To his credit, Boone did exactly as August asked: he shut up, though not without first letting out a heavy sign of resignation, as though August had asked him to swim the sea and back. Already his bright eyes were searching the dark, and sure enough, there was a tall, dark and well-built shadow stalking across the grass toward them. Boone didn't fancy his chances against that individual were they to come to blows, and he side-eyed the silver-haired form of August, looking for a hint in the stallion's body language as to how likely that were to happen.

August had always had a terrible poker face, though, and that was never more true than now: he was evidently making some kind of effort to appear calm, by standing still as a statue with his ears pricked, but tension radiated off his well-muscled form in waves, and he was still blowing gently from the exertion of their scuffle. Boone noticed, too, that he favored a forelog. That was new.

When the shadow neared them, moonlight bouncing silver-blue off its back, Boone saw that the individual was a young stallion. Boone's first impression was that he was harmless—a gentle giant, with more height and muscle than he knew what to do with—but he'd been wrong as hell before, and he watched the interaction between August and the newcomer carefully, with just the suggestion of impatience in the rhythmic sway of his flaxen tail. He could not tell if the two were familiar with each other, but the impersonal nature of their interaction told Boone they were not close, at least.

"Just chattin' with an old friend," August said far too loudly, his twang like a poorly-tuned guitar. Boone would not have been surprised if every sleeping bird within a mile radius fell off their perch. "Sorry if we woke you."

Boone grinned at the newcomer as if he were about to share a juicy secret, and then the words were out of him before he could stop them. "He means I kicked his ass, and he's sore about it. You wanna get in on the action, kid? That one can never have too many bruises."

In his peripheral vision Boone could see August throw a hostile glance his way.