"You!"

Wren's fur prickled along her spine as she drew close to Mercury. It was a polite spring day, one of the first for Boreas, but she was making it anything but polite for him. Her leg was healing well, so she applied pressure to make her lumber to him. Tried to make herself seem intimidating to the young man as she more or less puffed up with annoyance. She looked like a very big weasel, screeching bloody murder.

"Don't huff at me!" she snapped, recalling their previous interaction "d-don't huff at me while I'm trying to tell you things!" Wren had done a terrible job at it, and it always would be a bad idea to express herself but she had tried her hardest. Instead, he huffed at her. Amused. She didn't know what to think, so she stewed on it until she mustered the courage to approach him.

"Am I funny to you?" she growled, shoving her face into his general vicinity "I tried... real hard" her voice broke, stuttered a bit despite the tough façade "but you just laughed at me, Merc!" Okay, he really hadn't laughed openly. She carried on, not caring who saw. But then again, the Cove was void except for them. She had picked a good time. Nobody else was around. Nobody could see her annoyance.

"I'm not the best at it, I admit" she added "but I didn't expect you to be all Mister Tall Dark and Brooding with a splash of Sarcasm!" Wren grunts, turning away from him as she pivoted "it hurt" She had walked back in near silence, stewing in her thoughts and parted from him to find a healer "don't laugh at me when I'm trying to tell you what I think and feel!"

"Speech"

Mercury was slowing his gait, completing his morning run when he saw the form of Wren. He paused, turning to her when she spoke. Her voice was surprisingly accusatory. He came to a complete stop and blinked at her. It was clear he had no idea what she was on about. “Tell me… what?” he asked. Keeping his voice niiiice and calm for the crazy lady.

“Are you drunk?” he asked, leaning forward to sniff her breath as she accused him of laughing at her. Her voice got a little wobbly as she admitted how hard she was trying. She had to be drunk, surely? He wasn’t sure he had ever seen her lose control like this. Had the healer given her something strong, perhaps? “Hey, hey, it’s alright. Why don’t we take a seat on the nice beach, and you can tell me all about it?” he asked, eyeing her with concern.


"Speech"

"Y-You..."

He totally forgot all about it.

Wren felt her head drop, drooping down like she was holding a broken stick. The shock on her face was enough to perhaps concern others, mouth open and her cheeks burning. Oh boy, she had to power through this. She really did, or else he'd keep pestering her about it later. That wasn't a topic she needed to get into later.

"I'm not drunk!" she protested "and I'm not sitting down!" her rump wiggled in protest "damn it, you laughed at me when I was... trying to tell you how I feel. Back at the Gorge" Maybe alcohol would be a good idea at the moment but no - she needed to be sane "I told you and you laughed at me."

But she didn't explain, did she?

"I didn't exactly tell you everything" Wren bit her lip "I'm not good at expressing shit like this, Merc." But he didn't have a clue. He didn't have a clue about what she meant by 'I'm a woman too, you dumb shit!' sorta... She was jealous of the pack. There, she thought it. She was jealous and worried about her own ideas.

He said he'd walk with her, regardless of the pack. What did he mean by that? She wanted, no, demanded to know. She huffed, growling through her lips. "You came in here like you came back to life" Wren grunted "I thought you were dead" Yes, yes, yes he heard this already! "I thought I'd never see you again."

And then.

"I fucking should not say anything. We're friends, and I know that shit complicates things. But then you hug me and compliment me and joke with me... Scared when I do dumb shit. I dunno! What am I to you, Merc? Cause you're confusing the shit out of me." She lashed her tail, glaring up at him.

"You can't just hug me, ask for a smooch so casually and just... play with me. I can't... handle it. You're a grown-ass man now. You'll give others the wrong opinion. You're giving me the wrong opinion."

"Speech"

He slowly blinked at her, before finally understanding what she was referring to. Her reaction was… surprising to say the least. How long had she stewed on it, how had she let it affect her cool? ‘If I huffed, it was at the thought that I could only be here because of the pack. I told you that wasn’t the case” He said, but she wasn’t done.

She went on, giving him a portion of her heart. Her desire to know what she meant to him, and implying… implying she had some feelings of her own. He sighed. Maybe she didn’t want to sit on the nice sand, but now he did.

He seated his rump before her, lowering his head a little so he didn’t tower above her. He was surprised she would pull this so easily into the open. They were the both of them hurting, and he knew it. Was she clinging to him because he was something familiar, something safe? “You are my only friend in this world, and all I have left of my past. Losing you would… would break my soul in two. Is that because I have feelings for you, or because I’m clinging to all I have left? I don’t know. I know that when I look at you, I see hope.” He shook his head then, his words falling short. He didn’t want to promise her something when he didn’t know the answer himself. He didn’t think either of them could take the hurt.


"Speech"

"I'm not clinging to you because you're all I have left" she told him bluntly, as if she could read his thoughts. Maybe it was time to admit some things. He sat and she sat down too, feeling her rear hit the sand "I want to forget about that place" she said honestly "I got hurt too many times there. I lost my best friend - he was murdered. We never found the wolf responsible. I fought with him before he went missing. I regret it." A lot. Too much to count.

And then. "My alpha left, but you know that. But you didn't know... I felt for him, Mercury. I had feelings for him, for a long long time. He tossed me aside like I was trash" Wren resisted the tickle of tears in her eyes, soldiering on "I didn't want to cling to anything there!" She had decided before he showed up to leave that part behind her "and I know it's different than being happy to see you, to hang out again" I'm not stupid. "I shouldn't want any part of that place. I don't put up with you cause you're from there. I want this 'cause you're you."

But.

"It's fine if you don't. I just... if you don't want me and if you don't want to try... Stop. With the confusing shit. You'll end up breaking my heart" It was fine to be affectionate, but what if she actually fell for him? This was just a little crush right now, seeing him grown and handsome and a decent wolf. He was definitely her type; hardworking and a jokester. "and if I fell for you, I couldn't take not having you to myself." Wren frowned, looking at the ground.

She had been burned too many times with 'love'. She thought she liked her best friend, but he didn't understand her. Her alpha was her close friend and nothing more in the end. Mercury... They say the third time's the charm. She could take him not liking her back, but... Even he had to know his actions had been confusing her.

"Speech"

Wren it seemed had her feelings straightened out. She understood what she’d had and what she wanted. He wondered at what it would be like for things to be so simple. For Merc, he was haunted with the memory of his crew dying. One by one, as he failed to save them. Of seeing their homeland, burning beneath a volcano. That absolute despair of knowing your entire family was dead.

The joy of finding a familiar face in a new world. That surge of protective need. He wanted her. He wanted to pull her close and protect her. But would that intense, desperate feeling fade in him. Was it love, or need? ‘I’m sorry for all your losses” he said, knowing how it felt to lose people that mattered to you. ‘It was never my intention to lead you on, and for that I’m sorry.” the dire wolf shifted his paws once, then fell still again. Letting the warm black sand sift through his fur. “I don’t know what I’m feeling. It’s hard to… to put it into words” he admitted. “You stand for everything I’ve lost, and I’m terrified of losing it again. Is that love? I don’t know.”


"Speech"

"It's okay."

She didn't expect an easy answer from him. Men could be... complicated. Women could be complicated. Hell, she was complicated. Wren frowned softly, trying not to feel disappointed. It was hard. Maybe it had been all in her head. Maybe she just imagined it, Mercury's actual affection for her. Maybe she was doomed to be alone.

"You don't... have to do anything" Wren added "I just... needed to tell you. I don't know what I expected" Certainly not the crushing disappointment, embarrassment, and need to run far far away! "maybe I shouldn't have expected anything." She fleetingly smiled through her pain, trying to move past the situation and bitterly failing.

He didn't say he was willing to try. He didn't say anything, really. For that, Wren assumed he didn't want to. He didn't have deeper feelings outside of friendship. She shouldn't have said anything. Not to him, for sure. She should have expected him to just be her friend. Nothing more.

"Speech"

Mercury looked at Wren with some frustration and worry. He knew he had gone wrong somewhere with her. He could hear it in the two words she uttered his way. He had hurt her, despite his best efforts not to. He tried to find some concession he could make to ease things between them.

“For me, it's too fresh. Every lost soul, the destruction of my life… everythings gone off its rails. I feel like I could wake up tomorrow and lose everything all over again. I don’t know what I want, Wren. But I do know that when I see your face, so much of that fear is washed away. I want to be by your side. I want to protect you. Just… give me some time for the rest. Please?” He said at last. His blue eyes were soft and sad as they looked at her. Despite his gentle nature and humour, there was a lot inside of him that was hurting.


"Speech"

"I" don't need you to protect me! "can't say I get it. I want to, but I don't" She admitted this bitterly, pinning her ears back against her skull "I've been in war with Asteria, with the invaders from the south. Twice. I almost died once, protecting my pack. I lost things too. I lost my parents too. My friends. So, I can shrug it off and smile but I'm not gonna." She bit back a sigh, her tone sharp but miserable. She refused to look at him, knowing she'd either get pissed again or just really sad.

"I wanna live in the moment, knowing it could be the last" she confessed "because it always can. Be it a grizzly bear, a volcano, or another wolf. I'm not going to hide under a rock and wait for opportunities to pass me by" Wren jerked her head away from Mercury, rising to all fours. She huffed quietly, wishing she had the courage to scream and cry and yell. But she just felt terribly tired "and just because you... Whatever. I'm not a petty woman."

If the pack is what he concerned himself with the most - no. She shouldn't head down that hole. "I get it" she withheld a laugh "you don't want me in that way. So, I won't bring it up again. You won't even try... take it slow... Yeah. I... gotta go." She blundered through the last part, feeling the sting of annoyance. Wren abruptly left him there, sitting and stewing with his memories.

She had memories too, but she chose to ignore them and focus on what she had to. /exit

"Speech"

His frustration only grew, and he wondered at the jarring differences between them. Despite a friendship in their youth, there was little they truly knew about each other. He wasn’t willing to give her what she wanted. Not yet, not right now. She wasn’t willing to understand the burning hurt he hid behind his smile. He wondered if this tug of war might yet break them, and shook his head sadly. He moved carefully around the words of how much he cared about her, and she refused to hear beyond the perceived rejection.

Did he want a mate that refused to look beneath the surface? That couldn’t see he wanted to wait because - unlike her - he hadn’t had a chance to come to terms with his losses? He didn’t know. Truly. But it brought emphasis to his desire to give them time. He watched as she got to her paws, and left him there.

He waited until she was out of view, before walking to the edge of the sand. Where the chilling water lapped at the tips of his toes. Where he could look out at the horizon, and think of his little sisters, his brash brothers. His stern father, and the mother who had always tried to hold her little ones close. He tried so hard not to think of them, but with his heart heavy in his chest he knew how badly he would have wanted their guidance.


"Speech"