Red Fern Forest Drunk in love

A bubble of dry laughter—an actual bubble—disturbed the water in front of her snout. Like? The word was said so casually but Alastor didn't seem to mean it in that sort of way. She screwed up her face as she tried to even recall the exact words she said to Sven nearly a whole moon cycle. She had used the word like. In fact, the more she thought about it she had uttered the word in the particular phrase "really like," and then went on to angrily ramble some things about love. And when they had parted ways Sahalie had resolved to stop thinking about all this like/love business and silence whatever extra feelings had arisen for her male friends. So then, how to answer Alastor? Sahalie burped. The release of gas made her feel a little better. "Well it's a little more complicated than that, Sven" not even realizing she was using the wrong name.

"I've known him since I was small. I met him last fall and we meet up from time to time. But anyway, I got like... Super upset when you left and started thinking about all this like love stuff and then next thing ya'know I'm like. Do I like Sven? Do I like Al?" She tossed her head wildly in his direction, giving him a pedagogical look as if she were giving some important lecture, then looked back to the water, "And anyway the whole thing was just really selfish. And I've decided I'm not gunna fall in love. There's a lot better things out there."

She looked back at him again, "So I'm really glad you're back. Now things can go back to normal." Her smile was saccharine.

 

If he hadn’t been so nervous, hanging onto the words that she was about to utter, he might have laughed at the adorable little burp that escaped her maw. He had every bit of confidence in the girl to be able to do what she set her mind to, which was to lead the pack in the future, but sometimes when he saw her like this and the way she acted he couldn’t help but be amazed by how actually innocent she was. In fact, a small smirk had traveled to his maw but as soon as she called him Sven it was dropped. And then, his brows skyrocketed and his heart stuttered in his chest. Like...him? She had had to question it, which meant it was a topic on her mind. His body felt like a hummingbird, everything thrumming and moving so quickly. His mouth went dry and he swallowed thickly.

But, as Hal had the great tendency to do she gave him so much hope and then promptly took it away. She just...decided to not fall in love? Was it that simple? Could someone just..wish away their feelings like they were nothing. He had tried so hard to get himself to forget what he felt for the girl in front of him because he knew he didn’t deserve her and getting his hopes up for her would only destroy him. If there was anything his life had taught him it was that love did not exist. His mother had loved his father, but his father had died taking a part of Minka with him. Gent had acted like he’d loved his mother but in truth he had only been using her. And Kino had loved his mother with everything, but in the end she had been taken from him too. Now he felt...empty yet so full of something at the same time. His chest ached. But, as she looked at him with those big eyes and he felt a rush of whatever he felt again he couldn’t bring himself to let her know how much pain her words caused him. A small smirk lined his lips and he nodded, ”Yeah, normal. Who needs...who needs that like or love stuff anyways.” he said.

when sahalie tries not to be selfish and then is actually really selfish

"Exactly," she chirped with an exaggeratedly solemn nod. 

Sahalie was normally fairly poor at reading Alastor's mood or tone, but in her current, addled state she was even worse. The awkward phrasing would have been heard as a cry for help to any sane, sober wolf that might have walked by but instead it was only Sahalie. She just breathed a sigh of relief and lapped at the water once more. Her head still pounded and she was starting to feel her eyelids droop now that she had expended all that energy talking about a bunch of stuff she had intended to forget. "I knew you'd understand, Al," she hummed like some bad movie, "You always understand."

"So, you're coming home right?" He had to. If things were going to be normal then he was going to be by her side and help her figure out all this leadership stuff. "Winter's coming and we need a plan," she babbled, her tone sliding up and down as if she were on ice. Her skull gave a sharp throb again and she decided to drop the issue. They could talk about it later. "Just come over here. I'm tired. I wanna lay on you. My head hurts and you're fuzzy."

 

”Exactly,” she said with such drunken conviction that he almost winced. ”You always understand,” she continued and he chuckled, attempting to keep the bitterness from his voice. Yup, that was him. The understanding one, the one willing to take a bullet for the girl that shot it while she perhaps fawned over some other guy. Kino, the helpless loser. God, what had he gotten himself into. She asked if he was coming home and he nodded as if it weren’t even a question, but now he wasn’t feeling so sure. He felt like he needed to sort things out, sort himself out and decide exactly he was going to go about this whole...situation. And he was still nervous about his return, nervous about how Spieden and Serach would take his failure and his extended absence in the dead of winter. Extending it longer wouldn’t help, but maybe it would help him.

She instructed him to go lay down next to her and he sighed gently. “Alright, alright Miss. Bossy Pants. If you insist,” he chided, meandering over and herding her further from the water’s edge before settling down onto his stomach. He still faced in a manner that would put him between her and the water, slightly worried that she might try something while he was asleep in her state. He could already feel the cool drafts from the icy water seeping into his back, but he tried to ignore it. He waited until she had curled against him before he turned his head to lay across her flank, effectively cocooning his small friend into his body. “Get some rest, you’ll feel better in the morning. I’ll be here,” he assured her. Then, he closed his eyes even though he knew he likely wouldn’t drift off to sleep for a while longer.

Fade