the future is ready to shine

Things were okay, Corvus knew that, no matter what either of them had endured or who they had lost. Keeping Abaven strong was far more important than succumbing to those dark feelings, as much as they sometimes threatened to swallow him whole. At least they had somewhere for his sister to return to, if she ever came back home. That alone - coupled with Twig's company - was enough to keep those feelings at bay, at least for tonight. He felt her shift even closer, laying her head over his shoulders, and all at once he became acutely aware of just how small she was in comparison to him. She'd never struck him as fragile, not in all the times they'd spent together, but suddenly he felt an overwhelming urge to curl around her and protect her from whatever harm might dare seek her out.

"You know - with things settling down lately, I think we have more fun in store for us," he teased as lightly as he could, twisting slightly to glance at her from the corner of his eye, grinning a bit more now. "Thank you," he said after a moment of thought. It was hard to get out of his own head sometimes, and he appreciated the reminder to loosen up a bit. "It's easy to forget what all our hard work is for sometimes. Especially after.. everything." Life wasn't always easy, but at the same time it could be much worse too... Corvus was grateful for what he had and what they'd built, even if he didn't always stop to think about it. "It's for moments like this," he sighed contentedly, leaning back more surely against Twig, stretching his toes as he pushed his paws away from him and further into the sand.