Bearclaw Valley could wrap up the sun, and protect the girls
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Ooc — Lauren
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#1
All Welcome 
AW, and any ursus wolf welcome <3

merrick had collected a unique cast of characters for himself. astara had taken note of each of them from a distance, but had yet to meet many of them on her own. she preferred it this way -- merrick had always been her mouthpiece, the social one -- and she had always been the black dog in the cage, dragged out on parade when words simply wouldn't do.

skulking along the castle pines, astara found little evidence of her bear or any other packmate that morning. a misty fog rolled in from the claw's entrance, and interest piqued, the nightshade trawled her way there in leisurely, unhurried steps.

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Ooc — ebony
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#2
pregnant.
merrick watched his feline companion move toward the breath of mist rolling between them.
he had left all of bearclaw behind when he had parted ways with evien, departing for a night to conceptualize the great changes that threatened ursus in its infancy.
lips curled; he appeared from the fog like a sneering wraith, thrusting his face near her own.
"heard something funny. wanna hear?"
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Ooc — Lauren
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#3
out from that roiling gloom came merrick's sulking form, his eye burning dark and a sneer contorted across his features.

the nightshade paused. sniffed. an ear flicked as she caught the scent of their packmates -- his packmates. again came the whisperings of insecurity, of jealousy, as she roved her melonii gaze affectionately over her blackbear.

what was so funny? what could make him agitated so?

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Ooc — ebony
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#4
love in the hard gemlike cut of her eyes. merrick was caught off-guard briefly; his teeth flashed in a mirthless grin.
"i'm told we're going to be parents."
merrick, vengeful.
merrick, bracing himself for astara's headlong shift into motherhood, into indra. how long before she too abandoned them.
"i'm going to kill them as soon as they're born. don't try to stop me," he warned. the blackbird was his. she had always belonged to him. the maggots growing in her gut changed nothing.
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Ooc — Lauren
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#5
parents.

astara received the news with a desultory cant of one ear.

in most sentient beings, that kind of news might make everything grind to a sudden halt. in astara, a being who lived solely in the now, the news barely caused a ripple along the surface of her dark eyes.

merrick.

hers.

not her children's, not evien's, not ursus'.

hers.

she reached for him with a growl, uncaring of the what-ifs-then. for in the now, he was here. where it mattered.

where he belonged.

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Ooc — ebony
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#6
astara was unmoved, and merrick was filled with the shock of her undying loyalty, even in the face of such surging, shifting sands. the veil of anger fell from his single eye; he whimpered in his throat and went to her at once, butting roughly along face and throat and shoulders, sinking to the fogbound earth and drawing her with him.
merrick buried his face in her swelling flank and moaned a low, anguished sound, sobs cutting through the inhale as his forelegs tightened around the crowbird and tears thickened his throat with some unknowable, nameless thing.
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she had not thought much of the life stirring within her belly. she would not think much of it at all, until the day came that they parted from her.

for now, her focus was merrick

she was never meant to be a mother, a child-rearer -- merrick pulled her down alongside him, keening into the softness of her darkened ruff.

she simply remained there, immovable yet puzzled by the nameless demons that plagued her bear.

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Ooc — ebony
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#8
she could never hope to drive out all of them. merrick shifted against astara, nuzzling into the warm curve of her body as his own began to respond. 
but it was not to her feminity that he was drawn;
— he felt his heart curl, charred at the edges —
it was for the knowledge that she would soon change and fade from hard raven to 
merrick drew a shaking breath, nipping toward her belly with a soft growl.
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#9
no such thoughts of terrifying nature hounded the blackbird. she responded in kind, teeth raking her bear's brilliant sunset ruff. the life stirring under her belly seemed inconsequential, and she knew not of what lied ahead.

she leapt, spurred by his nip along her flank. tail arced proudly, the nightshade drove a nip along his thin wrist and then spun her hips towards him in an affectionate hip-check.

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Ooc — ebony
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#10
they connected with his jawline; merrick dramatically sprawled in the mist. all thoughts of earlier anger was gone. there remained only he and astara, eternal pair to the night and the darkness, lucifer and crowley.
he jumped up and bounded for her, laughing, laughing, for she was the blood in his veins and the air in his chest.
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#11
for a time, astara forgot the dark jealousy that had crept into their lives.

when merrick's attention was turned upon her it was like the sun's joyous light dappling a terrible place --

and when his attention happened to turn away, it was as if the world had turned incredibly cold, and she saw the world for what it truly was.

ugly. fragmented.

they rolled, astara's grin wide and merrick's movements easy. free of trouble, for now.

he leapt for his blackbird, but she had darted away -- flitting through the bush in an old game of chase.

»» they may promise you that the river ain't too deep. ««
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this is my book
and i know how to work the spells and charms in it
i know them all
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Ooc — ebony
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#12
fade? <3

he coursed after her trustingly, as reverent as the dog that followed ursus. his rook needed a gift, merrick decided — he would ply her with pretty things, as many as she wanted.
his spirit eternal, a piece of it ensconced for all time with bloodlike mingling of his mind and hers.
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Ooc — Lauren
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#13
<3

a burgeoning wind of change was coming for them both -- yet for now, they frolicked like colts among verdant pastures. uncaring. unaware of the cataclysm growing within astara's belly.

they played for a time, and when they both tired astara swung a paw over her bear and nipped his ear lovingly as she held him -- a tender moment suspended between years of violence and iniquity.

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