Overture Downs You should go and love yourself*

She receives him well, permitting his affection and pressing back. He is absorbed in the closeness, and his nose travels from her cheek to the thicker furs on her neck. He buries his face there with a soft whine. He was unaware of how desperately he craved touch and nearness until now, and he cannot help but nibble at her delicate skin and preen the bits of debris from her fur. She can perhaps sense the neediness in his touch, and his hesitance to step back out of contact with her. It is a distraction, it is a comfort, and so long as she allows him, he holds close to the warmth of her.

"I'm happy to see you," he murmurs, and though there is sincere and undeniable fondness in his tone, there is an underlay of hurt and disappointment in himself. It speaks to his inexperience with the trials and challenges of life, and to the strength of his heart, that he would take so much blame unto himself for happenstance. He is not so well-adjusted as he likes to think.