and we are always birds

[dark_light]

Path has not been out of direct physical contact with Isabella for the past four days.

Usually he's on her shoulder, feet against skin - her silks don't cover her shoulders and she hasn't been leaving the house much anyway, so silks are often not bothered with at all.

As of right now he's sitting on her foot, while she sits in a chair and picks her way slowly through some of the question trees she made.

"Psst," he says to Petaal.

Comments

[truthwright]

"Mm?" says Petaal, unwrapping a coil from around Kas to snake her head over thataway. (She has likewise not been out of physical contact with her sweetie.)

[dark_light]

"Um." Path shifts from foot to foot. "...Who was the first person besides Kas to touch you...?"

[truthwright]

"The one Isabella offered to curse for us."

[dark_light]

Path nuzzles her. "I'm sorry."

[truthwright]

She nuzzles right back, flicking her tongue against his beak.

"I know. Love you," she murmurs.

[dark_light]

"For a while - for hours - the only person besides my Isabella who ever touched me was that guy. He was going to kill us and he was the only person who ever touched me for hours on end and we hate that. And now he's not the only one. But he was still first. And we hate that. What did you do?"

[truthwright]

"I ripped his throat out," says Petaal. "And I hugged my sweetie and we cried for a long time. And then we just... went on living. It hurt a lot, to have that be something that happened. But it didn't kill us. So we just went on."

[dark_light]

Path shifts from foot to foot some more. "We're alive," he acknowledges. "He wanted to kill us and he didn't."

[truthwright]

Petaal nuzzles him gently.

[dark_light]

"We are so glad he's dead," says Path, nuzzling back.

[truthwright]

"Me too," says Petaal. "I wish I was faster so I could've killed him sooner."

[dark_light]

"You went as fast as you could," says Path with utter confidence.

[truthwright]

"I did," she agrees.

[dark_light]

"We love you," sighs Path. "We were going to wait though. It was going to take years. We were going to wait and then I was going to - sit on his knee or something and see if he'd pet me. I don't know, we didn't have that detailed a plan. But we were going to wait and you were going to be first and we wish you were."

[truthwright]

"We wish that too," she says, "because then you wouldn't be hurt like this. But sometimes bad shit happens even though you don't want it to."

[dark_light]

"Yeah." He sighs a small owly sigh and leans on her head.

[truthwright]

"Love you," she murmurs.

[dark_light]

"Love you," he whispers back.

And then he sits up straight and bats at Isabella's calf with a wing so she'll pick him up and put him on her shoulder for whispers.

[truthwright]

Petaal bumps her nose lightly against the frame of the chair—kisses!—and then wraps herself around Kas again. He kisses her scaly nose.

[dark_light]

Isabella puts her work down while Path speaks to her.

"Love you," she echoes aloud, when he gets to the end.

[truthwright]

"We love you too," says Kas.

[dark_light]

Isabella's work is not picked up again. She moves over and leans into him.

She wanted to be working at full speed again - she should at least have sent that Texan witch a letter or something - but if she takes longer to recover, she takes longer.

[truthwright]

Kas wraps his arms around her, and Petaal loops a coil around her waist.

[dark_light]

Snuggles are helpful. And nice. She relaxes and smiles and kisses Kas's neck. (It's right there.)

[truthwright]

"Love you," he sighs, kissing the top of her head.

[dark_light]

"Mmhm." She's been sleeping a lot. Partly sleep debt. Partly emotional exhaustion. This seems like a good time and place for more sleeping all of a sudden. Yawn.

[truthwright]

Awwwwwwwww sleepy Isabella. Sleepy snuggly Isabella. Kas kisses her forehead and cuddles her some more.

[dark_light]

And welcome cuddles they are.

She still talks in her sleep. "Muffler fractal sing, cloud fly."