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Watcher offered little information as to why he had been wandering through the lanky trees in the ever-changing shadows that they casted on the ground beneath their hooves. His retort drips with sarcasm that illicits a smirk from the babe. "Have you missed me so dearly that you've resorted to stalking?" Her voice is coated with a layer of exaggerated innocence; a sweetness that indicates that the remark is of comical origins. "Or were you.. just in the area?"
Most stallions she knows have become machines of their herds and loyalties, units in the systematic arrangement of large groups of horses, measured and valued only for their productivity. They are tense from subducting so much anger (at their herds, their leaders, the members, themselves), burying it deep into their soul so they can get up and do the same intensely tedious duties over and over. They become tense sires and controlling mates, piling damage onto damage until their life implodes. What is left of them after that is bitter confusion and an aura of resentment. She was never sure if Watcher was among these stallions, his distanced disposition and mysterious dislike (fear?) of revealing too much about himself were warning signs, yet he seemed different. Yet didn't they all seem different- each a liar or a thief or a sexist monster hidden under the guise of innocent, unique personas trying desperately to restart their crumbled lives. Wasn't that the reason she had experimented (and later fell in love with) mares? She could relate to a mare far more than she'd been able to with a stallion thus far.
She blinks as she looks away from Watcher, inhaling deeply as she refocuses on the task at hand. The mare would worry about the complexities of her ever-changing sexuality later.
Watcher reveals that asulli have been hunted to near extinction and a sharp pain twists in her gut as she swallows, unsure of how she was going to harvest a feather. Aurelia grew up surrounded by fire and ash and poison and death. It was the only thing she knew, so of course, she wanted it. She was never taught what love was- what kindness was. In fact, in her entire childhood, she recalls only one type of smile- a smile full of malice and cruel intent. She imagines a single, murdered asulli- its body strewn across the floor like a ghoulish mannequin, skin brutally tattered, leaving the esophagus and arteries sticking out much like rubber tubing, its fluorescent feather hanging from her maw like a trophy. Such a thought would have left her brimming with excitement and anticipation a few years ago, but much had changed about the mustang.
In her time wandering lost and lonely, in the months when she'd flee Helovia before returning, there was a saying that would remind the golden babe how little she could see with just her simple eyes, but how much she could see with her pulsing, humming heart. They would say that all the eyes could tell you is the result of what happened, never the reason, the intention, the deep emotions that swim below the surface. The thought of violently ripping an asulli's delicate tendril from its massive body, instilling an insatiable pain (if not death) in the harmless being made her feel nauseous and guilty. She would not be able to see with her eyes the amount of pain that would be dealt should she rip a feather off of the gentle giants, only with her heart would she know the true implications of her actions. She wasn't sure she could do it.
Watcher turns to lead her away, claiming he knows where they can be found. As he motions for her to follow, her heart stutters in her chest and she can feel the gentle tickle of hundreds of butterflies fluttering within her stomach. She doesn't know why, but the warmth of a rosy blush emerges on her porcelain features as she falls into line behind him.
Only a minute or so after they began their trek, Aurelia sees something move in her peripheral vision. With no warning or noise, she halts and twists her head towards it. It takes her a moment to make out exactly what she sees, the fluorescent markings of the beast blending in exquisitely with the neon colors of the forest. When she makes out the form of an asulli, she burst out of the shadows and into view through low-hanging branches, ruffling the leaves that decorate the trees and making an unafraid commotion. "Hey! I've got a question," she somewhat hollers at the creature (unaware of the halfway sleeping babe by the mother's side).
It is fairly obvious that Aurelia is not hunting the mother. She is not even attacking the mother. It is also equally clear that she is horribly unaware of the asulli's timid nature and dislike of horses (as they've been mercilessly hunted by them for what could be centuries). Aurelia's eyes flutter to the ground where the asulli child, that she did not know existed a mere 10 seconds ago, has begun to rest. The mare halts immediately, her jaw hanging open as she realizes that the larger beast is actually a mother, just like herself. "I'm sorry," she whispers as she hopes she has not caused too much of a disturbance in the child's sleep. The mare doesn't even question if these animals speak her language (which they probably do not).
Her trial was going to shit at this point because there was no way in fuck she was going to savagely murder a mother and leave the child to fend for itself or murder the child and leave the mother depressed for years to come.
like a deer in the headlights i meet my fate |
Rainforest Cliffs
harvesting asulli feathers
