|
He startled her, and her abrupt reaction alarmed Finnian in return. As she lowered her antlers amidst the scramble to regain her footing, he spun around on the spot to see who it was she was guarding herself again, but on seeing no one else behind him or indeed nearby at all, he rather sheepishly realized it was him she feared. "Easy, girl, I will not eat ye" he tried to soothe, and perhaps it worked or perhaps his face looked harmless enough beneath the mud that she changed her mind, because soon enough she stopped squawking and began to speak. As she did so, Finnian took the opportunity to appreciate both the budding beauty and the resilience of the little fawn. Wrought from ivory and gold, she carried the promise of growing into quite the vision once the rest of her body caught up with that legginess and filled her out, and he suspected that more than one stallion would trip over his feet before that green gaze. But though she was pretty enough already, it was not so much her looks as the film of unshed tears in her eyes, and the very serious mannerisms with which she spoke that touched his heart. She seemed so awfully young (even though, if they counted the years, it might prove that he wasn't all that much older than her) and very lonely, and it made her all the braver in his eyes. "Thank ye, Maude, I appreciate that" he replied and smiled, the blue of his eyes deepening with renewed warmth. More careful not to startle her further now, the tall youngster continued towards her, and heaved himself up out of the swampy waters to firmer ground. Mud and bracken sloshed off him as he did, but he seemed none too concerned about the water that gushed down his legs and dropped from the underside of his belly, or that his tail had acquired a train of green duckweed that trailed behind him as he emerged. He did try to shake out the mane though, careful not to splash Maude as he expelled leaves and twigs; it was difficult given the many tangled locks of matted hair that had formed in his hair, but in the end he looked bit less disheveled than before. "I'm sorry if I scared ye" he continued, once he felt more presentable. "My name is Finnian. I suppose I live around here now..." But by the way he looked dubiously around at the swamp, with its gnarled trees, water-logged ground and muggy air full of buzzing gnats, it was apparent that he too felt a bit... lost. The expression faded quickly enough however, and he turned his full attention to the young filly. "What brings ye out here all alone, if I may ask? It's an odd sort of place for a pretty lady such as yeself..." |
@Maude
