[open] don't let those butterflies out - any

[Wolfbane]

ALL THE DOUBT YOU'RE STANDING IN BETWEEN

She didn’t know… she couldn’t possibly have known about Gale. There’s nothing in Lilli’s perfectly lovely expression that would indicate her response had been maliciously planned, and Wolfbane had always known that someday this moment would come. Some passing mention of the volcano or death would pop up in conversation and he would have to grit his teeth and power through the pain.

But when she said it - joked about something that’d been so real and terrible in his life - something that should’ve crippled him or probably made him angry… when Lilliana slips up in her eagerness to be cheeky, Wolfbane feels just fine. There’s no gushing wound. The thought of Gale doesn’t take his breath away or make his vision blurry. Maybe he doesn’t smile so honestly in response but otherwise Bane is perfectly fine. He breathes in, exhales deeply and watches Lilli pass without a second thought.

Without realizing it himself, Wolfbane understood that this was what healing felt like.

He reaches to touch her and thinks better of it.
Lilliana passes him by, gleaming in flickers of red-gold light before stopping to gaze backwards. It was easy to raise his head and let his hazel eyes follow, admiring the subtle grace first and the brimming, blue stare last of all. “Sounds hard to believe but I understand exactly what you mean.” Her guide answered with a lopsided grin. The expression darkened his face to a near smolder when the chestnut mare laughed. “About the insanity, and history repeating itself.” Bane’s voice was low, deep.

He trudged forward to top the sloping bank, taking point as another question sprang from Lilli’s thoughts. Intentionally he kept closer; the path through no-man’s forest was narrower than the one leading them away from the meadow. Despite him trying to ignore it, Bane could feel the ghost-like touch of his companion’s breath when it swept off her tongue and brushed against his shoulder.

“Taiga.” He repeated casually, smiling as he flung a haphazard shrug into the conversation, “It was quiet. Almost empty. My mate-” He lets slip, wondering why saying something like the word mate would give him a twinge of anxiety when thinking about Gale didn’t, “-and I thought we could give it new life so we packed up the family and moved.”

For some reason it’s incredibly hard for Wolfbane not to look at Lilliana while he’s saying all of this. At the same time he’s incredibly curious as to what her reaction might be, so at the last moment Bane turns his cheek to glance at the soft lines of her youthful, slender face while they make their way past wooded copse. Is he… expecting her to feel differently about that information? Is he hoping she will? He’s not sure.

He’s not sure that he wants to know, either.

For the moment he just wants them to walk and talk without further tension. Bane quickly adds, “I like a good challenge, Lilli,” in a tone that’s part whisper and part growl, though not exactly meant to be frightening. There’s still a playful, egotistical hint of a smile that shapes those words. “almost as much as I like unexpected things. Taiga is my challenge and you…” He pauses, “are entirely unexpected.”

WITH WOUNDS THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS SEEN

WOLFBANE

@[lilliana]