[Gift] Studying the Fauna

“...?”

Even though they had said nothing, the faun looked at Amanda with such a particular expression it practically was written all over their face - why aren’t you scared of me?

She looked up at the faun from beneath her glasses, frowning. “Why would I be?”

She was drawing a few diagrams in her sketchbook as she looked - detailing the intricacies of Pascaline’s ribcage, their spine and how it connected to their legs, the bony, almost ball-jointedness of their tendons and hooves. “You’re interesting. I’ve never seen anything quite like you before.”

Pascaline tilted their head to the side - this wasn’t any kind of reaction they’d had someone else have before. Living faun tended to fear them, while undead faun simply thought they were commonplace. Nobody had reacted with curiosity.

“I just wonder what kind of magic can help you keep together a form like this,” Amanda continued, gesturing with her pen. “Your body appears to be made of bone in some parts, but flesh on others, and yet it is all connected, as if it’s all made of the same material… your arms are not affected by a bony structure, but your legs are, and your face is untouched. It’s strange— in a good way.”

Pascaline’s ears twitched slightly - if someone was watching, perhaps a faint smile could be seen on their face, but their general unmoving face made it hard to tell. Perhaps it was just a trick of the light.

“I’d love to study your condition more— given your consent, of course,” Amanda continued. “It wouldn’t be anything that would harm you, and you would always have the right to back out. I’m just intrigued by how you’re still able to stand, given that you don’t have anything to hold up your spine alone…”

Pascaline continued to not respond, so Amanda smiled, standing up. “You can take as much time as you need to consider my offer. I don’t mind if you refuse. I just wanted to ask.”

As she left, Pascaline couldn’t help but wonder what made this Equos so curious…