Dawnlark Plains 'salem's lot

for @Reek, bc im impatient af

after speaking with jhala, vuk steeled herself to find reek once more. her courage deserted her as she came into view of the grotto, however; the patchwork girl found herself deserting the borders and fleeing into the plains beyond. a stretch of devastation greeted her; the girl's head dipped and she found herself weeping silently, suddenly, as much for the continued ruination of the land as for herself and the decision she had made.

she did not call for reek; not then -- vuk could not bear the man seeing her in such a state, disheveled, tearstained, and weak. her thin body was racked with its sobs, and she felt the keen knife of bitterness slice into her gut. why did her life have to be marked by such pain? was it not enough that she had lost her children, her pack, and now would lose more?

There had once been a time in which the call of the open road had reached Reek Redtail to his very core. There was a freedom to wandering about that appealed to Reek greatly. It was tough to pinpoint exactly where, but somewhere along the line, something had changed in Reek. Nowadays, he was largely a homebody -- stealing away beyond the borders only when he had proper reason.

Today, he had reason. He had seen no sign of Vuk following their consummation of their affection for each other, and this gave Reek reason to worry. There had been no sign nor scent to follow, but as Reek departed his grotto to make the daily rounds, he caught her scent lingering close. He followed, only to find that it trailed away, away from the grotto.

In pursuit, Reek walked for miles just for the chance to see her again, but when he finally came upon her, his heart sank in his chest. It was no mystery to Reek that she was broken, in fact, her shared sorrow is what he felt connect him to her. But still, it pained him to see her this way.

He approached. Drawing himself beside her to lay against her. With a whine, Reek rested his head gently into the scruff of her neck and began to groom her in the hopes it would bring her some sort of comfort and in a way of saying; I'm here for you.

despite her conscious want, reek was there suddenly, enveloping her with his touch and with his scent, and the thudding of vuk's heart told her how much she had wanted him to come to her all the same. the girl passed her lips along his jaw, his ear, his cheekbone, any part of him accessible to her as she wept bitterly. "r-reek," vuk sobbed in a whisper, her heart clenched with pain.

presently she pulled away, though it hurt her to do so, pulled away from reek entirely and stood trembling before the anticipated judgement of his gaze. "i l-love ... t-terich," came the girl's voice, scarcely audible above the pounding of her own heart. "b-but, i ... l-love you ... a-also," vuk admitted haltingly.

she wanted so much to return to the safety of his arms, to be kissed and crooned to in his deep voice, to be doted upon, to be loved. to forget. but she held herself aside, dissolving into helpless tears of want and of regret.

As he let his teeth glide through the ruff of her neck, Reek felt Vuk's tender touch upon his cheek. A familiar tremor shook his body as Reek melted inwardly in response. He was nothing more than a puddle -- encircling the woman as well as he could as he layed against her, to cradle and comfort her until her sorrowed sobs let her be. It was in this calm, wordless embrace that Reek wished Vuk would remain, but it was not meant to be. She pulled away and Reek's eyes fell upon her in confusion.

I love Terich

Her words had the sharpness of surgical steel, cutting Reek deep across his chest, exposing his fast-beating heart. He couldn't blame Vuk for loving her mate, but Reek couldn't help but feel the stiff pang of envy flare inside of him. His gaze, however, refused to harden defensively. He did not regard her with judgment. Instead, sorrow flushed his features. 

There was a silver lining of course, in that Vuk admitted that she loved Reek the same. It was rare that he recieved such affection; from Saena, admissions of love had been rare (and Reek felt the relationship to have been mostly one sided until the breaking point), and from Tavi, such an admission had been nonexistent. She never loved him, he figured. Not the way that he had loved her. It was nice to hear his feeling mirrored, Terich aside. Clinging to this, Reek held her admission tightly to his chest for comfort. His ears fell back, splaying flat against his head as a whine passed his lips. "I— I love you too Vuk," he admitted after a brief moment of silence.

"I can't make you choose, but my heart -- it belongs to you and your son." With that, Reek rose up and took a step forward towards the woman, begging her to return to him.

she saw the flit of emotions across his face; they played in somber colours until the pleading of his tone sounded and the man moved toward her. seff; his face played before her eyes. how he loved this man! and how he loved terich also. her heart ached within her chest but vuk lifted up her muzzle to kiss reek's face, smooth her lips along his cheek, feel the pound of his heart alongside her own.

she wanted to surrender to him; the touch of his body upon her own would remove all thoughts for the present, and vuk felt herself respond sharply with want and desperation. she nuzzled against him and with a small sigh she put her lips against his ear and tried to muster the courage to speak again.

"i-s ... w-would it n-not be p-possible to l-love y-ou ... both?" vuk asked in a tiny voice, edged in hopefulness but also dread of what reek might say.

Mind if we set this before Hosannah's return to the grotto, timeline wise?

As she neared, Reek's heart thudded in his chest at a steadily increasing rate. His admission lingered in the still air and it felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest. He need not hide his feelings for her from himself any longer, nor did he feel the need to dance around the truth. The silence that fell between was peppered by her gentle touch sweeping across his muzzle. Reek allowed his eyes to shut as he sucked in a deep breath and he nearly melted into her.

Had she remained silent, perhaps the moment would have continued unadulterated. But she soon drew her mouth to the cusp of his ear, and instead of sweet nothings, she whispered something that truly made Reek wonder. Could he be fine with her loving both he and Terich? Part of him, truly, wanted to say yes -- to be able to grab hold of some part of Vuk and never let go... but it would only be a part of her. Not her full heart; not her full spirit.

"I — uh," he stammered, unsure of what to say until a weak sound, tinged with heartache and barely a whisper, passed his lips. "N-no."
 
"I'm too selfish Vuk," he admitted, knowing full and well this aspect of his personality. "When I offer you my whole heart, I would hope you would do the same." His head hung low and he let loose an emotionally exhausted sigh. "It would be too painful to know -- to see you smile as he kisses your cheek, to know that it's him who cradles you at night -- who's there when grief comes. It would break my heart Vuk," he said, expression knitting into a sorrowful frown.

"And I know this, because it already does."

sure!

no.

it was the answer that vuk had expected, and yet she was shocked all the same. reek's love for her was a powerful, sweeping thing; he had shown it many times over. vuk had known it to be a strong thing, for it followed her from dreams into the waking world. she was surrounded by the breadth of reek's affection for her, even now, even in the darkness when no hung upon his lips, for she could see it still in his eyes.

but it was pain that rose in her breast, a crushing blow that forced her eyes away from his own and downward. vuk held a great love within her for terich, but reek -- reek was undeniably a part of her soul now. his kindnesses had endeared the woman to him; his love of seff had deepened those affections, until she found within herself an adoring admiration.

she nodded at length, though her lips trembled not with tears but with words. the tears were already there, glistening upon her cheeks; she felt torn asunder, that their love should only just lift itself upon on frail legs before being broken. and vuk would not ask again, nor could she speak.

the girl drew near again, seeking his touch, unable to ask for it lest reek deny her a second time.

Ughh, they break my heart. Eventually, when Reek comes to his senses about the cult, he and Vuk should take Seff and elope :p

His heart hurt, but Reek could see his pain mirrored in Vuk's downcast gaze. The heavy weight on her soul was easily visible -- and in Reek's own experiance, familiar. Terich did not understand her, he thought. How could he? How could anyone understand the agonizing and crushing weight of loss but Reek? Terich wasn't the man she needed, she deserved better. One who had lived, loved, and lost. One who's heart was just as fragile as her's. It was a selfish desire in which Reek wanted her all to himself, but they were interlocking pieces... perfectly aligned in every way.

She moved forward, offering no word nor reassurance. Deep down, Reek knew she could never truly be his, but he could pretend. Right now, she could be all his. On the plain, there was no Terich -- there was no one else at all. Just he and her. He stepped forward, closing the distance between them. With his eyes shut, Reek trailed his muzzle across her spine and breathed deep, ruffling her fur as he went.

<3

again, and as he touched her, she whispered it, the word devoid of a single stumble or stutter. again, lover her again, take her again. in many ways, reek was the only one would ever understand the enormity of her loss, but it had been terich alongside her, terich who had felt her pain and helped her to stand as blood dripped from her body, terich who had buried her children. it was terich who had brought her to larksong. she would not turn away from him, not even for reek.

but this -- this would soothe her soul. vuk sought his mouth, his cheeks, the line of his jaw; she pressed herself against him with a whine, her lips parting into a breathless sound of urgency, a wild need to be enveloped in his arms; his breath was warm against her nape; vuk turned and invited him with a silent look, desperation mingling with grief in her gaze.

Again. As soon as she spoke, Reek knew he was in too deep. He was putty in her hands, ready to be molded in whatever way she saw fit. A small part of him knew that this would end in nothing but folly, heartbreak, and tears. She could never be his -- not in the way he wanted her to be, and it broke his heart. Perhaps it would have been easier to rip off the band-aid now, but Reek was far beyond that point. He was too emotionally invested.

And as her touch found his jaw, he felt a familiar anticipatory shiver run though his body. Her voice, urgent and wanting, lured him in like a sirens call. He needed her in the same way she needed him. Now, he would would show her how he felt -- how much his heart burned for her.

He moved, draping a single foreleg over Vuk's back as he began his desperate scramble to climb atop of her.

she could not lose him; vuk bore gratefully, desperately, the weight of reek upon her back. though she knew kesheph had firm hold of him, but in this moment vuk could never grasp the enormity of what was to happen next in their lives. for now, she did not think of the future beyond this span of time; she arched beneath him, a rare growl slipping from her muzzle as she urged him to enter her, to hurt her if only for her to feel the brusing the following day and recall this night.

all at once she felt tears choke her, wet her cheeks, but still she waited for reek, for surely this would be the last time they would entangle in such a way.

He gripped her tightly, drawing his body completely over her darkly dappled back. His forelimbs slid back to grasp at her waist as he squared his hips against her. With his heart thrumming in his chest and a growl to spur him onward, Reek slipped the length of himself into her warm embrace. His mouth parted with a moan as he began to move within her -- first slow and sensual, but his rhythm soon began to gradually increase.

It was a primal dance: one of both lust and love. He was ensnared both by his attraction to this woman and his emotional connection to her -- he loved her unlike any other. Though he knew she could never be solely his, in this moment (and perhaps only in this moment), she was his alone.

fade here? <3

she was his, his, his; vuk closed her eyes tightly and braced against his movements. with each fierce rut of his pelvis against her hips, she felt the breath driven from her lungs and replaced with despair, even as her body tightened around his own with the approach of her own zenith. 

the skies opened up before her, and stars fell with their flame-tails, to burn her until she trembled within reek's arms and parted her lips in a faint cry, the intake of her breath a shudder that crooned out into a sob to accompany the fall of her wormwood tears, even as pleasure rippled through her slight body.

i am not his.

Sounds good to me! You can reply one more time if you want, or I can go ahead and ship this off to the archives!

He lost himself as he drew his lover over the edge. His grief, his heartache -- it was all lost in the motion. There was only here and now, and how much he loved her. It was evident in the way Reek held her body close, how he drove himself into her one final time before he felt himself writhe with pleasured intensity on top of her. His lips pulled back and a soft sound rose from him.

For a moment, there was no Raas. There was no grief. There was no guilt. There was only her.

The sound of a sob pulled him back down to reality. His heart lurched in his chest as he withdrew from her, slinking his body down to take his place at Vuk's side. Slowly, he brought his mouth to her ear and whispered "Stay with me," and for a moment, he believed she would. But, it was a lie he told himself, because beyond his love and affection for her, he knew she would never choose him.