[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... eejoux.gif[/imgleft]The news had been surprising, but excitedly so.  It'd been a long time since the buck had the pitter patter of tiny hooves about, and even if he was getting older, he was still excited by the prospect of being a father of young foals.  They kept him young, he thought.

And it was for that reason the Beetle Wing had gone out in the swamp searching.  He wanted to make sure the mother of his new babies was happy and healthy.  He wanted to make sure the babies she carried would be happy and healthy as well.

He wasn't taking any chances.

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... ncert5.png[/imgright] She didn't make this journey often anymore. She had done her share and there were others to take on the task of blessings now. But then she'd risen with the sun, unusual to begin with for a mare that preferred the dark, and been struck by a lingering melancholy that settled deep into her bones. It wouldn't have done to idle in it and so she had jumped into the wind and let herself go into a mind that had no time for such feelings to staid their day.

She squawked, indignant and annoyed, before landing down in front of him and shrieking, shrill. But she didn't change into a mare yet. No. She simply stared, glowing eyes piercing, at the soon-to-be father.

The sudden and rather loud appearance of the gryphon before him set the usually stoic Beetle Wing on edge. He startled, retreating back a step or two as his tail swept back and forth behind him. Matching that gryphon's stare with something indignant and puzzled.

"Whatever you believe I did, you are mistaken," he finally spoke up, ears docking back and brows dipping.

@anemosagkelos

"Am I, now?" Lull in Sunlight, a vague black shadow that eventually solidified into a black and pink mare, asked. She chuckled in amusement. "Then you aren't to be a father and you don't want a blessing?" She paused, a mere breath, "All right then. Suit yourself." And then she was gone. Vanished.

Except for the owlcat, balanced on a bare tree limb high above his head. She would have laughed if it wouldn't have given her away. Nonetheless, she'd have to thank him later for the amusement.

Beetle took a couple of steps back as the figure melted from gryphon to regal looking mare.  He stared, quite amazed, before her question caught him off guard.  "No, I mean yes," he corrected, walking in closer again.  "I don't know that was why...I didn't realize.  Um, sorry." It seemed better to just drop it and start all over.

"Yes, I am expecting, and yes I am looking for a blessing." Now that he knew what she was there for he was much friendly, that dubious edge gone completely.  "You can do that?"

@anemosagkelos

"I can do a lot of things," the mare returned. On anyone else, it would have seemed cocky, but then she had literally vanished and changed forms. "You should be less presumptuous of those around you. It wouldn't do to offend the wrong creature," she leveled, before circling around him.

"Now, what is it you want for your children?" It remained to be seen if that was something she'd grant; at the moment, he didn't seem the sort that was too intelligent and she'd want to remedy that straight away.

@Beejoux

Green ears snapped back and he dipped his head, biting his tongue so as not to offend the mare further.  He was seeking her help, it wouldn't do to get on her bad side.

"Um, I want..." He frowned, putting some thought behind the request rather than simply asking for general good fortune.  "I would wish for them keen senses and keen minds.

@Scaramouche Fandango