Our skin gets thicker, living out in the snow
CREVAN
Crevan wasn’t sure what to say. Evenstar seemed like a nice mare, he thought. The kind that could be too nice, and who often needed someone to look over their shoulder for them. Her comment about the sensing things was nice, though. At least she was trying to be comforting. For her sake, Crevan scoffed in agreement. He, too, hoped that his shifting would return with the light, and if her senses were correct about her first observation concerning him, then he would bank on her being right about the second. From the corner of his eye, Crevan watched her head turn, and for the first time the shapeshifter caught the way her skin seemed to flash - like polished stone. Did she have that someone, he wondered? A someone who would look over her shoulder, like she looked over his?
“I don’t think I’ll hold my breath in the meantime.” Crevan muttered through his teeth.
And then something about her comment struck him: that she could sense his discomfort. Crevan hadn’t thought about it then because he’d been trying not to shift, but it came back to him now.
He didn’t distrust her. Evenstar hesitated to answer him, but Crevan was much calmer than before. He leaned the bulk of his awkward weight back against the rough tree trunk and shifted his forelegs around, intensely attentive to the green mare and what she had to say. The first part - about his emotions - made him shift to lean in closer, now that his curiosity was piqued. Evenstar was nervous, he assumed; she spoke slowly. In his gut, Crevan possibly knew why.
Shifters… they’re not the shy type. Crevan had known them to be a freedom-of-expression lot, who grew limbs in the middle of casual conversation and enjoyed hunting together whenever they crossed friendly paths. They loved for the world to know their secrets. But the other horses? The psychics or the elementals, (Crevan laughingly thought of them as ‘mystics’) were not the exposure kind of horses he’d come to expect, living among the free-shifters of Beqanna.
They played their games up there, Crevan blinked. Behind what eyes could see.
“The Power of Deduction?” He guessed sarcastically. Evenstar had just said that she could read other horses emotions, but she’d also nervously bumbled her way through trying to automatically reassure him. Crevan thought a joke might be appropriate.
“I don’t really care, if you were.” He surprised himself by trying to lighten her anxiety. In any other situation, he… would probably be pissed. “If you hadn’t already noticed, I’m not the kind of individual that holds back.” Crevan told her offhandedly. He wasn’t cheerful; there was still an eclipse happening, the common lands were all but abandoned now, but at least (he reasoned) things could be worse. “I’m usually not the overly emotional type, either, so maybe it’s a good thing we’re stuck out here together.”
At that, Crevan turned the broad side of his cheek so he could properly look at Evenstar.
“So,” He wanted to know, after giving her a few minutes to consider things, “Were you meeting someone today?”
@[Evenstar]