» Together

WAKER

A colt you've not seen before has joined you lot on the beach. And, surprising yourself, you just feel hostile and frustrated at the sight of him. The matron addresses him, trying to include him, and he just parrots, "Hope?" in a way that makes very snarky and rude things boil up the back of your mouth. Scowling, you march up to the colt, abandoning Night Sky's side and somewhat ignoring the rest of the matron's instructions.

Instead, you glare down at the yearling. Next to your head, your Piece of Hope—a ball of warm, pleasant light—hovers. A similar ball follows all the equines gathered on the beach; the unlucky colt is the only one without one, but not for long, as your ball splits into two equal parts, both miraculously the same size as the original. "Hope," you growl savagely at him, before turning on your heel and marching away, leaving him with his own ball of world-saving light.

Otem seized onto whatever the matron had been saying while you had been too busy listening to your own blood boil, volunteering them all to go to Halyven; frankly, you don't care where you go. You just want this nightmare day to end, so you can sleep for a good, long while, then wake up and apologize to everyone for your behavior. You're about to just sigh and come along, when Otem extends the offer of the herd to the child, and Dragon Man approaches you. "Where is Halyven?" you hear the newly hope'd young say, and with a voice befitting your stormy looks, you shout "If you come along, you'll find out, duh!" at him.

Then Dragon Man's nose, so deceptively soft if you consider the horns littering his forehead, touches your shoulder. There's concern in his eyes, just like Night Sky keeps watching you the same way, and suddenly you feel like snapping at both of them.

But you don't. It's one thing to yell at kids (he's now asking the matron who she is, and you decide this is a legitimate question), it's quite another to brush off two adults who are actually trying to give a damn about you.

Also, is this guy mute, or what? You've never heard him speak.

"I'll be fine," you mutter, suddenly embarrassed about everything you've said and done in the past few minutes—you want nothing but to get away from this beach, especially as Kiada and Rixen come bouncing in, beaming with pride. Ball of hope or not, you scowl, and start to trudge away to the east, heading for Halyven.

Waker is tired and rude and shares his Piece of Hope with @Varuna, then goes to Halyven. xP