Welcome to Gaia! ::

How to explain gold... "Gold is like... a shiny yellow," she explained. "The color is named after a metal called gold. I hear humans enjoy wearing jewelry made from it." It was a silly trait to remember, but Demoni had drilled information about their enemies into her skull. Oh, she knew she'd forgotten something. Her eyes... "My eyes are red too. Hmm..." She looked at her reflection. "The shade of red would be somewhere inbetween my wings and my mane, I guess..."

She was quiet for a moment, fascinated by the mare who apparently couldn't see color. Her father had once mentioned a rumor that the blind could see in their dreams... did that apply to monochrome sight too? "This is an odd question, but... are your dreams colorless too?" she inquired. Dakini couldn't help it. Audra was, well, captivating her curiosity.

Dakini nodded her understanding. Fascinating. Her wing instinctively twitched at the touch of the horn, but she didn't lash out. Her father would've glared if she had; restraint was just as much of her training as chaos was. After all, she wasn't a powerful warrior like Roman; she was a tactician-style warrior, one who fought but also planned out how she and her allies would fight. "If I couldn't, I'd be a little put out, I think," she replied in a mock-dramatic way. "Alas, my father can fly with identical wings, so if I couldn't, I'd be very conscientious about my weight."

Dakini beamed. For one whose sight was faulty, Audra was sure observant. "I do," she replied cheerfully. "I train with my step-brother a lot. Dad says a good tactician should go through the same exercises as warriors do." Although tacticians were often just strategists and not leaders, it was important that ranking officers showed the same dedication to the cause as those under their command. That included training, and, as strange as it was, she liked the exercise.

Oh. Was she revealing too much? Maybe, but she hadn't said who her family was or where she was from, so it was probably fine. Besides, there was something about this color-blind mare... Inspecting Audra, she continued. "You seem fit yourself," she commented casually. "Do you belong to a warrior clan?" That seemed the most logical. She heard that there were quite a few of those scattered across the Isle, both in the north and the south. And as grudging as they were to admit it, the north had very strong warrior clans. That's the reason, she assumed, why Ruin was so fascinated with Roman's mother, even when she was a filly. She tried to push those thoughts away. Although she respected her step-father, sometimes she just didn't understand him...

Dakini tilted her head slightly, thinking. Wasn't there talk about that sort of lineage in Roman's family? "That sounds familiar," she admitted. "I think my step-brother might come from a clan like that. I'm not really, sure though... I think the family member that claims that lineage is an estranged grandfather or something. I've never met him and I don't think he has either." She thought for a moment, inspecting the mare's pelt. "You do have stripes, like his uncles apparently have..."

Dakini shrugged. "Well, I guess there's no point in dwelling on it now. Even if he was here, I'm not sure I'd want to ask him about it. Don't want to go dredging up bad memories, y'know?" Roman wasn't one to talk about family, especially around their fathers.

Dakini nodded her understanding of broken family ties before answering the question. "No, not by blood. His dad and my dad are mates, but the two of us came from previous... flings, I guess you could call them." Separate parents, but... She smiled. "But we've known each other since I was a blanket, so he feels like a real brother, you know? I don't know his other brothers well since they live with their mother, but Kos and I are pretty close."

She couldn't help it. The thought of her step-brother made her face light up. As far as she was concerned, Chaos was a brother and a friend--maybe her best friend. On the rare case she needed help, she could depend on him to help her. It was a comforting thought, to say the least.

Her gaze turned to the lake, expression thoughtful. "It's beautiful here," she commented absently. "It's so peaceful that you almost forget that there's a war going on..." It both unnerving and relieving at the same time. Unnerving because she was trained for war, but relieving because here she was free of the burdens that came with her duty. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

Dakini joined the colorblind mare, letting her front hooves slide into the water. She pulled back for a minute due to the surprise of the cold nature of the liquid before stepping in again, more prepared this time. She couldn't help grinning at Audra's words. "Oh...? You sound like you're suggesting something," she teased, wiggling her eyebrows as her red eyes sparkled. Quite frankly, she was really enjoying Audra's company and would be rather happy if that teasing was taken more seriously than intended.

Dakini couldn't help but make a face when she was splashed, letting out an involuntary squeak when a wave of water crashed over them. She came up, gasping for air--first because of being in the water, and then because she was laughing. She flicked a wing out to splash at Audra when she surface, grinning from ear to ear. Fun. It was something she hadn't had much exposure to in the south. She knew what it was, but the emphasis on training kept her from participating in silly foal games with anyone besides Roman and sometimes Remus. And in this peaceful setting, the playful actions of the other mare made her feel... well, free. Free from her responsibilities and personal burdens, free from Ruin and Demoni's expectations... It was stress-relieving and it allowed her to be happy.