Valiel flinched as he pushed his face against her wound. She bit her lip to keep from making a noise, because she was glad he'd done it and didn't want him to feel bad. It just hurt is all.
But he seemed calm, and that was what she wanted.
No. She realized that calming him wasn't all of it. I want him happy.
Phalakros felt Valiel flinch and realized that he was against her wound. He didn’t want to straighten though, so he gently shifted his head closer to her neck and away from her wound.
“Forgive me,”he said softly.
For some strange reason, he was more content with his face in her neck than on her shoulder. It confused him, but he wasn’t going to complain. This was the calmest he’d been since he left Lucitius’ home to explore.
Valiel rested her head on his as he tucked into her neck.
"You don't need forgiving, Phalakros." She responded gently.
Her stomach gurgled, reminding her that she had eaten yesterday, yes, but had then burned through all those reserves. She was too comfortable here to move though, so she ignored it.
A brief sound came from his throat when she rested her head against his, and it could only be described as a small purr. He then breathed deeply at her words, relieved that she wasn’t upset.
His keen ears overheard Valiel’s stomach, and he realized that he probably needed to eat as well. With the amount of stress his body had just gone through, and was only just starting to recover from, it was likely a miracle that he hadn’t passed out from overexertion yet.
“Shall I hunt us something? Or do you wish to stay like this for a bit longer?”he asked softly.
Just a bit?
"I wanna stay like this…" she said slowly, "but we should probably eat." Valiel sat up and gently disentangled herself from him, only now fully feeling the pain she'd been distracted from. "If you can flush something towards me, I can probably kill it, so neither of us has to do all the work."
Phalakros understood exactly what she meant. He didn’t really want to move at all, and if neither of them had noticed their hunger, he likely would’ve fallen asleep against her and been quite content about it.
But, unfortunately, sometimes things didn’t work out. And, thus, Valiel was letting go of him, and he was letting go of her. Almost immediately afterward, he was tempted of hugging her again and just ignoring his hunger, but it likely was better for both of them if they ate first.
“Are you certain? I can catch smaller creatures, such as rabbits, with little trouble,”he asked, concern in his voice.
Valiel shifted back to the wolf, her movements slow. "I'm certain. We'll get more food off of something we work together on." She slunk into some bushes, scenting the wind. "I'll follow your lead."
Phalakros watched her, still concerned, but nodded at her words. She was right. Rabbits weren’t nearly as satisfying as a deer.
“M… mine lead? I… I have never led before,”he gasped.
After a few moments, Phalakros took a couple deep breaths and morphed, flapping away into the trees. He didn’t use too much speed, and he also stayed within sight of Valiel, just in case of any emergencies.
Valiel gave a reassuring yip, unable to smile at him as a wolf, hoping he'd get the point. She followed him, keeping in cover but staying close enough for him to see her in order to flush prey towards her.
Phalakros squawked back in acknowledgment, appreciating the comfort.
After a few minutes of flying, he picked up the scent of another deer. He searched the area, following the trail until he came upon the grazing creature. He then silently fluttered to the opposite side of the deer, and checked where Valiel was.
When they were both in good positions, he swooped down and squawked repeatedly, loudly flapping his wings and diving for the deer. It shrieked and bolted toward Valiel, and Phalakros followed.
Valiel watched and waited and when the deer was just a few feet from her, she shifted to the bear and tackled the fleeing prey, using her weight to bring it down and smother it. She broke its neck with her gargantuan jaws and it died quickly.
Valiel immediately shifted back to human, flopping back on the ground and laying there, panting. Her body was begging her to slow down. She smiled up at Phalakros.
"Well done."
Phalakros shot upward and out of the way when Valiel struck, perching on a branch above and watching. When she morphed back to human, he dove down, morphed to his true form, and kneeled next to her. He smiled a bit when she spoke, but his face quickly changed to concern.
“Are you alright?”he asked softly.
She nodded slowly, still breathing heavy. "I'll be ok… just need… to eat and… heal…" She tried to sit up, but her body wouldn't respond. Instead, it shifted her to the cub form from the other day when she'd been so tired. The wounds from the night previous were so much more obvious on this little form, and they looked so much worse.
Phalakros cautiously nodded at her words. He then moved to help her up, but she instead morphed. He paused at the sight of her wounds, a bit shaken by how drastic they seemed now. After a couple deep breaths though, he looked at the deer, then back at Valiel.
“D… do you wish to stay here? Or to return to our little… ‘camp’, I believe? I can carry you if you wish,”he asked, his voice gentle and timid.
Valiel thought for a moment. "We don't need the fire and that was about it. We can both eat the meat raw, so we can stay here?" She tried to stand, to walk over to him and help with the deer, but her little legs immediately gave out, and she collapsed.
“That is right. I had nearly forgotten that we do not need the fire,”Phalakros said with a chuckle. He then nodded, perfectly alright with staying where they were at.
Phalakros watched her, his eyes widening when she fell, and he gently reached over and picked her up. He cradled her against his chest, being careful of her wounds.
“Forgive me for picking you up. I… It bothers me seeing you hurt like this, especially since it was by mine own hands. I wish I knew some healing sorcery,”he breathed.
Valiel mewled involuntarily when he picked her up. She immediately blushed under the fur, embarrassed at herself, but… he was being caring and… It felt nice. She had always tried to be the one taking care of people, and being cared for instead was… wonderful.
"…. You don't need forgiven, Phalakros." she said again. "It wasn't your fault. And I'll heal quickly. Just need some food in my system." She snuggled into his chest without really thinking about it.
Phalakros tried his best not to get panicky when Valiel mewled, as he wasn’t sure why she’d done it. Though, once she started speaking, he mostly calmed.
“Yet… that ‘thing’ is part of me, to the bones and deeper. It is me, even though it is not,”he insisted quietly, his voice shaking slightly.
He barely registered the way she snuggled into him, but it definitely comforted him. It nearly made him forget about the deer, but Valiel’s need for food lingered in his mind.
Phalakros glanced up at the deer, contemplating how he could butcher it without having to let go of Valiel. After a moment, an idea came to him. He had inherited some of his father’s Bone Sorcery. Not much, but maybe enough to be useful.
He gently shifted one of his hands, this way he could aim it at the deer, and he called upon his inherited sorcery, channeling it through his fingers. Initially, there seemed to be no effect, but after a moment, the belly of the deer tore open as a rib bone grew out of it. The bone split, continuing to grow, and made a perfect slit in the belly, then flattened and spread under the skin, pushing it off to expose to the meat underneath. Then, the bone disintegrated into nothing, returning the rib to normal.
Phalakros’ hand lowered a bit afterward, and a wave of exhaustion hit him. It had been a long, long time since he’d actually practiced with his inherited sorcery, and, combined with previous events, it was definitely taking its toll.
“Food is ready,”he mumbled, chuckling drowsily. His eyelids drooped, and his body swayed slightly.
Valiel hadn't meant for him to go to any trouble. She had closed her eyes for just a second, and suddenly he was saying the food was ready, and when she looked up, he was as tired as she was. She pulled herself to her feet and jumped down off his arm, shifting to the wolf form, which just seemed to be easiest at the moment, and tore off a big chunk of the carcass as carefully as she could. She turned and set it on the ground right in front of Phalakros, before turning and tearing off one for herself. She walked around behind him and laid herself down, so that if he swayed backwards, he could lean against her. She tore into the chunk and started feeling better almost immediately.
Phalakros was steadily dozing off until Valiel jumped off of him. He straightened, grunting drowsily, then watched Valiel. He was a bit confused by what she was doing until she sat down and started eating. Then he remembered, food.
Phalakros shook his head, trying to wake himself up a bit, then started cutting into his chunk of meat and eating it. He managed to eat most of the meat before his exhaustion returned. Phalakros leaned back, barely registering that he was against soft fur, and almost immediately fell asleep.
Valiel finished her chunk and was going to eat more, but Phalakros had leaned back against her and fallen asleep. She put her head down and also went to sleep, although she tried to keep from passing out entirely, so at least one of them was alert.
A long while passed in relative quiet, allowing the pair to get a fairly good amount of sleep. Then, Phalakros started to twitch. First, it was just fingers and toes, but it quickly progressed to arms and legs.
Within a few minutes, his whole body was jerking and squirming, as if he was trapped and trying to escape something. Small whimpers echoed from his throat, and maroon tears leaked from his closed eyes.
Valiel lurched awake, and immediately shifted to her human form, which placed Phalakros's upper body in her lap. She gently shook his shoulders, before switching positions so she was laying next to him, and wrapping her arms around him. "Phalakros! Wake up, you're ok, it's ok." She tucked his head into her shoulder and shook him a little harder, trying to brace herself for when he woke up.
Phalakros didn’t wake when she morphed, or even when she shook him. Instead, his breathing became increasingly erratic, like he couldn’t catch his breath. Her calls seemed to do something, but he still didn’t wake until she shook him again.
He burst awake with a loud gasp for air, pushing away from Valiel. Continuing to pant, almost like he’d nearly drowned moments ago, Phalakros looked around hurriedly, eyes wide with panic. He didn’t seem to comprehend where he was.
Valiel didn't move towards him, just held out her hands where he could see them. "Whoa, whoa, hey, you're ok, it's me, it's Valiel, you're alright. Just breathe, you're alive, you're in control, the sun is shining and you're healthy." She spoke hurriedly, slowing her words down as she went in order to help calm him. She pushed calm, as before, but it was weak and she knew it wouldn't have as much effect. Her first instinct was to hold him, but she knew until he recognized her and the situation, that wasn't a good idea. He was much bigger than her and those claws would shred her if she wasn't careful.