!! Time of Dying « Shady »

[Abba]

Repla shifted, ducking her head under his heavy frame as he placed himself ontop of her in order to shield her from the bats. She fought for her breath, and finally it came to her. "what-what was that my warrior?" her voice sounded as she shifted her position up, his body uncurling from its warm place around her. She snorted once, feeling herself trembling. Her wound had become aggravated, but nothing too bad. "I... Im fine. Just... Shaken up," she explained trying to get back onto her feet. Her tail twirled around the rocks, shifti g their way out of the rubble as she pulled her body back onto her pillars. "where to..." she said before dropping her maw to his chest, hers still beating wildly as the adrenaline shot through her.

[/blockquote]

===Into the mind
. 139 words
. From phone
. Hometown Glory - Adele
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[lady shady]

LAOCH

He let out a snort of relief as she assured him that she was fine. "They were bats," he explained. "Harmless, but certainly unnerving, especially if you don't expect them. I apologize, my dear, I should have warned you."
She rested her head against his chest, where his heart had slowed to a more steady rhythm. He let her lean into him, getting her balance as he found his. "Where to, did you say? Why, wherever you want, my dear. If you've had enough of this cave, I have a thought...just a thought, but I thought we might see if the second quake loosened the rocks at the entrance at all? The dark is no place for a mare like yourself."
He rested his muzzle lightly on her back, nibbling along her spine in a comforting fashion. In the darkness, he could only feel her, hear her, smell her beside him; he had almost forgotten what she looked like. After all, he had barely seen her before they entered the cave, and the weak sunlight hadn't seemed to do her justice in the crystal cavern. Right now, he knew the curves of her body better than he knew what she looked like. Brief panic seemed to have erased his memories of what they had been doing before the bats. Right now, there was only them, and the cold, and the darkness...he didn't care for it much. He wanted to look her in the eye when they spoke, see her face again, inspect that wound on her side, make sure that when she said she was fine, she really was. He wanted to see for himself. Worried, he ran his muzzle gently down her side again, searching for the wound, inhaling for the scent of fresh blood. He must get her out of this cave. Repla hadn't managed to make it down the mountain to the little paradise only to waste her life away on this dark, damp hole.

--behind the post--
487 words
set a pace for them abba, since they seem to be traveling back outside.

[Abba]

Dancing slowly in an empty room
Can the lonely take the place of you? I sing myself a quite lullaby

”They were bats,” he started to speak to her, ”Harmless, but certainly unnerving, especially if you don’t expect them. I apologize, my dear, I should have warned you.” At the words ‘my dear’ she felt her heart flutter slightly and she shifted just a tad bit closer to him. Bats. Just bats. Nothing to be afraid of. Or, really there was – for their sudden reactions. But, all the same – they could cause no harm. None at all. So why should she worry? She shouldn’t worry. She should just let herself calm down, but that didn’t seem to be possible. Her heart wasn’t calming down. It was still pounding vigorously in her chest. So hard that she could hear it in her ears. In her head. In every fiber of her being. Calm down! Calm down! she scolded herself, but it wasn’t working so she inched even closer to him as she allowed her voice to shakily emerge from her maw, vocal chords straining ever so slightly as the fear tensed them up. ”Bats… I see…”

She inhaled sharply feeling a sharp pain in her ribs and then continued, ”Yes. Warning is always appreciated.”[/color] she finished off before shuffling her position so that she was right beside him – his heartbeat melding with hers making an odd rhythm, one almost syncopated in style. ”Sorry… I’m just sent into a panic easily. Especially after this one tale that I’ve been told. It’s a long one though…”[/color] she paused, dropping her maw down as she felt him breathe in as if preparing to speak. ”Where to, did you say? Why, wherever you want, my dear. If you’ve had enough of this cave, I have a thought…. Just a thought, but I thought we might see if the second quake loosened the rocks at the entrance at all? The dark is no place for a mare like yourself.” he finished off and once again she felt her heartbeat jump at his use of my dear. She dropped her maw down again. ” Yes. Out of this cave as soon as possible would be amazing. I might pass the time with that tale if you would so like to hear it…”[/color] she offered, lifting her head up slightly so that her forehead was placed right under his throttle, her warm breath falling against his neck and she was beginning to feel sheltered and protected right there. The rise and fall of his chest against hers was slowly beginning to calm her back down. ”It’s this way… right?”[/color] she questioned, moving in the direction she had heard the bats eerie calls disappearing in. The direction which she had tried to flee in. Or was that the wrong way? Either way, he would tell her. She doubted he would want them to get lost in this maze. Well, on top of that, she also doubted that he didn’t know his way around here. Otherwise, how would he have known that there were bats around here. Yes, that was the point. He did know his way around her. Maybe it was a place that he had been forced to travel a lot during the years of the war. The years that she had merely heard stories about. She didn’t understand much of the war – though of course that is to expected when you are only a young foal at the time. But, she did know that it had existed and that it had been happening. She had seen many warriors leaving their herds, claiming to return, and then never doing it. So, she they would wait, then get separated and attacked by the wild animals. They were prey during that times - all the mares and foals were – because they couldn’t protect themselves. They couldn’t fight back when they needed to. And that was the whole entire problem. This war tore apart strong herds and relationships others might have had because of one’s greedy mind. One horse’s greedy mind. Ramaskith – he had been donned as. But, she donned him under a different name, a name much worse – Apollyon, the Destroyer. All of this famish, all of this loss, all of this solitude was his fault. And she despised him more than anyone else. Yes. She would wish for his next years to be suffered in solitude, but knowing him, he probably was already planning another one. Some of the air had seemed uneasy from around his proclaimed lands. So, she was trying to keep to herself, attach herself to the stories which she had once heard and maybe, just once, find someone who cared for her as much as she cared for them…
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=====Into the mind======
. 808 words
. -pets pretty colours-
. Syncopated is an odd rythm FYI and Apollyon is another name for the Devil.

[lady shady]

LAOCH

”Sorry… I’m just sent into a panic easily. Especially after this one tale that I’ve been told. It’s a long one though…” He listened in the darkness as Repla offered him a small explanation for her fear. Was that all there was though? She had become terribly skittish. Laoch wondered what could have happened to her to make her react in such a manner. He continued to nuzzle her comfortingly, nodding his head slightly at every word. He was about to answer when she continued to speak. "Yes. Out of this cave as soon as possible would be amazing. I might pass the time with that tale if you would so like to hear it…”
"Well, my dear, I should not like you to revisit anything that has caused you pain. I would never want that. No use aggravating old wounds when there are always new ones to tend to, no?"
He stepped away and brushed her poll lightly, to signal to her that he was moving. His hooves clattered on the cave floor as he moved back in the direction from which they had come. "If you do wish to tell stories though, I'd love a pleasant tale to keep our minds off of this distasteful darkness." He looked back, straining his eyes for a glimpse of her form behind him. If she got lost in this cave, it would be a nightmare for both of them. With his neck turned backwards, he stumbled slightly upon a pebble, and caught himself just as he was beginning to go down. If was lucky that he hadn't fallen. However, the near miss had reopened the wound on his leg, and he felt a dull pain before he sensed the warm blood trickling down once again. He plodded onwards steadily, trying his best to keep the sound of the limp at a minimum. Perhaps they could make one more stop at the spring before making their way to the entrance...? But Repla needed to be out of this darkness. It would be wrong to stop and to keep her from possibly escaping her prison. He was familiar with the cave; she was not. The most ordinary things in here were often completely alien in the outside world. And the roan mare was not a creature of the darkness. She belonged outside, in the open air, under the sun and the stars. He, Laoch, belonged...where did he belong? He had managed to survive thus far, in almost any situation. He supposed he could say that therefore, he belonged anywhere, but it felt like a lie. He rarely belonged. Perhaps he belonged in the shade of the forest, or in the depths of this cave, where he felt comfortable. The trees knew his secrets, and the cave knew his history. Perhaps this was where he belonged. But no, he was being silly now, thinking about these things. Thinking was for times when he was alone. Right now, his focus must rest on getting Repla out safely. She could recuperate for a few days in the meadow, then she could be on her way. Unless she wanted to stay with him...
If she stayed though, she couldn't expect him to. As lovely a creature as she might seem now, he always grew tired of them, always left. She would be no different, he knew. No different from all the others.

--behind the post--
581 words
stupid rambling xP
sorry abba, I got nothing today. again.
grrr...

[Abba]

Repla bobbed her head at his comments, allowing herself to begin to hole up. It was one of those defense mechanisms. It was something she would always do. It was how she stopped her skiddishness and concentrated on other things. Her auds perked up at rhe sound of his stumble, and once she had cleared that specific spot she slid uo directly to his side and dropped her maw down, allowing her breath to run gently along his side. "Your wound. Is it okay, my warrior?" she aksed quietly - completely forgetting the fact that tiny droplets of the crimson liquid were still dripping from her own gash. She gently shifted a little to give him his own space to navigate and lead at the same time before she allowed her maw to drop a bit lower to the ground, so she had a bit better balance if she were to step awkwardly. "The tale. Ive been told that winged, dark creatures are reincarnations of the devil. That they choose their prey upon the mission and that if you are chosen you wont make it out. I always believed it to be an old wives tale that had circulated around the herd until the crows and vultures seperated out herd while the lead stag was at war. It killed my mother. I was left to fight on my own foe a few more years. And upon my travels, since the war has ended, I ended up here. But now, I panic quite easily at dark, winged creatures." she explained her whole body relaxed now as she wondered how his wound was. He needed to be taking better care of it. He really, really did. And as soon as she had light she was most definately inspecting it. He had no option.

[/blockquote]

==Into the mind
. 303 words
. From phone
. Riding and homework tomorrow
. Hopefully varsity football won tonight
[/size]

[lady shady]

LAOCH

It was a short tale she told, but it pained him to hear her revisit it. Perhaps it was helping her, but it only reminded him of his own painful past. Memories of his own began to float back, and the twinge in his leg suddenly struck him as especially painful.

He was alone. His position at the center of the mob would seem to contradict that, but he really was alone. On his own, he searched for a way out as the swarm of painted bodies pressed in on him. He reared up, tiny hooves striking wildly at his tormentors. There were too many...
They squeezed closer, baby teeth reaching out to tear at his fuzzy hide. One struck him on the belly, and he returned the blow. Battling his way out of he center, he struggled to escape. He was almost out, almost there, when one of them launched a double kick at his hind leg. He stumbled, blood oozing out of the wound, coming faster and faster, rushing down his leg in an ever-thickening red stream...
Eyes wide at the sight of blood, the gang of colts scattered, leaving him alone in the bloodstained grass. He began to limp back to the herd. A dark bird floated lazily overhead, his constant shadow until he healed.
In the future, he would see many more of those birds. Many more...but that was the war.

And the war wasn't something he'd think of right now. His mind searched for something to distract him, and Repla provided the perfect one. "Your wound. Is it okay, my warrior?" she asked. Was it? It didn't feel perfectly fine, but he'd gone through worse of course. He didn't answer, only laid his maw on her back softly. They walked together in comfortable silence, the milky moonlight from the mouth of the cave beginning to cut through the darkness up ahead. So the entrance was open! He nudged Repla gently, breaking the silence. "Look my dear..."

--behind the post--
344 words
grr. sorry abba, not much.

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[Abba]

Repla grew used to the silence, simply comforted by the fact that she could feel him next to her. As he spoke again she feot her heart spike once more at the mention of dear. She watched him carefully, not wanting to look away from his form which was just able to be made out in this darkness. As she turned her head to see the light she allowed her head to actually rise instead of staying in its low position. "Light! Laoch. There is light!" she beamed excitedly, allowing her maw to gently nudge him. "Come. Lets go. We must get out of here. Fresh air will feel good, will it not?" she said before moving forwards, her strides a bit more bouncy and elegant, definately tracking up. She barely allowed her flints to touch the stone floor so you could just make out the click-clack noise which they produced as she edged closer towards the exit.

===Into the mind
.163 words
.Repla is excited
.-is braindead-

[lady shady]

LAOCH

"Light! Laoch. There is light!" Repla nudged him back excitedly at the sight of the moonlight pouring through the slight opening at the mouth of the cave. His body seemed to take a queer little jump, though in reality, his hooves were planted firmly on the ground. What was it with him? Must be his leg. But he really hadn't hurt it that badly...
Then he realized. Laoch. She'd said his name for the first time.
He shook his head slightly. Funny thing to be worked up about. But as she turned towards him and he saw her beautiful profile outlined in the silvery moonlight, he felt his control begin to slip. Repla was beautiful. So amiable, gentle...
He touched his maw tenderly to her forehead, gently ruffling her forelock. So she wanted to go outside? Well then, so they would. He nodded, whickering softly in response. Limp disappearing for the moment, he herded her towards the entrance. His mind was going blank; he could only feel her back moving along beneath his muzzle. Laoch found himself counting the steps until they reached the meadow. Twenty more. Ten more. Five. Four. Three. Two...and they were out.
A light breeze played across the landscape, rippling the long strands of moonlit grass. Everything around them was silver and white. Fireflies floated lazily along, riding the wind. It was as if the stars had come down to earth to play.
Play. Laoch remembered himself. Yes, it was time to play. "Come Repla..." He nipped Repla on the hip softly before trotting off a few steps, letting his tail stream out behind him. He paused a few feet away, and ducked his head, looking up at her from beneath his inky forelock, waiting for her to join in. After all, this was one of his favorite games.

--behind the post--
313 words
I told you not to have them go into the meadow, but you gave me no choice xD
Good luck, Repla.

[Abba]

I'm a ghost of a girl that I want to be most
I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well

Repla snorted quietly and picked up her pace, allowing her hooves to snap up against her chest at his calling. It was a stranger motion for a quarter horse but yet she still managed to look graceful in the process. Her mane flickering behind her ever so slightly as she edged over towards his side, nipping him back lightly in the shoulder before bolting off. She made her direction towards the other side of the meadow, the way he had begun to lead her towards the dried out river. Her footsteps still quiet, almost as if they weren't there. Pushing herself forwards she picked up the pace until she had a light lope, prepared to push forwards if he followed her."Catch me if you can, Laoch!"

she taunted lightly, allowing her tail to pull up just so partially and her neck to arch downwards, her whole body pulling up into a beautifully collected frame, ever so innocent in her ways.
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=====Into the mind======
. 808 words
. -pets pretty colours-
. Syncopated is an odd rythm FYI and Apollyon is another name for the Devil.

[lady shady]

LAOCH

"Catch me if you can, Laoch!" the red roan called over her shoulder. Ah good, she was playing. And playing the right way too. He much preferred mares who had him play chase for a bit instead of coming right to him. Chasing was much more fun. She was trotting away from him, towards the other end of the meadow, coat splashed with moonlight. He paused, giving her a head start. As he watched, he saw her lift her tail ever so slightly, giving it a pleasant swish and bounce as she moved.Then Repla arched her neck, spurring him into action. He swung into a smooth canter after her, step faltering ever so slightly due to the pressure on his wounded leg. It began to throb again, but he pushed away the pain and focused on the mare.
When he was within a few strides of her, he slowed to a trot. "Repla," he teased, "why do you run?" His voice retained his softness, but the gentleness was gone, replaced by something else. He whickered deep in his throat and moved forward now, close enough to reach out and let that silky tail drape over his ears if he chose to lower his head. Striding closer still, he allowed his chest to bump lightly against her rump, her tail twining around his front legs. A moment of contact before he backed away, bobbing his head at her playfully, tossing his forelock so that it settled back messily between his ears. Laoch moved around to her good side without touching her, standing about a foot away. His eyes, normally devoid of traceable emotion, were sparkling. He nickered, reaching out and nibbling at her mane, twiddling it between his teeth, tugging slightly as lightning bugs flew around their fetlocks. Repla seemed so perfect.
On a sudden impulse, he reared up lightly, balancing his weight on his back legs. His wound made it awkward, but he managed to do it. As he came down, he draped his weight lightly over her back from the side, not enough to make her fall, but enough to get a feel for her. The moment seemed to stretch as he rested there, looking first up into the starry sky and then around and into her wide eyes. He inhaled slowly, breathing in the fresh, clean air. This was much better than the cave.

--behind the post--
401 words
bahaha, hold your horses Laoch xD