The Heartwood a wild weird clime, that lieth, sublime

Tagging for reference ♥

“Fun?” Cypress repeated, looking a little more forlorn than he cared to as he tipped his head to the side and looked at the apple-eyed Blackthorn. “Well, this is fun,” he said a little haltingly. “I kind of like it when you take up the spotlight.” He grinned, the expression made incongruous by the way the left side of his mouth remained static. “Before I left home, I found this…swamp. If I felt sad or lonely I’d smash up the winter ice and rip up the dead trees. It felt good, but it wasn’t really fun until @Rian came and joined in.”

He decided to come clean, hoping that it wouldn’t destroy their burgeoning friendship. “A bear killed my parents,” he said, “right before it got really cold. I had an older brother, who became the alpha alongside my aunt, but he had a mate and they had a son and I felt sort of funny about it. Kjalarr — that’s my brother — stepped down and his mate stepped up and, well.” He cast a sidelong glance at the other wolf, nervously licking his lips. “I can’t explain it except that I couldn’t stand for that. It’d be like if some wolf you never met before who didn’t even know your name tried to take over the caldera if your mama ever had to step down.” He frowned, trying to rein in his feelings about the whole thing. “I found the swamp because I was alone all the time — because I wanted to be, until Rian and I got to be close — and that was the place I stood up to her. I challenged her for leadership, but I lost.” He didn’t like to admit that.

Rallying, Cypress he found a modicum of humor and hung onto it for dear life. “I guess you could say I’m starting over learning how to — you know, get along with others and have fun. What do you do for fun? Maybe you could teach me how to be…funner.”