IT TURNS OUT FINE | AMBROISE

[ORPHEUS]

[align=center][div style="max-width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 1.4;letter-spacing:.1px"]It could be funny, how similar experiences could drive people in such opposite directions. As a child he had always felt like the low man on the totem pole so to speak, even if his siblings weren't too much higher up the list. His parents had seemed tired, desperate, angry — so he hadn't been picked up off the street. Most of his history's blocked out and empty these days. Brigand had spent too many days rebuilding his confidence and optimism for him to break down that dam and confront it all; there's nobody to cry against now. Maybe if he hadn't ended up under that careful care, he would have been as hard and rough as Ambroise. Instead, when he says that he never learned his lesson, he means that he'd never let it beat him. He learned not to put his paw in the fire or fall from a tree, but love still came a little too freely to be pushed back down. Orpheus thinks he could handle the loss, even if it keeps breaking him.

Then again, he hasn't healed from either. It's not breaking more bones, it's shattering the same old injury. Christmas is a time to relax and — heal, maybe? That sounds stupid. Again. But he tries to think about the good times, whatever those may be, because it reminds him that the world isn't all bad. A little rough, with a few special people with hearts like sandpaper and cactus needles, but they deserved love as much as the rest of them. Even when they're acting like this. The smaller feline doesn't flinch away from his words, just keeps watching him with soft eyes and a quiet tilt of his head. But he says, "No," with a calm firmness that leaves barely any room for an argument.

Ambroise will probably find a way, even though Orpheus wishes he would just give up and talk about it. "The only thing you're busy doing is moping, anyway." After a moment of silence, he risks opening the doorway again (not that he'd ever seem like much of a blockade to someone with his size and scarring) to take a few steps closer. His eyes never leave the other's face. "Why don't you like Christmas?"