Charred Ash Draw had a dream that you could teach me how to love

For @Leotie only. Takes place sometime after this thread.

flip a switch and i engage

He was still overflowing with emotions, and he knew that he could not take them home. @Sahalie was with her father now, but for how long nor where she would go after he could not say. Was there more to confess, more to show? He shuddered at the thought, walking with numb skin and paw pads through the forest. All the feeling was trapped inside, stealing him from the outside world. If there was more, he hoped it did not inflict his consciousness, for it was probable he would not have the chance to remedy it.

Move on, his mind whispered. As he had with Piety, Morganna, Skoll. Why did this hurt so much more? This simple hope, why did it terrify him?

The Archer heir didn't realize where he was headed until he saw her, ahead of him and by herself. Hadn't she left with @Kerberos? He wondered where the man had gone, but only briefly before focusing on the woman. Tail tucked at his hocks and ears clamped down atop his skull, he approached her.

"Leotie," he called out, something breaking in his voice. He wasn't sure why, did not have the fortitude to question it, but the teen felt she would be able to help alleviate this unbearable pressure within him. Wouldn't she?

watch the smile burst across my face

She sighed as she looked up at the lightly falling snow feeling like she'd just chased down a moose and been trampled by it a couple of times. In the past hours so much had happened, Sahalie returning and Sven. So many questions ran through her mind keeping her from sleeping that night so she sat staring at the sky. She and Kerb had talked for a long time then when he was ready to head back she couldn't. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep that night as she had recently started having many sleepless nights. Since the rank challenge and getting lost in the fog, she would have nightmares about what happened that day too. If was best just to not try until she knew she could sleep, Leotie didn't want to wake the others.

After leaving Kerb she'd needed to walk have a chance to process everything that had happened since earlier in the day. Try to figure out how she felt, Kerb had helped a lot even cheered her up a little. Now that she was alone with her thoughts she wasn't feeling much better and in fact felt as though she'd lost someone important to her.

The sound of someone approaching reached her ears the only sign she'd heard it was a flick of her ear in the direction it came from. She assumed it was Kerb coming to check on her since she has yet to return. It wasn't until she heard her name, recognizing the voice that had uttered it that she turned her head to see him.

Leotie didn't immediately rise to her feet to go and greet him as she usually did, “Sven,” she said quietly before taking a deep breath and releasing it. Was she ready for this? To hear whatever he had to say? She had told Kerb that she would give her pale friend the chance to explain, make it better. It seemed he has come for that chance now, she supposed it best get it all out of the way at one time then she could move on if it went badly.

Finally, slowly she rose to her feet to approach him with her head low and ears flat against her skull. “I hope you were able to figure things out with Sahalie,” she said quietly almost a whisper once she was closer to him , there was no harshness to her tone. She didn't know what all that meant, anything about it but there had been something to figure out. That much was obvious so she said it being the polite thing to say and the only thing she could come up with.

She couldn't pour her heart out to him, not yet, not until she heard what he has to say.

<center>~Table by Switch</center>

(This post was last modified: Feb 25, 2017, 09:51 PM by Leotie.)

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

He hadn't expected what he walked into, and it was like a slap to the face. She was hanging back, looking at him with uncertainty and reservation. Something was wrong, and he hadn't the faintest idea of what it could be. Sven struggled to hold back a whine, managing only to contain it within his throat. Maybe he had made a mistake, maybe he should have just stayed only, taken his time to carefully swallow down every last emotion as he'd always had to before. Before he had friends, but maybe that was what he'd been wrong about, is what exactly that word meant.

Sven didn't press closer, remaining awkwardly in place. Occasionally, his paws would shift as he shuffled his weight atop them. The thought occurred to him that perhaps he should simply apologize for imposing on her and turn tail, but then she spoke again, and he wasn't sure how to answer, because he wasn't certain whether he had or not. So instead, he just shrugged his shoulders and then shifted the spotlight.

"Are... are you alright?"

It certainly didn't seem so. Had something happened since the last time he'd seen her? Maybe it was unrelated, but he remembered Kerberos' reaction. Maybe whatever had spooked him had done the same to Leotie, and she had just shown it differently. But what even was that? Sven couldn't even begin to understand.

(This post was last modified: Feb 25, 2017, 10:57 PM by Sven.)

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

She hadn't been expecting him to come tonight, tomorrow, or at all, Leotie wasn't sure which. She had hoped he might realize what he'd done and come to apologize, help her understand what exactly had happened when Sahalie had appeared. Having every little detail that happened between him and Sahalie wasn't something she expected but anything that could help her to understand why he would just forget his friends, anything. As she looked at him his coat an off white color to the snow she realized she no longer knew what to expect only hoping he hadn't decided that he didn't want to be friends any longer.

When he didn't come any closer she went to him though she didn't feel much like wagging her tail for him when she feared the worst. He was there but Leotie knew that it didn't always mean good news was soon to come, she'd been the bearer of bad news. At least she had the notion of it in the bad of her mind, it would not be a surprise if that was what he told her. She sat on her haunches once she was close enough they could converse quietly, it was not a conversation for any who might be near.

“No, I'm afraid I'm not okay.”

She did not know if she should elaborate or not. What was she supposed to do anyway? Pour her heart out and tell him all of what was bothering her when she wasn't even sure what she was feeling what she should be feeling. She did however have one question for him.

“What happened?” She asked her gaze dropping to the snow between them.

<center>~Table by Switch</center>

(This post was last modified: Feb 26, 2017, 12:29 AM by Leotie.)

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

She said she wasn't, and he felt utterly crestfallen at the revelation. What had happened? Was it really all a result of that moment of Sahalie's appearance? Yet again Kerberos floated into his mind, his reaction so uncharacteristic of what Sven thought he knew of his friend. There was a large piece somewhere here that he was missing, but the boy hadn't the faintest idea of how to even begin searching, except to just ask. But she leveled her own question to him first, and he was unable to catch on to what she really was asking of him. He thought only that she was deflecting, inquiring into what had gone down between himself and Halie after the two Draw wolves had left them behind.

"We... talked. She, just filled me in on some things."

Some things that still were paining his battered heart, but none of it seemed to be anything he could something about, and certainly not tonight. So he had dismissed it, and he would press now again, because he needed to know what had hurt his friends.

"What's wrong?" he pleaded, stepping closer to her and hoping he wouldn't be pushed away. Something in him felt much younger than he was, a child being shunned for things he couldn't understand all over again.

She didn't see what good it would do either of them to lie and tell him that she was alright because she wasn't and didn't feel much like pretending. If their friendship was ever going to move past this then he needed to know that he had hurt her so they could work it out. So he could have the chance to make it better and explain himself. That feeling that she had done something stupid by trusting him still rolled around in her stomach and he was the only one that could make it go away. She just hoped that he would be able to, she hoped he could make her feel better about their friendship.

He didn't answer the question that she'd asked instead telling her what had happened between him a Sahalie after she and Kerb had left. It wasn't what she wanted to know, she wanted to know what had happened to him when her pack mate had appeared. Leotie looked up at him then and shook her head, “I meant to you?” She whispered.

If she was ever going to understand what had happened in that moment then she knew she had to be more direct. It was her fault he hadn't understood what she was asking so she made herself more clear. She wanted to know what had caused him to shut down as he had.

The question he asked her was met with a whine, there was just so much. She didn't move when he came closer but wanted to reach out to him, to show him that she wasn't giving up on them but she couldn't, not yet. “I felt like our friendship was becoming something special. I shared something with you that wasn't easy for me but then it was like Kerb and I didn't exist to you when Sahalie appeared. I don't know what happened between you and her, if you want to talk about it I will listen but I just need to know was I wrong about our friendship?”

<center>~Table by Switch</center>

(This post was last modified: Feb 27, 2017, 07:42 AM by Leotie.)

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To him? Of course, he'd... choked up, and quite obviously. It's not like he'd even been capable of making an attempt to hide the effect Sahalie had on him. What did that have to do with Leotie, though? Faintly, he wondered if maybe she'd been worried about this whole time. That ray was possibility was swiftly shut out of his dark mind when she explained herself.

"Special... ?" he repeated, the word a whisper past his lips. What did that even mean? He was struggling to grasp what she was so upset about. Had this been why Kerberos suddenly was acted so strange as well?

"Leotie I," he... what? How did he even describe what seeing Sahalie again had done to him?

"I wasn't... trying to blow you guys off, I didn't... even realize I mattered that much to you."

It wasn't like he thought they couldn't care less, but to have an impact like this? It was... so foreign.

"There's... a lot of history, between me and Sahalie and she... I didn't think I was ever going to see her again. When she just, appeared like that I, just... got overwhelmed. I don't... I'm not good with emotions."

She knew how hurt she'd been by his actions and by giving him this chance to explain himself, what had happened, anything he wanted to talk about she could come to understand and forgive him. Knowing how he felt, she hoped would give her some comfort and show her she hasn't made a mistake. That her trust in him had been well places but it seemed he didn't understand what she'd meant by special. Hadn't he had a friend like Kerb was to her? She stepped toward him and let her nose graze his cheek.“Someone you can trust completely and are comfortable sharing whatever happens to be on your mind. A friend that you know you can count on to be there no matter if you're happy or sad,” she explained what she’d meant hoping it would help him see.

Her ears perked but then she was waiting when he said her name, she wanted to hear what he had to say. Would he explain what had happened or offer up and apology without and they could go on, maybe talk about it later.

The apology came sort of, it was an explanation and one she could accept, “Then it appears you mean more to me than you realize,” she stated clearly. What he did with that, she hoped it would be something good.

She listened as he explained a little about what happened with him and Sahalie. Leotie could clearly see from his actions before and his words now how much he was hurting. She now understood better of what happened and she did feel a little better. Once again she closed the distance between them and brushed her muzzle along his to try and comfort him. “I’m glad you were able to see her again, to have a chance to talk with her again. Did it help you to feel less overwhelmed?” He admitted he wasn't good with emotions, “I do understand, I don't want to lose our friendship over something like this.” She had started to feel that showing him some comfort and understanding would help him more than what she'd been doing before.

<center>~Table by Switch</center>

(This post was last modified: Mar 03, 2017, 11:36 PM by Leotie.)

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

She touched him, gently, the soft leather of her onyx nose pressing against the ivory of his cheek. It froze him, until the words that followed. What she described was so intoxicatingly sweet, touching on every desire he'd ever had since that first night his mother had not come home that it made his legs shake. It wasn't just an offer. She was claiming that he could be such a wonderful thing, that he already was. So easily, so simply. No hoops to jump, no fire to walk through or dragons to slay. Sven pressed back, stepping forward until their chests touched and his head rested atop her shoulder blades, holding her firmly against him.

"I won't do it again," he promised her then. He was a fool, to take her words as truth, to trust her so easily, to think that their simple friendship could be so much more. Sven didn't care. The boon was worth the pain he was risking. Despite all that had happened to him, ever let down the world had served him with, the pale teenager had yet to lose the ability to hope.

Tears began to flow from his eyes, a clear sign that no, he didn't feel any less overwhelmed, but it was at least in a different way now. Rather than try to stifle his own crying, for once he let go, letting the sadness and the turmoil and the poison escape freely from his body in the form of water and soft, hiccuping sobs.

"I'll be that friend for you."