She blinked, tilting her head. "Drawn to me? That-that suggest there's something special about me to catch your attention." She said, disbelief making her tone soft. For all her insisting that he wasn't just the thief he saw himself as, her own view of herself tended to fall about the same.
He chuckled at her disbelief, shooting her a knowing smirk. "You say that as if you don't believe yourself to be capable of being something special," he said, tilting his head slightly. "But of course, with all of your insistence that I'm not allowed to have a low opinion of myself, then surely you follow your own rule as well."
"That's because I'm not capable of being anything special." She said, shaking her head as she finished untying Danzing. The stallion continued his grazing, standing still as she pulled herself up into the saddle with slight difficulty, if only because of her height in comparison. "You've barely followed my 'rule', anyway." She pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
"Sure you are," he said sincerely, watching her mount Danzing and still silently miffed that the stallion was so well-behaved in comparison to Kaspa. Why did I have to rub off on the darn beast? "And what have I done to not follow your rule after you set it?" he asked with an arched brow.
"It was only recently set into place, but before that. And you can't honestly sit there and tell me you wouldn't say the same things you had been, if I lifted the rule." She said, and as an afterthought before they got going, quickly undid the braids in her hair to hide the brand once more.
He just shrugged in answer, neither denying nor confirming it. He turned towards the palace and clicked his tongue, making Kaspa turn towards it as well. The stubborn stallion huffed in protest but did it anyways when Rhydar mentioned getting sugar cubes later if he was good.
She sighed, shaking her head as she urged Danzing along. The stallion snorted, taking a moment before starting off after Kaspa. Once on their way, Lily once again turned her face up to the sky, soaking in the warm sunlight. She'd spent so many years barely leaving the same building, and wasn't in any rush to take her access to the sun for granted.
Rhydar glanced behind him and smiled as he watched Lily. She looked so happy and peaceful out here; she almost seemed to belong out here, in the mysterious but beautiful great outdoors. He turned back around so as not be caught staring, but his teeth tapped on his ring as his thoughts were consumed by Lily and what she might be hiding. What had caused her to dislike touch so much? And he knew that girls were slightly panicked when drunken men seemed to want only their bodies for some nightly "fun," but she had a full-on panic attack. It was strange, and he wanted to help her, but he knew that she'd open up to him when she felt the time was right—at least, he hoped.
Safe. Something Lily hadn't felt in forever, a word she'd almost forgotten existed. And yet, here she was. Free. She owed that to a small selection of people, herself included, though she certainly didn't think so, but Rhydar…in a short few days, he'd managed to clear away so many of the shadows still clinging to her. She had thanked him plenty of times already, but it still didn't feel like enough. Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned her gaze back to Rhydar, that familiar smile in place, though this one seemed more…hopeful, somehow.
Rhydar felt eyes on him and turned around. He blinked when he saw that it was Lily, smiling that smile he loved with a hint of hope in it. He returned her smile with one of his own, happy that she seemed so bright and carefree—at least as carefree as she could be. His heart warmed at the hope in her smile and eyes, hoping that that meant she was facing her demons with a bright gaze.
Wonderful, amazing, great. His smile made her heart flutter slightly, and a light blush returned to her cheeks as she was caught looking at him. Gods, she could get used to a smile like that. She reached up, tucking her hair behind her ear as her smile grew slightly in response to his. "Your smile is really nice."
His smile turned to a slight smirk as he noticed her blush and she complimented his smile. "Why thank you. I made it myself." His sarcastic and slightly cocky words were softened by the look in his eyes. They were bright with happiness as he gazed at her.
She pressed a hand to her mouth as she huffed a laugh, shaking her head. "Hilarious." She joked, quirking an eyebrow at him. "You can be sarcastic all you want, but that doesn't change the fact that I like your smile."
"However true that may be, I never implied that it would change that fact," he said, also quirking an eyebrow.
(sorry, I have to go)
((See you! Have fun man))
"Well I would hope not. I wouldn't want to have to put yet another rule in place." She scrunched up her nose playfully.
Rhydar chuckled, shaking his head and pulling Kaspa back so that he was right next to Lily. "Wouldn't want another rule," he said sarcastically, then got slightly more serious. "But thank you, for the compliment. It's not…" he tilted his head as he looked off to the distance, "It's not really something people notice, being a thief and all." He smiled as he said without looking at her. "I love your smile. Your real one, not the one that looks like your hiding."
"You've…mentioned that, before." Lily said quietly, looking off to the side as she twisted the ring around her finger. Was her smile really that great? She couldn't imagine it being anything like his, for sure. She looked back over at him, chewing on her lip in thought.
He tilted his head. "It's worth mentioning," he said simply, watching her seemingly get lost in thought. Her lip biting didn't go unnoticed on his part, but he did his best to not directly look at her lips.
"Can I ask you a question?" She spoke finally, after a few minutes of quiet thought and lip biting. Her eyes returned to his, as she arched an eyebrow slightly in question.
He hummed in acknowledgment and nodded, looking up at her eyes. He had failed miserably at not looking at her lips. Her actions just brought too much attention to them. He wasn't sure what sort of question she wanted to ask, but he answered pretty much anything with truth—however sarcastic he might say it.
"Why-" She shook her head slightly, trying to form the question she wanted to ask. There were plenty of answers she wanted, but one question was all she'd ask. "Why haven't you asked? About all of my…issues?"
His lips formed a silent, 'Oh' as he briefly looked away, licking his lip ring. He was silent for a few seconds, trying to gather his reasons and shove that typical sarcasm to the side. "Well, I figured that you would just shut me out and sort of…hide. Fall back into a sort of shell or put a mask over your face to insist that you're fine. I also figured that if there was something that happened to you to make it hard for you to enjoy contact, then you'd tell me on your own time. Everyone has their secrets, and not every secret needs to be shouted from the rooftops." He shrugged, looking down slightly. "I also didn't want to ruin any of the moments we were together. Bring up a bad memory and make you shut me out."
He hadn't asked because he didn't want her to draw back inside herself? Hide. He'd said hide. She wrapped her arms around herself as she listened, scanning his face. She opened her mouth a few different times to speak, but found herself lacking the words needed to properly express just how important that was to her.
He fell silent, looking over at her almost shyly. He didn't know what she was thinking; what was going through her mind. She looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't voice it. "Talk to me Lily," he said softly.
"I-" She paused as her voice wavered slightly, tightening her arms around herself. "Thank you…doesn't seem like enough." She admitted softly. And it really didn't. Nothing she could say would fully explain just how much that choice meant to her.
Dammit, she looked so in need of a hug right now. He pursed his lips and kept himself from reaching out. Baby steps, Rhydar. Baby steps. "Doesn't seem like enough for what?" he asked gently, trying to understand her without pushing his luck.
"The choice." She said, meeting his eyes carefully. "You're giving me an actual choice. That means everything." It really did, to someone who had spent years being someone else's puppet.
He smiled kindly, his eyes softening. "I'll always give you a choice, Lily. Having my own voice in what I can and can't do is important to me. Forcing people into situations they aren't comfortable and inclined to be in would just be hypocritical and unfair of me."
She nodded, the corner of her mouth turning up somewhat in a grateful smile. It was small, but it was there, along with that same hopeful look in her eyes. I'll always give you a choice. She hoped so. She really, really did.
His own smile brightened somewhat at the sight of her gratefulness in her smile, as well as the hope in her eyes. He was glad that his words and decisions regarding her situation were so reassuring and important to her. He didn't know the exact extent, but he was willing to wait for the full story, even if he got bits and pieces here and there.