Redhawk Caldera summer skeletons

She tested a smile. "I know that feeling." Having run quite chummy with the currents of grief, Andalusia understood the nature of thoughts to fester and swell. With the solidarity of her trade, she considered herself adept at taming her mind in the presence of silence, but there were days - and recent ones, at that - where the wounds did seep to leak a messy stain into her escapes and travels.

She was pleased to see Sebastian had seen this in himself, and, even more, wanted to act now to avoid falling in too deep. A measure of self reflection did a wolf good, but too much, and life became a dull and passive shadow.

Her grin wavered at the subtle shift of his face - not at all at the brief glimpse of grief, but at the smile he forced back onto his lips the moment he let his guard fall. Did he think he had to pretend? She itched to tell him off for the mask he put on even next to her - that he could weep the sun away, and even that wouldn't drive her from his side.

Instead she tempered her tongue, and tried to settle on what her friend gave her: a downcast heart, and a want for distraction. She swept her tail in a waving arc and grinned despite herself. "Well then, perhaps this distraction can fancy you with a run down to the grasslands?" She flashed a teasing smile, "Unless you've spent so much time with the fishes your legs only remember how to swim." Between his choice of home in the wetlands, and the keenness she'd noticed he held for fishing, she actually wouldn't have been surprised if he'd said they had.