Take me somewhere new

Everything about Esarosa was so... different. She was always in good spirits; he didn't think he'd ever once seen her look upset, or even bored. Even when she had fallen into the muck just now, he watched as she regained herself quickly and laughed it away. He wished he could be like her. He tried, for a moment - and the brief second that they shared, teasing her about the frogs, made him feel a brief rush of euphoria. I'm okay, he thought to himself silently as they moved together. Maybe focusing on the present would make things more bearable.

As they slid into the den, one after another, he wondered if she felt as uncomfortable as he did. It wasn't that it was necessarily because Esarosa was here, just because someone was here. He was unused to sleeping so close to anyone, and he didn't want his own presence to bother her. Who knew if he snored or talked in his sleep? His gaze fixed on her for awhile, oblivious to her own giddy feeling, wondering if it was ridiculous he felt worried at all.

And then she started to giggle. What was so funny? He felt heat rise to his face as she offered him the frog she'd so elegantly caught, and he'd avoid his slightly frantic thoughts by leaning to snatch it up. He chewed it quickly, offering her another faint smile. "Thanks," he'd offer softly, his voice lighter than usual. As he laid there, part of him felt guilty for actually being grateful for her presence - perhaps he might sleep more easily with the warmth of another at his side. "Tomorrow I thibk we should go after something our own size," he'd suggest teasingly, his own tail batting against the earth, and thus hrs in unison.