Sunbeam Lair In the mirror, you're brushing over

Spring was coming and with it the craziness of a lonly winter. Brought to a head with men who did crazy things and women who taunted with scents of fantasy and perfection. Etienne knew it well and it had begun to invome some of the most dangerous daydreams and night schemes.

It was an itch beneath his sandy and brown fur. A light that lit up the golden of his eyes and caused a restlessness to play harsh with his paws. But it did not invoke lustful daydreams of women and children. No. And he was ashamed. So ashamed.

How could he tell anyone that women didn't call to him as a Siren. That he could turn his back. Did the scent affect him absolutely, but it was more a turning of his stomach. A deep seated fear of the unknown. And a wrongness. He felt so wrong.

The scent had clung to Anselm it had lingered there on his fur in the pack lands and it had driven Etienne to such absolute fury. And yet he could do nothing. Nothing. Because he was not his and he probably would do what he pleased. There would be puppies. And a Etienne, he wasn't sure if he could stay in the hollow of this happened.

So with a yelp he left the pack lands. Headed towards the meadow he loved. Each paw step lessening the hard ball of frustration and confusion in hia chest.

It was the scent of greenery that'd attracted Dusty Rose to this place. His black nose twitched ceaselessly as he trotted along the outskirts of the hidden wonderland. Melting snow covered sunlit patches, but in the shadows around it, vegetation still thrived.

Dusty Rose didn't know all that much about plants. Mahler had managed to teach him a precious little during his stay in the hollow, but Dusty had found himself R U N N O F T before his education had truly begun. He was wary now as he drew nearer to that old stomping ground, just in case the pair of badgers were still around, and were still of a mind to take exceptional issue with his presence.

Instead, he saw a wolf. He wheeled, swinging around as if he'd been yanked by a leash in the other's direction. No thoughts crossed his mind as he high-stepped it through the plants, making a beeline for this perfect stranger as if they'd known each other their whole lives. But, contrary to what it may look like, it was his survival instincts that drove him toward the stranger at such a fast clip. Whether those instincts were helpful or not remained to be seen — but his buzzing little brain told him there was safety in numbers, and most especially in numbers where the others were larger than him.

And, drawing closer, he saw that this wasn't the case, here. Still, though. A friend was a friend.

"Did you see that eagle out there?" he asked, bright and cheerful. "I bet she could've picked me up and carted me off, just about!"

His instincts did, at least, stop him before he barreled straight into the stranger. He hovered outside of the wolf's personal bubble, an extra skip in his step as he circled — like a very determined (or very stupid) bumblebee bouncing off a forcefield that kept it from an exceedingly furry flower.

A boy came younger than Eti perhaps. A little strange woth distinct coloring. He reminded him briefly of a coyote.

I am not a fan of eagles. he tilted and ear and looked upwards. He didn't want a run in with an eagle. Though he was bigger now they still made him nervous.

I be Etienne.

Dusty Rose wasn't much of a fan either, but, "Owls is where I draw the line," he said, his tone darkening a fraction. But this pique was forgotten as soon as he'd said the words, and since the wolf wasn't snapping his jaws, Dusty Rose saw fit to come close enough to poke his nose in Etienne's personal space.

"You do?" he asked, guilelessly, and then the lightbulb went off. "Oh! I'm — I be? Well, my name's Dusty Rose." Despite stumbling through and completely butchering the introduction, the coywolf was not flustered. He rolled on as if he'd been perfectly articulate, his dark blue eyes wide and earnest. "I think she stayed out there, though — so we're all-good in here. This is a neat place, right? Are you thinkin'a movin' in?"

Etienne blinked in surprise. owls? W'y?

Eti had never had trouble with owls. They were noisy at night, but pretty to watch when they flew.

Etienne frowned and looked at the Dusty Rose with a small flare of orritation, but he was also used to siblings. So it didn't bother him terriby to have the boy in his space.

It is nice. I already 'ave a 'ome.

The coywolf pulled a face. "They're just creepy," he replied. "Always waiting for you to look away so they can swoop down and steal a kid. Not that it ever happened on my watch — but I had an aunt and a cousin snatched up that way."

He was big enough now he didn't have to worry about such things, and he had not, to date, been bothered by any eagles. It was only their similarity to night birds that made him wary.

In Etienne's scent, he detected at least one other individual — one that smelled familiar, maybe. He wasn't sure. Either way, he'd gotten what he needed from his sniffing and ceded the shared space back to the other wolf — he found Etienne's paw prints and sniffed them instead.

"What's your home like?" he wondered aloud, and then he sank down nose-first to scrape his cheek against the ground. "Smells foxy. That must be fun."

Eti listened closely ears cupped forward to catch the noys words. The owls had never gone after him or his siblings that he'd seen. But maybe they could.

I know 'ow dat feels. but he didn't elaborate further.

Etienne sighed softly as he thought of it. It is cool and secluded in sunmer. W'en de plants are all growed. Pretty and colorful in autumn. Winter is is secluded and quiet. Dere be foxes but de leave us alone we leave dem alone.

The coywolf gave a short, sage nod; there was no need for further explanation. These things happened, right? There was a corresponding spike of sympathy anyway, but Dusty Rose didn't let it reach his face.

"That sounds nice," he lied, imagining a place secluded summer and winter. Was it easier to access in the spring and fall? "Kinda lonely, though," he couldn't help but add — he tried to be as honest a creature as he could.

Y'know. When it suited him.

This cavern seemed equally secluded, even though they had both come to find it occupied on this day. Dusty Rose thought the whole area was sort of lonely, which was why he hadn't fought just a little harder to return to Mahler and his pack. He wondered if they were still there, for a moment — and almost made up his mind to visit before he was distracted once more.

"Oh, hey — I'm lookin' for someone," he said, his brushy tail whirling once more. "She looks kinda like me? But not as cute, and sorta meaner, y'know? Her name's Lonesome Dove."

He held his breath. Had Etienne seen her?

The youth seemed to understand. Giving a nod to Eti. Etienne was unsure exactly what else to say, what could he say. Nothing that someone who barely knew him deserved to know. He didnt' even think Anselm knew of that history. None of his history actually. He winced at the thought of having to share it someday.

Etienne gave a soft sigh. I s'pose it can be. But I'm alright wit' bein' lone. Which was in some sense a lie. He didn't mind, but he also did. He was finding himself to be a complicated thing as he aged.


Eti shook his head. I"m sorry I don't no nobody by dat name. i Wis' I could 'elp you.

Although he didn't try too hard to find holes in Etienne's words, he assumed immediately that he was lying about his level of loneliness. Acknowledging that it existed at all was damning enough to convince Dusty Rose that it must be painful. Wolves (and coyotes!) weren't meant to be alone, and he wondered at the true circumstances of Etienne's living arrangements.

"Oh, don't worry about it," he was quick to brush off Etienne's apology. His tail swung reassuringly. "One of these days, someone'll have seen her. I expect it'll happen one of these days."

The cavern was still begging to be explored, but Dusty Rose had taken in everything in the immediate vicinity, and could go no further for as long as Etienne stood where he did. It was a little like Age of Empires, where there's a circle of visibility around your units and the rest is in shadow. Dusty Rose was afraid of that kind of dark.

"So... do you have a big family over there?" he wondered. He could not let this go!!

Etienne liked to be alone with his thoughts, but not alone in his fay to day. Today was a thought day. And he was lowly irritated that another was in his business. But he couldn't blame him for being curious.

Etienne gave a fleeting smile. Not dere no. My family live on de coast. By de sea. I 'ail from seaqueens.

He loved where he had came from and though it had been painful. He would not change his family.

The coywolf's ears popped up in interest, and the wonder was apparent in his dark blue eyes even before seaqueens were brought into the equation. His tail whipped, giving his whole body a slight bounce-and-sway while his own thoughts brewed. He did not like to be alone with them any more than he liked being alone for any reason, and so he said them aloud as soon as they came to him:

"My brother fell in love with a sea queen," he was pleased to share. "And he had a bunch of sea-kids with her. But they only let him visit 'til they were grown. Then they turn the boys out — and now they're bounty hunters like him. But I guess the girls are seaqueens still."

Now Dusty Rose was the bumble bee bouncing off a window as he tried to move away from Etienne. He could only go so far, though! Then he would feel he was too far, and he would have to wheel about to see him again, and then circumnavigate until he next felt the need to try and range onward. But if Etienne did not move, then he was stuck in this cycle.

For a time, at least.

The youth seemed interested in the sea. And his family. He didn't blame him. His family was ones that stories could be told of. Songs written.

Though he bristled at what the young man said. And frowned as he shifted agitatedly away from the boy and what was at his back.

my family would never turn out de boys. and they wouldn't. Wouldn't treat them as well as the girls, but they were not cruel and they loved them.

If Dusty Rose noticed the bristling, he didn't pay it any mind. His large ears swiveled in brief uncertainty at the other wolf's tone, though. He paused, picking his head up to look at Etienne once more. There was a very slight but still uncharacteristic pause before he said, gently, "Then these probably weren't your family."

Far be it from him to insult someone's origins.

"My parents didn't, either," he said. "I only had dads, though. Two of 'em. You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get them to let me go." His tail gave a sad little flicker. "But, y'know. Hormones. I was at an age where hangin' out with my dads all day was starting to feel a little weird."

Ah, to be so young and so stupid again! This had been over a year ago, now, and Dusty Rose could hardly recall what that drive to depart had felt like. Older now, he was used to being apart from them — but he was no longer of a mind to have his own space. His own space was cold, and boring.

Etienne sighed. It may have been before my time. Perhaps sometime they had.

Eti shrugged. I only have a mother and she has two mothers. But she never stoppwd us from leaving. Just missed us in silence.

Etienne missed his family. Sometimes wished he was home again. But he also had found a small place carved out for him. Here.

"Probably not," Dusty Rose hedged. "They must be about your age — you would've known them, if you grew up in the same place. It sounds like your family just does things differently. I think that's nice."

Dusty Rose gazed at Etienne a little longer, feeling stirred by his finely tuned instinct for emotion. He thought he sensed melancholy in the other man — which would not be surprising! But he could not see himself being the balm to whatever hurts might be present. Not when he had his own needs; his own spirit to nurture.

"Can I come visit you sometime?" he asked. He was still standing in place rather than pinging frenetically against the outer and inner limits of Etienne's space. Perhaps the stillness would seem unnatural after all his wiggling.

Etienne chuckled. That they very much do. If you are ever near the sea. I think you would get along with my sister Suzu.

But perhaps not. Suzu was very picky of who she spent her time with.

Etienne chuckled and nodded. Yes but don't cross thr border line. The fellow i follow would probably attack you.

He was pleased to get a laugh out of the man, and was correspondingly plucky. When warned, he did a little hop-bow motion and claimed, "I'm fast, though."

But of course, he would not be trespassing any time soon.

"I'll keep my eye out for anyone named Suzu, if I made it up that way," he said, pluck melting away to make way for earnestness. "Tell me real quick whereabouts you live? Landmarks and such."

Dusty seemed to like laughter. It perked him right up.

Etienne tilted an ear. on de coast near de cliffs, bramble gateway. 'Ere in de foxs 'ollow itself.

The coywolf's ears pricked upright at this new information. The fox's hollow? That sounded uncomfortably familiar — but he would just have to wait and see if it was the hollow that he knew.

"I'll come by sometime," he said with a waggle of his bottlebrush tail. "And if I end up by the coast, I'll poke my head in and tell 'em you're lookin' real well."

This promise was delivered with a rakish smile, but the underlying earnest and warmth that Dusty Rose carried with him did not lend well to such a look.

"I'm headin' north-a-ways, I think," he said. "But I'm sure I'll double back real soon."

Etienne hadn't been there when Dusty was. So he couldn't have told the wolf that it was still the same family of sorts, just not Mahler and Wylla but rather their rather sullen son.

Etienne smiled then, bright and kind. T'ank you.

Eti nodded his head. Nort' is pretty. Lot of trees. See you w'en you return, yea.

The seaborn boy would then turn and return to the hollow. His momentary thoughts quiet for the time. Though he had been unsure at first. Dusty had helped to make him feel a little better.