The boy is met with a golden smile, and he smiles dazedly back, completely starstruck by the paternal kindness oozing from the flaxen stallion looking down at him. Not that he kept himself so far aloft, thankfully - the kindly face dipped closer to Gawen's sprouting height, and the boy's smile turned shy with the action. Nonetheless his entire body wiggled like an overexcited puppy at the cheerful hello that sprouted from Tilney's lips in answer to Gawen's horrendous manners. Raeden would be sure to chastise him if she ever caught him being so disruptive and disrespectful - luckily she was not here! She probably wouldn't appreciate the amazingness that was Tilney anyways, so she clearly didn't have room to talk regarding Gawen's manners.

"Herb gathering?" he gasped, lip trembling with the profound desire to ask to tag along. But he didn't want to be a pest, and anyways Tilney was still talking, which was far more important than any little thought spinning around in his head anyway. Gawen perked up and listened very attentively, face crestfallen at the admission of being busy. So he had been disruptive! His glass heart could practically be heard cracking, despairing over inconveniencing his favorite person in the whole wide world. It was too familiar to everything his mother ever said when she would leave to go scout targets or find items; "I'm busy Gawen, we can play later", "No Gawen you can't come I'm busy". It was a hurt that Gawen tried not to dwell on very often, preferring to ignore it rather than confront it.

It was quickly bandaged by Tilney's warm, steady hands; he was busy, but he wasn't leaving Gawen behind like all the others. He was inviting him.

Gawen's eyes were practically glowing electric blue and his face leaped right back into ecstatic happiness, dancing in place with a quiver of a gasp in his throat, wanting to shout that HE COULD HELP HE WAS DEFINITELY A GOOD ASSISTANT YES. But he'd already yelled in Tilney's face once, and that wasn't polite.

Like the young boy he was, Gawen absolutely fell for Tilney's little charade, and he gasped and bounced in place, eager to disprove his assumption. "No! No, I'm not cool at all!" The words fumbled in the wrong order, and Gawen fiercely shook his head to try and knock his brain into the right place. "I mean, I mean, I wanna hang out with you Doctor Tilney! Please!" His wings were vibrating so hard the downy fluff was scattering from the soft spots near his joints, and he clamped them hard around his belly with an embarrassed grin.

"I'll be quiet and uh and I'll try and walk right, I promise! You're the coolest Doctor Tilney, I wanna help!" Tiny head bobbed in sudden, firm affirmation, and his legs hopped together into the proudest pose he could muster. Twisting his lips into the most serious expression he knew, trying to appear mature and dependable and cool. Then he flicked his eyes tentatively to Tilney's greens, fluffy tail swishing and ruining the illusion, desperately hoping Tilney didn't think he was too cool for him. And what a compliment! What an honor! Gawen could surely die happy now, to know that Tilney thought he was COOL.