Auriel

I cocked my head to one side, the pale azure lock behind my ears slipping into view. For a moment, my smile faltered, for I was slow to comprehend the situation. The red pegasus had dipped his body into a bow, a formal greeting. I hadn't taken our meeting to be one of formality, but now that he had inflicted such an affair upon me, I had no choice but to attempt to go along with it. I was barely familiar with signs of respect, so I decided the best route would be to simply imitate the red.

I did my best, but my own bow was not nearly as graceful and practiced as his. I was never quite a graceful or elegant mare anyway, my body was built for the battlefield. Nevertheless, my attempt was not something I was ashamed of. A bright smile lit my features, exhaling a haze of onyx smoke as I came up. He complimented my horns, my eyes, and my cheeks immediately grew hot. Another thing I was not experienced in: compliments. Despite being aged a few years, I retained a few childish tendencies (what would you expect? I lived by myself for like two of those years). My eyes flicked to my hooves, glancing shyly up to my test subject every now and then.

"Thank you,"  I stated softly, the smoke from my lips billowing around my face. I let a silence settle between us. The awkwardness was practically palpable. The complimenting technique of making friends was not working quite as well as I had hoped it would.

---

Date of Experiment: Sometime in Orangemoon



Purpose: For me to figure out the best method of making friends.

Hypothesis: I will charm everyone into being my friend with sheer wit and undeniable regality.

Procedure: I compliment the horse and they become my friend.

Variables: Gender of horse, herd that the horse belongs to, is weather a factor? I feel like it could be. Personality of horse. (There's other variables, I'm sure, but this the big stuff, so let's stick with just this.)

Data: UHM complimenting him made the situation awkward af.

Conclusion: I complimented this pegasus stallion, he complimented me back, and it got awkward. Experiment is going to be considered a fail. If I were to repeat this experiment, I don't think I'd compliment a stallion, I'd compliment a mare instead.

---

I flicked a single pale ear to the side, I turned my head to see a dark figure approaching. I pricked my ears forward, a relieved smile had graced my features. The horse lacked both horns and wings, though I did my best to stifle my unrelenting superiority complex and act small, shy, and approachable.

I returned his nod, learning that the onyx colored stallion was called Badger. A healer. I had never taken much interest in the field, but I deemed it a respectable profession. "My name is Auriel, Protector of the World's Edge,"  I spoke proudly with a huff of harmless smoke.

Soon another joined us, another with wings. When I saw her, my jaw dropped. The mare was followed by a sea creature, though the animal seemed to have no qualms with being out of the water. It seemed just as content swimming through the air as it would the water. Though, I was deeply interested in how this mare came to obtain her companion, I had never seen one like it before. Her words were remarkably formal, more so than the red's. Hers were different, dripping with ancient, delicate lyrics.

"I'm Auriel,"  I replied to Laedere's greeting slowly, still perplexed by her appearance. For these two horses, I would attempt a different experimental procedure: be myself and see what happens. Now that I was surrounded by these horses, I was overwhelmed by their scent. It was familiar, it was sandy. "Are you all from the Throat? My sister, Shida, lives there,"  I stated in a perky tone, straightening to the fullest extent of my height. I let the haze of my breath linger, letting it be as seductive as it pleased.  

she belongs to the fire