Welcome to Gaia! ::

Helaku's head lifted, jaws continuing to chew the mouthful of grass as he looked towards the sound of hooves. Finishing, he swallowed as he looked upon a Soquili mare...and nearly bolted then and there. He wasn't ready to face another adult mare, not yet. But...it would just be rude to turn and run. He had to at least carry on a conversation, didn't mean he'd have to respond to any flirting, right? Who knew, she might not even like him at all. Which would probably be just as well, the thought of being rejected again by someone who claimed to like him terrified him. Slowly, he walked towards the mare.

Helaku sagged a little inside at the look in the mare's eyes. She seemed disappointed...and it was probably because of him, though he'd not met her before. Females were strange though. "Hello," he said softly. "I'm Helaku...what might your name be, m'lady?" His tone was still smooth and modulated, but that was because he wasn't projecting it as much. He still wasn't sure he could speak normally just yet...he feared some tremor in his voice would show through.

Helaku relaxed slightly, though he still kept a guard up in the back of his mind. "It's quite alright," he said pleasantly. "My memory isn't perfect either, and I don't mind staring. It's better than no contact with others at all, eh?"

Helaku chuckled. "Memory's a tricky thing. Always shifting and changing...it's hardly a concrete entity." At her question, he tensed slightly, mind racing. After a moment, he forced himself to relax. She seemed genuine enough...what harm could there be? "Sure," he replied with a small smile. "Where would you like to go? Or do you just want to wander?"

"True. I've met several Soquili simply by wandering." He started walking, careful to keep pace with the mare. She seemed interesting, and didn't keep up an incessant amount of chatter. For some reason, he simply felt like a nice, quiet conversation. "So, whereabouts do you usually live? By the river?"

"Me? I live in the forest. Have to skirt around the village to get here, but that's not too hard. It's not like the humans seem too interested in forcibly capturing our kind...my parent's humans are pretty nice, actually." He fell silent, fearing that he was rambling. It wouldn't be good to drive a mare that seemed this nice away, especially if she was as genuine as she seemed.

Helaku's ears pricked in a flicker of surprise. She wanted to hear more about him? Well, if she said so... "My father's got two humans, one seems to be a foal as they reckon things. I don't really know much about them, but they don't try to hurt me or touch me if I don't want to be touched." He looked at her curiously. "What about you? Do you have a human?"

Helaku's ears swept forward and he stretched out his neck slightly in concern. "Hmmm? Something the matter?"

Helaku blinked, wondering if that had really been what she meant. Oh well, no matter. "Humans are odd, but interesting. Don't think I'd want to be around them all the time, though." He turned his head to look at her. "You seem nice."

Helaku chuckled and smiled boyishly. "Awww, that's not so. You're nice enough to talk to me, when I'm hardly the most interesting male out there. And you seem...honest." His ears flicked back and forth as a haunted look passed over his face for an instant.

Helaku strode into the clearing, obviously in a better humor and recovered somewhat from the fiasco of a few days past. His ears flicked forward and his neck arched slightly in interest as he noticed a foal that was even smaller than the norm for foals. Coming closer he realized why as he saw the translucent wings. "Hello there," he said affably.

Helaku chuckled. "I'm Helaku, but call me what you like. And what might your name be?" This was his second encounter with an uncommon flutter Soquili but his first chance to actually talk to one.

Little Chitsa echoed back to him, "Helaku! Helaku! Alright. I shall call you... 'Laku! 'Laku! Does that sound alright to you?" She pranced around in excitement, giggling to herself. "Chitsa. My name is Chitsa!" Or so that was what Sisika had called her. It wasn't rare to see Chitsa in a mood like this... Some could say that this could perhaps be her personality. But she was quite random and could have any personality possible.

Helaku smiled. "That shall do admirable, Chitsa. I must say, one doesn't see a lot of Soquili with wings like yours. They're neat." He nosed at one gently, curious. He wished he knew why flutters were so much smaller than other Soquili, it was an interesting question to think on in the meantime, however.

Helaku grinned and tossed his head. "Well, you're young yet. Though we've all got a lot to learn, I suppose. But yeah, wings like that aren't all that common. You're special." He nodded and grinned playfully at Chitsa.

"Doing pretty good actually," Helaku replied, slightly surprised to find that he meant it. Since meeting others after the fiasco with Tetyawna, his mood had improved more and more. Now he was nearly back to his pleasant, gentlemanly self. And for some reason watching this filly bounce around in excitement improved his mood as well. Perhaps because it was hard to be mopey around such a brightly happy foal.

Helaku couldn't help but laugh a little to himself as he watched. Foals were so amusing, though it was hard to keep in mind he'd been much the same way at that age. However, he needed to be moving on. "I'm sorry, but I've gotta go for now," he said. "I'll try to visit you again sometime though." With that, he turned and moved off at a brisk trot.