Isuma purred happily as she was petted, rising up on her hind legs to follow his finger as Rory stood and pulled away. Reassured, she was content to turn her attention back to the discarded piece of wood, retrieving it while the humans talked.
And touched, Rory’s fingers chill but soft on smooth golden skin until the roughened catch of a calloused thumb brought the smile back to Jigano's face again. His blush was fading slowly, but for a moment it darkened again as he fought the urge to turn his cheek and kiss the hand that lingered there as if inviting the brush of his lips.
The moment passed as the hunter caught a stray tress and tucked it back as if he’d done it a thousand times before, fingers deft and sure and that single small action brought Jigano’s world to a halt, his breath catching and his heart skipping a beat. It felt so natural, so simple, so right and for a moment the lorekeeper trembled on the edge of falling back into his foxform in defense of the confusion and painfully sweet twist of emotion that left him tongue-tied and helpless beneath Rory’s touch. He would have done so, completely on instinct, had the hunter not held him to his two-legged shape by the trailing fingers that wouldn’t let him retreat.
He had never been so glad to be caught.
His fingers curled around Rory’s, slipping together in a gesture that was becoming as comforting as it was familiar as they learned each other’s grip and the way they fit together best. Together they slipped from the shadowy shop and into sunlight, a gryphlet gamboling around their feet with her wooden toy held proudly in her beak as her human let himself hope for the first time in too many years, unshadowed by the dead he carried in his heart.
He gave Rory’s hand a gentle squeeze before he released it, taking the flowers back with a smile that echoed the sunshine outside as he looked around his friend’s home for the first time. Lighting a fire was something he was glad to do, laying the wood and striking the sparks with a practiced hand as he coaxed the young flames to life. He could almost hear Yohgel’s laughter as he did it the ‘hard’ way, and for once the memory wasn’t awash in pain. Isuma followed Rory, as if to make sure he didn’t get lost again, and paraded behind him with the stick held in her beak in imitation of the carrot he held in his mouth when he returned. Jigano chuckled at the pair of them.
”Here,” he said companionably as Rory started chopping vegetables. ”Can I help with that? It’ll go faster with two. And you can maybe tell me about the farm while we’re at it?”
And touched, Rory’s fingers chill but soft on smooth golden skin until the roughened catch of a calloused thumb brought the smile back to Jigano's face again. His blush was fading slowly, but for a moment it darkened again as he fought the urge to turn his cheek and kiss the hand that lingered there as if inviting the brush of his lips.
The moment passed as the hunter caught a stray tress and tucked it back as if he’d done it a thousand times before, fingers deft and sure and that single small action brought Jigano’s world to a halt, his breath catching and his heart skipping a beat. It felt so natural, so simple, so right and for a moment the lorekeeper trembled on the edge of falling back into his foxform in defense of the confusion and painfully sweet twist of emotion that left him tongue-tied and helpless beneath Rory’s touch. He would have done so, completely on instinct, had the hunter not held him to his two-legged shape by the trailing fingers that wouldn’t let him retreat.
He had never been so glad to be caught.
His fingers curled around Rory’s, slipping together in a gesture that was becoming as comforting as it was familiar as they learned each other’s grip and the way they fit together best. Together they slipped from the shadowy shop and into sunlight, a gryphlet gamboling around their feet with her wooden toy held proudly in her beak as her human let himself hope for the first time in too many years, unshadowed by the dead he carried in his heart.
He gave Rory’s hand a gentle squeeze before he released it, taking the flowers back with a smile that echoed the sunshine outside as he looked around his friend’s home for the first time. Lighting a fire was something he was glad to do, laying the wood and striking the sparks with a practiced hand as he coaxed the young flames to life. He could almost hear Yohgel’s laughter as he did it the ‘hard’ way, and for once the memory wasn’t awash in pain. Isuma followed Rory, as if to make sure he didn’t get lost again, and paraded behind him with the stick held in her beak in imitation of the carrot he held in his mouth when he returned. Jigano chuckled at the pair of them.
”Here,” he said companionably as Rory started chopping vegetables. ”Can I help with that? It’ll go faster with two. And you can maybe tell me about the farm while we’re at it?”
