Broken Sonata

Saracyn was mid-stroke of the whetstone down his sword when Avacyn approached their den so the red brute didn't hear her enter at first until the soft sound of her light panting caught his attention. Bright blue eyes lifted from his blade to meet hers, his expression lifting naturally just from seeing her, though his face remained carefully impassive. He didn't want to let her in on his brooding thoughts, especially not after the hard look she'd given him at the raid meeting. He returned her grin with a small upward turn of the corner of his mouth, not enough to be called a smile, but a response all the same. No words were exchanged while Ava came up to place a quick kiss to his lips. The moment her muzzle met his, Saracyn felt the world begin to melt away the way it always did when he was with her, the dark thoughts that haunted his mind momentarily repelled by the light that she was to him. He wanted to kiss her back and forget everything else—but he couldn't. He was still subdued in his enthusiasm, his tail not wagging nor did he get up to greet her when she came to him, his mood unusually withdrawn from how he usually was. Maybe she would notice, or maybe she would be too caught up in her own happiness to see it. And why shouldn't she be happy? Saracyn almost felt ashamed of himself for being so bitter about everything when he saw how happy his twin was.

She asked if he had eaten yet, and the brute shook his head, flipping his sword over to inspect both sides of the blade. "No, I haven't," he replied, his voice even and measured. "I was waiting for you." Saracyn slid his sword back into its sheath and set it off to the side with his armor. He would put them away later once they'd finished eating. Rising to his paws, Sara moved over to their private food storage, where he had set aside a pair of choice salmons he had fished and cleaned earlier in the day while she had been out with Albion. He knew Avacyn loved fish, and maybe this was a bit of a peace offering of sorts, or maybe it was still him trying to one-up the Klein bastard in his mind. Sara was no chef, but he had done his best. Bringing out the two fish, he carried them back over to where he had been lying and presented the bigger of the two to Ava—she had said she was starving, after all—and then laid down with his own to begin eating. "How was your day?" asked the Mendacium male in passive conversation, half hoping to distract Avacyn from noticing anything off with him, though it was getting harder to do the more he noticed Albion's scent still faintly clinging to her coat. It could have been from completely innocent walks next to each other all day—or it could have been from far more physical things. Saracyn didn't want to imagine that right now.

"Saracyn Mendacium"