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 Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2022 3:37 pm
 Dialogue color: #C71585 MediumVioletRed ~and~ #556B2F DarkOliveGreenPrompt In the aftermath of the winter storm, Kawani's denizens greet the approaching spring with cautious hope. Though the frost lingers in the mountains' reaches, the thaw has arrived, and hints of the new season appear in the form of leaf buds on branches no longer bowed by snow. The following hush is broken by bird song, and the tell-tale sign of new life on the way. In some circles, now is the time to seek out alliances and renew bonds with friends and family separated by winter's grip; in others, individuals might be twitterpated, seeking out a potential mate, ever eager to show off and impress. Others still are simply eager to travel to greener pastures and savor the building warmth and the hope of an early spring. Some among the Soquili and familiars alike may be all too used to this dance, but others may find it very foreign indeed. As the world begins to wake from the winter thaw, more and more Soquili find themselves out and about. Perhaps the winter weather had kept them at bay, but now they are here in full force, crowding the Kawani with their presence. While the competition for resources may be made all the more fierce with these strangers in the mix, some Soquili may not find their company so very loathsome after all. Then again, the rites of spring are never without some degree of drama. How does your Soquili or familiar respond to the burgeoning Spring? Are they ready to get out there and spread their figurative (or sometimes literal) wings now that the weather is warmer? Are they out seeking new friends, new locations, or a mate? Or perhaps they are put off by all the incessant birdsong, chatty new neighbors, and twitter pated fools? Is love in the perfumed air? Or is your soq just trying to make it through the day unbothered and on a hunt for peace and quiet? The world is teaming with new life -- is your Soquili or familiar ready? In addition... The prompt is a bit more open ended. Spring is usually teaming with life, and with the warming weather, soquili tend to be stirring. Some are eager to make new friends and explore the land; others still are on the hunt for something more significant, like a mate. Winter hasn't left completely, but there's warmth on the wind, and flowers starting to bloom. How does your soquili feel about spring? Are they eager to seek out greener pastures or looking for friends? Are they hoping to find a mate and be struck by Cupid's arrow? Or maybe they just want everyone to get off their lawn and leave them alone. After such a long winter, it seems many creatures, great and small, are here to enjoy the break from the cold. How does your Soquili or Familiar fare? If you're stuck -- you could simply have it revolve around Spring, a change in the season, new grasses and flowers growing, melting snow, thinning ice, and a lot more Soquili and Familiars out and about for whatever reason. Foal season's right around the corner after all (though we know Soq/Fams can have kids anytime) but it is the traditional time for much of nature. Think of it as spring break -- what's your Soq going to do?
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2022 3:41 pm
For the first time since Winter began, tiny green spears began to poke through the snow and ice. The faint green scent tickled the winged equine’s nose as soft, warm breath gave green blades a good-natured knock around their own axes. Ivory teeth gave each a smart cut and taste buds twinged with the fresh, cool flavor of the young grass.
The best Anomie could manage was a series of quick clips for now. The grass was still sparse and intermittent at best but the flavor was absolutely worth it. Their short tail wiggled with delight. Oh yes, it was delicious.
In grazing they wandered within a short distance of a group of trees. One impressed the soquili greatly and they moved closer to it. The branches reached out and up like a the gills of a mushroom cap and the great trunk of the old tree would easily hold the bulk of a draft horse as it strove to relieve a tiny itch.
The diminutive equine leaned down to bite a tuft of grass, but while their mouth was still wide open stopped before a roaring squeak.
"BACK AWAY FROM IT RIGHT NOW."
"Eh--what?" Comparatively large nostrils huffed at the tiny furred mammal thrust between them. Large, glowing, green eyes crossed in order to make eye-contact.
"This grass is mine!" squeaked the creature, appearing to be some cross between a gopher and a squirrel. That was exactly what she was, in fact. "I am Snowplum. And this is my home."
"Oh." Anomie was a gloomy soul by habit and straightened slender shoulders despite the haze that threatened to fall between their ears. "I certainly do not want to infringe. I will go elsewhere." Strangely, this “Snowplum” did not seem to inhabit the tree. So the equine meandered to the tree.
Snowplum hustled to follow Anomie, then threw herself between them, as if the soquili might climb the tree or harm it somehow. "No, no. This tree is mine."
"Oh." In consternation, they turned away again. By this time the happily wagging tail was now flattened down against the rump. Surely over here would work--
"No, not there."
"Oh."
"Here, too."
Anomie had had enough. They snorted hot, annoyed breath from their nose. "Where all, then?"
"Ah..." Snowplum actually craned their neck to peer about the meadow. "Why, everywhere that I can see."
"WHAT." Anomie stomped one wine-red, cloven hoof. "Surely not. You are just being greedy."
"No I am absolutely certain that this is part of my home." Snowplum, upon their raspberry-colored haunches, pointed up at the soquili. "My home is underground. I have tunnels beneath our feet! There is a doorway around here... somewhere..." she trailed off, parting from the intruder with the intent to find said opening. "No, no... perhaps... no, it's... now where did it go?"
Though she muttered to herself, aside from a few songbirds there was no other sound in the meadow, and the soquili fully heard each and every utterance.
At a loss the gopher-squirrel hybrid sighed and shrugged. "Well it is here. I just have more experience accessing it from inside rather than from the outside."
"Of course." Despite themself, Anomie sighed and with an effort did not roll their eyes. It would not do to upset an already frustrated individual, self included. Thankfully, the areas that Snowplum had "seen" had been from the ground, not in the tree, and therefore did not extend especially far away. "Well, then. Have a nice day," Anomie said, voice flat and devoid of emotion, sincerity included.
"Well." Snowplum, feeling as though she had missed something crucial, watched the soquili turn toward the farther corner of the meadow. Certainly she had done nothing to make a friend of this creature, though she had done nothing exactly detrimental to their quiet peace. Right?
WC: 637
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2022 9:34 pm
The soquili went back to grazing the meager fare provided by the end of a season, staying as far from the tree as possible. There was no wag to the tail. The ears were flat back against the head. Thankfully the hair fell all around the face, masking the eyes, which were drooling fairly constantly. The only thing that showed was the bitter upturn of a smile, and the silent munching sufficed to hide the slight tremor of the chin.
Unseen, the gopher-squirrel peeked out from the trunk of the tree overhead, peering down at the greeny-black form below. Such an unattractive creature, the color of mud slime and dead grass. Yes, very unfortunate. The smaller rodent continued to watch, at first feeling the subtle hint of a mental scream of paranoia flitting about her brain. But eventually she felt more accustomed to the other’s presence. She even expected it to be there, throughout the day when she began to relax an go about her daily routine. She had a schedule for rolling acorns in their storage to prevent dust and mold from settling in. Every time she thought to do so, she would peer up from a hole to verify that the other was there.
At length, the shadows meandered through the meadow and lengthened. The sun colored everything beneath it in golden-pink light. It was time for Anomie to bed down for the night. It was then that Snowplum lost track of the soquili, assuming that they had left. The truth of the matter was that Anomie was well camouflaged in the shade of the grass and trees.
Anomie occupied their mind with thoughts of the season. They wondered at the bizarre behavior of those who were called, strangely, twitterpated. What could that word possibly mean? Yet Anomie knew the signs. They tried to put it to words. They were silly, oblivious, and rash. Such bizarre behavior, especially among birds. Anomie had half a mind to ask that strange ground squirrel? tree gopher? their thoughts on the matter. But Snowplum was just as divergent from social norms as Anomie was, in different ways. The rodent would be of no help. Trouble of that was, Anomie was not so good at speaking with other soquili. Asking would be an arduous task. It really would. So, someday, perhaps.
WC: 388
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2022 9:58 pm
The next day, Anomie remained in the meadow. Several other soquili appeared for a short time before leaving again. They were of no consequence to Anomie, once they decided not to inquire about twitterpation. They had seemed twitterpated anyway.
Anomie sighed.
Snowplum slithered out from a hole in the ground and peered up at the soquili suspiciously. “I thought you left last night.”
“No.”
“Well.” Snowplum struggled with two impulses: the desire to know, and the desire to be polite. “Why?”
Anomie stared at the rodent. “Do I need a reason to stay?”
“Well... yes?” Snowplum leaned forward in anticipation.
“There is food here.”
“That’s all?”
The soquili nodded.
“Oh.” The squirrel-gopher huffed, dissatisfied.
“What is it?”
“Well, I ... well ... I was hoping, that...” she sighed.
“Look, I won’t steal your acorns or whatever. Nuts are tough and shells cut up my mouth. So it’s just grass for me.”
“Oh.”
The soquili turned to look for some grass for breakfast.
“Um... pardon me, but, would you...” she wrung her tiny hands, “be my friend?” Surely, if they were friends, then Snowplum could start to trust the soquili. That was one of the unwritten rules of friendship, right? To be trustworthy. Therefore, she would trust the soquili and the soquili would not harm her in any way, such as to steal her acorns or to kick her when she was down.
Shocked, Anomie froze for several uncomfortable heartbeats. A friend? They turned with wide eyes that seemed to glow.
No, they really did glow. Snowplum gasped and nodded, still wringing her hands. “I’m, um, Snowplum. That’s my name.”
“Uh. I’m Anomie.”
Snowplum gasped again. Wait, what? An enemy? Was this soquili really someone to fear?
“An uh mee,” the soquili said slowly. “Anomie.”
“S-s-so it is.” Snowplum smiled tentatively.
“Sure. I’ll be your friend.”
She just sighed. What a relief. She found that she liked this soquili. Normally she just wanted them gone. But this one felt different somehow. “Will you,” she asked, “stay?” Her voice was a little husky, as if full of emotion. She was full of emotion!
The soquili snorted and shifted her feet. “I suppose I could.” Well, why not? Anomie had been traveling, looking for love. They were not twitterpated. They were not looking for a mate. Just love, in its many forms. They needed to understand people, for their sanity. Love was the way to learn.
This, too, could be love. A love between a soquili and their ... familiar? “Are you going to be my familiar?”
Snowplum chittered. “I don’t know. What do I need to do? Uh, Anomie?”
“I don’t know either.”
Snowplum grinned little bucked teeth up at her new friend, and better still, her partner. “Well, then I guess we’ll learn together.”
“I’d like that,” Anomie stepped closer and smiled.
WC: 471
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:21 pm
After the formality of becoming friends was over, Snowplum’s friendliness doubled. It could be said that personal space did not exist with her. Anomie found it both disturbing and comforting to have a solid, gopher-sized mass seated between their shoulder blades. After a while it was simply something to keep tabs on now and again.
Snowplum often forgot her duty of turning the acorns. Once she did though, she her weight shifted and the soquili swayed subtly. Then she scrambled down from Anomie’s back and disappeared underground. Usually they were right near an entrance, so she did not take long to return. Other times she completely lost herself and moved onto the next chamber and the next. And suddenly, she would hustle outside and up the soquili’s leg as if panicked. Perhaps she was.
Anomie became accustomed to all of this. It was so bizarre how easily they could. But that surge of life in rippling muscles was a welcome change to nothing. Being alone and lonely. They shivered to recall it. Why, it was only yesterday when they had felt it last. Already it felt like a distant reality. Something to be forgotten, at least until another day. For today, at least, there was the peace of life with a companion.
WC: 212
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:23 pm
- - - WC: 1708 - - -
End of prompt. May add more after this post, just for fun/canon expansion.
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