Wheeling Gull Isle by the sea

The long walk on the beach gave Caracal plenty of time to think. He couldn’t wait to tell @Heda everything, though the more he thought about it, the more his mind took him in surprising directions. The young man who waved goodbye to Erzulie and the one who reappeared on the island were in two very different mindsets.

He climbed the green hillock at the center of the island, casually searching for his friend, and thought about the other night when she’d asked him to kiss her. They’d shared a very loving but entirely platonic kiss. It had made him wonder if there could be something more between them, though he’d hesitated to privately entertain the thought, much less voice it aloud.

Caracal didn’t see her, then remembered she might be attending their resident invalid. He might go check there next, though for the moment, he took a seat at the crest of the slope and sat back to enjoy the views he’d been missing these past few days.

This post has a soundtrack.

i wrote my post to it!

heda, coming tousled and windblown from where she had been with daniil, showing him the deep beauty of sweetharbor. he was good company, and she felt elated as she perhaps had not in a while.
she visited aquillius before that, and checked on him after, then went out into the skysweet air once more.
a familiar figure sat against the emerald curves. "caracal!" heda cried, delighted; she descended quickly to meet him. "you're back!"

Hey, boo, Caracal said the moment Heda appeared, the nickname just slipping out and perhaps hinting at where his mind was at the moment.

He opened his arms to invite a hug, giving her a tight squeeze and resisting a sudden urge to tickle her as he drew back. Caracal plopped on his hindquarters facing her, eyes bright as they rested on her familiar, pale features.

So, my nephew’s on the mend, he told her, and I kinda got to meet your bestie, though she was pretty busy saving someone’s life. Caracal laughed. I also got to have a long talk with my grandma, which I wasn’t expecting. But… you wanna know what my biggest takeaway from this trip was?

heda grinned at his familiarity and brushed his shoulder. he mentioned that he had seen mireille and his grandmother! immediately she was curious at who that could be, but then caracal gave a heavy indication there was something even greater to inquire about.
"tell me," she said at once, her face alight with interest and happiness to see him back, to see him here again, with her and all of them.

As much as he enjoyed looking at her, Caracal decided he felt more comfortable sidling into place beside her, then gently swaying his shoulder into her. This way, they could both enjoy the views while they caught up. And boy, did admiring the oceanic panorama bolster his next statement.

This is my home now. I’m gonna stay here, he told Heda, with you.

her throat clenched; she wound her arm around his. "good," heda said with genuine feeling. "i'm really happy to hear that. it's this place!" she laughed, and sighed out, her breath toward the sea.
"when did you decide?"
with you; something flickered once, enough to surprise her.

There were plenty of implications behind his last two words. If Heda took any notice, she didn’t say anything. Nor did Caracal. He was happy to just let them sit here and enjoy the easy flow of their friendship. On that note, he gently and smilingly shook her loose, then leaned back to drape his arm around her svelte shoulders, because it felt natural.

When I was talking to my grandma, he replied, gazing at the sea. I caught myself thinking of the island as home. And realized I don’t want to stay anywhere else. I figure I’ll still go on lil’ trips sometimes but I’ll come back here. Speaking of trips, I also told her and Mireille to stop by sometime. So I gotta stick around for that, right?

the presence of caracal's arm around her was so surprising that heda found she had nothing to say on that account. it was not unpleasant, but there was some wordless part of her that wondered in the same silence and unformed thought if his touch now meant more than the intimacy of a friend.
she smiled quietly to hear that caracal had invited her friend and mireille to the island. "it will be good to see them," heda said, thinking with a tiny relief of the possiblity that soon, she and her sapphique friend would go away for a little while.

Yeah! And, hey, speaking of trips, Caracal said, give her an enthusiastic little shake via the arm draped over her shoulders, I should probably go visit my mom and Killdeer in Mereo sometime. I’m gonna take some downtime first but I wanted to mention in case you have any interest in going with me? No obligation, though!

He gave Heda an opportunity to respond to that before asking, What about you? Is there anywhere you’d like to go visit? Do you still get cravings for snowy mountaintops?

heda grinned but her heart felt like it was spiraling out over the ocean.
did she want to go to the mainland? she went there to hunt, and often to gather souls to sweetharbor. the idea of going so far inland made her sea-love heart ache a little.
and then there was the spring.
"when uh, when were you thinking of going?" she asked, vying for time. and she shook her head at his question. "i — i'm really happy here. i don't ever feel like i want to wander far, caracal," reverence again flickering in her voice. "god lives here," heda whispered, earnesty glowing in her luminous golden gaze.

I dunno, sometime in the next few weeks, maybe? Caracal asked, shrugging and smiling. I figured as much, he added when she reported no desire to stray from her love, the island, but thought I’d ask. If you ever change your mind and want a travel buddy, you know where to find me!

He grinned and let go of her to bring his forelegs forward and spread them, playfully bonking her in the snoot with his elbow. He laughed into the sea wind, tipping his face skyward to let the winter sun warm his little ginger face.

Soon, Caracal reopened his eyes and slanted his muzzle toward Heda to ask, Hey, you hungry?

heda snickered and poked him pack, trying to reach past his arms if he raised them to fend her off. "i could eat," she agreed. "i've been fishing here and there but, what did you have in mind?" two of them were suited to hunt larger things.
the deer still roamed parts of the island. she wondered if he would suggest it or if she should. heda stood, swished her tail, rolled her shoulders, and looked brightly toward caracal.

She poked him in turn and Caracal made a show of arching away, letting out a girlish scream and a cry of, Don’t! I’m ticklish!

He sprang away from her with a laugh, the expression on his face saying, Come and get me! For the moment, he ignored her question, choosing instead to dip forward, rump in the air and tail wiggling. He stomped his forepaws and darted back and forth enticingly.

caracal did not answer, but lifted himself in playfulness.
heda watched him for a moment with affectionate gilded eyes. she was not beyond their sporting, but rather she was seeing caracal, his kind, boyish heart, his gentle gaze.
the huntress dropped into a crouch and lashed her tail, then came for him with a burst of speed and a laugh.

Being raised by Towhee alongside the twins, Caracal had definitely been put through his paces as far as spars. But he had never specialized as a fighter, nor did he fancy himself a particularly good hunter. He knew Heda would likely dominate him in a play fight. He was okay with that.

She sprang at him and all Caracal did in turn was rear up onto his hind legs. But rather than kick his forelegs like some majestic wild stallion, he flailed them, like a magnificent idiot.

heda veered away, surprised and laughing at caracal's gambit. the old competitiveness that she had briefly felt during her spars in duskfire rose again. 
heda too reared up, but she grabbed for her friend, unwieldly and giggling and determined, eyes bright and all the weight of life gone for a moment.

Heda rose up too and their legs quickly tangled, hers snaking around Caracal’s slim red shoulder blades and tightening into a proper grip. Although she didn’t quite tug him, he listed forward, allowing gravity and velocity to do their jobs and sending the pair of them tumbling like a scene straight out of The Lion King.

Together, they rolled down the wintergreen hillside, rolling over and over in an interlocked embrace. Caracal cackled and whooped, taking several hard knocks on the way down but enjoying the hell out of himself anyway. Fortunately, they made it to the bottom of the hill intact, coming to rest with a great thwump.

And just like a character in an animated film, he began to slowly sit up, eyes squeezed shut but mouth open wide in a breathless laugh.

I power-played in the name of Disney scenery and I’M NOT SORRY.

its perfect!

if you were going to tumble down any part of sweetharbor, it should notably have been this place of relatively velveteen landscape.
heda let out a shocked cry and then several more squeals as she and caracal rolled recklessly down the slope into a heap that knocked the wind from her.
sucking in air, she rolled to her side and coughed weakly, then dissolved into giggling. "that spirit of adventure, i love it so much!" she crowed of her companion's willingness to take such stride in anything.

She rolled away and Caracal raised his foreleg to avoid trapping her, otherwise remaining in his position hovering over Heda. He smiled down at the sound of her breathy giggling, the expression deepening at her declaration.

Oh, yeah? What I love about you, he rejoined, is your ability to adapt and overcome, making the most of life even after it takes a giant, smelly shit on your head. He barked a laugh. And this, he added after a second, voice softer as he curled a toe into the shock of red trailing at the nape of her neck.

for the first time, heda realized the position she was in, looking up into the ruddy face of a boy who had once called her wifey. and when caracal moved to touch her, to feel the saltspun weave of her fur, heda stiffened.
her brow furrowed. but beneath the confusion her stomach knit with a mixture of so many things she could not hardly parse them! bartholomew and caracal and now daniil — her heart galloped so swiftly she felt it could be heard.
and because she wanted caracal to touch her so softly again, heda cleared her throat and slowly shimmied out from beneath him with a weak, polite laugh that flopped limply into the air. "crazy day," the island-dweller managed to murmur, shooting him an apologetic, interested, surprised look.

The moment was almost painfully intimate, though Caracal didn’t shy away from it. Heda did, though, or at least that’s how it seemed as she stiffened and then wriggled away, a strange look on her face. He let his paw trail away from where it touched her, a soft smile of patient understanding on his face.

Yeah? he echoed for lack of anything better to say. There’s only one way to mark the end of a crazy day: with a long nap! He paused, then thought aloud, I’ve kind of just been sleeping wherever, though I guess now that I plan to stay, I should sort out a den or something, huh?

understanding. 
was he waiting? 
heda did not know what to make of it, but she was eager to recapture the feeling of solidarity with caracal. "yes, you should!" her eyes shone and she rose to a stretch, not quite wanting to nap. it was not tiredness which raced through her figure now.
"have any leads?" she asked, wondering if caracal wanted help or wanted this to be more of a solo mission.

He thought about it, or at least pretended. Caracal then raised a toe in the air, a sort of aha! gesture.

Yeah, he answered her, but, first, show me where you sleep.

for some new and unspoken reason, this made heat rise in heda's cheeks. but she nodded and lifted her paw toward the greenhills.
"at the very top, under the skies. when it's bad out, i have a little shelter," boughs over two boulders.
a pause. her golden eyes moved toward caracal. "do you want to come up there sometime? you're always welcome. i'm — awake a lot, at night."

She pointed while describing her sleeping place. Caracal listened with a soft smile, his one good eye particularly warm when she inferred she wouldn’t mind some company.

Show me? he gently pressed.