Yanhua
Yanhua could hardly believe they were both from Pangea. He flicked his ears forward, hearing the word, but he couldn’t comprehend it. The version of Pangea he’d painted in his own head had been red-slashed gore, set to the backdrop of a dusty wasteland. He’d expected monsters of all kinds... but not these two. Not the dainty, kind strangers he was talking to right now. The twin mares embodied everything he associated with what appeared good, and for a second the different thoughts he has - that they look and act harmless, but they come from a place preconceived as evil - unraveled the tight bindings of his narrow, youthful mind. Yanhua was biased against them, and he felt momentarily ashamed because of it.
“No,” He spoke up quietly, “thank you.”
He felt undeserving of the offer to walk him all the way back to the eastern Kingdom, and quickly declined. When he was lost in Taiga as a younger colt, Lilliana would just tell him to wait where he was, that she would find him. Every single time she did. Now it felt only right that he should continue to wait; Yan still held out hope she’d come back. He wanted to be here when that happened. “A game?” He asked uncertainly, then bent his head to nip a fly resting on his shoulder.
When he looked up again, the opposite twin was just finishing her shift. Yanhua frowned. He followed the twisting, beautiful bird as she fluttered and jerked his head aside when she looped around him, snorting. The earlier suspicions he’d just gotten over suddenly flooded back again. In all his life he’d only met one other shapeshifter (Serabi had fooled him), and that experience is one he won't soon forget.
“I prefer the body I was born in.” Yanhua answered the hovering creature, making it clear that his interest in the other twin’s game was none at all. He turned his coppery cheek away from them and stared out for a moment into the hazy green redwoods, quietly contemplating. Fearing that the first twin - the one who’d interrupted him originally - might shift too, Yan chose not to look and watch for a second time. A sparrow was harmless, but he didn’t care what form they took.
Mindless magic for the sake of being able to do it unnerved him. For their kindness he wouldn’t hold it against them, but for himself it was a game too dark to play at.
After a few moments of listening, Yan looked back. “Don’t mind me - I’m touchy. I’ll get over it.” He smiled briefly. Dully. “But now I admit: I feel inclined to ask what you’re doing here.”
“No,” He spoke up quietly, “thank you.”
He felt undeserving of the offer to walk him all the way back to the eastern Kingdom, and quickly declined. When he was lost in Taiga as a younger colt, Lilliana would just tell him to wait where he was, that she would find him. Every single time she did. Now it felt only right that he should continue to wait; Yan still held out hope she’d come back. He wanted to be here when that happened. “A game?” He asked uncertainly, then bent his head to nip a fly resting on his shoulder.
When he looked up again, the opposite twin was just finishing her shift. Yanhua frowned. He followed the twisting, beautiful bird as she fluttered and jerked his head aside when she looped around him, snorting. The earlier suspicions he’d just gotten over suddenly flooded back again. In all his life he’d only met one other shapeshifter (Serabi had fooled him), and that experience is one he won't soon forget.
“I prefer the body I was born in.” Yanhua answered the hovering creature, making it clear that his interest in the other twin’s game was none at all. He turned his coppery cheek away from them and stared out for a moment into the hazy green redwoods, quietly contemplating. Fearing that the first twin - the one who’d interrupted him originally - might shift too, Yan chose not to look and watch for a second time. A sparrow was harmless, but he didn’t care what form they took.
Mindless magic for the sake of being able to do it unnerved him. For their kindness he wouldn’t hold it against them, but for himself it was a game too dark to play at.
After a few moments of listening, Yan looked back. “Don’t mind me - I’m touchy. I’ll get over it.” He smiled briefly. Dully. “But now I admit: I feel inclined to ask what you’re doing here.”
I GOT | Extra | FEELINGS
@[caledonia]