The portal back to Astorea had been kinder to Gwyn than it had been to others, though her stomach had still heaved as if at sea before settling. It wasn't her first time through and it seemed like she was more acclimated to each new experience through the reality warping gates. The drop hadn't been the least bit pleasant, still injured as she was. The blankets helped... a little. Talking with the others had helped more. To see people alive and well, unruffled despite the horrors of the prison and the oncoming invasion had been a grounding taste of normalcy. The alcohol shared between her and Aalam had certainly eased those grinding gears trying to ratchet up the anxiety curled up tight in her chest like an unnerved steed. She cast a stray thought toward the flask in her inventory awaiting King Theo's cellars like her arrows awaited his blood and bone. She'd see it through, as dangerous as it might be. She had to. For her. Gwyn stared with her mouth in a flat, uneasy line and eyes dark with the warring feelings the sight invoked in her. Countess Felnya had not received a small portion of land. Her property and the land she controlled was not small by any means and the addition of what should have been her own, as a Viscountess was it again? Her own 'donation' had swelled it further. Despite that, it wasn't difficult to find the Felis. The bakery and homestead stood before her and it should have felt like coming home, but it didn't. It felt like a death sentence and she knew precisely why. Many a friend had told Sabine she was shit when it came to judging other people, their reasonings, and their intentions, but she was master of herself at least. For the most part. Gwyn had crumbled in on herself and let her foundation shake away to nothing when Kyupin had been the one to suffer and she loathed that weak part of her. She'd break it and set it right, give it a skeleton of steel braces to make it right. She'd be better for it in the long term, but now what? She'd let the tiny, tortured, kind, little light of a person like Kyupin weather her self-pitying and pointless mourning over what? She was fine. Gwyn had emerged better off than many others, even as beaten as she'd been before the healers awaiting them in the castle had gotten ahold of her. Pathetic. The hunter was terrified to face her and see disappointment or regret or pity or god anything at all in her eyes reflected back that wasn't that star-struck and thankful gaze from when they'd first met. Gwyn didn't want to be some idol to a new player and she wasn't anymore, Kyupin could defend herself. She had a strong companion she raised from milk teeth to fangs and her arms showed the smooth line of muscle that Gwyn knew was toned for archery alone. She didn't want to be a shame to an equal either. Hiding accomplished even less than facing an unsure challenge and so she was here. If she let herself hole away or run off without a word she'd be nothing more than a coward and Sabine didn't do fear. Gwyn wouldn't do fear. She straightened and tugged at the armor clasped to her frame nervously. She had bought new pieces she still needed to replace old ones with and she still had the itchy prison rags shoved on underneath it all. There hadn't been time to change and she wasn't about to do it in front of twenty-something half-strangers. The current situation was so far from ideal, but neither real life nor the game was a movie and things didn't happen all perfect like they did in Hollywood. No bloom effect or soft artificial breeze rustling hair. There was no horde of artists doing touch-ups or elite designers straightening the lines of her armor for her. She was as she was and there wasn't anything wrong with that. @Kyupin Felnya would understand. They understood things about each other, right? Gwyn sucked at the taste of iron in her mouth. She'd bit through the corner of her lower lip again and the grips of her hands around the parcel and bouquet in hand were too tight. The flowers and herbs were half-wilted anyway. They would have been fresh still from Ashiore collecting them in Brisshal, but their long days in the prison thrown in a chest without light or water had been cruel to them. There was still color in them though. They were strong and desperate to hold onto their little glimmer of life. If the petty handful of flowers could survive then so could they. The ranger scrubbed a bracer across her mouth to wipe away any lingering blood as she forced her teeth from the chapped lip. Gwyn lifted the hand of the same arm, gripped tight around the top of a package from Stokbon, and rapped her knuckles against the grain of the shop's door. She didn't do fear but she felt a whole lot of something like sheer fucking terror. Fuck.
She did not like to think of herself as a coward for running away the instant foot met land on the other side of that nauseating portal. It had been well within her rights – perfectly reasonable, even – to rush back to her lands and tend to them. She had a shop and various animals to care for that she had neglected while she was off trying to help save the world and failing miserably. Caring for them, loving them… That was her job, and her job she would do. So what if the true reason for her hurrying on back had less to do with the wellbeing of her animals and more to do with the panic and guilt tearing her apart from the inside? Nobody had to know that. Nobody had to know that, as the door clicked shut behind her, she had crumpled into herself and sobbed. Nobody had to know that, even if it hadn't been what her wards expected when they'd curled around her form, she had spent an hour or thirty wetting pelt with tear and snot. Nobody had to know that, when looking into the mirror and wiping at her swollen eyes the next morning, she was not quite sure she knew the woman in the reflection. No. Nobody had to know that at all. She turned away from the mirror, entire body shuddering under the weight of her tired sigh. The past few days had been exhausting. Or had it been weeks? Months? It was hard to tell. Harder to care. Her family probably missed her. She should log off and reassure them that she was okay. That her gaming sessions were not a sign of addiction and that she was perfectly alright, and okay, she got it, she needed to take a break once in a while. Kyupin's fingers twitched. She lifted her palm to chest-level and curled it into a fist, tensing her arm. Her skin, pulled taut, almost unmarked despite the excruciating pain and horror it had been through earlier. As if nothing had ever happened. As if it were all a game. She stared at it, gaze borderline awed, while memories overlapped and screamed into her ears. Reminding her. The agony, the white-hot burning. Begging them to stop, begging somebody to please save her. It was never going to end. It was— THUD. "W-Wha—," she cried out as ears and tail stiffened to the sky. Her heart pounded in her tiny birdcage of a chest, lips cracked and painfully dry. TH-THU-THUD. It took a while for her to recognize the sound for what it really was. Not the sound of torture tools dropping on the table, but the echo of a knock on a door. On her door. At her house. Where she was safe. And sound. Okay. The sound part was questionable. Kyupin forced herself, inch by inch, to loosen up. Found herself at the door, breathing deeply and prying bloody fingers from the crescent-shaped indents in her palm, hesitating. Maybe the guest had left. Or maybe they hadn't. She wouldn't know if she just sat there staring dumbly at her front door. She had to… had to open it. Had to confront them. She turned the knob and slowly pulled the door open. "Who is it?" she asked as an afterthought, peering around the wooden slab at— "Gwyn!" Her swollen eyes snapped open, round with surprise and adoration and guilt and love and pain and oh God what is she doing here? Her expression shifted as thoughts raced through her head at a mile a minute until finally stopping on: I look like I've been crying. Kyupin slammed the door shut with a loud BANG and leaned all her weight against it. She whined deep in her throat and squeezed her eyes shut. Like always, she didn't know what to do other than sit tight and wait for Gwyn's instructions. Always the follower, always the weakling. Though words sat on the tip of her tongue, she couldn't find it in herself to speak just yet.
Gwyn was decently sure that she could feel the individual years of her life tick away like grains of sand through an hourglass with every millisecond that passed in silence. And every microsecond. And every nanosecond. She was sweating a little, her gloves sticking uncomfortably to her skin. Why was this taking so long? Was she even home? She had gone through the portal before Gwyn and not been there on the other side, but asking had made it clear she had made it just fine. Arguably just fine. None of them were fine. Fuck the prisons, fuck the ambush, fuck the ringed eyes and the bars and the crystal alarms and Falderen. Fuck giving a rat's ass about some unknown princess of Falderen and trusting that quest at all. Fuck the warden. Oh, fuck that son of a bitch thrice over. He didn't have enough eyes to blast arrows through at Mach Five- Maybe she was home and just didn't want to see her. That was possible too. Gwyn was tempted to activate her Investigation Mode for even better hearing, but already her passive senses were sharper as is. It would be impolite. Unforgivable really. That invasion of privacy absolutely wouldn't stand. Kyupin deserved so much more than that and- Oh, hey. Kyupin. Gwyn stared back down at her and opened her mouth to take a panicked inhale because holy fuck she hadn't been breathing for a second there and then there was a door in her face and Gwyn felt immediately sure she'd been wrong not to let the earth swallow her fucking whole. Where was the warden when she needed a quick and quiet and sure death? She was right to think Kyupin hated her then? Did she really hold Gwyn at fault or could she just not stand to look at someone who had broken down and taken comfort from her in the Felis' time of need? Well, that would make more sense if she hadn't already been red around the eyes. And Gwyn could hear her still pressed against the door where she'd used her own weight to barricade it against the huntress. Her heightened senses picked up the whine and she moved forward without thought. The woman didn't dare touch the doorknob and instead pressed her forehead to the grain of the wood and let out a trembling exhale. "Hey Kitten. If it's- if it's anything I've done, I'm sorry. If it isn't, I'm still sorry. I can't apologize enough for leaning on you. I should've been- I should've been some type of more, yanno? I'll... I'll work on that." She spoke just above a whisper. She spoke slow and calm and tried her level best to settle her own panicked mind spinning in circles. She hates us. She hates us. She hates u- No, that's stupid. We're good friends. We're both just tired. Shit happened she doesn't- but what if she does. Later. Later. Later. She'll tell me or we'll figure it out later. Gwyn swallowed around the lump in her throat. "I know you aren't okay, but I hope you're okay. Which is probably a little stupid, but hey. You know me." She managed a weak laugh before sighing. "I was going to give you some stuff, but you had already left for the mountain when I came by so I figured I'd go with my party and then- everything. They're still yours though and the flow- the plants are going off. I've got no skill with these things so they'll die if I even breathe too hard on them. You're good at this stuff though. Caring about things. Tending them. You're real kind like that and gentle." She adjusted her grip on the bouquet and stared at the wilting things for lack of anything else to watch die, like her chances with- "And I got a package for you. I had to do some errands in Stokbon, hah, much more fun errands than the one I've got now, but, yeah. I heard one of the taverns got real odd spices from all over to make their food and so I bought some out of their pantry. The lady laughed at me. It was awful, you should have seen it. I was a mess, uh, not for, yanno, any particular reason or anything but the lady was dead sure why I was there and I was flustered and I dropped shit and then I cussed and she got onto me and you'd have too. But you couldn't be there, because-" Gwyn leaned back away from the door and cursed herself to hell and back mentally. Man the fuck up. "Because it was a surprise for you. And I was messed up because I realized why I wanted to buy them on an impulse and why I grabbed the herbs and flowers we got for a different quest and it's cause I really like it when you do the thing where you smile." She gestured uselessly to the unmoving wood with her full hands. "Especially when it's like, well, toward me. And in general, because we're friends and I want any friend of mine to be happy, but- Anyway! So I know you're upset and I'm going to go so you can... yeah, and I'll leave these here for you. You can grab them in a bit, promise I'll be gone. I just-" "It's all I've got, Kyupin."
Her feline ears twitched against the door, unable to press hard enough to get more of Gwyn's sweet, soft words. That gentle, calm tone, always reliable and always steady… with a hint of something (pain, she realizes with a start) underneath – it makes her heart ache with a startling amount of fondness. "Stop that," she mumbled into the wood. She wanted to slap Gwyn's self-deprecating words out of the way. She wanted Gwyn to know there was nothing to apologize for and that she would forgive her a million times over if necessary. She wanted to let this woman know just how amazing and precious and gorgeous and wonderful and— Whoa. Where did all of this come from? It felt so sudden but so right and, when she really thought about it, Kyupin couldn't quite recall when her feelings had shifted from admiration to… to whatever this was. Her fingers curled against the wooden frame as she continued to listen, holding her breath lest it interrupt Gwyn's rambling. Even when Gwyn swore, she kept (mostly) silent. Listening. Waiting. Until, finally, the words trickled to a slow stop, and Gwyn was promising to go, go, go. "No!" Kyupin clamped her lips together with a forceful smack, biting her tongue in the process. Ow. She hadn't meant to speak, hadn't even thought about what to say, but now she'd gone and done it. Anything to keep Gwyn for a little bit longer. Anything to be selfish. Think. "No," she repeated, helpless, "please… Please don't leave." The door, ever so slowly, opened with a slight creak, revealing blonde curls and shy blue eyes. Her gaze flicked across Gwyn's appearance, greedily drinking it all in. "Don't leave me," she asked. Demanded. With the door fully open, the two women were left staring at one another – nothing to hide behind. Kyupin flushed, pink at her cheeks and along the back of her neck, and forced herself to look right at Gwyn's eyes. No more hiding. No more pretending. She wanted to see everything, to reveal and share and explain the parts of herself that she was scared to look at. She wanted Gwyn to know. Wanted to know Gwyn. She reached out, fingertips brushing against Gwyn's clenched knuckles and resting there. Her smile was small, shy, certainly uncertain, but it was there. A tiny smile just for Gwyn. "Please don't leave me."
Her breath caught painfully at the single word she heard with perfect clarity from the other side of the door that divided them. Kyupin's plea that followed on its heels nearly broke something soft and fledgling between her ribs and she took half a step back to give the other room as the knob turned. It parted a little at first and Gwyn couldn't find anything in the hollow of her dazed skull to say in the face of the Felis' reappearance. Holy shit, had she actually just said all that? She should have let the hounds maul her to death in front of hundreds. That would probably be a less mortifying of an end to her life. When Kyupin opened the door fully, Gwyn was tempted for a moment to shift a boot forward to catch the door. Just in case she tried to run in some fit of embarrassment or regret. Though, to be fair to the other woman, Gwyn was the one about to run for the hills after babbling like an idiot. She settled for swallowing nervously instead. She met her eyes and the question, the request, the demand was like a sentencing. If this was actually happening, and not some fever dream, and she was right, and not mishearing or misunderstanding, then she'd gladly throw herself before this particular executioner. Kyupin's face grew red and she couldn't help the heat that crawled across her own at the sight. Definitely would be a willing and good way to die. Gwyn's grip on the bundle of herbs and flowers was painfully tight. She could feel the creaking of her knuckles in protest, but relaxed them when Kyupin reached out to touch like a moth alighting on a perch. She was immediately struck by how cruel the world was that her hands were full with Kyupin's right there to take. She let her fingers unfurl, the bouquet teetering in her loosened grasp. "Never? I don't think anyone could, you're just... you." Her gaze drifted up to the other's ears for somewhere less intimidating to look. They were soft under her hands in the cell, even when everything else seemed so impossibly cold and hard and uncaring. "Hey, Kyupin. Can I- Just-" She hissed out a breath between her teeth and resettled her weight where she stood. She was so much taller, it would be so awkward to lean down all sudden like that. She should ask and wait, but what if the moment broke and was lost and- Kyupin had asked her to stay. Kyupin wanted her there. Maybe she'd want more, but after everything that had happened she wasn't going to be the one to push that boundary and take what wasn't first offered and also Gwyn was convinced she'd choke on her tongue before she asked what she actually wanted. Not that she didn't want everything and anything else she could get, every second of her time and passing glance and kind word headed her way. "Can I come in? And... stay before I have to-" Kill that bastard. Take his head from his shoulders, gut him like a fish, pry the bones from his body and the tongue from his skull, to kill him so that no one ever had to hurt the way Kyupin had. "And then when I'm done. Can I keep coming back? To here. And to you?"
Oh. Oh. Kyupin's face was so warm that the cold air nipping at her face might start steaming. Through the sound of her rapid, pounding heart, Kyupin barely managed to catch Gwyn's words. "U-Uh," Her tail twitched side-to-side, nervous and erratic, as she tried to do anything other than stutter helplessly. Staring at Gwyn as Gwyn stared at her. A red-faced standoff of sorts. The moment was interrupted by a loud bark. Pit, pat, and there was Vulcan, racing up to greet Gwyn with cheerful tippytaps and half-muted whurfs. It was just what she needed to snap out of her daze. "Right. Right, uh, come on in," she said, shifting around so there was enough space for the larger woman to squeeze past and into the warm house. As an afterthought, she added with a sheepish cough, "Sorry about the mess." She needed something to keep her mind from turning to embarrassed mush. With nimble fingers, she lifted the bouquet of flower and herb from Gwyn's loose grip, up to her face. They smelled nice despite their-less-than-stellar appearance. "I should put these in water," she mused aloud, letting their scent wash over her. Calming. Reassuring. Grounding her in the moment. This is real. These flowers are real and they are real and… Kyupin hurried towards the kitchen, hiding her blossoming grin behind the assortment of greenery. She found a pot to rest them in, filling the container with water, and silently vowed to buy a proper vase for them soon. Busied hands and a busied mind gave her the pause she needed to get her racing pulse under control. She took a shuddering breath and, still keeping her gaze pointed at the flowers and herbs she fussed over, started to talk. "You can stay. As long as you want, even. And if you leave," she licked her lips, "If you leave, then you can always come back. As many times as you want. You can always… you should come back to me." Screaming. Dark and bloody, uncertain and alone. Gwyn's voice, whispering into her ear. Safe. Safe in her arms. There's a war out there but in that moment they are together and good and… Kyupin's hands twisted together, grip tight and knuckles white. An image flashed to the forefront and refused to leave. Gwyn, another corpse in a hopeless war. Her smile wavered. "You have to come back to me." Gwyn's a fighter – it's in her blood. Kyupin would never dream of keeping her away from the next big hunt, the next great adventure (especially when she herself was wont to do it herself). That wasn't fair. But… "Promise me. Promise you'll come back, to me. You'll come back to me, every time."
She was sweating and that was gross, but Gwyn was also absolutely helpless to do jackshit about it and she knew it. Her gloves were going to be glued to her hands. She was ready to accept her fate. At least the panicked surety that Kyupin blamed her for something had all but evaporated.... only to have been replaced with mortified joy so strong it was making her a little queasy. Vulcan saved her saying anything stupider as they carried on their awkward, locked gaze. Truly, animals were better than any of mankind. Heroes. Champions. Gods among flawed mortals. She was going to bring him back a stag's worth of venison every week for the rest of his natural life. Gwyn shooed him back enough to move through the door and close the biting cold outside where it belonged. Kyupin hadn't been home long, but the home and bakery were still warm and clean, the faint smell of fresh bread lingering though she knew there wasn't any made. They had been gone for so long. Days, but how many? She wasn't sure. Any amount of time could have passed after they'd been knocked out and moved, but they hadn't been fed yet. She assumed that had been but a few hours. And the time they spent freeing themselves? Fighting their way out? Had it only been a day or two? Surely not. It felt like grains of sand passing through her fingers thinking about it. She dropped down to take a knee and ruffle her hands through Vulcan's ruff. "Hey big guy. I can't believe you were ever small. What has she been feeding you?" The tamer pulled her fingers through the thick, white pelt with a smile and didn't bother fighting off the storm of licks to her hands, arms, cheeks, whatever he could get to. "Bakery my ass. She's been making dog treats nonstop I bet. Isn't that right, pup?" She grinned and pushed him off some to stand once more when Kyupin's words drifted over. The woman walked closer, steps quiet and careful like she'd used to get closer to her own canines before they'd gotten used to her. To her eyes on them, empty of any hatred. To her words spoken to them, absent of demands. To her hands on them, never once to hurt. The Felis' back was to her, but Gwyn could hear the emotion in her voice even if she couldn't quite pinpoint it all. There seemed to be so much more. Kyupin was telling her more than she could hear her say. She reached forward, fingertips touching Kyupin's elbows first to let her know she was there before they slid forward slowly. She could move away if she wanted. But if she stayed, if she cared to, if she welcomed it... Gwyn gently curled her arms past her sides to lay both hands over Kyupin's where they were clenched painfully together. Her own would work to loosen the grip and wedge her fingers between them. That's what you were supposed to do, right? Hugs and hand-holding and soft words of encouragement and adoration and- Gwyn leaned down to press her face into blonde curls, shoulders hunched up to her ears as she fought past the blush burning on her face and the choking emotion curled up in her throat. "I promise. I promise there isn't a world where I don't."
"... Good." She felt so small, so tiny, with Gwyn wrapped all around her like a big, warm, protective cloak. Fingers curled around one another like puzzle pieces snapping into place, as if this is where they belonged and should stay and should be forever and ever and ever and please don't leave—Kyupin took a long, shuddering breath. Her tail flicked this way and that, then around Gwyn's waist, gently holding the other woman closer. … How long had they stood like this, folding around each other in a never-ending embrace? Gwyn's warm cheeks pressed into her hair, Kyupin's own barely hidden by a curtain of blonde. She cleared her throat. "Ah." A tiny little cough. Her shoulders shifted and she craned her neck to the side. "Um." Fingers started to fidget, tapping and wiggling to the rhythm of similarly impatient toes. It wasn't that she was particularly sick of this position. No, not at all. But... Glurghuurgggghaaahhhhrrrr—. Her cheeks grew, somehow, warmer. As her stomach roared in a cacophony of angry rumbles and grumbles, Kyupin realized she was getting a tad bit… hungry. And the hug, while warm and comfortable and just generally ever-so-pleasing, was not a substitute for a good meal in the belly. The very belly gurgling and whining. Speaking for her. Demanding sacrifice of meat and carbs and veggies. Kyupin gently shifted, tail unfurling. "I-If you let go, I can make us something to eat? Before you go?" she said, her words ending in questions as if she weren't certain that Gwyn would agree. "What do you like?"
Time slid by, thick and syrupy and years existed in each breath taken that carried the faintest hint of baked delights and hearty loam and wild pelts. She was warmer than Kyupin, able to feel just how cold her fingers were compared to her own. Muscle produced more heat, she knew. It kept experienced hikers and survivalists from needing the same equipment and thick parkas others would cling to. She never felt so warm out of the game. Not anymore. To feel her own body heat slowly sink into the smaller body held in her arms felt more like a gift to herself than to the Felis' more nimble hands. She let the fleeting concern go, content to focus on the soft skin under callous as she gently smoothed a thumb over knuckles. As she felt the tail curled around her shift whenever one of them adjusted their weight or took too deep a breath. Was this how the pious felt kneeling at the altar? Humbled and apart of something greater they couldn't quite grasp the shape or size of? Probably not. Supplicants to gods probably didn't get interrupted by unsure catfolk or rumbling stomachs. And they certainly didn't blush to high heavens and step sharply backward. They didn't nearly trip doing so because they hadn't been able to fully let go of the gentle hand of their god. Gwyn cleared her throat at the question and demanded her dumb hand stop doing that. That... clinging thing it was doing. The woman nodded helplessly, "Fuck- yeah, I don't remember the last time we..." Her brows furrowed, playing over at a speed what all had happened. There had been some meager supplies left over from the rescue teams coming to get them, but Gwyn hadn't partaken. She didn't like Kyupin had either. The huntress bit at the inside of her cheek. She didn't feel hungry. It anything, she felt a little unsettled. Like the sick echo of a bad adrenaline rush. She should have been ravenous. "That'd be nice." She settled on, lifting her gaze back to Kyupin's with a weak smile. "Um, something easy on the stomach? It's been a while since we ate and it's going to be a while before I get break what with- well. You know." Gwyn gestured at the parcel of spices she'd set down awkwardly. "Maybe soup? A stew? It's alright if you don't have any meat for it, just vegetables will do. Some of those might be good? Sorry, I'm not good at cooking anything but tossed together stuff on the trail. And trail mix. Granola too. But that's probably not a cooking feat to be proud of, huh?" She laughed at it felt close enough to normal that some of the tension in her shoulders bled away. She didn't want to think about what a few hours later would come to demand of her. What would happen. If they would even make it to the throne room. If Astorea would still be standing when they returned. She wasn't the only one in danger. Still. "I'll help, if you want." She didn't want to waste a moment with her. How many did they get?
She didn't expect to miss Gwyn's body heat as much as she did, suddenly freezing as the only contact left between the two women were their fingers, lingering and brushing against another. "Soup sounds good! Great, even. I think I have some bread, somewhere? It might be stale though…" she mumbled to herself in thought as she started to think over what they'd be making, instinctively shifting close to Gwyn. Kyupin looked up through her lashes at Gwyn as the giantess offered to help with the cooking, despite previously mentioning that her only cooking experience was limited to trail stuff and granola. "If you promise not to burn my house down, then sure, you can help," she said with a small giggle, covering her mouth with a hand. Luckily, they were already in the kitchen, so they wouldn't have to go far to get everything sorted. Kyupin gave Gwyn's hand a thorough squeeze before pulling away entirely and twirling around the room to get everything. A cutting board here, a knife from there, and look, she had carrots and onions and ooh, is that celery? She dropped those off on the countertop in front of Gwyn. "You're good with a blade, right? Can you dice these for me?" she asked, even as she was already hustling through the kitchen for more. Tomatoes and potatoes found their way into her hands, along with a small bag of cauliflowers. Plenty of veggies for the soup! And with Gwyn's gift of herbs, there should be plenty of flavour to carry the dish. "And these! And the herbs, please!" Kyupin nursed the fireplace, nudging blocks of wood as sparks caught and burst inside. When the fire roared, ready for its task, Kyupin hooked a heavy stockpot above it with a healthy blot of cooking fat. As it heated up, she spun right back into Gwyn's vision with a bright smile. Cooking was her favourite past time, and to be able to share this with her favourite person? That was—wait. Favourite person? Since when…? Actually. Kyupin giggled as she mused over it and decided that she was quite fine with Gwyn being her favourite person. "I'm glad you're here," she said, eyes twinkling. It seemed whatever shyness she'd had was melting away! … Her eyes widened. Her cheeks flushed. She immediately reached for her own cutting board and knife as her tongue stuttered and stumbled. Words failed her as she started to chop whatever was left of the massive pile of veggies. Never mind. It seemed she was still a little shy – shy enough to be embarrassed about saying things like that.
Gwyn grinned past the blush she was still praying would cool, putting a hand to her chest in mock offense. "Burn your house down? Now, the only difference between a pro hiker and a firefighter is I don't look like a walking piece of laffy taffy. I know how to prevent forest fires- err, house fires. Same thing right?" She paused for a moment in thought as Kyupin puttered about collecting ingredients. "Wait, do you or do you not use water on a grease fire? Asking for a friend." She was well aware of the answer to that. Probably. Not, she thought, one of those cases of snuffing it out rather than giving it more reason to devour everything in sight. "Not my thing, but I can manage." She took up the knife offered to her and flipped it with a gentle toss. "For you," she muttered quietly to herself as she set it to the carrots. It was a light thing compared to the savage piece of work in her inventory. A knife meant for cooking, regardless of its simple size and style, was worlds better as actually cutting for cooking than the fang of an alpha wolf crafted into a wicked dagger. Likely more sanitary as well. "Though I gotta wonder how hard it'd be to dice something with an arrow." The huntress set to the task she was given with a small quirk to her lips lingering even as the emotional tension of the past few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months curled away in the homey kitchen. Every time she heard the clatter of Kyupin working on something or caught sight of a tail tip or whirling bit of cloth she found the smile ticking back up again. Gwyn glanced up when the clack of the pot set in place was followed by a whirl of movement and then- nothing? She caught a shifting series of expressions on the felis' face and she ached to be good at reading them. But the light in her eyes and the words that fell out without a hint of lie or restraint or anything but clear joy? She barely kept from chopping her fucking fingers off as she smiled stupidly back, halfway through dicing chives? Shallots? Whatever. The third pile of green things she'd been handed. The pot of stock over the fire turned the old smell of meals, that had been soaking slowly into the wood of the place the longer Kyupin called it home, into a fresh one. @Kyupin Felnya joined her in their mountain of small steps. It was comfortable despite the close proximity that usually set her on edge like her hounds. Their elbows bumped and more than once Gwyn cleared the cutting board of a pile of something that then went rolling onto Kyupin's board. A small game of finding enough counter space in the space they were sharing, despite the size of the kitchen offering more than enough prime real estate for the job. The woman bit at the inside of her lip for a moment in the quiet before gathering the courage to keep up their game of cat and mouse. "I can't think of anywhere, right now, that I'd rather be. Well, no, there's a few places," she lifted a hand to wave dismissively, albeit careful of the knife, "but only if you're there too. Maybe Red River Gorge, over in Kentucky. You'd like it there. S'pretty. Wouldn't even make you climb it."
A pause. A brief flash of worry, crossing her expression. And then, with hesitation, an awkward laugh. "A-Ah, no water, please. That'd make it worse. We should just cover the fire so it runs out of oxygen." She bumped her hip against Gwyn's. "You tell your friend that, okay?" The silence that fell over them was just as comforting as the words that easily flowed. Perhaps it was the close contact between them, the electricity buzzing from where flesh touched flesh. Or perhaps it was the brush of elbows against elbow, the clacking of knife against wooden cutting board. When Gwyn did speak up again, it was Kyupin's turn to nearly chop off her fingers. She swallowed down the saliva building in her mouth and looked for more veggies to chop – but somehow, they'd cut their way through all of them. With nothing to distract her, she settled for the next best thing. She buried her face into Gwyn's shoulder with a small whine and a conflicted grin. "Red River Gorge, huh?" she bit her lip and tried not to think about trying to climb in the real world. Of her missing legs, of the pain of watching life move on around her as she sat still, so still— "Tell me about it?" she asked. Demanded. Her voice wobbled a bit as she gathered the strength to push away and smile. She then turned to the toppling pile of vegetables and maneuvered them into the boiling pot of stock. They clattered in with a few splashes and instantly filled the home with the wild combination of aromas. Spices, herbs, twirling all around them in a symphony of delight, seeping into the woods of her home to forever mark their place in the history of her cooking career. She stirred the pot a few times before taking a step away and mentally setting a timer. The food would simply have to cook by itself for a while. She turned around and walked to the dining table – a small one pushed up against one of the windows – and pulled out two chairs. "Sit?" She did not, however, sit herself down. Instead, she stared impatiently at @Gwyn ap Herne and waited for the taller blond to settle in and tell her stories about climbing mountains and other beautiful places. Other beautiful memories.
Gwyn shot her an amused look, a smile curving up her eyes as she only fought marginally to control it. What did she have to hide from Kyupin anyway? "No water. Got it." They finished chopping and dicing what was required for the stew in no time. Gwyn carefully put down the knife she had originally been handed and shifted her weight to better take Kyupin's leaning against her. The woman lifted a hand to lay lightly between the Felis' shoulders and simply breathed in time with her for a moment. "Only been there once before, but I'd love to go back. Was before my fall when a few friends convinced me to go camping with them. S'east Kentucky near West Virginia. Beautiful place, rivers running through old canyons and forests hiding them in shade. Even in the dead of summer, it's cool in the shade and water." She pressed the hand closer between her shoulder blades and lifted her free arm to sling it around her waist. "There are all these tan and slate and red overhangs perfect for climbing. We used to work on our arms doing overhangs for hours. You lost if you dropped into the water or if your boots touched rock. Arms only." She grinned fiercely over the top of Kyupin's head before she had to let her go to tend to the food, able to intimately remember the burning strain and how many times she'd had to let go and drop into the deep pools of cool water below. She's lost to Jonas twice and Roxanne once, but she'd won five. Distantly, she wondered where they were. What heights they'd climbed while she fell and fell behind. "I'm weaker back home now. This," she gestured to herself and padded closer to take a seat when the other demanded it, "was definitely from last year. But it wouldn't take long to get the arms back. Bet I could haul you all the way to the top of the Gunks. Teach you to hold if you wanted. Get you a set of guns," she winked and tightened her grip on the table's edge to make the muscles tense. Her smile faded into something softer and she curled her arms under her on the table. "The challenge for you would be outshining the view, but I've got faith." She resolutely ignored the burning blush she could feel on her face and ears. "We could look for them here too, in the game." The Gunks weren't too far, most likely. Those at least. "I wonder how'd they'd changed..."
Palm met chin as Kyupin settled into the seat beside Gwyn, watching the other with bright eyes. Listening to her talk about climbing, about what she'd seen and could see, it warmed her. Warmed her right up until she, too, was picturing it. Gwyn… looking very much like Gwyn. And her, too, gripping handholds and smiling. Losing her hold, trying to put a foot down to save herself, and falling, falling— Kyupin shivered. "I…" She licked her lips and folded her hands together on the table, trying to swallow down the fear swelling in her throat. They were here and now, that was… later. Maybe never. There was no reason to think about it. "Ah," she said, half-distracted by her wary thoughts. Away! Away! She tried to keep her smile placid, to avoid worrying Gwyn. It was easy to do so when the other acted so sweetly. "Pfft. Are you hitting on me?" she asked, once more lifting her palm to drop her chin into it. Her head tilted to the side as her smile grew more into a cat-like smirk. Luckily for Gwyn, their blushes were very much matching. Not even a few days into being a (possibly official) couple and they were already matching. Wow! Kyupin mused over it. "Maybe we should… when you come back home, we should go out and look for it." She reached out her free hand, subtly shifting it across the table in offering with her palm up. "Together. We could… Yeah. That'd be nice, wouldn't it? We'll find all the mountains, and we'll climb them, and maybe we can have a nice picnic up among the cloud." She hoped Gwyn would take the hint of her up-turned palm, awfully empty and waiting to be held.
Gwyn shifted in the chair, dancing ever on the line between confident and broken under the weight of Kyupin's eyes on her. The question did nothing but convince her that the blush was now a permanent feature of her character. Hell, maybe Sabine would get up later and have the same. She was glad she hadn't brought any of her beasts on this particular delivery. Nathair would have been insufferable, agitated by her flighty words and demanding that she strike or leave it be. Hati and Skoll would be too busy trying to maul Vulcan into playing. She didn't know Krait well enough yet, but so far it seemed reserved. Withdrawn. It had been alone for so long it seemed. Her eyes had drifted as she thought from the Felis to the grain of the table and she forced them back up to meet the other pair. "If," she cleared her throat roughly, "you want me to. Then yes. Yes definitely." The huntress nodded slightly as she spoke, half without realizing the motion had even started. She didn't think Kyupin needed more reason to believe her. It was the easiest thing in the world to move her own, calloused hand across the wood grain and slot it over the smaller. She turned her wrist to hook their fingers together and squeezed it lightly. "If we need to unlock a few more regions along the way? So be it." Gwyn smirked, "We've got more than enough firepower between the two of us. And I'd love that. To have that with you."
