Fox's Glade In Restless Dreams, I walked Alone

Here you be @Reverie

Arric slid from the pack lands in search of something or someone, he wasn't sure. He just needed to have a moment just to exist outside of the pack lands and he had a lot to think about. For starters his well almost best friends child being arranged to marry some twat of a prince. Because a prince, well couldn't be anything but a twat right? That's how he felt anyway. Prissy and whiney and damned good looking probably. Annoying and foul....oh yea he didn't have a good opinion of what a prince could be, though it was probably colored by the fact that he was carrying some of Akavir's anger for his daughter's sake.

It was with such horrifying thoughts that he pressed into a nearby meadow and then past it. So many sparse plants. He imagined this was probably gorgeous come spring and summer and even fall. When the flowers were high and tall. Colorful and soft. He bent to get a drink of cold, cold water and lifted blue eyes to the sky, water dripping down the front of his muzzle until a swift lick of tongue across lips swept the droplets up. 

It smelled like fox here. He had an issue with foxes. His father had told him of no less than two times he'd been attacked by foxes.

Dance: an art, a language, a feeling, a certain sort of magic to the act of moving in a way that had meaning. Reverie felt it alive in herself like some otherworldly beast, burning with its own will. When it reared and twisted and grasped for the breeze she could do nothing but follow. Freedom with an asterisk; she would always be bound to this, the slimmest of threads tying her to whim and whimsy. Dancing through the woods on wild feet, she couldn't bring herself to care. She traced and crossed the scents of foxes with her steps, wove between the trees, centered herself around them by turns. A flash of gold flitting through the forest.
Until...
She felt the presence more than heard or scented, but she did those too. The sound of footsteps and water, the scent of Swiftcurrent Creek as she drifted closer on dancing feet. Yet it was not Lestan, and for that she was relieved. Reverie allowed the dance to die away, and with it all of the wild energy she'd felt, and stepped toward the tall dark man at the water. He was beautiful; surreal, blue-eyed, silver-haloed along brow and cheekbone. Her head ducked a little shyly as she looked at him with starry eyes, uncertain if he was real or imagined in this moment.

She came from the woods in a whirlwind of gold, and creams. Legs moving to a beat only she understood, but it mixed well. Meshed with the forest. Showed the care with which she moved. Graceful, happy. Whimsical. A smile lit up his blue eyes and he turned his head to the side to better study her. She was of Kvarsheim it seemed, he knew that scent, but more than that.  He took another pull and realized this was the scent he always smelled at the borders entwined with Lestan. The girl that very possibly the short tempered Tybault was looking for. The pieces locked together in his minds eye. The scent that had droven the other male into a frenzy. Demands He had made demands upon Lestan and Arric. Arric who had to press him from their home.

He blinked a smirk lighting up along the corners on the heels of a smile. Quiet in the silence, he spoke. 

Hi there. Arric Duandris. Pleasure.

Then he bent back down to take another drink, eyes staying on the female. He didn't know her. Didn't know anything about her. Except that she spent time with Lestan and Tybault was looking for her. But that male had said she was sickly, wrong. This she wolf seemed absolutely fine.  Pretty little thing and healthy.

A smile that set her heart to racing, then a smirk that set her blood alight. Heat swept across Reverie's cheeks and ears; her eyes dropped for a moment as she tried and failed to collect herself. What was wrong with her? But she didn't have time to answer that question. His introduction immediately commanded her attention again. Arric. She smiled back helplessly, ears pulling forward as she dared to study him a little more openly.
Hello. I'm Reverie, She said softly, and took another step closer. Will you - dance with me? No time to think about it, no time for regrets. Reverie wanted only to dance, and what else was a beautiful man good for if not a dance partner? He seemed quite graceful.

She blushed and he was a little at odds. Akavir and him they had a agreement to speak with each other before they shared, if they shared. Like Jakoul, perhaps Silvertongue, but he and Lestan they had no such thing. So he would need to mind his manners, because he didn't know what the aggreement was between this Reverie and Lestan.

She moved closer and he was unsure what to do. Then she spoke her name, and asked a question of him. A dance hey. That wasn't so bad he could handle that. As long as it was just a dance. He didn't wish to step on the toes of his pack mate and potential friend.

A low chuckle curled the air, slipped free from a maw of obsidian. He stepped closer too, the sunlight lighting along the red highlights of his fur and he nodded. Who leads. Dancing is good excercise.

He agreed! Reverie could hardly contain her excitement. How long had it been since she danced with another person? She always wanted to dance with Lestan, always meant to ask, but then they'd started with a very different sort of dancing and now —
Well, here and now it didn't matter. Someone wanted to dance with her. A stranger, of all things! Everyone knew that you didn't dance with just anyone, but Reverie was breaking all the rules lately, because she was realizing the rules had been self-imposed ever since she left The Gilded Sea.
She could dance with whoever she wanted. No one owned her. No one could make that decision for her. So she turned to lead Arric away from the water, casting him a slightly mischievous glance over her shoulder. I prefer to lead, Reverie told him. When she felt they had enough space to start, she twirled to meet him with another smile, this time wild and inviting. Ready?

Another chuckle at her excitement. He could understand he supposed. He liked to be silent and go fishing. So perhaps for her dancing was something similar. It made her happy. He could respect that. All he had plans for was dancing. She was a pretty girl, but well as far as he knew she was Lestan's and Lestan may not like to share, like he And Akavir, more so him. He wasn't sure if Akavir actually found someone he truly cared for if he would share and that'd be fine too.

Then lead on. His quiet voice and dry chuckle. 

He stared into her eyes, his own sky eyes alight and grinned. I'll follow you lead. Then he followed her twirl towards him with a small step. HE was athletic enough, had enough strength from meditation to probably be able to keep up.

Oh, she liked the sound of that. Reverie giggled softly and drew him closer, and the world narrowed to only them. Dancing, like all things, was quite different with a partner. She was aware of every step he took, each warm point of contact between them as she led him into a dance like the steady strum of rain. Aware, too, of her own deliberate movements; careful at first, the quick turn of her feet and the sway of her hips, but she didn't hold back for long. He kept up well.
And so they moved together, and the boundaries blurred and faded until Reverie could not separate herself from the dance or the dance from Arric. Bound in the kind of art that could only be felt, like a jeweler's pride in gilded obsidian. She felt she truly knew him then, if only for this moment. How could they become this and still be strangers? Beauty made tangible; purity personified. All that was good and right in the world put to heat and frenzy and boiled down to this — to ecstasy.
To say that dancing was a spiritual experience for Reverie was perhaps an understatement.

Arric followed her, where she lead he moved. He tried to keep up with her twirls and shimmys. He did well he thought for a bigger fella. She was a tease, which made her a good dancer. She'd move to him and then away and back again.


His laughter danced around the air. This was a nice stress releaser and it was fun. It was a beautiful moment in time. It was clear that dancing was more for her than him. But he didn't mind. He would have to tell Lestan to make sure he danced with his friend.

I had to write this post twice so I apologize for the quality LOL, let me know if the pp isn't okay!

Eventually it had to end; sooner than Reverie would have liked, truth be told. Sooner than it normally might have. She led them into a slow end as dizziness crept over her, first a slight spinning sensation that set her steps a little uneven. When they stopped, she found herself holding to Arric for her sense of up and down. The ground kept spinning as if still caught up in the dance. It turned out that a body could only run on daydreams and sunlight for so long.
She took a shaky step back from her dance partner, determined not to linger too close to him. It was such a silly thing to be concerned about just then, but that was her final real thought. Arric - Reverie started to speak, but no one would ever know what she meant to say, because she fainted before she could finish. Dropped like a sack of potatoes.

No worries. If this isn't okay let me know and i'll edit.

Something wasn't right. She was fine and then she wasn't. His name was spoken and he studied her, the swaying movements and then she was down. He bit back a growl and then without any thought to the consequences, he bent at the knee and wiggled so that he could get her body and drape it over large shoulders. It was uncomfortable and shit it was awkward, but he'd be damned.

Then he lifted his muzzle and gave a quick call out to @Lestan and @Akavir as he moved towards home.

lestan remembered her glass eyes and long stare.
he recalled his frustration, but that seemed a thousand miles away now.
honeyblue eyes stared at the body with whom arric returned; his limbs trembled; his vision blurred. but he forced himself close, and closer, and reached for her with a shaking paw.
"she isn't well, arric!" the mayfair cried, pulling reverie closer. "she's — she's the one tybault was looking for. why he accused me. but don't call her that, i — i did! and now she —"
he bit back his words and tears.

Lestan pulled the girl and it unbalanced Arric. He gave a soft growl and a snarl, just a warning.

 Wait just a sec mate, you pull her like that I'll drop her. Be ready to catch okay?

Arric moved closer to the mayfair and motioned for him to be ready and slowly the dark male went to his knees and then further down and his belly. So that Lestan could pull her from his shoulders. 

She wanted to dance. So we danced, then she swayed and fell over. The dance was a fast one, so maybe it made her sick? I'm not sure.

Arric held up a paw. Hold on man. What happened?

Summoned—Arric’s call was insistent, and the creek regal responded in kind, his strides lengthy as he sidled up between the other two dark men, eyes focusing upon the collapsed form of the timid dove he had found upon their borders prior. Lestan’s friend.

Arric was about to allow her down, and Akavir gave a shake of his head, hoping they would stop—their frantic words shared something he had not fully heard or comprehended yet, but instead—“Listen, get her to the creek--don't jostle her too much, Arric. She can rest there, and you can both talk then, okay?”

lestan wanted to say more but the words lodged in his throat.
akavir was there then, directing them once more.
he let go of her and fell back sheepishly with a nod. until they returned to swiftcurrent, he would be silent, eyes hardly leaving her.

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Arric got to his paws again and moved with the burden of Reverie upon his shoulders. HE motioned for Akavir to lead the way, because he was having difficult seeing, her fur would fall into his eyes and face.

They  would get her there. And it would be okay. He hoped. Guilt laced along his spine and innards. He hadn't meant for this to happen. 

Jesus jump the fuck up, it had only been a dance between neighbors, friends?

His face a storm cloud—only from the wish to get the girl somewhere safe, for now. Arric was right, a certain paranoia lingered around him now like a heavy blanket after the prior attack on the creek. They would come to creek borders, and Akavir would begin to lead to a small alcove of trees, knowing that while his Beta was built like a tank, even he could only withstand so much extra weight.

When they got her settled, then his eyes would drift between both, eyebrows arched, waiting for an explanation on why the delicate flower of Kvarsheim was somehow within their borders in such a fragile and tender state.

lestan was thinking.
and by the time they had arrived, he was simmering with a low and jealous anger.
"what do you mean you were dancing with her?" he demanded of arric, at last truly settling beside reverie.
he looked down into the placidity of her still, quiet face and his heart ached.

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Arric turned with raised brow....What the fuck?

Arric let a very low growl resonate deep within his chest. I don't take what isn't mine, unless rules are set already for sharing. It was dancing, Fucking dancing. Nothing more. As far as I'm concerned she's your woman and you don't share.

Arric's blue eyes snapped. I'm a lot of ways an asshole, but not that one.

HE sighed and shook his head and limbs out. Stepping away from both Lestan and Reverie now, giving them as much space as the smaller wolf wanted.

We were dancing. Only dancing. and Then suddenly she stopped, and seemed dizzy and fell.

There was a lot to unpack within a few short moments—no sooner had they laid the poor girl down to the ground as gently as possible, did Lestan whirl upon Arric, causing Akavir’s eyes to sharply lift upon them. There was a brief stint—something about dancing, and Arric huffed something more about Lestan not sharing, as if Reverie was a favored toy.

Later, perhaps, the Mayfair would find a hint of amusement at the antics played out by the two, but for now, his snarl was sharp and loud, aiming to garner swift attention as his eyes remained glowering upon them both. When he felt he might have gathered some attention, he continued; “Perhaps, when you’re both done comparing who has the biggest dick, we can look after the unconscious girl, yeah?” A snarl again—a storm cloud of darkened features present upon his facade. “She’ll need food when she wakes—I’d bet she fainted from hunger. So let’s look in to the caches, and see how we can make our guest feel at home, hm?”

arric rounded on him. lestan was horrified. "she isn't my woman!" he exclaimed in a hiss, ears pinning back. "she is —" but he did not finish the sentence before akavir was addressing them both in his usual hardline manner.
there was no arguing with the logic. he did not like how arric had referred to reverie — sharing! what!
and so he sat stiffly beside the quiet woman before rising once and looking to akavir.
the dark mayfair trotted off for a cache.
sharing! he thought of jakoul, round with child, and his cheeks immolated. suppose that was how she had gotten! sharing indeed!

Arric was fast irritated with both of them. And perhaps it was childish his ire. But he hadn't meant anything by it. He didn't think of her or any woman as a toy. He was trying to make it known that unless someone set ground rules for shared company between wolves that had interestwd parties, then he was paws and dick off.

Whose comparin? was Arrics sharp retort, but then he nodded and moved closer, but didn't touch looked her over.

if she hasn't eaten. Nothing heavy and when she does come too only small pieces and sips of water or she'll become sick.

He was thinking. Lestan?

He was about to ask the wolf if he had a den dig, but the male was already gone.

He shook his head. If he has a den that is cool and comfortable we should move her there. Some water upon her cheeks may open her eyes, but it also could shock

He looked to Akavir then.  She will probably be most comfortable closer to where ever Lestan is.

fade soon, as reverie is awake in the other thread and lestan returns to her as she wakes up there?

Arric jeered back—Akavir ignored it. Lestan was quick to find something for the girl to line her belly when she came to, in case she was hungry. An ear flickered in the direction of Arric’s voice, the man making some decent options laid out before them.

Akavir wanted to question if either of them knew if she was pregnant—if this fainting spell had perhaps been something that stemmed from her body’s adjustment, but he held his tongue—it wouldn’t change the care she received from them and he didn’t want to draw either man’s ire further.

Until Lestan returned, the men would make no further movements, and Akavir settled down to his haunches, studying the girl’s face briefly as she slept before drawing his gaze up to his Beta, unspeaking—not needing to in the moment.