HEARTFELT PROMISES { .:*・°☆ } ——— [size=10pt]TAGS

With the recent sparring with Caesar, a spot in his pelt had been singed to the point where his fur was gone from it and the area stung though he did go to see Silus whom put on a few poultices and helped to dull at least some of the pain and start the healing process, but there was pain that would still linger along the wounded area. The king cheetah was padding back from the Colosseum, eyes narrowed as he limped and moved slowly, wincing at every step he was forced to take due to the pain. His mind was only on one thing and that was not looking weak, but he couldn't help the wincing that was brought to his features. A huff slipped beneath his breath as he found himself travelling through the jungle, his eyes darting here and there to check if anyone was around. His paws snapped twigs and sticks beneath them as he strode through the jungle until he made it out the other end, leaves covering his pelt until he shook them off and proceeded with his slow pace on his way back to his shack which had actually been cleaner than last time due to Luca cleaning up for him.

His paws pressed into the hot sand beneath as he made his way down the bay, wincing with every step while he tried to quicken his pace so that no one would see his moving figure in such pain, not wanting to give away his weakened state to the others. He didn't get very far until he ended up falling flat on his face, eyes narrowed in obvious annoyance. He wasn't too far away from his shack but he was far too discouraged to continue walking any further, Marcellus accepting his newly made defeat and slowly rising back up to his full height and beginning to allow his trudging paws to carry him to the water where he would sit down at the shoreline and look back at his left side where the burn wound was, sighing. Maybe next time he should be more careful with who he chose to spar with. He brought up a paw and splashed it into the water to create a strong mist that would land on his wound, at first stinging but helping to calm it down though not all that much. He turned his head from side to side to look around briefly before continuing to inspect his burn wound.

Luca hadn't been burned in centuries. The last time he had been bitten by the metaphorical jaws of fire, he had been but a child. It was during his human life, his first life, and it was to punish him for a crime that he didn't commit. He was thrown under the bus a lot back then- all the kids were. It was a part of life that they had to get used to, because when you were caught doing something you weren't supposed to, your only options were to frame someone else or take the overly harsh punishment. He was touched on the stomach with iron heated red-hot; fleeting yet immensely painful. Unlike the electric shocks, burns lingered, heating the skin like the iron had never left his body. Back then, Luca had been reaching the end of his rope. It was pretty close to when he had made the deal, he remembered, and after the deal there were definitely no more burns. The darkness had gifted him dominion over fire, and what he had once feared became his one hope for salvation. Flames would never hurt him again, for now they bowed to him, refused to harm his body.

Because of all this, Luca was understandably confused (and a little alarmed) when he awoke from his nap to find a small portion of his body alight with the uncomfortable sting of a burn. He frowned and pulled himself to his paws, twisting his body to get a look at the painful patch of skin. Usually pain wasn't unwelcome, but it was the mystery of it all that made Luca's heart speed up in his chest. He licked at the fur but there was no rawness, no obvious wound there to be causing him the trouble. He decided to seek out one of the medics to ask them if they've ever heard of anything similar. Ignoring things like that had led to an early death in the past. God, he hoped it wasn't poison.

Luca exited his house and closed the door behind him with a sway of his hips, not bothering to lock it. He didn't have that many possessions he was all that attached to, and the ones he did care about were easily identifiable though scent. Right as he started towards the jungle he was stopped by the sound of splashing, and then a sudden intensifying of the pain on his side. His eyes narrowed in a subtle wince, but returned to normal as the pain dulled again. Luca turned towards the source of the sounds, his sharp ears easily picking it out from the fairly quiet shoreline, and his stomach dropped at what he found. Usually he'd be pretty happy to see Marcellus, but it wasn't the cheetah himself that was causing the hellhound such discomfort. The red burn on his side, equal in size and shape to the sore patch on Luca's skin, was what his eyes were locked on. It took a while for it to sink in. Slowly, he began to move towards his fellow striker, speeding up until he broke into a run. He had been through this sort of thing before, so he had an idea of what was going on. "Marcellus!" Luca said urgently as he ran over. "Are we- did you-" but in the middle of speaking a better idea came to him than spitting out some jumbled question.

His mouth opened in a silent gasp before moving to his pouch and nosing it open, bringing out the small knife that he kept on him at all times. Without thinking he drove it quickly into his own shoulder, ignoring the pain to look up and watch Marcellus with panicked eyes to see if his hypothesis was actually correct. If they were sharing each other's pain, that could only mean a small handful of things, the most likely answer being one that Luca absolutely did not want to face. He wasn't sure he could handle another mental bond, especially with someone that he assumed was mortal.

HEARTFELT PROMISES { .:*・°☆ } ——— [size=10pt]TAGS

The last thing he was expecting was someone to find him out on the beach while he took a break from his movements, studying his gaze over the ocean as the sun was slowly beginning to set and illuminate everything around him. For a brief few moments he was distracted from his pain, trying to relax as he closed his light colored eyes to ease himself at the beautiful view. It wasn't quick until he could hear the sound of paws approaching him and as quick as that the moment had been ruined, eyes flying open and a huff escaping his pigmented jaws, not just yet turning his head to look to whoever had seemed to be approaching him and ruining his relaxation time. His tail flicked in acknowledgement, not bothering to look as the pawsteps drew closer and closer until finally they were so close that he could no longer ignore them. For a moment he contemplated the thought of continuing to ignore the person in hopes that they'd walk away from him, find someone else to chat with, but he decided against it. His sour mood had already been sour due to the stinging of his wound which was slowly returning to him, but maybe a good conversation could be the thing to ruin that sour mood.

Almost reluctantly the king cheetah turned his head to look at the approached figure to see that it was Luca, mind contemplating for something to say. He definitely wasn't thrilled to see Luca, or anyone for that matter, but he would try to make sure he wasn't so quick to judge and hopefully the hellhound would come to him for something intelluctual or calm rather than the usual lust that the canine had. At the back of his mind he could feel this weird emotion that was trying to break out. Shock? Why would he feel shocked at Luca's appearance? If anything he was to be expected rather than unexpected. For a moment he didn't say anything, trying to figure out this weird emotion in his head before Luca finally broke through with a few words. "What? What are you talking about?" His tone was confused and suspicious as his expression furrowed into one of confusion and slight annoyance. He wasn't sure what Luca was trying to say as to Marcellus it sounded like a bunch of incoherent nonsense. "Are we what? Did I what?" At this point he was starting to just give up on understanding what Luca was trying to say to him.

Marcellus turned his attention back towards the horizon line where he would rest his gaze, trying to ignore Luca's weird behavior. It wasn't long before his eyes would look over out the corners in curiosity to see that the hellhound had pulled out one of his many knives, Marcel's eyes widening as he jumped to his paws. He didn't want Luca to hurt himself especially not through self harm. Even if the hellhound did annoy him here and there, he definitely wouldn't want him to get hurt. A million thoughts ran through his head, what if he was the reason why Luca had resorted to harming himself? "Luca! Don't do th-"

Pain. It was all he could feel and all he could manage to pay attention to. Quickly the figure of Luca disappeared and everything around him did as well as his body easily dropped to the ground, pained expression stuck on his features as groaned. The pain rushed through his body and for a moment he thought he was going to die, fear flashing in his eyes before the pain finally calmed down enough for him to bring up a paw and press it against the area that hurt the most. Upon looking at his paw, nothing. No blood, no sign of injury, just nothing. His eyes moved to look at Luca in shock before pressing his paw against the area again to once again find no blood or sign of a wound. "What..?" His voice was low and shocked, a sense of fear could be found in it as well. His eyes travelled around the scene until they landed on the spot where Luca had wounded himself, Marcellus looking on with a sense of confusion. "I don't.. understand? You hurt yourself, not me." For a moment his voice was full of nothing short of shock until he got near the end, tone changing to a more defensive one as his eyes looked over Luca's wound. Slowly he was able to get himself up off the sand covered ground beneath them, staggering to full height and nearly falling back over. The pain lingered and caused him to wince, mixing with the own pain from his own burn wound.

A mix of anger and fear lit in his eyes as he looked at the hellhound, obviously annoyed and pissed off. "What kind of sick prank is this?" In an instant his whole demeanor changed from helpless and relaxed to angry and scared, his breathing beginning to pick up as his fear did. He wanted answers and wanted them badly, not fully comprehending what had just happened but as far as he knew, he only had one injury and now had pain coming from two spots on his body which shouldn't be happening at all.