[PRP] A word. (Octobre & Braxton)

[[Eskimo]]

Complacency wasn't the proper word, but Octobre couldn't think what was. There was something she was feeling--some overall sense of something so uncommon to her as to hinder her in its categorization. It didn't help that it was such a cloudy day.

Cloudy days always made Octobre feel a bit sleepy. Sleepiness hindered her thought processes. The sky was threatening to rain every moment, yet it hadn't followed through for nearly two hours. A quiet sigh left the mare's lips as she stepped down a hill, seeming wholly uninterested in her surroundings. Just when it seemed she'd lie down without sparing a glance to anything breathing or otherwise, something lit in her gaze and she lifted her eyes.

Octobre had come to crave unique scents. Unique meant untasted blood. But there was one scent that she readily welcomed despite its familiarity.

"Where have you been, Braxton?" the mare languidly asked her traveling companion. Her eyes wandered over the bangs lightly brushing the stallion's forehead before she shifted her attention to the willow trees in the distance.
 

[xxx Yuki Bear xxx]

"I was scouting the vast perimeter for peculiar dangers, my lady. One never knows what could be lurking around the corner," he grinned toothily.

In all honesty, Braxton was barely able to keep the yawn bubbling up in his throat from escaping. He had dozed off for a bit in the glade they had been resting in previously, and was quickly woken up by the realization that Octobre was not within his sights. He had scrambled to his hooves and rushed to find her... and here she was. The beautiful, strange mare that he dutifully followed.

"I do hope that my presence was not terribly missed,"  

[[Eskimo]]

The flashing white of Braxton's usual grin removed any bristled hairs Octobre might've raised over the possibility of "peculiar dangers." Knowing him, his excuse was something like a ruse--a joke. If there was anything peculiar around, it was him. But then again, so was she. She had never considered herself odd before meeting the male, but since she had forged a sort of...bond...with him, she had come to believe that she was strange for enjoying the company of strange Soquili. Was that really the case? Perhaps, perhaps not...

"Missed?" Octobre echoed, as if testing the word on her tongue. For several moments it seemed unclear if she was uninterested in continuing the topic, or if she was merely pondering it deeply in silence. Finally she replied with a trailing, "Well..." Her inability to formulate a proper response was sticking in her throat like resin, and she attempted to physically clear it away, but was unsuccessful. Her mouth moved for a moment in silence as if attempting a word, but she made a move to walk past the stallion and meander back toward the glade.

"And did you find any dangers?" the mare asked. She felt uncharacteristically unfocused.  

[xxx Yuki Bear xxx]

Braxton was not phased by Octobre's blasé tone of voice. He just took it as a challenge. It was always enjoyable to see if he could bring about the different sides of his dark friend. He noticed her stumble in formulating a response to his question and tilted his head when she simply did not answer. Instead, she asked him a question.

"Ah yes indeed," he smiled, walking up and around to her side with an impish smile. "I vanquished innumerable dastardly foes on journey. It was an incredibly dangerous adventure, but I fought tooth and nail so that I could return and remain at your side, my dear dark one."

He ended his dramatic tale with a low bow and wink in her direction.

"Now that I am back at your side, how may I assist you? Any plans for the day? Anything to hunt?"  

[[Eskimo]]

Octobre had gotten quite used to Braxton's twists and turns of character (which was to say she was used to never getting used to him, as he was quite unpredictable). By the same token, she was learning more and more about him every day they spent together. And they had spent many days together now. The mare watched through her eyes' corners the stallion's swooping bow and boyish grins with an air of nonchalance. But Octobre was always rapt by the male's dramatically woven tales--spur of the moment fantasies. He was entertaining, though she'd never admit it. And she wasn't sure why. It seemed a strange thing to share...especially with him. But why? Hm...

"I suppose we'll walk and see how far we get," Octobre answered clearly, though her head was foggy over Braxton's wink. Didn't he realize the audacity some gestures carried? Sometimes she wondered dimly who'd raised him, but supposed some questions were better left unasked. He may ask her in turn...and she didn't wish to discuss it.

"If we tire, we'll rest. If we're hungry, we'll eat," she declared with an almost friendly authority--some byproduct of her recent complacency. (No, not complacency...but what?) "If there's new blood, we'll investigate," she lightly added to the list. Once it had left her lips, however, the mare lost the warm glow in her chest and felt something cold take its place. Her gaze hardened and she felt an urge to toss her head as if to rid herself of something, but resisted. She forcefully seized her nonchalance back in an instant, and the moment was passed.