Help me out before I drown
Save me now before I give up
The sheepish grin spreads as she throws back her head and lets out such pure laughter, god he likes it when she laughs. The thought sobers him immediately, unable to help the walls and barriers that instantly spring up as he realizes how much he does like her company. That was an unsafe thought and nothing good could come from it. He’s thankful that she engrosses their host in conversation as he shifts and pulls himself together, missing the way she side-eyes him when he falls back into old habits. She quips at him and he easily banters back. “Ah, perhaps I should look harder next time.” Diplomacy was an easy shield to wear when needed and when he was in the right state of mind.
The other two joke for a minute and he allows himself to be distracted, looking to the others enjoying the festival and enjoying the cold air that breezes against his short fur. There’s a moment when he wishes to look back at Oceane, to see her in this new relaxed state that he hadn’t really seen in her before. However he stands to her left with the empty socket exposed to her, unable to catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of an eye so he instead looks to the roan stallion which is much less inconspicuous.
It takes a moment for Leilan’s words to land but his brow raises slowly as he finally puts it together. Oceane leads the southern kingdom of Loess. Oh. Well that explained a lot didn’t it. No wonder she held herself the way she did, how she offered him the spot in Loess without a worry of what the kingdom thought. Because it was her kingdom. Of course it was, of course. It seems they had both been hiding obvious truths.
He takes the information given and stores all of it away for further processing. “There’s nothing wrong with a lull. Peace can be hard to come by.” He finally says after the break down in politics, a knowing tone in his raspy voice. Images of the burning tree in the Gates spring to mind, of a dark cell beneath the Mountain. A bitter taste spreads on his tongue and he can’t help the way the gold flecks in his dark eye seem to molten. “It never seems to stay quiet for long anyways.” He says with a shrug of a scarred shoulder, knowing too well that there was always something dark lurking around the corner.
This was a happy occasion though and he refuses to be the downer of the group. Not today when the northern lights dance above his head, with the company of others that don’t shy away from what he is or know the pain he has caused. “Perhaps you wouldn’t mind bringing some of that snow to Loess after all Leilan. There’s a cave there with my name on it and I plan on making it comfortable.” He hadn’t meant to take her offer. He hadn’t meant to let anyone know if he had. But he can’t help but try to catch her as off guard as she had just gotten him. And maybe it's because he's not so out of place here and maybe it's because he knows there's plenty of others with magic that could stop him if he loses control but most likely it's because he's feeling normal for a change that he shifts back into the bear and sits back on his haunches, rubbing his two front paws together like a mischievous child. "Now what is there to do at this party?" It had been a long time since he had allowed himself any fun, maybe he could have just a little today.
Ledger
@[Oceane] @[Leilan]