» Innocence is always unsuspicious «
He doesn’t draw attention to my embarrassment, or even the change in my behavior, instead, there is a subtle change in him, he holds his eyes on me a little longer, smiles a little more genuinely. It wasn’t creepy, the way his eyes occasionally looked over at me, it was as if there was secret that I didn’t know but he did. And when he finally smiled in a more natural way-- not that nervous stiff grin, man talk about a sight. I averted my eyes as if it wasn’t for me to see. But we started talking about swimming and he seemed to relax into our conversation even more. He seemed confused by my apprehension of the water, yet he nodded along with some of the facts I presented. It was a different side of him one that led to more than monosyllabic replies and tense unsure commentary. His voice fell knowledgeable and sure, while he explained the bays, and how the water is different on this side of Beqanna. It was news to me I had seen Nerine, and I had seen the common lands, and then the lands before the Reckoning. That makes sense Grimdark, you really seem to love the water. I can’t say I love the water-- I was almost swept away by a strong river current after some rain when I was younger. Just a little--untrusting of deep water.” I smiled weakly at him-- what a memory that was. What I didn’t say was that I didn’t drown because of Chem… and how that lead to the twisted history I shared with the teal eyes stallion. How even as I found him attractive, and interesting I wondered if I would ever be able to forget about the black and white stallion who had been a huge part of my younger life.
I get lost in my head for a time, thinking of everything that led me to this moment. The fight in the meadow, how rough Chem had been...how he always seemed to find me… how I was determined to actually move on, to have a full life. I couldn’t just live in this suspension of time when he isn’t around; only living life when he was around. But now I had gotten out of from under him, and the mind game he had trapped me in and was determined to stay out. The sound of Grimdark tossing his head brought me back, and the disheveled look of him made me smile widely as a giggle escaped my lips. ”Here….” I bubbled ad closed the small distance between us before reaching up and lipping the rowdy forelock away from his eye and into a neater arrangement.I lowered my head, admiring my efforts, ”there. better? I smiled hesitating at our proximity before backing away to a conversational distance.
That nervous smile was back but it didn’t dwell long before he was talking about being from Ischia in response to my earlier question. There was a something behind his statement, but I didn’t pry, I allowed the cool breeze to pull that statement away, and just let it be. ”I get that, my childhood home got swallowed up with the Reckoning, but I’m at Nerine now. I’ve grown more fond of it through the years.” I focus on him, and he seems focused on me. A flutter in my stomach made me aware of his eyes on my more than normal, and my cheeks flushed, you would know due to my mahogany coat, but if he was attentive he might have seen my breath catch and my nostrils flare slightly. But his voice gives me something else to focus on other than butterflies in my stomach. ”Here? Oh, nothing really, Just trying to get out more, meet others, you know changing the routine and seeing what comes of it. I’d say this has been a successful outing, would you agree?”
Butterflies. They made it hard to focus, but I tried to be attentive. And while Chem had been a thought earlier, he didn’t seem so important, so dynamic, in that moment. In fact, in that moment the coppery stallion with the unruly forelock and lopsided grin made me want to swim in the open water, just to have an excuse to linger a little longer. It wasn’t anything significant-obviously they had just met… but I couldn’t help but want to keep exploring whatever this was. ”So that bay you were talking about, it isn’t too far, is it? I think I’d like to see it. I smile at him, my eyes dancing in the lowering sunlight as it moved further down towards the horizon.
Vessel
Kimber x Nymphetamine