The other stallion then explains the cinders in his steps. Mateo frowns, thinking it over. “How curious.” It seems incredibly unpractical, not to mention annoying, to leave flaming hoofprints behind you. “Anything else magical and potentially dangerous I should know about?” The thing about magic was you didn’t always see it. It’s what made magic so compelling to Mateo– it could be everywhere, the way god was, and you could only tell if you had the certain sense for it.
His thoughts circle back to god, as they so often do, and he wonders what Oriens would do, if the daybreak god were here. (of course, he is here, in the bend of the trees and the sway of the lichen, here in the air and earth, here in every way except the flesh) Eventually the boy’s brusque demeanor softens. It never really stood a chance to begin with– Mateo was far too much of a people pleaser for that.
"You're new here? I'd tell you it isn't safe wandering the forest alone, but... That would be hypocritical, wouldn’t it?" he tilts his head upward to look at the massive stallion, and a wide grin cracks across his youthful features. "Anyway I imagine the world is much less dangerous when you're that big." Mateo, on the other hand, would probably make an excellent snack to whatever beast it is that roams the forest. It is a fact that he is well aware of, for he is and has always been keenly aware of his small stature and how others respond to it-- or at least how he thinks they do.
“I’m Mateo. Would you care to walk with me? Safety in numbers and all that…” Safety for one of them, at least. His wings twitch at the word walk, wanting to take to the sky, but he keeps them tucked close. He had things to do, murderers to find. Strangers to befriend. “Where are you headed?”
- - -
@Sol Bestiam
