hearts on fire; brinly

[kildare]

What Kildare is doing at any point in time is anybody's guess.

What he is doing when he calls out to Brinly, he isn't entirely sure himself. He could let her pass through the woods, weave through the trees and be another shadow in this forest. Sometimes it's easiest to be a shadow - to slip through unseen and unheard. There is more to see and hear that way, after all. He almost lets her go.

But he doesn't.

Perhaps it is the heat, the flies, just the annoyance of summer itself, but he does not let her slip by unnoticed. If he is to suffer in these damned woods, it would seem that he aims to suffer in company.

He calls out to her and Kildare waits in expectant silence (it never occurs to him that she might not reply). He waits and a grin spreads across his dark mouth like wildfire, daring her and all these lurking shadows to come out. When she turns, his green eyes aren't without appreciation. For all that she is the color of these woods, she is fine-boned and even better, fire-eyed. The spark in them taunts him and he strides easily forward with a carriage that suggests he is used to owning the ground beneath him.

The grin widens, "What would you like it to mean?"

She is tense beneath his green eyes. He can see the way she clenches her jaw, spits her words out as if it might keep him further away from her. He might not feel the full abuse of her venom but he isn't immune to the sting. Gently the laughing eyes give way to forbearance, the wildness in his face tames as he looks at her. 

"Easy," he tries again. "I just meant-" and then he cuts himself off. What did he mean? Ruefully, he offers her a tentative smile. "Let's try this again." He lifts his head to attempt to get a better reading of her own smoldering gaze, "Hi. My name is Kildare. What do they call a girl like yourself?"

@[Brinly] i'm not entirely sure what this is but here ya go