Fireweed Rise yeah he got left, left, left

Hagar tried his best to pretend that this turn of the moon was just the same as any other, but as @Avella's scent grew stronger it all became impossible to ignore. He kept busy, spending much more of his time outside of the Willows tracking and hunting.

Still the memories kept eating at him. That night together, the way he had felt about her, their ensuing conversations, her choosing another- so much had changed over the past year, and it hurt to reflect on. So once again he was alone, out in the ice-laden fields with his plagued thoughts.

Was this how the rest of his years were going to go? Was this the extent of what life had in store for him?

i'll get a pretty code in here later oops

She danced in like a hot breeze, chased the heels of winter.

She moved with the winds, winded the bends and the twists. She avoided the slopes of the mountain with a feverish fear she could not explain. Perhaps only that she wished to not explain! Yet she was rewarded handsomely with a sight beyond what she had ever seen in the ravine!

The figure she had nearly confused for a small bear from this distance. Still she had danced closer and closer until she realized it was but a man. Yet to call him just a man was cruel. She did not know what he hid within!

So she called out to him in a melodic little howl despite their closeness. Would he welcome her presence that radiated warmth like the warm sands she had come from? Or did he intend to brood alone in the coldness of early spring?

adopt my brother!

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

Hagar had hoped to be alone with his thoughts, but that was not what was in store for him. Dead grasses rustled, and he turned his head to see a stranger frolicking toward him. She paused, called, the sound musical and peculiar. His ears lifted, and his head tilted subtly. He had expected that of anyone, it would be one of his children or 'packmates' that would have chased after him. Instead, this ethereal young woman had seemed to appear from nothing.

The hunter blinked, while his tail raised and began to wag. This was a distraction that was welcome, a chance to take his mind completely off his woes rather than being constantly reminded. Maybe she was even looking for others to stick with, could help them become a true claim again. He began to approach, letting out his own soft, welcoming baroorooo.

He welcomed her!

This she would reward with a playful nature as he approached. She had been birthed from otherworldly ways, raised in starlight and with mysticism as her life. It was not hard to slip back into the time before she had come to wander. Not when such a warm welcome had been given!

So she bowed, lowly, for a moment. Then sprung forth! Yet it was not with aggression or the urge to chase him off. For he could, truth be told, perhaps crush her in a moment.

She had meant to only offer her shoulder to his own in a firm bump, if he did not remove himself. Then dance around him in a wide crescent!

adopt my brother!

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

It was easy to spy the playfulness in her antics, and Hagar found them utterly refreshing. He'd grown used to these wolves who used more words than body language, who always wanted to talk at length and ask their questions. This reminded him of home, and the simple life he'd led before coming to the Lore and meeting...

She jolted, and Hagar's own reaction was quicker than one might expect of his broad frame. He dropped onto his elbows, tail and rump still held high and waving as the stranger came toward him. When she got close enough he would offer playful nips at the air around her cheeks and ears, then spin around in a flurry of snow and ice and take off.

The Ridge loyalist wouldn't go far, though, before whipping around and slapping his forelimbs down into the powder once more. A sharp bark would encourage her to continue the game, green eyes shining bright.

(This post was last modified: Mar 18, 2023, 10:47 PM by Hagar.)

Aha!

She was delighted in warm ways, beyond the spring! He did not jabber or take the stiff stance of someone who thought a man must always be rigid. Her mother had said she always had an eye for these ones. The ones who would know how to dip their toes into the warm waters and swim. For Niamh was and always would be an ocean. Full of riptides and depth.

His thick limbs slapped up plenty of the snow dustings. Snow that could have easily consumed her if she let it! Or even soured her mood. However no such mood could be soured by such a playful face.

She clacked jaws in a welcomed way before she dove. This time nearly head on! Although she most certainly did not tell him that she planned to pull away at the last minute and curve to his left. Where would be the fun in that? A good surprise should always be welcomed!

(This post was last modified: Mar 18, 2023, 10:43 PM by Niamh.)

adopt my brother!

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

Hagar's muscles tensed in preparation as the game of chicken began, one he'd played many times before. He aimed to dodge as nearly to the last second as he could manage, without knowing she intended to do the same. The same risk was ran as when he was a child, and they did indeed choose the same direction toward which to lurch. Her smaller frame collided with his stout legs and he tripped over her with as much care as could be managed in such a moment.

He fell into the snow onto his side, and laughed. The kind that shook one's chest and pinched their eyes into gleeful half-moons. It had been far too long since the last time he'd been so humored by another adult.

Quickly he sat up and his nose went to snuffle after his nameless acquaintance, ensuring she was also unscathed from the tumble.

He tumbled and she splayed!

Not before her own tumble, of course. Only that she landed like a newborn fawn had tried to ice skate. Which resulted in her own laughter. Light and good-natured. Dazzled by his ability to make her feel so okay with failure! Her appearance meant much, but here it had been tossed aside in favor of fun.

A fair trade, if you asked her.

She returned his snuffled noises and motions. Quick to rebound as she reached to ruffle some of fur, if he'd let her. To check on a multitude of things! With his scent she could discover plenty. If he tended to keep company, if he had any illness, perhaps the things he busied himself with.

All she knew was that she liked this one, spring feelings aside even. He seemed a man full of potential for her future here. Which begged the question of what she could get from him. In exchange, of course! A meal and shelter would go very far for a southern dweller like herself.

adopt my brother!

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

It seemed she was just fine and equally humored, and Hagar's thick tail began to thump the snow in mirthful recognition of this. The stranger got a little closer and stayed there for longer than a mere moment, and the full picture of their situation then began to dawn on him. That maybe this had to do with the time of year and the allure of pheromones that cloaked her like perfume.

The year prior, he had participated without reservation, viewing the season as he'd been taught. That he was just a means to an end, that coupling didn't need to mean anything at all, that whatever came of it was the woman's problem alone unless both wolves wanted to call it love instead. Then he'd thought he'd fallen for Avella, had children that weren't meant to be his, and everything he once thought black and white muddied into deep, indiscernible grays.

Hagar sombered, backed up. He regarded the wolf before him with a tilted skull, silently questioning, what do you want from me?

I trade things. Words, items, fortunes. One brow raised lazily above pale blue eyes. Dazzled by him and his knowledge surely held behind jade eyes. A man who did not speak was a man who hid things to say!

What do you have need for? A wife? A set of fine bones? Perhaps he wished to know what the spring would hold for him! All of these would be things that she had been taught how to give, and more if he wished it.

However she knew better than to oversell or out speak him. A good trader heard the wishes first and then sold things next. That way she tailored them to his needs.

(This post was last modified: Mar 19, 2023, 02:44 AM by Niamh.)

adopt my brother!

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