"Who am I...?"

[CosmicDragon]

In the hollow at the base of a tree curled a mare. She did not sleep, or dream, or even think. She merely... Existed, her mind blank as she watched the leaves fall around her without comprehension or understanding. Every day she woke like this, aware yet somehow empty, looking out at the world with virgin eyes. Defeated before she'd even begun, all friends, family, familiar sounds and sights wiped from her memory in the span of a night. Every night.

How had she gotten here? She blinked, but it was merely instinct, not a reaction to the confusion that dwelt within her. Where was here, for that matter? The sky was hidden by the web of branches overhead, budded with the flowers and new-leaves of Spring. Spring... She knew the word fit without having to know it's meaning, but it annoyed her. Spring, spring, what was spring? Was that the name of the flowers? The leaves, the buds, the branches? Why did she place it there without thinking? Was it important? With an exasperated inner sigh, she curled tighter around herself.
How long had she been there?
Did it matter?
'Who am I...?'

That's right, amnesiac-mare is looking for a Stallion willing to accept her as she is, and teach her about the world. Over and over. >.> You see, she has short-term memory loss on top of her amnesia, so she wakes up at around the equivalent of a new-born foal each morning. This makes her both incredibly nervous, and inexorably curious!

She's not really fussed color or trait-wise, though she may feel even more depressed in the presence of a stallion whose wings can actually carry him as hers are merely vestigial.
ALSO! She's likely to be one of the few mares who is not scared away if your Stallion is a misery/Sa'krien/some other scary thing. XD

[LvSoulFriend]

My Misery might actually be a good match for her XD We can do some RPing when he arrives

[CosmicDragon]

-pounces gleefully-
>D Oooh, RP is good. I shall await with baited breath!

[Xenon]

I may also have a potential bachelor for her as soon as he arrives.. -coughcoughs, looks at Scythe- >>;

[CosmicDragon]

o.o
Scyyyythe... He would be so perfect. Ha, I forgot that you grabbed one of the custom slots here!
... Fitting, too, seeing as she was one of the prizes from that very contest. XD
Ack, two wonderful potential bachelors already... Lucky (or unlucky, however you might look at it) her! The RP shall tell all, it seems,

[Xenon]

((OOC: I hope you don't mind if I sorta... jump right into things here >3 I apologize for the weirdness of this, Scythe is a strange character.))



Scythe had been watching her. How long for, he couldn't say. Hours? Days? Weeks? Years? They all seemed to blend together, especially when he'd found a someone.

And this someone was beautiful, in a soft way. Not like some of the others, with their terribly jarring patterns and colors, clashing beneath the noon-day sun. No, she was subtle, all sky-blue soft-fading into cloud-white. She laced flowers through her ivory mane. Once he even got close enough to notice that they were the same color as her eyes. Oh, he'd felt daring then. Her wings were so tiny, too, almost as useless as the grand sweep of his own.

He liked that. It was a shame, he'd decided, when one lover could fly away from the other without a care in the world.

That thought was almost enough to make Scythe sneer, but he kept his focus on his beautiful lady. She made him happy, oh, so very much so. Especially since in all the days he'd watched her, there had been no Stallion, no one to try and chase him away. He pawed at the ground, lips twitching as he tried to pull his mouth back into a charming smile, his teeth gleaming. He would make himself known to her. She needed to know, after all, that he loved her.

So the stallion stepped out from his hiding place, pacing, almost circling the curled-up mare, smiling that toothy-smile all the while. "You'yre beautiful," he said, by way of greeting, raising his head and pulling his lips back even further from his fangs.

[CosmicDragon]

((OOC: I definitely don't mind! >8D His strangeness is what makes him so unimaginably awesome. Also, sorry I took a while to reply... 09/09/09 was full of many fun and exciting things for me. ))

The morning was quiet. While the silence didn't seem out of place to her, she knew no better after all, to any other Sam the absence of the singing of birds and rustling of other small animals would have been a warning that something wasn't right. That danger was near... To her, however, it was a delightful reprieve. Not having to sort the sounds around her from the tangled thoughts that flitted and died within her mind, she was free to think.

Or so she thought. It felt as though only a few minutes had passed since the mare had opened her blinking eyes on a new day, though it had in fact been a few hours, and already a new noise intruded upon her blessed quiet. It sparked something in her, some instinctive memory, and she lifted her head in a single jerky motion, her body independently ready for something her mind had no preparation for. Her eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and curiosity when something big, much larger than her and with the spark of intelligence in it's gleaming red eyes, stepped from the shadows and approached her.

The thing was... Like her! And yet somehow different at the same time... Where her legs ended in hooves this new thing sported long, dextrous paws. Where she carried tiny feathered wings, like the small birds she had seen flitting through the tree in the early hours of the morning, long and somehow elegant spikes sprung from it's shoulders. Despite these small differences, she knew the shape before her was elementally the same as her own. She knew. This knowledge was enough to engender... Something.

She could not call it closeness, for she still knew nothing about the It that stood before her, but it was still something.
And then... The creature spoke.

It's greeting was simple enough. Two words that, through some early, stirring memory, she could understand. A compliment as well! She opened her mouth to reply, wondering if she could, if she too had been born with the ability to communicate, and she found her voice to be quiet from disuse, fluting and strangely musical, but there nonetheless. "Thank you..."

Emboldened by her discovery, she got shakily to her hooves, quietly hoping to examine this new and interesting thing that was so akin to her. Her eyes were wide, not with the fear one would expect from any sane or whole Sam, but with childlike curiosity.
"What... What are you?"

((Haha... She sounds so dense. -__-;))

[Xenon]

((OOC: Pha! Now it's my turn to be slow at replying, so I apologize right back. I've been pretty sick for the last little bit. XD;; ))

The absent pacing quickly shifted to much more focused circling, bright red eyes locked on the mare as the stallion's head dropped slightly. He couldn't take his eyes off her, the innocence that flashed on her face when she looked at him. That was new, that was different. His loves usually had to be convinced, shown what it was that they'd been missing all their lives. She was missing something in her expression, and that almost made him pause.

But his circling started right back up with a toss of his golden hair and a flash of crimson horns. His lips pulled back in a too-fangy smile, something that on any other face would look like more of a sneer or snarl.

Slowly, Scythe began to close the distance between them, the smile faltering for an instant as he waited for the mare to respond. Could she speak? Thinking back, he'd never seen her interact with someone other than himself, so he couldn't be sure. Really, did it even matter if she couldn't? Then the words came, and the stallion made a quiet noise, almost happy. "Oh, a beautiful voice foyr my beautiful lady..." he cooed.

Her next question took him somewhat by surprise, however, and he paused. With her standing, the pair was fairly close, which emboldened the stallion.

"What am I?" Scythe repeated, blinking slowly as he leaned in. If she let him, he'd brush the side of his face against hers, almost tenderly. "Does it matter? Don't you know I love you?"

Because, oh, he did love her, ever so much. Everything she did just made him more sure of it.

[CosmicDragon]

((Heh, well, now we're even. XD Sick is bad... Hope you're feeling better now though!))

It's steps were so natural, the movements so fluid that for a moment she found her own cautious, shaky motions to be shameful. The pale being moved with the thoughtless grace of a lifetime, where she had the widespread hooves and uncertain stance of a minute-old foal, and this bare knowledge was enough to endear the creature to her. She had tried to keep eye contact with it as it circled, though the action had left her slightly dizzied, and had seen a little more of the smooth form.

Indeed, this creature was like her as a petal is akin to a leaf, the outside littered with small differences but the base the same. He (for she guessed now that it was a male, of her own kind most assuredly!) was fairly larger than her, and she had to look up to meet his striking red gaze. The same crimson sheen glinted from the horns that crowned his head, and glittered like rubies at his feet. She had returned his wide smile with a small but hopeful one of her own, wondering at the same time whether her teeth came to the same thorn-like points as his. She could not recall, but when she ran her tongue over them they were blockish, flat. Another difference, but one that she brushed away. They did not seem to make him uncomfortable, as she believed a mouthful of thorns would, and he had only used them to smile at her so far.

The stallion's following comment, another compliment as it were, inspired a new feeling, a blossoming warmth across her muzzle and a quiet buzzing in her ears, that she failed to understand but enjoyed nonetheless. A happy little smile lifted one corner of her mouth, her ears flicking forward to catch every nuance of his voice. There was meaning in it, more than she felt she was catching, and that mystery kept her hanging on his words.

She noticed, suddenly, as if it were merely an afterthought, that they now stood much closer than before, he having closed the distance and she having risen to meet him. Every detail of his hair, the flickers of light in his eyes, were painstakingly clear now.

His words spun her, her blurted question answered merely with more questions, and the last with a word that caused her heart to thunder in her chest. Stars spun in her eyes, and she found she had been holding her breath. She pulled in air, a sudden intake that was both like and unlike a gasp. "L-love?" The word was unfamiliar, but the way in which he said it seemed to fill it with meaning which roared it her ears. Her eyes were wide, and she leaned subconsciously towards him. "Me?"

This feeling... It was new, and invigorating, like sudden whirl of cold, fresh air through her mind. To start in such a deep state of emotionlessness when she had woken and escalate to this in such a short span of time was staggering. Suddenly, her legs were jelly, and yet the feeling was welcome. This stallion... He pushed new life through her. And she loved it. Love... Ah.

[Xenon]

The constant circling brought him ever closer, and finally, Scythe made his last circuit around the mare. As he stepped past her side, his long body brushed against hers, his red eyes flashing with delight even as his grin widened.

This creature, this beautiful sky-blue delight, was such a puzzle to the stallion. He'd had loves before, so many of them, and none of them had been so... willing to accept it. They'd all needed proof of it, and he'd had to take them back to the place that would be their home. Most of them left. He could only imagine that they'd needed time, and that they'd be back as soon as they started to miss him too badly. But this one, she accepted his statement so easily, even repeating the word, staring up at him with an expression that betrayed much of her own emotion. He was well aware of the subtle lean, the way the beautiful creature crept closer to his side, and it was almost enough to make the Sa'krien's heart fill to bursting. What joy! There was no denying it, not now.

"Yessss," he replied, nuzzling her neck, his horns pressing against her jaw and face, though he was careful of their points. "I love you. So much, so much.." he liked to imagine that his voice contained a purr, when in fact the sound was much closer to a low growl. One clawed paw was lifted, and he dragged it slowly across her throat as well, a quiet and happy sigh escaping him.

He'd found her, and he wasn't ever going to let her go. Not now, not ever. "And you love me, too, don't you? I know you do, I've seen it," a hint of anxiety crept into his tone and he stared at her, head tilted at a strange angle.

[CosmicDragon]

A subtle shiver passed along the spine of the smaller mare, one born not out of fear, but from the sheer unfamiliar nature of the light contact his pale fur made with her side. Cold, dewy grass and hard, compacted dirt... These were things she knew. But the feeling of another living thing actually coming into contact with her, warm to the touch and full of quite emotion... It was different, new, a shock to an already shaken system.

These surprises combined to create an effect not unlike that of suffocation. Her head spun, her body feeling at once both light as air, to be pushed and pulled by the slightest breeze, and heavy as a stone, buckling her legs and making her weak, shaky. Her eyes were wide, as though to absorb everything around her, but she could see only him. She had no control, having lost along with everything else even the most basic mask with which to veil her inner turmoil. But he was so open, his happiness laid out so plainly for her to gaze upon, that her own inadequacy didn't seem quite so bad. Perhaps this is how it was, with all her kind. Perhaps emotions weren't something to be hidden, and her unveiled heart was normal. But, as was the way with her erratic flashes of speculation and thought, its time passed, and she merely re-immersed herself in the moment.

There it was again, the deep tones so unlike hers, drawing the 's' out into a sibilant hiss. The heat of his breath against her neck seemed to counteract the ice in his horns as they lay against her jaw, never close enough to prick or injure, creating a warmth that seemed to spread through her very veins. A very loud part of her wanted to lean her head against him, to return his nuzzling with some of her own, but something inside held her back. She was... Nervous. Not afraid of Him, no, merely unsure, terrified that she would step out of bounds, do something to drive away this creature who had made her feel so alive, who had stripped her of the loneliness that had pervaded her existence as easily as the brushing of a leaf from her sky-blue fur. And so she continued to restrain herself, wrapped in her doubts, encouraging his affections without immediately returning them.

In the dark recesses of her mind, some primal instinct surged at the claws that ran so delicately across her neck, a little twinge of apprehension that was immediately overcome and brushed away. There would be time enough for the unhappier side of her emotions to surface. For now, she was immersed, and overwhelmed, and entranced by the golden glow of the moment.

The word came again, said not with the soft caress that his actions belied but with a deeper, gravelly nuance, at odds with the emotion it was meant to portray, the sigh that followed more in tune with his careful movements. And once more, the nuance replaced by something similar to the worry she harboured. And in that similarity, there was a bond. "Love..." She gazed at him, with the unassuming, unbiased gaze of a child, and saw only the affection that he had shown her, the patience. He had come to her, without hostility or disdain, only soft words, careful touches, bringing with him a wave of emotions that made her feel as though she was flying, despite the land-bound nature of her wings. "I think... I think I do. I- I love you..." Her voice was soft, nervous, unsure of and yet constrained by the weight of her emotions.
Where before she had felt lighter than air, now she was heavy, weighed with emotions, dragging her downwards until she could feel the heartbeat of the planet throughout the very core of her being.

[Xenon]

This was the moment when Scythe knew that everything he'd worked so hard for could be ruined in a flash. If his beautiful lady love couldn't deal with her own feelings for him or if there was another male who thought that he could get between the Sa'krien and his light, his heart... Now was almost always the time when something would happen, and the Stallion shifted somewhat, clearly anxious. What would she say? He knew the truth, knew that she'd waited for him to finally come forth and tell her out loud what she surely knew in her heart, but...

It was still a worrying time. So many Mares wanted to play hard-to-get, wanted to make Scythe work for their affections. Would she be like that? One clawed paw scraped lightly at the ground and he raised vividly red eyes to stare at the beautiful creature, waiting for her response. He had to be patient now, he knew. He loved her. She was worth waiting for, even when he wanted to hear her reassure him of what he already knew.

As her form shifted against his, the Stallion moved close once more, slowly running his nose across the graceful line of her throat. After all, she hadn't shied away from his touch before, she certainly wouldn't do so now. And there was a fear in her eyes, so timid! Was she afraid that he was going to push her away, as soon as he knew that she was his? Such a sweet, silly creature.. She needed his touch, he knew, to realize fully what she meant to him, to comfort and soothe her fluttering heart.

Love, she whispered, and he nodded, fixing his predatory gaze on hers, his muscles tensing in preparation to lunge. Was she going to bolt? He would catch her, of course, but it would injure him down to his soul to see her flee from him. He loved her. He didn't want to hurt her, wanted only to hear that his affections were returned in that sweet voice of hers. "Love," he repeated, his ears panning forward.

Yes - yes! For a moment, Scythe didn't know how to react. This had never happened before, for all his attempts. No Mare as lovely as the one trembling before him had accepted him so easily, so wonderfully! He simply stared at her for a long moment, and then began to laugh, the sound building in volume until it ended in a delighted cry. His tined wings spread, gently covering her shoulders, his head and nose pressing into the curve where jaw met throat. "Oh, my lovely lady... I've dyreamed to heayr you say those woyrds. Stay by my side, beautiful, I will pyrotect you fyrom all hayrm." There was no choice in the matter, of course. She was his, he knew it.

((I hope this is okay @_@ -pokes the muses more-))

[CosmicDragon]

His eyes... So large, so powerful, glittering with thoughts and emotions to swift for her to catch even if she could've identified them. Her wide blue orbs were locked, unmoving, onto his. Her quiet assertion had caused him to tense, and for one long, agonising moment she feared she had stepped out of line by speaking so soon, that she had hardened his heart to her. Terror stopped her heart... Until he repeated the word that seemed to carry so much emotion, the fear lifting like a dark cloud to allow a glimmer of warm sunlight to shine upon her.

A sudden, most unexpected sound broke her out the happy reverie she had fallen into. It was so loud that she started backwards, shocked and confused, her mouth open in a small 'o' of surprise. The strange sound grew, building in intensity until, with an echoing cry, the forest fell silent again. As her heart calmed, his bony wing-tines encased her like a shield...
Or a cage.

But no, he was gentle even in this small action, merely brushing her own tiny wings with his. She relaxed, nuzzling the top of his head as he had nuzzled her. But even as she relaxed, an unwelcome thought pushed it's way forward from the back of her mind, and haltingly voiced her concerns. "I will not stray... But, my love... there is something you do not know about me..." She froze.

So many things rested on this. Her secret shame, that which had taken everything from her and continued to do so every night... For the first time since he had confessed his love for her she broke eye contact with him, dropping her eyes to the ground, her wings drooping unhappily. "I... Forget things." She shuffled her feet nervously, murming something incomprehensible about 'midnight', 'past' and 'emptyness'.

Already she could feel the loneliness setting in, clutching her heart in its icy fingers... But perhaps it would be ok. Perhaps he would stay, perhaps he would not care about her 'disability'. She waited, trembling with fear yet at the same time cradling a small, bright spark of hope.

(Erk, my muse is also on vacation apparently... This is so much shorter than my other posts, and it doesn't seem to be flowing as well either... >.< Gah.)