Gale
this is going to break me clean in two --
this is going to bring me close to you
Gale cannot be sure he’ll be himself tomorrow, and in such a world there is no time for long term plans.
This is what he has told himself whenever his mind wanders back to Mazikeen’s question about children. Children are a long-term commitment. Much longer than he’d expected, actually - it turns out it takes years for them to grow up enough to be on their own. Gale’s memories of his own childhood are fractured, and he’s never been around children enough to learn how to tell their age.
Longer than he has, Gale decides as he listens to Mazikeen’s amused explanation. But that would certainly be a delightful way to pass a cold winter night, and at the thought Gale leans against her, enjoying the sensation of being pressed against her from outstretched paw to tail.
“A good way to fill up a summer night, too.” His reply comes as she rests her head across him, and there is the soft rumble of a contented purr deep in the back of his throat. The barrage of questions behind his eyes fade, leaving only the query of if it would be rude to ask if they might try again. Gale has decided that he’ll just start with more kissing and see if she’s agreeable that way, when she speaks up.
The way she pauses, as though choosing the right words, is enough for Gale to know that she’s asking something important, so he tries his very best to pay attention and has to lean away again so he’s not distracted by kissing the very soft place below her curved ear instead of listening.
It’s a good thing he does, because he might have been startled into stopping when she asks, and he’s sure that Mazikeen - with her quick interpretations - would have taken it to mean something other than it does. With that in mind, he is unusually careful in his wording, choosing carefully rather than blurting out and over himself and careful - always careful - to be honest.
“I’d like you all to myself while I have you,” he says, rather than a yes or a no. Neither is right, because he does want to make babies, especially with Mazikeen, but this is not a world in where such a thing is possible. He is smiling as he says it, and he reaches out to brush his cheek against hers. He doesn’t mean to say more, and will not remember adding: “But I think that if you were persuasive enough, I might be inclined to share.”
@[Mazikeen]
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