[center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/rFqmKNsx/Orion-Nightingale.png[/img][/center][hr][right][sub]Location: Frostmoon Lake -> Town Square
Interactions: Céline ([@Beard Dad])[/sub][/right][hr]
[indent]Orion absorbed her words like a blade absorbs heat—slowly, irrevocably, the edges of his cynicism softening beneath their forge. Her voice had carried no grand proclamations, no performative altruism; only the certitude of someone who’d stared into the abyss and decided, stubbornly, to plant flowers in its teeth.  It was the same type of resolve that had once anchored him during the worst of his transformations, when the hunger threatened to unmoor him entirely. He’d found a solution, of course, though lately it appeared…that it was failing. 

The fox had proven that much. 

He hadn’t planned to take from it. That was the truth. He’d sat on that boulder, frost biting through the leather of his gloves, the lake yawning black and silent before him. And then the creature had emerged, white as new snow, thin from hunger, its eyes wide with the kind of trust only desperation could shape. It had approached him willingly, despite what he was. Despite what it must have sensed.

And still, something in him had reached for it. Not in anger. Not in cruelty. But with the same reflexive pull a drowning man has toward air.

He hadn’t drawn much. Not enough to kill it. Just enough to feel… steady. 

The fox had stumbled away afterward, dazed, but alive. He hadn't followed. But even now, guilt prickled beneath his skin like a rash he couldn’t scratch. He told himself it had been necessary. That a clean withdrawal was better than a loss of control. But necessity had always been the kindest name for weakness, and Orion wasn’t sure anymore which one he’d answered to.

Céline stood just beyond the alley’s mouth now, her breath fogging the air with each exhale, less from cold than from the heat of conviction. The kind of conviction that didn’t come from pride or performance, but from survival. From pain. From choosing to keep standing when the world had handed her every reason to stay down.

Orion stepped out to meet her, his own posture unhurried, but no longer guarded. Something in her answer had settled the tension behind his eyes.

“[color=#0054a6]You don’t sound terrified,[/color]” he observed, the words escaping before he could temper them. Her lack of pretense disarmed him. He’d expected defiance, perhaps. But not this. Not this unadorned truth. 

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[right][i]He thought of the fox’s liquid gaze, the way it had nosed his palm without flinching.[/i] [i][color=#0054a6]Foolish creature,[/color][/i] [i]he chastised himself.[/i] [i][color=#0054a6]Or perhaps the only wise one left.[/color][/i][/right]

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Orion let the moment stretch, shaking his head of the memory, before he added, “[color=#0054a6]The ones who survive… not just the hunger or the cold or the fear, but their past… they make the best medics. Because they understand what it means to come back from the edge. To want to.[/color]” He wasn’t offering flattery here either. He didn’t believe in it. But there was something akin to respect in his voice now, shaped not by sentiment, but recognition. He’d seen people break under less. He’d broken, in ways even those closest to him, even the prince, hadn’t seen. And yet, here she stood, glass-eyed and exhausted and quietly relentless.

“[color=#0054a6]I’d advise against making a habit of dying though,[/color]” he said, almost a warning yet with a knowing smile. “[color=#0054a6]I think once is more than enough for anyone.[/color]”

Then, more quietly, as if acknowledging something rare between them: “[color=#0054a6]I’ll vouch for you with the prince.[/color]” The offer slipped out unbidden. A risk. Once again. But one that seemed more worth it when compared to his wish for Willis to adapt to things here. The man, at least, had greatly calmed down since then. Still…what a rough start it had been. 

“[color=#0054a6]You’ll still have to speak with him. That part isn't mine to change.[/color]” His gaze met hers. “[color=#0054a6]But if he asks for my opinion…I think you’re worth the risk.[/color]” 

Besides... Orion himself could simply make sure in his own way as well.[/indent]