"Always," the fox replied contentedly, secure in his vanity and utterly shameless in it. Rory pulled him back from the brink of bitter memory with gentle teasing, soothing over the hurt of seasons past and deaths already mourned and drawing him back to the present moment where sunlight warmed him through and Ella's happy panting at the attention made his own ears twitch at the memory of the magic those fingers could muster when applied to just the right places.
He considered reaching out to tease the hound as well, but her bond with the hunter ran as deep as a lifetime while their own was far more recent in comparison. A year to a dog might as well have been a decade, but Jigano's habit of spoiling the hounds was a drop in the bucket compared with the attention of the man who raised them. Long-fingered hands remained still in his lap instead as he nestled his cheek against Rory's knee and idly considered what it would mean to be on the road again, this time as two (or four, or six) instead of one.
"Mmm." It was a noncommital sort of hum as he listened to his lover's sigh and turned his head to press a kiss to his knee. "You can carry me, if you'd like. That would be a better way to travel," he teased gently back. "I don't know how well Bakshi would like Torchline, though. And he'd hate Halo." The steady old gelding was Jigano's preferred friend for riding lessons, the two comfortable at their own pace when Esaia wished to outrace the wind. "Too cold, and not enough carrots for him there."
He considered reaching out to tease the hound as well, but her bond with the hunter ran as deep as a lifetime while their own was far more recent in comparison. A year to a dog might as well have been a decade, but Jigano's habit of spoiling the hounds was a drop in the bucket compared with the attention of the man who raised them. Long-fingered hands remained still in his lap instead as he nestled his cheek against Rory's knee and idly considered what it would mean to be on the road again, this time as two (or four, or six) instead of one.
"Mmm." It was a noncommital sort of hum as he listened to his lover's sigh and turned his head to press a kiss to his knee. "You can carry me, if you'd like. That would be a better way to travel," he teased gently back. "I don't know how well Bakshi would like Torchline, though. And he'd hate Halo." The steady old gelding was Jigano's preferred friend for riding lessons, the two comfortable at their own pace when Esaia wished to outrace the wind. "Too cold, and not enough carrots for him there."
