Swiftcurrent Creek elfscript

maybe @Moss? :o

the day was long. lestan dragged back a paltry goose. jakoul had returned with changes to her scent that prickled the back of his head and sent him hunting.
depositing the unfortunate bird in the larder closest her den, lestan found himself staring at a high arch of jagged stone at the edge of the maple-oak forest.
he craned his neck, staring into its darkness. what had once lived there? the creek wolf wondered, ears aquiver with interest.

Heavy-footed, the sentry ploughed her way through the drifted snow at the edge of the forest, heading south and deeper into the pack’s territory once her patrol was done. Her great, broad feet worked as snowshoes though her weight was too much for the snow’s surface to bear. She would be grateful when winter was over.

She’d just begun to pass the stone ledge, which was where she would typically turn to head further into the woods, when she saw Lestan there, staring in.

She paused, and uttered a soft chuff. Had something chosen to inhabit the space?

to say that lestan mayfair, middle name hidden by particular events not yet touched up, developed a deep attraction in that moment was beyond understatement. it took things directly in the stuff of myth, that lestan should goggle up at this behemoth of a woman and feel his recently freed desires form a platform of submission that evoked deep inside.
step on me, then, also an understatement.
"uh, uuhum!" lestan artfully replied, unable to take his eyes from his packmate. "ah! i — i don't believe so. i was c-c-curious," and oh! that last stammer took him right out of the running to speak, so to speak. 
he was silent, trying to take her details as nonchalantly as one might while staring directly at another person.

How was it that this man, who stuttered as though he'd seen a ghost, had come to attract so many female visitors to the border? Maybe it was his docility that allured them, making them feel safe. More than once she'd had to escort a lady friend who'd come to visit, or deliver to him a message from another. She'd expected him to be a suave ladies' man, but perhaps she was simply just that far out of touch with what it was women wanted from a man nowadays anyway. 

He did have pretty eyes. Looking into them was like looking up and seeing two patches of blue sky, in the middle of a sunflower field. 

Her gaze roved past him. The cavern was empty, then, which was a good thing. She glanced over her shoulder- her sleeping spot was calling her- but maybe this place might work just as well, though she found a bit grandiose for her likings. So she moved forward, so she might also peer inside. 

The opening of the rocky cavern was broad enough that several wolves might sit inside, shoulder to shoulder, and watch the rain fall. Poor protection from the wind, she thought, but she moved inside so she could get a better idea of how deep it might get.

the amazon scarcely gave him a notice as she looked over the cave. and as he admired her against it, he too could see her here, glorious in a bower of stone.
she moved and so did he also. "moss, is it?" lestan asked, trying to recall if he had ever been told her name or had only overheard it. "i'm lestan. mayfair," he tacked on helpfully.
his voice echoed dully in the cave, and so he shut up posthaste.

She raised her head to sniff at a bit of moss which had begun to grown on the stone overhead. She flicked an ear in his direction at the mention of her name, and given the fact she was still studying the moss with her head tilted back, she gave a wave of her tail as positive acknowledgement. She wondered if rainwater would leak through the stones; and if there might be any qualms should she choose to claim the stone cavern for her own. 

It wasn't likely she'd need it, though- others would, including the one whose scent had changed. A woman; one she presumed had paired with one of the many eligible bachelors in the pack. Lestan was included on the list of potential fathers, as he seemed to have a great deal of female admirers himself. 

He seemed timid, though. Almost wary of her as he introduced himself. She turned her gaze back to him. She'd brought him a message from Amalia before- and had led Reverie right to him. This quiet, polite man seemed to be what women wanted nowadays. There was nothing unbecoming about him; no wonder he drew fair eyes to him. 

She looked back into the stony cavern. "Good shelter," Her voice boomed.

moss' voice fit more her brawny nature than her name, and lestan found himself vibrating with a deep sense of her power. "it could be f-for you, if you wanted!" he stammered, bitingly aware that he had no reason to offer her a place to sleep.
it had been a friendly suggestion and now it felt more like —
"or, we could make it a store-room. for herbs and things?" lestan moved inside, delightedly aware that a single swipe of paws from moss could careen him against the stone wall.
what was wrong with him was anyone's guess, he decided, investigating rough shelves of rock.

His voice shook slightly and she turned her gaze to him, smoky with incredulity. His offer made little sense to her, and was dismissed with a curt shake of her head, and a soft grunt. Something this grand shouldn't be wasted on a single wolf, much less one who was perfectly healthy and could fend the weather off with her thick coat. 

He offered another suggestion; yet again, she failed to see that purpose of being worthy of such a den. She lifted her head to sniff at the walls again. Such a stronghold was really...Only fit to be a hibernation cave for a bear. She frowned, and ignored the sense of longing she felt in her chest, followed swiftly by a pang of shame. She huffed. She didn't belong in this cave at all. She stepped outside. 

"Use it how you want." She muttered flatly.

"but!" he cried, scrambling after her. "but i don't want it, i — i'm sort of a hunter. well, a tracker. i wouldn't have need of such space," he rambled in the tones of a nervous realtor. "but i t-think, well, i t-thought you looked fine there."
he flushed.
"why don't we figure out what we could do with this space? seems a shame to let it go unused?" lestan added, tipping a jaunty smile up toward moss.

I thought you looked fine there-

She turned to him suddenly, her gaze sharp. Moss rarely moved quickly, but she snapped her head toward him with such speed that a joint in her neck popped softly. Labradorite eyes stared down the broad bridge of her muzzle, and into the wide-eyed expression of the man who implied (lightly) that she might suit a cave that was more befitting of a bear. Her hackles prickled lightly. He'd struck a nerve, and she stared into his eyes as though searching for a sign that he knew something no one else had ever known...and saw nothing malicious there; just the colour of wheat fields and summer sky. A nervous smile, hopeful. He had no idea...

She lifted her head, as a snake might recoil after a satisfying strike. 

"Not for me," She was calm again, but there was an assertive tone to her voice that hinted she wouldn't be quite so composed if he tried to convince her again.

moss pinned him with a look sported, lestan felt surely, by the likes of boudicca! he felt the thrust of those eyes as keenly as if he had been piked through the chest!
and so his eyes dropped and he nodded, turning crisply away from the cave and choosing to forget it ever existed.
"i h-have a herd to follow. to — monitor." his tail swayed cheerily at his hocks. "would you like to come with me? i'm only counting today."

She wouldn't look at the stone den again. It called to mind unpleasant memories- memries she had hoped would be joyful and celebratory, in a time where she had been able to feel those things...Only to have her world turned upside down. It brought her relief that Lestan did not push her on the topic; she wasn't sure how to respond without smacking the audacity out of him. 

Instead, he invited her to go and track a herd with him. 

She looked at him, but only saw someone who had struck a nerve. She wanted some time away from him, and the hurt he'd unintentionally caused, so she shook her head. "Going to patrol." She said, before she began to saunter off.

moss did not want to stay, and she did not invite him along. "o-okay," he said, watching her muscular form depart.
his ears pinned back, lestan looked once at the large cave and then scampered away the opposite direction, ashamed and confused!