It was a not-entirely-enjoyable predicament, to be facing down with a chilly stranger in a strange land, wondering exactly who you might be pissing off if you happen to tread on someone's toes. He could guess that Rostislav probably didn't currently live here on account of knowing as little about the place as he, but he might be important elsewhere. The risk of a misstep was too great to indulge his knee-jerk urge to answer the ruddy stallion's chilly quip with open offense.
Reasonableness it would be, then.
"No I don't," Martin echoed with as much certainty and a fair bit less dismissiveness, a crease etching itself into his brow in response to the other stallion's subtle joust. Honest ignorance had never bothered him; much of his childhood would likely have been hell otherwise.
But the bay stallion's appraising eye prickled along his branded flesh, igniting in him the old unwelcome sensations of otherness. The gilded unicorn straightened guardedly, turning to face Rostislav as he inspected the weathered column. "But if that's the case, what are you searching for?"
At about that moment, a loose chunk of stone from Rostislav's improvised scratching post clattered to the ground, exposing something glittering within.
Martin craned his neck up at it with a huff of mild surprise that adequately encompassed the combined wonderment at the sight, annoyance at the other stallion's vandalism, and more abstract appreciation for the glory of cosmic coincidence that he felt in that brief moment of recognition. Ignorant as he was of whatever telekinetic powers he had acquired upon crossing the boundary into Novus, Martin reared up briefly on his haunches in a vain attempt to get a better look at what the column seemed so eager to offer up to them. If the pair of them took whatever it was from the premises, would that make him a looter? Was its former owner still alive to care?
No, Martin. Don't be silly.
@Rostislav
