Stavanger Bay i don't wanna be you

set for the first day of dalia's heat, making some assumptions about the ford thread. will edit <3 

as dalia padded through the territory, ears pricked and head high, she sought out @Velen -- for numerous reasons. thoughts and emotions and urges she'd never really experienced before circled through her head. it was strange, really, to feel so entirely light-headed and yet... at the same time... feel so filled with thoughts. she couldn't wrap her head around it, which was making it even harder to process. 

but, for the most part, she tried to ignore it. 

she continued to follow her... oh what even was he to her now? she didn't dare say friend but they had never gone as far as to label it anything else. more thoughts. she just wanted to find him. she followed his scent. along the beach.

if only dalia knew how often velen had brooded into the waves, wondering how to categorize himself within her world, or she within his. and perhaps lamenting that whatever had risen between them would fade away, or perhaps .... perhaps she would return to faithful, fierce, stalwart ford.
her scent entangled velen like a net long before he saw her, the floral fragrance that usually wreathed the girl enshrined in something far more powerful, something that made his very skin respond. the ceto kept hmself from gaping as he turned to watch dalia approach, but he thrummed uncontrollably with her energy and soon swept to close the distance between them.
indeed, she seemed more radiant to the eye even, if a little distracted. "you're looking well," velen commented with all the smoothness of a cactus plant, helpless and enthralled.

there he was. 

like an amber sun he came down the beach towards her, radiating a fire so warm it could almost send the ocean itself running for the hills. but not dalia, who drank in his energy as he would give it to her. a compliment from velen was enough to fluff the fur along her shoulders, a shiver falling down her spine as if he'd done something magical. but all he'd done was speak.

she purred lowly, taking a moment to nip playfully at his shoulder. "i feel well," she returned, taking another gentle nip at him. and then she backed away, dropping to a playbow a few steps before him, tail swaying and eyes gleaming. "i want to race," she announced, still bowing.

at any other time, perhaps velen would search for the reason why she had changed. in this moment, however, he was swallowed by her perfume, the confidence with which she approached. playful, yes, but velen sensed it was beyond that, for the both of them. and though he could not pinpoint its true root, even as he bowed himself low, he knew they vied for something else than a mere sprint.
meeting the burn of dalia's eyes, velen smirked and lunged powerfully across the sand past the girl. she had wished to race; race they would, and he spared no spurring to his own speed as he galloped along the shoreline.

silly girl! everyone knew she was slower than most wolves in the pack... no doubt velen, who she'd raced countless times and always lost to. today was no different. he propelled past her and, despite her best efforts, dalia was unable to catch up -- must less keep up! as velen gained more and more distance on her down the beach, dalia only began to yip in protest from behind him, her tail flagging in the wind. 

eventually she slowed, loosing her stamina, and plopped herself down rump first into the sand, tongue lolling, and called out, "you win!" though she stuck her nose in the air quite dramatically. 

moving a little slow with this waiting for the ford thread to finish up, i don't want to make assumptions <3

<3

almost as quickly as they had begun, dalia ended their flight, and velen pulled up to glower at her teasingly. "no fair if you give up!" he exclaimed, nudging her playfully. he was, however, immediately reminded by how very oddly she glowed by the scent that suddenly wreathed into his nostrils again, and blinked.
"so uh, how have you been?" right. yes. small talk. he was excellent at shooting the shit about absolutely nothing. remembering what he had ford had talked about, velen waited for dalia to respond, settling loosely on his haunches and wondering if he should share with her or wait.

"i didn't feel like properly losing, today," said dalia as he trotted up, nudging her. dalia merely turned her head away from him, in good natured playfulness, before turning to nip gently at the tuft of his own cheeks. goodness! the energy she had today, she felt so spritely, it reminded her almost of the energy that dacio had as a young pup. 

he asked her a question, leaving dalia to wonder if he knew. she knew, she most certainly did, but did he? could he? dalia only knew because of her background, because of her mother -- her trade. what on earth would her dashing soldier know about that? she played it cool. she wanted something, but she didn't know how to ask for it. furthermore, she wasn't sure what she wanted was... what she wanted. was it? how could she know? had she grown enough the last few moons to be okay with all of this anyway?  "oh! i've been fine," she chirped, her tail waving, "you know, the ushe' plant stuff, shell stuff." how casual of her to slur the word usual! she felt so funny. 

her ears pricked. "how about you, velen?" she asked him a little more earnestly, eyes locked on his golden pair.

acutely aware that he was beginning to die from the delicately poignant scent wreathing around the pair of them, velen swallowed and arched a brow, hoping to regain his former confidence. "just the ushe, huh?" he teased, but was heplessly struck dumb when dalia turned the spear of her seablue eyes upon him. her eyes had always been beautiful, but today they seemed particularly alluring, aglow with something for which he had no name.
enraptured, the ceto spoke. "ford asked me if, in the future, i might want to lead a pack at the sentinels." unsure of how she would take this, unsure of how even he felt about it now, velen was silent, awaiting her response.

her ears flicked at the comment, which took dalia by surprise -- as if the day hadn't already had enough surprises. she remembered, silently, the conversation she'd had with ford, and how she'd led with being in love with velen. did the fact that he might someday lead a pack in the place she felt the most vulnerable affect that? maybe her mind was muddied with hormones, it was too hard to say yet, but dalia thrust her head into the hollow between his chin and chest, burrowing herself as deeply as she could manage. 

"i will follow you there," she told him firmly, though muffled through his own fur. because i love you. say it! damn it! what was stopping her? what if he didn't say it back?

velen wrapped her in his embrace as she leant forward, fiercely pressing into him with the promise of the future warm on her lips. it lifted his spirits, to know she would go with him when the time came; velen sighed against her ruff, closing his eyes.
heartbeat tripped faster; his tongue grew thick, but the ceto would not allow this moment to pass. ”i love you,” he whispered fervently against the touch of her, the flower-perfume that clung to her withers, the deeper fragrance that burned beneath the two of them.
but he did not think that was why he spoke now; the words had filled his mouth for weeks now, vying to be born into the sentence he could no longer take back — and nor did he want to take it back.

at his words, a whole heap of emotions welled through her -- the most prominent was a surprising bit of competitive flare, most certainly passed on from her mother, shining brightly in such an emotional state. she pulled away from him, looking furious -- but not nearly so intimidating as she may have felt -- before giving him a sharp nip to the muzzle. "oh!! fuck you!" she exclaimed, rather out of character, what with the expletive and all, "i was going to tell you that!" he took the opportunity right from her! ugh, and she had so much more riding on her proclamation. "you ruined my moment!" a bright, girlish smile broke through, past all of the competitive stubbornness. he had just told her that he loved her!! 

she puffed up, just a bit, tail fanning furiously as she worked up all her courage to yell at him some more. "i love you!" she said firmly, ears slicked against her head -- but why? she had already heard him say it!! the fears were all gone!! "and i want to have your children!" and then, with a deep breath, and a much gentler tone, dalia added, "i'm in heat now and i've already spoken with ford and i really had the moment all planned out you weren't supposed to say that to me first." 

oh dear, so much emotion, i'm very sorry, velen.

quite unexpectedly, dalia rounded on him, her exclamations decidedly good-natured beneath the glow of her seafoam eyes. lifting a fore-ankle to his muzzle, velen grinned mischievously at her, lips parting to snark back some tidbit —
— and then the girl dropped a bomb right on the mayfair-cairn’s head. it exploded between his ears, caused his eyes to bug a bit. what? what had she said? even as dalia finished her radiant little tirade, velen had stopped listening, helplessly suspended on the word “children.”
and, like a man who has received a long text message, one rife with important details and significant emotion, he chose to only address that part, the part reverberating in his brain like a bit of shrapnel.
”my ... children?” of course that’s what she’d said! why was he repeating it! what was that damned perfume? ”dalia,” he went on, fighting for composure, ”i ... i want them — too. but,” he was terrified ”are ... are you sure?” he himself didn’t know what to think, gripped by equal amounts of horror and delight. but she’d been planning this for months. didn’t that mean she was sure? still, velen wanted to hear it, needed to hear it. 

she nodded, pretty well composed for how terrified she was feeling inside. despite the answer being mostly affirmative, dalia wondered if he didn't share her feelings. she tried to keep down all the word vomit she felt piling at the back of her throat, and did a pretty good job at it. really good job, actually. instead, she just nodded, releasing a breath she was unaware she was holding in. it wasn't like she'd had it planned for months, but she'd certainly thought about it. i mean, she had to. even if she never went into heat if a moment with velen ever came about... how would her demons respond? 

"i'm positive," she said gently, much more than before, "or we could... wait. if you want. i can go stay with saucy for the rest of the week." slowly, she leaned forward to nudge the bottom of his chin with her nose.

fade <3

velen knew in that moment what he wanted, and firmly believed he would have made the same choice regardless of the perfume wreathing around them or not. she had planned for this, asked permission, and come to him in confession of love. he could see no reason not to indulge the future they both wanted, even if they had not discussed it till this moment. 
what velen was feeling was not spontaneous, however — it was a sensation that had grown within him for months and culminated with what dalia was asking now, her seafoam gaze resting gently upon his. a half-smile quirked the edge of his mouth; he moved to kiss her, to bring her into his embrace. "no. i want this."
and in some moments, there was no time for talking, only for the two of them to explore one another against the rush of the sea, to touch, to taste, to understand; to fall into one another over and over again, until their flesh for the moment was sated and their love strengthened, newly standing at the edge of a fresh and raptuorous beginning.