Private Tales An Answer After Dark

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
Illyria could have barked back at Crux's insistence, but her body had taken advantage of her stopping for a moment to weigh her down onto the ground, her limbs too tired to do as she wanted. The small woman curled up, her back resting against his arm as she silently succumbed to slumber.

She would not wake until midday the following day. Her sleep was not peaceful as she had been tossing and turning, dreams keeping her mind awake, that when she woke up and began to take in her den, her instincts were the first thing to rouse her to fully awake. Crux's scent at first was unfamiliar, and it filled the entirety of the sleeping area. It was not until the aching pain in her stomach did she realise he was friend, not foe, and that he had promised to hunt for her.

Letting the hunger pains subside after a moment, Illyria straightened the dress that twisted and pulled up to her hips in her sleep. The den was much too small for someone of Crux's size, and she figured he would have found a comfortable spot to wait outside. With ease, Illyria crawled her way out and into the cool air that lingered.

"How did you sleep?" She asked, a spying him nearby.

Crux
 
He'd kept his end of the bargain: When Illyria stepped outside, she'd find a campfire already built and roaring, a wild boar skinned and hanging above the orange tongue on a stick, spun by the man she'd fallen asleep next to the previous day. Crux sat on an upended log, a cloth seemingly made from the boar's skin wrapped around his waist and the shirt he'd hung out to dry slung over his shoulder.

His eye raised to return her greeting, head bobbing in a small nod. "Good enough, but you didn't mention how grabby you could be." Crux almost seemed to smirk as he waved a hand toward the seat across from him, returning his attention to the meat. "Sit. This will be done in a few minutes, and with all the griping you did yesterday you'd better damn well eat it."

In actuality, Crux had only slept a handful of hours, and the rest of his time in the den had been spent lying on his back watching the low ceiling, contemplating their next move. Finally, he'd gone out to hunt and bagged this kill rather quickly, though he'd missed out on a plump fish to go with it because of an overzealous bear with her cubs.

"Haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. It's quiet out here. I'm not used to that."

Illyria
 
  • Cthulhoo rage
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Illyria scowled at him, moving to take a seat he offered her. She was glad for the warmth of the fire, not thinking of the chill that hung in these parts in the morning. Being in a human form had left her forgetting such trivial things.

"Oh, I could eat." She skewered him with a look, watching him curiously. It had been a long while since she spent such time with the company of another, and Crux was more of a surprise to her than anyone she could remember. Her whole life outside these woods were lessons in how unwanted she was, how her magic was seen as undesirable. Perhaps that was how she felt, in this skin. She turned to the form of animals and lived among the kind... because they would think of her as one of their own.

"I cherish the quiet." She slid from her seat, inching closer to the fire and being wary of the licking flames. "And I don't know what to tell you. Must think you are a decent person when I am asleep to grab onto you." Even if it were not true, Illyria was not going to apologise for what she could not control.

Crux
 
"So you were thinking of me in your sleep then?" Crux twitter back to Illyria, only looking her way for a moment before standing to kick a bit of dirt on the fire to quell the heat. Sliding a knife from his hip, he began to cut into the well-cooked animal, carving out a sizable chop of pork for her and placing it on a cloth before holding it out for her to take. "Not sure whether I should be flattered or worried. Perhaps both." He deadpanned.

"But I think you'll find..." He continued as he turned to cut a slab of meat for himself as well, eager to enjoy the fruit of his labor, "That I'm not, in fact, a decent person. If I was decent, I'd be dead." Crux stated matter-of-factly, sitting beside her and bringing the chunk of pork he'd cut to his mouth, biting down into it and ripping the bite off.

"As for the quiet, I didn't say it was bad. Just said I wasn't used to it." He continued in-between bites. "I don't... hate it. It just makes me restless."

Crux ate as much as his stomach could comfortably hold, before standing and cutting a few more large slices for the trip; So long as they ate the meat relatively soon it would make for a decent meal later on. They had work to do, and not much of an idea of where to start.

"I think we head back to the city now." He grunted as he loaded the wagon with what little belongings they did have. "I need to go back to where they took me, see if they left anything behind. It's not much, but it's the only lead I've got."

Turning his head back to her, the smallest of smirks rests on his lips.

"Can you handle that, Wolf-Girl?"

Illyria
 
  • Smug
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Humour clung to the corners of her mouth, eagerly accepting the cut piece of meat he gave her. It was large, but not too much that would overwhelm her stomach after being starved for so long. It was a meal that would last them a little ways into their journey, but she was glad for it.

"Oh, definitely worried. I am never too attached to company." She tried to hide her smile with another bite, this time larger, of the meat. "Friends end up leaving after a while." After a time, Illyria too began to see sense and withdrew from wider circles. Even a wolf pack was not a viable option. "Decent or not, I owed you a life debt." One she had paid for already.

Further chewing onto the meat, Illyria placed it down on her lap, where the cloth was draped over her knees. "How long is the journey to this city?" She called out, looking up to meet his gaze from the wagon. The question of her ability to handle the idea brought a frown to her face.

"As the quite makes you restless, crowds make me anxious." But she'd bear it, not for him, but for the Falwood she called hope. She was not going to let anyone disturb that peace.

Crux
 
So, he was a friend now?

Crux had kept his fair share of company. Bedmates, mercenaries, fellow slaves, but he didn't remember anybody ever calling him that. His lip twitched upwards, his face unsure how to react to her words. One thing was certain, she'd lasted longer around him than most.

"I didn't give a damn about your debt. I didn't save out of kindness, I saved you because I didn't need a shapeshifting Ghoul to deal with." It was spoken in a near-scoff as Crux pulled on his clothes and armor. Still, his words were without the edge one would expect from such a statement, and as he buckled the leather straps to his chest, he added, "But I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't thankful. Consider me helping you get your hands on whoever unleashed that thing on you to be my gratitude."

Crux climbed up into the front of the wagon and took the reins, adjusting them to his liking as he waited for Illyria to meet him. He could relate to her dislike of crowds; The same anxiety had gripped him when at last he'd escaped his life as a life and found society outside of the blightlands. Still, it was something she'd need to get over.

"If it's any comfort to you," He offered, watching her with a steady eye, "Nobody is going to be bothering you as long as I'm around. I have a talent for 'discouraging' the curious. Stick close, and I won't let anybody get too troublesome. Run off on me, and I can't help you."

Illyria
 
Illyria watched him as she still ate, not letting him rush her to finish. She was still not prepared for departure, and had clothing that would be better suited for the city than this drab dress. Getting up, she wandered by the den entrance and chewed the last of her meal.

"Only way I am running from you is if you tell me to go." She shrugged, wiping her hands on her dress. "I just need to change and pack a bag before we head off. Wait one moment."

Inside her den, Illyria put her large amount of coin into a small pack. She shoved some other necessities inside and spare clothes before pulling on medium brown trousers, a beige shirt, and a black jacket on. She laced boots on and was sure to put on an extra layer of socks to help her feet fill them out. Crux would not have waited long before she crawled out and made her way to sit beside him up front of the wagon.

Once seated, pack safely secured somewhere not seen from the road, Illyria gathered her dark hair and worked her fingers through the knots. "How long do you think the journey will be to the city?"

Crux
 
Waiting was something that Crux had spent far too long of his life doing. Waiting for freedom, waiting for the kill, waiting for Illyria's pale, narcoleptic little ass to wake up. A couple of minutes wasn't about to be his breaking point, and he did not attempt to rush her along as she prepared.

"Do what you need." He stated simply, leaning back in the seat of the wagon and pulling out a knife to sharpen. He'd a feeling it would see use before long, if how his last trip to the city went was any indication. It would be rather nice to have some backup, even if he wasn't entirely sure how reliable or capable said backup was just yet.

It took a few minutes, but after a short wait, the Wolf-Girl returned. Crux heard her footsteps as she approached, but it wasn't until he turned his head to look at her that he felt his expression shift to one of surprise. She looked good. Well, for somebody dressed in old and semi-ill-fitting clothes who'd been living in the woods for years.

She climbed up to sit with him, a bag carrying what he assumed was the rest of her belongings in hand. Crux's sunken eyes scanned over her again, an amused grin spreading on his lips.

"Hm. You don't look half bad, Illyria. So used to seeing your ass that this is a nice change of pace." He grunted, turning forward and whipping the reins to get them on their way. The horses, well-rested and well-fed by this point, trudged forward without protest. "But I suppose there's something to be said for being the one doing the disrobing versus living like a wild animal."

He didn't let that simmer too long, adding quickly after,

"Not long. We'll be stopping tonight at a small town, then jumping through a Portal Stone in the morning. From there it's about another day and a half to Alliria."

Illyria
 
Illyria had been close to jumping in on his words, a small smile turning her lips before he continued speaking, and their travel plans caught her attention.

"Alliria?" She had never seen the city, never even dreamed of traveling so far as the Allirian Reach. "Is that where you went before those guys dragged you back to the Falwood?"

Her fingers worked at the wildness in her hair, tresses much too long to do anything with. Suppose she could hack at it woth the knife Crux held in his hands before she got up to sit beside him. Pale jade eyes looked to him slyly, taking in his form too. Attraction was never something she had considered, but after his compliments to her putting an effort in not looking like skme feral child born of the Falwood, she could not help but admit to herself there was a lethal charm to him.

"Once we get there... how soon do you plan on us going into action? Time is of the essence, is it not?"

Crux
 
Crux nodded, holding back a scowl at the memory. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been embarrassed like that. It was ridiculous, and he was far from satisfied with the two of them he'd already taken a pound of flesh from. When he found the others, there wasn't a being alive that would be able to save them. Maybe he'd feed Illyria what was left, if she was so inclined.

Unaware of the burning gleam in his eyes, he looked at her from the corner of his vision and raised an eyebrow. "We don't have much in the way of leads, Ria." Crux shrugged his shoulders. "I'm going to check out where I was taken, but beyond that, we're going to have to dig around a bit." The actual stay in Alliria could be anywhere from a day to a month, but he didn't want to say that out loud to her. There was a chance she couldn't handle that much society.

Not that he blamed her.

"I'll rest long enough to get a bath, a meal, and a whore," Crux said bluntly, "Then we'll get to work. Shouldn't be more than half a day of downtime once we've arrived." He wasn't going to lie to Illyria's face about his intentions, she would find out anyways on her own. Besides, it wasn't as though Jungle Jill was going to give a fuck about what he did with his time besides helping her waste the fucks threatening her home.

"I'm going to assume you've never taken a portal stone though, so that might slow us down. First-timers can get sick."

Illyria
 
Illyria rolled her eyes as she shifted in her seat, resting a boot on the front of the wagon and leaned back in her seat. She had given up on her hair, deciding she would cut some length when they made town.

She snorted at his mention of finding a whore, but said nothing on it. If she had wanted to, she could do the same but her needs were not that drastic.

"Portal Stones... I know next to nkthing about, actually. When you say I will get sick as a first timer, what does that entail? Headaches? Lethargic? In need of a whore?" She threw him a look, one that meant to silently make a dig at him. Illyria chuckled. "Would shifting help the travel through the Stone, do you think? Or should I conserve my strength?"

Crux
 
Crux huffed at Illyria's sass. So maybe she did have a little bit of bite to her. He was starting to wonder if the teeth were all for show. He bit his lip to suppress the smirk his lips tried to form, quipping back to her. "Don't get snippy with me because I take care of my needs. We can't all be at peace living alone in the woods for years. I need an outlet now and then."

As different as Crux was from an ordinary man, he wasn't able to simply ignore his urges forever. Better to get them out of the way than to struggle with them during something important "I'm sure you wouldn't have any trouble finding a volunteer, yourself."

Turning his attention now to her question, Crux turns the wagon around a bend and shrugs his shoulders. They didn't have a long first leg of this trip, but if she was going to interview him like this the whole way, it would feel a lot longer. "There's no guarantee you will get sick. It just bothers some people. Worrying about it isn't going to help, anyways, and I want you at your best when we come out the other side."

Illyria
 
"I'm not worried." She rolled her eyes, looking forward and taking in the midmorning birdsong. Suppose that would be terribly missed once they leave the safety of the Falwood. "I am merely curious."

But when Crux did not answer with anything more than a quiet huff, Illyria began to settle into quiet. It was not until they reach the outskirts of the town that Illyria sat up, some life coming into her weary muscles. There were more travelers on the road, some nodding to them and she scrambled to smile and hold it, her cheeks twitching with effort.

Gods, was she nervous.

"Crux." She asked softly, turning to look at him with furrowed brows and a light scowl. "When you said I don't look half bad, is that because I am wearing the wrong things? Everyone is smiling at us. This jacket is on the wrong way, isn't it? Or my hair looks funny and full of twigs?"

There had to be something wrong with her. Her experience in cities, surrounded by others during her time as an Initiate even, there was always something wrong with her. That kind of anxiety was dredged up the closer the wagon rolled to the town.

"I look awful in these clothes. They are several years behind in fashion but... I rarely spent time as a human..." Her fingers wrapped around the edge of her seat, knuckles turning white.

Crux
 
For somebody who claimed to not be worried, Illyria almost immediately started expressing doubts once the eyes of others were upon her. The town that sat just beyond the portal stone wasn't even particularly large; Most of those people staying there were travelers such as themselves, and the only businesses that seemed particularly busy were the inn and the restaurants. Crux doubted any more than a couple dozen people truly lived here.

Here she was, acting like they were all focused on her. Crux understood. Being isolated for so long brought that kind of paranoia. Didn't change the fact that in being so nervous, she was only drawing more attention to herself.

"They're smiling at you because you're an attractive woman." He fought not to roll his eyes. "You look good. If you looked off, they wouldn't be eyeing you up. That's not how it works." Crux had been trying to not overtly compliment her with his earlier comment, but if she was going to be self-conscious, he really didn't have a choice. "My 'not half bad' comment was my way of telling you I was surprised at how well you cleaned up. You live in a damn cave, I'm surprised those clothes fit you as well as they do."

Spotting the tavern he'd stayed at previously, Crux turned the wagon sharply, bringing them to a stop in front of a warmly lit building with a tall wooden awning over a large stone porch. The door and windows glowed with orange light, and faint music played from inside, as well as idle chatter and laughter.

"Of course..." He smirked, unable to resist the temptation to prod at her vulnerability, just a tad. "If you'd rather take them off, I don't think I'd quite mind."

Illyria
 
Illyria did not quite understand what there was about her that could be deemed of such compliments and admiring, not when her hair fell past her arse, her bones prominent beneath her pale skin, and the sickly frailty that became of her outward appearance. The very clothing was too loose on her form, but she kept it all on where it should be.

Once they had stopped, Illyria leveled Crux with a scowl.

"You wouldn't know what to do with me, Crux." She gathered her things and moved to slide off from her seat, landing before the entrance to the tavern. "Perhaps I am more wild than those of the pretty faces in the big cities, but at least I have lived a life they wouldn't dare dirty themselves for." It was not much, but what she was capable of as a shifter made living such a life bearable.

"Let's just get our rooms and you go... have your fun with whichever whore you find."

She had no clue why his words irked her, but being out in the open only caused her even more grief with anxiety.

Crux
 
Perhaps for the first time he'd met this strange woman of the woods, Illyria well and truly surprised him. Maybe he'd taken his teasing a bit too far, or maybe she had meant something different by her words than he'd realized. Either way, Crux felt the smirk wipe from his face as she slid from her seat and headed for the door in a huff.

It shouldn't have angered him, but it did.

"Pft. Fine then. Forgot you're the only one in Arethil who's lived a hard life on your own." He rolled his eyes and leaped from his seat, slinging his bag over his shoulder and pushing through the doors without making eye contact with her. "See if I pay you a compliment again. Stupid of me to get soft on you anyways."

He'd grown up in the goddamned Blightlands. He shouldn't even be alive. Was he so fucking touchy about it? Did he start having a panic attack when somebody looked at him?

The answer he gave himself wasn't an entirely truthful one.

The inside of the tavern was blessed with a jovial environment, a live band playing instruments while happy smiling travelers sang and drank to their heart's content. Normally, Crux would have at least grabbed a drink to take upstairs, but now he found he wasn't in the mood any longer.

"Two rooms for the night." He grumbled to the man behind the counter, dropping the money for them and trying to ignore the nagging ache starting up in his head. Was stupid, paying for two rooms when she'd had no problem sharing a sleeping space with him before, but now she was suddenly up in arms over his personal matters, as though there were even working girls in a Portal Stone town. Crux took his key with a grunt and left the other for Wolf-Girl.

The two rooms were the last two, right next to one another at the end of the upstairs hallway. Crux slammed his door and pulled at his armor with a scowl, still unsure why Illyria's words had bitten as badly as they did.

No, he had an idea of why.

But he loathed it all the same.

Illyria
 
Illyria scowled after him, deciding to keep a distance from him as he gruffly paid for the two rooms. What luxury he was able to provide for her. The man behind the counter held out her key for her sheepishly as Crux stomped off and up the stairs.

"Thank you." She managed a small smile. With her light gear, she took to the ascent slowly, not wishing to use up her energy. Despite her long slumber, sitting down for so long had made her feel stiff and exhausted nonetheless.

Her room was small, at least to any normal being, but for Illyria, it was much too grand. A double poster bed sat in the middle of the room, a small wash tub in the corner, and a trunk for her belongings. A fireplace has been tucked into the small bit of wall by the door. She bit down on her lip, seeing the bed, and thought it was much too big for one. It was the first thing she did as the door closed behind her, her boot kicking it softly.

She folded the blankets in half, using all four plush pillows to create a wall down the middle. Standing back, she was satisfied with the size of the sleeping area she allotted herself.

Crux had not come to knock on her door, not even after the sounds of the early dinner crowd gathered downstairs. After another bath, using a floral soap to work the grime off her skin and the smell of the wilds from her hair, Illyria bundled her hair to one side and sat by the crackling fire she had made. Only when she was satisfied her hair was dried enough and her skin hot to touch, she laid in bed for what seemed like an hour, but in reality five minutes felt like a lifetime when she realised she was not comfortable.

The bed was perfect, for some. Illyria was unused to the idea.

The next few minutes would be quite curious for those able to hear her moving in the room.

Scraaaaape.

Illyria used her strength, what she could reach behind her exhaustion, and pushed the bed into the corner. She clawed at the blankets and shoved them under the bead, the pillows too. She spent a minute fussing with them, arranging them into the perfect cluster of comfort before nestling herself amongst her creation. Illyria had recreated her den, the small space allowed her to breath, to feel safe.

She felt safer with Crux next to her, and it was that heat she hated to miss at that moment.

Crux
 
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As furious as Crux had been, the temptation to catch a few extra hours of sleep was certainly present. Try as he might, however, he was brimming with energy after having a few days to recover, and a nap just wasn't in the cards for him. Meditation, too, was difficult when he was having so many conflicting thoughts.

No choice then. Clean yourself up, grab a bite to eat, and get your act together. Now isn't the time for this sentimental softie shit.

He might have been hotheaded, but Crux wasn't the type to let himself be bogged down by things for too long. He'd spent too much of his time in the past angry at things he couldn't control. Now, he'd learned better. Now, Crux preferred to focus that fury on what was ahead of him, rather than behind. Splashing some water onto his face and taking in a deep breath, he did just that.

After soaking in a hot bath for about an hour, and eating a rather hefty meal delivered from the kitchen downstairs, Crux's head had cleared considerably. The nagging headache and anger towards the Wolf-Girl had subsided, for the moment. These... reservations... would need to be dealt with eventually, but it was far too early for him to let his own personal frustrations to get in the way of their business. It wasn't his way of doing things.

Now, he needed to deal with the present issue he'd created himself.

Leaving his room and standing in front of the next door over, Crux stood before it for a time, mulling over the words he planned to use before rapping his knuckles quickly against the thin wood. "I'm coming in. Don't lose your shit." Was all the warning he gave her before turning the handle of the door and stepping inside.

There were several questions that came to the front of his mind as he looked upon the scene in front of him. The bed had been shoved across the floor and into the corner, stripped of everything that had been on it. There was no sign of Illyria, as though she'd vanished along with the bedding itself.

Well, almost no sign. If you ignored the pair of pale feet sticking out from under the foot of the bed.

"Enjoying yourself?" He deadpanned, leaning on the doorframe. "Gonna crawl out, or do I have to deliver an apology to a bed?"

Illyria
 
Sleep has wrapped their fingers around her mind, encasing her body in a light slumber before a knock came to her door.

Illyria stiffened, waiting for the threat to make another move before she attacked.

But it was Crux, it was only Crux. And she was human, not a wolf.

She curled up, waiting a moment before answering. "Give me a second."

Illyria moved the pillows out of the way, creating a space for her to drag herself out from under the bed. She had put on the clothes she wore earlier back on after her bath, having forgotten anything worthy to sleep in now she was no longer in the comforts of her den. Civilisation was seen as a place she could not bare down to her skin and sleep, afraid that someone would drag her to the streets and call her a bastard of evil for her trickery.

But she would not put that worry to him, not after the way he snapped at her earlier.

Illyria stood, leaning against one of the posts to the bed. "Well? The bed and I are listening."

Crux
 
Crux's admittedly was tempted to ask what the hell she was doing underneath her bed, but given that she'd lived in a cave for who knows how long, he couldn't say he was totally surprised by her choice of sleeping method. Besides, saying the wrong thing would just make her get huffy again, and that was the opposite of what he'd come to accomplish.

Crossing his arms over his chest as she quickly scurried out of her makeshift cave and back up to her feet, he waited until she stood before he continued, albeit with a bit of reluctance in his tone.

"I was overly harsh earlier." His eyes darted off to the side; he obviously wasn't used to this whole 'apologizing' business. "Shouldn't have said the whole 'getting soft' thing. It was stupid." There had been a modicum of truth to it; Crux did regret growing as attached to her as he had over the last couple of days, if only because she'd touched his nerves so easily.

"This isn't exactly normal to me either, you know? Neither of us are social butterflies, so we need to stop getting pissy with each other every time we act like... well, us. A forest girl and a runaway slave from the Blightlands. It'll just make this harder."

This was going to happen again; with the two of them being the socially stunted people they were, it was unavoidable. If they were going to make this work, they needed to coexist. That meant he had to swallow his stubborn pride, and she had to try and communicate a good deal more than she was.

Uncrossing his arms, he slouched a bit as he let out a small sigh, looking behind her to the mess she'd made.

"Regardless. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like I was blowin' smoke up your ass. Just not used to having a travel partner I actually don't mind being around." Nodding his head toward the bed, he raises an eyebrow.

"Alright. Elephant in the room, the hell is going on in here?"

Illyria
 
Illyria's expression formed a gentle doubting look as he spoke, and it left her wondering if she truly were out of touch as he had said. She had thought he understood her at a certain level, but perhaps he didn't in the end. She dropped her gaze, staring at her bare feet and wondered if she should put her socks back on if she planned on sleeping soon.

But her attention was pulled back to Crux, the word sorry shaking her thoughts and widened her pale jade eyes. Illyria softened her stance, standing upright and clearing her throat as she processed his apology.

And then he brought attention to the room.

"Oh..." Illyria stepped in front of the bed, as if that would shield it's new position. "I just... I tried sleeping on it, with the pillows down the side... but I felt as if I would roll onto the extra space in my sleep and fall." Colour touched at her pale cheeks, but Illyria stared Crux in the eye. "Then I thought it was much too bright and open. Like you said, I am a forest girl. I needed something familiar to help sleep..."

To finalise her word and say that was all there was to her answer, Illyria shrugged.

Crux
 
Crux had made his best effort to be as half-assed and backhanded with his apology as possible, but it still ended up sounding rather genuine. Apparently being bad at apologizing went hand-in-hand with being bad at pretending to apologize.

Thankfully, Wolf-Girl didn't seem to have much to say in response to him. She simply looked around a bit, almost as if she were distracted. When he finally got to the proper apology part of his little spiel, she finally looked him in the eyes and... again, said nothing.

That was easier than he'd expected.

It wasn't until he let his curiosity about the bed get the better of him that she found words, explaining that she just wasn't comfortable with the set-up provided to her. Crux raised an eyebrow and grumbled. "Suppose you haven't slept on a proper bed in so long that your body isn't having it. Makes sense enough..." He shrugs. Still, he doubted that shoving herself underneath the bed and curling against the wall was going to help much. If anything, she'd start noticing the smaller differences, and they'd bug her just as much as the big ones.

"If I wasn't standing here trying to be all nice, I might give you a hard time about not knowing how to use a bed." Crux chided, walking past her to tug the bedding out from under the frame. This damned forest-woman... he couldn't have her falling asleep on him once they were through the portal stone. He needed her on her feet. "Come on then. Not like I have anything better to do. You can lay between me and the wall."

Illyria
 
  • Ctuhlu senpai
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Illyria watched him get closer, stepping past her and tending to the sheets she had not bothered freeing from between base and mattress. She turned around and fished out the other sheets, the pillows too. Throwing them onto the once pristine and made bed she had disturbed.

"I can sleep on my own, perfectly fine." She lightly whined, but she hadn't exactly stopped him either. She could have said thank you to the apology and closed the door, or even ask him to go...

But she hadn't.

He waited for her to cross to her designated side, laying on her back awkwardly as she pulled the sheets and thick blanket over herself. At least, parts of her. The way she would when alone in her den, those rare times she chose to be human to sleep. Illyria turned her head to watch Crux, waiting for him to climb onto the bed just as she had done.

The clothing she wore, as loose as it was initially, had twisted around her and she fidgeted with it to loosen it from her limbs and frame. Before he had made comments on her appearance, how she looked not bad in these clothes, Illyria would have pulled them off herself, but a sense overcame her. An awareness. Clearing her throat, she then turned to her side, facing the wall... and readjusting her loose clothing.

"Did you eat?" She asked, closing her eyes.

Crux
 
  • Devil
Reactions: Crux
"Well, the skid-marks on the floor beg to differ on that one, Wolf-Girl. I'm staying." She could whine all she wanted, but she'd already demonstrated that she, in fact, could not sleep fine on her own. Crux rolled his eyes, pulling at the straps of his clothing to undress every bit as nonchalantly as he had before, as though nothing had changed between them. In his mind, nothing had.

It wasn't until he was actually tucked into the bed with her, pressed gently against a body curled against the wall and wrapped uncomfortably in tangled clothing that he realized maybe this wasn't the same situation they'd been in only a night prior. In her den, the Wolf-Girl had griped, but hadn't shown any qualms about pressing against him or being bare.

So why now was she shirking away from him? Keeping herself clothed despite the fact it looked like they were constraining her more than concealing her? It shouldn't have bugged him, but it did, even moreso than the less-than-luxurious mattress they laid on, or that his hair was still ever so slightly damp from the bath. Ugh, even in an Inn he felt like he was sleeping in a cave.

Shifting his body onto his side, Crux stared at Illyria's back as she tried to make small talk. At the very least, he was glad she was facing the other way so she couldn't see how absolutely unimpressed he looked.

"Yeah, I ate, washed up. Did everything I said I was gonna do. 'Cept the whore thing." He muttered back, his lips wearing a smirk she couldn't see. "Suppose that's no big deal though. Little birdie told me they aren't wild enough. All pretty and no grit."

Reaching out, Crux placed a hand on part of Illyria's back still covered by the bunched up shirt she wore. Had his sarcasm really fucked with her head that much? At the time, he'd thought nothing of it, but...

"Hey Illyria? You look good." This time, it wasn't said with a teasing intonation, or with an asterisk added to the end of it. "You looked good crawling out of a cave wearing nothing but dirt, and you look just as good in these old clothes. Don't let what I say fuck with you. I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, alright?"

His hand slid slower, to an exposed part of her back.

"And don't let my bullshit force you to wear this makeshift straightjacket, yeah?"

Illyria
 
She had thought his hand would scare her, make her jump and shy away but she relaxed. Illyria let out a comforted exhale, even if his words stirred her.

It was not what he had said, it was what the words had brought to the surface. Because of what she could do, she could not be accepted by the people she had been born to. She had been abandoned, let alone to wither and die, but her very magic to shift saved her.

What would save her from the feelings Crux made her experience? Was she desired, or worthy of a compliment.

Gods, perhaps she was fucked over what he said.

Illyria sighed, deeply this time. Relieving her lungs the burden of air that filled them.

"I never used to care what I looked like." Until you said something. Illyria rolled inwards, ending up on her stomach. She had not wanted his hand to stop, liking how soothing his touch had been at the barest of her skin. Illyria stared into the pillow she didn't use. "Because I never spent so much time with someone to begin to care. I... I live outside this body, this body I was born into, and the times I catch myself in a moment of awareness... I think, wow, how have I lived this long and look as if I could die within days? But... I keep still. I become aware of my heart sometimes, feeling how much it would beat..." She turned her head to see Crux. He looked liked he spoke without armour, without the sharpness or the bite he usually spoke with, but to see it on his face?

"Coming here... I feel being amongst people, they would only turn be to the wild again." And she wouldn't speak it, she would not give it her breath to speak it into life and existence. She wanted to be alone, but also not.

Illyria pushed herself up, turning to the wall again. Crux didn't need to listen to her woes, to her explain the deepest wounds he could not see, even as she unbuttoned her shirt, undid the laces of her vest. She pulled the clothing free from the loosely wrapped belt she still wore to keep her trousers up. They truly were a contriction around her.

Crux
 
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