d'Artagnan couldn't help but notice the irony that if the stranger before him had possessed a horn instead of his feathered appendages then actually they might of got on. The darker stud played the game well, not getting to bogged down in the details and instead his mind kept up with the pace of the Nightshade's own ways of thinking. d'Artagnan was thoroughly impressed, even though he wouldn't admit it aloud. The shade's odd changing mood disturbed his bonded Aramis, who looked up at the blood coloured stallion with a puzzled expression as the Mender turned over exactly what it was he hated so much about the other races. For d'Artagnan knew it wasn't physical appearance, he would've rejected his son there and then if it was, but it also wasn't the magical differences that seemed to irk others. No. In the end the one and main thing that really bothered the shade was blood. A unicorn was pure the rest were not, Mesec may posses blood of all three species but he was a God's son a therefore different from the rest. At least, in the shade's reasoning.

Dual coloured eyes turned to the other who seemed to wrestle between fear and suspicion, Aramis seeming to worry him more than d'Artagnan himself. The shade nodded to the pup, he would make a fine Guard dog one day with his keen curled ears and sharp nose. It was a weight off his shoulders not having to constantly watch his back anymore. The affection that radiated off d'Artagnan affected his bonded and soon Aramis' markings began to glow a violent red whilst tail flicked from side to side.

d'Artagnan considered the strangers words, snorting at the strangeness of their conversation and the tense air around them. One wrong move and someone was most likely going to end up in the marsh. "You never know what's lurking in the shadows ready to take advantage of an unassuming stranger" was his rather bleak reply. Cracked hooves squelched against the ground then and d'Artagnan turned away from the stud to look in the opposite direction, his bonded already bounding on ahead in a playful puppy like manner.

"You win today, the moods gone and I've lost interest. My friend is a Hellhound called Aramis, and my name is d'Artagnan. May I know yours before I leave?" He wasn't exactly sure why he'd offered their names, in a way, the shade thought that this pegasus had won the right to know. A strange notion but he was the first to escape and still stand as if unperturbed, he didn't fall nor did he retaliate. d'Artagnan wasn't sure why, but in his strange convoluted mind, it sort of made sense.