don't talk to me the rest of the time we sink. don't talk to me; i'm cold!

@Olive

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she was — she wasn't

where was she?

she was gone. gone, and he hasn't known where.

she was totally out range of her tracker, by which she was out of his sight. and that was wrong. bad. bad bad bad.

the scent was there though. he wasn't much of a tracker, but he had superhoned on her scent. he had to be, after all, he was her parole officer.

it took him a while, not because he was distracted or anything, no, but she had gone so far. it was...starting to get on him...

when he found her he was half covered in early snow, his winter coat protecting him from the worst of the chill. “uhhmmmm,” he approached her, tail swaying. “olive? what the fuck?”
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If, in some small corner of her heart, Olive had actually wanted to evade the grasp of Benry, then she had succeeded in her quest. The truth was less of that, and more that Olive was a traveler at heart who simply doubted that Benry would have the desire nor the drive to follow her, only for the sake of his self-proclaimed Parole Officer duties. Was she going to let a creature other than herself dictate what she was to do, and where she was to spend her time? Hell no — and perhaps that right there was the reason Olive had never risen through the ranks of a pack, or taken a mate. She was far too independent, and not yet willing to compromise her wishes.

That, of course, didn't account for others' wants and needs, however. "Benry!" The woman gasped, heart sent into a burst of pounding convulsions at his sudden appearance. She hadn't been doing much more than digging and playing in the snows, and it felt downright unnatural to be seeing this feline amongst the cold and the frost. Surprise and disbelief prevented her from fully ascertaining the frustration in his voice. The woman bounded up to him, honestly somewhat pleased at seeing her friend/captor. "What are you doing here?You came all this way?"

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he literally

---

he looked the complete opposite of a hardened parole officer. instead, his wide pupiled eyes and increasingly fluffed up fur made him look like a child begging for dessert or a puppy. even though he was significantly more physically imposing than her, his hunched shoulders and tucked head shrunk him. to cap it all off, he pouted, trembling lower lip and all. “bro...you juss...you just left wit'out sayin' anythin'...” he squeaked out. “thasss, thass not cool, bro...”
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Despite Olive's friendly approach, Benry was quick to express his displeasure over her unceremonious departure. It was almost immediate, how Olive realized she had assumed the lion would react out of anger; but instead, he crumpled and whimpered, looking very much like a neglected kitten. Olive's lips parted and she paused, attempting to put words to the thoughts that flitted through her mind, but suddenly anything she could say seemed so harsh and inconsiderate. She hadn't expected him to react like this.

The waif couldn't help how her entire stature fell: nose, ears, gaze, head, tail, shoulders, all of it drooped down as she realized her true propensity to hurt another who had, ultimately, been nothing but kind. "I'm sorry Benry," Olive beseeched, pressing her voice to emphasize the word sorry. "I just... I needed some time." Okay, okay. Olive was sorry, but she didn't really regret it. If Benry was going to be a permanent fixture in her life, they would have to learn some boundaries, lest she make another hasty escape to some faraway land. "I'm not usually this close to someone, for so long," Olive attempted to explain, slinking forward a step or two. If she knew he had been hurt instead of mildly frustrated, well, she probably would have invited him along.

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he looked away from her, his focus not allowing him to stare at the woman for too long. “yyyyya could've...vvvvsaid sum'n...” he flinched suddenly at her approach, as if he had forgotten that she had been there. his nose wriggled as he looked her up and down. “wanna kiss?”
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Olive bit down on the inside of her cheek as Benry continue to lament her sudden disappearance. This was the first time it occurred to Olive that, perhaps she had been testing Benry somewhat: see just what his commitments were made of. Olive vacillated endlessly, with her sole dedication being only to the Gods, so the concept of sticking with someone for the sake of partnership was a foreign one, to her. She hadn't been a very good partner, after all.

Olive, too, glanced away from Benry. "I know, I'm sorry, I've just... never had to consider someone else before," she explained again, as if this reasoning could stand alone. "I should have said something, or asked for you to come..." Her voice, somehow breathless, trailed away and a silence fell between them as both creatures lapsed into thought. Eventually Benry, as he always did, brought her back to the present.

Olive couldn't help the giggle that pealed from her lips as he wiggled his pink nose at her. "Get out of here," she laughed, lifting up paw and pushing it against his neck, as if dramatically moving his face away from hers. With this transition, a slow, methodical wag took over her tail, and her ears tucked back with sudden intention. Olive lifted her gaze. "If I... wanted to move somewhere else, would you... want to, also?" the woman mumbled, wondering if she could blame her independent spirit for her social awkwardness a third time.

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in reality he was much the same as her. it wasn't the first time, but it had been a long time since he had someone else in his life. he thought he'd forgotten what it was like.

“bleh,” he licked at her forelimb, not content to go without a kiss. “uh, yeah? i have to? s'my job.” he looked at her curiously, as if she was making a ridiculous request or asking a stupid question.
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As she waited those microseconds between her question and Benry's reply, Olive found that her breath stuck in her throat and her belly lurched with nervousness. What if he said no? But Olive wouldn't have to cross that impasse, not yet; Benry was dedicated to his duty, dedicated to her, and it pleased her greatly. She had never had a true friend before. "Cool," the sylph agreed with a smile, and a distinct nod of her head.

Then, of course, she immediately began to divulge the plan she had been concocting. Her trip to the tundra had been productive, in many, many ways. "There's a woman I met — I feel we could find a great hearth and home amongst her lands. You should meet her." Olive spoke fondly of Riannon, though her encounter was not necessarily one that was positive. However, Olive wasn't looking for another buddy, she was looking for a leader, and she saw these qualities in the woman; and even far more than that. The two, for whatever reason, shared a soul-bond, and the guarded woman necessitated a seer.

"We must fetch @Archon, though." Olive asserted, raising an eyebrow at Benry, lest he choose this moment to thwart her. "The boy is not meant to live in a hole in the ground."

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she seemed happy, which made him...not happy but not upset or anything. just calm.

emotions were weird for him.

he did know what confusion was, it was most of his being. he squinted at her, his face the picture of suspicion. “she another criminal?” he demanded, wondering how many criminal organizations she was in league with. she was crafty, this sweet-faced girl.

sweet-faced?

“who?” despite basically being attached at the hip to her, he hadn't met most of the pack. she was a loner, and he rarely accompanied her the few times she did interact with others. so it was safe to say that he had no clue what she was talking about.

which was most of their conversations anyway.
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Benry seemed dissonant, but Olive easily forgave him, knowing this to be his nature (and who wasn't a little spacey after traversing mountains, following a far-faded scent?). He was amenable, and that was all she could ask of him; this cat who swept into her life, seeming to have claimed her, and willing to follow her around. Olive often wondered why, as she still believed his entire 'parole officer' role to be a schtick — something silly to obscure a darker truth underneath.

Usually, Olive had no problem indulging Benry's small fantasy that she was a criminal, and he, a hardened cop. Perhaps in some alternative timeline, they actually were. Olive had a slurry of morals that was even hard for a truth-seeker like her to understand, so perhaps it truly did appear to be criminal activity on the surface. Wasn't Little Haven a front for a gang, after all? "I don't believe so," the woman admitted honestly, not wanting Benry to be fearful that she was leading him into a lion's mouth. "A woman named @Riannon," she clarified, proposing a plan she had been musing upon for days, now. "She is a mystery to me," the pale sylph huffed, "...but something pulls me towards her veiled mountain, time and time again." Having instinctively turned 'round to traipse back across the tundra and mountains back towards home, she looked back over at Benry, wondering if perhaps something similar had pulled him towards The Hiraeth in the first place.

At the golden cat's next question, Olive couldn't help but laugh, assuming it to be a joke. Surely he wouldn't forget the boy from the watering hole, who they had both defended from the spitting, venomous man?Archon had a penchant for not introducing himself, but Olive had a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly who she was talking about. "C'mon," said the white witch, rolling her shoulders and continuing back from whence she came, as if she had been waiting on him the whole time.

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