Oh dear, why did he ever say that? Now he'd probably just worried the gentle fellow to no end. It was rather cute how the little one seemed to care so much for inanimate objects and lesser gembounds. He didn't know how to word it to make it better though. What if they really were sentient in their own way? It was quite the conundrum... more than he cared to think about it. Valentine figured it was right if he wasn't doing it to pleasure himself. So long as he was eating just to satisfy a basic need. Then the smaller omnivore brought up something that made him tilt his head in confusion.

Just not eat? How was that possible? The dragonhorse smiled indulgently and shook his head. "I'm not sure if it works that way. My stomach sure kicks up a fuss if I don't feed it. The magick I have doesn't do anything to stop it, either." He didn't think making things glow qualified as feeding yourself.
"Everything has to eat to stay alive don't it? The lesser gembounds and even the plants." It was the natural order of things.

Despite the tiny creature speaking against him the little one need not worry about upsetting such a gentle giant. Valentine had nothing but endless patience. He also thought this little debate with the deer cat was fun. It was the most stimulating conversation he'd had in a while. "Tell you what, Hawthorne, if you don't want me to eat a fish then I won't do it around you. I'll go find something else." There were plants around here, right? He could eat those and sample a fish from Polaris later. It might be harder to catch but if it kept this guy from getting too upset then he would be happy.

The colt dipped his head to the little prince, smiling,
"What do you say?" He didn't want the little catdeer to lose his lunch or anything over the swimming things.

---

The tiny buck simply listened, floppy ears twitching towards Valentine, golden gaze wavering between focusing on the winged horse and the fish in the water, their scales glittering like stars. He'd never really wanted to consider that hurting anything might be necessary, but he guessed it made sense, in a way that still twisted his stomach into knots, but settled into his mind like a statue, next to thousands of storybooks. "Y-yeah. An' I guess 's not fair to s-stop someone f-from eating, anyway," Hawthorne murmured, blinking and tilting his head backwards to peer at Valentine upside-down contemplatively.

His ears flopped back, dangling to frame the nubbins of horns that just managed to breach his plush coat, and Hawthorne's gemstone eye seemed to sparkle in patterns, as if it was actively tracking Valentine like a true organ would. At the stranger's offer, his golden eye widened, practically shining itself as he grinned, tiny fangs pearly-white. "R-really? I-I can show you the w-warrens, there's plants there," the buck offered, scrambling to twist around in a way much more cat-like than deer, almost too flexible to look right on his frame, an uncanny strangeness to it.

Really, the plants weren't much better, but at least they wouldn't bleed. Hawthorne trotted a few feet away, finally relaxing enough to begin to act like he normally did with his father and sister. "C-c'mon, slowpoke! I'll race ya!"

Valentine peered down into the deercat's eyes, watching how both --even the non-gemstone-- seemed to sparkle at his words. That only cemented in his mind that the little one's feelings shouldn't be crushed. Hawthorne was too cute to upset, it was much more rewarding to make him happy and see that smile. "Absolutely." He said with a wink.

Val did nothing for a moment as Hawthorne trotted away but in his heart he could feel a rush of joy. A race! He loved racing! It gave him a chance to stretch his long legs! With a whiny of joy he took off after Hawthorne in a slow gallop, easily catching up to the smaller child with his greater size "Oh, I'm the slowpoke? What about you, kitty cat?" The dragonhorse teased gently. Valentine didn't pass his new friend, simply galloped alongside him. If he wanted he could have breezed past...

But where was the fun in that?

He could see what looked like "the warrens" in the distance but he didn't take off. He still paced himself next to Hawthorne, enjoying the feel of running with a friend.

---

The wink - that was all it took. Hawthorne turned tomato-red under his fur, pulse hot in his throat, hiding the reaction in the race. Something buzzed in his veins, embarrassment mixing with joy and fear. It felt a lot like falling down, the same swoop of his gut, but sans the skinned knees. Thankfully, Valentine took him up on the challenge, and the tiny buck led the way to the warrens, seeing their green shape slowly come into view.

The banter, at least, settled the strange fluttering of his stomach, and Hawthorne tilted his head up to peer at his new friend, sticking out a tiny pink tongue at the horse. "My da' t-taught me how t-to run real f-fast! I c-can keep u-up!" With a giggle and a burst of speed, the buck cantered ahead, slowing to a stop when the rolling hills of moss and lichen spread out in front of him. "H-here! This i-is the warrens!"

He trotted forward on stilt-like legs, ducking down to sniff at the tiny flowers that had managed to sprout here and there, sparse and few. A disappointed sigh escaped - none of them seemed grand enough to fit with Valentine's knightly image; he needed something classy, like a bunch of lavender or a rose... huffing, he gathered up a bushel of grass and spongy moss, dropping it at Valentine's feet with a patient grin.

The young stallion let out a roar of laughter at his new friend's cheekiness. Oh how he enjoyed these jests, how they made him feel alive! The dragonhorse watched as Hawthorne put on a burst of speed. If he wanted he might have been able to pass him or catch up but no. He would let the smaller one win, it was more fun that way.

Finally, the arrived at what he guessed was the warrens. It was a few rolling hills with an abundance of flora all around. The equine smiled appreciatively at everything all around them. His nose lowered to the ground to pick up the scent of the earthy scent of grass and the sweeter smell of flowers. He liked it quite a lot. With a smile he began to nibble at the vegetation but only until the catdeer wandered back over and dropped some tasty smelling moss and grass before him.

Valentine looked up at Hawthorne and gave an appreciative grin while his nose dipped in a gentlemanly bow. "Why thank-you, Hawthorne. This'll go down real nice." With that he began to nibble and chew on the offered plants. It wasn't fish but it was still delicious and it quickly began to disappear down his gullet.

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