"That's the spirit." Grinning Ashton starts to tilt the mask up, mostly because talking with it over their face is starting to become stifling, though their hand falters when they hear Barcus' words.

Stunning in their own right? Sure they'd been called similar things by much shadier people back home but coming from Barcus it feels more sincere. Maybe that's why they actually feel their cheeks heat up as they pause on tilting the mask up and instead just act like they're adjusting it.

"Careful there, Barcus. Preferable compared to dryads and stunning? Some people might just call that flirting. But yeah, I'd count us as friends..." Which probably says more than Barcus realizes but that's fine.