Shadewood [m] Looking at a brand new day.

Mature Content Warning

This thread has been marked as mature. By reading and/or participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you are of age or have permission from your parents to do so.

The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: frisky business

There was no disguising the new pep to Riley’s step in the weeks following. He may have been the same old Riley, but he was riding a new high following his mate’s various and sundry “practice sessions”.

Riley reinforced the borders with new vigor. He did not know it yet, but this new courtship ritual would span several weeks — he would hunt, eat, breathe, and sleep @Masquerade.

As he paused under a bough of pine, Riley realized that change had come to the Shadewood too. New bird song reached his ears, where in the weeks before the wildwood had largely been silent.

Spring was on the horizon, and with it, change.

She felt a little sapped today, though the signs of spring everywhere certainly enlivened the spirit! A bright-eyed Masquerade closed her half of the circuit, spotting Riley up ahead and moving toward him in a fashion that could only be called a prance.

Riley was the only wolf she would willingly submit to these days. As she closed the distance, she ducked her head and lowered her wagging tail, the portrait of a demure woman. She nipped at her mate’s jaw, then leaped to nibble at his ear, whispering something in it before snorting and dancing out of reach.

Masque strode upon the scene at a lovely prance, instilling in Riley great pride as he watched her strut forward. He dropped his head and brushed against her; she might look demure, but he knew she was anything but — especially following the scandalous thing whispered in his ear. 

Say less. Riley instantly stiffened in more ways than one, ears pulling ahead as she danced just out of his reach. 

Tease. 

Two could play this game and Riley was too willing a participant. He surged after her with a playful grin, mouth parted as he aimed a gentle nip at her quarters before pausing, inviting Masque to close the distance. 

There was more than one way to mark a territory, right?

She smirked when he gave pursuit. She knew Riley adored her—and the feeling was certainly mutual—but she didn’t think she’d ever get tired of being chased. Masque was a catch, she liked to think, her tail flinging upward with a cocky little twitch.

His teeth gently scored her rear and she twitched that too, though she slid out of reach. Lest he feel disappointed, Masque quickly swiveled and thrust her head into its space beneath his, shoving his own upward as she wedged herself in there. She pressed her cheek to his chest, her ear to his heart.

Love you, Riley, she spoke directly to it.

Masque certainly was a catch, and Riley would never — not once — tire of chasing her to the ends of this earth. Their play was gentle but hardly soft; as he grazed her rump he fancied she practically wriggled it there teasingly — but then she spun and the two were in their textbook embrace, his heart beating against her pressed ear.

With his muzzle pointed up, Riley inhaled the scents of the pine and the earth, of Masque, of Shadewood. He bent his head down and licked her cheek flirtily. Love you too, He murmured back, voice already thick with that lovesick lust for one another only the young seemed to own. You know, I was thinking.. we haven’t done it in that spot over there. He gestured to the borders, where their scent was heavy with patrol, but not frolic. That would send a message, don’t you think?

Mature Content Warning

This thread has been marked as mature. By reading and/or participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you are of age or have permission from your parents to do so.

The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: lewd dialogue.

Exchanging those words made her heart do a silly little samba. She wondered if it would always be this way. Years from now, when they were old and faded, would Riley’s “I love you” still make her heart skip? She couldn’t know, though she liked to think so, and that they’d make it there to find out.

Riley shifted the mood a little with his lewd comment. Masque withdrew from her cozy little tuck. She snorted a laugh through her nose and looked where he pointed, then raised a brow as she turned a smirk upon him.

You want to mark our borders with—? she scoffed playfully. You know you’re supposed to leave it inside, right? That’s how the puppies are made… Masque shook her head, clicking her tongue. You really do need more practice, Mr Redtail.

Riley also hoped that years from now, their little flirty banter would still send his heart putter-pattering. That she would still press her nose to his cheek and chin, the way she did now — that all the corners would be filled, and that nothing would change except the deepening of their love.

In this moment though, he was very fixated on the thing most young males found fascinating - and his heart raced as Masque scoffed and joked he needed more practice.

Oh, I agree. Riley nodded in mock-sageness, trying his best not to break character by grinning. I think if we practice right there — He gently nosed her hips, still masterfully keeping a straight face — it’ll send the right message. And then we can practice over there — and over there — until I’m really sure that I know how to keep it in.

He was surprised by the forwardness in which he spoke — really, where was this lewd Riley banter coming from? Yet, he meant it all in earnest and he found that Masque inspired a lot of feelings in him, all positive but some a little too frisky for casual conversation.

Her second brow joined the first, the two of them climbing higher and higher with every word he spoke. By the end of it, Masquerade’s head ducked as she snorted out a laugh. She glanced up at him from her lowered lashes and then laughed again, surprised and pleased to discover this side of him. It was fascinating.

Before we expend all that energy, I think we may need to fuel up first, she said to him once she recovered from her laughing fit. Her eyes danced as she proposed, What do you say? Shall we hunt together? And just so Riley didn’t get the wrong idea, Masque tacked on, I think building up some anticipation will make it even more exciting, don’t you?

Masque’s ducked head and quiet snort brought forth an earnest grin in Riley. He nipped playfully in her general direction, almost puppyish in that moment.

In fairness, food was a biological requirement while frisky times wasn’t. Riley looked over Masque’s granite-colored pelt with half-masked longing. Hmm, does it work that way? It doesn’t sound as fun as, you know... Riley disguised his budding smile with fake solemnity: but, anything my lady wants. He stepped back with a wave of his tail, sniffing the air around them for any scents to kick off their hunt. Shall we?

It does, Masquerade said sagely, fighting a smile as she tacked on, We shall.

They fell effortlessly into step with one another. Ever since becoming mates, they had found an easy rhythm between them. As they moved through the forest, keen to sate one appetite after another, Masque felt like they were even more in sync than usual.

And Riley’s flirtatious behavior was only one indication of spring’s imminent arrival. With the equinox only a week away, Masquerade could sense it around every corner they turned. There was even an unnamable lightness to the air itself, as if the fingers of sunshine on their shoulders truly lifted away the weight of winter.

As the pair traipsed together through the forest, Masquerade couldn’t stop smiling.

I was thinking we could fade this one, in favor of some newer ones I have planned? ;)

Even Riley felt the burgeoning spring on the breeze. As the pair made their way through the wildwood, he was also struck by how well their strides matched — how they could communicate effortlessly to one another, down to the fine details of a single hair.

He relished it all — and realized gratefully that Masque had been the missing piece in his life that fit together so effortlessly he would never stop inwardly smiling.