Bearclaw Valley redemption so clean, discovering me

maybe indra can find out about @Laurel and @Xan? EYE.EMOJI.GIF

she came back to the den with the first kill she had secured in a while; a hapless hare that she had managed to chase off of a hawk. her muzzle sported a few laced marks from the hawk's disgruntlement with her thievery, but she had food -- which meant she was victorious. in some small way, anyway.

laurel was not in the den - curiously, indra sounded a small woof for her sister. as of late she had noticed that funny scent had lifted from laurel's frame -- but it still remained on hers. she was perplexed by the change, but it did not bother her as much as it should have. all she had in mind that morning was sharing a meal with the only person in the world that mattered to her.

Laurel'd not been feeling too well the past days, though perhaps, she thought, this was simply the side-effect of coming back from her heat and no longer possessing super powers to make everyone like her in an instant (except for Xan's ex-girlfriend, of course, because she was a weirdo so the effects must be opposite on her). When she heard the woof and smelled fresh meat Laurel was quick to find her sister. She woofed back and her tail wagged enthusiastically as she praised, "That looks delicious, well done!" She didn't praise too abundantly, of course, because that would suggest that this was a unique thing. .. Which it was, but Laurel didn't want Indra to think she brought home fresh meat so rarely that it'd be some crazy achievement to do so. She wanted her to be just proud enough.

Assuming that it was meant for sharing Laurel grabbed one of the hare's legs and started to pull at it, hoping Indra'd grab the other side so that it was easier to tear it off.

she smiled between a mouthful of hare at her sister's arrival, dipping her head in recognition of her compliment. her ears pulled submissively to her skull and she nosed towards laurel, proffering the kill with excited whines. when laurel grabbed the hare indra gave it swift tug; the carcass split wide and indra was left with the smaller portion -- exactly as intended.

 she circled around her sister and settled into the snow, propping the gruesome remains between two limbs as she hungrily gnawed at its carcass. once finished she licked her lips and looked over to laurel, waiting for her to finish before speaking. "morning."

The hare tore in two as Indra grabbed the other side, leaving Laurel the biggest part of it. It'd always been that way for as long as she remembered and Laurel contently settled on the ground and pulled her part of the food close, starting to eat. Fresh food tasted great, and Laurel contently ate her part of the food that Indra'd brought in; it tasted even better knowing that Indra had hunted it herself, for her taste was fuelled by pride this time.

When she finished eating Laurel licked her lips. She chuckled when Indra said 'morning', as if the time they'd spent eating was moot and not part of the morning; and because it made her realise she had barely greeted Indra before circling in on the food. "Have you seen dumb girl lately?" Laurel asked her sister. "I found Blondine in a panic looking for her, because apparently she'd run away... again. Meanwhile, I have been working on Xan." Laurel grinned triumphantly and meaningfully at her sister. Hopefully she would have equally successful stories.

indra drew a tongue across her paw as she awaited laurel's response. her ears cupped forward attentively as she mentioned the dumb girl -- even without a name, indra knew exactly who laurel was referring to. she shook her head silently in a 'no' gesture.

her ears were just as quick to fold back in distaste as laurel mentioned blondine had been looking for her. indra had relished the mute wolf's absence -- celebrated it even -- she pouted at the news blondine had devised a search party to end it. in her friend's defense, she did not know of the altercation between the sisters and the silenced wolf -- perhaps had she known, she would have let the girl leave without electing to seek answers on her disappearance.

indra reflexively returned laurel's grin with a smile of her own, though she mused quietly on how xan had interacted with her last. "have you?" there was time yet for xan to turn his ship around before it sank -- maybe laurel had finally gotten through to him that the dumb girl was not worth pursuing. indra was truly excited for her sister -- laurel was a much more convincing person than she was, and it sounded like she had finally put her foot in the door in a way that would benefit the both of them. "what'd he say? what did you do? what should i do? he doesn't seem to like me much."

Indra seemed excited for her achievements, though she didn't know what'd happened yet. Luckily she had had no further altercations with dumb girl, though Laurel still didn't feel comfortable. No doubt she would return after running away and everyone would rejoice because apparently running away worked when someone else did that. Though she doubted that anyone'd ever missed Laurel after she had run from Golden Glade, just like how they hadn't missed Indra when she'd gone... No one except Laurel had looked for her sister then.

Turning back to the subject at hand of Xan, Laurel smirked and triumphantly said: "We did the thing." Surely Indra knew what the thing was. Laurel didn't want to say it out loud because it was still a bit of a dirty word, but considering everything they'd been busy with these past weeks, surely she knew what Laurel meant. "Xan likes you, he's just dumb." Like most guys were, really. "He's just a dummy who doesn't know what to say and how to say things. I don't know if he likes us. But he liked me then, and he said he didn't want us to leave." A little white lie, perhaps, to include Indra in the equation there, but Laurel didn't think it could hurt. If anything, he wouldn't want Indra to leave because that'd mean Laurel'd leave. Which, to Laurel, seemed like the perfect premonition to leave at some point. That'd teach him.

we did the thing. indra looked at her sister's muzzle, tracing the lines of her smirk with a somewhat perplexed expression. both ears airplaned. her muzzle wrinkled.

and then she realized the meaning -- the connotation -- behind the thing. her mouth formed in a small ring of surprise, and her ears slowly cupped forward in disbelief. she tilted her head sideways and looked plainly upon laurel's features, trying to disseminate if laurel was being facetious or not.

it was unmistakable; her sister wore a cloak of pride plain as day. indra's muzzle split into a grin and she lowered her head, looking shiftily about them as if sharing a secret. "what? really?" all talk about xan liking her was forgotten in light of this earth-shattering news. "what... what was it like?"

right now, indra's feelings were mixed. she felt a sense of accomplishment for laurel, a sense of pride -- but part of her, a very small, almost insignificant part of her stirred sadly -- why hadn't she been good enough for xan too?

The look of surprise on Indra's face was priceless. Laurel grinned proudly, knowing it was quite an achievement. She was sure that Indra could manage such things, too, but she was more timid at times and that made it harder. In short, she was really just too good a soul, and overthought stuff rather than simply running with the moment. She seemed so surprised, like it was something she would never be able to do, but Laurel knew that was untrue. Indra was a goddess too, she just didn't always realise it. But Laurel'd seen the way some boys would look at her.

"Yep!" For now Laurel focussed on the present, deciding there was plenty of time to pamper Indra later. "It was pretty great. Kinda like.. magical, almost." Laurel wasn't dumb; she didn't think that this would instantly erase all of his thoughts of the other girl, but it was a good start, at least. "It just sort of happened, I guess. I was just ignoring him and telling him that he shouldn't listen to girls that ran away all the time, and jokingly ran away, and we started to play and then... it happened."

indra listened, observing the preening way laurel seemed to heighten. she grinned, genuinely happy for her sibling. laurel said it had been great -- indra wanted to pipe up and say 'how? in what way?' -- she worked her heavy tongue over, trying to formulate questions that might elicit clear recountings of laurel's tryst with the alpha male.

indra thought back on her own play with xan - interrupted by reigi and laurel's arrival. the difference was the mute wolf had not come, nor had indra -- and laurel had managed to secure the male's attention all for herself. good. indra thought vindictively, her lips curled back momentarily to reveal her thoughts. but laurel had gotten xan -- that counted for something, right?

"did it hurt? what did it feel like?" she nosed along laurel's neck, xan's scent light on her pelt. "where's he now?"

Laurel would've loved to have had Indra there, and shared that moment with her. It seemed only right, but she hadn't been there and there hadn't been time. Everything had moved so fast all of a sudden, it was hard to place it all. Laurel couldn't quite tell if her sister was happy for her sticking it to the dumb girl, or if she was feeling a little left out, but as was in her nature Laurel decided to place it in the former category.

"Of course it didn't hurt," Laurel said with a laugh. This hadn't been her first time, though it had been some time ago (since at some point she'd realised that she could also get things from boys without having to do anything in return if she played it well enough). "It felt really good and nice... Kind of like when you cuddle up in a den after being out on a cold day, but more so." It was really hard to put words to it. As for her last question, Laurel shrugged. "I haven't seen him since, actually..."

her russet ears swept forward as laurel described how it felt. interest rimmed the bright amber of her gaze as she looked from laurel to the snow, considering her words. she did not share her sister's experience and examined her paws somewhat ashamedly. the expression was shortlived as laurel mentioned she had not seen xan since.

resentfully, indra assumed it was because he was fluttering around that wolf like a dumb, lovestruck robin, tittering and hopping like some love-sick dullard. a huff announced her indignant displeasure.

"he better not go back to her." indra growled, a coldness seeping into her warmly colored features.

Laurel had not given it much thought that she hadn't seen Xan around much, but Indra knew exactly where the most painful buttons were. She was beginning to fret now that he had, indeed, gone back to the dumb girl and that he hadn't given Laurel a second thought. That wasn't how the game was supposed to be played.. If anyone did the deserting, then it should be her.

There was insecurity thrumming in Laurel's heart but she didn't want Indra to see how she was feeling. She gave a light-hearted shrug and then decided: "I'm not gonna sit around and mope over someone so insignificant." She knew that it wasn't really true, because she did care and she did want to believe that Xan wouldn't go back to the dumb girl after having been with her. "If he doesn't know to stick around a real woman and runs back to her, that's his own shitty mistake." No matter how much she wanted to believe he would not, Laurel knew in her heart that he would do exactly what she just described. She just needed to make sure it was not her heart squashed in the process, needed to remind herself first and foremost of the words she had just spoken. He was just a no-good loser that reminded her of her father — he wasn't worth her cares.

indra knew that laurel was right, but it didn't stop the thick resentment that started to smokily choke her heart. so xan wasn't any better than reek; porking women indiscriminately, ruining lives (and creating a mess of lives) in the process. a dark scowl fell across her features as she thought of their future here: a future with puppies.

indra admired her sister's resilience - it was resilience the redleaf girl had never had. instead, she just had bitterness -- and she silently set upon it herself to Admonish xan later for his selfish actions. he had sprung life in laurel's belly - life that neither of them were ready or equipped to deal with and that prospect more than anything terrified her.

what if they ended up having lives like laurel and indra had? her heart broke at the thought. no. she wouldn't allow this. she would talk to xan tomorrow, and make him swear his fidelity to laurel, swear his involvement with the puppies -- it was not right for them to grow up in a fractured family the way the redleaf girls had.

"if he doesn't see how much better you are than her, he isn't even worth the air that shitbag breathes." indra growled, her grouchy expression even more stormy as she thought of the mute girl and her impending puppies too. fuck them! they would use xan as a resource, and do exactly what jhala and tapat and astik had done to reek: make xan's involvement in their life miserable and scarce as hen's teeth.

haha, indra is so educated and responsible. laurel is totally oblivious to likely being pregnant :')

It hadn't even occurred to Laurel that she may be pregnant; she had done the deed before and had never gotten pregnant. She didn't realise that the secret powers of smelling delightful that she had temporarily gotten was what made her receptive to becoming pregnant. She didn't really consider any of it, perhaps because she still felt young and not at all like mom-material in age or any other way. She just wanted to be free.

Either way, for now she was free of any of those thoughts; the only dark clouds that hung above her head were the thought that Xan would run to the dumb girl and not give her another thought. Laurel didn't want that, because... It broke her game, she told herself, ignoring the deeper feelings that lay underneath.

"Yeah," she agreed, though it was clear that she was feeling absent-minded as she did so. In thoughts she was considering the stupidness of her irrelevant feelings for Xan, how she should just ditch him, laugh in his face and leave with Indra to go somewhere better. He wasn't worth her time. But the thought of leaving struck a chord that she wasn't quite willing to admit was there, and that, in turn, panicked her, made her feel trapped.

laurel's response came on absent-minded tones, but like laurel indra was deep in her own thoughts. her brow furrowed; so much has changed -- so much would change -- she hoped they could keep afloat.

she set it upon herself to maybe ask blondine (once they weren't fighting, anyway) about what all of this meant. laurel's scent had changed the way the dumb girl's had, and indra had drawn her own conclusions on the grimness of the sorry affair before them. xan better show he was better than reek.

she remained unaware of laurel's feelings, too - instead she looked only outward, perhaps one of the pensive girl's more tragic flaws. "yeah." she affirmed quietly, knowing that silence could stretch comfortably between the two of them. she nibbled briefly at a paw and set her head on her front legs, feeling her tiredness wash over her then.

wrapperoni? feel free to add another or archive it as is!

After they'd both confirmed their point of view, silence stretched between them. Laurel always found silences comfortable when with Indra. She gnawed on the empty bones of the food she'd received a bit longer as she lay down on the ground, happy just to be in Indra's company for now.

<3

indra yawned and cast her sister one last affectionate look before she settled for sleep. the silence that panned out between them was mutual and understood. they would always have each other. always. there might be wolves that walked in and out of their lives, but they were each other's constant - these content thoughts alleviated indra's worries and the girl drifted into deep and comfortable sleep while laurel sat besides her.