Ribbon.

Lucky woke early the next morning. Having slept closer to the cave entrance, the morning sunlight struck his back first, warming it and bringing light into the cave. The smell of last night's fire filtered into his nose, chased by the sensation of something heavy and warm against his front. Lucky blinked his eyes and looked down at the Layer, who had snuggled up to him in the night and was now deep in sleep. Lucky stared for another moment, not wanting to wake the sleeping Sodre, but for some reason wanting to get himself closer. He dipped his head noiselessly and sniffed - the Layer smelled sweet, as he always had - sugary - but there was something else there, too. A woodsy scent, like the smell of the forest after rain. Lucky took another deep inhale, then shook himself to wakefulness, edged out of the Layer's grasp, undressed and shifted.

On four paws, he jogged outside for his morning ablutions, the cool morning air of the Irion rousing his hackles and chilling his tense muscles. Lucky sniffed first at the pot that held leftover water from last night, but it smelt as if someone had been in it during the night, and he decided he'd rather wash up in the creek. He turned, the north wind brushing through his fur, and took in the scents that blew down from the forest: green, and trees, and burnt wood, and animals - some in musk - and ripe fruit and flower, gray mist, and very distantly, snow. Good scents. Safe scents. Nothing to hurt his mate.

Whoa.

Lucky froze mid-step. Where had that thought come from? He sat down and scratched behind his ear with his right leg, a thinking-habit he had. He tried to have the thought again, but it didn't reappear - at least not with the voracity of that first time. That first time, the thought had had teeth in it. Lucky frowned. Must be the forest. His appa had told him before that living in the forest was good - that it put you closer to your ancestors, closer to your wolfe. Our planet, he had told Kel'luknar, is almost all forest.

Maybe this was what these weird thoughts meant - they were the type of primal thoughts started showing up when you hung around in the forest for a while. It was only natural, Lucky eventually decided, and then proceeded not to think about it any more.

~

Gustin opened the door to his teenage son and took a surprised step back. Then his brows lowered and Kel'luknar braced himself for a scolding.
"Lucky! Where in the hell have you been?! Your papa was just about to go looking for you! We were worried!"
Kel'luknar tilted his head and grinned in amusement at his human parent's usual reaction. His dad had a curious way of talking when he was scolding Lucky - quickly, and in a higher pitch than usual, scattering in his English with random Wolfish phrases and pastiche words he seemed to have stitched together from both, 'papa' being the most common one.

Lucky slapped his tail against the doorframe.
"Sorry, badi. Wasn't far. Just out with Sodre. We fell asleep in a cave."
Gustin still looked annoyed, but let this pass and stepped back to allow Lucky entrance to the house.
Lucky stepped inside and shook a leaf out of his hair. Gustin indignantly picked it up and threw it outside.
"Well." his badi exhaled sharply, and a clump of long, curly brown hair freed itself from its binding and fell into his face. Gus frowned at it and smoothed it away. "So where's your little kicker, then? Adotre and Iorir are probably worried about him, too."
Lucky shrugged and did his best to look unconcerned as he wandered farther in, heading down the right-hand hallway that would lead to his parents' quarters. Halfway there, he stopped by a pot of cold stew that was on the side table and sniffed it delicately.
"He's fine. Said he wanted to go on to the Ridge when I left him, then he'd circle back and come home."
"Gone to the Ridge? Alone?"
The sound of his appa's voice made both of them turn. Kellan was standing farther down the hall, in the doorway to he and Gus's bedroom. He was clad in only a long sheet that was wrapped around his hips, and he chewed lazily on the cleaning stick in his mouth. The large wolfe crossed his arms over his chest, examining the younger wolfe with a challenging look. Kel'luknar suddenly felt the urge to change nip at his belly, a desire that burned at the base of his spine and through to his abdomen. His skin felt hot, and his throat seemed to have a growl forming in it.
"Yes, Appa."
Kel'luknar's voice was just as challenging in response. His appa flicked one ear, just slightly, then seemed unconcerned.
"You didn't go with him."
"That's sort of what 'he went alone' implies, Appa."
Lucky was almost taken aback with his own snappishness, and he hesitated for a moment, fearing punishment. Gus looked at him with some surprise, then over to his mate, who continued to look unperturbed.
Kellan stuck his stick between his back teeth and grunted.
"Layer's small. Could get hurt."
"He's 19, Appa, and he's half wolfe. I'm sure he's fine."
There it was again - the snarkiness that he couldn't seem to control. The space between his shoulders itched and he suddenly felt like saying something more. Thinking better of it, he just coughed and kicked at the ground instead. Kellan, looking his son over, grunted again.
"Better to be sure."
Lucky rolled his eyes.
"OK, Appa."
Kellan tilted his head and went back to chewing on the cleaning stick, moving to the other side of his mouth.
"We pass the Ridge to hunt today. Can check his trail."
Lucky's animal wolfe surged then, more powerfully than he had ever felt it, and threw itself forward in his mind, pushing past the human half, pushing past the reasonable, thinking wolfe part. It stood, legs spread, teeth bared, facing down this other wolfe - this intruder, this interloper on his space and near his mate.
"NO!"
Just as quickly as the beast had come, it was gone, and Lucky was left standing in front of two parents - one bewildered, one intrigued - feeling very embarrassed by his own reaction. He dipped his head and coughed to clear his throat.
"No, I mean - it's fine. I can go look for him."
Lucky glanced at his badi and looked away. He couldn't meet his appa's eyes directly, fearful of the challenge he had already inadvertently issued. He did, however, glance sidelong at the alpha wolfe, and saw that the look his father was giving him had changed from curious to assessing.
Kellan grunted.
Lucky's face burned. He took two steps backwards, back towards the main entry room.
"I mean, I can go now. I can go look for him - he's probably not that far - it's just up the way, so - I mean, I'll be back later, for dinner, probably. Or maybe we can catch something. Yeah."
Feeling hotheaded and silly and very very confused, Lucky did the best thing he could think of: turned tail, and ran.
Gus followed him halfway to the door.
"Hey! Lucky! Hey! You don't want breakfast?!" he called after his son, but the form of the young wolfe was already disappearing across the plains towards the tree line.
From the doorway, Kellan grunted. Gus turned back to him, confusion scribbled all across his face.
"What was that about?!" he demanded.
Kellan tilted his head thoughtfully and took the stick out of his mouth, indicating the now-empty doorway and the carelessly open door through which Kel'luknar had disappeared. He grunted.
"Son's in heat."

~:~