Drooping Willows when running wild turns volatile

Hagar hadn't anticipated this month to again cause great changes in his life. He had expected to spend it mindlessly hunting and tracking every moment he could in order to keep his thoughts away from Avella and Camden. When the other had vanished, Hagar thought he would return soon, with a tale of treacherous weather, and his courting of their alpha would continue. Even when this did not happen, when no trace of that gallant suitor was ever again found, the marksmen still resigned himself to hiding away from March.

Then Niamh danced into his life, and awoken something inside of him that had been slumbering for far too long. Now, he saw this world of theirs through reinvigorated eyes, began to see a purpose for himself outside of being subservient to the pack. While the fog appeared to be clearing for him, it seemed to still be wrapped thickly around Avella. Either he could stay mired with her, or he could make the moves necessary to lift this little family back up off the ground.

Hagar wanted to act, and not only that- he finally found himself worthy of making such decisions on his own.

He sought out Niamh, prowling the forest with determination glinting in his moss-colored eyes.

The snow storm had settled and she had once more anticipated wandering. Only for a moment, only to the fringe. They could not become sittings ducks and expect anything to come to them, could they? She figured she might find another frozen meal or bones that awaited her touch. Perhaps she could find a trinket to bring Ra, something that they could combine powers within. A token of one another.

Yet once more she found herself swept up by Bearkissed.

Still she found she'd have it no other way.

Her gaze danced brightly over the familiar curves of his muscles. She nearly blushed at the sight of him! How girlish she felt to be enchanted all over again. Now she wished only to return this back to him.

So she moved quickly to meet him in the middle where she could offer ample kisses to brown cheeks.

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

Always so pleased to see him. Hagar's demeanor shifted, almost melted, at the sight of her. His tail wagged in wide, quick arcs and a smile curled his lips while his eyes pinched into halfmoons of happiness. Her kisses were returned in kind, and he refused to let those doubts that had plagued him before taint this moment. Instead, he allowed himself to believe that the promise between them both was limitless.

For a moment he just soaked in her presence, but eventually words had to be uttered. There was one thing that could not be assumed.

"I want children with you, Niamh."

That declaration felt the best place to start. If she didn't want the same, he would not be upset with her or otherwise hold it against her. They could drop the topic entirely, stick to antics with far less gravity. But... he did hope she felt the same, instead.

"I want children with you, Niamh."

She did not pull away, instead she stayed as close as possible to the thick of his chest. So that she could hear the heartbeat and feel it in those soft silent moments.

You mean this, It would not come out as a question. How quick he had jumped to this! Yet she found he did not speak unless he wished to, he wanted a future here among the willows. She had painted one for him and she had become the muse somehow.

I do not share. Only now could she pull back to look at his face with soft gemstone eyes. Hopeful that he would understand, that she had no wish to be contended with over a woman who held more history and more worth. How could she compare? If it is me, it must only be me.

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

Rather than rebuttal, she offered a condition. His ears cupped forward, and his smile grew a touch wry. There was presently no competitors for his affections, and he had resolved to forsake his days of lending himself to the use of others. Still, such words could mean a multitude of different things. He did not want to end up at an impasse because he had thought himself to be promising one thing and Niamh, another entirely.

"For how long?"

Curiosity shone in his eyes, a simple wish only to know her thoughts. Whatever she wanted from him would likely not change his own desires, nor his certainty that this was what the right next step was. The Ridge would have its next generation despite their significant struggles, his children would have the joy of siblings to care for and grow with, and his position would be cemented. And, just maybe, he'd also end up with the romance his soft heart yearned for.

"Love when it comes without a warnin'
'Cause waitin' for it gets so borin'
A lot can change in twenty seconds
A lot can happen in the dark
Love when it makes you lose your bearings"
— Billie Bossa Nova

He played a dangerous game. Did he know this? The things he asked by wishing for her to give him a new generation?

Her lips curled in a soft smile. Only for a moment, before her features slipped back into something more befitting the heft of this encounter. Not that it lacked any affection from the prior ones, but now they danced a longer time.

Children are a lifetime, She exhaled softly. They did not leave once her perfume became a memory and the world rolled onward. She would become rounded with life and she would depend upon him. A life debt in a different kind of way than the one she had envisioned in the snow storm. Her blood would refuse to be abandoned and she would not bring blood into this world that would be.

Does a lifetime scare you, Bearkissed? She whispered as the corner of her eyes wrinkled as she offered a coy grin. Plenty would think it was too soon to propose any sort of marriage or lifetime bond, but she worked in extremes frequently. Especially when the stars aligned for an emotional sparking between figures.

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

You lift my heart up when the rest of me is down,
you, you enchant me, even when you're not around.
If there are boundaries, I will try to knock them down.
I'm holdin' on babe, now I know what I have found.
— Latch by Disclosure

Hagar's eyes lit as she answered, unknowingly settling that single qualm. There had not been enough said or shown yet to dispel the assumption that his homeland's customs were common. If Niamh decided at any point she no longer wanted him, he would not force her to stay near. Any children they might have, however? Hagar would no longer concede to a mother being able to void his fatherhood. They would stay here, in their home, until they made a different choice.

If they were to be wed, though? Such commitment did not frighten him at all, and the unspoken promise of it was that if issues did arise, they would work through them rather than run from each other. Their family would stay whole no matter what life threw at them. Many would probably call this naivety, but Hagar saw it as trust; not a choice he consciously made, but something undeniably felt deep in his heart.

He shook his head, and placed a gentle kiss upon her brow.

"I would be honored to share so much with you."

"Be mine then," She whispered as she kissed him back. One, two. Once on each cheek. "As I will be yours. Wholly."

A debt mattered little if they would share all things together, in all ways. She cared not if others would find it too fast a union, if they burned too hot and bright, too quickly for others to understand. Her world had never been understood.

The universe would not have faced them with one another if they were not ready for it.

Another kiss, harder and spilling with her emotions now. Eyes misted softly but with an over abundance of her joy for him. Her Bearkissed.

She wished to dance away from his reach, she wished to hold him closer. Her mind could not be made up!

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

Hagar smiled, a broad, toothy expression that communicated the fluttering his chest. This was certainly not where he had imagined himself less than a week prior, and yet every fiber of his being was warmed with sunlight as their agreement made this a reality. Once more he pressed his forehead to hers, holding her tightly to him.

"I swear it," he murmured against her muzzle, the rest of the world falling away from his awareness, "always."

That this decision of theirs might cause ripples had not occurred to him either. He had thought himself wizened to this wide world after nearly two years of being out in it, but it was likely he was to learn many more of its complexities over the next coming months, if not days. Whatever was to come, though, he felt assured it would never be faced alone.

Now he looked into the eyes of his wife, and that alone left him brimming. Hagar was complete.

breeding post!

She had opened her heart to him.

Now she meant to open her world! Wide and free. For these moments it could only be them, dancing beneath willows that wished to sway along with them.

She offered a kiss once more. Unable to contain the surge of affection she felt for him. No words would compare, but they had not needed them at the start to feel this connection. They would not need them now when the world urged them onward in nature's whispers.

She would share her world with him in full now.

(This post was last modified: Mar 25, 2023, 02:08 AM by Niamh.)

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.