Unlike most other meadows you've seen here, this one is obviously occupied; even at first glance, you can see multipul equines--or, more specifically, multiple equii--grazing, playing, or doing whatever activity they seem to enjoy in the area. As you scan the land for more, you become increasingly surprised with what you see. These were... interesting animals, to say the least.

You ponder their antics as you make your way over to what you deem to be the most ordinary one, though 'ordinary' is a bit far-stretched. He's sandy-colored with a green mane and tail--plain enough--but you find it hard to stay focused when looking at him. His body looks insubstantial, though you can tell that if you looked closer it would not be. He must have a strange type of fur, or something. Yeah... That's it. Fur.



As you approach, you realize that what you had taken for grazing is in fact nudging a strip of brown grass woefully. You stare at the brown line in amazement. It's just one solitary piece of brown among the green around you, and it stretches on and on to stop at the feet of another of the horse-like creatures. The sandy-colored one is moving very slowly along this dis-colored path, never looking up. Or anywhere except the ground before him, for that matter.

Unsure if the equii could speak english, you ask hesitantly, "Why don't you just go straight to the end? You can see it, and if you keep following that trail you'll have to go in big circles. You could go faster if you cut across the meadow."

"And miss any possible remaining life among the burnt population?" the stallion responds shrilly. "Enjouakuba has no respect for the civilizations of life," he continues, muttering. "Instead of taking precautions to save precious lives in the plants around him, he goes out of his way to burn and destroy them. He even seems to pleasure in it." His head shakes in disapproval.

"It's just... grass..." you say.

"Just grass? Just grass? The poor, innocent souls! Every one of these blades has a life like yours."

"You step on them. You eat them." You let a small, amused smile out.

"But... But I don't try to hurt them, do I?" He sends you a small, angry glare. But then his eyes widen slightly and move to stare behind you. "I would move--" he begins.

Too late. A moment later, something thunks down beside you. Or on you, mostly. A big, fluffy wing gets you square in the head and sends you to the ground, as well. "Pfft..." you manage, around a mouthful of feathers.

The sandy equii tries to control his grin,but eventually bursts out laughing.

"Ao!" a voice cries from the lump beside you.

"I didn't do anything," the sandy equii protests. It takes you a moment to realize that 'Ao' was his name--or part of it--and not a version of 'ow.' The heap just grumbles.

You stand up, a bit dazed and rubbing your head where it hit the ground. After assessing the situation, you bend down to help the second equii up. Ao just stands there.

"You could help, you know," you voice to Ao as you struggle with untangling the mound.

"I could," he agrees. He remains where he is.

"What about your concerns with life?" you ask, a touch annoyed. You work out where the equii's back is and start lifting it up. Something seemed... Wrong.

"The poor, poor roots..." He walks over to the brown root that must have tripped the new arrival. "They like you, Hyou. But every time they try to stop and talk with you, you kick them and make a big show of falling." He smirks. And starts following the brown grass trail again, nosing about in it. You glare after him.

You still can't figure out what the deal with Hyou is. Then, looking at her and completely stumped, you notice something. "What's that...?" You grip the long white pole on the ground and heft it up.

"Stop! Put me down! Put me down!" Hyou shrieks. Hastily, you set the pole back down again. No wonder you couldn't get her up. She was attached to that stick thing.

"How do you usually get up?" you ask in consternation. Atop that stick, she was taller than you, and it would be hard to set her upright from below.

"From... people like you..." she says weakly in an embarrassed voice. Rolling your eyes, you pick her up to try again. Slowly you are able to push her back up, pulling on the pole as well. Finally, with a bit of assistance from her wings, you get her up and balanced.



"What are you?" you ask in surprise.

"An equii," she says defensively. "Just like all the others." Pause. "Except that I'm kinda... a lollipop?"

You burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" she says, upset. "And it's not nice to laugh at other people."

You just shake your head, having nothing to say. And laughing too hard to say anything, if you had. Finally, you're able to gasp a short "C'mon" between your spurts of laughter. Then you start to walk away, down to where you can see the end of the burnt grass. It takes you a moment to realize she's not following. You turn back to look at her.

"I... I'm not sure I could make it that far, on this." After a second, she also adds (in a softer voice), "and I'm not that interested in seeing Enjou, right now. Or Chida, for that matter."

You stare at her, then back at the two equii that are your destination. Then you shrug and start walking again. "Suit yourself," you call back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The closer you come to the pair in the distance, the slower your gait becomes. Neither of them looks very friendly. In fact, they both look decidedly hostile...

One of them--the smaller--is a yellow Sun theme with that same insubstantial look as Ao. He's currently occupied with a plant, burning its leaves off one by one. He appears fascinated by this, and he has a gleeful look on his face.

"Are you listening to me?" the other, a large reddish equii that you can't place to a theme, demands. "Una will be back from the lake any time now. If we're gonna burn her tree up, we've got to go now." It stomps its foot for emphasis.

"What?" the Sun asks, intent on his bush. "Oh, that. Wait 'til tomorrow. I have to finish the bush before Ao gets here." He cackles. "Just imagine the look on his face..."



The red one growls. "Enjou, you've put it off for days, now. It hardly sounds like fun, anymore. Chances are Una won't even react if we burn her tree; she'll smolder inside. It's never fun when they don't--"

"You were going to burn my tree, Chida?" yet another equii asks, stepping up with a hard glint in her eye and speaking in a calm, dangerous voice. Water beads on the scales that cover half her body, then runs down to drip from her fur. The white fins on her back sag a bit from the liquid's weight.



The red equii--Chida, you assume--draws herself up, smirks, and looks the new blue equii in the eye. "Yes," it says simply.

The scaly equii opens her mouth indignantly, but nothing comes out. You aren't sure what you would say, either, had you been in her situation.

Chida laughs raucously. "Poor Una's speechless," the equii remarks--seemingly idly--to Enjou. "I-I, well..." she mocks.

You purse your lips in annoyance from your vantage point. These two firey equii were getting on your nerves--or, at least, Chida was--with their senseless want to cause trouble. Refusing to watch more, you turn.

And go.

Name	Aoaodosha	Hyoukaihi	Enjouakuba	Chidaruma	Unabara
ID	ew196m	efw169f	ew235m	ed273	???
Gender	Male	Female	Male	N/A	Female
Element	Spring	Spring	Summer	N/A	Change
Theme	Life	Light	Sun	N/A	Swim
Parentage	Wild	Wild	Wild	Wild	Wild
Notes	None	Equii lollipop. XD	None	None	Can actually breathe underwater. The scales on her back are unpiercable by any theme save for Obsidian.

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