[B] I Sense It... [Beguile/Louder]

[ArashiX]

Surely it had been not too long since a wonderful night with a kiokote doe, but there was a knowing between the two, that something greater had come to be between them. Uncertain of his own path, but not wanting to bring harm to the doe or their children, he set out to seek a blessing.

But where to find one..?  

[Maxx D]

The pastel caiman floated into view, soft glowing eyes reflected by the water. It floated closer, nose leading the way, towards the bank where he stood. When it drifted to shore, the caiman started to slowly climb upwards, its little legs clawing up the mud.

Never once did the caiman stop staring him in the eye. It was almost a confrontational stare.

ArashiX

Let's go!

 

[ArashiX]

Maxx D

Yee! Thank you so much! ;w;

It was easy for the caiman to draw the eye, pastel colours amidst the water popping like brighter berries amongst dead folliage on the ground. Something about the unerring eye-contact with perturbing, but...downright mesmerizing, as the scaled creature clawed up the embankment through the mud.

The buck felt his need to move, to shuffle back cautiously under the weight of the stare, but for a moment, just for now, he tried to hold his ground, ears flicking forward then sweeping back uncertainly.  

[Maxx D]

The caiman came closer and closer, never breaking eye contact, until it stood right at his hooves, and - seemed to? - critically look him up and down, by the sheer movement of its pupils.

Between you, a voice drifted, and your children: who should I eat? You're right here now, but foals are so soft. Might be worth the wait.

ArashiX

 

[ArashiX]

Maxx D

Ahhhhhdafkj;akwjefa thank you for your patience. ;;

It was truly unnerving, and Beguile was certainly nervous; limbs just starting to quiver with the edges of nervous tension as though he might spring back at any moment. His ears had angled themselves back a little more, and he blew a heavy and uncertain breath, but was startled to stillness at the voice.

A choice between him or his children? Instinct said to flee or to stomp out the threat the caiman posed.

But he came to a different sort of conclusion, and blew out another breath.

"I'm here, yes. And if you did eat me chances are my foals would never come across you...so I'd go on, in a different way."

It wasn't a direct answer to the question, no, but the followup to it might shed more light on where he was leaning, with a warning thump of his hoof against the soft ground, which wound up more like a wet squelch than a thud. But it was the thought that mattered.

"I'm not about to lie down and let you eat me, though."  

[Maxx D]

There was a laugh. It started, ringing in his head, before it emerged beyond his mind, from the scaled mare that stood right in front of him, and nipped at the air right in front of his nose.

"Some part of you hopes for an outcome where both parties survive, even though you've given yourself up," she stepped back, eyes glowing soft, but gaze hard. "Such is your will to live, and your hope for theirs, as well."

"Kin are flawed, you can't overcome that in one generation. May your children learn sacrifice, after they have learned survival."

She left off the hooved form, and the caiman slid back into the water with a whip of its tail.

ArashiX

You can end it, I think!

 

[ArashiX]

Maxx D

Haha, I love her. ;w; Thank you!

The buck started with the sudden shift from caiman-to-mare, more than the laughter in his mind. Perhaps in this form she was even more unnerving, and the poor male gaped a moment, struck by his first encounter.

He shook it off, slowly, then with increasing speed, to look at her, clear-eyed and humble, with a dip of his head and a murmur of thanks.

So...that was a blessing.

For a long while he stared at the water and then turned to head back the way he came. Never in his life would he ever forget this encounter, how it struck his own senses.