Phoenix Maplewood I have questions

@Reek I made it extra fun this time! :D

Desna had not been socializing much with the new members of the pack. She had enough social contact with Reek. The girl had even some social contacts outside of the maplewoods, Mason and Sheo. Desna was quite curious about these males. Desna was quite perceptive and they both seemed to want something from her. Reek was a male too so maybe he could answer her questions. She didn't have much of a sex talk yet, she knew that babies would be there if ones loved each other, but what confused her was that Reek and Saena didn't have babies yet. All this with males and love going through her head she decided to take a visit to her current favorite, Reek.

She let out a quick howl, requesting Reek's presence, quite some questions about what was going on in her mind. Scarlett had not explained much since she was sick. She wanted to explain it but then those wounds and it just wasn't a good time. It was just making Desna a bit clueless about all of that.

Oh God, this thread is going to be hilariously awkward.

The sound of Desna's summoning howl stole Reek away from the safety of the alpha den and the side of his gently snoozing mate. He rose with a groan and grumble, discontent with this sudden interruption from his peaceful afternoon nap. However, upon realizing the call's source, Reek's irratation faded away and he slowly made his way out of the den, carefuly making sure not to rouse his sleeping mate in the process.

If it had been any other subordinate, Reek would have probably ignored the call and asked about it later. Desna, however, was a different case entirely.  In the wake of Scarlett's death, Reek had grown quite fond of the child. Paternal instincts kicked in with force when it came to Desna, and in a strange way, he felt like a surragate father. Scarlett's other children, however, Reek could take them or leave them.  

"Whatcha need Des?" asked Reek upon finding the child among the wood.  He tried to suppress a long, tired yawn from taking form, but his jaw parted at it's hinges with an unavoidable yawp.

Desna's tail wagged when she saw Reek, she greeted him with a lick under his chin. She sat down, her chest puffed forward. She was really turning more into a lady, even though her body still showed some oversized child features. Oh well. "I have some questions and I hoped you could answer them?," she questioned to him. Desna smiled lightly, quirking her lips in a grin. If she was going to ask those questions she would have gone to her mother or Reek. Seeing that her mother wasn't here to answer he questions.

"Well, I met two boys, separately from each other. There is Mason from SIlvertip who is really nice and there is Sheo from... I don't know, but yeah. They both seemed to... want something? Or I don't know how to describe it," she admitted feeling a bit flushed. With Sheo it was because that male had completely other motives, wanting her to go to Black Feather Woods to see her father. He hadn't even told her his real name. With Mason, his intentions were more genuine. He truly seemed to care for her. "And then I started thinking... Because they are boys and I am a girl. And um... I thought that a female and male that were mates would get babies, but you and Saena don't have babies!" Now it sounded like the pups would magically appear which was how Desna pictured it.

I know right. XD

If she had questions, Reek surely had answers.  A know-it-all by nature, Reek was content to fill in the blanks in everyone elses knowledge with his own, be it wrong or right. Feeling it had to do with accepting mortality, Reek accepted her line of questioning with a pleasant nod, and she began to vent what was on her mind.

However, it wasn't at all what Reek had expected: boys.

Fuck. Had Scarlett not been around long enough to explain the nitty-gritty?  Desna was finally reaching an age where a proper education was necessary, but Reek was ill-equipped to divvy out this sort of knowledge. His own sexual awakening had been one of confusion and frustration, marked by rejection and repression.  But, here he was, about to have the talk with Desna, when he had never really recieved the talk himself.

Reek let out an awkward sigh and he began to verbally stumble. "Uh, well— you know..."  The answer was simple enough, but it took Reek a while to regain his conversational bearings. "Saena, uh, hasn't gone into season yet... but she will soon I think.  Come Spring, we might be parents."  His explanation was surely inadequate, but he was unsure of how to proceed without being horribly blunt.

Desna looked very interested, curiously enough Reek didn't start about the boys. He was probably shocked by Desna's questions. The young tipped her head curiously. She didn't know what in season meant. She let a light frown in confusion show. "What does in season mean?," she asked. She was thinking of what it could be but what she was thinking about was not what it actually meant.

The dark colored girl licked her lips. "Might? Why don't you know for sure? If wolves are mates... they don't always gets puppies? How is it determined who gets puppies?," she asked. She was naturally curious wolf and wanted to know bits about everything, so this was no exception, she had no clue that it might be very inappropriate to ask someone non related.

We might have to end up marking this mature for sexual references.

The more Desna didn't understand, the more awkward Reek felt.  His ears splayed back and his face became tightly scrunched. Having Scarlett around, or even a more experianced female to help explain, would have helped Reek feel more at ease. But, the youth asked solely him, and Reek wouldn't let her down no matter how uneasy he felt.

"Well, uh... season," he began, feeling his face go flush. "It's, um, like this week long window where hormones do all this, uh, weird... stuff, to like, both of us." His delivery was anything but smooth.  While he was a healer, the processes involving hormones and reproduction were somewhat new territory for Reek in terms of knowledge.  "And if we have sex during that window, she'll get pregnant... I guess."  There was no dancing around the nomenclature here. At least Reek understood the mechanism of reproduction.

"See, uh, it all sort of depends on that," he continued. "It's not like an automatic thing once you become mates... you've gotta wait around a bit."  He shot Desna an awkward smile and hoped, this time, he explained things a little more clealy, but surely, she'd still have questions.

Marked it mature just in case!

Desna watched Reek with curious eyes, listening how he sort of forced the words out. Desna wasn't sure if she had asked something that was really tough to answer or that it was just Reek being.... silly? She listened quietly to him, sitting up being all ears for his information. Her eyes widened when he mentioned sex. Oh-- That sounded somewhat familiar. She had seen the deer go at it in autumn and wondered what it was. She flushed a bit herself now. "Oh- So that is in season," she mumbled and if her head wouldn't be covered in fur she would be blushing badly.

Desna had clearly been all wrong. So she didn't get pups automatically by being with a boy, that was quite the relief to her. She had no clue when her season would start but seeing that Saena was over a year and didn't have pup with Reek yet Desna had the feeling that it would still be awhile for that to happen. She hoped so. "I get it now," she spoke. But she only had more questions. "Will I go in season only when I have a mate? Or will this happen even without one? What if I don't have a mate and I have the hormone thing?," she asked sounding a bit panicked about it. "When does my season start?," she then wondered.

This time, it seemed the youngster understood Reek's awkward, yet more direct, ramblings.  Still, it seemed her comprehension on the subject was not quite tentative yet, as a second wave of questions was volleyed in Reek's direction.  This new round, however, felt much easier to answer and the awkward timbre of Reek's voice began to pass.

"Season just sort of happens Des,"  he explained. "There's not really much you can do to control it; mate or no mate. Err... Typically, it would happen in the winter right before or during your second year. It can be irregular and happen some other time, but that's the usual pattern." The more Reek talked on the subject, the more comfortable/conversational he became. The sordid details became much easier to relay. "It would probably be best to have a mate by your first season, that way, he could keep you safe and to himself for the week.  Other guys won't be able to control themselves... and bastard children tend to be frowned upon."  This, Reek knew first hand.

"As for now, you don't really have to worry."  In her youth, she had so much time to spare before things got serious.  "If I were you, I'd just have as much fun as I wanted... I mean, that's what Saena and I have been doing with each other, and it's been great." Perhaps he had grown too comfortable in his explanations now that he was revealing more personal details about his life and relationship, but Reek paid it no mind.

Desna was quite worried by the statements that Reek was making. The girl wasn't sure if she wanted to go in season. Now she had the pressure of finding a mate otherwise she would have to bring up her children alone? What if she hadn't found a male she liked yet. Sure she liked Mason but she wasn't sure if she wanted babies with him. Desna looked a bit disgruntled. Though luckily the man soothed her by telling her not to worry. This was true, she wasn't even a full year yet. She would probably be okay. She nodded lightly until she froze a bit on her spot as she was getting what Reek meant. "Eww, Reek!," she let out and scrunched up her nose cutely.

She quickly recovered though, pushing that thought far away from her conscious mind. "Do you want babies with Saena?," she asked curiously. "Or another question... does Saena want babies?," she corrected. She had the feeling that Reek wanted to be a father. He would be a good one. Desna found her opinion valid since she was still technically a youngster. "Can I be their big sister when they will be born?," she asked. She sort of knew the answer for that really.

Perhaps he had shared too much, he thought, after seeing Desna's face scrunch as if she had tasted something sour. Reek let loose an awkward chuckle in the hopes it would dispel any lingering tension. Opting not to speak, Reek expecected an awkward silence to settle in between them, but Desna was quick to snap Reek back into conversation with another wave of questions.

"I do," he answered with certainty. "More than anything."  He had wanted a family of his own for as long as he could remember, even before he met Saena, but now, he couldn't imagine laying down roots with anyone else. It was simply unthinkable. In the past, he had come close to starting a family with Wynter, but Reek thanked cruel fate that this never came to pass, beacuase truthfully, he felt Saena was the first and only wolf he had ever truly loved.

While Reek's intentions were obvious, Saena's on the otherhand were more difficult to discern. He loved her wholeheartedly, but sometimes, it was difficult to understand what was going on in that mercurial head of hers.  She had made previous comment about starting a family with Reek, they had discussed the possibility in full, however, there was still a part of Reek that wondered if that was what she really wanted. "I think she does too Des," he answered, banking on hope. "No matter what, I think she'd be a great mother."

Desna's final question was one Reek felt needed no explanation. He smiled and firmly said, "Of course you'll be their sister... We're going to need all the help we can get." Reek had prepared as much as he could by kidnapping a pair of coyote pups, but that had been a fiasco in its turnout. Fatherhood, he felt, would be even more difficult.

Desna nodded when Reek spoke about wanting to be a father. "You will make a great one Reek," she smiled at him. After that his thoughts seemed to go off to another space that didn't include her. Desna didn't mind, she was used to it with Sesi. Her thoughts went everywhere too and she had to wait patiently. The girl looked at Reek with a bit of a smile, then he started about Saena. He was more than right about her. Desna was surprised she had gotten a smile last hunt. Saena was hard to keep track off. She wasn't so sure if Saena would be a great mother but she had been great at teaching her how to hunt so Desna could only agree for now.

"I'm glad! I want to help out. I like helping out," she returned to Reek. The young female flickered her tail and smiled. "Hopefully Saena goes in season soon!," she offered. "Thank you for explaining. I know now that these aren't the most easy questions to answer," she spoke with a bit of an embarrassed tone.

It was strange how one simple confirmation could instill confidence within an individual. Taking her kind words to heart, Reek smiled warmly at Desna and felt happier than he had felt in ages. The fears that came with impending fatherhood did not fully fade away with Desna's reasurrance, but it certainly helped in the grand scheme of things. The only fear that persisted was the horrible thought that his future children would grow to hate him, just as Junior and Saena both held Peregrine to such low regard. Reek, who loved so fully, would be broken by that outcome.

Reek pushed this fear under the rug, and out of his conscious mind— where it would more than likely fester in the future.  "No Des. Thank you," he shot back in response. Their exchange had left him in higher spirits than before.  "Anything else you want to ask about?" He figured he had answered Desna's questions to her satifaction, but Reek didn't want to leave any gaps in her education.

Desna returned a warm smile to Reek, glad that her words had been having its effect. The girl realized more every day that these woods were becoming more a home to her. It wasn't because of her sisters but it was because of Reek. And maybe a bit because of Tavi and Ukko too. They had been there for her while her own blood had left her. Desna was starting to wonder why she had been so upset with Nanook leaving her, and Sesi running away. They had been so different form her, or maybe she had been different from them. Her thoughts returned to the present when Reek spoke.

Desna shook her head. "I don't think so?," she stated with a head tilt. "But if I have more questions I know where to go now!," she offered. Desna was quite a curious being which was natural for a young animal like her. She still wanted to become a scout too, so now she was old enough and had the basis of her hunting trade she could start setting out and be the adventurer she had been as a pup. She had already mentioned this to Reek before, and hopefully she could prove that she was useful with scouting too. "Thank you. I will let you get back to Saena now!," she smiled, pushing herself to her feet implying that she was about to take off.

Thanks for the awesome thread, I'll go ahead and ship this to the archives! I'd love to have another sometime soon!

With a slight shake of her head, Desna shrugged off the possibilty of further awkward questions. At least— for now, anyway. If she had more, she would be more than welcome to seek Reek out, but now, Reek would take the opportunity to slink away from the cold maplewood and return to warmth of his den and his mate's soft embrace. Reek said his goodbyes and turned away to let Desna do whatever kid's her aged did nowadays.

Reek returned to his den and basked in the warming body heat within. Carefully crawling his way back into his subterrainian hideaway, Reek settled in beside his still sleeping mate and inhaled deeply before succumbing to the numbing grip of sleep.