Arrow Lake and my words are forever, my blanket, my shiver
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#1
All Welcome 
@Aurëwen <3 tags for reference

upon returning from his expedition in the canyon, ingram was seized with desperate hunger. he first checked in on @Blodreina before taking to the lake's edge and supping long droughts from its cold well. the ice had long since melted, but the lake remained unnaturally cold -- no doubt because of the stony ridges that flanked it and kept it shielded from the rest of the world.

once his thirst had been replenished, ingram hunted among the rocky steppes, producing two lean marmots that had underestimated his speed. he set one aside, but ate the other whole. licking his chops, he watched as the rocks came alive with all manner of life once he stilled -- voles, small tundra mice, even birds flitted in and out between the shale where he had walked moments before.

collecting the unconsumed marmot, ingram was torn between delivering it to blodreina or aurewen. after several minutes of contemplation he went with aurewen -- if only on the principle she had several mouths to feed, and he had not checked in with her in a few days.

arriving at the den a little before sunset, ingram placed the marmot on the ground and ducked his head, crawling to his stomach just outside the den's perimeter. "aurewen?" he called, listening to the squeaks and chirrups within with his breath held.
i'm gonna hold a pen
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wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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#2
Save for some far-and-few hours in-between this day and the last, evening found Aurëwen had waddled from her little forage earlier this morning, fed and bathed her pups, and had been sleeping for the other entirety of today. Eyes bleary and gleaming with sleepiness, the poppy seeds she’d plucked from Mahler made her deliberate and dopey; made her heady with slumber and dreamless dreams. Essentially, an airy, warbly yawn answered Ingram’s arrival. It filmed her shuttered eyes in warm tears, and even warmer mother’s breath tousled through the peltry of her mauve-and-cream children. Drawn out in a luxurious stretch, her neck arced crescentlike, throat bared to the boughy heavens.

Aure gazed towards the bursting mouth of her thicket in this manner, scarred brow pressed into the downy earth; tail feathering rather serenely through spring growth. Winter-thin ears quivered, remembering the peal of her name; the evident and virile timbre. All Aure knew was that the voice was male, the figure inked, and it all made perfect sense to her sleep-leaden mind. Enough for that missing and loving to creep through the lethargy. Enough to lilt thickly, coyly, ”Yes, comoara?”  Drago, Isi — they would be fine, grown as they were, should she excuse herself to the thicket’s mouth... and so, she would.  ( After another rolling about, of course. kek )

When she finally rose, ivory pelt a-muss, she did so unsteadily. The silver listed to either direction, which beckoned for a slurring, lisping giggle. ”I, I will be th-thzere in a moment, dearlinnng,” voice cracking in her reassurance, both whiney command and indulging plea. He would wait, she knew it. He would, wouldn’t he?—she’d only just stood up!

Was this how it felt to stand, as a child? Marred lips parted in an unfocused, enraptured ’o’. The tip of a rosied tongue caught between needly teeth, and the mother wavered in place for several heartbeats. The corners of her mouth hinted at an irresistible smile, but resisting was something Aurëwen did well. But her warrior — no, her knight! — had called for her, and as his lady, she should properly answer him.

It began with a paw that kneaded at the evening air; but then, another great, gargantuan yawn wracked her petite body, and she pitched away into a clumsy side-trot — right fore over left, knees in, bum tucked. Another yawn coaxed her head all the way down to dainty paws, and when the plush foliage tickled at her pink nose, she squeaked sneezed with indignation.

After several more attempts of whatever walking was, Aurëwen finally pressed her way from the thicket, ears lolling and folded away, lashes drawn heavily to cheek. Only a pleased hum left her, and she made to nestle against  ( who she believed to be )  Vercingetorix, all foolish smiles and smelling of warmed milk and profound sleep. The marmot went entirely unnoticed.

[Image: giphy.gif?cid=4bf119fc5cc3d10e45362e3049...=giphy.gif]
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#3
smh u gonna get my man kilt

he wasn't waiting for long before he heard a yawn sound from the den, followed by what seemed like uneven steps approaching. rising to his limbs, ingram cast his gaze under the thicket, watching as the silvery argent crab-walked towards him in a manner suggestive and profoundly alarming.

"oh, uh --" he managed just barely, before the soft press of her fur is resting against him. he had no idea the similarity he might have shared with her companion(and might have been a bit more understanding if he did), so his brow knitted in unhappy confusion as he gently (attempting not to unbalance her in the process) stepped out from under the woman's embrace. he did his best to hide his discomfort, but wanted no part in intimacy with any woman besides blodreina.

"aurewen?"  ingram repeated again, this time his thin ears folded back behind the curve of his skull, and his gaze was searching, vexed by her forward display. "are you okay?"
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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#4
Him threading from her embrace could only mean he was still angry with her, yes? A lowing of protest stumbled after not-Verx’s retreat, and it had her wilting wilting wilting to moss and stone. So by the time that Ingram inquired of her welfare, the silver had situated herself upon her back and was gazing up at him with heavy, dozy, pearly eyes. ”Musch better, now that youuu are here,” she lilted, and promptly pawed up at the dark, looming figure. The kneading was flimsy, rabbit-soft, and much too clumsy to really touch him.

The adamant set in her jaw only refragmented, and with a pout of petulance, Aurëwen chose this moment to list onto her other side, and soon found her nose and lips smushed up against— ”Oh, you should not have! ...Wh...whassit, Berx?” Although she hadn’t an inkling of what this catch was, and though her slurring was endless, her eyes still crescented with delight. Ce mi-ai luat? she begged to know, before her words faded into another warbling, teary yawn.

The slumberous impression that Verx Verx Verx was with her, and her eyes were still doting as she looked to the obsidian male from over a shoulder. Perhaps this visit had no purpose, other than to provide dinner for her and their children — still, though. He was here, and she’d missed him by her, so she lie upon her other side again; rubbed one scarred cheek into lichens as she dared to sleepily, impishly nibble at one of Ingram’s toes.
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
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Ooc — lauren
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#5
never in ingram's life (that he remembered, anyway) had he been put in such an implacable position. he was conflicted as he glanced down at those doe-soft eyes, noticing the lilt in her speech that seemed punctuated by an unusually drowsy affectation. was she drugged? ingram could only assume she was -- or maybe she had hit her head.. but head injuries usually came with lots of blood, and he saw none on her pearly fur.

his brow knitted in a frown as she rolled onto her opposite flank, clumsily coming to grips with the marmot under her fur. "marmot," ingram supplied helplessly, his tail hung low in confusion and his ears pulled back, down into the tufts of his dark fur. "are you okay, aurewen?" he repeated again, feeling ghastly and so out of place. he nearly jumped out of his skin as she tried to nibble his feet -- eeek -- the resulting action of pulling away was far from graceful, and was exactly the kind of reaction you would expect from a cat who placed her paw on a still-hot stove. "maybe you should wait to eat that," ingram decreed, nimbly plucking the marmot from her embrace and doing his best to avoid a second bout of contact as he did so. trying his best to normalize this extremely odd situation, ingram placed the marmot on a nearby shelf of stone and turned back to aurewen with a jagged clearing of his throat. "blodreina and i found a den, it's not so far from here. i thought i would check in, and see how you and the puppies are doing.. and maybe ask you if you think there is anything i should do to make sure blodreina is comfortable?" his ears betrayed the uncertainty he felt -- he was going to be a father in a matter of weeks; it was a fact that both heightened his heart-rate in joyous excitement, and terrified him -- but more importantly, blodreina was going to be a mother -- what could he do to ease her difficulties, and make her comfortable? he assumed a woman who had gone through a similar hardship would have some answers worth hearing.
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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#6
Aurëwen’s teeth came so close to their target, but when the male’s foot flurried away, she gave a weak wriggle-and-lunge for the opposite ankle — and landed on her chin with a squeaking guffaw of sleep-addled giggles. Through the heavy, hazy veil of drowsiness, she couldn’t be exactly sure if she’d bitten Verx’s ankles before; all the same, that day of reckoning would be soon to come, and he would reckon with her... Is that how the saying went?

And then he took the marmot from her! — but all she did was squeeze her eyes shut, making the red scars writhe, and lose a grumbly whine and thwack her tail thrice upon lichens. When she opened them and peered up into that shadowy face once more, he was talking about something concerning Blodreina; a den... puppies... comfort...

Heavens, so many words!  (In actuality, they were rather few, and would’ve been easier to comprehend had she not been so sleepy. )  Her own ears feathered back, wondering if this was how others felt when she became so effusive. But it sounded as if her beloved had been tasked with something concerning his niece... but when Aure wobbled and swayed and listed up into a sit — was it Verx? Had he gotten shorter? She squinted, rubbed at her eyes, gave a cartoony shake of her head.

Yet when such an effortless task proved to be much too effortful, she gave up with a slump of shoulders. After a long, ponderous moment of thinking quite hard, she slurred, ”Hmmnn... I would say... well, just be there for hers, as you have been for mes. And perhaps start... mmm, lining her nest with feather. Mm...” Really, it felt like all the support she could give, meager as it may be, ”Oh, I am not sure! I am so... sleepy, Berx, even when I have slepts all daisy.” With that, she squinted helplessly up at the inked figure, eyes quite bleary.
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618 Posts
Ooc — mercury
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#7
Vercingetorix had been terrible in more than one respect lately, mostly that he'd been kind of an absent father. He hoped to remedy that soon, bringing along a femur from an old deer carcass that Drago and Isi could play with. As he made his way to the den, he heard voices, one familiar, one not, and his ears pitched forward.

But lost in the words was the sight of Aure, nibbling at an unfamiliar man's toes, sounding very cozy. Once more...well, not gone from the kids, but certainly not paying much attention, either. Cool.

She could have her fun, just as he would have his.

For the kids, he said gruffly as he padded up, flinging the femur toward the mouth of the den. He was in an inexplicably foul mood, his face surly as he turned to the other man. Have fun with her, he added, acid on his tongue.

He then turned to stalk off again, heedless of any commotion that may erupt behind him.
Common · Trigedasleng
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#8
what was that she kept calling him? berx? ingram shifted away from any further nudging, clearly trying to keep their conversation on what he thought should be the right track.. even though he himself was confused, because he hadn't been there at all for her... his gaze flitted as a figure shadowed the thicket, and an impossibly imposing man threaded his way through the bladed grass with a long femur tight in his jaws.

berx?

ingram nearly died when he flung the object towards them; it whirled overhead, landing with a harsh clatter by the den's mouth. he couldn't tell if it had been thrown at him deliberately, but ingram's spine chilled all the same as he felt the wind from its passing crawl up his back. what the hell was going on?

"hey," ingram called after the storming man, his ears pulled back in even more confusion as he strode after the male, who had already begun to turn his back on them. his voice had been so laden with... was it hate? what was his deal?

ingram couldn't fathom a reason for the bitterness, and stupidly assumed maybe something was amiss he wasn't privy to. "hey! what's your problem? are you her mate? hey -- wait up --" ingram did his best to catch up, and if he could, would round on vercingetorix so they were face to face. his eyes sought the male's in beseeching desperation, free of challenge. "hey man, i think she's sick or something -- she's slurring and seems really disoriented."  surely he would care, right?
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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#9
Thankfully, she’d been seated awhiles enough away from not-Verx that when the  ( quite literally )  bone-splintering sound of femur on stone clacked through the air, it drew her attention more than the actual-Verx in that moment. Ears pressed back into her ruff as she flinched — but as not-Verx hastened away, the silver wobbled to her paws, then, and gave an investigative sniff to the femur.

Pink nose remained pressed to it for a moment, brow furrowing in bewilderment above heavy eyes. Was that... Verx’s scent? Several squints and blinks followed her slow thoughts, and with an achy yawn  ( breathy enough to notice )  rose back up and seated herself right back down, staring all thoughtful at her paws. If the femur smelled like Verx... and if that voice had been his... then...

Who the hell had she been slurring to all this time? ”V-Verx?! Wh—“ What the hell—

Only half-awake, she whirled her head about wildly, eyes wide and hazy with sleep — not opiates, as one would think — for the not one, but two Verxs who had been here a moment before. Eyes landed on the greater, more hulking figure, and she rose unsteadily, about to follow—

—but kept herself near the den  ( as she ought to be )  head alit with vertigo of fatigue. The... femur had been for the children, right...? After a long lapse of jumbled thoughts, she managed to slur loud enough, ”Imssorr-y!” to the actual-Verx who’d brought it along. But she stayed rooted where she was at the thicket; near, as she ought to be, and still very much bewildered with how the evening’d turned out.
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Ooc — mercury
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#10
No luck getting away; Aure's apparent paramour came rushing after him with an explanation that made no sense at all. He turned to stare back at the man--who the fuck was he, anyway? Verx thought he'd seen him around Blodreina, but couldn't think of his name. The word sick, though, cut like a knife through his anger. It couldn't have been louder had it been given through a megaphone.

He pushed past Ingram, storming up to Aure. Are you sick? Are the kids okay? he demanded. He didn't wait for an answer, slipping past her as well to enter the den. A croon in his ruined throat, he sniffed at the two pups, trying to catch a whiff of anything foul on them. Any harbinger of death.

All seemed well, however. Whatever was going on seemed to have nothing to do with Drago and Isi, thankfully. The fear abated, replaced quickly by the anger of before. Rather than going out to face the pair of adults, he slumped down to lay by the children, a deep sigh rattling his ribs. Whatever was going on, he didn't give a shit. Just as long as these two were okay.
Common · Trigedasleng
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#11
ingram flinched a second time as the alleged berx turned around to stare him down. for a second, he thought he was surely meeting his maker and willed his legs not to shake -- but then berx was storming past him.

oh thank god, ingram thought, a smile filling his features as he watched what he anticipated would be a heartwarming scene of berx gingerly inspecting aurewen. only, there was nothing ginger about the man. like a bull, he tore past the two of them and then disappeared into the den.

ingram was rooted to the spot, glancing towards the now-not-so-close aurewen with an overwhelmed what-the-fuck look clearly on his features. what had he done? was this his fault?

"well, fuck." ingram muttered, eyes on the den where the shadows remained unbroken. berx did not resurface.

he didn't know what to do. this was all way out of his wheelhouse, and he knew it. didn't berx care about aurewen at all? or was this maybe how aurewen normally was? he didn't remember her being this air-headed when she had met him at the borders, but maybe that was because she had barely spoken at all.

"uh.. i'm gonna go." ingram announced with a tremor in his voice, his ears flat as he glanced from aurewen to the den where the very scary man had disappeared. "um," ingram shuffled, looking at the bone and the marmot before speaking up and wincing at the way his voice bounced off the stone, abrupt as the clatter of the femur bone had been in the subsequent tension. "bye, aurewen. i hope you feel better.. bye uh, berx? anyway... yeah, i should... go..." ingram trailed off, already turning around and trying to get the fudge out of there as fast as he could without betraying the fact that he was clearly leaving as quickly as his stumpy legs could take him.
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.