it is more than just his tendency toward kindness and to care that draws evandr toward the small mare. she is volatile and mysterious, but it is also obvious to him that she too, despite herself, cares. what she had tried to disguise cheaply as lust was something deeper… sure, part of it may have been baser desire, a physical hunger, but when she was offered something more substantial, conversation, affection, she was keen to consume it just as readily. something in her expression dims at his mention of warmth and he realizes stupidly that of course she would prefer the cold. he hadn’t known many horses from the north but it made sense of her build. it touched him, strangely, that she would think of the difference between them and let it concern her in any way, as if they might have some sort of tenuous future after this. it is just another instance where the tough facade slips just briefly enough for evandr to see her. her smile is quick to return and it as if his reply had been flipped. she is more lighthearted about his serious admission than the silly detail he had first thrown out absentmindedly. she makes another tepid attempt to seduce him and he sees it for what is now. instead of the defensiveness that blossomed at her earlier pursuit he feels nothing but amusement now and despite himself a flush of warmth. though he is not nearly as skilled in this game, evandr makes an effort to surprise her, the baroque stallion lifting his lips to run the exposed line of his teeth along the white patch at the nape of her neck. though there is a note of amusement in his voice there is an air of seriousness too. ”but would you really prefer that?” the moment passes quickly and evandr laughs softly, jolted back into comfortable territory at her insult. a bright smile passes over his features, remembering his family but it is shadowed by her next comments. she had grown up and lived in a cold world indeed. a soft sigh leaves his lips at the sight of her smile, it looks barely propped there heavy and uncomfortable rather than the light-hearted happiness he noticed earlier. he shifts with her, feeling a tension between them and disliking it. his sepia head shakes more brisquely than he intends at the finality of her words but his voice is soft and filled with passion even in disagreement. ”kindness is not everything. it is nice…and we should have it, if we can. but there are other important things…” he is surprisingly forceful then, turning to stand alongside her. the elegant curve of his neck tightens and as he uses his muzzle to push back the dark locks that cover her face, the amber cascade of his mane tangles the black of her own. ”i will see you again, Faldne.” he promises. |