Redtail Rise don't surrender

maybe any of the kiddos?

In his jaws hung a fish, plucked from the stream and intended for @Lilia.

He feared she may remain thin for some time and with that came the fear of the creeping colder months. That she might perish with or without his help either way. Yet still he had ended up caring for her grateful — and as such he tried to leave her alone as little as possible.

Although he had noticed a mingle of scents in the times he returned. Those of the other growing children. He wondered what they made of her, what she made of them.

Perhaps he could find one of them today and bring them along on his return.

they'd had a mostly wordless connection since their night in the river. so cold, yet feverish. a desperate yearning; things unsaid, and perhaps never would be said.

but a connection, nonetheless.

now, they near the water again. a fish, dripping in his mouth. she gives him a pleased look at the sight and trots toward him, rearing slightly up upon her hind legs to nuzzle the crown of his head.

well 'dhone, Avicus offers, giving the fish a little nudge too, savoring the smell of it.

but there were others that needed to eat long before herself. nine children, for starters. she truly couldn't believe it at times.

their own little burgeoning army.

ren'dhevous? she asks, cocking her head, inquiring as to where he's headed—and perhaps if she could join him?

It was not that he did not wish to speak to her. Far from that, truthfully. He had simply leaned into more of the physical aspects. The familiar things that kept them connected to one another.

He never forgot any moment with her.

Yet he wondered now if she came to him for something in particular. That burning desire in his gut that he fueled only with his own ego.

Briefly, he set the fish down.

The girl. Lilia.

He informed her softly. Something in his voice offered the chance for her to say no. That she may dictate if the girl was fed from this fish first or not.

I think she can be a good hunter — maybe a warrior with how she defies death.

he speaks of the wayward girl that had graced their borders, and she nods, though the embers of jealousy lay low but hot in her gut. he ought to be nurturing her children, totally, completely—

but he does, of course. she knows he does. and any competition is of course imagined. . .

will needha' be, here, she responds. you 'hhrain her?

die, embers, die! she ought to devour any rivals to her darlings, but the rational part of her brain wins out, and hopes for more hunters and fighters for her pack. their pack.

Of course. He offered with a firm nod.

She seems eager to be moving once more. She'll learn everything in no time. He said this knowing there would be no other way. If she did not learn, she would not survive.

Such would be the way of Rise.

Yet he wished to know about Avicus, what kept her busy these days. Although he imagined he could guess all the answers and so perhaps he should not ask.

So his posture loosened some, freeing and open. Casual spars to bond were not such a foreign concept among the Rise. He only wished to see if she wanted to engage first.

it doesn't take long. she rounds upon him, but not altogether friendly.

where 'hhee come from? she demands, brows knitted tight at the center of her forehead. her eyes are hard and cold, watching him. where you fine' her?

jealousy was beginning to pour from her maw like lava from a volcano, and as much as she tried to hold it back, the more it spilled over.

jealousy, distrust.

her teeth were bared, and showed faintly beneath slightly lifted lips, gleaming in the faint autumn light.

Dancing with Avicus would always be dangerous.

He had come to learn this. His entrance, the river, and now.

She was on our borders. His hackles a gentle prickle, tail swaying with the alertness of his danger. He wants to nip at her. To tangle with the danger.

He knows better.

Dying, presumably. Should I have finished it?

It's ugly.

It's their life.

she was on our borders.

obviously. his next phrase rankles her considerably, and she snaps back, no.

the two of them stare at each other for a while.

she lets her teeth relax from their gritted state, and shifts slightly, exhaling with a loud sigh. 

i wan' her be one of ourhh', Avicus says, indigo gaze still searing into his skull.

Narrowly missing teeth. Some part of him wonders if he should be beneath them. Ivory swords as sharp as her tone.

He dared to press himself along her. Hunched so he would be lower than her height, by here all the same. If she struck then so be it.

She is.

Nobody had dared to show a face around here for her. If there was a family out there, they thought nothing of their wayward child. The girl was theirs.

He reached with a grasp that was desperate for the fluff of her chest.

she pulls back from his grasp and nips him on the top of his muzzle, sharp but not enough to break the skin. her eyes blaze.

they soften, then, as she falls back. walks toward him and seizes the bridge of his nose, if he allows—and he best do so—in her teeth.

carefully. lovingly.

she releases, steps back, and says, goodh. 'hhen have her 'hlearn all we know.

her brow raises in a semblance of character, eyes sparkling with a bit of mirth.

He lets her.

He always has, always will. Everything he had done since arriving had been for her. In her name, in her image. He was convinced that that was madness in and of itself.

Madness had no place in the Rise, yet she drove him to it all the same each time. Intoxicated.

She released him with words. His mind seemed so far away from talking, speaking, planning.

He crooned low and warm. Wishing her to stay longer with him.

she's not madness. she is life.

is life madness?

is the scattered yet structured organization of cells and organisms and food chains madness?

she presses against Prophet with teeth still bared. perhaps Lilia is the child not of their loins but of their soul. and still— does that not fly against everything biology intends?

their warmth collides, transfers, melds.

wha' you 'hhink of mine? Avicus asks, not looking toward his crimson gaze.

They have each found their strengths. They will thrive for it.

He crooned, rumbled, boiled with an unfathomable feeling that practically burned up at him.

A love.

For her, for the children that he feels are his too.

A warrior. A tracker. An ambusher.

He reached for her again.

she blooms with the utmost pride, nudging into Prophet like a cat languishing in the sun.

an' mine. all of 'em.

one day, soon, she'll worry again about Lilia usurping their rightful place.

for now, she takes heart that the Rise's youth are all as fervent and fierce as she.

fade?