Fallen Tree Cove every excuse I made up

For @Neha 

March 22nd
 

 

It had been a little over a month since Draven had made his trip to his birthplace, and he had returned with a new resolve. Since the first day he had been back the yearling was making and effort to be more present with the pack rather than retreating to the infirmary all the time. More importantly, he was making an effort to make things better with Neha.  Almost daily he had been leaving her gifts, his way of a silent apology even if he had hardly seen much of her. Hares, and lots of fish, once he had found and left her an abandoned turtle shell. He hadn't approached her since their fight, but he knew that she would know who was leaving the treasures for her to find.

Today though, today the trout lay at his paws and instead of turning and leaving before the woman came to this portion of her rounds he remained planted. Today was the day as Kino said he fixed it. Taking a deep breath to settle the nerves that churned his stomach Draven kneaded his blunt claws into the slushy snow beneath his paws. It was entirely possible, even probable that she would chase him away after the ass that he had been but the Leigh knew that he had to try.

Unlike Draven, who was now trying to spend more and more time with the pack, Neha was trying to stay away. It was breeding season, and with her first heat and the accompanying symptoms showing no signs of letting up anytime soon, the princess was left frustrated and confused. The incident with Lunette still was fresh in her mind, troubling her. She had never seen nor expected a family member to act that way before. The darkness in her eyes, the rasp of her voice. They all set off something deep inside her, disturbing her. She couldn't pinpoint it, but all she knew that it was not normal. Not for a Vuesain anyways.

All of the romance permeating the atmosphere in the Cove, paired with surging hormones from the females left her feeling suffocated. The behavior of the older females such as Moonshadow and even her own mother left her puzzled. One moment they would be all sweet and playful, then the next they would be snappish and glaring. Worst of all, it was happening to her now too. Day by day, week by week, she had began to notice little trinkets left at the mouth to her private den. With them came Draven's scent, but every time she appeared, the dark boy was nowhere in sight. Was he still mad? Still sulking and trying to avoid her indirectly? Left clueless, she did not try to think the matter over too deeply. Instead she accepted each gift, hoarding them in her den, or consuming the edible ones.

Today, she was holed up deep inside. She had retreated to the dark, cool inner depths in search of relief. That awful sickly sweet stench still clung to her pelt like a second skin and her flesh itself still burned persistently. Her dip in the icy lagoon over in the west several days ago seemed like a likely cure, but it had proved useless. Even rubbing her body against the rough bark of pine or fir trees did not satisfy the seemingly ever present itch. Reluctantly she accepted that she would just have to wait it out, and hope that her symptoms subsided soon. Until then, her preference was to stay underground, away from the warming outside air. Splayed hind legs jerked softly as she slept, eyes fluttering behind closed lids as she dreamed. Her dreams were of cool, soothing water. Of fun times, with her complete family. Not just those present, but those missing, such as @Aleister and @Ismena. As a new yet familiar scent...his scent, drifted in from the outside, it registered in her sleepy brain and seeped into her dreams. With a start, she was jolted awake, as if aware that such an element had never belonged in a dream, and was very much real. Shaking her head to clear away any lingering drowsiness, she smelled something else too. Freshly caught fish. She got to her paws, but hesitated in moving forward. Was now really the best time to see him, in the state she was in? Compromising, she crept to the exit and stuck her silver and honeyed head outside. Brown eyes flicking up to land on his dark visage, she spoke after a short lapse of silence. "Draven. It's...been a while..."

 
 

 

Neha can often be found close to Aleister's side and therefore may appear in any of his threads.

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

 

The scent of her, sweet, inciting filled his nostrils in the short moments before her head emerged. His nostrils flared, he had smelled it on the other adult women in the pack of course and the year previous but never had it enticed him like this. Unfortunately, Draven was naive as to what it all meant, he knew that pups were conceived in the spring of course but that was all he knew, pups were made in the spring and between the two alphas. Minka had been long dead by the time most pups got that kind of talk and so the dark teen has no idea that Neha had gone into heat, or what that even really meant.

Maybe if he had known he would have realized what a bad idea it was to come not to apologize, maybe he would have left his gift and turned to leave like always. But he didn't know and so he stayed, wondering why he suddenly felt something primal and protective in his stomach. He reasoned it away, he was nervous about apologizing and protective of the girl that he cared for, that was all. He wondered about his feelings then, Alastor had said he loves Sahalie, what did it feel like? He wasn't sure he was there with Neha, but he felt a distinctive possibility that if it was to happen with anyone it would be her.

Dropping his green eyes in shame away from her face, so beautiful in the sunlight he swallowed hard. Raising his gaze up to make eye contact so she would know he meant it he said as steadily as he could, "I miss you, and I'm sorry."

The lake princess was far from the most knowledgeable of wolves when it came to matters surrounding reproduction. While Namid had given her the basic talk, she was still young. Hearing the details from the mouth of a more experienced adult was one thing. Going through it herself, for the very first time in her life, was another. She had no idea of the repercussions this situation could bring. Of what could come of Draven's mere presence here today. For what could have been the first time, she saw him differently. Not as a gangly awkward youth, but as a filled out, handsome young man. She was drawn to him, despite her clashing emotions. She resisted the pull to come closer, to bury herself in against his dark fur, breathing in his masculine scent.

She stayed just inside the entrance to the den, brows lifting slightly as he found his voice. And apologized. Her face remained neutral but not unkind. Fighting down a lump in her throat, she wasn't sure if she should turn him away or hear him out. Emotions were running high in the young woman and they could take a turn at any moment. Ultimately she decided not to chase him away. "Sorry for what, Draven?" She pressed softly, her voice frail. They both very well knew what she was talking about, but she needed to hear him apologize for how he had acted. For avoiding her, being closed off and finally, losing his cool. Her ears pressed down against her head, a soft whine escaping her lips. "You....you really hurt me that day, you know..." She wanted to forgive him, to mend all that had been broken. But first she needed to know she could.

 
 

 

Neha can often be found close to Aleister's side and therefore may appear in any of his threads.

Neha did not come any farther out of the den but she didn't retreat at his words either and Draven could only hope that this was a good sign. Her eyebrows lifted and her face was unreadable, the yearling had to hold himself back from pushing forward and closing the space between them. He had never been good with his words, he wasn't sure he could fix this with just his vocabulary. Instead, he wanted to lay beside her, run his muzzle through her thick fur. All he wanted was to show her with his actions how desperate he had been to feel her again ever since their sickening fight. But he didn't.

Instead he took a deep breath to steady his nerves, green eyes only glancing down to his paws for a moment before he reminded himself to look up. A low whine broke through his throat and his eyes swam with the desperation he felt with every inch of his being, "Everything." Draven couldn't restrain the way that his voice cracked on the word. Dropping to his belly and inching forward in a silent display of how truly apologetic he was he attempted to touch his leathery nose to hers, "I'm sorry for everything Neha, every word and every time I didn't say any words at all." He wasn't sure what else he could say now, his mind was just a panic of everything that he wanted and how quickly he could lose it in this moment.

She stood there, waiting patiently for what he had to say. For the words that she hoped would come. She watched his expression carefully, how he seemed to be filled with guilt. And then he opened up, emotion thick in his voice. As he admitted that he was sorry for everything during the past that led to their fight, her ears pinned back in amongst the fur of her scruff. Chocolate brown eyes softened, watering slightly. She could tell that Draven was sincere. That this wasn't just merely an act and fancily laced words to get back in her favor again.

Even as he continued speaking, elaborating on how sorry he was for being silent and distant with her, crawling towards her, she took a tender step forward. She craned her head down low before his, a dark damp nose pressing gently against his own. A soft, low whine wiggled out of her throat while she squeezed her eyes shut in a brief moment of overwhelming emotion. "I was only trying to help you..." She whispered in a choked voice, running the length of her muzzle along his. The upper half of her body had bowed down low, so she was level with his frame, while her hips remained hiked in the air. "To show you that I care...and still do." Tiny streaks of tears ran down her cheeks, as the floodgates of her feelings were opened. It had been a confusing, emotional year for the Vuesain. With this mending of their relationship, maybe things would take a turn for the better. She huddled closer, having found she missed the warmth and familiar scent of his fur. "I'm sorry too. For what I said that day. I...I sometimes wonder if going away to the Hollow was the right choice..." It would be a long time until Neha ever knew of the loss her mother had suffered while she was absent. As puzzling as her relationship was with her only remaining sister, she still wished she could have been there for her birth. With @Namid  and @Vespertio opting not to have pups this year, it saddened her to think she would not have a shot at being a big sister again. "...What were you doing all that time? You know, away from the Cove?" She broke the silence in an inquisitive, non suspicious voice. Quickly she added. "If ya don't wanna discuss it, then that's fine with me too. I've just been wondering."

 
 

 

Neha can often be found close to Aleister's side and therefore may appear in any of his threads.

She came closer and it seemed like a painstakingly long moment before their noses touched, gently and hesitantly at first and then greedily. Neha ran her muzzle along his and Draven licked her chin in gratitude, that she accepted his apology, that she hadn't pushed him further. He wasn't sure that he deserved to be so easily forgiven after acting like such an ass but he was glad that she had anyways. Standing slightly so that he was half crouched the Leigh wolf shoved his head in closer to her neck, burying himself in her long fur and breathing in the scent that he had missed so much. To anyone looking it would have appeared as much like a hug as two wolves could muster.

Without pulling away at all the mossy green eyes closed in contentment, her question only being met with a hum for a moment as he tried to organize his thoughts. He didn't move to give her any space and instead spoke the words into her ruff, "Missing you, and visiting my mom. Or well, visiting her grave." He hadn't spoken the words out loud to anyone in so long, that his mother was dead, that he had had to visit her grave instead of visiting her. Now they were out there, in the open, thin and fragile and threatening to crash down around them at so much as a breeze. He was giving himself to her. Opening up. Doing what Alastor has instructed, fixing it.

Her head was tucked in and pressed against the thick dark fur by his shoulders. Each breath she drew in, she savored. Committing his scent to memory, deep inside. She wanted to remember it forever, to stay just like this as she was with him and never let go again. If asked where she stood with Draven, of what she thought of him, she would be hard pressed for a truthful answer. He was more than a friend. But not a mate or a lover. A partner or a crush, maybe? She was still young, yet to face the many complications life could throw at her. With time and experience, she would sort it out. No one knew if their fight in the past would be the last, or just one of many.

As he spoke, his voice sounding slightly muffled with his head buried in her warm, thick coat, her ears flew forward in surprise. Visiting his mother's grave? His mother was dead? Between them and the time they had known one another, Draven had not once ever told her about his family. Not his parents or brothers and sisters. She knew nothing about them. So to find out just now that his mother, surely one of the most important wolves in his life, was dead, was a real shocker. The stretch of silence on her behalf was to say the least, more than an adequate clue to her disbelief. "Draven...I never knew that..." She swallowed, pulling her head away to avert her eyes firmly to the ground. "I'm sorry..." 

Unsure of how to tread around such a delicate subject, Neha opted for caution. Everyone was different when it came to a deeply personal matter like this and she didn't want to make any wrong moves and accidentally trigger a negative reaction in him. As pushy as she could be, this time a gut instinct told her not to pry, and to let him set the pace. A cold breeze swept in, blowing through their thick winter coats, tussling the hairs wildly. Although as good as it felt, it did little to soothe the biting itch under her skin. Lowering her body further to the ground, she scooted closer and the curled around him, pressing close. Facing in the opposite direction as he was, she rested her chin just above his hip bone while she tried not to imagine what life would be like without her mother.

 
 

 

Neha can often be found close to Aleister's side and therefore may appear in any of his threads.

It seemed that Neha wanted to be as close to him as he wanted to be to her, her pale muzzle burying into his dark shoulder fur. He growled in appreciation at the feeling of her, the warmth between them festering like fire in a way that he couldn't ignore. Suddenly though her heat was gone and the girl was staring at her paws. Pressing forward again Draven pulled her in, cradling her head beneath his muzzle, "I've never told anyone, you don't need to apologize. I ran into my brother when I was visiting and he told me that he's starting a pack this spring with the woman he loves." His heart beat wildly in his chest, the thought pulling at his mind and setting up roots before he could dismiss it.

"Neha I want you, come with me, this spring. Come with me and join them and let's be together." Rumbling again at the thought he pulled away from where her head had settled on his hips, standing over her he had the sudden urge for something he couldn't describe. Nobody had ever explained the birds and the bees to Draven, nobody had ever told him what happened when you gave into thoughts and urges like this. "Neha I want you, please, don't turn me away."