Emberwood Upon the sea and within the forest, thick as theives

Please only Turmeric/Jaclyn. No other rpers. Thank you.

Inkeri didn't know where @Turmeric stayed, but she hoped to find him. There was a little bit of a need burning deep within and she had known it was coming. NOrmally she stayed holed and hidden, away from all those that could do her harm, but she had been given the freedom of choice. She had been offered a chance to bring something into the world that she could love unconditionally and she decided to take it.

So it was with gleaming eyes and a gentle smile, she wound ink and paper through golden halo of trees. The sea eyes of the far off ocean dipping light and dark within the shadows and the lights.

<33

Normally Merry roamed where he pleased, unbound by friends of family ties (though he liked to think he had friends anywhere he went. So far, he couldn’t think of one enemy he’d ever made — except Ursus). But more and more lately he’d found himself drawn to the Valley where he knew Inkeri lived. Since their voyage to the ocean, he felt more shy to see her, even as he hoped he might catch a wink of her paper ink pelage through the herbs he set about to identify and dry out while springtime was here.

Today was no different, except for one little thing: he’d become so fixated on pulling out a root from a hard patch of ground that his thoughts drifted from her for a moment’s time. Instead he pulled and tugged and sent dust poofing in the air, unaware the woman who walked in his thoughts and dreams walked in this forest even now.

Inkeri never knew where Merry was going to be, but he always came back to her. That was enough she told herself. It was more than enough. Perhaps he just couldn't settle. She had known some like that and thus far he had done better than all th eothers she had met, just by being present when he was near her.

Inkeri caught his scent and followed it and then she caught sight of him and a warmth she wasn't used to blossomed from her stomach into her chest. She smiled fondly at him and said nothing, content to just watch him for a time. Though she was mindful to sit and curl her tail about her haunches to cover up some of her scent. She didn't wish to make him uncomfortable after all.

He hummed along to some made-up tune while he yanked and tugged at the stubborn root. The mouthful of plant muffled any words that might've been heard over his laborious grunts, and though the work might've frustrated him any other day, his heart still soared to the moon from his recent trip with Inkeri and he couldn't seem to shake the stupid smile off his face.

This little plant is being so ridiculous, being so ridiculous, being so ridiculous were the cheery words he sang, though who knew what anyone else might hear. Ah, Inkeri. The waves held nothing to her seaspun eyes.

this little plant is being so ridiculous, all - pull - the live - long -

at this final beat, the root pulled free, and Merry was wholly unprepared. Dirt went flying -- and he went flying, head over heels backwards into an upsidedown somersault -- 

until he landed flat on his back, staring straight up at the pretty silver paws of a woman, with the face of an angel.

And all the world seemed to stop.

Amusement colored her expression and she watched and listened with a fondness in her sea green eyes. The root was proving quite elusive and difficult, but he seemed intent upon getting it out of the ground. So she said nothing, merely gazed.

A giggle curled from her maw and she bent her head down to boop his nose with her own.

Hello Merry. Merry! She sing sang out a smile on her face to take place of the giggle.

She nipped gently at his ears and head with a tug. Pulling some of the dirt that clung to him with gentle precision, but she tried not to move too much.

How are you today? Today?

Inkeri! he said, his eyes full of blush and his voice a nervous laugh. Oh gosh, how long had she been here? How long has she been watching?

Her boop to his nose sent something like lightning down his spine, and the nips to his ears did little to quell the rush. But both of these things paled in comparison to how his spirits soared when he heard the melody of her voice! It seemed even sweeter today, touched with warmth like the birdsongs of spring.

He hummed, and thrummed his tail in a little beat. How was he today? Oh, you know, just showing these roots not to mess with ol’ Merry, he smiled, and hummed again, they probably think they’re still winning, but I’m the one who gets to talk with you.

What was she even doing here? How had she found him? Don’t say you were looking for me, he teased her, but even as he did so, his heart beat quicker and all he could think was, oh, please say you were!!!

Sea green eyes lit up and she wiggled softly at his greeting full of laughter and care. The warmth in her chest blossomed and tightened like a buzz in the back of her mind.

Inkeri laughed high and trilling. Eyes dancing merrily.

I saw. You showed them whose boss. Boss!

His next words and she felt heat steal along her face and make her eyes a little glassy. She covered her nose with her paw for a brief moment. A small giggle there.

A small smile. Of course I was looking for my Merry. Merry!

It was a slip pf tongue really. She didn't even realize she had said it, but it was out there in the world none the less. Whether it was true or not wasn't a question. To her at least.

She laughed with him! And he was back at the ocean, soaring with her over heights and breadths, the shimmer of her sea green eyes once again more beautiful than the waves below.

He couldn’t take his eyes from her.

I’m glad you think so! Let them never forget it, he puffed up his chest a moment as though showing off his bravado, but he collapsed into a laugh, knowing how silly he must have looked.

But Inkeri herself was all giggles and shy glances now — and his breath hitched when she said it: she was looking for him.

Her Merry.

His face flushed, and now his turn came to smile shyly up at her, my Merry? he repeated with the trill of a laugh, and his heart now seemed ready to burst from him entirely, ready to soar. He reached up and offered her a soft boop on the nose, and hummed for her, my Inkeri.

There wasn't anything so melodious to Inkeri as Merrys laughter and voice. It was an igniting flame that fanned immediately, surely, certain. She was absolutely besotted.

She tilted her muzzle upwards with a smile. Never forget. Forget! she called out joyious.

She nodded. Yes. Mine. Mine.

Ahe fluttered her eyelashes wrinkled her maw. I will be Merrys. Merrys.

And he would also never forget: I will always be Merry’s.

And he laughed then, light and soaring — soaring! — and he reached up to pressed his nose against her cheek. And I will always be yours.

He would reach his paws up to wrap his arms gently around her, and draw her in to his embrace. Softly. Sweetly. If she was willing.

What had just happened? His thoughts buzzed but he would ponder things later. His heart was lost in the woman before him. Lost, or found?

Found. For in her, he knew the feeling of home.

If Inkeri accepts his advances, we can either fade to black or timeskip here, depending on what you’d prefer! <3

I'll do a fade to black <3 Beautiful thread thank you.

Inkeri knew that the height of her season had made her bolder, but the feelings themselves were not new. She had been slowly falling for the multicolored male for sometime. He was a good kind spirit and he made her happy.

Inkeri would follow easily into his embrace. A cant of her head a gentle lick along his own, a nose between his eyes a pressed kiss there.

She'd lead him further into the trees and make sure he knew how much she cared and the warm afterglow would stay for sometime, as she returned home. A yearning that he may come too or at least stay near. She didn't wish to tie him down, for his was a wanderer at heart.

But she'd carry a secret flame, and it would grow in time into little lives that needed her. Beautiful and perfect as they would someday be.