Firefly Weir by the light of the moon.

@Rook -- Early evening, cloudy.  17F/-9C.

Now that the pups were a bit older – and one was missing – Veho found himself with a bit more free time. Felix and Ophelia hardly needed him these days (though he would certainly need to explain what coming of age meant, something he was not looking forward to), and with Oula back, the crisis in Grizzly Hollow was over. For now, at least. It also meant wolves could come and go more freely from the borders, though he did hope they’d exercise caution. Azar was still out there, somewhere, and if he could take Oula by surprise, it probably meant any of them were liable victims.

He knew some of them were already coming and going – but Veho did not feel particularly inclined to go that far from the pack territory on this evening. His tail thrashed behind him as he paced the edges of the lagoon. No snow had melted yet. There were no herbs to collect. His stash looked woeful these days, but there was little he could do, other than take care of what dried plants he had. It helped that he no longer slept in the medical cache, he supposed, but that did little to alleviate him.

Veho’s mouth twitched as he sat towards the edge lagoon, staring at the moonlit reflection. “Now what?”

The haze still did not lift from Rook's head or body, the restlessness still skittering across his skin beneath his pelt. Even after a bit of clarity from the night before, his ears felt singed and his breath kept catching in his throat. After a rather unproductive morning (which had been spent nestled up against @Amaryllis) and afternoon (which had been wasted in one long and lazy nap in his and Veho's den), Rook was well awake by the time evening had come. Gone was the warmer breezes, though, and in its place, the winter chill had returned. It had been hours since he had left his nap site and rather timely when Rook finally stumbled upon his partner's trail.

At first he hesitated, gripped by the sudden push-and-pull feeling that was the heat of the season. He wavered in his place before shaking his head. He shouldn't have needed to even think twice; at a ground-eating lope, he traced Veho's steps, only slowing when he realized just where he was being led to. A shaky breath left his lungs. The last time he had been here, he had been with Namid.

The Lyall peered through the trees and his ears perked at the sound of Veho's voice. A question, as per usual... Nothing new. In that instant, all apprehensiveness melted away and a smile dared to play along his maw. Had Rook been younger, he might have leapt through the underbrush and sprung up along Veho's side in response, tail a blur in the air and his tongue hanging from the side of his jaws. He had grown up a bit - or so he truly believed - and questions such as that one required a different touch. Just as Amaryllis had done to him the night before, he sidled up beside the Leader and nuzzled the side of his face all along Veho's side and shoulder before he properly sat down.

He glanced to the Macieo with his left brow quirked upward in reply as if to wordlessly say: You asked, so here I am...

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Ears twitched – before he could address the soft sound of paws crunching against snow, a shape brushed up beside him. A familiar feeling, and without a thought, he leaned into his partner’s form, tail starting to sweep across the ground. Some of the stress exhaled through his black noise, shoving into Rook’s ruff. “Did I summon you?” he hummed, wondering mildly if the Ancestors had set his lover on the path towards him. He’d left the man sleeping in their shared den some time ago.

But alas, the peace would not last forever. Rook’s scent was not singular upon the man’s ruff. There were the earthy tones of Grizzly Hollow, Veho’s own particular musk – but Lily’s scent was there, too. Perhaps a bit stronger than was usual for an alpha and her subordinate. He drew back with a raised brow, mild amusement etched across his features as he studied the beta’s moonlit face for several more moments. “You have been more social than me, it seems.”

His tail continued to swish across the ground without missing a beat.

He chuffed softly, glancing back out towards the open water. “Rook? Am I keeping you from being alpha?” he hummed, eyes flicking sideways. “From something you want?”

His tail wagged amiably behind him as he beamed at Veho. Sure, he might have been enjoying all his endorphins and lovestruck emotions still from the night before, but being with Veho only magnified them and made them anew. With Rook, his heart was figuratively only given to those he deeply cared for. It could have been fragmented into a thousand pieces but he would still gravitate to the medicine man. With only him, he felt whole. Rook had yet to find someone who could make him feel the way the Leader did; as far as he could tell, there would be no other.

He continued to smile, even as the Macieo withdrew from him with a look of surprise. Rook studied that masked face, ears lowering at first before coming back up. Little pinpricks of heat raced across the back of his neck as he bashfully glanced downward. He wouldn't have used the "social," but he supposed it was chosen as a means to insinuate what had occurred just hours ago. The Leader's gaze went out towards the still-frozen parts of the lagoon well beyond the Weir. While he had not missed the wave in Veho's tail, Rook still kept quiet.

Just when he was about to mention something about cubs, Veho called to him by name. The Lyall heaved a quiet sigh in thought as he considered what Veho was asking. The partial answer might have been "perhaps" but Rook always told the full truth. Most especially to his partner.

"I don't know, Veho," he began, his voice quiet as not to abruptly disturb the calmness of the twilight. "All I know is that I want to make you happy. I want to make you proud of me. I want... I want to be all that you are. All that you are to me and the cubs and our pack." He leaned against him quietly, trying to keep a level head. "I want cubs," he whispered. "I still want them with you, even if it could be the slightest bit possible."

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Happy.

Many seasons of keeping a neutral mask kept his face perfectly still, his breathing perfectly even. Instead of a snort, he offered a small quirk of his lips. Happy. If anyone wanted him to be happy, they would stop leaving him behind. If anyone was actually concerned for his welfare, they might inquire. Instead, they only came looking when they needed something, always when they needed something. Except, perhaps, Pip, who rarely wanted more than company, and Rook, though he struggled to determine just what the Lyall wanted from him, these days.

Leadership? Perhaps. It was difficult to tell with such an answer.

“I apologize, Rook – I cannot give you those.” Anatomy would not grant them that particular wish. “But an arrangement like last year’s can be made.” If it hadn’t been made already, he realized grimly – Rook still had Amaryllis’ scent clinging to his guard hairs. Certainly, it wouldn’t be Veho making such arrangements, as Oula clearly had other ideas, and well, Pip and Nineva were never a consideration (even if Pip hadn’t—no, he wasn’t going to finish that train of thought). But he hadn’t punished Pip, and he hadn’t punished Oula, and there was no room to scold Amaryllis or Rook or anyone else for their failure to consult him first at this point. He huffed and shook his head, staring back out towards the lake. “I suppose I just do not wish to keep it from you. That was my only thought. But if you are satisfied with your standing, so am I.”

“I apologize, Rook – I cannot give you those.”

Rook hummed in return, just a simple sound that told Veho he acknowledged it and that he was neither sad nor angry about it. So what if they were two men? Love was love - and that was that. They had already found a way around the whole conundrum of acquiring a family; Veho had done that last year and now, this year, Rook had taken it upon himself to do so to expand their little family. "Keep what?" he mused, if only for a second. "Leadership?" Here, he sat up straight again and a smug grin found a place along his maw. "I think you'd know if I weren't satisfied..."

Rook stood up and walked in a half-circle around the ashen Leader, tail lilting forward and back and side to side before he fully smirked. He raised a left paw in thought before practically adhering himself to Veho's other side and nestling his chin at the back of his partner's skull. It was a little awkward, he supposed, but, hey, it was one way the Lyall thought to cleverly "mark" his lover. Then came the weight and the hope of maybe slowly bowling Veho over onto the snow-covered embankment with an oh-so-innocent sense of whimsy...

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

“I think you’d know if I weren’t satisfied--”

Once upon a time, Veho would have agreed. These days? He felt like he barely knew any of the members of his own pack. What had become of loyal members and pack laws? How had Rook changed in all the time he spent away? How would Lily be with Yvly’s sudden disappearance? Why was his son simply obsessed with the word outside of Grizzly Hollow? So many questions, and even the Ancestors could not hold all the answers in their paws. So he only nodded, not wishing to explain the complicated train of thought, and allowed the silence to rest over them.

He had thought it would end there, but it seemed his beta had other ideas. Eyebrows shot up at the heavy weight settled against his side. His head jerked up in surprise, but he was not quick enough – Rook had gotten his wish. With a small yelp, the alpha when tumbling sideways into the snow, a tangle of flailing limbs before trying to pull himself from underneath, only realizing then that the man had intended to play. His brows furrowed, shaking the snow from his ears with a soft snort. “Since when do you play dirty, mm?”

...and down Veho went with so much as a flail of his limbs and a soft yelp. Rook's bottle brush of a tail rose and he clambered over the Leader in a display of mock dominance. One forepaw planted on each side of Veho's head and one hind leg on each side of Veho's abdomen. It was definitely all play; no actual domineering subordinate with intentions to overthrow his superior would lavish his Leader with affection in the way that Rook did. Little nibbles of his teeth played along Veho's chin, his jowls parted in a way that might encourage a bit of jaw sparring. Anyone who might have stumbled upon such a sight could have quite possibly assumed a shift in rank.

"Maybe since... starting now," he crooned in reply. "I'd probably stay here and do this for a while-" a growl filtered through his chest, the tonality of his range still clinging to its youth - "and, maybe keep you here until you beg me to release you." He smirked down at Veho for a while longer before he shifted over and set his hind legs down on one side then took a seat. A fluid move of reclining forward and Rook found himself quite comfortable against the Leader's chest. "I think you're due for a bit of fun. What do you say, hmm?"

He idly brought his head down to that soft underbelly fur, enjoying the way it tickled his nose and cheek. He combed his lower teeth over the furred area between two ribs were before giving his own airy snort, "We don't play anymore, Veho, and I don't like it." Rook abruptly stood up and waved his tail in the air. "So I'm gonna do something about it whether you like it or not. Starting with this..." A play bow and a tongue that lolled from his mouth weren't too much to begin with but the Lyall had to wonder if maybe it would be enough. He settled down on his stomach, framing Veho's head between his paws, met the Leader in something of an upside-down (Spider-man style) kiss, then waited for a reaction...

(This post was last modified: Mar 24, 2017, 07:26 AM by Rook.)

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

We don’t play anymore…

The complaint gave them alpha some pause, drifting away from the current moment. For a moment, the man wondered if they ever played; but Rook was right. Once upon a time, before the weight of leadership and loss and responsibility fell upon either of them, they used to rough house and tussle. Go for runs. At one point, Veho had thought to teach the younger wolf about different types of plants, if only because he himself enjoyed the cataloging. Perhaps that was part of the problem these days, not just their relationship, but the man’s gloomy outlook on…well…everything.

Veho might have continued down that particular rabbit hole, had his mate not decided to do something about it. All at once, a grey shape appeared in his line of sight, moments before his lover placed a kiss on his snout. Despite himself, the wolf smiled, ears pricking forward as he craned his neck and booped Rook’s snout with his own. “As you wish,” he rumbled, previous worries forgotten as he flailed his legs, gathering them underneath before he sprang away, tail wagging. “Can you catch me?” he wondered out loud, eyes twinkling like matching stars before he took off through the snow, a small laugh following.

@Rook -- Sorry I let this one slide!  Could you maybe wrap it up in your next post, unless you had more ideas?

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health