Established in May of 2023, we are a realistic wild horse rpg site.
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What better place to be than here, at the water's edge, on a beautiful mid-autumn morning?
The air was crisp and invigorating, whispering through the trees, carrying the faint scent of fallen leaves on its gentle breeze. There was a cold bite to the breeze even now, with the sun nearly at its zenith, and it seemed to tickle Aveline's insides with subdued message that was only partway a warning. Winter is coming!
Ava's pale pink hooves found solace on the pebbled beach. She'd been up early, as was her custom; she took time each day to train her body to withstand the rigors of her mountain home, and the changing seasons were no exception. Where in the summers she might drive herself to lather, comfortable in the knowledge that a cleansing dip in the stream could be her well-earned reward, in these colder months Aveline took a rather more gentle approach to her fitness.
She'd simply walked here along the labyrinthine mountain paths which latticed their mountain home like a spider's web, letting her muscles feel the slow burn of a gradual incline at a slow pace. She would not sweat, and she would not be disheveled in any sense of that word; her contribution to the Sound today would be her presence and her appreciation, but not her body in its already frigid waters.
Those waters now lapped tenderly at the shoreline. The lake, like a polished gem, shimmered with ethereal hues — a kaleidoscope of blues and greens blending seamlessly in the dancing sunlight. Patches of mist hovered here and there above the water's surface, clinging to the chill of a night long past like children to their mother's skirts.
Aveline cast her honeyed gaze across the water at towering peaks of the Moraine Mountains, which stood as sentinels around her, their slopes adorned with the crimson and gold tapestry of autumn. Hardly any green remained in the mountain canopy now. The distant hills, cloaked in a mosaic of ever-changing colors, seemed to embrace the symphony of seasons.
Whatever challenges winter brought for them this year, the Mountain herd would weather them together, and lift their heads in springtime all the stronger for it.
Notes:Promise with Romeo? Or open to anyone really! Trying to embody an autumn trip I took to Vermont years ago lmao
Mercy had been more shy, more timid when it came to life in the mountains. Having only really meet Romeo here. The chestnut and white lady trotted cautiously through her home. Like a child playfully skipped around the gardens trying to escape the call of a parent calling them in for a bath. Though a bath did sound rather lovely but perhaps not now in the chill of the day.
Maybe she’ll find a nice spot where the sunshine had warmed the water in the calm areas around the stream later. As it was she was out enjoying a stroll by herself wondering just who else besides Romeo made the mountain herd their home as she found it hard to believe it was just the two of them. As she made her way around a bend it seemed she would get her way of things when another mare came into view. Looking at her Mercy smiled politely before calling out in a whinny in case she hadn’t been seen or noticed yet.
"Hello there!" She called out in a polite gentle excitement as she closed the gap between them. Walking towards the strange woman she dipped her head to her before stopping. "How are you? Are you also a part of Romeo’s herd or just passing through?" Her questions might seem like many but she was just trying to get her barring on just how many others were potentially in the herd. With winter coming soon she’ll have to stay closer to others. Not just for the safety in numbers, but for body heat and staying warm in the coldest months.
Tossing her bright copper forelock behind her ears, Aveline turned her head at the end of her slender neck. Her eyes settled on the source of the call: a little pony mare, painted as bright as the autumn foliage around them, approaching her from the trailhead. Aveline let her gaze flick down to the new girl's hooves, then back up again, sizing her up like a delicious little snack. She cocked one of her hindlegs as a subtle conveyance of ease. Cute!
The newbie seemed young, and though she was slender Ava could see a springy sort of strength to her leanness. And yes, she was little, but she seemed well put-together — and maybe she'd grow a little, who knew? Besides, she looked like she could be Romeo's own sister: a stunning tapestry of silver and fiery gold.
Ava's brown eyes glittered keenly. She could see why this one had been welcomed.
"I'm well, thank you, sweetie," she replied, her expression open and welcoming. "My name is Aveline; I've lived here four summers now."Crazy how time flies.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, ...?"
The pale mare let her question hang in the air, studying the other with a bright, friendly focus. What's your name?
Brown eyes looked around the landscape. The autumn coloring was breathtaking for sure but she wondered if it was going to be a harsh barren winter in the mountains. She wasn’t exactly built to be out in the snow covered fields of some of the lands she had seen while traveling here. Then again Romeo didn’t seem to have any issues living here with his red colored body.
Looking upward at the bigger mare she smiled. Ears alert as she listened to her speak. Perhaps this mare and her could be friends? She would like to get along with other herd mates at the very least. Hopefully that would make life a lot easier and less lonely for her. Her family ended up ostracizing her for nothing that was within her control. Which was their own jealousy so she was just trying to vibe and not do anything to offend or make anyone jealous of her. Still she was hoping to make friends and maybe have at least one foal from a handsome stallion of the herd.
Focusing on the words of the other mare she gave a genuine smile as she spoke. "It is nice to meet you Aveline. I am Mercy." She introduced herself politely. "I haven’t been here too long. Romeo brought me here from Oxwater." Being truthful sounded like a good idea so she didn’t bother making up any lies. "Four summers huh? Then perhaps you could tell me how are winters here? Are they harsh?" It seemed like a sensible question to ask.
"Mmm, only if you haven't got good friends to keep you warm," replied Aveline with a wink. "Come walk with me, we can go to the end of the beach there."
She looked out across the water again, her ample hips swinging as she walked, the soft, cool autumn breeze lifting locks of her fiery mane. "In winter, this whole thing freezes over," she told the little mare. "Sometimes all the way to the beach, and we have to break the surface with our hooves to get a drink. And there's snow! So much snow," she added. "But the days in between snowfall are usually clear, and we don't lose all the forage. I hardly ever seem to lose weight, explain that to me?" Aveline laughed, a silvery peal ringing out across the surface of the lake before them. "And even when the nights seem endless in midwinter, it's not dark; the dancing lights keep us company, and we sing together, and tell stories to pass the time."
"What about the winters where you come from? Did you grow up in Oxwater? When I was small, we lived in the Valley," she continued. Napawa had been a decent enough home -- safe, even if it hadn't belonged to them. Aveline was curious: was Mercy raised a nomad like her? Or had she come to the common lands from somewhere else?
Good friends to keep her warm? Looking up at the larger mare she blushed at the wink as she walked with her. Shyly she moved the cool water touching her as she walked. "Looks like I need to make myself some friends then." She replied with a timid gentle laugh. She couldn’t just outright say Aveline was as her friend as they had just met. They might be acquainted by knowing each other’s names now and living in the same herd but would it be rude to just assume things. Surely it would.
Hearing that the lake freezes over and they have to crush the ice to drink he nodded. "That sounds reasonable. Nothing new breaking ice to drink, sounds easier than trying to catch water droplets melting off of icicles on a sunny day." She admitted as she thought about trying to get a good drink one drop at a time. Though when she was littler she would have to be careful when she found a good spot for that as she would often get shoved out of the way by her older siblings or cousins for her spot with them being mean and breaking the icicles when done. Her family wasn’t the greatest lot.
"I come from beyond Oxwater. My family had a land they settled in but it wasn’t near here. I don’t really like to talk about them, they were cruel. I was born a twin and sickly. Deemed the ugly one because I have too much white on me. So I …" She paused afraid to say the words on the edge of her lips. "So I was banished. Kicked out and disowned at three springs. Wandered for awhile and found Romeo a year later." There she said it and there was no unsaying it. Aveline knew now that she was an useless mare to befriend that not even her own family wanted to be related to her.
Aveline couldn't help herself. She stopped dead in her tracks, staring at Mercy with a look of cartoonish disbelief on her pale face. A breath left her lungs in a shrill hah! and a wide, sardonic smile spread across her lips.
Who the fuck were those people? Certainly no one she'd ever met. Her own family was full of horses like her, pale and glittering in the sunlight, dark coats obscured by clouds of diamond white.
"Too much white on you??" she shrieked, completely engrossed in the absurdity of the idea. A sharp peal of laughter erupted from her grinning maw, as though they were sharing a hilarious joke. She looked herself up and down comically. "Good gracious, they would hate me! Thank the stars you ended up here instead! Would they just — drop dead of shock at the sight of you and me and His Majesty??"
The idea of it sent her into fits of laughter again. She was quite sure she'd never heard anything so bizarre in her life!
(She had, in fact, heard several stories about how the desert herds sometimes discriminated against white markings for the sake of preventing sunburn, but at the moment nothing was further from her mind.)
notes: ppst psst psst just for future -- typically i think of my charrie's speech in a single post as being uninterrupted. i have a really hard time writing a conversation otherwise, i'm sorry!
Having been raised the way she had been the mare was a bit taken aback by Aveline’s reaction as if it was some joke she had said.blinking she wasn’t sure what to say or how to respond to the situation. Fidgeting on her hooves a bit nervously she just looked at the larger mare. Ears perked as she paid attention listening while she spoke. Sure her family would scoff at the older woman but she was completely sure just how they would react. Probably poorly but Romeo would probably not have been given that much grief about his paler bits. They’re a shallow shameful bunch who likes power after all.
"My aunt would probably throw a fit while my sisters would probably try to flirt and woo Romeo. While at the same time probably be plotting how to get rid of us." She left her statement about getting rid of them as an open ended conversation as she never clarified if that meant chase off or murder. She wouldn’t put it past her aunt to plot to chase them off a cliff though. That mare was evil. Completely chestnut with brown eyes. In Mercy’s opinion her aunt was plain looking and rather dull compared to others she had seen. "Oddly enough it seems they just have issues with chestnut having white. Anyone else they seem fine with. I actually have a sister who the family let woo and breed with a buckskin." She mused shrugged her shoulders. Though she was only a yearling at that time so she didn’t know much of the story behind that.
"How unusual," commented Aveline, eyes wide in an expression of slightly disdainful wonder. So it wasn't really about the white on a horse's coat, like the desert-dwellers seemed to care about, after all — it was something else, something to do with the red, rather.
The subtle curl of her lips belied her amusement, which she wasn't really trying to hide from poor Mercy; rather, Ava felt unequivocally that she should make her disapproval of these relatives quite clear to the poor sweet cherub. It was a ridiculous point of view with no apparent justification whatsoever, and thoroughly deserved to be mocked!
With a toss of her scarlet hair, the pale mare picked up her ambling, swinging pace once more as they strolled at the water's edge. "Well, as I say, thank goodness His Majesty found you!"
They were nearing the end of the beach now, and would need to double back soon — and either separate at the trailhead once more, or continue together, in each other's company.
With a gentler smile, this one devoid of any thinly-veiled criticisms towards poor Mercy's unfortunate blood relations, Aveline indicated the majesty of the landscape visible across the glassy surface of the lake. "Have you been able to tour much of our territory?"
notes: wrap up soon? ('chase them off a cliff' when i tell u i DIED reading it lmao)
Was it really about the red? She hadn’t thought of it that way before? Though she should really just let it go as Mercy didn’t share their views. Not towards others at least. Herself? Yes, but given time that should change and she’d grow to love herself for who she was. Looks were one thing, but sometimes not important. The way others act was more important and looking at it that was the made was way prettier than her ugly old family. Not that she really should even have cared to call them that.
Blinking she noticed the distain on Ave’s face and bashfully looked away. "Yes thankfully. I am hoping it will lead to a new start. Maybe even a new family." She shyly admitted to the bigger mare deciding to be honest with her feelings. Even if the new family wasn’t blood related she was hoping the herd could become her new family. Looking away she looked around them before looking back at the mare when the last question was asked. "Some but not much. Would you care to join me for some exploring?" She asked in a friendly manner as she looked back at the other lady. Shifting her body she was getting a bit fidgety and was ready to start walking again.
Words: 221 Tag:hazel Notes: Yes let’s wrap it up. You want to reply once more with them departing and we call it done?