SCARECROW

Something dark and sad flickers through her eyes as he mentions fate, and an answering chord strikes in his own chest. I know that look. No one remained exempt from the ravages of fate for long. His own personal tragedies may be many years in the past, but the pain still sometimes took him by surprise. Crow had not forgiven himself for not being strong enough to protect them from Falx, for not acting fast enough to save Alaina, for simply not being the father figure that they had deserved.

He pushes the thoughts to the side for the time being. Not like I can change it now. At least Thea and Swan managed to escape the bastard's clutches. There was always time to ruminate over the past, but he wanted to enjoy his time with this sunshine girl for as long as he could. Bright souls were hard to find in this day and age, and he would take any respite he could find from the normal drudgery.

At her commentary about the Desert, he nods and half of a smile curves his charcoal lips. To be honest, he's not heard much about the Desert in his minimal travels. A few mentions of mares being stolen, but that was largely it. The majority of the buzz on the islands had been about the wars raging on other lands rather than about herd stallions individually. Warsaw's on everyone's lips. Still, Cain had seemed pleasant enough in the first few moments of them speaking and he was eager to see what the rest of the Desert was like.

The sunshine girl continues, and a cloud passes over her brightness. He frowns in response, and makes an aborted movement towards her that really just looks like an awkward lurch. Thoughts of the few children he'd somehow sired (honestly he was still surprised) and the fact that his daughters had been at the forefront of his mind lately had re-awoken his fatherly instincts. He'd been on his way to brush the silken skin of her cheek in comfort when harsh reality slaps him in the face.

Dumbass. He settles back into his resting pose with a self conscious twitch of his tail. She doesn't want your lanky old man self to go touching her. She doesn't even know you. He remains quiet for a moment, internally berating himself while she speaks of the other interesting stallion she'd found. Only when the mare mentions that the stallion had believed her capable of getting the attention of the gods did he break from the self abuse.

"You are wrong, you know." He says it mildly, choosing to ignore her interesting friend for the time being. "I don't know what your Dunes are like, but the brief bit I've seen of the Desert residents tells me you should not be worried, dove. The two that I have met are both of draft like builds and yet they thrive there."

For a moment he is distracted by how fitting a name Dove seems to be for her. Not only for the pretty monochrome shade of her coat, but also the way she seemed to exude hope and peace. Even with her own self doubts and whatever it was in her past that had darkened her eyes, she seemed bright to him. He considers his next words carefully, studying her quietly. She did not smell of the season, and his impression of her thus far did not indicate that she was the type of girl to bed a stranger, which led him to the conclusion that she had allowed her sultan the privilege of a child. It makes him curious as to how he could inspire such loyalty in Nereid without lifting her spirit.

"You are a pretty mare, Nereid. Leagues prettier than me at the most base minimum," he offers with a wry grin, hoping to lighten the mood and make the compliment feel less creepy. Flattery has never really been his strongest skill. "In a forest of oak trees, it is to the aspen tree that your eyes go first, because it is unique and therefore precious."

He frowns momentarily, debating leaving it there. He does not want to insult this stranger he has not met, or to risk alienating the mare before him if she is lovesick over this stallion, but he cannot help himself. The thought of any of his daughters simply settling for someone that didn't care would infuriate him, and he would not let her think of herself so lowly. "If your sultan is not trying to show you the truth of that, then you deserve someone better, little dove."

OOC - Changing it just a bit from not having been to the Desert to only spending a short time there before coming back. XD Cain and he kinda just went there and kept having a convo, which I didn't expect, lol.