Grizzly Hollow london spy

For @Amaryllis only, please. Backdated a bit to March 22nd. A couple days after their coupling and a couple days before the pack meeting.

March 22nd; Afternoon; Heavy snow; 21 ° F, -6 ° C.

By about now Rook barely smelled like his normal self. Apart from the potpourri of cedar bark, old pine needles, and damp soil, he wore both Veho's and Amaryllis' scents on his pelt - the redolence of the season heavily concentrated about his throat and ruff. Having slept in again, he awoke to an empty den with no recollection if Veho had stayed with him the night before. The snow still filtered its way through the evergreen boughs, piling up high where it was able. Rook had to push his way through the den opening and push out the snow that had accumulated there.

He flattened what he could with his body and paws and when he was satisfied with the small clearing he had made, he started off along one of the well-worn paths through the forest. Somewhere along the way, he relieved himself behind a tree and pressed his paws to where Veho had marked an assortment of firs and hardy shrubs. It had taken a while but in the middle of the territory he couldn't help but stop and acknowledge the clarity that had crept up on him, physically and mentally. Even if he still worried about @Nineva and what she thought of him, about Joan's disappearance, about how @Veho felt this late in the season... Rook couldn't deny himself the good vibes he felt when he thought of what was to come with the promise of cubs - his cubs... his and Amaryllis' cubs.

Thinking of which... he figured he ought to find her. That night they had spent together had opened up so many different aspects of their relationship and, suddenly, there were so many questions and musings and hankerings to get to know her even more. Along the outskirts of Grizzly Hollow, he let out a summoning bark, calling his lover by name in hopes that she might have been nearby...

(This post was last modified: Mar 26, 2017, 05:27 AM by Rook.)

Just by pure luck, Amaryllis had been nearby when Rook’s bark caught her attention instead of being on the opposite side of the parklands. She’d been scouting out the area nearby, doing her part as leader and overall, trying to keep herself occupied before her mind became lax and started thinking of the future. Part of her feared what might come about if she thought too long and hard on the cubs that were growing within her, that she might bolt before they’re even born, taking them with her and leaving Rook without knowing them. Which terrified her even more. He was nothing like her ex mate. She was sure he wouldn’t lay a paw on them, expect in love and kindness.
 
With her mind turned to such nerve racking thoughts, she nearly jumped out of her skin when Rook’s almost out of hearing bark called for her. Shaking her coat out, the woman turned towards the noise and began loping towards it.

Amaryllis greeted Rook with a kiss to his muzzle, her tail swaying by her ankles as she took a few steps back. There had been a night or two together since their coupling, such as sleeping in the same den and Amaryllis had taken comfort in knowing that he liked spending time with her, even as they slept.

“What is it?” That bark, though it wasn’t a howl, didn’t sound as if he just wanted to just spend some time with her. It asked for her to come to him, so it was clear he wanted to talk. Not that she minded either way, There were some things they did need to discuss regardless. Like what was to come in the months following their night together...

Their cubs. And didn’t that send a tingle down her spine.

(This post was last modified: Apr 14, 2017, 11:51 AM by Amaryllis.)

In a timely manner, she emerged from the forest, pale grey and sunshine-eyed and beautiful as ever. His own tail waved as she greeted him with a kiss before withdrawing from him. "What is it?" She was giving him all her attention and Rook merely smiled. He studied her posture, her wagging tail... what anticipation might have crackled in the air between them the longer he held out. Where to begin... Where to begin...?

"I was just curious," he whispered, "if you might take a walk with me." Now that the deed had been done and they had yet to find out if the prospect of cubs might come of their union, it was easier to just be with her. A cluster of snowflakes landing on his nose reminded him that the storms had yet to pass - that, no matter how stately and full the evergreens stood, their boughs could only catch and ward off so much of the snow.

"Oh, well," he gave a chuckle, "maybe could I join you for a chat? We could go to your den or -" He did not dare invite her to his and Veho's den just yet... "-we could go to the old bear den?" Anywhere was fine, really, he just had some things to ask her, things that would impact their future together and things that would tell him who she really was at her very core.

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

"Of course I'll walk with you," However, when the snow fell onto his nose and Rook suggested they go walk to either her den or the old bear den, Amaryllis couldn't argue against it. The snow was sticking around like a thorn in a sore paw. Stepping towards Rook again, she carefully licked the snowflakes off his nose, laughing lightly. "Though you are right, we might wish to take shelter from the snow." Though would it be her den or the bear den that wasfurther south?

Thinking for a few moments, Amaryllis felt the bear den might be better suited for the talk that surely would occur between them. Rook might have had some questions for her, that depending on the type she'd be more then happy to answer but she too had some for him. Along with some other news that she felt he had the right to know

"How about the bear den?" She suggested, orientating herself towards she thought where the Bear den was from here and thinking of what the best route was to take. "It has a little more room plus hopefully no one will stumble across us." Despite how much she wished to have pups and dearly hoped their night together resulted in them, if the conversation turned towards what she think it would then she wouldn't want others to over hear it. At least not yet. "There's a few things I'd like to discuss with you as well, that I think you ought to know." Taking a few steps, she glanced back to him, her tail level with her back as she grinned at him. "Though perhaps first, we can see who's the fastest at getting to the den?"

She agreed, opting to check out the bear den for their little talk. His nose tickled for moments after she whisked the snowflakes away and he could feel the heat radiating from his cheeks. A side-step and a bit of angling and Rook followed suit, ready to lead her through the forest until she tossed him a dare. Her grin was mirrored in his own masked features and even if he figured she might've been the quickest of the both of them, he playfully darted away with a laugh, "Not if I get a head start!"

With the storm not letting up, it was all too easy to keep to the highways already forged by the rest of the pack. Rook knew from experience that the places where the snow reached up to his elbows would slow him down and, perhaps, trip up his smaller companion. She would catch up and surpass him in no time, but that didn't stop Rook until he came to an ideal point in their path to forge a southbound trail of his own.

He skid to a stop, bowling through the snow until he plopped head first into a decent sized pile. Wipeout. Pulling his face out from the frost with his tail waving about and kicking up more snow behind him, he searched for Amaryllis' prancing figure, still laughing. "Lily?" he called, all smiles. "So, what was it you were saying? That you wanted to talk about?"

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Letting out a laugh at Rook's exclamation of 'Not if I get a head start!' before darting off, Amaryllis peeled off after him, slipping slightly on the snow under her paws but quickly regaining traction and shooting off.

Even though Amaryllis had no idea, her companion was right in thinking some of the deeper snow did trip her up but her slightly heavier build allowed her still push on through regardless. And soon enough, she had zoomed passed him, laughing as she called out "slowpoke!" to him as she did. But much like him, just as she forged her own trail, she had her own wipe out in a pile of snow. Plop! Managing to wiggle herself out, breathless, she was covered in snow. but that mattered little because seconds later Rook did the same nearby, wiping out next to her.

Laughing as she shook her coat out while she entered the bear den, scooting towards the back to leave Rook enough room to enter as well. Yet her smile dropped as he asked what is was that she wished to talk about. Taking a moment before answering, so as to collect her thoughts, her tone still shook and her words still faltered as she spoke.

"I...If this worked, if our night...together has taken seed, then Ophelia, Joan and Felix aren't going to be this litters only elder siblings." She finally blurted out, ducking her head down in a mixture of embarrassment and guilt. Her tongue felt heavy as she continued on but she had to do this, she had to tell Rook. He had the right to know. "There was a previous litter I had, season before last. I don't...I don't know what has become of them, since I had to leave them for their safety and mine." And by the stars, she hoped they were safe. Her friend that she left them with, she knew, would keep them safe but the guilt still clung to her even after all this time. For having to near abandon them to never going back for them, even though she had promised to both her friend and for them. It's what made her act as if it was the wrong thing to do and that Rook would judge her for it, harshly.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

He managed to catch a glimpse of her grey tail darting down into the old bear den, the sound of her laughter taunting him to follow if he dared. When he all but slid down the short tunnel and into the spacious burrow, he smiled at her in the dimly lit space, the quiet quickly engulfing them and leaving only the sound of their breathing. "I..." she had started. Rook reclined forward onto his stomach, laying down next to her and rolling over onto his side if she chose to curl up there in the "framed" sort of space his fore- and hind legs made when he sprawled out.

Amaryllis' head ducked down and he peered up into her face, curiosity taking grip of him and not letting go. Instead of asking what was wrong, he leaned forward to touch his lips to hers, nudging her chin with his nose to prompt her further. It seemed to have worked, for what she told him next struck a chord: before him, before now, she had been a mother. She had carried someone else's litter.

"So?" he initially shrugged. "I was... am a father, too. I have Tomen."

If his calculations were correct, he could be certain that this previous litter of hers were about the same age as Tomen. The season before, the Whitebark-Macieo cubs had been born; and, the year before, his son had been the only cub within the pack before Nineva came along. To Rook, seeing her as a parent wasn't a big deal. What was, though, was the fact she had brought up the topic of leaving them for reasons regarding their safety and hers. He grazed the side of his muzzle along her foreleg, planting some kisses there as he trailed up to her elbow. "It's okay," he confided, his voice a whisper. "I can't even be sure about Tomen either. I hope he's okay, but you... you are safe here. With me, with us..." He made a point to somehow edge Veho into all this, being her equal in rank and such. "If it helps to talk about it, I'm here right now," another touch of his nose to hers.

"If you'd rather not discuss it, that is okay, too, but you shouldn't feel guilty." He tried to meet her eyes now, tried to smile up at her through his own echoed pain of the ghosts of the memories that had been summoned. "I can tell you that it won't do you - or anyone - any good. You're smart, just like Quil is smart, and those cubs... yearlings... they'll find their own ways."

At last his smile broke through. His tail even wagged a little against the crumbly den wall as he sat up, offering a place against his chest and shoulder should she wish to bury herself there and hide, "I know it's hard. Just kind of have to have faith in that sometimes. I've learned that the hard way, too."

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.