Another lonely night out

Soul enters the tavern carefully, her eyes heavy as she took a large jump into an empty booth, looking around the tavern sadly, at all the ponies with their partners in whatever, all happily chatting away. Then her, the new mare around town, unknown, uncared for, and right now: very unhappy. She wished she could have a partner in whatever, a pony to just hang out with, be roommates with, and actually have a home with. "If only." she sighed.

A dark blue pegasus watched the newcomer walk in from the shadowy corner booth he was sitting in, his yellow eyes glowing slightly. Her mood was written all over her face, and it was a mood that Bucky knew well. Too well for his own good, actually.

Despite his reluctance to engage in conversations with other ponies, especially mares, she looked like she needed a friend and quite frankly, he needed one too. With a heavy sigh, Bucky pushed himself to his hooves and carefully made his way towards her. It was a good thing he wasn't stone-cold drunk yet, otherwise this would have turned out a lot differently.

As the stallion sits next to her, the first thing he would notice would be the confusing height of the mare, who stood almost exactly at halfway between a fully grown mare, and a young filly. The second thing he would notice would be her hypnotic eyes, one a piercing crimson, and the other an enchanting emerald. And the third thing would be the weird metal linings along the bone side of her wings. She looks up at the stallion and forces a cheery smile "Evening sir. Something wrong?"

Bucky flinched a little at her voice and ducked his head as he slid into the seat opposite her, staring at the table. This was already proving to be difficult for him, but he was gonna try and push through it anyway. 

"Everything's fine..." he muttered, glancing up at her through his bangs and noticing her heterochromia. That actually looked pretty cool, but he couldn't find the words to tell her that.

Soul giggled at the funny stallion "Hey, speak up; I don't bite unless provoked." she said, flashing a genuinely happy smile to him "My name is Soul, what's yours?"

That smile overwhemed him a bit; he hadn't seen a smile that happy in a long time. Swallowing hard, he cleared his throat awkwardly and replied, "I'm Bucky..."

Soul beamed at the name, getting far too close for anypony's comfort "Oh that's such a cool name; I've never met a Bucky before. Wait, does that mean you're a kicker?" her wings flap with the excitement of meeting a new friend.

He looked up at her, blinking a few times. He actually got that question a lot whenever he introduced himself, but since he hadn't done that in a while it kind of surprised him. "...No. Uh, I'm actually a musician...I play guitar," he offered, leaning back into the cushion of the booth with a nervous look in his eyes. She was waaaay too close and inside his personal bubble, and it was making him very uncomfortable.

Soul leans back, falling onto her back on the table before rolling onto the floor with a giggle "Awesome, guitars make such a fun noise, but I kinda prefer drums; you make music by hitting them hard."

Bucky nodded absently, staring at her with a mix of concern, confusion, and embarrassment. Other ponies were starting to look over to their booth and he really didn't want to be noticed. Ducking his head, the pegasus realized that his wings had come open during all this mess; for a nervous tic of sorts, it was pretty noticeable.  He swallowed hard and carefully folded his wings, hoping nopony was able to see that his primary feathers were shaking.

Soul looks at Bucky, tilting her head as she looks at the feathers; she sighs sadly, her head drooping "Did I go overboard again?" she asks herself in desperate sadness, going to stand up to leave before she caused any more embarrassment.

"N-No, wait...! I...uh..." he stuttered lamely, feeling his face flush with embarrassment. He tucked his wings in as far as he could, even taking the extra step of pulling them partly under his stomach and in between his legs. Anything to hide the shaking. "You just...You just startled me, is all..."

Soul nods as she reaches the door "Yeah. I have a habit of doing that." she mumbles, her head still hanging low
low.

He frowned, gritting his teeth while he desperately thought of what to say next. "Y-You don't have to leave, though...! I...I enjoyed your company..."

Soul looks up "Okay, but I still need to head home to make sure it is still there; fancy tagging along?"

Bucky blinked at her words, a flash of confusion flitting across his face before he swallowed hard and nodded in response. He figured it would be best if he didn't question the strange mare and climbed carefully out of the booth, shaking out his wings a little as he walked towards her.

Soul wanders out of the door, heading along a short way through the darkness of the night until she arrives at a bench, a few newspapers on it which she crawls underneath, shivering slightly before composing herself and seeing if Bucky followed her.