“Hobgoblin?”
A quick swivel of the head turns his eyes over to her. She’s standing knee-deep in the waves, foam encircling her legs and the sea steadily rising up to meet her. The abundance of daylight has paled her coat into a soft shade of cream, leaving the dark, wavy locks cascading from the ridge of her neck and rump to scream their contrast against the change. She smells of sea salt, or maybe everything does this close to the ocean. He’s spent so much time next to her these days that he no longer cares about that.
The tiredness in her eyes has drained somewhat, swept away in waterfalls and the sorrow in her facial features replaced by the gentle revival of health. Plumpness fills out her body more. She looks well, beautiful even, but in the plain, simple way that only Sikeax could pull off.
Anxiety hums in their bond, drifting from her, but he’s not exactly sure why. His own sensation is curiosity that teems with impatience. Hunger toils in the pits of their stomachs. They’ve spent far too long lingering in the dunes, making meager meals off of coarse dune grass and sea birds. The sea is waiting just before them, a plentiful bounty ready for their taking.
“Can we walk before we go? It’s nice today.”
A frown pops in place when a snort rattles his entire skull, probably bouncing around what little of a brain Hobgoblin has in his skull. Ears sink like ships as she puts on her new coat, tucking in it close to hide her shame. She’s hungry too, but nothing is rushing them but him.
“Please?”
One quick huff harmonizes with “fine,” a background of budding happiness rising up behind them. She is so simple to please.
It won’t kill you to wait a bit.
“Will.”
She hands him over a look worthy of one of her children, probably for Zhu or Tyrath, with face slack and eyes sharp, ears pinned and scowl crossing her lips. Hobgoblin idles in the water, belly deep, upper lip rolled upwards to show a gallery of evolution-honed teeth, moving up and down with the bob of his head as her head fills up with chuckling.
As long as she may spend on raising him, he’s always going to be her permanent child.
Grow up.
“Nope.”
She could hit him, but she’s not that kind of mother.
“Let’s go, shit brain.” It obviously catches him off-guard, halting his display entirely before staring at her with (false)hurt eyes, brows furrowed as Sikeax’s lungs thunder with laughter. She had intended to storm off promptly after saying it, but looking back at her companion sitting stupid in the waves, any thoughts of it are quickly discarded.
But…
She takes it up anyway, after just a quick few seconds’ thoughts, nearly enough for him not to catch on her as her hind legs send a flurry of sea foam and water straight into his face, his ears left to tell him that she’s giggling up a storm, scaling the incline to the more compact, dampened shoreline before taking off completely.
“Fuck” is the only thing she’s able to make out as the distance between them rises, of course slowing down to dance on energetic legs, laughter still bubbling out of her lips like a yearling in Birdsong.
Nonetheless, Hobgoblin takes his sweet time returning to her, leaving her to move freely on giddy legs, making one quick sweep on her environment to see if anyone is here to catch the sight, for if anything, she’d definitely be embarrassed.
It happens to be her lucky day, thank the Gods. Someone who partially knows her is there, only a ways down, close enough to catch every detail of the situation unfolding just down shore.
If only she hadn't had her eyes closed so tightly when she ran, acting like a child, she might have noticed her long before.
Everything drains like the cork keeping her boat afloat has been pulled, water rushing in from the metaphorical sea to sink her tiny boat. Her jaw feels taunt on her skull, her lips aching as they roll inwards into her mouth, tucked in neatly, ears slack and eyes wide as reality comes rushing in ever harder. Suddenly, all of her joy feels wasted, having let go out of it in an instant.
Oops.
Hobgoblin is barely there when the feeling comes rolling in, recoiling internally for brief moments before the world lets him know exactly what’s happening. “Oh well” he tells her, and that urge to hit him comes back around again.
In the end, it’s all a hard lump to swallow, stumbling over her words as they battle each other for control.
“Syrena? Is that right?” It might be reasonable if she messes up the mare’s name any, seeing as their meetings have been brief, but at least she has an inkling of someone she hasn’t gotten too far from.
Once Sikeax takes the time to study her company’s appearance, the off, straight stare into nothing, does she actually make the effort to express something. A tuck of the corner of her lips, a slight distortion to their limp state as they ease up on one side in a half smile that really isn’t one. It seems weird to stare straight off into the sea without doing a thing, and as the thought crosses her mind, Syrena actually hasn’t done a single thing to make her question her motives, other than have knowledge of her title.
“Are you alright?”
Damp skin presses against her lower leg as Hobgoblin slips past, finally coming to a stop right as his shoulder passes by her leg.
“Hurry up.”
Too bad she can’t promise that.  

OOC: sorry for the wait dear! have a lil different than usual sikeax since she's in a good mood today.
Hobgoblin is in his leopard seal form.

"Talk."