And out come the talons. He loves those things. Totally proportionate response to someone being in the hallway. (Never mind that if their positions were reversed Branch would be pissy, too.)
The problem here is they're both bristlers. They bristle with anger easily and that means they're especially good at bristling at each other in a self-perpetuating porcupinian cycle.
But Branch isn't heartless. And while he's not always good at its he's learned to sometimes push through his own catankerousness to something softer on the other side. He has Poppy and his friends to thank for that.
Miguel is mourning someone. He didn't catch sight of a photo but he sees candy and that - is it a spouse's favorite set of sweets? A grandparents?
...is it a child's?
Miguel has reason to bristle. Branch puts his prickles away first.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to pry. It's just my people do memorials like that." He nods towards it. "Or, well, we did. We did it a lot more when we didn't have a body to bury in a normal funeral. Fortunately, that doesn't happen anymore. Some people kept them up for a long time."
He wonders if he should volunteer anything, wonders if showing throat will lead to it getting bit. He does it anyway.
Clearly, Miguel feels vulnerable, so he evens the score by showing vulnerability. So Miguel's not the only one feeling exposed.
no subject
The problem here is they're both bristlers. They bristle with anger easily and that means they're especially good at bristling at each other in a self-perpetuating porcupinian cycle.
But Branch isn't heartless. And while he's not always good at its he's learned to sometimes push through his own catankerousness to something softer on the other side. He has Poppy and his friends to thank for that.
Miguel is mourning someone. He didn't catch sight of a photo but he sees candy and that - is it a spouse's favorite set of sweets? A grandparents?
...is it a child's?
Miguel has reason to bristle. Branch puts his prickles away first.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to pry. It's just my people do memorials like that." He nods towards it. "Or, well, we did. We did it a lot more when we didn't have a body to bury in a normal funeral. Fortunately, that doesn't happen anymore. Some people kept them up for a long time."
He wonders if he should volunteer anything, wonders if showing throat will lead to it getting bit. He does it anyway.
Clearly, Miguel feels vulnerable, so he evens the score by showing vulnerability. So Miguel's not the only one feeling exposed.
"Back home, I have one for my grandma."
They were for the ones where there was no body.
She didn't die of old age.