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A yawn interrupted the quiet that had settled over the room in the early ours of the morning. Somewhere within the tangle of blankets and feathers that covered the bed was a drowsy, ha;f asleep chimera. She'd woken up about an hour ago, but there was a warm body laying beside her, his back to her front, with one pale arm looped around his waist. Her legs were tucked up behind his, tail curled loosely around one tanned ankle, her breath warm on the back of his neck, carrying his scent back to her.

She remembered falling asleep the night before with their positions reversed, but at some point they had switched, they usually did. Merry curling her body protectively and possessively around the quetzalcoatl in her sleep. In the few weeks since they'd met the ghoul had taken a particular fondness for the boil. He was more than friend with benefits, more than just a cuddle buddy.

With another yawn the ghoul squirmed in the covers until she could press her face into turquoise hair, humming affectionately as she tightened her arms around the boil. An ear perked, listening to the sound of his breathing as she tried to deduce if he was still sound asleep, or close to waking.

A soft giggle sounded from behind him, and she nuzzled into his hair, drawing another deep breath before letting out in a sharp, tickling exhale against the back of his neck. "Hi yourself," was punctuated by a kiss against the soft skin just behind his ear.

"Are you sure it's just me? You smell like rain, and growing things, and air all wrapped together." It was like home, though unlike the boil,Merry had nothing but pleasant memories of the jungle she'd grown up in. So open, so clean and fresh smelling, and utterly alive. The city wasn't bad, she loved her life here as well, but nothing really compared to the atmosphere in the rain forest.

At his question she'd give a drowsy, though pleased,"mmhmm." Painted nails trailed over dark skin, tracing soft circles as her hand drifted from his stomach around his side, along the length of his arm. "Did you?"

He sounded so much more serene lately. The nervousness remained, and he still rambled, undervalued himself, but not as bad. It seemed like her presence in his life was helping, she hoped it was.

It made her happy, seeing him so relaxed, at ease and comfortable. his shifting had her nuzzling her face between his shoulder blades before his comment made her giggle. He'd feel it, a a warm, wet line up the back of his neck before an obvious smack of lips. "You taste good,." Like clean water and rain clouds. As for smell? He had it pretty much spot on. Some of it was extremely familiar, scents she'd grown up with, and some of it was new. Storm clouds, rolling in over blue skies.

She'd wiggle back a little to give him room to roll, but once he'd settled she crawled over him, laying with her lower body between his legs and her arms folded across his stomach. "What do you want to know?" Where even to start.

"We're a loud bunch. Loud enough the racket we make carries out of the valley. It's shocking at night, when a lot of the young ones are a sleep, and the elders are on watch. You can finally hear the rest of the jungle." She smiled, tracing her finger along the scales on his hip. "Unless we're celebrating something, then the valley if filled with music until dawn." At this she grinned, red eyes flicking up to him. "We celebrate a lot."

"Of course you can. I wanna take the twins too, we'll just all go together." Of the three, Pachua might get a little more out of the experience because he had his wings, and he'd be able to fly around the the rest of the tribe, explore the cliffs that surrounded the valley.

Her head tilted at his worried frown, and she slid her hands across his stomach and up along his chest in a reassuring motion. "As much, or as little, as you're comfortable telling me." She was curious, of course, but she wouldn't push him.

The ghoul gave a subtle shake of her head to indicate that she didn't know much, but otherwise kept quiet, letting him continue uninterrupted save for the soft rumble of a purr radiating from her chest. As much a comforting thing as a sign of contentment. It was clear to her that whatever he wanted to get off his chest, it wasn't something he liked to talk about, or possibly ever had before.

So she listened, bright eyes trained on his face, open and interested, as she kept up that soft trail of fingertips along his sides. It was all pretty fascinating, about the colors, the scales. She'd known Quetzalcoatl existed, but not much about their culture. As he continued, she started to get a sense of why.

Brows twitched up as he mentioned what was required of the young before they could reach adulthood. She knew the Tezcatl as well, they didn't just hunt the feathered serpents. It was why Merry's tribe lived in the valley, surrounded by cliff faces on all sides. The chimera had their own traditions, but none that required any sort of battles with other races or tribes. Their ancestors were about joy and fertility.

Frowning, her hands stilled on his sides as what he was saying sank in. "What do you mean give up some of your own to their ancestors?" She had a sinking suspicion she already knew, but she needed to hear it from him.

These traditions and rituals were not that foreign to her, they were in all the old stories of the gods, and she knew other races still held true to those old ways, but she had never personally had to face them. The idea that Pachua might have bothered her. The purring ceased, features melting from interest to concern.

Oh, no sir, she did not like that one little bit. It seemed totally barbaric to Merry, with her loud, close-knit tribe and easy going customs. Bristling slightly, the ghoul rose up on her hands and knees so she could crawl up along the boil's body until their eyes were even.

It wasn't some honorable sacrifice they were trying to enforce on him, it was death for the sake of vanity, and that just seemed utterly wrong. They couldn't have him, not his core, not his wings, not even his feathers. They didn't deserve even a drop of his blood. Pachua was a wonderful boil, he was sweet, and honest, and genuinely good natured. How could anyone ever want to snuff out his life? It baffled her.

"You don't belong to them," she told him, a hand moving to cup his cheek, thumb stroking soft skin. "They don't own you, and they can't make you do this." As she lowered down again her knees were tight against his sides, and her tail looped possessively around one of his legs while one arm did the same around his shoulders. "They can't have you." She nuzzled him, a little roughly, clinging tightly.

She was shaking her heard at his logic, not so much disagreeing, as simply not accepting. They could not have him. She'd made up her mind, and that was that.

The thought that someone would come here to try to collect him, or worst, harm the people he cared about, had colored lips peeling back from sharp teeth as a growl rolled up to rumble through her chest. "The people you care about are strong." Well, she was strong. Honestly she did not know who else the boil cared for other than Llyr, and she was unaware of how well the nix could defend himself. It was a valid fear, but Merry was drawing a line in the sand, metaphorically placing herself in front of Pachua and anyone else the boil valued that could not take care of themselves.

There was also the matter of this being a school. "Amity will not allow you to be clutched from their grounds and stolen away. Not you, or anyone else." At least she didn't think so. Obviously a parent had the right to collect their child if they had a valid reason, but she believed the school had their student's best interests at heart. If Pachua explained, they'd fight to keep him here, wouldn't they?

The arm around his shoulder tightened, body settling a little more heavily against him. Another low growl rolled up and out full lips, against his cheek, and the fur along her spine stood on end. "They aren't the only ones with poisons." Chimera were part snake, after all, and Merry was no different.

That protective anger lasted only until the boil beneath her began to plead. The growl cut off immediately, tension flooding away as if a switch had been thrown, and she turned her head to nuzzle her nose into his cheek. "I won't let anyone hurt me." Or you.