HER DARK EYES drank up each expression that played across Kauri’s face, and for a moment she was afraid at what could have been. That she had interrupted neither reverie nor play was obvious, though the gravity of the damage that his internal demons were capable of doing – even hungered to unleash – had not sunken in. The stallion cloaked in dusky evening had been engulfed in something that Hydra could not understand, set on some jagged path that her experiences generously ushered her away from.

For now, darling. The beasts of Novus dance to a mischievous drum.

She wanted to press against him, to offer a warm shoulder on this autumn night. She wanted to show that he was not alone, though the strangeness of it all was too new and Hydra too frigid in her youthful awkwardness.

The metallic tinkling of his chain danced in her ears, and she tilted her head in curiosity as if just noticing the glinting adornments. She smiled, soft and genuine, as he extended his muzzle towards hers. Briefly she admired the angular planes of the ghostly white buzzard’s beak that had risen to greet her, pondering why it was that others wore bits and pieces of the dead. She shook her head as she withdrew her nose, the shark’s teeth that were nestled in her thick mid-length mane clinking lightly, hollowly.

Blinking, she frowned slightly at his end remark and flicked her long forelock aside. Hydra was too naïve, too new to the realm of Novus, and too outcast from her community to have known love that was not between parent and child. Even friendship had evaded her like a dipping swallow, hovering just out of reach before dodging back to the sky in a flash of glittering navy.

“I find that this time of night is the best time to think, to just be,” she spoke as a smile flit across her black lips. “No, no… boys are gross and full of cooties, remember? I’d hate to catch those!” She jested. “Speaking of catching things, I’d hate to catch cold. Shall we?” she invited as she began to leave the cool water, hauling her muscular figure from the creek in languid strides. “I’m Hydra, by the way.”

It felt like ages since she had shared her name with a stranger.

@Kauri
ooc. So sorry for the delay!

SHE MOVED FORWARD briskly in order to fall into stride with Kauri, allowing her actions to serve as silent consent to his invitation. The stallion reminded her so much of a twilight sky promising a storm, writhing with pulses of lightening as demons stirred inside. Hydra grew silent in contemplation as her dark eyes sank to the ground beneath the lightly wooded creek side. The moonlight dappled their path, painting it in silver and shadows.

There was a pause as she gathered her thoughts, reminiscing on the times when she was a foal trying to skip rocks fruitlessly off the surface of the turbulent ocean. Her father had laughed without fail every time, deep and hearty and with every fiber of his being. It was her favorite sound. All she could do was cast him a pout and glare in indignation, but her stubbornness was always quick to crack against the face of his love.

“Thanks, Kauri,” she began with a faint smile that was hardly traceable in the moonlight, though anyone could hear it in her voice. “I hate to bother you with trivial ramblings of a filly, but since you asked…,” she jested lightly before turning a more serious leaf.

“It’s just been… an adjustment, leaving home, especially to find myself in this place with its gods and tumult. I was welcome in my homeland only by the mountain peaks, beaches, and waves, but never by the tribe." Her non-use of the word 'my' was subtle yet profound in how it portrayed her self-image with relation to her birthplace. She cast a sideways glance at him, an invitation to insert input at any time if he felt compelled. "Being with my parents was the only time I felt content, but even that only lasted so long. Most of the time I can do without a sense of belonging, of needing a community, but lately it’s just been gnawing at me, you know? And after what I've seen thus far, I'm not so sure this place is a fit for such a plainly clad filly from the shores of nowhere.”

Oh Hydra, you're bordering on throwing yourself a pity party.

@Kauri : )

HYDRA WASN’T TOO wrapped up in herself for Kauri’s hastened breathing and missed footfall to go unnoticed. She paused then, matching her stride with his while furrowing her brow and widening her eyes in concern. The dun mare had decided that she liked Kauri, and thus her vein of loyalty had been tapped. It is deep and hard to find, but once struck, nearly impossible to cauterize.

“Hey,” she spoke low, gentle but firm, eying him with a sideways stare. His voice gave no sign of distress as he forged on with the conversation, though Hydra’s eyes were trained on his body language like a herding dog. She nodded in agreement at his speculation, running her tongue over her teeth behind pursed lips. Only when he resumed walking did she turn away from him, keeping pace on their midnight stroll.

“Thanks, Kauri, though I have a hard time believing half of that sentence,” she smiled, almost saddened by his comments, though pity had no place here tonight. “Mmm… It was never something that I could do, so I can’t really miss it, right?” Her smile cracked just a bit more, the moonlight glinting off of the sliver of exposed teeth.

“I’m new to Denocte, the Night Court, though I haven’t spent much time there yet so I would hesitate to call it home,” she offered, a weak shrug rolling off of her shoulders as she nimbly stepped over a fallen branch. “I originally came from a place called Seasna. Quite far from here, though it was a surprisingly uneventful journey. I lived with my parents in a village nestled against the mountainside of the Ivory Ridge. My father was a woodworker while my mother was part of the foraging party. It was a simple place, really, free of war and that ilk.” She reminisced briefly on the one time that she could recall a fight had broken out. It had been over a case of infidelity, something she had found stupid – something that a young foal would not understand.

“Gods were not part of that world. The natural world and a greater force that was omnipresent yet had no physical form was what we studied and what was taught. Something akin to paganism, or druidism, I suppose.” A brief pause enveloped her as she recalled the past year for a moment, though no mist clouded her eyes.

Her gaze moved abruptly back to her companion, the shadows dancing with his stripes. “What about you, Kauri?”

@Kauri <3