Copper eyes blinked up in surprise at the woman who had approached him out of nowhere, and Auru suddenly felt a wave of self-consciousness as a dollop of melting snow suddenly splattered to the ground from his mane only moments after her inquiry. He felt warmth painting his cheeks, and not just from the fire. Her wry grin did little to help him feel better as he nervously shuffled his hooves beneath the taller woman's amused gaze.
"Erm... yes... yes I suppose I did... It is uhm... snowing, outside and all."
Very eloquently put. Well done Auru Geniven. Truly a master of public speaking. Why, next thing you know, the whole court will be clamoring for you to be the next sovereign. You could stop a war with your mastery of words.
Suffice to say he regretted opening his mouth the moment the awkward words left his lips, the man not quite sure how to handle idle conversation. 'Snowing outside', what, did he think she'd think it was snowing inside?
There's a reason I tend to stick to myself most days.
At least he wasn't panicking in the middle of the conversation, he supposed awkward stuttering was an improvement to that. But on the other hoof, panicking would give him an excuse to leave. Oh goodness, he'd really start panicking if he thought to much about this.
Now you're going to be laughed at for being such an incompetent child. Can't even answer a simple question without looking like an idiot. She'll laugh at you, mock you, better leave now before she gets started, little boy, unless you happen to be in the mood for being put in your rightful place, for once.
He almost gave into the thoughts, but the physical needs of his body stopped those actions before they could begin. He was cold, and wet, and he was not going back out there until he was dry, at the very least.
He didn't have a chance to act on that before another approached the group, and Auru distantly noted that it was the man he had followed inside, having seen someone else headed to warmth and deciding that he clearly knew the way. The smaller and younger man found his shoulders hunching as the winged man approached them both, something in the way he held himself just screaming to the nervous stallion, 'powerful'. Maybe not necessarily physical power, although her certainly looked to be in better shape than Auru himself. (Most were.) But that wasn't all there was to power.
Auru had the sudden thought that he really ought not to anger this man.
To be fair, he had that thought about most people he met.
When the man smiled at him, Anxiety was quick to latch onto the discomfort that seemed to be in the gesture. It could have simply been that the man was as prone to isolation as Auru himself, and found parties to be rather more than he cared for, but that didn't stop the wretched looking stallion with a lion's mane from immediately trying to figure out what he did wrong, how to apologize for it, and how to extract himself from the situation so that he might never have to encounter either of them ever again and risk inciting their ire for daring to show his pathetic face.
"The storm blew in rather quickly, didn't it?"
Auru had nothing to say, more prone to silence than answering what was so obviously a rhetorical question.
It was a rhetorical question, right?
Oh Vespera, was he supposed to answer? Was the man waiting for Auru to answer?
Oh crap, he's turning to the mare, he missed his chance! Oh fuck, how badly did he fuck up this time. Was there a way to undo the damage? Crap, crap, crap...
Auru was quite a professional at rapidly working himself into a panic, and began doing so as the winged stallion spoke to the silver mare, something about her not being in the storm. He wasn't really listening. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. Oh crap, he looks happier talking to her?
Fuck, is that what's wrong? Are they together? Is Auru speaking to someone he shouldn't be? (Never mind the fact that she spoke to him first.) Is she not supposed to talk to people because of some rule because the two of them are together? He didn't know of any rule like that! But then again the people here were getting weirder and weirder by the day. Take Lysander, for instance, just appearing from the middle of nowhere like a god.
Auru still had his suspicions about the man.
Crap, the winged man is turning back to him. Should he run? Answer the initial question?
Panic?
Yes, panic sounded about right.
The man was biting his own lips as he tried very hard not to hyperventilate, to little avail.
“Perhaps you should see if one of the merchants might have a blanket for you, friend?”
Two things. One, friend? Second, he didn't have anything to buy a blanket with! He lived in swamp, living off of the surrounding foliage and fruits, occasionally going to the fields for grass. He didn't have money.
“Come on, I’ll see to it that you get something to warm you.”
Oh fuck, was he going to owe the winged man in return for a blanket? Become a servant for this man who had to be a noble or some high ranking individual, probably from some other court or foreign kingdom, since Auru knew both Florentine and Isorath and he was neither of them. Was he the new Emissary? No, no, he was too powerful for that. Did this man want to get Auru's servitude in exchange for buying him a blanket?
Crap, he'd just fuck everything up if he tried to be a servant. He could barely hold a conversation or grab a firefly with his telekinesis, never mind being a servant! Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.
Why were his fucking hooves following the other man. Why wasn't he turning around and running.
“This is not the time of year that you want to catch a chill.”
A trick. A lie. Don't be an idiot. See through it.
All Auru could see were the lies Anxiety and Paranoia painted for him as his voice manged to find itself, clearly strained and shaky, as was his body as he trembled in terror, not wanting to become an indentured servant or slave in exchange for a blanket and speaking to the man's wife, fiancee, daughter? Crap, what if she was his daughter? No... the man didn't seem old enough for that. But looks could be deceiving. His voice trembled with the shaking of his body as he forced himself to a halt, shaking his head and trying to bow out of the conversation, leave the two who clearly wanted nothing to do with him to themselves.
"N-No... it's f-fine... I'll just... just stand b-by the fire f-for a while a-and th-th-then I'll just be on my w-way. I-I won't bother you a-anymore, s-s-sorry for the inconvenience."
Well at least that sentence made sense.
Why was it suddenly getting so hard to breathe?
@Kasil @Liesel
OOC: Auru breathe and try not to have a panic attack in the middle of the party
