For a minute he was afraid that the girl wouldn't play along, and her dismissal of his self-appointed title would have stung were it not for the smile, the teasing tone which accompanied the words. Self-satisfied the boy merely shrugged, rolling his shoulders and grinning at her, and his grin only widened as his new friend declared herself a princess. "Cool!" he replied, approval making his voice bright. To be sure, he wasn't sure what a princess was supposed to do, or what it meant for the girl- but he, in a way, was a prince, so she couldn't be too different from him. What was she a princess of? Where? He found himself imagining a kingdom of night stars and spires of stone, purple flowers and flowing streams- her, in short, were she a land. Somewhere warm and open. Maybe by the ocean. Maybe there were whales!

But where the Princess was starlight to him now, the colt was mud, a murky mire at the bottom of a pond which threatened to swallow his favorite toy. Zèklè watched through hostile eyes as the appaloosa's face contorted into a frown, mildly, horribly satisfied - he deserves it! - by the older child's clear confusion. (Let him be confused, let him know how wrong he is!) Zèklè blinked, letting defiance take the place of tears within his eyes, inky lips curling back into the shadow of a smile.

And for a minute he nearly grinned again, nearly let himself explode with the warm and fuzzy and grateful and only slightly afraid (he made a mental note not to anger the princess, and that maybe her kingdom was a little cold) feelings that filled his chest when his princess spoke up, her voice a sudden declaration of camaraderie, her body a soldier, her words a shield... and for a minute he felt as though he might burst and laugh, and he loved the girl and hated the boy, and everything was so simple, because he - they - had won.

But the other colt looked so sad.

He moved, relaxing slightly but not very much, letting himself shift slightly closer to his new friend, while still keeping his winged side toward the stranger, the foe. Slowly his ears left the safety of his neck, rising to reach the other's words. The filly had been mean, almost, something Zèklè could never remember being, or even being around, in the past. It had given him a feeling of strength, made his blood burn with righteous fury. Yeah! The other kid was butt- what did he even know? Nothing, obviously! He'd nodded with the girl's words, short mane bouncing with the vigor of his agreement.

But he also felt a little bit bad.

And then he felt alarm, because nobody, nobody, had ever asked to touch his metal side. He wanted to continue hiding behind the icy princess, but what kind of badass would he be then? Zèklè thought about how to response, his young mind weighing options quickly and carelessly. On the one hand he could agree with the boy (Yeah you are), but somewhere in the back of his mind was Ampere's face, frowning disapproval of that course. Treat others how you want to be treated... be brave, even in the face of fear. What was the brave choice, the one that scared him most?

Being mean felt easy.

The lightning boy inhaled, casting a careful smile toward the girl before stepping bravely forward, his head high as he could get it. With much more bravado than he actually felt, Zèklè turned slightly, offering his barren side to the inquisitive colt. "I guess I'll letcha," he declared through the lump in his throat- this was an honor, a gift he was giving his tentative foe. The barbed-wire colt would be able to see, now, that not only was Zèklè awesome, but there was very clearly muscle beneath his metal, something which someday would fulfill a promise of something more. "But be careful." Careful of what? Mostly wounding Zèklè's pride.

---

OOC;; sorry it took so long and sucks so much ;____;
TAG;; @[Själ]