09-15-2020, 05:02 PM
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For a fretful second, he thinks he will be shrugged off yet again.
When the girl turns to face him, he feels it like a physical push as the apathy rolls off of her tongue and lingers in the space between them. Fortunately, it is short lived. Recognition brightens her face like fresh snow in the morning. He, too, feels lighter once he realizes who he has run into yet again. The acute worry churning his gut soothes into a much more normal-for-him low level of ever-present anxiety.
“Mazi!” His feet dance lightly as he moves around to better see his friend. He sees that she’s grown as he has, the both of them just shy of adulthood now. But whereas he looks awkward and ungainly in his slender and unfilled frame, the filly seems comfortable and confident, as if she’s matured exponentially in the same amount of time compared to him. Or maybe he is just projecting his own insecurities. Barrow wonders what adventures she’s found herself in since they spoke all those many days ago. He knows anything he shares will seem tame in comparison to most youngsters his age; his mother had kept him sheltered far longer than she should have, a downside to being the firstborn he supposes.
“I wish I would have found you again sooner. None of the other kids in Tephra were nearly as cool as you.” He doesn’t mention that he hadn’t actually looked for her because then he would have to admit his strict curfew – and the fact that he had adhered to his own curfew instead of rebelling like she might have.
He reaches down to scratch his sapphire blue leg and looks back at her with the same bright blue eyes, tilting his head in curiosity. “Have you had any more Bird Problems? Growing a beak in the middle of a sentence? Having your tail turn into feathers when you’re about to swat a fly? Shifting talons and tripping yourself up while gallivanting wildly across a meadow?” A crooked smile pulls at his lips imagining her in any one of those scenarios. He remembers that day in the playground when he had racked his brain for ideas on how to make her unstuck. He remembers the long list that could have easily been even longer if he hadn’t stopped himself from blurting more potential fixes out. “Come to think of it, how have you possibly survived this far without me?”
When the girl turns to face him, he feels it like a physical push as the apathy rolls off of her tongue and lingers in the space between them. Fortunately, it is short lived. Recognition brightens her face like fresh snow in the morning. He, too, feels lighter once he realizes who he has run into yet again. The acute worry churning his gut soothes into a much more normal-for-him low level of ever-present anxiety.
“Mazi!” His feet dance lightly as he moves around to better see his friend. He sees that she’s grown as he has, the both of them just shy of adulthood now. But whereas he looks awkward and ungainly in his slender and unfilled frame, the filly seems comfortable and confident, as if she’s matured exponentially in the same amount of time compared to him. Or maybe he is just projecting his own insecurities. Barrow wonders what adventures she’s found herself in since they spoke all those many days ago. He knows anything he shares will seem tame in comparison to most youngsters his age; his mother had kept him sheltered far longer than she should have, a downside to being the firstborn he supposes.
“I wish I would have found you again sooner. None of the other kids in Tephra were nearly as cool as you.” He doesn’t mention that he hadn’t actually looked for her because then he would have to admit his strict curfew – and the fact that he had adhered to his own curfew instead of rebelling like she might have.
He reaches down to scratch his sapphire blue leg and looks back at her with the same bright blue eyes, tilting his head in curiosity. “Have you had any more Bird Problems? Growing a beak in the middle of a sentence? Having your tail turn into feathers when you’re about to swat a fly? Shifting talons and tripping yourself up while gallivanting wildly across a meadow?” A crooked smile pulls at his lips imagining her in any one of those scenarios. He remembers that day in the playground when he had racked his brain for ideas on how to make her unstuck. He remembers the long list that could have easily been even longer if he hadn’t stopped himself from blurting more potential fixes out. “Come to think of it, how have you possibly survived this far without me?”
barrow
@[Mazikeen]