I Think We're Close Enough

Alastor felt most comfortable in the night. Darkness had always been his element since he was a pup, and as he matured, that fact only intensified. The brute was practically made of the dark, his ebony fur black as pitch and his eyes pupilless obsidian. It was a natural camouflage he wore well and grew a fond appreciation for. It allowed him to slip through the night undetected. Which was exactly what happened when he had been standing on patrol beside the land bridge on Alias Island. Hidden within the darkness of the tundra forest, he'd kept watch over his family and pack, keen eyes on alert for intruders. What he found instead was the form of someone sneaking off the island, a far cry from what he'd anticipated to happen. With a raised brow, the dire brute pursued from a careful distance, and only once he began to follow did he realize who it was. The mostly masked scent of heat was a dead giveaway, though it was beginning to fade as the summer marched toward its end.

He didn't know where Relm was going off to, and as an adult she had the right of autonomy, but Alastor would not have forgiven himself if he willingly let her wander off at night and something happened to her. So the brute followed, moving like a smooth and silent shadow through the darkness behind her. The master hunter's paws made barely a sound as he moved with expertise, stalking her out to the Firefly Lake. Under the near full moon, the lake appeared as a sheet of silver, with glowing green fireflies all over the place. A chorus of nocturnal insects sand from the reeds, and the occasional frog cry broke the white noise they created. He didn't know why Relm had chosen this place to sneak off to, but he was about to find out.

Coming up from behind her for the second time in this same spot, Alastor mimicked the moment they'd reunited. "You have a penchant for coming to this place," he observed, speaking in low baritones with a natural growl in his voice. The massive brute came up to sit beside her, not quite close enough for their sides to be touching, but enough for her to see him emerge from the dark, positioning himself on her seeing side while he gazed out over the lake. "Why the lake?"


"Alastor"