Redhawk Caldera flintstar

the morning rose swift and frigid. teya left the lakeshore where she had been resting, fished a bit for sorana, and then made her way to the place she and @Bronco slept. the sun had not yet risen, and in the darkness she slid alongside him, muzzle bumping under arm until she was held close.
her breath came out in a shudder that ruffled his fur, but teya said nothing for now.
little flutterings were starting to happen deep inside her, and the movements solidified this for the first time, somehow, that they were to be parents to new blackthorn children.
teya closed her eyes and pressed as close as she was able.

He'd been dreaming about a creature he'd never seen before- something curious, fuzzy, quilled, but with strange tusks- like it was some combination of a boar and a porcupine, when Teya pressed up against him. His lips moved, but he didn't awaken right away. In his dream, the boarcupine seemed much less prickly than he'd imagined. It rubbed up alongside him, and snuggled into his fur- influenced by the events happening in his real life, of course. There was something uncomfortable about having this odd, should-be-prickly creature come so close to him. 

He muttered: "'M Married," in his sleep. And with one big foot, attempted to softly push the boarcupine away from him, not realizing that it was actually his wife.

teya snickered, nipping toward his chest to waken the man, but gently so. "to me!" came her insistent voice as she ducked around bronco's sleepy paw.
in the half-light, she gazed at the scarring upon his face. bronco held a past into which teya had never questioned, but that did not mean she was not without her deep curiosity.
and perhaps worry. the heart of the man she loved so deeply did not reflect those scars, or perhaps he had only learned how to hide them.
that made two of them.

Consciousness hit him when Teya spoke and demanded that she wriggle closer. Wide/eyed, he was startled, and tended- some residual physical trauma, which faded away as soon as he saw her gentle features. He smiled, and processed what she’d said. Clearing his throat, he pulled her closer.

”Luckiest man alive,” He grumbled proudly. He kissed her cheek and squeezed her gently. ”Was I talking’ in my sleep?” He asked.

she smirked. "you warned me you married," she said, teasing him with a nip and flick of tongue to his chin. "taken even in dreams."
it pleased her. it frightened her, to know bronco was so devoted. teya too felt the same but she knew she had once been too much, too impulsive.
too cold.
she feared these things about herself. they had lost her bridget's closeness. teya felt sharply they might rise again.

”Oh!” He chuckled, the memory of the odd, boar-like creature snuggling alongside him trickling back into his mind. He pulled her closer, gently, and touched the tip of his nose to hers.


”Of course,” He said, ”Though more often than not, I’m dreaming of you. Those ones are my favourite,” He said. ”Do you ever remember your dreams Teya?”

teya grinned, curling as close to him as she dared. she sighed lightly, starting to shake her head, then crossed her forepaws against his chest thoughtfully. "sometimes. but i think i remember, ah, it is memories. not dreams." 
she toyed with his fur.
"sometimes i remember uncle borva talking. or aunt tremelia. they not like me much," teya said, trailing softly with a shy little laugh.

He draped one limb over her shoulder so they could lay on their sides and face one another. He felt her limbs cross and curl against his chest, and looked adoringly upon her, and the way her fur seemed to look even more bronze in the darkness of their den. He felt grateful, and surprised as well- that he had managed to find someone so lovely.

”Borva and Tremelia,” He repeated with a faint smile. ”Were they on your Mom’s side or your Dad’s side of the family?” He asked.

teya found it was not so difficult to speak of them when she was with him. she sighed against him, against the handsome look of his face and felt completely enveloped in love.
"mother's side. she die when i was born. never knew her." and now the age old question rose: had she had siblings? where had they gone? "aunt and uncle never know what to do with me."

Raised without a mother. He frowned lightly, wondering what it must have been like. He assumed, given the lack of mention, that perhaps her father had not been present either. He couldn’t quote place how it must have felt for her; he had a mother he did not miss at all. He had a father whose death still pained him.

He chose to focus on a more light-hearted topic, so he might encourage her to speak more about her earliest memories. ”I knew it,” He said. He chuckled lightly. ”You were a handful when you were a kid, eh?” He elbowed her lightly.

teya shook her head. "too quiet. too in love with stars. tremelia want us all, cousins and i, to go into medicine. i not made for it. only sky-gazing."
but here she was quiet, thinking of all the ways her aunt had then sought revenge by othering teya before the family, and how she had at last escaped and remained a timid self. she shut her eyes.

Bronco was not surprised to hear she’d been a timid child. His joust went without confirmation, though apparently her family might have preferred a more  lively child to raise. 

”What did you learn from the stars?” He asked, dreamily. He was reminded of his uncle Phox, who had also had seemingly a limitless knowledge of the night sky. ”What is your favourite thing about them?”

"they always there. constant. anywhere in world, you look at stars and they are same. old. never-ending." had she ever spoken so long upon the stars?
teya curled deeper against bronco, into the thump of his heart and the strength of his arms. reyes was dead and yet she felt the specter of him looming even here, forcing a comparison to the moment he had broken her, and this one.
"i learn how to track. how to find way along river and lake and mountain. stars speak, you know, bronco," teya murmured, lifting her head to bump noses with him.

He smiled faintly, ruminating on a thought that occurred to him. Perhaps too cheesy to say out loud, but he thought it nonetheless: if the stars were always there, then he would be like them, for her. Always there, dependable- and he would do what he could to make sure she loved him as much as she loved the stars. He made a quiet promise to himself then, in the moments following her confession, and would never look at the stars the same way ever again. 

Her next comment caused a look of surprise from him, though he was pleased nonetheless. "I didn't know that," He admitted. The thoughtful tone of his voice implied that he believed what she said to be true, in the most literal way. "What do they say? And how do they sound to you?"

a small smile, honeyed in the half-light. "sound like vibrations. like humming. they say 'go this way.' 'stop.' 'look.'" teya grinned more deeply to think of the faerie court, then grew solemn as bridget entered her mind.
a moment of quiet reflection came over them now.
"want to get back to stars, actually," teya murmured, thinking of how she had once aspired to astronomy.

If the stars could hum, he would have to listen for them, though he wasn't sure he would be nearly as perceptive as his mate to such subtle beauty. He studied her for a moment, watching her unwind like a rose blossom spreading its petals when her interests were nurtured. 

"Let's go starwatching, then," He suggested. "I may need for you to translate what they say...But I'd love to go listen to them, with you," He said. He was well aware that quiet nights would soon be a thing of the past- replaced by little snores and cries and laughter, so it seemed best to take advantage of what little time they had left.

wanna fade or keep going? <3

her teeth flashed in a smile; she groomed through the fur of his shoulder and butted him gently with the side of her muzzle. "i tell you, bronco."
flushing to the ends of her toes, the curl of her tail; eyes sheening in the half-light, for she was not sure she had shared the stars with one so loved in so great a time.

prossibly fade :) as always, tag me whenever you'd like a new one <3

If this wasn't marital bliss, he wasn't sure he'd recognize it if he smacked him across the face. His fisherwoman of a wife who could listen to the stars, and understand their design. Regardless of what the stars had to say, he was sure so long as it was whispered to him in his wife's voice, it would ring with all the music of the universe in his ears. 

He snuggled against her, wondering what the stars would have to say, the next time they went to listen.