avalon -----
by masquerade out of pandora
No, they certainly don’t have to be strangers, Avalon notes as she watches the young stallion carefully. It seems like they’re already moving from strangers to acquaintances, and she has a feeling that the boy won’t stop until they’re past that too. It feels strange to be getting to know someone on her own. In the past it had always happened with her mother and uncle, and then later just Falcon, supervising.
She may have been mature physically at the time, but she had been a late bloomer emotionally, just as her dam had before her. The story of Avalon’s conception has always been a source of amusement for her uncle; Falcon had always teased his sister mercilessly about it, mostly just to rile Pandora up, which had been easy to do.
Her attention is split enough that she doesn’t register that he has ignored one of her (rhetorical) questions but her gaze comes back to him easily enough. Her white lips curl upwards. ”And if I don’t like? What if I want to call you something else, like Vulu?” She giggles, partly serious and partly just wondering what he’d think of a nickname that she’d bet nobody else has ever considered.
His answer to her age question (which had not been rhetorical) is a diplomatic one. It tells Avalon that he’s just barely crossed the threshold of maturity but it still doesn’t answer her unasked question of why he hadn’t claimed her. Perhaps…”Does that mean someone else back in the Bay is more important than you?” she asks, pretending as if an affirmative answer would mean that he isn’t worth her time.
”Oh, well if there are hot springs, then I suppose it can’t be too terrible,” she chuckles, a little sarcastic but mostly pleased. If she does end up spending the winter there, at least she’ll know that she won’t be completely miserable. ”I guess even a frozen tundra has to have some redeeming qualities.”
His knowing look as he steps towards her again does not prevent her from retreating again, prancing in place as she does. She quite likes this little game they’ve settled into, his youthfulness bringing out hers, which she’d thought she’d lost when she watched her mother fall to her death.
”I wouldn’t dream of spending all winter in a cave with you,” she says with certainty, but then to soften the blow, adds, ”Now, if there really are hot springs, that could be a different story, but I’m not sure I’d want to share.” She smirks teasingly, unsure if flirting is the right way to go. There’s always a chance that this could turn into a disaster, and then she’ll have made a fool of herself for nothing.
He does deserve to know her name, though, so she dips her head in a bit of a mock bow. ”Avalon.” That’s all he’s going to get for the moment, and shame on him if he expects anything more.
seven - grulla sabino - mixed - 16.2hh |