“If I did, I would try,” she continued. “Like when I gave you that hug, remember?”
Like he was cautious, Ingram took a hesitant step. Then he came closer, and closer, until he was towering over her and she was forced to crane her neck.
Emerie didn’t move, unsure of what he was doing.
He placed his palm against the fallen tree, paused, then shoved it to the side. She almost fell over when her back support was gone, but quickly righted herself. Then he walked behind her and slowly laid down until he became her wall instead. She looked over her shoulder at him and noticed he was tense.
The silence that lingered between them as they stared at each other was heavy with an unspoken question on his end. He was waiting to see if she would reject him.
For some reason, despite everything she’d witnessed pertaining to him, she thought this might be the most vulnerable she’d seen of Ingram. His tears had been harrowing but uncontrolled. This was him openly revealing his anxieties.
Was this the wisest position for her to be in? Probably not. If he had another nightmare, he would unwittingly hurt her.
Still, the sadness and loneliness in his yawning blue orbs niggled away at her trepidation. The big Duskwalker wanted to cuddle her like a freaking living teddy bear, and she was unwilling to deny him.
Emerie pet his tail since it was the easiest to reach, showing him it was okay, and all the tension eased out of him. Slowly, like he wanted to be sly about it, he curled around her until she was shielded from the elements on three sides.
Ingram tucked the tip of his tail between her arse and her feet until it was wrapping around her. After a few moments, he grew a little braver, a little more confident.
Using the very tip of his beak, he nudged it against her legs until she was forced to put them into a crossed position. He placed his head on her lap, and once more grew stiff. She eventually lowered her arms until one was resting over his neck with her hand between his short goat horns.
“Is this okay?” she asked, lightly patting the downward crease on his forehead to reference what she meant.
He became completely lax. “Yes. It feels nice.”
“Good. Now go the hell to sleep, or do you need me to sing you a lullaby too?” she tried to tease, in case he had any remaining worries.
When he snorted out a contented huff, Emerie gave him a small smile as tenderness bloomed within her.
Ingram passed out within seconds.
How can a monster… A Duskwalker, who has a skull for a face, be this sweet? She almost pictured him as a gigantic puppy demanding cuddles from their master, wanting to be as close as possible.
After hugging him earlier, and now this, she understood that he meant physically when he said he felt alone.
She kept brushing her fingertips from side to side, hoping the action would help prevent any nightmares. She looked up at the brightening sky with a small smile.
At least this is much warmer.
Ingram quietly grumbled as he paced back and forth in the forest by himself.
Water splashing a small distance away caused his skull to face that direction. The urge to follow the noise niggled at him. Instead, his scales lifted in annoyance, and he continued to pace.
Why will she not let me see?
Emerie was bathing, since the stream had opened up again and allowed her space to dip inside. He’d wanted to stay and protect her, watch her, and just be in her general vicinity.
Although a large part of his reasoning was because he was curious about what lay beneath her clothing, he also just… liked looking at her. Her presence was soothing, and being alone in the forest bothered him.
If she wasn’t constantly on his back while they travelled, he would have stared at her pretty, dot-covered face, or her shiny orange hair, or her light-blue eyes. But she was touching him when she was on top of his back, and that often satisfied him.
Yet, whenever he let her down to walk, he’d found himself examining the mounds on her chest that were so tightly contained by her shirt they barely bounced. Her waist was narrow, and he wondered if he could wrap his hands around it completely until his fingers overlapped.
Her arse was round and pliable from what he felt against him. Her thighs even gained his attention.
Anything that had a barrier between them – from her long-sleeved uniform – was making him more curious by the day.
He was beginning to see her feet, always in shoe coverings, and her elbows as naughty as well. Naughty because she said he couldn’t look or touch when he wanted to. She said only special people could see her without her garments.
She allowed me to sleep next to her last night… His tail swiped to the side as he snorted out a huff. Gave me that hug…
And since both, he had a craving to do them again. To hold her, feel her against him.
He wanted more. He wanted her to touch him again until she brought forth liquid pleasure, and he was beginning to wonder if he could return it.
I would like to make her feel good. She made him feel good, both physically, with her hugs, pats, and sleep cuddles, as well as… deep inside.
In his loss-and-grief-filled heart. In his mind, where he hadn’t known peace was possible again, until she gave him strange affection that calmed him.
Emerie was kind to him.
She listened to him, she answered his constant questions, and she even played with him – he hadn’t known her sarcasm was a form of playful teasing until she explained it. If something was bothering him, like his memories, she would find a way to distract him until he forgot.
Not once had she made him feel terrible about his lack of knowledge, nor had she made him feel like a monster to be feared and hated. She never looked at him with spite, but rather with a warmness he was realising he’d always craved from others – he just hadn’t known.
The more she did this, the more he felt himself falling into some kind of spell.
Yet, there was an obvious barrier between them.
Not only would she not let him see and touch her unless he was seeking a comforting embrace – which she seemed happy to supply – she also revealed little about herself.
He didn’t know what he was supposed to ask her, and she wasn’t forthcoming with it.
As he’d asked himself many times, he thought, Is it because I am Mavka?
Just because she didn’t treat him like a monster, didn’t mean she… liked him. Or trusted him with her secrets.
Would it have been easier had he been a human?
Ingram paused his pacing so he could reach up to his skull and drift his claws down his raven beak. I am different to her.
His face was different, his body was different. There was nothing about them that was similar. He even had a tail and walked on all fours, whereas she didn’t.
It hadn’t escaped his notice that other Mavka sometimes walked on just two feet.
“Okay! I’m done. You can come back now,” Emerie called out.
He immediately headed back over to her, thankful to escape being alone.
Her hair was darker than normal and appeared heavily weighed down by the water. She was just twisting it and wringing it when he came upon her.
“It’s a really nice afternoon and my body is a little sore from sitting still all the time,” she said, dipping her blue eyes over to him. “I’d like to walk for a while before night falls.”
Ingram nodded, having no issue with this, even though she was incredibly slow.