The willows gently blew in the breeze as Rayne approached them, having smelled the pond about a mile out and realising just how parched he was after leaving that fire filled cavern. It certainly was much warmer than the north he originally came from yet the water was cooling on his skin and fur as he entered it, his body relishing the coolness of the water compared to the fiery heat of the cavern. The red wolf wasn’t sure why his skin still itched uncomfortably or felt so warm after leaving that place long enough ago. But he was still glad to have found this little willow oasis as his long legs powered on from one bank to the opposite one, taking on a few mouthfuls of water along the way as he dodged the lily pads.     Pulling himself out of the water and shaking the excess water off his pelt, Rayne finally glanced around the pod and surrounding willow trees. It was a rather pretty place to be and had a nice water source. It seemed a little odd to him there wasn’t a pack around here, what with the constant water source and though it seemed like you’d have to travel a little for food, he thought he felt something brush his leg when swimming in the pond.   Brushing past some of the swaying branches of a nearby willow tree, Rayne flopped underneath the shade of one and rested his chin against his front paws as a frown crossed his face. He wasn’t entirely sure why but these willows vaguely reminded him of his sister, Senka for some reason or another. Foggy, dream-like memories surfaced in his mind, with him meeting his sister at the edge of some pack in the willows and excitedly talking with her, after searching for her far and wide. She’d been so excited to see him, his brain insisted and aren’t you excited too? But he merely shook them aside as a pang of sadness filled his chest, a great huff escaping his lips as his rest rested against his legs again. It must have been a hazy dream that occurred while he slept the night away one night. It wasn’t real, no matter how much his chest hurt thinking of his sister and how he failed to find her.   She was fine, surely. His sister was a tough one, that was for sure.

Laith prowled through the tall willows, legs extended in long strides as his head hung by his shoulders. Green eyes scanned what he could see ahead of him, the branches of the draping willows obscuring some of his vision where they nearly brushed the ground. The cool wind blew past him, making the branches sway in the wind with a rustling sound. As long as one of those branches did not snap off and fall on him, maybe this could be an okay day. He licked the healing wounds on the top of his muzzle, eyes narrowed as he remembered losing the fight against that earthy bitch way down south. Luckily it seemed as if the wounds would heal nicely with no visible scar, but that did not mean they had not hurt when he received them. With a huff he continued on, eager to forget about her for the time being. After taking a couple sips at the lake Laith stood back, front legs bowing down in a long stretch. He eyed the fish swimming around in the lake, lips curling back when he realised he would have to get wet if he wanted to catch one. No fucking way was that happening, water was for drinking, not swimming in, with rain being the exception as he unfortunately did not have the ability to control the weather. Laith lifted his head when the scent of another wolf wafted his way in the wind, head turning to face the origin and body swiftly following. He had time to mess around with a stranger, provided they were not part of a pack. He did not have to travel far before spotting a large reddish-brown form laying beneath one of the willow trees, the fur looking just a little bit damp. A grin appeared on his face, tail swaying behind him in an excited manner. "Went for a swim in the lake then decided to have a fuckin' nap, eh?"

Rayne had been hoping for a peaceful time to nap and not run into any other wolves or at least hoped they’d have the sense to leave sleeping wolves lay. Et apparently, the gods thought otherwise and decided to interrupt his nap with the scent of another wolf floating towards him in the gentle breeze. Sighing heavily, Rayne opened his eyes and lifted up his head once more to see who decided to keep him company this time.

“And what’s it to you what I do in my spare time?” Rayne drawled back to him, eyeing the other up and noticing the wagging tail and mischievous grin. Oh great, he could already tell the kind of wolf this was. The smaller wolf reminded me of his other sister, who liked to poke and prod and weasel her way into pushing your buttons until you snapped. So not even waiting for so much as an answer, Rayne rested his chin against his legs again, closing his eyes in hopes the other took it as a sign to bugger off. He wasn’t in much of a mood for wolves like him.

The red wolf did not seem too happy at seeing him, but then again, most did not. He had a certain ability to rub others the wrong way, and definitely not for the right reasons. His mouth opened in a wide grin, tongue running along the insides of his teeth at the other male's response. Oh this could be fun! However, his good mood was soured a little when the other promptly closed his eyes and went back to sleep. What the fuck? Was he not good enough for this wolf? Not wanting to spoil his own good mood, Laith lowered his front end into a play bow, scooching forward so his nose was mere inches from the others. He then booped their noses together and grinned, staring directly in the other males face, their noses still smooshed together. "You won't get rid of me that fucking easily pal." That was his way of saying pay attention to me, I'm bored! He did not give up when he wanted something, and this wolf would have to fucking do something about it if he wanted Laith gone.

Lazily opening one eyes open as the other one got right up in his face, their noses almost touching as the other obviously did not take the hint that Rayne didn’t want any company at the current moment. Pulling his head back, the red male yawned widely as he got up and taking a few steps to the left, gave a long stretch. What on earth was this wolf doing?  

“If you want attention, I suggest looking to the fish for that.” Rayne’s bright eyes looked uninterested as they locked eyes with the other’s green ones, his tone still an even drawl but with a tinge of something hard beneath it. Daring the other to try to annoy him further and see what it got him, because it wouldn’t end well for the other. With that said, Rayne chose another part of the tree trunk to curl up against but this time, with his back towards the outside world and his face tucked under his paws towards the trunk. Why couldn’t he just be left alone? He had wanted to sleep for star’s sake, not entertain a puppy-ish wolf.  

He grimaced, tongue sticking out as he pulled a face at just thinking about playing with the fish, eyeing the pond from his peripheral vision. "Fish fucking suck! And I don't wanna get wet neither." His tone was that of a toddler near having a tantrum: childish and high pitched, almost a whine. "But you're so much more fun than some stupid fish!" He looked back at the wolf, and was disappointed to see the lumbering form had curled up against the tree again, this time his back to Laith. He thought for a moment, lips pulling up in a grin that was not very friendly, before trotting up to the red wolf. Standing behind him, Laith looked down at his curled up form. Well, he could not reach the wolf's face, buuuuut... and without any warning he leaped into the air, pouncing on the red male, all four paws directly landing on top of his back as he laughed out loud.

Seriously? The other still couldn't take a hint? Whatever, hopefully he would get bored quickly and leave, so Rayne could finish his nap.

Yet, he made another mistake. The light male was even more mischievous then anyone he knew and the next thing he knew, the boy was gleefully jumping on his back like it was some sort of spring board. Letting out a great oof of air as another body landed on him, Rayne had had it.

“So you want to play then huh?” Rayne growled slightly, managing to roll and shake the other off. Standing up again, at his full height which gave him a good few inches on the light wolf, he stared down at him with great annoyance in his eyes. “you know what? I’ve got a sister just like you and you know the one thing she loved to play with me?"

And without another word or waiting for the other to react, Rayne took a few steps closer to him and reared slightly onto his back legs, swinging his front legs over the other's shoulders and then leant his full weight against him. It would cause the grey wolf to be under his chest and belly and cause the two of them to fall over, with Rayne on mostly laying on top of the other with and just letting his size and weight do most of the work. He figured it take a minute or two at least for the other to get out from under him anyway.

"It's called being my personal pillow." Rayne snarked, wiggling slightly to get more comfortable and distribute his weight a little bit more evenly. It wasn't the most comfortable way to lay down but hopefully, it got the point across.

Laith was triumphant for all of five seconds before he was shaken off and sent tumbling to his feet, though he managed to not go sprawling on the ground. He was quickly back up on his tiptoes, tail still swinging behind him as he grinned at the red male. Finally something fucking interesting was happening! Not backing down when the other male rose to his feet, he craned his neck back to stare the wolf in the face, head canted to the side curiously. "What?" But before he knew what happened the other male had reared up and leant his full weight right on top of his shoulders. Laith felt his legs buckle under the other's weight, and suddenly he was on his stomach, legs splayed out in every direction. With his head poking out beside the other male's chest, he began wiggling furiously, trying to back up and be free of the weight on him. "Hey, get off! It's not fair, you're fucking bigger than me!" His words were a whine as he continued squirming, claws scrabbling on the ground, until finally, fucking finally, he managed to pull himself out from under the red male. Once again he jumped back up to his paws, shaking out his coat indignantly with a loud huff. That had not been pleasant. "I hope you know just how goddamn heavy you are," he said with a pout, tail swishing behind him. But oh no, he had not had enough yet, Getting crushed was not enough to stop his antics. His facial expression morphed into a more sinister look, eyebrows waggling as he licked his lips suggestively. "But maybe I'd like it better if you were on top of me from behind," he all but crooned out, gaze locked onto the red male's face to gauge his reaction.

Rayne knew he’d wiggle out eventually and simply just yawned and waited until the light grey wolf figured out how to do it.

“That was the whole point.” Rayne rolled his eyes as the other whined, not moving an inch while he wiggled under him. Either he squirmed his way out by himself or Rayne got a few more minutes of peace. Sadly, it was the former and it made Rayne sigh heavily. It was nice having another wolf to cuddle up to, even if it were by force. As the red wolf stood up, the other angrily pouted at him, telling him he was fucking heavy. Oh Rayne knew that, that’s why he’d done it.

Yet it was his other words that caught him off guard for a few seconds. Rayne’s brain couldn’t compute the words that were crooned at him for a moment but it didn’t take too long for it to catch up. He had heard of wolves coupling up with the same sex before so that didn’t bother him so much. It was just the fact it was happening to him that caught him off guard. He thought he was simply interested in women but something reared up in him at the other’s words.

“Well, you clearly don't mind how heavy I am, if you liked me just laying on you. Either that or you’re just so touched starved, you’ll take anything as a sign of affection." Those words weren’t quite crooned back, like Laith had at him but his voice did become smoothly deep as he spoke, locking eyes with the other. He wasn’t sure where this was coming from but he felt it would do something to the other.

Laith was ecstatic at the other male's response, almost able to see the gears turning in his head. He had been hoping to catch him off guard, to really stir him up and provoke a reaction from him, and it seemed like he had succeeded. Although, not in the way he had expected. He quirked a brow as the red male began to speak, before a smug look appeared on his face, liking how the other's voice had changed to a rich and deep baritone. Now this was more fucking like it! "If you'd have asked first I might not have tried to get out from under you so hastily," he said with a soft hum, turning his body so he was standing sideways, but his head still facing the other male. "As for affection? Pah! I don't need affection big boy, I like 'em rough." He gave a suggestive wiggle of his ass, tail swishing behind him as he stared into the male's eyes, tip of his tongue brushing along his lips. He wanted to see just how far he could take this before the red male had had enough.

The other seemed ecstatic about the way he’d spoken by lowering his voice like he had. He had been told previously, by some women, that they’d liked his voice. Hence why he tried it, but he was sure it was mostly brought on by the fact he was the only unrelated male near them at the time.

The other man told him he could have styed under him for a while longer, if that's what he liked but he liked it rough.  

“Sorry but I’m the opposite, you gotta take me on a few dates first. Also, I like knowing the names of the wolves that ask after that sort of thing.” As the other male brushed up against him, Rayne just chuckled heartily. He didn’t mind others hitting on him but he wasn’t one for just a quick thing here and there. Either it worked and they lasted for a while or not. Rayne wasn’t really one for quickies, like it seemed the other was into. The grey man could try but he’d have to try harder to capture Rayne. A wink here and a wiggle of a tail wasn’t enough to draw him in.

Yet it seemed like just lowering his voice did just enough for the other so he thought he'd try something. "But I'm sure if you try hard enough, there might be an award in it for you."

He scoffed, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Damn, of course he liked to take it slow, that is what a big hunk of a gentleman would do after all. But it was a little disappointing, and so he sat on his haunches with a soft huff, pouting. Now it was not nearly as enjoyable if there was not even a glimmer of a chance for some real fun. "I'm not a dating kinda guy, but since you asked so nicely, the name's Laith. His words were no longer a soft croon, but there was still a slight teasing tone to his voice. Disappointment be damned, he could still have a little fun. Laith felt as is his jaw had just dropped onto the ground from shock, taking a moment to figure out if he had heard the red male correctly, and then deciding what exactly the red male had insinuated. He liked awards, and rewards, and anything that made him feel good, but trying hard really was not his fucking style. After figuratively picking his jaw up from the ground, he eyed the red male with squinted eyes, mind going wild just imagining what the other male defined as an award. "And uh, what would this award be, hmm? It's gotta be something real good for me to put any effort in." He did his best to hide any remaining shock he felt at the abruptness of the red male, but did nothing to diminish the eagerness in his voice.