((Post here when you've been accepted into the herd.))

The mare walked through the forest, her auds flicking back and forth, searching for sounds in the breeze. She heard the soft splashing of the creek running through the forest, the birds singing, her hooves landing quietly on the bed of green grass. And those of another, smaller than she. Brown occuli looked to her daughter, dun pinto, cavorting along next to her mother. Wildflower, she was called. But it pained the mare to look at her. For the filly had been fathered by a forcebreeder: Reckless, that stud that resided in the Grove, using poor defenseless mares for his own pleasures. It was sick, horrible. And Rose had been one of those "chosen" mares.

She looked forward again, letting it fall behind her, into the place where horrible memories wait until your mind has nothing else to think about. She glanced around, auds cocked, listening for any other equines besides herself and her daughter. Audits caught the sound of the other two at the same time she saw them. Trotting forward, she glanced at the mare before turning to the brute. "I see that you have another here," she said, voice neutral. Just a little sensitive because of Reckless's not having a family or harem, was all.

The golden mare nodded to the silver brute in response, then nodded again the the painted one, in greeting. Aud switched back to him, then the head. She studied him, wondered what he was thinking. He seemed nice enough, but she couldn't be sure that he wouldn't be the same as that Reckless. At least he actually had a home, and from the sound of it, had shared it with a blind equine.

Russet and blue-flecked occuli blinked once, twice, with the mare's words. Snowy audits flicked to the sides, then back, then sides again, with confused movement. The filly noticed her companion's gaze; it had landed behind her, as if it didn't see her. Malaika's own orbs were clouded slightly, evidence of her inability to see. {You're.....you're blind?} she spoke, all traces of the tomboy, the punk girl, gone with this new development. {I'm sorry.....I just didn't notice. You seem so normal.} She didn't know that the mare had probably lived with it and gotten use to it, all she saw was the sense of sight gone, and with it, some part of the painted mare who smiled so kindly.

A small, gray mare trotted daintly through the trees. As she wandered, she sang quietly to herself.

It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah
It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah
It won't be long, yeah, 'till I belong to you.

Every night when everybody has fun
Here am I sitting all on my own.

For a fleeting moment, she thought of her past again, but she shook it off quickly this time.

It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah
It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah
It won't be long, yeah, 'till I belong to you.

Since you left me, I'm so alone now you're coming, you're coming on home.
I'll be good like I know I should. You're coming home, you're coming home!

Every night the tears come down from my eyes.
Every day I've done nothing but cry.

It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah
It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah
It won't be long, yeah, 'till I belong to you.

She thought of all the new possiblilities of her new home. She couldn't wait to meet everyone and get to know Silver Knight more!

Since you left me, I'm so along now you're coming, you're coming on home.
I'll be good like I know I should. You're coming home, you're coming home!

So every day we'll be happy I know.
Now I know that you won't leave me no more.

It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah
It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah
It won't be long yeah . . . 'till I belong to you!

She came upon the small herd and saw the alpha. "Why, hello," she said quietly, but happily. She nodded to the other mares and introduced herself. "I'm Michelle." She went to stand by Silver Knight's side and muttered, "I'm so happy to be here!"

((OOC: Just so I don't have to state this again, all of the lyrics that Michelle uses are Beatles' lyrics.))

I smiled as I walked back into my herd with Michelle standing right next to me. I was so excited to get to know her, and to introduce her to Golden Rose, Wildflower, and Malaika. I was just upset that I hadn't been talking to my herd members much, so I had gotten bored. Would it change with someone new around? "I'm so happy your here, too!" I said in an excited voice, then realised it was a little loud. Whoops. "So...what do you think?"

She looked up through the foliage. The sun shone through the green leaves brightly, and the forest animals twittered and scampered about happily. It was like she had slipped into a dream! She closed her eyes and scented the earthy air. "I love it here," she murmured, opening her eyes and smiling widely. "I'm so glad I came!"

I smiled and took a look around my land. It was really beautiful and I loved watching all the little forest animals run around. They never bothered me and I don't think they ever bothered the other, either. "I'm glad you came here, too," I said back her with a smile. I looked away from her for a moment, wondering what to say next. Why did I always have to freeze? One mare had left me and I surely didn't want another one to leave. I wanted a successful herd, and to mayve one day have my own family. But not now.

Michelle smiled nervously, not knowing what to say next. She shook her head and her mane flopped along her white neck. She touched her muzzle to Silver Knight's shoulder tenderly. She still didn't know what to say. She was too happy for words.

((OOC: Sorry if that post doesn't really get you anywhere. :( ))

((I can't think of anything right now. I'll post if I can think of something. ;) ))

((OOC: Kay. Sorry again, I'm just going kind of brain dead . . . :blink: ))

Knight smiled and nickered, just happy to have another mare in his herd. He wanted to get to know her and become friends to start out with. He walked away to go back to the creek that ran through the forests. He motioned for Michelle to follow him. He walked into the creek and lowered his muzzle to take a sip.

Michelle smiled and followed happily. She trotted jauntily after the stallion. "So," she began. "Tell me something about yourself. How long have you been leader of this land?" She looked to the other herd members. Just two mares and a young filly. "How did the rest of the herd come to be here?" She, too, took a drink from the creek. It was cool on her soft muzzle.

Knight tried to think of what to tell her to answer her question. "Well, I've been leader for a while, not that long," he told her. "The mare with the filly arrived here after being forced. I brought Malaika here." That was all he could think of, and that was pretty much it. He could honestly say there was nothing interesting about his herd at the moment, but hopefully that would change.

"Ah," Michelle said, giggling like a filly. "Well, I feel bad for the other two, but I think that Malaika and I are both very lucky to have been brought here by you." She nudged his shoulder playfully. "Well, there's nothing that interesting about me, but do /you/ want to know anything?" She swished her tail friskly.

Silver Knight smiled at the playful mare, glad he had chosen to bring her here. He couldn't think of what to say so he nickered at her compliment, as he took it. "Ok, tell me about yourself!" he said playfully, wanting to get to know the mare more.

Michelle sighed. "Well, as I said, I'm not that interesting, I guess." Her smile slowly turned to a worried frown as she continued, "Where should I start? At the beginning? Well, my father came from a very distinguished pure-bred Paso Fino herd. But when he fell in love with a mustang - my mother - he was exiled from his home herd. But, of course, they didn't care. They decided to have a kid - me - but my mother died in childbirth." She took a deep breath in, but didn't let it go. "My father tried to take care of me on his own," she continued, "but he was so heartbroken, that it was hard for him. So when I turned three, I decided to leave my childhood herd and go traveling for a home of my own."

Knight listened with interest, nodding every once in a while as she spoke to him. "I'm so sorry about that..." he said. "But you have a home now." He smiled and nickered, feeling bad about her childhood, but hoping she'd have a better life in this herd. His past was something he usually liked to keep to himself, because it turned off a lot of equines he told it to. He had gotten close to someone before but when he told her his past, she decided to leave him. He didn't want that to happen again.

Michelle smiled slightly, feeling better. "All thanks to you, Knight," she said, nuzzling him softly. Her smiled grew bigger as she asked, "So, what about you? It's your turn to tell me something." She liked this game. It was good to talk to someone, no matter how much it hurt.

Knight sighed and looked down at his hooves for a moment before looking back up at Michelle. He really didn't want to tell her his past, but if they were going to get to know each other, he guessed he would have to. This was going to be tough. "Ok..." he said with a sigh. "I was born to Dark parents in a Dark herd. I grew up...dark until about the age of..." this was a hard part. He had been dark most of his life. "3. I changed though, and I really hope that didn't sound like really bad!"

Michelle looked deep into Knight's eyes and realized how hard this was for him to tell her. She nuzzled him again and muttered quietly, "It's ok, I understand. You've changed, now. You're good. So what does it matter if you grew up dark? Everyone's pasts are filled with regret, yours is just . . . worse than others. But it's ok, now. You're not the same colt you once were." She grinned and nickered happily. "Ok, my turn," she continued. "Let's see . . . I already told you about Jude. My childhood love?" She sighed and muttered, "I wonder where he is now . . ." But she shook her head to clear these thoughts and said, "Oh, well. It doesn't matter now, I'm here."

Knight smiled and nodded, really glad that she understood that he was good now and that he regretted his past. He gave Michelle a quick nuzzle to show her he really was a good guy now, and was no longer dark. He would never do anything to hurt somebody unless he really had to. "Yeah, you told me about him," he said. "Have anything else?"

Michelle furrowed her brow in thought. "Well, let's see . . ." she muttered. There was really no other interesting things she could think of. "Well, for one thing I've never lived in the forests before," she said. "But that's not very interesting, is it?" She looked around herself for inspiration. "Let's play a different game," she said. "How about 'Truth'? It's basically the same game. I ask you a question, and you have to tell me the truth - the real truth. What do you say? I'll go first. Let's see . . ." She paused, thinking of a really good question. "Have you ever really loved a mare?" She had never been very good at these "flirting games" and she hoped that she wasn't being too forthcoming. But she did want to know some more things about him.

Knight smirked playfully. He used to play the 'Truth' game all the time with his old mare and his friends. He nodded, thinking of something to say. "Ok, I love this game!" he said. It was a good way to get to know each other, and most things he didn't mind telling. "Well, Viviana was the first mare I ever loved, and this was after I had turned light," he began. "But when I eventually had the courage to tell her my past, she thought totally different about me...and we got a split." He finished telling her, and then thought of a question to ask her. "How did you and Jude get apart?" he asked.

Michelle smiled, happy at his enthusiasm. Fiar was fair, she had to answer his question now. "Well, Jude was a year younger than me, so when I left my childhood herd, he was only two years old. So, he and his sister tried to follow me, but they soon got lost and fell behind. I thought about going back to find him, but I figured that it was just easier if I never saw him again. I knew from the beginning that it would never work between us, but he always held out hope that we would make it together." She shrugged and added, "It turned out that it didn't after all." She smiled and said, "Ok, my question. Do you believe in love at first sight?"

Knight listened to Michelle as she told him about the story between her and her old childhood love, Jude. So it didn't work and she never thought it would work? Then he switched his mind to her question, which he didn't really know how to answer. "I like to get to know equines first," he said, honestly. "I really don't know if I do or not." Now he was curious how she thought about love at first sight. "I'm going to go ahead and ask you the same thing..." he said.

Michelle grinned, "No," she said descisively. "I don't believe in love at first sight. I believe in attraction at fist sight, sure. All relationships start with attraction, or else you would never take time to even know the other person." Her eyes glistened as she added, "However, I do believe that you have to know a person in order to love them. You have to know all of their quirks and all of their bad points, and still love them for who they are. It's all the little things that matter." She smiled and said, "That was probably more than you wanted to know." She glanced to her hooves, then met gazes with Silver Knight again and said, "I know all of my questions have a common point, but do you believe that you can love more than one person?"

Knight nodded and listened. So they had that in common? They both didn't in love at first sight. "Sorta," he said. "I feel like I can love someone else if I feel like the first relationship didn't go well, and I'd like to try again. Or if the equine you used to be with died, and you feel like she would like you to move on...but definatly not at the same time." Well, that was his anwser. That was how he really felt, and nothing Michelle told him would make him feel any different. "I know this is totally different than all the other questions, but...do you accept serious change?"

"Oh, it's good for a change in topic," she assured him. "Well, I don't like it when things go on the same for too long - I like to switch things up every now and then. But serious change? It can be scary sometimes, especially if it comes on fast." She paused for a moment and then added, "I guess I could take change, yes."
"Ok, next question. It's a silly question, but what's your favorite color?" She chuckled lightly at her own question. She knew it was pointless, but it was something that she wanted to know about him. Who cared if it was silly?

Knight nodded then smiled at her next question. It was silly, yes, but he didn't care. He didn't only need to know serious things about Michelle, he could learn simple things about her, too. "Either blue or green, I can't decide," he said with a smile. "What is /your/ favorite color?" he asked, wanting to know hers now.

(short)

"Mine's yellow!" she said excitedly. "I don't know why, but it just makes me happy!" She giggled and then said, "Hmm . . . what can I ask you now?" She gazed at him for a minute, thinking, and then said, "Tell me about your parents. I mean, were they really that dark?" She had never spent much time around dark horses, so she never knew if they were very bad or not.

"I like yellow! Its bright!" he said. He liked bright colors for some reason. When Michelle asked him about his parents, he thought of what to say. "My dad was horable," he said. "Murdered lights just for the fun of it. My mother didn't kill much, but she would still boss equines around and punish them for simple things. It didn't help they were the Alpha and Alphess of the land..." He hated his parents for that. They were an evil murderous couple that no one wanted to ever have contact with. "Its simple, but do you have any siblings?" he asked her.

Michelle was unable to meet Silver Knight's gaze as he spoke of his parents. Instead, she stared down at her hooves. It was awkaward to hear that his parents had been murderers, but it was something that she had needed to know. "I'm glad you're not like that," she managed to say. She shook her head and said, "Siblings? No, I'm an only child. What about you?"

Knight nodded as he didn't hear her say anything bad about his parents. He didn't care though. He was really glad that she believed him when he had said he was not like his parents, and was good. "I have one sister," he said, shivering at the thought of his older sister. "Full sister. You never want to meet her." He sighed while he thought of a question to ask her, but he couldn't think of anything.

"Is . . . is she dark too?" Michelle asked. "I mean, is she dark, like your parents, or is she like you?" Michelle thought about what it would be like if she had siblings. Sometimes she wished she did, but other times she wqas glad that she didn't have anything to get in her way or hold her back. Then she thought about how hard it was for her to not have any real family at all, but it must be even harder for Silver Knight to know that he did have family, but that he could never trust them because they were dark.