Christmas Came Early

Th sleepy, groggy voice of Lillith came from over on her bed, and Romulus realized he must have just woken her up. He flinched and folded his ears to his head, remorseful to have woken her up unnecessarily. Steely silver eyes caught her graceful, lithe form rising from her bed with the elegance of a porcelain princess, stealing his breath and making him feel all the more unworthy of her when she greeted him with a cheery voice. He managed to put on a brave face as he slid into her room though, gently nudging the door shut behind him while he meandered over to her bedside at his own pace.

"Good morning, Lil. You didn't have to get up on my account, I can come back later," he said when he drew near to where she was laying with her snow white paws hanging from the edge of her bed. He gave her a little smile, sitting down slightly off center from her while he met her ruby eyes with a trepidatious gaze. He hadn't paid any mind to the tools or materials she had lying out in the open in her room, far too distracted with thinking about how he was supposed to apologize to Lillith for almost getting her killed. "I'm fine, thanks. Nothing hurts anymore, Gwyn says the skin's healed well and the stitches can come out soon." Of that, he was thankful. He was more than ready to put this entire embarrassing situation behind him. He just hoped that Lillith had a thing for scars if his face never fully healed.

Realizing that they were just sitting in quiet then, Roman realized he had to just get his apology over with. There was no point in putting it off any longer. "I, uh... I wanted to apologize to you, like properly apologize," he began, stumbling as he struggled to find the right words to explain himself. His cheeks had turned hot with an embarrassed flush, ears folded so flat to his skull it almost looked like he didn't have any. "What happened with the jaguar should never have happened. I should've been more alert, or faster or stronger to keep you from getting hurt. I failed you and I failed to protect you, and I'm really, really sorry, Lil..." He swallowed down the lump in his throat and averted his gaze from Lillith's, feeling like an absolute fool for getting himself so torn up and still having failed to keep Lillith safe. Not to mention all the fights he'd lost lately coupled with this instance just made him feel... useless. What sort of man couldn't even protect his lady? It was like a joke... he was the joke.

"Speech"