We were chasing the thunder inside the storm;

In truth she had lost count as to how many cookies she actually had devoured, quite content to satisfy that selfish need for that delicious lingering taste. Each flavour had a unique fusion of favorable flavours. After all, when was the last time she ever had a cookie, she was slowly but surely being turned into a cookie monster, at the very least she would indulge tonight. After all, when did the woman ever indulge before? The moments when she did was when the she-wolf ran unbidden within that tangled forest that felt like comfort to her, but that was not a mere indulgence it was a necessity. A necessity or she could kiss her sanity goodbye. Like usual the man offers a little morsel of an inkling of exposure and yet he does not elaborate. Tetradore only uttered three little words, allowing them to just steep there without affording very much else. Which was fine, she was content to let it pass, sated by cookies and their fort. But she was aware of those words all the same, like she was painfully aware of every damn thing around her. She watched as he consumed another cookie from the box that sat between them, the deliciousness certainly difficult to resist.

As he told his story she couldn't help but reach out and gently place a reassuring hand on his. Why? Maybe an offer of support? He seemed to suffer more than his nine lives worth of problems. She understood. Yet no one afforded her any kind of consoling and she sure as hell she was not one do such a thing. The pack life was survival of the fittest, there was no such thing as reassuring anything and any of that support that one would look to from a pack was simply not there. You found support within your own resolve and in nothing more. Yet maybe this tender side was part of her or maybe it was the wolf in her. Or was it the part that was once part of a tightly knit family. Of course, it had been a long time, but not long enough to entirely forget. Tetradore just seemed like he needed someone even if the were-king didn't dare admit it. Perhaps he didn't have someone who could simply understand. Yet what was odder is that he didn't pull away from the rare display tenderness. When the moment faded she pulled back her hand, resting it somewhere on her knee where it wouldn't do anymore spontaneous wandering. Perhaps freedom was having its effects on her. Swept up in the moment she uttered those words of disbelief and she was certain she already knew the answers. She knew their kind all too well. "You are probably right." She admitted softly, nodding her head. The nervousness faded, allowing the moment to seamlessly bleed into something else.

The conversation shifted, somehow finding her fit enough to take up residence in one of his vacant apartments. Just how many broken birds did he offer homes to? He certainly had a lot of vacant spaces. But it seemed to solve a problem they both had at the very least. She was in need of an apartment and he had one that was apparently much nicer than this. Rent was another topic they would probably have to discuss later after she actually saw the place with her own two eyes. But she was positive it would work, she could make any place her own. He did catch her off guard with that idle tease in which she partook in the banter right back. It felt easy, and perhaps even fun to simply forget for a time of the things that haunt her mind. But despite everything, all this kindness, it had to be repaid in some way. Of course, she would have to pay him actual money but perhaps she could show him a good time at least to start. Not that she really knew what that was yet, but she was confident in her own abilities to drum up something within that mind of hers. Regardless, he agreed to those obscure terms.

She offered to watch a movie with her, she was entirely planning on watching one on her own if she could get that tv to work. Why not invite the man who made her a pillow fort to watch that movie with her, clearly he wasn't on some kind of time crunch if he had time to make the fort in the first place. He didn't seem like he was in any kind of rush to leave either. Simply shirking off those countless duties that probably weighed on his shoulders didn't seem too far-fetched either. Regardless, he used some kind of sorcery to get the old tv working again. It reminded her of the Tv her parents kept in their basement. Temperamental.

His version of fixing looked a lot more like fiddling with random wires and button mashing and lastly but surely hitting the damn thing. Regardless it seemed to do the trick as the tv flickered on, the electrical hum and glow from the screen flooding the apartment. She couldn't help the slight exclamation of excitement that escaped her. Apparently, the simple things matter more than she realised. She picked a movie that had caught her eye while she was healing and snooping a little bit when she was bored out of her mind. The movies stacked by the tv were mainly titles that came out during the time of Negan's rule. She noticed for a moment that he was deep in thought but returned wordlessly to the fort. He settled back in by her side resting on his stomach. It felt oddly easy like they somehow knew each other when they just barely touched the surface.

The movie began, she shoved another chocolate chip cookie in her mouth while she watched the fake animals talking to one another and interact. Regardless it still got her a little riled. "What I would like to know is how all those wolves couldn't make Shere Khan eat his last good eye? Please." She scoffs at the tv, finding her own teeth baring at the one eyed tiger on the fuzzy tv. He really didn't have a reason to be so gung-ho killing a random little kid raised by wolves and a panther. He was no threat to the tiger. How could all those animals allow themselves to fear one power tripping tiger? It made sense though, he was just another damn tyrant ruling by fear. There was more of the pack than there were of Negan and they still feared the oppressor. But in this movie her favourite character was Raksha, she had a stoic strength to her. Hell was that a tear bubbling out of her eye, she certainly couldn't have that. The part when she told Mowgli that no matter where Mowgli went that he would always be her son. God dammit.

"I think someone needs to give Bagheera a hug, he's wound up so tight with his rules he can't seem to enjoy life.." She admitted out loud, idly moving her feet back and forth. They hadn't gotten to the part where the man cub hugged the panther yet. She curled her body around to snatch another cookie, to hell with will power. "I hate to be the realist right now, we are watching a Disney movie after all. But Bagheera would have made a quick lunch out of the boy in the wild." Despite the childishness of the movie and the fort, it felt good. She was truly enjoying herself.

I'd rather be dangerous;

MIRA RAMOS