Red Blood, Blue Blood, Old Blood, New Blood

CONNOR

Posture straight, shoulders back, head forward, Connor continued to survey his surroundings from a stationary position. He scanned everything that his eyes landed on, LED cycling a constant, blinking yellow that pierced through the inky dark. Scanning, scanning, scanning… Filtering away bits of information that may or may not hold use in the future; the temperature, the unknown trees and thick vines and other forms of vegetation, the swirling smoke-like mist, the sounds…

Around him the snow continued to fall, white flakes collecting upon the rich bay tone of his artificial hide. Still the snow refused to melt.

The sound of  motion nearby caught his ears. Connor’s head turned, eyes narrowing as he peered through the eerie darkness, optic sensors adjusting to better see through the dark. A black and ivory creature approached, spotted him then froze, yet remained a safe distance away. An equine. Winged. A pegasus. The bay frowned, scanning the winged equine on instinct. The results were not near as detailed as they should have been.

Male. Fifteen-point-three hands. Age estimation: Three-to-four years. Caution: Potential threat level: Low. It really wasn’t much information at all. Still, Connor would do as he always did and adapt.

’You!’ The call seemed to tremble upon the very trees around them, reverberating through the brush and earth alike. Connor simply stared, blinking once every six seconds. Him? What about him? Was he somewhere that he shouldn’t be? Posture erect and seemingly frozen and immobile, Connor refused to move a single inch, consciously preserving precious energy. Then, after what could be perceived as an unnerving amount of time, Connor tilted his head slightly to the right as his LED continued to blink a rapid yellow.

“Hello.” The stallion’s voice was smooth and calm in his greeting, bordering on respectful. Before anything else could be said, however, a third creature joined them, leaping through the brush with hackles raised. Connor’s head snapped towards its direction, scanning, scanning… Yet nothing useful popped up in his memory. A wolf? No, not quite. Not like any he knew of.

A warning flickered in the top right of his vision, but suddenly the neon scruff of the not-wolf’s fur seemed to flare like a signal, disrupting the dark area in a bright, blinding light. With his optics adjusted to see through the dark, the sudden increase of light was enough to temporary blind him, and he took a cautionary step back just as the neon not-wolf attacked, LED blinking a furious red of alarm. She lunged, aiming to wrap her jaws about the bay’s left hind leg, and Connor bristled at the pressure as sharp canines latched onto the synthetic flesh and metal bone of his leg.

Before he could even try to kick out and dislodge her, however, the not-wolf seemed to realize that he was not like other equines. He was the furthest thing from a meal as she could have possibly found. She tore herself from his leg, looking particularly perplexed with blue blood staining her muzzle, before darting off back into the dense fog and forest. Connor simply watched her go, expression nearly quizzical. From the punctures of her teeth dripped a small flow of thirium, but it was nothing to be concerned about. None of his vital vascular lines had been severed. It would heal, given time.

Turning his head, ears forward and expression rather earnest despite having just been attacked and injured, albeit slightly, Connor focused once more on the young stallion standing ahead of him. Finally, his LED settled on a calm blue. He appeared calm, collected, and not at all bothered by what had just occurred. “My name is Connor.”