Shadewood tap your toes and clap your hands

set shortly after the Alyx/tag thread — let me know if these assumptions aren’t okay, I tried to keep it vague. If Alyx is with him feel free to pop in, if she’s not I’ll just write it as if they parted at some point! <3

maman! valravn called as he rushed back to the woods, a wild grin on his face. he clumsily trotted down towards the den both @Rosalyn and @Erzulie often kept, his tail swaying proudly from side to side.

he had made his first friend, and with a boy’s indefatigable excitement, wished to boast of it to any soul in the world that would hear.

Between nearly drowning, their game of tag and Valravn’s haste, Alyx was so out of breath that she couldn’t even call for him to slow down. She chugged along after him with her legs and lungs screaming. The only reason she didn’t start whining, which she certainly would’ve done at home, was because he was a boy who wasn’t Rosie and she didn’t want to look pathetic.

She followed him to a den’s location deeper in the forest, only to freeze up when he called for… mama? Oh, man, she wasn’t ready to meet his parents! Of course Alyx knew it was the best chance she had of getting home, but here she was trying to impress Val, and he took her to his parents! She doubted her dirty, bedraggled fur or wheezing breath or the way she pressed herself against a tree for stability would be very impressive to his mom, in particular.

val cared not one whit for alyx's muddied state or tousled fur as he cajoled for an audience. "MAMAN!" the boy bellowed, listening with an approving ear as the clap of his voice carried off into the woods.

he turned back to alyx with a wide grin, his face splattered with mud and who knows what else. for a boy, his presentation could be somewhat comely -- were it not for the brilliant smile that softened his cheeks. "hi," val breathed excitedly, realizing for the first time he was alone in front of a girl that was not a blood relation. he looked to the ground and twisted his foot back and forth, wanting very much to continue talking to his new-friend but losing the bravery to do so.

The first conscious thought Alyx had when she caught her breath was oh, ew, there’s mud all over his face. Valravn didn’t seem to mind, but Alyx felt the fur on her back ripple ominously. Disgusting. How could anyone not notice being dirty like that? Mud on her precious fur made her skin crawl like mad.

But the next conscious thought she had came after he smiled and said hi, and it went something like, brrrr haha mud what’s that hurrhurngurbuh. So maybe he was a bit dirty but so was she, who really cares, right? That smile. Hot diggity damn. Alyx smiled dopily back and tried to return his greeting, which came out a bit like, heeheehahee.

She’d be so mortified if only she realized how stupid she sounded.

unaware of alyx's inner repulsion, valravn's smile flourished under his new friend's beamish grin. he felt his tail wagging out of control, contorting his spine even -- and a giddiness transplanted his emotions.

but where were his parents? surely, maman one or two would be close enough to hear him call for them. he canted an ear towards alyx's smothered giggle, not even registering it sounded ridiculous. val was not the type of wolf to judge, at least not in that manner.

"MAMAN!" the boy howled again, turning back to alyx. his features went from dark with mild annoyance he was waiting, to soft and bright. "wanna see my favorite spot?" val's tone was hushed and quiet, with a faint sprinkling of shyness.

She watched with some fascination the way his face could crumple into an irate storm cloud, spitting lightning in the form of a call for maman, only to morph back into a sunny day with dimples for days. She couldn't help the way her tail wagged when his eyes lit up, nor the intensity of her focus on his soft voice. A bear could've crashed out of the forest and she wasn't certain she'd have noticed.

Okay, she breathed, matching his hushed tone with a lowered one of her own, like they were sharing some secret between them. She tried to think if she had a favourite spot back home she could show him someday, but all that came to mind was now. Whatever her favourite spot had been abruptly fell from grace and was replaced by right here with Valravn and his smiles and his soft, boyish voice.

they were sharing a secret! valravn's eyes were bright as he waited for alyx's affirmation, nearly breaking the hushed mood himself with a half-stifled yell of approval. then he ducked down, as if worried an adult might come and spoil the surprise. "okay," the boy continued with his own voice hushed -- they were two little marauders now, sharing secrets and being thick as thieves. "follow me."

val skirted around the den and looked both ways; once the coast was clear he waved for alyx to follow and began to totter down away from the den. the ground here was mostly still damp from the recent rains, and small little pools of water collected between gnarled fistfuls of root.

valravn kept the pace slow, mostly because he often tripped over the thick vegetation and roots. at last the heavy filter of fern and shrubs trickled to a forest old and largely undisturbed. moss carpeted most of the loamy soil, and at the foot of one particularly ancient pine was a hole that valravn darted into without a single ounce of trepidation. "come on!!"

And off they went. Alyx followed Valravn dutifully, but was careful to avoid stepping in the standing pools of water dotting their path. Though her shy interest chased away the majority of her disgust at the mud flecked all over Valravn, she wasn't ready to go delving into it herself. She was dirty enough from her trip down the river, thank you very much!

Woah, she whistled under her breath when Val led them into a forest of towering, ancient trees. Sun Mote Copse had its charm, but there was something distinctly more alive about these giants and something secretive about the whole place. Just entering it made her feel like her ears were filled with cotton; she could no longer hear their steps on the springy ground, and even the tittering of birds sounded hushed to her.

Come on! urged Valravn as he dived into a hole beneath a gnarled old conifer. The boy hadn't hesitated at all, but Alyx drew up at the entrance and stirred her tail nervously through the air. Val? she called, poking her head in and squinting in the gloom. Deciding that it had to be safe for him to just rush in like that, she took several tentative steps in, then sucked in a breath.

there was something about the forest val loved, and alyx hit it close to the head -- it was old. ancient, even. a thousand lives had been spent and extinguished in these halls, and the forest was rich with the tapestry of life and history.

he dove underground, weaseling his way down the tunnel until he heard his name called tentatively behind him. with all the ease of a woodchuck at home in the dark, val turned around and began to rush back to alyx.

at that moment, alyx had began to crawl in and the tunnel was momentarily eclipsed from the sunlight above. val hadn't registered alyx was descending, and before he could stop his nose bumped gently into alyx and a scarlet flush of excitement and embarrassment rushed to his cheeks.

Okay, yeah, she didn't like this one bit. The tunnel pressed oppressively in around her and the dark made fear and uncertainty crawl up her back. Unbeknownst to Alyx, there were others in her family who also suffered from claustrophobia. She was momentarily frozen in place, wrestling with the desire to crawl back the way she came.

But Valravn was down there. He would keep her safe. Speaking of Val, he came rushing back up the throat of the tunnel, bumping gently into her nose and causing her to startle. Something hot creeped up along her cheeks.

Did

he

just

kiss

me?

The dark didn’t seem to matter much to her anymore. The tunnel didn’t seem so enclosed. There was a weird tingling spreading from her face into her neck. She didn't hear her own tail slapping the walls. Very, very shyly, she stretched her neck forward to flick the very tip of her tongue against his nose, and the daring of doing it made her feel like her stomach was made of sparkles and her legs were made of swamp goo. She wanted to see his secret place, and indicated as much with a breathless, I'm following, but… This was nice, too.

the moment he felt alyx's nose brush against him, valravn felt a tidal wave rise to life against his breast. his heart was pumping heavy and fast - he could feel it pounding all the way up in his ears. he was blushing so badly heat simmered off of his dark face, his tail for a moment still as he made sense of what had just happened;

and then, she kissed him back --his eyes widened and mouth slacked in a wide grin, a buzzing nervousness taking hold of him in that tiny tunnel. blushing wildly, valravn threw his tentative shyness away and playfully licked her back. he didn't know what he was doing, or really what it all meant -- but all that mattered was it felt right, and he liked the way his heart was aflutter and the weird buzzing of his blood.

val's temerity aside, he didn't know how to channel his excitement. he went to turn around excitedly and managed to bash his head right on the tunnel's rounding edges. "oof." he muttered, suddenly brought back to earth by the sharp ring of pain on his forehead.

Champagne bubbles popping in her throat came out in a shy giggle when Valravn returned the attention. She couldn't believe it. She'd kissed a boy! It didn't matter one whit that he was kind of dirty and that mud really bothered her. Right now, he was perfect.

They both came back to the task at hand when Valravn turned back down the tunnel, but Alyx followed him on paws that were light as clouds with no apprehension about the cloying darkness and the oppressive weight of earth all around them. They emerged into his secret place and spent the afternoon together, probably forgetting that they needed to talk to Val's mama(s).