Hushed Willows See me running full speed at it, shattering collide

Looking for Dusty whenever you have time, other tag is just for ref!

Hearthwood was desperately in need of a bit of cheer, Reverie thought. One of their own had been attacked, both of their leaders had nearly died; surely none of these things were great for pack morale. And they had Civilians to bring fully into their ranks, too; after some discussion with @Boone, she'd decided that they would begin to solve both of these problems with a single stroke.

She sought @Dusty Rose with this in mind. Just a few weeks ago she'd spoken to Kyrell of her plans to explore the caves in the hills; now it was time to bring that idea to reality. But she didn't want it to be boring. Dusty Rose, she thought, was anything but boring. Reverie carried a squirrel with her, intending to make a gift of it even as she asked the Civilian for his help in this. It felt unfair to ask without offering a single thing in return, after all.

Lately, the coywolf had been Up To Something. He always was, just as a natural circumstance of his birth. They'd inherited their slinking nature from the flower eater and their contrarian bullheadedness from Kentucky Bourbon. It was funny, Dusty Rose had always thought — the way these inherited traits had mixed into different personalities for all the kids. Bourbon had said it well, once: Slow West was, fuck me, I guess and Dusty Rose was, hey man, fuck you.

All that to say: the coywolf had amassed a not insubstantial pile of bones and sticks. What was he planning on doing with them? God only knew. But it was not so secret or important that Reverie didn't have his attention as soon as she appeared. Satellite dish ears pinged to attention and twisted toward her a moment before his body followed. By then, his tail was already wheeling in idle pleasure.

"Morning, sunshine," he said, eyeing the squirrel. He was not above stealing from pregnant women, but they did tend to make it an inadvisable use of his time.

Just as she'd anticipated, Dusty Rose was already up to something when she found him. Reverie paused to glance over the pile, a question lingering on her lips, but he greeted her before she could give it voice. She swung the squirrel so it flipped once before landing on the ground between them. Hey. I brought you a squirrel! Her gaze flicked back over the bones and sticks for a moment. Maybe it could go in your uh, pile.

I wanted to ask for your help with something, She went on softly. There's a bunch of little caves in the hills, just over that way, Reverie gestured toward the hills as she said it. I want to get everyone together to explore them! But I thought it might be... a little boring. Well, unless we wake up a sleeping bear or something, but that's not fun either. I want to make it fun! So - what do you think? Her eyes were bright as they settled on Dusty, full of anticipation.

Lucky him — he didn't even have to steal it! She'd brought it for him, rather clearly as a bribe more than a gift, but the coywolf was flattered all the same.

"Thank you," he said, pleasantly, placing himself between Reverie and the pile.

Once he had accepted the bribe, Reverie went right into detailing her ask. Dusty Rose stuck a paw out and dragged the squirrel toward him even as his brow furrowed. Caves were not something he was very familiar with, but he supposed his nose and ears were as valuable as anyone else's. But the ask was not exploring them so much as making it fun for everyone else.

He didn't realize this until she stopped and stared at him, like he was a clown about to pull a balloon out of his ass. His smile became serene for a moment while he was far away, contemplating the life choices that'd led him to this moment. But he supposed be ought to be flattered that Reverie thought him so fun as to be capable of conjuring it out of thin air.

Or rock.

"I think exploring caves should be its own reward, don't you?" he suggested, because she was waiting for him to say Something. And then — damn, that wasn't good enough. He didn't wanna disappoint Reverie, but more importantly, he had a reputation to uphold. You had to fight for your right to party and all that.

"We could play hide and seek?" he said next, which was a bad idea rivaled on by his next idea: "Or I could pretend to be a bear."

His idea of fun borrowed heavily from a very monotonous childhood. With little stimulation, he and his siblings had made a game out of scaring each other. The bitter war that broke out over it was one of his better memories of family activities.

Reverie was perhaps a touch disappointed when Dusty did not pull a balloon out of his ass. But she laughed merrily when he suggested pretending to be a bear.

Maybe if there's a real bear in the cave, you could charm him into being your bear-husband so he won't eat us, The words were light, playful even as her gaze drifted momentarily in the direction of the hills. Truthfully she didn't much like the thought of encountering another bear, real or imagined. She'd had quite enough bear for one lifetime in the taiga. Her eyes found Dusty Rose again. You're right though, we can't force anyone to have fun...

Reverie sighed. I think I'd just rather throw a big party or something than run around some frozen-over caves. A party with singing and dancing. But that's not very leaderly, is it? A faint self-deprecating smile tugged at her mouth.

Dusty did not say, "If there's a bear in that cave, I'm gonna be tripping you before I turn and run," except oh, whoops, he did actually say that. But his usual pleasant deadpan made it unclear whether or not he was joking. His follow-up was less ambiguous: "And anyway — if someone's gonna be the bear in a relationship, it's gonna be me."

Which was ridiculous, really, because look at him. He was adorable.

And so was Reverie in a sad kind of way. Bless, he thought to himself while Reverie lamented things she absolutely could do, in his humble opinion.

"Says who?" he asked, his tone a mix of argumentative and encouraging. "Throw a party. Tell your minions to dance. What's the point of being a leader if you can't make everyone do what you want?"