The stone floor was cold but there was warmth at her back and the weight of a paw thrown over her shoulder. She wasn't quite ready to wake up and face the day yet, but her limbs began to stretch and she relished the ache that came from the movement in all the best ways. Her eyes were still closed, but there was a little grin pulling at the corner of her mouth. So that had actually happened huh? About time.

She pushed back against the body behind her, wriggling her shoulders into Dread's chest and hooking her paw over the limb draped so possessively across her shoulder, pulling it closer to nibble at the inside of his wrist, allowing her teeth to glide through the fur and against the skin, grooming what she could reach. Her eyes were still shut. Reality could wait.

"speech"

Dread was sore. His back ached-- be it from the hike, the sleep in the odd position, or the extra curricular activities, Dread couldn't say. Though he'd been awake for some time before he felt Deluge stirring against his side, Dread was happy to continue holding her. Continue laying beside her with his eyes closed. Continue indefinitely, actually, especially as he gazed at the various debris in the building. Cast in the early morning sunlight, he sees the once-stately draperies that would make comfy bedding after a good wash. The altar, too, was something he could easily rebuild. Quietly thinking to himself, though the headache from the previous night's drinking lingered around his temples.

Warm body moving against his side, Dread smiled to himself. Pressing a kiss to the back of her neck, pulling her closer. The possessiveness didn't stop-- hell it didn't even slow. "That's my girl," the words come as a murmur. They're pressed just below her ear, head tilting to slowly run his own teeth through the fur there. Somewhere between asleep and awake, the hour still golden. Sunlight filtering weakly through the ice, not quite enough to burn away the morning haze.
"speech"

She hums when he pulls her closer and she relishes the kiss, a smirk coming to her lips when he praises her. She lets loose a small chuckle, sleep still clinging to the edges of her words, husky and dry. "Almos' sounds like yer wan' this ter be a regular thing." Deluge teased, rolling half onto her back so she could crane her neck to look at Dread through a single half-cracked eye. It didn't have to be anything, mean anything, did it?

Things had been a whirlwind the night before. Things had been said that needed to be said, and she didn't regret a moment of it... Would he? Hadn't she done exactly what she thought herself above doing and goaded him into it? Dread always seemed to be a big mess of feelings, what was the fallout of this really going to be?

"speech"

A smile that he can't swallow creeps over his features, catches in his eyes. Golden sunlight and handsome features-- fuck, is this what it feels like to be a man? Maybe it was a little ego seeping in, maybe it was something else. Post nut clarity or a revelation sent from above, it's all the same. On the floor of the cathedral it's all the same. Tangled up with her, Dread knows a few more things about himself, at least.

Teeth set on Deluge's neck for a heartbeat as she speaks. "And you don't?" Dread's tone was soft, though the words carried weight in his mouth. Something edgy in the undercurrent.

The goading had simply been... encouragement. The snap had been coming, and to fracture without direction could have been dangerous. Dread's grip around her tightened, closing around Deluge's chest and shoulder. Plied by the wine and the emotions and probably too many other things, he'd said some things the night before yeah. It wasn't anything he didn't mean.

"speech"

The teeth in the back of her neck have her relaxing reflexively, pliable, compliant, if only for now. There's an edge to his voice that was missing before now and she wonders if this was what drew her to him the first place, that missing puzzle piece a siren's song that kept her coming back to dig around and try to root it out. Now that she'd found it... what was that about curiosity killing the cat?

She was sure she could handle it (maybe she had a god complex).

As he wrapped his paws around her tighter still, she angled her head to lick at his chin, appeasement feeling foreign on her tongue. She could give him this one, but her mouth wouldn't let him have it for free. "If yer think yer can keep me, I won't stop yer from tryin'." It was a challenge presented as a tease, followed with the barest hint of a chuckle. She couldn't have his head getting too big, right? (Besides, his reactions were worth revelling in).

"speech"

Dread's control over himself has slipped, shifted some. The control he exacts now, over the girl curled against his chest... this felt right. At least in his mind, it felt right. And even if curiosity had killed the cat, there was the idea satisfaction would bring it back. Where would the fun be in leaving either of them unsatisfied. Then again, there was something about being positively insatiable, coupled with the way he absolutely refuses to let her go.

It was an appropriate place for a god complex, and Dread would let the appeasement go to his head. It fills his chest with warmth, a low, murmured hum in his throat. Holding her closer, a dark chuckle filling the space between them. Softly dragging a claw down her side, remaining close as he speaks. "Think? Babe, you and I both know," he chuckles, grasp moving from Deluge's side to her muzzle instead. Lifting it to steal a kiss. "You're mine." He's keeping her, Dread's words carrying a sort of finality as he speaks. All he knows is serious, sorry.
"speech"

She's still learning the steps in this new dance between them and his sudden surety has the girl off kilter. Usually she's the fearless and bold one. To step back and let someone else take the lead was foreign to her, but it didn't feel bad or wrong in the way she had expected. When his declaration was so certain, it was hard to deny the little summersault her stomach gave, or the way her heart skipped a beat in her chest. The invisible line now crossed there certainly wasn't any going back from here. "Hmm, I dunno... I migh' need remindin' again..." Teeth clicked by Dread's muzzle in a wordless challenge.

As if she needed more convincing.

-fade-

"speech"