Little Songbird

A slightly wider smile tugged at the corners of his lips when she replied favorably to his request to hear her music, enjoying the sound of the little chuckle she gave in response. He found that he enjoyed her much more when she smiled and laughed than when she was more serious as she had mostly been when they first met. It seemed as though this time that they had secluded to themselves as he was healing had actually been a small blessing in disguise. He sincerely wished he had just taken the chance to actually see Ikigai beyond her beautiful exterior before he doomed himself to faltering so dramatically, but here they were. Now all he could do was try to repair what he had done and continue to find ways to make her smile. Once she was done with the ointment she was applying to his healing wounds, he watched her go over to one of the instruments and begin to pull it out of its case, revealing the stringed instrument inside. He watched with curiosity as she plucked at the strings, seemingly testing them for something or another. He knew quite literally nothing about the art of music aside from hearing a few songs sung here and there in his travels so he hadn't the slightest clue what to expect.

When she eventually motioned for him to he settled on the furs and laid down on his stomach, giving her his full attention. He got the sense that this was something special to her and if he was genuinely going to put an effort behind getting to know her and what made her tick then he wasn't going to do it half way. Then she began to play after a moment of pause. When he had asked her to play him something, he had expected a quick tune or some sort of simple melody. Instead, she presented him something worthy of a far larger audience than just himself, the emotional song filling their den and spilling out into the mountains outside. He blinked with surprise, his easy smile fading into rapt attention as he watched her fade into the music, the rise and fall of it carrying him along on an unexpected journey. That alone would have been enough to completely blow him away, but then she began to sing, adding her feminine voice to the pluck of the strings. His head tilted slightly as he listened, the words formed into a language he didn't recognize, but still somehow conveying the emotion behind them. He never labeled himself as a sensitive man or someone that took great interest in things like art, but for this moment and for Ikigai he supposed he could make an exception.

Deimos realized as the song came to an end and she placed her unique paws on the strings to silence them that he had, at some point, held his breath as he got caught up in the music himself. He let out the breath he was holding in a soft sigh, a small grin tugging at his lips as he gazed at his mate with a mix of disbelief and amazement. Every day he spent with her he managed to find something new and spectacular about her. It was almost as if the Ancients that crafted her found every special trait they could to pack into such a delicate frame to make up for anything she might have lacked in physical strength. When her silver gaze peeked up at him his grin widened and he rose to his paws, stepping over to where she still sat at her instrument. His paw lifted to brush across the side of her face and cup her cheek as he looked down at her affectionately. "You are always so full of surprises, my little songbird," he rumbled quietly before he lowered his muzzle to hers, pressing a slow kiss to her lips. The feeling of her lips had slowly become more familiar and their affections more easily and readily given as they found their way back to one another over the last couple weeks—something that he had been so sure wouldn't happen in the immediate fall out and guilt he had found himself in. Still, there was a line he hadn't crossed as he made himself focus on taking this rebuilding slow and steady, but as they shared a long, lingering kiss and he rode this wave of emotions she had pulled out in him with her song he felt himself tip toeing ever closer to that line.

When he eventually pulled back from her lips, he didn't go far, lingering as his aqua gaze reconnected to the silver of hers and his large paw lightly stroked her cheek. He paused for a moment, searching her expression for a moment before he let his paw lower from her cheek and stepped around her and the instrument, going to the wall of the cave that was just behind her. He turned and settled back on his haunches, smirking a bit as he slipped a strong foreleg around her slender sides as he leaned back into the wall so that he was resting back against it. He pulled her into his lap in the same motion, turning her to face him as he did. He held her steady there, his bear-like paws tracing down her back and over her hips and thighs. "You'll always be more than I deserve," he mused after a few moments of simply letting his paws roam appreciatively over her sides and hips. "Beautiful, talented, and brilliant... And yet you've chosen to stay with me. I'll never understand it, but I'll always be thankful."

"Deimos Medacium"