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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2014 16:15:00 GMT -5
//sateenkaarisitruuna's Bale & ThatDenver's Ouray. Roleplay is placed slightly in the past.//
Bale
It was fairly late evening; sunlight was already fading fast with the last fanfairs of bright colors in the sky. A figure of a fairly large warmblood stallion was standing underneath a grove of trees that stood against the colorful sky on a low hill. Tall grass was waving in the gentle wind and it tickled the stallion's knees. His brown eyes reflected the sunset, with certain rays drawing and lighting up the amber circle within his iris. His other back leg was cocked, with his weight calmly resting on his other feet. All was well in his world; for the time being is herd was safe and there were no stray members wandering around, especially not broods. Those creatures always meant trouble. Bale sighed just thinking about them as he sifted his weight from one hind leg to the another. It was a peaceful place, not too far away from everything and everyone but aside enough to offer some alone-time. Bale sometimes came here when he needed to think, or just the opposite; clear his head from everything.
Bale looked at the sky; not too long before stars would light up above him and fill the sky. He breathed deep, the fresh and chill air filling his lungs to their maximum capacity. He would hold his breath for a few seconds, savoring the feeling of being alive, and then let the air escape and breathe out. Bale was a soldier, a guard of his herd. He was first a Bachelor, before he was anything else. When it came to his herd, his personal likings did not matter. But he recognized it was sometimes healthy to take a few steps back, just a little bit distance and remember who he was. He had half the mind to gallop across the whole Summer Fields, like a frolicing little colt. Yet he refrained. The stiffness and seriousness had crawled so deep inside his soul they were hard to losen up.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2014 16:50:53 GMT -5
Ouray stretched his body as he rose from underneath the shelter of a crooked old tree. He had taken to sleeping a bit away from the others - their movements around him made him too restless to catch any real sleep, and no one seemed to mind, or notice, for that matter. The stallion sought the others with his gaze, and quickly saw the dark forms of the herd against the quickly setting sun. Ouray started towards them with no particular hurry, almost dragging his feet and stopping every now and then to investigate one rustling bush or some odd looking little plant.
Now that he was close enough to recognize faint features from the other members of his herd, Ouray halted, giving them a curious look. Even from this length, he could make out a few happenings around the herd. A couple stallions had raised their voices and stood in a clear standstill, neither willing to back down. He could not make out the words, and it was unlikely it was anything more than a minor argument. Further off, a small group of brood were nursing their colts, and off to the side, one of the stallions seemed to be showing a colt something. All was well in the Bachelor herd.
With a lazy smile, Ouray turned to tend to an itch on his side. Bothersome insects. He would be none the sadder if all of them just stopped buzzing one day and fell from the sky.
Flicking his ear, he was about to join up with the rest, when he noticed a large warmblood in the shade, not that far off. For just a moment, Ouray felt his body tense as he took in the other one, before something akin to recognition stuck him. It was just another Bachelor, no reason to worry.
Well, now that he had noticed the silverhair… With no hesitation, he trotted towards the stallion.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2014 8:06:26 GMT -5
Bale's eyes lazily followed the small figures of the herd go around a bit below him, not truly interested but one part of him always ready to jump in if needed. His tail swished to his side, getting rid of a couple of stinging insects but not really bothering to get too irritated by them. The strands of his tail felt like a light touch of whip and the muscle in his side flickered involuntarily.
Bale's eyes focused and he stopped resting his hind leg when he noticed a horse coming towards him with a determined step. He stood still as he waited for the chestnut stallion to approach, evaluating him in his mind, weighing little attributes here and there. Like the lack of the scar on the forehead, the feathers dangling from his mane, the little tufts of leg hair that indicated something of his origin, the fact he was slightly heavier built than Bale himself but a bit shorter. Bale had seen this one, like he had seen most of the members of his herd, but had no personal interaction with him. If memory served him right this stallion was part of the Scavengers, which Bale considered to be a bit of a mixed bunch really. His mind wanted to wonder, speculate what the chestnut wanted, but he refrained himself. It was better to wait and see, things would surely play out the way they wanted to play themselves out.
While Bale was still somewhat relaxed, just a slight tension creeped to his shoulders and masked his earlier, more open expression with a serious, much duller one.
"Good evening", he said as the other stallion got closer, his voice soft and polite.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2014 15:41:35 GMT -5
He could see from the slight shifting of stature that he had been seen. Ouray, too, assessed the other stallion - a burnt coat with silver hair, tall and balanced body. Some scars here and there, but nothing too significant that would have held the other back. Most striking was the clear "X" on his forehead, the violent mark of a true Bachelor, one Ouray lacked. He knew this horse by look, of course, as this was a slightly older stallion, but not too old for him to not have paid attention. Ouray also knew this stallion was of the Infantry, not one of his Scavenger "brothers". His name was something short and sweet, but Ouray couldn't quite recall what.
There came the polite hello, nothing of note really.
"Good evening to you as well", Ouray replied with ease, stopping only a few feet away. He let a comfortable smile creep to his face, as this was another Bachelor, and it was never a loss to form some relationships within his own. Especially for an outsider like himself, not of Bachelor birth and with no roots, all he had were the connections he made for himself and the things he could prove with his deeds.
"Sorry, I can't seem to recall your name", he posed his words as a question, and then went on to introduce himself just in case: "My name is Ouray. I'm a Scavenger."
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2014 16:07:30 GMT -5
Bale watched the chestnut intently, his face fairly blank and revealing no emotions, no good or bad. He did wonder though, this one had seemed so determined yet he had no immediate things to report, ask or demand. Or well, at least to the extent he could demand anything; they were pretty much equals, just dabbling in different sort of things. Bale's eyes seemed to be drawn to the forehead, so clean and untouched, no sacred marking of the brotherhood. While it meant this stallion was not born a Bachelor, Bale considered a good thing when someone had actually wanted to join them. Bachelors had their share of lowly dogs, unloyal little maggots who Bale deemed unworthy to even crawl at their King's feet. Being born a Bachelor didn't necessarily mean much, unless of course things were taken as fanatically as Bale did.
The brown eyes followed as the other stallion smiled, still not a muscle moving on his own face. Some thought Bale was too intimidating to engage with because of this, even though he usually meant no harm with it. His eyes had an inquisitive spark to them though, the only small tell-tale sign that he was not completely put off by his company. This particular spark did tend to die whenever he came too close to a brood.
"Bale, Infantry", he replied, just a touch of a smile touching his lips. Not that it was amusing that Ouray didn't remember his name, but more to do with the fact that so few actually did. For being such a true member of his herd he was still pretty much nowhere with his life, and being so ordinary was slightly bothersome.
"Anything new among the Scavengers?" Bale then asked, his tone fairly light.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2014 16:35:18 GMT -5
Ah, Bale. Such an easy name, maybe a bit too easy. Weird names tended to stick with you much better, their amusement and oddness values embedding in the memory. But considering he himself would not want to be named something like Whackhoof, he did understand why parents generally opted against stupid names.
"Bale it is, then", he acknowledged with a small good natured smirk.
Not surprisingly, Bale used the opportunity to steer the conversation towards Bachelor matters and tidings of the Scavenger sect of the herd. Unsurprising and slightly disappointing, he had to admit. Ouray loved being a Bachelor, the savage freedom his status brought, but as a discussion topic it wasn't very original, nor enticing. Still, he guessed one had to start a discussion on common turf, and as such, he decided not to be too put off by the everyday nature of their discussion.
"Oh you know, the usual stuff. Pillaging and plundering and way too little planning", Ouray said, a slight distaste for some of his companions showing in the final words. There was a great war coming any day now, there was real danger at hand and talk of the herd needing to split up for a while to cover more ground, yet some still acted like stupid children and charged at anything that wasn't a Bachelor.
"I get the thrill of the hunt, I really do, but I don't see much to be achieved by slamming muzzle first into a horse twice your size with no backup, if you catch my drift", he chose to elaborate his words, just in case Bale mistakenly jumped to the conclusion that he had something against the actual leadership.
The new King seemed smart, the Elites were great, but Scavengers themselves… Well, not always so much.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2014 17:00:21 GMT -5
Bale listened to Ouray's words, even though they held no new information. It wasn't surprising that the Scavengers were all over the place even at times like these, yet then again, that was sort of their thing. Be all over the place. Bale couldn't probably have dealt with the chaotic mess, he was much more organized and tactical by nature and Infantry had seemed like the only option for him. He did dream big though, an Elite spot would be a dream come true to him. Bale wanted to believe good things came to those who waited patiently, so he did.
Bale raised one eyebrow at the thought of randomly attacking another horse with no actual plan. Sometimes the stupidity of these horses surprised him. Not that he yet considered Ouray to be one of those morons, as he didn't know better, but he surely had seen his fair share. Bale was willing to give Ouray the benefit of the doubt, for now.
"Yes, that would be very mindless indeed", Bale answered with a hint of amusement. "Too much commotion at sensitive times like these is never good."
He gazed shortly at the sky, the last of the sun's colors were dimming down to the dark blue bliss of the night. His eyes then methodically sweeped over the herd that was visible to him before getting back to Ouray. Yes, dull and ordinary discussions were just that, they didn't get the mind engaged nor interested.
"So, you're not a born Bachelor?" Bale then asked. He was careful to avoid any short of sharp or accusing tone, but his expression was actually openly curious. Yes, this was more interesting and would probably tell him at least a bit more about this Ouray and what made him tick.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2014 17:27:41 GMT -5
His new companion seemed vaguely amused, and that was a good start, even if both of them were a bit absent minded at the moment and drifting off. Ouray in his mind, Bale with his eyes. They both knew all of this already - they knew how stupid some of their dear herd mates were, and they knew their behavior wasn't always very considerate of the times. But somehow this was protocol, this sort of introduction chat was required. Maybe it was the walls they built around themselves, they were all warriors at heart after all - at least any good Bachelor was. And a warrior couldn't afford to be too open.
Just as he was concluding his thoughts on the matter and preparing to come up with something witty to say, Bale interrupted his thinking with a far more personal question. Ouray raised an eyebrow, looking Bale in the eye for a moment. He was slightly surprised, since the warmblood actually looked interested. Few asked and even fewer cared, so although his background was blatantly clear from his face, it rarely brought any attention to him.
"No, I'm not. I'm actually Olde born, if you can believe that. But I hardly remember what they were like, I only have faint memories of a big city", he admitted with no emotion. He wasn't ashamed of not being born Bachelor, as it did not make him any better or worse than the others. Joining may not have been his choice, but he was still as much a Bachelor as any of the others.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 6:42:55 GMT -5
Bale had realized very early on into his life that too much sharing could be a very bad thing. You could never know too much, even though most affairs were unimportant and boring. It was somewhat of an accomplishment that Bale had had no extremely close friends during his lifetime, surely he had trust someone along the way but he had a tendency to simply not share. He had also found that most horses were not truly interested in each other, their brains filled with little useless facts and none of the real deal. Maybe that's how the world went around, but Bale had decided to step out the bus a long time ago and went his own ways. During his years he had had enough time to learn skills such as deception and masking his thoughts and feelings, enough so that he didn't find it difficult not revealing important facts about himself.
Brown eyes met dark gray ones without hesitation; there was a certain calmness about Bale. It was true matters like this didn't interest many, but for Bale it was the only few things that could actually interest him about Ouray. A horse without the barbaric nature and a warrior's heart would not join their ranks, or at least survive for very long. Olde... Yes, those religious unicorn-fanatics. Not that Bale was that much better than the original founders, so set in his ways and believing that Bachelors were clearly the best out of the herds.
"I see", Bale simply replied, not further commenting the issue. Ouray had apparently been very young when joining, so asking about his reasoning behind it wouldn't obviusly be their new topic. So the silverhair remained in silence, mostly to see if the chestnut had actually had something to discuss or ask of him before Bale had started interviewing him.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 7:00:18 GMT -5
There was silence again, Bale merely commenting with acknowledgement, his curiosity seemly easily sated. Since they were already on the topic of his face, Ouray decided to bravely press on and try to make a conversation from what he had been given. Bale seemed like a decently smart guy after all - no intangible grunts or manly growls so far.
"I've found my lack of facial decoration very useful at times, I must admit. Sometimes it's a bit weird to have my fellows looking at me all suspicious, but say you are out scouting and run into an intruder or some shady character", Ouray told with an easy drawl, a slightly jovial tone in his words: "I know most Scavengers would just dive right in or the intruder would take off at the first sight of a scarred face. Which can be great. Sometimes."
Ouray smiled as if sharing some sort of a secret, a personal pleasure: "I like to do things different, since my looks permit it. Approach them, play the field, make sure there aren't more of them around, that sort of stuff. Maybe try and get them to share what they're doing on our lands in the first place, if they have anything planned. You can't do that if they just ran away from you… And you can certainly get yourself in much worse shape than need be by just assuming you can beat anyone you run across."
Loners and other drifters might often be alone, but that didn't mean they couldn't defend themselves when cornered. Ouray was more than certain that a good few Scavengers had lost their lives in such pointless encounters, and that it could have been prevented with a bit of forethought. Then again, it was not as if he was privy to any sort of statistics on the matter, so he might as well be wrong.
But having a bit off a chat and trying to actually benefit from the meetings was much more fun anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 7:46:49 GMT -5
Bale's interest was piqued again, when Ouray continued to speak. He looked at the other stallion intently, like he was actually listening instead of humming something in his head and letting everything droop in one ear and out the other. It was actually quite nice listening to someone else's strategy and way of doing this, especially since bale was not hands-on in Scavenger business. Plus Bale always liked finding someone who had no problem talking without being coaxed all the time, Bale too had his limitations in how long he could push out meaningless stuff out of others. He guessed being such a barbaric herd, it brought other animal-like features with it, such as considering grunting and growling a part of viable conversation.
"Yes, I see how that can be an asset indeed. Aggression has its place but like you said, it's now always the wisest option", Bale said. Unlike Ouray, grinning and smiling did not come naturally to him, instead he looked rather serious. "Besides, it's Infrantry's job to protect the herd, Scavengers should gather things, much like intel and broods. It's hard to gather things if you can't catch them", he then continued, now just a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he imagined someone running after a fleeing horse, shouting at them to tell things. If a foreigner met an Infantry member, it usually meant that they had ventured too close to the herd and had to be taken care of, whereas Scavaengers met a more colorful bunch with different uses to them.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 8:52:30 GMT -5
Ouray was happy to see Bale warming up to the topic, and let a smirk grace his face.
"That can be very hard indeed", he agreed with clear amusement in his tone, before going on: "I think it's a very typical scenario, really. The long term benefits of our herd - our survival and more importantly, how easy that survival is, against the short term benefit of a single member in the way of how much fun they can have with their job."
And thinking long term was clearly very hard for some, who just insisted on staring at what was right in front of them and forgetting about anything and everything else. Such an attitude could produce some great results, but then there was usually luck involved.
"Plus it isn't really of any use to the herd if you get killed chasing some primal urge to rut with broods", Ouray said coarsely, and shook his head. Sometimes they were stupid beasts, indeed. Broods might have been well beneath them, but they could still place a kick. Wasn't that a great way to be remembered: the one who got his face kicked in by some random brood. Quite the legacy indeed.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 11:05:19 GMT -5
Ouray's smirk and grins had a bit of a contagious nature to them, though the rubbing off was mostly visible in Bale's eyes. Whenever he was very serious, his face was made from stone and his eyes revealed nothing, whereas now they clearly lit up in amusement. Otherwise his bodylanguage was unchanged, and he couldn't help occasionally glancing over at the herd. He had been in Infantry since he was allowed to pick a rank, and it was a natural habit. But his eyes were always quick to return to Ouray. It was a bit distracting, though. Bale knew the herd was alright and well looked after for the moment, but his natural instinct kept kicking in. Much like a sheepdog in the presence of sheep.
"Primal urges have no room in herd business", Bale remarked and just a very slight hint of sharpness crept into his voice and eyes. It was mostly just a very, very short flash, which he hoped to cover up with turning his eyes to glance over the herd once more. It was mindless where some stallions got themselves just after the broods. Some even were stupid enough to think that mares outside were just as submissive and whipped into their place as Bachelor broodmares were. It was actually the only thing Bale enjoyed with the broods; whipping newly brought-ins into their way of life. But that was about it, and he rarely took the chance anyway. His primal urges were a totally different kind, ones he would never say aloud.
"Some could use a bit straightening up, but then again it's not my business", Bale said. It was true; it was up to Elites and eventually their King to set horses into their places and oversee that things did run the way they were supposed to. He didn't mean it as a disrespect, more so that the matter remained to be seen once their new King had had some more time on the lead under his belt. "And I doubt stupidity can be beat out from anyone, not entirely." Bale would have been willing to give it a go, though.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 13:35:33 GMT -5
Bale seemed to be the stony and stoic type. A real man with only a few smiles to share. The eyes did give away that he was not entirely bored, which was good. Ouray would have felt bad for the poor silverhair if he couldn't take a moment off to enjoy himself. He had half a mind to ask Bale to stop gazing back at the herd every two seconds, it wasn't like they were going anywhere or anything, but he held his tongue. Bale seemed serious about his job, very serious indeed, and such a remark might serve to hurt is feelings in some way. Or his pride, which was probably even worse.
"I most heartily agree", he nodded. Primal urges were so much fun thou. Sometimes.
"I don't really get what they see in them. The broods, I mean. Beyond satisfying the urge, what good are they? It's not like you can talk to them or have any sort of meaningful relations with them", Ouray snorted, but then added a bit maliciously: "But, of course, some of my dear brothers do not see any other sort of relationship as meaningful."
Running after the tail. He even knew that some of them actually liked mares, went to great lengths to impress them and even make them enjoy it. Why, he had no idea. It went beyond mindgames, and as such, he had no understanding of it.
At the last remark, he actually laughed out loud. He'd like to see someone try that, he really would. It was a shame it probably wouldn't work. Would make his life a lot easier, and him much less frustrated.
"Oh, I have a feeling our King could actually succeed at such a feat. He seems very sharp", Ouray pointed out, gazing back at the herd to see if the light colored stallion was in view: "Very sharp indeed."
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 16:44:44 GMT -5
Bale had to work at maintaining his pokerface when Ouray shared his further thoughts on the broodmares. While this wasn't an uncommon thought, really, Bale couldn't help but feeling just a little bit suspicious. Like he was being coaxed into this subject and saying he didn't care for mares at all. He did realize this was probably not what the chestnut was after, but still. Out of all the fears and phobias in the whole wide world, Bale had ended up with such a ironical one for himself.
"Hmm, exactly. I've yet to hear anything worth listening to from a brood", Bale said. Not that he really paid that much attention to them anyway. Who knew, it might be his downfall one day, but beyond providing new soldiers to the herd, mares had no use in his eyes. Though, he had to admit, even to him it seemed a little harsh that a mare was not allowed to birth an unclaimed filly, since the broods had no choice in whether or not they wanted to carry to said foal. But then again, he guessed that "filly-birthers" had to be replaced. He had no true understanding on how gender was decided, so he just assumed it was somehow something that related to the mare itself. And he was getting sidetracked as he had caught a glimpse of couple of colts playing.
"I agree. I'm looking forward to see where he takes us", Bale said. It seemed Cain was much more about the smarts than he was of physical power, which might be a good thing for this mindless herd of beasts.
Growing tired of watching back and forth from Ouray to the herd and back again, Bale simply said: "Walk with me." It was sort of an question, since Ouray could of course decline. Bale didn't wait for him to wonder about it much, since he already started at a direction away from the herd, assuming the other stallion would come with him. There was a grove of trees, then they'd face a little downhill and in there was a little pond. Bale wouldn't mind drinking a bit, on top of getting a little bit distance from the herd.
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