Falls

true love is for quitters

"You don't know what manners are?" She asked incredulously. Her mother had pledged hours to the uphill task of teaching Vex manners. Of what to say and when to say it and how to say it. Of what angle to hold your head when you asked a question and of what stallions she should approach and why. The vast majority of what Vivienne categorically called 'manners' would likely be better described as skills of manipulation to most others, but to Vex it was all the same. A litany of do's and do not's; and memorizing each new lesson had been paramount if she'd wanted to eat that day. Most of it had been (and still was) gibberish to her, but it was gibberish that she held onto.

"Then what did your mother say when you talked too much? Or said hi to the wrong horse? Or didn't keep a proper walking distance behind her?" Impossible. There was no way he hadn't heard of them before. It was all she had heard about.

"In ... a hole? Under a ...tree?" She echoed after his explanation, unable to hide her confusion. How did he fit under a tree? How did anyone fit under a tree? Abruptly she realized that he must be lying to her, and the open curiosity that had spread across her face like wildfire closed off and she glared at him, unwilling to look dumb.

"You don't have to lie to me," she snapped, strangely hurt by the prospect. She didn't even know this colt beyond his name, and yet already she felt offended that he would try to trick her in that fashion.

As he went on to describe his journey here, she listened, despite her skepticism as to his motives. "They're called the Falls," she ennunciated with a hint of pride, glad to be able to call them their proper name. Her mother had named a lot of other place names too like Paradise and Atlantis and the Peak and the Lagoon, but the Falls was the only one she had ever seen with her own eyes and for that, it was special to her.

Do you live here? His question made her walls come back up and she eyed him suspiciously, wondering if she'd misread the entire situation. It wouldn't be the first time a well-meaning mare had employed her children to learn of the filly's hiding spot so that they could try to coax her from it, but Vex wouldn't allow it to happen again. "No. Not really. Close... ish. Why do you want to know?"