He heard - felt - Rory's breath catch, but didn't know if it was in anticipation or anxiety... or simply surprise. Vulnerable and afraid in a way he wasn't used to, the fox pulled back, but the memory of the hurt in his friend's eyes remained, and he couldn't simply separate himself from the heart-wounded hunter.
He wasn't brave enough to force himself into Rory's arms, but he could at least warm his hands, in the instinctive way of a fox more than a man. It didn't seem strange to him; he was still learning what it was to truly be human here. He had been born fae, as much fox as man, with no true dichotomy between the two states. Oh, he had learned what was considered civilized and what wasn't. Learned what his parents taught him about hiding his heritage, taking one form or the other, never both. Learned that it was safer to seem human, to hide what he was, until it became so ingrained that he couldn't tell another soul, not without baring his heart to them, and he'd found no one who he could trust so far, with such vulnerability. Such intimacy. Such power over him.
He had lost himself in the freedom of being 'reborn' on Caido, giddy with the strangeness and newness of it when he'd come close enough to play with Rory. He didn't regret that day - couldn't, when it had forged such a strange, fragile, wonderful bond with someone who treated him with such... gentleness.
He had not known gentleness from another hand in... a long, long time.
And he found that seeing Rory in pain hurt, deep in his heart, with a fierce ache. He wanted the other man to know that he mattered, that someone cared, even if that someone was too afraid of losing that precious bond to be anything other than a fox when they met. A fox, at least, had warm fur, and Jigano let out a happy little grumble, pressing upwards into Rory's hands as cold fingers once more sank into the soft heat of his winter coat.
The words were true, but then, Rory had a right to be a mess after the day he'd had. The fox turned beneath his hands, sinuous and flexible as he looked up and tilted his head, meeting blue eyes with concern before he turned his head to nuzzle a wrist as if to say "I don't mind. It's alright" in his quiet, foxy way.
He wasn't brave enough to force himself into Rory's arms, but he could at least warm his hands, in the instinctive way of a fox more than a man. It didn't seem strange to him; he was still learning what it was to truly be human here. He had been born fae, as much fox as man, with no true dichotomy between the two states. Oh, he had learned what was considered civilized and what wasn't. Learned what his parents taught him about hiding his heritage, taking one form or the other, never both. Learned that it was safer to seem human, to hide what he was, until it became so ingrained that he couldn't tell another soul, not without baring his heart to them, and he'd found no one who he could trust so far, with such vulnerability. Such intimacy. Such power over him.
He had lost himself in the freedom of being 'reborn' on Caido, giddy with the strangeness and newness of it when he'd come close enough to play with Rory. He didn't regret that day - couldn't, when it had forged such a strange, fragile, wonderful bond with someone who treated him with such... gentleness.
He had not known gentleness from another hand in... a long, long time.
And he found that seeing Rory in pain hurt, deep in his heart, with a fierce ache. He wanted the other man to know that he mattered, that someone cared, even if that someone was too afraid of losing that precious bond to be anything other than a fox when they met. A fox, at least, had warm fur, and Jigano let out a happy little grumble, pressing upwards into Rory's hands as cold fingers once more sank into the soft heat of his winter coat.
The words were true, but then, Rory had a right to be a mess after the day he'd had. The fox turned beneath his hands, sinuous and flexible as he looked up and tilted his head, meeting blue eyes with concern before he turned his head to nuzzle a wrist as if to say "I don't mind. It's alright" in his quiet, foxy way.
