It surprises Mazikeen when he steps forward at the same time as her and she can feel her body tense once again at the proximity. Feels that electricity racing across her skin and through her muscles as she waits for the fire and fury to rise up and consume her.
It doesn’t come, though. There’s an abundance of wariness and it spikes when he reaches into the gap between them says something, but it’s lost at first in the white noise of her mind. “What?” She asks, voice distracted and uncertain, even though a second later the words make it through the fog. Her Alliance marking was on the end of her nose? What was it doing there? The closest anyone had come to hitting her in the nose had been when Gale had kicked her in the tusks and she already bore the result from that in her chipped tooth.
Mazikeen is struck with how much it means that he did not close the gap all the way. It gives her the chance to realize that this does feel different. That she is not so much afraid that Gale is messing with her as she is of her own reaction and the weight of it. She’s so on edge it feels as though she’s going to burst into flames just from his proximity - and yet… it’s not unwelcome.
There’s only the smallest hesitation before she reaches out, brushing the end of her nose against his and breathing out two quite words into the soft navy skin there. “Right here?” The contact only lasts for a brief moment but she can still feel it after she pulls back. As though she could actually feel the marking right where he said it was. Her bright eyes shine with the torrent of confusion and warmth swelling in her as they focus on his - and she wonders if he can hear the thundering pace of her heart.
The spell doesn’t completely break but there’s a shift in her as her uncertainty and a new sensation (self-consciousness) climb to the forefront of her mind. Mazikeen doesn’t step back - when does she ever? - but she moves her head and tries to remember how to speak. “So, um… is there anything edible on this island?”
@[Gale]