Though she knows it’s simply luck that she saw him at all - luck that he’d spoken up, really - she can’t help but feel satisfied with herself. He’d just confirmed himself to be a local, and hadn’t she been searching for one to show her around? Never mind the fact that he can’t do much showing. She’s fascinated by him regardless, maybe moreso for his disability. She’s never met a blind person before and for a moment she finds herself looking at his clouded eyes, a bit of sadness blossoming in that small bit of her heart she’d reserved for such feelings. Sadness for him, that he could not behold the stars with her, or watch a sunrise climbing up the edge of the earth.
Still, that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t be good company, and she could always tell him about all the things they’ll encounter on their adventure, right? But his words come out all wrong - hesitant, as if he’s building the courage to refuse her. She frowns and steps a bit closer, her gaze breaking from his unseeing eyes and sliding instead to his mouth, which is moving once more, explaining all the reasons he couldn’t possibly come with her. Again, that sadness tugs at her heartstrings and she forces a smile through it, a bubble of laughter climbing her throat.
”Don’t be silly,” she says, closing the remaining space between them with two long strides.
”The slower the better, gives us more time to explore and get to know each other along the way.” She reaches for him, her muzzle extended outward to brush against his neck, close to his ear. Her breath huffs against his warm skin and she giggles again gleefully as it tickles her nose.
”I’ll walk beside you and show you the way. Teamwork,” she muses. Of all the lessons her mother had taught her, personal space hadn’t made it into the rubric, though Katla might’ve ignored it if it had.
He introduces himself then, and she takes only a beat to think about her answer before giving it, because it was the first thing she could think of, so it must be true.
”I didn’t really choose anywhere specifically. I sort of just… wandered here. And now I’ve found you, so it must be a good sign, right? The universe is telling me this is where I should be.” She says it like scripture, faith-bound to believe her own words as if the gods themselves had placed them in her mind. She doesn’t take much stock in the gods, but maybe they simply had their own way of doing things.
Content with the moment, she shifts just enough to rest her head across Mikhail’s neck, once again disregarding all sense of personal space and proper behavior in favor of the comfort of electricity between bodies.