There is something about the weight of his smile that asks her to stay a while.
Something that tempts her into it.
But it is an anchor and even as she wants to lean into it, she feels the other, more wild part of her already reaching for the unending ocean. She feels the equal hunger to continue swimming, to slip back into the waves, to feel the natural pull of water into her mouth. It creates a split within her that she is unsure of how to bridge; something that nearly splits her down the seams. A discomfort she is not used to.
Her lovely features crease with a frown, with an uncertainty, and she feels a leg lift again, as if outside of her own control. It is the barest of motions, this rocking backward, as if she can feel the water rising up her hip and digging hungry fingers into her. Her ears flick back in response, angling toward the source of that siren call, but she remains rooted, for now. Continues to straddle the line before her.
At his question, she angles her head slightly, sliding her silver gaze back up to his golden eyes.
“He didn’t give me a name for what I am.” She can barely remember the mulberry face of her father now, standing over her as a child, when she was all limbs and fuzz. She can barely remember the beauty of her wintery mother. She just remembers the flood of knowledge and experiences, something that had lived outside of her—something that she can access but can’t quite feel. An untethered tie to this world.
“I am of the ocean,” she frowns as she tries to find a way to explain it to him. The frustration pushes her toward him as tries to demonstrate. She dips her head down into the tide that washes around them, letting it dampen the delicate curve of her muzzle. When she lifts, the silver of her nose glints just slightly. “You are the ocean,” she says as her mouth finds the muscular slope of his neck, letting the water fall down the rough scales of him. “You are water and foam and sand.” Her lips and teeth move closer to his jaw.
“You taste of salt of the water, not salt of the earth.”
She pulls back slightly to find his gaze.
“I am the same.” Another quick smile. “I am of the ocean.”
@[Ivar]