// I've been trying to fix my pride //
The conviction her voice carries startles him a touch. He glances back towards her, equal parts cautious and optimistic. Her ire is nothing new to him, gods know it's been sent his way on plenty of occasions, although admittedly not so much as of late, a preference he'd like to maintain if possible. No, it isn't the way her tone skips up and tightens, forced past teeth that could be sharp after all the years she's grit them back at the world. It's the heat there that's for him, instead of at him, that catches him unexpectedly.
Despite the circumstances, a faint smile edges in on the little pout of his lips, and a lightness that courses through him suddenly buoys his steps easier over the draining field of shifting sand. "Yeah," he asserts softly, though no less as convinced as her about it, which is to say fringed with doubt but determined to tie up the loose threads, in time. "We will." His fingers tighten faintly against his palm, sealing the resolve of the moment into his skin. "Could be something else," he offers, shrugging as if the reason can't matter as much as the inevitable outcome of improving it all. "Might be it wants to know I can stand alone at all. Which is a fair ask if it means to lend its power in any way to me." This is said with a consideration of what he expects any god might feel when being called to. He can't know what it takes from them to give things that are prayed for; he imagines it's less about what they lose in the exchange and more about what they gain, not a reduction in power but the boon of a capable follower. Quest objectives aside, maybe Iskra has failed in the follower portion.
"After all, you stood alone and gained it's favor, right? I can do the same." He nods, determined instead of depressed. "With cats," he adds with a wry smile as she offers up more tidbits of advice. Quietly his hand reaches out for hers, a brief brush of contact in reassurance and strength and always this mild craving to be near her, at Ludo shrines or otherwise.
Briefly forgetting the bones amid talks of gods and flashes of touch, he stops short suddenly, taking in something bright nearby. "Not sure," he murmurs, crouching and pointing. "What the hell is that?" The colored egg gleams closer to her, nestled in the sand near a bone, almost appearing like the sole survivor of a mother that'd gone down and decayed.
Iskra offers for Mel to take the egg
Despite the circumstances, a faint smile edges in on the little pout of his lips, and a lightness that courses through him suddenly buoys his steps easier over the draining field of shifting sand. "Yeah," he asserts softly, though no less as convinced as her about it, which is to say fringed with doubt but determined to tie up the loose threads, in time. "We will." His fingers tighten faintly against his palm, sealing the resolve of the moment into his skin. "Could be something else," he offers, shrugging as if the reason can't matter as much as the inevitable outcome of improving it all. "Might be it wants to know I can stand alone at all. Which is a fair ask if it means to lend its power in any way to me." This is said with a consideration of what he expects any god might feel when being called to. He can't know what it takes from them to give things that are prayed for; he imagines it's less about what they lose in the exchange and more about what they gain, not a reduction in power but the boon of a capable follower. Quest objectives aside, maybe Iskra has failed in the follower portion.
"After all, you stood alone and gained it's favor, right? I can do the same." He nods, determined instead of depressed. "With cats," he adds with a wry smile as she offers up more tidbits of advice. Quietly his hand reaches out for hers, a brief brush of contact in reassurance and strength and always this mild craving to be near her, at Ludo shrines or otherwise.
Briefly forgetting the bones amid talks of gods and flashes of touch, he stops short suddenly, taking in something bright nearby. "Not sure," he murmurs, crouching and pointing. "What the hell is that?" The colored egg gleams closer to her, nestled in the sand near a bone, almost appearing like the sole survivor of a mother that'd gone down and decayed.
Iskra offers for Mel to take the egg
Iskra
// But that shit's broken //
