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Darkseeker
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Asenath
Mare | 3 Years | Herd Mare | Mentions: Rastus, Atolos, Lorcan, Morrigan
The mare was caught off guard by the sudden presence of dusty clouds baring down on them. When she turned they were much closer than they had been when she had been with Lorcan. In fact, she wasn't even sure she had seen them then. Her ears pinned against her head as the coming winds ripped at her mane, swirling it around her face like tiny whips.
Fear etched into her features as her head followed suit, whipping around in search of the members in her family. Instead, her eyes immediately landed on Rastus making his way back over to her. Normally she would have pinned her ears at him in agitation, but mild relief spread through the female at the sight of a familiar face, albeit a mildly annoying one, but still a familiar one.
"Safety in numbers, right," she murmured, and let herself take cover beside him. Her eyes, though, kept searching for her family. Atolos, she knew, would be with the helm of the herd, trying to keep as many of them together. She could only hope her youngest sister was with him, or Adira. hopefully Lorcan would be too, but with how quickly the storm settled over them, bathing them in a layer of dust and dirt, she wasn't sure he would have made it over to them before visibility cut out.
Her ears flicked when a familiar voice echoed into them, her eyes drifting to the Chestnut mare that so many said looked just like their mother. Truthfully, she didn't really see it, but that was probably just because she saw the two as very different horses. One of her ears swiveled towards Morrigan in silent greeting, and tucked her head down so that she could try and keep the dust out of her eyes.
Everyone would be okay. They had to be.
"We should keep moving, try to find shelter, or at least try and head in the direction father was trying to take us," she had noticed he had veered away from the riverbed in his call, his indirect body language telling her he was leading them towards a different path. Anything would be better than just standing in her opinion.
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Darkseeker
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Atolos
Stallion | 10 Years | Lead Stallion | Mentions: The Herd, Lorcan, Adira, Bia, Others/Open
The stallion was preparing to speak to the herd, let them know of the plan he had devised, but his words were cut off when he noticed a few things all at once. First were the clouds looming above them, barreling at them faster than he had ever thought possible. At first possible joy roared through him, but upon closer inspection that joy was quickly replaced with fear. The cries of fear the herd produced, calling to one another confirmed his fear, and he nickered to those closest to him.
"Come and stay with me," he remained calm, collected, and relatively stern, a voice of reason and leadership through the terror. He'd be lying if his own heart wasn't thundering in his chest though. While gathering the herd, his ears flicked to a familiar voice and his head arched up, eyes darting about til they landed on his son.
"Lorcan," he called out, and blew out his nose loudly. He trotted over to his yearling, and rounded him back towards the group he held about the same time the wind ripped into him. He grunted as dirt flew, dust clouding his vision. "Stay with me, you'll be safe," he assured as he lead him over to the main group. He knew he didn't have the whole herd, they were a bit scattered when the storm hit, so he could only hope they were close.
Through the roaring winds, though, he heard the faintest echo of a name he knew. Bia.
His head flew up, eyes blasted with dust, and looked frantically for his youngest foal. A chill ran down his spine as he looked through the bodies amassing around him for the frail form of his daughter. He couldn't lose her too. He wouldn't.
"Bia!" He called out, his voice low and harsh, fear clogging his throat, or maybe that was the dirt. "Bia," he coughed and lowered his head, praying he could find her soon. He could only hope to hear the faint cry of 'Papa!' soon. |
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Darkseeker
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River
Filly | 2 Months | Herd Foal | Mentions: Inessa, Ouranos, Nysa, Neamh
The blue roan filly didn't know how it happened. One minute she was nestled between her brother and mother, and the next she was staggering through the blizzard of dust and dirt, trying to find anyone. "Mama!" She called out, her legs wobbling slightly from the force of the wind.
Her head was tucked low and she stumbled about, hooves unsure as the gusts of wind pushed against her, seemingly driving her towards her impending doom. Fear was raking through her, building and building until quiet sobs choked in her throat, fear blinding her nearly as much as the dust.
As luck would have it though, a strong gust of wind send the little foal careening to the side where she bumped into another body. Elation caused her to lift her head, looking up at the mare before her with clouded eyes. "Mama?" She questioned, nestling close to the mare. She realized it wasn't her mother, but Nysa, about the same time she noticed the second mare, Neamh, beside her.
She sniffed weakly, and instinctively nestled against the older mares, seeking shelter beside them. "I can't find my mama," she murmured to them, looking up with scared and hopeful eyes. "Have you seen her?" Her voice wobbled as much as her legs did, and she looked around, the cloud of dust blocking her vision from seeing anyone. Surely her mother was out there somewhere.
What about Ouranos? Was her brother okay? Was he with her mom? Were they looking for her? Emotions flooded the small foal and she swayed a bit to the side and bumped into the mare again. "Sorry," she murmured weakly, unsure if her company was welcomed by the two mares. She had met most of the mares once or twice, but being so young she hadn't yet ventured out away from her mom's side to get to know any of them. These two were basically strangers to her. |
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Darkseeker
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Keanu Male || 3 Weeks || Foal || M: Naga [ind.] Anil, Atolos Keanu had watched as his father walk off to meet with Atolos, he was a bit disappointed at the lack of time they had shared but he would be able to see him again. The little foal had tried to listen to the conversation he and Naga had but was unsuccessful. He eventually gave up and flicked his stubby tail to swat away a lone fly, looking around the herd, Keanu kept an eye out for some of the other foals. He wanted to play, and maybe if he found one of them he could convince his mother to let him go over there. He nodded his head excitedly and turned back towards his mother when he noticed the low brown clouds rolling in. “Mother, what’s that?” he asked, this foal had never seen any rain clouds, or a dust storm for that matter, and was quite confused at what he was seeing. The wind whipped towards the young foal, rocking his small frame and making him stumble into Naga, “Woah!” he whinnied, Keanu was soon being nudged towards the center of the herd by his mother and didn’t protect as the strong winds pushed him around. His mother moved to block some of it and he let out a little sigh of relief, "I want you to bite my tail and try your best not to let go, okay?" she told him, squinting as the winds picked up. "I don't want you to get lost in the storm." Naga spoke, her voice calm. “Like this?” he called in reply, yelling through her tail as he clamped down on it. Keanu didn’t want to get lost, and holding onto her tail help steady him a bit. When the storm hit the foal could hardly see a thing, the sand leaped off the ground and stung his eyes. He squinted but could hardly see a thing, "It'll be okay, Keanu." he heard, it was faint but he nodded. The foal knew he was surrounded by some of the others in the herd, he could just make out some of their shapes, so he felt safe. But the sand seemed to choke him and started to fill his mouth. He started to worry pushed his head against Naga’s side, trying to spit out the sand. “Is it over!” Keanu yelled, shaking slightly as he closed his eyes, hopefully, it would be over soon. |
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Darkseeker
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Neamh || 3 || Herd Mare || M: Nyssa, River The tobiano barely caught Nyssa's question over the hiss of sand and dust whipping around her ears and through her mane. She tried to open her eyes to no avail; the grit entering them only caused her to blink more, which further aggravated her eyes. Instead, she strained her ears and listened as hard as she could. The faint cries of various horses came from all around, it seemed, except for one direction. So we're on the edge already, she thought to herself. She tried to remember which way Nyssa had been facing when she'd bumped into the grulla, but her sense of direction was as skewed as the wind. Out loud, she coughed, "I think... I don't know. Left? Straight?" Neamh was about to suggest they pick a direction and move somewhere, anywhere, when a voice peeped, "Mama?" Oh, heavens, it was River. The little foal was leaning against Nyssa now, she thought. Or was it her? Neamh's body was tingling all over as dirt pelted her, and she couldn't tell what she was feeling anymore. "No, River, it's just us," she informed the filly. "I'm sorry, I haven't seen her. She might be with the herd." Hope pricked Neamh. River was small; surely she hadn't wandered far, and she doubted that the filly had come from too far away from the herd. Could they be close? "We might be nearer to the others than I thought. We'll find her once the dust settles, okay?" Turning her head up to address Nyssa, she added in a hoarse voice (ehehe, get it?), "Do you think we should move? Or stay here?" |
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Ouranos || 4 || Herd Stallion || M: Cadhla, Sylph "I haven't seen her," he responded, heart sinking. Macha, River, Inessa,... How many more were missing? Dead? Dying? The pale roan stallion suppressed a shiver. First the drought, then emboldened predators, now a dust storm. He had the feeling that some wouldn't make it. As Cadhla quickly shifted to the need for shelter, he raised his head and pricked his ears. Shelter. He saw the older mare's frame press up against Sylph and he did the same, then closed his eyes. He tried to picture their location, or the general location of the herd, anyway, and fought to remember any sort of outcropping of rock or scorched trees that they could move to. "Weren't there a bunch of trees by the river, when there was one? Last year, towards the mountains. They're all dead by now, I would think, but since it used to be a riparian environment, they should be well-knit together and able to withstand the storm. Maybe even provide us with some protection," he yawped. "What do you think, Cadhla?" He deferred to the older mare, as she had, what, twice his experience? She was younger than his dam, but they were on par in wisdom. At least, they were in his eyes, and he intended to respect his elders. If he died, he would not die disrespecting the things his mother had taught him. |
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Darkseeker
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Naga || 8 || Herd Mare || M: Keanu, Main Body of Herd She turned to make sure Keanu was indeed fastened firmly to her tail, and she whickered her approval at his inquiry. "Just like that. Now, I'm going to walk forward, and I want you to stay close to me. If you need to slow down, let me know." Naga was quite impressed with her outward calm. Her heart still beat normally, and she had the look of angry determination displayed on her face and in her stance. Nothing was going to touch Keanu. Not like Cairo. This would be different. She began her trek forward, weaving carefully through the bodies of unrecognizable horses until she had reached a place where the sand stung less. Naga turned back to her colt and rasped, "How are you, love? Are you okay to keep going?" She figured they were near the middle of the main swell, as she could feel the panic emmitting off the sweat and dirt-caked bodies surrounding them. Naga felt a flash of worry as she wondered why it was so quiet. Shouldn't more foals be vocalizing? Was it just that she couldn't hear over the wind? "We need to get you to the center," she called to Keanu. "You'll be safest there, and you might even be able to see. If we get separated, I need you to find any horse and stick to them as close as you can, okay?" |
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Summer Month: 1 
Day Weather: 
Light Rain
