Common

I DON'T WORRY,
WORRYING DON'T AGREE
THINGS THAT BOTHER YOU, NEVER BOTHER ME!

OOC: Everything prior to the asterism is just catching up her story from what happened last time she was on the islands until now, it can be skipped as it doesn’t have any relevance to whoever decides to reply! Also, please no claims from Tinuvel! I have too many characters there now LOL

Talya had liked the Tree Talker. The Tree Talker had made her feel comfortable and safe and happy and forget everything that had once made her sad. But, when the Talya went to sleep those pesky images of Mamapapa’s sad face and loud, angry voice came back to her. Only, in dreams, they became warped. Terrifying. There was one where she was very, very tiny, like the size of a ladybug and looking up at a very large, very angry Mamapapa who was stomping his hooves on the ground, and she’d been so scared he was going to hit her! That dream was the one that’d woken her up, gasping, choking on air and pale coat dark and damp with sweat.

That dream was the one she’d bolted from, mindlessly, and hadn’t snapped out of it even when her hooves hit the surf.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Mamapapa!” She’d laughed and her wet tail flagged up before she pranced up the beach. She’d forgotten why she’d been so scared for.

Talya liked when she forgot things.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Uh-oh, Mamapapa wasn’t happy to see her. He’d stayed where he’d been standing when he came across the break in the muddy, stuffy place, staring in absolute disbelief that she was here. Talya’s smile slipped off her face and confusion replaced her expression.

“Why do you haunt me?” He asked, a sigh chasing his words as all the anger left him and he looked older than the mid-age he already was. “Why won’t you just forget me, Talya? Why won’t you just leave me alone?”

Was this another nightmare? Talya blinked and looked down at her still-dripping-wet knees. It felt so real…

Her blue eyes went back up to Mamapapa. “I’m… I’m confused, Mamapapa.”

“Of course you are.” He grunted. “The fucking bane of my existence, the creation of my greatest sin set to remind me of all my wrongdoings by never leaving me alone.” There was a new kind of energy in his voice that Talya hadn’t heard before, and she didn’t like it. He almost sounded like a scary beast of some sort, like he should suddenly have a mouth full of sharp teeth. If this was a dream (gosh, she was sure it was) then she’d bet this would be the moment she suddenly became so teeny tiny and Mamapapa smashed her with his hooves.

Mamapapa didn’t move though, and Talya didn’t suddenly go tiny.

“I don’t know how to make you understand, Talya. I don’t know how to make you understand without hurting you, and fuck am I tired of hurting you. I’m tired of worrying about you. I’m tired of caring about you. I’m tired of thinking about you. I just…” Mamapapa sighed again. Somehow, this was scarier to Talya than his angry voice had been. This was even worse than when he’d looked sad just a day ago when he’d bullied her near the Forest border and told her to go to the Goddess of the Forest and live there for the rest of her life.

“What, Mamapapa?” She heard her voice but didn’t realize she’d spoken.

Geez, she really did feel like this must be some sort of dream.

“I wish you’d never been born, Talya.” Another heavy breath out of Mamapapa’s lungs. He looked at her for a moment where she stood, wet from the ocean water, big blue eyes confused and teetering on heartbreak… and turned… and left.

Talya exhaled and suddenly realized her cheeks were wet. Was she… crying? More cries bubbled out of her, and she stumbled blindly forward. “Mamapapa, wait! Please!” Desperation in her cries as she made a few more awkward, panicked steps toward where he’d gone. Only, Talya wasn’t looking where she was going and, in the Lagoon, that fate often meant getting stuck. Her hoof sunk into the wet, thick mud that latched immediately around her hock. A desperate, sob-choked whinny was out of her trembling, pink lips as she pulled awkwardly at her leg to get it free of the muck, only to step further into the deep, wet mud patch. Talya kept pulling herself through the Lagoon mud, even falling at some points until her pale coat was covered in brown-black and she nearly looked like a different horse entirely. The entire time she kept calling for Mamapapa to come back.

He never did.

She tried to follow his smell, but she lost it quickly. Talya had stumbled lost over Crossing Isle until finally, as the sun started to peek over the horizon and grace the sky with a haze of new light, she’d fallen asleep.

In the late afternoon when she’d finally awoken, Talya shook her head and frowned at how weird her dreams had been. She looked at herself, caked and covered in mud and wandered toward the water to see her reflection. At first, she’d been scared. She didn’t look like herself at all! But after squealing, running a small, tight circle away and then coming back, she’d splashed the water and realized that was her! Why, she was just covered in mud that’d dried to brown overnight!

Talya had giggled and decided if she ever needed to disguise herself, she knew just what to do.

Then she’d washed her coat in the river as best she could, then immediately rolled in a nice, soft dirt patch shortly after.

Then she’d wondered where the hell she was.

Mamapapa had gotten his wish, Talya had forgotten all about him.

* * * * * * * * * *

From a distance if anyone were to study the cremello overo mare in the shade of the trees that boarded the Commons, they might find her quite pretty and perhaps think her a great addition to their family. Her coat was shiny and healthy, her belly not to sucked in or skinny from winter as she knew where to forage and had eaten her fair share throughout the summer and fall. Her mane and tail had a few knots, a few twigs, but that was merely from the lack of having a grooming partner. She was healthy, uninjured, and not covered by many scars. Her back did not sway, and she had no baby at her side or one growing in her tummy.

However, anyone who made the poor mistake of thinking such a thing and coming to her would find out that soon enough that Talya, while certainly pretty, was not the most traditional addition to any herd.

Not that she cared or even realized it… or was even paying attention to realize she was in the Commons now, an unsafe place for an unclaimed mare such as herself.

“Where the heck are you guys going?” She asked with delight, poking her nose closer to the tree she was inspecting. There was a line of ants climbing up the tree, carrying little white things with them. They kept weaving in and out of the lines on the bark and as she craned her head up, she realized she was too short to follow their path. She giggled. “Boy, it sure would be fun to be able to walk up a tree like that.”

Talya took a few steps back and tilted her head, frowning as she studied the tree, then glancing down at what she could see of her hooves. She lifted one of her front legs and carefully set it back down, then looked at the tree again.

Hmm…