[b] Whispers in the night (Blood like Ice x I Always Come Back)

[Fasti]

Blood Like Ice stood alone in the clearing, her breath curling into the cold night air. She flicked her ear, listening.. nothing there. No wind, no rustling leaves. Just the silence.

Something in her chest felt tight. A weight she couldnt name. She had heard stories of blessings before. Whispers of something unseen, something watching. A presence that arrived in its own time, never called, never rushed.

The doe lowered her head slightly, her hooves pressing into the ground. Would it come to her? Was it already here, hidden in the dark?

She swallowed, her throat dry.

"I am ready.." her thought was firm, but doubt lingered at its edges. Was she? The words echoed in her mind, but did she truly believe them? She wanted to be. She wanted to give strength, to give her kids a future where they can be happy. She wanted them to have warmth and safety.

Blood Like Ice took a slow breath, pushing all negative thoughts away. She couldnt allow fear to take over. Whatever came, she would face it.

The doe lifted her head, whispering "please guid me", her gaze steady as she waited.

[Baneful]

"Be careful what you wish for" came a low, sonorous voice from the shadows, and something moved there, pulling away from them as though it was made of darkness itself. Unfolding before her, the thing turned antennae like appendages in her direction which turned out to be ears as the shadows withdrew, clustering around his shoulders instead.

"What is it that brings you here? Is it greed? Have you told yourself its noble?" he smiled with razor sharp teeth as blood dripped from the open wound on his chin.

"I can give you a blessing, but you must give me the satisfaction of knowing what truly drives you." he said, as the dark tendrils wreathed him, waving contentedly. "How much are your future children worth?"

[Fasti]

Blood Like Ice stiffened. The voice slithered through the silence. Her ears flicked, instinct screaming at her to run.. to turn away from whatever had just peeled itself from the shadows.

But she held her ground. The figure before her was unlike anything she had ever seen. Its form seemed to shift, caught between solid and smoke, its ears.. no.. not ears.. not truly.. twisting toward her. And then, that smile. Sharp. Hungry.

The scent of blood reached her nose. Her eyes flicked to the wound on its chin, to the way the dark tendrils curled and moved as if they had minds of their own.

Then it spoke.. It was testing her.

"You speak as if you already know my heart," she said. "If I say I do this for love, would you believe me? If I say it is for the future, for something greater than myself, would you call me a liar?" Her tail flicked. "Or doesnt it matter?" she continued, tilting her head slightly. "Maybe what drives me is not the question. Maybe the real question is.. what does it mean to you?"

[Baneful]

Will smiled the way only he could smile as the doe offered her answer. He inclined his ears with interest and nodded. His voice was a stark contrast to his appearance, warm and charming, as though once upon a time he had been the kind of buck who could charm the birds from the trees.

"If you said it was for love, I'd simply think you were naive, which has never been unforgivable." he said. "I'm merely curious. I am not here to judge, the swamp judges, I merely wish to understand. The least I could ask for my boon and inconvenience is to understand to whom I give it."

He stretched lazily, his long legs out in front of him. "It costs me to give you this. There's no need to be defensive."

Tilting his head he said. "If you said it was for the future or something greater, I think I'd just say you were a blowhard. But its something, it's a grain of something."

"What I want is to be told something interesting. I am so dreadfully bored."

[Fasti]

Blood Like Ice exhaled softly, relaxing a little, the tension easing just slightly. "I was wrong. You are not here to test me, sorry about that." She watched him, then let her gaze drift past him.

"My reason.." she murmured after a little pause, more to herself than to him. Her voice was calmer now. "I lived in the cold" she began, her voice quiet but steady. "Not the kind that lingers at the edges of the seasons, it was the kind that takes. The kind that seeps into your bones, into your heart, until it is all you know." A small shiver ran through her fur.

She hadnt realized how tightly she had been holding onto her thoughts, her worries. Letting them go felt strange, like stepping onto unsteady ground after standing still for too long. She took a slow breath, exhaling softly. "But I have warmth, too." she said, her voice quieter now, less guarded. "A family. Friends who would not turn away." Her ears flicked. "I ask for this blessing because I want to protect what I have. Because I will not let it slip away."

She met Will's gaze, steady but lighter now, as if a weight had lifted.

[Baneful]

Will listened with incredibly keen attention, his glowing eyes on her, ears inclined towards her tale. His smile had seemed a little rictus before, a little more artificial than one normally saw, but it seemed to melt just a little as she went on, his guard lowering into a more serious, thoughtful expression that felt less like a mask.

"I know what that feels like." he said. "Cold so deep that it lives in you and looks out through your eyes, stifling the world, stifling hope. That is why the shadows aren't fearful to me, like you say, the cold outside does not cut so deeply as the cold that lives within."

He extended one of his tendrils before him, reaching out for her to touch it.

"Feed that warmth, foster it like a flame against the cold. The warmth never drives back the chill forever, but it can see that you survive the long night. Having something to fight for is valuable beyond measure."

His defensive smile seemed to remember to return to his features.

"And have a large family."

[Fasti]

"He understands me", Blood Like Ice thought. She hesitated for a moment before she leaned forward, gently touching the tendril with the tip of her snoot. The feeling was hard to explain, a little strange, but not in a negative way. She felt warmth spreading as his words sank in and smiled as it eased the weight on her chest.

"Thank you", she said. "Your words.. they mean a lot to me!"

Her tail flicked again, it had been a long time since she felt peace like this. She got a promise, a future she could protect, something warm to hold onto. "I will keep it close," she said, meeting his gaze. "I will fight for it!" The warmth, the family, the future, she felt ready.