At least she looks as embarrassed as he feels. But she also seems annoyed and Fallon has every right to be. He knows that, and still bristles at her tone. He pushes away from her, turning to face the lake rather than the girl at his side. Maybe it’s easier to talk like this, maybe he can’t stand to look into her eyes.

"He stinks." As if that is any real answer. Falki would not know the man from Adam except that he was enticed by the lioness that had also entrapped him, that he is strong and handsome and Fallon liked him. And for all that, the dark brute stinks.

And then, quietly, carried by the most defeated sigh, "I don't like that you smell like him."

He turns, and does not address her directly which irritates Fallon more than anything. He had the nerve to try and dictate who she could spend her time with and now didn't have the courage to be blunt and straightforward. Stubborn as she was, the grey figurine strides into the lake, turning on her heels so that sh was now facing @Fálki so that they may converse like adults.

He shares a piece of information that resounds with a small part of truth, eyes narrowing as Fallon digests it. Did he? The Salem woman is not a romantic in the slightest -- she would hardly assume that others enjoyed her company, Fálki included. She supposed however that if the roles had been reversed and if she had seen him with another woman, she might respond similarly.

But she has never taken pause to consider why.

"Why?" she asks, for maybe he can put it into words for both of them.

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The world still, as if holding its breath. Falki can bear his own heart beating, thumping against the inside of his chest. Fallon looks at him and asks a question so simple and so open, honest, it would hurt less if she sliced his face with her claws. He'd prefer it. Falki looks at Fallon, his friend, his saviour, his only companion since losing everything -

He can't risk losing her. He knows what will come if he offers an honest answer, and he is too much of a coward to face it.

"It doesn't matter." He says, unable to keep his gaze from wavering away to her laws. "Forget I said anything. It was wrong of me." She is not his. Not in any sense of the word. And he has no right to act this way.

When Fallon had saved Fálki's life all those moons ago, she had made a promise that she would never leave him. They were bonded -- by life, by experience and the sheer need to be together. Things had not changed with Violarum in the picture but it certainly did complicate things. She knows not if what she and @Fálki shared had verged that line of friendship -- when Fallon had nearly died, she could have sworn that fresh tears stained his face when she had come to.

Like gum on the bottom of his shoe, Fallon would stick by the Sigrun. Even if he did not want her there.

"Fuck off, Fálki," Fallon contends, voice low, "I need to know."

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There is a limit to the Sigrun's patience. A threshold that even Fallon has found the roof of, and met the temper on the other side of it. Rarely intentional but there nonetheless. Falki hates himself after, for the way he reacts when stressed or backed into a corner, or taken unaware. He is all three now, even if the corner is metaphorical and the surprise is from his own lack of understanding. But his temper doesn't rise to meet her irritation. Subdued and hollow, he looks up to meet @Fallon's angry, pink eyes. Breathing them in like he might not get another chance.

"Because I love you."

The air feels thick as those few words are forced out from between his lips, but he holds steady. Steady and waiting for the inevitable outcome, for Fallon to leave him. For someone better, prettier. Someone that doesn't jump at a twig cracking, someone that can smile without guilt. Someone who does not love her as he does.

"Because I love you."

Fallon has never been loved. She has never thought herself worthy of love -- so much so that she acted in a way that made her purposefully unloveable. It worked the other way too -- not having been loved, Fallon had never really known what it felt like to love someone.

This is an entirely new territory that the Salem woman has never before ventured within and she feels sick to her stomach, anxious at the pressure mounting on her shoulders. For while she knew that she would always be his, there is the knowledge that he may no longer want anything to do with her.

She cares for him so deeply -- like no one else that she knows, and should he fall off a cliff, Fallon would do the same without a single question. Was this love? This unquestionable dedication and devotion to one being? But he had never ever shown an interest in her -- at least not in that way. There is much inner turmoil brewing but Fallon does what makes sense in that moment, she sloes the distance between them and attempts to wrap her forelimbs about his neck in an embrace, burrowing her head against his mane, closing her eyes.

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The silence stretches.

He stands, unmoving and stoic. Waiting, waiting, waiting. For her to laugh, to think he's joking. For Fallon to walk away, disgusted. So many possibilities, each one obsessed over in the dark of night while she slept soundly beside him. They were barely even friends by his own doing, and now she has managed to pull a confession of love from his tongue.

And then she comes forward, wrapping herself around him. The lion is frozen, mind trying to calculate what exactly is happening; this isn't an outcome he'd anticipated.

Oh.

Slowly, as if scared he might spook her, Falki lifts a paw to wrap around her strong shoulders. His chin rises up and tucks her against his chest, resting on her crown. She fits so perfectly here, it's hard to remember why he never touched her more often like this.

"Say something," he begs softly. Fallon has never been the speechless type - he doesn't know what her silence means now.

@Fálki has seen aspects of Fallon that no one else has ever seen before. They have shared experiences that have pulled them together and in some ways, no one else would understand her like he would. She wants to be with him for as long as she live but at the same time, she wished to be with Violarum too. Could she not have both? Would she have to choose?

Burrowed against his neck, Fallon closes her eyes and breathes in the Sigrun's masculine scent, allowing herself to relax though when he asks her to reply, all she can manage is a small breath through her nose. "I love you Fálki," she replies softly, honest. A pause follows and as she pulls apart from her embrace, bright fuchsia gaze meeting his gaze, she continues, "but I love him too."

Love is a strong word but she knows how she feels for Fálki and she knows how she feels for Violarum -- the two are not so dissimilar from one another. With her heart beating in her chest at a hundred miles per hour, Fallon waits without breath for her companion to respond.

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There are four words that he never thought he would hear again, let alone from Fallon’s lips. There is just a moment after them, with Fallon in his arms and tucked safe beneath him, that Falki feels he is free falling. A sudden, almost horrible lurch before the feeling of flying. And he loves it, for all the the split second he feels it -

And then the ground comes rushing up to meet him.

Slowly, Falki pulls his forelimb down from her shoulders. It rests gently on the ground, the movement soft, but sure. And all the while Falki looks at her, drowning in her wide-eyed gaze, breathing in her scent still so strong despite the stink of that other lion. A nameless bastard, and Falki hates him for his mere existence, for being able to steal away Fallon’s heart.

But you can’t lose something that was never yours.

"I… I understand." Falki’s voice is rough, strained. "You should be with him."

He doesn’t ask if this man loves Fallon too - you can’t know her and not love her.

"I don't.." she can feel him withdraw every second that he takes to process Fallon's confession. The issue is that she does not know what she wants -- she doesn't want to choose. She is selfish and she wants both. "Fálki, I don't know." And that was the truth -- this has become an overwhelming exercise and she wonders if it will all be worth it.

"I don't want to lose you," she adds, hopeful that he might overlook all that has unfurled but Fallon finds herself doubting that the Sigrun will be able to recover. Had she fucked things up? Things would never be the same again -- never like it used to be. "Please," she pleads, expression pained as she asks for him to understand and give her time.

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