Common

The painted mare had withdrawn back into herself after bombarding the handsome grey with questions, but his eager responses drew her right back out. She found herself leaning forward as she listened, her imagination already running wild with the pictures that he painted. Aided by the stories she'd heard of the jungle island, Shiloh had no problem imagining a wild, lush place overflowing with life and color. The very opposite of the stark and cold land she'd grown up in.

"Really?" Her eyes glittered with interest as he confirmed the lack of snow and she wondered what it would be like to go years without ever having to grow a thick winter coat or paw through inches of snow to find food. As someone who had never truly had to deal with humidity or heat in any real quantity, such discomforts seemed small and did not deter her interest in the slightest.

And really, it's best experienced in person he said, so smoothly that she almost didn't catch the implication before the flush rose to her cheeks and made them burn. Some strange sort of yearning had set up in her breast and set to burning there, impossible to ignore despite her inability to determine what it wanted. She found her gaze dropping to the ground then, overwhelmed with this strange, fierce desire and her own inexperience with dealing it, but could not keep her eyes away from him. There were stories lurking in those warm brown eyes, and she wanted to tease all of them from his lips.

Come home with me, he murmured a moment later, igniting the smoldering tinder into flames and burning a smile across her freckled lips. She nods, and while she watches his lips move as he continues to speak, it's not until he mentions tapirs that she says anything. Unable to stop herself, she interjects suddenly, her head tilting inquisitively as she takes a step forward. "What's a tapir?"

She was certain she'd never heard the name of such a thing before, much less of speaking to one and was halfway to asking more about them when the rest of the situation caught up to her. He was inviting her to go see Paradise, which was what she wanted, but not just that. She didn't know how she understood that his phrasing had a deeper meaning, but she did. This was the first step she'd been looking for.

Shiloh flushed again and took another shy step forward, her skin shivering with excitement and apprehension in equal measure. "What I mean to say is yes, I'd be delighted to go with you." And then, because she was feeling bolder and more independent than she ever had before, she stretched her muzzle out to try and brush briefly against his shoulder. "Will you show me the way home?"