come hell or high water she is going to have a day with mallaidh. this isn't the same -- or it doesn't feel the same to her -- like when they'd avoid each other before. she doesn't really think furi is avoiding her, anyway, there's just a lot going on and she -- well, she wants to see her friend. who she is, naturally, still completely head over heels for. some quiet part of her has decided that there's no real need for fuss over it, them, whatever. blix will be obviously but silently lovestruck for the rest of time if that's what it takes, even if furi never...returns it. (again?) 

she seeks out the other girl, announcing with more cheer than is strictly necessary, "come with me," and steers her toward the tangle. mallaidh has always liked the tangle as far as she knows so it makes sense to blixen to bring her along to scope it out, given it's the only other neighboring space besides the sound, she thinks. there's no way this could possibly be a bad plan at all!

once they're actually walking together, a strange, awkward silence falls on them, unlike their usual companionable silences -- has it been too long since they were together alone, she wonders, or is she just doomed to be a bundle of nerves for the rest of her life? she's not an anxious creature the way furi is at all, but lately... there's so much to say and so much she needs to do. 

she channels her nervous energy into their path, only the tangle is dense and confusing and blix has never been able to make any sense of it. furi doesn't chime in so she assumes she must be on an okay trail, but after the fourth time she finds herself trapped by thick vines entangling her legs, she wriggles and huffs, a low frustrated noise. "you're so good at navigating through here somehow," she says, half complaining, half admiring, "how the hell do we get through?"

mallaidh frees her and takes off before she can orient herself. blix tries to keep up but she could not be more abysmal at it, losing her within what feels like seconds. how on earth does she move so fast when she's nearly twice blix's size? 

a little frustratedly she presses forward, taking a stab at where she thinks her friend has gone. she can hear sounds all around her, rustling and the distant thrum of running water, and a muffled voice she assumes is furi's, though she can't quite make out the words. it's better than nothing, so she surges after it, hoping to essentially strongarm through the thick barricade of foliage. 

it does not go as planned. the twisted branch furi easily goes over catches her; she careens into the vines, her panicked squirming only tightening their grip on her until she spills out near furi, still bound to the tangle, and entirely upside-down. 

"hi," she says sheepishly, resigned to her fate.

she feels like she should be more annoyed than she is, but seeing furi laugh as she comes closer eases a little of the tension she's been carrying. really blixen could stay like this forever, watching her friend rescue her from her tangled prison, a soft smile on her mouth. "my hero," she teases before being unceremoniously dropped to the ground with a yelp. mallaidh's nose on her cheek makes it better as she gets up, following easily and trying to listen to her instructions.

"okay," the fleimkepa says, expression a little dubious. for being as petite as she is, blix has never been a light walker -- stealth is not her forté. still, she tries, paying attention to the feel of the vines as they brush her ankles. "is it all like this?" she asks, glancing from her feet to mallaidh (and only stumbling a little bit). she hasn't said out loud her exact reason for making furi explore with her yet, but her own protests against the tangle are beginning to melt away with the graceful movements of her companion. she just looks so... at home here. blix wants to capture that image forever and hold it against her chest. she can't do that, but she can... well. we'll see.

mallaidh makes it look so easy, if she wasn't busy trying to watch their footsteps, blixen would be distracted by the fluid grace of her movements. she's always thought her friend was beautiful, but somehow she looks different than she did before she left -- more confident in her body, maybe. a sort of natural looking elegance to her steps that blix lacks, despite being seemingly built for it. blixen is .. not clunky, but brusque in her movements, much more heavy-footed. 

she listens to mallaidh's descriptions as they walk, her tongue running along her teeth in thought. actually, strategically, the tangle is interesting -- the dense and difficult vines offer a sort of protection from external forces. and true to her word, they finally make it through the natural barrier, the open inside of the tangle finally revealing itself to her. she's always been too impatient to make it this deep. "woah," blix murmurs, taking in the sight of the clearing and then the tree, weirdly beautiful as it is. she noses at the base of it silently, intrigued. after a few moments she lifts her head and fixes mallaidh in her gaze. "you really like it here, yeah?" blix asks, because about 90% of her thought process here is contingent on that fact -- and once it's confirmed she'll explain her plan.

well, fuck, that settles it. "i think we should live here," she says abruptly, then clarifies, blushing, "the new branch, i mean. we can't take the sound but i still want to be close and --" if you love it here -- "i just think it makes the most sense." and it does, honestly. they'll get to stay close to drageda, close enough for blix to be comfortable. furi will be happy (and let's be real that's her main priority), and the actual layout of the tangle is an advantage to them, especially with hostile enemies so nearby.

she peers at mallaidh anxiously for her reaction. "i mean, if that's -- what do you think?" blix asks, shy suddenly. she feels.. transparent, as if her thoughts are clearly written on her face. it's not that she's tried to obscure anything from her friend, on the contrary, but in a different light, this is essentially blixen's way of proposing -- oblivious, well meant, shortsighted and opaque.

maybe its too much -- furi's protective of her spaces, blix knows that. she's opened her mouth to take it back (haha just an idea no presh we can find somewhere else) but mallaidh beats her to the punch, not rejecting but agreeing. "oh," blix says, the air escaping her in a sigh as she receives her cheek kiss, "y-yeah." she can recognize now that it's a big deal, mallaidh agreeing to share somewhere so important; she wishes she'd asked in a smoother way, but all that matter is that approval in the end.

blix is floating on cloud nine, warm and happy and easy to persuade to follow. the den mallaidh leads her to looks cozy, perfectly hidden in the heart of the tangle, and instantly stamped into her heart as home. whatever lingering annoyance at the tangle she feels is gone in the face of furi disappearing inside the mossy entrance. she follows, eager to press close as she's allowed, her voice oddly quiet as she says, "thank you." 

after a moment she adds, "i could stay like this forever," because she can't help but feel a little sappy basically all of the time she's around mallaidh.

it's hard. it's so hard -- she'd spent so long trying to puzzle through every misstep she'd made with furi before, her obliviousness, her single-mindedness, every moment she failed to connect the dots right in front of her. their time apart forced her to grow and to really work to earn mallaidh's affection, but she's scared still. scared she'll do something wrong or miss her cue, scared she still won't be enough. and could anyone ever be enough? blixen is slow but she's starting to understand how mallaidh is -- so full of love and want that no one person could be everything for her. is that something she can deal with? she isn't sure, but she's tired of feeling defensive, and she knows mallaidh doesn't like that, either. maybe one day she'll be enough, or maybe she'll have to learn to share.

right now she doesn't want to worry about either. the vulnerability she feels, the fact that right now mallaidh seems so.. receptive to her--blixen can't hold back from acting on it. don't think about wildfire or her kid siblings or artaax or nomi, don't think about the sound or the captive or even leading the new branch. instead there is: mallaidh. "furi," breathed into the space between them, fragile as glass. 

blixen leans in closer, moving slow -- too afraid to push too hard, too fast -- and returns mallaidh's cheek kiss, grazing gently against the plush fur of her jaw, dropping her head to nose at her neck if she can.

furi yields to her, no, returns her touches. there's no instinctual drive here necessarily, she's right, but there's -- something. wildfire had confirmed, once, that she and nomi had sex, so blixen knows it's possible -- and honestly even if it wasn't she's so determined in this moment to make mallaidh feel good she thinks she could invent lesbian sex if need be. as far as she knows, her and furi are both equally inexperienced, which makes it seem easier somehow. it's up to her to figure it out for them.

"yeah," blixen murmurs into mallaidh's throat, "yeah," and runs her mouth down slowly, nibbling gently at her shoulder, her chest, her sides. loathe to separate even an inch of skin from her, she shifts slowly, entwining herself around mallaidh's limbs, rotating until she can gently mouth at her thighs, teasing, bluffing past her own hesitancy.

what she lacks in experience or knowledge, blix makes up for in enthusiasm and a dedication to getting more noise out of mallaidh, that tiny growl like a sudden flame against her frayed nerves. she doesn't ask for anything in return -- doesn't even think too -- her only focus is furi under her mouth, furi against her fur, furi, furi, furi.

[...]

when at last she parts from her -- not enough to fully separate, but rearranging herself to press close against her side -- she hides her face in mallaidh's scruff, her expression decidedly shy for someone who's had their mouth on nearly every square inch of their companion's body. "how was..?" blix trails off; she hadn't, presumably, been kicked in the face so she thinks she did a pretty okay job, but a little -- it'd just be nice to know for sure. and to cuddle more.

there's no words but mallaidh's reaction makes her giggle, pulling easily toward her -- friend? lover? -- as she drops. she mumbles something vague in trig as she settles against furi's chest, embarrassing sweet nothings she doesn't bother to translate. with her legs tangled in furi's it will be some time before blix feels like rising again -- really, she'll stay close like this, a little nervous but mostly filled to bursting with happiness, as long as mallaidh will let her. eventually they'll make their way back to drageda and blix won't even mind stumbling through the barrier of twisting roots. her mind is made up.

yeah, the tangle's definitely where they've got to settle.