Welcome to Gaia! ::

Banzai lay rather lazily beneath an old oak tree. The tree's branches extended out and were full with leaves, leaving plenty of shade for the stallion. Today was rather warm, quite pleasant really, and the stallion had found himself napping not long before. Then again, he supposed it wasn't too much different then any other day. Well, no, he was wrong there. There weren't any mares about, now wasn't that a shame? The stallion scanned the herizon, hoping to prove himself wrong.

Acacia walked beneath the trees, her soft coat blending in with the pale autumn light. Fall was beautiful to her, it was a time of cleansing before rebirth, but also it was rememberances of pain....of fire, of death, of screams. She shook herself out of it, it was a perfectly lovely day. She didn't need to dwell on the past. Move on, her mind willed her, but it was harder than that.
Absently, she continued to walk.

The stallion heaved a sigh of disapointment. It seemed that he had indeed been right. What was a day without mares? Grumpy now, Banzai stood up and shook the leaves out of his coat. Well, if he couldn't see any girls he would just have to find some. Trying to pick up his spirits a bit, the stallion began to trot away from the tree. There had to be a mare out there somewhere.

Acacia was too entrapped in her own thoughts, to notice the distinct sound of hoove beats growing closer. Turning her head, she felt the loose tendrils of her hair blow in the breeze as she spotted a stallion. She quirked her eyebrow, and odd looking stallion at that...But he seemed friendly, just like everyone else.

Banzai came to a stop a few feet from the mare. Ha! Now that was what he had been looking for. She definitely seemed pretty enough to keep him company, the only thing worse then not having a mare around, was having an ugly mare for company. He shuddered slightly at the thought. "Hello there." He called out to her in greeting. No need to stand around and stare. That was just plain rude.

Acacia smiled warmingly at him, not aware that there could have been any danger in greeting someone she didn't know. She blushed as she bowed her head slightly, "I'm Acacia. Pleased to meet you." She looked up at him, her eyes wide and innocent.

Banzai grinned inwardly at himself. She seemed to be rather, what was the word... Innocent. Yes that was it! Oh how much fun he could have with her, just harmless teasing of course. Even if she wasn't one of his usual fan girls, she could prove to be quite entertaining. "Acacia is it?" He confirmed rather then asked. "I'm Banzai." He spoke proudly, moving a little closer to her and smiled his handsome, rockstar smile.

"Banzai," she repeated a little flustered. He was certainly...something. He seemed very sure of himself, cocky even...she didn't like cocky soquili, but she shouldn't judge. He really did seem sweet, very flattering. The dazzling glint of teeth almost blinded her and she felt a bit light-headed and flushed when she stammered, "Yes, Acac-cia."

Noticing the effect he had had on the mare, Banzai widened his smile a little more. "What brings you out here by yourself?" He purred to the mare, trying to sound as concerned as possible. In all honesty he was concerned for her, such a pretty specimen shouldn't be out by herself, she was simply lucky that she ran into him instead of some creep.

Acacia blushed deeper, he really was quite nice and concerned for her. "I'm not alone though," she smiled sheepishly ducking her head not realizing the implications of the signals she was sending. "Sir Galahad isn't too far off."

Banzai was happy to see that she seemed to be interested in him, though she was trying to pretend that she wasn't. Although, who was this 'Sir Galahad'? The stallion didn't like the thought of another male in the picture, whether or not he was actually connected to this mare didn't matter. "Sir Galahad?" He asked, rather offput by this news.

"He's my friend," her face brightened. "Would you like to meet him? He's very gallant, very protective. He's really nice, I hope he'll like you!" She looked at Banzai keenly, "I'm sure he'll like you, maybe not right away though." Even she wasn't as foolish as to think that Sir Galahad would like Banzai at first.

Her sudden ouburst confused the stallion. In all honesty he really didn't want to meat this other stallion, however he didn't want to lose the company of this mare and certainly didn't want to offend her. "Sure." He said with a little sigh. He tried not to show his disapointment, however if she looked closely enough she might be able to notice it.

Acacia saw the look on his face and mistook it for something else, "Oh, but I'm sure he'll like you." She looked a bit anxious, "Just wait, I'll call him." She turned, a few more strands of hair catching on the breeze and disentangling from her hair. "Sir! Sir Galahad!" Her eyes brightened as a tiny orange spec grew larger as it ran towards her. But instead of growing larger in statue, it became rounder...and closer. She turned to Banazai. "This is Sir Galahad."
Sir Galahad gave a sneer at the odd looking Soquili

The stallion had to supress a laugh as he layed eyes on this 'Sir Galahad'. Had he really been afraid of this little guy? Well it was obvious that there was no competition here. She honestly couldn't like a goat more then he, now could she? "So, uh, this is Sir Galahad?" He said, still trying not to laugh. "Well, it's a uh, a pleasure to meet you."

Sir Galahad quirked an eyebrow, "Who's the trussed up wannabe?"
"Sir, don't say such things!" Acacia coloured up badly, "He didn't mean to say that."
"Yes, I did. He's a trussed up wannabe."
"Shhh... Sir, this is my friend."
"You say that too freely. I'll ram him for you!" Galahad, pawed the earth and lowered his horns.

Again, the stallion had sto stifle another laugh. This little goat thought he could take him on? Well, he most definitely wasn't concerned. "It's okay, he can say what he likes, I'm not really all that worried. But, are you sure he can keep you safe? I mean, what if you ran into a kalona or a skin walker or something? I doubt this little guy could do much." He told her matter of factly.

Acacia didn't look that concerned at all, "Well, they're not all bad are they? I'm sure I could just talk to them..."
Galant shook his head, "This is why I take care of her, and I do it well!"

"Oh yes, I'm sure you do." The stallion told the goat rather sarcastically. "And as for you madam, have you ever met a skinwalker? Trust me, not a single one of them is good, they would eat you alive for breakfast." Banzai told her, perhaps a little but not intentionally so.

Acacia looked at him kind of wide eyed and disbelieving, “Surely not.”
“What’s with all this surely? They would, and they will if I’m not there to protect you!” Galahad huffed. “And I’m watching you, you wannabe!”

Banzai, tired of the thing, just ignored the goat. It was no use arguing with the creature and it certainly wasn't worth his time. He only nodded to Acacia. The stallion did feel a tinge of guilt for ruining the mare's look on others, but being that naive would only get her killed. "Well then. I suppose since you're safe enough with the goat I ought to leave you two be then." He told her. Banzai was certainly not amused by Sir Galahad, and could find much more willing female companions elsewhere, or at least so he thought.

Acacia grimmaced. "Okay, I'll see you." Galahad sighed loudly, and gruffly. "I'm going to go graze. You should...stay with her and talk. She's lonely for some more e-quine friends." He huffed off as Acacia blushed.

Well, that had gone as well as he could have imagined it, though it would have been nicer to have had the mare want to speak with him. At least the annoying little goat was gone though. Banzai smiled at Acacia, hoping to chear her up a little. "You can go with him if you prefer, but I don't mind staying and talking for a little longer." He told her.

Acacia watched as Galahad left, "Thank you. I wanted you to stay...I just..." She eyed him nervously. "I didn't think you liked my company." She sighed deeply, "Galahad says I need to grow a better head or I'm going to get hurt. But...I don't want to be bitter like him."

Banzai stood silently, allowing the mare to cry her heart out. He really had no idea what had happened to her, but if being reminded of it made her this upset, he was bound to never mention it again. If she wanted to bring it up, that was another matter, but he wasn't about to say another word.

"Er.. Are you feeling any better?" He asked her after a few more minutes. As much as he liked talking to the ladies, he had never learned how to deal with an emotional one. In most cases, he might have even tried to sneak away, but this wasn't one of those cases.

Acacia took a few more deep breathes, “I’m sorry.” She backed away a bit awkwardly, “I didn’t mean to just…I’ve just never had anyone comfort me before.” Her eyes shined up at him, she felt a little weird having shared such an emotional moment with him. He was practically a stranger…

But that wasn’t quite right. He wasn’t a stranger. She didn’t know how to explain it exactly. Maybe she’d heard of him before? Or seen him? Something vague, maybe in a dream?

Met him in a dream…That made her blush oddly.

Banzai noticed her blush and thought that she was perhaps embarrased by whatever it was that they had just shared. He shook his head slowly, "Don't worry about it." He told her. "Everyone should have someone to comfort them and I'm just glad I could offer you that."

He wasn't sure what it was about this mare that drew him to her. Perhaps it was how innocent she was? This wasn't the typical mare that he was used to. She wasn't fawning all over him, nor was she snappy and controlling. She seemed... just right.

Acacia couldn’t stop blushing. “Okay, I’ll try not to.” There was a warm glow to her cheeks as she tossed her hair lightly and met his eyes. Her eyes shimmered still a bit from crying, “Soo…What brings you here?”

She was making small talk, oh that was just lovely. She probably sounded like an idiot, but she wanted to get past the awkward. She didn’t want to seem so weak, it hadn’t mattered before now.

The stallion was amuzed by how quickly she could turn from being upset to small talk. Though he knew she was still upset, he admired how she pretended that she was fine. Not wanting to go back to dealing with an emotional mare, he played along.

"Well, I was looking for a pretty mare, but i do believe I accomplished that." He told her honestly.

She had thought the blushing was over until he said that. Her face went more red than she could ever imagine. “Why would you want to-to do that.” She could feel her body tense and kind of shaking. She was nervous, kind of excited too though.

She’d never really been in a situation like this before and it was unsettling and intoxicating. She tried to look up at him, but she found herself getting even more red--incredibly it was still possible.

He was slightly taken aback by her question. It had seemed so natural to want to be around pretty mares to him, but now, well, now he didn't want to admit that, at least not to her. For some silly reason he actually cared about what she might think of him. The stallion's head was swimming in a turmoil of thoughts. He wasn't really sure what to think anymore. Yet, she still seemed so familiar to him. Was that why he was in such a confusion about her? Had they met before? Nah, he pushed the thought away. Perhaps they had met in passing, but if it was more then that he would have remembered.

"Who wouldn't want to be with anyone as pretty as you?" He asked.

She was taken back. “What do you mean?” The concept, the idea was entirely foreign to her. He was interested in her? That was something strange to experience. No one had ever been interested in her. She took a half step back.

“But, but you don’t know me. I don‘t know you…” There was almost the sound of regret in her voice as her clear eyes met his.

Banzai let out a low sigh. He had pushed this mare too far. It hadn't been his intention to make her uncomfortable in anyway, but it seemed as if he had taken his flirting up a notch too high. "It's nothing." He told her. "Perhaps I should allow you to continue on your way. I have caused you much grief and I apologize for that." The stallion wasn't sure that he really wanted to leave, but he could see that Acacia needed a little time to herself. Perhaps he could see her later, at a time when she was more comfortable.

Acacia looked at him, the tears hot in her eyes not wanting to let them fall. “You comforted me.” She shouldn’t have said a word, he would have stayed…she wouldn’t have been lonely. She’d have been okay.
He would have stayed…

She watched him prepare to go, “You’ll see me again, won’t you?” She looked at him one last time, hoping she hadn’t lost him.

"Of course." He told her, trying to be a bit more cheerful. "Sometime soon. I promise." Before she could argue, or before he could allow himself to stay, he headed off in the direction from where he had come. She needed her space, and he could use a good nap.