The Sunspire so we share

how long had it been? 

by now, terance thought, seabreeze outta know. right? he was just sort of anxious about it. mostly because he had to tell wraen... but he only had to tell wraen if it was actually a thing. otherwise? i mean let's face it, she didn't need to know. whoops. but maybe it just felt like a long time... maybe, in reality, no time had passed since seabreeze's heat. either way, terance knew he needed to find her. 

he sought @Seabreeze out with a gift, a small chunk of deer meat pulled from the cache. it was fresh, not old and rotten like the 'gift' that titmouse had tried to give to him. his tail swung behind him, excited and nervous to see his special friend. (she was special bc sometimes she let him tap that ass, but other reasons too)

she had intended to keep it a secret until she really knew, until she had no more chance of miscarrying or something terrible happening that terminated her pregnancy.  after the showdown with the wolves from shadow mountain she had started indulging in exemplary self-care.

and yeah, she was kind of proud of herself.

she had also sought out the tall, dark man who had taken up most of her time lately (how scandalous), and they found each other with ease.

the moment she was in view, she could not help the way her tail flagged in excitement, wagging softly.  terance!  she called, her voice hysterically hopeful.

she didn't know but forrest had seemed sure.  so that meant this was it, right?

and she appeared! as seabreeze often did. she was always around when he needed her, which was more right now than ever. he greeted her silently, but with a few grand waves of his tail and a toothy smile through the piece of meat. he moved up to her and dropped the thing before her, ears flicking as his tongue swiped over his jaws. "for you-- i slaved over that too. had to go all the way to the northern cache to pick it up for you," he quipped, a small smile present on his features.

well, dinner normally came before the date, but she accepted his gift with grace.  oh, how sweet.  weary traveler, how may i assist you? she said with a grin, chuckling lightly.  she did not begin to eat yet, however.

she moved in close, becoming less shouty and more discreet.  terance, she said more forcefully, forrest came and talked to me.

she did not want to let him know it was before the incident — he did not need to worry.  my heat was not supposed to end that soon.

and that could, hopefully, only mean one thing. i don't want to get our hopes up just in case.. i miscarry.  or i fail, somehow.  but i think we did it.  and at her poor choice of words, she started to laugh.

"by eating," terance purled, tail waving as he settled on the ground. at first, the way seabreeze had so eloquently phrased her statement, terance feared she'd say something bad. but she was... smiling... so terance couldn't imagine she had any bad news.

and-- whoa-- that wasn't bad news at all. in fact-- "that's... the best news i've ever heard-- i think," he said with a dip of his head, leaning forward to nudge the side of his cheek, "we did it a few times, actually." hardy har, terance fell into a short chuckle along with her own sheepish giggle. 

 "my hopes are up anyway-- if you're gonna be all pessimistic someones gotta be optimistic. you wanted this-- right? we decided that."  terance, now at least, most certainly wanted this. his statement was phrased teasingly, but he was serious. he was kinda upset she was so wary to say anything definite... just enjoy the moment, right? even if it was gone tomorrow. despite a lifetime of misgivings-- injuries and loss and heartbreak, terance was osprey's son, after all. the bright side of things was never hard for him to find.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f27zNlmRMWU

she couldn't eat, she was too excited!  maybe they could build a puppy cache for the mothers of sunspire — olive (did terance know?) and liffey (when she was ready).  for now she'd hold onto it; maybe she'd be able to eat soon.

oh my god, shut up she teased, his reaction being maybe the best news she had ever heard.

of course, always.  i've wanted this all season.  i was afraid i wouldn't cycle, but i thought it wouldn't matter. because it was supposed to be mato's children she was carrying, or because she and zada would have found a donor to start their family.  and then you happened.  it was meant kindly and mostly in jest, accompanied by a knowing wink.

she had a split second to reflect on what a weird arrangement this was — they weren't a thing but they also weren't not a thing.  she loved it.  it seemed like all of a sudden her life had become a whirlwind of emotion, and most of them revolved around terance and her lost lovers.

but with the recent turn of events, she wouldn't have it any other way.  sorry!  it's just so early.  but i can be optimistic, too.  she could try, anyway.  do you have.. names?  oh my god, what is your last name?  she broke out into laughter — having babies with a man, and she didn't even know his last name!

[/align][/narrow][/small]

it was actually news to him that females weren't like...guaranteed to cycle. sunspire was mostly female and terance was truthfully expecting to have to lock them all up together in a cave for a month or whatever. he was glad she had cycled-- honestly. but he wouldn't voice all that mess to her... might've come off weird. 

he smirked, brow knitting as he feigned a 'how dare you' expression. "you've got just as many toes in as i do, ma'am, you're not completely innocent." after all, it was her who begged for sparring practice in the middle of her heat. terance had thought about it later on, once he was far enough away from her heat, and realized that that was actually a very good way to seduce him. he entirely thought that that was her intention... not that he minded. good for her. 

the raven-furred male snorted, a chuckle following. "i should probably tell you all about me, shouldn't i?" he said with a short roll of his shoulders to think, and then continued "terance redleaf-disarrino... after my mom, osprey redleaf-disarrino. my dad's name is dante, have two littermate, wraen and sarah. three little siblings back with my parents-- cassie, cori, and maia. they live down south somewhere, too far for a day trip. i think i'm related to half of redhawk caldera, i learned, but i also decided i hate them all. wraen doesn't though, so they might not actually be that bad." mmmm. that was a good mouthful of important information, he thought. what a family man terance was. it was only then, too, that terance realized he... actually? kind of did have a name preference, he shifted a bit. 

"i've never... uh, picked names? before. but, my sister and my mom and my grandmother are all named after birds. if we have a girl... do you think...?" he trailed off, but the question was probably apparent.

oh, ho, ho, she mock-laughed with a snort, i didn't mean it in a bad way, mister tall dark and handsome.  it was a weird way of deflection — she knew somewhere deep down that she had grown too close and gotten feelings involved when all he'd probably been after was a good lay, and now she had to keep him at a joking arm's length to protect both terance and herself.  it wasn't fair to either of them, she reminded herself, when they were both so helplessly in love with another.

still.

she turned her eyes up to him, taking in his entire life story.  he had such a big family!  she wished she had something to offer him, like.. siblings or something.  but no, she was just a dumb amnesiac with like, nothing other than sunspire.  not that sunspire was bad.. she just wished for more sometimes.

really?  not once have you ever picked a name for one of your many children? she returned jokingly.  of course we can.  i'm not very versed in birds, though.

she hums, reaching back.  you'd have to pick that one.  but i'd like.. if we can have middle names, too?  something mythical.. or something to do with the ocean.  she rolled her shoulders.  there's no rush.  we can think on it.

terance grinned, a smirky-grin still, his pearly teeth glinting. "so you think i'm handsome?" he purled, tail tapping against the ground. he knew she thought that already... and she knew he thought she was beautiful too-- he hoped anyway, he didn't feel like it needed to be vocalized, so surely she knew it. right?

he almost misheard what she said-- almost coming back with a 'well what names do you have?' but when he realized what she had actually said, his nose scrunched and he gave her a roll of his eyes. "all my nonexistent kids with all my nonexistent partners from all my nonexistent sex?" he said to clarify, jokingly, then added, "no, never named a single one of those guys." terance was versed... kinda... in birds? that's a weird thing to be versed in. "i'll come up with something," he assured her. and he would. actually, he'd ask wraen. 

"we'll think on it," he agreed, but he liked the idea of something with the ocean. he wondered if he could name one after donnelaith... did he want to? maybe he didn't care that much about the sequoias. 

he then hesitated, wanting to ask a question but remembering something she'd told him previously that... maybe would make his question insensitive. he tried something else. "you don't... remember your family, do you?" he asked softly, ears flicking forward with concern.

ohohoho, boy.  she batted her lashes, staring up at him before she broke into near uncontrollable laughter.  tall and dark too, in case you missed it.  who was this girl, she wondered, so confident!  so suave!

yes, all of those children.  how sad they must be out there with no names...  she pushed out her bottom lip, ears flattening before she dropped the teasing.  she didn't know how much was too much, but considering they were talking about their possible children.  probable children.  oh!  

and then with ihs final question, she fell visibly.  she was, of course, not offended.  he had just offered her his entire life story and she figured that she would be expected to follow up with her own.  but really she had nothing to offer him.  no, she admitted with a roll of her shoulders, i had a brother come visit me here in the teekons, but i'm not sure if he's even still here.  he didn't like me very much anyway, it seemed.  and it was probably best that his memory was left at that — nobody had ever found mattias' body and surely it would have crushed seabreeze to know that her only surviving ilk had met his untimely demise at the jaws of a murderer.

c'est la vie.

in a funky headspace, terance's only quip was a soft growl. "oh, shut up," he grumbled playfully, and then he moved forward to put his head above hers, pressing himself close to her. he just wanted to be close to her. not in any specific way just, zues he was just so happy. he shifted to press his nose to the base of her ear, silent for a few moments before pulling back to look at her. he didn't have words to describe how he felt, so he kept quiet, but his gaze searched her face for quite some time. there was something there, maybe she could see it. 

to her next comment, terance merely shrugged. "his loss," he said. and it was. after a short pause, terance gave her a small smirk. "you know i'll bet wraen will try to adopt you as a sister of some sort, no escaping that. she plays the part well though," he told her, and that was true-- he was sure of it. he just couldn't see wraen not wanting a part of seabreeze or their children's lives.

something passed in the silence between them that she could feel.  it was strange to know she felt this way and yet at the same time be either unready or unwilling to give herself to him fully.  maybe eventually she would breach it with him, but she knew that now was not the time.  his touch still made her heart hammer in her throat and the blood rush to the tips of her ears.  

really? she asked with more than just a touch of excitement.  to think that terance's family would want her in it was baffling and enthralling.  i'd love that.  i'm glad she's a good sister to you.  he at least deserved that much.  i'll have to meet her soon.

she hummed, thinking about their little family.  i'll wait to tell anyone until you've told her.

his tail tapped gently against the ground, ears pricked and cupped forward. "totally," he said gently with a slight nod. at least, he couldn't imagine wraen not doing so. seabreeze's next comment let a weight fall off his shoulders-- one he didn't even know was there. he wasn't going to ask her to do so but... now that she'd mentioned it, terance realized he really appreicated that. he let out a soft breathe of relief. "thank you... i'll talk to her as soon as possible... that means a lot, seabreeze," he said with a slight dip of his nose.

n'aww, how cute.  they were going to be a fambly, and their children were going to have the best aunt ever.  she could not help the way she pictured them all frolicking in sunspire's grasses together.  of course, she said, touching her nose to his cheek.  no rush.