Morningside Cuesta Shame

@Sunspot based right after this thread

Heartha as instructed headed straight for Sunspot. She had disobeyed Grayday, and she wondered if Sunspot would get in trouble for it. She truly hoped that Spot did not, and if she did Heartha expected that Spot would not be too happy either, just as Grayday was not.

She went to search inside Spot's den at first, peering inside and giving a chuff to announce her presence. "Um...Spot? Are you...are you in there?" She paused, then went on. "I messed up, Spot...I messed up" she murmured, hoping she could hear.

Sunspot sleeps wherever; she doesn't have a den :P

Sunspot was napping. She knew Grayday had wanted her to hang out with Heartha for a while, but as far as she could tell, the woman was doing perfectly fine. She hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary with her, and so she'd begun to go back to her usual schedule and just check in with Heartha a few times each day.She sat up, blinking in the sunlight as Heartha approached.
 "Hey there, lady," she chirped, glad that Heartha had saved her the trouble of tracking her down. Good thing, too! "Oh, Heartha! Smells like you're in season. I guess we better stick together for a bit, huh?" she exclaimed, glad she'd caught this before something terrible happened.

Heartha remained silent as Sunspot spoke. So she didn't know yet...Heartha was not sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. She kept her eyes downcast. Then when Spot made notice of the scent around Heartha, the older wolf just couldn't hold it back much longer. She fell to her belly, crying. "I messed it all up, Sunspot! I went out there! I...I should have listened to him..." She crawled forward, trying to get to Sunspot, seeking some kind of comfort or support from the one who she was meant to stay by.

Sunspot gaped at the other woman, having never seen her so distraught before. "Well, what happened?" she wondered, concerned. She allowed the older woman to come near, and, gamely, tried to tuck the grown wolf into the saftey of her bossom, like she used to with her young brothers and sisters when they had a bad dream.

Already, she was beginning to connect dots in her mind. It didn't bode well for either of them.

Heartha placed her head onto Sunspot, crying. Continuing to mutter about how she should have listened to Grayday. How she should have stayed by Sunspot. 

But finally, she mustered some words that made sense, to answer Spot's question that she posed. "I...I went out...During my heat...Spot, I messed up and I-I should have listened!" Her tail curled up beside her, still as it could be. "Spot, what do I do? Day is upset with me, I've probably gotten you into trouble" she kept on going on, blabbering on and on about how she messed up.

Sunspot was beginning to feel positively panicky. "What did you do?" she demanded, her voice little more than a gasp. She had a feeling she knew exactly what Heartha had done, but still hoped against hope that she was simply overreacting. "Please, please tell me you didn't sleep with someone!"

That would be the end of them both! Ugh, she could just picture Grayday's face, all stony and disappointed. Sometimes, he looked too much like their father for her to bear.

Heartha kept silent at her first question, she could not find it in her to answer. She could tell that Sunspot was afraid of the answer after her next statement, and she gulped. She did not nod, nor shake her head. She only let out a small whine as the answer.

"I-I'm sorry" she tried to say, whimpering. "Spot, I-I'm s-sorry." In what she had done, she had never taken Spot into account. She had never thought of how this would affect Sunspot, not until now. She did not regret what she did, but only regretted what she had done to Spot, and to everyone else.

Sunspot let out an aggravated wail, letting her forehead drop with what was probably painful force onto Heartha's shoulder. "We are so dead," she moaned, shutting her eyes tightly and hoping that, when she opened them, she'd be asleep next to Heartha the day before her heat again.

When this failed to come to pass, she simply collapsed on the ground. "Just wake me up when it's time to be chewed out," she said hollowly, letting her body go slack like a large, tantruming child. Try and move me, her body language seemed to say. Or, perhaps, just ignore me. I am dead already.

Despite her situation, Sunspot was reminding her of how the younger adults of her birth pack used to be. Like a teen, almost. At this, she would have smiled if not for the situation. 

Heartha was going to speak up, but Spot just slumped to the ground, and it looked like she did not want to be disturbed. But the mother inside Heartha saw this as how a child would act, and despite this she was not going to let Spot pay for her own actions. She wiped at her face with a paw, letting determination take hold. "N-No" she took a breath after the stammer, calming herself. 

"You can't just sit there. You are his family. He might be mad...but it won't last." She hoped this would be enough, but in case she added more words to it all. "This is my fault...It's not yours."

Sunspot sighed deeply, but sat up and stared balefully at the woman before her. Although Sunspot felt partially responsible for this turn of events, she couldn't help but blame Heartha, too. After all - she'd had plenty of time to tame her wild urges. Sunspot was younger than her, but had still been through enough heats to know how to control herself.

"Why'd you do it?" she asked plaintively, trying to understand what'd gone through the woman's head.

Heartha was at least glad she made a response, even if it wasn't a happy one. She shied her face away from Sunspot before she gave her answer. "My emotions...they got the better of me." Her mind was slowly getting broken. She was growing old, and she knew that the time that she would never be able to conceive again would be soon. And she trusted Spot enough to tell her that. "I'm growing old...I couldn't wait, I was afraid if I waited....I was afraid if I waited, then it would be too late." That was her true fear, the one thing that drived her to what she did.

Unable to find anything to say in response to Heartha's explanation, Sunspot allowed her glare to drop. "Fine," she said tiredly. "I guess I can see why you'd do that - but I'm still just... ugh," she sighed, drooping once more. "I just wanna be alone for a second, okay? I know you have to stay close, but - I don't want to talk."

Sunspot laid down once more, turning her back on Heartha in a clear message: Leave me alone.

Heartha lowered her eyes away from Sunspot, and nodded slightly. "I will respect that..." She started to turn away, before giving a small thanks. "Thank you..." Then she retreated from Spot, stopping nearby. Spot was sacrifing so much of her time to look after the old wolf. And just seeing how it affected her, Heartha didn't want that to be happening to her. Once this was over, she would find some way to repay her. To repay them all for their mercy upon her own actions.