Sunset Valley you are my sunshine, my only sunshine

@Sega

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the mountain took everything.

she hadn't been there when it happened, but oh, how she wishes she was. four months ago the world she'd finally grown to love came down in stone and dust. an avalanche or rockslide, she didn't care much for the specifics, only that the others were gone.

since then, it was north. always north. the land grew flatter, greener. colder. summer had long settled over the fields and soon it would give way to autumn. twitch drifted through it with no real aim. she dozed when the sun allowed, hunted when she couldn't bear the hunger, but nothing more.

today was no different—she lay in the grass by a slow stream, head pillowed on her forelegs, ears flicking at flies. the water moved. the wind moved. she didn’t. not until the sharp crack of a branch carried across the bank.

He never strayed far from @Svana, full intending for her to follow, what he didn't expect was some scent completely foreign to blow by his nose. A girl. She was black, grey, and hued with arrays of gingers. His ears flicked.
What was she doing alone?
A rather hypocritical thought, given he was alone mere days ago until Svana came across him.
He approached her. Her thin body, ribs peeking through skin. He swallowed. From across the river she was laying, his forelegs dipped into the stream. Deeper her went, the closer he got to her.

twitch’s ears swivel toward sound. water breaking around a body, soft splashes that weren’t her own. slow, steady. someone crossing.

her head lifted, sluggish at first, and there he was. pale through the shimmer of heat and river. familiar. she blinked, trying to place him, brain dragging through fog.

"…coväh?" she rasped, pushing herself up onto her elbows. the bones jut a tad sharper than they used to. a smile sneaks its way to her face, if only for a second. "what're you doing here?"

It was her.
Shocked, his mouth fell agape as he waded in the waters. Still up to his shoulders, he paused. The little thing that he had called too bony to eat. How was she here, of all places? To his alcove of the tundra? 
Coväh, she calls him. But he shakes his head, detesting the birth name. It does not suit me, anymore. 
At least between them he could speak freely. He enjoyed his time above all else with Svana, but their cumbersome language barrier had made things difficult. He was a slow learner, whereas she was much faster (much smarter). 
Sega, tɨkka. He corrects her. Although he wouldn't be entirely angry with her for using the name she knew him as.
I ask same of you.

twitch blinked at him, slow. her ears flicked back, eyes dropping to the churn of water around his shoulders. "oh," she mouthed, ears flipping back for a half-second. "sega. hi."

she shrugged faintly, as if it were nothing, though her ribs pushed sharp against her skin with the motion. "...been walking," she muttered, chin tipping down.

"didn't have anywhere else t'go, so.." her eyes drift to her paws before lifting back to him. "didn’t think i’d see you again."

Sega’s ears tipped forward, then eased back again, unsure. Twitch, he said, her name soft on his tongue. It felt strange, small in his mouth after so long.
You… walk far, he managed, words slow and rough-edged. His golden eyes moved over her thin frame, catching on the sharp lines of her ribs, then flicking away. No… home? he asked, voice low.
He shifted in the water, tail stirring the current behind him. I not think… see you again, too. A faint breath left him, almost a laugh. But… is good.

her jaw twitched, like she wanted to answer quick, but nothing came. no home? no. not anymore. the word itself felt hollow in her mouth, so she didn’t say it. just shook her head once, small, sharp.

"no," she muttered, a little hoarse. again, her eyes pull away so he wouldn’t see the way her throat worked.

when she looked back, her mouth quirked—not quite a smile but close. tired at the edges, weary. "..s’good t’see you too." it was honest, at least. "sit with me?" she asks, swirling loose dirt between her paws into a pile—a pillow for her head.

Sega eased down beside her, pale fur brushing her flank as he folded his long legs. He let his head rest across her hip, heavy but gentle, a low breath slipping from his chest.
For a moment he only listened to her heartbeat under him, slow and worn but steady.
Where you go… after? he asked, voice soft, rough-edged. His golden eyes stayed closed, but the words were more than a question— an unspoken offer. That maybe she didn’t have to go alone.

twitch's body eased with the weight of his head, not because it hurt—he was careful—but because the question caught her off guard. her eyes flicked to the trees, then the water, anywhere but him.

"dunno," there hadn’t been a plan, not really. just one paw in front of the other until she was too tired to continue.

her tail curled closer to her side, brushing his shoulder without meaning to. "not really one to stick around long." she added.

Sega’s ears twitched at her words, but he did not lift his head from where it rested. Only a low breath through his nose, steady.
You can stick near me, he said simply, voice rough but gentle at the edges. No need run all time.
His pale eyes slid toward the valley below, where the shadows pooled thick. My… @Svana, he rumbled, the name soft in his throat. She think maybe settle here. Valley. Bitterroot.
A pause, then the faintest shrug of his broad shoulders. You want move, you move. You want stay, you stay. I not chase you away.

twitch’s eyes widened at the endearment. my svana. the words stuck in her teeth. she didn’t look at him at first, just at the river where the light bent and broke across the surface.

"oh." it was a thin little sound, something surprised. "good for you. congrats," her mouth twitched into a smile, if a little awkward. "i can stick around a bit, see if it suits."

sorry this is short x_x

Sega shift, weight heavy on big paws. Her eyes not meet his, and that made chest ache in way he not show. He tilt head, watching water too, like answer there.
Svana… she walk with me, he say, words rough, broken. Not mean… he pause, fumbling, then grunted, Not mean I no glad you here.
He step closer, shoulder brushing hers, tail give small sway. Why you look… sad? he ask, blunt but low, eyes searching. You say can stay. I want you stay. Valley big, place for many.
A beat, then softer, almost like confession, I not good with… words. But I know you. You not stranger.

I can’t he’s so sweet :c

her eyes fixed hard on the water like it might carry her somewhere else, like it might heal the gaping wound in her chest. she wasn’t jealous—really, she wasn’t. she just hadn’t realized how much time had stretched between then and now.

so much had changed. too much had changed. and now, reminiscing, she misses what was. what could have been. she swallowed the memories down thick, swivels her ears forward to listen to the stream, buying time.

”yeah, not doin’ too hot. n’ don’t worry, it’s not you.” she scoffed, glancing sidelong at him. “lost some friends, haven’t really gotten over it yet.” one. one friend. the important one. “still feels like i’m losing the ground under me.”

Sega’s head tipped, pale eyes heavy in the half-light. The river whispered between them, but his voice cut through it, rough and solemn.
I lose people too, he said, words thick with memory, with weight that pressed in his chest. Of cousins. Of Ayovi. His scars seemed to speak the rest, the lives and places already carved from him.
Then his gaze found hers, unblinking. A shake of his great head, a vow as much as a statement.
But not you.
The words sat low in his throat, stinging. His flank brushed hers, a quiet ether offered in place of all the things he couldn’t shape into words.

the sentiment knocked something loose in her chest, an ache that spilled over before she could catch it.  not you. it sat in her chest like a stone, heavy and unwelcome, only because it made her want.

want for what, she didn't know. she never had. she exhaled sharp, a huffing laugh. twitch turned her head, finally—hazel-eyes turned a little glassy, muzzle pressing tentatively against the ruff of his neck, more instinct than thought. she stayed close, ribs rising slow against his side, breathing him in like proof he was really there.

"i'll try and keep it that way, then." she muttered into his fur. "thanks."