Never Too Late

Shaped By Fire

Briggan held Mastace close, letting him sob exorbitantly. It was no secret these tears were stemming from pure elation, and Briggan knew that it all lent an eager spark that now threatened to disrupt everything they knew. If it were allowed to exist and flitter about, this one small and seemingly insignificant spark would light both of their worlds on fire and all would go up in a raging inferno. It was obviously risky and potentially dangerous, yet Briggan let it be. He watched as this tiny spark grew to an equally small flicker, which he actually encouraged to excel. The flicker became a fire, and the fire quickly ate away at every bit of fuel his being had to offer. He watched it all burn inside of him, and he enjoyed watching the flames engulf every bit of himself that it desired to take. It all went into the blaze, and Briggan wanted to make sure nothing was left by the time it was all said and done. Nothing was spared, and nothing was overlooked. This fire was what he'd been waiting for as far back as he could recall. Now, it was here and it was here to consume him, to burn and mold him into a new being. A being of his own personal design. The agonizing whispers of the past would be there to trouble him forevermore, but now... now there was a new component added to the mixture. Mastace.

Briggan could feel that he was now ready. He was ready to emerge from the ashes of what he once was, redefined, much like an indestructible iron that had been radically and entirely shaped by fire.

Once Mastace had gone from bawling to breathing audibly-but-regularly, Briggan decided it was time to release his lion friend.

Mastace noticed the change in him quite immediately. It was astonishingly radical. There were no words that he could ever conjure up that would do the new light in his eyes and look on his face proper justice. It seemed that all the passive nature that Mastace knew to be in Briggan had just- gone away. Vanished without any traces behind. The silent aura still hung over Briggan, but it was no longer frigid like before. He noticed a quiet strength within the wolf, and it was indescribably powerful. Briggan never struck Mastace as weak, but he had always looked to be someone who would rather avoid a fight altogether if he could.

Not the new Briggan. This Briggan looked as if he were naturally always prepared for a fight. In fact, Mastace thought that this new Briggan could take down entire civilizations if he so pleased. Mastace couldn't help but marvel at the person before him now.

"Do you like what you see?" Briggan asked. Damn! Mastace thought. Even his voice sounds like he has a will of steel!

"I-I..." Mastace stammered, still unable to speak in comprehensible, cohesive sentences. This was clearly not the Briggan he first met, and this new Briggan really intrigued Mastace in a way that no one ever had before. He was beginning to think that he may have put something in motion which he did not, nor could not fully understand or prepare for.

Briggan grinned. "It's okay to be tongue-tied. I find myself in that situation more often than I care to admit."

"This doesn't normally happen to me," Mastace said, his ears laid back in light embarrassment. His cheeks became the playground of a light shade of pink and his eyes gave off a bashful vibe.

"I can tell," Briggan chuckled. "It's written all over you."

The pink in Mastace's face deepened and spread a little bit. His tail swished, making a soft sweeping sound as it made contact with the floor. "Is it?"

"It is," Briggan began to lean in, closing up the space between their faces until only inches separated them. They both felt the energy they shared in the same, small space, and they let it wash over them and take control. They began to close up the space even further, with less than half an inch between them, they could almost taste the lips of the other. As they aimed to close the space entirely ...

A ringing tone broke the intense link that the two of them shared for only a few moments. Mastace's cellphone. Mastace broke away and searched his things, finding the phone in one of the smaller pockets of his backpack. He checked the caller ID to see who it was that made the disturbance, and his brows furrowed when he found it.

"Who is it?" Briggan asked.

Mastace declined the call and turned his phone off entirely. "No one important," he said. Briggan couldn't help but wonder if what he was being told was actually true, or if Mastace just didn't want to talk about it at the moment. In either case, it was probably best that he not press the issue right this second. He still had to get Mastace settled in, after all.