Homecomings [MadEmperor] [M]

DragonSong · February 10, 2023, 02:30:02 PM

River kissed him back just as enthusiastically, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing as close as she could manage. By the time they broke apart, she realized she was half in his lap and breathing a little heavier than usual.

"Kah, I—" She let her brow rest against his and closed her eyes with a sigh. "We're mad," she decided, chuckling quietly. "But I...I—"

She couldn't get the words out. She wanted to, but they caught awkwardly in the back of her throat.

MadEmperor · February 10, 2023, 02:45:55 PM

Kahroan swallowed, the same words wanted to escape his lips more than they ever had. But what if he was wrong, and she wasn't about to say that? No, that didn't matter; it was time.

"I know we are, but I... I love you so much I can't stand not saying in one minute longer."

DragonSong · February 10, 2023, 03:00:51 PM

Her breath actually caught for a moment. Then she was kissing him again, uncaring of her cut palms or the howling wind just outside their makeshift shelter or just about anything else but him.

"I—I love you, too," she breathed when they broke apart again. She let her nose nuzzle against his, then tipped her head up to kiss his forehead.

MadEmperor · February 10, 2023, 03:27:58 PM

His instincts told him where this was going. His body wanted it desperately, but the logical part of his brain told him that was a bad idea. At least, not as long as he didn't produce much in the way of body heat.

Breathing heavily, he said, "We shouldn't... not here..."

DragonSong · February 10, 2023, 03:57:22 PM

River whined quietly, a sound that was so entirely instinctive she literally couldn't stop it. She had the good grace to be embarrassed when it registered, flushing and nodding in agreement with him.

"Yeah...yeah, we—we probably shouldn't." She swallowed, trying to force her heart rate to slow. Then she laughed breathlessly and let her head come to rest against his shoulder for a moment. "Though I suppose I'm really the only one between the two of us who'd be bothered by the cold."

She pressed a light kiss to his shoulder before pulling back slightly to meet his eyes. Then she suddenly giggled again, pressing a hand over her mouth in an effort to smother the sound. "Gods, I'm sorry," she huffed. "I just...I haven't, ah, done anything like this in a while..."

MadEmperor · February 10, 2023, 04:14:26 PM

His tail wrapped around her waist as he gazed lovingly at her, awkward as the moment was. "I... haven't either."

He shyly looked away with an embarrassed huff of breath. "And--well--never with these... parts..."

DragonSong · February 10, 2023, 04:39:41 PM

That was a very good point. River blinked, as she'd honestly been so swept up in the moment that she hadn't really given that aspect much thought. How did dragons even...?

"I mean, we could—" She coughed and glanced away, grimacing through a blush. "If—only if you wanted to, of course, but I mean, we could...try to...figure those parts...out?" The cold shouldn't bother him, after all. "But I don't know if you want—or— you know what, I'm going to stop talking now."

She laughed a bit again, very red now, and had to work to resist the urge to bury her face in her hands.

MadEmperor · February 10, 2023, 04:55:31 PM

Kahroan blinked, momentarily perplexed by what she could possibly mean. He coughed when he finally put it together. "I--err--might be open to that."

"For educational purposes, of course," he added with a smirk in his tone.

DragonSong · February 10, 2023, 05:06:00 PM

"Right. Absolutely. Educational purposes." River found herself smirking back as she leaned in to kiss him again.

By the time the storm had begun to die down, she had almost entirely forgotten about the cold. It wasn't that Kahroan necessarily gave off a lot of heat—quite the opposite, really—but there was...a sense of comfort that came with closeness. It was something she hadn't experienced in a while, and realized with a slight pang that she had missed it.

Their fire was fading along with the storm, and she snuggled herself a little closer under Kahroan's wing to press against his side.

"We can probably get moving again soon," she murmured. "Then it should only be a few hours until we're close enough to the cottage that my family should be able to scent us."

MadEmperor · February 10, 2023, 05:19:25 PM

"Do we really have to?" He pretended to pout, but it didn't quite work on his draconic face. "This is so... nice."

He nuzzled her one last time and sighed, saying, "Yeah... we should. You're cold and we're both tired."

When he didn't move, he added, "You first."

DragonSong · February 10, 2023, 05:38:52 PM

"Mmmrrmph." She gave him a pout of her own and snuggled closer, then sighed and forced herself to sit up.

"This is nice," she agreed with a soft smile, stroking his cheek fondly. "But it might be even nicer in a real bed. After some real food."

She leaned down to kiss the bridge of his nose—or, snout—then sat up again and peered at the entrance of the cave.

"We should get moving. That was probably the tail end of a late winter storm—they can kick up again pretty quick, we should cover what ground we can."

MadEmperor · February 10, 2023, 06:02:18 PM

Kahroan cooed when she kissed him. She was definitely right—a real bed and real food sounded amazing after roughing it in the cold. And they'd finally be able to... educate each other. The thought made him smile to himself.

He forced himself to his feet and hoisted his pack onto his back. "Let's go meet this pack of yours."

The truth was that the dragonman was incredibly nervous. It was just that his desire to get River somewhere warm was a great deal higher on his list of emotional priorities.

DragonSong · February 10, 2023, 06:27:20 PM

"Right. Let's." She gave him what she hoped was a comforting, confident grin, but honestly she was a bit nervous herself--it had been months since she'd been back home, and now she was returning with a stranger in tow. A stranger who was essentially a humanoid dragon. A stranger who was essentially a humanoid dragon and also had become her mate absurdly quickly.

Gods. Her mother was going to lose her mind.

But she was also excited to be back, to see her siblings and parents--nieces and nephews, too, of course, though they were always an endless font of energy.

"Do you like children?"

The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it; she'd just been thinking of her sibling's pups, and then...well. There it was.

MadEmperor · February 10, 2023, 06:51:14 PM

That made him pause a step. "Ch-children? I mean, I don't have a problem with them. I just haven't been around them in a long time. And the village children thought I was weird, so even then not a lot except for when I was a child too."

He hadn't been nervous about that part until that moment. Now it was all he could think about.

DragonSong · February 10, 2023, 06:57:22 PM

Oh dear. Seemed she'd frightened him.

She did have to smother a chuckle at the look on his face. "Alright, well don't fret too much over it," she tried to assure him, reaching over to take his hand and give it a squeeze. "I've got a gaggle of nieces and nephews, but there's always a parent or an aunt or uncle in easy reach, so it's not as though you'd be left with no backup."

She debated adding more, then figured fuck it and said, "Honestly, they'll probably be so fascinated by the whole..." she waved her free hand up and down at him, "this that you won't need to actually do much to win them over."

MadEmperor · February 11, 2023, 05:51:49 AM

Kahroan chuckled. "Yet another gift of my condition."

He really was beginning to wonder if he was cursed at all. This body had done nothing but keep him alive and provide the push he needed to open his heart to someone again. And that someone happened to be the love of his life. No curse would do all that, would it?

"I'm sure you're right. I... don't have anything to worry about, do I?" He didn't quite rumble, but there was a happy look in his eyes.

DragonSong · February 11, 2023, 08:48:56 AM

"Nah." She smiled and leaned into him slightly as they walked. "You'll be just fine."

Pulling a face, she laughed a bit and added, "I'm the one who's going to be in trouble. It's been too long since I've been home, and I haven't exactly given them much warning." She grimaced theatrically--then sincerely, as she reached to move a scrubby branch from one of the nearly horizontal trees that grew at this altitude in the mountains and her hand twinged painfully.

"Shit," she hissed, shaking her hand before peeling the bandaging aside to look at it.

MadEmperor · February 11, 2023, 09:19:27 AM

Kahroan looked worried. "Did you open the wound?"

He quietly hoped that the licking had been a safe thing to do. But animals did it all the time, and he wasn't human anymore. Their explorations in the cave had made that abundantly obvious.

"I know you're more than capable of looking after yourself, but please let me do the path clearing."

DragonSong · February 11, 2023, 09:46:09 AM

She tsked at him and started to say something about him worrying overmuch, but then she saw the edge of the cuts on her palm and she paused. "Well...huh."

She looked up at him with a curious sort of frown. "Kah...do dragons have, like...healing abilities?" she asked slowly. Because she was realizing that the twinge from her palm had been the first they'd bothered her in hours--and that she really should have been worse off. Even looking at it, the cuts looked maybe days old, rather than hours.

MadEmperor · February 11, 2023, 09:55:26 AM

Kah stopped to look at her hand, his scaly brow rising. He hadn't even considered that he might possess magical abilities beyond his freezing breath. It made sense, he supposed.

"I've heard rumors of water dragons doing such things, and ice is a form of water. So... perhaps I do. The evidence is right there."