Ouroboros Spine glory

she had meant to find him the night before, but had been so tired that she'd slept for hours in the forest along the lakeshore.
mouth sour, groggy, hungry, she'd dipped in the water to refresh herself and then went to find @Kivaluk, rehearsing what she would say to him. hey. your mom or whatever said you would help me like, look around and find a den and stuff.
perfect. chickadee stretched and loped along his trail in the growing golden light of dawn.

soft curiosity, mixed heavily with a compulsion to see how sorcha is settling in drives kivaluk to search for her, though he is a bit ashamed he had not done so right away.

in truth, he worried that doing so might overwhelm her.

so he'd tended to the borders and tracked a small, new herd into the neighboring neverwinter forest but ended up loping back into the spine.

though part of him yearns to try to find sakhmet again another, stronger part of him pulls him back to moonglow.

his path crosses with sorcha rather quick — or perhaps he'd been so distracted with his thoughts that he hadn't realized the truth depth of time it'd taken him to find her.

regardless, he lets out a low chuff of greeting when he sees her.

the red accents around his eyes drew chickadee's gaze right to his face despite herself, and she saw that they were moonsilver.
she flushed deep under her chestfur and thought now of antigone and his mournful eyes of dark sea-blue. where had he gone? had he made it somewhere better?
"hey." she inhaled. "so your mom, uhh moon woman, she said you'd like, show me around. and help me find a den, but really, you don't need to do that. she's really nice, but you — i can find something." 
she'd never sought a den of her own in her life, preferring to sleep near maia or dwin or ani. the idea of being alone was daunting, because she'd been alone in a storm and now she'd be alone in a new pack.

their eyes meet and though the silvered champagne of kivaluk's gaze is soft but steady, she is the first to look away.

hey, kivaluk murmurs in reply, offering her a soft tug of his lips into something akin to an easy grin and a friendly wag of his tail.

my anaa, he offers with a soft nod of his head, even if the word 'mother' brings with a soft pang of hurt. kukutux was his mother in every way that mattered ... and though her stability was the only thing keeping him grounded, he felt, it did not stop him from missing his birthmother.

but i, what? kivaluk inquires, words soft and lacking any sort of judgement or malice behind them. i'd be more than happy to show you around and help you pick a den.

it reminds him for a moment of nasamik, for some bizarre reason that he cannot rightly place.

i'm quite the realtor, in case you didn't know. he says lightheartedly, though there was apparently some measure of truth behind his words.

rather than deny her, kivaluk appeared to warm toward the idea of helping chickadee. she felt conflicted, expecting at least some teasing due to how he'd seen her before.
but it never came. "okay," she finally opted, thought she still felt weird about it. "aiolos is the sun guy, right?" was he some sort of dad to kivaluk too?
but she didn't want to ask, and so she looked around. "where first, realtor?" chickadee asked, a failed joke meant to start them off right.
for some reason she wanted to cry because it didn't feel right, joking around when ani was lost and antigone was too.

sun guy.

for some reason, this draws a mirthful laugh from kivaluk; unexpected and buoyant — not meant to mock.

yeah, that's aiolos. i call him sunking, he adds in what he hopes is a helpful interjection. there is only a slightly awkward pause as he considers how to uncomplicate the sort of complicated relationship triangle that kukutux, aiolos and sakhmet had going on.

kukutux was married to my birth mother, who i was looking for when i found you, he explains though she didn't ask. his penchant for oversharing strikes again. and kukutux is married to aiolos ... but as far as i know, sakhmet and aiolos aren't married ... but i think he's the father of my half-sister.

which, really didn't make anything easier to detangle.

before he can let sakhmet's continued absence sting him further, he distracts himself by the task he'd been given: helping sorcha find a den.

well, depends. what sort of view are you looking for? able to see the stars at night? or would you rather be more concealed? do you want something up higher along the spine or level to the ground?

sunking was cool enough, but the world to which kivaluk then introduced chickadee fairly made her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. she understood marriage but had never heard of two women marrying each other! and yet she had no prejudice, only curiosity.
her eyes were softening, knowing he'd lost his birth mother. chickadee didn't know how to comment on anything kivaluk had said, and so she only bumped her shoulder against his. "wild," she breathed out, cheeks flushed.
to his denning suggestions she only shrugged half-heartedly, leaping a fallen log covered with moss. "i don't know," chickadee at last said in a helpless voice. "where, uh, what's yours like?"

yeah, kivaluk murmurs in agreement, a soft flush of heat rising in his cheeks at the unexpected bump of her shoulder against his. for a moment, his breath feathers in his throat; caught. he lets it out in a slow exhale that he hopes hides the strange heat he feels creeping down from his cheeks to his neck, causing his heart to beat a little bit harder and louder in his chest.

a soft clear of his throat, another urge to overshare.

i'm glad it made my mom happy, he said, realizing that for the first time ever he'd called her 'sakhmet' a few moments ago and was unsure how he feels about it. what it means. but, uh. i think i'm very monogamous. though technically, sakhmet had been; but that was neither here nor there.

but kivaluk had a want to devote himself to one who devoted to him. he wasn't sure his heart could take sharing his spouse with anyone else; though this was perhaps spawned from the tumultuous childhood he'd had and the leaving of both parents more than once.

mine? kivaluk chirrups the question back, answering quickly before she can reiterate. i have a den up a little bit on the spine. i like to the view of the land and the sky above.

a tribute to both his devotion as hunter and the allure of the stars ... even if he didn't truly understand them. i can show you, if you'd like?

kivaluk had more for chickadee to consider. "uhhh, yeah," she decided to answer first of his invitation. "you are ... sivoolick?" she asked, cocking her head. "what's that and what kinda space do you have, i'd love to see."
motioning for him to lead, the girl rolled her shoulders a little, thinking about his mom, aiolos, and sakhmet. how had they ever agreed to it? were they happy? "ani had a huge crush on stratos. then i met him. he was cute, but she was way more into him. we were gonna marry him together and move here and have a bunch of babies."
it was supposed to be a joking recollection, but her eyes tightened, lump forming in her throat, and chickadee ducked her head as she and kivaluk continued on. "other than that, i haven't really thought about it. monogamy or anything."

si-vul-lik, sounds it out for her; patient. it took him a while to grasp the language too, despite that his own name(s) came from it. or a very close variation of it at the least.

it means first hunter, it is a pretty big deal, especially given how young he was, but he speaks it humbly; afraid that if he gives it too much pomp the power might go to his head. i'm uh, in charge of leading big pack hunts and stuff. i also keep a close eye on the herds nearby.

he probably wasn't doing it much justice by his telling of it but he didn't have a way with words.

he takes the lead, paws finding the familiar and worn path of his travels to and fro his den. it's pretty big. ...when i was looking i'd been pretty sold on the idea of becoming a husband. he admits, ear fluttering back in what feels like a physical manifestation of the embarrassment he feels.

he is quiet as sorcha talks, telling him of the plans she'd made. with stratos and a stranger she calls ani. oh, kivaluk drawls; chewing on the inside of his cheek for a moment. it didn't really sound, to kivaluk, like she'd been all that into the idea of marrying stratos. or ani. or both?

is that what you wanted? to marry stratos and have a bunch of babies? he asks softly, tone inviting her to talk about it but non pressuring if she didn't.

"sivullik," chickadee tried again, heart thudding a little faster when kivaluk said he had been looking. but past tense. immediately out of some desperate curiosity and perhaps a tiny disappointment, she wondered if he'd found someone.
they were all pretty young, but if marriage was important enough here to double up on, maybe that was part of it too. "it's what my sister wanted," chickadee said quietly, casting her green gaze around. "i wanted to make ani happy. always. but — i think they liked each other far more."
the path here was well-trodden. "do you still want to be a husband? oh, and how did you become first hunter?" she chimed, taking a moment to look at him, flick her eyes over his russet accent. the feeling crept back into her chest. everyone worked harder than her, it seemed, because everyone had a role.

very good. he commends when she tries the rank out again; though he is quiet to go attentively quiet as she answers his question. they'd been ... perhaps a bit prying in their nature, but she chooses to answer and this kivaluk assumes that he hasn't overstepped any sort of unseen boundary by asking.

and what do you want? really? he inquires, unable to help but wonder if anyone — herself included — had ever asked her that before.

yeah, i would. he murmurs quietly; an honest answer on whether or not he still desired to be a husband.

well, i was mentored by the first hunter when i came to moonglow, rodyn and the beta shikoba, he tells her, gaze focusing on the path before him. and when he and his wife left to start moontide i was offered the position.

kivaluk posed the question again, and she felt her face heat up like it was midmorning during summertime. the girl paused to touch a curtain of low-hanging leaves, beginning to suspect that she and the first hunter had more than a few things in common.
moonglow had a lot of lore, and chickadee kept up as best she could, but this new and brimming gravitas between them surrounding a topic she'd never given much thought!
"yeah, i think. you know. it would be cool, being married. especially if we were friends." it was becoming greatly more difficult to look at him, and this time chickadee could not hide the shy little smile that curved her cheek even as she glanced away, toward the birds, the trees, the rich dark earth.

his own path on being husband has not been an easy one: likely his own doing as he largely did not leave moonglow's claim for much aside from duties as first hunter. he had grand delusions of traveling — surely he is old enough that kukutux might grant him the leave to search for a wife — but ... he does not feel the desire to leave, even temporarily ( trips in search of his mother nonwithstanding ).

which left him women that were either already married, far too young to be married or related to him.

yeah, he parrots, silvered champagne gaze watching her for a moment as she turns her face away; it felt like a stolen moment he should not have given himself and looks away, though not in shame.

she was pretty and he was shallow enough to admit that pretty things tended to catch his eye.

being friends first sounds like a good foundation for marriage. not that he had any of those, really. still, it sounds as if it were a strong base in which to build from.

his steps slow upon the approach of his den. it's just up ahead. he gestures to the mouth of his den, rock covered in soft moss and climbing ivy. i think it might've been a rendezvous den at one point. he murmurs though he, of course, could not be entirely sure aside from the fact that it'd been abandoned when he found it.

you can go inside if you want, check it out. but he would wait just outside; tracing the familiar path he'd worn into the land leading up to it.

a rendezvous den brought her to mind of her own home, of brecheliant and its dark places and sunny sides. chickadee missed it, suddenly, fervently, and swallowed hard. okay, so her first adventure outside home had failed spectacularly, but that didn't mean this one had to fail.
sending a prayer up for ani and adding one for antigone, chickadee ducked into the den, embracing the rich fragrance of the elegant moss and closing her eyes for a moment at the comfort provided by the closeness.
"it's pretty," she said, turning a few times as her eyes danced up the trellising of ivy. "very homey."
maybe they'd find one close, though chickadee was weary anew at the idea of continuing any further, at least for today. their earlier conversation still hung perilous with intrigue, and after a moment's exploration of the stones along which the emerald carpet climbed, she found kivaluk with her eyes again, but what she wanted to ask escaped her mind easily.

i don't spend a lot of time here, truthfully. kivaluk admits. i prefer sleeping beneath the stars.

a soft, thoughtful pause is given.

you can have it, if you want. better the den go to someone who'd actually use it rather than someone who frequented it every great now and then.

he could always find shelter from the harsher elements elsewhere. the spine had it's secrets and kivaluk had taken great pleasure is seeking out as many as he could when he wasn't hunting or tracking.

"no, i don't want to just — take your den, kivaluk," she laughed weakly, exiting the pretty space and looking back along her shoulder at the different hues of greenery which announced the mouth of the den.
her tailtip flicked. sleeping beneath the stars felt daunting, though she imagined for a hunter it was anything but. "maybe you'll want it more one day, but you won't have it." her gaze was gentle, a tease in it.

it should go to someone who's going to use it, kivaluk attempts to appeal her decision. seriously, i think it's growing dust bunnies from my neglect.

a lame attempt at humor — also not one of his strong suits.

he almost snorts at her tease; though he carefully harbored the hope of a tiny flame that he might be a husband some day, he also hasn't been putting forth the effort he'd gone into the bride price collection: those items forgotten in the corner of the very den she'd just taken a tour of.

i wish to be husband but i'm not actively searching for a wife... i figure if it happens, it happens. which meant it was probably never going to happen. what's meant for me will ... find it's way to me.

but until that time, i don't really need a den.

chickadee didn't think she'd ever thought so long about marriage. she considered her own parents, their long years of affectionate love. yes. something like that, maybe. being a wife could be nice, though contemplating herself in that role forced a blush to her face once more.
"okay, compromise," the iota huffed with faux irritation, rolling her green eyes before they came to light on kivaluk's accented features once more.
"let's share. you're not here very much, right? well, i probably would be. so i could like, keep it nice. sleep somewhere else when you wanted it. if you like, wanted that. i guess." her sentence fell apart, and chickadee fought to keep her resolve.

sorcha offers to make him a compromise and kivaluk listens; considering it with a faux pompousness conjured to match her faux irritation.

share it.

i find these terms are acceptable. kivaluk decides after a moment taken to pretend to consider. he takes a small breath, casting his gaze 'round before it is drawn back to her.

for a moment, though it was all play, chickadee tensed, wondering if kivaluk would ultimately deny her. but he didn't, and she tossed her plume with a jaunty laugh.
"okay, cool, roomie," she snickered a little, hiding the flutter of butterflies in her gut. "first things first, let's eat."
it would give them something to do, she decided, postponing the awkward first night they'd spend here after solitude had eaten them both up.

roomie.

it has been a long time since kivaluk has shared his den with anyone: and never since it has been shared with someone not of his own blood.

alright, he agrees to her invitation of eating first. did you want to hunt something with me? or are we raiding the caches?

do u want to fade or keep going? if we fade i could start a newer one!

"let's hunt. i need to see moonglow, anyway, and i guess you're the best one to show me."
chickadee grinned and trotted away, though she'd pause to let the firsthunter lead them off.