It was cold, which meant the perfect opportunity to cuddle up with someone. Clover was new to the pack, a beautiful wolf with striking dye coloration, and she intended to use her new position as a member within the Hollow to her advantage. Luckily, there were plenty of wolves around, and they all treated one another like family. Family didn’t flirt, but she very much so decided to go against that grain and venture out into the Hollow to see if she could find a willing victim.
The middle of the day, it was still light out, which made Clover just now exiting her den a thing of wonder. She wasn’t a lazy wolf, per se, but she was brand new and thus didn’t know what all she could do to help the pack other than hunt. And she certainly didn’t feel like hunting – for edible prey, anyway. Instead, she sought something different: a male.
Rather quickly, her bright green eyes locked onto the bright blue of a male standing across the way. He wasn’t exactly her type, looking all dark and brooding, but that didn’t do much to stop her. Placing a faux shy smile on her face, she did her best to saunter over to the other wolf, hips sashaying in a dramatic fashion. “Why, hello there, handsome~” she purred, looking him right in the eye as the words left her mouth.
Invisible Shade, a very, very gay male, gave the approaching female a wary look. He was nice, and didn’t quite know how to reject an advance because, really, this had never happened to him, so he wasn’t very sure what to do. “I, er… hello?” His speech was stilted and uncomfortable, and he cleared his throat for his next sentence. “I’m Invisible Shade, are you new here?”
Clover grinned, ignoring how awkward Shade was an instead charging forward. She stopped walking when she was close to him, but not before she was near enough to really appraise him. His coat, while not then most striking, was elegant and swirling. It seemed to contain multitudes of shades of black and dark gray – she almost felt as if she could get lost staring at it, much like someone could get lost while gazing at the innumerable stars in the sky.
“Quite new. Name’s Clover, lovely to meet you~”
Flicking his ears, Invisible Shade noted that the same, lilting tone was seeping out of her mouth, dripping with seduction. Only, he was one of several male wolves in the pack that would absolutely not bite. He just didn’t know how to break it to her. How did you tell some random wolf that you had a mate without making things weird? Just blurting it out seemed uncomfortable, but what was more uncomfortable was being the target of unwanted flirtation. Especially from a she-wolf.
In the end, he decided simply to ignore the tone in her voice, and responded jovially. “Welcome to the Hollow! Nice to see that pack recruitment efforts are working, even with this terrible weather.” He smiled at her, eyes shining with good intentions.
Of course, she took this as an opening. “Yes, the weather is quite terrible…” Clover shifted her gaze, looking off into the distance. “Almost makes you want to shack up with someone – share a den for warmth...” Her eyes shifted back to his, an eyebrow quirked in suggestion.
That’s it! Invisible Shade was elated to see that Clover had, likely accidentally, opened the door for the conversation about his mate. Weirdly, it was a conversation he loved to have: he absolutely adored Boulder with every fiber of his being, so it only made sense that he loved to brag about his precious little wolf. “It really does,” he responded, nodding sagely. “I’m very grateful that I have a mate to settle down with at night.” His voice was plain ad matter-of-fact.
“Oh? A mate’s never stopped me before.” Clover winked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
It wasn’t the most Hornfels Hollow response she could have given, but Invisible Shade meant to let it slide in that small regard. She would find out soon enough how to respect couplings, but until then he would allow her to get herself into a bit of trouble. It’s the most effective way to learn, after all! Anyway, he felt a little taken aback by her words. He managed to sputter out: “Oh, no! No, I’m gay.” It was awkward, but really, wasn’t this whole exchange?
Suddenly, everything about Clover changed. Her expression, eyes wide with shock and understanding, her sly grin replaced by a very genuinely happy one. “Oh! Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, I… well, of course I didn’t know, but… that’s great! I’m sure your mate… is wonderful?” Although one would expect a wolf in her position to feel embarrassment at the way she’d thrown herself at a mates, gay wolf, she portrayed none of that sentiment. Instead, she was excited – if he was gay, that meant no sexual tension, which opened him up to a nice and wholesome friendship. She could definitely get behind that.
“Oh, it’s… um, it’s okay! His name is Boulder, I don’t know if you’ve met him…?” Shade didn’t know quite how to recover, but his shoulders sank in relief that she was no longer trying to force herself onto him.
At the name, Clover quickly shook her head. “No, but I’ll definitely keep my ears open for him. Any mate of yours is a lucky wolf, indeed.” She smiled, her canines showing. “Anyway, I’m clearly on the hunt for some body warmth, so you’ll have to excuse me.”
Oh, thank the gods. She seemed nice and all, but Shade found himself to be quite grateful for her exit. “Great meeting you,” he said, smiling back at her but in a much less radiant fashion. All this talk made him want to find his own hunk of body warmth, so he, too, turned tail and slinked off in pursuit of a male wolf to take advantage of.
(WC: 1,011)
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