SHE PAUSED, SQUINTING her quizzical eyes at Raymond from a uplifted visage. A genuine grin split her lips for a moment in response to his comment. She could read between the glints of his blade, behind his reserved composure. The red man had smelled and touched and torn the monsters who only visited Hydra as intangible phantasms in her dreams.
Perhaps she could learn a thing or two.
She remained still throughout his appraisal, ears relaxing back against a cushion of black and white upon her poll. The cooler autumn months had begun to awaken her thicker winter coat, with shaggy hair beginning to sprout at the points of her silhouette. Although her body appeared idle, her eyes were alight with ravenous curiosity. Raymond stood pensively, and as he turned to dabble in the plant life lining the placid lake, her ears snapped forward. She acknowledged the similarities between him and the feline from the pass. Fluid. Precise.
Potentially parlous.
However, fear of missing out was common amongst the youths, and Hydra was no exception. Soon she was beside him, the concept of personal space suddenly foreign to her as she lowered her muzzle to get a better look at which foliage he passed over and on that which he lingered. She devoured each move that the older stallion made, the gears of her mind silently whirring as they imprinted onto her memory. Once it seemed he had made a selection, she stepped back with a soft snort. Silently she watched him wield the weapon on the tip of his tail, this time as naturalist healer rather than warrior.
Her ears fell lopsided as her eyes focused on the tiny, pale flowers suspended before her. Their leaves were tiny, round things that crowded along the stem. A faint spicy scent wafted into her nostrils as Raymond muddled the poultice. Pleasant, she thought with an offhanded tilt of her head and pursing of her lips. Carefully, she watched as he moved to press it upon her wounds.
The muscles in her jaw clenched with a subtle twitch as the stallion applied the mixture, though that was the extent of any negative reaction. When he was finished, she took a moment to sniff at the end result and revel in the tingling tendrils that were leeching into the open rake marks.
Engrossed in her assessment, her concentration was broken by Raymond’s almost fatherly words. She rolled her eyes as she turned her focus back to him, tossing her head with a knowing sigh. She knew that her guard had been woefully down. She knew that she really should take care of herself.
Most importantly, she knew that Raymond could easily have had more important things to do than stop to help a melodramatic filly.
“Yeah, yeah… I’ll admit I didn’t entirely have my wits about me,” she spoke plainly, cocking a brow and pursing her lips as she shrugged. “Raymond. Nice to meet you. I’m Hydra. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it. Even if I now look like a creature from the black lagoon.” A genuine thank you from Hydra? Her parents would’ve scoffed in disbelief. “The puma seemed a bit… worse for the wear. I was able to pin it against some rocks in a narrow pass and scrape it off.”
Her brows furrowed as she recalled the details - the charred bits of forest she had passed, the ash-covered bones and singed fur. “It almost looked starved, come to think of it. What the hell happened in those mountains, to leave them so desecrated and burnt?” Swarthy eyes demanded an answer for the wreckage, the pyre that blighted the mountainside, and she hoped that the red stallion before her knew.
Perhaps she could learn a thing or two.
She remained still throughout his appraisal, ears relaxing back against a cushion of black and white upon her poll. The cooler autumn months had begun to awaken her thicker winter coat, with shaggy hair beginning to sprout at the points of her silhouette. Although her body appeared idle, her eyes were alight with ravenous curiosity. Raymond stood pensively, and as he turned to dabble in the plant life lining the placid lake, her ears snapped forward. She acknowledged the similarities between him and the feline from the pass. Fluid. Precise.
Potentially parlous.
However, fear of missing out was common amongst the youths, and Hydra was no exception. Soon she was beside him, the concept of personal space suddenly foreign to her as she lowered her muzzle to get a better look at which foliage he passed over and on that which he lingered. She devoured each move that the older stallion made, the gears of her mind silently whirring as they imprinted onto her memory. Once it seemed he had made a selection, she stepped back with a soft snort. Silently she watched him wield the weapon on the tip of his tail, this time as naturalist healer rather than warrior.
Her ears fell lopsided as her eyes focused on the tiny, pale flowers suspended before her. Their leaves were tiny, round things that crowded along the stem. A faint spicy scent wafted into her nostrils as Raymond muddled the poultice. Pleasant, she thought with an offhanded tilt of her head and pursing of her lips. Carefully, she watched as he moved to press it upon her wounds.
The muscles in her jaw clenched with a subtle twitch as the stallion applied the mixture, though that was the extent of any negative reaction. When he was finished, she took a moment to sniff at the end result and revel in the tingling tendrils that were leeching into the open rake marks.
Engrossed in her assessment, her concentration was broken by Raymond’s almost fatherly words. She rolled her eyes as she turned her focus back to him, tossing her head with a knowing sigh. She knew that her guard had been woefully down. She knew that she really should take care of herself.
Most importantly, she knew that Raymond could easily have had more important things to do than stop to help a melodramatic filly.
“Yeah, yeah… I’ll admit I didn’t entirely have my wits about me,” she spoke plainly, cocking a brow and pursing her lips as she shrugged. “Raymond. Nice to meet you. I’m Hydra. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it. Even if I now look like a creature from the black lagoon.” A genuine thank you from Hydra? Her parents would’ve scoffed in disbelief. “The puma seemed a bit… worse for the wear. I was able to pin it against some rocks in a narrow pass and scrape it off.”
Her brows furrowed as she recalled the details - the charred bits of forest she had passed, the ash-covered bones and singed fur. “It almost looked starved, come to think of it. What the hell happened in those mountains, to leave them so desecrated and burnt?” Swarthy eyes demanded an answer for the wreckage, the pyre that blighted the mountainside, and she hoped that the red stallion before her knew.
H Y D R A
How the heavens they opened up
Like arms of dazzling gold
With our rain-washed histories well, we do not need to be told
Like arms of dazzling gold
With our rain-washed histories well, we do not need to be told
@Raymond :)
