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Although it’s spoken with a fond smile, Mazikeen feels the sting of rejection in Gale’s words and her ears flatten in annoyance - all the tentative thrills and cautious smiles falling away like she had just jumped into the icy lake. Content to admire you from afar. Well that’s just bullshit. She wasn’t content to be admired from afar. She would rather not see him at all then be tortured by a buffered distance. All because of a curse that she thought she had made her stance clear on.
With just a handful of words the butterflies in her stomach have burned up and she feels the flicker of a fiery rage in the back of her mind. It’s better than the embarrassment because the idea that the curse is just an excuse to avoid her has grown deeper roots. Does this mean Gale does resent when she invades his space and she’s reading into everything he's said and finding she cares for someone who does not feel the same way?
What an inconvenient time to realize friends wasn’t all she wanted with him.
She attempts, sort of, to keep the rising anger out of her voice - the words carried instead on a stubborn and passionate tone. “I told you I’m not afraid of your curse, Gale. And I meant it. Nothing about my current situation has changed that. Nor the promise I made.” Despite the fact that she had, technically, gone to the mountain because she was worried she couldn’t protect herself in the future - there isn’t a single doubt in her mind when it comes to this and her voice is strong with determination.
Mazikeen did not accept that Gale could unilaterally make a decision that involved her without her say.
His offer and the hopeful way he delivers it doesn’t effectively distract her, and there’s still an edge to her voice when she replies - her orange gaze fixed on his. “Everything I would have you do to help me appreciate this shape cannot be done from afar.” It’s bold - Maze can’t believe she just said that - and perhaps a little unkind of her to say as well. But she’s feeling a little unkind right now.
Only a little, though, and after those words hang between them for a short moment she blinks and sighs softly. An olive branch, such as it is, is offered in a kinder tone. “Except - you can give me some tips on how to fight without talons or fangs. If you want.”
It feels like the rules of their friendship keep changing, like sand shifting beneath her hooves just when she thought she found solid ground.
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