a restless evening / camy

Kumiho absently pricked his ears at some loud voices as he looked over some glimmering jewelry another merchant was attempting to appease him with. The stallion instead gave her a relaxed smile, and shook his head lightly, as in a gesture of "not today". He turned to head to glance over at the noise, some kind of commotion. A large, white bison stood over a glowing animal. The bison was a hefty guy, gnarled hazel horns curving upwards from his huge head. And the animal.. a mage. Kumiho frowned. Kumiho had seen many, many mages, though mostly in Namarast, and he's glimpsed a few in Faline. But if he were being completely honest, this one looked kind of freaky. Tendrils of blue wrapped around her forelegs and face, shrouding her eyes. Was that.. parts of her skeleton visible through her sides. Kumiho squinted, then narrowed his eyes,

'Oh, Destiny..' Kumiho thought to himself as he caught sight of the mage, (a doe, he could now see) regaining her composure and glaring angrily at the shopkeeper. Assuming she'd gone through The Order, Kumiho raised his eyebrow at her. Wasn't it a specific rule hammered into each mage that they should lie low in front of  non-mages in order to not give the arcane a worse rap? It wasn't abundantly obvious that Kumiho himself was a mage, but widespread public fear of magic wouldn't be a good thing for him regardless. Before things could escalate further, Kumiho stepped in, his slender head between the stern mage and the now cowering bison.

Turning his back to the doe, Kumiho turned to look at the white bison, and leaned a front leg casually against the bison's. The bison's foreleg was just as woolly as the bushy fur on the bovidae's chest and head. Locking eyes with the bison, with a smile almost too bright, he began to speak. "Look fella, the girl didn't mean anything, right? Why don't we just go on with our night?" The stone bison's expression of fear and distrust slowly faded as Kumiho let his words sink in and maintained eye contact. The bison gave one last uneasy look at the mage doe, but turned back around to mind his stall.

As he watched him leave, the fine boned equine twisted his head to look over at the mage, the crowd dissipating from commotion. Eyes sparkling, Kumiho grinned charismatically at the doe, though there was a hint of sternness behind it. Though his muscles ached, and fatigue clouded his vision slightly, his voice remained steady.  "Next time it may be better to lie low, comrade."

Though he kept his expression as composed and charming as before, his ear twitched tiredly. "If I may voice a preference, I believe you'd know it's a much easier way to live in a place such as Faline without the citizens here knowing that the actor Kumiho is a," he dropped his voice is a collected mumble, "-mage." Thankfully, the drumming of loud conversation had resumed among the crowds so the doe's outright statement hadn't been heard by any others.

Kumiho tossed his center tail thoughtfully, the gleaming white hairs catching firelight cast from the lanterns above, illuminating the tips of his pointed ears. He arched his dished profile, observing the much taller doe intently. Abruptly, he turned around, and beckoned for her to follow him. 

He knew it was wise for her to be hesitant at this point, but Kumiho was somewhat quizzical about this one. From an intuitive standpoint, he didn't see The Order's ways on her.

When he realized she had begun to float away, Kumiho sighed and flattened his ears for a moment. She was still within earshot, so he really didn't have to raise his voice much. "I really think you ought to come with me." He'd kind of expected this now from what he'd observed from this doe so far, but it was rather weird that she hadn't been snatched up by The Order so far. The stallion himself was mostly normal looking (he told people that he had three tails because his mother had been cursed when she was expecting), but wouldn't have some mage teachers wandering around have spotted her by now? 

Well clearly she didn't even know what a mage was, so the answer was no.

He squinted at her, pink nostrils flaring slightly. Kumiho was patient, but immaturity was something else altogether. As he stood, a thought struck him. What was he even trying to achieve. He tossed his head, the tassels of his headpiece swaying. She could get snatched up for all he cared, the equine had better things to do anyway.

Sure, he could use his enchantment to make her listen to what he had to say, but he didn't even know her, and neither did most of the folk know he was like her.