A Wilted Flower

[Crimson Flower]

Soft hoofbeats announced the arrival of the red mare, Crimson Flower. Her eyes were closed and she was stumbling slightly as she walked. It was fairly obvious that she had made a long journey and was very tired, but she pushed herself to go on. I can't rest until I've found a safe place, she thought, opening her eyes and looking around. The scent of other horses had drawn her to this place. Maybe she would find a safe place here. She tossed her head and with a last burst of energy, broke into a gallop. Her strawberry colored mane streamed out behind her as she ran down a slight slope and came to rest in the forgiving shade of a maple tree.

"Please someone...come soon," she whispered. Her legs trembled slightly from exhaustion as she knelt to the ground and lay down. She glanced around, her eyes showing more energy that she felt she had at the moment. She could see, not to far off pairs of horses chatting. It seemed promising, but didn't necessarily mean that this was where lone horses came to find herds. She sighed and shook her head, knowing that she'd just have to have faith that she'd stumbled across the right area.

[Sunstone]

The stallion was refreshed after a short nap in the late afternoon sun. To get to his temporary home, he needed to pass through the claiming grounds. He hated doing it, seeing all the other horses coming together. It disgusted him, and he wanted to get out as soon as possible.

However, his mind was detoured when he saw an exhausted and alone mare. He truly wanted to just leave and get the day over with, but a little voice inside his head told him to stop and ask if she was alright.

“I hate my conscience,” the stallion muttered to himself as he just barely changed his direction.

“You there!” he shouted gruffly, “Are you going to live the night?” It wasn’t polite, but he wasn’t a polite horse, and he never had been.

[Crimson Flower]

Crimson's ear flicked ever so slightly in indignation but covered it with a bow of her head. She heaved herself to her hooves and looked at the stallion. "I can only hope I will, why would you ask?" she asked, flicking her tail. So much for manners, but oh well....at least it's someone to talk to for now, she thought, eying the stallion. "Although," she added, her eyes sparkling in a somewhat playful manner. "I can't see any reason why I wouldn't. I'm just tired. I've been tired before, haven't you?" she asked, trying to stop the shaking of her legs. She shifted her weight from one side and then back to the other as she waited for the other horse's response.

[Sunstone]

"Only when one throws onself on the ground so vigorously, it is no wonder when said horse is attacked by predators," Sunstone said in a huff, drawing his muzzle to his chest as if he smelled something bad or was insulted.

"I can see I'm not needed, so I may as well leave!" But turning around, he saw the sun was already setting. He would not be able to return to his temporary home before nightfall, and horses travelling in the dark attracted predators. He cringed, knowing that his short delay had caused the fact that he would need to spend the night in the claiming ground. He turned his head around again, cursing under his breath.

OOC: *Cringe* He's not exactly a lady's man...

[Crimson Flower]

Crimson just shrugged and watched him. A smile began to appear on her muzzle and she took a step towards him. "Trouble?" she asked. "Let me guess," she said and looked at the sun. "Your home is to far to return to before nightfall isn't it?"

She turned her head to one side and shrugged again. "Well, if that's the case, then it looks like you might be needing some company. At least for tonight, that is." She looked back at him, half expecting him to have run off when she wasn't looking at him.

[Sunstone]

The stallion grumbled, annoyed that what she said was in fact correct. He hated having to turn back on his words.

“Why aren’t you laughing at me yet?” he asked, seething. Already he was extremely irritated, but it didn’t take much to irritate him. Pretty much anything another horse did bugged him in some way. After all, when he was young, he was basically trained to hate horses.

“Go on! It won’t hurt me! Admit that you already think I’m a pathetic, lonesome stallion!” And of course his other talent: accusing horses. For he loved no horse and no horse loved him.

[Crimson Flower]

She seemed taken aback at his outburst, but she listened to him and shook her head. "Why would I laugh at you?" she snapped. "And why would I think you're pathetic when I'm in the condition I'm in? I'm weak, I'm tired," she paused, "At least you currently have the strength to run home if you wished to!" Why was he putting words in her mouth like that? The very thought made her angry, but she didn't let it show or she might make him angrier than he already was. And if her past had taught her one thing, it was don't go trying to make a stallion mad. Of course, she'd only really known one stallion and that was the one that abused his mares. She snorted softly and approached him cautiously, ready to flee if he should turn and lash out at her. "Did I say something wrong? What's the problem?"

[Sunstone]

“This place and the world are the problem,” he said, turning around, angry words burning in his throat. For once, he didn’t say them. This was why he had stayed a loner. Apparently he inherited nothing from his mother, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Though his father was cruel, temperamental, and violent, his mother was weak, uncaring, and frightened. ‘Weak blood makes a weak horse,’ he father had told him as he made his son run vigorously over miles. ‘We have to work it out of you.’ Possibly his father had been right, but that hadn’t made it any easier for him. Sunstone was used to just being not cared for. He, in turn, grew to not care for others the same way his parents were.

“If you’re smart, you’ll leave me be in my own little world.”

[Crimson Flower]

"That's no way to talk," Crimson said softly. She looked at him and sighed. "Obviously I'm not smart or else I'd have left me old herd earlier than I did," she snorted and then offered a small smile. 'Besides, I couldn't just stand by and let you become bitter," she made a face like something didn't make sense. "Well, bitterer than you already seem to be. It's just not in my nature," she said, reaching forward with her nose to give his shoulder a friendly nudge and hoping that she wouldn't get scolded by him for it. "Listen, I'm sorry if it's my fault that you can't make it home before nightfall."

[Sunstone]

“It doesn’t make a difference who made it happen or how sorry they are, it doesn’t change the fact,” he stopped and faced her, “And if you haven’t noticed, I’m as bitter as I’m going to get and its not going to change anytime soon! No matter how hard you try, I’ll remain the same. I don’t have a heart, so don’t try to grow me one.” He stalked off, tail swishing at the biting flies who were always trying to get him. He shook his head gruffly to get them out of his mane, flashing brown and white as the last traces of the sun disappeared beneath the horizon.

[Crimson Flower]

Crimson blinked for a moment and then narrowed her eyes. "I never said I was going to try and make you grow a heart," she retorted. "I was just trying to be friendly, perhaps you should give it a try sometime! It won't kill you, you know," she snapped. She gave a frustrated snort as she watched him stalk away and settled under the tree again. She made no attempt to sleep just yet, just lay there, fuming. Though half of her wished he'd come back. She didn't feel safe alone in the dark and having another horse with her, no matter how bitter or anti-social, gave her comfort in the darkness. Another frustrated snort sounded from her nostrils as she stood up and went to see if the stallion was still there. She hated the idea of how weak she would look seeking comfort like some scared yearling. Appearing weak was never an option for her. In her old herd her mother had appeared weak only for a short while and the lead stallion had left her for dead.

She shook the memories away and continued after where she thought she'd seen him go.

[Sunstone]

Sunstone’s thoughts were piled high. The small part of him that was still soft regretted everything he said and told him to go back, but that part was the minority, voiceless in his inner government. He had heard her last words, and he was thinking of all the things he could have replied with. ‘You never know, do you, because it sure hasn’t helped me!’ or ‘I have no need for being friendly. I was born a loner, I’ll die a loner.’ After all, it was all true, at least he thought. Of course it meant no power, and no rank among stallions, but that didn’t matter to him. That small part of him again told him to go back and make sure she was safe, but again, he ignored it.

[Crimson Flower]

Her thoughts slowly turned angry with each moment that she didn't find him. What nerve! Leaving me alone in the dark. Who does he think he is anyway? she thought and then froze. Her ears swiveled back to try and locate a noise she thought she heard: a rustling in the bushes, very faint. She shook her head telling herself that she was just imagining it and was therefore unprepared for what happened next.

Really, all that she was aware of was the screech of a cougar and the sharp pain of its claws in her shoulder. She gave a startled shriek and tried to buck the predator off, but in her weakened state, it didn't work. She took off as fast as she could for the nearest, toughest tree and rammed against it at such an angle that the cougar was crushed enough to let go. She backed up, refusing to turn her back on the beast as it regained the breath she'd knocked from its body. She was breathing heavily and trying to ignore the pain from the claw marks in her shoulder and along her back.

[Sunstone]

Sunstone’s ears swiveled at the sound of a cat’s scream. He had enough common sense to add two and two together and come to the conclusion that the mare was attacked by a cougar. Great, he thought, turning around on his hind legs, I hate coming to the rescue. He galloped hard, coming quickly to the place where the mare stood, breathing heavily, a few feet from a cougar. Without saying a word, he reared and neighed, trying to bring some terror into the cat. He didn’t like to admit it, but he loved a fight. He brought his teeth down on the beast, hoping to draw blood, but the cat regained itself quickly and launched itself to the side. Sunstone half-reared, with his hooves landing on the dirty-smelling hide. The cat screamed again, and started to slink off. The stallion deemed it safe for him to be able to turn his back on it, satisfied with his work.

[Crimson Flower]

Even if Sunstone hadn't come, she wouldn't have moved because she was rooted to the ground in fear, but after his sudden appearence the frozen fear turned to shock that he'd actually saved her. Now the question became: did he save her because he wanted to fight, he felt responsibility or because deep down some part of him genuinely cared. That doesn't matter, the point is, the cat's gone, she thought, smiling slightly. "Thank you," she said softly, shaking her mane and turning her neck to lick tenderly at the deep scratches on her shoulders. Once satisfied that one side was clean she turned her head to the stallion. "Thank you," she said again. "I didn't think you cared," the words escaped her mouth before she could stop them and now she felt utterly stupid. Of course he didn't care! She sighed and turned to clean the scratches on her other side, wincing slightly at the taste of her own blood.