of emPATHIca

[Thylacine]

the poet;
getaway, runaway, fly away
lead me astray to dreamer's hideaway

[/color][/right]

Soft warmth enveloped the bay with every step he took. His entire body sopping was sopping from his last stop, a muggy marsh that gave him no room to breathe, the spring air not helping to rid his body of the moisture, he grunted as the still-dry form of his companion cackled. Shudder moved through his proud body, displacing the disgusting wetness for barely a second from his blood bay form. He hated the water on his skin, hated the warm humidity he had passed through. To others it probably wouldn’t really seem so bad, but The Poet could not stand warm mugginess.

”Then why are you going through there, Po? I knew that this wouldn’t be the place for you a few miles back,” his oddly-colored companion snickered. “Ah, this glorious, muggy air?” Black form shivered in delight, red-brown locks slapping a graceful neck. Orange eyes gazed into the Poet’s azul ones, the light in them mocking the shy stallion.

The Poet shrugged, self-conscious even with this figment of prophecy that had accompanied him since the night after The Mare spoke above his head. He remembered the dry, cracked voice, though the meaning was obscured from his young mind’s grasp. He remembered sleeping, a dreamless sleep of comforting black night. And in the pearly hues of morning, he had found another beside him in the cool, green grass. The creature was a filly with the same lines as himself, half akhal teke and half cleveland bay, though the more apparent blood of the akhal teke caused her to look more like a fawn than the heavier colt. Who are you? he had wondered, eyes widening as the filly lifted her finely-shaped head as though his thought had pierced her.

“Well,” she had said matter-of-factly, “I’m The Pendulum.” The Poet had looked around to see if anyone else was surprised by this newcomer, but no one ever paid attention to the negative image of himself.

Coming out of his trance, The Poet noticed that The Pendulum was strangely quiet, still waiting for an answer. “Um… Well, I guess I went here because I felt the heat. I didn’t pay attention to the humidity.” Though his excuse sounded weak even in his own ears, it could have been true. The desert and the sea had always called to him, for those were the places of his youth. His herd had traveled between the sea and the desert, rarely stopping in the expanses of rainforest that had barred their way between these beautiful expanses. It didn’t matter whether the deserts were hot or cold, as long as they were dry. And the sea breeze always had helped him think.

And yet he had been in the marsh, among the mud.

Nasty.

Pale light lit through the thick shade above a small creek before becoming lost in the over grown undergrowth. He felt, rather than saw, the other’s flame eyes upon him. She knew he was lying. She always knew. “Pen… I came there because I thought I may find others. I’ve searched, but I haven’t been able to find any yet. And now I'm trying here. The prophecy—“

“You mean me,” interrupted The Pendulum.

“—says that there will be others. Which is why you allowed me there?” he asked slowly, trembling with his lack of assurity. He wasn’t a scared mouse in most cases, but his own prophecy was a special case.

Wicked grin flashed on the introverted stag. “Well… maybe partially. But really, I love that air! And your own stupidity is always amusing to watch.” She ran away from him, dancing in circles.

The Poet groaned. “Pen, are you really trying to kill me?” She stopped leaping around to fix him with an amused smile and flaring eyes. The bay stallion laughed nervously. “Never mind. Forget I asked.”

i cannot cry 'cause the shoulder cries more
i cannot die, i, a whore for the cold world
the pendulum;[/color]

{i seem to be complete but you have no idea
i've exhaled six hundred eighty three times
only pen knows that i'm uncomfortable but desperate for real companionship and maybe that's a good thing
few know that thyla believes this is a really weird post... first with po & pen
lyrics (c) nightwish}