Cheska had thought with full conviction that if there was no answer to her call that she would carry on as she always had before. But the sound of hooves struck her like a waterfall into a stagnant puddle. All at once, the dormant sediment of fear and excitement and reticence came clouding up into her mind again. A breath that she hadn't realized she was holding came rushing from her lungs in a great sigh of relief. She was not alone here. She would not have to continue like a ghost, passing through the world without really touching it. She took a long moment to let the storm ease inside of her until it settled as a buzz of electric nerves in her hooves.

She struggled for a moment to decide how she was supposed to present herself, squaring her hooves and lifting her head high like her warrior father, then low like her gentle mother, tried to look cheerful like her sister. What was it that would be valued here? She didn’t have cunning or any particular beauty. She had her stories and her resolve, and she had her integrity. She might as well be honest. So she arched her neck, poll steady, cocking her hips into some posture more comfortable. More Cheska, she decided.

She momentarily tried to contain a smile at the appearance of the mare, but her lips pulled against her nonetheless.

It took a moment for her to process the light mare's words, much less formulate her own, and in the meantime she was left slightly flustered. "I-I'm fine," she cooed with a barely contained laugh. Settle down there, tiger. Got kind of a serial killer vibe going here. Sarcasm prevailed in dulling the sharp edges of her excitement, and she took a breath. "I mean… I guess you can't be lost if you don't know where you're headed. I was just hoping for some company," she continued in her natural lilt. "It's been a long time since I've-"

Her attention was drawn by a rustling accompanied by the appearance of a new mare beside the first. Instinctually, she nodded a firm greeting, sending her forelock flopping across the opposite eye.

Standing so near, she was struck by how beautiful and delicate the two of them were, and though she'd long outgrown petty jealousy, she felt particularly large and ungainly by comparison. She was suddenly aware of every tiny mar of her coat and tangle of her mane. But before the wave of self-consciousness could crash down over her, she stopped. The first was without an ear, the second without one wing. Guess we've all got our scars, huh? She took a deliberate moment to offer a grateful smile to each of the two who'd come to her call... or was it three?

She squinted towards the first mare, finally picking out the red shape between her ears. "I think you have a hitchhiker," she observed bluntly, gesturing to the mare's poll. "Oh! I'm Cheska, by the way."

ooc] Actual crush on both of these ladies. ;_;
Table to come