Santiago takes a page from Silicon’s book and lets his eyes flit around for a moment until he can see that the pale filly isn’t about to chase him off. Less nervous now, he offers a lopsided grin. He hadn’t been expecting to run into anyone during his exploration of the island, so just having this first taste of possible friendship boosts his confidence. He makes sure not to show his impatience as he waits for the girl’s name.
Suddenly, he hears a cry that may have been a name. At the same moment, a quick shift of the breeze blows another female scent toward him. As Santiago turns his gold and white head to find the newcomer, she has already found them and is barreling toward them. With a shocked whinny that is embarrassingly high-pitched, he scrambles backwards.
It takes a moment to notice anything over his racing heart, but once he focuses on the fillies, he realizes that they know each other. Sisters, maybe? Or friends? They seem to have the same age gap as himself and Silicon – the new arrival is about his size. He feels a slight pang that he can’t have that kind of relationship with his own sister.
When they turn their attention to him at the same time it freezes him in place. He’s never been the center of attention; the sun may as well be shining its weak rays straight on him. He looks between them as he absorbs the rush of the last few minutes.
”Uh, yeah. Santiago.” he repeats dumbly for Drika’s benefit. His brain is still struggling to catch up and he’s sure it’s making him look stupid.
His dark eyes shoot to Klara when she mentions the Peak and his heart sinks. When his mother had told him not to venture to the Peak, he had taken that to include keeping away from any members of the place. He’d been so excited to be able to return to the Lagoon with the news that he’d made a friend. Now there’s two of them, yet he worries he’ll have to keep them a secret.
He doesn’t know any of the specifics about the Peak and Lagoon, just that it’s girls only at the former and boys only at the latter. His mother’s warning rings in his ears, but surely that doesn’t mean he can’t have friends from the Peak, right? Right? He doesn’t have an answer for himself and his spirits fall.
He drops his gaze to the ground to gather his emotions, scuffing his right front hoof across the dying grass. He briefly flirts with the idea of lying about where he’s from but that wouldn’t be fair to the girls, so he decides to just get it over with.
”I’m, uh, from the Lagoon,” he mumbles, eyes still downcast. Have these Peak fillies been warned off him as he has them? |