Blacktail Deer Plateau i'm pulling down stars just to make you glow

nope. her heart wasn't racing at all. it definitely wasn't pounding hard against her ribcage at 150 miles per hour, trying to explode or slip through its cracks or whatever. no, no — her paws weren't trembling with nervousness as she watched mallaidh step through, trying to gauge her reaction, is it good, bad? did she fuck up. oh, god, i fucked up. asdfdhjfhdj, fuck, anyone but her and..m- i mean, fuck no.

but, oh. mallaidh seemed to like it, and saarthal perked up instantly, and though her words were flirty in response to the 'this is beautiful' because she would not be saarth without it, there is an obvious note of genuine sincerity lining the sentence, and the smile tugging at her lips is softer than it'd ever been before, soft and gently sweet, "like you." saarthal swallowed, took a breath to try to calm her racing heart and asked quietly, "come lie down, beside me?"

she lay down, copper eyes facing the sky, wondering if mallaidh would come close. "i come here when things get too overwhelming," saarth began, absentmindedly wondering why she was sharing this in first place, but realising a moment later that she was already too far gone, too drunk on the moonlight and crisp night air and just mallaidh in general that she kept blabbering. "it helps me calm down...and i know we're not going to stay here forever, i mean, i don't know if we are and um - i guess i don't know if we're going to be a 'we', as in our group...not us, haha, um, maybe we'll separate though i don't want to, or you'll kick me out, or um - sorry. i mean - i'm trying to say that i wanted to share this with you because it's special and, like, i don't kn-, um, i mean it's beautiful, the sky, isn't it - my father used to teach me all about the stars and constellations and navigations and you're beautiful as well," and here, she turned to meet mallaidh's eyes somewhat desperately, though she quickly averted her gaze again, "and i wasn't lying when i said i wanted to know you better and i know i'm like, nothing, next to you but-"

saarthal cut herself off and swallowed, falling silent. welp. she just probably made this awkward as fuck. yay, me. go, me. "um, i thought we could spend time to get to know each other, tonight. it's clear, and i guess, romantic? i don't know and um - fuck, i'm sorry, i'm blabbering."