Sensiz

@Daydream you little poop get your butt in here — Weather based on Santa Fe, New Mexico

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The mesa, appearing from the flat plains was a sight to be sure. Medaris had decided to venture forth onto it via a pathway that sat at its eastern edge. The grasses had led her there, and out of curiosity she climbed its ramp to a most spectacular site at the top of it.

Her muscles were rich with sweat. In spite of the seasons the winds had proved warm and brutal to her skin. She found the dust sticking to her and chaffing her underarms. That damn stallion and the mares that had left her behind were likely dead and gone below. She used that as her leverage to rise. When the old nag did reach the mesa, she looked over it to see the sadness below. Once, great roves of horses had led these valleys. She recalled running, and caring not for what preyed upon them but only the fear from their own kind. Things were changing. The wolves had returned, and she did not know why.

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+1 Discovery point

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The dappled stallion moved on, a ground-covering lope to make his way. His spring and summer spent crisscrossing the plains had served him well enough, but he was feeling a distinct itch to see something new, and perhaps find company past what the local canines could offer. The pair of grayscale wolves had spoke of residing by a lake, so he had gone in the opposite direction to start, letting the winds carry him well away from there in search of whatever else he could see. Hopefully something in his favor.

In time, it led him to the mesa where its views finished pulling him in. As he eased down to a slow trot, Daydream could not claim to know the history of these strange lands, so peered across his horizons unbiased--a searching squint, scanning before he delved in proper. Who else roamed these curious expanses? What might he find?

The second he registered something horse-shaped enough ahead, still only a silhouette in the distance, he belted out a loud whinny. An announcement, and a question at once. Swishing his tail side to side, he quickly resumed his canter and moved boldly closer to investigate: his nose lifted tall, ears pricked, and beginning to flag his banner as he rounded his back around his gait. He was eager to see more, so had no reason to stall, especially when there was a mare to go see.

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The smell in the air was obvious, the whinny more so. Medaris raised her white head, her nostrils flaring at the scent of a stallion. Once, she had been a self-proclaimed matriarch in her herd. This had given her a suspicious and very discerning eye for males. Too many of them were violent, foul, and didn't have dick all for courage. All of them were in it for a single purpose, and it was one that the mare had rejected from childhood. She had never foaled, and planned to keep it that way.

Still, her own company had been poor, and she was lonely in her suffering. She approached slowly, answering him back with a nicker. Medaris, being a massive twat, also approached with head raised as though she owned the entire mesa. It didn't matter that this was the first time she had stepped foot on it — he was in her space.

“What brings a feisty asshole like you to the mesa?” She snarled the moment they were within proper earshot, closing in with a slow-spaced walk. Stallions were nasty animals. She had been bitten enough times to know how to approach safely.

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Starved enough for any potentially positive interactions with his own kind, he went on ready to take whatever she had to give--good, bad, ugly. But he did come here still possessing enough sense not to underestimate a mare. It was early yet, and while she answered him with a nicker, the stallion had him hopeful that she was alone, just like him. Now closer, he snorted some small, short sniffs, hungrily trying to determine any extra details he could.

“Hah,” he scoffed, his breathing heavy yet. Feisty asshole. Not the worst thing she could call him but a first look at what he might be up against. “Looking for a place with less dog stink on it.” Daydream went on to explain, flipping his mane halfheartedly as he did. “Is this where you run?” as he asked, he swung his head towards the expanse of the mesa. He had never been this far after all, so like hell if he knew the area any better.

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Whatever she was looking for from this stallion, she found it. He interacted exactly as she had expected him to, and somehow this felt of great comfort to her.

She laughed at the term, "dog stink," perhaps finding it more hilarious because of her more recent interactions with the moronic dog things that had threatened to overrun their world. Medaris clattered her teeth for a moment, thinking. “Not usually,” she answered him, deciding that there was no need for hidden enjoyments.

“This mesa is away from anyone,” she answered. “But I run with no one right now. And you? You must have a band of your own,” she pried, wondering, perhaps hoping.

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Even still, she did not repel him. Valuable ground held, now, and towards a mare, he let his head lift a little and ears prick proudly. First with interest, hearing she was alone too, and that this mesa was empty. Away from anyone held a certain type of appeal. At least he need not worry about her bandmates chasing him off. Less concerned with such gave him more focus for her. “Actually I do not,” he shook his head and snorted softly. He wished it was that easy. “I've traveled far. Alone still, but maybe not for good.” Daydream kept his options open and now with many miles between him and his father, he could carve out his role, perhaps. He still searched for his perfect place to begin in full..

“I came for the green grasses first,” the gray stallion huffed, referencing the plains in summertime most of all--and his coat shined well this year thanks to his travels through verdant fields. He had few worries of the winter to come, assuming he did not find himself pushed from the valleys by other herds or wolf packs. “The company has left me wanting. So I have more to explore,” he stamped a forehoof, wondering about her--how she came to her own. “I'm called Daydream.”

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Though the male remained respectful, Medaris was wary anyway. It was rare that she trusted anyone at all, but perhaps her own loneliness was beginning to get the best of her. Having a normal interaction with another equine was a welcome reprieve from her lone roaming and avoidance.

Indeed, he had no band either, and she almost felt sorry for him. He was old enough and large enough to be able to take on at least some of the aggressive stallions that had assumed leadership positions in their herds. Medaris flicked a faded ear, wondering what he meant by "far" and whether or not he was one of the random beasts that had appeared in these lands.

The greenery of the plains had treated the both of them well, though Medaris, for her part, had tried to take back the matriarchal position in the Thundering Grasslands of the wetter region. As he spoke of his wanderlust, she smacked her lips and flicked her tail at a random quiver on her side. Daydream. She wanted to laugh, but managed to contain it with a weird smile. “Medaris,” she greeted.

Guarded as far as how she actually felt about them, she revealed her annoyances, framed with her as the smartest of course. “I have not travelled much; this is my home range,” she mentioned. For the most part, she knew it reasonably well, but the land had a weird habit of changing, or maybe her memory just wasn't very good. “The dogs changed everything for the herds in the last year. I left the areas they were most populous, but those idiots wouldn't listen to reason.” She snorted, leaning over to graze by ripping up a mouthful of grass more aggressively than necessary.

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Medaris. He thought it would be good to remember it, but he was far more interested in listening on when she revealed these were her native lands. His wide eyes remained trained on the painted mare, alight and curious. She could have a valuable perspective to this place, one that so far, he still felt like an outsider to.

“Damned dogs,” he huffed in agreement, happy to blame them and have her confirm this. “Some herds have seemed particularly prickly,” he mentioned, though this was based on his experience as a loitering stallion. Not many band stallions were happy to see him and settled, content older mares didn't want his type stirring up shit either, so it likely was not all the canines' fault but it was a good reason to amplify everything. No one liked a canine sniffing around where the foals rested and grazed anyway. “What will you plan to do as the days get shorter?” he asked of her, prying some to see if she aspired for more than a loner's lifestyle.

It was setting up to be his first winter so far removed from familiarity. Unless he had found lands of eternal grazing already, he had a feeling where the green grasses were would dictate his move--if he had his way, of course.

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Medaris began to feel quite relaxed around the stallion. He did not seem to be trying to lead her anywhere and had no band. This, of course, opened some options for her.

Daydream confirmed her dislike of the wolves. He did not appreciate their presence and found no value in them. “As the light wanes?” she said rhetorically, wondering herself at what she would do. The cold was coming and she knew that. She had no herd. He had no herd. She did not mind him and he was a valuable asset that could attract younger mares. She had the knowledge of the land, and he needed that.

Quickly, things clicked into place. “We should create our own band,” she answered. “You are handsome and in your prime. You can bring mares. I know the land.” She said it almost verbatim what her thoughts were. She had no need to lie or create false pretences. “Unless you have a better plan.”

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Medaris summed it up neatly for them with such a cleanly-cut suggestion going right for the heart of it all. She certainly had his attention with this, forcing him to see her in a changing light suddenly. They both brought their own distinct advantages, and he was prideful enough to claim his own--neck hollowing, and a small nod. He was but an unproven stallion though. Vanity appreciated that she could see his good looks, with the suggestion that future mares might too. Ones that he would bring.

It was the inevitable goal, likely.. past a full belly every day, of course. The right companionship, and the right lands to graze and travel safely upon. Beyond everything, in a perfect scheme, he would always want to seek it out somehow.

But evidently he had appealed to her favor enough for her to suggest this for herself, and he swiftly appreciated this. Unless her motives were foul, but really, he found he had very little to lose even if they were. What could she take from him, anyway?

He might not know these lands, but came into them sure that the grasses would grow sparse and the days would shorten further soon. It was not an ideal time to be a traveler, not when resources were already more difficult to come by, but two sets of eyes and ears could serve them both well. Especially in a world dominated by predators, and entire families of them, no less. Rumbling a low chuckle of a nicker, he shook his head, tossing his forelock aside. “No, I have no better plan. Not for right now,” he said honestly. He went wherever the day took him. “I want to find the best place, and then those to share it with,” he summarized, so in a way, it aligned; she could help him in this. “But until then, two are much safer than one.” And perhaps she had the knowledge to help him find the most ideal valleys to graze sooner, rather than later.

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