[private] I could take the whole world with me

[Tarian]

Tarian is looking ahead, watching the softly-glowing turtles as they emerge from their nests and venture towards the waiting sea. The Loessian ocean isn't as clear as it might be in more tropical places - like Ischia or Islandres - but there is still something magical about watching the little creatures submerge themselves and then eventually vanish beneath the surf.

On the sand, it is hard to hear her hoofsteps. He's certainly aware that she is close by; Tarian still can't stop thinking about his surprise at seeing her here.

He's so immersed in the sight of it all - the baby turtles, the steady cadence of the waves (easier to focus on than how close Altissima really is). The Champion forces himself to keep staring ahead, to count the hatchlings as they scuttle over the sand, to keep a mental tally of each wave that comes crashing to shore. It is so much easier to do that than -

Glancing over his shoulder towards her makes him forget it all. All the turtles, all the waves.

His mind reaches for the first thought: "Well," Tarian tells her very matter-of-factly, "they do get bigger."

Exhaling softly, he looks away from her and suddenly it becomes to think again. Has it been so long since he's kept company with a woman? No, he thinks. As Champion of Loess, he spends plenty of time with Oceane. There are the politics of her borders to discuss and the coming and goings of them. She even graciously asks him a little more than politics from time to time, though Tarian has always been a horse who hated to broach protocol.

Why is it with @[Altissima] that he is making jokes and taking late-night flights?

Why is it that the soft glow still emanating from his silver hide isn't bothering him as it had earlier?

The pale woman (thankfully) is staring out at the sea, not at him which makes it much easier for Tarian to say, "I never said you couldn't have fun." His blue eyes are watching her silhouetted shape carefully, ready to look away if Altissima attempts to look back at him. "The hot springs might be more than you can handle though," he murmurs quietly. His wings move and though he is almost painfully obvious at his attempt to keep them from brushing against her feathers, he feels something stir against the edges of his.

How had this topic come about in the first place?

Damnit.

"What if it sends into some kind of shock?" he manages after a moment. A joke hidden between a truth and a stare that is looking anywhere but Altissima and her radiance.