I did not fall in love; I grew into it.

It was early morning, just after sunrise, and Julooke stretched, her mouth opening wide in a yawn. Trying not to disturb Verrine, she got up quietly and headed out of the mouth of the den. The sun was shining bright on the den- it was one of the things she loved about it. In a few hours, the trees would provide shade from the hottest part of the day. The past few weeks had been an extremely happy one for Julooke. She had told Verrine she loved him, and they had become mates. It was a huge stepping stone in her life, and she was so happy to be taking it with her best friend. She had met a few males in her lifetime that were nice, but none of them had come close to Verrine. He had always been the one for her. They had also moved to a new territory, and seemed to be settling in nicely. Julooke felt a really good vibe here, and hoped the rest of her pack mates did, as well.

She made her way away from the den, her thoughts going towards the future. She was currently in heat, and talks of pups had begun between her and Verrine. It seemed they were both scared, but both wanted to be parents. Julooke wondered if every new parent felt like this- nervous, but ready to take the leap. With thoughts of being a mother roaming through her head, she casually strolled through the forest, making her way to the heart-shaped lake in the middle of the territory. She made her way to the bank, laying down so that her paws were just out of reach of the water.

This post was originally made for Horizon Ridge, but since the pack move was made right after I posted this, I changed it up a little, and had it moved to Stavanger Bay. Date for this thread is now the morning of July 8, 2014.

[size=x-small]ooc: finally replied to this, haha. not the best quality but I wanted to get something up![/size]

Surra had woken well before sunrise. Not like he had really been sleeping all that well, anyway. It had been two days since the pack hunt - since the young male realized he had feelings for one of his packmates as all hope for it was taken away. It was almost backwards - it was only a few moments after he felt the sting of realizing she was already taken that he fully admitted to himself that he had even had feelings for her in the first place. Fortunately, he hadn't been too emotionally invested. The feelings had grown and been crushed in less than a week. But it still affected his sleep, and still left a little ache in his chest when he thought about it.

So the epsilon had spent the morning trying to distract himself, attempting to catch fish in the big lake below his den. His attempts were fruitless, however, and he found that staring at the still water for too long made him remember the day he had first met Julooke and they had played in it. So after a couple hours, he couldn't take it anymore, and decided to walk around the edge of the lake. He followed it to where the bigger lake flowed into it's smaller sibling, and decided to take a look around it.

It wasn't too long before he saw an all-too familiar white form, and felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest. He froze for a moment, and the young male had to remind himself that she didn't know how he felt (as far as he knew) - and he planned to keep it that way. So, though his insides were aching, he gathered himself and approached her with a friendly chuff and a smile on his face.

She was lost in her thoughts, going to an unfamiliar place in the future. She tried to envision what it would be like to be one-half of the parental force with Verrine, and a litter of puppies surrounding them. They would be getting into all sorts of trouble, Julooke would be getting in on it so long as they weren't doing or being harmed, and Verrine would mostly likely be the enforcer. He wasn't a dictator, but Julooke couldn't see herself punishing them very much, and someone had to.

It wasn't long before a familiar form came into view. Her tail wagged in greeting, returning his smile a she turned her face up to him, Hey, Surra. How are you doing? Settling in? she asked. The last time they had met it had been at the larger lake, for a playful romp in the water. She had enjoyed his company, but didn't not realize that he had enjoyed it a little more than she had.

[size=x-small]ooc: short post, but I figured I should try to get this thread moving. <3[/size]

She seemed happy to see him - she smiled back and her tail wagged, and she spoke to him casually. "Hey, Surra. How are you doing? Settling in?" As she spoke Surra settled back on his haunches a few feet from her, feeling like his own weight was suddenly a little too heavy. "Hey," He responded softly.

"I am well." It might have been a bit of a lie. But what else was he supposed to say? That he was heartbroken? Jealous, even? He barely even knew her mate - he didn't want to harbor bad feelings towards him. But part of him couldn't help being jealous of him. "Oh yes. I don't think I ever told you - my den is actually overlooking the lake where we first met," He spoke, blue eyes looking out over the smaller lake in front of them now. He smiled fondly at the memory for a moment, then turned his eyes back to her. "And how are you this morning?"

Julooke had no idea the turmoil that was rushing through her pack mate. She was oblivious to the fact he had a crush on her, and was now heartbroken to learn she had a mate. Would he have been more so to learn they were thinking about children? He sat down a few feet from her and she gazed at him, listening, and smiled when he said his new den overlooked the lake. Oh, that's cool! Ours is close, but not that close, she added, talking of her den with Verrine. I bet it looks great during the sunrise! she exclaimed. Julooke was lucky enough to get some sun on her den entrance, but it was hard to see the whole sunrise from it.

He asked how she was. Pretty good! she said. You caught me daydreaming, she admitted. It wasn't often any more she just sat and thought about her future. Generally, she was happy to let things happen as they would instead of fantasize about what could happen. But, this was different. She had never had the opportunity to have puppies, but it might happen soon.

Julooke's use of the word "ours" stung him slightly, but he did not show it. Surra was annoyed with himself, however, for even letting it effect him that much. It's not like he had been in love with her. It was just a crush that barely formed before all hope of anything coming of it was taken away - he should be over it by now! He forced himself to smile in response to her exclamation, and simply said, "It does."

"You caught me daydreaming," She said next. Surra had recovered from the little sting, and tilted his head in curiosity. This was a chance to talk about something else, something that didn't involve her mate - or so he thought. "Daydreaming," Surra mused, and he slowly lowered his chest to the ground, sitting up sphinx-like about a body length away from her. His blue eyes watched her casually. "If you don't mind me asking - what about?"

She watched as he got comfortable a short ways from her, asking her what she was daydreaming about. She smiled shyly. She hadn't mentioned to anyone she and Verrine were thinking about pups, though she had already attained permission from Ragnar. Pups, she said, letting him in on her secret. Verrine and I are thinking about having children, and I was just imaging what it might be like if we did. She could really only guess at this point what their lives would be like with little ones running around since both would be new at parenting. Would she be chill and let them get away with certain things? Would he be more stern? Or, would it be the other way around? Maybe they could find a happy medium, where each does their fair share of disciplining.

"Pups," Julooke replied to his question with a shy smile. Surra nearly choked on his own breath. It took every ounce of willpower to keep his expression neutral and keep himself from standing up and walking away right then and there before he lost his cool exterior. "Verrine and I are thinking about having children, and I was just imaging what it might be like if we did."

Surra forced himself to nod slowly as visions raced through his mind. He was determined to at least become friends with Julooke - he had enjoyed her company so much, that if he could not have feelings for her romantically, he could care for her as a friend. And though he never imagined nearly as far as having pups with his white-furred crush, the thought of her having pups with someone else just made his chest ache and his breath stop in his lungs. Despite the strength of his inward turmoil, he barely managed to keep his outward body language relatively neutral. Only if someone was looking for something off would they see the slight twitching of his tail tip or the tension in his shoulders that betrayed him.

"That's excellent," Surra said finally, trying to sound excited for her and smile genuinely. "I'm happy for you." And, in a way, he was. As long as she was happy... really, that was all he wanted.

Sorry this is so short! <3

It seemed to take a little while for Surra to respond, but maybe Julooke didn't have a good sense of time at the moment. Her head was still a little in the clouds from her day dreaming. She smiled at his response. Thanks, she said. Looking a little sideways at him, she asked, What about you? Do you have a special someone? She was in love, and wanted everyone else to be as happy as she was. If she had to play matchmaker to do it, she would.