But Kiada wasn't alone in the darkened woods of the Basin - and not just because her hatchling companion was with her.

Ru'in had found out that if he stood very still, he could turn to stone. Perhaps that's a misleading what of putting it, because what happened to his body was by no means under his control, and so even to phrase it as turning to stone, the way one might turn a handle, wasn't quite correct. A better way to put it, was that when the boy stood very still, stone-ish-ness happened to him.

It quite roll off the tongue the same way, but it was more accurate.

And accuracy mattered. At least to the mutant boy.

Standing beneath a tree was a statue-esque looking thing in the shape of the mutant boy that Kiada had met earlier. Only his dull white and cream eye moved. Every other inch of himself, including his massive amount of growing neck, torso, and stomach hair was held in place; dusted by a thick layer of stone.

The boy didn't mind regarding the world from this position. If anything, it allowed his mind to focus on the things his eyes saw rather than having to be distracted by the movements, noises, smells, and feelings of his body. He liked the latter least of all.

And so, as the princess-girl watched her companion hunt, she was likewise watched by Ru'in. She was the one he had pushed, citing poor balance as the reason for her fall. Had she bought this excuse? Ah, he doubted it. But with Ashamin there to stare down her and her brother, what more was there that the pair could have done?

To use his magic to push her again would be lunacy, for his experiment would be derailed immediately.

So he conducted a different sort of experiment, one of observance, wherein he would remain motionless, a ruined ru'in statue observing the girl and her hatchling, and see how long it took them to observe him.

Ru'in didn't want to turn his head or even allow one of his ears to rotate towards the oncoming sound. Despite the fact that his ears were stone, he could still hear. That in itself was rather interesting. The boy knew that it was magic that made his body harden the way that it did, but apparently he wasn't in fact stone at all, merely a stone facade. Interesting.

He heard Kiada's approach, and how she scornfully regarded him as a statue. Any other foal might have smirked at this deception, but such things were not interesting to Ru'in, for Ru'in only cared about the deep inner workings of the universe, and he could use his magic to manipulate it. What girls did in their free time and whether or not they wrongfully identified him as a statue was petty. However the milky white eye closest to her did revolve slightly as the mutant boy tried to see how far down he could look without moving. But, like anyone who tries such a thing his head did move a bit, and as it did so, the stone almost seemed to fade away slightly revealing Ru'ins mottled coat beneath, before firming up once more.

What is that? He thought of the pale creature that sat atop Kiada. Was she its way of travel? Or was it a companion, like his mother and father had? Theirs though, were large and proud creatures, not passengers upon their bodies. Unintentionally, the boy winced at the thought of being a vehicle to any other mind, and once again his stone facade broke revealing his body hidden behind a veil of stone-texture.


@Kiada

Her screech of disapproval - or at least that's how it sounded to him (maybe it made more sense why there was a vulture following her about; it likely was impressed by the ugly cadence of her voice in moments like this, since it was so similar to its own call), rang in his ears. Immediately he pinned them back against the sound which only furthered the degradation of his magic. Stone gave away, revealing the monster boy beneath.

Ru'in slow blinked towards the filly with her ears flattened against her skull, and the bird with its wings fanned out. His tri-horned skull tilted slightly as he regarded them, clearly a look of what are you doing? spreading across his features. The boy knew nothing of intimidation yet - or at least, all he knew was that usually he intimidated others, but never had he felt the sensation himself, and today was no different.

As the girl puffed up her chest, Ru'in continued to stare. Only his stare was not in the shy way that other boys likely used when looking at her - stealing glances when they thought her eyes were upon something else. No, his bi-coloured gaze was fixed firmly on her chest which she had shoved out, then rising to her straightened neck, and finally to her, what? What was that look on her face? Determination? Confidence? He couldn't quite be sure. The only expressions he knew were those of Roma's.

How’d you do that?

Another slow blink. "Bhy bheing stihll." Ru'ins voice was almost always a growl, perhaps there was something wrong with his throat to accompany all the other abnormalities he sported? Never the less, because his lips had to stretch to form the words, the sounds he made sounded thicker than they ought to have. Still, his gaze bored into hers patiently, if not with a touch of amusement as if to say something I"m sure you know nothing about. For after all, being still meant keeping your mouth closed, and from what he had seen of the golden filly, such things were not her strong suit.

As if to prove a point, stone back to line his shoulders, back, and legs as he stood looking down at her.



@Kiada

Was she .. smiling at him?

The boy blinked. No one smiled at him. No one other than Roma. Everyone else tried to keep their eyes off him, and when they did have to look at him, it was the visual equivalent of holding ones breath to quickly pick up something smelly. But she seemed to be smiling. Not knowing how to react, especially without Roma here to tell him, Ru'in frowned slightly, his brows furrowing with confusion.

That makes sense.

Oh. He hadn't expected that either. Normally the things he said rarely made sense to anyone - either because of how think his voice was, or because he didn't take the time to explain the context of his thoughts. Alright then.., he thought, his frown disappearing. At least he wouldn't need to explain.

Did you know we’re cousins? Romina told me that Auntie Ru said that.

...

..

..

processing. processing.

..
..
.

error. does not compute

And it really didn't. Partly because Romina told him everything that he needed to know, and partly because it seemed so strange. Ru'in's eyes narrowed disbelievingly, though quickly moved to the shape of the deer prancing on her back. Was that supposed to reinforce the idea that Romina had been the one to tell her? Or to suggest that the way they were related was on Ashamin's side?

He didn't believe it, but if Romina had said .. Mentally he marked the filly, for the boy took his sister's word as gospel, and if this girl was using her name and slandering her words, he would return for her.

"Ahlright." He agreed, nodding his massively horned skull. He wasn't exactly sure what he was suppose to do with that information, even if it was true. Family meant little to the boy - the only family he truly cared for was Romina. She was his everything, the rest of them merely shared his blood, but not his love.

Not for the second time, Ru'in's eyes darted to the firey creatures on his cousin's back. A thought seized his youthful mind. If those flames gave off heat, they could potentially be useful in the machines that he made ... he could make a moving creature for Romina! The colt's muddy and pale eyes moved back to the bright spark of Kiada's gaze. "Ahrr those flahmes hawt?" He asked with genuine interest, his voice sounding much softer now and less like sand paper.


@Kiada

Ru'in wished Romina was here. He needed her to tell him what he supposed to make of this oddly striped girl. She had spoken to Romina and Roma shared information with her ... Roma only did that when it suited her, and so there must have been something about the ocean-eyed princess that Roma needed. But what? And what was his role in this? Would Roma instruct him to treat her as all of the others, or would there be a special set of rules for this one, this one who conversed with his twin?

No, I wish it did. It’s harmless and it’s stupid Ahh well. There went that idea. Ru'in's blocky skull nodded understandingly - lots of the magic that occurred within Helovia struck him as being stupid, and he wondered who it was he might thank for giving him gifts that weren't ornamental or arbitrary.

But those thoughts dissipated because suddenly she was moving. Moving into the space only ever occupied with Roma, or by his Mother and Father when they were feeling as though he was in need of their physical affections (though he never was). Ru'in's head rose slightly as if impending danger were coming his way rather than the downy back and shoulders of a filly. Things happened inside of himself, things he couldn't quite explain, other than to characterize them as the sort of heat that he had just inquired about - the heat he thought might come from her flames was suddenly inside of his belly.

And that didn't make any sense at all.

Except maybe that heat could be transferred?

Lowering his nose and exhaling the breath he had unknowingly been holding, the boy's tusked skull lowered. His tusks didn't quite touch her back, though if any of her hair was standing on end it might have done. The boy's eyes grew intense, and suddenly a glob of bronzey material appeared above her topline. It formed into what appeared to be a butterflyish looking thing, with a gear in the middle connected to its wings. If there was the type of heat coming off of her body that he felt in his stomach, then it would turn the gear and make the wings move.

The boy waited.

Nothing happened.

As it turned out, the stirrings of puppy-love within a mere boy was not hot enough to power even a butterfly.

How disappointing.

"Youh ahrr right." He concluded, and moved the small butterfly towards her face, where she could see what the desired response was. Exhaling, as if his magic came from deep in his throat, an energetic breeze pushed past the girls' mane and forelock, to move the gears inside the bronze insect. As the gears turned, the wings began to flap gently on the artificial breeze.

@Kiada

Perhaps other foals might have reacted awkwardly at having one of their creations praised, especially by one of the opposite sex standing in such close proximity, but Ru'in of course, was not like other foals. Instead of blushing shyly or trying to brush off the accomplishment, he nodded his blocky head in genuine agreement.

Beautiful and delicate things after all, were among his most favourite things.

"Yahhr." He agreed, his voice a soft rumble from deep in his throat. Only his body thought to equate his comment, the beautiful butterfly, and Kiada, his mind did not. Though his mutated and possibly increased hormone count might have had an effect on his body - making him grow larger, and grow faster than he ought to - his mind was still maturing at the rate of anyone else. A more suave colt might have said, Not so beautiful as you, and perhaps offered the bronze insect to the girl as a gift, or at the very least made it dance about her, but Ru'in only agreed and let the butterfly continue to hover before her.

He might have had the time to realize that she was still standing quite close to him (Roma certainly wouldn't have approved), were it not for the fact that she began speaking again - a sound which drew to it all of Ru'in's attention. Now that she had proved herself adept enough to understand his magic and appropriately call his creations beautiful, he wasn't as quick to disregard this filly as he was at the beginning of this meeting.

She was family after all.

I wish I could’ve helped you make it work.

Again, his skull bobbed and his eyes appeared thoughtful as he agreed. "Me too." But there was no hint of disappointment in his voice as there had been in hers. And for some reason, the boy decided to share the reason why. "Naht evun mhy majik kan make it lhast." He continued almost as glumly. One day perhaps he could force the kinetic energy into its perpetual state, but for now, he was nothing more than a strong breeze or a good push.

As if to test to see if anything had changed, Ru'in again focused on the butterfly. A cool spark of energy billowed once again past Kiada towards the small gear-centered thing, but then the stream of energy grew hotter. The air moved faster, and before Ru'in could stop it, the delicate wings of the butterfly snapped off and the mechanisms holding it together failed. The bronze bits of the creation fell to the ground, shimmering like golden rain in the dappled sunlight. 

Ru'in roared his displeasure. One massive three-toed foot rose and slammed into the ground as he bellowed yet again. His ears flattened against his skull, and his eyes narrowed to furious slits. The mutant boy took a step backwards away from Kiada (presumably so as not to hurt her, though it was surprising to think that the boy had that much forethought) as his head rose and his tusked head thrashed with fury and frustration. "ARRGHH." He roared again, a colt's cry of fury amplified by Ru'in's deep tone of voice. 

@Kiada

Her voice, since it was not Roma's voice, did little to soothe the beast. He should have known better. Did he always break that which was beautiful? Did he always manage to find a way to fuck things up? Of course he did - it was one of the reasons, aside from his obvious hideousness, that Roma was the only one who loved him.

Hey, its okay. It was an accident. The snarl on his face remained. Was it an accident? No, this was merely the boy being impulsive and not controlling himself. Why had he tried to extend his magic? It was because of what the girl had said. He had been trying to comfort her, in a sense at least, by demonstrating that his skills too weren't adequate for what he was trying to do. In that regard he supposed that he succeeded. By why had he even tried in the first place? Altruism was not something that normally rolled off of Ru'in's tongue. 

Romina and I were practicing ours- At this, Ru'in's eyes widened and his head snapped downwards to regard the filly with a weighty interest. Roma... She never practiced with him? (In truth, this likely had more to do with how emotionally inert Ru'in normally was, and how that likely wasn't the best setting for controlling emotional magics). Again it seemed Roma had allowed this filly to know more about her that her twin would have suspected. But still, without her around, he didn't know what to make of their connection yet. Or what his connection to her ought to be, despite the fire now simmering in his belly (which had dulled almost immediately as she pulled away and turned to face him).

"Shew me." He said, his voice an intense stream of rumbling syllables. He disregarded her suggestion to try again, for his mind had fixedly stayed on the words she had spoken before. Romina and I were practicing ours- If Roma saw fit to practice her magic with this filly then ... then surely it was worth witnessing? Roma certainly seemed to have thought that it was.

Not for the first time during this conversation, Ru'in's entire focus was upon Kiada. His bi-coloured gaze studied her intently, wafting from the foxes trailing in energetic plumes on her spine, to the way her splotched pink lips pulsed and shifted with her every word (and perhaps even some that remained unsaid). 



@Kiada

Unlike the girl, Ru'in's mind switched easily from confused hormone mode to scientific focus. Which for him was likely a blessing. For, objectively speaking, the longer he allowed the fire to be stoked within his belly, the more problems it would cause between he and Romina in the future. He was hers, after all, and every stolen glance towards Kiada - or any other filly - was an assault on the sacred bond (read: servitude) that he owed his twin.

For now, Ru'in was ignorant of all of that. Despite the silent sensation of guilt that accompanied the pleasurable pangs of heat, Ru'in hadn't yet learned to associate pleasant feelings towards members of the opposite sex with betrayal. Even so, for now it was probably best that his attention was diverted.

Kia stepped towards him, verbalizing her willingness to do what he said, and his eyes locked upon her back. The background of his mind, the place where coals still stirred and burned, noted the curl of her back, where muscles had began to round out her figure. It noted the shapely way her body conformed to her movements, and the way the dappled sunlight changed the colours on her pelt. The front of mind, the scientific part, was focused only on the foxes and how they danced and shimmered.

For a moment he wasn't sure what was supposed to happen, and then suddenly they changed. Foxes gave way to the regal form of a deer, and Ru'in heard himself inhale suddenly. Deer after all were quite close to his stoney heart, for they reminded him not only of his family, but of his twin too. Was that why she had conjured this particular image? Was she reminding him of their familial bond?

Her breath leaving her lips focused his attention back upon her rather than the abstract images of her magic. The boy too had been holding his breath, and as she released hers, he released his own as well. His bi-coloured gaze roamed over the foxes, and his tusked head tilted slightly.

"Do yew cuntrohl the shapes?" He asked with a boyish, eager curiousity, his gaze pulling away from the foxes to try and search out the oceanic depths of her own eyes.

@Kiada