Reluctant Walks

[Peigin]

"You have to stop coming here." Peigin fretted. Not just for own sake, because she had noticed that he lingered at the long drive up to the house too often, but for his own, because Perigrine was sure to notice too. And summon another dragon down on their heads. She might have missed the number of times he came by if it hadn't been for the tension she noticed in Kite.

Tension that drove Pug into Birdy's room. Or out of the house all together. She saw him sometimes, shadowed him even, in her wolf form, when everyone else was away and she was free to wear her second skin and scout the area. But more often now Peregrine was home and the house was too small for him and Peigin. Or he was just too big for her to stomach.

Plus he kept talking about that. Not once believing her lie that she'd seen to it when he sent her town with marks to do so. So she found herself on the lane beside Gunnar. That was his name, he'd told. She remembered. This was the second time her footsteps had matched his on the road from the house to town. Even though he was a warlord prince, she felt more comfortable with him than Peregrine.

She was thoroughly buried in her coat, and Starling had shown her how to layer skirts to keep herself warm. Peigin had found Kite's suggestion of woolen trousers beneath a better option. Starling had not approved. But Peigin was used to that. Starling didn't approve of much. She glanced through the fur of her hood at Gunnar, trying to impart the seriousness of her demand, and not to cry.

If she didn't love Birdy so much, she would have fled ages ago. "Everyone gets all...." She shrugged uselessly. "Male." She admitted in defeat.

@Jenn

[Gunnar]

"I like coming here," he told her with a shake of his head, "Seeing where you live." It sounded awful even in his own head the moment the words were out. Stalkerish and crazed. What the fuck was wrong with him? Was the only thought he could muster before attention was drawn back to her.

Peigin intrigued him, made his mind whirl with needs, and wants that even in his addled mind he knew she wasn't ready for. She was afraid of everything, the warlord prince inside him needing to protect her from everything that frightened her so, but the biggest obstacle something he couldn't even touch.

Gunnar couldn't help himself, not after the day in town when he'd cornered her in the tavern. Couldn't keep himself away when he realized where'd lived and with who. Slunk around the home and created all manner of chaos that Solveig was certain to come down on him for. But it was worth it. Knew she shadowed him in the wilderness, the knowledge always bringing secret and pleased smiles to his lips. Gunnar unafraid of things that should send him cowering into the dark, but Peigin was his whether she knew it or not.

She matched his steps and he hummed with pleasure, in sync with her in a way neither really understood, and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Wrapped up in layers upon layers, smart to do so the winters in Glacia could kill a person quickly and she looked adorable with only her face visible through skin and furs.

"We're male," he chuckled with a shrug of his shoulders, "We can't help being.. Male." He frowned lightly as a thought occurred to him. "No has touched you have they?" he said slowly and quietly, "Harmed you in any way?" He didn't like the idea of someone laying a hand on her in anger and Gunnar's molars creaked as they ground together.

[Peigin]

A bolder girl might have rolled her eyes at his declaration. Peigin's stomach rolled instead. Her eyelashes didn't flutter in pleasure either, but dropped to cover her eyes as she begged the Darkness to save her. She'd been so hopeful when his queen had stormed the tavern and all but physically dragged him out. Had dreamed that would be the end of it.

Now she knew better. Wished she had whatever it was that had allowed the queen to bend Gunnar so easily to her will. He hadn't liked it, but he'd gone. And Pug didn't think it had been the Grey forcing him to it. Something else. Something elusive. Winnie hadn't possessed it, so Peigin didn't think it was a queen thing.

Maybe it was just courage. And courage was something she'd never possessed.

"What?!" Startled out of her thoughts, Peigin tripped on her own feet. Spinning slowly to a stop so that she faced him. How quickly he'd gone from that weird sort of humming to accusations of... that. "Nooo." It sounded like the bellow of a terrified cow. Pug covered her mouth, wishing the sound back in. Wishing the idea out of her head.

Where did he get such ideas?

"You're mad." She told him abruptly before swiveling on her heels and resuming their walk. She didn't even think Peregrine had threatened to take things that far. And while Kite sometimes sat close, or walked along with her, hovering and quiet, Pug had never suspected anything like that from him.

"Everything is quite proper, thank you." Peigin sniffed. None had harmed either, outside of their tempers, and that had never come to physical abuse. Peregrine was simply terrifying. Kite was quite mild in comparison. And Starling another sort of harpy. Whiny, really. "Is that was the town thinks?" She asked, the idea sweeping up on her with a sickening lurch. Pug turned wide, worried eyes on him. "That I'm..." She flinched and gestured vaguely, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.