12-21-2015, 03:55 PM
She is conflicted. While her mother had taught her kindness, and the Jungle had showed her mercy, she had also been shown the meaning of ‘survival of the fittest.’ The Jungle swallowed the weak, and feeble with little ceremony. Even the plants fought each other to the death. Those who made it to the canopy first lived, all others withered into the forest floor. Weak animals became prey. Aoi herself had once been swallowed up by her own Mother Jungle. To Aoi, it is a wonder that the pale, three legged mare had survived into adulthood. She looks away as the mare struggles to stand. Instead she scans the surroundings for possible threats. For some reason she feels driven to protect this stranger.
Aoi does not realize it, but there is a theme here. She has a penchant for defending the broken. Even if she was to do so blindly. She does not know this mare, but she doesn’t know the Gates either. The whispers of war were more like battle cries now, and here she was willing to give her blood for the ashes of a Mother Tree that she has never even seen. Aoi cannot let anything happen to this mare.
“A pleasure to meet you as well, Palebird.” She replies. Decorum still feels peculiar, and unsettling to her, but she manages a smile (albeit more awkward than pleasant). “Are you looking for a home, or testing the waters?” She asks. Her method is much kinder with this mare, than it had been with Kataclysm. What she doesn’t say is that she doesn’t want to leave her here alone. What she doesn’t say is that this mare shouldn’t be here at all.
A O I
