Redsand Canyon but we can't keep the embers from catching

likewise!

“my hero.” they said in a voice as dry as the desert sand.

donovan looked down over them with his several extra inches of height, and spoke, and it was a near thing that they didn’t just come out with if they landed you with nemisis. but that…relationship…needed more examining before they could start poking at it. there was still part of them stuck on the thought that this was all some joke one of them was playing, because surely…

well, it wouldn’t be the last time they held their tongue. that was going to get a workout here. “good looks? that’s what you call them?”

donovan had given them more than enough time to realize where this was building, especially when he came up on his hind legs like a horse. but renard was still stuck on empty desert plain mode, and the cavern walls were narrow and unfamiliar, and no matter how they swung to the side they weren’t avoiding it. the larger man barrelled into them, joking along the whole time, and renard bounced off the smooth sandstone like a pinball.

and bouncing off rocks fucking hurt. even if nothing was broken. bruised just enough to feel it tomorrow.

they took a moment to catch their breath. “all right.” then, uncoiling like a snake, went straight for donovan’s throat, looking to grab hold and bite down – just hard enough to feel it a little – so that they could have a moment of satisfaction murmuring “how about that,” an effect destined to be ruined by how muffled their voice would be.

you couldn’t have everything.