Willfur
It's been with downcast eyes and attention turned inward that Willfur's shambled along at Thana's side. His legs seemed to move of their own accord, hardly even noticing the effort, and with no awareness of direction. He simply moved when she moved, stopped when she stopped, met her gaze as and when she commanded him to do so. He did not risk looking anywhere else, being caught in the mirrors projections again.
It comes as a genuine surprise then, when she finally pulls away and leaves him standing alone on the shore of the island, the scattered fragments of crystal beneath his hooves giving way to ordinary sand. He turns to watch her go, some banal word of thanks or parting on his lips, but too late. Her and her companion have disappeared without the slightest sound of their passing but those that they chose to make, another sign of their true natures, he thinks, their prowess in the predatory and covert.
He straightens, staring out across the canal, then glancing down at the wavering reflection of himself in the waters surface, this one unobtrusive, quiet and familiar. He looks haggard, the fur around the base of his ears darkened with sweat and his brow creased in an uneven line where the spiral edge of Thana's horn had parted and crushed the soft facial hairs, but - maybe because of these things - he sees himself there, the version of him that he recognizes.
Studying that self, finding comfort in it, he's drawn again to the broken crease above his eyes. He wonders exactly what manner of lessons the unicorn might teach him about monsters and conquering, what impetus could ever drive him to ask for them. He believes the offer was made in earnest, but it feels ominous nonetheless, threatening in a way that echoes the call of the void in the mirrors, a seemingly forgettable detail, but one that the omniscient vision of hindsight might look back on and say, this is where it started, this was the first seal.
Shaking himself, he sets his eyes on the far bank and steps forward into the water. Every movement is a choice and every choice a crystal mirror to a new reality, a new him, but today, he chooses to be soft. Today, he chooses to be Willfur.
"talk talk talk"
@Thana
OOC: Totally unnecessary, but I had thoughts, so extra closer. <3
