I felt the way disgust rose up within him, the way it festered, pooled, grew, consumed everything in its path. It wasn't disgust at the mare, but rather at himself, at the patheticness, at the helplessness, the utter foolishness that he hadn't done something about the curse in all this time.

He still didn't understand it, after all this time.

The curse is only a curse if you view it as such, I inject my thoughts into his for what must be the million time, trying to explain to him that which he should already know, that which I am sure he does know on some subconscious level.

I felt him bristle, felt him instinctively want to lash out, or to block me out, to ignore my existence, but he could never bring himself to do that to me, never could he reject me, for we were soul-bound, joined - we were in this together.

He held onto her gaze, praying (to what Gods, neither of us knew) that she wouldn't turn away from him, hoping she would linger a bit longer, not knowing why he wanted these things but wanting them all the same. It was odd for me to watch this, to feel it through our bond, for most other times I had seen him interact, he had been acerbic, rude and uncaring what his words or actions did to others, even when he claimed to like the others' company.

You must be rubbing off on me, he noted dryly at my observations, his thoughts coloured with a helplessness as he awaited this cloud-mare's reaction.

Her words were sharp, pointed, delivered with an enviable boldness and confidence, softened with a playful smirk and glance. I felt the first reaction to them rise up within my bonded once more, that knee-jerk desire to want to throw abuse and colourful language back at her, but I reminded him softly that such a reaction would only be proving her point, and also, for some unknown reason, he wanted to earn this mare's esteem - had he forgotten so quickly the way she made him feel?

So Kiro the cursed barked a strange laugh out, ugly as his features in its sound, but genuine, followed by a smile and a small shake of his head. When he thought about it, she was right, which made it all the funnier - he was an asshole, all his life he had been, and with that admission, he found he could forget the skin he was wearing altogether, and proceed as if nothing was amiss in this conversation with this enlightening vivacious mare.

"I prefer the term selfish bastard, actually," Kiro spoke, jovial and oddly, full of life.

"But I suppose if you wanted to call me sleazy asshole, that's okay," he added with a casual shrug of his shoulders, letting the happy moment blossom and then pass, before tilting his crown with a quizzical expression upon his façade.

"You could.. Stay with me, if you wanted. Until nightfall, I mean. I.. I would like you to see me when I'm not restricted by my magic."

Kirottu