i've waited long enough and now the time has come

Like a lantern bobbing through the undergrowth of shadowed vale, along trotted the petite male that he'd been seeking out in the first place. As always, Sota was warm and friendly, and there was that strange tightness in his chest again. The subtle tugging sensation that was high in his chest instead of low in his belly where it usually settled. A lopsided, tentative grin of his own managed to work its way over his rugged facade. "Sota," he grunted, fondness finding its way into his low vocals. He shrugged his worn bag from his shoulder and onto the ground, settling heavily onto his haunches. Already heat was beginning to collect across his dark furred cheeks, and he was glad it would go unnoticed even in this bright daylight. "I, uh, happened to be around. I thought I would check up on yo- er. The pack. I thought I would see how things were going, just while I was in the area. I'll be heading to the far north soon, actually." he trudged his way through the sentence with all the grace of a lumbering grizzly through a briar bush, and felt just as prickly as soon as the words managed to make their way out. Well done, idiot.

The titan gave a half-roll of his massive shoulders, trying to disperse the knot of tension already forming between the scapulae. He cleared his throat, tried again. "How have you been?" he asked, grasping at straws with how to approach the awkward topic he'd come all the way to discuss. Best to ease his way into it, right? Maybe, against all odds, Sota would confess feelings of his own out of the blue. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Make the whole conversation infinitely easier.