He rests in the cocoon of his created heat, nestled in the belly of it like a promise.
There’s almost a lull to it, a sweet summer song that his body only knows how to rise to. He rides along each crest and wave, crashing to the bottom and lifting with effortless joy. It’s only when her words reach out to him that he stirs at all. Part of him wants to gnash his teeth at the intrusion but there is an equal part of him that aches with curiosity and a desire for companionship—and it’s this part that answers readily.
His crafted summer blows outward, billowing toward the young tigress with his attention. It casts an even larger area in his faux weather, although the temperature is still mild for what it could be. His pupiless eyes stare upon her, curious and seeing, a bristle of flame riding down his young crest and along his spine.
“I did,” he answers, his voice as young as his face—although there is the whisper of the thunderous boom that it someday may become. He tilts his charred head to the side and the stars that surround him settle into the flickering fire, an ode to his twilight mother. At her next question, he frowns a little, his ashen lips pulling down in the corner as though unsure how to answer. Not even sure what she refers to.
His nose wrinkles a little, a reminder of the young boy trapped within the summer storm, and then it smoothes out as though it had never changed at all. “Nothing hurts,” he chooses a blanket answer, not quite sure how to pinpoint what she might mean and figuring it was better than nothing. He glances back up at her bright face, studying it as though he might have to remember every detail later.
A jarring level of intense study from his red eyes.
“Do you hurt?” he counters, wondering if her question came from experience.
@[Nekane]