[B] False Starts [Call Home x Sleeping Terror]

[Gl!tch~]

[imgleft]https://www.matope-swamp.com/images/blu ... uncert.png[/imgleft]
A bright blue doe could be found staring into one of the many pools littering the swamp. She sat there, her large, dark eyes on what of her reflection wasn't chewed away by blankets of algae.

Her breaths came and went, long and slow.

Call Home was a wanderer by trade, maybe even by destiny. Her naming dream left her yearning to fulfill a notion, a hope. Her parents were somewhat settled together, and her grandfather (and great-aunt by extension) had cut out a bit of territory that had continued to be squatting grounds for seasons on end.

So she had an idea of what a home could be.

Certainly somewhere to raise one's foals, if given the chance.

And here she was, with foals. And not a home in sight.

And so, to put it plainly, she didn't know what to do.

So she sat, and pondered, and tried not to fret.

@Mima

[Mima]

[imgright]https://www.matope-swamp.com/images/max ... ncert2.png[/imgright]
There had been no calling for Terror. And yet still, she too was a wanderer.

She landed on the branch-like horn of the Kimeti to rest her torn wings. Despite the milder winters in the swamp as compared to the mountains, it was still getting to be the cold season. Rather unpleasant to be about, let alone raise little ones, especially with all of the upheaval in things recently. Though maybe it got to her more in this form since it was all petal-thin.

It was perhaps lucky that she was in a good mood. You could tell because she hadn't yet done anything terribly dangerous.

[Gl!tch~]

She felt a sudden, strange disturbance in her antlers. Not like the wind, although whatever it was wasn't much weightier. But even in her reverie, it was enough to catch her attention.

Even if she looked like she wouldn't notice if a caiman sauntered her way, kin didn't make it this far without having to be aware of their surroundings. And now she had more reason than ever to pay attention to the little changes in her space.

The kimeti glanced up to see light, frayed wings just above her head. Something must have landed on her horns, although she could not tell what. A leaf? A petal? A bug?

With no one else to speak to (she was beginning to long for company despite herself), or see her talk to the whatever-it-was, she asked of the thing, "Can I help you?"

@Mima

[Mima]

[imgleft]https://www.matope-swamp.com/images/max ... ncert3.png[/imgleft]She slowly crawled down the Kimeti’s head and onto her nose, perching there a moment before taking off and fluttering a bit away, though not more than a few paces. Compared to other legendary kin Terror’s transformation was not so graceful, and she hit the marshy ground from several feet up with a splash, soaking herself (and likely her companion) as she landed knee-deep in pond. She shook her wet hair dry like a dog before she spoke.

“Not particularly,” she replied, trying her best to get a hoof on solid ground. Why hadn’t she remembered the lake? Oh well. “Can I help you?” Though intoned like it was sarcasm, it was at the same time an honest question.

@Gl!tch~

[Gl!tch~]

For a moment, she fell to charm. A moth, of all things, sitting on her nose. Utterly delightful.

A moment that started to pass all too soon, softly with in the flutter of wings.

Then the moment truly fell flat with a hard landing much like the totoma the moth shifted into.

Call Home stood there in shock. Even the water and algae that suddenly splashed onto her face couldn't snap her out of it. "I- What- You-" the kimeti squeaked.

She had heard stories. Her father and grandfather (on her mother's side) had plenty to say about those chosen by the swamp. Those with a gift to grant expecting parents with healthy young, out of the kindess of their hearts. Or at a price. Or on a whim. Or without even realizing. It was kind of confusing if one thought about it, really. All Call Home could recall was how the ribbing between her better-knowing family quickly turned loud and angry. She didn't know how her mother didn't run into the reeds to never be seen again by now.

They never said anything about totoma, she thought. And that seemed to make her come to.

Maybe because of innate fear. She had totoma blood; her kimeti father and brothers carried totoma horns as proof. That was all from her grandmother on her father's side. And, well, her father did share stories. More cautionary tales to steer clear of her and be wary of any other totoma, just in case.

The kimeti, feeling very, very small, swallowed. She found it impossible to keep her tempo and cadence from moving beyond mouse-like. "I...I didn't mean to bother you. Really! I'm...I'm so sorry for the trouble. There are probably others much more worth your time." Call Home tried to do a nod of respect, and appeasement.

But, then, what trouble could she be causing?

...Ah. Yes. The pregnancy. She almost forgot.

Was the totoma...drawn to that? But...all the stories she heard spoke of life-changing quests with blessings at the end of them. And this wasn't... No, it wasn't the same. She hadn't even done anything. Besides be an idiot who got herself pregnant, much sooner than she was supposed to.

She was a failure who couldn't keep proper timing. Ever, it seemed. She was not worth any mythic creature's attention, especially now.

@Mima

[Mima]

She was not so used to the deference other Kin had towards her, and she was not quite sure if she liked it. Sure, she had always been large and intimidating- but it was clear that now they saw her as something else. Something more than just a battlescarred old warrior ready to kick it any day now. ...She had been trying to change her way of thinking the same way, but it was difficult.

Finally managing to pull herself from the water and onto more solid ground, she blinked at the kimeti. Something about the other breeds of kin always made Terror think they would snap like a twig if they got too close to her, and this kin in particular was especially perking those senses. She was... a dainty, crane-like thing- something fitting for a kimeti, she supposed. On some level she understood the hesitation, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but audibly snort.

Why was it that she was weak for that sort of kin, now? She hadn’t used to be. Ah, the blessing of age...

“You’d have to do a lot worse to bother me,” she offered, trying as hard as she could to foil the expectations set by her own name, “and I have more time than I know what to do with.”

“It will be getting colder soon.” Never as cold in the swamp as on the mountains, but nonetheless, raising foals in the winter was not an easy task. “The least I can do is offer protection.” From the cold? Other kin? It was debatable. Terror wasn’t quite sure what she was offering herself.

@Gl!tch~

[Gl!tch~]

"Ah... I see." It was all she could say after everything Sleeping Terror spoke. Call Home felt...well, foolish. But that wasn't new at this point. At least the legendary didn't seem mad?

And the totoma offered protection, something Call Home did not expect. Was it because she was small? A doe? Or was this elder just kind?

"I thank you," she said with another nod. The kindness felt a blessing in and of itself.

"Now that I think about it...this might be the first cold I have spent away from my family. I expected to be more prepared..."

She looked up at the sky, as if it would snow any moment now. But she knew how much chill had to be in the air before such a thing. It wasn't quite that bad yet. Once again, being foolish.

And if it was that cold, with the weather threatening to turn... Surely she would have stayed with her parents, being with child as she was. Right? Or would she still have been so embarrassed, and still have left her father to tell her mother on her own?

She sighed.

"I don't know what to do from here, honestly." She shuffled her hooves. "It's my first time, for a lot of things..."

@Mima

[Mima]

Terror nodded to the kimeti's hesitation. "There is a first time for everything," she said, as if that was not advice any old kin could give to an expectant mother- though perhaps it held a bit more potency coming from one as ancient and battered as she. "Sometimes you don't know what you're ready for until you jump in and try it." And sometimes you failed. Such was life. She would not have gained so many scars if she had only made good decisions on her life.

Of course, Terror had not carried lambs herself, so she could only recall what those at The Mothers Club told her of such things. "Finding somewhere warm to stay for both you and them might be a good idea," she offered. "At this point taking care of yourself is the best way to take care of them."

"I know a place you can stay if you need the rest." Her mind drifted to The Mother's Club, which she had ought to start scouting out more soon now that winter was coming and she didn't have gardening to do. "But it might not be the same as your 'home.' In the end, I cannot make your choices for you."

If the kimeti wanted it to be with her family instead, she understood.

@Gl!tch~

[Gl!tch~]

She listened to Sleeping Terror's every word. The totoma was older, and could only be wiser in these matters. And she was a legendary. She spoke for the swamp, as far as the kimeti was concerned. Any advice Call Home ignored was like ignoring the Motherfather themself.

"I will follow you anywhere you think I should go." She took a breath, and put some thoughts into words. "I will always find my family, and they will always find me. I'm not worried about that." And so, then, she wasn't.

But they didn't need to see her at her low point, so unsure of herself and desperate to figure out her next move. Once she got to settle down somewhere and have her children, she could think about her next move and plan things out properly. Unlike flailing about in the dark like it seemed her days had been going.

Right now, regrouping seemed like a nice thought. With no parents or siblings or anyone else fretting over her.

@Mima

[Mima]

"Very well," said Terror. She had best be getting back there herself... Though she wasn't quite looking forward to looking after all the foals at once again if the mothers all decided to skip out to the market once more. But she supposed that was her new burden to bear. "There are a great many experienced mothers there if you would like their help. Or if you don't, you can at the least expect to be safe, fed, and... under watchful care."

(or, in layman's terms, 'if anyone bothers you, i will personally hit them very hard.' however, that did not seem like a particularly swamp-blessed thing for her to say to a nervous expectant mother...)

The totoma took the form of a moth once more, fluttering lazily but persistently off in the direction of the Mother's Club's gentler fields. No sense going at a breakneck pace when leading the way- Terror wasn't capable of that, anyhow. If Call Home lagged behind at any point, she'd simply take her place on her antler once more until she was ready to move again.