The boy's skin sparks when Iska nips back at him, even though he is not afraid of her, even though, like him, she has no teeth to back up the grumpy tilt of her ears - oh those ears! They dance like... like... well, he doesn't know what they dance like, but they entrance him all the same, fringed with the curls of her black mane and the ringlets of shadow swirling above her head. Like a blackfly, he reaches for them, persistent, barely paying attention to the golden figure of their mother until she moves aside. That is when, at last, the colt stops to peer at the shadow moving closer.
Shadows; they may not embrace him, but they are not unfamiliar. His world has been the shadow of sleep until now, he was born into a bed of darkness with a sister who wears it like a crown. Bicolored eyes turn up to Cassian, their focus still soft, the pupils over-large, slow to adjust to the brightness of daylight, even what little filters through the new spring leaves above. He steps forward clumsily, with too much knee and a wildly switching tail, and the start of a grin on red-gold lips. When the black stallion turns to look at Beryl, he looks, too, ears pressed forward and head cocked to one side, but he is not following their conversation and grows bored quickly. There is so much else to see!
Beryl watches in strained silence while Blackwell turns his attention to his sire's knee, nipping playfully at it, likely to Iska's relief. She doesn't know how she expected this conversation to go, but this is not it. It's getting away from her so quickly - though she did so little to keep control that it's really no surprise - and the conclusion Cassian leaps to leaves her breathless. She's never known him to be at a loss for words.
Heat flushes up behind her eyes as she berates herself. Of course he thinks she doesn't want him around. What reason has she given him to think that she wants him at her side? She has attacked him and run from him, and hid from him at every opportunity, and now that he's found her - found them - she shows him the door. Another example of her own poor judgment, it makes her nostrils flare and the corners of her mouth curve downward, embarrassed.
"That isn't what I meant," she says softly, turning away even though she can't see the hurt and confusion on his face. Her heart feels like a tree encased in ice, ready to burst into a thousand splinters, ready to explode with a thunder that rattles the entire forest, but until then, silent, waiting. In the silence, she chides herself. There are worse things than this, worse things than finding out someone wants to stay with you - but now, in the warm, bright spring, she can't think of them.
"I want you to stay." The words are muffled, whispered into her shoulder, but she looks up at him again, curled ears askance, uncertain. It's not a lie but how long before she does something that hurts him. Again. How long before he leaves her, too? Hope wars with fear. Blackwell has abandoned Cassian's knees for... his tail, perhaps? She cannot see what the colt is chewing on.
"I don't want you to feel like you have to." That uncertainty is still brewing in Beryl's chest, but not when she considers the safety of the twins. She can't bring herself to think that she will fail them as she has so many others. She doesn't deserve them, not after everything, not after Lilliana, but she is resolved that Blackwell and Iska will never know a moment of fear that she can prevent - and among the shadows of the Deepwood, she has significant power. Her voice hardens into a snarl. "I can do this."
Shadows; they may not embrace him, but they are not unfamiliar. His world has been the shadow of sleep until now, he was born into a bed of darkness with a sister who wears it like a crown. Bicolored eyes turn up to Cassian, their focus still soft, the pupils over-large, slow to adjust to the brightness of daylight, even what little filters through the new spring leaves above. He steps forward clumsily, with too much knee and a wildly switching tail, and the start of a grin on red-gold lips. When the black stallion turns to look at Beryl, he looks, too, ears pressed forward and head cocked to one side, but he is not following their conversation and grows bored quickly. There is so much else to see!
Beryl watches in strained silence while Blackwell turns his attention to his sire's knee, nipping playfully at it, likely to Iska's relief. She doesn't know how she expected this conversation to go, but this is not it. It's getting away from her so quickly - though she did so little to keep control that it's really no surprise - and the conclusion Cassian leaps to leaves her breathless. She's never known him to be at a loss for words.
Heat flushes up behind her eyes as she berates herself. Of course he thinks she doesn't want him around. What reason has she given him to think that she wants him at her side? She has attacked him and run from him, and hid from him at every opportunity, and now that he's found her - found them - she shows him the door. Another example of her own poor judgment, it makes her nostrils flare and the corners of her mouth curve downward, embarrassed.
"That isn't what I meant," she says softly, turning away even though she can't see the hurt and confusion on his face. Her heart feels like a tree encased in ice, ready to burst into a thousand splinters, ready to explode with a thunder that rattles the entire forest, but until then, silent, waiting. In the silence, she chides herself. There are worse things than this, worse things than finding out someone wants to stay with you - but now, in the warm, bright spring, she can't think of them.
"I want you to stay." The words are muffled, whispered into her shoulder, but she looks up at him again, curled ears askance, uncertain. It's not a lie but how long before she does something that hurts him. Again. How long before he leaves her, too? Hope wars with fear. Blackwell has abandoned Cassian's knees for... his tail, perhaps? She cannot see what the colt is chewing on.
"I don't want you to feel like you have to." That uncertainty is still brewing in Beryl's chest, but not when she considers the safety of the twins. She can't bring herself to think that she will fail them as she has so many others. She doesn't deserve them, not after everything, not after Lilliana, but she is resolved that Blackwell and Iska will never know a moment of fear that she can prevent - and among the shadows of the Deepwood, she has significant power. Her voice hardens into a snarl. "I can do this."
@[Cassian] I just wanted to use the new table, you can keep tagging Beryl lol