How do you capture sand; djinni

[Stillwater]

Stillwater

In a little cloud of debris, she had vanished only to reappear in a different place. A teleporter. It explained why he'd never crossed her path thus far, even when he could smell her near. Her exotic spice lingered in the air. Such a tease. She was a ghost who only appeared to whom she wished to show herself to. And that had yet to be him. Delicious, creature of magic tricks and sand. Where was she hiding this time? How do you catch the sand?

Djinni, Genie. I wish for a Djinni, Genie. He mocked her name in play, unaware just how truthful it was. With lazy steps, he circled a watering pool, tasting faint traces of her in the shy drifts of wind. It was a cute trick she had. It intrigued him, plucked at his curiosity. Perhaps she'd do the same and appear in a spray of sand. It would stick to his coat again, stay with him when he left. He could take that little part of her home with him. Show it all the beautiful dark corners hiding in his cavern.

How do you capture such a fleeting thing? One moment, there. The next, lost.

He came around to pause at a low shrub. A drop from his damp hair fell to tap on one of the leaves, an oddly soothing hush underlying it. She certainly hadn't been all that taken with him at the meeting, and he doubted she would even show if she were near to see him haunting her little retreat. But with nothing better to do currently, and perhaps with a hidden purpose, he wet his feet in her pond and settled in to wait.

oh look, he's absolutely terrible at starters today

[Djinni]

The sand beneath her hooves is still damp from high tide, and the faint marks left by her hooves are quickly blurred away by the water. There is a dark figure in the distance, lingering on her bit of the beach, and though she does consider slipping into the sea and disappearing, she instead continues forward.

Djinni had meant what she'd said during their brief back-and-forth at the meeting, but there's nothing to hint at it on her expression as she approaches. Her face is as blank as the granite cliffs that rise beside them, and the grullo mare settles on the opposite side of the pool as the black stallion, lowering her head for a moment to the water to drink.

"Stillwater." She says, flicking at the still reflection of the sky with a bangled hoof. "What brings you out of your cave today?" The small mare had rather enjoyed it when the stallions kept to themselves (though Bowie's occasional prancing along the shore was difficult to ignore), but with Nayl's rule they seem more eager to emerge from the shadows. Her love of stallions is no more (or less) than her love for mares, but after their first conversation, Stillwater ranks somewhere between saltwater in the nose and a stinging jellyfish on Djinni's list of things she'd rather deal with.

[Stillwater]

Stillwater

He was growing bored, despite his patience, despite his curiosity. He'd much rather be in his own little pool of cool water than hers. Down in his cavern, with its interlacing passages and the doorway that fell beneath the sea when the tide came in. It was the perfect place to keep a pet, a pretty gray perhaps. When the water came in, sealed them off from the rest of the world, she could slip to the higher ground and stay dry. If dry is what she wished.

Ah, but that little trick of hers. She could never be captured, truly. Always free, always out of reach. She would just blink and be gone. Assuming he could ever entice her to view his home. Which seemed impossible. He could wonder for hours on just how long it would take in his cave before she vanished in a flash. But she would have nothing to do with him. It was the truth, and he almost settled to accepting it when he could hear her. Sense her approach. Smell  her. Shadowed eyes watched her hungrily as she stepped up calmly, dipping her head to lap at the water. Watched her tongue slip into it.

"Stillwater," she greeted blandly, straightening. A small smile curved his lips carefully. "What brings you out of your cave today?" His grin widened, genuinely intrigued that she already knew of his home. It wasn't all that surprising, really. The place was heavy with his scent, mixed with the brine of the sea. But just thinking of her near enough to smell it was pleasing. So close to home.

Djinni. It is good to see you, and it was. So good. Why did she have to be impossible to catch? He'd never be able to feel her softness, her warmth. She'd never find him at all attractive despite his appeal. Such a shame.
I wanted to apologize, he said without preamble, smile fading just a little. I offended you, and I'd like to make it up to you. Is there anything I can do to earn your forgiveness? He dealt a vulnerable hand, risked so much. Sometimes sacrifices were necessary. She might be worth it. Time would tell.

[Djinni]

Idleness has always chafed her, rubbing a sore into at her vagabond soul. Keeping still has never been her forte, and she is no different now despite the unnatural length of time that she has been spending in Nerine. Not since she was a child, still needing the safety of her mother and father, had she stayed in a single place for so long.

The seaside has no mythical call to it; no sense of home overwhelms her as she stands on the beach.

It is nothing like her mother and father had told her. The innate sense of loyalty and service that imbue her entire family seems, somehow, to have never existed in her at all. She'd not lost it, for she has always been this way. It had simply never come to her.

Perhaps it is a blessing; she had no kingdom ties to rip her apart when the Reckoning came. Djinni has only had to wrestle with her own weaknesses dilemmas. After that, she had been stuck, unable to slip away at a thought, unable to wear whichever looks most pleased her. She was trapped, chained into a physical location and a physical form.

The form she still wears (a slender, smokey grullo tobiano with wide dark eyes), but she is no longer bound to the realm of Nerine as she once was. She tilts her head as he says that it is good to see her, skepticism apparent on every line of her pretty face. It does not disappear as he apologizes, but it does soften somewhat, no longer quite so cynical. Clearly she does not trust him yet, but she is also unlikely to laugh directly in his face.

"Why?" She finally says, her voice deeper than her dainty looks would suggest, with a rasp born of decades of disuse and a recent overabundance of salt air. "Why do you want my forgiveness?"

[Stillwater]

Stillwater

He, perhaps, wasn't too skilled in looking remorseful. It was hard to be sorry for speaking the truth, although he was not apologizing for what he'd said, but rather that his word choice and actions had offended her loyalties to her sisterhood. He understood her defense of Celeana, though he may not agree with it. Still, he would seek forgiveness from her for his part in upsetting her.

She looked suspicious. He had expected it, could understand it. And of course she asked "why," and questioned his motives. She wasn't stupid, he knew, so these were all to be expected. She had no reason to trust or believe him, but perhaps it would soothe over time. If anything, he hoped seeking her forgiveness would at least be a step in the right direction. He was here to make amends. His shoulder rolled in a casual shrug.

I don't like strife. Discord. Most especially if it was not purposeful, he added with a crooked half-smile and dancing eyes. And in your case, it was, of course, not. So. He removed himself from the watering hole, water cascading down him noisily, and tipped his head just a little -he never bows. I would be honored if you would allow me to make it up to you, he said sincerely, repentant.

And then he waited, curious as to  what sort of task she might ask of him, if she chose to.

[Djinni]

She makes a low sound in her throat, a thoughtful murmur as she holds his eyes steady with her own. She doesn't entirely agree with his dislike of discord, but he's trying to apologize, not contend with her personal philosophy. He doesn't know, after all, none of them do.

As he moves out of her pool of water, her gaze flicks from his eyes to the way that the water streams down his black hide. He's not displeasing to the eye, and she makes no attempt to hide her appreciation, though it does nothing to sway her opinion on the matter at hand.

"Alright," she allows, "I accept your apology." There's barely a pause before she adds: "I still meant what I said, at the meeting. Nayl might trust you, but that doesn't mean I do." Djinni has given the tobiano mare her fealty by default; she had never sworn herself to Naga or to Nerine. She merely lives in a land that the smokey tobiano owns, and follows her commands when it suits her.

"As for what you can do...let me think about it." She concedes, making it clear that she does not plan to forget, but also that exactly what he will be doing is still to be determined. Djinni rather likes keeping favors owed; what an unsurprising facet of a genie's personality.

[Stillwater]

Stillwater

He laid himself bare. With fatal risk he set his own trap and placed himself within it. As bait or perhaps as the victim, only she could decide which. He was tensed, waiting with bated breath though outwardly casual. It was a foolish move to make. In a matter of simple words she could easily hold full control of him. So far, none had realized his limitations. Things went much smoother for him that way. He knew it couldn't last forever and he would one day rue the day they became aware of it, but for now he was thrilled to bask in their glorious ignorance.

A soft smile tugged gently at his dark features. He'd glimpsed for a moment her open appraisal of him, water slipping sensually down his skin. Ah, so she wasn't entirely immune to him after all. Very interesting. If he had a way of masking the light of excitement in his eyes, he didn't bother to. Let her see a hint of his hunger.
She had put it there, after all.

His lips parted slightly as she accepted his apology. Damn, he really loved their ignorance. It was an unwitting release from his own snare. His offer had been a way to receive her forgiveness, a highly dangerous trade for himself, and here she had given it so easily, so quickly. Before she set any task for him, she accepted his apology, and he slipped so gracefully out of her grasp. It was delightful to see they hadn't found him out. They didn't yet know his game. He hoped it would stay that way, but wasn't foolish enough to believe it. He wouldn't be putting himself at such risk like that again.

"As for what you can do...let me think about it."
His smile widened just a little. She was still unaware that he was no longer beholden to her. His debt was paid in a matter of seconds. So easy. The way he danced his way out of their cages so effortlessly was electrifying. Their blindness to it only magnified the thrill.

Of course, he said kindly with the smallest dip of his head. Take as much time as you like. He would play this game. Only because it was her. Only because she piqued his curiosity. Sometimes he almost sensed she held secrets of her own, and he was itching to know them. To know her. It takes one to know one, right? He had his own secrets to keep protected. Perhaps they had other things in common. Time may tell.

You know where to find me.
He dismissed himself and walked away in leisure, his heart laughing. He didn't look over his shoulder at her, though he held a secret smile for her. He couldn't risk her seeing into him, at how badly he wanted to capture her.

Maybe one day.