He may have been tempted to tease away all her frets and worries, but this does not feel like a teasing matter. To a stallion who had met the worst and most raw edges of life with determined humor, it is a unique experience. He would like to claim it is the memory of tooth and claw that make it so, but those are the furthest things from his mind at the moment.
As the smile that she can’t see begins to fade, Cassian eyes her curiously, unaware that the slight head tilt might make his haloed skull appear to tip just a bit more jauntily than normal. But the seriousness of his words when he speaks belies the unconscious lightness of his form. “I would never make fun of you Beryl.”
For all his lightness of heart and bantering manner, Cassian had never wished to inflict harm with his teasing, never intended cruelty with his words. It unsettles him that she had found them so. That suggesting she is alive might somehow appear a mean-spirited trick in her eyes. And for the first time in his life, he is at something of a loss for words.
He had always used humor as his armor, always teased away the pain and hurts of the world as though that might make things better. But this is something he hadn’t encountered before. Whatever she sees in the world now is as real to her as her golden features lined with raw pain and despair are to him. And as much as he wants to tease those lines from the corners of her eyes and chase them away from the tight edges of her lips, he knows levity is not the answer.
“I’m not… pretending anything away.” Cassian begins slowly after staring at her for several long moments as understanding dawned. A small, wry smile quirks the corner of one lip as he continues. “I don’t know how to say this gently, but… we’re not skeletons.” He steps forward, nose reaching out hesitantly to touch her cheek, unsure if she would let him. “Did you know get lines in your cheek when you clench your teeth?” His nose moves down a few inches, skimming gently. Even now, he can’t seem to help the note of humor that enters his voice. “And your nostrils flare every time I make you mad.”
@[Beryl]