[ c a n a l i c u l i ]

[« F u l é a o]

The sun had just cleared the horizon. In these mountains, there wasn't an abundance of life to appreciate it. Mostly the light was met only with spectacular mountaintops. Snow glinted; bald rock faces turned beautiful shades of red and gold, and dramatic shadows played over the crags and cliffs. Shimmering fog hung in the folds between mountains. Such a sight would have made a wonderful painting, if any one had know to come with their canvas. But the panorama had yet to include a human being in its audience, much less ones with artistic ability.

As the sun proceeded in its climb, its light reached into the valleys, little coniferous Edens amongst the mountains' inhospitality. In one of these wooded lacunae, beneath a fir of no particular importance, brown eyes fluttered open. Drowsily, the little grey mare who owned them glanced around, giving a huge yawn. Nagisa was in no particular hurry to wake up, still a little tired from the previous day's climb to get here. Her eyes closed again, and she stood with one foot cocked, peacefully listening to the birds prattling and fussing. Try as she might, she couldn't drift back into sleep.

Snorting, she began threading her way through the trees. It wasn't long before said trees gave way to a lush meadow, where mist still clung to the ground. Here she paused. The wide expanse was very inviting. The sharp morning air against her skin and in her lungs was invigorating. She itched to streak across the field at full tilt, to pound the ground, to feel the adrenaline, to race with the wind, rejoicing in the freedom that so few equines would ever experience...

These poetic thoughts were interrupted by loud gastrointestinal protests. Completely redirected, Nagisa moved onto the meadow at a much slower pace than originally intended. She didn't go far before stopping again. Scanning her surroundings and finding nothing threatening, she lowered her head and went at the grass with much gusto.

Celebratory frolics could wait until after breakfast.


o.o.c. - It's open. ^^

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum,

The sun lit him like gold, the shadows wrapped him in a cold swath of pale light, and Gypsum felt ethereal. He moved like it too. Ghosting from crevice to crevice, drifting around the trees as he neared the valley floor, turning stumbles into awkward little pounces. He even made an attempt to stifle the sounds of leaves crinkling under his single, great toes, but try as he might crinkle they did. This didn’t lend to the air of mystery he was trying to exclude, but seeing as no one was around, it didn’t really matter.

No one but that mare, of course. He could hear her stomach rumble like thunder from many tail lengths away. Why, a hundred tail lengths! He guessed. His hearing being quite extraordinary, none quite like it! Certainly she wouldn’t hear that soft crinkle of old leaves. So he didn’t make an effort to sneak, or stalk. In fact, his attention turned to the song of birds, and then her small body appeared just as the forest ended. Gypsum frowned. Well, the trees had probably thrown off his estimations of distance.

From the edges of a smattering of trees, the stallion watched her head dip into the grass, still crisp with dew- or melted frost, he couldn’t be sure which- and felt his own stomach murmur. That grass did look tempting. He’d bet his whiskers it tasted as fresh as a Spring bud. Oh! It did. Gypsum took another bite and mulled over the mare as he ate. Any moment her ears would pick him up, so he came to a decision as quick and efficient as any.

Gypsum sang. Not a bawdy song, as was his usual fare, but something of a dirge. Soft and low with memories of falling leaves and tree shadows on its heels. Not a particularly beautiful lament, and occasionally the odd, thoroughly inappropriate line snuck in, hinting merrily at strange fetishes to do with leaves and birds.

[/blockquote]

ooc. I love love love your descriptions of the mountains. So vivid! It inspired my opening. XD

[« F u l é a o]

It was strange, finding places where the grass was more green than yellow. Stranger still was the fact that she couldn't see her ribs anymore. For the first time in her life, Nagisa was a healthy weight. She didn't know that of course. In fact, she was a little worried it might be a bad sign.

Fairly often, she lifted her head to check her surroundings. The isolated life she'd been living of late made her particularly nervous. Nagisa was going to have to find a herd and settle down soon, before she went mad with paranoia. True, this wasn't at all an ideal place to achieve that goal. She just wanted to get a little exploring out of her system before being permanently attached to one spot. A lot of the things here weren't like the badlands at all, and she was curious.

Faint crunched behind her made the mare tense. Immediately her thoughts were full of predators that had snuck up despite her vigilance, and were only inches away from pouncing. She was about to whip around and confront the threat when the breeze shifted in her favor. The scent that came with it was not of a cougar or wolf, but a fellow equine. A stallion, to be more precise. Why he felt it was necessary to slip up behind and nearly scare the fur off her, she didn't know. Again she started to turn, but stopped short, completely baffled.

Good grief, what was he doing?

As the stranger spoke, his voice continuously changed pitch. But it didn't sound like someone talking while being jostled around violently; in a strange, bewildering way, it was beautiful. The ups and downs in timbre were smooth and harmonious. Nagisa's shapely little ears flicked toward the stallion, thoroughly enjoying the exotic way he was using his voice. He spoke...was that the right word for it?...softly, though she caught a few lines of things about leaves and birds and a little lewdness involving both. Despite that humor, the song was mostly melancholy. The little quarab mare just didn't know what to make of it.

Nagisa finished her current mouthful of grass, and then craned her neck around. The newcomer stood the trees, brilliant white amongst the shadows, thin but muscled. He was really quite a looker, in her eyes. Never mind that she thought that about most stallions.

"Wha' th' heck is that youse doin' wit' y'voice, big fella?"


o.o.c. - Why thank you. ^^

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum,

There were other stories among the leaves and the birds, of wolves who spoke, and cats who stalked, and friends who betrayed you. Gypsum had to think a moment before moving on from that last story. He was the traitor, after all, wasn’t he? He had failed in his quest. And the quest was changing. He hadn’t expected to find any horses in the mountains, but they were here. So where else had they survived? What other herds flourished? Was she from one, or alone? She didn’t smell of other horses but her health was suspect. Horses alone rarely did well and she’d been ignoring him for several verses now, even with his voice echoing around the meadow like wind.

At last, she looked at him. Gypsum started. She seemed surprised and her question threw him. First of all, he could barely decipher the accent. It was thick and clipped, and though not in a harsh way he had to chew on her words to understand them. Second, just the bizarreness of what she was asking. What exactly was she asking? He shook his head, mane flying around, haloing his head, catching the light. He didn’t much want to walk into the light. His haunches were still covered with earth, his tail still a bit too matted. Difficult to see from the current distance, glaringly obviously up close.

“You mean singing! Singing a song? Humming a melody? Telling an epic tale of old? You’re a bit slow, you are,” he said, with a quick little stomp. Then he sang, “You know, singing. Music!” And as the stallion’s voice projected over the meadow, he took a step back to the shadows. Then lowered his head. Lips poked gingerly at the grass, closed around them. With a snort, Gypsum took another bite and chewed as he watched her.

[/blockquote]

[« F u l é a o]

This was quite a pleasant surprise, really. Getting here hadn't been any trouble for Nagisa; if she didn't know how to handle rough terrain, she would have been dead long ago. She hadn't been sure if anyone else capable would be around, but she was glad that there was. Not only was isolation making her paranoid, it was making her lonely. Now she had someone to talk to, plus an extra set of ears and eyes alert for danger.

Now she felt nervousness of a different type. Nagisa wasn't quite sure why she felt so awkward around strangers. It certainly wasn't the way she looked; she knew she was quite a beauty, though at a furtive glance she noticed how much her winter coat had grown in. Sure, she was glad she wouldn't be freezing to death anytime soon. It would be nice if her coat didn't look so coarse when it decided to get thick, though.

His epic ceased, and he seemed as confounded as she was. “You mean singing! Singing a song? Humming a melody? Telling an epic tale of old? You’re a bit slow, you are. You know, singing. Music!”

And then he backed farther into the shade and started eating, as if to emphasis how silly he thought she was. That didn't particularly help her feelings of self-consciousness.

Of course she'd heard of music and singing, though only in the context of birds. Now that she thought about it, he did sound like the little feathered critters, though they tended to sing in a tumultuous jumble of notes. This was much more harmonious.

Playfully indignant, she turned to face him. "Slow, y'say? I know what music is, I jus' never heard nobody who weren't a bird wobble their voice 'round like that. Y'tell me 'm slow, I cud say youse a big silly what thinks he is a bird." She grinned, a little shyly. "'Cept I won't, cuz y'song wuz real purdy."

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum,

“Well then! If you know what it is-” Gypsum trailed off. What she said, that bit about the bird, actually made him leap forward. Sun struck his pale eyes, he winced, closed them, and walked right up to her. “You just did. You just did say I was a bird!” An indignant shake of the head and twitching of the ears and the stallion settled though he pawed at the ground absently. A bird, of all the things! He supposed it could have been worse. She could have called him a beetle. Of course beetles didn’t sing. So many a cricket then.

A bit hard to read, and lovely, in her own sort of broken voiced way. His face stayed a perpetual frown. Gypsum muttered a thank you and watched her sidelong. Not difficult for a horse, seeing how his eyes happened to be on the side of his head, but nonetheless, yes, and effort was made. What could he do? He hadn’t greeted really anyone in so long. The last pair- well it hadn’t ended nicely for either the filly or her brother, Gypsum reckoned. Dead, probably, but who was he to stomp on the wolf’s tail, after all? No need for a couple extra teeth in your own hide. How wonderful, now, to be back in the company of others. How often he forgot what home felt like, how much he missed it.

Then, he had an idea. “I can teach you, if you like,” he said and his mouth arched up with the beginnings of a smile. Only to be battered down by that frown, and furtive eyes slinking around over flowers, trees, distant rocks. Gypsum tasted the air. “There was a herd here once. Chum called Valentine was the lead. Big bloke, couldn’t miss him. You’re his family? Everyone always said they spoke funny.”

[/blockquote]

[« F u l é a o]

Her compliment did nothing to sooth the fact that she'd compared him to an avian, which was apparently very insulting to him. Without warning he charged forward, and she skittered back a little, just in case. But his only attack came in words, and she calmed down. Words were about the only thing she would fight with, unless she had no choice. "Naw, I di'n't. I says you think youse a bird. Tha's worse," she informed him mischievously.

Instinctively, her warm brown eyes met his vivid blue. He had paused, scrutinizing her with a pensive look on her face. Nagisa tried not to fidget under his gaze, automatically assuming his thoughts were negative. Maybe her coat really did look bad? Or maybe her demeanor had brought his disapproval down upon her? She knew stallions wouldn't forgive your flaws just because you were beautiful, though she still hadn't figured out what it was about her that had irked Romulus so. She tended to avoid dwelling on that subject.

Finally a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "I can teach you, if you like."

She considered a moment, deciding there was no harm in it. "Sure, might be int'restin' t'know how t'do. 'Sides, I don' mind soundin' silly."

And then his platysma took over again as he tensed, testing the air and glancing around their current environment. She stiffened as well, and without realizing it she moved a little closer to the stallion. No hint of a threat had reached her, but it was entirely possible he'd noticed something she hadn't. Then he spoke, and she understood his apprehension. He was worried that he was intruding on someone's land, maybe even appearing to try and lure a mare away.

"Aw, no, don' worry. Ain't no Valentine fella 'round here that I know of. Shoot, I don' think there's nobody up here but us 'uns. 'M not actu'lly from...here....waaaaait," She realized what he was implying by his last comment. The grin returned to her face. "See there, that proves it. I don' talk funny."

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum,

“So now I’m insane? I see how it is.” He narrowed his eyes at her, or eye, considering he only watched the mare with one and continued to bristle. For a time. It dissipated, of course, as we well know. His ears perked up. For stallions. For that horrible screech of a trumpet, that announced hundreds of pounds of horse flying through the woods. Nope. Nothing.

“Well that’s thankful. I guess they were all killed,” he mused. Properly, with a good mouthful of grass, although he realized later that his tone perhaps could have been more kind. “Perhaps Valentine got out. He really was big, you know. Oh, and you do talk funny.”

He took another bite of grass and considered the situation. So there were horses in the Mountain, still, if only just one. And she was a mare alone, which was also odd, but suggested even more that perhaps no one else remained. How had she came here, he wondered. Had she lived here all her life? Why there were certainly many valleys still unheard of. Surely there might be others, somewhere, hidden away in their own secret lands.

“Oh yes, right! I said I would teach you. Even if you do think music sounds silly,” he said, not without a smile and some, he hoped, humour. After all, Gypsum felt she sounded positively ridiculous! May as well have her thinking the same. Still, he presence startled him. Hadn’t they searched this place already? She shouldn’t be here. How it nagged at his mind like an angry fly. “First miss, oh, well I don’t know your name- I am Gypsum, in case you are wondering- yes, well-” He fumbled over the words like a colt newly on his feet. Come on, come on, friendly conversation couldn’t be that hard. “Why are you here? I mean, where is your family? Not that the grass up here isn’t good and all, but don’t expect me to believe that you’ve wandered off because its legendary, what.”

A touchy subject, what with some many horses buried or washed away and all. And patently not his business. He shrugged those evil thoughts away. There were better times to worry about other’s feelings and reactions. Maybe if he’d had more sense he wouldn’t have left Triskelion all those nights ago. Then again, chasing horses down from the Mountain was about as sensible as poking into their lives. Maybe less sensible. Yep, this felt like the better route.

[/blockquote]

[« F u l é a o]

At first the pale stallion stayed tense, watching her as if he suspected she was trying to get him in trouble. She found it a great relief when those intense blue eyes were no longer boring into her. He appeared to take comfort in the fact that the previous occupants were most likely dead. A cruel sentiment, but she was used to the idea of people looking out for number one.

He insisted that she did talk funny, a statement that even she knew was true. It also gave the little rabicano and chance to mess with him that she couldn't resist. "Is that so? Well, I really don't know what you think is so odd about the way I talk. I guess you're entitled to your opinion, though." Her pronunciation was still a little off, but more or less Nagisa managed to abandon her accent. Not everyone she grew up with had the regional drawl. In fact, her own mother spoke the same way as this stallion, as did one of her best friends as a foal. Andromeda spoke that way.

She left him alone while he ate, instead gazing up at the cliffs that loomed above them, bathed in gold. A flurry of motion caught her attention, and she lazily watched as a flock of birds flew overhead, casually noting the distant grey backdrop of storm clouds they flew across. The dark, noisy little creatures landed farther out in the field, disappearing into the long grass.

His voice brought Nagisa's gaze back to him. At last he was loosening up, using some humor. Still, she felt a little bad. "I's jus' yankin' on y'tail, big fella. Y'singin' really is purdy, it's jus' kinda odd, y'know?"

And then he brought up the fact that neither of them knew the other's name, and introduced himself as Gypsum. A pretty name, in her mind, though what he might be named after, she didn't know. Maybe it was one of those names like hers, merely a jumble of syllables that sounded nice together. "Well then, Gypsum, if y'wan' youse c'n call me Nagisa, cuz tha's what ev'rybody else does." Seriously, how had she forgotten about introductions?

Something seemed to bother him, and suddenly he was all flustered. Gypsum struggled to spit it out, but she understood what he was trying to say. Due to tradition, lone stallions were fairly common. Lone mares, on the other hand, were a bit of a curiosity. "I lef' th' folks back home in th' badlands...tha's a pretty good ways from here," she explained. "Lef' th' nest wit' some fella t' start m'own life, an' it di'n't work out." The bitterness behind that statement was completely masked in indifference. " So 'm jus' 'splorin' 'round a li'l 'fore I try settlin' down again. Lots o' stuff here I ain't never seen before." That was the only reason, of course. Fear of rejection had nothing to do with it. "Wha' 'bout you? Moseyin' 'round cuz y'sire dun booted ya?"

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum,

Gypsum started so fast, his head flew up and he choked on a bite of grass, spewing out flecks of green spittle, even drooling. He recovered by dipping his head back down and taking another bite. As he did he listened to her voice and the movement of the fields, each ear doing its own work. Grass safely swallowed this time, Gypsum allowed himself a glance at the birds, floating into the grass, awash with memories of chasing and squawking. “Hmm, then we’re even. Your voice is odd, and my singing is odd. But purdy. Hah! I did it! I said it the same, didn’t I? Didn’t I? What, ho! Look at that!” And the stallion did a skip, and a hop, singing with delight.

“Nagisa,” he tasted her name on his tongue, then said it again, this time with a tremolo. “Now I’ll remember it.”

But he waited for the moment that he crossed a line, asked too much, maybe was a bit too insulting. Those dark clouds weren’t helping much either. Would the sky suddenly let down a torrent of rain? Gypsum’s stomach rolled. He really didn’t want that. He’d have to get under cover before then. Still he managed to laugh. His family, where ever were they right now? “Oh, no, not quite that. Well, years ago he gave me the boot, if you count it! Nah, I lost what was left of my family a year ago in the storms. Found another, but we aren’t often together. My brother. He has some,” he paused, with a silly, far off look into the sky, “well, strange tastes you could say.”

Actually, he was becoming obsessed with the clouds and their dark swirling patterns. Somewhere far above, was wind. “Do you think it will rain?”

[/blockquote]
Ooc: ‘That was the only reason, of course. Fear of rejection had nothing to do with it.’ I giggled. XDD

[« F u l é a o]

She pretended not to notice his reaction, smiling smugly to herself. As planned, her ability to speak 'normally' was completely unexpected.

The ability to say 'purdy' was apparently one to rejoice over, and Gypsum did so with frolicking and singing. She couldn't suppress a chuckle at how pleased he was with himself. "See, you claim I am the one who talks strangely, and yet you use words like 'purdy'. Seriously, who does that?" She giggled, switching tactics. "But yeah, y'got it. Purdy. In yer case, purdy crazy."

He tried her name out loud, even using his warbling on it. It was nice, really, finally hearing someone using her name.

While he summarized his life, Nagisa took the opportunity to snatch a mouthful of grass. Then she realized she might give the impression she wasn't paying attention, and she snapped her head back up, still chewing. But he was gazing off into the distance, almost talking more to himself than to her. One thing in particular about his story caught his attention. "'M sorry y'lost 'em. But the storms, y'say? Sounds like y'all had sum purdy darn rough weather down here, yeah?" Considering his earlier comments about that Valentine guy and his herd, that would make sense.

Again her attention turned to the clouds, seeing as how Gypsum was so preoccupied with them. Their slow whirling was almost hypnotic, and seemed to have that effect on her companion. "Jus' might do that, big fella. I mean, looks kinda far off, but it cud blow in real quick if it has a mind to." She turned her gaze back to him. "Don' mind gettin' y'hair wet, do ya, Gypsum? Cain't mess it up anymore than it is now."

Lightning crackled across the steel grey distance.

o.o.c. - I laughed at Gypsum being all "Oh yeah, I can say purdy too! You ain't so special!"

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum,

Gypsum laughed. How brilliant this mare was! Had he been missing this all along? Her humour, her incredulity at a simple thing like singing, Gypsum stared at her open mouthed, again forgetting the grass he was chewing. He tried to remind himself, were things different, perhaps he wouldn’t meet strangers. Perhaps he would still be at home, in a land far away, if his ambitions had not carried him elsewhere. He might even still be exiling himself to that ravine, had the storm never come and Thanantos never shown up.

He nodded. “The ground rumbling, trees falling. There were some herds on the coast, on the other side of the mountains here, who got washed away. You’ll see, if you ever go down there,” Gypsum explained absently.

He thought of that night, just after the hurricanes were coming to a close. Almost a year had passed. He’d been in the forest at the time, where they got the least of the brunt. A few fallen trees from the quake. A couple squished squirrels, maybe. But the Shores? He knew someone had survived, although he had not seen her since. A daughter of the Shores, a stranger had said.

“Cain't mess it up anymore than it is now,” Nagisa said. It took a moment for him to focus. It was true. Gypsum’s mane, his tail, even patches of his fur, were in some places matted with burrs, and in others covered in what might actually have been a greyish clay. A bit filthier than your average horse. All this suggested a bath might be in order, but the stallion balked at the idea. Even running through the floodplain, on the shore with Triskelion, had been a mistake. The moment his feet touched the water he had regretted it. He squinted at the lightning with steady eyes. Another vein of white slashed through the clouds.

“Just memories. It rained first,” he said. “You wouldn’t object to finding some kind of shelter, would you?” A ridiculous notion, of course. What kind of a stallion ran from a bit of rain? He shuffled his feet and tried to look pathetic with flat ears and quick, uncertain movements. Harder than it sounded in his head, since he thought he kept overdoing his startled jumps when the thunder caught up to the lightning. Once he remembered a few seconds too late, particularly with the thunder still only grumbling, as opposed to crashing. But leaving this mare here in the mountain, that was not an option. Was it?

[/blockquote]

[« F u l é a o]

The sky was rumbling now. With darkness approaching on one side, and the sun shining defiantly on the other, the light cast on the. Glancing sidelong, Nagisa noted the affect this battle had on Gypsum. Beneath the grunge, his pearly coat gleamed spectacularly in the golden light. It was almost unearthly.

Okay, maybe she was exaggerating. Really, her thoughts towards him in general were just as admiring as his were towards her. The quarab didn't feel so awkward, now that his frown was gone and he returned her banter in a much more lighthearted way. She wasn't sure if she was just glad to finally have someone to talk to, or if it was him in particular that she enjoyed talking to. Heck, she didn't even mind the semi-chewed green wad he was unintentionally exhibiting.

He described the catastrophes, even the ground moving. This kind of concerned her. The mare wasn't sure she wanted to be settling down here if these lands were prone to that sort of thing. "Earthquakes, y'mean? On top o' the floods an' all that? Shoot, y'all did have a time of it! That ain't common 'ere, is it?" She sounded cavalier, but really the thought of folks getting dragged out to sea and drowned was disturbing. A little difficult to picture though, since she'd never actually been to the sea. She planned to do so sometime soon.

As electricity continued to dance across the sky, he turned jittery, with body language that begged her to agree to take cover. He looked rather pitiful. "Ain't too fond o'storms, are ya? S'okay, I ain't crazy 'bout standing 'round while a load o’ cold water divebombs m'head." She hesitated. Having only arrived recently, the mare didn't know of anywhere nearby that might serve their purpose. "Got any suggestions?"

[Crow'sia]

Gypsum,

How she didn’t even flinch at the idea of other horses being destroyed puzzled Gypsum, a stallion so used to sympathy, even while living in what was otherwise a harsh world. In truth, death didn’t bother him much, although he hadn’t been too keen on watching Triskelion tear apart those two yearlings. That was a different sort of death, though. The kind that left him with mixed feelings of moral pride- for certainly he was better than a wolf- and betrayal, at leaving an animal who had so often protected him, for its own strange reasons. Gypsum shook his head.

“No. There are storms every autumn. The ground doesn’t shake like that,” he said, and a thought came to him. “But landslides on the mountain are common. So they say.” He shrugged. Thunder crashed.

How embarrassing, to be dancing around like a colt in his first rain, but Gypsum felt a rush of relief when she agreed. It so relaxed him, that he even had a chance to flash her a look, the eyebrow raised sort, at her choice of descriptions. She certainly was odd! Gypsum trotted a bit towards the trees.

A cave would be ideal, he thought, although he wasn’t sure that a mare would find that a desirable place to hide out. Or any horse. They were built for roughing out storms, not cowering under the ground. Besides that, Gypsum didn’t know this place well. In fact his knowledge of the mountain was incredibly limited and he’d seen nothing that might offer a horse much shelter on his journey, except for the trees. Perhaps a particularly thick patch of them would do.

“The forest, at least. I don’t know the valley.”

Then he skipped off towards it, a song of rain on his lips.

[/blockquote]

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"Oh. Well then, le's jus' hope all that racket the sky's putting up don' get the mount'n a tumblin'." Nervously, she looked up at the slopes. She certainly hoped nothing happened to the passes out of here. Perhaps she could find her own path, but she didn't know how well Gypsum could handle rough terrain. She wasn't the type that would abandon him. Of course she was also worried about the possible landslide itself; really, she kind of wished he hadn't told her that.

She felt sorry for the stallion. Maybe he was a little traumatized by the past weather cataclysm? Trying to put on a brave face for him, she started into the woods after him. Apparently he didn't know this place anymore than she did. "'At's a'right, but I du-OH GEEZ!" She shrieked, as the sky went from rumbling to an all-out roar. With the whites of her eyes showing, she skittered sideways, ending up on her rump at the fault of a rotten log. She looked up at Gypsum, shaken. Then slowly a smile appeared, developing into relieved laughter. "Shew! 'Scuse me, tha' really caught me off guard." So much for remaining calm.

With her silver tail now ornamented with dead leaves, she stood up and fell back into stride with Gypsum. "I was gon’ say I dunno how much the trees'll keep us dry, what with them all goin' bald. We's jus' gonna hafta make due, though." She looked down at the ground, where quite a bulk of the trees' foliage lay in a colorful array of death. Well, it concerned him more than it did her. He could buck up.


o.o.c. - My apologies, me word count is slipping. =/