the pleasure, the privilege is mine

'Cause with my mid-youth crisis all said and done

There are things, did you know, that lurk beneath the surface of the waves in the Hollowed Grounds. Fox hates them, and for more reasons than because they're monstrous - he can't swim, and he gets seasick. Nonetheless, when duty calls, he answers, regardless of fear or risk or discomfort. And it's all said and done by the time the light turns gold and the air grows comfortably warm, the hunter in the back of the little boat looking far too serious and grave, but that's entirely to do with the rocking motion of the vessel and the deep, dark water at either side.

The sound of his name does have him looking up, however, and gods if Kiada doesn't look like an angel haloed in streamers of light as she gazes down at him. His stomach flips in a way that (for once) doesn't feel uncomfortable or imminently worrying, and it's with a quick mumble of thanks to the boat captain that he hauls himself out and up towards her.

"You're telling me," he rumbles, instantly folding himself into her embrace, his arms encircling her and his chin resting gently atop her head. "I feel like hell." There's a soft smile in his voice nonetheless, at least, and he lets out a long, deep sigh and relaxes onto the steady ground beneath their feet.

FOX

I need to be youthfully felt, 'cause God I never felt young

totally sniped from odd ilu