Blacktail Deer Plateau A Stranger to This World

He went off on a spiel, a rather poetic one at that. Pied bit her lower lip to stop from laughing as he used his tongue like a paintbrush, painting a romantic portrait of her. You learned all of this in a single encounter? she wanted to ask but held her tongue. She felt flattered by his attention, yet Pied also felt it was misplaced.

"But you don't know anything about me, Kisu, much less everything," she pointed out, keeping her voice firm but gentle. "I'm flattered that you find me appealing but I am more than what I appear," she added, meeting his eyes to drive home her point.

Her tail switched and she shifted her weight, pondering how specifically to respond to his request. She'd never given Kisu another thought after their last encounter—which had also been their first—and simply hadn't ever entertained the thought of entering into courtship with him, much less mate-ship. Yet Pied didn't want to reject him without giving it a moment of thought, even if the situation was sort of laughably ludicrous.

"I'm going to have to decline your offer, Kisu," Pied said after a moment, then paused to let him absorb that before adding, "but I guess I wouldn't be opposed to getting to know you better. Let's start as friends, then see where that goes, if anywhere," she suggested lightly.