Ravensblood Forest Keep me caged, My downside locked away

@Olive I have no idea how to explain this but here we go!

Dakarai still boiled from Arturo's treatment. The man claimed that this was a family, yet since the day Dakarai showed up he had been treated coldly. Everyone else in the pack seemed to have Arturo's acceptance if not liking. He called for Olive, desperately needing to talk to her for he knew she was the only one who could calm his mind.

Is this thread backdated in any way? If so, i’ll go back into this post and correct the progression of her healing/pregnancy

Life had quieted and finally, Olive was able to grow her babies in relative peace and quiet. I say relative peace and quiet because life around Teaghlaigh was definitely not peaceful nor was it quiet. Since the revenants’ star-crossed return, several new individuals had joined their ranks — but following Ceannasach’s treatment of her at the borders [and her injuries], Olive had been reluctant to greet and chauffeur them around Ravensblood Forest as she once might have. It seemed that Arturo did not consider her his red herring anymore and the sylph was greatly disappointed in both her frivolous care of such a title and Ceannasach’s staunch and stubborn refusal to grant her any sort of clemency. Arturo’s threat and unfathomable anger loomed over her like a sickening specter at all times, but Ceannasach’s judgements were nothing like the unabashed horror she felt so many times over the past few weeks. To watch her kindred spirit die only to be reborn as a stranger. To think that her unborn children might die, clawed from her womb by hellhounds whom sought nothing more than retribution. To experience the extreme sorrow of her husband, cowering upon the cold ground and offering his life so that she may have hers. None of these horrors were happening to her any longer, so Olive rested in relative peace and quiet.

What Olive once felt so strongly was quickly dissolving: that the family mattered over everything else. It was clear that Arturo meant that his family mattered over everything else. Did that still include her? The pale doe wasn’t so sure anymore; Ceannasach had somewhat ostracized them from Teaghlaigh society… not in any sort of affirmative manner, but he did so through his unkind words and disapproving demeanor. Olive was something akin to a cub when she was in front of him. he watched her. judged her. imbibed her failures and spitting them back in her face. Now she saw such disdain reflected in the face of everyone she had come across. Chusi, the queen Lotte, even her dear beloved husband. all watching her. all judging her. all of them imbibing her failures.

But - could she call her actions a true failure? Olive had gotten what she wanted, after all. Her desperate attempt to hotwire his memory had succeeded by some crazy feat of miraculous faith. How did no one else see that magic in that besides her?! Dakarai was back; their oneness was back. Olive was whole again. She would do it all again in her heartbeat.

The ashen shewolf would always serve him, for Dakarai was just as much of herself as she was. So when his low baritone raised to the heavens and beckoned her forth, Olive feebly wove through the timbers of her forested home, stepping lightly on her left hind ankle [their recent travels had exacerbated the leg that had been wrenched in the jaws of that devil child from Blackfeather Woods] and careful not to move her body too suddenly, afraid that she would reopen the wounds which had just begun to stitch together and hold in place. Her body stung and smarted as she moved; but just as time had begun to heal her wounds, time had also quickened the babes within her. Just recently, they had rushed with life and moved and kicked and did all other sorts of lovely things that fetuses did. It was a strange duality; such physical pain from her wounds contrasted with such discarnate love from the miracle inside her. Olive — as slow as was to pick her way across the landscape — did so with a peculiar sense of urgency and extreme desire to find her mate. 

When she found Dakarai, she stepped forward lightly.

“My champion,” the shrouded fae breathed and left her greeting eerily unfinished; her small head hung low and her swimming green gaze was thrown upwards, begging for his touch.

Backdated somewhere between their Return,and the thread he has going with Arturo right now. I would say maybe a day or so after their arrival.

Dakarai's eyes lifted eagerly toward the sound of pawsteps, his nose working to draw in the scent and make sure it was Olive. Indeed it was and he eagerly drank in the sight of her, like a man fresh from the desert would drink cold water. He leaned forward as she drew near and touched his nose to her lips, before sliding them along her cheeks and throat his eyes closing from the comfort of her scent.

Looking up at her with sad eyes, he allowed his emotions to show. It was something he never did to anyone else, he never allows anyone to see his emotions until he has a grip on them and trusts them fully. "I do not feel welcomed here. Instead I feel like Arturo despises me, and wishes me gone. He only seems to care about Lotte and his future children, not about you or me, or anyone else in this so called family" he stated bluntly. He looked off into the distance and growled softly.


It was now true he was feeling torn between leaving or staying to crouch and cower before a man with no care for anyone but himself, and who hid it under the excuse of caring for the family. Even Chusi seemed off and distant, which made him even more angry. Would Arturo have rather he left Olive to the blackfeather bastards, left her to be torn to shreds along with the innocent lives of their children? He couldn't answer it himself but found himself believing that no matter what he ever did for Teaghlaigh it would never suffice on the eyes of Ceannasach.

I edited my last post to match the revised timeline! :)

Dakarai was clearly in an emotional state. Olive very rarely saw her king like this and to see him to vexed displeased her greatly. Dakarai was a soul meant to live a happy, fulfilling existence… and here he was, pained and suffering. At Blackfeather Woods’ hands. At Ceannasach’s hands. At her hands. Olive relished his touch even though it was fleeting; felt the electric enmity that sparked from the tips of his fur. Immediately the seraph wished to disappear within the wilds again, to abscond away with her husband and live a life that was untouched by strife. When it was just them two, nothing was ever wrong.

Her heart crumbled as she felt the hurt in Dakarai’s words, listened to his low growl and watched his distant stare. Olive wished to comfort him with touch, but her thin limbs remained where they were — some problems needed to be talked out, rather than cuddled out. Olive let her mate speak his peace, let the silence settled between them for a moment, and then responded in a soft and loving aria. “I know, my love, I know.” These were not just words. She did know. Arturo had never been a friend of Dakarai’s, even from his ceremonious arrival at their borders.  Olive and Dakarai were not an easy couple to corral and lead, but did they not pay their dues to the family? A frown braced itself upon her lips. “You’ve been treated cruelly, like a criminal.”  Dakarai was the opposite of a criminal — an angel, maybe, sent to save her.  “Your only crime is loving a reckless woman like me.” Olive took a long, drawn out breath and bit her lip. Olive could feel the emotions welling up inside her; an automatic response to seeing her husband so distraught. Up until now, the fae had been content with ignoring the strife amongst Teaghlaigh and focusing on the task of convalescing. 

“Oh, Dakarai, for once I have no words. I put you in danger. I put our children in danger. I- I am sorry. I am so sorry.” Olive quite purposefully left out the sentiment “I put myself in danger.” Danger was only real to those who feared death — which Olive did not. Yes, the woman had been distraught by the deaths of both Furiosa and Palisander, of course, and it had haunted her  endlessly… but not for the fact that they had crossed over. It was the horrible manner in which they perished that plagued her. Some wolf or some creature had slain them out of spite, and that was what bedeviled the grey woman. Olive had an inborn aversion to pain and the evil which caused it. But death? No, death would never cause her disquietude. Her body was a vessel for her soul, which was eternal and infinite. In fact, Olive often thought that her body limited the potential of her spirit… contained all in one place, stuck on earth, only able to do what her corporal being would allow her to do. Olive would never wish to cause the death of another, but her own death she did not fear.

Even if she were to die, Olive knew she would meet with Dakarai again in the heavens — one day. It was the thought of living upon earth without Dakarai that had driven her to such desperation. 

Olive sighed once more, hoping the deep exhale would loosen the tightness in her chest. “I fear Ceannasach feels similarly towards me.” Olive had been at Arturo’s side when he founded Teaghlaigh… could he really hate her? That was a question that Olive did not wish to know the answer to. Arturo’s feelings regarding Dakarai were more than enough. “But to have y— you, here, now…  You were gone, my king. But now, you are back. Despite all that has happened…”

“… I would do it again.”

"You did what needed to be done Olive, Dont apologize. If you hadn't done that i may still be gone" he admonished gently, his blue eyes looking up to search her eyes. He scooted forward as his muzzle stretched forward, touching her cheek softly as his tongue swept out to deliver a warm kiss. No matter what she did he would always side with her, and come to her aid in the case of danger. Arturo may be thinking about his whole family, but that did include Dakarai and Olive even if the annoying brute couldn't admit it.


"I regret nothing. If it were to happen again I would do the same, even if it meant facing Arturo's wrath. Olive he can treat me any way he wishes but I am afraid that if he continues to treat you harshly I will say something, and we both know how Ceannasach would handle that" he continued, using the title Arturo held in a mocking and bitter way. He knew he was being emotional and rude, and rather brutal as well but he had to think about his children too now.

Olive squeezed her moony, jade eyes shut and relished in the sensation of his tongue upon her — the fae hadn’t realized it, but the downy fur of her cheek had become damp with tears and his rosy warmth washed the wetness away. Perhaps tears were so… normative nowadays that crying was not even worth her attention. Why did it have to be this way — why was this life so hard? Why couldn’t she return to her childhood, when everything was bright and light and good? Everything about her childhood had been so untainted, honest, clean and now everything was so… messy. Messy physically because her body was wasted, wounded…fecund. Messy emotionally because her soul felt so scattered and she was subjected to volatile, fleeting emotions [that she once considered underneath her]. Her anger, as delicate as it was, came all too often nowadays. Olive could handle physical mess, but Olive condemned spiritual mess with a passion. 

It was relieving to know that Dakarai would have done the same, if given a second chance. As he spoke, Olive did not let their corporeal connection break and instead pressed her face against the pulse point beneath his strong jawbone, moving her maw against his pillowy pelt. Tensions had been running so hot between the two mates, but maybe his ire and her guilt had begun to subside, giving way to the unending type of love that only Olive and Dakarai were able to conjure. 

Dakarai was selfless, which was one of the main reasons her love for him ran so deeply.  He knew he spoke the truth, because Dakarai had existed so long underneath Arturo’s thumb for her sake. Her dark knight had received few benefits and few honors for his support of Teaghlaigh, but Olive had received many. So he had been quiet and loved her and made the best of his situation… but when Ceannasach’s opinion of her and their babies turned, Dakarai felt unable to hold back. She loved this about him, but she did not want him to linger in such negativity.

“I know... but we are all wolves. We have taught to think of ourselves as westerners or easterners. Teaghlaigh or Blackfeather. Ceannasach or subordinate.”  She couldn’t help but drop some Olive wisdom during a time like this. Olive lifted a one of her front limbs and hooked it around his own, drawing him into her embrace.  “You, me, Arturo… We’re all the same. Arturo’s actions and words come from the same place as ours.”  Wasn’t this true, after all? Arturo had found his own love and was starting his own family, but the same as she. Their interests collided, yes, but they were family and would eventually figure out how to coexist — of this, she was sure. The family would be stronger for it, not weaker. “We all just want our families to be safe.” Olive said definitely. The woman let silence settled over them for a moment so that Dakarai could ruminate on her words before continuing. “It’s the definition of ‘family’ that differs between us and him.” But this did not change the fact that Arturo threatened the lives of their children and the pain in Dakarai’s voice reflected that worry. Rationalizing Arturo’s actions did not change that they were in danger. “Wh- what are you suggesting?” Olive questioned him.

His eyes squinted with pleasure as her nose ran down his neck, and he groaned softly. It had been so tense around Teaghlaigh that he hadn't been near Olive in a long while. He hadn't felt her touch or embrace for more than a few fleeting seconds, and he now realized how much he needed it. Pressing his face flat against her chest, he listened to her heart beat. Was this what his children were hearing all the time inside of her? How lucky they were to be safe in the warmth of her womb.


When she asked what he meant with his words, his eyes darkened "I mean that if he continues to treat us as dirt for the same thing he would have done for Lotte, I will speak against him. If he tries to hurt me for it, I will fight. I don't want to and to be quite frank im beginning to detest it here. The only ones who have treated me right are you and Chusi, i barely know anyone else. This is never going to be my true home." he explained,his breath parting the downy fur of her chest.


Parting with her, he looked into her eyes and heaved a sigh knowing what he must do "I hate to ask this. I hate it. But please...come away with me. Join another pack far from teaghaigh and Blackfeather woods, or we can start our own. I feel an ominous presence on Teaghlaigh now, and it makes me fear not for my own life but for yours and our childrens" he requested with sadness in his eyes. He felt so bad in fact that his ears flattened and he looked away, casting his eyes to the ground.

Olive cradled against her atramentous husband and rocked back and forth gently, listening to his tongue call forth his fears to greet the light of day. To say she felt differently than he did would be a lie — for where she once thought Arturo only spoke in angered fabrications, Olive learned there were very real threats. Arturo was a dangerous man, and at times Olive lamented getting caught up with a gangster such as he. Before, Arturo had offered her protection, but now he only offered her threats and dissent. Olive had enough time over the past few days to realize that when she and Dakarai were granted escape from the clutches of their enemies, she had been given a second chance at motherhood. The fae was not keen to risk the lives of her unborn babes again by staying where they were unwelcome.

Dakarai pulled away and continued to speak words heretic words. They had only been parted for a moment’s time but almost immediately the small mother rushed back to him, touching her pale forehead to his and shushing him with soft urgency. “My king, stow your tongue!” She urged him.“Please…” His ideas had flitted through her mind before — quite often, actually. Olive was a soul that was never meant to surrender to anyone but god. The hierarchies that wolf society imposed upon them was a fallacy and it unsettled her that a man [who was above her in name only] could threaten her family in such a way.  Who was Arturo decide if their little shall live or if they shall perish? It was dangerous and foolish for one to think they were above god— but that was Arturo: a dangerous fool.  “Such a thing would make me the happiest woman alive. You and I were not made to bend to the will of others…” Unlike Dakarai, Olive was hesitant to speak of these thoughts, and would never wanted so for one simple reason: it was impossible.

“…but we mustn’t make rash decisions,” she moaned to him, still touching her third eye to his. Olive was a woman quite experienced in rash decision making and knew what came along with it: instability and risk. This would not do where their babies were concerned.  Olive had been rash at Blackfeather’s borders and now the time for was decisions was over. Dakarai and Olive had been stripped of their freedom and now needed to calculated and smart in their next moves — for they were surrounded by enemies on all sides, all whom sought their downfall. Such  anger and retribution — all for love. 

To hear Dakarai beg her for something she knew she could not give… it broke her heart. It had always seemed that with her mate, anything was possible… but she was very quickly learning that simply wasn’t true. Immediately the tears came again, this time with force. It was all so much to bear! Olive’s breath hitched in her throat and she let out a strangled gasp. Then, the doe began to sob heavily. “I fear that your dreams are bigger than our reality!” she cried, utterly distraught at their situation. Her words were exasperated and came in gasps; but this was no different than any mother who felt backed into a corner would react.  “Your c-concern is for the h-health of our family but the t-truth is… we’re not w-well.” Her words came in short, breathy hiccups and she looked down at the ground and she struggled to speak her truth. The truth was they could leave. The truth was that they probably should leave… But Olive could not see how a decision would not incur the deaths of both them and their babies. That was the real truth. If there was ever a time to build a pack or travel to new lands — this surely wasn't it.  “We barely made it back to t-teaghlaigh — you know it as well as I d-do. We’re torn and broken and by the t-time we recover, well, i’ll be too far along to travel… and—and, even if we did leave, who would t-t-take in or live underneath two lawless wolves and their many hungry babes? My love, if—if that were to happen and our ch-ch-children were be b-born outside of a pack… We would surely be crushed under the weight of it.”  To Olive, it seemed that death was almost more certain outside Teaghlaigh than it was within. 

Suddenly, Olive was overcome with exhaustion. Her small body slid to the ground and she continued to cry - but she proceeded more softly… more hopelessly. To know that danger existed around every corner, but not being able to do anything about it was excruciating. It hurt even more than her continual vexation came at the behest of Arturo, a wolf so close to her heart that they called each other kin.  “I see you,” she choked, looking up at him from the ground. Her jade eyes swam and entire body quivered. Olive needed Dakarai to know that she felt his anger, his pain, his worries, understood everything he told her — but delicately implored him to heed her reasoning. 

“…but I am tired, Dakarai. I am so tired.” 

Her tears sent him into a panic, and he whimpered civering her faces on kisses "Please Olive, don't cry please darling. I'm sorry, I am being foolish and thinking with my emotions" he hushed her, his voice cracking as his eyes watered and tears fell down his face. He had never cried before anyone yet he began to sob with her, his salty tears falling to the earth below them. He pressed his head into her's and felt himself trembling as his deep sobs broke the air "I am sorry, I've brought Pain into your life. I've brought my pain, the pain that follows me everywhere to you" he apologized hoarsely.


At her final words he sniffled and wrapped his chin around her neck, pulling her close "Rest easy My Queen. Together we will make it through everything, I promise. Rest easy bhean mo ghaoil.Bi ciùin, Bi fhathast, Fois furasta"  he spoke in his home language, The smooth and intricate words flowing soothingly off his tongue in his deep baritone. He repeated the sentiment over and over, trying to soothe her crying.

Translation: Rest easy My darling wife. Be calm,Be Still,Rest easy *tear tear*

As Dakarai join her in her sorrows, Olive found it hard to overcome her emotions. The lamb felt him attempt to kiss away her pains, but Dakarai ultimately joined her, pressed up against the mossy forest floor and gasping as deep sobs rock through their tangle of limbs. Olive’s heart was crushed in the tightening grasp of her ribcage and she hated that Dakarai was crying. Wasn’t she the one that promised him, amongst the blanket stars, that they would never know sadness? Life would be good now, Olive had sworn to him, trusting in that fact as she much as she trusted her moon mother.  But Olive knew the truth — had seen their fate in her dreams. The two fated lovers, decoupaged against an alabaster milieu, bright crimson tracks signaling from whenst they came from. Carnage, the druid thought. Her prophecies made their sorrows as they were, had brought them to life, had tinted her choices. She was guilty. she was the guilty one for bringing him sadness. Olive wished she could take the hurt she gave him upon herself, for Dakarai was good and Olive was wretched and deserved a fate such as this.

But her dark loved soothed her with his loving foreign tongue, cooing at her in his steady voice [despite his emotions], and she felt her heaving sobs subside. Hateful thoughts subsided. Tears subsided. It was then that Olive wriggled her petite frame closer to him and shimmied onto her back, her supine little body curling into him and pulling him ever closer with her willowy, pale forearms. Olive’s visage sought her favorite spot upon his body [the crook of his neck where it met his collarbone] and tucked her head amongst his pelt. Her breathing slowed in this vulnerable position and when her crying faded away and left nothing but a throbbing headache in its wake, she laid the back of her crown against the soil and looked up at him. 

Her tongue flicked out to trace her lips, tasting the salt of their intermingling tears. Olive looked at Dakarai [her strong, wonderful, eternal husband] and thought: This. This is what she had wanted to so badly the past few weeks. This was him. Olive craved Dakarai's very being and that’s what he offered to her so readily, so wholly, so entirely. There was not another soul in all the lands of the world quite like this man who laid above her. When he was gone, a part of her soul had died. Even though their lives had been nothing but strife since their espousal, but she experienced it all with him and that’s what made this earthly existance worth living. Olive thought she had known the deepest extent of love when she met Dakarai upon the sunspire; but that depth of love had been easily bested by the experience of losing all of it. You don’t realize how much you truly love something until it’s gone, that how the saying goes? Olive had gotten a second change at love. Had gotten another chance with Dakarai and the little babies that swelled in her belly and being part of the dearest family she had ever know. Had gotten a second chance at this. 

“Hold me,” the sylph beseeched him, never wishing to be parted or leave her place right there, cradled in his strong arms.  “W-We must have faith. We must be strong — I know we can, because you are so, so strong.” Olive leaned up to push her muzzle against his, winced at the puncture wounds in her shoulder, but quickly forgot her corporeal pain. The woman murmured hot whispers into his ears “You are my warrior. My fighter.” Normally, that wasn’t a compliment — but Dakarai had fought for her, and that felt good.  “My sun and my moon.”

Wrapping his forelegs around her neck, he pulled her in close burying his nose deep into her fur and breathing it in. His sobs  began to subside and he steadied his breathing, tears finally slowing down until coming to a stop."You are my everything. The air that i breathe, the sun that warms my pelt. I will never do anything to harm you, And i will never leave you" his mind goes back to the conversation with Arturo, when he offered to sacrifice himself to save teaghlaigh. "Even if I die, I will be by your side in our children, I will fill your dreams with my love. When you come to the stars, I will be waiting to greet you" he said softly.


He placed a paw on her belly and looked her in the eyes, his own gaze filled with pride and love, Joy and Sadness "For the sake of our children, we must never give up. I will never give up, For we will have a good life together" he said with conviction.

Dakarai gathered Olive in his embrace and reciprocated her actions comforting actions. The mates laid there for some time, and as his heaving and sobs stilled, so did her heart. The sound and feeling of her kindred spirit so hurt and anxious was a crushing blow. It was a side she rarely saw, since Dakarai often kept his composure and faced adversity with an uncommon sense of hope. Olive hadn’t lied – Dakarai was strong, the strongest man she had ever known, able to come back from such travesty and abuse time and time again. But Olive didn’t want her husband to have to bounce back and recover as often as he had been forced to. The fae wanted him to have a carefree life, where friendships and intimacy abounded and Dakarai’s only concerns were how to balance his pack duties and spending time with his bouncy, wonderful half-blue-half-green eyed star children.  Perhaps that wasn’t entirely possible when a wolf like Olive was your wife, but they would surely try.

Olive still nurtured a small sense of doubt that Ceannasach would actually brutalize their family. He was a father himself, not only to a family she had only heard about in passing, but to the young warrior Chusi and the litter that grew within Lotte’s belly.  Surely a family man such as he understood the gravity of such a threat, right? But she remembered his anger at the borders and his continually unabated ire [evinced by their meeting with Kitsch when he ordered her to stand down].  Olive wanted to not believe him, wanted to trust in him… it was a chance that the mother was not willing to take, but their circumstance forced her to take such a risk and have faith that the family would eventually come around.

Time healed all wounds, but Olive wasn’t sure they had the luxury of time. It was the ultimate discomfort. Olive had never been forced to do a single thing in her life, especially not out of desperation, so the experience was quite foreign. Is this what motherhood would be like? Sacrificing her freedom of decision for the ultimate good of her family? It was a prospect that had not occurred to the woman until she was forced to go against her instincts out of pure desperation... but this was no longer about her. It was about them. “We will,” She spoke softly when Dakarai promised her a good life. “We already have.” Then, a dark paw was delicately placed on her belly and she couldn’t help but smile up at him, proud of what they created, no matter what their decision to reproduce would incur.

“Can you feel them, my love? They’re excited to meet you – I can tell by the way they dance whenever you are near.”

Eyes lighting up at the mention of their unborn children, he looked at her eyes wide and a smile full of a young boy's sense of glee as he pushed his nose against her belly "Hello Little dears, Can you hear me? This is Dakarai speaking, your father and best friend for life. I cannot wait to meet you, and i hope you all look as beautiful as your mother" he murmured lovingly, his breath tickling Olive's enlarged sides as he cast a goofy look at Olive, before placing a few quick licks against her belly.

These two give me all the feels <3 wrap up with your post?

Olive couldn’t help but chuckle and roll over further onto her back to allow Dakarai better access to her belly. Immediately Olive felt a sense of relief was over her — there was the sense of fortitude that she loved so much about Dakarai. He had come to her with apprehension and mistrust in his heart, which then metamorphosed into dreaded concern upon her denial and noncompliance… but now he crooned to his progenies, admiring them and adoring their unseen presence. As a response, they kicked and danced and Olive steeled herself against the oh-so-welcome discomfort. The movements told her they were alive, thriving despite their host’s convalescence — that her risk taking and not been in vain. The mother was thankful.

Olive kissed Dakarai’s smooth cheek lovingly but knew a change in topic and scenery was necessary. It would do no use to dwell on the topic of Teaghlaigh any longer. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of her packhood, the druid deigned to take advantage of the good — namely, the caches that were stocked with food for their taking. With such injuries, they were limited in mobility and their ability to hunt despite Olive’s growing appetite for meat. She needed the nutrients that only flesh could provide.

“You are silly,” Olive said affectionately with a final lick on his dark nose. She still laid on her back and curled in his arms, so she laid her head back on the ground and tilted her head at him. “Care to visit the caches with me? The children… they hunger.” Olive get slip a youthful giggle at her comment, pretending that their offspring were aliens or parasites or something that couldn’t be farther from their reality.

i know right? :'D last post ;)

Dakarai chuckled softly and cradled her close, he had felt them stir and wiggle at his voice. He knew they were eager to meet their creator and the ones who would love them for life. This cured the aching in his heart and with a quick lick on Olive's nose he stood up and wagged his tail "Come, lets get them dinner." he said gently, and nudged olive gently to her paws.


As he walked away he gave a quick flick of his tail and tossed a mischievous look over his shoulder "They aren't the only ones who hunger" he said thickly, tossing a quick and playful wink in her direction before chuckling.