It had been a few days since she had been with Alastor, or well a few nights. She was low on sleep, she couldn't get it out of her mind. She was often alone in her thoughts though patrols had helped the days go by. She had fallen into avoiding Alastor again for the reasons of what looking at him did to her. She wasn't very good at expressing her emotions, that was clear.

It was dark though not too late in the night. Late enough for those to be sleeping in their dens. The tossing and turning was nothing new to her, but tonight it was just overwhelming. She left her den and made her way to Kichi's, calling his name out quietly much like when she had asked him to go take care of Kefka's body with her. "Kichi?" But instead of inviting him outside she stepped into the door way, "Can I stay here for a little bit?"

"Relm"

Kichi had never been the social sort.  That being said he wasn’t used to having wolves wake him up while he was sleeping.  In a pack life, things were apparently different.  Maybe it was just living around Relm that made it different?  At first, Kichi had been deciding if he was awake or not but then Torch barked at him and had Kichi wake up enough to acknowledge he should respond.  

“Come on in,” Kichi called back.  Kichi didn’t bother getting up, she had asked to come in, not for him to come out.  The silver and white wolf did raise his head up though, looking curiously at her, “Something wrong?”  No sign of actually worry in his voice, just collecting facts to see if he needed to bother dealing with anything.  If there was a threat out there he’d gladly wake up to go kill it.  Relm didn’t seem scared and he imagined Relm would be far keener to just fight something that tried to scare her anyway.  

Torch had stood up, the little water deer making its little bark once more in greeting, tiny tail flicking back and forth apparently fine with the intrustion.

"Kichi"

She was already stepping inside when Kichi invited her in, but didn't intrude in his space completely until he allowed her to. She gently nodded at Torch as he greeted her eagerly, "I've been having trouble sleeping." She responded without worry in her tone. She really just wanted Kichi's company... not that she knew what the real source of that was. If she could have been really honest with herself... She wished that Kichi was Alastor. At least for this moment. But she wouldn't push herself between him and his family, or at least that's what she believed she would be doing had she gone to his den instead of Kichi's.

She made herself comfortable, laying down on her side as she first looked up to Kichi and Torch, but her eyes then wandered downwards so she wasn't awkwardly staring at him. She sighed as she laid there for a moment or so, and out of urge her paws reached forward to grab one of Kichi's paws. He was a bit smaller than her in size, but their paws were relatively the same, if not she was just a bit more dainty in comparison. "Kichi... we're friends?" She questioned genuinely but was only expecting one answer. They both seemed to have some strange bond between them. An unspoken tie to how their childhoods had driven them together. Kichi had been nothing but kind to her. She wondered how not everyone could at least sit on an even plane with her. Being around Kichi was easy, not so much for almost everyone else. She wondered if he knew that about her.

"Relm"

Kichi hadn’t been having a problem sleeping lately but there had certainly been many times that sleep had been a problem.  He remembered countless nights where fear, both known and unknown would slip into his nightmares.  Pain, betrayal, the unknown, and other things had all stalked his thoughts for so long.  Sometimes he still had the nightmares but really, not nearly as much these days.

Kichi felt safer now, and there was a reason for a future and that was enough for Kichi. “Oh,” there was only so much comfort to offer whatever hounded her dreams.  At first, it seemed that might be his only answer but really he was just thinking, wondering what could be offered for that problem.  “Come by and sleep here any evening you have problems with it.” The offer was an awkward clunky feeling thing in his mouth.

If whatever emotion or memory stalked her mind was as horrible as his had been Kichi could understand it to some degree.  A part of Kichi right then acknowledged understanding a feeling of being alone that was different than his normal sense of it.  Kichi was fine being on his own most of the time but there were horrors in his mind that could make him feel alone in a way where he suddenly wanted companionship.  Silly as it sounded the one he’d found for that before was little Torch.  It wasn’t ideal but it had been enough to cling to.  At least someone had cared, even if only a tiny helpless water deer.

Her paw touched his and it wasn’t quite as surprising or strange as the first few times she’d reached out to him, it was getting more familiar.  Her question had a note of somberness to it that wanted more than a casual answer.  “Relm, we are friends.”Kichi twitched a lip in thought, “and I don’t waste time with lots of friends.  You’re different.  I trust you.” That was a hell of a big thing for Kichi to trust someone.  A lot of wolves trusted everyone they came across but Kichi really just trusted her and Al.  Sure, the other wolves in the pack got some measure of trust to a degree but, not trust like he gave Relm.

“Whenever you want to not be alone let me know and I’ll stay with you.  No matter when.” Since Kichi didn’t have many bonds the ones he had would be guarded well.  Hopefully hearing she didn’t need to be alone would help?  Kichi would never admit it but not being alone would have helped him at times.


"Kichi"

Relm had stayed silent for the remainder of what Kichi had spoken back to her. Her expressions in the dark den were still mostly flat and emotionless. That was nothing new for her. But she had more going on inside. She was just the same as Kichi and maybe they saw it in each other. The strong and yet subtle connection they had, but the struggle of feeling that way towards others. They had after all met each other on and off through the last year or so. Maybe it showed just how scattered they had been until now. And somehow that one tie they had... was Alastor. Now for different reasons.

"Me too Kichi." Her eyes had been looking up at him while he spoke, but flashed back down to their paws when she did. She did trust him too, she felt comfortable around him. Not like she had to worry about his judgement whether that was good or bad. Like he already just knew her.

She took a deep breath in as he continued, ready to let out a hard truth that really wasn't so tense telling him. "I don't ever want to be alone." An easy confession. Maybe he understood. "During The Long Night..." He had been there for her, "I saw Agria... my birth mother." She didn't reveal much on the subject of Agria, but she had been haunted by her since. The Long Night had affected her deeply, others may not have seen it. Kichi may have. "Did you know... Kefka was my father. But he was also my brother?" There was more to the story, more on her mind. More that drew her to her time with Alastor and the part of her that was craving to be with him right now. But she drowned it out. Kichi was enough for her, more than enough. Alastor and Kichi were on this same level of a pyramid, regardless of her different experience with each of them. They both meant a lot to her.

"Relm"