my shadow tilts its head at me,
spirits in the dark are waiting.
“It’s shadowy,” he says in response to Iona. It’s a strange response, if you are anyone but Rhonan. To Rhonan, shadows are beautiful. They are why he chose this place (also because this was his father’s home, but the jerk was dead before Rhonan was even born, so he doesn’t talk about all that). He’ll just say it’s the shadows. And mostly, it is.
He notices the way she looks at his coat, and it doesn’t really bother him. Not that staring, because he’s notorious for staring too long or having any idea that it might actually be rude to stare. But he is rather impressed that the girl even noticed. Most just assume he’s black, and move on. But she’s noticed something, he thinks, and so he decided to admit to the truth. Even though he hate the truth. He’s a pretty pretty princess beneath his shadow coat.
He lets the shadows fall away though, and they pool at his feet. His coat is, sadly, gold and white. He looks exactly like his mother. Also dead. And he’s not really that sad about that either. She was fine, but he didn’t have some close relationship with her. His sister was a different story, but not his Mom. He pulls the shadows back up around him, and they hover there like a blanket for a moment before he tucks them tightly around himself, looking very much like a plain black horse again.
“You know, I really do. Now stand still.” He says, turning his attention to Demian, and taking the opportunity to reprimand his friend again. There’s a tiny hint of amusement in his voice, but as usual, mostly Rhonan is pretty deadpan. He has literally NO idea if this will work, but he tries to imagine what Demian sees, and then begins to shape a wall of black into the shapes of the area within eyesight. He carves Iona out of a darker shadow, and then himself, trying to lighten and darken as best he can. This may all be in his head, but maybe he’s managed to channel Demian’s darkness. Because he can understand what Demian sees (Rhonan’s been to the end of the world and all, and it’s damn dark there). And he understands shadows.
“Did that do anything?”
rhonan.
sorry....he's so weird :/