She's comfortable, tucked beneath his wing. This is what safe feels like, this is what home feels like. She's glad that he's come back, that he can be here. It occurs to her now that she hasn't eaten much today either, and the the alcohol is quite strong. Halo knows that much... maybe not the healer's finest moment, but that's okay. Of anyone, she should probably know better. It wasn't like she got out much, though, and there wasn't that much on her to-do list for tomorrow. She could enjoy an evening with her best friend. The first night of an extended sleepover sounded like as good a time as any. The talk of puppies has her heart a bit heavy. "It's probably the same for me, too." She admitted softly, a far away look in her eye. Halo refuses to let the grey get her, she refuses to let it happen now of all times. "You know my offer still stands," the offer that she'd made here, in this very den, what felt like a lifetime ago. It was before the attack on Hazel, before Mort had gone to Valta. Halo figures that Hika will be around, not too long from now... right? "I never want you to forget that you're beautiful, too." Halo wouldn't admit that she was tipsy, but she was certainly feeling it. She smiled softly, tucked up under Mort's wing. "Are you hungry? I have snacks!" The offer comes with a smile, looking up to his face now. Her tone cheerful once more, pushing the sad thoughts from her head. "Speech"

The hurt in her eyes pulled at his heartstring. He found himself wishing he could fiz, somehow. He remembered with a pang how they had once spoken of a surrogate with Halo. HIm and Hika… Now, that didn’t seem like it was ever going to come to fruition, either. Hika had moved on.

It seemed he wasn’t the only one thinking it, and he found himself blinking at her in surprise. He hadn’t been sure how comfortable she had been at the entire idea, and was surprised it was still on her mind. Children? He brushed the idea gently aside, and took a sip of his refill. It was all too complicated, and he wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was. The expression he gave her was a little helpless, uncertain.

He felt her settle a little more against his wing, and he wrapped his wingtips gently around her. He found himself, almost without meaning to, leaning to her side. She was so small and delicate against his wing. “Perhaps later. Right now, I’m just happy to sit here”He said, his eyes warm on her. Snacks would mean moving, and he wasn’t really hungry, not anymore. The warmth was filling his stomach too much to feel it.


"Speech"

There's trepidation in him, and Halo doesn't press. She simply settles carefully against his side, finding herself relaxing more into the space between them. Grateful for him, grateful for the way that they exist together, occupying the same space. Comfortable, in the way that only the best of friends can be. The warm and fuzzy feelings in her system take her over, and Halo doesn't fight them. Maybe she feels a bit dizzy, maybe her head is spinning a little. She'd blame the alcohol, not the closeness to her favorite person. Nope, surely not that. "Did Sirius have anything to say about you coming home?" Alcohol had done something to loosen the filter that had kept the weighty questions out of her mouth. Before she can stop herself, it's slipped out. Not nosey, necessarily. Halo asks only as someone who wants to support him, to make sure that everything is well and good-- as well and good as it can be, at least. She peers up softly to his face, curious, gentle. Her head resting on her paws, ever-close to his side. "Speech"

It was getting late, and the little healers den was filling with shadows. The candles about the place gave it a cosy atmosphere, and he found he didn't really feel the cool of the growing evening. He felt heat at his side, and inside and his head was spinning, but in a goodway. It chased out the loneliness and isolation that had been plaguing him.


He found what he craved the most right then and there was connection. It felt so easy to sit there with Halo, and strongly enough he almost felt like crying. Vulnerable from Hikas abandonment, and safety from Halos gentle presence. "Not much, really. I think he's given up the idea that I'll be what he wants me to. His oldest, and blessed with wings, but all the wrong temperament for what he wanted for me." He shook his head, which was a mistake. The room swam. "Hika staying in Valta. Am I so hard to love, Halo?" He asked softly. Naked vulnerability in his voice. The drink had definitely hit him hard.

Halo is gentle. Halo is nothing if not gentle, if not close, if not here. A breath away from her best friend, and she can feel, to an extent, all of the things that he's feeling. His words weigh heavily on her chest, and she softly reaches out. Reaches for a paw, reaches to touch, to hold. Comfort. She needs to comfort him. "What he wanted for you isn't important, it's not his life to live. It's yours." The words are quiet, tender, but fierce. If she could keep Mort safe from his feelings, from Seer's feelings, for this moment... she would try. Hikaru was staying in Valta. Her heart breaks for him. Halo wraps close to Mort's shoulder, the delicate creature offering the tightest hug she can. Dwarfed in his presence, yet she holds tightly to him. To have someone she loved so immensely question if he was hard to love... that's the biggest heartbreak of all. "The right people won't find you hard to love." Her tone is fierce, protective. She would keep him safe, even if the thing she was keeping him safe from was more heartbreak. "You are not hard for me to love." Plied with strong liquor, a secret that Halo has kept close to her chest has slipped into the open. She doesn't realize the gravity, not yet. Not right now. For now, all she can do is comfort him like he's the most important thing in her world... because he is. "Speech"

She held so tightly to him, and he pulls her gently closer with his wing cocooning them a little against the world. He was definitely drunk, and his movements were a little more jerky now. Staggered. He pulled his other wing forward, wrapping it around her to help stabilize himself. And because he wanted to. She smelled like spring, and honey. Like Elderberry, and alcohol that burned beneath his skin. 


"You love me?" He asked, not entirely sure what he was asking. What it meant.  Her closeness was lighting a fire inside of him. He wanted something, but he didn't know what. Maybe just to hear those words again. To know he mattered to somebody. Mattered to her. He could almost see something. A thought that felt almost impossible. Love, family. Someone that wouldn't leave him.

She's drunk. He's drunk. They've gotten drunk and she's admitted something that she swore she'd keep to herself. Halo wasn't going to ruin things for him, he was way too important to her for that. She wasn't going to get in the way of him being happy, so she hadn't said anything to anyone. Never... not until now. Not until now and Mortis was here and he was sad and they were drinking and just, one thing led to another and-- Halo's head spun. There were so many thoughts, there were so many feelings. Big feelings. Shit. You love me? Right, she'd said that part out loud. Halo said the quiet part out loud. Her heart pounded in her chest. The room was spinning, or... was she spinning? No, it was definitely her head. Shy after being confronted with exactly what she said, the pale girl hid her face against Mortis's shoulder. All she could do was nod, hiding away here. "Sorry," it's a muffled whisper into his dense, dark coat. Halo worried, now, that she'd made this about her. Though the girl was trying to comfort him, to make him feel better... she'd made it about her. Her feelings. That was wrong, it had to be wrong, this was about him and his feelings. She was supposed to be making him feel better, and she'd ended up being a bad friend in all of it. "Speech"

He was caught by surprise as she suddenly buried her head in his coat. Her voice a remorseful whisper. He could feel his heart pounding and he bend down, brushing his nose through her coat behind her ear. "Halo?" He whispered softly, not sure exactly what she was upset about. "Shhh, it's okay" he whispered, voice comforting as he shifted them, pulling her onto his lap. His wings still wrapped about her, hiding his head and her body from the world. he began to rock her gently, not sure what to say. What was wrong. Just knowing he wanted to make it better. Sometimes actions were easier than words.


"Talk to me Halo, what's wrong?" He asked softly, rocking her in his wings. The world still spun, and his own heart still ached, but he put it all on hold for her.

Doing is easier than talking. She's wrapped close to his chest now, curled up close to Mortis. Apologetic, and worried. Her head was still swimming with the alcohol. It was his turn to be sad. His turn damnit. He was supposed to be allowed to be sad, not stuck comforting her. Halo doesn't know how to process the thoughts in her head, she doesn't know how to process her feelings. Not in this moment. All she can do is cling to Mortis, cling as tightly and as closely as she can. "I just want to let you feel your feelings, and help you process them, and let you be sad if you need to, and be here through that. But then I open my mouth and my feelings fall out, heck, I'm sorry Mort." The words bubble out before Halo can stop them. She still speaks into his chest, into his shoulder, her face hidden away. Hiding, clinging to him. Clinging, through the spinning and the warmth and the alcohol... and the intoxication that comes with sheer proximity. Heck. "Speech"

“Your feelings are valid too, Halo” Mortis said softly. He hadn’t stopped to think of Halo with love - or if he had, it was the love of friendship. How could he have allowed anything else when Hika was beside him? But Hika had chosen to move on, and Mortis found himself exploring a feeling he hadn’t dared to look at before. Of course he had feelings for Halo. She was one of his closest friends, someone he trusted and relied on. Someone who didn’t expect him to be anything except who he was.

But he was also afraid to say the words out loud. He could feel his heart squeezing at the thought. His heart had been broken at every turn, and he was so afraid to let it break any further. But his head was spinning with alcohol, and his restraint was tampered by it. He manoeuvred a paw in between them so he could touch it to her chin gently. Lifting her head, so he could see the purple of her eyes. See the emotion swimming inside of them. He was afraid of the words, but there were other ways to say something. He tilted his head down and pressed his lips to Halo’s.


"Speech"

Her head spins. She can hear him, but does she really process it? Maybe, maybe not. Something about her feelings being valid too-- well yes, but also no. Had she ruined this? Had she fucked this up? That would be just like her, Halo knows. Halo thinks. She holds tightly to him, borrowing his stability. Relying on him in the same way she always has. Something about feelings, and there are feelings... so many feelings. She lets him tip her chin up, she looks beseechingly into his steady gaze. She's confused for a moment and then it happens. Halo can't believe it. It's taken her by surprise, her eyes going wide. There is little she can do other than kiss him back. Pure surprise, her heart pounding in her chest, butterflies in her stomach. What does it mean? What does all of it mean? All Halo knows is that she's happy, and she can't bring herself to question that. "Speech"

Emotion flooded his system, and he could barely think. Halo was warm in his grasp. Present, and here, when it seemed everyone else he knew had abandoned him. Some distant part of him knew he wasn’t thinking clearly. He wasn’t much of a drinker, and the alcohol had hit him hard. But it was difficult to care. Difficult to mind, or think of anything else with Halo’s lips on his. Returning the kiss. His wings folded so gently around her, cradling her to him as he deepened the kiss.

When he parted, a small gasp of breath escaped him. “Halo” He whispered. “Do you want this?”


"Speech"

They are close together. Not a breath away. Never a breath away, she clings hard to him. He's her rock, she relies on him for stability more than usual. Anchored. Anchored closely to Mort, dizzied by the proximity. The closeness. He is here, and he is real. Does that mean that she's real in this moment too? Halo is curled up close to him, something that's been on her mind for... a bit. She leans into the kiss, unable to pull herself away. The question hangs between them, filling the space. Halo's gaze meets his for a moment, soft and earnest. "I want you." It's confirmation, words spoken softly. Her inhibitions lowered not just by the drink, but by the circumstance. She holds closely to him, not wanting to let go. Not now. --- fade "Speech"

I want you. That was all it took to melt into her arms. All the winged wolf wanted was to be loved. To feel connection, and have something to hold onto. He trusted Halo, and being wanted by her consumed him. He pulled her gently back onto the blankets of his bedding, his wing knocking into more than one item in her den as he did so. But he was past noticing, or caring. He would care in the morning, especially if anything was broken.

-- fade --

He awoke some time later to the light shining through her den. He blinked, groggy with a headache building behind his eyes. He didn’t know what time it was, and the moment he went to move, he felt weight on his wing. Weight tucked up against him. He looked down to find Halo in his arms, and struggled to remember exactly what happened last night. But heat touched his cheeks. Had they really…?


"Speech"