Ukutsushi (Beautiful Soul)

[Sammy]

Fifteen for a moment
Caught in beween ten and twenty
And I'm just dreamin'
Counting the ways to where you are

"It turns out freedom ain't nothin' but missin' you - wishin' I'd realised what I had when you were mine..."

The soft baritone drifted lazily through the air, not loud, but not inaudible either as it wove through the trees that ringed the territory that was known as The Mountains. Indeed yes, a baritone...a male's voice.

Not that Shikatsu particularly cared. He was a male, yes, a quiet one, at that, not prone to fits of excitement. It did not mean he had no allusion of beauty and romance, though. In fact, it would shock any who knew his pragmatic sire to know that, for this song in particular, it had been Shikaru who had encouraged it. The old stallion had been a cold fellow at times, but that song, he seemed particularly fond of.

Probably because it made his mother cringe.

Shikatsu chuckled softly at the thought, dark blue eyes soft with gentle memories even as he lifted his head, ears harking back and forth with a leading stallion's watchfulness as he made his rounds of his home. Not that there was much to protect, at present; he had Kendra, that was it.

Then again... he murmured dryly within the confines of his mind. He'd become deeply fond, tender towards, the excitable filly, but she could be a challenge in itself. So he couldn't teach her not to lean so far forward watching a fish that she'd fall into the creek. There were other challenges, though, that he needed to be watchful for. Main challenge being, was trying to teach her that it generally wasn't a good idea to bounce up to *everyone* you met.

Especially stallions.

Yes, he was a stallion, but that was exactly why he was so cautious. He knew what his sex were like - even the coldest and calmest were driven by lust when the scent of mare prevailed upon their senses. Not even he could escape such things, pondering in the back of his mind, though he'd never have the audacity to even tease about such things to the mare who shared his home, now. Tease her about other things, yes, in his gentle way, but not that.

"And I go back to December all the time..."

His quiet singing continued, uncaring, for at the moment, he was comfortably alone. He continued on, voice dissolving into a soft hum as he continued the song, enjoying it purely for the way it gave him a sense of closeness to his parents, even if it t'was a bittersweet one.

"I gave you all my love and all I gave you was...goodbye..."

The creek burbled softly alongside him, the leaves and long grass swishing softly, as if providing a background musical ensemble to his words.

[leira]

A shadowy figure moved smoothly around the trees, head high and ears pricked with curiosity. The muscles on the mare's body flowed with practiced ease as she lurched upward a bit, finding herself dazed by the perfect innocence of the land. Silence had lingered like a soft blanket in the air, and Alyce appreciated it; for once, her thoughts were left to her own musings, and not worrying about her mother and father's bickering over her leaving. It had been time to go, she loved them, but she was four now. Mature enough to leave home, and to know how to act.

Shaking herself, she quickened her speed to a fluid trot, darting through the trees and ducking her head to avoid smashing her face into branches. It wasn't like she had done it before, the idea just made her want to wince. Sounded like being whacked in the face with a spare branch might sting a bit. Shrugging her shoulders, she continued, her breath coming out in soft little puffs. Moving swiftly always brought her brain to the awakening stage where she'd ponder over different things that happened. Right now, thinking was the last thing she wanted to do. Think about her father's dejected face. Her mother's blank eyes, still lingering over the grief. Yeah, that really made her feel so much better.

"It turns out freedom ain't nothin' but missin' you - wishin' I'd realised what I had when you were mine..."

Alyce threw her head up and paused for a second, her ears immediately in an alert position and dark pools darting around nervously. The voice, gentle and male, seemed to leave lingering notes in her cranium, and she mused over what she had heard. Slowly, she shook her head and for a second, wondered if it would be smart to approach the stallion with the soft voice, or if it was better to evade? Of course, Alyce knew she had nothing better to do anyways. Shuffling her hooves around in the dirt, she lurched forward and began trotting towards the masculine voice.

Eyes trained through the trees, she could make out the figure of a stallion, standing there in the gorgeous beauty of the mountains. He appeared to be in a thoughtful state, and she jumped a bit to hear the voice drift through the silent air again. Alyce watched him for a few moments, her bay body quivering, and then she quiet called out, "Hello there, sir," and ducked her head submissively, moving a to a spot where she was about ten feet away from him. She was uncertain if this was the right decision, but this was the light lands, right? Nothing bad happened here?

Her dark eyes scanned over his body curiously, taking in the experience of seeing a stallion other than her father, and then turned her eyes towards the terra, gazing at the trees, the gurgling water, and the soft rustle of the grass. It no longer seemed so eerily quiet, yet extremely comforting. Blinking slowly, she raised her head and tried to meet the stallion's gaze, her coat glowing a bit in the light. "I'm Alyce," she whinnied, feeling a bit too loud in this silent environment, "Who might you be?"

[REQUIEM !]

OOC: this turned out MUCH longer than I thought it was... if I missed anything/fucked anything up/left you nothing to reply with, pleeeease tell me so I can bawwlete it and give you something to work with.

EDIT just so you know, this is how she looks when she walks/canters/trots/whatever; click!

Momma, don't you cry
I'm movin' on but no, this ain't goodbye
We might be miles apart, I'll carry you in my heart
I'll send you kisses on the phone but Momma,
I'm leaving home

Okay, so maybe Kendra wasn't exactly the smartest girl around - as far as she let on, anyway. She never really indicated the presence of wisdom, save for the few back-home phrases that were actually rather useful, if you got past the fact that they were hair-brained and made as much sense as a dead pig in the sunshine. Honestly, she just didn't understand why others didn't understand her. To her, she was making perfect sense. Thus, she always ended up the confused one when she was given a blank look as a response to, "Since I was knee-high to a grasshopper!"

So now here she was, grazing on one of the higher ledges of the mountain, by herself by entirely contented by the quiet. Shikatsu was off.. doing whatever it was he was doing all the time. She pestered him enough, so it was only fair that he went off on his own for some peace. It was a fine day, the skies were bright and the--what's that?

She listened.
...Singing?

It sounded like Shikatsu. Pinning her ears, Kendra was thoroughly confused. Since when did he sing? It actually sounded... nice. Well, as nice as it can get when a stallion sings and what is that sound?

She listened again, straining over his voice.

Something went crashing about in the forest down below.

Pausing, the filly stretched her neck towards her shoulder, ears perked forward as blue eyes blazed in curosity. A strange new scent flooded her nostrils, so she took it in eagerly - a mare? Slightly put out by the idea of a young mare out on her own, so high up in the mountains and alone at that, Kendra snorted to herself. "Lord knows what she's doin'..." she muttered beneath her breath, but really she was at no right to say anything; she had gone out on her own just two years ago, aimless and ready to be swept up by that Prince Charming Momma had always told her about.

Though the desire to know who this young mare was was gnawing away at Kendra's very heart and soul, she did not make any move to go over and greet her. Instead, she dropped her head and returned to her grazing. Shikatsu would handle it. Weren't lead stallions supposed to do that? Her sire always had. Besides, the stallion she now shared The Mountains had continuously tried to convince her not to say hello to every person that she met. She hadn't understood at first, entirely thrown off by the thought that not everyone was as nice as she had known them to be. Slowly, though, the idea had begun to resonate. Maybe he was right... he'd never lied to her before, and she didn't think he would. He had to know what he was talking about, right? "...Oh, ta' hell with it," she uttered, glancing about her before turning to mosey on down to where the two were. She'd tried, right?

Picking a way down the hilly mountainside as if she'd done it her whole life, Kendra worked a way down until she was near the clear of the base. Easing the tension on her feet, the buckskin filly gently slid to the end of the trail, steadying herself with a pleased look. Ambling towards the coal black form of Shikatsu, sights locked on the bay filly opposite him, eventually Kendra made her way to the stallion's side and stopped. Her bright coat bounced off of his own dark one, the blue of her eyes lightened even more by the white of her face.

Don't talk to strangers. But this is a mare, she thought as she looked at Alyce, an' she ain't no bigger than a flea. This was half true - it seemed as though Kendra towered over her, when in reality, it was just the fact that she was so long in the neck and legs compared to the other mare. Peering at Alyce behind genuinely curious lazuline eyes, ears lain forward gently, the filly nudged Shikatsu's neck. She did not say anything (surprisingly), but looked to him before turning to Alyce with a smile upon her pink-and-black lips. "Hi, my name's Kendra," she twanged brightly, "If ya don't mind my asking, what are you doin' up here all by your lonesome? That's an awful long walk to be takin' by yaself."

[Sammy]

That wasn't quite true. It was indeed the Light Lands, but it did not mean bad things didn't happen. And a brute of a nervier disposition than the coal black lad that was Shikatsu would likely have jumped or lunged at the new presence. However, Shikatsu had enough sense bred into him to know better, and it showed. He did jump a little when he heard the quiet crashing of an unfamiliar body in unfamiliar territory, swivelling around on those lean, muscular hindquarters to face Alyce just as she shrank slightly, that delicate head lowered submissively.

It was enough to make him blink, taken aback as he was. She looked terribly tired, which he could pin any future children's lives he had on the fact that she'd just trekked through the unknown territory of the Mountains to get to this height, the submissive exhaustion enough to lower his protective defensiveness and bring out his gentler nature.

"I'm the protector of this-" he began softly, and would have taken a step forward, blue eyes dark with concern, had Kendra not chosen that moment to bounce upon the situation with that bubbly twang of hers. In the least, she had the caution he'd tried so hard to instil in her not to leap upon the stranger right away, pressing close to his side, though her bubbly curiousity overrode her quieter male companion's attempt to gouge the strange mare's condition and reasoning for being about the fringes of his terra.

"...yes, precisely," he murmured wryly in agreement to Kendra's rapid fire questions, though he shot her a look both amused and gently quelling before looking back to the mare, Alyce. He acknowledged Kendra's nudge with the slightest of twitches to his shoulder, affectionate amusement crossing those gentle, masculine features momentarily before taking the step he'd intended closer.

"Don't be afraid," he said softly, liltingly, a note of teasing briefly adding depth to his deep voice, as if he was the last thing to fear in this situation, "She's just had too many of the mountain raspberries. Kendra is right, though...what are you doing, walking so far on your own? It can be a terribly exhausting walk to this altitude, if you're little accustomed to it..."

[leira]

The bay mare kept her dark eyes trained on the stallion, as his jaw opened and words began to come off his tongue. She pricked her ears forward, a bit pleased that he had not shown signs of aggression, and more of surprise. Her head jerked up as the scent of another mare flooded through her nostrils, and she stared in a bit of awe as another mare approached them. Tilting her head, she blinked as the femme began to babble out words.

Usually eager for a talk, as she had been lonely, she found herself more... speechless, perhaps? then usual. "Uh, hi Kendra." She smiled, despite her moment of silence, and then eagerly tacked on her own name, "I'm Alyce, if you didn't overhear me before. It's nice meeting you, miss." Her eyes glowed with the genuine appreciation of being spoken to, and not like she was some intruder in another land. Her bay coat shown, though her head drooped back down with exhaustion as she relaxed to Kendra's presence. She shuffled a bit, scraping at the ground with a hoof and then slowly addressing the questions that she had barely registered.

"Well, miss Kendra, I left home. I decided it was time to leave my mother and father, and to journey off to find a life. I was just so bored, you see?" She blinked twice, as if questioning if this was her answer. A sigh making her body rattle, Alyce had to smile at the other mare. She made the area seemingly lighten up in Alyce's mind, and she enjoyed the happy company. "It was quite lonely, but I figured this trek would be worth it. I always like to look at the views." She peered around for a second, her eyes lingering on the stallion, and chuckled quietly.

She was probably being quieter than usual, she supposed, since sometimes she would chat out her whole life story to random strangers. But the bay mare was feeling worn out from her trot up the mountain and shook her head back and forth slowly, a small smile decorating her muzzle. Alyce was amused with the stallion's response, and her heart nearly melted with the affectionate glance he gave to Kendra. It made her smile, and she could blush if possible to be catching a sweet moment between the two. Her head lowered with her forelock covering her face a bit, she half-smiled. To her, every little thing was sweet. She guessed it was because she never saw too much of this kind of subtle affection between her mother and father, and it made her heart just like pool into a puddle.

A small giggle burst from her lips when the stallion said she had had too many mountain berries. Her eyes, bright, yet a bit dulled with sleepiness, focused on him. "Yes, it is awfully tiring. I think it was worth it though, as long as you don't mind me staying here for just a day or two." Her nose twitched, displaying a bit of worry, and then she hurriedly added, "or as long as I am welcome, I don't often stay somewhere long, but it'd be nice to find a permanent home.." She ducked her head down again and shuffled a bit, trying not to show her obvious embarrassment. What in heck had made her say that? Perhaps the view.. her eyes wandered back to the stallion and she laughed inwardly. He was rather handsome.

"I just- just.." Her voice cracked as she thought of the despair in her parents' eyes as she left, "need a home.. I left them, and.. and... I think they may be mad at me. Or hate me. They shouldn't be having more kids, they're too old! I'm afraid they're lonely, lonelier then I've gotten in the past few days." A sigh shuddered through her frame and she shook her head a few times. "No, I swear I'm not crazy, just an exhausted little mare." She smiled wryly at Kendra and the stallion, and inched a step closer, hopefully not uncomfortably close, but just trying to appear friendly. Good grief, why couldn't she learn to keep her mouth shut?

Stretching her neck and legs to keep them from getting stiff - what was the point? they'd get stiff after sleep anyways - and tossed her head, mane ruffling and falling back peacefully to it's typical place. "So, sir.." she glanced at Kendra for a brief second, "I never quite heard your name." Alyce was silently admiring his coat; she hadn't seen a color like that in a long while. Coal black, startling contrast to Kendra's fur. They seemed like complete opposites, and she had to smile at that. A mismatched pair, yet so close. She assumed they were mates, and didn't know if Kendra was bothered or not by her arrival. Was she afraid of competition, and was going to get mean the second she turned her back? Nervous at the thought, Alyce decided it wouldn't hurt to be nicer to the mare, as if apologizing for stealing the femme's spotlight for a few moments. She'd leave if Kendra got too angry.

Her thoughts seemed slightly retarded. Alyce had to admit, the mare seemed sweet, maybe a bit of southern attitude, but she was sweet. No doubt about it. And the bay mare was no competition, she had to tell herself that, even though the black male was handsome, she didn't even know his name. Maybe she was mentally retarded. A smile crossed her face for a split second, and she rolled her eyes at herself. Eyes glancing over the pair, she examined the land for a little while waiting for the stallion's reply.

ooc;; i hope i didn't forget anything.. i hit preview early (such a habit) and wasn't sure if there was anything else i needed to say. xD

[REQUIEM !]

I know, I know ;___; I'm sorry this is just a WIP and that I've been keeping you guys waiting - it isn't my intention to make you hate me. I just can't finish this right now, but I PROMISE YOU that it will be done very, very soon. I have to get up early tomorrow so I'm leaving this here. Maybe I'll finish it in the morning.

Breaking contact from Alyce for the briefest of seconds, Kendra caught the gently reprimanding look that Shikatsu shot her and the hindsight of her entrance dawned on her. "Oooh, sorry!" she half exclaimed, taking mental note that even if you DON'T come running up, it defeats the purpose by firing off in an immediate barrage of questions. "That's what you were talking about, wasn't it?" After looking away to curse under her breath, the filly turned back to the other mare and smiled in an amusingly dizzy way."Oooh..." Kendra drawled thoughtfully, "Ooh..." So Alyce wasn't so different after all!


"Ohh, don't fret darlin'," she twanged cheerfully, long ears pricked forward as her black mane cascaded over them, "You can stay here as long as ya like - I don't mind. 'Katsu doesn't either, do ya, 'katsu? You wouldn't throw her out, right? Oh, pleeeease say you wouldn't. Wouldja?" After a brief pause, her blue eyes flickering from Shikatsu to Alyce, Kendra quietly said to the little bay mare with a twinge of a smirk, "He wouldn't."