Frost Forest [Goblin]

[Juno]

Sophie was intrigued by the idea he'd suggested, the thought truly never entering her mind even though it was exactly what she needed. "That actually...would, yes," she murmured, nodding against him even as she felt a slight pang of guilt.

"It wouldn't leave him very dignified, but... No. No, it's alright. I think I can manage that." She bit her lip and wavered on the decision of whether or not she should even voice her fear to him.

"I... I thought you might have wanted me to hunt one away from your territory," she explained, realizing how silly it probably sounded after hearing his real idea. "But this is much better."

[GoblinFae]

"It is more dignified than hunting down one of the younger and healthier beasts. That sacrifice on his part should be enough for the good of the forest," Fintan tried to reassure her, rubbing her back weakly from the base of her neck to the base of her tailbone. "It would be safest if you remained in my territory. Hunting outside of it will not earn you favor with the others and would only put you into more danger. At least on my grounds your safety can be assured. You are small enough not to disrupt the balance of my territory with your hunting and you have me to look out for you against anything bigger than you."

[Juno]

While it was all well-meaning and heartfelt Sophie focused on one little annoying statement in particular. Lifting her head some to give him a dry, unimpressed look she sighed heavily and grumbled, "I am not small. I am a fierce huntress and I don't need you to protect me from anything." She of course ignored the fact that she was smaller than him and that the creatures of his jungle were proportionately much bigger than those she would have seen in her tundra home.

[GoblinFae]

With a howl of frustration, Fintan rolled them so that they were laying down and she was trapped beneath his larger and heavier body. "You are smaller," he growled in her face, struggling to hold himself up from completely crushing her. "That is a fact, get over it. It does not make you weaker or lesser. It's just who you are so stop getting insulted by everything I say because I am too sick and too tired to tiptoe around you. Understood?"

[Juno]

Stunned that he'd even been strong enough to manage flipping them over Sophie stared up at him in disbelief. Her lips twisted into a grimace, poised to snarl right back at him but the uncomfortable weight upon her chest reminded her that she was trapped and gave her pause. It probably wouldn't do her much good but something about him brought out the wild streak of defiance that was normally so dormant in the shifter.

"You implied that I was weaker," she practically hissed. "Weaker than a sick tiger that can barely keep himself warm." Sophie raised her hand to thump against his side as if to demonstrate. It was insulting no matter how he phrased it, but her sudden flash of temper was cooling quite quickly.

"Let me help you and protect you before worrying about any of that," she pleaded in a softer voice, eyes narrowing in concern.

[GoblinFae]

He grunted in pain as her hand connected sharply with his side. "You heard what you wanted to hear," Fintan hissed, a deep growl lingering in the back of his throat. "Don't abuse me because you feel threatened!" Her words had stung and the tiger shifter wanted nothing more than to roll away from her and sulk. However, the effort to flip them had taxed him more than he had expected and he found himself stuck as he was. He huffed in her face before letting his head weakly drop across her shoulder. "This is why I live alone," he muttered under his breath, not realizing he had spoken his thoughts aloud.

[Juno]

Sophie shook with her frustration even as he let his head drop to her shoulder. What a stubborn thing he was!

"Then get up and I will leave you alone," she hissed, her biting tone returning as she desperately tried to keep from flying into a rage at her sick friend. For some reason he had a way of getting under her skin that was quite unnerving.

Even as she said it, though, Sophie was bringing her hands up to rub along his back in what was meant to be a soothing manner. She realized it was as much for herself as for him, though.

[GoblinFae]

Fintan softly rumbled at her touch, his muscles relaxing at her soothing gesture against his will. Defiantly he buried his nose into her shoulder, breathing her earthy scent so different from everything he had ever known and yet smelling more like home than his own den ever had.

He hoped his refusal to move would be viewed as a stance of dominance rather than weakness by the little "furball" of fury beneath him. Fintan did not think he could admit he was too physically depleted to even make that simple effort to roll over for her.

As he lay there though a thought came to his mind that made him chuckle softly before coughing at the physical irritation it caused. "So fiery and warm for an ice cat," he shared, nuzzling tiredly into her.

[Juno]

She gradually relaxed the longer he remained, realizing it was pointless to hold onto her anger with an immovable wall of a man on top of her. If she had really been so determined she could have moved him herself, but it seemed wrong to force him when it really wasn't all that annoying or even painful. He was receptive to her minor affections, at least, and that was reason enough for her to back down.

"I need to be. Would freeze without it," she teased, for once satisfied with his joking since he wasn't picking on her size. "You're cold, but... Think that's mostly because you're ill." She frowned slightly with regret for that, patting him lightly on the shoulder.

She added a mumbled, "I think I'm doing most of the protecting here anyway."

[GoblinFae]

Fintan smirked weakly at the mental image of the little fireball puffed out to the maximum with her long, soft fur. He mused privately to himself that she might even be able to double her size by doing so. However, he felt it best to keep those thoughts to himself. Sophie was already in a poor mood and unwelcoming to any comments regarding her size good, bad, or otherwise. Likewise he chose to ignore her comment regarding his illness as the shifter felt it would not make the tension between them lessen. She already felt enough guilt over causing his weakened state and his pointing that out beyond the obvious would be pointless.

Her final murmured statement though having reached his ears was simply too much to ask for him to ignore. Unable to consider the consequences before he allowed his tongue to wag, he quipped aloud, "thank you then for protecting me from the floor."

[Juno]

Her features twisted, first in amusement and then to a scowl to try and hide that she'd been about to laugh. She bit at her lip while the sound still bubbled in her chest, a tightness there as it threatened to spill out anyway.

Sophie was silent for a few moments, trembling in her stubbornness to not let it show how she'd let her guard down. Despite how she'd managed to grow a soft spot for him she still had to remind herself that she was a guest and her arrangements were temporary (at least in her mind). There was no use getting too comfortable, but it couldn't hurt to be kind to him, could it? It was what she'd been doing after all.

With that in mind she finally relaxed beneath him and let a short chuckle slip, rolling her eyes and reaching out to gently poke him on the nose. "You're being a child," she scolded gently, though she didn't exactly see anything wrong with him making light of their situation. "If you've got the energy for that I think you can get up."

[GoblinFae]

"I'm not a child," he huffed into her neck petulantly. Out of defiance he stayed a moment longer, relishing her closeness before he would have to force himself away again. Fintan felt like his bones were made of clay held together by dried grass. His limbs moved but begrudgingly, already exhausted with the effort to lift his weight off and over her. He pooled into a pathetic lump of flesh off to her side and within the cool shadow of his den's entrance. "Told you so," he wheezed between labored breaths.

[Juno]

She was surprised that he actually listened to her and was quick to sit up once he'd moved his weight off of her. She could breathe a bit easier at first but that same sense of weight upon her chest returned once she realized he was having just as much trouble as before.

Sophie's eyes darkened in a painful twinge of regret and sadness. She scooted herself closer to the weakened tiger shifter, sitting on her legs as she knelt beside him. "The floor isn't your enemy," she chided gently, reaching out to wipe his hair back from his face.

"And I'm not either," she added rather quickly, frowning slightly in thought. It was an uncomfortable feeling, having the need to clarify that to him.

[GoblinFae]

Fintan huffed in response at her light chastisement but made no other response. He had been sarcastic when he named the floor an enemy but if she wished to take him so seriously he was not about to argue. Instead he reached up to take her much smaller hand within his own, dragging it down his face to his chest where he clutched it close, curling in around as if to protect her close to his heart.Tiredly he rubbed his stubbled cheek against against the back of her hand before placing a weak kiss of apology to it. "Never said you were."

[Juno]

Sophie was a little shocked at his moment of gentleness, the way he held onto her hand not unwelcome but still entirely unfamiliar. She could only smile, wiggling her fingers lightly against him and almost going so far as to try to tickle him before she remembered herself and thought better of it.

"I know." She let out a happy sigh, rubbing her thumb gently along the side of his hand. "Just don't ever want to be."

Slowly she uncurled her legs to lay down with Fintan again and tuck herself against him, aware of the fire losing a bit of its strength just beyond his den. He seemed to prefer her as a source of warmth anyway and assumed that might make him happy enough. "You should relax. And rest," she stated simply, using her free hand to rub gently along his shoulder.

[GoblinFae]

He sighed while keeping his thoughts to himself. Fintan could not imagine her as an enemy but to say so would most likely garner her wrath again. Knowing her, the shifter imagined Sophie would consider it an insult that perhaps she was not strong enough of fierce enough to be considered a viable opponent. The last thing he needed was more of her griping and sulking especially now that she was once more settled in warmly against him.

"I am resting and relaxed," he huffed against her ear. "Any moreso and I'll be a puddle on the floor, a frozen one perhaps but a puddle all the same." Fintan hugged her close, unconsciously smiling as her pleasant scent soothes him and indeed relaxed him further.

[Juno]

"A frozen puddle is just ice," she informed him, smiling at how silly he sounded and biting back a giggle. The last thing she wanted was him thinking she was making fun of him.

At his acceptance, though, Sophie relaxed some herself and moved her free hand from his shoulder to brace against his back instead to return the hug and keep them close. "You're trouble," she stated simply, smiling to herself as she noticed how content she was to be so near to him again. Curiously, she'd been more tense and upset when there'd been more distance between them before. Now...things just felt right and oddly cozy.

She couldn't really help herself, taking the opportunity to nuzzle into his shoulder and just breathe in his scent. It wasn't something she did with family or other shifters she'd met, but it felt right with him, like she couldn't get enough of it or feared she might lose it if she didn't do it enough. She wasn't sure why that particular thing bothered her, but it did. She didn't want to forget it or forget him and it was an easy scent to relax her with, eyes closing contently as she settled in to just rest with him.

[GoblinFae]

"Ice," he repeated with a huff. Having never seen such a thing he was not sure what to think of the word. He knew though that saying any more on the matter was likely to reawaken her fiery spirit which he had only just managed to miraculously quench. Fintan was soon distracted by her gentle nuzzling and willing closeness though. It warmed him both inside and out at having her there. Putting aside the times when she was too stubborn for words she was a rather agreeable female, pleasing to the eyes too for that matter if one could ignore her rather foolish human notions. Distractedly the shifter stroked at her back, his hand moving higher and higher until he was gently touching the back of her neck and base of her skull. "I'm tiger-kith of course you'd see me as trouble," he finally murmured, tiredly.

[Juno]

"Tiger-kith," she repeated quietly, not really believing that to be a real word and laughing quietly under her breath.

"Are all tigers trouble, then?" Sophie guessed, unconsciously submitting to his touch, bowing her head slightly against the hand at her neck. It felt nice, but she wasn't sure what she'd done to deserve attention like that. The young shifter wasn't quite picking up on his tiredness either, too occupied with their idle chatter to notice how it was affecting him.

[GoblinFae]

"No," he drawled as if her question was completely nonsensical. "We're not trouble at all," Fintan informed her as he continued to massage and touch her. The feel of her was soothing and reassuring as if he feared not doing so would cause her to vanish like smoke on the wind. "Human and tiger just don't mix usually and you prefer one over other." His tone showed some of his displeasure at such a notion but he let it go to instead squeeze her close and run his cheek against her as any cat would do against their possession. "Just trouble to you."