no in between, no crossing those lines, no... No concept of the idea that one might not be born into the body their soul matched."

Her tail flickered up and down, and she paused, letting herself collect her thoughts, and to give Skylar a chance to speak, or question.
 

[Lunadriel]

Skylar deigned to tell her story another time. Smiling in response as her jade friend questioned her answer of being a bit selfish. The smile did not reach her eyes though.

Focusing on the change in Michiko's mannerisms. Her very body seemed to slump and pause, as Skylar watched her. Watched as that lively tail beside her, stilled with the rest of her body, as her eyes fell closed. She breathed carefully, trying not to disrupt her break in speaking with the slightest sound.

Skylar almost reached a wing out, to touch Michiko. She decided against it, and tucked it back as the mare beside her spoke. The words spoken, bearing weight, sadness, maybe emptiness. As she continued to listen, a tear streamed down her face. Feeling the pain that she spoke about, even if it's not what she herself had experienced.

After a long breath, Skylar sighed. Trying to push out the feeling of being angry at those that didn't embrace Michiko as she was. When Skylar spoke, her voice was calm.

"I don't understand how anyone could ever, not accept you. You are a beautiful soul." She paused, then continued, her voice cracking slightly. "It must of been so hard for you." That wing reached back out, and rested a few pinions gingerly across her friends back. "I am glad you didn't stay there. Your herd isn't always the one you're born into. Your home, not the one you grew up in. Home is here." she said as she reached another wing and pointed to Michiko's heart. "You carry it with you, and you share it with those you choose." she said as she withdrew that second wing. "And your herd? You choose who you want to be your herd, or your family. Gather those that support you being who you are. A mare born in a stallions body, is still a mare. Don't let anyone ever make you feel otherwise." Skylar said, her wings puffing up a little.

She took her wing off Michiko and tucked them all back in. She resisted the urge to get shy, and question if she should of said all that. Not wanting to push her friend away, by saying some things she might not like.  

[Aria Starstone]

She listened to Skylar's response, purple eyes half open as she considered the words of her companion. She smiled, almost brightly, at the last comment from Skylar. "Oh, I know that, my friend. I have had time and time enough since I left my home to come to fully accept myself, and realize how wrong they were about those things. My mother made sure to tell me that, too. She was the one who helped me learn what I was, why I felt so different from the rest... And she is the one who helped me escape when I realized I could no longer live with hiding myself, hiding away my truth. She was also the one who helped me find my true name."

She looked wistful, speaking about her mother, for Michiko missed her mother with a passion, and grieved softly at the idea that they would never again meet. They had known, on the day they had parted, that this would be the case but... It did not make it less painful to know that she would never see the gentle smile of her mother, the soft glow of her mother's eyes, nor to snuggle with her ever again.

Another soft sigh escaped her lips. "Of course, at that time, I did not know or believe that. When I fled the lands of my birth-herd, I fled believing myself to be broken, to have something wrong with me. But mother's words stayed with me, even when I heard the echoes of the voices from the herd, the leaders, the religious folk... And part of me felt guilty for leaving, for abandoning what I had been raised to believe were my duties as a 'stallion' of the herd. It took me a very long time, in my travels, to learn to grow past that... But today, I saw this tree..." She nodded at the weeping cherry. "And it reminded me of home, of the past, and I could not, for that moment, step away from the pain and the loss, the past."
 

[Lunadriel]

"Your mother sounds like a good soul. I wouldn't mind meeting her one day. I do not ever want to meet the rest of your herd though. I might have to buffet my wings in their face if they try to judge you in front of me. Just, a face full of feather as they look your way." she smirked from under her bangs, with a quiet laugh. She was only half joking. Even if it wasn't possible to meet her mother, the sentiment was still there.

Looking to Michiko, she listened as she talked about the feeling the pink kissed tree invoked. "Thank you for sharing your past with me, and the pain. I'm so glad you came here, and grew past the hurt they caused. I hope one day perhaps..." she said as she looked to the weeping cherry branches above. "...you can see this tree, and not think of the past. It's a beautiful life, just like you." she grinned, turning back to Michiko.

"I'm not always so sappy, haha." she said as she blushed and hid under her bangs. Laughing off the heavy emotion. "I will keep your secret, and carry it with me. Anytime you want to talk about it, you let time know." she said with that air of seriousness returning.

The two continued to enjoy the peace below the canopy of cascading pink. They sat there till the sun began to set. A bit of silence, and a bit of talking, before the two parted ways.

As Skylar left, she turned to look over her shoulder, and smiled with all her heart. "May you find happiness." she spoke into the wind, sending good vibes to her friend.