Mount Apikuni what you know about that? [m]

For the briefest of moments he felt a new warmth fall over him as the little shadow leaned against him. The wailing of the winds seemed to deafen as she did, his muscles tense from shivers loosening. It brought forth a comfort, a sense of belonging, that he hadn't experienced in so long. Memories of the south, with lands so green and air so humid it as as though he were living between two seas - the ocean and the skies. The faintest smells of sea salt in the air tickled his nose...

... but then she pulled away, just as quickly, leaving him where he sat as she walked away.

"Shit!" That warmth immediately replaced with a chilled wave of shame and worry, K stood up and thought about stepping forward before halting in place, "Bhe... I'ma sorry... didn' mean'ta..." The whole reason she had wanted him here was for protection from a creep, for distance, and here the dumbass was brushing right up against her. Stupid. His jaw stammered for a second as he tried to form a cohesive apology, but she spoke first.

"Wha-- Oh..." Ears lowered for a half second, and the boy rolled his shoulders, trying to shake off what had just happened - and failing - before clearing his throat and stepping to the side. With the winds whipping every which way, he took her odd stance simply as an attempt to stay stable, to stay warm, and thought little more of it. "Well er, I'ma guessin' ya never fought b'fore... so we should find yer spark first aye?"

Another awkward clearing of the throat, as any totally calm and collected person might do right?

"Mind if'n I uh..?" His voice was quieter, gentler, as he came up closer to her side, pausing before he came too close. Pausing for a signal that it was okay. If she did, he'd approach with the tenderness of a healer tending to a wound - cautious and observant. "Yer spark... it's ev'rythin'. Yer reason t'fight. Yer foundation... It's yer core, keeps ya grounded, steady, when ya wanna panic. When ya wanna snap." Before you could learn to use your body to fight, you had to learn how to train your mind to. It was the first thing he'd learned as a pup.

"Fer me, it's m'fam'ly. My brotha, m'mom. Ev'ryone else. Lotta dangers out there for'em... they're th'reason I fight... and th'reason I don' when I shouldn'." Head hung, eyes staring forward into the darkness that crept between the fading sun and the stretching shadows against the mountainside, Kukulkan felt a heaviness in his heart. His kin were, in fact, the reason for his entire being. His everything. And though he was here for them, how he longed to be with them in their homeland.

A low, deep exhale and he'd turn to meet Bhediya's gaze, brows furrowed. Gentle but with serious intent. "What's yers? What keeps ya grounded, what's yer reason t'keep goin', no matter what?"

@Bhediya