i come into this world so wild and free; taru (Pike's Lake)

by salki, (4 days ago)

A cool autumnal wind skittered low to the earth, tugging at what remained of the declining grass and sending the maiden gold-brown leaves into dancing updrafts. Salki exhaled, noting neutrally that the air expelled from her nostrils no longer formed visible clouds. Temperatures had fallen considerably in recent weeks up on Croal Mountains, which she had wound her way into along rarely traversed craggy non-routes.

Cold alone wouldn’t have driven Salki down from the mountains. Although she had been born a second-generation foreigner in this diverse land, the steppe was in her blood. Salki had a body built for harsh weather – small, stocky, strong, with a thick, dark coat which had already begun to grow through in anticipation of the oncoming winter.

No – Salki didn’t run from cold. But she did run towards novelty, always.

The huge expanse of twinkling water stretched unendingly across the flats, ceasing only to give way to the gentle green slopes behind it. Trickling towards it were a thousand brooks and streams, hugged by squelching mud and reedy marshes. For Salki, who had been using snow to hydrate for the last few weeks, every glittering surface was inviting. She paused to drink from the nearest running stream before plunging forward through the mud to towards the lake, unconcerned by the flecks of brown speckling her black coat from all sides. Some of the reeds were as tall as she was. Distracted momentarily, Salki redirected her route so she could go through them, nudging her way through with her nose outstretched and her ears pricked forward.

The reeds halted a brief distance from the lake’s edge. Salki poked her head through but paused immediately, curiously and warily regarding the large, scaly creature sunning itself by the water’s edge. It had a long, thick tail which tapered to a tip and a huge, open mouth with sharp teeth studded along the gums. Salki had no idea what it was, how fast it could move, or whether it ate 12hh Mongolian Horses for lunch. It certainly looked like it was capable.

So, since reversing her steps was not in her nature, she just… stood there. A mass of reeds with a small horse’s head poking out the front, very still and just a little stuck. (Although she’d never admit it.)

~Lunar Wanderer~

by Blue Moon, (4 days ago) @ salki

The cooling air of the changing season brought with it new colors for the leaves to dance in, most clinging to their drying branches as their sisters detached and played out their final encore to the beat of the wind. The flowers of the meadow had started to lose their petals, using their last strength to plant seeds of the next generation. Each dried piece left behind began to slowly vcoat the ground, creating a layer that made stealth all the more hard, on account of the crunch and rustle each piece made when moved. A very satisfying crunch and rustle, if the stallion, who was trotting away from the flat drying meadows, had to say so for himself. The wind seemed to have a bit of a kick today, as the bay colored horse seemed to have been following the dancing leaves that fell from nearby trees and floated off with the air.

A chuckle was released when a feathered hoof caught one of its targets, the crackle just as satisfying as the last. "Gotcha!" The words were light, and just as quick, the blue eyed beast chased after his last one, breaking into a leisurely gallop to catch up to the fluttering leaf. "Yer not getting away!" With a quick rear, the hoof found it's final target, pressing down hard into-. Squelch!! The sudden weight caved the ground downward, a small splash of mud coming up and striking the stallion against his nose. "Ah!" He raised his crown that had previously been held so close in order to hear the fun noise and gave it a sudden shake to clear it off the heavier globs. "Well, that definitely wasn't a crunch..." Raising his hoof out of the hole it had created, blue eyes blinked as they looked across the horizon, the shimmering water of a huge pond glimmering in the sunlight.

'Well, I am thirsty...' Without much thought or a checking of his surroundings, the bay stallion trotted confidently along, crashing through the few reeds that grew along the edge of the waters. There wasn't much grace in how he moved. He picked where he wanted to go and went there, whether over boulders or through bushes. At the moment, he wanted to go to the lake's edge, dip his hooves in the water and splash about like a foal. In his oblivious mode, the 18 hand high clydesdale hadn't even noticed the sleeping reptile at the bank, and – without even meaning to – moved to step onto its body. Of course, flesh and earth (even mud) felt different when stepped on, and the stallion suddenly spooked as he felt it move underneath him. His courtesy of backpedaling was lucky, as the – what he assumed – rock suddenly twisted back, a jaw of sharp teeth shaking close where his ankle had been seconds before.

"WHOA THERE BUD!!" The neigh was loud as he stepped a few more places back the clack of teeth still echoing in his ears. "I'm sorry! Thought you were a rock, man. You know, I don't think you should nap in the ope- AH!" His words were cut off as the beast advanced, the hissing in its throat and lash of it's whip like tail punctuating the large teeth that made another snap at the large horse that had dared to disturb it's peaceful sun bath. "Those are a lot of teeth HEY, BACK OFF BRO!!" With a sudden bought of bravery, the stallion slammed its front hoof back at the hissing and groaning reptile, concaving the soft earth and using the tactic he had used on himself just before to splash mud across the gators muzzle.

here i am, so young and strong;

by salki, (4 days ago) @ Blue Moon

It was not in Salki's nature to stand still. Hers was a spirit always on the move, dancing a lifelong waltz with the playful winds. On the rare occasion where circumstances dictated stillness, a new world opened up to her. A world of wonder for the things she might not otherwise have noticed, like the sensation of slowly sinking into the mud, or the faint tingle of a submerged limb beneath stationary water.

Or the unexpected collision with her own species when the largest stallion she had ever seen abruptly exploded into her world.

It was hard to believe a beast so large and loud could have gone unnoticed on the flat plains until Salki took her moment of pause. She heard him before she saw him, and turned her head to behold him crashing through the goopiest puddle of mud. Salki had heard of giant horses and had always supposed they carried themselves with the elegance of the mountains they resembled, but she could not have been further from the truth. In a spectacularly clumsy display, the stallion stepped right onto the scaly, large-toothed creature, prompting an unholy reaction. Salki took a step back, withdrawing her neck so only her head protruded from the reeds, watching the demonic creature hiss at the giant. Her ears pricked forward.

Evidently, the little devil couldn't talk. It didn't respond to the stallion's words, although it did recoil when a colossal hoof slammed down near its muzzle, splattering it with mud. Salki recognised that coiled pose from occasions when she'd seen cornered snakes. Was the monster stupid enough to attack a beast ten times its size? Salki had no doubt that one stomp from the stallion's hoof would smash its skull, but those teeth also looked like they could hurt.

Cautiously, the small Mongolian emerged from the reeds. She trotted a loop around its back, the mud squelching loudly beneath her hooves, until she was near the stallion but a little further back. Her appearance had divided the reptile's attention. While that might disincentivise it to attack, Salki had no doubt that of the two horses, she was visibly the easier target. She kept well away from those teeth.

"I don't think it's fast," she observed. Now she was closer, she could see that the demon's legs stuck out at odd angles from its body, so its belly was low to the ground. "I bet we can out-run it."

She flicked her tail and spun into a bolt, charging as fast as the unstable terrain would allow - but not too far. That long-toothed creature was weird, and she wanted to keep it in her sights. She slowed not far from it, thudding to a cautious stop, ready to bolt again if needed.