Let's be better strangers
The dappled buckskin knows something about that particular sort of anger fueled by family. He knows something about running away from a name, even as it rests across your shoulders like a set of wings or a brand across your face, and if you cut them away they just leave scars on your skin that remind you of what you tried to escape, anyway. Running away and lashing out are well-versed tunes playing out in his heart.He knows less about the weight of expectations - nobody ever had any of him - and he doesn't know anything about Elliana, so when she happens on him suddenly in the meadow, his ears fall flat, disappearing against the curve of that dark poll edged with bristling silver. He has inherited his mother's penchant for attracting strangers when he would prefer to be alone. The relaxed blue-green of his eyes turns steely, stormy, as mare and stallion stand in silence for longer than might be considered polite, for longer than anyone usually goes who comes to challenge his isolation. There's a memory here, another palomino (lighter than this one, and also less golden then than she is these days,) another willowy young thing staring at him in silence, and he can feel the way he already wants to hate this girl, too, picking its way up his spine like electric fingers. It makes him bare his teeth at her, flashing those bloody, bright, fangs growing in where his canine teeth used to be. They're short still, those new teeth, their points not yet obvious until he pulls his lips back in that characteristic sneer so the sunlight gleams on the wet curve of them, and they click softly against the others as if to snatch her unspoken questions out of the air and bleed the life from them.
Instead, in the pressure of the silent stillness between them, he exhales sharply, dismissively, irritation crawling across his face, hardening the edges until they're knife sharp, and he turns away. It is not so dissimilar to the other time, though there is no litany of curses staining the air blue, no unearned insults pouring unstoppered from his tongue. He does not turn to leave, though - why should he, she is the one intruding - and those blue eyes are burning holes through the mottled feathers of his wings. Without turning back to face her, he pulls his head up high, thick neck curling as he draws his chin to an imperious height.
"What?" He nearly hisses the word, speaking into the emptiness ahead of him rather than the girl behind him.
@[Elliana]
