[Training] All the things unsaid

You have so much of everything but still you wanted more

Well, that went only half as planned. Down they went, in a tangle of scrabbling legs and twisting bodies, and Seren found herself flat on her back, crushed between Sah and the cold ground. A thrill of something near electrical sizzled through her upon feeling his body press against her, and it only intensified as her wrists were caught and pinned.

She strained against his hands, attempted to wrench herself free... but to her astonishment she couldn't so much as budge the hunter's grip. He was stronger than her? That was... unexpected.

Wide blue eyes stared up at the young wolf, warm and soft; she relaxed, growing limp and boneless under him...

Until with in a flash she remembered what they were doing. Stars above, this was a spar, not.... whatever that was. Seren twisted suddenly, trying her utmost to squirm and slither out of his grip, out from under him, so she might roll away and get up on her own two accursed feet.

Seren

yet my blood renders me a King

Seren's attempt to wiggle away just barely work. Partially because Sah too is stunned for a moment when Seren goes soft under him. But it's mostly  because she somehow smacks the crown of her head into Sah's nose as she attempts to free herself. Reeling back, his grip loosens and the demi-god successfully gets to her feet. One hand rubbing his nose, Sah also gets back on solid ground.

"Ow." He states in a playfully petulant tone. "You have a hard head." Recovered, Sah goes in once more, feinting a hook to the ribs, only to instead to twist and attempt to elbow her in the stomach. Knocking the breath out of her is his goal as it will give him an advantage with his next strike, hopefully.

Sah

You have so much of everything but still you wanted more

"I'm so sorry," she murmured sheepishly, even as she staggered to her feet and rubbed her forehead. Seren had absolutely not meant to headbutt him, but in the momentary panic heads had simply collided. A high color in her cheeks could come from anything - the cold air, the strain of the spar - but the way her eyes kept darting away rather than meet his gaze spoke of confusion and almost... fear? Something had happened there, and it made it hard for her to focus on the bout.

Maybe that was why she missed the feint, and failed to tighten her core muscles as the elbow came to jab her in the gut. Air whooshed out of her lungs in a soft grunt and Seren doubled over, coughing and half retching as pain flared up in the midriff. Before Sah could come at her again, she held up one hand in defeat and clutched the other, struggling to breathe.

"I give," she wheezed, to the amusement of the stars that wheeled overhead. Surely they had to be laughing at her for this.

Seren

yet my blood renders me a King

Sah waved off her apology. "You're fine." He noticed the fear in her eyes a second before his win, and it made his stomach drop. He hardly heard her say yield. Freezing, Sah played back the bout in his mind, what had he done? Taking a cautious step forward to offer her his hand, Sah scanned her worriedly. "Are you ok?"

The Abandoned couldn't recall any reason to make her afraid of him. But that's what her expression had told him, that he'd scared her somehow. Mind racing, something clicked and Sah found his brow furrowing. "Did I make you uncomfortable? I'm sorry." That was it, right?

Sah

You have so much of everything but still you wanted more

It took a while before Seren got her breathing back to normal. The offered hand was accepted - she needed it to straighten up again - and the worried look on his face made her feel awful. Guilty - this was supposed to be fun yet again she was making a mess of things. Being ridiculous.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, in what barely amounted to a whisper. Leaden arms and legs kept prickling, and her face was much too warm for the climate to be caused by anything but blushing. Even in the darkness it glowed, and though she tried to, Seren couldn't quite meet his gaze.

"No, that's not - I mean, it's... I'm just..." Gods above, this was pathetic. Why could she suddenly not talk to her friend? "It's because it wasn't..." She blurted it out, brain short-circuiting and as the words were left to hang there, Seren slowly grew very pale. Then red again, crimson as a beet.

With a half choked sound of embarrassment, she spun around until her back was turned to Sah, arms wrapped tight around herself. Ah, if only the ground wasn't frozen, so she could sink into the dirt and disappear.

Seren

yet my blood renders me a King

Sah choked at Seren's words, a strangled "Oh," making it's way out. His face was equally red as the demi-god's as he watched her turn around. That was the last thing he'd expected to hear from her, and he was stunned into silence. He had no idea how to comprehend or deal with this revelation.

But Sah knew he had to try. Seren looked about half a second from fleeing.  Biting his lip, and glancing off to the side, Sah let out a shaky breath. It was too difficult to say this, even to her back, and Sah anxiously ran a hand through his hair as he finally did speak.  "Same." He cleared his throat, struggling to speak. "I wasn't uncomfortable either." The Outlander swallowed harshly, still unable to tear his eyes away from the clearing around them and actually look at his friend.

Sah

You have so much of everything but still you wanted more

Oh was a wonderful summary. It encompassed everything. From the surprise to the awkwardness and the hopeless 'okay, what happens now' that kept ringing like tiny monotonous bells in Seren's ears. She couldn't breathe for the tension that kept building and building within her, shoulders bunching up beneath the ears as if they might substitute the ground and give her a hole to hide in.

The silence was torturous. In the midst of it, against the backdrop of her own racing heartbeats, Seren could only think that fuck, she had ruined this. Ruined everything. They were supposed to be friends, and yet she went and said strange things, awkward things that broke the comfortable camaraderie they had been building. The insane part was that she didn't actually know this guy. Not really. Just facts, and that he was good at hugs, but that there was the very core of the problem and...

Sah's voice cut through the racing thoughts, and what he said brought Seren into absolute stillness. Not even breathing, she found herself staring wide eyed and disbelieving into the night. He what?

When dark specks began to dance before her eyes, the exhale came out a shuddering, trembling mess. Was spontaneous combustion a thing? Because she would either have to burst into flames, or sink through the ground, or evaporate into the sky - it just wasn't possible to contain this much pent up chaos without something happening. But no. She only had a little levitation spell that was of no use here, and pointless critters and an Island that would be perfect to hide in.

Only... only she really did not want to leave. Not now, not like this. And that left.. only one choice.

Very slowly, like a deer in headlights, Seren inched around. Gaze to the snow-covered ground, face flushed and stiff with roiling emotion... It flicked up at Sah, quick and shy, before looking away again.

Gods, what did she do? What did she say?

"Oh."

It was the perfect word.

Seren

yet my blood renders me a King

Sah vaguely saw Seren turn around in his peripheral vision. His face was still a bright red that showed no signs of calming down anytime soon. Her whispered 'Oh', though brought a chuckle from him.

Swallowing harshly Sah glanced at Seren briefly, thankfully not meeting her eyes as they both looked away. "Oh." He parroted, another small chuckle leaving him. "I'll be honest, I have  no idea where to go from here." He paused, trying to come up with something. They couldn't just spend forever awkwardly starring into space. Looks like it was up to him. "So... well.. that's been established." What was he even saying?

Sah liked Seren, she was a good friend. He didn't know here very well yet, but he'd love to change that. Realizing that he was attracted to her though was quite the revelation. That that attraction was mutual? The Outlander had no idea where to say, what to do.

Finding his voice, Sah did his damn best. Swallowing harshly, he spoke, still unable to look at Seren. "Well.. I...I really enjoy having you for a friend. And we don't know each other well enough for more than that.. regardless of.." His voice cracked. "Attraction." The word was practically a squeak. "So, how does staying friends and just waiting to see what the future holds, with no expectations sound....?"  Sah was going to go hide in his blankets and never leave. He could feel Lilly watching with amusement.

Sah

You have so much of everything but still you wanted more

Between the two of them, Sah's panic was a bit more productive. At least he ranted out, instead of in. Seren felt as though she was standing on a river log that kept bobbing in the surf, swaying this way and that. Where to go? What to do. Friends, attraction, no expectations... It was a whole can of worms that had been opened, and Seren kept cussing herself out for blurting things out without thinking them through.

It was only Sah's obvious nervousness that kept her from feeling like an utter fool. It made her ever so slightly braver, to realize that she was not alone in this muddled, bewildered state. Stars, it was still her fault though.
"I... yes. I too want to stay friends," came a soft spoken reply from Seren. Pink in the face, but somehow breathing a little easier over the fact that nothing had to really change. Even though everything already had. "I've been having fun. I don't... want to lose that." That part was important. No matter what... happened. Or didn't happen.

But stars, how did they pick up from here? They couldn't even look at one another anymore. Forget sparring, forget the casual (or had they ever been?) hugs and...

"How do people do this?" she squeaked, exasperation forcing her pitch into something akin to a squeak. Unable to stand it anymore, Seren very stubbornly, very decisively turned back and raised her gaze. Squarely at Sah, even though she trembled all over from the willpower it took. They had been able to do this just a moment ago.

So fine. Let her head explode then. Could it become more awkward? No. No it could not. Meaning, they should be fine. Right? Right.

Seren

yet my blood renders me a King

Sah nodded decisively. "Then we'll stay friends. I don't want to lose that either, no matter what. I enjoy spending time with you." He internally patted himself on the back for managing to string together a few sentences. I felt the like the accomplishment of a lifetime at the moment.  

And then he heard movement, and Sah's head turned. Only for his eyes to meet Seren's. If possible, the Outlander's  face grew even warmer, the blush reaching his ears and even making it's way partially onto his neck.  He fully agreed, this was incredibly difficult.  All Sah could manage to do was to bite his lip nervously and give her a small wave. "Hi." The word was another squeak, and Sah found himself chuckling slightly at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Sah

You have so much of everything but still you wanted more

Relief was a sweet flood that washed through her head and left her dizzy, greedily sucking in air when something in her chest caved and released the lungs. They were still friends. They were still having fun. They had not broken.

She had not broken them.

Some small, wicked part of Seren that was way more mature than the rest professed a slight disappointment that it was so dark. Or else she would have been able to better see Sah's blush. It was... cute. Sweet? Very different, truth be told. Most men she came across were so self-assured and possessed of world-weary experience that she felt young and stupid. Here... she only felt stupid. It was an improvement.

"Hi," she murmured back, mouth quivering with laughter. Nervous hysteria maybe, or just a reflexive response to his own humor. It was ridiculous. "I'm not afraid of you." A bold statement, that. It smacked of challenge, like she was convincing herself all over again. A dare, an ultimatum - as if to prove this, Seren took a step forward. Reached out a hand... and poked Sah straight in the chest with a finger.

He did not miraculously vanish, and she took this as a good sign.

Seren

yet my blood renders me a King

Sah felt an unexpected burst of warmth at her statement., the assurance that he hadn't lost her. Sah honestly wasn't sure if he'd be capable of articulating how relieved he felt to know that Seren didn't fear him. He never wanted to give her a reason to feel anything but safe with him. Never.

It did catch him by surprise though when the demi-god reached out and  poked him. But at the small touch, Sah instantly relaxed,  Seren's 'proof' being enough to convince him. And so, Sah's warm smile returned and giving a light chuckle, he reached over and poked Seren gently in the forehead. "Good. I never want you to be." Eyes soft, he looked down at his friend. "If I ever do anything that changes that, call me out on it, ok?"

Sah

You have so much of everything but still you wanted more

The point of contact was so small. Just a finger tapped to her head, such a normal and common gesture. Yet it was like a lightning rod in a storm, able to perfectly ground and settle her. Well, not completely. Seren was still pink about the cheeks, and the softness in Sah's eyes as he looked at her made a whole swarm of modilu flies take wing in her stomach. If her smile at his words was a bit bright and happy, what did that matter?

"I promise. And you too, yeah? I don't... think anything can be more awkward than this. So let's just be honest with each other. How does that sound?" It felt like a good rule of thumb anyway. Which meant that one of these days Seren would have to tell him everything about what she'd been doing in Halo these past few days.

One day... but not tonight.

"Sah... There's something I'd like to show you. Would you keep a secret for me?" The girl extended her hand to him, palm up in a quiet offer for him to take it. If he wanted to.

Seren

yet my blood renders me a King

Seren's smile made the Outlander's stomach flutter. He really liked that expression on her.  Knowing that he placed it here, even after such a difficult conversation only felt sweeter. Seren's request was an easy one to fulfil, and Sah nodded once more. "I promise." To letting her know when boundaries were crossed, to being honest. Both promises were sworn.

Sah too knew that there were things that he'd have to bring up later. His conversation with the Voice being the most paramount. But he too didn't want to disrupt the quiet peace that had emerged, and so Sah kept silent, but swore to himself that he would tell her soon.

When Seren offered her hand, Sah gently placed his in her grasp. At the contact he felt more butterflies, but also an aching relief at the continued affirmation that not all was lost. Another question received another nod. "I will, what do you want to show me?" The Outlander was incredibly curious as to what his friend was thinking.

Sah