Totoka River baby, when I whisper, can you hear?

Her body is warm against him as she snuggles nearer, fitting against him like she was made specifically to be there, and he flexes his paw against her spine and gives an approving rumble from low in his throat. He really could be happy like this, if it was all she wanted. Just to hold her and have her near, to know she was safe. That would be enough.

And with her pulled close he is distinctly aware of her reaction when he mentions going back to the island – the flutter of tension across her body, the sensation that she might pull away – and his thought of ‘maybe something did happen’ turns into ‘something happened’. For now though, he does not press the subject. The Gampr simply watches her as she draws back to gaze at him, silent by all definitions of the word, and he stares back, nothing but patience and affection for her in his amber eyes.

There is a flicker of understanding on her features then as she nods and draws away from him, and that soothes away some of his concerns. His tail thumps against the ground twice as she moves to stand over him, and he rolls onto his back without hesitation at her behest, wiggling from side to side as if to scratch an itch on his back before going still and relaxed under her – offering up the same pose as she had given to him earlier.

“Yours,” he tells her again with a soft smile and a tilt of his head.