Siminash'Colet

A little October fun... (©SunBlind)

The leaves had just started to fall and the air in the morning began to take on a bit of that crispness associated with that time of year, but the afternoons were still warm and one could still bask in the sunlight along the beaches. This was Siminash'Colet's favorite time of year, and she frolicked through the autumns colours and the ripening pumpking patches.

Her name meant Sleepy Hollow, for that was where they found her. SunBlind recalled a story from outside her Realm of a place by that name, and though it was a tale of terror and darkness, she gave the name to the little Nai whose colours where those of Halloween itself. Feeling proud of this association, the mare was never seen without her little pumpkin jewel tied to her tail or braided into her mane.

She had one adventure, which explain her choice of pumpkin as an ornament. There were no such plants growing on the Island at the time, and curiosity drove her to find a place where they did. So she left the safety of the Herd and crossing the waters using the magics of her kind, she found herself in the land of Men. She knew enough not to be seen by them, and so travelled unoticed to her destination. But once there, she attracted the attention of another.

The slinky, skinny, small black stallion with the barely visible purple in his mane and tail walked among the pumpkin patch. He looked much like a cat from a distance, hence his name, because in the world of Men the black cat was a sign of bad luck. And so that was how Obocrov had always been treated: as bad luck. He was always alone, except for the crows, they were his friends, his companions. He slinked through the pumpkins, finding ones to lie behind and nap, and nibbling on the vines and leaves.

It was late that day when he smelled her...someone new, someone like him. Another unicorn...

Siminash was unaware of the dark one nearby. The night was clear and crisp and she was full of youthful energy, thrilled by her grand adventure. After a moment's pause to gaze over the pumpkin patch she began to race between vines, revelling in the moonlight. Her crazed path took her close to the other unicorn several times, but she was too busy chasing imaginary ghosts to notice the real one hidden in the shadows.

Then with a quickness and agility that would have impressed a deer, she reversed direction and leapt over a particularly large pumpkin. That's when her grace left her and she got a hoof tangled in a particularly twisted vine, bringing her back to earth in a soft thump and squish.

A bit dazed, she stood up dripping with pumpkin innards and stared right into Obocrov's eyes....

The little black stallion just...stared. He had been watching the mare do quite well in navigating through the vines when she met her end with a untimely squish, thump and a minor explosion of pumpkin guts EVERYWHERE.
And on him.

A pumpkin seed dribbled down his face and he snorted suddenly, shaking his mane and tail of the residue. "Uh--" he said. "Nice landing there!" he smirked and stamped his hoof. "You look a bit tangled up."

Siminash could have died of embarassment right then and there. Not only was she a mess, but she managed to get some on the stallion too. If unicorns could blush she'd be glowing like Rudolph's nose right about now.

She shook her head as some of that stringy stuff got into her eyes and then regretted doing so. It sent a spray of juice and seeds splattering on everything nearby, she hoped she didn't get any more on the poor stallion.

Another horror took her. He'd said something, but she'd missed it, so distracted by what she'd done. Something about getting "tangled up"...he hoped he wasn't *that* angry. He was smirking, she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Oh where was that proverbial hole in the ground when one needed it! Her elders had warned her to be more sensible.

Knowing she had to say something she nodded carefully, making sure the pumpkin parts stayed on her. "I'm....sorry. I feel so silly now."

His ears went back as more of the pumpkin guts splattered at him and he snorted, stamping a hoof and then laughed slightly. He looked at her, all pumpkin-guts covered and then to the seed running down her nose.

He smirked. "You look rather silly too."

"Oh no," she thought. "He thinks I'm an idiot!" She pawed at the earth with one tiny hoof in her nervousness and says to him "I...I think I should go....go and clean up. You'll probably want to do the same thing too..."

With that, she drops her head and slinks away, glad that the night had fallen so dark and that she'd soon disappear from sight.

The stallion smirks and flicks his ears, looking rather amused.

"Go? Go where?" he asks now, ears flicking. "You can't go many places, not alone. You don't know what might be lurking around the corner," he points out, bobbing his head and shaking it free of a peice of pumpkin.

She paused in her grand exit. "What do you mean? I got here all by myself didn't I? Why do you think whatever was planning to eat me is more likely to eat me now?" Now she was a little indignant, pumpkin guts notwithstanding. She also might have been a little afraid, though she wasn't going to admit it.

She stalks right up to the stallion's face, "And who do you think you are anyway?" She tossed her head to add to the show of bravado, but only managed to get more dribbles of juice on him. It took a LOT of effort not to blush and apologize again.

He frowns, feeling more pumpkin juice slid down his face. "Obocrov," he says with a slight nod. "And you were just lucky, you know. The men here, are very superstitions when it comes to Unicorns, and more especially to Unicorns like us," he says with a flick of his ears.

"Hey! I wasn't just lucky. I'm *really* sneaky. A human wouldn't see me standing right in front of his nose." She knew it was a big fat lie, but she wasn't going to let this stallion know better. "And my name is Siminash'colet". She said it like it should mean something to him.

After a moment's pause, she asked more quietly "What are they suspicious about? And why are we different from other unicorns? What do they do to us if they catch us?" She was after all still young and naive about the world.

"Oh yes. You're very sneaky. That pumpkin never saw it coming!" he says with a snort and a flick of his ears and tail.
He rolls his eyes, leading her out of the pumpkin patch. "This is the world of men. We are not normal Unicorns. Look at you, Sleepy Hollow, and look at me. A black cat crossing their path freaks them out enough as it is! What do you think a little black Unicorn would do? Unicorns to these men are white ghosts of purity; a traditional unicorn. Us? Unicorns of pagen color and name are not well-liked or welcomed."

He looked around suspiciously. "Best not wander far."

She wanted to crawl away at that pumpkin comment. But decided not to give him the pleasure, after all, it wasn't really fair. She wouldn't have been running around like that had there been men about.

She gave the other unicorn a strange look as he described the world of men, their fear of black cats. That strange look turned to one of disbelief. How could humans, so big and powerful and monstrous in their own right, fear something as small and fuzzy as a cat? Someone must have traumatized this stallion as a foal with silly stories. Warped his mind a little. "You sound a little paranoid, you know."

Then as an added though, she declared "And I've already wandered far!" So there, she thought. Let him do one better than that. She wasn't going to be afraid of his silly ghost stories.

The stallion smiled and shook his head. "All right then my lady, do as you will. But if some human catches you in a snare, don't call for me," he says and started away from her through the pumpkins.

A snare? She looked around carefully, checking under her hooves to make sure she wasn't standing on anything that looked dangerous. Then she just stood there watching the stallion walk away. After all, it was dark and there could be human traps about. She knew that humans would often hunt unicorns, but she never thought they'd be so deceitful as to lay traps. She always pictured them as more hands on.

The strange stallion disappeared in the darkness and she just continued to stand like an idiot in the middle of a pumpkin patch. Probably best to wait till morning so she could see those nasty snare things...whatever they looked like....

The strange little stallion disapeered, only to sneak around the large pumpkins and hide behind one. He peers around it, watching the little mare curiously. She was so much like him in color and name, and different from other unicorns he knew. He decided to stick around and make sure nothing happened to her...

Time passes and the filly just stands there. Who knew the night could be so long when one wasn't sleeping, but couldn't move either. Her legs were getting tired of holding her position.

And more importantly, she was getting BORED!

Sigh.

Obocrov grinned and snuck out from behind the pumpkin. He made sure they were completely alone, and trotted around to where the scarecrow stood. He looked up at the crows there, and back at the little mare. Grinning, he found one that was on the ground, pecking at some seeds.

Sneaking up, he grabbed it by the tail. Alarmed, the big black bird squawked in surprise and took off into the air, surprising the other birds and they too took off, causing a racket and swooping over the little mare's head.

The mare *screeched* in terror, spun around, pinned her ears back, and ran like she never ran before. The stallion's stories mixed with the big black noisy birds (she was after all just a little unicorn) sent her fleeing. She didn't know where she was going, she was just barely able to avoid tangling herself up in the pumpkin vines that seemed determined to capture her tiny hooves.

One bird swooped particularly low, causing Siminash to duck and veer off in another direction. She careened back in the direction she came from, right at the stallion that had sent her on this mad dash in the first place.

Everything happened so fast he only had time to to gasp in suprise before she collided with him travelling at full speed. By then the birds were gone and all crazed motions had come to a standstill...a momentary pause enveloped by the silence of the night.

Eventually the pair of them roused themselves. Siminash was furious at the stallion. In a huff she turned around and was about to make a grand exit when she heard his say "Wait."

It was a very quiet command, no not a command, a request. She turned to see what he had to say, but he spoke not a word. From some hidden place he produce a little string with a tiny pumpkin attached to the end of it. He moved behind her and tied it to her tail.

"A gift," Obocrov explained. Siminash's fury vanished. She flicked her tail around a few times, enjoying the feel of the small object. When she looked up to thank him he had vanished into the morning shadows.

But somehow she knew she'd see him again. In the meantime, she figured she should get home before night fell again. There was another thing the young mare knew...she'd never see the dark the same way again.

Statistics:
Name: Siminash'Colet (Sleepy Hollow)
ID: 692
Gender: Mare
Parents: Wild
Class: Nai
Glory: Eilli Havala
Charity: Ath'mirithar
Offspring: Ivini'runel
October 2004

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