And this we will overcome too

CHULANE

I believe that dreams are sacred

It had always been a large part of their relationship before – the attuned bond, his initial clumsy testing and learning about it with her as his guide, his desire to improve and master it, to fully embrace it that he might fully embrace the instincts his shifts provided too. The way they shared themselves across it, bonded through terrifying trauma and sadness – carrying each other through it, anchoring each other. It had been a new way of living for Chuy, and then when she had been taken from him… he hadn’t known how to live.

The bull walks alongside his beloved, sheltering her from the sun – fortunately in Halo, cloud cover was a given even in the season of change, and there were buildings and alleyways aplenty in the township that they wouldn’t need to cross the path that was directly beneath the sun more than twice. A mental smirk was given at her proposal. ‘Ah, Torchline. We’ll have to go before the season turns – I’m not visiting during a monsoon again.’ The great crown of the beast shook as if dislodging the memory within, dismissing it as a rather unpleasant time when Kia was gone and he hadn’t known that she was gone gone.

‘Tell me about Longnight?’ he ventured, figuring they could use the journey back to the cabin to learn about her time at the Grounds, about the monsters, the other ascended, and ultimately the results of this fight she had been voluntold she was a part of.

Take my darkest fears and play them

it's 2am and i took 17 shots of vodka trying to forget your name

but the only name i forgot was mine. and sober —

He shelters her and she lingers at his side in the shade as much as she can, quietly pulsating her thanks across the bond to him as they move. I would love that.” She assures him with a playful bump of her head at his shoulder. But they continue their walk and he suggests she tell him about LongNight, and so she does.

The hardest part would be pacing herself, really. I got teleported to the Labyrinth with Isla, Nate, and Adam. She begins, peering ahead down the path they take but is still very much in their conversation. We followed a squirrel into the maze and something that looked like Sunjata showed up and talked to Nate. We ended up killing it. Isla mentioned it was a boggart? Anyway… She offers a snort in time with the amused pulse sent his way.

Then there was another monster behind it, one that looked like a beetle of sorts. Pretty big. She pauses for him to interject with questions should he have them.

— or drunk, you're the only thing on my mind

KIADA

CHULANE

I believe that dreams are sacred

He listened, as much as one listens through the bond, their cloven hooves making soft, muffled clip-clop noises on the snowy ground. Various names, some he knew, many he did not, and even the location – he hadn’t explored much of the Grounds in the time they’d had, and when disaster had struck… He’d not felt like exploring, or doing much of anything after that.

The monsters sounded about as awful as the other stories she’d told him about them. ‘Squirrels and boggarts and beetles,’ he summarised lightly, shaking his head in a human sort of scoff, that resulted in a puff of misty breath to snort its way out his nostrils. It wouldn’t have been amusing at the time, he knew, but she had survived it and was here to tell him about it – so he enjoyed the story as she told it, inasmuch as he could in the aftermath of his own anxieties and fears for losing her.

‘How big was it? antlers tilted as he posed the question and cast a curious glance at her, followed by a pulse across the bond. A big beetle in Australia was about the size of his hand – he suspected a big monster beetle was probably more akin to the Volkswagen brand of beetle - only with far more terrifying features than air conditioning coming as standard.

Take my darkest fears and play them

it's 2am and i took 17 shots of vodka trying to forget your name

but the only name i forgot was mine. and sober —

He summarizes it and she can’t help the huff of a laugh that she sends down the bond toward him – seen in the way she tosses her fuzzy head. But she does remain in his shadow, padding along beside him where their sides brush up against one another every few passes, and she continues her story – vibrant and bright and exciting. Really big. Bigger than both of us combined. She informs him, tilting her head back to him and letting her iceberg gaze flicker across him.

So I shifted into this… And then I tried to push it over. But it was stuck in the ground and suddenly! Suddenly it had wings! She chimes through the bond, letting all the surprise and shock course through her like it had when she’d done it before just a few days prior. But they continue their walk, Kiada falling easily into stride with Chulane as she figures out where to go from there.

It came out of the little cocoon it buried itself into with wings. And then it started to fly. She murmurs, waiting excitedly to see if he had anything to interject with or if she should continue.

— or drunk, you're the only thing on my mind

KIADA