Hoshor Plains basalt ii

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new wolves had moved into the plains. selenia had met one dark night with umini, leaving @Silverbirch under the eye of fancy.

long-teeth move in, umini had grunted. drive out others. gather more. circle herd. leaders mad. some clans plan anger-stomp.

their talk had not been long. selenia had relayed this to @Maplesmoke and the lead mare, and when she woke burning and irritable the next morning, she attributed it only to stress.

gathering her foal, the mare paced the far grassline, lifting her head every few pulls of grass to look for the wolves amassing in the plains.

@Nephele @Arktos potential for optional future NPC stampede event if u want to play that out! <3

their herd remained small and safe upon the plains, but there was a growing unrest among the tribe of giants which even Maplesmoke bore witness to.

for a time he was distracted from even that, due to Fancy. in the following days it was Selenia and her foal who would draw his eye. the stalking ones - the wolves - were amassing and Maplesmoke caught glimpses of them together with one another, with attention on the herd.

he followed Selenia this day as she grazed, although he would not do the same.

her ears flicked backward.

the stallion followed.

on her next bite of plainsgrass, selenia eyed the hale coat and strong muscles of their band stallion.

she shook out her pretty mane, nickering softly in interest as she turned with a flutter of her long eyelashes, tail flicking.

why had he become so interesting?

The filly looked upon the world with wonder in her large, shining eyes. She frisked as her mother moved, tossing her head and kicking out her heels as she bounded, stomping her neat little feet against the earth. 

The other horses drew her attention now and again, but she spent very little time away from her mother’s side. Here, she felt secure- and milk was always available. The sorrel had a kind and soft touch, but she would not allow Silverbirch to nurse and the filly threw a fit whenever she was discouraged from trying. 

The stallion drew nearer. Silverbirch paid him little attention, and began to nurse from her mother as she grazed.

the way Selenia looked to him did not go wholly unnoticed.

the way the foal ignored him was mirrored back, as Maplesmoke held no use for the little one. he saw how depended the filly remained, even when refused by Selenia, and thought to run her off.

instead he circled them, showing off. let her see how fine and healthy he was; let her see who kept her safe from the wolves at their heel.

selenia saw, and approved, and flicked her tail to and fro once more in a flirting gesture. she allowed silverbirch to nurse and then pinned ears, a low snort encouraging the filly back.

she gave a short lecherous squeal toward maplesmoke as he passed in his proud gait, but was not yet ready to let him close, though her eyes were bright and skin shuddering with intense sensation.

Her mother snorted, but the filly ignored her warning. She could see her mother’s head swing around, and noted the pinning of her ears. 

In retaliation, the filly continued to nurse- and even gave her mother’s bag a couple punches with her muzzle as if to talk back and say 

”Just let me eat!”

Her mother’s squeal caused her to shy away momentarily, and she looked toward the stallion who circled them with a high step. He was more agitated than usual, and Silverbirch wasn’t sure what to make of it. She moved around her mother’s hind end in an attempt to keep her mother between herself and the circling stallion.

he could not get close without permission, and maplesmoke thought he would only be teased so long as selenia was distracted by her filly.

he gave a snort and stomped a few times as he passed the pair of them; his efforts to appear as strong as the surly bison which shared (and shaped) their plains-home evident.

maplesmoke would circle back to a spot where selenia had been earlier, either where she had grazed or urinated, and here he would make a show of savoring the scents left behind.

hurry, go. he implied with another stomp of his hooves. if the filly remained too close he would have to separate them himself.

Like any, she enjoyed seeing the stallion flaunt himself, thinking it was almost a pity that there was only one. There was something magnificent about seeing two stallions posture and flare, and even spar. It would always be in her best interest to follow the strongest one of them and here, that was Maplesmoke. 

She lifted her head to watch him circle Selenia, whose scent and posture were suggestive. Fancy remained nearby, as always- such affairs were seldom private. She uttered a soft whicker to the foal, an invitation to part with her mother, and a promise to the blossoming mare that her foal would be safe at her side should she prefer to have her out of harm’s way.

silverbirch would not be deterred. selenia was divided between the instinct to canter toward maplesmoke and the instinct to defend her filly from him.

when fancy showed, it was with relief that she whinnied toward the lead mare, and nudged her foal a little as if to say go. 

only when they had parted from one another would she allow maplesmoke to move closer, kicking her heels a bit to say not too fast.

selenia found herself as eager for him as he seemed to be for her, but courtship rites must be observed.

and when maplesmoke ran their gamut, she welcomed him with a bright squeal, flicking plume aside for his entry.

nature went on.

the horses fed together after that, selenia preening small burrs from her stallion's mane as he watched over their band beneath the wide sky.

The pushy, milk-less sorrel called to her. Silverbirch thought her useless- and merely flicked her tail and stomped a hoof to express just how much she would prefer to stay at her mother’s side-

but the stallion loomed, his body language a mystery to the foal who has no idea what his intentions were. He moved away momentarily and the filly lowered her head to peer at him below her mother’s stomach.

A nudge to her shoulder was gentle but clearly more a command than a suggestion. She squealed, tossed her head with youthful nimbleness (nearly doing an exorcist-style twist in the process) and pummeled the ground with her hooves. She whirled, and kicked out with both hind feet, missing her mother’s side by a number of feet as she toppled forward and bucked and crow-hopped her way over to the sorrel. 

Sour, she grunted and reached to nip with her hard gums at the sorrel’s shoulder before she began to thump her side with her muzzle, willing to risk repercussions for the chance to suckle.