Breaking In, Shaping Up

Much to his disappointment, she didn't rise to the bait. Instead, she fixed him with a winning smile. A new low, even for him. What kind of scoundrel couldn't even annoy his own friends? "Oh, my bad," she admitted. Liar. "Daisies, valerian, they all look the same to me." she added. The titan didn't move a muscle as she sauntered closer. He huffed again in disdain of her comment, rolling his eyes with little care of whether or not her feelings were hurt. "Which is why you were never in charge of patching everyone up." he retorted dryly, tracking her movements as she closed in. Would she lash out, angry that he hadn't tracked her down the second he'd put his parents in the ground? Who knew. Valkyrie was a mercurial creature.

The chocolate pelted femme flopped heavily onto the ground beside him, legs heaved out in front of her to obstruct his digging. He let out a tactless, heavy sigh. Since it was now painfully clear he was supposed to be paying attention to Valkyrie and Valkyrie alone, not the task at hand, he backed himself out of his furrow. Forepaws firmly on solid ground, he flopped heavily onto his haunches beside her. There, now she had his undivided attention, and could stop making him miserable. "I was beginning to think I wouldn't see you again." she said gravely. He was suddenly reminded that despite everything, Valkyrie was his friend, and he'd done her a great disservice by not looking for her after his parents' deaths. Not that he was going to let that awareness reach the light of day. He had a reputation.

"You're a bad penny, Kiki." he grunted, gaze drifting away from her in case she might take his sincerity for sappiness. "You always turn up at some point." There. That was better than "Sorry, my parents were dying and I couldn't drop everything to come galavanting with you and the Skaldi boys." ... Right?