Underground Sea Little Calling Bird

 @Sahalie

If I ever leave I could learn to miss you

The group had been on the move for a few weeks now, rounding up everyone who needed to be rounded up before moving to head over the mountain. It had taken them curiously longer than he’d thought it would for them to start but he wasn’t one to complain. As eager as he was to get everything started he knew that these things took time and they’d need to check everywhere to be sure that they didn’t miss a place that could prove to be their home. They’d ventured up and Kino briefly thought about maybe heading to give his brother a visit while he was in the area. Now that they were on good terms he was happy to try and keep in touch. Life for the Lagina child was finally turning around.

Eager to spend some alone time with his friend he’d suggested they go on a walk to do some scouting for a new home. He knew it might not be a good idea at the moment as the girl had been snappy as of recently. Her scent had changed and at first he hadn’t understood what was going on and even been concerned that she was sick. Then, he remembered the scent that had attacked the females from the year before. His chest grew tight at the idea of Hal coming back at some point suddenly, he cringed inwardly, pregnant. So he’d taken to trailing her quietly, more than usual, to make sure that no one unsavory came and tried to take advantage of the girl he loved. Her scent lit his stomach on fire and make his head groggy but he was always firm in his resolve to hold himself back, to force what it did to him down.

As they’d scouted around they had suddenly come across a dip. They’d followed it curiously down, disappearing beneath the earth and after a few minutes of murky darkness they’d burst into quite the side. A large underground pool had formed, walled by eroded rock but held in by a surprisingly smooth and easy to walk edge. His jaws had opened slightly in wonder, topaz gaze taking everything in with amazement. “This is crazy,” he breath, turning his head to look at his friend to see what her reaction would be.

With sentimental boy as my nom de plume

gunna say we go with the site-wide RE for this one The Lore experiences a bout of unseasonably warm weather.

Last year she had been spared from the spring-scent that had cloaked every other female member and driven the rest of the male members of Oak Tree Bend half-wild. She had almost forgotten about the whole, bizarre experience yet occasionally there were some reminders—like discussing Aponi and Sven's father with Morganna some weeks ago. Sahalie had, more or less, '"figured it out" like she had threatened all those seasons ago, but there were still so many missing pieces she didn't know about. The result was that, when the temperatures suddenly spiked she missed the signs entirely. She thought she was just hot because of the heat—perhaps she had grown too accustomed to the winter winds. The heat was making her cranky, too, she told herself.

And it was making her smell...strange?

No, that wasn't right.

The realization that she would not be spared from all these baffling scents and feelings from last year was like being crushed by a falling tree. She could not deny it: she had been waiting to come of age before stepping up to challenge for Oak Tree Bend, and now it was really happening. She just had never expected that the marker of adulthood would be this—feeling this way—and she did not like it at all. The sensations that bothered her—nameless, confusing emotions—were mild most of the time but sometimes she felt overpowered, and she was afraid that eventually they would just get worse. How long did it take for the smell to go away, she tried to remember, but struggled. Spieden and all the other women had gotten pregnant and they had smelled a different kind of different for much longer. She shuddered.

The dark girl decided she would try and keep it to herself, but it was undeniably hard to keep things from Alastor. Even more so lately it felt like he was dogging her every step and breathing on her fur. Her hot fur. She was glad when the party finally found the tunnels she had not seen in so many months—usually, Sahalie saw them from the other side—and relished the thought of stepping in to the still-cold rock and the comfortable darkness of the caves. Alastor was right behind her, of course, but apparently nothing could be done about that. She wondered how much he knew. She didn't want to bring it up.

"Yeah," she said, a little distant, preoccupied by looking for an escape route should she need one—why would she need one? That was an odd concern—to appreciate the fact that Alastor had never been here before. "I used to come here with Sven a lot." Too distracted to even realize the effect her words might have. "This is actually where we met." And where she tried and failed to come to terms with her feelings.

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

If I ever leave I could learn to miss you

She was being distant and he could feel it, which worried him some. He’d thought that they had been doing better, that she had been doing better but could he have been wrong? Of course this time of year everyone and everything was totally out of wack so perhaps he shouldn’t take it so much to heart? God, everything was so confusing. He felt so confusing.

“I used to come here with Sven a lot,” she said simply and his breath hitched for a moment, heart skipping a beat but he swallowed and pushed it down. Which...was suddenly a lot harder to do than normal. Her scent infiltrated his nose and sent a shiver down his spine. He could put a face to Sven now and he found it even more sickening to him to picture the pair down here, alone and secluded. Probably laughing, probably having the time of their lives. Was this where they’d almost professed their love? He wanted to vomit.

Then, he also remembered that he’d yet to tell Hal about their interaction. He’d promised that he wouldn’t keep secrets from her, that he would be open and this certainly seemed like something she’d like to know. “Ah I met him the other day when I went to scout the mountain,” he commented, moving away from her to peer at the surface of the water. Also perhaps a bit to clear his head.

With sentimental boy as my nom de plume

More so than usual the thought of Sven made her heart-rate quicken. She wanted to chalk it up to the emotional roller coaster she and Sven had only recently dismounted, but knew that wasn't entirely it. Even after going months without seeing him, she had not grown used to not seeing him. She was not sure how long it would take to find a new home and she hoped that would not keep her away too long. Because she missed him, missed him in new ways that made her excited and uncomfortable. Sighing, she shoved the thoughts away and tried to focus on the casual dripping of water from the stalactites into the vaguely glowing pool. Still, she shivered.

"Oh?" She asked casually, her voice low and drawn out, wondering why he was only mentioning it now—though it was not surprising that he hadn't. Her grey boy-next-door likely wanted to forget that Sven existed. For once, she didn't feel so conflicted about the two boys. Sahalie couldn't help but giggle, "What did you think of him?" Probably not that much, given that Alastor had been frustrated with her for so much as hanging out with Larkspur. Of course, she also couldn't forget that he had used her meetings with various males against her when she had discovered Castel. Jealous. Al was always very jealous. Sven, on the other hand, was hard to place. Certainly, he had gotten mad at her when she had "chosen" to live with Morganna instead of in Willow Ridge. "Did you two get along?"

If I ever leave I could learn to miss you

Her golden gaze was trained down on the water and an ‘Oh’ was drawn out of her maw at his reveal. It was almost and amused tone and he inwardly flinched. Was it that amusing that her two boy toys should meet? Did she find it to be a game of some sort? “What did you think of him?” she asked with a giggle and he felt...bitter? Turning he moved further away, his eyes looking upwards to look at the sky that filtered down through holes in the ceiling. “We didn’t really talk a lot, more of just a basic interaction. He wanted to know how you were doing so I filled him in,” he replied.

“Did you two get along?” she asked, almost like a mother making sure her two kids didn’t fight while she was away. And, whatever their individual internal thoughts had been they had gotten past them and had a pleasant, partially passive aggressive interaction. He didn’t think Hal would be too happy with them getting in a spat. “Yeah, why? Didn’t really have anything to fight over. I’m not as hot headed as I used to be you know, I can be a good boy,” he said, looking over his shoulder with a cheeky, handsome grin.

With sentimental boy as my nom de plume

Alastor seemed pretty determined to hold back the details of the encounter. Sahalie was not sure what basic interaction meant, but it sounded far more boring than she would have expected for a meeting of two mutual friends, especially considering that Alastor didn't like that she went out and met Sven and other guys repeatedly. She should have been grateful that they had not gotten into a fight but for some reason she was momentarily disappointed: she was just a young girl and she wanted fireworks. The thought was quickly quelled by her rational side, shouting internally that she didn't want anyone to get hurt—not over herself. "Uh-huh," she said, nodding underneath her raised eyebrows, as if this were all very interesting.

But she was not so sure Alastor wasn't hot-headed anymore. The dark girl snorted. Her foggy breath swirled around her head and dissipated up into the crack of light in the ceiling of the cave. "Oh c'mon," she said with a small hoot of laughter, "You used to be jealous of Lark for crying out loud. Just figured you wouldn't be too happy about meeting another one of my boyfriends," the last word was drawn out in a raspy breath that mimicked the Old Man himself, who liked to poke fun at her for having, as she put it "30 boyfriends."

"And idunno," she shrugged, dropping the act a little, "Sven has been through a lot lately. He's an emotional guy too. Just wanted to make sure you guys weren't at each other's throats." Sven and Alastor both gave into their emotions, dealt with a lot.

If I ever leave I could learn to miss you

She laughed at him and his grin got a little bigger. He always liked it when she laughed. He felt like she didn’t do enough of it anymore and he certainly wanted that to change. They were starting a new life, he wanted it to be as happy for her as possible. But, a current of air drew in from the cracks in the ceiling drawing her scent to him and he balked. His body felt warm, a reoccurring thing as of recently when he was around her. Just as her hormones rose during this time his testosterone levels were also rising. Hal wasn’t his but that hadn’t stopped him from giving subtle warning looks to @Larkspur or the other boy, @Niles , if they ventured too close. He had changed, he swore.

Sahalie’s scent called to him like a siren’s song and he found himself moving toward her without any real thought about it. He drew close, siding up next to her and lowering his large head to brush his muzzle against her cheek. “Did you want your boyfriends to get in a spat?” he asked with a rumbling chuckle, lifting his head to gently rest it on top of hers. “You’re right, it was a lot of back handed comments and trying to get under each other’s skin. But, at the end of the whole thing I decided I care about you too much to hurt someone you care about. I am trying to do better,” he said, pulling back to give her a playful bump to her chin. At the end of the day, she was all he really cared about.

With sentimental boy as my nom de plume

(This post was last modified: Mar 06, 2017, 11:43 PM by Kino.)

omg sahalie work with me

True to his claim he didn't immediately get upset with her whimsical use of the word, "boyfriend." But suddenly, without any invitation from her—that she was aware of—he was coming closer. Normally he seemed so afraid to touch her beyond the times she had instigated contact. Suddenly she missed that unspoken "agreement." Instead she felt an electric shock as the tips of her fur met his. Her mind was filled with pictures of tangled up eagles and Kyna's uncomfortable expression. "Woah there, buddy," she said, pulling her head back as his nose ducked under her chin. "Some personal space, please."

He had to know. Especially now.

Puppies definitely resulted from some sort of physical action.

"Well. I'm glad you didn't eat him," she huffed, picking a spot beside the water to sit that put a few, very comfortable feet between herself and the boy, "Cause I don't think you can get away with being that hot-headed once the pack is all set up. And you also can't get away with tryin' to put a spell on me." She shot him a suspicious glance, the back of her irises catching the sunbeam from the cavern and reflecting it like a beacon, "Or whatever it is you're doing." Sahalie hadn't exactly been blind to the fact that he'd gotten snippy again with Larkspur, and now with Niles. Honestly it seemed like he was more likely to pull some stunt than them. She gulped, wondering if it—the act—involved the same sort of dangerous contortion that the birds had been attempting. No one was expecting her to fly, right?

If I ever leave I could learn to miss you

Suddenly she was pulling away, distancing herself from him and a frown etched it's way onto his maw. His brows curved inward and a bit of annoyance and hurt seeped into his expression. He bet she didn’t didn’t do that with Sven. Oh no, they probably got all comfy cozy with each other. But, as soon as the thoughts began to seep in he threw them out determined to not be a jerk. If she didn’t want him to get near her then that was fine. Whatever.

What wasn’t fine, however, was her sudden thoughts that he was trying to get with her. His brows shot up in surprise, his jaws gaping like a fish and he felt his cheeks grow hot. “H-Hal, you don’t seriously think that I...God, no. I wouldn’t try anything like that,” he sputtered. The space between was okay now, the misunderstanding having him highly embarrassed. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it, but he knew neither of them were ready for that.

A sigh escaped his jaws and he allowed himself to flop onto the ground, topaz gaze watching the lights perform a show as they flickered off the surface of the pool onto the walls of the cave. “I met Draven a month or so ago...and Ari,” he confessed, trying to change the topic that was clearly making them both uncomfortable.

With sentimental boy as my nom de plume