Lakota doesn't know why he insists, all it serves to do is fluster her further. She was a creature of the shadows, secrecy and stealth. Pinned beneath his gaze, she felt bare and weak, not something she was used to feeling. It was odd, foreign, and Lakota knew she was waltzing through unknown territory here. Guilt gnawed at her, Ktulu's ruby eyes in her mind, but then a flash of gold appeared and she remembered Midas. What was a little bit of flirting, even if she could hardly return it, when Ktulu had been with Midas while proclaiming love for her? The guilt didn't recede much, remembering also how Ktulu had chided her so fiercely for claiming the cherry mare still loved the golden man. She was conflicted, but Locket's eyes were calm and charming, and his smile made her turn warm with happiness. Maybe it was okay to just relax and not think about all that stuff. She thought about it enough as it was.

"Thank you," she manages to say softly, raising her head to smile at him. Even if it still made her insides squirm to receive such compliments, she wouldn't rudely turn them away in silence either. He looks at her like he isn't sure how to respond to her questioning, and she laughs after he replies, with sureness but a flutter of hesitation, barely discernible. "I'm sorry, that's probably a hard question to answer. If you say no, it might make me seem weak, but if yes, it might be an insult. I didn't mean to put you in a hard place," she laughed softly, such a rare sound, but like little bells clinging together cheerily. Hardly having thought of the question when it had playfully slipped her lips, she was both amused and feeling a little guilty for making him answer.

A little smirk colors her features and she tilts her head at him. This is fun, she thinks to herself. She could learn to enjoy this. "Are you quite sure? And here I was trying to hide my desire to see you every night in a question," she sighed, faking a wistful expression sorrowfully. Laughing it off, she pricked her ears as he began speaking again, and her brow arched humorously as he mentioned forcing her down to get her to sleep. "Is that a challenge? I may be little, but the bigger they are the harder they fall, sweetie. Maybe later we can figure out if you really can?" She laughed and her eyes glinted with challenge, already envisioning a spar between the two of them. It would certainly be...interesting.

Of course then Locket had to go and say something so sudden that her proudly held crown dropped, veiling her face with her onyx tresses, so flustered she felt like exploding at the seams. That, or running away. Both seemed like pretty viable options. Of course she manages to somehow come up with a coherent answer, though her mind is in shambles and she's stuttering like a fool. Locket takes mercy on her, though, and soon she is breathing a shaky exhale. Lakota was horrendous at accepting compliments it was almost hilarious.

Trotting up to his side, she cast a shy glance at him from the corner of her eye. Then she looked away just as quickly, not sure what to say.