Tornados from a butterfly's wing
Perplexed, the shaggy coated girl tipped her head at the strange man. Monsters? It was then that she caught and registered the metallic edge the snow carried here. Noted the dark hollows where warm liquid had melted through the icy crust. Never before had she smelled blood like this, but that was what it must be. Her stomach turned in the horror of understanding.
He invoked her aunt Lilli, and that added another layer of confusion. She opened her mouth, ready to put voice to her bemusement when a softer presence joined them. Aunt Wen, composed and calm on the outside, while traces of her own worry threaded in the feelings hanging on her frame. The soft touch of her muzzle to the girl's shoulder was all it took to cause her jaw to snap shut again, but the question hasn't left her mind. If Aunt Lilli was their prisoner, why was this imposing stallion, this King, doing her a favor?
The gem studded girl stared at him unashamed, trying to reason it out between the grown-up's more sideways conversation. Gradually, her attention slipped from what was being said, to what was being felt.
King Ghaul thought he was Funny, though Ama waa struggling to connect his words with his humor. He was Hungry, always hungry and this was an Exciting hunt for him. He practically glowed with the Thrill when he spoke of monsters and hunting. The filly decided he was more like the wolves that roamed the edges of the forest than any other horse she'd met. Instinct and Hunger and feral Bloodlust, very little else. That was what frightened her, more than his looks ever could.
Aunt Wen was Scared. Things were not how they were supposed to be, and that made Ama press more closely against the light spotted mare's side. But her Aunt was also Wary, and a little Doubtful. Not for the first time, the darkling girl wished she could tell what others were thinking, not just feeling. It would make things so much easier if she could.
Last she tuned in to the scaled woman, almost as viciously endowed as the blind king. She was the least interesting to the girl, mostly because her emotions were almost entirely centered on very physical things, things Ama had not yet learned to be curious about. But mingled with those feelings were tinges of the same Bloodlust Ghaul felt, the Euphoria of the hunt. The girl's black velvet nose wrinkled subconsciously at the feeling.
She was deep in the emotions now, almost blind to the physical events taking place. When Celina's thoughts sharpened suddenly, throwing Focus and then Fear in jagged waves. Amarine felt her own heartbeat pick up the pace in response to the proxied adrenaline surge, her eyes widened as Danger took over. Her own little feet began to follow in the sharp toothed female's tracks as she began to walk away, before the cut of ice on her legs shocked her from her emotional reverie.
"You're lying. Why are you lying?"
Amarine stood facing the scaly mare, the words out before she could rethink them. She'd had every intention of obeying Aunt Wen's tacit command to be silent. But it was certain, she had felt Insincerity before the her focus had broken, and now the mare casting it stood ready to part, wings spread wide. Suddenly urgent, the black coated filly turned to look at Eurwen, hoping the elder mare would know what to do.
...Amarine
@[ghaul] @[Eurwen] @[Celina]