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 Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:15 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:11 pm
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Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:49 am
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:23 pm
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Conflict of Interest
Today was a bright day, with the sun high overhead and not a cloud in the sky. The warmth was unusual for the heart of winter, and all around icicles were melting, drop by glittering drop, and the snow had begun retreating towards the shade. It was almost uncomfortable for Tikva. The unicorn mare had grown used to the harsh cold of the season, and today her thick, black coat completely soaked up the sun. She had even begun mimicking the snow's retreat herself, just to stay where there was still a hint of chill in the wind-less and calm day.
She had been secluding herself inland for most of the morning in hopes the sun would lessen as the day wore on, but there was not even a hint of white fluff in the sky for her to glare at. So she made her way towards the ocean's edge. Maybe by the coast there would be some breeze to cool her down.
The ocean itself on the other hand, suffered little through the change in external temperature, and Castellan had once again found no entertainment or reckless adventure within the water to occupy his time. For most of the winter he had occasionally poked his head above the water's surface and found it much too cold to make it worth the adventure of having his head out there. But today! Today the only breeze to cool him was that made by his own movements, and although the air itself was much chillier than the water itself it was within tolerable limits for him.
He grinned as he swam towards the shore, right into the clear, shallow waters where he had often found oddly shaped shells that were not present at his usual depth. Perhaps he could find some shells there today.
Tikva trotted out of the forest near the ocean's edge, and right onto the sandy shore. It was truly disappointing, there was no more wind here than anywhere else, and perhaps no relief save for the ocean water itself. She would not swim there though, even if she baked herself inside her own skin. The salt from the water would only make a mess of her coat later.
She was about to turn away and head back to shade, when she caught sight of something splashing about in the shallows. At first she thought it was a sillier soquili than herself, setting themselves up for salty fur, but she was as bright as she was willful and immediately noticed the oddly shaped fins.
"Hey! You there!" She called out, trotting down the beach to approach the brown stallion.
Castellan hadn't found any shells, but his ears perked as he heard a female voice calling out. A land dwelling mare was so much more interesting than shells he could look at any old time, so he grinned and swam up to meet her.
"Hello! I'm Castellan," he introduced himself cheerfully. "You can call me Cas, I usually live out in the ocean but I like to visit the shore. I'm looking for shells!"
Tikva briefly wondered if all mersoquili were so bright and cheerful all the time. On a day like this where she was so uncomfortable she would have turned around to leave if it were any regular stallion addressing her so happily, but she remembered her fathers stories and always wanted to know more. Her desire to learn about this one would take priority over her discomfort. "Cas. You live in the ocean? How far down can you swim?"
The stallion blinked in momentary confusion, but his grin was back in no time. He didn't mind that she wasn't about to introduce herself, he didn't need to know the mare's name to talk with her. Maybe he could even get her to come into the water so they could swim together! He knew some four legged land dwellers swam, and although they didn't swim very well, or very deep, it would still be a lot of fun.
"I don't know, I guess I can swim pretty far down." He replied, wiggling happily under the water. His tail bumped against a submerged rock of a decent size, and he couldn't help but wind around it to keep him anchored as he conversed. "I don't think I've ever thought about it."
Tikva's ears flattened back a bit. Gods, it was hot out here... "Can you do me a favour? I really need to know how deep you can swim."
Castellan nodded. "I can go find out now if you want, are you going to come join me?"
"No, no, just... go swim out until you can just barely see me, and then go down as far as you can. And let me know if you hit the bottom and how deep it is, okay?" Tikva managed a smile. There was no way this stallion was getting her in the water, but at least he seemed willing to co-operate with her.
The merstallion nodded. "I can do that! I'll be right back," he replied, and with that he uncurled from the rock and swam off as far as he could away from the shore. This was an adventure in and of itself, but unfortunately his excitement got the best of him. A shiny fish swam by and distracted him, and the moment he lost his focus he noticed a very interesting shell on the ocean floor. With a bright grin he swam down and picked it up in his mouth, to carry it back to show his new friend.
Once he got back to shore, he poked his head out and tossed the shell to where the mare would be able to see it. "Look at this! Isn't it amazing?"
"Yes." Tikva replied curtly. "Did you find out how deep you can go?" She wasn't very impressed with the shell, she would rather have her information.
"... Oh. I forgot. I'll be right back!" Castellan said again, grinning as he darted away. This time he chased a silly looking octopus across the rocky sea floor for a bit, until he got squirted by ink and returned to shore. "Can you believe how fast octopi are?"
"No, but I bet they are fast. How deep did you go?" Tikva asked again, pawing a pair of small furrows in the sand with a cloven hoof. Her father had never told her that mers were so talkative and unproductive.
"Um... I only went out a little ways. But I'll go do that now!" The merstallion swam off yet again, leaving Tikva on the shore swishing her tail in a frustrated manner.
Yet this time he managed to avoid his distractions, and swam out until she was just a tiny speck on the shore. It was interesting, he had never seen one of the four legged land dwellers get so tiny. From there he dove down as far as he could, until the visibility began dropping, and most of the plant life vanished. There were a lot of different fish than where he usually resided, but that was part of the excitement. He kept swimming downward until he reached the pale sand on the bottom, and glanced back up. It was a far ways indeed...
When Castellan returned to the beach, Tikva pawed at the sand again. "Did you go down this time?" She felt like she was roasting out there on the beach, and if the stallion didn't she swore she would just turn around and leave. She didn't know how much longer she could take out in the sun.
"Yes!" He said with his usual bright grin. "I went all the way down to the bottom, and it was... maybe the length of this beach deep." He glanced left and right along the beach to confirm his estimate, and then nodded. "Did you want to come swim with me?"
"No, thank you." Tikva said, relieved. It truly would have been deep, they were on a very long beach indeed. "I appreciate the information. I have to go, the sun is very uncomfortable today."
"Oh... Okay. Maybe you can come and swim tomorrow!" Castellan offered with his brightest smile yet.
"Maybe," Tikva replied with a smile of her own, before turning and retreating back to the forest to leave the stallion to hunting for unusual shells.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:43 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:45 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:58 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:44 pm
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Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 8:59 am
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Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 12:24 pm
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Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:43 pm
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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:36 pm
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Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:29 am
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Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:43 pm
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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:33 pm
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