The Wellspring portraiture and the human form

The sun had began to settle as they arrived at the bountiful place. Loach had never fallen in love with a place so quickly. Perhaps the split, but that had been more for the gang he had there. Not so much the location itself.

He leaned alongside Clouse for the moment, in silent awe of the mountains and falls. Eerie in their beauty. Even if Loach had not said anything, perhaps the look could be read upon his face. The way his eyes widened softly before they swept across the ranging water features. He could not fathom how many fish likely ran through. How they could feast endlessly here.

Whatcha make of it? A softly raised brow as he looked sidelong at his very welcomed companion.

The further south they'd traveled, the more foreboding the atmosphere around them had grown to be. Clouse found he rather adored it, their travel all the more thrilling to the young wolf for it. The crashing of waterfalls had been audible from a distance, warning the duo of their presence in advance, and still he hadn't been prepared for the sight of them. A grin blossomed across his muzzle as they stepped together into full view of the Wellspring, their sound now thundering around them.

Loach leaned into him, his touch steady, warm and familiar. Clouse looked away from the falls and up at his... well this word was still far from decided, wasn't it? It didn't matter. What did, was the way watching him in that moment made the runaway Archer feel. Those vibrant eyes so taken with wonder, the way his smile softened without losing any of its light, even the messy tousle of his fur sent to flight butterflies in his stomach.

There really was something special about this guy.

Loach asked his question and their eyes met, Clouse not at all minding if he got caught in his staring. He looked again to the mountainous feature then, knowing he really hadn't gotten the best of looks that first time.

"I think it's crazy I never heard of this place before," was his answer, "it's gorgeous."

Silver eyes flicked back to Loach then, wordlessly requesting his own thoughts.

He found he did not mind the way Clouse seemed to have been looking at him, unprompted, before he had started speaking. It warmed him in a way he was not sure he wished to announce.

I've never heard of anywhere here. He laughed with warm humor. A reminder that not everybody had some first given knowledge before they had waltzed into these lands. I think...it'd be good, if the split ever runs a bit too dry or gets too crowded with competition.

And Loach found his cheeks burned suddenly, his thoughts trailed to ideas of competition. Spring on the horizon would bring plenty of it, hm?

I've been thinking about something better than the split. One day...

Gently tested the waters.

Clouse smiled, listening to Loach speak. His ears crept forward steadily as more and more hints were dropped that his companion seemed to be toying with an idea that some might consider permanent. He wondered after the man's ideas, but also felt a sense of reservation in the pit of his stomach. One which he buried and called foolish, for it was; Clouse was getting ahead of himself.

Something better, one day, silence. He let it drag on a beat, then leaned in to fondly groom the fur at Loach's cheeks a moment.

"What would be better?" he encouraged the other wolf to continue.

He felt private all at once, somehow. As if he had said the wrong thing when there was not an immediately glow. Even as Clouse groomed the water tussled fur on his cheeks.

Dunno. He murmured a bit meekly. Even if the warmth had not left him. Just worried about the spring. Words tumbled out of him like oozing mud, quicker than he would have liked. There would have been nothing to stop Lana from going off when the weather warmed. Or Clouse. Or Llinnea.

Which made him a bit dumbfounded with the knowledge of how much he liked them all, even if for very different reasons.

But perhaps his silence conveyed how embarrassed he suddenly felt.

Loach appeared abashed, keeping his thoughts mostly obscured. Clouse leaned his chin against his dark shoulder while continuing to watch the expressions which defined his cut features. Worried, was he? The younger wolf felt the urge to shower his beau in affection until he warmed back up, but wasn't fond of the shallow impression that might give. He genuinely cared about whatever it was going on in Loach's head and chest both, wanted to be someone that the other man could talk his problems through with.

"Thought most wolves looked forward to the thaw," he jested lightly, tail wagging behind him and purposefully bumping into Loach's flank. If the man wanted stability, he had the means and the personality to acquire it as far as Clouse could see.

"Whaddya want the Spring to look like?"

He leaned into each touch. No matter how big or small. Even if he did not speak out on the great comfort it brought him, there was a gentle ease to the tension in the shoulder's of the older man.

Like freedom. He laughed, a touch dry in tone, but his tail offered a little sway against Clouse's own hip. Dunno. Don't want others to feel like they gotta go chasin' the spring on hot heels, y'know what I mean? An arch of one brow with a warm, teasing look plastered upon his features.

He figured Clouse could perhaps parse some of the feelings Loach had dared to share.

What do you want it to look like?

(This post was last modified: Jan 22, 2023, 04:54 AM by Loach.)

Clouse's smile took on a wry tilt at Loach's pointed choice of words, and bridge it with the concern he thought he heard the other wolf giving voice to; he didn't want to find himself abandoned come springtime. Eyes gray as a winter storm regarded the brilliant falls once more, their vivid sheen amplifying the gloom of the dark forest behind them. Clouse rather liked that he couldn't see the future, that he had a lifetime of surprises ahead of him. He tried not to think ahead and anticipate for this reason, but as the question invited it, the Archer considered what he might prefer to get out of the coming months.

Clouse settled onto his haunches before speaking, voice softened by earnesty.

"... dumb how we ask questions we don't have our own answers for, huh?" he mused first with mild self-deprecation, before admitting, "I try not to want. Makes for... less disappointment, y'know? But I guess, I do know a few things for sure."

He paused a moment then, making sure of his words before giving them life.

"I'd like to be better with bokmål, I'd like to see the melt reveal all kinds of crazy new things to see here, best you at fishing..." he trailed briefly, looking again up into Loach's citrine eyes.

"I'd like you to be happy."

Loach understood at once, and may have even attempted to backtrack had Clouse not carried on. May have reassured the man that he wasn't here to lock him in forever, or that they needed to speak of the future at all. Yet the worries dripped away his younger companion continued to speak.

For it sounded very much like plans for the future...together — or at least present with one another in some way.

He found himself selfishly dumbfounded with the man's last wish though. Which meant he realized just how captivated he really was by Clouse, and maybe that scared him a bit more than any future. To fall stupidly hard and fast. He assured himself that it was a nameless thing for now. The first blossom before even spring arrived.

I'd like you to be happy. And he his voice had become a bit smaller, a bit softer and most certainly genuine. Stuck in a stare with rain cloud eyes — and it was a good thing he had always liked water.

Clouse felt a blush creep across his face at that simple return, and found that he couldn't pull his eyes away even if he desperately wanted to. It was one of those delicately precious moments, stumbled into and cherished ever after. He felt it down to his bones, like there was some kind of electrical current between them. Hadn't he been swept away before like this, though?

The thought allowed him to finally break eye contact, and he leaned forward to bury his face in Loach's warm fur. It had only been how long?, and yet he was beginning to dare to think that maybe he did want a constant. Was it these feelings themselves, or was it him?

"... I like you a lot," he murmured, then cleared his throat and pulled back, standing.

"Let's get a closer look, yeah?"

They were here for the falls after all, right?