Silver Creek Operation Parlez Vous

For @Natashe first, but not saying someone else couldn't come across them.

It had been over a month since they started their French lessons. @Natashe was a patient teacher, but more often than not Heston felt like putting his head through a tree. He'd noticed some real improvement in himself lately though. Sometimes, when Natashe rattled off a sentence in French at him, he actually could piece together the words! He'd pressed to meet fairly often, wanting to speed the process as much as possible.

He was dying to spring his surprise on...well...Spring. As time passed he only found her more and more on his mind. This was not helped by the fact that he could smell heat on the wind. It hadn't taken much sniffing or looking to figure out it was Spring's heat, and she was trying to hide away from everyone. He too began to try and keep himself from her. He was worried that if he got too close...he might make a mistake. He didn't want her to think it was heat that made him want her. He wanted her to know that he'd been thinking about her for a while. Thankfully, his secret mission with Natashe would show that tenfold.

While he was avoiding her, he was also highly aware of her location. He longed to go to her, but would hold strong. Part of him worried at some other male getting to her, so he never shut himself away completely. He tried to pull his mind away from Spring, and began to head to the agreed upon meeting place for his newest lesson.

Natasha had been wandering around having become rather bored after catching and eating a rabbit. She had noticed that Heston was in the area but wasn't sure if she wanted to do another meeting at the moment. After another few minutes of aimless wandering she decided it would give her something to do. She followed Heston's scent and chuffed before she arrived so that she didn't startle him.

"Bonjour Heston, comment allez-vous cette belle soirée?"  she asked greeting him in French. It was an easy sentence to figure out as it consisted of basic words like hello, and evening and phrases like how are you. She sat down and waited for his response.

He turned to greet the woman with his tail waving. He offered her a grin that soon widened further as she spoke to him in French and he understood. His smile was devilish, obviously pleased with himself. "Bonjour Natashe. Je suis magnifique. Comment allez-vous?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her once he finished, smiling all the while. He felt their friendship growing as they worked on his language, and he was pleased to feel close to another in Silver Creek, even if it worried him.

"Mon français s'améliore, ouais?" The middle word, though he knew what he wanted to say was butchered. He could tell by the way his tongue felt around it. He rolled his eyes and laughed at himself. "Spoke too soon, I suppose. Honest opinion, though, how'd I do?" He was constantly seeking her honest evaluation on how he spoke it. He wanted to know if he sucked, or if he should try to move his tongue a certain way or whatever. He knew Spring would likely be impressed he could speak french at all...but he was Heston. He wanted to actually be good at it.

He was glad, too, that he and Natashe were growing closer. Eventually he'd need to ask about the romance-y words. That would be embarrassing with someone who wasn't a friend, but what good would speaking Spring's language be if he couldn't whisper sweet nothings at her? He also wanted to know the curse words, but he wasn't sure Natashe would be okay with that. She had made him promise over his use of the language after all, did curse words count?

In the first sentence, he means to say he is wonderful and instead says he is beautiful. The second he simply messes up pronuciation.

Translations for those who don't speak French since I'm not fancy enough to figure out the hovering way haha 

"Bonjour Natashe. Je suis magnifique/merveilleux. Comment allez-vous?" = Hello Natashe. I am beautiful/wonderful. How are you?" 

"Mon français s'améliore, ouais?" = My french is getting better, yeah?

Natashe stared at Heston for a few seconds, her face a mask of emotionless silence. Then suddenly her eyes sparkled and she laughed out loud, her giggles echoing in the air until she managed to sober herself up. "Oui Heston, vous êtes un joli loup." she answered once again the patient and polite teacher she always was (or tried to be). She looked at heston as he spoke once again, and pronounced the words with some difficulty. It was not too bad, for she knew both her and Spring would be able to tell what he was trying to say.

"Oui mieux." she responded with a nod of her head. "However when you responded to my greeting you said 'beautiful' instead of 'wonderful'." she explained. She looked at him with a smile "Hence my confirming your beauty"  she said with an amused tone. " If i were the one responding i would say Bonjour Heston, je suis merveilleux, Comment allez-vous?". she said pronouncing the word slowly so he could understand how it sounded.

"Pronounciation will get better as you speak it more. My advice is to listen to the fluctuations in Spring's and my voice as we speak it. I think we should move on to romance yes?" she asked. She could tell he was eager to begin with the fun stuff, and she also knew that Spring's heat was flooding the air. It must've been tormenting the poor guy. Her own heat would start soon, and she knew she would leave the pack grounds for it. she had nobody she wished to touch her here, and she also hated suffering through the heat with no fun.

"Je t'aime" she said with a wink toward heston "Is the easiest thing to say in french in my opinion. It means i love you." she sat down finally and looked at him, waiting for him to repeat it.

He didn't really understand her laughter, but took it as a sign of pleasure at her wonderful teaching skills. Her next words brought a tilted head and furrowed brow however. Had she said he was pretty? How was that a reply? Her confirmation of his improvement was enough to distract him from questioning it further though, and a lopsided grin slid across his face. It soon slid away as she explained.

"Oh," He grumped, disappointed in himself but still a good sport. He lifted his muzzle skywards haughtily with a toss of his head. "Well, it wasn't a lie at the least." He was playing of course, though his errors always frustrated him a great deal. He mouthed the replacement word for beautiful to himself a few times. He nodded in reply to her reassurance. He wasn't so worried about pronunciation. Even if he bumbled through something it was typically understandable. It was when he picked the wrong words that he really messed up.

Her comment about moving onto romance dispelled any inward self-disappointment he might have had. His interest peaked. Her first word startled him a little though. He wasn't prepared to call his feelings for Spring love, it scared him to think it might be possible. He knew she wasn't implying that he did, of course, but was offering him an easy romantic phrase. He recovered himself easily, hiding any hint of his surprise or sudden fear.

He listened to the word roll off her tongue. It was easier to mimic the sound as he'd been learning. "Je t'amie." His own pronunciation pleased him, but she had said it was an easy one. "So if I wanted to call someone beautiful, would I use the word I used before? Magnifique? Or is it specific to the phrasing with it?" He knew many words could change their meanings depending on when you used them. Not an entire meaning, of course, but there was a difference between saying you were happy and elated.