|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:45 pm
 They had - they had listened. Cue felt a thrill any time he remembered himself - that new-minted self who inspired, who understood the wolves he spoke to, who saw the hurts inside them and vowed to heal them. He'd dived into something new and terrifying, but he found, somehow, that he was not scared - only incensed. He felt he had unearthed the secret, aching heart of every wolf, and at the tender core of his own self, he felt that he had stepped onto the path that led to salvation. His tongue lolled at the radiant enormity of it all; it occurred to him that he had briefly felt this way as the star receded, a soaring giddiness, an aliveness that had come and gone all too quickly. But this - this would stay. He smiled over to Aislin as they walked, a pot about to boil over with delight.
Aislin walked on light, easy paws as she trailed beside him, feeling no less giddy herself. It was happening! It was truly happening. And, more importantly, Cue was happy. She could feel it rolling off of him, a radiant energy of sheer joy, and it sparked off his pelt and infected her with similar delight. She stepped forward, nipping playfully at his heels as she caught up with him. "Well?" She asked, almost shyly, glancing sidelong at him and soaking up the sparkle of excitement in his eyes; she would do absolutely anything for him, so long as that gleam never went away. "What do you think?"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:50 pm
He pranced away as she nipped at him, too giddy to attire himself in his usual composure. But as he spun to face her, his brushy tail whisking behind him, he found himself unseated by what he saw there.
She seemed...she seemed to almost glow before him. And some wordless part of him also recognized that she was glowing for him. Her charm, a beguiling combination of earth and girl and fantasy, had in one stroke rewritten itself into...beauty. The word came to his mind alone, and floated there in silence for one long, long second as he stared.
And then realized. He blinked, his ears coming forward to mask his consternation, and grinned back at her, a little sheepishly. "I'm so excited, Ais," he said, his voice a confiding hush; "I've never - it feels right. Don't you think?" His eyes sought hers, and as quick as that his shyness had receded; he watched her with some of the same rapt and masterful intensity he had leveled at her two friends.
And -- there it was. She saw it in his eyes, the sudden shift of realization, as he had caught up with something she had been aware of for some time: He was falling in love with her. No, not falling. Fallen. Completely, undeniably fallen.
Life couldn't get much sweeter.
"More right than anything I've ever done," she admitted, and her tail wagged. She was still relatively certain that they were talking about the pack, but she wondered if they might not be talking about something else, too. In Aislin's mind, one thing...could be many things. She met his eyes and her own were soft and filled with hope and enthusiasm. "Two days from now, we will be new wolves. It's like being born, all over again, into a better world. And it's our world."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:52 pm
Unaccountably, he felt a growl beginning to curl at the bottom of his throat, and had to brush it off - the dual promise of a whole new life and a wolf who looked at him like he had given her something miraculous was so unspeakably enticing that he wanted to somehow pounce on it. Instead he shook himself, so vigorously that his ears slapped audibly against the side of his head, and pronounced the exhilerating aliveness of their situation with a pointed sneeze. That was better, but still not as good as pouncing, so he did the next best thing, finding himself brave enough to brush against Aislin and mouth at her ear before rocketing off into the evening, kicking up clods of dirt behind him.
A wide grin spread up her maw and she followed, yelping in delight as she gave him chase. Except she knew that wasn't quite right -- he was the one chasing her, wasn't he? That was how these things worked, she thought. Laughter bubbled up in her chest like champagne and she had never felt as warm and alive as she did just then -- never felt as awake, either. There was no questioning it now. She wasn't dreaming, not unless somehow her most vivid dream had somehow crashed into her life and melded the two together as one.
Gleefully, she chased after him, puppish in her enthusiasm as they raced along paths they would never travel again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:31 pm
He ran, and as he ran he felt the beauty of his life move through him - he could not stop seeing Aislin's face, her winking grimace and the fleeting realness of her ear in his mouth, his whiskers brushing the corner of her smile - and it turned his leaps and bounds into dance. Even running away, he felt at the very core of himself that he needed nothing more than to touch her again, to fix his eyes on her face and let her brightness wash over him like waves of summer sun. Heart thumping with a weird, new, giddy trepidation, he slowed abruptly to a stop, crouching down in a playful invitation; it felt like learning to fly with no fear of falling.
She caught up with him easily, the silken straggles of her pelt coming to rest at her joints as she slid from eager motion to utter stillness in a single moment. She froze like a statue, head and tail high, the sunlight glistening off her pelt -- for a moment, holding the status of the alpha she was due to become.
Then the mesmerizing spell was broken and she dipped down, chest scraping the earth, tail waving like a banner overhead as her ears slipped back and her eyes offered him a challenge. They were wolves, then, wolves the way they were meant to be: young, wild, free, creatures of flesh and joy and light.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:02 pm
He watched her standing poised above him, and felt his stomach turn in a giddy swoop; that was almost as arresting as seeing that adoring look; almost. Just as his own confusion insisted he stop lying on the ground in befuddlement, Aislin dropped, and it sent Cue prancing into her, his mind a jumble of thought in argument with itself. Moved by his unclear motives, he found himself hovering right up against her, his very fur tingling...and began to play-bite very sincerely at her paw.
Giving a slight yelp of surprise, she withdrew her paw, but did not retaliate with an answering n**. She submitted, crumpling to the ground and rolling to her back, exposing the soft pale fur of her belly as she gazed up at him fondly from sleepy blue eyes. There was a foxishness to her gaze, a gleam in her eye that suggested this game may be a trap, and for all her demure posturing her tail brushed the grassy earth in a constant swaying beat.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:48 pm
Hadn't she been towering above him only a moment ago...? All of a sudden he found himself out of breath, dark-eyed and breathing hard at the sight of that sleepy, clowny, come-hither face, the softly curling fur at her flank and belly. Ignoring her frisking tail, he stepped closer, so that he stood with his chest over hers - his stocky legs allowing that their ribcages almost touch. And with a gravity that pulled together the serious, thoughtful Cumulonimbus of several days' past and the raptly observant Nimbus of this afternoon...he lowered his head, dark eyes watching Aislin's, to nudge his nose into the straggling fur below her beloved ear, and inhale.
~*~
Afterward, Aislin found herself wondering where the day had gone. Perhaps she had slept, somewhere, and dreamed part of the day; she could never be sure. The sun had crept low toward the horizon, now, and she could just make out its distant shimmer over the ocean.
She would miss the ocean. But everything else more than made up for it.
Wriggling slightly, she snuggled back against Cue's warmth, yawning demurely as she laid her head over his paws. She wondered when they had grown up, and if it was really possible to become an adult in a day or even a single moment...but she thought it must be possible, as she was quite certain it had happened.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:06 pm
Cue opened a sleepy eye, and the smile that crept across his face as he realized where he was and who was with him was radiant. He lifted his head to groom her face, passing his tongue mischievously over her eye. She had said they'd been born again that day, and now it seemed to him that it was true: they had made themselves into grown-ups, fumbled their way from helplessness, from isolation, to something new and bright and beautiful. He felt the otherworldly buzz of the star burn in his memory, and closed his eyes in fervent thanks to whatever it had been.
But the thought of that visitation sobered him. He remembered Aislin's terrible dreams and felt the dread begin to pool in his belly - would two days be enough time? And where did they need to go, and how quickly? He sighed and pushed his face into the ruff of his girlfriend's neck, and was impressed by how the feel of her seemed to calm him. "We will be okay," he stated quietly, testing the truth of the words.
"I know we will," she said, with a smile of such utterly earnest innocence that it was both infectious and believable. "Because you'll be leading us."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:29 pm
Cue's head twitched, enough that an olive-colored eye could peer up at Aislin's face. A moment of startlement passed into gratitude, adoration. "And I'll lead us because I have you."
She giggled, extending her tongue to flick the tip of his nose before pulling away, walking up shakily to her paws. She tried to remember when she'd last eaten, and thought maybe they should do that before they headed out on a long journey. Who knew how long until their next regular meal? "Want to go say goodbye to the territory?" She said, tilting her head. She knew he barely had family in the area to tend to, and she had already mostly made peace with her father and sister...but she would miss the ocean, and the moon. Wait. There was a moon everywhere. Wasn't there? "And grab some dinner, maybe."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:53 pm
As if tugged by a string, he hopped up after her, taking in the wobbliness of her paws and feeling all the more strong and virile for it. A considerable part of him wanted to stay here, ruffling his nose through Aislin's fur, indefinitely, but he found the tact not to suggest it. And really, seeing the water again, with Aislin starry-eyed beside him, well, that was just as good. He stretched, and looked back at her, because he couldn't stop looking back at her. "That sounds perfect."
"All right," Aislin said, snatching a kiss at the corner of his maw, finding herself now unable to stand near him without wanting to touch him. Was this what love was? Had her parents been this way? Surely not. Surely no other wolf felt this alive...this full of light and life and love. They weren't just two wolves in love, they were two wolves on a mission, two wolves wetting out to change the world, and there were no other wolves anywhere that could claim that.
Smiling, she pulled away from him and bounded playfully ahead, breathing in the salty air and reveling in how beautiful life had become.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
