The young buck, truly a deer in headlights, had never had his touch rejected before. He was surprised, in some ways, that it hadn't happened yet. And being who he was he couldn't bring himself to be offended by the mare so much as upset by his boldness. Perhaps the warm reception he had been gifted with upon arrival, first in Helovia and then in The Basin, was something he'd grown too comfortable with already. He shouldn't have expected such kindness of this mare, he frankly didn't even deserve it.

Ashamin stepped away from her with respect, dipping his head and staring wide eyed at his shadow. As much as he knew he had no right to have received affection from this mare, he felt hurt. Hurt, perhaps, my his own shame and a hot embarrassment. How could he have thought it was his place to always offer up himself in such a manner? Perhaps he would have to quit, or at least be more careful with, the habit.

"Apologies," Ashamin answered softly, his gaze and his voice plummeting to the cold earth, his breath causing a faint stir in the pine needles at his feet as they caught in the clefts of his hooves. He lifted his neck some, taking care to bring it nowhere near the irritable (or was she simply justified?) mare, and looked beyond the mare, over her, and into the shadows of the trees. Thick, syrupy sap that had begun to drip down the trunk of a pine now stilled as if beginning to freeze. "My name is Ashamin," he said hesitantly, his gaze drifting, his mind briefly taken off of it's troubles by the surroundings. He vaguely wondered if he should offer more, said: "I'm a soldier here, I just recently joined."

The white whiskers on his own nose seemed to stiffen in the chill. The mare, standing before him steeped in something that seemed like arrogance, belonged to this night more than he. He traced the patterns on her coat with his gaze, making out faint purples that seemed to fade into the blacks in the dark of the evening. He wanted to ask her name, but her tone was just unwelcoming enough that he wasn't sure he felt comfortable. Then again, if he didn't, wouldn't she accuse him of rudeness? He clamped his teeth together, sighing through them for a moment, before asking the question.

"May I... ask the same of you?"

Even in that, Ashamin yielded to her, asked for permission. What a failure, he thought to himself--what a coward.

[[Tagged: Don't apologize! She's being who she is. Ashamin doesn't have to like it, but I understand staying true to a character xD]]

Ashamin