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"The lights are my natural magic. Ghoulies are....skilled with shadows, as you know." Pauk had admittedly been taken aback by the compliment, which was strange considering she'd been saying things of the same sort the whole time. Perhaps it was because he'd been able to really view them himself, having glanced down at the frozen surface, that he noticed how they flickered and sparkled. The way he warped shadows was seemingly effortless, having come from his breed's natural abilities and long, long years of practice. Pauk was far older than he cared to acknowledge and that this dragon would ever know.

But that didn't matter, she was apologizing again for something. The hybrid shrugged in as much as he could, his tail wagging itself back and forth as his wings rippled. The mare was shivering too, which wasn't surprising considering she was a dragon and the cold was likely hard on her. It was hard on him sometimes too, though the shaggy nature of his Ghoulie fur kept him warm enough. "You're cold. We should move on then, so you can get to your home and get warmed up." The whole comment about getting to know Pauk better was either avoided or ignored outright; the hybrid had other things to focus on and his tail was beginning to grouse unhappily about their current company.

For as tolerant as the dragon could be and as good as he was at maintaining his politeness his tail had none of those skills. It was far more honest, having returned to grumbling about the 'fire-mouth' and how it didn't like Fuchsia, but a sudden shake from Pauk silenced most of the noises. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to warm yourself with your breath, or are you being considerate?"

If Pauk had an eyebrow it would have been raised at her response. "So you are unable to control your fire breath?" It was strange to think that a dragon would be more worried about the area around them than anything else; did it mean she couldn't control the length and size of her flame? "I'll admit I'm....rather surprised to hear that." And he was, if the tone of his voice was any accurate indication. "I was under the belief that dragons had firm control from the first moment they spit fire."

The story of Pauk's first attempts to flame would never be told as that memory was best left repressed; his tail murmured a faint agreement "Also please, no need to be so openly considerate of me. We are but strangers and you do not have fur like I do. If you are cold, heat yourself."

"Hrrrm." Pauk's reply sounded a bit more drawn out than intended, but he needn't be so curt with the dragon. She was placing his best interests above her own, it seemed, even though they were strangers as he'd mentioned. She may be young, he thought, but she has excellent manners and compassion for others. This would be a point in her favor, were the pink dragon ever so inclined to ask where she stood. "Then I thank you."

In the still of the night the hybrid allowed his floating magic to glow a bit brighter, though they didn't provide much in the way of warmth. "My apologies that my magic can't give off heat, or else I'd offer that as my way of repaying your thoughts." He could pick up the pace as they walked though, and so Pauk motioned with his head that they should perhaps continue on. He didn't know where she lived after all and so taking the lead would have been quite pointless.

One of the small balls of light floated in front of Fuchsia's nose, where it seemed to pop and explode into a small shower of sparks as it connected.

Pauk watched the young dragon look at his magical orbs, and he half-shrugged at her comment. "I have had many, many years to learn and try new things. This is something I've admittedly only learned to do within the past decade or so." Another ball floated past the duo before popping again, sending off tiny sparks. "Ghoulies by nature control the shadow so I had always believed if we can do shadow we can also do light."

Was he babbling now? He felt like he was considering how curt he'd been in replies before. It was unlikely she was interested in him beyond the basics though he hated to admit he was becoming more curious about her. Good manners, unafraid, and compassionate to the area around her. Pauk didn't think to find such traits in a breed like dragons but perhaps the years had simply made him biased. "....do you like them? The orbs, that is."

The hybrid had never really asked someone before as he seldom valued the opinions of others.