Heron Lake Plateau And ain't it always the way

nightmares plagued the plateau. 

niamh drank from the stream, making groggy plans to trudge back to her den to try to get some more sleep. enter, tegan, a striking young male with pretty mint eyes and a sad expression. wait? did i write sad-- ah fuck. i wrote sad. i meant tired, tegan was tired. homeboy didn't get sad. nah, nah, fuck that noise. 

his expression was tired, and fell across his pale features as if it were weighing it down. he didn't get any sleep that night, and whether or not it was because he didn't want to feel like a burden upon bat (who now knew his secret) was unclear. but tegan had slept alone, and so his mind had wandered. 

he didn't see niamh until he was meters away from her, gaze flashing up to something more alert as he regarded her. he knew about the demotion (partially because it took his own rank), but he hadn't found her to talk about it. actually, tegan hadn't really spoken to niamh in a while. they sort of butted heads a lot, so he tended to ignore her. but it seemed their paths crossed now. 

his tail waved slowly... as amiably as he could make it. he was just so exhausted and fuckin angry at himself for being a babyface... ugh. but it didn't show too much. tegan was good at wearing masks. "wassup, niamh... how you livin?" he questioned her casually, dipping his grey head to take a few laps from the stream. cool, cool, cool. casual as ever.

(lmao i wrote that niamh took his rank but they both have the same rank so whoops idk what to say about that anymore)