Phoebe was ready for it, anticipating it, the slightest little twinge of Jarek's expression to indicate he thought of her as a child playing pretend. Maybe she'd only gotten lucky in Dusk with the validating reception her sovereign and fellow soldier had given her. Maybe it was too much to ask to receive the same response elsewhere. Her strong stubborn streak was ready to refute any claims to contradict her statement, but none came. Instead, the daring look upon Phoebe's face became confused, curious, and then dawned with a belated understanding as the beautiful stallion informed her of the Day Court's patron favoring warriors. That she had every right to be there at the oasis because of it. In the most subtle, easy way possible, just like that of Uzuri and Aeon, Jarek claimed her as his peer...she was a soldier.She blinked, taken aback by how readily his answer had come, how quickly her defensiveness was eased and swept away like the suds in the basin they stood in. A small spark of pride ignited in her chest--the strapping Day Court soldier accepted her!--and pulled a pleasant, confident smile to her pale muzzle, delighting in the fact she was welcome here. It was almost enough to help her overcome the beauty of her companion--almost. She found her bright eyes drawn to his, so piercingly blue they rivaled the pale sky on a cold winter's day. But there was no coldness there, no frost or ice, but a breathtaking burn that seared straight through her, captivating in their contrast to the rest of him. She couldn't drown in them, no, but...maybe time did freeze in that moment while she admired them.
"Mhm..." The dreamy, quietly assenting murmur hummed from her without much thought, answering a question or phrase she couldn't recall with any clarity. Had he said something about sand? Was he talking about the desert? Maybe she should be paying more attention. It was difficult to though when he took up the whole of her vision, standing so tall and broad beside her that there was so little else to look at--not that she wanted to. The way the light caught the water as it trailed down his mane, his side, was distracting, enough so that she almost missed his attention drifting to a pouch beside the pool and the leaves carried back toward her in offering. Her eyes blinked and a bit of clarity returned, studying the leaves with a slight tilt to her head. "They..? Oh." The suds in the water. That was where they'd come from.
Remembering her own telekinetic gift, Phoebe accepted the leaves with a grateful smile, her gaze once again lingering on the generous Adonis beside her, before she realized the intent. Bathing. With this gorgeous stallion right beside her. She knew she was a mess and definitely needed this--hadn't he already implied as much?--but something about wetting down completely, with him standing just feet away... She was suddenly nervous again. Phoebe laughed, trying to hide it behind a smile, as she scooted little by little into the stream of the waterfall, letting it cascade off her side before scooting again to let it wet the base of her neck and back, the rest of her mane billowing in the water beside her. She held the leaves close, hesitating to put them under the water and into her gritty mane, to actually begin the process, and piped up in a weak attempt at stalling. "How, um...how quickly do they work?"
