Iridescent Lagoon the night manager

A track for mood music: UNIONS - Rescue Me

Celandine didn't know and she admitted that was scared, too. Those affirmations alone could have shaken Skoll at his core, but by some miracle, it didn't; and, just like that, it dawned on him that they were at each other's pace. Step by step by step. His ears quivered at the sound of her words and he stole a glance at her before lifting his head. He slowly turned and stepped back so that he could face her full on. She had a point and every bit of it clicked in the turning cogs of his mind.

"We keep living," he echoed back to her, tenderly reaching out to touch his nose to hers. "The both of us."

For a little while, he felt the pressure in his chest lessen... as if he could breathe again. It left him in a small cloud between his parted lips and the pain crackled in his lungs when he inhaled. Perhaps he, too, had forgotten how to live. How to breathe, to keep his heart beating, to remain in the present. Macha and Samael had told him something about these essential things once, about being grounded with his eyes and heart open.

He sniffed and gave a twitchy wave of his tail, lapping at her chin with his tongue before grazing his teeth against her maw without grasping her. "It feels like this wilderness is dying." He let a long pause interrupt him. "It feels like its trying to take me down with it." A gentle touch of his cheek to the side of her face and he could feel his eyes glossing over, "I want to give you so much, Celandine... but I cannot do it here. No kills, no trophies, no songs, no cubs... Not here."

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

Ahhh! I love it!

Seconds passed like years as she awaited his response. Anxiety built up in her chest, her lungs, her skin, until her body threatened to tremble. Celandine's muscles were just starting to tighten when he pulled away, intent on stopping the inevitable shiver as cold began to seep into her bones. Bright eyes flickered up to meet Skoll's gaze, searching for an answer in the lines of his maw.

"We keep living," 

The woman released a shaky breath, relief pouring over her coat like summer rain. Yes, they would keep living. They had to. When his nose pressed into her own, Celandine felt some of the tension in her shoulders melt away. She might have told him once more that she loved him, but perhaps he knew. So instead, she closed her eyes and allowed the moment to pass by in silence.

When Skoll's teeth ran along the underside of her chin, Cela angled her head to make it easier. The familiarity of his touch was comforting, grounding, though that word was meaningless to her. She wanted to tell him that things would be ok, that they'd figure it out together, but his tongue was moving again, and words were already spilling out into the air between them. He said that he thought the wilderness was dying, like it was trying to take him along with it, and she wondered if this was the answer to what she and Morganna had felt. Was this the oncoming storm? The plan the Gods had bestowed upon them? Well Gods be damned. They couldnt have him.

"Then we will leave. We'll go. We'll find a place that looks like Spring." Somewhere that their ghosts could not touch them, could not even find them. "With or without the others." She was certain that Morganna and Renier would come, and that the rest would follow, but even if they chose to stay, she would still go. "And we'll have all of those things. All of those kills, and trophies, and songs, and cubs..." Because she wanted all of those things, but more importantly, she wanted to have them all with him. "I love you."

Have you seen my OOC preferences?

"Then we will leave."

The answer was almost as simple as that. A flicker of panic seized him, but as soon as it had come, it had already gone. Elettra and Angier had died. They had been gone even before he had returned and the opportunity of chasing ghosts had already passed. He had already grieved and put their spirits to rest on the mountain. There was nothing else left to tether him here apart from his beloved, who stood there at his side, feeding him the words he had been aching to hear.

For the first time in years, the ivory woman at his side told him in so many words that he came first and that, if they left for other untamed lands they would have everything - things that would become adrenaline rushes, scavenge sites, and little gifts of mice, sun-bleached skulls, summoning howls and opportunities to bond even further, and perhaps even additions to their bloodline.

"I love you."

His pale eyes blinked and, though his ears had cautiously come forward again, he stared at her jaw line and the tufts of fur that shaped the sides her face. He knew better than to question any of it. What he and Celandine had ran stronger and deeper than anything else he had ever felt. At long last, his smile returned. Even if he felt like he could crumble at any moment's notice, he stood with her confidence. "I love you," he returned. He gazed out over the stillness of the Lagoon, uneasiness threatening to take him over. "Come," he hummed, a shiver shaking the whole of his being as he turning again to reorient himself back towards the heart of the pack lands. He angled himself with a lifted fore paw, an unspoken invitation for her to walk back home with him, "I tire of this place."

(Fade.)

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away