She is the opposite of him.

She hates being normal.

She would give almost anything to have her magics back. Preferably the ones that let her play in time, but she would even settle for the much peskier ability (or curse – half the time she’s not sure) to speak to the dead. So anyway she is in a terrible mood, stuck in the awful, regular speed present time. The little strawberry mare is even lonely – she had dumped her mostly-grown daughters on her grandfather, and not even been with them when the fae ripped the magics from the world, and now she isn’t quite sure where to find them.

But she has figured out that the Tundra is gone, as is the Falls, and so her grandfather is most likely homeless, which is why she’s here, traipsing through the crowded Meadow looking for them. And honestly, it shouldn’t be this hard. One’s blue, one’s purple, one’s covered in scars, two of them may or may not have wings, and one may or may not look like a zombie. Which is a lot of weird for three horses, so Kellyn can’t imagine they’re blending well.

She is so involved with her own thoughts, gaze skimming the far away horses, that she doesn’t see him until she runs into him. “Hey!” she yelps the response, bouncing back. He’s not huge but Kellyn is little, so she looks up at him, frowning. Realizes that maybe she’s in the wrong, and the socially polite thing to do is apologize. Which she isn’t great at, by principle. “Sorry,” she forces the word out, and then tilts her head. “I’m looking for a blue roan girl who may or may not have wings, a purple girl who may or may not look half dead, and a bay stallion covered in scars who may or may not have wings. I don’t suppose you’ve seen them?”

She watches him as she blurts out her words, and she doesn’t miss that he is uncomfortable. Kellyn can’t help but wonder – is he uncomfortable, like her, because his whole world has been changed because the fae think they are all ungrateful (Kellyn resents this – perhaps she had been born with the time-changing but that’s because her father had done something special to get it; and she herself had earned her mediumship from Carnage, through fire and brimstone and lots of other scary, nightmare-inducing things)?

Or is he uncomfortable for another reason? The long, awkward pause makes her think perhaps it’s the second, and perhaps he’s uncomfortable because he’s mute or something, but finally he speaks.
And of course, doesn’t answer any of her questions. Kellyn sighs a little, looking around but always keeping him in the corner of her vision no matter what. She still doesn’t see any of them – and so she is annoyed at all of them. The awkward creature in front of her who didn’t answer her question, and her family for disappearing. They could have left a note. Smoke signals. Something.

Perhaps they left on purpose. The strawberry girl is not the easiest to be around, perhaps they had decided she isn’t worth it. That fills her with emotion too, half an unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling of loss, and half bright and shiny fury. “I’m Kellyn.” she response, blinking at him as she tries to focus on him and not her own problems. Her words and short and clipped, but not overly sharp and she is satisfied that her fury underneath her skin is contained. “So…have you been here long? Did you see them?”

She asks her question and then waits for his response, growing a little irritated when he simply looks blankly back at her, an awkward silence building. Finally he tilts his head and the strawberry girl sighs, glad that he’s finally coming back to reality. Until – he leans around her, looking around the meadow, and then looking back at Kellyn and telling her he doesn’t see them.

This time, the irritation leaps high and fast into anger, and she pins her ears, “Seriously, are you stupid?” the pony-mare snarls, snaking her head downwards, though she refrains from reaching out to bite towards him. “I can look around the Meadow my own self. I was asking about not at this particular moment.” Like before she arrived, or somewhere she hasn’t looked.

But, no. This is not how you get people to do what you want. Not when you’re a little over 14 hands and without any of your powers. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath and opens them to find him leaning backwards, as if he can disappear.

She waits a moment.

He doesn’t disappear, only stands still and tilts his head at her again. Kellyn wonders if she’s already hit the nail on the head – perhaps he’s stupid? Or not-quite-all-there. Some sort of partially functioning mutant. Pity wars with distaste and finally she asks, “Are you ok? Because if you’re trying to evaporate or something – look, it’s not working.”