Ravensblood Forest The circle of life

@Arturo and @Olive. puppies and roaming? already gained OOC permission so here's the IC thread! i dont know if i need both prospective parents for the birthing permission, but Olive can come anyway :)

Dakarai had been restless ever since Olive mentioned exploring Teekon together, and returning back to the Sunspire where they had first met and fell in love. He wished to go as soon as possible, not because he hated Teaghlaigh or anything but because to be alone with Olive while satisfying the wanderer inside him sounded like perfection. He had come up with an idea that he wished to surprise Olive with once they began to roam, so that they could plan to be in the Sunspire at the perfect time. Dakarai loved Olive truly and completely, and he was ready to start a family. He wanted to propose to stay out long enough for his lover to be on her heat cycle, so that she could bear his pups.


With a nervous sigh he called out to Arturo, adding in a call for Olive as well in case she had to be there. It would ruin the surprise bu he supposed it would still be a wonderful thing to suggest all the same. After he fell silent once more, he felt the full force of his anxiety. What if Arturo disliked him enough to refuse him bringing pups into Teaghlaigh? Could Ceannasach deny such a thing based off of personal feelings? He didn't know but the thoughts heightened his anxiety and caused his heart to beat fearfully.

tagging for visibility! kj i made some assumptions about lotte, if you'd like anything changed feel free to poke me on slack and i'll gladly change it. <3

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Arturo spent his days striking the careful balance between his duties as Ceannasach, the borders and caring for @Lotte. She was healing but the burns were healing the slowest and though Arturo was essentially helpless to soothe her pain or quicken the healing process he did what he could, little as it was. If he could have his way, he would spend all of his time with her though when he did devote his time to her he was careful to strike the balance between being a doting, worried spouse betrothed and not suffocating her with his fussing. It was Dakarai’s howl that called Arturo from his current mission: burying the plump groundhog he’d caught in the pack’s southern cache. Though being punctual was something Arturo prided himself on he was not so careless to let the prize lay bare for the vultures and ravens to pick clean and thus he did not make his way towards the other man until the groundhog was buried and the cache was closed to the curiosities of scavengers. When Arturo’s fiery, red-orange gaze fell upon Dakarai his steps slowed, his tail curling over his spine as a soft chuff of greeting left his lips, silently encouraging Dakarai to inform him of why he’d been summoned.

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Dakarai gave Arturo a small smile and bowed his head, greeting him with respect. Arturo looked like he expected an explanation and Dakarai wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible "Greetings Ceannasach, I wish to request permission for two things" he began, wincing at how his voice trembled for a moment in fear. He drew in a deep breath allowing the cool air to soothe his body before he continued "The first is permission for a short period of leave for me and Olive. Olive invited me to roam Teekon with her and explore for a while, and I insisted on asking permission first" he lifted a paw and moved it over the ground between them both as if to say and here we are.


"We should only be gone a week, two at the most. Sort of like a honeymoon of sorts. That brings up the second Request. I wish to start a family with Olive, and bring her to our first meeting place to bring that wish to life. The pups would be born in the warmer time of Winter, March i believe." he explained the length of time they wished to be gone from Teaghlaigh, and then with a trembling exhale he requested the more important request. He looked at the ground for a few moments, afraid of what Ceannasach would say to his wish to have a family with Olive.

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Arturo gave a sage nod of his head in recognition when Dakarai greeted him by rank and got straight to the point. That was a good trait to have and furthermore good to remember when speaking to Arturo: he abhorred beating around the bush. He was a straightforward, honest (sometimes to the point of brutality) man and he expected the same of those that followed him. “That was a wise decision,” Arturo remarked partially complimentary. “I do not expect my wolves to tell me every time they leave my borders but if you are taking an extended trip, it is a good idea to inform me lest I assume anyone abandoned us.” Abandonment of The Family (like most things) was not something Arturo put up with.

Then came the second request Dakarai had to make and this made Arturo’s blood run cold. He wanted to start a family with Olive. In hindsight, Arturo wished that Olive would have been the one to ask permission. The way Dakarai worded it made it sound as if Olive wasn’t even aware that he intended to impregnante her which set sourly with Ceannasach. Though that was not the only thing to sit sourly with him. To say that he had not held to the hope that he and Lotte would be the first to bring children into Teaghlaigh would be a lie because he had. He was the Ceannasach after all and breeding privileges belonged to him point blank. “How do you know her estrus cycle is close?" The gangster couldn't help but ask. In his experience with it he could never tell until it happened and following along with that added, "I will tolerate a week or two to explore but no longer.” On that, his mind was not to be changed. “Does Olive want children?” Arturo asked Dakarai, intending to fully investigate before he gave an answer either way. He had known that Isley had hoped for them but that wasn’t something that he and Olive had spoken about at length …or perhaps at all even.

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Dakarai was relieved that Arturo appreciated him asking permission first. He listened silently as Ceannasach explained his expectations on leaving the borders. He watched as Arturo seemed lost in thought, hopefully pondering over his request of a family. Arturo asked about how he knew of Olive's estrus cycle and he blinked once asking himself how he did know. "I have been with her here for almost a full month, I had thought that she would be due by now. Females usually enter their winter heat in late December" he explained hesitantly.



As for Ceannasach's next question he felt insulted, as if Arturo was suggesting that he would force Olive to carry his children if she did not wish it. "She had thought that she would be pregnant the first time we...Were intimate and reacted with disappointment when I told her she wouldn't be pregnant that time. A couple of other conversations have led me to believe that she does indeed want a family." He responded as he chose his words carefully. He took in a deep breath and looked at Arturo almost head on, though his eyes still never looked the man straight in the eyes. "I thought I would get permission from you before bringing it up officially to her, as I was hoping to discuss it as we traveled. If she says no I assure you I would never force her to do anything that she doesn't want to do." He said explaining a bit about why it had seemed that he had planned ahead of time, because to be honest he had  not to impregnate her but to have permission for when he asked Olive.

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As to Dakarai’s explanation on how he thought Olive was due to enter her estrus cycle Arturo was silent. Perhaps the ebony man was much more perceptive to the female body than Arturo and so Ceannasach dismissed it without intended to study it any further. Dakarai responded that it was in Olive’s words that led him to believe she wanted a family and it was Olive that stood in Arturo’s path of saying no directly. She was one of the few Teaghlaigh founders left and Arturo did not wish to see her vanish from The Family like smoke as he’d watched Isley. It was understandable given the grief that no doubt choked her with Palisander’s death, but given all that had happened in such a short time: Furiosa’s death, Palisander’s death, and Isley’s departure Arturo wasn’t sure that babies was what Teaghlaigh needed. Teaghlaigh was small and he could not risk what little adults they had for mewling infants. It took an entire pack to raise pups, after all. Right now, they were surviving by the skin of their teeth.

Yet…yet Arturo found himself pondering what he would do if Lotte were to spontaneously go into her own estrus cycle. The gangster was logical enough to take in the consideration of Teaghlaigh but he also knew that he would never deny his beloved nightingale anything and they had already discussed children and that she desired to bear his. Were Olive to go into estrus and he granted the two permission the mental math told the gangster that they would be born mid-March. Even without Dakarai’s previous mention of it, it was easy for Arturo to count out in his head by going off of how long Duana had been pregnant. March was early spring, when life would begin it’s rebirth from the death that winter wrought upon the earth. Life would be easier for the wolves of Teaghlaigh by then. He eyed Dakarai as he contemplated, weighing the decision and his words carefully.

“Teaghlaigh as it is right now is too small to support pups and I specified that there were to be no pups during our first winter,” Arturo began, salmon pink tongue drawing against his lips. “but as two months is a long time it should be plenty of time to find recruits to build our Family back up.” Meaning that all of them would need to go on some recruitment runs. “You have my permission, so long as Olive agrees,” He began, letting his words hang, the lingering and unspoken but hanging in the air as Arturo prepared to name off his conditions. “You should know, however, that if by the time they are born we do not acquire more adults than we have now I will have no choice but to call a Family meeting to decide if we can support them. You can take the chance and actively assist in recruitment to ensure that we can support newborns or you can wait to see how we are doing by spring but that choice is up to you.” With their low numbers this is the best Arturo can offer Dakarai even though the grim words tasted like ash upon his tongue. So long as they managed to recruit then he didn’t forsee any issues but if they could not manage to bolster their numbers Arturo would do what he needed to — and he did not try to hide his condition so they had the knowledge of the grim possibility before going into it. What the couple chose to do with it from there was up to them.

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Dakarai's heart was beating hard against his chest as he listened to Arturo speak. He felt his heart sink when the man spoke of Teaghlaigh being too small to support infants, and about a rule that had been made about the first winter. He began to dip his head in acceptance of Ceannasach's ruling when Arturo began to speak again. Lifting his head with wide eyes he payed attention to what Arturo was saying, feeling his tail begin to thump against the ground happily.



He was allowed to have a family! Yeah it meant he would be working extra hard to recruit members, and stock up prey for the pups that would be born but if it meant he could have children with Olive and finally raise his own family then he would work as hard as he could. "Thank you Ceannasach. I will propose this to Olive, and when we return I shall go on recruitment trips if she agrees to bear me a family." he said dipping his head down low, his voice cracking with gratitude for the leader's decision.

I'm going to go ahead and wrap this thread up for us! <3

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A sage nod of Arturo’s head was given to Dakaraki when the ebony male thanked him — though Arturo thought he was quick to do so. There was no reason to thank him, not with the grim warning of possible death for his children if he and Olive decided to go through with it and if Teaghlaigh’s adult numbers did not bolster enough for them to support pups hanging in the air. It felt a little too soon for gratitude, but Arturo did not make mention of his thoughts upon this. He accepted it quietly, but with the severity he thought the situation called for. At the very least: he had set the condition and issued the warning far in advance so that if the worst were to come to bear it could not come back to him as an accusation and could not be twisted into a misunderstanding or cry of unfairness. ”Enjoy your trip.” Arturo offered the man sincerely with a twitch of his lips, not quite enough to form a smile upon terse and stern lips but it was certainly a ghost of one. He’d never had much of a desire to wander and could not share in the desire to do so unless it was to settle business but to each their own. With all he needed to say out of the way he offered a tip of his crown to the ebon male before he parted ways with him, eager to tend to his beloved.

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