Post by thrif on Oct 14, 2008 1:43:37 GMT -5
Xx.. Name ..xX Southern Mary
Xx.. Nick Name ..xX Mary
Xx.. Age ..xX 6 seasons
Xx.. Gender ..xX Mare
Xx.. Species ..xX Horse
Xx.. Breed ..xX Kiger
Xx.. Height ..xX 14-15 hands tall
Xx.. Build ..xX Muscular
Xx.. Eye Colour ..xX Hazel
Xx.. Covering ..xX Fur
Xx.. Covering Colour ..xX Dun/muted tan colored horse with a dark brown mane and tail. Darker brown around her muzzle, knees, eyes and tips of her ears with dark outlines and lighter interiors.
Xx.. Markings ..xX “Freckles” around her eyes and nose.
Xx.. Scars ..xX Scar just above her left eye from cutting it on one of the barn fences.
Xx.. Attitude ..xX Mary is an agile and intelligent mare, with the stamina and surefootedness seen in many feral horse breeds. Bold and with lots of courage and determination, but gentle as well as calm, she is ideal for pleasure riding as well as trail, performance, endurance, driving, and many other situations that an athletic horse is desired.
Xx. .Likes ..xX Young children (mainly girls), being brushed, water, soccer balls, and some dogs.
Xx.. Dislikes ..xX Fire, loud noises, being in the barn for too long, being alone for too long.
Xx.. Fears ..xX Fire and loud noises.
Xx.. Strengths ..xX Running, agility, and jumping.
Xx.. Weaknesses ..xX Her fear of smoke and fire usually prevents her from going anywhere near camp sites. She has a weakness for green apples and will follow small children around anywhere (as long as they are quiet).
Xx.. History ..xX It was almost five seasons ago that Southern Mary literally ran into the ranch. From what Marshall has guessed she must have been running away from something pretty darn fast to have high-tailed it into the pastures as fast as she had. He should know. She had nearly ran right into him!
It hadn’t really been that soon after Marshall had arrived on Seraph Island that Southern Mary did too. He had been sneaking onto Ellen’s property at Churinga to see if he could find anything to hoard up in the barns or sheds when he heard the whinnying of a horse somewhere close. He didn’t think anything of it - Maybe one of the horses had been left out of the barn on accident or something, he thought.
A few moments later there was a quick burst of light that knocked him back a couple of meters. Then out of the light came a very young horse galloping like the ‘Devil had been chasing it’, towards him.
He made the mistake in throwing his hands in the air, causing the young mare to rear and kick forwards, almost knocking the young Southern man back a second time. “Stop it!” He said sternly and watched as the little mare, probably only a season or two old stop suddenly and stood, watching him for a good minute or so. With his hands held up and palms facing towards her, he slowly walked towards her.
It took a few attempts to actually get the young filly to calm down completely before he was then able to pet her for a while. Soon after that he then noticed a rope around her neck, like the ones that he had seen Ellen lead her horses around with and decided to try and her her to follow him towards one of the gates.
Tying her to one of the posts, he made the decision to go and tell Ellen about the horse, so he walked towards the house and knocked on her door.
He explained that he had been “taking a walk” and had seen a young filly gallop out of a bright burst of light into her pastures and that she should take a look at her.
After that, Marshall spent many weeks either sneaking onto the property at night or visiting by day just to spend time with the filly before he eventually asked Ellen if he could keep her but still use her barn as the fillys home in return for carte blanche (“black check” basically complete freedom to ask for any favour she wants, without him asking for anything in return).
The man always treats Mary with a true and rare affection - But still makes an effort to hide it while other people are present. The two have often used each other as a crutch for comfort. Demonstrated on a few occasions - such as when he and Clementine had a close encounter in the barn the night that Abby was attacked by Andras.
Xx.. Example Post ..xX Marshall’s boots made a quiet ‘thud’ on the ground as he landed on the other side of the fence. He had had allot of practice climbing fences before. He had forgotten how many times he had climbed his own fence trying to escape from his parents screaming and throwing cutlery at each other when he was a boy. He remembered that he’d always run to the park. There was always so much to explore, so many things to see and do. The gardens where huge, a veritable jungle. When he was ten she saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. The gardens became a South American jungle and he was searching for lost Incan treasures, being chased by pygmies. Before that it was the swamp infested by the Alien Dead and he was defending the world from zombies. Or he was time traveling with a group of dwarves searching for treasure.
Then as a teenager he remembered climbing over and under fences just like these ones to get into people yards, trying to break into their houses. Just trying to find stuff to sell for a bit of cash. It wasn’t an honest living but it was better than not living at all.
Even here, at the Island his drifter instincts never left him and he continued to try and steal things off of the houses around the town. Or better yet - the farming houses. Where he knew that that idiot cop Whittier wouldn’t be breathing down his neck every second of the damn day.
So that was why he was here, at Churinga. Sneaking across Ellens pastures towards the Barns. Sure she had led him to the Island just a few months ago. Sure she had never done him any wrongs, so this was nothing personal. He didn’t have some personal vendetta against her. She just seemed to trust him and that seemed to give him even more reason to rob her. Like he said, she trusted him. She couldn’t really suspect him would she?
He thought that she seemed like the defacto leader of the whole Island. They way that she seemed to know everything about everything going on around her. How she just seemed to know exactly when another person appeared on the island. He had often joked in saying that: “I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t find herself one of them horses of hers and start leadin’ the charge in a big white hat.” and started calling her ‘Chief’ or ‘Sheriff’.
He had made it half way across the pastures when he started listening out for any noises that he should be suspicious of. Everything seemed pretty normal this time of night. Whatever the time was. It must have been around ten or eleven at night, give or take.
He felt the bottoms of his jeans begin to dampen as he walked through the tall grass. Great! Walking around it wet boots is exactly what he needed right now...
He heard a dog bark somewhere on another property and ducked low for a second, waiting for the mutt to quiet down before he got to his feet and started to make a run towards the gates. He was about half way across the field when suddenly he heard the shrill whinny of a horse and there was a quick burst of bright white light to the side of him. He watched as a young horse galloped towards him out of the light, nearly knocking him right over into the grass.
“Hey!” He jumped to his feet. There was anger showing in his eyes as she thrust his hands up in the air to try and stop the horse. But instead of doing that, it only frightened the horse even more - causing the horse to rear and kick in the air a few times. “Stop it!” He said more sternly. The young horse suddenly stood very still, staring at him, and he stared back at her. After about a minute, Marshall took a few slow steps forwards. The young filly continued to watch the 26 year old as he approached her with hands held up and palms facing towards her. She snorted when he placed one of his palms on her nose and shook her head. He actually smiled as he gave it a scratch. Moving closer and stroking her neck.
“Ya look like a Kiger. A good US horse.” He looked her over under the moonlight. He was surprised at her docility, especially for her age. She must have only been a season or two old. “So what where you high-tailin’ from huh, Girl?” He asked the filly. He noticed a lead-rope around her neck. Well, she must have had a home wherever she came from. She was around the right age to be broken.
“You wanna follow me?” He asked, he reached down to take the lead-rope. She tried to back off but he gave it a quick yank. “Behave yourself!” He spoke with stern words. “We’ll see what Ellen want’s to do with ya.”
This was going to be a little tricky if he didn’t do it right. He was going to have to try and think of a good reason why he had been on her property in the first place. Lying was pretty simple - Especially to women. If you could be a professional lier he’d probably be a millionaire by now.
He was going to have to tell her he was going for a walk when he saw the light. That was believable. That bloody light could have blinded anyone within a 50 meter radius. He could say that he jumped the fence when he saw the horse, and decided to bring it up to the house. It was as simple as that.
When he reached the gate, he took the lead rope and tied it around one of the posts. She tried to pull at it a few times, shaking her head trying to break free. He gave her a light smack on the nose. “I thought I said you gotta behave yourself, Craft-Glue.”
She nickered as he jumped the fence and walked towards Ellen’s place. The porch light was on but everything else seemed pretty quiet in there. He didn’t expect she’d be up but he still knocked a couple of times, crossed his arms and waited.
