#;birdies

[kokuunokamen]

Surprise! She's been feeling the urge to be close again- and so she sidles up next to him and plops a quick peck upon his cheek.

No complaints from the bird! He sweeps Casey up in his arms in response, returning a quick peck on the cheek. He didn’t pull back though, leaning his forehead against her, staring at the unfocused brown of her eyes as he lingered--

                      an invitation for another?

[kokuunokamen]

MERCY KILL KAROL BRUH

“I REFUSE.”

[kokuunokamen]

It had taken a lot of thought to come up with something for him, given how much the man didn't like sweets. And flowers would just wilt and die... But he was fairly good with his hands. After some searching, he'd found the right materials, and now, with a brilliant smile, he held the finished product out to Raven: a thin bracelet with green, gray, and purple beads ( he'd only hurt himself shaping them a couple times, it was fine ). He took a breath, then said, "Happy Valentine's Day." ... Dad.

Considering the nature of the holiday, Raven hadn’t expect attention from anyone other than Casey. Yet here Karol was, and he looked so darn excited. He can pull away from his affections towards his partner for this, so he accepts the gift and returns with an affectionate pat on the head.

With his free hand he examines the handmade beads before slipping it on. “Thank you Karol.”

[kokuunokamen]

Everyone else had been hard to shop for, hard to decide just what they wanted for their holiday presents. But him? No, she had picked this out when the weather began to turn. With the big day only a week away, she started the multi-part present by leaving it in a bag upon the table. She was rushing about to get the rest of her preparations done, so the house would likely be empty today, but within he would find a large purple sweater. On it was embroidery to match his favored jacket.

Winter was always a hard time. Usually, for the bird, it meant migrating. He always had some excuse or another to go south, and the Don would allow it. But this winter was different. Too much work to be done after all, so Raven simply resigned himself to being to being a walking popsicle for the next several months.

Coming home one day to find the bag on the table hadn’t been too surprising, knowing Casey, but the timing gave him pause. It’s still a week away from when presents were to be opened, right? But Casey wouldn’t be so careless as to just leave it out in the open...

So Raven dug right in, confusion and curiosity giving way to a big, stupid grin when it became clear what the contents were.

He wastes absolutely no time in swapping his shirt for the much warmer sweater. Casey is gonna get a big ol’ hug the next time he sees her~ Gotta share the warmth here.

[kokuunokamen]

Runs towards and tackles in a hug tightly--

“Ow,” the protest was soft and didn’t hold much weight. The wound was minor, though it was still having difficulty healing and it didn’t appreciate the jostling. Raven rather not have another trip to the infirmary and risk the scrutiny of the head nurse once more. He returned the hug with his own before making another sound of protest-- this time a wheeze.

“--can’t. Breathe.” He wriggled for some slack. “What’s this about?”

[kokuunokamen]

It's been a long day. She's trudged in after some sort of strain, perhaps patrols or a job, and found him already asleep. Her approach wakes him up of course, but she isn't ready to sleep yet. She doesn't want to sleep. So she sits beside him as he dozes and runs gentle fingers through his hair. He's worried, but she doesn't say anything. Just strokes his hair. And that seems to be okay.

He’d woken gently, but easily identified the sounds of her steps, the familiarity of her movements. He remained relaxed, in that fuzzy boundary between wakefulness and sleep, reacting only to scooch farther back on the bed to make room for her to sit. One hand reached towards her sleepily, making a little more than halfway there before he was tugged farther down by sleep and the soothing motion of fingers through his hair. It took some effort to climb back into a more aware state again.

“Love you,” he murmured, cracking an eye open and giving her a sleepy smile. If she needed to talk, he was here. If she needed nothing more than this, a private, quiet moment of calm and closeness-- that was just fine too.

[kokuunokamen]

"You didn't die because you failed. You died because I did."

Sentence starters | Accepting

He’d slipped, he knew the moment the words left his mouth. Bitterness, resignation, the kind of mindset he worked so hard not to fall back into, especially not in front of her. The reference to his “death” as just that, the disconnect her very presence often challenged. He knew how to get himself out of these lows. On his own, he could sort and bury the memories, the emotions, putting them somewhere they wouldn’t interfere with his everyday functioning. He just needed time and privacy. He’ll be okay. He always was, eventually.

But at her words his head snapped up from where he’d been staring at the empty wood of the desk, examining the whorls and lines on its surface.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he replied immediately, stricken, pulling himself sharply out of a dangerous spiral. It was beyond him to place any blame for that day, to think of it as more than as something that happened to them rather than any cause and effect. But while Raven struggled with helplessness and a sense of no control, she struggled with guilt and responsibility for the lives under her care.

“You never failed us. Stars know you did everything you could.” What was there that they could have done? Their fates had been sealed the moment they stepped foot on that continent, facing a foe they did not understand. No matter what differing courses of actions they took, it would have ended in all their deaths.

And he knew that Casey must know this, on some level. It was different that understanding and accepting it. He reached for her hand, tugging her close.

“Besides, I’m here, aren’t I? Look at me.” He placed a second hand on hers, enveloping it, letting her feel its warmth, fighting back a feeling of hopelessness that was too old, that should have no place here, right now. She needed him to keep it together.

“We survived. We’re alive. We’re okay.”