Stone Circle you make my heart beat like the rain

 "@Murdock," She hissed, sliding back into the den to prod at him with her sharp muzzle, tail hitting against him softly as it wagged in nervousness and excitement. Her gaze flickered to the entrance of the den, ensuring the spectacle was still there. "Murdock, look"  She continued, prodding him once more with a chuff as she wiggled outside the den, staring upwards. If the moon last night had seen huge and full, it did not compare to what it was doing now. 

The moon was red, a shade lighter and oranger than the petals of poppy, and hung huge and heavy in the sky. She could not bear to look away from the sight and wondered briefly if something had gone wrong with her eyesight, rather than the moon. For something had definitely gone wrong, and she did not know what it meant or what it would entail.

Murdock uttered a low groan of displeasure. He'd been dreaming about something, and though he couldn't quite remember what or whether it had been good or bad, he felt as strange sense of loss at being woken in the middle of it. This feeling was forgotten as he came fully awake and understood what had woken him.

"Puppy?" he asked uncertainly, heaving himself painfully to his paws and padding out into the moonlight. A soft gasp escaped him at the strange sight. He'd never seen the moon quite like this. "It's beautiful," he said softly, his injuries forgotten in the wonder of the moment. Eerie for sure, but beautiful all the same.

He looked back toward Poppy, an unusually tender expression on his face. "I've never seen anything like it," he admitted, lowering himself to the ground. He didn't want to stand out there all night, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the scene.

She gave a little wiggle at Murdock's gasp, pleased she'd found something which amazed him. She didn't think much would be new to the man, but she soon was proved wrong. There came a certain amount of pride in showing him this; pride that was displaced after a moment by some odd stirring in her chest as he looked at her, his expression tender. She agreed softly, tugging her gaze away from the moon to meet his gaze. 

"do you think it's bad?" She murmured, suddenly feeling as if she shouldn't speak too loudly. She blinked at him, ears twitching a tad as she considered the possibility. As he slumped to the earth, she flopped down beside him, stretching out, sphinx-like as her gaze flickered between the moon and Murdock. "it's like - there's a sunset, but on the moon." She mused quietly, for that was what she od shade reminded her of most.

Murdock shook his head at Poppy's qurstion. He didn't know what the red moon might mean - his mother might have, but Murdock had never paid much mind to naturalism. But whatever it was, he doubted the had to worry.

"What can it do to us from all the way up there?" he asked rhetorically, feeling reassured as he spoke the words aloud. "If anything, it's something we ought to enjoy. It's not every night you have a red moon."

He settled more comfortably against Poppy, enjoying the warmth of having her at his side. She'd taken on her part of the deal with aplomb, and through it all, she'd become more to him than a dog, a deal, a responsibility. They were companions and friends, and sometimes, Murdock thought he might feel something more. 

"Thank you for sticking around," he said to her, still looking up at the serene painting above them. "I don't know what I expected - but you've become a dear friend to me."

Murdock's reasoning eased her worries, and she offered a soft hum, tail tip flicking still. Her ears flicked as she listened, staring up and attempting to memorize every little detail of the sight above, unsure if she'd ever see anything like it again. If it was novel for Murdock; the wolf she saw as perhaps one of the wisest of them all, then surely such a sight was rare. 

His next question had her turn her gaze away again, looking at him with puzzlement. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," She provided, words slightly puzzled. Of course, she'd stick around; Murdock had given her everything she'd wanted, and more. He had brought her into his pack, given her a home and a friend and the way of life she'd wanted when she'd left behind the chicken-wire pen and the flat dusty prairie. Smile curved her muzzle at his last comment, and she lay her head on her paws as her tail beat a little faster behind her. "you're a very good friend, Murdock." 

Murdock smiled, and although they did not normally do this outside of the den, he figured it was still sleeping time. The male shifted closer and curled himself around Poppy, tucking her into his chest as he would sometimes as the slept. One paw was laid loosely over her shoulders, and his cold nose found a home in the smooth fur of her cheek.

"You are, too," he replied, eyes half-lidded as he struggle to stay awake. It was a bit chilly out, but he was comfortable, and the red light that bathed them felt more soothing than foreboding. Even his ribs seemed to hurt less.

He was happy, he realized, and he had his dog to thank for that. "Do you think you'll ever take a mate?" he asked her, thoughts drifting like a leaf on the surface of a quiet lake. "Have a family?"

The smile didn't leave her face as Murdock pulled her close to him, and she fit neatly beside him. She'd figured out fairly quickly how best to fit, and sighed contentedly as he draped a paw over her thin shoulders. Falling still as not to bother Murdock, who still seemed rather tired, she blinked up at the moon, knowing the excitement of the sight would not allow her to sleep for a time. There seemed to be something dark lurking along the edge of the moon; but she didn't want to bother Murdock about it. Besides, he'd said it couldn't harm them.

His question came a little unexpectedly, and she felt an odd twinge as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "yes - I'd like that very much." She admitted, voice softer than it had been. Letting out another small sigh, she pondered the thought a moment. She would like to take a mate, have pups of her own; enthralled by the idea of such a family the likes that her mother had never had.

And yet - none had caught her eye, for Murdock had become one of the most important figures in her life, and none seemed able to contest him. The very thought of waylaying her friend for another repulsed her, and she could not imagine replacing Murdock with anyone, anything. But she did not say any of these things, instead shifting a little closer to him, much more relaxed now that the wrongness of the moon did not weigh heavily on her mind, and yet still turning over the thoughts that came with Murdock's question. Trepidantly, she continued, "will you?" 

If she was being completely honest, she didn't like the idea of Murdock starting a family. Perhaps she understood Steph now, the very thought of being replaced, as she called it, igniting some odd feeling in her chest. And yet surely that was selfish, and Murdock ought to do whatever he wanted to be happy. Conflicted, she fell still, gaze trained sidelong on him as the darkness continued to creep along the moon.

Murdock continued to gaze at the dog's pretty face, wondering at how little her appearance had changed and how differently he saw her. She'd seemed very small and alien when they met, but lying together in the snow, she seemed just the same size. And this close to her, he only saw the sweet brown of her eyes, and her cute, slightly snubby nose. They were the same, and they were well suited to one another's company.

His tail thumped against the ground as she answered in the affirmative. His tongue darted out to catch the wispy fur that framed her face, and he pushed his muzzle closer so as to catch her muzzle as well.

"Maybe..." he said quietly, not wanting to break the quiet peace of the moment. Maybe he shouldn't say anything. Maybe it was cruel to want her when she was so young and he had so little left to give. "Maybe you can be my mate. When you want one."

The words hung between them. Murdock did not pull away, but inwardly, he braced himself to release her.

She feigned a little huff when his tongue caught the wispy tendrils of fur around her face, pushing his muzzle closer. She wondered, a moment, at the strangeness of this moment. A few months ago she would have hardly expected herself to make friends with a wolf, let alone be more comfortable with one than she'd been with anyone, save her family. And yet here she lay, with a wolf, at ease beneath the light of a red moon.

His gaze had her gaze flick back to him, and his next words had her stir, head lifting a bit as she regarded him, gaze owlish in the dark night. Be his mate, when she wanted it; while she did not know the full and true meaning of mateship, she knew enough to know it would serve to label Murdock as being the biggest part of her life, as he already was. It seemed a grand thing to propose, though perhaps that was simply because she had so little experience with the subject. And yet the longer she considered the thought, the less it seemed such a leap from where they stood now. They'd learned to fit, the collie and the wolf.

"yes," She said, renting the long silence that had come after his words, feeling at once as if she were leaping off a precipice, and yet also knowing the ease with which her words came, the simplicity of the decision. "I want that, Murdock."  Her tail gave a little wiggle, gaze coming to rest on his own.

A tension he hadn't known he'd been holding in his chest suddenly released, and an odd twitch under his eye smoothed out at the same time. So he'd been right - there was something between them - and for better or for worse, he'd thrown open the door. But looking at her right then, he couldn't bring himself to regret it. He thought of Chemukh and the babies he'd lost and tried to feel that age-old sorrow, but it remained muted and grey at the back of his mind.

Poppy was warm and alive, and it was difficult to love the dead as much as the living. Murdock shuffled his old family off into a little box - he'd see them again one day - and finally closed the chapter on that part of his life. He'd thought for so long that he'd been over it, but a new feeling was filling his heart, and he realized now that he'd only been pretending, wallowing, lingering.

"So then we're mates," he said with a tiny grin, a little thrill going through his chest. Something inside him that had been out-of-sorts for as long as he could remember suddenly clicked back into place. "Should we celebrate or something?" he asked then. There'd been a week-long festival when he and Chemukh had wed. But that had been a different time with different wolves, and the alpha had just lost her daughter to the veil. Whatever celebration they might have would be just between the two of them, and Murdock couldn't think of anything better than a night under the stars; he and Poppy and a blood red moon.