It had been a long time since Boreal was small enough to fit on Tal's narrow bed with him in his family's home, though she'd happily cuddled close when they'd used to run the Tundra trail, making dogsled deliveries before the War. These days she usually contented herself to sleeping beneath his hammocks or on the hearth at Ru's house or his new home. Having a little friend to sleep by her side made her happy as a cat with cream on her whiskers, and her contentment seeped through the bond to flavor Tal's emotions even without his quite realizing it.
Though his nose still wrinkled at Alys's lofty philosophizing and he took a sip of his wine, trying not to look too dubious and probably failing miserably. "If y'say so..." he said slowly, before changing the subject with unseemly haste.
And then it was Alys's turn to look flustered and Tal blinked, a little surprised at seeing this side of his friend and too curious to look away, which might have been the courteous thing. He caught his lower lip between his teeth at her admission, nodding slowly in tentative understanding. "No, I can get that," he assured her. "I don't mind..." He waved his hand, blush rising into his cheeks at last as the conversation took a turn he'd never imagined with this particular friend. "Um. Sleepin' with folks. That's just... physical, y'know? But the whole love thing... I dunno. I can't imagine it happenin' with anyone I don't know. Don't trust. Givin' someone your heart means they can tear it right out o' you, if they take a mind to. So trust like that... it's not an easy thing t'come by." He reached up subconsciously to rub his thumb over his sternum and then shook his shaggy hair, finding that lopsided smile for his friend again.
"Sides, who needs romance when I've got friends like you an' Ru?" He tilted his glass towards hers in a toast, warmed at the thought of all the friends he had made in recent years, and putting the ones he'd lost - or maybe never had at all - firmly out of his mind.
Though his nose still wrinkled at Alys's lofty philosophizing and he took a sip of his wine, trying not to look too dubious and probably failing miserably. "If y'say so..." he said slowly, before changing the subject with unseemly haste.
And then it was Alys's turn to look flustered and Tal blinked, a little surprised at seeing this side of his friend and too curious to look away, which might have been the courteous thing. He caught his lower lip between his teeth at her admission, nodding slowly in tentative understanding. "No, I can get that," he assured her. "I don't mind..." He waved his hand, blush rising into his cheeks at last as the conversation took a turn he'd never imagined with this particular friend. "Um. Sleepin' with folks. That's just... physical, y'know? But the whole love thing... I dunno. I can't imagine it happenin' with anyone I don't know. Don't trust. Givin' someone your heart means they can tear it right out o' you, if they take a mind to. So trust like that... it's not an easy thing t'come by." He reached up subconsciously to rub his thumb over his sternum and then shook his shaggy hair, finding that lopsided smile for his friend again.
"Sides, who needs romance when I've got friends like you an' Ru?" He tilted his glass towards hers in a toast, warmed at the thought of all the friends he had made in recent years, and putting the ones he'd lost - or maybe never had at all - firmly out of his mind.
